Source link

The 10-year-old cryptocurrency exchange, with a reported user base of tens of millions, announced a strategic $400 million investment from Citadel Securities.

The statement from the company stated that its valuation after the funding round was $20 billion.

The company’s co-founder and CEO, Kris Marszalek, expressed his gratitude for working with Citadel Securities, hoping to continue to work with the entity on future projects to drive the crypto industry into a new era of institutional adoption.

“The size of the opportunity in front of us is staggering, as crypto increasingly becomes the rails for finance. Having built the right regulatory and tech infrastructure over the last decade, Crypto.com is now perfectly positioned to capture this new wave of growth across all asset classes,” he added.

Meanwhile, Citadel Securities’ President, Jim Esposito, noted that Crypto.com had developed a “foundation to support the continued institutionalization of the digital asset market.”

He believes the convergence of traditional financial organizations and cryptocurrency infrastructure is presenting an “exciting evolution” that has the potential to “further improve market efficiency.”

The funding is expected to enhance the crypto exchange’s expansion into all asset classes, including tokenized securities and derivatives. The company hopes to bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and traditional markets to create a more efficient 24/7 financial ecosystem.

Crypto.com’s native token reacted with an immediate surge that drove it higher by almost 25%. It traded at around $0.056 before it rocketed to $0.07, where it was immediately halted and now sits above $0.06.

Nevertheless, CRO remains down by over 93% since its all-time high at $0.89, marked nearly five years ago.

The post CRO Surges as Crypto.com Secures $400M in Citadel Securities-Led Funding appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Source link

Source link

The US sanctioned four crypto wallets tied to Iran’s Central Bank this week. Within hours, Tether froze $131 million in USDT sitting inside them.

It took one Treasury update and one flip of the Tether kill switch. USDT now doubles as a US sanctions weapon, and the industry is split over how issuers should police their coins.

How the Tether Kill Switch Became a US Sanctions Weapon

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the freeze. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) simply added four Tron addresses to its existing Central Bank of Iran designation.

No new sanctions were needed. The bank has been blocked since 2019 over its support for the IRGC-Qods Force and Hezbollah.

“We will continue to aggressively follow the money and deny the Iranian regime access to the proceeds of its illicit revenue schemes,” Bessent said the campaign targets Iran’s abuse of digital assets.

The wallets had taken in more than $165 million in stablecoins, Chainalysis data shows. About $34 million slipped out first. Tether locked the remaining $131 million, nearly 80% of the total.

Here is what the freeze does. The tokens stay visible on-chain, but the addresses cannot spend or send them. It is not a seizure. Iran still holds the wallets. It just cannot use them.

The mechanics are simple and fast. OFAC names the addresses. Tether flips the switch at the token level. No court order is needed. A private offshore company now enforces US foreign policy in hours, through the third-largest crypto asset, worth $184 billion.

Tether helped block $344 million the same way in April. Frozen Central Bank funds now near $475 million. Seized Iranian crypto overall has reached roughly $1 billion.

OFAC also sanctioned Nobitex and other Iranian exchanges in June for facilitating the transfer of the bank’s stablecoins.

The fine print carries a warning, too. OFAC says its published wallet lists are not exhaustive. Any other address the bank controls is already considered blocked property.

That changes the game for Tehran. Washington is dismantling Iran’s $7.7 billion crypto network. Every remaining USDT holding sits one listing away from a freeze.

Why Circle Refuses to Do What Tether Does

Tether moves fast. Circle does not. The USDC issuer faces a Wisconsin criminal complaint for defying a court order in a romance scam case. The order required recovering roughly 381,000 stolen USDC for the victim.

Tether says it has frozen about $4.7 billion tied to crime. It has returned $1.1 billion to victims, per ICIJ. Circle only acts under a strict legal process. Policy chief Dante Disparte called that gap a policy problem in an April post.

“Circle is a regulated company that complies with sanctions, law enforcement orders, and court-mandated requirements… Regarding seizure requests, the legal structures that would authorize stablecoin issuers to act faster—while preserving due process and property rights—do not yet fully exist,” a Circle spokesperson told BeInCrypto.

For now, USDT still dominates the $310 billion stablecoin market, with about 59%, DefiLlama data shows.

The open question is simple. Will sanctioned actors keep using a coin that can be switched off?

The post One Sanctions List and a Kill Switch: How Tether Enforces US Policy on Iran appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Source link

Can Muslims buy Bitcoin? Pakistan’s top Islamic scholars cannot agree on whether crypto follows Shariah, Islam’s legal code.

The fight matters far beyond the mosque. Pakistan is one of the world’s biggest crypto markets, and its government wants to lead in digital assets.

Why the Pakistan Crypto Shariah Debate Matters

On June 10, Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi, a top religious school, issued a fatwa, or religious decree. Mufti Taqi Usmani and other senior scholars signed it.

The ruling bans purchases made with Bitcoin (BTC), stablecoins, and other digital tokens. It calls them “merely the recording of fictitious numbers in an account.”

That verdict carries weight. Mufti Usmani advises Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s second-largest lender by market value, on Shariah. In his view, crypto does not count as real wealth, or maal, under Islamic law.

His word has moved markets before. In 2008, he judged that up to 85% of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, failed Shariah tests. Global sukuk issuance then fell from $50 billion to about $15 billion in a year, though the financial crisis also weighed.

The audience this time is even bigger. Pakistan ranks third worldwide for grassroots crypto adoption, behind only India and the US, according to Chainalysis.

The timing is awkward for the government. Pakistan has used crypto to build ties with US President Donald Trump, whose $1 billion crypto earnings drew scrutiny.

• Pakistan’s finance ministry agreed in January to explore World Liberty’s USD1 stablecoin.
• PVARA chief Bilal bin Saqib, 35, told Bloomberg the crypto push rebuilt trust with Washington.
• Analysts told Al Jazeera their stablecoin deal amounted to paying for Trump White House access.

Trump’s platform, World Liberty Financial, signed a non-binding pact in Pakistan this year.

India’s central bank, meanwhile, wants to go further at home by isolating banks from crypto altogether.

Other Muslim Clerics Say Crypto Is Halal, With Conditions

Saylani Welfare International Trust, one of Pakistan’s largest charities, disagrees. Its head mufti, Wasim Akhtar Al-Madani, issued a 37-page fatwa around 13 months ago.

He treats crypto as a recognized right, not conventional wealth. This week, Saylani held an emergency meeting in Karachi to stand by that ruling.

“The purchase and sale of crypto currency or digital assets may be considered permissible as a recognized right, provided that such transactions are not prohibited by the law of the country and do not expose an individual to unlawful humiliation, punishment or legal consequences,” Al-Madani cited the fatwa in a statement.

Saylani has sent it to the Council of Islamic Ideology and the State Bank of Pakistan.

Pakistan’s crypto regulator now sits in the middle. Bilal bin Saqib chairs the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA). Lawmakers created it by ordinance in July 2025 and locked it in by law this year. Saqib asked Jamia Darul Uloom to treat speculative tokens and asset-backed tokens differently.

He pointed to sukuk recorded on a blockchain, gold-backed tokens, and fully reserved stablecoins. Each gives its holder a claim on something real. The distinction matters as tokenized real-world assets pass $60 billion and stablecoins hit record monthly volumes.

“The central question the fatwa raises is whether a digital asset constitutes recognized wealth under Shariah. That is precisely the right question, and it is why these instruments must be examined individually,” Saqib made the remarks to Reuters.

He met Usmani last week and called the talk constructive.

Waqas Ghani, head of research at JS Global Capital, said the fatwa could slow crypto adoption by banks. Trading volumes, however, look steady so far.

How Other Muslim Countries Rule on Crypto

Pakistan’s split mirrors a wider divide across the Muslim community. Major countries have reached opposite verdicts on the same question.

Malaysia sits at the permissive end. The Securities Commission’s Shariah Advisory Council resolved in 2020 that digital assets count as maal and may trade on registered exchanges.

The Gulf takes a pragmatic route. Dubai and Abu Dhabi license crypto firms under dedicated regulators and courts to Shariah-compliant products, with no blanket religious ruling.

Indonesia’s Ulema Council went the other way in 2021. It declared crypto haram as currency, allowing trade only in tokens with a clear underlying asset.

Egypt’s Grand Mufti ruled in 2017 that all crypto use was forbidden, likening it to gambling. Turkey’s religious authority voiced similar doubts, and the country still allows trading while banning crypto payments.

Pakistan sits in the middle of this spectrum. Usmani’s ruling echoes those of Egypt and Indonesia, while PVARA’s asset-backed push points toward the Malaysian and Gulf models.

The next move belongs to the scholars. Their answer may decide how far Pakistan’s push for halal digital finance can go.

The post Is Crypto Allowed for Muslims? Pakistan Debates Bitcoin and Islamic Law appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Source link

Source link

Grayscale is pitching covered calls as a way for Bitcoin holders to earn yield during a range-bound market, even as Glassnode detects early signals of a bear market bottom.

The strategy means holding Bitcoin while selling someone else the right to buy it from you at a set price. In return, you receive a payment called a premium. This can provide extra income when Bitcoin’s price is moving sideways, though your profit is limited if the price suddenly rises sharply.

The combination offers a practical playbook for investors stuck between capitulation and recovery.

How Grayscale’s Covered Call Strategy Works

A covered call is an options strategy where an investor holds spot Bitcoin and sells call options against that position, collecting premiums as income.

The trade-off is simple: downside cushion in exchange for capped upside during sharp rallies.

Zach Pandl, Grayscale’s Head of Research, laid out the case in a recent analysis on earning option income within a range. The argument rests on Bitcoin finding a floor first and then drifting sideways for months.

The numbers help explain the appeal. Grayscale’s hypothetical assumes spot Bitcoin near $65,000 and 40% implied volatility for a December 2026 at-the-money call.

Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens.

Under those conditions, the strategy could deliver roughly 22% annualized returns if the price stays stable. The breakeven sits around $58,500, and the position outperforms a simple spot hold up to about $72,500.

The logic extends beyond theory. Products such as Grayscale’s Bitcoin Covered Call ETF, alongside similar income vehicles, roll call options to boost yields while preserving exposure.

In markets that move violently but go nowhere, monetizing implied volatility beats waiting. The catch matters, though: a strong rally would leave those gains on the table.

Is the Bitcoin Bear Market Finally Bottoming?

The second half of the thesis is based on on-chain data. Glassnode analyst Cryptovizart tracked the 1-2-year holder cohort, referring to investors who bought roughly between July 2024 and July 2025.

That group purchased near the cycle peak, when Bitcoin climbed toward $107,000. Facing sustained underperformance and unrealized losses, those buyers have been seeing red numbers crystallize.

The pattern carries historical weight. Bear markets rarely bottom until this cohort exhausts its selling pressure, and the data now suggests a potential inflection point.

The 30-day moving average of realized losses for these holders spiked above $75 million before reversing. According to the analyst, that cooling has often marked the clearest early signal that the heaviest distribution phase is over.

Glassnode flags $69,000 as the decisive battleground. The level aligns with the aggregate cost basis for short-term holders and with the former 2021 record highs.

Reclaiming it could fuel a recovery, while rejection would extend the sideways grind. That second scenario, ironically, is precisely where covered calls perform best.

“Bitcoin looks ready for a next leg upwards. It’s already above the daily MA’s and it’s primed for a breakout further up.Clear breakout above $65,000 would signal this move and then, $80,000 in August is on the cards,” Crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe noted.

Risks obviously remain on the table. Options strategies carry opportunity costs during strong bull runs and real losses if prices collapse below breakeven levels.

Whether the 2026 bear market has truly found its floor remains unresolved for now. Still, the convergence of income tools and cooling capitulation gives long-term holders something to work with.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch leaders and journalists provide expert insights.

The post Grayscale Highlights a 22% Bitcoin Yield Opportunity as Early Bottom Signals Emerge appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Source link

Strategy CEO Phong Le has tied the company’s next Bitcoin purchase to STRC returning to its $100 par value as the preferred stock trades near $87.

Summary

• Phong Le linked Strategy’s next Bitcoin purchase to STRC recovering to its $100 par value.
• Strategy sold 3,588 BTC across two weeks while building its dollar reserve.
• MSTR faces resistance at $100–$105, with immediate chart support near $90.

Bloomberg reported that Le plans to resume issuing STRC shares once the security, known as Stretch, recovers to par, allowing Strategy to direct the proceeds toward more Bitcoin.

“We’ll continue to build that. And yeah, when Stretch gets back to par, we’ll issue more. We’ll buy more Bitcoin,” Le said.

Advertisement

Although Le did not give a timeline for the recovery, Strategy’s website showed STRC trading around $87 on July 16. The preferred stock pays a variable dividend designed to encourage trading close to $100, but its price has remained below that level since April.

STRC serves as one of Strategy’s main fundraising tools because the company can sell new preferred shares and use the capital to buy Bitcoin. Issuing STRC below par, however, would make that process less attractive and could reduce Bitcoin exposure per share.

STRC recovery controls the next Bitcoin purchase

During the Bloomberg interview, Le described cash reserves as an important part of restoring confidence in STRC after the preferred stock fell below $75 in late June. He noted that recent market conditions had shown Strategy the value of keeping liquid U.S. dollars on its balance sheet.

Advertisement

Strategy has since raised its dollar reserve to $3 billion after selling about $466 million of MSTR shares, according to crypto.news. The company can use that liquidity to cover dividends, interest payments and other obligations without relying entirely on its Bitcoin holdings.

Preferred shareholders had also pressed Strategy to hold more cash, Le told Bloomberg. Responding to those concerns, the company sold portions of its Bitcoin reserve in two consecutive reporting periods.

Strategy’s purchase records show that it sold 1,363 BTC for about $81 million in the week ending June 30 and another 2,225 BTC for roughly $135 million in the week ending July 6. Following those sales, its holdings fell to 843,775 BTC.

Despite the sales, Strategy remains ahead of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund by total holdings. Company data lists Strategy’s stash at 843,775 BTC, while the original report placed BlackRock’s IBIT holdings at 733,516 BTC.

Advertisement

Executive chairman Michael Saylor has also compared Strategy’s securities with IBIT. In a post on X, Saylor claimed MSTR provides the same Bitcoin exposure as IBIT, while STRC delivers 3.6 times as much and STRF offers 11 times the exposure.

MSTR holds above channel support

MSTR came under fresh pressure during the July 16 session, falling 3.65% to $93.91 even as Bitcoin traded around $64,800. The supplied daily chart shows that the stock recently escaped a descending channel formed after its May peak near $195, but the rebound stalled around the $100–$105 area.

According to the chart, $90 is the first level that could support the stock, followed by the late-June floor between $83 and $85. A daily close below $90 would place the recent channel breakout at risk, while a move through $100–$105 could open a recovery toward the $115–$120 region.

Momentum indicators still give mixed readings. The daily relative strength index stands at 39.16, showing weak demand without placing MSTR in oversold territory.

At the same time, the chart’s MACD line has moved above its signal line, and the histogram has turned positive at 2.17. Both MACD lines remain below zero, however, indicating that the early recovery signal has not yet reversed the stock’s longer decline.

Advertisement

Source link

Ethereum price is pulling away from the pack, as it trades around $1,900, gaining 8% across seven days with a bullish prediction. This rally feels increasingly institutional. The buying is not coming from a macro wave. Instead, it looks focused, deliberate, and hard to ignore.

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $96 million during the first three trading days this week, already beating last week’s $84 million total. Wednesday alone brought $53.8 million in net inflows. BlackRock’s ETHA accounted for $45.3 million, while ETHB added another $4 million. The remaining funds barely shared the leftovers. That is not a crowd rushing in. It is one heavyweight quietly filling the cart.

Bitcoin tells a different story. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a $424 million net outflow before recovering with $181 million in inflows the next session. That looks more like money changing seats than fresh capital arriving. Ethereum, meanwhile, has enjoyed steadier demand, which helps explain why it has taken the lead.

Trade Ethereum, and Don’t Miss Out on Our $1,000 USDT Airdrop on ByBit

Ethereum Price Prediction: Can ETH Reclaim $2,000 This Week?

ETH’s upper end is still acting as the first hurdle. Daily trading volume remains healthy, suggesting buyers are showing up with conviction rather than chasing a fleeting rally. After gaining about 8% over the past week, Ethereum has climbed back to levels last seen in early June.

The $1,925 area is now the level to beat. A convincing daily close above it could put the $2,000 psychological mark back in play. That barrier has shrugged off several advances already, so it may not wave a white flag easily.

Ethereum (ETH)

24h7d30d1yAll time

The bull case stays simple. If ETHA inflows remain strong, Robinhood Chain activity holds up, and macro conditions stay supportive after softer inflation data, ETH could reclaim $2,000. From there, the next upside zone sits around $2,150 to $2,200, provided buyers keep their foot on the gas.

The base case looks less dramatic. If institutional demand cools slightly, Ethereum could spend several sessions between $1,850 and $1,950. That would not be a setback. Markets often catch their breath before making another run.

The bearish case hinges on Bitcoin losing momentum and ETF demand fading again. In that scenario, ETH could revisit the $1,750 area. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s legacy ETHE trust, with its higher 2.5% fee versus ETHA’s 0.25%, has shed billions since launch. That drag has weighed on Ethereum for months, and whether it has finally run its course remains the question hanging over this breakout.

Discover: The Best Token Presales

LiquidChain Targets Early Mover Upside as Ethereum Tests Key Levels

ETH at $1,900 with a dominant institutional buyer sounds like a clean long, until the math catches up. A return to $2,200 from here is roughly 15%. That is a solid trade if execution is tight. But for investors who want asymmetric exposure to the same Ethereum-centric infrastructure thesis, the sizing math changes considerably at an earlier entry point.

LiquidChain ($LIQUID) is an L3 infrastructure project built around a single premise: BTC, ETH, and SOL liquidity should not require three separate deployments to access. Its Unified Liquidity Layer fuses all three ecosystems into one execution environment, with single-step cross-chain execution, verifiable settlement, and a deploy-once architecture for developers.

The presale is currently priced at $0.0148, with $900K raised to date, early enough that the raise has not yet attracted the late-cycle noise that compresses margins for retail entrants.

The infrastructure bet here is that ETH’s resurgence creates demand for L3 tooling that reduces cross-chain friction. If that thesis tracks, early-stage entry at current prices carries a different risk-reward profile than chasing spot ETH above $1,900.

Research LiquidChain before the next pricing tier moves.

Discover: The Best Crypto to Diversify Your Portfolio

The post Ethereum Price Prediction: BlackRock Drives ETH Ahead of BTC in ETF Inflows appeared first on Cryptonews.

Source link

Ethereum has had a notable recovery from its June lows, reclaiming an important resistance zone while testing a major descending trendline on the higher timeframe. Although the latest rally has strengthened short-term sentiment, ETH is still approaching a cluster of technical barriers that could determine whether the recovery extends above $2K or transitions into another corrective phase.

Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart

On the daily timeframe, ETH has been trading within a broad descending channel that has defined price action for several months. The recent rebound from the $1.5K demand zone allowed the asset to reclaim the $1.8K support region.

The price is also on the verge of breaking above the channel’s upper boundary, which is closely followed by the descending 100-day moving average near the $2K area. This confluence has already attracted selling pressure, suggesting that sellers remain active around this technical barrier.

The next major resistance sits between $2K and $2.2K, where the 200-day moving average also converges from above. A confirmed breakout above the channel and a sustained move beyond $2.2K would represent a meaningful structural shift and could open the door toward higher recovery targets.

On the downside, the recently reclaimed $1.8K zone now acts as the first key support. Losing this level would once again expose the broader demand region around $1.5K, which previously triggered the latest bullish reversal.

ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart

The lower timeframe shows a much stronger bullish structure. ETH advanced inside a well-defined ascending channel after forming a clear double bottom near $1.5k and has been consistently printing higher highs and higher lows throughout the recovery.

The recent rally pushed the price above the $1.8K resistance zone before reaching the channel’s upper boundary around $1.95K. However, sellers defended this area, leading to a modest rejection from local highs.

As long as ETH holds above the $1.8K breakout zone, the current pullback appears more consistent with profit-taking than a confirmed trend reversal. Maintaining this support could allow buyers to attempt another move toward the major daily resistance cluster between $2K and $2.2K.

Conversely, a decisive breakdown below $1.8K would weaken the short-term structure and could trigger a deeper retracement toward the intermediate support around $1.72K, or even the order block located around $1.62K to $1.64K, where buyers previously stepped in.

On-Chain Analysis

The Exchange Reserve chart continues to paint a constructive longer-term picture. Ethereum reserves held across centralized exchanges have declined steadily, reaching approximately 15.3 million ETH, which is arguably the lowest reading over the past few years.

A persistent decline in exchange balances generally indicates that investors are withdrawing coins into self-custody or long-term storage rather than preparing to sell them immediately. This reduces the amount of readily available supply on exchanges and can provide a supportive backdrop if demand continues to recover.

While the falling exchange reserve does not guarantee immediate upside, the continued reduction in available supply complements the improving technical structure. If ETH successfully clears the overhead resistance between $2K and $2.2K while exchange balances remain on their current downtrend, the broader recovery could gain additional strength. Conversely, failure to overcome the higher-timeframe resistance may still result in a short-term correction despite the favorable on-chain backdrop.

The post Ethereum Price Analysis: Is $2K Next for ETH After Reclaiming Key Support? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Source link