In markets
Bitcoin remains at eye-watering prices, but the week belonged to Ethereum, which gained 25% over the past seven days and 63% for the month. It’s flipped Bitcoin volume on some exchanges, and ETH dominance has increased to 11.6% for the first time since July 2020. That said, ETH remains 23.3% off its all-time high, an RSI of 90 indicates it’s overbought, and there’s a big queue of stakers looking to exit their positions. XRP has also taken off like a rocket, up 21% for the week and 73% for the month. It’s also yet to break its all-time high of $3.84 according to CoinMarketCap (CMC). With SOL, DOGE and ADA each gaining more than 20% each this week, and NFTs roaring back to life, altseason may well have arrived. While Bitcoin took a breather, it appears to be tracking the ever-rising M2 money supply with a 10-week lag, and the realised cap (the amount of cash people have invested) has topped US$1 trillion (A$1.53T). FundStrat’s Tom Lee says it’s going to US$1M (A$1.53T). The overall crypto market cap is at US$3.92T (A$6T) on CMC, but broke through US$4T (A$6.12T) according to CoinGecko. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 71, or Greed.
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In Headlines
Crypto Week legislation
The GENIUS Stablecoin bill has become the first-ever crypto legislation signed into law in the US by President Donald Trump after he personally intervened to get recalcitrant Republicans on board. “We worked hard. It’s a very important act, the GENIUS Act. They named it after me,” he joked. The bill sets up 1:1 backing requirements and audits for issuers, and prevents big tech firms from issuing stablecoins without permission. Bank of America and Citibank are both working on launching stablecoins, and Tether is looking at setting up a US division to comply with the rules. 101 Democrats voted for the GENIUS bill, and 78 voted for the Clarity crypto market structure bill, which also passed the House, suggesting crypto is becoming a bipartisan issue. An anti-CBDC bill also passed.
Crypto-funded retirements
The Financial Times reports that President Trump is preparing an executive order to open the US$9 trillion (A$13.8T) US retirement market to crypto investments. At present, 401K plans are limited to stocks and bonds, but Trump wants them to offer a broader range of assets, including crypto, metals, and various funds.
ETH treasury companies
The ranks of publicly listed ETH Treasury companies just keeps growing – and SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ declaration that ETH isn’t a security will no doubt give impetus to the trend. The Ether Machine was announced last night, backed by Pantera Capital and Blockchain.com, and plans to manage 400,000 ETH. Co-founder and chair Andrew Keys told CNBC he doesn’t own a single Bitcoin: “I’d rather have an iPhone than a landline.” Tom Lee’s Bitmine and Joe Lubin’s Sharplink Gaming, have both now amassed more than US$1 billion (A$1.53) of ETH, with Lee saying he wants to buy US$20B (A$30.6B) in ETH and Lubin’s SBET announcing it is upping its stock offering to US$6 billion (A$9.2B) to buy more ETH. BTCS’s ETH holdings have grown to 55,788, and Games Square Holdings now has 10,170 ETH. Meanwhile, Strategy has bought another US$739.8 million (A$1.13B) worth of Bitcoin, and announced another US$500M (A$766M) raise. President Trump’s Trump Media company announced it has bought US$2 billion (A$3.06B) BTC.
Possible crypto tax reform in Japan
Japan’s recent upper house election resulted in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito losing their parliamentary majority for the first time since 1955. Amid this shift, cryptocurrency tax reform has gained momentum as opposition parties push for reducing crypto levies from a maximum of 55% to a unified 20.315%. Despite high taxes, Japan remains the world’s fifth-largest crypto trading market.
Ethereum Fusaka date and gas limit increase
Ethereum has a renewed sense of purpose ahead of its 10th birthday on July 30. The core devs are targeting November for the Fusaka upgrade, which will greatly increase the data available for L2s. They’re also finalising the priorities for the fork after that called Glamsterdam, and scaling the L1 in the meantime. The gas limit has been increased to 45 million overnight, allowing for more TPS. Solana’s Jito client is also upgrading the way it builds blocks to limit toxic MEV.
Record ETF numbers
The Ethereum ETFs overtook the Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday and Friday and hauled in a record US$2.182 billion ($3.34B) in inflows for the week. The Bitcoin ETFs took US$2.4 billion (A$3.67B) for the week. Black Rocks IBIT was the top ETF out of all 4,300 ETFs in the US last week, and its ETH ETF was number 5. BlackRock has filed an application to launch staking for its Ether ETF.
Australia embraces crypto
ASX-listed company Digital X raised A$20.7 million from investors including Animoca Brands, UTXO Management and ParaFi Capital to advance its Bitcoin Treasury strategy. It bought 109.3 Bitcoin the same day and later announced a reallocation of its assets to increase its holdings to 425.1 BTC. Meanwhile, BlockEarner has officially launched Australia’s first Bitcoin-backed mortgages, having already seen A$110M in loans generated during the soft launch.
Koreans go mad for XRP
Much of the demand for XRP is coming from South Korea, where Ripple volume on Upbit is higher than for Bitcoin or Ethereum. The Kimchi Premium has flipped negative, however, with Bitcoin US$2,500 (A$3,830) cheaper in Korea than elsewhere. Meanwhile, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups has proposed changing regulations to allow crypto firms to register as “venture companies,” enabling access to tax breaks and financial support.
Hong Kong stablecoins and ETFs
Coin Desk reports that more than 40 finance and tech firms have now applied for licenses to launch stablecoins in Hong Kong. Three firms have been admitted to the stablecoin sandbox so far, including a joint venture between Standard Chartered and Animoca Brands, as well as JD.com and Ant Group. Eric Trump will attend the Bitcoin Asia 2025 in Hong Kong in August, and the territory’s first staked Ethereum ETF from Pandu is launching later this year.
Thailand crypto tourist hearings
Thailand’s first digital asset fund manager, Merkle, estimates the country’s new 5-year capital gains exemption for crypto could draw US$60 billion (A$91.9B) in offshore holdings back into the country. The local SEC has launched public hearings into a proposed nationwide sandbox allowing tourists to exchange crypto for baht for payments. On a similar note, Emirates has also announced it will allow travellers to book flights with crypto from early next year.
SEC’s innovation exemption
The SEC in the US is considering an “innovation exemption” from regulations to help incentivise tokenisation. The exemption would “permit novel ways of trading and more narrowly tailored forms of relief to facilitate the building of other components of a tokenised securities ecosystem,” Chairman Paul Atkins said.
Standard Chartered opens BTC and ETH trading
Standard Chartered has become the first global systemically important bank to offer Bitcoin and Ether trading to institutional clients. The service went live last week through the bank’s UK branch.
Until next week, happy trading!
