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Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett posted on the X platform that, according to an industry insider invited to the conference call, stakeholders in the crypto industry will hold a conference call later this morning local time with Republican leadership to understand the latest developments on the text of the CLARITY Act.

According to The Bitcoin Historian (@pete_rizzo_), White House officials recently stated that negotiations on the crypto clarity bill are progressing positively. The consistent strategy of the Democrats is not to express their stance in advance, but they often reach an agreement at critical moments.The official stated that "we are very close to passing it," and bipartisan support is continuing to grow.

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 BIT analysis, as the demand for call options accelerates, the implied volatility of Bitcoin and Ethereum has both rebounded, indicating that the quiet trading environment of summer may be nearing its end. Recently, there have been several large transactions of call options in the market.Meanwhile, after Bitcoin's implied volatility fell from 44% to 31%, it has now rebounded to 36%, further reflecting that market bullish sentiment is warming up. Although August and September are typically seasonally weak months, the rebound in call option demand and implied volatility is still expected to provide some support for Bitcoin prices. At the beginning of summer, BIT tended to short volatility, anticipating that the market would enter a consolidation phase. However, as option positions and overall market sentiment have both become more positive, BIT adjusted this judgment last week.

Hazeflow founder Pavel Paramonov announced the closure of his crypto research institution @hazeflow_xyz on X. Paramonov stated that such decisions are usually made under duress, "You don't just wake up one day and decide to shut down a business that generates income." He mentioned that several talented researchers and designers on the team are looking for new jobs and welcome institutions in need to contact them via private message. Paramonov said he will temporarily leave the crypto industry for at least a month before considering the next steps, "Currently, I am somewhat disappointed with the crypto industry."

OpenAI's programming agent Codex and office agent ChatGPT Work have a combined weekly active user count of 10 million. Just 9 days ago, it was 6 million. OpenAI subsequently reset the usage limits for paid users of both products.In March of this year, Codex had only 2 million weekly active users, and now the combined total for both products has expanded to 5 times.OpenAI had previously promised that for every additional 1 million users from 3 million to 10 million, the usage limits would be reset. This is the final milestone of this commitment.

Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) latest forecast shows that by 2035, electricity consumption by data centers in the United States will account for about 20% of the nation's total electricity consumption, a significant increase from the current level of about 5.9%. The agency has raised its forecast for data center electricity demand in 2035 to 106 GW, which is 36% higher than the 78 GW predicted in April this year. Currently, the operating capacity of data centers in the U.S. is about 40 GW, accounting for approximately 3.5%-4% of the national electricity demand, while under BNEF's baseline scenario, this proportion is expected to reach 8.6% by 2035. The high-growth model from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) indicates that if the combined effects of cryptocurrency mining and AI computing power are taken into account, the upper limit of this proportion also points to 20%.In response to the explosive growth in AI computing power demand, Bitcoin mining companies are actively transforming. Companies like Core Scientific and Riot Platforms have partnered with tech giants such as AWS and Google to convert their existing mining sites into AI data centers. Currently, Bitcoin mining companies have secured about 6 GW of electricity capacity, which is expected to expand to 12 GW by 2027, with some analysts estimating that about 20% of mining companies' computing power capacity will shift towards AI workloads by then. Data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) shows that data centers now account for about 90% of local large load applications, with many sites originally used for cryptocurrency mining being repurposed as AI computing facilities. This trend is also directly reflected in the capital markets, as Core Scientific has seen a significant rebound in its stock price after emerging from bankruptcy and partnering with AI cloud service provider CoreWeave.

According to SoSoValue data, the cryptocurrency market sector maintains an upward trend, with Bitcoin (BTC) rising 1.83%, approaching $67,000; Ethereum (ETH) rising 1.38%, breaking through $1,900.At the same time, the SocialFi and RWA sectors performed outstandingly, rising 6.15% and 5.85% respectively in 24 hours. Within the SocialFi sector, Gram (GRAM) rose 6.89%; within the RWA sector, Ondo Finance (ONDO) rose 11.68%, Centrifuge (CFG) rose 6.25%, and Plume (PLUME) and RE rose 8.2% and 12.04% respectively.In other sectors, the PayFi sector rose 2.24% in 24 hours, with Monero (XMR) rising 6.24%; the Meme sector rose 0.8%, with SPX6900 (SPX) rising 4.94%; the Layer2 sector rose 0.62%, with Optimism (OP) rising 5.02%; the Layer1 sector rose 0.33%, with Hedera (HBAR) rising 4.87%; the CeFi sector rose 0.32%, with Bitget Token (BGB) rising 2.53%. In addition, the DeFi sector fell 2.54%, but ZeroLend (ZERO) rose against the trend by 50.73%.

According to the Korea JoongAng Daily, the daily trading volume of South Korea's five major won virtual asset exchanges totals approximately 412.7 billion won, a decrease of 88% compared to a year ago. The total market value of global virtual assets has also shrunk by 41% to $2.322 trillion. The country's leading cryptocurrency firm Dunamu reported a year-on-year decline in revenue and operating profit of 55% and 78%, respectively, in the first quarter.Small and medium-sized exchanges are in an even more difficult situation, with Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, which recorded operating losses last year, expected to continue losing money this year. Korbit has sold its holdings three times this year, selling 15 bitcoins and 60 ethers within ten days this month, generating approximately 1.6 billion won in cash. A director from Tiger Research stated that the current situation can be seen as a "second crypto winter," with the total market value of cryptocurrencies significantly shrinking and new projects almost nonexistent.Despite the market downturn, institutions are accelerating their adoption of blockchain, focusing on tokenized assets and stablecoins. Major brokerages like Future Asset have recently acquired shares in exchanges, and the government has repeatedly expressed its determination to advance the legislation of the "Digital Asset Basic Law," reflecting a continued optimism about medium- to long-term growth potential.

According to Protos, AI shopping agent developer ORO disclosed that it suffered losses of approximately $630,000 due to a suspected North Korean hacker attack. The attackers sent spoofed Microsoft Teams links to ORO employees through a compromised Telegram account, inducing them to install malicious extensions, and after nearly a month of data theft, stole 147,000 Alpha tokens on July 13. ORO is highly confident that the attack originated from the North Korean hacker group Sapphire Sleet.ORO also admitted to security negligence—due to insufficient hardware wallet support in the Bittensor protocol, the company "temporarily" set the owner keys to software wallets, violating its internal principle of prioritizing hardware wallets, which led to the keys being stolen from the compromised computer. ORO stated that it is working with exchanges, law enforcement, and Bittensor ecosystem partners to recover the stolen assets and emphasized that its subnet is operating normally, and other wallets, user data, and validator signing keys were not affected.

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.

According to The Block, the new version of the cryptocurrency ethics clause signed by President Trump has been approved, explicitly prohibiting federal officials (including members of Congress, the President, and the Vice President) from issuing digital assets, with the Department of Justice serving as the primary enforcement agency rather than state attorneys general. This arrangement has sparked controversy among Democrats. Maryland Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks stated that "having the Department of Justice enforce the ethics clause is not a serious proposal," and she will not support the bill if the final text remains as such.This clause is the last obstacle to the passage of the Clarity Act, with the controversy focusing on Trump's own meme coin and his family company World Liberty Financial—last month's financial report revealed that Trump received millions of dollars in related income from WLF. The White House has not confirmed the specific wording of the clause but stated that it is working with lawmakers to push the bill through and will place the blame for any obstruction on the Democrats.

The cryptocurrency lobbying organization TDC has filed a lawsuit seeking to block the enforcement of the Illinois Digital Asset Tax Act.This tax applies to any company headquartered in Illinois or operating in the state that provides digital asset services in the state.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, in conjunction with the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office, announced that an investigation into multiple international cyber fraud cases has led to the seizure of over $25 million in cryptocurrency, with the funds suspected to be linked to cryptocurrency investment scams targeting residents of the United States and Canada. This operation is part of the U.S. "Scam Center Strike Force," initiated in 2025 by D.C. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, which has so far recovered assets totaling over $800 million.U.S. prosecutors stated that on July 21, 2026, the D.C. Attorney's Office submitted five civil forfeiture complaints to the U.S. District Court, seeking to confiscate over $25 million in crypto assets recovered from various fraud investigations. Investigators indicated that these cases involve multiple money laundering networks, with victims spread across the globe. Criminal groups lure victims into investing through fake cryptocurrency investment platforms, online romance scams, and other methods, and conceal the source of funds through multi-layered wallet addresses and coin mixing operations.The seized funds are related to five major investigations: in one case, Canadian law enforcement provided the U.S. Secret Service with wallet addresses suspected of transferring illegal proceeds. Investigators froze the relevant addresses and tracked over 270 suspected victim transactions, involving approximately $10.4 million; the second case involves an online romance scam where over 200 victims were defrauded, with illegal funds transferred through hundreds of intermediary wallet addresses, mixing with other victims' funds, totaling about $12.08 million; the third case involves a victim in the Washington D.C. area who participated in a fake cryptocurrency investment project and lost contact with the scammers after a failed withdrawal, with related funds amounting to about $1.23 million; in the fourth case, a victim transferred millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to a fake investment account, and investigators traced part of the funds to six wallet addresses, freezing approximately $2.39 million; in the fifth case, scammers impersonated a "fund recovery" agency, tricking victims into paying fees, with the amount involved being about $285,000. The U.S. Secret Service stated that these cases are still under ongoing investigation, and law enforcement is tracking the suspects behind the fraud networks and will collaborate with international law enforcement agencies to hold them accountable.

According to monitoring by Catcher Predict, the "Federal Reserve July Decision" event currently ranks high in trading activity on the prediction market Polymarket, with a cumulative pool size reaching $787 million. The option with the highest market consensus is "No Change," corresponding to a winning probability of approximately 87.25%.

According to market news, the U.S. Congress is engaged in bipartisan discussions on ethical issues. Negotiators are also discussing DeFi provisions, but ethical issues remain the main obstacle.When asked about the ethical proposal, Sen Lummis's spokesperson stated that the dialogue with the White House last week "went smoothly," and the ethical text to be released in the coming days will reflect this productive conversation.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated in a post on his personal channel that this summer will see "the largest deployment of non-custodial crypto wallets in human history." Telegram plans to integrate a native non-custodial Gram wallet into all its applications.Pavel Durov mentioned that the wallet will provide over 1 billion Telegram users with an instant, zero-fee cryptocurrency trading experience, further popularizing on-chain payments. He stated, "We are bringing the native non-custodial Gram wallet to every Telegram application."

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."