Latest Crypto News & Market Updates

BlackRock CEO Weighs In on Bitcoin Price Action

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says he is no longer concerned about excessive leverage in the Bitcoin market.　　Earlier this Wednesday, he told CNBC that the cryptocurrency has become considerably more stable after speculative positions ended up being washed out.　　Fink stated that he “was always worried about the leverage in Bitcoin and crypto.”　　According to the BlackRock chief, that dynamic has largely changed. “Thats why we had to wash out,” he added. “And I think theres more stability at these levels here.”　　AI driving profitability　　Much of the interview focused on artificial intelligence rather than cryptocurrencies. Fink argued that demand for computing infrastructure continues to outpace supply and that the United States risks falling behind.　　Digital Currencies　　Fink expressed strong optimism about financial markets over the coming year. He has argued that advances in artificial intelligence will continue driving corporate profitability. “Im very bullish on the markets over the next 12 months,” he said.　　Fink attributed that optimism to rapid technological innovation. “I think the technological revolution is going to power better margins for more companies.”　　He pointed to BlackRock itself as an example of how AI is already improving efficiency. “Weve raised our margins... by 260 basis points over the last 12 months. A lot of it is

07-16Industry

Circle wins legal fight over Hekas USDC minting and redemption account

Circle has secured a court-backed arbitration win after records made public in a Boston federal court detailed why the stablecoin issuer suspended Heka Funds $USDC minting and redemption services over suspected market manipulation involving Tether.　　Court filings submitted by Circle on Tuesday as part of its petition to confirm a February arbitration award said the company concluded the Malta-based arbitrage fund had failed to disclose Tethers role as its principal investor and reasonably suspected trading activity that could have manipulated the $USDC market.　　Retired judge Robert L. Dondero, who served as arbitrator, ruled in Circles favor on the remaining contract claims, finding the company acted within the rights granted under its agreements with Heka.　　Hidden Tether ties became central to the dispute　　At the center of the case was Heka Funds, managed by London-based Abraxas Capital Management, which opened a Circle account in January 2022 for its Elysium Global Arbitrage Fund.　　According to the arbitration record, Heka disclosed only investor Simon Grima during onboarding, while Tether had become the fund‘s dominant capital provider. Testimony from Heka founder Fabio Frontini showed Tether’s investment reached about $800 million by the time of arbitration, accounting for roughly 75% of Elysiums assets.　　Dondero concluded the omission was intentional and wrote

07-16Exchange

How Morgan Stanley plans to bring crypto custody, staking and lending support in-house

In June, Morgan Stanley received preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank for digital assets.　　The OCC decision opened a path for Morgan Stanley Digital Trust to bring custody, transaction administration, fiduciary staking, and collateral support inside the firm.　　The proposed subsidiary would serve Morgan Stanley Wealth Management clients. Its public application presents it as a wholly owned national trust bank, giving the firm a regulated vehicle for functions that separate specialist providers have often handled.　　The OCCs application record classifies the filing as a new bank charter under a holding company with trust powers requested.　　The proposed services cover everything from safeguarding assets to running the day-to-day operations behind an institutional account. It covers custody, purchases, sales, swaps and transfers, fiduciary staking, and collateral administration supporting affiliate digital-asset lending.　　With final approval and implementation, Morgan Stanley could retain customer assets, transaction administration, staking administration, and lending-collateral work within its group.　　That shift puts crypto-native intermediaries under fresh pressure. Third-party custodians, staking administrators, and collateral-service providers face the clearest exposure where their products overlap with the trust banks approved functions.　　Bringing those controls in-house at Morgan Stanley could make outside firms less central to client relationships

07-16Industry

Needham defies AI crash fears with bold SpaceX $250 target

SpaceX stock has steadied above its IPO price after Needham raised its price target to $250 despite growing warnings that an AI stock bubble could threaten financial markets.　　SummaryNeedham raised its SpaceX price target to $250 and maintained a buy rating despite growing AI bubble concerns.Bank of England Governor David Bailey warned an AI stock crash could spill into the economy and affect monetary policy.SpaceX stock is holding above $135 support, with technical indicators showing fading bearish momentum inside a descending channel.　　According to Needham, the investment bank lifted its target on SpaceX shares from $200 to $250 while maintaining a buy rating, arguing that recent AI developments and upcoming launch milestones could support the companys valuation.　　The upgrade comes even as SpaceX stock remains under pressure after a sharp pullback from its post-listing highs.　　Shares traded around $136 at the time of writing on July 15, down 0.18% on the day after briefly falling to the IPO price of $135 earlier this week. The stock had slipped below its Nasdaq debut price of $150 on July 7 as investors continued taking profits following its strong listing rally.　　Source: Yahoo Finance　　You might also like:　　BlackRock joins DTCCs $114T tokenization push for stocks and Treasurys　　Needham sees AI

07-16Industry

XRP Ledger enters final countdown for key fixCleanup3_2_0 upgrade

XRP Ledger has entered the final two-week activation countdown for its fixCleanup3_2_0 amendment after validator support exceeded the networks required 80% approval threshold.　　SummaryXRP Ledgers fixCleanup3_2_0 amendment has entered its two-week activation countdown.The upgrade bundles protocol fixes for lending, permissioned domains, and the Permissioned DEX.Activation is scheduled for July 29 if validator support stays above the 80% threshold.　　According to XRP Ledger governance data, the bundled maintenance amendment currently has 85.71% validator support, with 30 validators voting in favor and five against.　　Under the networks governance rules, an amendment must maintain at least 80% support for two consecutive weeks before it can be activated on the mainnet. If support drops below that level during the countdown, the activation timer resets.　　Validator approval has moved the amendment into its final activation stage　　With the voting threshold now secured, the amendment has entered its activation phase and is currently scheduled to go live on July 29, 2026, at 09:57 UTC, provided validator backing remains above the required level throughout the waiting period.　　XRPL validator Vet shared the update on X, noting that fixCleanup3_2_0 is now in its two-week activation window. Vet also said node operators will need to update their software before the amendment becomes active to ensure

07-16Industry

Sonys stablecoin plan sends PlayStation crypto rumors racing ahead of the facts

According to online chatter, youd be mistaken to think that Sony will soon let PlayStation users buy games using a Sony-issued cryptocurrency. However, the crypto community may be getting ahead of itself.　　On July 2, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval for a proposed Sony Bank-owned trust bank called Connectia Trust. Neither that decision nor Sony Banks announcement names PlayStation, the PlayStation Store, or game purchases.　　The approval simply outlines a financial-services structure that could support payments on Sony properties in the future, but a PlayStation product is not part of the public record.　　What Sony has proposed　　Connectia Trust would be wholly owned by Sony Bank. The OCC decision says the proposed trust would issue a dollar-backed stablecoin, maintain reserves, provide custody and support transfers in a restricted, permissioned closed-loop network.　　Its customers would include U.S. retail customers who already have relationships with Sony Group or its subsidiaries, as well as Sony Group companies.　　That framework could be useful for a consumer platform. It describes a payment system confined to approved Sony properties and defined customers, not an open cryptocurrency that can be spent broadly across the internet.　　Still, the filing uses general terms. It does not identify which consumer

07-15Industry

How EU and UK crypto platforms are already building your 2027 tax report

If you use a crypto platform in the European Union or the United Kingdom, some of your 2026 activity may already be being recorded and will be used to feed tax-information reports in 2027.　　The EUs DAC8 rules and the UKs Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, known as CARF, both began applying on Jan. 1, 2026. The reporting chain now has three distinct stages: a provider collects information during 2026, sends an annual report to the authority to which it must report, and, in some cases, that authority routes the information to the users country of tax residence.　　Coverage depends on the provider, the user, the activity and the relevant reporting regime.　　What providers collect and where it goes　　Under DAC8, crypto-asset service providers collect data on reportable transactions involving EU residents, including users living in the providers own Member State.　　UK providers collect identifying details from every user, but only include some overseas customers in their annual reports.　　HMRCs collection guidance says covered UK providers collect identifying details for all users and reportable transaction data for users in the UK and other CARF countries. The information may include tax residence and tax identification numbers, as well as reportable transaction data.　　The reports received by authorities are more standardized

07-15Industry

Near $65K, Bitcoins 2 year social media drop off is hiding a $4.3 billion whale exit and a new class of buyers

Crypto discussion across X, Reddit, Telegram, and other major social channels has fallen to its second-lowest daily level since October 2024, according to Santiment.　　Bitcoin holds near $64,609 through that same stretch, with an intraday high of $64,832 and a low of $61,823 in recent sessions.　　That combination usually reads as a setup in which retail traders stop chasing every price move, making positioning less crowded and allowing larger investors to accumulate before public attention returns, at least in theory.　　A dual-axis chart shows Bitcoin near $64,609 as a crypto social discussion index falls to its second-lowest level since October 2024.A whale cohort divided　　CryptoQuant found that wallets holding 100 to 1,000 BTC distributed roughly 67,000 BTC on July 13, the cohorts strongest selling activity since February.　　At current prices, that comes to about $4.3 billion moving out of those wallets in a single day, equal to roughly 0.33% of Bitcoins circulating supply of nearly 20 million BTC.　　A separate CryptoQuant analysis points out that newer whale wallets have continued accumulating, with supply rotating away from older whale cohorts toward these newer ones.　　That split describes a redistribution of Bitcoins supply between large-holder cohorts, two groups making different bets on the same asset at the same moment.Cohort

07-15Industry

XRP Enters AI Agent Payments Push as Ripple Joins x402 Foundation

Why Ripple Joined the x402 Foundation　　Ripple announced on July 14, 2026, that it joined the x402 Foundation as a Premier Member, giving the company a role in the protocol‘s technical and governance development. The foundation, which operates under the Linux Foundation, was created to support an open, vendor-neutral standard for payments over HTTP. Ripple’s membership connects the $XRP Ledgers x402 support to a broader industry effort focused on AI-driven payment infrastructure.　　The x402 Foundation launched with 40 members across finance, cloud infrastructure, payments, and blockchain sectors. Premier Members include Adyen, Amazon Web Services (AWS), American Express, Circle, Cloudflare, Coinbase, Fiserv, Google, Mastercard, Monad Foundation, Moonpay, Ripple, Shopify, Solana Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, Stripe, and Visa.　　General members include Aleo, Fireblocks, Galaxia Moneytree, Hecto Financial, Injective, Kakaopay, Kite AI, Layerzero Labs, Merit Systems, NEAR Foundation, Orthogonal, Polygon Labs, Quant Network, SKALE, t54 labs, Utexo, World Liberty Financial, and zerohash. Associate Members include BSV Association, Cardano Foundation, Casper, Japanese Contents Blockchain Initiative, and OMA3. The group operates under open governance to develop an interoperable payment standard.　　Ripple‘s participation also highlights the $XRP Ledger’s compatibility with x402. The company has highlighted $XRP Ledger infrastructure supporting agentic payments through x402, including transactions using $XRP and Ripple USD

07-15Exchange

TSMC Revenue Soars by 68% as AI Chip Demand Pushes Growth Beyond Expectations

Key highlights:TSMC reported a 67.9% year-over-year increase in June revenue and a 6.2% monthly gainFirst-half 2026 revenue reached NT$2.4 trillion ($75 billion), up 35.6% from a year earlierAnalysts say strong AI demand and fully booked advanced-node capacity continue to drive growth　　Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the worlds largest contract chipmaker, reported a sharp increase in June revenue, highlighting the continued strength of the artificial intelligence boom ahead of its second-quarter earnings release this week.　　The company generated NT$442.68 billion ($13.8 billion) in June revenue, representing a 67.9% increase year-over-year and a 6.2% rise from May. The figures helped push TSMC shares up roughly 1% in Monday trading.　　For the first six months of 2026, TSMC reported revenue of NT$2.4 trillion ($75 billion), marking a 35.6% increase compared to the same period last year.　　AI demand continues to power TSMCs growth　　The latest revenue figures suggest that spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure remains robust despite concerns about valuation levels across technology markets.　　Discover more　　Distributed & Cloud Computing　　NEWS　　invested　　TSMC manufactures advanced semiconductors for some of the world‘s largest technology companies, including Nvidia, Apple, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The company’s cutting-edge production nodes are critical for powering AI accelerators, data centers, smartphones, and high-performance computing systems.　　According to SemiAnalysis

07-15Industry

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