CoinPhoton

Ink, a Layer 2 blockchain developed by Kraken on Optimism's Superchain, is seeing a surge in activity ahead of its INK token launch. Daily transactions have surpassed 500,000 and active contracts reached 6,000, although total value locked (TVL) remains under $8 million. The INK token will have a fixed supply of 1 billion and will be distributed via a community airdrop through a liquidity pool on Aave. The token will not be used for governance, but rather for liquidity aggregation and incentivizing application usage. Ink is fully EVM-compatible and part of the broader Superchain ecosystem alongside Base and other L2s. This move positions Ink as a direct competitor to Coinbase’s Base.

#Kraken #INK #Layer2 #Optimism #Superchain #AirdropSeason

[Cointelegraph Scam Alert]

Cointelegraph is currently under attack, with a fake airdrop popup promoting “CoinTelegraph Token (CTG)” offering 50,000 CTG (~$5,490). This is a phishing scam designed to trick users into connecting their wallets and stealing assets. Cointelegraph has never issued any token. Do not click, connect your wallet, or sign any transaction. If you already did, move your assets to a new wallet immediately.

#ScamAlert #Cointelegraph #FakeAirdrop #CryptoPhishing #Web3Security

FTX has formally asked the court to reject Three Arrows Capital’s (3AC) $1.5 billion claim, arguing the losses were entirely self-inflicted. FTX says the $82 million forced liquidation of 3AC’s assets was contractually justified after 3AC breached margin agreements and withdrew ETH instead of adding collateral. The filing argues 3AC’s claim is baseless and attempts to exploit the bankruptcy process to cover up its failed strategy. FTX maintains that no action on its part caused any loss. 3AC must respond by July 11, with a non-evidentiary hearing scheduled for August 12.

#FTX #3AC #CryptoLitigation #Bankruptcy #LiquidationData

Veer Chetal, 19, pleaded guilty to stealing $245 million in Bitcoin from a Genesis creditor. Though initially released on bond after agreeing to cooperate with authorities, he was rearrested for allegedly orchestrating a new $2 million crypto scam. Chetal reportedly used social engineering to steal a victim’s wallet seed phrase, transferring funds to gambling sites and an anonymous exchange. Investigators traced activity back to his home. A judge denied bond, citing flight risk, as Chetal lacks U.S. citizenship and planned to flee to India or Dubai. The case remains ongoing.

Source: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.274568/gov.uscourts.dcd.274568.32.0.pdf

Trump confirms successful strike on three Iranian nuclear sites

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that the military has completed a successful strike on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites. A full payload of bombs was dropped on the primary target, Fordow. All aircraft have safely exited Iranian airspace and are en route home. Trump concluded, “Now is the time for peace.”

46% of TRX Supply Is Staked as Energy Demand on TRON Surges

Currently, 43.8 billion TRX — representing 46% of total supply — is staked on the TRON network, indicating growing community participation and improved network security and efficiency. Staking TRX not only enables users to vote for Super Representatives but also provides bandwidth and energy to users and DApps, reducing transaction costs and making TRON more attractive for DeFi and stablecoin transfers.

Over half of staked TRX (24.3 billion or 55%) now uses the Stake 2.0 model — a major upgrade launched in 2023 to improve flexibility, transparency, and DApp user experience.

The amount of TRX staked to gain energy has surged 129% year-on-year, from 7.5 billion to 17.2 billion TRX. This reflects rising smart contract activity and the move toward a gasless user experience, where users don’t need to freeze or hold TRX to transact.

TRON network activity is heating up: bandwidth consumption has risen 50%, and energy consumption has jumped 167% in the past year. Over 80% of resource use now comes from staked TRX, showing TRON’s incentive model effectively encourages staking to lower costs.

Additionally, energy subsidized by smart contract owners — who cover user transaction fees — has surged 1,577% to 3.19 billion. Currently, 95% of TRON’s energy consumption is from USDT transfers, highlighting USDT’s dominance within the TRON ecosystem.

Bloomberg has raised the odds of SEC approving crypto ETFs to 90% or higher after the regulator requested revised filings from issuers. The SEC is believed to view altcoins like Solana, XRP, Litecoin, Dogecoin, and Cardano as commodities, paving the way for ETFs beyond Bitcoin. Requests for clarification on in-kind redemptions and staking suggest active review of fund structures. While optimism grows, analysts caution that official launches may still take several months.

#CryptoETF #SEC #SolanaETF #XRP #Bloomberg #BitcoinETF

Pump.fun, a popular token launchpad on the Solana network, has once again delayed its public token sale, despite aiming to raise $1 billion. The project is facing multiple lawsuits, including allegations of operating as an unregistered securities exchange, price manipulation, and IP violations tied to user-generated memecoins. Its official X account was temporarily suspended, fueling speculation of regulatory pressure. The repeated delays have unsettled the community and reignited debate about the long-term sustainability of memecoin-driven platforms within the Solana ecosystem.

Texas sheriff cuts open Bitcoin ATM after $25K scam, sparking crypto debate

A sheriff in Jasper County, Texas, used a cutting tool to open a Bitcoin ATM after a local family was scammed out of $25,000 by a caller impersonating a government official. Police retrieved around $32,000 from the machine, which was operated by Bitcoin Depot.

The move sparked criticism from crypto users, with some calling it property damage against an innocent third party. However, the sheriff defended the action, citing the need to protect citizens.

The incident comes amid growing scrutiny of crypto ATMs across the U.S. due to rising scam activity.

Binance Alpha launches AVAIL airdrop for users with 243+ points
Avail (AVAIL) is now listed on Binance Alpha. Eligible users can claim an airdrop of 2,667 AVAIL within 24 hours of trading launch via the Alpha Events page, using Binance Alpha Points.
The airdrop has two phases:
Phase 1 (first 18 hours): Requires at least 243 Alpha Points.
Phase 2 (last 6 hours): Requires 199 Alpha Points, first come first served until the pool is exhausted.
Claiming the airdrop consumes 15 Alpha Points and must be confirmed within 24 hours.
Additionally, Binance will host an AVAIL trading competition with a prize pool of 32,500,000 AVAIL.

South Korea files roadmap to approve spot crypto ETFs and KRW stablecoins

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has submitted a roadmap to legalize local spot crypto ETFs, aligning with President Lee Jae Myung’s campaign pledge. Implementation is expected in H2 2025. The plan also includes preparing regulations to lift the ban on Korean won-based stablecoins. These measures aim to support young investors and prevent capital outflows. South Koreans held over 104 trillion won (~$75.7 billion) in crypto assets as of late 2024.

#SouthKorea #CryptoETF #Stablecoin #Regulation #KoreaCrypto

Jupiter, the largest DEX on Solana, will halt all community voting until the end of 2025 and lock its DAO treasury until 2027. The move aims to reduce governance fatigue and shift focus to product development. This temporarily disables one of JUP’s core utilities. Aside from an upcoming 700 million token distribution, no new JUP issuance is planned. A new governance structure is expected in 2026, ahead of the treasury reopening the following year.

The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi lending protocols has hit an all-time high of $55.69 billion, surpassing previous peaks set in 2021, 2022, and late 2024. Aave v3 led the surge with a 55% increase in just two months. Morpho Blue and Maple Finance also saw strong growth, reaching $3.9 billion and $1.37 billion in TVL respectively — with Maple skyrocketing 417%. Maple gained traction for expanding into undercollateralized real-world asset (RWA) lending. This growth highlights the rise of tokenized finance and traditional capital flowing into DeFi infrastructure.

Nearly 1% of Ethereum supply held by major institutions as strategic reserves
Recent data reveals that approximately 1,167,712 ETH (worth nearly $2.96 billion) is currently held as strategic reserves by major institutions and companies, representing 0.9674% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply (around 120.8 million ETH).
The top five strategic holders are:
Ethereum Foundation: 259,430 ETH
SharpLink Gaming (NASDAQ: SBET): 176,271 ETH
PulseChain Sac: 166,303 ETH
Coinbase: 137,334 ETH
Golem Foundation: 101,079 ETH
Together, these five entities hold over 840,000 ETH — more than 72% of all strategically held Ethereum.
This level of concentration reflects strong institutional confidence in Ethereum’s long-term value and its growing role in institutional portfolios.

The Trump family has quietly reduced its stake in World Liberty Financial from 60% to 40%, according to the company’s latest legal filing. DT Marks DEFI LLC—a Trump-affiliated entity—still holds 22.5 billion WLFI tokens and receives 75% of token sale proceeds. Although Trump and his family members are not executives of the company, their ties to the project remain strong. The stake reduction comes as World Liberty Financial faces increasing scrutiny, and as Congress considers the GENIUS Act, which aims to regulate stablecoins in the U.S.

Prenetics invests $20 million in Bitcoin, launches digital treasury strategy
Prenetics Global Limited (Nasdaq: PRE), a publicly traded digital health company, announced the purchase of 187.42 BTC for approximately $20 million at an average price of $106,712 per Bitcoin using Kraken’s custody platform. This marks the beginning of a “comprehensive” Bitcoin strategy approved by its board of directors.
The company plans to integrate Bitcoin into its ecosystem—from treasury management to customer payments—and will explore yield generation through crypto lending and structured products. Former OKEx COO Andy Cheung has joined the board, and a former strategic leader from Kraken has also been brought on as an advisor.
Shares of Prenetics surged 23.3% following the announcement.
#Prenetics #Bitcoin #DigitalTreasury #Nasdaq #Crypto #BTC

Iran restricts crypto exchange hours after $100M Nobitex hack

Iran’s central bank has imposed new operating hour restrictions on domestic crypto exchanges (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.) following a $100 million hack on Nobitex, the country’s largest exchange, by pro-Israel hacker group Gonjeshke Darande.

Chainalysis reported that the attack appeared politically motivated, as the hackers burned all the stolen assets — including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, Dogecoin, and XRP — making them unrecoverable. Nobitex said the situation is now “under control,” with all hot wallets being moved to cold storage and the Nobitex Reserve Fund covering user losses.

PancakeSwap surpasses Tether with $24.6M in revenue, fueled by $10B trading surge

According to DeFiLlama, PancakeSwap generated $24.6 million in trading fees on July 17, overtaking Tether's $19.9 million and becoming the highest-earning crypto platform in the past 24 hours. This marks PancakeSwap's second-largest single-day revenue, behind the $31.2 million record on May 19, 2021. The DEX saw over $10 billion in daily trading volume — a 4-year high — accounting for nearly half of all DEX activity.

The Fed held interest rates steady at 4.25%–4.50% in its June 18 FOMC meeting, as widely expected. The updated dot plot shows only one rate cut projected in 2025, down from two in March — signaling a more hawkish stance. This limits capital flows into high-risk assets like altcoins and DeFi tokens. Bitcoin remained near $105,000 and Ethereum near $2,500. The crypto market’s recovery will depend heavily on upcoming economic data, especially inflation and jobs reports.

Iran’s top crypto exchange Nobitex hacked for $48.65M, Israeli-linked group claims responsibility
Iran’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, has reportedly fallen victim to a major cyberattack, resulting in losses of up to $48.65 million on the Tron network, according to on-chain data analyzed by ZachXBT and monitoring platform OnchainLens.
ZachXBT flagged suspicious outflows from multiple wallets connected to Nobitex and noted that the attacker used a provocative vanity address: “TKFu.ckiRGCTerroristsNoBiTEXy2r7mNX”, containing the abbreviation “IRGC”—a possible reference to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Simultaneously, data from OnchainLens pointed to a hacker group named “Gonjeshke Darande”, believed to originate from Israel, as the primary orchestrator behind the breach.
Shortly after the exploit, Gonjeshke Darande claimed responsibility and threatened to leak Nobitex’s source code and internal data within 24 hours, warning that all remaining assets on the platform may be at serious risk.
The name “Gonjeshke Darande,” which translates to “Predatory Sparrow” in Persian, has previously been linked to targeted attacks on Iran’s critical infrastructure. The group has been accused of orchestrating destructive cyber campaigns against gas stations, steel plants, and major banks such as Bank Sepah, raising concerns that this is no ordinary hacker collective.
Although “Gonjeshke Darande” claims to operate independently, cybersecurity experts suspect the group has ties to the Israeli government or military, particularly Unit 8200, Israel’s elite cyber intelligence agency known for its advanced offensive capabilities.
In response, Nobitex confirmed unauthorized access to parts of its infrastructure and hot wallet, but assured users that customer funds remain secure.
“Nobitex takes full responsibility for this incident and will fully compensate all losses using our insurance fund and internal resources,” the platform stated.