Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Paypal changes the entire payments game overnight, GMX hacker returns for bounty, Pengu coin controversy heats up, Pump.fun sees revenue plunge after competitors eat away market share, Mill City Ventures has become the first public company to invest in a Sui treasury,

We got a ton of VC activity today - Happy Tuesday Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

• The global crypto market cap hovered around $3.94T, up just over +1% for the day, as Bitcoin traded flat near $118,000 with low volatility and little net movement

  • Ethereum rose +2.8% to close near $3,886, outperforming Bitcoin and drawing strong ETF inflows; large holders accumulated ETH on dips, and open interest surged

• Most top altcoins gained, led by BNB, which jumped +6.6% to a new all-time high above $850

• U.S. banking regulators released new guidance on crypto custody, and Congress advanced major crypto bills, highlighting a week of policy clarity

  • Institutional activity remained robust, supporting the positive tone as July draws to a close

Market Predictions

• Bettors on Kalshi are predicting how high will Ethereum get this year?

• Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi

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Headline Roundup
^{_{The major headlines driving crypto markets}}

• PayPal to enable businesses to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, and 100 other cryptocurrencies (DC)

• US and EU strike trade deal easing tariffs on select crypto-related hardware (BW)

• Companies load up on niche crypto tokens to boost share prices (FT)

• Binance CEO CZ’s net worth hits $75.8B as BNB jumps to $850 (TD)

• CryptoPunks NFTs see highest weekly trading volume since March 2024 (TB)

• ECB warned rise of stablecoins could undermine euro area monetary policy (FT)

• Crypto startup Pump.fun sees revenue plunge as meme coin traders shift to launchpads (DC)

• Crypto lenders dial up risk with 'microfinance on steroids' (FT)

• Billionaire Ray Dalio urges investors to put 15% of portfolios into gold and Bitcoin (DC)

• Companies load up on niche crypto tokens to boost share prices (FT)

• Nasdaq-listed Upexi secures $500M equity line to expand Solana treasury holdings (CD)

• Zora coin price surges amid rising activity on Ethereum-based NFT platform (BC)

• Strategy could add 17,000 BTC to treasury without equity dilution, TD Cowen says (TB)

• Arbitrum Foundation commits $10M in ARB to subsidize smart contract security audits (TB)

• Solana co-founder calls meme coins “digital slop” despite fueling SOL volume boom (DC)

• Interactive Brokers explores launching a stablecoin, Reuters reports (TB)

• Spot ETH ETFs post second-biggest week of inflows, signaling sustained demand (TB)

• Bakkt sells off loyalty unit to focus entirely on core crypto services (CD)

• China pivots to yuan-pegged stablecoins to challenge dollar dominance after CBDC setbacks (TD)

• Nasdaq-listed vape stock soars 600% after $500M raise to build BNB treasury (TB)

• Marathon Digital raises $950M in zero-coupon notes to increase Bitcoin reserves (TD)

• CBOE files for Canary’s staked Injective fund as ETF expansion continues (TB)

• Strategy could add 17,000 Bitcoin to treasury without corresponding equity dilution, TD Cowen says (TB)

Venture Capital

• Domain registrar Freename raised a $6.5M Series A led by Entree Capital (PULSE)

• Zodia Markets, a crypto trading firm owned by Standard Chartered, raised an $18.3M Series A led by Pharsalus Capital (CD)

• Saf.money, a startup expanding Bitcoin and stablecoin money movement, raised a pre-seed round from Fulgur Ventures, Plan B, Initial Capital, and 1A1z (PULSE)

• OSL Group, an Asia-based regulated digital asset platform, raised a $300M equity financing round (PULSE)

• Plasma, a stablecoin-focused blockchain, closed a public token sale with $373M in commitments (CD)

M&A Announcements

• Mill City Ventures has become the first public company to invest in a Sui treasury after a $450M raise (DE)

• Metaplanet reaffirms Bitcoin strategy with a 780 BTC buy (DE)

Launches

• Sky’s Grove expands to Avalanche, launching $250M RWA initiative with Centrifuge (CD)

• Binance launches yield-bearing product pegged to users’ stablecoin deposits (TD)

• EigenLayer unveils multichain verification system for L2s and AVS networks (CT)

• Ethereum wallet MetaMask adds stablecoin yield via DeFi integration with Aave (CD)

Regulation

• Stablecoins craze pits central bank against lawmakers in South Korea (FT)

• Ghana to begin regulating crypto exchanges as local adoption surges (TL)

Cybersecurity

• Pudgy Penguins’ Pengu team accused of dumping $6.6M in tokens as scammers flood ecosystem (CS)

• GMX hacker returns $40M after accepting $10M white-hat bounty (TD)

• Steam game hid malware targeting crypto wallets, harvesting user credentials (DE)

• Qubics denies manipulating Monero hashrate amid transparency backlash (TB)

• DOJ seeks forfeiture of Bitcoin linked to Chaos ransomware operation (DC)

Meme Dump

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