A repeated tweet, a White House celebration, a precise assassination, and 190,000 accounts evaporated in bloody data. The power play in the crypto market never lacks a script.
On July 20, 2025, Binance founder CZ casually remarked that the crypto market is volatile, instantly igniting market panic. This echoed his tweet from January 19, and although he later clarified he was just posting casually and didn’t mean for it to be overanalyzed, the community data coldly revealed the truth: in the previous six similar statements, five triggered short-term crashes, and algorithmic trading machines responded immediately.
Dramatically, just the day before (July 18), Trump signed the first federal stablecoin regulatory bill (the Genius Act) with Coinbase, Ripple, and other giants gathering at the White House to witness this historic moment. The bill requires stablecoin issuers to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds as reserve assets, and traditional financial giants like JPMorgan and Citigroup are sharpening their knives, ready to enter the market.
Policies have landed but turned into slaughter signals: Bitcoin bizarrely flashed crash after breaking through $120,000, with a 24-hour volatility exceeding $3,000, and total liquidation amounting to $814 million, leaving 190,000 investors with nothing overnight. Ethereum shorts were heavily affected, with a single asset liquidation reaching $90.05 million, accounting for 43.3% of total liquidations.
01 Coincidence in timing or precise targeting?
CZ’s tweet coinciding with the signing of Trump’s bill is no coincidence. While the market indulges in the frenzy of regulatory good news = bull market opening, whales have quietly laid their traps. On-chain data shows that in the 24 hours prior to the bill's passage, stablecoin issuers and early holders concentrated their sell-offs, leading to an instant liquidity drought.
This technique of offloading good news aligns perfectly with the market surge on July 18 and the plunge on July 19, forming a precise scissors difference. CZ’s volatility warning became the last straw that broke the camel's back — despite claiming to speak casually, his comments have long been integrated into trading models by institutions.
What’s more intriguing is that the Trump family is reported to hold shares in the stablecoin company USD1, and the personal token $TRUMP skyrocketed to a market value of $27 billion on its first day of trading, with the family owning 80% of the tokens. Democrats angrily denounce the legislation as a means for the family to profit, and the policy credit black swan flaps its wings.
02 The liquidation chain: Who is harvesting retail investors?
This massacre hides a triple logic of harvesting:
The death spiral of the leverage trap
When Bitcoin dropped below the critical support level of $117,500, it triggered a $620 million liquidation of long positions. A certain whale's 2,300 BTC collateralized near $116,800 was automatically sold off, leading to a vicious cycle of 'decline → liquidation → increased selling pressure'. Ethereum became the biggest victim, with short liquidations reaching $158 million, accounting for 76% of total liquidations.
The bloody price of stablecoin compliance
The (Genius Act) mandates that stablecoins are pegged to U.S. Treasuries, which, while injecting long-term credit into the market, directly raises issuance costs. Small and medium stablecoin projects face elimination, and the duopoly of Tether (USDT) and USDC has surged to 92.1%, further intensifying monopoly after traditional institutions enter the market. The tilt of profits toward large institutions has become a foregone conclusion.
Political chips and family cash-outs
While Trump signs the bill, he also sues Murdoch for $10 billion to divert attention. His family harvests liquidity through the $TRUMP coin, which crashed 50% the next day, leaving followers with nothing. Behind the presidential endorsement is naked regulatory arbitrage.
03 Behind the scenes: The crypto colonization by TradFi
Traditional financial institutions are launching a lightning war, leveraging regulatory tailwinds:
Bank-backed stablecoins make a lightning entry
JPMorgan launches the deposit token JPMD based on the Base chain, while Société Générale enters the fray simultaneously. Walmart and Amazon are exploring their own stablecoins to lower payment costs, and enterprise-level stablecoins will swallow the retail market.
The trillion-dollar asset tokenization raid
Apollo Global Management has tokenized $785 billion in credit funds to Solana, and Robinhood has launched synthetic stock derivatives in the EU. 60% of the Fortune 500 companies have laid out plans in blockchain, with on-chain value of RWA (real-world assets) surging to $24.4 billion.
ETF capital matrix crushes retail investors
Bitcoin spot ETFs have accumulated net inflows exceeding $13.7 billion, with BlackRock’s IBIT dominating the market. More than 140 listed companies hold 848,000 BTC, a staggering 160% increase from last year — when institutions complete their positions, volatility becomes a tool for washing out.
04 The life-and-death breakout of ordinary investors
In this institutional colonization game, retail investors need to hold tight to three keys of survival:
Seeing through the smoke screen of celebrity endorsements
CZ admits that 'chasing meme coins shouldn’t be the only thing in crypto', and the meme coin craze masks the industry’s ecological deformities. The Trump-themed coin is a high-risk gambling den, and the $TRUMP coin halving the next day serves as a warning: celebrity endorsements are often the prelude to harvesting.
Leverage poison and volatility traps
The continuous decline in derivative funding rates signals a deep adjustment. On July 20, a single day saw 63,900 accounts liquidated across the network; leveraged trading has become a slaughterhouse where institutions hunt retail investors. Remember CZ’s saying: “IF You can’t hold, You won’t be rich” — but this only applies to assets with fundamental support.
Arbitrage space in the era of compliance
After the EU's MiCA implementation, USDT was delisted by some exchanges, and the U.S. (CLARITY Act) is reshaping asset classifications. Regulatory arbitrage opportunities exist in inter-market price differences, such as the migration wave triggered by the opening of licenses in Hong Kong versus strict regulations in Singapore.
The crypto market never lacks absurd plots: while Trump pushes his family's token wealth to $63.8 billion, he simultaneously paves the blockchain highway for U.S. dollar hegemony with legislation; CZ’s light remark about volatility unexpectedly becomes a signal for dumping. When Standard Chartered predicts that 'the initiation of U.S. Treasury reserves in August may trigger a Bitcoin counterattack', those retail investors who were liquidated at $117,500 have long fallen before dawn.
History tends to repeat itself — the biggest benefits often lie hidden behind the most brutal washouts. But ordinary players must remember: when a presidential family issues tokens, the Fed steps in for regulation, and institutional capital completes its accumulation, the rules of this game have long ceased to be written for retail investors.
Balancing quick money and slow money is necessary. When chasing meme coins becomes a belief, true builders are planting the seeds of a new cycle beneath the ruins. The market never lacks opportunities; what it lacks is the determination to see clearly in the midst of gunfire.$BTC #MichaelSaylor暗示增持BTC
