SBI and Solana to Build Japan's Onchain Financial Market
SBI Holdings has struck a strategic partnership with the Solana Foundation to build an onchain financial market in Japan, folding the foundation into its SBI R3 Japan unit — now renamed SBI Solana Global.
👉 theblock.co/post/408010/sbi-holdings-solana-foundation-partner-to-build-japan-based-onchain-financial-market
SBI Holdings has struck a strategic partnership with the Solana Foundation to build an onchain financial market in Japan, folding the foundation into its SBI R3 Japan unit — now renamed SBI Solana Global.
The venture will roll out yen-backed stablecoins, tokenized bonds, funds and real estate, plus cross-border payment rails for institutions — starting in Japan, then expanding across Asia and beyond. It's another leg of SBI's aggressive onchain push, positioning Japan's largest financial group as a regional hub for regulated tokenized finance.
👉 theblock.co/post/408010/sbi-holdings-solana-foundation-partner-to-build-japan-based-onchain-financial-market
Strategy Raises $467M in Cash, Buys No Bitcoin
Michael Saylor's Strategy raised $466.7M through at-the-market stock sales last week, lifting its USD reserve to $3B — but it bought no new Bitcoin, leaving its stack untouched at 843,775 BTC across the period.
👉 x.com/Strategy/status/2076638779528388781
Michael Saylor's Strategy raised $466.7M through at-the-market stock sales last week, lifting its USD reserve to $3B — but it bought no new Bitcoin, leaving its stack untouched at 843,775 BTC across the period.
The cash cushion is earmarked for dividends on its preferred stock and interest on its debt, as the firm's once-relentless BTC accumulation pauses. It underscores a shift in Strategy's playbook: after years of relentless buying, Saylor's Bitcoin machine has downshifted to raising and holding cash.
👉 x.com/Strategy/status/2076638779528388781
UK Doubles Down on Financial Tokenization With Wall Street Leaders
BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, HSBC and UBS are joining the U.K. government’s tokenization taskforce.
According to a BCG estimate, the tokenized real-world assets market could reach $88 trillion by 2035, while the U.K. says the shift could add billions in annual economic output and tax revenue.
The message coming out of London is clear: tokenization is no longer being treated as a side experiment or a niche innovation. It is steadily moving into the center of financial infrastructure, where the next generation of markets will be built.
👉 coindesk.com/business/2026/07/13/uk-government-unveils-tokenization-taskforce-with-blackrock-goldman-jpmorgan-morgan-stanley
BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, HSBC and UBS are joining the U.K. government’s tokenization taskforce.
Backed by the City of London Corporation, the initiative will spend the next year testing live tokenization use cases in UK financial markets, starting with tokenized repo. The goal is clear: bring tokenization deeper into traditional finance and keep London competitive as the race for RWA infrastructure accelerates.
According to a BCG estimate, the tokenized real-world assets market could reach $88 trillion by 2035, while the U.K. says the shift could add billions in annual economic output and tax revenue.
The message coming out of London is clear: tokenization is no longer being treated as a side experiment or a niche innovation. It is steadily moving into the center of financial infrastructure, where the next generation of markets will be built.
👉 coindesk.com/business/2026/07/13/uk-government-unveils-tokenization-taskforce-with-blackrock-goldman-jpmorgan-morgan-stanley
Treasuries & ETFs Board. Crypto Accumulation and Capital Flows
ETF demand rebounded, while public companies continued expanding crypto treasury positions across major assets.
Corporate Treasuries
- BitMine acquired 27,801 ETH ($49.1M) over the past week, lifting total holdings to 5,77M ETH ($10.2B)
- Strategy raised $466M through at-the-market stock sales last week, lifting its USD reserve to $3B, but it bought no new Bitcoin, leaving its stack untouched at 843,775 BTC across the period.
ETF Flows
Bitcoin ETFs: +$197M net inflows after eight weeks of outflows.
Ethereum ETFs: +$84.3M net inflows, led by BlackRock’s ETHA.
ETF demand rebounded, while public companies continued expanding crypto treasury positions across major assets.
Corporate Treasuries
- BitMine acquired 27,801 ETH ($49.1M) over the past week, lifting total holdings to 5,77M ETH ($10.2B)
- Strategy raised $466M through at-the-market stock sales last week, lifting its USD reserve to $3B, but it bought no new Bitcoin, leaving its stack untouched at 843,775 BTC across the period.
ETF Flows
Bitcoin ETFs: +$197M net inflows after eight weeks of outflows.
Ethereum ETFs: +$84.3M net inflows, led by BlackRock’s ETHA.
Crypto Is Becoming The Bank: US OCC National Trust Charters
On July 10, Circle got final OCC approval for a national trust charter. The world's largest regulated stablecoin issuer is now a federally chartered US bank.
But Circle is the headline, not the whole story. For 5 years Anchorage was the only crypto firm with a federal charter. Then, in ~6 months, the dam broke: Circle went first, with Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, Fidelity, Coinbase and Crypto com right behind.
1 in 5 years → 7 in 6 months. Federal legitimacy, custody rights, no state-by-state patchwork. The financial rails are being rebuilt — and this time crypto owns them.
On July 10, Circle got final OCC approval for a national trust charter. The world's largest regulated stablecoin issuer is now a federally chartered US bank.
But Circle is the headline, not the whole story. For 5 years Anchorage was the only crypto firm with a federal charter. Then, in ~6 months, the dam broke: Circle went first, with Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, Fidelity, Coinbase and Crypto com right behind.
1 in 5 years → 7 in 6 months. Federal legitimacy, custody rights, no state-by-state patchwork. The financial rails are being rebuilt — and this time crypto owns them.
Jupiter Debuts Gacha: Graded Cards, Onchain
Solana DEX Jupiter has launched Gacha in beta — digital packs that pull real, professionally graded Pokémon and One Piece cards, each backed one-to-one by a physical slab kept in a secure vault.
👉 x.com/JupiterExchange/status/2076654397237445092
Solana DEX Jupiter has launched Gacha in beta — digital packs that pull real, professionally graded Pokémon and One Piece cards, each backed one-to-one by a physical slab kept in a secure vault.
Every pull is an authenticated PSA, BGS or CGC slab, instantly tradable on Jupiter, with buyback floors near 85–93% of market value and a $100K rewards pool in play. Built with Collector Crypt and verification partner Phygitals, it turns childhood card-collecting into a liquid onchain market.
👉 x.com/JupiterExchange/status/2076654397237445092
AmericanFortress Pitches a Soft-Fork to Freeze Satoshi's 1.1M BTC Before Quantum Computers Strike
Satoshi's ~1.1M BTC, plus millions of other pre-BIP32 coins, sit behind public keys already exposed on chain. A proposed soft-fork would defensively freeze those wallets, shielding them from a future quantum attack.
AmericanFortress, founded by Michal 'Mehow' Pospieszalski, a former white-hat hacker who audited U.S. voting machines for the government, has closed an $8M seed (SAVA, Moon Pursuit, 0G Labs) this May; its Send-to-Name wallet is in beta, with an AF token event slated for early Q3, per the company.
👉 uk.entrepreneur.com/entrepreneurs/he-hacked-voting-machines-for-the-government-now-hes-trying-to-fix-cryptos-trust-problem
Satoshi's ~1.1M BTC, plus millions of other pre-BIP32 coins, sit behind public keys already exposed on chain. A proposed soft-fork would defensively freeze those wallets, shielding them from a future quantum attack.
The fix is a small, BIP-style update — no hard fork needed — that would lock those exposed legacy wallets until Bitcoin's community decides their fate, while newer wallets get quantum-resistant signing by default.
AmericanFortress, founded by Michal 'Mehow' Pospieszalski, a former white-hat hacker who audited U.S. voting machines for the government, has closed an $8M seed (SAVA, Moon Pursuit, 0G Labs) this May; its Send-to-Name wallet is in beta, with an AF token event slated for early Q3, per the company.
👉 uk.entrepreneur.com/entrepreneurs/he-hacked-voting-machines-for-the-government-now-hes-trying-to-fix-cryptos-trust-problem
Apple Stock Hits a New All-Time High at $323
Apple tagged a fresh intraday all-time high of $323.45 and a record $317.31 close, lifting its market cap to about $4.66T — the world's second-most valuable company, behind only Nvidia.
The rally rides strong iPhone 17 sales and AI optimism, with the stock up roughly 50% over the past year.
Apple tagged a fresh intraday all-time high of $323.45 and a record $317.31 close, lifting its market cap to about $4.66T — the world's second-most valuable company, behind only Nvidia.
The rally rides strong iPhone 17 sales and AI optimism, with the stock up roughly 50% over the past year.
Tempo Adds Receive Policies to Screen Incoming Funds
Stripe-backed payments chain Tempo has rolled out Receive Policies, letting accounts choose which tokens and senders they accept — and reclaim anything they don't want.
👉 x.com/tempo/status/2076665200611311997
Stripe-backed payments chain Tempo has rolled out Receive Policies, letting accounts choose which tokens and senders they accept — and reclaim anything they don't want.
Built for its stablecoin-optimized TIP-20 standard, the opt-in tool lets exchanges, custodians and users whitelist senders, filter incoming tokens, and name a recovery authority to claw back blocked transfers. It tackles a core payments headache as the $5B, Stripe-incubated network pulls enterprises like DoorDash onto stablecoin rails.
👉 x.com/tempo/status/2076665200611311997
How BTC-ready is the banking system? Depends where you look
Strategy's new Bitcoin Banking Adoption Index scores 25 major banks — and the map is lopsided. US banks lead at ~42% (Fidelity tops it at 71%), Europe sits ~29%, and Japan trails at ~18% (SMBC and RBC at just 13%).
One caveat: this is Strategy's own index, the market's biggest BTC bull, and the full methodology isn't public yet. Directional, not gospel.
Strategy's new Bitcoin Banking Adoption Index scores 25 major banks — and the map is lopsided. US banks lead at ~42% (Fidelity tops it at 71%), Europe sits ~29%, and Japan trails at ~18% (SMBC and RBC at just 13%).
One caveat: this is Strategy's own index, the market's biggest BTC bull, and the full methodology isn't public yet. Directional, not gospel.
Tether Invests $7M in Pact Labs to Bring USAT to U.S. Payroll
Tether has led a $7 million Series A round in Pact Labs, joined by Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna, to expand USA₮ across payroll, earned wage access, credit, and everyday payments.
The investment marks another step in Tether's strategy to drive real-world stablecoin adoption beyond crypto trading and into everyday financial infrastructure.
👉 tether.io/news/tether-leads-7-million-series-a-in-pact-labs-to-expand-usat-across-payroll-and-payments
Tether has led a $7 million Series A round in Pact Labs, joined by Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna, to expand USA₮ across payroll, earned wage access, credit, and everyday payments.
Pact Labs' infrastructure will enable businesses to integrate digital wallets, process real-time payroll, and offer financial services without relying on legacy payment rails. The move aims to bring USA₮, Tether's U.S.-focused dollar-backed stablecoin, into one of the country's largest financial markets, where over $11 trillion in payroll is processed annually.
The investment marks another step in Tether's strategy to drive real-world stablecoin adoption beyond crypto trading and into everyday financial infrastructure.
👉 tether.io/news/tether-leads-7-million-series-a-in-pact-labs-to-expand-usat-across-payroll-and-payments
Nous Research Targets $1.5B Valuation in New $75M Raise
Open-source AI lab Nous Research, the team behind the Hermes agent, is reportedly finalizing a new round led by Robot Ventures with strong participation from USV, at a $1.5 billion valuation.
Hermes has already built a large open-source following, with roughly 214K GitHub stars and nearly 40K forks, as Nous continues pushing into the agentic AI race.
👉 theblock.co/post/408237/decentralized-ai-project-nous-research-in-talks-to-raise-75m-at-1-5b-valuation-report
Open-source AI lab Nous Research, the team behind the Hermes agent, is reportedly finalizing a new round led by Robot Ventures with strong participation from USV, at a $1.5 billion valuation.
The company is raising at least $75 million, following a prior $50 million Series A and a fast rise in developer interest around Hermes, which ships with built-in skills for web search, coding, and image understanding.
Hermes has already built a large open-source following, with roughly 214K GitHub stars and nearly 40K forks, as Nous continues pushing into the agentic AI race.
👉 theblock.co/post/408237/decentralized-ai-project-nous-research-in-talks-to-raise-75m-at-1-5b-valuation-report
Former Ethereum Foundation Team Launches EthSystems for Institutional Privacy
A team of former Ethereum Foundation researchers has launched EthSystems, a new company focused on building confidential infrastructure for institutional Ethereum adoption.
Founded by Mo Jalil, Oskar Thorén, and Aaryamann Challani, EthSystems will operate as a for-profit company providing protocol research, architecture design, and production systems, while continuing to open-source its technical work for the Ethereum ecosystem.
👉 ethsystems.org/blog/introducing-ethsystems
A team of former Ethereum Foundation researchers has launched EthSystems, a new company focused on building confidential infrastructure for institutional Ethereum adoption.
The startup will help financial institutions deploy privacy-preserving solutions for stablecoins, tokenization, settlement, and payments, combining technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and fully homomorphic encryption (FHE).
Founded by Mo Jalil, Oskar Thorén, and Aaryamann Challani, EthSystems will operate as a for-profit company providing protocol research, architecture design, and production systems, while continuing to open-source its technical work for the Ethereum ecosystem.
👉 ethsystems.org/blog/introducing-ethsystems
Velocity Raises $38M Series A Led by Dragonfly and FirstMark
Stablecoin treasury and settlement platform Velocity has raised $38 million in a Series A led by Dragonfly and FirstMark, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Ripple, Wintermute Ventures, Capital One Ventures, and others.
The new funding will support global expansion, product development, and regulatory capabilities as institutional demand for stablecoin-powered payments continues to grow.
👉 theblock.co/post/408242/dragonfly-firstmark-series-a-stablecoin-velocity-coinbase-ripple-capital-one-ventures
Stablecoin treasury and settlement platform Velocity has raised $38 million in a Series A led by Dragonfly and FirstMark, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Ripple, Wintermute Ventures, Capital One Ventures, and others.
Founded in 2025, Velocity now says it has raised nearly $50 million since May. The startup is building tools for enterprises and financial institutions to move, settle, and manage funds with stablecoins while connecting to traditional banking and compliance rails.
The new funding will support global expansion, product development, and regulatory capabilities as institutional demand for stablecoin-powered payments continues to grow.
👉 theblock.co/post/408242/dragonfly-firstmark-series-a-stablecoin-velocity-coinbase-ripple-capital-one-ventures
36 Payment Giants Join Digital Euro Pilot Ahead of 2027 Launch
The European Central Bank has picked 36 payment providers from 50+ applicants for a 12-month digital euro pilot starting H2 2027. Selected names include Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, BPCE, Revolut Bank UAB, Stripe, and Adyen.
Board member Piero Cipollone said the strong response shows the private sector is ready to move fast on the project. A first issuance is targeted for 2029, pending 2026 regulatory approval.
The news follows Isabel Schnabel's remarks that CBDCs are key to protecting central bank money as stablecoins grow, a view that clashes with the US, where Treasury Secretary Bessent has rejected a US CBDC in favor of the Clarity Act.
👉 theblock.co/post/408228/european-central-bank-taps-36-providers-for-digital-euro-pilot
The European Central Bank has picked 36 payment providers from 50+ applicants for a 12-month digital euro pilot starting H2 2027. Selected names include Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, BPCE, Revolut Bank UAB, Stripe, and Adyen.
Providers will either distribute beta digital euro accounts to Eurosystem staff or help merchants accept beta payments. The pilot covers P2P and P2B transactions, both online and offline, across the ECB and 19 national central banks.
Board member Piero Cipollone said the strong response shows the private sector is ready to move fast on the project. A first issuance is targeted for 2029, pending 2026 regulatory approval.
The news follows Isabel Schnabel's remarks that CBDCs are key to protecting central bank money as stablecoins grow, a view that clashes with the US, where Treasury Secretary Bessent has rejected a US CBDC in favor of the Clarity Act.
👉 theblock.co/post/408228/european-central-bank-taps-36-providers-for-digital-euro-pilot
Early Access Radar: 18 Waitlists to Join Now
No matter what the market's doing — green, red, sideways — new projects keep launching every week. And the best window to get involved is the earliest one: before the token, before the crowd, while the door's still open.
So we rounded up 18 fresh projects with open waitlists into one Early Access Radar — AI trading, perps, prediction markets, crypto cards. A few minutes each, all in one place, so you don't have to go hunting.
Full details 👉 cryptodiffer.com/feed/other/early-access-radar-18-waitlists-to-join-now
No matter what the market's doing — green, red, sideways — new projects keep launching every week. And the best window to get involved is the earliest one: before the token, before the crowd, while the door's still open.
So we rounded up 18 fresh projects with open waitlists into one Early Access Radar — AI trading, perps, prediction markets, crypto cards. A few minutes each, all in one place, so you don't have to go hunting.
Full details 👉 cryptodiffer.com/feed/other/early-access-radar-18-waitlists-to-join-now
Telegram’s Big Update: Rich Text, Communities, AI Tools
Telegram shipped a major update: a full rich-text editor for blogs and long posts — with tables, inline media, headings, quotes, AI-generated text and 32,000-character messages.
👉 telegram.org/blog/communities-editor-invisible-messages
Telegram shipped a major update: a full rich-text editor for blogs and long posts — with tables, inline media, headings, quotes, AI-generated text and 32,000-character messages.
New Communities let users bundle channels, groups and bots together and join them without invite links, while groups gain private, ephemeral bot replies. It also revamps GIF search across a library of 350 million GIFs, a move that pushes Telegram further as an all-in-one publishing and messaging app.
👉 telegram.org/blog/communities-editor-invisible-messages
Galaxy Launches GOFR for Institutional Onchain Credit
Galaxy has launched GOFR, an institutional financing program that lets firms tap onchain credit by facing Galaxy directly instead of navigating DeFi protocols themselves.
👉 galaxy.com/newsroom/galaxy-launches-gofr
Galaxy has launched GOFR, an institutional financing program that lets firms tap onchain credit by facing Galaxy directly instead of navigating DeFi protocols themselves.
Borrowers get a single optimized rate blended across Aave, Morpho, Spark, Kamino and more, sparing them the complexity of navigating onchain lending markets. It positions Galaxy as an institutional gateway to DeFi liquidity, collapsing fragmented onchain lending into one clean, optimized borrowing rate.
👉 galaxy.com/newsroom/galaxy-launches-gofr
IBKR Adds 12 Tokens and Stablecoin Withdrawals
Interactive Brokers has listed 12 new crypto tokens — Aave, Uniswap, NEAR, Aptos, Lido DAO, Monad and others — through Zerohash and Paxos, and now lets clients cash out dollars straight into stablecoins.
👉 x.com/TheBlockCo/status/2077059721920692326
Interactive Brokers has listed 12 new crypto tokens — Aave, Uniswap, NEAR, Aptos, Lido DAO, Monad and others — through Zerohash and Paxos, and now lets clients cash out dollars straight into stablecoins.
Withdrawals auto-convert USD into USDC, PayPal's PYUSD or Ripple's RLUSD and settle near-instantly, 24/7, turning IBKR's stablecoin deposits into a full two-way rail. It deepens the brokerage giant's crypto push, wiring traditional accounts to onchain rails across 170 global markets with no custody fees.
👉 x.com/TheBlockCo/status/2077059721920692326
LayerZero Executor Wallets Drained for ~$2.4M
LayerZero’s executor wallets — off-chain infrastructure that pays to deliver cross-chain messages — were compromised, draining roughly $2.4 million across several blockchains, according to security firm PeckShield.
👉 x.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/2077315396802429254
LayerZero’s executor wallets — off-chain infrastructure that pays to deliver cross-chain messages — were compromised, draining roughly $2.4 million across several blockchains, according to security firm PeckShield.
The attacker has bridged the stolen funds to Ethereum, consolidating about 956 ETH (~$1.79M) and roughly $322K of USDC into a single wallet. LayerZero has not yet issued a public statement, and the full impact on the protocol and its users remains unconfirmed.
👉 x.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/2077315396802429254
