區塊客

By Kurumi, Crypto City
AscendEX announces it will cease operations; the platform will fully terminate trading services
Crypto exchange AscendEX announced that starting in July it will stop operating all of its platforms and will no longer provide account opening, deposits, spot trading, trading of derivatives, staking, lending, or other digital asset services. The official statement said that, at present, the platform only retains limited account access functions, allowing users to complete asset withdrawals, download trading records, update KYC information, and submit customer service appeals. The platform will gradually complete the procedures to end operations going forward.
Source: AscendEX | Crypto exchange AscendEX announces it will stop operating all platforms starting in July

By Max, a crypto city
British lawmakers push for amendments, proposing a permanent ban on cryptocurrency political donations
According to (The Guardian), some Labour MPs in the UK are expected to propose changes during the committee stage of the House of Commons report on July 14, calling for the temporary ban on cryptocurrency political donations to be changed to a “permanent ban.” This comes amid a funding controversy sparked by Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party, which is also the first political party in the UK to declare that it accepts bitcoin donations.
Labour business election committee chair Liam Byrne said that cryptocurrencies are opaque and costly to regulate, and that if they are not banned they will allow dark money to flow into politics. Housing minister Steve Reed also proposed a government version of the amendment, which would effectively ban cryptocurrency donations.

“Female stock goddess” Cathie Wood makes another move to buy the dip. According to the latest trading records, on Thursday Ark Invest significantly bought shares of Circle (CRCL), a stablecoin issuer, while simultaneously reducing its holdings of Robinhood (HOOD).
According to disclosures from Ark Invest, the “ARK Innovation Active ETF” (ARK Innovation ETF, ticker ARKK) and the “ARK Financial Technology Innovation Active ETF” (ARK Fintech Innovation ETF, ticker ARKF) combined to purchase about 217,896 shares of Circle. Based on Thursday’s closing price of $63.01, the amount added this time is approximately $13.7 million.

Despite headwinds such as the AI craze siphoning market capital, uncertainty in the overall macroeconomic environment, and ongoing delays to U.S. crypto regulatory bills, this Bitcoin bear market is markedly different from past ones. Asset manager Bitwise says that institutional investors are accelerating into the market, quietly rewriting the rules of the game.
Bitwise senior investment strategist Juan Leon reveals that, at present, the company’s institutional clients can broadly be divided into two camps. One group of investors has already positioned itself in Bitcoin over the past two years; they see the recent pullback as a “gift that fell from the sky,” use the opportunity to rebalance their portfolios, and apply regular dollar-cost averaging (DCA) to smooth out their cost basis. Meanwhile, another large pool of conservative capital plans to wait until the regulatory environment becomes clearer before making a major push into the market. Juan Leon notes:

The leading prediction market platform Polymarket has formally filed its application, aiming to legally offer margin trading services in the U.S. If approved, users would only need to put in a small amount of capital to amplify their positions through leverage and place bets on various types of events on the platform.
According to data from the National Futures Association (NFA) database, Polymarket has, through its affiliated company Coming Home GBA LLC, officially submitted multiple applications on July 3, including registration as a futures commission merchant (FCM), NFA membership qualification, and registration as a swap firm for swap contract trading.
In addition to NFA registration, Polymarket still needs to obtain approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) before it can officially offer leveraged trading services.

On-chain data provider Glassnode's latest report says that the price of Bitcoin has remained below the “true market average” and the “cost basis of short-term holders” for five consecutive months, setting the record for the longest-lasting “deep value zone” period in history. Coupled with signals of large-scale realizing-and-selling by long-term holders, it suggests that the bear market may be nearing its end.
Data shows that long-term holders’ “realized losses” currently account for 43% of the total realized value on-chain, far higher than the 15% recorded in early February. It has also recently hit a peak of $280 million in a single day, setting the highest realized loss record since December 2022.

(CLARITY Act), which is crucial to the U.S. cryptocurrency market structure, is moving toward the final showdown period in 2026. According to sources, the latest draft could be officially released as early as next week, with the aim of submitting it to the Senate for review by the end of July. However, controversies surrounding conflicts of interest, regulatory authority, and consumer protection have not yet been fully resolved, leaving uncertainty over whether the bill can still clear the hurdle before Congress adjourns for summer recess.
If the legislative window in the coming weeks is missed, as Congress’ agenda shifts to the autumn midterm election period, the likelihood that the (CLARITY Act) will be completed and passed this year may be close to zero.

Bitcoin has recently rebounded about 10% from its recent low, regaining the $60,000 level and showing a clear improvement in market sentiment. On-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant said that although market demand has improved and it also coincides with July’s traditional peak season, this rally in Bitcoin can at best be seen as a “bear-market rebound,” not the start of a new bull market.
CryptoQuant noted that Bitcoin has rebounded roughly 10% from last week’s bear-market low of around $57,700, and is currently back near $64,000, successfully reclaiming the $60,000 key support level. This bounceback rally is largely attributed to the “July seasonal effect.”

Author: Nancy, PANews
With the mainnet live for only a week, no one expected that it wouldn’t be RWA or on-chain finance, but rather a cat, that sparked the on-chain hype for Robinhood Chain.
The unexpected viral breakout of the Meme Coin CashCat not only drove rapid growth in on-chain transaction volume and capital, but also helped Robinhood Chain successfully win market attention.
The CEO stepped in to “set the tone,” and the cat-themed Meme coin unexpectedly went viral
For any new public chain, the primary task after going live is to complete an ecosystem cold-start. Although Robinhood Chain is backed by about 28 million users from Robinhood, the vast majority are not crypto-native users. Converting a massive user base into active on-chain users is always the key to its ecosystem development.

By Nancy, PANews
In the compliance era, stablecoins are undergoing an identity transformation, and the competitive landscape is being reshaped as well. USDC is expanding its influence thanks to its compliance advantages and institutional demand, while USDT is seeking new growth opportunities through its global payments network. Both are moving toward different development paths.
Meanwhile, new entrants represented by OUSD are using an affiliate distribution model to enter the market, challenging the growth logic and profit models of traditional stablecoin issuers. The stablecoin landscape may be about to undergo yet another round of competitive restructuring.
Stablecoins are no longer just encryption tools; they are becoming a new kind of global asset

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings said that due to the regulatory environment remaining full of uncertainty—and after suffering a loss of $275 million following FTX’s collapse—it has decided to shift its investment focus to the artificial intelligence (AI) sector and will not touch cryptocurrencies in the short term.
Temasek, with assets under management of approximately S$518 billion (about US$400 billion), said it plans to increase investment in AI companies over the next five years, aiming to raise its investment share from 6% in the first quarter of 2026 to 15% by 2031.
Nagi Hamiyeh, president of Temasek Global Investments, said that the AI investment cycle has only just entered the early stage, and this wave will continue for decades. However, he also cautioned that the valuations in some parts of the AI sector have already exceeded fundamentals, and investors still need to remain prudent.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) may raise interest rates faster than the market expects. Former BOJ official Tsutomu Watanabe warned that, as the yen continues to weaken, the BOJ could accelerate its rate hikes this year, ultimately lifting the benchmark rate to above 2% and further raising market borrowing costs.
Japan’s rate-hike pace could exceed market expectations
According to a report by Bloomberg, N. Watanabe, who previously worked at the Bank of Japan and is now an emeritus professor of economics at the University of Tokyo, said that as inflation pressures intensify, the BOJ may accelerate its interest-rate hikes, with the terminal rate likely landing at around 2% or slightly above 2%.

Online brokerage Robinhood officially launched its own blockchain, “Robinhood Chain,” on July 1. Its goal is to move stocks and bonds on-chain and build the foundation for “real-world asset (RWA) tokenization” infrastructure. However, less than a week after launch, the first thing to ignite the market was actually a cat-themed meme coin, CASHCAT, allowing lucky early entrants to walk away with overflowing profits.
A meme coin called CASHCAT, inspired by Robinhood’s early good-luck mascot before it changed its name. In the past two days, it has surged by hundreds of times on the new public chain.
On-chain data reveals this wealth-creation frenzy. About three weeks ago, an early buyer spent only $838 to scoop up 15.04 million CASHCAT tokens. As of Thursday afternoon in Asia, he had already sold about 13.5 million of them, netting roughly $917,000 in profit. The remaining tokens are worth about $133,000, for an overall return on investment of 1,250x.

To迎接 the AI trading era, BNB Chain is actively building a new Layer 1 public blockchain tailored specifically for “high-frequency trading” and “autonomous AI agents,” aiming to launch a public testnet by the end of 2026 and officially start the mainnet in early 2027.
This new public chain is not intended to replace the existing architecture. Instead, it will operate in parallel with the BNB Smart Chain (BSC), which currently has total value locked (TVL) of $5 billion. The goal is to enable “self-custody traders” who prefer to hold their assets themselves to also enjoy the ultra-fast speeds comparable to those of traditional centralized exchanges.

Tensions between the United States and Iran have escalated again, but asset price movements that should have absorbed a “war premium” are diverging. Oil prices have kept rising, while gold has fallen for a fourth straight trading day. Meanwhile, Bitcoin holds steady around the $62,000 level, with losses relatively limited.
As the U.S. military launches a new round of strikes against Iran, and both sides vow not to rule out blocking the Strait of Hormuz, Brent crude rose 1% to $78.80 per barrel, extending a three-day winning streak. By contrast, gold was hit by four consecutive days of selling pressure, falling to around $4,060 per ounce. Continuing the global sell-off trend from Wednesday, Japanese, Australian, and New Zealand government bonds fell in tandem, while U.S. two-year Treasury yields moved toward the 2026 peak.

The Bitcoin held by SpaceX, the space company owned by Elon Musk, has recently seen its first on-chain activity in six months, sparking market attention. However, judging from the transaction size and the flow of funds, these transfers look more like routine wallet management and show no signals of any sale of the holdings.
On-chain data platform Arkham Intelligence data shows that SpaceX completed 3 transfers early Wednesday morning U.S. Eastern Time between multiple wallets marked as being held by the company, with a total amount of less than $300. Compared with its current Bitcoin holdings of about $1.16 billion, this is negligible.

Source: (Commodity Culture)
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
The author of the U.S. edition of (Currency Wars), and U.S.-based well-known financial writer James Rickards, recently visited the (Commodity Culture) podcast program. During the interview, James Rickards believes the recent drop in gold prices is an excellent buying opportunity, and he expects gold prices could reach $10,000 before the end of 2026. James outlines the catalysts he believes will drive gold to set new all-time highs, while also warning that an economic crisis more severe than 2008 may be on the way.
PANews has compiled the interview highlights.

Author: Jae, PANews
On July 8, the Korean stock market continued its decline. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) once fell below 7,200 points, dropping more than 6% during the day. Since the June peak, it has accumulated a decline of over 20%, entering a technical bear market.
The Korean stock market, known for its high volatility and strong retail investor participation, has fallen into an unprecedented trust crisis—triggered by a leveraged ETF tied to a single stock.
A lawmaker from South Korea’s People Power Party and former presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo even publicly admitted on social media that things have become difficult: the KOSPI has completely “turned into a casino.” He strongly called for forceful corrective measures, including delisting, against the 2x leveraged products linked to individual stocks Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Tokenization firm Securitize (US stock ticker: SECZ) previously went public via a backdoor listing using a “special purpose acquisition company” (SPAC). However, even though it operates in one of Wall Street’s hottest areas and received backing from BlackRock, its performance in the first week still caught the market by surprise in a very negative way.
Since Securitize’s listing of its trading last week, the share price has fallen by about 40% in total to date. During Tuesday’s session, the intraday drop widened at one point to 25%. Although some of the losses narrowed into the close, the stock has still continued to follow the weak trend since its debut on the market.
Securitize’s brutal drop sharply contrasts with Wall Street’s current frenzy for asset tokenization. At present, financial giants—including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan—are vying to move traditional assets such as U.S. Treasuries, funds, credit, and stocks onto the blockchain.

Global stablecoin USDT issuer Tether reports another equity reshuffle. According to a Bloomberg report, Richard Heathcote, who stepped down earlier this year as Tether’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO), is preparing to sell part of his Tether holdings and is actively seeking a buyer.
Insiders revealed that Richard Heathcote has appointed investment bank PJT Partners to help handle the deal and is currently negotiating with potential buyers. However, the report did not specify what portion of his 1.26% stake Richard Heathcote intends to sell, nor did it disclose the deal’s valuation.
Richard Heathcote’s sale of shares is a secondary market transaction—meaning existing shareholders sell their stakes to other investors, rather than the company issuing new shares—so it will not bring new fundraising capital to Tether.