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A South Korean crypto company executive who allegedly defrauded investors of more than 3 billion won ($2.2 million) while promoting an NFT project with a former national soccer team player had a prison sentence reduced on appeal, KBS reported. At a sentencing hearing today, the Incheon branch of the Seoul High Court overturned a lower court ruling that had sentenced the executive, a man in his 20s identified only as A, to seven years in prison on fraud charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, and instead handed down a sentence of six years and six months. Prosecutors charged A with deceiving more than 30 investors and causing losses of over 3 billion won between March 2021 and July 2022 while running a coin business. He had recruited investors by saying they could buy the coin cheaply before it was listed on a South Korean exchange and profit after the listing, but no domestic listing took place. During the fundraising process, A also used former national soccer team player B as a promotional model.

Bybit announced it will delist BOBBOB/USDT perpetual futures at 9:00 a.m. UTC on July 27.

South Korean exchange Bithumb announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals of Polygon Ecosystem Token (POL) starting at 11:00 a.m. UTC on July 29 to support a POL network upgrade.

India’s parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has recommended that the government introduce an interim framework to oversee the cryptocurrency market, Financial Feed reported. The committee proposed that an accredited self-regulatory organization, or SRO, handle market oversight and maintain investor protection and market order until related rules are put in place. According to the committee, the interim SRO would operate under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), with a standard code of conduct covering consumer protection, transparency in platform operations and token disclosure standards. It also plans to conduct exchange reserve audits, require the segregation of client and corporate funds, and set up a system for handling user complaints.

Monthly trading volume for Solana-based stock tokens surged about 2,400-fold over the past year, rising from $1.34 million to $3.32 billion, BeInCrypto reported. The outlet said the increase points to rapidly expanding institutional interest in onchain capital markets. Monthly trading volume across commodities, credit assets, collectibles and stocks grew from about $156 million in June last year to the multibillion-dollar range a year later. For stocks alone, monthly volume climbed from $670 million in April to $3.3 billion in June, marking a record high. BeInCrypto said the growth coincided with the New York Stock Exchange listing of real-world asset tokenization platform Securitize. After listing on the New York Stock Exchange in July, Securitize tokenized SECZ shares tied to SpaceX on Solana, according to the report.

Ethereum (ETH) built bullish momentum during a prolonged downturn, and its recovery now appears to be gaining traction, according to U.Today. The outlet said Ethereum had been in a six-month capitulation phase, with on-chain data showing most ETH holders were underwater and sellers in control. It added the market is only beginning to recover from that downward pressure, citing an average holder cost basis of $1,880 as evidence. U.Today said a break above the 100-day exponential moving average could pave the way for a retest of the psychologically important $2,000 level. It added bullish momentum remains firm despite a recent short-term pullback, while the relative strength index appears supportive of buying demand.

A South Korean court ruled that the Financial Intelligence Unit’s measure barring exchange services for stablecoins and other virtual assets for foreign customers was lawful, Edaily reported. The Seoul Administrative Court’s sixth division dismissed a lawsuit filed by South Korean blockchain fintech platform Darwin KS against the FIU on July 24, citing the requirement for a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license to operate coin exchange services.

Japan is expected to launch spot BTC ETFs in 2028, and those products could attract $18.4 billion in inflows, according to Xwin Research Japan. The firm said Japan’s household financial assets total about $14.6 trillion, meaning even $18.4 billion in spot BTC ETFs would account for just 0.13% of that total. It added the figure would also equal about 1% of Japan’s publicly offered equity investment fund market.

Decentralized crypto exchange Aster (ASTER) has launched the beta version of Aster Vault, according to its official X account. Aster Vault is an account managed by a single trader through one portfolio, and individual users can join a vault by depositing USDT or USD1. If the trader managing the vault posts trading gains or losses, users who deposited into that vault share the profit or loss in proportion to their stake. When a vault generates profits, the managing trader receives compensation when users withdraw their deposits. Each vault has a set lock-up period, and deposits can be withdrawn only after that period ends. Vault managers can also choose whether to disclose their positions. As the service remains in beta, only traders on Aster's whitelist can create vaults.

South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb announced the removal of TAIKO from their delisting watchlists, saying they determined the reasons for the trading caution designation had been resolved.

Bitcoin mining pool Poolin has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with its U.S. affiliates Lonestar Dream and Lonestar Taproot, and is seeking to sell Bitcoin mining facilities on a Texas site, theenergymag reported. Poolin had previously suspended withdrawals in September 2022 after facing a liquidity crunch amid the cryptocurrency market plunge in 2022.

The spot CVD chart for the BTC/USDT spot trading pair shows order book analysis, with a volume heatmap on the top panel and cumulative volume delta, or CVD, on the bottom panel. - The top volume heatmap tracks trading volume by price range. The background color becomes brighter when the price stays in a specific range for a longer period or moves sharply. Areas closer to brighter colors may act as support or resistance. - The bottom cumulative volume delta indicator reflects buy and sell orders by fund size. As buy orders increase, the line in the corresponding color rises. The yellow line represents orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line represents large orders between $1 million and $10 million.

The following are the 24-hour long/short ratios for BTC perpetual futures on the world’s three largest crypto futures exchanges by open interest: Overall: 51.89% long, 48.11% short - Binance: 47.95% long, 52.05% short - OKX: 54.83% long, 45.17% short - Bybit: 55.56% long, 44.44% short

The OKX app no longer appears in South Korea’s Google Play Store. Google Play had previously posted a notice saying that, starting Jan. 28, it could restrict downloads and updates of apps from offshore exchanges that are not registered as virtual asset service providers with the Financial Intelligence Unit under South Korea’s Financial Services Commission. Bybit was also removed from the list of apps available for installation on South Korea’s Google Play Store on July 10.

Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX is facing a class action over allegations it manipulated forced liquidations on the day it announced the shutdown of its exchange operations, Cointelegraph reported. According to the report, BKX Services and David Namdar filed the lawsuit against BitMEX in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs claimed they lost a combined 622.66 BTC in forced liquidations, with BKX saying it lost at least 305.81 BTC and Namdar reporting losses of more than 316.85 BTC. They alleged BitMEX intentionally designed its system so it could profit from customer liquidations. The suit also alleged an internal trading desk had access to customers' nonpublic trading information and was able to keep trading while regular users could not close positions during server disruptions. BitMEX had earlier announced it would end exchange operations at 4:00 a.m. UTC on Sept. 23.

HYPE spot ETFs recorded a $1 million net outflow on July 23, while no net inflows or outflows were recorded for SOL ETFs and XRP ETFs. - HYPE: -$1 million

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted about $26.3 million in net inflows on July 23, according to Farside Investors, marking a fifth straight trading day of net inflows. - Fidelity FETH: +$14.9 million - BlackRock ETHA: +$8.5 million - BlackRock staking ETHB: +$2.9 million

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded about $225.1 million in net outflows on July 23, according to Farside Investors, reversing course after seven straight trading days of net inflows. - BlackRock IBIT: -$202.5 million - Fidelity FBTC: -$5.6 million - Bitwise BITB: -$7.0 million - ARK Invest ARKB: -$4.3 million - Franklin EZBC: -$5.6 million - WisdomTree BTCW: -$5.1 million - Morgan Stanley MSBT: +$5.0 million

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong identified AI agents as a key source of demand for stablecoins. In a post on X, he said "스테이블코인 결제는 사람에게는 있으면 유용한 수단이지만, 에이전트에게는 필수 수단."

An anonymous whale address has staked 2.93 million HYPE on Hyperliquid, worth about $172 million, according to Lookonchain. The holdings were estimated to have been accumulated nine months ago at an average price of $44 per HYPE and are currently showing an unrealized gain of more than $44.5 million.

Capital flows into gold and Bitcoin have emerged as a key question as total outstanding U.S. federal public debt approaches $40 trillion, cryptocurrency options trading platform BIT said in an analysis. In a post on X, BIT said expanded fiscal spending in the United States is unlikely to face immediate constraints as long as the U.S. economy keeps growing and overseas investors continue to support fiscal deficits and Treasury issuance. BIT added, however, that concerns are growing that major Treasury holders such as Japan could gradually reduce their U.S. Treasury holdings to defend rapidly depreciating domestic currencies. Rising U.S. Treasury yields reflect not only those concerns but also the risk that China could further cut its holdings, BIT said. China has continued to reduce the share of U.S. Treasurys in its foreign exchange reserves and increase its gold holdings as part of reserve diversification, according to BIT.

U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat, said the ethics provisions in the Republican-backed CLARITY Act revision were inadequate and that he plans to work with Republicans on another amendment, Cointelegraph reported, citing Politico. Earlier, Senate Republicans released a revised version of the CLARITY Act that included an ethics provision barring all federal officials, including President Donald Trump, from issuing or endorsing digital assets. Gallego said the Republican proposal was not a serious offer, did not properly reflect months of bipartisan talks, and that negotiations were still underway, with new language to be presented.

Binance announced the addition of monitoring tags to LSK, ACX and STX. Tokens with a monitoring tag carry higher volatility and risk than other tokens and could face delisting in the future.

The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - ETH: $55.83 million liquidated (89.53% longs) - BTC: $49.26 million liquidated (88.13% longs) - SOL: $7.22 million liquidated (94.42% longs)

Taiwanese singer Jeffrey Huang, also known as Machi Big Brother, sold Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT #6801 for 8.61 ETH two hours ago, taking a 14.89 ETH loss, or about $28,000, according to Lookonchain. Huang had bought the NFT for 23.5 ETH three years ago. Lookonchain said the sale was intended to raise additional funds after the liquidation of Huang's Ether long position.