crypto

Regarding BTC briefly dropping below $60,000, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated on the X platform, "Many people still believe or feel that a drop in Bitcoin means a drop in cryptocurrency. However, derivatives, perpetual contracts, stablecoins, prediction markets, and more are all on the rise.Cryptocurrency involves various fields of finance, and now it covers a broader scope than Bitcoin. It will take some time for people to truly understand this. Of course, Bitcoin will perform excellently in the future and will remain as important as ever; this is just one of the many cycles we are experiencing."

After the US stock market opened, the cryptocurrency market accelerated its decline, with Bitcoin falling below $61,000 and Ethereum briefly dropping below $1,600. According to Coinglass data, nearly $160 million was liquidated across the network in the last hour, with long positions accounting for $156 million, and nearly $1.238 billion liquidated across the network in the last 24 hours. A total of 260,647 people were liquidated globally, with the largest single liquidation occurring on Binance - BTCUSDT, valued at $13.3164 million.

According to a report by Reuters, two informed Greek government officials revealed that the Greek Ministry of Finance is preparing legislation to impose a 15% capital gains tax on cryptocurrencies, which is expected to be submitted to parliament for review in the coming months.Under the plan, the first 500 euros of earnings for each taxpayer will be tax-exempt; individual mining activities will not be taxed, but mining companies registered as businesses will be taxed. Currently, Greece does not have a complete tax framework for cryptocurrencies, and the tax rates vary significantly among EU countries, ranging from 8% in Cyprus to 30% in France.Officials stated that due to most Greek investors using offshore platforms, it is currently difficult to estimate the size of the country's cryptocurrency market, and there are no specific revenue forecasts available.

According to Barron's, Morgan Stanley's wealth management division has partnered with Galaxy Digital, allowing high-net-worth clients holding Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana to convert their direct holdings into a spot crypto ETF.The converted ETF can be used as collateral for financing, with a minimum trading threshold of $5 million. In July 2025, the SEC approved a physical conversion mechanism between directly held crypto assets and spot crypto ETFs, laying the regulatory foundation for this collaboration.

CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Jr stated that Bitcoin is once again testing a low point of around $62,000, while the current 7-day net realized losses have reached approximately $7 billion, higher than the levels during the low point in February this year, but still below the peak loss of about $14 billion during the winter market panic.Currently, the Bitcoin price has clearly fallen below the cost basis of short-term holders (STH) at around $76,000. If it continues to decline, the main support left is the average realized price across the network at about $54,000, as well as the cost basis of long-term holders (LTH) at around $49,000. These two areas corresponded to the full capitulation phase and the formation of the cycle bottom in historical cycles.However, as long as Bitcoin remains above $54,000, the market will not enter a full capitulation phase; if it falls below and continues to operate below the market low point from February this year, it may further test the final defense line near $54,000 in this round.

According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index is currently at 13, up 2 points from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 19, and the average over the past 30 days is 30.

According to a report by South Korea's SBS News, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of South Korea has adjusted the amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Specific Financial Information Act, removing the mandatory reporting obligation for virtual asset transfers exceeding 10 million won, and instead allowing exchanges to manage risks independently. The original proposal required domestic operators to report to the FIU when transferring more than 10 million won abroad, regardless of the level of risk. After adopting industry opinions, the FIU decided to cancel the mandatory reporting and instead require companies to establish internal risk management systems.Other adjustments include: the scope of the Travel Rule will be expanded from amounts over 1 million won to all amounts; the strengthened customer verification for high-risk suspicious transactions will change from mandatory to only being executed when the company assesses the risk to be particularly high; small businesses will be given a one-year grace period for the reporting condition of a debt ratio not exceeding 200%; the requirement for anti-money laundering computer equipment to be located domestically will allow the use of overseas cloud services. The amendment will take effect on August 20 after review by the Legal Affairs Office.

According to SoSoValue data, the cryptocurrency market sector has generally declined, with the DeFi sector dropping 9.16% in 24 hours. Within the sector, Hyperliquid (HYPE), which had previously set historical records, corrected by 9.15%, and LAB (LAB) fell by 37.47%, but DeXe (DEXE) rose against the trend by 14.58%.However, the GameFi and NFT sectors remained relatively strong, rising by 0.49% and 1.38%, respectively. Within the GameFi sector, Audiera (BEAT) surged by 20.27%, and within the NFT sector, APENFT (NFT) increased by 0.15%. Additionally, Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded slightly by 1.33%, breaking through $63,000; Ethereum (ETH) continued to decline by 0.92%, falling below $1,800.In other sectors, the CeFi sector dropped 1.37% in 24 hours, with Cronos (CRO) rising by 0.12%; the PayFi sector fell by 1.55%, while Telcoin (TEL) rose by 24.29%; the Meme sector decreased by 2.01%, but Siren (SIREN) increased by 28.48%; the Layer1 sector fell by 4.1%, with Humanity (H) remaining relatively strong, rising by 3.9%; the Layer2 sector declined by 5.59%, and Starknet (STRK) surged by 3.48% during the day.The cryptocurrency sector index reflecting historical market trends shows that the ssiSocialFi, ssiAI, and ssiDePIN indices fell by 8.9%, 8.4%, and 7.49%, respectively.

According to Cointelegraph, Coinbase and Better Home & Finance announced a plan to launch a cryptocurrency-backed mortgage program in the summer of 2026, allowing eligible borrowers to use Bitcoin (BTC) or USDC as collateral to fund down payments for Fannie Mae-backed mortgages. This move comes after the U.S. FHFA instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to consider cryptocurrency assets in mortgage risk assessments starting June 2025, without the need to convert them into fiat currency.Other lending institutions, such as Newrez, have already followed suit with similar initiatives. However, some U.S. senators have expressed concerns that the price volatility of cryptocurrency assets could threaten the stability of the housing market. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has proposed the "21st Century Mortgage Act," aiming to solidify the aforementioned policy in legislative form.

Terry Duffy, the CEO of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group, expressed great concern about the recently approved perpetual contracts by U.S. regulators. Terry Duffy stated that perpetual contracts have almost no practical use for institutional investors, yet expose retail investors to excessive risk. He completely disagreed with the CFTC's decision to approve the first batch of crypto perpetual contracts after a rapid review and mentioned that he had called the CFTC chairman to express his concerns.Terry Duffy warned that perpetual contracts and prediction markets are triggering a speculative frenzy among retail investors, which could lead to an impending disaster. The first batch of perpetual contracts approved by the CFTC is listed by Kalshi, and several U.S. exchanges are also discussing launching their own perpetual contracts.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee is preparing legislation to establish a cryptocurrency tax structure, which could be released as early as Friday, followed by a hearing early next week. Committee Chairman Jason Smith will prioritize the development of a digital asset tax framework, with the Treasury Department also involved in the process.The committee is expected to release seven bills addressing when tokens obtained through mining or staking will be taxed, exempting certain stablecoin transactions from capital gains tax, equal tax treatment for digital assets and securities (including charitable donations), allowing foreign investors to trade U.S. securities without being taxed as domestic entities, and expanding wash sale rules to digital assets.

According to The Block, blockchain analytics company Chainalysis has released a latest report indicating that as the gray market peptide industry scales surpasses an annualized $100 million, leading suppliers are accelerating the adoption of Bitcoin and stablecoins as primary settlement tools.In Q1 2026, cryptocurrency inflows into the industry reached $32 million, a month-on-month surge of 159%. Due to traditional banks and credit card payment channels generally imposing bans on prescription-grade compounds and unregulated substances, a large number of Chinese chemical manufacturers are turning to cryptocurrency to complete transactions, with high-value orders particularly favoring stablecoins to avoid price volatility risks.

The U.S. cryptocurrency market structure bill, the "Clarity Act," is a "support for regulation, support for enforcement" bill that rebuts criticisms from some law enforcement agencies regarding its inadequacy in preventing financial crimes. As the midterm elections approach, the time window for Congress to pass this bill is narrowing. Senator Cynthia Lummis warned that if progress is not made this year, the bill may not be seriously reconsidered until after 2030. Currently, the Clarity Act still faces multiple controversies, including stablecoin yield arrangements, conflicts of interest arising from Trump-related cryptocurrency businesses, and whether anti-money laundering standards are stringent enough.The latest version also incorporates the "Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act" (BRCA) pushed by DeFi supporters, aimed at clarifying that non-custodial developers should not be regarded as money transmitters. However, some law enforcement groups and lawmakers are concerned that the BRCA and certain provisions of the bill may weaken the ability to track illegal funds and recover victims' assets. Witt stated that lawmakers have responded to these concerns before the Senate Banking Committee vote and added provisions to strengthen regulatory and enforcement foundations.

According to CoinDesk, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis, along with several Senate Republicans, urged financial regulators to abolish the 1,250% punitive risk weight set by the Basel Committee on digital assets and to establish a new capital framework so that banks can meaningfully participate in the cryptocurrency market.

The cryptocurrency market experienced a new round of selling and liquidation on Thursday, with Bitcoin briefly dropping to $61,300 before rebounding to $64,680, currently reporting around $62,500. Over the past two days, the total market leverage liquidation scale was about $3 billion. Data shows that in the past 24 hours, futures trading volume rose to $305 billion, but open interest fell by 8.5% to $111.4 billion, indicating that the market is primarily deleveraging rather than adding new positions.Bitcoin's open interest fell from yesterday's historical high of over 800,000 BTC to 766,000 BTC. Investors seem to be leaving the cryptocurrency market and turning towards AI narratives in traditional markets. The derivatives market has clearly shifted to a bearish stance. The skew of BTC and ETH put options has strengthened, showing that investors are willing to pay higher premiums for downside protection. The nominal open interest of BTC put options with a strike price of $60,000 on Deribit exceeds $1 billion, while the most actively traded options contracts in the past 24 hours were the $55,000 put options.Altcoins have seen deeper declines, with NEAR, ZEC, JUP, DASH, ENA, and FET all dropping over 10%, and HYPE falling 12% after reaching a new high this week. The subsequent performance of altcoins largely depends on whether Bitcoin can hold above $60,000; if it falls below this level, it may trigger more liquidations and put greater pressure on trading pairs with weaker liquidity.

According to a report by Reuters, Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, raised £9.3 million in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing the fundraising scale of major UK political parties for the third consecutive quarter, with some of the funds coming from large donations by cryptocurrency investors.