Another eventful week passed by, and as we saw the start of July, several developments in the crypto sector captured the attention of investors. From growing institutional developments for altcoins, to new crypto ETF approvals that signal a broader shift in regulatory sentiment, the market continued to show resilience amidst uncertain times.
Monday
Institutions were on the move at the start of the week. We kicked off Monday reporting about a new massive investment in Ether by BitMine Immersion Technologies. The company announced a $250 million investment to be allocated in Ether, potentially leveraging the asset’s staking features.
Across blockchains, MicroStrategy continued to accumulate Bitcoin. On that same day, Michael Saylor announced another half-billion-dollar $BTC purchase, further cementing MicroStrategy’s role as a leading corporate BTC holder.
Also on this date, we reported the first-ever Solana ETF to brace U.S. markets. The REX-Osprey SOL + Staking ETF gives investors access to both SOL price movement and staking rewards. It’s the first U.S. ETF to include native staking, and it sent a clear signal of growing demand for more integrated crypto investment products.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, Circle made headlines by applying for a federal trust bank license in the U.S. If approved, the new entity—First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A.—would give Circle full custodial capabilities and reduce its reliance on traditional banking partners.
Meanwhile, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) celebrated a very positive month in June. Throughout that month, the fund registered only two negative days, while adding over $4.6 billion in Bitcoin.
Also on that date, the SEC approved a request to convert Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund (GLDC) into an ETF product. If successful, the new fund would be the largest crypto-bundle-ETF in the U.S., providing investors with exposure to Cardano, Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana.
Wednesday
On Wednesday, Bybit and OKX launched fully regulated crypto exchanges in Europe. Both platforms are now live under the MiCA framework, offering services across 29 EEA countries. These are the first major MiCA-native exchanges, setting a new global benchmark for compliance and operational transparency.
Meanwhile, Ripple’s CEO Brad Garlinghouse made sure to distance the crypto firm from Linqto, a private investment platform now under investigation by U.S. regulators. Still on Ripple, the company officially applied for a banking license in the U.S., potentially paving the way for expanded financial services under federal oversight.
Lastly, the ECB moved forward with a dual-track DLT strategy, advancing tech for central bank money settlement in the CeBM infrastructure.
Thursday
On Thursday, June’s non-farm payrolls came in hot at 147,000, beating expectations and effectively taking a July rate cut off the table. But the strength was uneven; private payrolls printed just 74,000, the weakest since October.
Also on Thursday, YZi Labs joined Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, and DTCC in a $135 million Series E round for Digital Asset. The funding backs the Canton Network, a Layer 1 blockchain already processing over $1.5 trillion in monthly tokenized U.S. Treasury repo activity.
Institutional wallets moved $230 million in ETH to cold wallets, reinforcing the reports we saw at the start of the week that corporations may be growing fond of the idea of Ether holding.
Lastly, Koi Security uncovered a large-scale scam involving over 40 malicious Firefox extensions targeting cryptocurrency wallets, including MetaMask, Coinbase, and Trust Wallet. These fake add-ons mimicked real interfaces to steal seed phrases and user data, all while maintaining the appearance of legitimacy.
Friday
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) became the third most profitable ETF under BlackRock’s entire lineup, making an estimated $190 million in profits annually. IBIT now surpassed Blarock’s stock market ETFs in revenue, despite managing far fewer assets.
Also on that date, Russia’s state-owned Rostec announced the launch of RUBx, a TRON-based stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the ruble. The token will run on a new platform called RT-Pay, designed to support self-custody wallets, smart contracts, and direct integration with Russian banks.
Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ passed the House of Representatives on Thursday. Putting aside all the controversy surrounding this bill, many believe that the influx of liquidity due to the extension of the U.S. debt will allow financial markets like stocks to continue performing well in the long term.
Lastly, a long-dormant Bitcoin wallet from 2011 moved 10,000 BTC—now worth over $1 billion—to a new address. The wallet originally received the funds when Bitcoin traded at just $0.70. Minutes later, seven more early wallets reactivated, moving over 80,000 BTC in total. The synchronized transfers sparked new speculation about the owner’s identity, though there’s no confirmed link to Satoshi Nakamoto.
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