Quick Take

• BTC treasury firms are liquidating holdings to manage debt, fund buybacks or strengthen their cash reserves.
• Last week, U.S. spot BTC saw net inflows of US$34 million, down from $76 million the previous week. U.S. spot ETH ETFs recorded $104 million in net inflows, slightly trailing the prior week’s $106 million.
• U.S. equities experienced a risk-off pullback last week, as momentum in high-valuation tech stocks stalled. Concerns over massive corporate capex on AI, climbing energy prices driven by Middle East tensions, and new tariff implementations weighed on broader markets, driving a rotation out of mega-cap growth into defensive and value-oriented sectors.
• • Nasdaq Composite plunged 2.1%, S&P 500 decreased 0.6%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%.
  • Key Market Drivers: 
  • • AI Capex and Tech Earnings: Q2 earnings reports from tech leaders like Alphabet and Tesla raised market anxiety over heavy AI infrastructure spend relative to immediate revenue. Alphabet's free cash flow outlook faced pressure from heavy infrastructure spending, while Tesla dropped on margin headwinds, triggering broader profit-taking across semiconductor and software stocks.
    • Energy Inflation Concerns: Military strikes in the Middle East drove crude oil prices past $88/barrel, fueling concerns of energy-driven inflation.
    • Macro Data: June inflation figures cooled unexpectedly (headline CPI fell 0.4% month-over-month), while the S&P Global Flash U.S. Composite PMI reached an eight-month high of 53.6. This reinforced soft-landing expectations ahead of the Fed's July policy meeting.
    • Trade Policy: New trade tariffs taking effect on July 24 added friction to imported goods and cross-border tech hardware supply chains.
  • Sector and Style Dynamics: Information Technology, Semiconductors, and Consumer Discretionary lagged on valuation compression and chip-stock selling. Conversely, Energy outperformed early in the week on crude oil gains, while defensive sectors like Utilities and Consumer Staples attracted protective inflows.

Research Dashboard

According to our research dashboard, the price index grew +0.52%, while the volume and volatility indices dropped by -4.45% and -32.62%, respectively, last week.

Index tokens delivered a mixed performance. BTC and ETH prices increased by +1.00% and +4.38%, respectively. Ondo (ONDO), Uniswap (UNI), and Gram (GRAM) led the price gains, while WLFI led both the volume and volatility surge. Uniswap Labs is launching Permissioned Pools to enable trading of regulated tokenized assets on its DEX. Built on Uniswap v4, this framework lets issuers restrict trading and liquidity to approved investor wallets via onchain verification. Ondo Finance subsidiary Oasis Pro Markets secured SEC and FINRA clearance to offer tokenized equities and funds to U.S. investors. Ondo Finance also enabled its tokenized stocks — starting with SPYon and QQQon (S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ETF tokens) — as collateral on its OndoPerps platform. Telegram founder Pavel Durov confirmed the platform will launch a native, non-custodial Gram crypto wallet this summer. The volatility surge in World Liberty Financial (WLFI)  follows proposed updates to the CLARITY Act, which would ban federal officials, including the President, from issuing or sponsoring digital assets while in office.

Chart of the Week

With Bitcoin down from its October 2025 peak of $126,000 to around $65,000, several BTC treasury firms are liquidating holdings to manage debt and navigate challenging market conditions. Notably, Strategy Inc. (MSTR) has sold roughly 3,620 BTC (0.4% of its holdings) since June, and Satsuma Technology (SATS) shareholders approved the liquidation of their final 668 BTC position last week. 

Despite some firms releasing their BTC reserves, total accumulated BTC has reached over 1.26 million on 27 July, a 15.5% increase from 1.09 million at the start of January, now accounting for over 6% of the total BTC supply according to our research dashboard.

Weekly Performance

Top-cap tokens mostly saw bullish price action last week. SHIB (+28.4%) led the surge, likely driven by whale accumulation and the burning of over 2.4 billion tokens last week. Conversely, ATOM (-5.1%) and POL (-4.7%) led the decline.

DeFi categories saw mixed performance. RWA (+3.4%) led the gains, while AI (-3.2%) led the drop.

News Highlights

• The Senate’s updated CLARITY Act proposes a federal ban prohibiting government officials, including the President, from issuing or sponsoring digital assets. The legislation, led by Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), would empower the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce the rule, with penalties of up to $250,000 per day for violations. While President Donald Trump reportedly approved the ethics section, the bill faces political hurdles. The proposal emerges as Trump has generated significant crypto-related income since returning to office, largely tied to World Liberty Financial and its tokens (WLFI, USD1).
• The Kazakhstan government approved strategic cryptocurrency mining rules that legally mandate approved mining operations to contribute a portion of their mined assets directly to the state.
• The Nigerian president signed an executive order establishing a virtual asset council aimed at addressing the nation's historically fragmented cryptocurrency regulations and clarifying tax policies.
• The Bank of Korea (BOK) is advancing its central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative with the launch of a second-phase pilot program in September. This phase involves live transaction testing across a blockchain network connecting nine major financial institutions, including the nation's top three banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana) and Woori Financial Group, alongside Gyeongnam Bank and iM Bank.

Adoption

• S&P Dow Jones Indices and Pantera Capital collaborated to launch a revenue-screened digital asset index that exclusively tracks 18 protocols with positive onchain verifiable revenue, omitting Bitcoin and meme coins.
• Swiss state-owned cantonal bank BancaStato partnered with digital-asset banking firm Sygnum to introduce regulated cryptocurrency trading and custody natively within its Avaloq-powered digital banking app.
• Samsung Electronics announced plans to integrate stablecoin support into Samsung Wallet, marking a significant expansion of its mobile payments and rewards platform. During the Galaxy Unpacked showcase, product manager Lee Dinham stated that the wallet will evolve beyond traditional cash and savings to embrace "new forms of digital value," positioning Samsung as one of the first major mobile brands to offer native stablecoin functionality.
• KB Kookmin Bank, South Korea’s largest bank, will launch a blockchain-based cross-border payment service in August using JPMorgan’s Kinexys platform. The service targets import and export businesses across ten countries, including the U.S., Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, supporting U.S. dollar transfers with near-instant settlement.

Investment Vehicles

• Grayscale filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. SEC for the Grayscale Worldcoin ETF, proposing the first U.S. spot exchange-traded product (ETP) focused on the Worldcoin (WLD) token. If approved, the fund will list on Nasdaq under the ticker GWLD, offering investors regulated exposure to WLD without requiring direct ownership of the token.

Catalyst Calendar

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