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Japan's Sony Group has received conditional approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a trust bank for issuing and managing a dollar-backed stablecoin, BankingDive reported. The subsidiary, Connectia Trust, under Sony Financial Group, is set to be established this month with $40 million in capital. Sony is preparing to launch the business in 2027, though specific products and target customers were not specified in the disclosure. The OCC attached an unusual condition, reserving the right to require Connectia to appoint a full-time Chief Financial Officer (CFO) who cannot hold other positions if deemed necessary. Local industry groups, including the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) and the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), have opposed such charters. They argue that the approval grants bank-like status and credibility to stablecoin issuers without imposing bank-level obligations like deposit insurance. Sony first applied for the charter in October of last year.

U.S. Central Command announced that American forces completed a new round of strikes against Iran on July 8. The operation aimed to further degrade Iran's ability to attack merchant vessels and civilian sailors in the Strait of Hormuz, hitting around 90 military targets including air defense systems, coastal surveillance assets, missile and drone storage facilities, naval forces, and military logistics infrastructure. On the previous day, July 7, U.S. forces also conducted offensive strikes against approximately 80 military targets, including over 60 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps small high-speed boats. This action was taken to impose a heavy price on Iran for violating a ceasefire by attacking three merchant ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command emphasized that American forces remain on high alert with robust combat capabilities, ready to conduct operations at any time as directed by the Commander-in-Chief.

The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - BTC: $64.06 million liquidated (73.51% longs) - ETH: $42.17 million liquidated (69.29% longs) - SOL: $12.56 million liquidated (75.77% longs)

Shin Hyun-song, Governor of the Bank of Korea, said on July 9 that he believes stablecoins and deposit tokens each have their own specialized uses. According to Yonhap News, Shin made the remarks during a plenary session of the National Assembly's Finance and Economy Planning Committee in response to a question from Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Do-geol. He stated that stablecoins and deposit tokens will maintain a competitive and complementary relationship within the monetary ecosystem. Shin also emphasized that his position on the need to promptly introduce a system for won-based stablecoins remains unchanged.

Nado, a perpetual futures decentralized exchange (perp DEX) built on Ink Chain, announced it is expanding its xPoint rewards for users of its xStocks stock token product. Users can earn xPoints by trading xStocks or depositing them as collateral. Additionally, users who trade daily across all xStocks markets can receive up to a 10% xPoint bonus. Holding xStocks as collateral applies an additional 25% xPoint multiplier. Registration on the points page is required to receive the rewards.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has described asset manager Vanguard's hiring for a 'Head of Digital Assets' as a major victory and validation for the crypto industry. Writing on X, Balchunas argued that the very creation of a role with 'digital assets' in its title represents a significant win. He claimed that Vanguard was effectively the last holdout, aside from Peter Schiff and one washed-up actor. However, Balchunas also relayed Vanguard's explanation that the company has not caved or turned pro-Bitcoin, but is instead looking to utilize the underlying technology.

A significant correction in the U.S. stock market could prompt a Federal Reserve intervention that would also benefit BTC and the broader cryptocurrency market, according to an analysis by Cointelegraph. The outlet noted that the U.S. stock market's capitalization has grown by 68% over the last five years, with an increase of about $6 trillion this year alone. If a correction occurs, the Fed might break with decades of practice to stabilize the market through measures like interest rate cuts, balance sheet expansion, or even purchasing specific ETFs. With 58% of Americans owning stocks, Cointelegraph argued that political pressure to prevent a prolonged bear market would be immense, as the market is too large to fail. The analysis concluded that because crypto prices are heavily influenced by dollar liquidity and risk sentiment, a Fed defense of risk assets would lower the risk premium, allowing BTC to benefit from improved liquidity and risk appetite.

Texas residents have lost a total of $56.8 million to cryptocurrency ATM scams over the past year, according to Cryptopolitan. An estimated 1,200 residents in the state have fallen victim to these schemes. The scams typically involve fraudsters impersonating government officials or corporate employees. They contact victims by phone, falsely claiming the target is in legal trouble or owes money. The scammers then instruct the victims to convert cash into cryptocurrency at an ATM and transfer it to a designated wallet address.

An anonymous whale address starting with 0xd0a2 sold seven million 币安人生 tokens, worth approximately $4.95 million, today, EmberCN reported via X. Of the total, 6.9 million tokens (about $4.88 million) were transferred to Binance, while the remaining 100,000 tokens (around $70,000) were swapped for BNB. The address initially acquired 18.5 million 币安人生 for just 2.14 BNB (approximately $2,480) shortly after the token's launch last October, realizing a 5,000-fold return. The whale began taking profits in early June and has since sold a total of 10.5 million 币安人生 for about $7.33 million. The address still holds eight million 币安人生, valued at around $5.71 million.

South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has approved the business combination of Mirae Asset Financial Group and cryptocurrency exchange Korbit, The Asia Business Daily reported. Although the acquiring entity is Mirae Asset Consulting, a non-financial affiliate, the FTC considered the acquisition to have been made by Mirae Asset Group itself. The decision is expected to stimulate various types of transactions involving exchange equity.

Russia's largest private bank, Alfa-Bank, plans to offer cryptocurrency-related services to both individual and corporate clients, crypto media outlet Bits.media reported. Dmitry Bitman, the bank's Chief Operating Officer (COO), explained that it will develop open blockchain-based investment products to attract foreign investment and also plans to provide digital custody services.

Robinhood Chain has generated $57,000 in on-chain revenue since its launch, with 8% of this amount being distributed to the Arbitrum DAO treasury, according to on-chain analyst Tom Wan. Citing a post by Steven Goldfeder, co-founder of Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs, Wan explained that 10% of fees collected from all Arbitrum Layer 2 (L2) networks, including Robinhood Chain, flow into the Arbitrum ecosystem. Wan added that this revenue-sharing structure shows how institutional use of Arbitrum benefits the ARB token. According to Goldfeder, 8% of the 10% share is allocated to the treasury, while 2% goes to development funds. Fees collected on Arbitrum One are directed entirely to the Arbitrum treasury.

Joe Burnett, vice president of the Nasdaq-listed company Strive, which maintains a strategic Bitcoin reserve, stated that understanding the concept of BTC's break-even Annualized Rate of Return (ARR) is key to grasping the market's structure. On X, he outlined three primary ways global capital invests in BTC. The first is a long-term bullish strategy, where investors who can secure long-term financing for under 20% annually use it to purchase more BTC. The second is a neutral strategy, represented by digital credit, which views a mere 3.3% annual rise in BTC as sufficient to sustain dividends through capital gains. Burnett noted that investors with this outlook simply require BTC to survive and outperform inflation long-term, a perception he suggested may already be somewhat priced into the market. The final approach is a bearish strategy, involving shorting BTC or its leveraged products to bet on price declines. He concluded by explaining that BTC-linked financial products tailored to these three investment styles already exist and will serve as the channel for $1 quadrillion in global capital to enter the market.

According to Iran's state-run Press TV, Iran has launched a retaliatory attack against a U.S. military base in Kuwait.

Bitcoin is in an undervalued range, and a significant price recovery could occur once long-term holders (LTHs) reduce their loss-selling, according to an analysis by on-chain analytics firm Glassnode. The firm's report stated that for the past five months, the price of BTC has remained below both its True Market Mean (TMM)—the average price of actively traded BTC—and the cost basis for short-term holders. During this time, loss-selling by LTHs accounted for up to 43% of all realized profit and loss, with daily losses reaching $280 million, the highest level since December 2022. While ETF fund flows have somewhat calmed, they continue to see net outflows. Daily trading volume is also lingering between $650 million and $950 million, down approximately 80% from its peak last October, indicating that institutional demand has not yet clearly stabilized. In the derivatives market, investors are beginning to cautiously bet on an upside. The put/call ratio has fallen to its lowest point this year, yet the broader options market remains wary of downside risk. The spot price is also trading well below the "Max Pain" level, the price at which option buyers would incur the greatest losses. Glassnode concluded that from three perspectives, the market is showing consistent signs of being in the latter stages of a bear market. The firm emphasized that while the market has the necessary conditions to form a bottom, confirming signals have not yet appeared. A reversal in sentiment would require a further easing of selling pressure from LTHs, stabilization in institutional fund flows, and ideally, a sustained rise in the BTC price above the TMM.

Global payments infrastructure company Nium has acquired crypto wallet app CYPR, the latter announced. As a result of the acquisition, existing CYPR services—including its app, business card platform, and ecosystem—will be phased out and will only be available until Sept. 6, 2026. While card top-ups have already been suspended, payment functions will remain active until Aug. 7. CYPR Rewards will be paid out for transactions made through July 16.

CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index has risen to 51, an increase of three points from yesterday. The index determines whether it is an "altcoin season" by comparing the performance of the top 100 coins (excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins) against Bitcoin. An altcoin season is declared when 75% of these top coins outperform Bitcoin over the preceding 90 days. Conversely, a period of Bitcoin outperformance is termed a "Bitcoin season." A score closer to 100 signifies a stronger altcoin season.

Hyundai Card and Hyundai Motor have completed a Proof of Concept (PoC) for remittances between the automaker's U.S. and Mexico subsidiaries using stablecoins, The Asia Business Daily reported today. The companies plan to conduct a subsequent PoC between Hyundai Motor's European subsidiaries. The recent test involved stablecoin issuer Tether, Avalanche, and blockchain payment infrastructure firm Axiym, in addition to Hyundai Card and the Hyundai Motor subsidiaries.

The Fear & Greed Index from cryptocurrency data provider CoinMarketCap registered 26 today, down two points from yesterday, indicating that the market remains in a state of 'Fear.' The index measures market sentiment on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 represents extreme fear and 100 signifies extreme optimism. CoinMarketCap's index is calculated based on factors including the price movements of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, market volatility, derivatives data such as the put-call ratio, the Stablecoin Supply Ratio (SSR), and the platform's own search data.

The Spot CVD chart provides an order book analysis for the BTC/USDT spot pair. The top section displays a Volume Heatmap, while the bottom section shows the Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD). - The top Volume Heatmap tracks the volume of trades at specific price levels. The background color brightens when the price remains in a certain range for an extended period or moves significantly. These brighter areas may act as potential support or resistance levels. - The bottom CVD indicator represents buy and sell orders categorized by trade size. As buy orders increase, the corresponding colored line rises. The yellow line indicates orders between $100 and $1,000, while the brown line represents large orders between $1 million and $10 million.

Polymarket is accelerating its re-entry into the U.S. market with a major marketing offensive, The Washington Post reported. The company has signed partnerships with Major League Baseball (MLB), CNBC, and CNN, and is also promoting its services through social media influencers as part of a strategy to enhance its brand's legitimacy and market credibility. Polymarket withdrew from the U.S. market four years ago after reaching a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over allegations of offering illegal derivatives trading. The company subsequently faced controversies, including regulatory investigations and a raid on its CEO's home, but all related probes were terminated following a change in the U.S. administration. Polymarket is now pursuing a resumption of its U.S. operations by offering compliant sports betting products under the supervision of the CFTC.

DeFi asset management platform Zapper will cease operations on Aug. 3, The Block reported. Zapper co-founder and CEO Seb Audet said the team explored multiple possibilities and tried every available option before concluding that shutting down the service was the most appropriate decision. Launched in 2019, Zapper is a DeFi portfolio tracking platform that allows users to view multiple liquidity pools, investment statuses, and reward histories in one place.

An address believed to belong to crypto investment firm Multicoin Capital deposited 167,000 HYPE, worth $11.2 million, to Galaxy Digital's over-the-counter (OTC) desk approximately 38 minutes ago, according to Onchain Lens. Deposits to trading desks are typically interpreted as an intent to sell.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat, has urged Senate leadership to ensure that a provision protecting blockchain developers remains in the final version of the CLARITY Act. In a letter to Senate Majority Whip John Thune and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Wyden requested that Section 604, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), be included in any future amendments to the CLARITY bill. The BRCA, originally a separate bill now integrated into the CLARITY Act, aims to establish a legal safe harbor ensuring that developers of non-custodial blockchain software are not treated as money transmitters. The bill was introduced earlier this year by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, with Wyden as the sole Democratic co-sponsor. Wyden stressed that sound policy allows for both law enforcement and innovation, and that the BRCA must be included as the bill is debated. The cryptocurrency industry supports the provision, arguing it provides legal clarity for developers and helps prevent blockchain development from moving overseas. However, some law enforcement agencies have voiced opposition, concerned that it could weaken safeguards needed to combat human trafficking and investigate crimes.

Binance Wallet has integrated Plume's flagship yield-bearing vault, nBASIS, allowing users to invest on-chain in tokenized funds from Bitwise and Invesco, The Block reported. The available products are the Invesco Short Duration U.S. Government Securities Fund (USTB) and the Bitwise Crypto Carry Fund (USCC). The USTB fund currently holds over $860 million in assets under management, while the USCC fund manages over $170 million. Both funds, which were tokenized by Superstate, are currently offering yields of around 3.5%.