Latest Crypto News & Market Updates

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

ARK pushes back against a16z‘s ’TradFi wants blockchain, not DeFi claim

ARK Invest‘s director of research pushed back against investor a16z crypto’s thesis that traditional finance will adopt blockchain through permissioned infrastructure rather than decentralized finance (DeFi).　　Lorenzo Valente said in a Wednesday X post that public blockchains have already outperformed private blockchain initiatives, citing the growth of tokenized assets on Ethereum and other open networks.　　He added that crypto-native firms such as Circle and Coinbase, rather than incumbent financial institutions, are best positioned to build the next generation of financial infrastructure.　　A day earlier, a16z crypto argued that traditional financial institutions are not embracing DeFi but selectively adopting blockchain technology that fits existing compliance, governance and operational requirements.　　The venture capital firms X post said banks and asset managers will build “programmable financial infrastructure” that borrows blockchain primitives such as tokenization and atomic settlement while remaining permissioned and institutionally controlled.　　Sentora co-founder Jesus Rodriguez also pushed back against a16z‘s thesis, saying institutions are likely to adopt DeFi’s underlying infrastructure while layering compliance, custody and other enterprise controls on top.

07-16Exchange

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

Jeff Booth, Lyn Alden-backed ORANGE JUICE raises $40 million to launch permanent capital firm with bitcoin treasury strategy

Quick TakeORANGE JUICE has raised $40 million to launch a permanent capital company that will acquire and permanently own American businesses while pursuing a bitcoin treasury strategy.　　ORANGE JUICE has raised $40 million to launch a permanent capital company that will acquire and permanently own American businesses while pursuing a bitcoin treasury strategy.　　The Connecticut-based company said in a statement on Wednesday that it will target cash-flow-generating businesses with between $1 million and $10 million in annual cash flow across various sectors.　　According to the statement, ORANGE JUICE was founded by partners from bitcoin venture capital firm ego death capital, including Jeff Booth, Lyn Alden, Nico Lechuga and Andi Pitt, alongside Adrian Steckel, with Ruben Zweiban serving as operating partner.　　The company said acquired businesses will retain their identities, while founders can retire, continue operating, or transition leadership over time. Sellers will receive part of their consideration in ORANGE JUICE equity.　　“Building a business takes decades. Founders deserve more than one path when its time to transition ownership,” founding partner Nico Lechuga said.　　ORANGE JUICE said it is structured as a permanent capital company rather than a traditional private equity fund and is not constrained by fund cycles or pressure to resell portfolio companies.　　Ricardo Salinas, founder

07-16Industry

US Senate unanimously adopts resolution opposing clemency for SBF

The US Senate has adopted a resolution opposing executive clemency for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted crypto executive behind one of the industrys largest collapses.　　The Senate has agreed by unanimous consent to the simple resolution (S. Res. 772), with a nonbinding measure stating that Bankman-Fried should not receive executive clemency, according to a Wednesday X post by the Senate Press Gallery.　　The resolution affirms the Senate‘s commitment to the rule of law and the integrity of the US financial system following Bankman-Fried’s conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges related to FTXs collapse.　　The measure cannot block a presidential pardon but reflects bipartisan Senate opposition after Bankman-Fried sought executive clemency from President Donald Trump.　　Senate weighs in, but cannot block a pardon　　Introduced on June 17 by Senator Ruben Gallego, with Senator Cynthia Lummis as a cosponsor, S. Res. 772 opposes any form of federal clemency for Bankman-Fried, including a presidential pardon or sentence commutation.　　Unlike legislation, a simple Senate resolution does not require approval from the House or the president and does not have the force of law, according to the Senates “Types of Legislation” guide.Source: Senate Press Gallery　　Congress.gov had not yet reflected the latest floor action at the time of publication.　　Related: FTX

07-16Industry

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