pt

According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index is currently at 14, up 1 point from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 14, and the average over the past 30 days is 15.

According to the Web3 asset data platform RootData, the list of closed projects in the cryptocurrency industry for 2026 has increased to 70 and is still growing. The latest included projects cover multiple tracks, including Layer 2 protocol Loopring, lending blockchain UX, cross-chain clearing layer Everclear, decentralized credit protocol Goldfinch, Bitcoin-based Layer 2 Botanix, peer-to-peer NFT lending protocol NFTfi, and the news media DL News under DefiLlama.

According to official data, Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, increased its holdings in Coinbase, Circle, Bullish, and Robinhood stocks on Monday, with a total increase of approximately $16.9 million based on the closing price.In specific operations, ARK bought 45,164 shares of Coinbase ($6.85 million), 81,757 shares of Circle ($6.21 million), 149,422 shares of Bullish ($3.54 million), and 2,943 shares of Robinhood ($300,000), with all four stocks closing up on that day.

According to Bits.media, Fidan Tofidi, the head of the Financial Technology and Innovation Department of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, stated that the regulatory bill for the country's virtual asset market has been drafted and submitted for review, with formal legislation expected within the year. The bill requires all companies engaged in cryptocurrency asset business to obtain a license issued by the central bank, and unauthorized operations within the country are prohibited. Licensed institutions will be subject to ongoing supervision. The regulatory framework will cover compliance requirements such as anti-money laundering, counter-terrorism financing, and customer identity verification (KYC), and will be incorporated into Azerbaijan's financial market development strategy for 2027-2030.

According to The Block, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) finalized a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework on Tuesday, with a mandatory licensing regime set to take effect on October 25, 2027. The framework covers prudential requirements, market abuse regulation, and stablecoin standards, applicable to crypto trading platforms, custodians, stablecoin issuers, lending and staking service providers, as well as some DeFi companies with identifiable controlling entities.Businesses can apply for authorization between September 30, 2026, and February 28, 2027, and existing anti-money laundering registrations will not automatically convert. Regarding trading platform rules, the FCA requires UK-qualified crypto asset trading platforms to conduct due diligence, meet entry standards, and publish disclosure documents, while removing the previous exemption that allowed fungible crypto assets to be listed without disclosure documents. Market abuse rules cover insider trading and market manipulation.For stablecoins, the FCA has removed the obligation to forecast the redemption of reserve assets, allowed limited group internal custody arrangements, and reduced the K-SII capital ratio for stablecoin issuance from 2% to 1%. Crypto assets on qualified platforms will be subject to a unified 40% net risk exposure requirement and a 40% counterparty default volatility adjustment. FCA's Director of Payments and Digital Finance, David Geale, stated that the framework is an important milestone for crypto regulation in the UK, providing regulatory certainty while allowing businesses to maintain innovation space.

According to Jinshi reports, CME's "FedWatch" shows that the probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in July is 70.1%, while the probability of a cumulative rate hike of 25 basis points is 29.9%. By September, the probability of keeping interest rates unchanged drops to 37.2%, while the probability of a cumulative rate hike of 25 basis points rises to 48.8%, and the probability of a cumulative rate hike of 50 basis points is 14.1%.

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 The Kobeissi Letter, the 2x leveraged long MicroStrategy ETFs ($MSTX, $MSTU) have both fallen about 82% this year; another 2x leveraged product $MSTP has also dropped 81%.During the same period, MicroStrategy ($MSTR) itself has decreased by 46% this year, with a single-week drop of 27% last week. As a result, $MSTX, $MSTU, and $MSTP nearly halved last week.The report points out that the leveraged MicroStrategy ETFs launched in 2024 (both long and short) have seen declines of over 90% since their launch, despite billions of dollars flowing in previously, but the leverage effect is significantly amplifying the losses.Note: Leveraged ETFs typically use a daily reset mechanism, aiming to achieve an integer multiple of the underlying's daily price changes. In highly volatile markets, even if the underlying has an overall increase or decrease over a period, frequent price fluctuations can cause the compounding effect to lead to actual performance deviating from the expected multiple, continuously eroding the net asset value. This is known as "volatility decay" (also referred to as Beta Slippage).

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 the official announcement, Gate DEX has officially launched the Welfare Center. The Welfare Center is designed around the entire process of on-chain trading, guiding users to quickly complete their first on-chain transaction and continuously receive more rewards through novice tasks, trading challenges, and exclusive rights. Whether it's the first experience with Gate DEX or long-term active trading users, everyone can complete corresponding tasks in the Welfare Center to receive up to 5,400+ USDT contract trial funds.Specific benefits include: Novice tasks, where users can start the "7-day novice growth task" upon entering the Welfare Center. By connecting Gate Wallet and completing specified on-chain actions such as the first spot, contract, Swap, and Meme Go transactions, users can receive rewards;Advanced trading challenges, where users complete net recharge and trading challenges, unlocking higher-level rewards as trading volume increases; Meme & exchange exclusive challenges, where users can not only receive rewards after completing corresponding level tasks but also unlock Gate DEX exclusive Gas-free rights, reducing on-chain trading costs.

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 The Block, influenced by the maturation of the crypto market and the rapid development of emerging technologies, several leading crypto venture capital firms are shifting their investment focus from the pure crypto sector to a broader "frontier technology" track, involving AI, robotics, fintech, and biotechnology.It is reported that Framework Ventures and Haun Ventures have recently raised $400 million and $1 billion funds respectively to support cross-domain layouts; Paradigm is planning to raise up to $1.5 billion for a frontier technology fund; and the former Binance incubator YZi Labs has also ventured into the fields of AI and biotechnology.Industry investors analyze that the core reasons for this strategic shift are the demand for capital deployment brought about by the expansion of fund sizes, the decrease in high-quality pure crypto projects, and the increasing integration of adjacent technologies such as blockchain and AI. Some venture capitalists predict that as cryptocurrencies gradually integrate into a broader technology ecosystem, the exclusive label of "crypto VC" may gradually fade, and the market will ultimately differentiate into large multi-strategy investment funds and a few vertical investors focused on digital assets. However, some institutions like a16z Crypto and Dragonfly still insist on deepening their investment strategies in the pure crypto sector.

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.