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Wintermute said broad-based "altseason" rallies, in which many altcoins rise together, are likely to become less common as institutional investors take a larger share of the crypto market, according to CoinDesk. CoinDesk reported that institutional investors accounted for a record 72% of spot OTC trading volume at crypto market maker and over-the-counter trading platform Wintermute in the first half of this year, up from about 61% in the second half of last year. Wintermute said capital driving market trends is concentrating in a small number of tokens and trading is becoming more selective. The firm added that tokenized real-world assets reached $31 billion in the first half, up about 50%, while average monthly transfer volume more than doubled to $9 billion. Institutional use of tokenized assets was concentrated in U.S. Treasuries, money market funds, and private credit, Wintermute said.

Kraken Institutional, the institutional-investor arm of U.S. crypto exchange Kraken, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Bitcoin infrastructure project VerifiedX to support qualified custody for vBTC, Wu Blockchain reported on July 30. The two sides plan to create an environment that allows institutional investors to hold and use programmable Bitcoin, or vBTC, in a regulatory-compliant manner. According to VerifiedX, vBTC is fully backed by Bitcoin and can be redeemed for BTC at any time through the protocol.

Binance Research said the on-chain market broadly contracted in the first half of 2026, with DeFi total value locked falling 38% and the market capitalization of major layer-one blockchains dropping 42%. According to the report, total DeFi TVL declined by $43.4 billion, while the market capitalization of the six largest layer-one chains fell by $246.5 billion. Ethereum’s average gas fees dropped 75% from a year earlier after a higher gas limit, and transaction volume rose 50%, but network revenue is estimated to decline 53% on an annual basis. The report added that layer-two user activity also fell 77% between January and June. It added that, in contrast to the DeFi slowdown, the first half also saw rapid growth in the real-world asset market led by tokenized stocks, along with higher prediction-market trading volume tied to the World Cup.

The Major Cities Chiefs Association backed the CLARITY Act, citing added law enforcement provisions including coverage for state and local investigative agencies, formalized information-sharing with financial institutions and digital asset firms, and stronger anti-money laundering and suspicious transaction reporting requirements. In a letter to the Senate, the association also said provisions on research into crypto mixers, temporary freezes on suspicious transactions, and fraud prevention measures for crypto kiosks would strengthen investigative capabilities, improve industry accountability, and help protect victims of financial fraud.

US stocks open higher The three major U.S. stock indices opened higher today. - S&P 500: +0.9% - Nasdaq: +1.6% - Dow Jones: +0.58%

Robinhood announced the addition of Fetch.ai (FET).

Aviva Investors launches tokenized U.S. dollar liquidity fund on XRPL Aviva Investors, the asset management arm of UK insurer Aviva, has launched a tokenized version of its U.S. dollar liquidity fund on the XRP Ledger, Cointelegraph said on its official X account. Aviva partnered with Ripple in February.

U.S. Republicans and Democrats have reached a compromise on the ethics provisions of the CLARITY Act, though the details have not been disclosed and the proposal has not received White House approval, CoinDesk reported, citing an anonymous source. According to the report, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego worked out the compromise. CoinDesk said the key question is whether the Senate can begin cloture procedures and move to a vote during the remaining week before the August recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is said to be willing to proceed with a vote depending on Democratic cooperation. The report added that DeFi regulation and stablecoin interest remain major sticking points, while it is also unclear whether the bill can secure the 60 votes needed for passage. If no deal is reached before the recess, consideration of the bill is expected to slip to September.

Quantum Solutions, a Japan-listed company that had been buying Ethereum, announced it sold 1,000 ETH worth $1.9 million through a subsidiary. The proceeds will be used for AI data center construction and infrastructure projects.

U.S. core PCE rises 0.1% in June, below forecast U.S. core personal consumption expenditures prices rose 0.1% month over month in June, below the 0.2% increase expected by economists, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. On a year-over-year basis, the index rose 3.3%, matching forecasts. The core PCE price index, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, is widely viewed as a key inflation gauge for the Federal Reserve. A reading above expectations can weaken expectations for Fed rate cuts, while a softer-than-expected figure can be interpreted as a sign of easing inflation and strengthen expectations for rate cuts. Risk assets generally tend to rise when expectations grow for greater liquidity tied to lower interest rates.

Spain’s largest bank Banco Santander held $4.3 million worth of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT as of the second quarter, Bitcoin Magazine reported.

Fortitude, a mining subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, announced a deal to buy 9,000 Bitmain Antminer Z15 Pro mining rigs for $31.5 million for Zcash mining, at $3,499 per unit. The company also plans to go public through a merger with Nasdaq-listed HeartSciences (HSCS) in the second half, with the combined company expected to trade under the ticker TUDE if the deal closes.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $65,000. BTC is trading at $65,003.99 on the Binance USDT market.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said interest rates may need to rise if the conflict persists. The Bank of England had held its benchmark rate steady at 3.75% earlier that day.

An anonymous whale withdrew 1,249 BTC worth $80.98 million from Binance, according to Whale Alerts data. Exchange outflows are typically interpreted as a sign of holding intent.

Hedge fund that invested $1.11 billion in mining stocks seeks fresh capital after share slump Situational Awareness, a hedge fund that invested about $1.11 billion in shares of Bitcoin mining companies, is seeking new funding from investors and lenders after taking heavy losses in a recent sell-off in AI-related stocks, Cointelegraph reported. The fund was founded in 2024 by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner and had about $20 billion in assets under management as of June 8. It had expanded its investments using borrowed money, while losses widened during the July decline in AI-related stocks. According to a U.S. SEC filing in March, the fund invested about $1.11 billion across seven Bitcoin mining stocks, including IREN, Core Scientific (CORZ), Riot Platforms (RIOT) and CleanSpark (CLSK).

Bitcoin institutional demand is becoming harder to gauge through spot BTC ETF flows alone, CryptoSlate reported. As institutional bitcoin investment channels expand beyond spot ETFs to include yield-generating options products, bitcoin-backed loans and structured credit products, outflows from ETFs may be shifting into other vehicles. Ledn CEO Adam Reeds said investors using BTC as collateral can pursue strategies that are neutral to short-term price swings, making it difficult to assess institutional demand through ETFs alone. He added, "As leverage in the market increases, forced selling could expand among positions that hit liquidation thresholds," pointing to liquidation risks tied to growth in the collateralized lending market.

Bitcoin’s price has been closely tied to the U.S. political calendar, according to an analysis by Alphractal founder Joao Wedson cited by CryptoPotato. Wedson said BTC has repeatedly entered a bear market about one year before U.S. midterm elections, then shifted into a long-term bull market shortly after presidential elections. He added that cycle bottoms have tended to form just before or after midterm elections, while cycle peaks have typically been reached shortly after the winner’s inauguration. Binance Research had previously found that BTC fell by an average of about 56% during U.S. midterm election periods, but rose by an average of 54% in the year after the elections, reflecting a rebound after political uncertainty eased. Wedson added that although BTC has recently recovered, it is still too early to conclude that the market has turned higher, and signs of market capitulation, deleveraging and fresh capital inflows still need to be confirmed.

Uniswap fee switch goes live on Robinhood Chain, driving 142K UNI buybacks Since Robinhood Chain activated the fee switch on Uniswap on July 27, UNI buy volume on the chain has reached 142,000 UNI, according to Dune Analytics data. The activation means part of the fee revenue generated from Robinhood Chain-based trading on Uniswap has been used for UNI buybacks. UNI was trading at $4.07 on CoinMarketCap, up 6.36% over the past seven days.

Hyperscale Data (GPUS), a U.S.-listed Bitcoin treasury company, said it sold about 100 BTC to help fund development of an AI data center in Michigan. The proceeds will be used for construction, core infrastructure and equipment, the company said. Hyperscale Data added it has also secured a credit facility backed by BTC collateral, allowing it to raise funds at a floating interest rate of 4.5% to 5.0%.

Malaysian police raided illegal Bitcoin mining sites in the Tronoh area, arresting two men and seizing 73 mining rigs, the New Straits Times reported. Police said a joint operation with national utility TNB targeted three locations and found all three had been siphoning electricity illegally to mine BTC. The two suspects, ages 40 and 52, are under investigation for electricity theft and damage to electrical installations, according to the report.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said on X he supports all memecoins and may buy or sell some over the next few weeks for testing purposes. He added, "I support all memecoins," and said he had not discussed the disposal of recently donated memecoins with Giggle Academy, an education project led by Zhao. Zhao said Giggle Academy has been converting most donated tokens into BNB or selling them, and added donors should not freely send memecoins and expect them to be burned. He said memecoins donated to Giggle Academy are expected to be sold and used for the free education project.

BitRiver founder Igor Runets has been placed in pretrial detention on fraud charges involving $12.5 million, CoinDesk reported. Russian investigators believe Runets signed an $8 million contract in 2023 to supply mining equipment to Infrastructure of Siberia, a unit of En+, which accounts for about 5% of global aluminum output, and then failed to deliver the equipment, causing losses of more than 1 billion rubles ($12.5 million). Earlier in February, Runets was placed under house arrest on three tax evasion charges, and in the same month a regional arbitration court opened bankruptcy proceedings against Fox Group, the controlling shareholder that holds 98% of BitRiver.

Spot CVD chart as of 10:00 a.m. UTC on July 30 Spot CVD is an order-book analysis chart for the BTC/USDT spot trading pair. The upper panel shows a volume heatmap, while the lower panel represents cumulative volume delta, or CVD. - The volume heatmap tracks trading volume at each price level. The background color becomes brighter when the price stays in a specific range for an extended period or moves sharply. Brighter zones may act as support or resistance. - The CVD indicator shows buy and sell orders by order size. As buy orders increase, the line for the corresponding color rises. The yellow line represents $100 to $1,000 orders, while the brown line represents large orders worth $1 million to $10 million.

Pharos Network (PROS), a layer-one blockchain focused on real-world asset tokenization and AI, said assets under management on asset aggregation platform Pharos Harbor have surpassed $140 million. The assets are allocated across various strategy vaults. Ember Protocol has total value locked of $60 million, while R25 Protocol has TVL of $57 million. Pharos Harbor said it is expanding its position as a one-stop marketplace for integrated institutional-grade RealFi products. The platform currently supports a range of real-world asset strategies, including consumer credit, fixed income, Bitcoin yield strategies, real estate and tokenized yield, and is steadily broadening its product lineup through partnerships with professional asset managers. Based on that, users can access a variety of on-chain yield products through a single platform, while the RealFi ecosystem built on institutional-grade investment strategies continues to expand.