The global crypto market added 0.6% in the past 24 hours, lifting total market capitalization to $3.96 trillion. Bitcoin (BTC) slipped 0.5% to around $116,600, while Ethereum (ETH) surged over 3% to $4,020 — its first move above the $4K mark this year. Sector-wide gains ranged between 1%–3%, led by DeFi (+3.2%), powered by Chainlink (LINK), which jumped 8.6% on the day and is now up 22% for the week.
SEC Ruling Fuels ETH & Layer-2 Momentum A fresh clarification from the U.S. SEC confirmed that certain liquid staking setups do not fall under securities rules, sparking a strong rally in Ethereum and related ecosystems. Mantle (MNT) surged 50% this week, Optimism (OP) rose 13%, and Lido (LDO) leapt 12.3% in the past day. Analysts suggest this regulatory green light could attract institutional capital into staking and pave the way for inclusion of such tokens in future ETF products.
Ethereum network activity is also heating up:
7-day avg. daily transactions: 1.74M (highest since May 2021)
Staked ETH: Over 36M (~30% of supply, ATH)
Institutional ETH holdings: $11.77B, led by BitMine
Top Universities Increase Bitcoin ETF Exposure New SEC filings show Harvard Management Company holding $116M in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), while Brown University boosted its stake to $13M. Since U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs debuted in January 2024, adoption has surged among universities, pension funds, and even state treasuries. IBIT remains the largest crypto ETF globally, managing $86.3B.
DeFi Liquidity Hits Record — NFTs Steal the Spotlight July saw DeFi TVL jump 30% MoM to $270B, driven partly by tokenized stock trading, with active wallets exploding from 1,600 to 90,000. Yet NFT activity slightly outpaced DeFi, hitting 3.85M daily active wallets. NFT volumes rose 36% to $530M, with average prices doubling. CryptoPunks staged a rebound, while luxury brands like Nike, Louis Vuitton, and Rolex deepened NFT integrations.
Swiss Banks Open Institutional Doors for SUI Sygnum Bank and Amina Bank — the first regulated bank to support SUI — have rolled out custody, trading, and lending services for Sui (SUI). This regulatory expansion pushed SUI up 3.5% to $3.88 in 24 hours, with trading volumes more than doubling. Analysts say this signals growing bank confidence in emerging blockchains beyond BTC and ETH, potentially boosting developer and enterprise adoption.DYOR No Financial advice!
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