Quick Take

• Global cryptocurrency owners reached 774 million in June 2026.
• Last week, U.S. spot BTC ETFs experienced US$385 million in net outflows, contrasting with the prior week's $865 million inflow. Meanwhile, U.S. spot ETH ETFs saw $3 million in net outflows, reversing five consecutive weeks of inflows.
• The U.S. stock market maintained broad bullish momentum, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq securing their third consecutive week of net gains. The S&P 500 and Russell 2000 touched fresh all-time highs midweek before experiencing a minor Friday consolidation driven by profit-taking following weak retail sales data.
• • S&P 500 advanced 0.4% to close at 7,785.76, marking its third straight weekly gain after setting an intraday record high of 7,816.70 on Thursday. Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6%.
  • Key Market Drivers: 
  • • Cooling Inflation Trends: July Producer Price Index (PPI) figures unexpectedly fell -0.03% month-over-month (MoM), alongside a 0.1% Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase, strengthening expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates steady or consider easing.
    • Weak Retail Sales & Economic Cooling: July Retail Sales fell -0.6% MoM (below expectations of +0.1%), sparking concerns over slowing consumer spending when combined with recent weak employment figures.
    • Institutional 13F Filings: Q2 13F filings revealed institutional caution toward major tech segments, with mixed activity in semiconductors and AI despite sustained investment in megacap firms.
  • Sector and Style Dynamics: Energy (+7.57%) and Communication Services (+1.47%) led the growth. Conversely, Consumer Cyclical (-1.76%) and Materials (-0.51%) suffered the largest declines, impacted directly by the soft retail sales data.

Research Dashboard

According to our research dashboard, the price and volume indices decreased -2.98% and -11.64%, respectively, while the volatility index skyrocketed +272.03%, last week.

Index tokens had mixed performances. BTC and ETH prices decreased by -3.09% and -1.85%, respectively. World Liberty Financial (WLFI) and Chainlink (LINK) led price and volume gains, while Cardano (ADA) led both price and volume plunge. LINK and BTC led the volatility surge.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) granted conditional approval to World Liberty Trust Co.'s bank charter application. The national trust charter authorizes fiduciary services for issuing and custodying World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin. LINK’s price movement may be driven by Chainlink’s repurchase and whales activity. Cardano community approved a 120 million ADA release from the community treasury dedicated to boosting liquidity across native DeFi protocols.

Chart of the Week

Global cryptocurrency owners increased by 4.5% in the first half of 2026, rising from 741 million in December 2025 to 774 million in June 2026. This growth was driven by increased institutional adoption, macro hedging against U.S. debt and global inflation, and the accelerated development of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and stablecoins. Check our latest Crypto Market Sizing H1 2026 report for the details.

Weekly Performance

Top-cap tokens mostly dropped last week. LINK (+14.7%) led the gain, followed by ATOM (+5.8%), while APT (-12.0%) and ADA (-9.9%) led the drop.

DeFi categories showed mixed results, with Oracles (+14.1%) and Liquid Staking (+12.1%) leading market cap growth, while DEX (-14.5%) experienced the largest decline. Chainlink drove the market cap increase in the Oracles category. Meanwhile, Ether.fi led the surge in Liquid Staking following its Summer release, which introduced tokenized stocks and other new features. Uniswap was the primary driver for the DEX market cap contraction, despite Standard Chartered maintaining a positive outlook on the protocol.

News Highlights

Company News

• Crypto.com launched Tokenized Stocks, a new feature within its app that allows eligible users to gain price exposure to U.S. equities and ETFs through derivative tokens. This product is currently available to users in the EEA and other approved global jurisdictions, offering access to over 1,500 underlying assets with a minimum investment of $1.

Regulation

• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reportedly delayed its proposed tokenization “innovation exemption” amid White House concerns about complicating CLARITY Act negotiations and Wall Street objections to making major market-structure changes through exemptions rather than formal rulemaking.
• The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) consulted banks and market participants on a potential framework for tokenized gold, including possible use as collateral in wholesale markets.
• South Korea approved amendments removing the ₩1 million (around $700) threshold for the Travel Rule, extending sender-and-recipient data requirements to all transfers between registered virtual-asset service providers. Additional risk controls will apply to overseas exchanges and personal wallets.

Adoption

• The global remittance company MoneyGram expanded its crypto cash "Ramps" service to Solana, enabling two-way cash-crypto conversions via a single API for crypto wallets.
• Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is preparing a proof-of-concept for real-time blockchain settlement of Japanese government bond transactions through the Canton network. The project aims to reduce repurchase agreement (repo) settlement times from the traditional one-to-three-day range and support 24/7 processing.

Investment Vehicles

• BlackRock launched two Toronto-listed ETFs, including IBQT, which allocates 97% to diversified equities and 3% to Bitcoin exposure through a Canadian iShares Bitcoin ETF.
• Fidelity filed with the SEC to add staking to its Fidelity Ethereum Fund. The preliminary filing allows for staking up to 100% of the fund’s Ether under normal conditions, with 85% of staking rewards retained by the fund after fees; distributions are not guaranteed. If approved, the change would add a yield component to a major spot Ether product and intensify competition among staking-enabled ETFs.

Others

• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin updated the network's roadmap to prioritize quantum-computing readiness and user privacy. This strategic adjustment focuses on safeguarding the blockchain against future cryptographic threats while enhancing base-layer transaction shielding, and zero-knowledge proof scalability.
• Harmony suffered an exploit resulting in the unauthorized minting of roughly 4 billion of its native ONE tokens (about 26% of the pre-incident supply). Harmony confirmed the attack and is actively collaborating with exchanges to freeze funds while developing a fix and rollback options.

Catalyst Calendar

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