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Ethereum Layer 2 data platform L2Beat announced it has partially excluded Rain Protocol (RAIN) from its data aggregation, citing suspected price manipulation. The move follows a sharp rise in the price of the Arbitrum-based prediction market token last month. According to L2Beat, $7 billion worth of non-circulating RAIN held in a team-controlled multisig has been removed from its collateral calculations. The platform noted that the remaining $2.6 billion is presumed to be used as collateral on Arbitrum, making it the largest collateralized asset within the protocol, surpassing even ETH and USDC. L2Beat described the current situation as absurd and stated it is conducting a further investigation based on the belief that the token's price has been manipulated.

USDC deposits into Morpho are increasing despite a broader downturn in the DeFi sector, TokenTerminal reported via X. While the total value locked (TVL) across all of DeFi has fallen by 42% over the past year, USDC deposits on Morpho have surged by approximately 86% to reach $2.8 billion. Morpho recently launched a privacy-preserving crypto interest product in partnership with ZAMA and Steakhouse Financial. The platform has also integrated a USDC lending product with Coinbase (COIN).

Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House Cryptocurrency Committee, said on X that this is a very important week for the CLARITY Act. He noted that it also marks the first anniversary of the GENIUS Act's enactment. "I want to remind everyone once again how much effort has been put into this bill and how much time we have already wasted," Witt said, stressing that there is "no more time to delay."

China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP), the country's highest prosecutorial body, has called for strengthening investigations into cryptocurrency-related money laundering, The Block reported, citing a paper published on the agency's official website. The paper argued that China's current legal framework has not kept pace with the development of digital asset technology, creating difficulties in investigating money laundering, collecting evidence, and recovering stolen assets. It highlighted the challenges in tracing transactions that use mixers, privacy coins, and decentralized exchanges, stating that existing investigative techniques have proven inadequate for securing evidence. The outlet noted that this stance contrasts with that of the U.S. Treasury Department, which issued a report acknowledging the functions of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Tornado Cash (TORN), Monero (XMR), and Zcash (ZEC). China continues to strictly prohibit cryptocurrency trading.

U.S. President Donald Trump has urged the passage of the CLARITY Act. Posting on Truth Social, he stressed that the U.S. must not allow China to win in the fields of AI and cryptocurrency, stating that many nations, including China, are trying to dominate this "momentous financial revolution." An amended version of the bill, which integrates separate proposals from the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees, is slated for release. This is expected to shed light on the progress of negotiations and key points of contention. The CLARITY Act passed the Senate Banking Committee in May and now awaits a full Senate vote and reconciliation with the House. Industry observers view the ethics provisions, aimed at preventing conflicts of interest related to the Trump family's cryptocurrency ventures, as a central element of the legislation. The final deadline for its passage is considered to be before Congress's August recess.

Jito (JTO) announced that for the next year, it will use 100% of the fees generated from its upcoming trading platform, JTX, for JTO buybacks and burns.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would resume the blockade against Iran. He added that the U.S. would be "reimbursed at rate of 20% on all cargo shipped" to cover the cost of providing security in the Strait of Hormuz.

Stablecoin payments were processed at more favorable rates than interbank foreign exchange rates every month during the second quarter of this year, The Block reported, citing data from U.S. venture capital firm Borderless. This indicates that stablecoins held a cost advantage over traditional financial systems for cross-border payments. The outlet noted, however, that users who consistently use a single platform for stablecoin payments might incur extra fees by missing out on more favorable rates elsewhere. A transfer of $1 million, for instance, could lead to an additional cost of $2,330.

The Bolivian government is technically reviewing a proposal to incorporate Tether (USDT) into its national payment system, CriptoNoticias reported. Minister of Economy José Gabriel Espinoza stated that the government is evaluating a plan that would allow USDT to circulate officially alongside the U.S. dollar and the Bolivian boliviano.

The Securities Transfer Association (STA), which represents the Wall Street transfer agent industry, has urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to favor issuer-approved tokenized securities and apply strict regulations to stock tokens issued by third parties. According to CoinDesk, the STA argued in a comment letter to the SEC that blockchain-based stocks must be actual securities directly approved by the company and listed on the official shareholder register. The association noted that, in contrast, tokens issued by third parties force investors to bear the credit, custody, and operational risks of the issuing platform, making them fundamentally different from real shares. The STA asserted that any future SEC innovation exemptions, pilot programs, no-action relief, or permanent regulatory frameworks for tokenized securities should apply exclusively to the issuer-approved model.

The U.S. Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) plans to demonstrate a blockchain-based, real-time stock trading and settlement process, according to The Information. The demonstration aims to test the efficiency of clearing, settlement, and record-keeping, and is considered a significant step toward the adoption of on-chain securities infrastructure in traditional finance. However, the outlet noted that the project's scope is currently limited and serves more as a technology validation than a full-scale migration of the stock market to blockchain.

The three major U.S. stock indices opened mixed today. - S&P 500: -0.32% - Nasdaq: -0.73% - Dow Jones: +0.08%

With the U.S. Senate back in session, the next four weeks are being viewed as a critical juncture for the passage of the CLARITY Act this year, according to an analysis by CryptoInAmerica. The industry reportedly sees the period before the August congressional recess as the last realistic opportunity to pass the crypto market structure bill this year. However, passing the bill in the full Senate requires 60 votes, making cooperation from Democrats essential. An amended version of the bill, which merges proposals from the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees, is expected to be released this week. This will likely reveal the progress of negotiations and any remaining points of contention. The biggest variable is an ethics provision, as an agreement has not yet been reached with the White House on conflict-of-interest safeguards related to President Trump's cryptocurrency businesses. Democrats and some Republicans are demanding stricter ethics rules concerning the president's crypto ventures. The situation is further complicated for the Republican vote count by the death of Senator Lindsey Graham and the absence of Senator Mitch McConnell, the analysis noted.

Security token platform Securitize announced that the value of assets tokenized on its platform has surpassed $5 billion. The company noted that demand for tokenized assets from institutional investors is growing rapidly and added that it plans to continue expanding the on-chain conversion of real-world assets.

The cryptocurrency market is continuing its deleveraging phase, according to a Q2 market analysis report from crypto prime broker FalconX. The firm noted that spot trading volume fell 25% from the previous quarter to $1.6 trillion, its lowest level since the third quarter of 2023, while futures trading volume declined 12% to $9 trillion. However, FalconX observed signs of the market bottoming out, as spot trading volume in June increased 13% month-over-month and futures open interest stabilized. The report identified the potential passage of the U.S. CLARITY Act and a recovery in ETF inflows as key variables for the third quarter, suggesting that regulatory progress and institutional capital could serve as catalysts for a rebound in the fourth quarter.

Bitmine purchased an additional 27,801 ETH, worth approximately $50.04 million, last week, according to a PR Newswire press release. As of July 12, the company holds a total of 5.77 million ETH. Of this amount, 4.917 million ETH, or about 85%, is currently staked.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed that the company considered shutting down when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed its lawsuit in 2020. Speaking on a podcast, Garlinghouse stated that he and co-founder Chris Larsen had seriously discussed liquidating Ripple and distributing its XRP holdings to shareholders based on their equity. However, after extensive deliberation, they chose to keep the company operational and fight the lawsuit, a decision that protected the jobs of hundreds of employees. He added that the legal battle, which has spanned nearly four years, has cost the company approximately $150 million in legal fees.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that an agreement was reached with Iran, but that Iran violated its promise.

Bitcoin treasury management company Strive purchased an additional 18 BTC last week at an average price of $64,028, CEO Matt Cole announced on X.

TON has announced that network deposits and withdrawals have returned to normal after resolving an earlier processing delay. According to The Block, the network had experienced delays in deposits and withdrawals due to a slowdown in block generation and message processing. The TON core team had previously stated they were working to fix the problem.

Strategy (MSTR) has raised $466 million through its at-the-market (ATM) common stock program, Jumanews reported. According to a company filing, there have been no additional purchases or sales of BTC following the capital raise.

The UK government has launched a financial market tokenization task force with 54 financial institutions, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and UBS, CoinDesk reported. Led by the UK Treasury and supported by the City of London Corporation, the project will spend the next year developing real-world use cases for tokenization in the UK's financial markets, with an initial focus on tokenized repurchase agreements (Repo). In a related report, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) projected that the tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market is expected to grow to $88 trillion by 2035, far exceeding the current crypto market capitalization of about $3 trillion. BCG added that increased adoption of tokenization could boost the UK's annual economic output by up to £33 billion and its annual tax revenue by £14 billion by 2035.

A solo miner using a $250 Bitaxe ASIC miner has successfully mined a Bitcoin block, earning a reward of 3.138 BTC, worth approximately $200,000, Cointelegraph reported.

The trial on the merits and evidence examination for Qian Zhimin's 60,000 BTC case is expected to begin after October of this year, local media outlet Caixin reported. The court plans to focus on several key areas: - The process of transferring and converting the funds - The demonstrable link to the Bitcoin (BTC) seized in the UK - The specific property relationship between the BTC involved in the case Previously, Qian was sentenced to over 11 years in prison by a UK court for laundering the proceeds of a Ponzi scheme in China that defrauded approximately 130,000 people. The laundered funds were converted into Bitcoin worth more than 9 trillion won (approximately $6.5 billion).

Taran Dhillon, head of digital assets at Web3 investment platform Kula, told CoinDesk that the cryptocurrency market this week will be influenced by both macroeconomic indicators and geopolitical risks. He identified the upcoming U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) as key variables that will determine the outlook for interest rates. Dhillon also noted that Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs have shown signs of recovering demand, ending an eight-week streak of net outflows to post net inflows. He added that progress on the U.S. CLARITY Act could also positively impact the market, as clearer legal status and oversight for digital assets would lower the barrier to entry for institutional investors and could lead to greater capital inflows.