crypto

According to the latest report from Tiger Research, as of June 18, 2026, the number of active job openings in the cryptocurrency industry is only 2,932, a significant decrease of over 97% from the estimated peak of about 130,000 in 2022.The report shows that the wave of layoffs in the cryptocurrency industry continues in the first half of 2026. March was the month with the highest concentration of layoffs, with several companies including Gemini, Crypto.com, Algorand, OP Labs, PIP Labs, and Messari announcing layoffs at the same time. Some companies were acquired at low prices after multiple rounds of layoffs; for example, Messari was acquired by Blockworks for about $10 million in June 2026 after experiencing three rounds of layoffs, while its previous valuation had reached $300 million.In terms of recruitment structure, positions in centralized exchanges (CEX) account for the highest proportion, reaching 30.8% (904 positions), mainly contributed by OKX, Bybit, and Binance. The stablecoin and payment sector accounts for 13.4%, but is highly concentrated in two companies, Tether and Ripple.In addition, the demand for AI skills in job postings continues to rise, with the proportion of cryptocurrency job postings mentioning artificial intelligence skills increasing from 23% in early 2025 to 53.1% in March 2026.

According to CoinDesk, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced that it has transferred over $8.3 million worth of USDT to a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by the country's asset recovery agency ARMA (National Agency for the Search, Tracking, and Management of Assets). This marks the first successful inclusion of seized cryptocurrency assets into national management in Ukraine's history.The transfer was made based on a court order and stems from an investigation by the National Bureau into an international hacker organization. The funds involved came from a wallet belonging to a member of this organization, which has been accused of attacking individuals and businesses in Europe and the United States to steal data and extort money. The proceeds were laundered in Ukraine through high-value assets such as real estate and vehicles. Currently, four suspects have been detained but have not yet been sentenced, with estimated losses exceeding $100 million.The report notes that the funds are currently only held in custody and have not been formally confiscated, as confiscation requires a court ruling. At this time, Ukraine is considering establishing a strategic reserve for cryptocurrency, similar to previous ideas from the United States. The reserve funds would come from confiscated cryptocurrency assets in criminal and civil cases, rather than being purchased on the open market.

According to Decrypt, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office has for the first time transferred seized cryptocurrency assets to the state asset management agency ARMA, with over 8.3 million USDT moved to its custody wallet.The funds come from the wallet of a suspected member of an international hacking group, which has been accused of carrying out ransomware attacks and data theft against businesses and individuals in Europe and the United States, and laundering money in Ukraine through the purchase of real estate and vehicles, causing losses of over 100 million dollars. Currently, four suspects have been detained, with assets worth over 11.1 million dollars seized, including real estate, vehicles, approximately 1 million dollars in cash, and cryptocurrency assets. This takeover by ARMA marks the first custody case involving digital assets following its reforms in 2025 to enhance the transparency of asset management related to criminal cases.

New Fire Group released its interim performance report for the six months ending March 31, 2026. The group recorded a loss of approximately HKD 244.9 million (unaudited), a significant increase of about 1890% compared to a loss of HKD 12.3 million in the same period of 2025. Among them, the cryptocurrency asset trading business recorded revenue of HKD 1.9447 billion, a year-on-year decrease of about 43.4%.In terms of business segments, in the asset management business, as of the end of the reporting period, the assets under management (AUM) reached approximately USD 145.6 million; the number of New Fire quantitative trading clients increased by about 12.9% compared to the same period last year.In the trust and custody business, the number of private banking accounts successfully opened during the reporting period increased from 37 to 305; the number of accounts interested in opening increased from 106 to 668.In the cryptocurrency over-the-counter trading business, the number of OTC trading clients increased from 8 to 31, with a monthly compound growth rate of 31.1%.In addition, the group's compliant exchange in Japan, BitTrade, has accumulated a total of 288,214 registered users.

According to CoinDesk, the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has recently made significant adjustments to its executive team, with former CEO Stephan Lutz, CFO Ina Steiner, and Chief Growth Officer Raphael Polansky all having left the company. The company's former Global General Counsel and COO Peter Wilkinson has taken over as the new CEO.The report indicates that amid the ongoing downturn in the cryptocurrency market, BitMEX, which is reportedly seeking a sale, may be aiming to streamline operational costs to enhance its appeal to potential buyers.

According to The Bitcoin Historian (@pete_rizzo_), the $2 billion lending giant Ledn has removed cryptocurrencies from all its products and fully shifted to a pure Bitcoin strategy. Ledn stated that this adjustment is a strategic transformation aimed at aligning with the core principles of Bitcoin.

According to Dr. Crossroads' analysis, Robinhood's event prediction market revenue is expected to surpass its traditional cryptocurrency trading revenue as early as the second quarter of this year. Data shows that as of June 25, Robinhood has recorded approximately 12.3 billion event contract trades in the second quarter. Based on the usual 1 cent per contract revenue share, this is expected to contribute at least $123 million in single-quarter revenue, pushing the annualized revenue rate (ARR) of this business to $500 million. In comparison, due to the decline in institutional trading volume, its cryptocurrency business revenue in the second quarter is expected to fall below the first quarter's $134 million.At the same time, Robinhood's newly launched prediction market platform Rothera has surpassed 900 million contracts traded in its first week, bringing nearly 60% of potential contract trading increment to the company. Through Rothera's full-stack self-research and vertical integration, Robinhood plans to change the current fixed model where users pay 2 cents per contract (with the company and partner exchanges each receiving 1 cent), reducing the new fee rate to a minimum of 0.6 cents. This move aims to sprint into the top three in the industry through core price advantages while retaining the economic benefits of trade execution entirely within its ecosystem while passing savings on to users.

According to Cointelegraph, the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has granted the 50th Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license to the tokenized asset platform Tribe Tokenisation FZE. VARA stated that licensed enterprises must undergo a controlled operation phase before officially providing services. By the end of 2025, 39 licensed VASPs will be fully operational, and the latest data for 2026 is still being verified. In comparison, Singapore currently has 37 licensed digital payment token service providers, while Hong Kong has only 13 licensed virtual asset trading platforms.

According to BBX data, last weekend Japan's largest financial group completed the most important cryptocurrency acquisition, and U.S. bipartisan senators launched a new regulatory offensive against prediction market platforms. The core developments are as follows:SBI Holdings, Inc. (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 8473) announced the acquisition of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank (privately held) for approximately $289 million. After the transaction is completed, SBI's cryptocurrency business will surpass all competitors, creating Japan's largest cryptocurrency exchange. SBI Holdings is one of Japan's largest independent financial services groups, already owning cryptocurrency-friendly network bank SBI Shinsei Bank, cryptocurrency asset custodian SBI Digital Asset Holdings, and multiple Bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency venture capital investments. Bitbank is one of Japan's largest spot BTC exchanges and holds an official cryptocurrency exchange license from the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan. This acquisition marks a shift for traditional Japanese financial institutions from "strategic trial" in the cryptocurrency sector to "scale acquisition dominance," alongside the joint stablecoin plan of the three major banks: Mitsubishi UFJ ($MUFG), Sumitomo Mitsui ($SMFG), and Mizuho ($MFG) (targeting March 2027), forming the most intensive wave of cryptocurrency layout in Japan's financial industry by 2026.U.S. Senators John Curtis (Republican, Utah) and Adam Schiff (Democrat, California) reported on June 28 that they jointly sent a letter to the CFTC, urging it to conduct a formal investigation into the prediction market platform Polymarket (privately held), citing a "concerning" investigative report regarding Polymarket's "deceptive marketing" practices, which accused it of systematic misleading in user acquisition and risk disclosure. This is the third regulatory offensive against prediction market platforms initiated by Congress this year (previously, the House Oversight Committee launched an insider trading investigation on May 22); the two senators come from different parties, which is significant. For Robinhood Markets, Inc. (NASDAQ: $HOOD), this investigation poses indirect pressure—Robinhood's prediction market/event contract business (which achieved a record daily trading volume in June) faces the same regulatory qualitative disputes as Polymarket; however, Robinhood's defensive advantage lies in its ongoing application for a CFTC Designated Contract Market (DCM) license, providing a clearer compliance path compared to Polymarket.

According to the Chosun Ilbo, the revised listing regulations for increasing the retention threshold in the South Korean stock market will be implemented on July 1. Some KOSDAQ DAT (Digital Asset Treasury) listed companies that have profited from investing in crypto assets are facing delisting risks.Data from the Korea Exchange shows that on June 26, Bitmax fell 6.3% to 1,228 KRW, with a market capitalization of 13.1 billion KRW, below the lower limit of 20 billion KRW for the second half of the year; Parataxis Ethereum has a market capitalization of 26.8 billion KRW, and BitPlanet has a market capitalization of 33.1 billion KRW. However, Parataxis Ethereum has not met the adjusted standard of 30 billion KRW set for January next year, and Parataxis Korea has been transferred for substantial review of its listing qualifications and suspended since April due to capital erosion.The delisting crisis is mainly influenced by the weakness of crypto assets and the outflow of funds from KOSDAQ. If the trend of declining market capitalization continues, related DAT companies may gradually enter the delisting process starting from early next year, beginning with Bitmax.

Binance founder CZ recently accepted an interview with CoinDesk, sharing his views on multiple topics. CZ attributes the 2026 crypto bear market to a combination of three factors: the shift of funds to the AI sector, geopolitical tensions, and the four-year cycle pattern.Regarding the strategy for Binance.US, CZ expressed a desire for the platform to access the liquidity of Binance Global to strengthen its competitiveness in the U.S. market. He also revealed that although his previous trip to Washington, D.C. was to clarify misunderstandings about himself and Binance, he believes that the violation of the Bank Secrecy Act has not harmed his business reputation. CZ clearly stated that he will not take the helm of a crypto trading platform again and prefers to participate in the operations of his investment companies in an informal advisory capacity.In terms of crypto regulatory legislation, negotiations on the U.S. "Clarity Act" are still ongoing, but core ethical clause disagreements remain unresolved, and any agreement requires the president's signature. The Senate has only 20 working days left before September 1, and the legislative window continues to narrow.

On-chain detective ZachXBT stated that during the migration from the traditional private messaging system to XChat, the X platform encountered multiple technical bugs. At the same time, the reliability of the platform's search function declined, affecting information retrieval efficiency. More importantly, the X platform's algorithm has a "traffic bottleneck" for cryptocurrency content, making it easier for content to be restricted within the cryptocurrency vertical, thereby reducing the ability to reach a broader audience.

According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index is currently at 17, up 3 points from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 17, and the average over the past 30 days is 16.

According to Cointelegraph, in the wave of declines in technology stocks, cryptocurrency-related stocks have suffered particularly severe losses, with the divergence from the broader market continuing to widen. Coinbase (COIN) and Circle (CRCL) have fallen 69% and 72% from their respective historical highs, far exceeding the 48% to 57% pullback of mainstream tech stocks like Oracle, Salesforce, Netflix, and Palantir; in contrast, the S&P 500 index has only retreated 3.5% from its recent peak.On the fundamental side, Coinbase's first-quarter performance was significantly below Wall Street expectations, with a 21% quarter-over-quarter decline in revenue and a loss of $1.49 per share, while analysts had previously expected earnings of $0.27 per share. Bitcoin fell below $60,000 this week, down more than 54% from its October peak; Ethereum also dropped to around $1,500, down about 69% from last year's high, with market sentiment continuing to deteriorate.21Shares has lowered its 2026 cryptocurrency market expectations in its mid-year outlook report, believing that the performance of digital asset prices is significantly lagging behind the industry's fundamentals. The institution pointed out that institutional adoption is still deepening, with stablecoins, asset tokenization, and prediction markets maintaining strong development momentum, but the four-year market cycle of Bitcoin remains the dominant force in price trends. The report also acknowledged previous misjudgments—"the cycle of Bitcoin is evolving, but has not yet broken," retracting its earlier assertion that the four-year cycle was outdated.Analysts believe that the deep pullback in cryptocurrency stocks reflects the overall weakness of the digital asset market, the uncertainty of legislative progress in the U.S. cryptocurrency market structure, and the compounded pressure from the potential impact of AI technology on existing business models.

According to CoinDesk, Tether stated that XAUT is backed 1:1 by physical gold stored in Swiss vaults, with each token corresponding to 1 troy ounce of gold, currently corresponding to approximately $23 billion in gold reserves.Ledn stated that the XAUT used by users for collateral will continue to be held at a 1:1 ratio and will not be lent out or used to generate income.

According to CoinDesk, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng stated that the significant decline in the crypto market in the first half of 2026 does not have a single cause. Geopolitical tensions, investors shifting funds to AI, and the typical four-year cycle of crypto may collectively lead to the continued decline of Bitcoin and other crypto assets. Bitcoin reached a historical high of over $126,000 last October and has since fallen by about 50%. At the beginning of this year, Bitcoin opened near $89,000, briefly rose to just above $96,000, and then dropped to around $60,000.In the long term, the crypto industry will continue to develop, and the demand for fintech will increase as the number of transactions continues to rise, so they are not concerned about the industry itself or short-term price fluctuations. They stated that emerging industries like AI are absorbing "hot money" from the crypto sector, but in the long run, this could be a positive factor. When discussing prediction markets, Zhao Changpeng mentioned that the rapid growth of prediction markets as tools for price discovery and liquidity is a good thing for the public.Regarding regulation, Zhao Changpeng stated that separate bills like the U.S. Clarity Act are important but more tactical matters that will not determine the long-term growth of the crypto industry. He hopes the Clarity Act can pass and believes that if U.S. legislation is delayed, other countries may take the lead in advancing rule-making.Zhao Changpeng also mentioned that if the U.S. Democratic Party regains control of at least one chamber of Congress after the midterm elections, there may be a review of Trump's support for the crypto industry and his pardons for crypto executives. Zhao Changpeng stated he "has nothing to hide" and is willing to cooperate if relevant parties seek information. When discussing political influence, Zhao Changpeng said he tries to stay away from U.S. politics but believes that any anti-crypto individuals may now lose a significant number of votes.

According to CoinDesk, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated in an interview with CNBC that he remains optimistic about Bitcoin but believes that Strategy's model of financing Bitcoin purchases through preferred stock has harmed the crypto market.Garlinghouse said, "Financial engineering will not drive long-term value." He believes that the long-term value of any digital asset comes from its utility and stated, "Michael Saylor's team is not focused on the right things, which harms the overall market."The focus of Garlinghouse's criticism is the financing mechanism used by Strategy to accumulate Bitcoin. For about the past year, Strategy has raised funds through the issuance of preferred stock to continue purchasing Bitcoin. Its STRC stock has an annual dividend yield of 11.5%, designed to trade close to $100.Garlinghouse pointed out that STRC is currently about 25% below that level, which is a "harsh denial" of the strategy. STRC hit an all-time low on Thursday, at one point trading about 26% below par value. Meanwhile, Strategy's common stock fell to its lowest level since February 2024, closing around $82 on Friday; Bitcoin dropped below $59,000.This week, Strategy's financing model is facing more pressure. CryptoQuant stated that Strategy should pause Bitcoin purchases and rebuild cash reserves. The coverage period for STRC dividend payments has shrunk from over 7 years to about 14 months. When STRC falls below $100, the mechanism of issuing stock and purchasing Bitcoin will stall, which is also the reason for the company to pause this mechanism.Benchmark-StoneX analyst Mark Palmer believes that Strategy's financing engine has simply become "less efficient," rather than having failed, and opposes comparing STRC to assets that have completely collapsed.

According to Bitcoin.com, the European Cybercrime Centre recently led a joint operation codenamed "Endgame," which was the result of collaboration among law enforcement agencies from Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States.These agencies jointly targeted the network infrastructure that provided services to criminals, utilizing three key types of "cybercrime-as-a-service" (CaaS) malware: SocGholish, Amadey, and StealC, to collect victims' information and sensitive data.Law enforcement agencies took action against a total of 326 servers and 142 domain names, seizing illegal cryptocurrency worth approximately $47 million and recovering over 27 million stolen credentials.