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Mizuho analysts stated that if the Clarity Act, a U.S. cryptocurrency market structure bill, is passed, it may generally benefit the digital asset industry, but the long-term impact on Circle could be negative. The reasoning is that regulatory clarity will attract more large institutions into the stablecoin market, further accelerating the commodification of stablecoins and eroding the revenue space of Circle's USDC.Mizuho believes that the main pressure Circle is currently facing comes from Open USD. This stablecoin project is supported by an alliance of over 140 financial, technology, and cryptocurrency companies, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, and Coinbase. Unlike Circle's model, which retains about 38% of USDC reserve earnings, Open USD adopts a "pass-through" model, distributing nearly all reserve earnings to distributors while retaining only a small management fee. Analysts also pointed out that Coinbase, as the largest distributor of USDC, also supports Open USD, which may give it stronger bargaining power when renegotiating revenue-sharing agreements with Circle in the future. The distribution agreement between the two parties may be renegotiated as early as next month.

According to the latest "2026 Q2 Cryptocurrency Market Report" released by CoinGecko, in the context of ongoing adjustments in the overall cryptocurrency market in the second quarter of 2026, Gate's spot trading business performed exceptionally well, consistently ranking among the top three global spot trading platforms, and achieving the fastest trading volume growth among the Top 10 exchanges from May to June. In terms of derivatives, Gate's perpetual contract trading volume remains in the global top five, with a market share consistently maintained at 8%--11%; the market share of open interest remains at 11%--12%, consistently ranking in the global top four, demonstrating the platform's leading advantages in trading depth, liquidity, and user activity.The report shows that in the second quarter of 2026, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market decreased by 12.6% to $2.1 trillion, marking the third consecutive quarter of adjustment; the overall trading activity of centralized exchanges (CEX) has declined. At the same time, the prediction market has become one of the most vibrant sectors this quarter, with a quarterly nominal trading volume increasing by 48.7% to $113.8 billion, driven significantly by major sporting events such as the World Cup. As the world's first centralized trading platform to connect with Polymarket, Gate continues to enhance the user experience of prediction market products, providing users with a more convenient and efficient way to participate in prediction markets.As emerging sectors such as prediction markets, RWA, and tokenized assets continue to unleash growth potential, the industry structure is moving towards diversified ecological competition. Leveraging its continuously improving product ecosystem, global liquidity advantages, and increasingly rich trading scenarios, Gate continues to enhance the competitiveness of its spot, derivatives, and innovative products, providing global users with more diverse and efficient digital asset trading services.

David Sacks, Chairman of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, stated on the X platform that using regulatory uncertainty as a competitive tool is "completely unacceptable." Regulatory decisions should be based on facts, logic, and evidence, rather than deliberately creating fear and uncertainty (FUD). He is unsure whether venture capitalist and AI policy researcher Dean Ball is acknowledging a strategy of "regulatory capture" or merely predicting that such a situation will occur. However, in any case, the practice of issuing "soft law" warnings through regulatory agencies to create market panic, thereby forcing regulated companies away from Chinese open-source models, should not be accepted.David Sacks pointed out that Dean Ball believes there is no need to directly ban Chinese open-source models; it is sufficient to guide regulatory agencies to issue relevant warnings, which can influence corporate decision-making by creating enough doubt and uncertainty, and these reasons "do not even need to be very substantial." Any regulatory decision must have sufficient basis, rather than implementing policies by "artificially creating doubt." He warned that this practice of circumventing public deliberation procedures not only undermines the foundation of the rule of law but may also open the door to regulatory abuse against any company or individual in the future.David Sacks further stated that current AI policy is at a critical turning point. Leading closed-source laboratories, which have already formed a duopoly in AI model revenue, are attempting to use government power to eliminate open-source competitors. He called on other companies and developers in Silicon Valley that still support open competition to make clear statements to jointly maintain an open ecosystem in the field of AI.

According to the Dune dashboard, competition among token launch platforms on the Robinhood Chain is intensifying. On July 16, the total number of new tokens added across the entire chain reached 42,709, with pons.family leading at 11,547 tokens, followed closely by flap.sh with 9,935 tokens, and hood.fun launching 6,471 tokens.In terms of trading volume, as of July 15, noxa.fun held a 43.0% market share among launch platforms on the Robinhood Chain, followed by pons.family at 37.4%, flap.sh at 5.8%, and clanker.world and bankr.bot at 3.3% and 2.3%, respectively.From the current data, the launch platforms on the Robinhood Chain are forming a pattern where "pons.family leads in the number of tokens launched, and noxa.fun dominates in trading volume."

According to Jinshi, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the release of counter-terrorism sanctions, targeting relevant entities in Russia and Iran.

According to on-chain investigator Specter (@SpecterAnalyst), Tether has frozen four TRON chain wallets, holding a total of approximately $131 million USDT.Tracing the source of the funds, most of the funds were withdrawn from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitso. Further investigation shows that the aforementioned wallets are linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran and the Central Bank of Iran, which are on the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list. The official reason for the freeze has not yet been disclosed.

Mizuho downgraded Circle's rating from Neutral to Underperform and lowered the target price from $85 to $50, citing increasing competitive pressure from OpenUSD.The firm stated that OpenUSD's direct pass-through model could force Circle to share more reserve income with distribution partners, thereby compressing profit margins. Mizuho lowered Circle's adjusted EBITDA forecast for 2027 to $699 million, approximately 25% below Wall Street consensus expectations, and warned that the upcoming Coinbase revenue sharing renewal could increase pressure.

According to BLOCKMEDIA, the South Korean police are investigating a case of political interference in the competition of the cryptocurrency market. A former assistant to independent lawmaker Kim Byung-ki is accused of pressuring the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in February last year to force Upbit to terminate its fee waiver activities for $USDC and $USDT, in order to alleviate the financial pressure on its competitor Bithumb, which was suffering due to a zero-fee promotion.The suspicion arises from the fact that the assistant obtained an informal advisory position at Bithumb months after the interference, while at the same time, the lawmaker's son was also hired by the exchange as an intern. Bithumb denies any knowledge of political interference and insists that the fee adjustments were independent business decisions.

Custodia Bank has submitted a petition for rehearing to the U.S. Supreme Court, requesting confirmation on whether the president of the regional Federal Reserve Bank has the authority to refuse to provide master account services to institutions. Custodia Bank has applied for a Federal Reserve master account multiple times and was denied by the Federal Reserve in 2023, citing significant safety and soundness risks associated with its new business model and its intended focus on digital assets.Custodia Bank subsequently appealed to the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank in 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide in October whether to hear the case.

On July 10, WEEX Exchange announced the official launch of the TradFi trading competition, with a total prize pool of up to 50,000 USDT. Users can receive 5 USDT just for opening a position. The event period is from 7/9 00:00 to 7/23 23:59:59 (UTC+8).During the event, new users who net recharge a total of 100 USDT and complete any one spot transaction among MSTRON / SPCXON / MUON (no trading volume limit), as well as any one TradFi contract transaction (with a margin of at least 10 USDT), can receive a bonus of 200 USDT; all users trading any TradFi contract transaction will receive a bonus of 5 USDT upon opening a position; for any TradFi contract trading volume ≥ 5,000 USDT, users can receive corresponding tiered bonus rewards, and multiple tiered rewards can be stacked, with a maximum of 63 USDT.

Hyundai Card announced on the 9th that it has completed a proof of concept (PoC) for cross-border remittances based on stablecoins with Hyundai Motor America (HMA) and Hyundai Motor Mexico (HMM). In the first PoC, the U.S. entity converted $20,000 into USDT and then remitted it to the Mexican entity, which converted it back to dollars. The entire process, including international remittance and verification, averaged only 7 minutes, significantly shorter than the 3 to 4 hours typically required for traditional bank cross-border remittances. Tether and Avalanche participated in this verification.The second phase of the PoC will be launched at the end of this month, targeting Hyundai Motor's European entity, to conduct actual remittances in local currency instead of dollars, verifying the cost-saving effects of currency exchange. Circle and Visa will participate as partners. Hyundai Card emphasized that this verification has comprehensively considered regulatory requirements such as accounting, taxation, legal, and internal controls, going beyond mere technical testing to reach the level of actual business deployment. In the future, there are plans to expand the application of stablecoins to inter-entity settlements and fund transfers within Hyundai Motor Group's global network.

According to CoinDesk, with the official full implementation of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), the European digital asset market has entered a new era of unified regulation. Regarding the impact of MiCA on the industry landscape, Dr. Han, founder and CEO of Gate, stated in an interview that Gate began laying the groundwork for compliance in Europe several years ago and completed preparations for MiCA and Payment Institution (PI) licenses ahead of schedule in 2025. He pointed out that the significance of MiCA lies not only in establishing a unified regulatory framework but, more importantly, in ensuring that all market participants start from the same starting line. "Only when all platforms adhere to the same rules can the industry truly compete based on products, services, and user experience." At the same time, he also mentioned that if unauthorized platforms can still provide services to European users, the fair competition environment will still face challenges, making the effective enforcement of regulations equally crucial.Currently, Gate Europe has been continuously improving its compliance system, risk management, and operational governance capabilities based on the dual licenses of MiCA and PI, while deepening its global compliance layout. In addition to Europe, several entities under Gate have completed relevant regulatory registrations, license applications, or obtained authorizations and approvals in jurisdictions such as Malta, the Bahamas, Japan, the United States, Australia, and Dubai, solidifying the global business foundation through multi-regional regulatory licenses and continuously providing safer, more transparent, and efficient digital asset services to global users. In the future, Gate will continue to adhere to the parallel development of compliance and innovation, promoting the long-term healthy development of the digital asset industry with higher quality product experiences and global service capabilities.

According to Jinshi, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell stated that today he will propose sanctions against more entities supporting the Russian military industry in response to Russia's attacks on Ukraine.

NextGen Venture (NDV) founder Jason Huang stated that the institution had previously successfully issued an early warning about the pullback risk of Strategy (MSTR), and is currently taking the opposite action by starting to include Circle (CRCL) on the watchlist, looking for opportunities amid pressured market sentiment.