Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Ledger unveils hardware-backed Agent Stack to prevent rogue AI transactions

Quick TakeWith Ledger Agent Stack, users can deploy bots to read balances, suggest transactions, prepare swaps and draft operations.Transaction execution, however, requires human sign-off via a physical hardware device.Notably, Ledgers existing support of OpenPGP means its wallets can also be used to protect API keys and AI agent credentials.　　Ledger has launched Ledger Agent Stack, an open-source toolkit that lets AI agents interact with crypto wallets and blockchain tools while keeping humans firmly in control of sensitive actions.　　Agents will be able to read balances, suggest transactions, prepare swaps, and draft operations, but will require explicit human sign-off on their physical hardware devices before execution.　　The move comes amid a wave of AI integrations in some of cryptos most-used platforms. For instance, MetaMask is rolling out agentic capabilities that will follow a similar safety-first approach by requiring human approval to execute transactions.　　Ledger notes that it is preparing for a world where AI agents “become more autonomous.” It is building the capability for its customers to deploy bots, but is taking a relatively conservative approach.　　While some wallets are already allowing bots to autonomously execute actions within user-defined rules, Ledger will only let agents propose actions, a move meant to protect users from AI mistakes

07-16Industry

Silver tumbles as energy-driven inflation fears hit sentiment

Silver (XAG/USD) falls toward $56.70 at the time of writing on Thursday, down 1.85% on the day. The white metal comes under selling pressure as renewed tensions between the United States (US) and Iran drive energy prices higher, reviving concerns about persistently elevated global inflation.　　Higher Oil prices are fueling expectations that inflation could remain above central bank targets for longer. This scenario prompts investors to anticipate tighter monetary conditions for an extended period, an environment that is generally unfavorable for non-yielding assets such as Silver.　　Geopolitical concerns intensified after US President Donald Trump threatened to expand attacks on Iranian infrastructure if Tehran refuses to return to the negotiating table. Meanwhile, the suspension of crude loading operations at several Iraqi terminals following a drone-related incident has heightened fears of global Oil supply disruptions, providing additional support to energy prices.　　At the same time, recent US inflation data is helping to limit Silvers downside. The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) reports for June showed a further moderation in price pressures, prompting markets to scale back expectations of additional monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed).　　According to the CME FedWatch tool, the chance of a Fed interest rate hike at

07-16Industry

Bitcoin or AI？ CZ says only one protects against inflation

Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao has weighed into the growing Bitcoin versus artificial intelligence debate as investors compare two of the markets largest growth themes.　　In a July 16 post on X, Zhao offered a direct distinction between the two. “AI is great, but it does not protect you against inflation. Bitcoin does.” His comment presents Bitcoin as monetary protection rather than treating AI and crypto as competing technologies with the same purpose.　　AI is great, but it does not protect you against inflation.　　Bitcoin does.　　— CZ ???? BNB (@cz_binance) July 16, 2026　　CZ draws a line between Bitcoin and AI　　Zhaos latest comment comes weeks after he identified artificial intelligence as one factor behind weaker crypto market conditions in 2026. As previously reported by crypto.news, he said new industries such as AI had attracted some speculative capital that might otherwise have entered digital assets.　　However, Zhao has not taken a negative position on artificial intelligence itself. In May, he said he preferred investments in the infrastructure supporting AI, including data centers, computing systems and energy. His investment activities have also remained focused largely on Web3, according to earlier crypto.news coverage.　　AI investment competes with crypto for capital　　The debate has gained attention as major AI companies attract large

07-16Industry

Autonomous AI agent economy faces infrastructure gaps: Visa, Artemis

Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are posing a challenge to the incumbent global card payments infrastructure that is struggling to process high-frequency micropayments, according to a joint report released by payments giant Visa and investment thesis platform Artemis.　　The joint report published Wednesday found that traditional cards were built for human commerce with low-frequency transactions, which is insufficient for AI agents, which need infrastructure with near-zero fees and faster settlement to make agentic micropayments commercially viable.　　New infrastructure is increasingly necessary since AI agents crossed a key capability threshold in mid-2025, enabling them to discover unfamiliar APIs, evaluate prices and decide on autonomous payments.　　The report found that AI agents are initiating a foundational change in commerce, but the current infrastructure gaps are limiting their mainstream adoption.　　Australian crypto exchange Swyftx earlier this week said that AI-enabled microbusinesses could drive an additional $262 billion in stablecoin volume by 2033, via AI-native payments settled in stablecoins, based on an assumed adoption rate of about 33%.Machine-native micropayment requirements. Source: Artemis, Visa　　Some agentic payment standards are already showing signs of user adoption, such as the x402 payment protocol developed by Coinbase.　　The x402 processed $15 million in adjusted volume across over 109 million adjusted transactions since it was launched

07-16Industry

FATF urges faster crypto AML enforcement as stablecoin crime increases

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) warned that criminals are increasingly exploiting stablecoins for illicit finance, with most identified onchain criminal activity now involving the dollar-pegged cryptocurrencies.　　In its latest report published Thursday, the global anti-money laundering watchdog said criminal networks have also begun developing proprietary stablecoins designed to resist freezing and asset seizures.　　The FATF urged jurisdictions to accelerate implementation of crypto AML standards as illicit actors exploit regulatory gaps.　　The findings come from the FATF‘s latest annual review of countries’ implementation of its AML standards for cryptocurrencies. While 83% of surveyed jurisdictions have adopted the Travel Rule into law, up from 73% a year earlier, FATF said many have yet to translate those legal frameworks into effective supervision and enforcement.　　The FATF Travel Rule requires financial institutions and virtual asset service providers to share sender and receiver information for cross-border payments and crypto transactions above a set threshold — with a baseline of $1,000 or 1,000 euros — to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.　　The report also warned that jurisdictions continue to struggle with offshore crypto service providers and assessing risks associated with DeFi, which it said could become a growing regulatory blind spot.

07-16Industry

Zamas confidential USDC vault climbs to No. 8 on Morpho

Zama says a lending vault that accepts only confidential USDC has grown into one of the largest USDC vaults on Morphos Ethereum deployment, weeks after opening to depositors.　　According to a July 16 post from Zama, the Steakhouse Confidential Prime USDC vault held $23.23 million at Ethereum block 25,544,806. The company said that placed it eighth by total deposits among Morpho V1 and V2 USDC vaults on Ethereum. The ranking and deposit figure reflect Zamas stated snapshot and can change as users deposit or withdraw funds.　　https://t.co/9p5gqQ7EEu　　— Zama (@zama) July 16, 2026　　Confidential USDC moves into established DeFi infrastructure　　The Steakhouse Confidential Prime USDC vault opened on June 23. Steakhouse Financial curates the strategy, Morpho provides the lending infrastructure, and Zama supplies the confidentiality technology.　　Users deposit confidential USDC, or cUSDC, rather than standard USDC. Zama uses Fully Homomorphic Encryption to keep individual balances and transaction amounts encrypted while allowing the assets to interact with applications on Ethereum. Deposits ultimately enter a strategy using Morpho lending markets backed by collateral including cbBTC, WBTC and wstETH.　　Zama points to $23.23M TVL as a demand signal　　Zama described the vaults growth as evidence that users are willing to place capital into confidential financial infrastructure. The company said “capital is

07-16Industry

Bitcoins old coins have gone quiet and $69,000 could reveal whether the new holders crack

Bitcoin aged one year or more moved on-chain in extraordinary volume during 2024 and 2025, according to Galaxy Research charts shared by analyst Alex Thorn.　　So far in 2026, the total is less than half of 2025s figure, marking a sharp slowdown after two years of near-record movement among older coins.　　Thorn reads the slowdown as evidence that Bitcoins “Great Distribution” has largely run its course, referring to the wave of old, dormant supply that moved during the rally. However, the data alone cannot establish that every transfer placed those coins in new hands.　　Recent history offers only 2017, itself the peak of a major bull cycle, as a rival in terms of the extent to which aged supply was awakened during 2024 and 2025.　　That reading comes with a real caveat, since Galaxys chart excludes exchange and custodial churn, which considerably improves the signal. Coins moving on-chain still only confirm activity on-chain.　　A sale requires a transfer of beneficial ownership, evidence that lives off-chain in ways only investors and custodians can verify.　　Coinbases roughly $69.5 billion internal wallet migration shows why that distinction and Galaxys filtering matter. Large internal reshuffles can distort raw age-based readings, so the chart should be read as evidence of older

07-16Industry

Ondo Crypto Analysis: $0.38 EMA200 Resistance and Bullish Outlook

A quiet tension surrounds Ondo crypto as the price settles at $0.37 — precisely on its daily pivot — on July 16, 2026. The short-term structure looks constructive, yet the EMA200 at $0.38 sits just overhead, carrying weight that traders cannot afford to ignore.　　ONDO/USDT — daily chart with candlesticks, EMA20/EMA50 and volume.Key takeawaysONDO/USDT trades at $0.37, exactly on its daily pivot point as of July 16, 2026.The daily EMA200 at $0.38is the critical resistance that must break for a confirmed bullish trend.The hourly EMA stack is fully bullish, with price above all three key moving averages.Market sentiment sits in Extreme Fearterritory, with the Fear & Greed Index at 25.A daily close above $0.38 would flip the regime from neutral to bullish and shift the risk/reward profile.　　Price action at a crossroads as momentum builds beneath heavy resistance　　ONDO sits at a critical juncture where short-term momentum builds beneath structural resistance that has yet to break. ONDO/USDT is trading at $0.37, precisely on its daily pivot point — a level that reads less like coincidence and more like the market holding its breath. Price has climbed well above the daily EMA20 at $0.33 and EMA50 at $0.34, with the hourly regime flagged as

07-16Industry

The $20 Billion Question: What Counts As Women's Health？

The strategy‘s $4 billion data pillar aims to fix the gaps in women’s health data before the next generation of diagnostic tools is trained on them.　　getty　　The American Heart Association endorsed a women‘s health framework this month. So did the Lupus Foundation of America, the Arthritis Foundation, the National MS Society, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, the COPD Foundation, and Prevent Blindness.　　That list should stop you. Cardiology, rheumatology, neurology, pulmonology, and ophthalmology signed onto a document about womens health. In all, 37 organizations endorsed it. Either they wandered into the wrong room or the room is bigger than anyone had acknowledged.　　The document is the National Strategy to Close the Women‘s Health Gap, released July 15 by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Society for Women’s Health Research, and the Women First Research Coalition. It asks Congress for $20 billion over a decade.　　But the number isn‘t the argument. The argument is that women’s health has been filed as a specialty for 30 years, and that the filing is a reason the money never came.　　It‘s Not Just Reproductive Care. It’s Nearly All Of Medicine　　The womens health gap is the shortfall in research, data, and clinical evidence for conditions that affect women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently.

07-16Industry

Stanford Study: Polymarket's Bitcoin Bets Were Rigged in the Final 10 Seconds

A small group of traders extracted $8.2 million from Polymarkets five-minute bitcoin contracts by pushing the spot price on Binance just before settlement, researchers from Stanford University and Singapore Management University found.　　Key TakeawaysStanford and SMU researchers found 821 traders took $8.2 million from Polymarkets 5-minute bitcoin bets.Net order flow on Binance jumped about 50% in the final 10 seconds before settlement, the study found.The paper says 15-minute contracts show far less abuse, pointing to longer settlement windows as the fix.　　Striking New Findings Emerge　　Polymarket‘s fastest bitcoin betting product shows systematic signs of settlement manipulation, according to a new study by David Dai and Ruizhe Jia of Stanford University’s Department of Management Science and Engineering and Shihao Yu of Singapore Management Universitys Lee Kong Chian School of Business.　　Image source: arxiv.org　　The working paper, titled “Settlement Manipulation in Prediction Markets,” examined roughly 16,000 five-minute bitcoin up-or-down contracts from their Feb. 12, 2026 launch through April. The contracts settle against a Chainlink oracle that aggregates spot prices from major exchanges, meaning whoever can nudge the spot price in the final moments can decide which side of the bet pays out.　　Describing the profits, the authors wrote that manipulators “take $8.2 million in the pushed cycles while

07-16Industry

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