Cryptopolitan

South Korea’s media regulator, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), is considering banning Polymarket in the country, but it will let the company argue its case before deciding.
The main issue is whether or not the crypto prediction market breaks South Korea’s gambling laws. South Korean law bans nearly all gambling except state-run channels like horse racing and the lottery.
Why does South Korea want to ban Polymarket?
The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), a body that polices harmful online content, said on July 6 that it wants to do due diligence before making a decision on whether or not to restrict South Koreans’ access to prediction platforms.
The KCSC has the authority to order internet providers to block a site outright.
The committee’s telecommunications deliberation subcommittee has invited Polymarket’s operator to submit a formal response, and only after reviewing that response and related materials will the commission decide if it will request corrective action against the platform.
Polymarket lets users buy YES or NO positions on the outcome of real-world events, including elections and sports matches. Traders put up stablecoins such as USDC to take a side. Critics have long argued the platform functions as speculative betting in all but name, and South Korean law bans nearly all gambling outside a handful of state-run channels like horse racing and the lottery.
Still, the commission said it wants to establish how the service actually works before deciding if it should be illegal.
If the KCSC concludes Polymarket is running an illegal gambling service, a block would put South Korea alongside other countries with restrictions like France, Germany, Italy, India, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, and Indonesia, according to Cryptopolitan’s earlier reporting.
Spain’s Consumer Rights Ministry imposed a temporary ban on Polymarket and its rival Kalshi in May over the absence of gambling licenses.
Why are prediction market platforms rejecting the gambling label?
Operators of prediction platforms have pitched them as forecasting tools that surface useful information, but regulators increasingly see users wagering crypto on uncertain outcomes and call it gambling.
Seoul is one of Asia’s largest crypto markets, and once the KCSC finishes reviewing Polymarket’s response, its decision will signal how it intends to treat the entire category.
For instance, in June, Cryptopolitan reported that South Korean police had opened the nation’s first criminal case targeting local Polymarket users. Cyber units traced transactions to identify who had placed bets following a spike in trading around the June 3 national election. Under Article 246 of the Criminal Act, illegal betting can draw fines of up to 10 million won.
Prediction markets have grown from a crypto niche into a business with real money behind it. Global trading volume tripled year-over-year to roughly $51 billion in 2025, according to Bernstein data cited by Cryptopolitan. Some analysts even project the market could reach $1 trillion by 2030.
If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.

Attackers have drained around $6 million from Summer.fi‘s Lazy Summer protocol on July 6, exploiting a USDC vault whose advertised yield briefly jumped past 2 million percent, according to on-chain security firms Blockaid and PeckShieldAlert.
Blockaid wrote on X that its exploit detection system had identified the exploit when it was ongoing.
The security firm stated then that about $6 million had been “drained so far” while the transactions were still moving.
A follow-up post from Blockaid published the exploit transaction, the attacker’s wallet, the exploit contract, and the list of affected Lazy Summer contracts.
The target was a single vault that PeckShieldAlert identified as LazyVault_LowerRisk_USDC, ticker LVUSDC, a strategy risk-managed by the firm BlockAnalitica.
According to PeckShieldAlert, “LVUSDC’s displayed APY briefly spiked to ~2.08M%,” and added that the largest holder of the vault after the exploit “appears to be associated with Torben Jorgensen.”
How did the Summer.fi attack work?
According to BlockTempo, which cited Blockaid’s timing of 05:17, the attacker ran a donation-based inflation attack against an ERC-4626 vault.
The ERC-4626 standard is the default interface for vaults that issue shares against deposited tokens, and it calculates share price based on the ratio of assets held to shares outstanding.
If an attacker donates a small amount of tokens directly into the vault, they could theoretically distort that ratio and push the price of a single share far above its fair value, then redeem for more than they put in.
BlockTempo reported that the operation was funded by a flash loan taken from Morpho, a loan borrowed and repaid inside one transaction, with the trades routed through Uniswap, Curve, and Balancer.
What is the impact of the exploit on Summer.fi?
The exploited figure is modest by the standards of crypto’s largest breaches, but it is large relative to Summer.fi‘s size.
The protocol has around $34.8 million in total value locked, most of it, and over $32.4 million is on Ethereum, per Defillama data. The $6 million drain is close to a fifth of the platform’s assets, which is substantial.
Summer.fi markets itself as a yield aggregator that lets users “borrow, multiply and earn” across lending venues, with the Lazy Summer vaults routing deposits into strategies built on protocols such as Morpho.
Q2 2026 saw the most attacks on record by incident count, with over 83 separate exploits. That quarter was characterized by many smaller drains, and share-price and accounting manipulations sit alongside bridge flaws and admin-key theft as recurring vectors.
Summer.fi has acknowledged the attack, writing on X, “We are aware of the reported exploit a little earlier today and are investigating the root cause. The protocol guardians are currently pausing all Vaults across the Lazy Summer Protocol.”
The team states that they will provide more updates as they come.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.

South Korea, where more than 16 million people—roughly one-third of the population—hold cryptocurrency accounts, is in the process of formulating one of the tightest judicial frameworks anywhere when it comes to seizing digital assets for satisfying civil debts.
The country’s Supreme Court published proposed amendments to the Rules of Civil Execution on July 2, opening a public consultation through Aug. 11 before the rules are scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1.
Instead of ruling on the validity of the seizure of cryptos (an issue often taken up by Korean courts in recent years), the new law outlines the manner in which the courts should apply enforcement measures to the freezing, transfer and liquidation of virtual assets.
New rules for crypto seizures
According to the Supreme Court, virtual assets are “intangible property with economic value,” and the growing number of enforcement cases involving cryptos now requires standardized judicial procedures.
The introduced set of regulations outlines the steps to be followed throughout the process of enforcement, starting from freezing the digital assets and ending with their conversion into money for the creditors.
The rules are applicable to both cryptos that are owned directly by the entities that owe the creditors (debtors) and the contractual claims for the assets stored in the central exchanges by means of a contract.
After the seizure of the assets is ordered by the court, the debtor cannot anymore transfer or dispose of the assets. The exchanges storing the cryptocurrencies must hand them over to the law enforcement officer, and only after that the seizure will be considered legally sound.
Later, the creditor can either obtain their crypto directly or obtain permission from the court to liquidate it. In the second case, the enforcement officer has to set up the account with a virtual asset service provider (VASP), obtain the assets which were seized from the debtor, and decide what to do with them: whether to sell them at the market price or convert illiquid tokens into more marketable cryptocurrencies before selling them.
The proposal is particularly important in the case of exchange-held assets, as the court is enabled to order the custodians to comply with its orders. In the case of self-custody wallets, it is more complicated to do so.
Addressing illiquid tokens
An important aspect of the amendment is that it addresses the issue of illiquid altcoins that have been a major challenge in the application of cryptocurrency law.
Illiquid tokens can usually not be tied to Korean won by some people, which means that the creditors are stuck with the assets that are of unknown value.
The law will allow enforcement officers to exchange the seized assets for currency or withdrawal claims that are easier to convert before the actual sale takes place.
The amendment brings about the extension of preservation mechanisms and allows creditors to seek provisional sequestration and prohibition of disposal orders in advance of any litigation process. Thus, eliminating the possibility of debtors moving their digital assets before the enforcement of any ruling.
South Korea’s crypto enforcement framework
This proposal is created within the larger initiative of South Korea in legalizing digital assets
The Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which was enforced in July 2024, made virtual asset transactions safer and also imposed tougher restrictions on VASPs.
South Korea’s courts have also been moving toward clearer recognition of cryptocurrencies as property. In December 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that 55.6 Bitcoin held in a cryptocurrency exchange account could be confiscated in a money laundering case. The Court rejected the claim that Bitcoin was simply digital information rather than property, finding instead that assets held by an exchange have independent economic value and qualify as electronically managed property. That interpretation allows them to be seized under the Criminal Procedure Act.
Although the ruling affirmed that cryptocurrency in custody of a cryptocurrency exchange could be the subject of freezing in connection with a crime, the new rules concerning civil executions address how the courts will implement ordinary debt judgments involving digital currencies.
According to the Supreme Court, the amendment shows how much cryptocurrency ownership has grown, as well as the rise in civil enforcement cases concerning virtual money.
This initiative emerged as a result of issues over the ambiguities in the present regulations. One of the most discussed cases involved an investor who mistakenly transferred 5.45 billion SHIB to an exchange that no longer operates. Ultimately, the court ruled in favor of this individual and ordered the return of the funds, but the whole procedure showed how long it takes to get the money back and proved the vagueness of the regulations.
Why it matters
The public consultation will come to an end on August 11, after which the National Court Administration will be expected to complete the development of the rules, which would be effective starting October 1.
If the proposal is adopted largely in its current form, South Korea would join a small group of major crypto markets with detailed rules covering every stage of civil enforcement involving digital assets. The framework would spell out how courts can freeze cryptocurrencies, require exchanges to hand them over, transfer seized assets into court-controlled accounts and, ultimately, sell them to satisfy creditors’ claims.
For cryptocurrency exchanges, the biggest questions will be practical rather than legal. They will need to determine how quickly they can respond to court orders, how dedicated enforcement accounts will operate in practice, and how to deal with tokens that are thinly traded or difficult to liquidate.
The implications extend well beyond exchanges. South Korea has largely settled the question of whether cryptocurrencies can be treated as property. The next step is establishing a consistent process for enforcing legal claims against those assets. By turning judicial recognition into clear procedural rules, the Supreme Court is creating one of the most comprehensive frameworks yet for bringing digital assets into the mainstream civil enforcement system.
If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.

Binance’s EU-wide MiCA licensing efforts in France fall short. As a result, the exchange has currently paused all services in France, including crypto trading, and is only allowing users to withdraw their assets.
French users can now only withdraw their crypto assets, while spot trading, margin trading, and other trading-related services have been disabled.
Binance has assured customers that their funds remain safe and accessible despite the restrictions. The exchange previously served around 2 million users in France, making the country one of its largest European markets.
Under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) Regulation, all crypto companies operating in the bloc must obtain a license or face regulatory penalties. Weeks before the July 1 deadline, the exchange applied for a MiCA license from France’s financial regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF). However, the regulator has failed to secure it, just days after it was also denied a license in Greece.
Binance shut down its services in several European countries
In its official announcement, the exchange has assured French users that their crypto assets remain protected. It also suggested moving funds to a regulated platform or a personal wallet if they plan to continue using them.
Some users pulled their crypto before the July 1 deadline, but some held out for updates. At the moment, withdrawals are still allowed, but users must transfer their funds to another platform to trade.
Binance has had to halt its services in other European countries, including Poland, Italy, and Spain. Similarly, it advised users to withdraw their holdings.
However, Binance’s halt opened the door for compliant rivals, prompting platforms such as Coinbase and OKX to win over its customer base before the MiCA cutoff. Coinbase launched campaigns across key European nations, including the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Sweden, as OKX simultaneously marketed incentives to eligible customers within the European Economic Area.
At the same time, many crypto companies are setting their sights on Dubai, given that fewer than 244 of 3,000 firms have secured MiCA licenses in the EU bloc.
Binance, nonetheless, remains committed to securing approval in the bloc. It remarked, “Europe remains an important market for Binance, and our commitment to a clear, fair, and harmonized MiCA framework is unchanged. We are confident we will secure a MiCA license in the coming months and will announce the relevant member state when ready.”
Binance has been embroiled in lawsuits and probes
For the past few years, Binance has been at the center of multiple controversies. The platform admitted guilt in 2023 to U.S. charges of breaking sanctions and anti-money-laundering rules, which prosecutors argued had turned the company into a worldwide laundering tool for bad actors. Authorities fined the company $4.3 billion, while Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to a related charge and served 4 months in a California prison. He was pardoned by President Trump last November.
This year, U.S. Justice and Treasury officials have also been probing how Iran utilized Binance to skirt sanctions. According to a Wall Street Journal report, billions of dollars in crypto transactions passed through the platform over the past two years to bankroll networks supporting Iran. Binance, however, has since pushed back against the claims, stating that it has zero tolerance for illegal activity and has built a top-tier compliance system. It has even taken legal action against the Journal for its reporting.
Meanwhile, over the past month, investors pulled more than $1.6 billion out of Binance. This included a single week where withdrawals hit $1.23 billion as users moved funds to private wallets, driving Ethereum outflows to a three-year high of 166,000 transactions.
Despite this, the exchange still oversees roughly $114 billion in digital assets. Besides, the exchange has now included the Philippines in its fray. “The Philippines has always been one of the most vibrant crypto communities in the world. Let’s go!” said Binance co-CEO Richard Teng.
If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.

Increased speculation on meme coins resulted in higher on-chain activity levels on Solana and BNB Chain during the week. On-chain activity on Solana increased by 38%, reaching 31.4 million active addresses; on BNB Chain, on-chain activity increased by 45% in trading volume over the period, according to DefiLlama data. The surge suggests a strong level of interest in trading. However, the unprecedented rise in activity in wallets and transaction volume does not signify sustainable adoption of the network because trading activities with meme coins involve limited, fleeting periods of profitability.
The jump is connected to the trading of coins like ANSEM on Solana, TCC, and CZ on BNB Chain. Because of this transaction volume, Solana managed to occupy the first position in the rankings of chains in terms of seven-day chain activity.
Meme coins mania returns
On Solana, roughly 31.4 million active addresses generated 685 million transactions over seven days alongside $13.63 billion in trading volume. These transactions were responsible for earning $4.06 million in fees, which is 70% more than last year, while the weekly protocol revenues were $422,500 or 21% more than last year’s performance. The report put Solana‘s total value locked (TVL) at $24.78 billion, up 3.9% during the week.
Based on the reported figures, Solana averaged approximately 22 transactions per active address during the week, indicating that the majority of the transactions were done by the same clients that made trades again and again. The fees earned on the network amounted to $0.0059 per transaction, evidencing the fact that low costs helped Solana make such a high volume of trades.
BNB Chain’s activity is somewhat less impressive compared to that of Solana; nevertheless, it can be seen that it is affected by similar factors. The 24-hour trading volume of BNB Chain has grown from $240 million to $350 million, which translates into a 45% growth rate. Moreover, the network has reported approximately 8.3 million active addresses and 96.7 million transactions, which means that it has grown by 3.5% within a year, with the fees charged by it amounting to $182,000.
These figures translate into about 11.6 transactions per active address and $0.0019 in fees per transaction at BNB Chain, which means that the trading activities in both networks exist at low fees but with Solana clients having twice as many trading operations as BNB Chain ones.
Live dashboards by DefiLlama provide more information about the market. SOL traded around $80.58, whereas BNB traded around $582.26 as the activity became more vigorous. The decentralized exchanges in Solana managed to carry $1.81 billion in volume against $349.52 million on the BNB Chain.
Why activity can be misleading
Meme coins have continuously produced similar surges in network activity. In March 2024, speculation surrounding tokens, such as Book of Meme, led to the daily on-chain transaction volume for the Solana blockchain to exceed $3.79 billion and transaction fees to hit historical highs, with Jupiter briefly surpassing Uniswap’s daily trading volume.
The recent surge also fits into the wider research that sheds light on the functioning of the meme-coin market. As per Galaxy Research, meme coins contributed to about 30% of the trading volume on Solana decentralized exchanges in late 2025, down from about 60% earlier that year. It was further noted that the average holding period for holders of meme tokens was only about 100 seconds, meaning that a huge share of the profits generated during trading spikes goes to exchanges, launchpads, and other market infrastructure through transaction fees rather than to traders themselves.
Various research works confirm that one can’t simply take the high on-chain activity into account because of the misleading nature of such behavior. One research focused on the Solana meme-coin ecosystem noted that trading platforms, like Pump.fun, were responsible for about 40% to 67% of all decentralized exchange transactions, and less than 2% of the total number of cryptocurrencies launched in Q4 2024 ended up being traded on major decentralized exchanges.
Another cross-chain research covering about 35,000 meme tokens operating on Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Solana, and Base reported that 82.8% of the meme tokens, which brought more than 100% returns, were manipulated through wash trading and liquidity pool-based price inflation, illustrating that the rise in trading activity might be a result of coordinated speculative behavior rather than organic activity.
What to watch
The key issue at hand is whether volumes stay at high numbers after people stop paying attention to ANSEM, TCC, and CZ.
Lasting positive change in network fundamentals would likely be evidenced by a continuous increase in the network address as well as a continuous increase in total value locked (TVL), protocol revenues, and creation of fees when the trading speculation dies down. On the other hand, if there is a sharp decline in activity following the latest round of meme-coin speculation, then it would follow the pattern that is commonly shown in previous studies and prior Solana market episodes.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.

ByteDance and Alibaba are phasing out their user-built AI companion tools ahead of new legislation governing human-AI interactions in China.
ByteDance’s Doubao is set to disable its custom AI persona function on July 15. The corporation has explained that the discontinuation is part of “product function adjustments.”
It also noted that it will delete all remaining data or archive it safely by Oct. 15. Following suit, Alibaba’s Qwen announced it will remove its human-like bots on July 10 and shut down all agent functions on July 15.
The discontinuation of these platforms will mean a loss of personalization for their users. These applications offered a range of customized agents created by both users and companies that could perform specific tasks using distinct language styles. Users could turn their chatbot into a personal assistant, tutor, or companion.
China enacted a framework to regulate human-AI interactions
Doubao and Qwen made their announcements just a few days after Tencent’s Yuanbao had already removed its own AI agent tools. Yuanbao explained that after the entry point was disabled, users would no longer see the related conversations, which would be cleaned up under the platform’s data retention policies.
These shutdowns relate to the enactment of a new set of laws effective from July 15. Proposed back in April, the “Interim Measures for the Administration of Humanized Interactive Services Based on Artificial Intelligence” seeks to regulate AI that impersonates human personality traits and cognitive style, as well as prolonged emotional relations.
The legislation was motivated by the fear that people have become too emotionally dependent on lifelike AI. Lawmakers pointed to serious damage to minors’ mental health, data security breaches, public health hazards, and ethical compromises. Thus, the new framework bans platforms from making content that messes with minors’ emotions or makes them choose an AI friend over real life. Besides, the platforms are prohibited from using personal chat history to train their future AI models.
Nonetheless, the new rules exclude workplace assistants, customer service bots, educational tools, and research platforms, provided they do not facilitate prolonged emotional engagement.
In its official announcement, ByteDance even clarified that the Cat Box App will maintain its features for creating new intelligent agents and launching dialogue services.
Is there a growing need to regulate AI chatbots worldwide?
Globally, tech platforms with lifelike AI are coming under a lot of fire. For starters, OpenAI and Alphabet-backed Character.AI are facing a series of high-stakes lawsuits in the US. Critics contended that these chatbots, which mimic life-like qualities, cause risky emotional bonds among users, even resulting in suicides in the worst cases.
Last September, Matthew Raine, a father whose 16-year-old son, Adam, tragically ended his life, told a US Senate Panel that OpenAI’s ChatGPT manipulated his child into suicide. He stated, “We’re here because we believe that Adam’s death was avoidable, and that by speaking out we can prevent the same suffering for families across the country.”
Around the same time, the Federal Trade Commission opened inquiries into Elon Musk’s xAI, Snap Inc., and Character Technologies Inc., amid concerns that their AI bots pose a danger to children.
A parent had also accused Character AI of playing a part in worsening the mental condition of her son. She claimed that the chatbot made her son abusive and contributed to his self-harm patterns.
Meanwhile, China is considering regulations against physical hardware. Two Chinese robotics industry bodies are pressing for enhanced ethical safeguards for companion bots and full-size humanoids, given their aggressive increase over the years. Morgan Stanley researchers even forecast that by 2050, there will be around 1 billion humanoid robots worldwide, representing a $7.5 trillion industry.
In the US as well, similar concerns about humanoids have been raised. So far, humanoid makers say their robots haven’t caused any severe injuries or deaths. But as these machines grow to nearly 200 pounds, workers fear the damage a walking robot could cause if it suddenly loses power.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.

BNK Busan Bank, along with AhnLab Blockchain Company, announced that they completed a proof of concept for a won-backed stablecoin payment and settlement system by running the trial on the Kaia blockchain and developing a “policy-type” currency or local currency that would limit where and how to spend the money. This result gives another South Korean lender a working model of digital currency prior to regulations being established.
AhnLab made the pilot announcement for K-STAR, which is an alliance formed for developing an infrastructure for a won-stablecoin. There were five parties involved in the project: BNK Busan Bank, AhnLab Blockchain Company, OpenAsset, Kaia, and node-infrastructure provider Lambda256. Kaia noted that it was a successful pilot of the “KRW stablecoin infrastructure for digital local currencies.”
Compared to the trial being run on only one transfer, this trial was conducted on a complete lifecycle – by testing issuance, circulation, charging, payment and settlement, then validating that it could support itself in a real financial environment. BNK Busan Bank built the model for the policy-type currency, validating charging, payment, and settlement capabilities. AhnLab was responsible for design, user wallets, and transaction/settlement structures; OpenAsset was responsible for issuing stablecoin and verifying asset consistency; Kaia supplied the infrastructure through the mainnet; and Lambda256 managed node operations and tracked transaction flows.
Stablecoins with spending rules
Unlike a standard token transfer, this trial examines the restrictions that may be placed on a digital currency through the actual code of that currency. The company stated that it had proven the existence of programmable digital money with restrictions on its use, as well as expiration dates and different settlement approaches based on where payment was made. This reflects how local governments in South Korea provide both policy funds and vouchers with stipulations, such as where funds may be spent or how long they may be used before expiry.

BREAKING: South Korea’s BNK Busan Bank successfully pilots KRW stablecoin infrastructure for digital local currencies on @KaiaChain. 🇰🇷 pic.twitter.com/1QpBG6BF5l
— Kaia (@KaiaChain) July 6, 2026
For the performance aspect of the pilot, participants input the BNK Busan Bank’s operational payment data and completed tests under four different scenarios – normal load, peak load, irregular load, and continuous testing (24-hour duration) – all of which achieved 100% completion success and all transactions completed within one second. According to reports, the pilot also tested a fee-sponsorship model, wherein users were not required to pay a gas fee directly, as well as real-time transaction monitoring.
“This project is meaningful in that it verified that a digital currency-based local currency service can operate stably even in a real environment,” stated Lim Ju-young, head of AhnLab Blockchain. In addition to that statement, Lim indicated the intent of both parties to extend the work into stablecoins, digital assets, and cross-border settlement.
Korean banks move before the law does
The Busan trial comes at a time of intense competition among South Korean financial groups to be first to market with this innovation, while the legal framework for won stablecoins remains unclear. In May 2026, KB Financial Group, the parent of the country’s largest lender, KB Kookmin Bank, completed a similar Kaia pilot in collaboration with KG Inicis and OpenAsset.
The test utilized QR codes to facilitate payments at Hollys Coffee as well as provide a cross-border remittance to Vietnam by converting the won stablecoin to a dollar stablecoin. This transaction was completed in less than three minutes at a cost that was approximately 87 percent lower than what it would have cost to undertake this transaction using SWIFT (the global network for cross-border money transfers).
Kaia is well-positioned for these projects. It is an EVM-compatible layer-1 chain (a blockchain that runs Ethereum-style smart contracts) created by merging Kakao’s Klaytn and LINE’s Finschia networks.
Banks are intentionally moving faster than regulation does. Financial groups are competing to secure a wallet, settlement rail, and remittance channel before regulations are established about who can issue won-backed coins. The Digital Asset Basic Act of South Korea is still stalled due to a disagreement between the Bank of Korea and the Financial Services Commission over who will be responsible for controlling the issuance of stablecoins.
BNK Busan Bank said the partners will work toward expanding the model into policy funds, digital vouchers, a possible central bank digital currency, and other won-stablecoin services. Whether any of it reaches customers depends on when Seoul finishes its rulebook.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.

Maryland, USA, 2026 — The Maryland Blockchain Association will host Block chAIn Bootcamp 2026, the first International BlockchAIn & Workforce Expo Conference, from July 13 to July 17, 2026, at Capitol Technology University. Built around the Building Careers, Blockchain, Investment & Business theme, the weeklong event is designed as Maryland’s gateway to the emerging-technology economy. The goal is to create a shared stage for the students, builders, regulators, and institutions shaping the next generation of digital infrastructure.
The conference anchors Maryland Blockchain Week 2026, an initiative focused on supporting innovation and economic development with clear goals for career seekers and builders. Positioned as the Mid-Atlantic’s blockchain hub, the event is co-hosted by the Blockchain Legal Institute and the Maryland Blockchain Association. It convenes 30+ speakers drawn from policy, industry, and academia.
Its mission is direct: foster the economy by creating a talent pipeline in innovative tech. Organizers aim to upskill young people to become blockchain and AI practitioners while seeding Maryland’s growing digital asset economy, which the Association positions as a $10B+ opportunity.
The program brings together a broad ecosystem of researchers, founders, investors, developers, legal experts, and public officials in one environment where technical ideas can move from discussion to application. Confirmed speakers include US SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce, leader of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force; Dr. W. Scott Stornetta and Stuart Haber, co-developers of the early blockchain; Dale Chrystie, blockchain strategist at FedEx; and Graham Dodge, VP at TEDCO. Maryland lawmakers, including US Senator Angela Alsobrooks, State Senator Dr. Ron Watson, and Delegates Adrian Boafo and Pam Queen, round out a roster that bridges global expertise and local momentum.
The week centers on six hours of daily interactive workshops for a deliberately broad audience: high school and college students, teachers, guidance counselors, lawyers, accountants, entrepreneurs, government workers, real estate and health care professionals, retirees, and workforce partners. Workshop tracks include AI & Crypto for Non-Profits; AI, AI Agents & Business; Cybersecurity; the Fintech Ecosystem; Government Blockchain Fundamentals; International Trade & Embassy Task Forces; Stablecoins; and Accounting & Tax Workshops. A hackathon, exhibits, and curated side events, including CryptoMondays and BitAngels, run alongside the main conference.
The program is deliberately built for the whole ecosystem, bringing every part of the digital asset economy into the same room. Attendees range from first-time learners to U.S. SEC commissioners – spanning students, teachers, lawyers, accountants, entrepreneurs, banks and credit unions, family offices, government workers, real estate and health care professionals, regulators, and workforce partners.
“This event exists because the future economy will be built by people who are prepared for it today,” said Jacqueline Cooper, Chief Executive Officer of the Maryland Blockchain Association. “Our goal is simple but ambitious: turn curiosity into careers. By bringing students, regulators, and industry leaders into the same room, we are building a talent pipeline that keeps Maryland competitive, opens real opportunities for career seekers and builders, and proves that responsible innovation and economic development go hand in hand. We want every participant to leave with a clearer path into the digital economy, not just a better understanding of it.”
The conference reflects a deliberate emphasis on workforce readiness and responsible adoption. By placing frontier technology in an academic setting and pairing it with continuing education credit for legal, real estate, and accounting professionals, the event aims to make blockchain, AI, and digital asset literacy accessible to a wider regional audience while strengthening the institutions that can help guide adoption.
To help attendees make the most of those five days, the event offers an official free networking app, Thrilld. Using AI-driven matchmaking, it connects founders, investors, developers, and legal tech experts based on shared goals, streamlining how attendees discover the agenda, match, and meet on-site and beyond.
Block chAIn Bootcamp 2026 is backed by the region’s institutions, having already attracted a broad network of sponsors, partners, and media platforms across blockchain, AI, finance, academia, government, and community development. The lineup includes the Digital Chamber, the Maryland Tech Council, Chainlink Labs, Hacken, Constellation Network, the Blockchain for Good Alliance, the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, Morgan State University, and the Virginia Blockchain Council, among others.
The summit will also feature two major announcements. The Association is launching a Global Petition to eliminate the statute of limitations for victims of digital asset crime. This reform initiative calls on legislative bodies worldwide to ensure that the passage of time no longer shields bad actors in the digital economy. In addition, a post-event E-Book will be produced and distributed, compiling information about all of the event’s speakers.
Block chAIn Bootcamp 2026 will take place from July 13 to July 17, 2026, at Capitol Technology University, Maryland. Tickets, speaker applications, sponsorship information, hackathon registration, and community updates are available through official channels, including the event website.
About Block chAIn Bootcamp 2026
Block chAIn Bootcamp 2026 is the first International BlockchAIn & Workforce Expo Conference, bringing together pioneers of blockchain, AI, and Web3 in Maryland, USA, from July 13 to 17, 2026.
Hosted by the Maryland Blockchain Association, the event connects students, institutions, researchers, regulators, builders, and investors to explore how emerging technologies intersect, turn ideas into real-world careers and experiments, and strengthen a talent pipeline rooted in Maryland’s growing digital asset economy.
Website | LinkedIn | YouTube | Contact
About the Maryland Blockchain Association
The Maryland Blockchain Association (MDBA) is a statewide nonprofit trade association advancing blockchain innovation in Maryland through advocacy, education, and community building.

Vitalik Buterin has published an updated long-term roadmap for Ethereum, calling the multi-year effort “Lean Ethereum” as the network’s biggest redesign since the Merge. He posted it to X on July 4, 2026, days after Ethereum researchers gathered in Berlin to work on the protocol’s long-term trajectory.
Buterin’s post is important to those building on Ethereum, which consists of developers, layer-2 networks that settle on it, and the ETH holders who are observing how well the blockchain continues to run without breaking what is already running on top of it.
The Ethereum co-founder says that every core component will be rebuilt, but slowly, over the next three to four years.
According to Buterin’s post, the revised plan now lives in Ethereum’s public strawmap.
Ethereum to go through a phased rebuild
Buterin stated that his key takeaways from that event is that “Lean Ethereum” is not a single one-shot upgrade.
He added that “it is a collection of improvements that will come online to the Ethereum network over the course of three or four years.”
However, he also pointed out that this will be the third major iteration of Ethereum, comparing it to the Merge, which is the second major iteration when the network moved from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS) system.
Buterin wrote that “almost every major piece of the protocol will be replaced.”
The technical scope is wide, as the roadmap proposes swapping direct transaction re-execution for recursive STARK-based verification. Buterin also pointed out that they are replacing everything that is quantum-vulnerable with alternatives that are quantum-safe, adding that it is a major priority.
He also added that they will be reworking consensus toward one- or two-round finality, introducing multidimensional gas pricing, moving to new state architectures, and making changes to client architecture.
Buterin stated that the changes can be done in a way that minimizes disruption to the existing application, pointing to the Merge as evidence that Ethereum can execute large upgrades. The cofounder stated, “We’ve done this before (the Merge), we can do it again.”
What is the Ethereum Foundation doing about privacy and quantum defense?
Buterin said future protocol design will treat privacy as built in. “Privacy is no longer an afterthought; it is a first-class goal,” he wrote.
He added that developers are now asking questions that touch on how well intermediary-free, quantum-safe privacy is supported without heavy overhead when designing new components such as Frames, the mempool, and additions to the state tree.
Quantum resistance has climbed the list too. Buterin said work on quantum-safe blob designs has already run for several months.
A state model built for 2030
The most far-reaching idea concerns how Ethereum stores data. Buterin stated that “there is growing consensus around leaving present-day-style ‘dynamic state’ mostly unchanged, but scaling it only a medium amount.”
He added that consensus also supports adding new types of state that are easier to scale at large, but also relatively more restrictive.
Buterin gave an example stating that it is possible that Ethereum in 2030 will be holding about 2 TB of present-day-style (dynamic) state alongside 100 TB of a newer, more scalable design suited to ERC-20 tokens, NFTs, and many DeFi uses, while decentralized exchanges and on-chain order books stay on the existing model.
Migration would be optional but financially attractive, not mandatory.
Buterin also floated moving past the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) entirely, toward an execution environment such as RISC-V or leanISA, with the EVM eventually acting as a compiler target rather than the engine itself.
Is Ethereum trying to build a leaner protocol as its Foundation slims down?
The roadmap lands during a turbulent stretch for Ethereum’s institutions. Buterin stated in a June post that the Ethereum Foundation is cutting its budget by about 40% this year. It shed 54 jobs, roughly 20% of staff, on June 22. Also, several departed researchers have regrouped at Ethlabs, a new nonprofit that says it can fund operations for two to three years.
The ETH market has also taken a hit in recent times, although it is not unique to it alone, as funds are reportedly moving from crypto into AI investments. ETH currently trades around $1,760, down over 64% from its August 2025 high of $4,953.73.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.

Aave’s lending market on Monad had already surpassed $100 million in total deposits in two days of launching on July 2. That’s a milestone some DeFi projects spend months trying to reach.
The top DeFi lending protocol went live on Monad on Thursday with its V3 deployment. This launch marks the first time Aave’s lending, borrowing, and GHO stablecoin ecosystem has been officially launched on the chain.
Aave bets on Monad’s speed
The new deployment supports 12 assets, including USDT0, USDC, GHO, WETH, and Coinbase’s cbBTC. The most important strategic change is the broadening of Aave’s GHO stablecoin distribution. It was already available on Base and Arbitrum, but the Monad integration is the first to go beyond Ethereum Layer 2 networks.
The rapid growth follows an equally strong start, with the protocol attracting more than $75 million in deposits within its first 24 hours. The deployment is yet another step in Aave’s multichain expansion strategy as the protocol seeks to capture liquidity across emerging blockchain ecosystems.
Aave’s @monad market has crossed $100M in user deposits, just two days after launch. pic.twitter.com/YofNaHZuRR
— TokenLogic (@Token_Logic) July 4, 2026
Monad, an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Layer 1 developed by former Jump Trading engineers, is designed for high-throughput applications.
Industry observers see the strong inflows as evidence that users are increasingly willing to put their money to work on a platform that offers lower latency, cheaper execution, and Ethereum compatibility.
The Monad Foundation promised $15 million in first-year incentives
Since the mainnet and MON token launch in November 2025, the EVM-compatible Layer 1 Monad has focused entirely on scalability. The blockchain achieves 10,000 transactions per second and settles blocks in about 800 milliseconds.
Moreover, Monad’s entire DeFi ecosystem was worth $359.5 million as of June 8, according to a LlamaRisk forum post. Aave pulled in more than 25% of that total value in only 48 hours. Primarily, generous subsidies are fueling these growth metrics. Under a proposal passed in May by TokenLogic, the Monad Foundation committed $15 million in first-year incentives and agreed to hold 10 million GHO for over six months. Meanwhile, the Aave DAO is allocating 500,000 GHO to bootstrap stablecoin adoption on the chain.
The path to Aave’s Monad launch started with a Temp Check proposal on Feb. 24, 2026. Strong community support carried it through the governance process, culminating in final approval in late June and a July 2 rollout.
LlamaRisk backed the launch, though with cautious settings, noting that Monad has been around for only 7 months. It also contended that network activity dropped after a strong opening, with most liquidity crowded into established names like Uniswap, Curve, and Morpho.
Concurrently, Aave V4 achieved a new TVL milestone on Saturday, surpassing $250 million in deposits. Aave V4 rolled out on the main Ethereum network in late March using a brand-new “hub-and-spoke” setup. At the time, Aave Labs CEO Stani Kulechov said they were taking things slow and steady, just as they had with earlier versions. Now, the official vote leaves it up to the Monad Foundation to decide whether and when to upgrade to V4.
Speaking on the deposit milestone, Kulechov said, “Can’t wait to see Aave grow towards [$1 billion] with more crypto-backed loans and expanding to securities-backed lending.”
CEO Kulechov anticipates a $50 trillion Abundance Asset Market by 2050
Recently, Kulechov asserted that decentralized finance has a massive opportunity to leverage $50 trillion in tokenized asset abundance as on-chain collateral by 2050. He noted that solar energy projects could easily make up $15 trillion to $30 trillion of that massive pool.
He explained that a solar financier could tokenize a $100 million development and instantly borrow $70 million against it to fund new builds. For regular crypto savers, this opens up a low-risk, diversified way to earn yield on-chain.
He added that the type of financing provides investors a way to invest in tokenized solar infrastructure, cash out after three years, and reinvest in future projects. Additionally, he said the concept could also transform batteries, robotics, vertical farming, semiconductors, and 3D printing.
Almost $25 billion in real-world assets have been tokenized on blockchain networks, primarily across Treasuries, equities, commodities, private lending, and real estate. Abundance assets stand out by emphasizing renewable infrastructure rather than finite resources.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.

Tether’s USDT will no longer be available to European customers in Revolut from August 31, 2026, after the company decided to end direct access to the cryptocurrency amid the tightening regulations in the market.
Per the customer notification issued by the company, the move was based on a periodic assessment of the assets it supports. Revolut also cited “regulatory and risk considerations” as a factor responsible for its delisting of the USDT token.
Revolut customer notification received July 3, 2026, confirming the August 31 USDT delisting deadline.
The wind-down will take place in stages through August. It begins on July 6 at 12:00 PM GMT, when the buy button stops working. Subsequently, no new deposits will be allowed from July 30.
The last cut-off day is August 31, when any leftover USDT is converted to the account’s base currency at the market rate on that day.
Why Revolut can no longer list USDT
Revolut is now falling into its own compliance. In November 2025, Revolut received a MiCA crypto-asset service provider license from CySEC, the regulatory body for securities in Cyprus, enabling it to provide regulated crypto services in about 30 European nations.
Under MiCA, the license prohibits Revolut from listing any stablecoin whose issuer did not go through MiCA authorization. Tether, in this case, opted not to.
MiCA treats fiat-backed tokens as e-money tokens and requires significant issuers to hold at least 60% of reserves as deposits in EU banks.
Tether CEO, Paolo Ardoino, has argued that:
This sort of structure adds liquidity risk rather than removes it. Also, smaller European banks could struggle if millions of users redeemed USDT at once.
Rather than adapt, Tether retired its euro-denominated stablecoin, EURT, in November 2024. MiCA’s transition period, which had allowed existing crypto firms to continue operating under legacy authorizations, ended on July 1, 2026.
Revolut’s approach to winding down its support for USDT in Europe appears timed around that regulatory cutoff.
Revolut initially expanded support for USDT, then reversed course
The delisting marks a sharp reversal from Revolut’s own product push in late 2025, when it introduced 1:1 USD conversions for USDT and USDC, alongside zero-fee stablecoin swaps within set limits.
Max Karpis, an early Revolut investor according to his verified X bio, flagged the shift on July 2.
Revolut is delisting USDT on 31 Aug 2026 (regulatory/risk reasons).
Not long ago, they expanded support to include zero-fee transfers and 1:1 USDT/USDC swaps.
Now a reversal.
Compliance hits again. #Crypto #USDT pic.twitter.com/eJ5mV0qrMi
— Max Karpis (@maxkarpis) July 2, 2026
Europe’s major exchanges already moved first
Revolut is a late arrival to a shift that started more than a year and a half ago. Coinbase dropped USDT for European users in December 2024. As Cryptopolitan earlier reported, Kraken removed USDT and four other stablecoins across the European Economic Area by March 31, 2025, alongside Crypto.com‘s exit and OKX’s earlier removal.
Binance restricted the affected pairs through Q1 2025. Revolut held out longer because its crypto arm had not yet been fully authorized. Once the CySEC license came through, keeping USDT stopped being a choice.
Per Coinotag, ESMA’s authorized-provider register has consolidated sharply since MiCA took hold. These removals are not confiscations. According to The Crypto Times, MiCA does not freeze holdings, and ESMA has said users retain the right to hold their USDT, transfer it off-platform, or convert it themselves.
USDC takes the regulated stablecoin lane
The primary beneficiary will be Circle itself, whose USDC and EURC are both MiCA-compliant and remain listed on licensed platforms. They will thus be prepared to capture European demand that USDT is no longer capable of serving.
Globally, the two stablecoins are not close. USDT trades near $0.9992 with a market cap of around $184 billion and about $33.04 billion in daily volume as of July 4, against USDC’s roughly $73 billion market cap and $5.7 billion in daily volume, per CoinGecko.
Inside the EU, only one of them is a legal product on licensed venues.

Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.

David Bailey, the founder of Nakamoto, said yesterday that the BIP-110 proposal will not be moving forward anymore, just weeks before it was set to go live.
He made the announcement on X, where he called the failed soft fork “incredibly bullish for Bitcoin” and described the campaign behind its cancellation as a “hostile takeover attempt.”
What is BIP-110?
BIP-110, also known as the Reduced Data Temporary Softfork (BIP-444), was introduced in December 2025 by developer Dathon Ohm. The proposal was introduced to cut down on unnecessary data being added to Bitcoin transactions, which some say distorts the way the network is used and could threaten Bitcoin’s role as a form of money.
To address these concerns, BIP-110 proposed strict new limits on transaction data. For example, new outputs would be capped at 34 bytes, certain types of data would be limited to 83 bytes, and other technical restrictions would be implemented. The new rules were designed to last only one year, with older coins unaffected.
Why was it canceled?
Despite being discussed for months, the proposal never really gained enough support. By February, less than 10% of Bitcoin nodes were in favor, and none of the top 20 mining pools joined in.
Bailey, the Nakamoto founder, insisted this wasn’t due to apathy but rather a strong rejection of BIP-110’s core ideas. He described the debate as “information warfare” and accused some developers of trying to hijack the network.
Other experts also shared their concerns. BitMEX Research warned Bailey that the changes could break wallets, disrupt popular tools, and even result in people losing funds.
Others pointed out that limiting data might not stop spam or malicious transactions, and that it could split the Bitcoin network into competing versions, creating rival coins like Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.
A community divided
The debate over data in Bitcoin is not new. Some believe that too much data clutters the network and makes it harder for individuals to run Bitcoin nodes (which are necessary for security and decentralization).
Others, like Martin Habovštiak, have shown that even with the new limits, it’s still possible to store large files on the blockchain, after he famously uploaded a 66-kilobyte image on the blockchain as proof.
The controversy grew even more last year when an October software update removed long-standing data limits, prompting some users to switch to an alternative called Bitcoin Knots. As of February, Knots made up nearly a quarter of all Bitcoin nodes.
What now?
While the threat of a network split or broken wallets has reduced for now, the arguments over BIP-110 still rage on. Some are worried that Bitcoin could face more pressure from regulators or see its transaction fees rise due to data-heavy features such as “ordinals” and “runes,” which now make up more than 67% of network transactions.
There’s also a chance that a small group of node operators and miners could try to activate BIP-110 on their own, creating two parallel versions of Bitcoin: one with stricter data rules and one without.
For the moment, though, the Bitcoin community is breathing a sigh of relief as the risk of a disruptive split has faded, at least until the next proposal comes along.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.

President Donald Trump earned a $636 million payout from his Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin while the people who bought it lost considerably more, according to blockchain data from Nansen and Trump’s own 2025 financial disclosure.
The analytics firm counted 988,905 wallets that lost a total of $3.81 billion by the end of June.
Nansen’s tally, first reported by The New York Times, adds up money already lost with paper losses still sitting in wallets that have not been sold.
Roughly two in three wallets that ever bought TRUMP are underwater. Less than 500,000 wallets booked about $4 billion in profit, and Nansen said those gains were made by early buyers and automated traders who bought before the run-up and sold into the crowd that followed.
The token itself tells the story. TRUMP changed hands near $1.76 on Friday, about 97% below the $75.35 peak it hit on January 19, 2025, the day before Trump’s second inauguration, per CoinMarketCap data. He had launched the coin three days earlier and promoted it on Truth Social as a way for supporters to join his community.
Why Trump made a win-win gamble
Retail buyers needed the price to climb. But Trump did not, with The New York Times reporting that the meme coin earned money from trading activity itself, so he gained revenue whether the token rose or fell. That structure is the difference between the two numbers at the top of this story.
His financial disclosure fills in the rest. The filing reported at least $1.4 billion in crypto-related income for the year, more than half of the $2.2 billion Trump reported overall. According to Cryptopolitan, the $1.4 billion in crypto earnings comprises $635 million in memecoin royalties, $527 million from token sales by World Liberty Financial, and approximately $263 million from stakes in related companies.
World Liberty Financial buyers have fared poorly too. Nansen found that 85% of the 26,663 WLFI wallets it tracked incurred losses of approximately $83 million, offset by roughly $23 million in profits.
The company cautioned that the actual damage is likely larger, as many exchange trades cannot be traced on-chain. WLFI traded near $0.056 on CoinMarketCap, down about 88% from its September 2025 high.
Not every buyer remained quiet, with Nicholas Pinto telling The New York Times he put around $500,000 into TRUMP after backing Trump in the 2024 election and figures he is down about half. He called the project “almost a legal scam.”
Asked about the income in a CNBC interview, Trump said he did not know his crypto ventures had earned at least $1.4 billion, that he could find out the exact figure if he wanted to, and that there was nothing wrong with making money from digital assets.
He added that he had no intention of pulling his family out of the business. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The New York Times that Trump had turned the United States into the “crypto capital of the world” and acted in the country’s interest.
Senate scrutinizes Trump’s financial disclosure.
The numbers arrived as lawmakers put finishing touches on a crypto market structure bill, with Democrats putting up a fight. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand renewed her calls for ethical guardrails that will prevent the President, members of Congress, and their families from profiting off digital assets.
“We cannot allow members of Congress, senior administration officials, presidents, or vice presidents to get rich off these industries because of their insider status,” she said in May at the Consensus Miami conference.
Gillibrand also co-sponsors the End Crypto Corruption Act, a separate bill from Senator Jeff Merkley with 19 Democratic co-sponsors that would stop senior officials and their families from issuing or endorsing tokens, memecoins, NFTs, and stablecoins.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Ruben Gallego, and Angela Alsobrooks have made similar arguments, with Gallego writing on X that “Trump is using the presidency to profit off the American people.”
Republicans would love to move quickly. South Carolina Senator and Banking Committee Chairman, Tim Scott has called for a full Senate vote this month, just before the August recess, with the committee voting 15-9 on a substitute amendment.
Gallego and Alsobrooks voted to move the bill out of committee, but would not guarantee a floor vote if ethical concerns were not addressed.
If Senators can agree on ethical provisions, while settling anti-money-laundering and DeFi oversight questions, before the Senate leaves for its August recess, then the bill has a strong chance of passing.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.

In an opinion shared on X today, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino warned that Big Tech’s efforts to build AI data centers depend on subsidized computing and hardware that lose value within three to five years. He believes four structural mismatches are putting the sector at risk.
This warning comes as hyperscalers invest record amounts in infrastructure despite not seeing any clear returns on investment.
The four issues that must be fixed
Ardoino said that AI companies are subsidizing computing to attract more users and are investing heavily in infrastructure that only lasts three to five years.
He listed four main problems:
Token prices do not match costs.
Profitability timelines do not align with investments.
The maturity of capital does not match asset life.
Finally, open-source AI could lower revenues.
The spending numbers are huge and still growing. In its midyear outlook released on June 24, JPMorgan raised its estimate for global AI-related capital spending through 2030 to $5.5 trillion, up from $5.1 trillion, and expects AI-related debt financing to reach $4.1 trillion.
The bank predicts hyperscaler capital spending will reach $650 billion this year and go over $1.1 trillion in 2027. Microsoft alone plans to spend about $190 billion in 2026, which is a 61% increase from the previous year.
Goldman Sachs estimates that Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet will spend a combined $5.3 trillion on capital expenses between 2025 and 2030. This year, these four companies plan to spend $725 billion, which is 77% more than last year’s $410 billion.
Alphabet also raised $84.75 billion for AI infrastructure, which was described as the largest US equity capital raise ever, according to reports.
No returns on these massive investments yet
Ardoino’s worries about profitability reflect a wider uncertainty about whether this spending will actually pay off. The average company will spend $11.5 million on AI this year, but most cannot show any clear return on investment. Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis also shows that growth in the Information sector slowed to 1.5% in the first quarter of 2026, down from 3.2% in the third quarter of 2025.
His warning about open-source AI taking a larger share of revenues matches a trend that has been brewing for months. Companies that previously encouraged staff to maximize AI usage (also known as ‘tokenmaxxing’) are now scaling back as their CFOs are now questioning rising API costs.
Amazon dropped its internal leaderboard tracking employee AI use, Uber used up its 2026 AI coding budget in just four months and set a $1,500 monthly cap per employee, and Meta cautioned about 6,000 staff over rapidly increasing costs.
IDC projects that by 2028, 70% of leading AI adopters will use multiple models instead of relying on a single vendor, which could spark a price war.
Regulators are also concerned. The Bank for International Settlements warned in its annual report that a sharp drop in AI investment could hurt global stock markets more than past recessions.
The bank named AI as one of three main risks to the economy. Zhang Tao, the BIS chief representative for Asia and the Pacific, said “the speed of a correction could be much faster than previous banking crisis episodes.”
Not everyone is so pessimistic. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said that the buildout is “an arms race” that no major company can afford to leave. He believes the sector will start making money in the next six to twelve months.
JPMorgan also expects profits to remain strong, predicting operating cash flow will go above $900 billion by 2027.
Great Hill Capital chair Thomas Hayes gave a more balanced view, saying that one or more major companies may announce lower capital spending in the next earnings report. For now, the upcoming earnings season will be important. If any of the big spenders cuts back, as Hayes predicts, it will be the first real test of the issues Ardoino pointed out.
If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.

The IMF has warned against rushing into tokenization without proper systems. The financial regulator states that moving assets onto shared digital ledgers will automate the entire trading process, leaving the entire market at the mercy of automated systems without clear regulations.
In a recent blog post, Tobias Adrian, the IMF’s financial counselor and director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, said that when financial assets and liabilities are moved onto shared digital ledgers, processes that today occur sequentially will then be executed by software rather than institutional procedures.
He argued that tokenization is a structural change in how finance operates and that it comes with its own risks.
IMF says tokenization brings major risks
Multiple forms of digital money can coexist in tokenized finance: bank deposits, stablecoins and central bank money. Design choices will shape stability and trust. Read our new blog on tokenization: https://t.co/niSfVsSwgf pic.twitter.com/EHprvZVDgJ
— IMF (@IMFNews) July 3, 2026
In an X post, the IMF highlighted that with tokenization, risk could migrate away from the balance sheets of banks and investment funds and onto companies that run tokenized systems.
The IMF body insisted that policies need to be adapted before migration is even considered.
However, Adrian was also worried about which asset would anchor the final settlement in a fully tokenized system. Adrian went ahead and discussed in detail why he thinks all three available options are limited.
Adrian looked at tokenized bank deposits and said that they represent existing bank liabilities and preserve the current regulatory framework. However, he dismissed them because they also require real-time liquidity management around the clock.
Adrian pointed out that Stablecoins offer programmability and wider reach, but dismissed them because they still depend on the quality of their reserves and the resilience of their issuers to maintain their pegged value.
Adrian also analyzed a third option of tokenized central bank reserves. He said the tokenized central bank reserves remove the credit risk from the settlement layer. However, they require central banks to operate or oversee programmable infrastructure beyond what traditional payment systems demand.
According to the director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, none offer a clean solution.
IMF argues against the 24/7 settlement that tokenization promises
Adrian also pointed out that a 24/7 settlement structure poses a problem that regulators have not yet solved. He highlighted that markets have always built their practices around business-day cycles, overnight windows, end-of-day reconciliation, and next-day clearing.
Without these legacy regulations, liquidity may need to be controlled directly on tokenized infrastructure, without proper clarification on who is in control and where moral hazard sits.
Adrian clarified that tokenization indeed removes friction, but in return, it also does away with important buffers currently built into the system.
The IMF also said that the market must know whether a tokenized record is a final proof of ownership and is legally recognized. The regulations must also clearly state which jurisdiction the law applies in a dispute.
The IMF warned that tokenization will remain broken rather than become the backbone of global finance, without clarifying the legal rules governing it.
The financial body also argued that in developing countries, cross-border tokenized flows increase the risk of volatile capital movements, potentially destabilizing local currencies.
U.S. regulators are already moving to apply existing securities rules to tokenized assets. The regulators are debating pathways, and major financial institutions are building out tokenization infrastructure.
If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.

Micron Technology broke ground on a new plant to manufacture memory chips in western Japan. This $9.3-billion facility represents an enormous commitment by Micron to grow its ability to deliver semiconductors for AI. The new facility will enable Micron to provide large amounts of high-bandwidth memory (HBM), a key part of training and operating AI models. Production of these HBM chips will not start until approximately summer of 2028.
Micron is building a new factory in Hiroshima to make HBM chips for AI accelerators being developed by NVIDIA’s customers. The facility will be partly financed through contributions of up to ¥500B (~$3.1B) from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), as part of a larger Japanese government initiative that aims to promote more domestic semiconductor manufacturing and strengthen supply chains supporting AI.
Micron joins the HBM race
The primary challenge with AI computing is the amount of memory required for it. With each new large language model and artificial intelligence image generator, plus all of the independent AIs, the amount of data being transmitted at high rates between GPUs and memory is massive. One of the solutions to this need has been the introduction of HBM. HBM can be achieved by stacking DRAM dies vertically, increasing bandwidth significantly while also increasing efficiency as compared to traditional memory.
According to a report, the recent increase in demand for artificial intelligence has caused the need for HBM to expand much faster than currently available production capabilities. This prompted the three leading manufacturers of HBM (Micron Technology Inc., SK Hynix Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.) to aggressively expand their production capabilities and accelerate their next-generation product roadmaps.
Micron’s financial results from the third quarter of its 2026 fiscal year demonstrate the extent of the opportunity present. According to its investor relations filing, it had record revenues of $41.46 billion for Q3 of fiscal year 2026 versus revenues of $9.30 billion during the same period a year earlier. Their operating margins for the Cloud Memory Group and the Core Data Center Group were 78% and 83%, respectively. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra stated that this performance demonstrates “the strategic value of memory in the AI era.”
Additionally, the expansion of HBM production is occurring during a time of fierce competition for leadership within this segment of the memory market. Counterpoint Research reported that SK Hynix had approximately 57% of the global HBM market at the end of 2025 while Samsung and Micron each held approximately 22% and 21% of the market, respectively.
As a result of the fierce marketplace competition, not only are companies competing for volume but also on technology roadmaps. Recently, Samsung began to ship samples of the next generation of their HBM4E chips to key customers, and in addition, they also provided roadmaps for future HBM5 products. SK Hynix has also shipped samples of 12-layer, energy-efficient HBM4E memory with greater than 20% energy savings compared to previous generations. Both companies are also preparing HBM products for the next generation of AI systems currently being developed and awaiting end-of-life for the HBM3E-based systems.
Micron doubles down on AI
Capacity expansion is accelerating as well. SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won stated that SK Hynix plans to double its wafers produced per year to meet the demands for AI memory. In addition, South Korea recently announced an $800 trillion won ($518 billion) public-private project with Samsung and SK Hynix that will establish four new semiconductor manufacturing facilities, expand the packaging capacity of HBM, and ultimately double the amount of DRAM produced in South Korea.
Therefore, Micron’s expansion in Hiroshima represents more than just an increase in capacity. It is a strategic decision to remain competitive as its customers enter into long-term supply contracts with HBM producers years before their production is expected to become operational.
Micron’s project in Japan is aligned with its overall AI strategy. Two days prior to the groundbreaking, Micron signed a strategic agreement with Anthropic that included designing memory architecture, a multi-year supply contract and a large investment in Anthropic’s Series H financing.
In a joint announcement, Anthropic co-founder and Chief Computing Officer Tom Brown said that memory and storage are “central to how efficiently we can train and serve Claude” and that this agreement supports Anthropic’s long-term plan for scaling its computing capabilities.
Japan secures a domestic AI supply link
For Japan, the facility addresses a strategic vulnerability. Although the country remains an important semiconductor manufacturing hub, it has had limited domestic production of the most advanced AI memory chips. Nikkei Asia previously reported that the Hiroshima expansion would provide Japan with local manufacturing capacity for one of the most strategically important components in modern AI infrastructure.
The funding from Japan’s METI highlights an ongoing global competition between countries to attract advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Japan has also supported projects from Rapidus and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) as it attempts to develop a well-rounded semiconductor ecosystem that encompasses many facets (such as logic chips, packaging, and high-performance memory) that are all made in-country.
Micron also continues to expand its manufacturing footprint globally. Establishing operations in the United States, Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan to diversify production and better serve AI customers worldwide.
Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.

The Moonbeam Network announced the complete closure of Polkadot’s parachain. The GLMR token would be migrating 1:1 to Coinbase’s Base Layer-2, and they will now be relaunching with a new purpose as a decentralized protocol for AI agent communications and on-chain settlements. This change is just the latest in a string of high-profile exits from the shrinking Polkadot ecosystem, as many are now making changes in their positioning around AI infrastructure on Ethereum-aligned chains.
The project team stated that the project will become “a decentralized AI agent communication and settlement network built for the on-chain economy of the future.” This announcement repositions the protocol as fundamental infrastructure for autonomous software agents versus a standard smart-contract platform.
For the crypto community at large, this exit by Moonbeam further complicates the challenging landscape for Polkadot. Moonbeam’s TVL across parachains has decreased from $275.73 million on January 27, 2022, to $1.34 million by July 1, 2026, according to data from DefiLlama.
End of Moonbeam on Polkadot
Moonwell, the largest DeFi protocol on Moonbeam, has previously transitioned to governance on Ethereum’s mainnet. As they close down the parachain by the end of July, this represents yet another of Polkadot‘s original flagship EVM chains being entirely removed from its ecosystem.
Something big is happening and we want you to be part of it.
After years of building on Polkadot, Moonbeam and GLMR are going somewhere new. Today we are announcing the full migration of the GLMR token to Base and the upcoming launch of the new Moonbeam Protocol: a…
— Moonbeam (@MoonbeamNetwork) July 3, 2026
The new protocol will act as an infrastructure for independent AI agents to find each other, negotiate a task, send messages and generate verifiable proofs of their completed tasks using blockchain technology, as reported in the Moonbeam Protocol official announcement. Agents will settle their accounts on Base without any intermediary.
The company has stated that the protocol was created for an “on-chain economy” of machine-to-machine payments. Instead of being just another AI model provider, Moonbeam will be the economic coordination layer that allows autonomous agents to do business with each other and pay for and verify that they have completed their work on the blockchain. There is no public technical roadmap, SDK documentation, protocol specification, or launch date yet. Therefore, it is impossible to determine how the future use of this protocol will compete with existing agent infrastructures.
Token migration mechanics
By July 31st, at the latest, GLMR tokens (as represented by users self-custodially holding GLMR tokens) must be bridged off the Moonbeam parachain onto Base on a 1:1 basis. This means that if you hold GLMR on Base, it will be converted into an ERC-20 token at that point in time. Users who are bridging their tokens are advised to withdraw any funds that may be currently locked in DeFi protocols on the current chain (such as lending protocols, liquidity positions, or staked contracts) before they start bridging to Base.
The development team has stated that any GLMR tokens left in DeFi protocols when the parachain winds down could be unrecoverable in the future. For users holding GLMR on centralized exchanges, you need to take no action. Moonbeam has indicated that exchanges will automatically handle migrations and will notify users of their migration procedures. Moonbeam has launched the migration portal for eligible users to begin bridging assets to Base prior to the cutoff date.
As a result of the news from Moonbeam, as of July 4th, GLMR was up approximately 17% to ~$0.0104. GLMR’s 24 hour trading volume jumped 141%. It stands at around $6.46 million.
However, despite this recovery, GLMR is still down approximately 99.95% from its all-time high of $29.84 in January of 2022, and has an approximate market cap of more than $12 million. GLMR currently has an inflation rate of approximately 5% year over year, and there is no cap on the maximum supply of GLMR tokens. As of now, there are approximately 1.19 billion GLMR tokens in circulation out of a total supply of approximately 1.24 billion GLMR tokens.
Competing in the AI agent economy
Moonbeam is stepping into one of the fastest-developing areas within crypto’s infrastructure, though it will not be competing against a single direct competitor, but rather within a multitude of competing Ecosystems that rely on the use of AI agents. Earlier, Cryptopolitan in its newsletter mentioned that nearly 70% of Crypto Investors Would Let an AI Agent Control Their Wallet. However, with Conditions.
Fetching.ai has been developing autonomous economic agents for many years, which will autonomously perform tasks on decentralized networks by discovering services, sharing information, and coordinating tasks through multi-agent coordination.
The Virtuals Protocol, which is already on Base, focuses on creating tokenized AI agents, as well as creating autonomous applications that the consumer can utilize. Its position as a first mover within the framework of Base will provide a significant competitive advantage compared to all its competitors.
Wayfinder is providing cross-chain agent navigation and execution across several Blockchains, allowing an AI agent’s ability to interact with several different decentralized applications, regardless of the underlying Blockchain.
Spectral is focused on programmable on-chain intelligence and has created an on-chain programmable logic execution using AI, while using an oracle infrastructure for verifiable AI execution. Oraichain combines both AI and Blockchain through the oracle infrastructure, providing the ability to perform trusted computation as opposed to settlement.
Moonbeam does not appear to be competing specifically on AI models, AI agent creation, or orchestration, but rather positioning itself as the framework for settlement/payments, where an autonomous agent can both verify the completion of a task, as well as exchange value and complete machine-to-machine transactions, all on-chain.
If successful, Moonbeam will have established itself as Financial Infrastructure for the ecosystem of AI agents, versus being considered as just another AI application. This position may provide important differentiation within an increasingly multi-chain Ecosystem of AI agents that all will require a neutral settlement infrastructure as an essential component of their successful operational execution.
If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is doubling down on its ambitious Project Crypto initiative as it seeks to reverse years of digital asset companies relocating overseas due to regulatory uncertainty.
On X, he wrote, “An entire generation of digital asset innovation developed outside the U.S., not because American entrepreneurs lacked the ambition, or American investors lacked the appetite, but because American regulators lacked the will.”
The SEC now wants to change that by creating what Atkins describes as “basic fairness and common sense” in applying securities laws to digital assets.
Last year, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins first announced “Project Crypto,” a major initiative to overhaul US securities laws for digital asset markets. The program aimed to make the United States the leading global crypto hub.
As previously reported by Cryptopolitan the SEC now expects the initiative’s implementation to pave the way for greater levels of compliant crypto activity nationwide. Atkins even added that U.S. crypto developers were never short on ideas or investment, only on regulators prepared to foster innovation.
What does Project Crypto entail?
Based on the traditional Howey test framework, the Project Crypto initiative establishes a clear framework for token classification.
The SEC aims to define clear regulatory boundaries and replace the guessing system that was at risk of litigation. The previous framework, often referred to as “regulation by enforcement,” required crypto firms to determine the compliance obligations following legal action.
Many companies were waiting until they received a Wells notice to find out what regulators thought of their actions.
Another major highlight of the initiative is its plan to create regulatory carve-outs for certain crypto activities. These exemptions could apply to airdrops and network incentives such as staking rewards.
The initiative includes exemptions for brand-new businesses. Atkins explained that new companies could start operating if they report to the SEC regularly, use verified user pools, and build safety rules right into the tokens using systems like ERC-3643.
So far, he has presented the initiative as a corrective measure for the regulatory pressures that drove U.S. digital asset firms abroad. Before, many founders chose friendlier hubs like Dubai, Switzerland, or the Cayman Islands over a challenging U.S. market.
In a press release last November, he commented, “I described ‘Project Crypto’ as our effort to match the energy of American innovators with a regulatory framework worthy of them.”
Additionally, the initiative incorporates interagency coordination with the CFTC, indicating a shift toward a unified federal strategy rather than a jurisdictional dispute over token classification. Atkins also noted that the SEC’s plan will work alongside new stablecoin laws from Congress. Even though he did not name specific tokens, this connection suggests the new rules will likely affect the most popular digital assets.
Moreover, the initiative also addresses trading venues, custodial services, and on-chain software architectures. It proposes that broker-dealers operating alternative trading systems should be permitted to facilitate non-security digital assets alongside digital asset securities, traditional equities, staking, and lending services under an optimized licensing framework.
Ideally, Project Crypto is a direct response to the President’s Working Group’s call for a cleaner approach to crypto rules.
Project Crypto is still in its early stages
Still, Project Crypto is still a work in progress. The SEC still needs to release proposed rules, gather public feedback, and then decide whether the initiative will work.
Until formal rules are adopted, Project Crypto is still a statement of regulatory intent– not a binding policy. And yet it is the greatest evidence so far that U.S. regulators are moving toward a more predictable system for digital assets.
The commission also recently launched a token taxonomy based on the long-standing Howey test for investment contracts, noting that securities laws have clear limits.
This taxonomy categorizes digital assets into five categories; only one is considered a security, and specifies how regulators will approach airdrops, protocol mining, staking rewards, and token wrapping.
Legal experts and market participants broadly view Project Crypto as the most comprehensive attempt yet to make the United States competitive in digital finance.
The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them.

Chun Wang, who is among those who helped create F2Pool, one of the biggest Bitcoin mining pools, deposited 9,876 Ether (ETH), which is currently worth around $17 million USD, into Binance on July 3.
Chun Wang (@satofishi) further deposited 9876 $ETH ($17.02M) into #Binance.https://t.co/tlqgpqwLLL https://t.co/XAhmbXD0i9 pic.twitter.com/eOXMRaPSZr
— Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) July 3, 2026
This is not the only deposit made by Wang; the previous day he deposited 16,842 ETH (valued at about $26 million) and 60 WBTC (valued at about $3.6 million) into Binance. Combining both these deposits, Wang has transferred over $47 million worth of cryptocurrency assets into Binance within the past 48 hours.
A reversal after months of accumulation
Wang’s deposits illustrate a notable change in his on-chain activity compared to his previous behavior on the chain. From May 26 to late June 2026, he withdrew a total of 91,945 ETH (equal to approximately $160 million USD at the time of this writing) and a total of 973 WBTC (equal to approximately 61 million USD) from Binance, according to on-chain data.
His last withdrawal from Binance before these latest deposits was for 4,950 ETH (equal to approximately $7.7 million USD) on June 28; this continues a pattern that points to long-term accumulation and decreased exposure at an exchange.
With the recent change of tens of millions of dollars’ worth of digital asset transfers back onto Binance, questions arise if one of the industry’s leading infrastructure operators is making moves related to a potential market move or just adjusting his portfolio investments.
Why exchange flows matter for ETH price
Large amounts of cryptocurrency sent to centralized exchanges can imply to the market that there will be a sell-side pressure, due to these exchanges offering instant access to liquidity.
According to CryptoQuant, an increase in exchange inflows and reserves has historically been correlated with an increase in selling pressure (i.e., selling activity), and an extended period of net outflows would imply accumulation and transitioning into self-custody.
However, it should not be automatically assumed that an increase in exchange deposits would mean that sales are imminent; while it raises the likelihood of pressure to sell in the near term, it does not necessarily indicate that a sale will take place.
Therefore, large transfers being made by institutional market participants can represent custody migration; treasury rebalancing; collateral movements to back derivatives; and/or operational transfers from staking providers. On-chain deposits alone do not give information on the sender’s intent, as well as there being no supporting execution data.
CryptoQuant states that in addition to providing a source of liquidity, exchange-related inflows can also occur for reasons other than spot selling, such as for using exchange-specific services or in a staking-related fashion.
Ether traded at approximately $1,748 on July 4, according to CoinMarketCap, with a 24-hour trading range between $1,696 and $1,772. The cryptocurrency remains roughly 65% below its all-time high of $4,953.
According to CoinMarketCap, Binance is currently the largest centralized exchange in the world based on spot-trading volume, handling billions of dollars of daily exchange transactions while managing more than $136B in customer assets.
Who is Chun Wang
Wang co-founded F2Pool with Mao Shihang in April 2013. Since its launch, F2Pool has mined more than 1.3 million Bitcoin, accounting for over 9% of all Bitcoin blocks ever produced, according to Bitcoin Magazine. In addition to being a co-founder of F2Pool, Wang also mined roughly 7,700 BTC during Bitcoin’s early days before focusing exclusively on running mining infrastructure.
In 2018, Wang launched Stake.fish, a non-custodial staking platform that has since grown into one of the largest validator operators on Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, and many other proof-of-stake blockchains.
As an operator of validator services & holder of large digital assets, Wang’s on-chain transfers may represent operational management of treasuries and/or movement of funds for purposes not necessarily tied to investment activity.
Wang was also a mission commander for the Fram2 mission in March 2025, making him part of the first crewed polar orbital spaceflight. This mission was supported by the sale of a portion of Wang’s Bitcoin holdings.
Due to his influence in the cryptocurrency market and the size of the digital assets he controls, Wang’s on-chain transactions are frequently scrutinized by market participants. As a founder of several significant crypto-infrastructure companies, movement of tens of millions and/or hundreds of millions of dollars could shift market sentiment prior to the rationale for such transactions being made known.
What to watch
Wang’s continued deposition of funds into exchanges will provide insight into his future plans in the cryptocurrency market. In addition, market participants will be interested to see if any further exchange inflows occur outside of Wang’s wallet.
Analysts usually look at exchange inflows as just one type of on-chain indicator. They will also be looking at the combined effects of very exchange reserve trends, how derivatives are positioned, and the level of liquidity throughout the entire market before making any conclusions about the possibility of imminent selling pressure.
Continued deposits from ‘whales’ could add to the case for a bearish outlook, while evidence of custodial migrations, treasury rebalancing, derivatives collateral management, or staking-related operational activities would indicate that the transfers taken place would not necessarily be assumed to be intended for immediate liquidation.


Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.