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According to South Korean media Daily NK, North Korean authorities arrested an elite hacker group on July 12, which is suspected of infiltrating the internal networks of the North Korean central bank and foreign trade bank, stealing national trade funds and laundering money through cryptocurrency. Sources say the group's leader is a veteran from the cyber warfare unit under the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau, who recruited talented IT graduates from Kim Chaek University of Technology and Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, using encrypted communications and wireless devices to commit crimes.They split the stolen funds into small amounts and transferred them to overseas cryptocurrency wallets, exchanged them for cash through intermediaries, and then converted them into dollars and other currencies in border areas. Pyongyang officials launched an investigation after discovering anomalies in foreign currency payment approvals and records of overseas IP access, ultimately raiding a safe house and arresting suspects who were laundering money, seizing equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. This case has caused a stir among the elite and military circles in Pyongyang, with senior officials in the Reconnaissance General Bureau and the science and education sector worried about being implicated. North Korea has long been accused of stealing billions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets through hacker organizations like the Lazarus Group, but this incident rarely shows that its own financial system has also become a target of internal attacks.

According to TASS, the Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, stated that there are no restrictions on transferring cryptocurrencies from Russia to overseas for all categories of investors, but investors should be aware that such operations currently lack legal protection.

According to informed sources, SoftBank Group is considering acquiring Gravis Robotics AG, as SoftBank is targeting the artificial intelligence sector that supports robotics technology. SoftBank plans to make a significant investment in this European startup and incorporate it into its newly established company, Roze.SoftBank may complete the transaction in phases, achieving this through gradual acquisition of existing shares and injecting new funds. Informed sources say that this deal could ultimately value the Zurich-based Gravis company at over $500 million. They stated that no final decision has yet been made regarding the scale or structure of the transaction.

According to Jinshi, European Central Bank Governing Council member Slapin stated that as long as the overall inflation outlook requires it, the European Central Bank may raise interest rates in September even without a second-round effect.

According to TheMinerMag, the former largest Bitcoin mining pool in the world, Poolin, has applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, planning to sell its Texas Bitcoin mining assets for $52 million and cease operations. Poolin and its two U.S. affiliates submitted a voluntary application to the bankruptcy court in New Jersey on July 22, with liabilities of approximately $173 million, of which about $163.7 million is unsecured IOUs issued to Poolin wallet users after withdrawals were suspended during the downturn of the crypto market in 2022.Approximately 11,700 wallet users hold balances of over $100. Its two Texas mining sites ceased mining and hosting operations on July 10. Poolin has reached an asset purchase agreement with Thor CALAP LLC, with the Pyote site valued at $15 million and the Tarbush site’s power rights and equipment valued at $37 million, making a total bid of $52 million as the starting bid. Poolin stated that demand for AI infrastructure may increase the value of the mining site’s power and equipment. The final recovery amount from the court auction will depend on bids, fees, and court approval.

According to Jinshi reports, the European Central Bank has kept the deposit facility rate unchanged at 2.25%, in line with market expectations, while the main refinancing rate and the marginal lending rate remain unchanged at 2.40% and 2.65%, respectively.

According to Jinshi reports, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell stated that sanctions have been imposed on over 100 banks and cryptocurrency operators, more than 40 shadow fleet vessels, and several refineries in Russia and Belarus.

Swiss cantonal bank BancaStato integrates Sygnum's cryptocurrency trading services, allowing customers to buy and sell BTC, ETH, and 4 other cryptocurrency assets through the existing banking app.

According to Jinshi reports, Kristoffer Kjaer Lomholt, head of fixed income and foreign exchange research at Danske Bank, pointed out in a report that the market's attention to the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield is increasing, and this yield has now risen above 5%. He mentioned that the escalation of conflict in the Middle East has caused Brent crude oil prices to approach $100 per barrel, which puts pressure on inflation ahead of next week's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.As of the time of writing, the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield has risen by 0.3 basis points to 5.15%, close to a two-month high.

According to Jinshi reports, Helaba analysts stated that the escalating situation in the Arabian Gulf region and rising energy prices have raised concerns among central bank officials. The European Central Bank will announce its monetary policy decision later today, and analysts pointed out that there are currently no clear signs indicating that the European Central Bank is about to raise interest rates. The money market expects the European Central Bank to raise interest rates by 21 basis points in September, and it is anticipated that the wording of the statement will not undergo significant changes.

Fox Business crypto reporter posted on the X platform stating that the bill outlines the rules for handling digital assets in the event of bankruptcy of exchanges or custodians.The bill helps ensure that customer assets receive the same protection as traditional financial assets and remain the property of the customers, rather than becoming part of the company's bankruptcy estate. This could help prevent a situation similar to FTX from occurring again.

Strategy President and CEO Phong Le posted that over the past 4 years, driven by factors such as Bitcoin treasury companies, ETFs, institutional funds, and support from the United States, Bitcoin's dominance has continued to rise.CoinGecko charts show that BTC's dominance has steadily increased from about 39% at the beginning of 2023 to nearly 60% by mid-2025, and as of July 2026, it remains around 55%.Phong Le further pointed out that with the adoption of stablecoins, asset tokenization, large banks, and increased global support, the digital asset economy surrounding Bitcoin will continue to expand, and Bitcoin's dominance is expected to continue growing.

According to The Block, Movement's original core development company Movement Labs (MVMT) applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a bankruptcy court in Delaware, USA, earlier this month.According to documents submitted on July 15, the company reported assets between $100,000 and $500,000, with liabilities reaching up to $10 million, listing nearly 299 creditors, among which the largest unsecured claim is over $1.6 million from the ousted co-founder Rushikesh Manche. Manche retains a 34.25% equity stake and has previously filed a lawsuit regarding legal fees related to the Department of Justice grand jury investigation into the MOVE token issuance scandal, which was supported.The company was the core developer of the Ethereum Layer 2 network Movement Network and completed a $38 million Series A financing led by Polychain. In December 2024, the MOVE token issuance crisis was triggered by a market maker sell-off, leading to Manche's dismissal after an internal investigation, and core development work has since been transferred to Move Industries.

Augustus is a startup that is building a federally chartered clearing bank. The company stated that it has raised $180 million, aiming to expand its dollar payment infrastructure, while stablecoins are reshaping the global financial system. This round of financing values Augustus at $1 billion. The round was led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from investors such as Hummingbird Ventures, QED Investors, as well as founders of Nubank, Ramp, Circle, and Deel.This financing comes at a time when banks, fintech companies, and crypto firms are competing to upgrade cross-border payment infrastructure. While the market's focus is mostly on stablecoin issuers, Augustus is targeting a less noticed but crucial part of the financial system—the correspondent banking system. Augustus CEO Ferdinand Dabitz stated in an interview, "We believe that the distribution of financial services is bottlenecked at the clearing bank level." He pointed out that traditional clearing systems are "slow, not available around the clock, take two days to settle, and are closed on weekends."

Deutsche Bank stated in its latest research report that the market's concerns about Microsoft's surge in capital expenditure, AI investment returns, and the concentration of Open AI orders have been significantly overstated. The current valuation is attractive, maintaining a "Buy" rating and a target price of $550. Deutsche Bank expects Microsoft's fourth fiscal quarter (corresponding to the second quarter of the calendar year) revenue to be $87.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.3%; non-GAAP earnings per share are expected to be $4.17. The growth rate of Azure, calculated at constant exchange rates, is expected to reach 40% to 41%, with enterprise cloud migration, AI computing demand, and new data center capacity continuing to support growth. Microsoft 365 commercial cloud revenue is expected to grow by 15% to 16%, and paid seats for Copilot may exceed 25 million by the end of the year.

According to The Block, the UK Parliament's All-Party Group on Digital Assets has launched an investigation into the access to banking services for the local cryptocurrency industry.This investigation will focus on examining the difficulties faced by cryptocurrency companies in opening and maintaining bank accounts, as well as the relevant circumstances regarding banks imposing restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions.

According to South Korean media Maeil Business, data from the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea shows that during the first phase of the CBDC pilot project led by the Bank of Korea, financial authorities did not conduct any independent security verification, and only the participating banks conducted their own pre-security reviews.Before the project launched, only an IT vulnerability self-assessment was conducted for the participating banks, executed by the Financial Security Institute, SK Shields, and self-inspection teams from Woori Bank and NongHyup Bank, forming an evaluation model of "self-check by the regulated entities." The central bank acknowledged external doubts about the security of the deposit tokens in the pilot result report and responded that the pre-review was sufficient, but critics pointed out that this explanation was a self-assessment and not an independent third-party verification.

On July 20, WEEX Exchange announced that it has launched zero-fee trading for Lorenzo Protocol (BANK) and is offering a 50,000 USDT airdrop reward. Event duration: 7/20 17:00 - 7/27 17:00 (UTC+8)

According to Bitcoin.com, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis stated that the CLARITY Act will change the way customer crypto assets are handled when digital asset platforms enter bankruptcy proceedings; customer assets should continue to belong to the customers, rather than being included in the company's bankruptcy estate.The bill requires regulated digital asset intermediaries to treat customer cash and digital assets as customer property and to segregate them from company property. The bill also generally prohibits brokers, dealers, and exchanges from using customer assets for their own or others' benefit without authorization.The bankruptcies of Celsius and Voyager sparked disputes over the ownership of customer deposits. In January 2023, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ruled that the cryptocurrency deposited in Celsius Earn accounts became company property under the terms of use, involving approximately 600,000 Earn accounts and about $4.2 billion in assets.Lummis stated that the CLARITY Act also aims to provide regulatory certainty for developers, enhance investor protection, and improve market integrity. The bill will clarify the responsibilities of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in different areas of the crypto market, and it has already passed the House of Representatives but has not yet passed the Senate.