Crypto

Crypto dropped across the board on Friday in holiday-thinned trading, giving back the week's gains. With oil down 9% and the Iran deal signed, the question turns to whether this cycle gets an altseason at all.

The merger of crypto, decentralized finance and traditional finance is being referred to as the “Great Convergence” at BlackRock. BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund has been a gateway for new investors to enter the wider ETF market, according to Jay Jacobs, US head of equity ETFs at BlackRock. Around three-quarters of investors in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF have never owned an ETF before, Jacobs told Cointelegraph on the Chain Reaction podcast Thursday. “IBIT was a way for traditional investors to now get into digital assets. But we have seen a lot of people really kind of enter into IBIT, starting with digital asset ETPs,” he said. Read more

Tokenized stocks were the fastest-growing category between January 2024 and May 2026, while AI and RWAs also recorded rapid growth.

The US commodities watchdog has settled with Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky, ending the agency’s first-ever case against a crypto lending platform. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has resolved its action against Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky, permanently banning him from trading in markets the commodities regulator oversees. The CFTC said Thursday that a court consent order also bars Mashinsky from ever registering with the regulator and ends the enforcement action it first filed in 2023. “Mashinsky and Celsius engaged in a scheme to defraud hundreds of thousands of customers by mispresenting the safety, profitability, and regulatory compliance of Celsius’ digital asset-based finance platform,” the regulator said. Read more

Exchange inflows, slumping demand and a 31% drop in Ether futures open interest may signal that another wave of selling could hit ETH. Ether's (ETH) exchange and derivatives data turned weaker over the past month. Binance recorded net inflows of 57,700 ETH, while futures open interest fell to a year-low of $10.3 billion from $15 billion, and the ratio of leveraged positions retreated sharply from their early June highs. The combination of rising exchange supply, muted new participation, and declining futures activity has led ETH analysts to forecast another wave of selling pressure below $1,700. ETH inflows on Binance outpace new demand Read more

Google’s Gemini AI Predicts Incredible XRP Price by The Next 90 Days of 2026 The post Google’s Gemini AI Predicts Incredible XRP Price For Next 90 Days appeared first on Cryptonews.

The Maltese regulator is seeking industry feedback on a legal framework for software-governed organizations, arguing that many DeFi projects are not fully decentralized. Malta’s financial regulator has issued a discussion paper outlining a potential legal framework for decentralized finance (DeFi), including recognition of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), as European policymakers continue to grapple with how to regulate blockchain-based financial services. On June 12, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) opened a public consultation on DeFi under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. The paper invites industry feedback through July 10 and proposes a new legal category for so-called “software-based organizations,” which would encompass DAOs and other software-governed DeFi entities. Rather than treating DAOs as a standalone legal concept, the MFSA suggests recognizing them as a type of software-based organization, separating the legal framework governing the or...

Bitcoin’s slump accelerated as capital rotated further into the AI sector, raising the odds of a BTC price drop below $60,000. Key takeaways: Bitcoin's sudden decoupling from a strong Nasdaq index highlights shifting capital flows into the AI sector. A strengthening US dollar and high Treasury yields are weighing heavily on non-yielding crypto assets. Read more

For the first time in seven years, the Irish government released an assessment related to digital assets, noting risks from money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions violations and bribery. The government of Ireland is taking aim at digital assets used in money laundering and terrorism financing as it moves to implement industry standards “relating to the acceptance of crypto-related activities as a source of funds” by the second half of 2027 as part of its policy priorities. In part of its implementation plan following a national risk assessment released on Thursday, the Irish department of finance said crypto assets presented “very significant” risks related to money laundering and terrorism financing. The government’s 2026 report was the first time in seven years that Ireland released a risk assessment related to digital assets, noting an increase in prosecutions related to money laundering and incidents of fraud in which using crypto was “particularly attractive” to criminal groups. Source: Governm...

The proposed rules by US government agencies suggested that stablecoin issuers be subject to customer identification program requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act, the same as regulated financial firms. Several US government agencies responsible for financial regulation have issued a proposed rule as part of the implementation of stablecoin-focused legislation, pushing for similar identification guidelines for issuers as banks under federal law. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), National Credit Union Administration and the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Thursday proposed that stablecoin issuers be treated as regulated financial institutions in regard to verifying users’ identities. The proposed rule comes as part of the implementation of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, signed into law in July 2025. Source: Federal Register Read more

Z.ai's GLM-5.2 sits within 1% of Claude Opus 4.8 on long-horizon coding benchmarks, runs entirely on Huawei silicon, and undercuts Western frontier models by up to 82% per token.

Image generation company Midjourney is developing a full-body imaging system that combines ultrasound tech with AI smarts.

Will ADA crash to $0.13 in the coming days?

The proposed system aims to connect traditional banking infrastructure with blockchain-based payment networks with banks retaining customer deposits. Custodia and Vantage Bank have proposed a token that automatically switches between a bank deposit and a stablecoin as it moves between participating banks and external users. According to a white paper shared with Cointelegraph on Thursday, the token would operate as a deposit issued by a participating bank when held within a banking consortium and as a stablecoin backed by cash and short-term Treasurys when transferred outside the so-called Hazel network. The companies said the system has been running on Ethereum (ETH) since March and is being tested by participating banks ahead of a broader rollout planned for later this year. The platform is designed to support tokenized deposits, stablecoins and other blockchain-based financial assets through a shared banking infrastructure. Read more

The settlement ensures that convicted Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky is unable to trade in CFTC markets or register with the regulator.

Quantum computing threatens the blockchain ecosystem, from Bitcoin to Ethereum and beyond, and Algorand has a plan to be prepared.

Another key figure at the Ethereum Foundation is stepping away from her post, continuing a recent leadership exodus.

The offering follows regulatory approval earlier this year and comes as prediction markets face legal challenges from regulators, exchanges and policymakers around the world. Canadian fintech Wealthsimple is launching a prediction markets app powered by Kalshi, giving that country's retail investors access to thousands of event-based contracts following regulatory approval earlier this year. The standalone app, called Wealthsimple Predict, is scheduled to launch this summer and will offer Canadian users access to about 4,000 event contracts listed on Kalshi across categories including financial markets, economic indicators and climate. Source: Kalshi Read more

Farside data shows $82.2 million leaving the category, but FBTC and MSBT still drew inflows after the Fed reset. The post Bitcoin ETF outflows expose split demand after Warsh’s Fed debut appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Hsiao-Wei Wang’s departure adds to a wave of Ethereum Foundation exits, fueling debate over governance, decentralization and the network’s future. The Ethereum Foundation has lost another high-ranking contributor, amid increasing scrutiny of the research organization as the network faces ongoing questions about talent retention and governance philosophy. In a post on X, co-executive director Hsiao-Wei Wang announced that she had stepped down from her role, effective immediately, following a recent sabbatical. Wang wrote that "Ethereum has always been bigger than any role" and indicated that she has not yet decided what she will do next. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin commented on Wang’s an X post, acknowledging that she had taken on “the most challenging position in the Ethereum Foundation” alongside Tomasz Stanczak, who also stepped down from his leadership role earlier this year. Read more