July’s second week was certainly one for the books. With everything from a change in expectations for interest rate cuts to Bitcoin reaching a new record high, this week was packed with major news that moved the cryptocurrency market.
Monday
Monday kicked off with a report of the FBI probing a $250,000 crypto scam. The criminal posed as the high-profile Trump donor Steve Witkoff and stole USDT via phishing email scams. Fortunately, the FBI managed to freeze 40.3K USDT.ET before the perpetrator continued to cause harm.
Later in the day, Bitcoin corporate giant Microstrategy released its Q2 earnings report. The company disclosed a $14.05 billion yield on its digital asset holdings in the second quarter of 2025, making Microstrategy not only the largest public company holding $BTC, but also the one that profited the most from its holdings.
Perhaps as a hint of what was to come, Bitcoin mining firms stole the spotlight at the start of the week, outpacing Bitcoin itself in market cap growth. Iris Energy shot up by 233%, and Cipher Mining wasn’t far behind with a 195% jump since April.
Tuesday
Heading into the week, the biggest fears of the investment community were the July 9 deadline, when Trump was scheduled to resume tariffs on nations that hadn’t settled a deal with the U.S. Fortunately, the President postponed the deadline for one more month, giving negotiations extra time and a much-needed relief to cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, MiCA started putting real weight behind its promises this week, tightening the EU’s crypto gates. A total of 53 firms got the regulatory thumbs-up to operate, but big names like Tether and Binance didn’t make the cut.
Also on Tuesday, the Truth Social Crypto Blue Chip ETF made waves this week with its S-1 filing—an eyebrow-raising move given the fund’s structure dodges SEC and CFTC regulation by operating as a trust.
Finally, a new bill proposed in the U.S. Senate could sanction El Salvador’s Bitcoin holdings.
Wednesday
Crypto firms flexed their lobbying power on Wednesday, as 65 organizations, representing over 6,000 jobs and 52 million U.S. crypto holders, rallied behind the CLARITY Act. Meanwhile, GMX faced a major setback this week after suffering a $42 million exploit, shaking confidence in one of Arbitrum’s flagship DeFi platforms.
Ripple Labs, the company responsible for $XRP, announced a partnership with BNY Mellon. The bank will now provide custody services for the $RLUSD stablecoin, adding yet another layer of regulatory backing for the new dollar-pegged currency.
And of course, Bitcoin reached new heights on Wednesday afternoon. The market-leading cryptocurrency reached above $112,000 as investors became optimistic about the potential for new interest rate cuts in 2025.
Thursday
Tether authorized the issuance of $1 billion USDT soon after Bitcoin reached a new high. While the reason was not confirmed, the stablecoin issuer could be adjusting its liquidity as market demand increases.
Coinbase and Perplexity AI blurred the line between trading and tech this week by teaming up to deliver real-time crypto insights straight from the Comet browser. Also on Thursday, Bybit launched ‘Bybit EU’ in Austria with full MiCAR compliance, unlocking access to 29 EEA countries.
Market analysts started to reshape their expectations for interest rate cuts in 2025. Places like Bloomberg and Polymarket are now expecting at least one interest rate cut—likely two—with the first most probable for the September FOMC meeting.
Friday
Binance made more headlines this week with the launch of ‘Sharia Earn’, the first halal crypto staking platform certified by Amanie Advisors. With support for BNB, ETH, and SOL, the platform is tailored to Islamic finance principles, avoiding interest and speculation while offering compliant passive income.
Meanwhile, a few memecoins saw gains of up to 240% as traders became more prone to risky deals during the bull market. In other news, Texas surprised markets this week after it approved gold and silver as official payment methods, thanks to House Bill 1056. Set to take effect in 2026.
Texas turned heads this week by greenlighting gold and silver as official payment methods, thanks to House Bill 1056. Set to take effect in 2026, the move underscores a growing appetite for hard assets as fiat currencies become more volatile.
At last, exchange outflows and Bitcoin dominance slip reignited hopes that the current run could turn into an ‘altcoin season’.
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