Headline
▌U.S. Treasury Secretary Bentsen: The U.S. dollar is coming on-chain
U.S. Treasury Secretary Bentsen posted on platform X that blockchain technology will power the next generation of payments, and the U.S. dollar is coming on-chain, thanks to Trump's leadership and Senator Bill Hagerty's important work in Congress. The GENIUS Act will help solidify the dollar's status as the global reserve currency for future generations. Additionally, U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender also stated that with the GENIUS Act providing legal clarity for stablecoins, the U.S. now has a faster, cheaper, and safer way to transact, increasing global acceptance and demand for digital payments supporting the dollar, reinforcing the commitment to making the U.S. the world's cryptocurrency capital.
▌British media: London Stock Exchange Group considers launching 24-hour trading
According to the Financial Times, the London Stock Exchange Group is considering whether to launch 24-hour trading. Due to the growing demand from active small investors outside of normal business hours, exchanges are competing to extend stock trading hours. Informed sources revealed that the London Stock Exchange Group is studying the feasibility of extending trading hours, covering the required technology and regulatory impacts. One source stated that the London Stock Exchange is 'indeed seriously considering this matter, whether to implement 24-hour trading or extend trading periods,' adding that the exchange group is engaged in 'important commercial, policy, and regulatory discussions' on this 'ongoing issue.' Another source mentioned that this exploration is part of broader discussions about potential new products and services.
Market
As of the time of publication, according to CoinGecko data:
The price of BTC is $117,345, with a 24-hour change of -0.5%;
The price of ETH is $3,748.92, with a 24-hour change of +4.6%;
The price of BNB is $756.99, with a 24-hour change of +3.3%;
The price of SOL is $180.77, with a 24-hour change of +2.3%;
The price of DOGE is $0.2732, with a 24-hour change of +13.2%;
The price of XRP is $3.45, with a 24-hour change of +0.5%.
The price of TRX is $0.3136, with a 24-hour change of -1.3%.
Policy
▌Hong Kong Financial Secretary: Stablecoins are a long-term game, and different assets will be tokenized next
Hong Kong Financial Development Bureau Chairman Hong Pi Zheng recently hosted an annual report press conference, stating that stablecoins should not become objects of speculation and that the digitalization of asset markets is a long-term game. Stablecoins should play a stabilizing role and should not be viewed with a short-sighted perspective, believing that Hong Kong's current pace of development is among other financial centers. Hong also revealed that stablecoins are one part of Hong Kong's financial market digitalization, allowing for the tokenization of trading currency intermediaries, and believes that the next step will involve the tokenization of different assets, but the development process requires time and will not lead to comprehensive tokenization for now.
▌Paul Chan: The Hong Kong SAR government will position AI as a key industry
Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan published a secretary's essay, pointing out that the 35th Hong Kong Book Fair, which lasted for seven days, opened on the 16th at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, setting up a 'Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Special Flash Exhibition Area' for the first time. The Hong Kong government has positioned artificial intelligence as a key industry, from vigorously supporting basic research to promoting the transformation of results, from nurturing local startups to attracting global cutting-edge tech companies to settle, from accelerating the construction of the Northern Metropolis to strengthening cooperation with brother cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in innovation and technology. The development of Hong Kong's innovation and technology industry has already laid a solid blueprint. The Hong Kong government will maintain its focus on goals, drawing a blueprint to the end, and the innovation and technology industry will provide more diverse and high-quality career development opportunities for Hong Kong's youth.
▌U.S. media: Trump administration reviews contracts with Musk's company
According to U.S. media reports on the 20th, after the relationship between President Trump and billionaire Musk deteriorated, the Trump administration has begun reviewing contracts between Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) and several federal government agencies. The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. General Services Administration has requested multiple government agencies, including the Department of Defense and NASA, to fill out forms reporting their cooperation with SpaceX and to assess whether competitors could complete the same work more efficiently. Preliminary assessments indicate that due to SpaceX's dominance in rocket launches and low-orbit satellite services, most government contracts are difficult to cancel. Previously, Trump stated on social media that the simplest way to save federal spending is to 'terminate' government contracts signed with Musk's companies. Musk had fully supported Trump in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, but recently the two sides have had serious disagreements over issues such as the 'big and beautiful' tax and spending bill, leading to a public war of words.
▌Multiple regions warn of illegal fundraising risks related to virtual currencies
Recently, the so-called 'daily interest of 2%' multi-billion Ponzi scheme 'Xin Kang Jia' collapsed, raising societal awareness and vigilance about new types of online fraud. Regulatory agencies have been intensively 'blowing the whistle'; according to incomplete statistics, since July, financial regulatory departments in multiple regions, including Guangdong, Yunnan, Hunan, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, and Fujian, have intensively warned about illegal fundraising risks related to 'virtual currencies' and new types of online fraud.
Blockchain applications
▌Kraken will provide on-chain loans to its users through the Ink on-chain Aave white-label market
According to Aave co-founder Stani.eth's post on platform X, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken will provide on-chain loans to its users through the Ink on-chain Aave white-label market. According to a previous proposal by Aave DAO, by granting a license to deploy a centralized version of the Aave codebase, Aave can expand its technology adoption while creating new revenue streams through partnerships with innovative platforms, with a portion of the revenue returned to the DAO. It is reported that the Ink Foundation has agreed to exclusively collaborate with Aave for at least 12 months after deployment, avoiding integration with any other lending protocols.
▌CoinDCX reaffirms customer fund safety, about to launch recovery bounty program
Sumit Gupta, co-founder of CoinDCX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange that was revealed to have suffered a hacking attack by on-chain detective ZachXBT, reiterated on platform X that customer fund safety is assured, with all user assets stored in isolated cold wallets. The incident was limited to a single operational liquidity provision account, and trading and withdrawals are proceeding normally. CoinDCX is cooperating with law enforcement to recover the stolen funds and is about to launch a recovery bounty program.
Cryptocurrency
▌Bloomberg analysts: BlackRock's Ethereum ETH staking approval deadline should be April next year, but may be approved as early as Q4 this year
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart posted on platform X that the Ethereum ET staking options submitted by multiple institutions 'will take time to complete', with the final deadline for early applicants being late October 2025, but the approval deadline for BlackRock's Ethereum ETH staking application is expected to be around April 2026 (though we believe it may be granted as early as Q4 2025). However, VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital have urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to consider adopting a first-come, first-served approval process, rather than wanting to 'batch approve' along with BlackRock's later submissions.
▌Bitcoin's market share has dropped below the peak for the entire year of 2024
According to market data, Bitcoin's market share (BTC.D) has fallen for 8 consecutive days, currently at 61.15%, below the peak of 61.53% for the entire year of 2024. Previous reports indicated that Matrixport stated that the continuous decline in Bitcoin's market share signifies the arrival of altcoin season.
▌Ethereum's market capitalization surpasses Vanguard Group, ranking 28th globally in asset market capitalization
According to 8marketcap data, Ethereum's market capitalization exceeded $456 billion, surpassing asset management giant Vanguard Group, rising to 28th place in global asset market capitalization.
▌Michael Saylor releases Strategy Bitcoin holdings tracking information again
Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), once again released information related to the tracking of Strategy's Bitcoin holdings on platform X, stating: 'Stay Humble. Stack Sats.' He usually discloses Strategy's Bitcoin accumulation data the day after releasing relevant information.
▌The Pump.fun project associated address deposited 2 billion PUMP tokens into Binance, valued at $12.75 million
According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa), the Pump.fun project associated address has deposited 2 billion PUMP tokens into Binance. The address 58WQi...gv33E previously received 12.5 million PUMP tokens from the project team, of which 25 billion are suspected to be used for Wintermute market making, 8 billion deposited into Bybit, and another 2 billion deposited into Binance, valued at $12.75 million. Binance currently supports PUMP only for Alpha and contracts; according to Ai Yi's analysis, this deposit behavior may correspond to the following possibilities: PUMP is about to conduct an airdrop or other activities in Alpha; PUMP is about to go live on Binance's main spot market; this operation is only to create confusion.
▌Ohio Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings of 21,499 shares of Strategy stock in Q2
According to Barron's Weekly, one of the largest public pension funds in the U.S., the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System disclosed in documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it bought more shares of Palantir Technologies and Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) in the second quarter of this year and sold shares of Lyft. Data shows that the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings by purchasing 21,499 shares of Strategy stock, bringing its total holdings to 101,880 shares at the end of the second quarter. As the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, Strategy has been selling preferred shares to raise more funds to purchase this cryptocurrency, with its stock price rising 40% in the first half of 2025 and 4.7% in the third quarter. The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System has total assets of $155.6 billion, making it the 14th largest public fund in the U.S.
▌This week, significant unlocking of tokens such as AVAIL, VENOM, and ALT will occur
Token Unlocks data shows that tokens such as AVAIL, VENOM, and ALT will experience significant unlocking this week (all times are Beijing time), including: Avail (AVAIL) will unlock approximately 972 million tokens at 4 PM on July 23, accounting for 38.23% of the current circulation, valued at approximately $18.9 million; Venom (VENOM) will unlock approximately 59.26 million tokens at 4 PM on July 25, accounting for 2.84% of the current circulation, valued at approximately $13.4 million; AltLayer (ALT) will unlock approximately 240 million tokens at 6 PM on July 25, accounting for 6.39% of the current circulation, valued at approximately $8.9 million; Sahara AI (SAHARA) will unlock approximately 84.27 million tokens at 8 PM on July 26, accounting for 4.13% of the current circulation, valued at approximately $6.9 million; SOON (SOON) will unlock approximately 41.88 million tokens at 4:30 PM on July 23, accounting for 22.41% of the current circulation, valued at approximately $6.1 million.
Important economic dynamics
▌U.S. Secretary of Commerce: Powell has kept interest rates too high
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo: Powell has kept interest rates too high.
▌U.S. Secretary of Commerce: Small countries need to pay a 10% baseline tariff
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Raimondo: Confident in reaching an agreement with the EU. It is expected that Trump will definitely renegotiate the USMCA trade agreement. Small countries need to pay a 10% baseline tariff. August 1 is the deadline for imposing tariffs.
▌Informed sources: Bentsen urged Trump not to dismiss Powell
According to the Wall Street Journal, informed sources say that U.S. Treasury Secretary Bentsen recently privately advised Trump not to attempt to dismiss Federal Reserve Chairman Powell. Bentsen's reasoning mainly focused on several themes: the potential impact on the economy and markets, the prospect that the Fed might lower interest rates later this year, and the political and legal obstacles that such a move might face. Bentsen believes that firing Powell is unnecessary, as the economy is performing well, the market is responding positively to the president's policies, and Fed officials have already signaled that they may lower rates twice before the end of the year. If Powell were to be dismissed before the end of his term, he might sue, and the lawsuit could drag into next spring, when Powell's term would also be ending. Bentsen also pointed out that the term of board member Kugler will end in January next year, while Powell's term will end in May, which will give Trump one or two vacancies to fill early next year. Bentsen's cautious attitude contrasts with other government officials considering more aggressive strategies. Trump stated to reporters on Tuesday that he found Bentsen 'reassuring'.
Golden Encyclopedia
▌What role do gold, oil, and BTC play in U.S. reserves?
The U.S. government has long relied on gold and oil as reserve assets, but with the increasing popularity of Bitcoin among institutions, its potential role as a strategic reserve has significantly increased. While gold has historically been the backbone of the monetary system, and oil remains an important economic and security asset, Bitcoin represents a new type of digital reserve that challenges traditional financial paradigms. The U.S. holds substantial gold and oil reserves, but its Bitcoin holdings are relatively small, primarily obtained through asset seizures. Gold, oil, and Bitcoin each exhibit unique liquidity and market dynamics, with gold being the most stable, oil driven by geopolitical factors, and Bitcoin characterized by high volatility and around-the-clock accessibility. Gold, oil, and Bitcoin all play strategic roles in the global economy, with gold serving as a hedge, and oil influencing geopolitical stability. Over time, all these assets carry strategic and macroeconomic significance. Their narratives related to broader capital markets may be precisely what is needed to attract investor interest. As institutional adoption grows, Bitcoin's strategic value as a hedge against inflation and government debt is increasingly recognized. Policy measures suggest that establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve could position it alongside traditional assets like gold and oil in the future.
