Crypto news

Morgan Stanley has launched spot cryptocurrency trading on its E*TRADE platform, enabling eligible customers to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana through a partnership with Zero Hash, which provides execution and custody. The offering carries a 50-basis-point fee, and crypto transfer functionality is expected later this year. The rollout follows several crypto initiatives by the bank this year, including ETF filings for Bitcoin and Solana, exploration of tokenization, and a money market fund for stablecoin issuers. The move completes plans first disclosed in September 2025 to integrate direct spot crypto trading into the brokerage platform.

OKX Europe has introduced a one-way conversion feature enabling customers to deposit Tether's USDT and convert it into USDC, a MiCA-compliant stablecoin. The move comes as the European Union's MiCA regulations limit support for USDT, which has not obtained authorization under the framework. The feature allows customers to convert at their discretion, avoiding platform-imposed deadlines. OKX Europe serves 30 EU and EEA countries under its MiCA license. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has criticized MiCA's reserve requirements, stating the company will only seek authorization 'when MiCA becomes safer.' Meanwhile, Revolut and other platforms are phasing out USDT support in the region.

Japan's parliament passed an amendment reclassifying cryptocurrency as a financial asset under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, moving it from the Payment Services Act. The change takes effect within a year, targeting fiscal 2027. Crypto now falls under insider-trading rules and stricter disclosure obligations for exchanges, with penalties for unregistered operators rising to 10 years in prison and fines up to 10 million yen. The reclassification paves the way for spot bitcoin ETFs and a tax cut on crypto gains from 55% to a flat 20% starting in 2028. The reforms aim to align digital assets with traditional capital markets, boosting Japan's Web3 push and investor protection.

Foundry Digital, the world's leading Bitcoin mining pool operator, is asking its clients to vote on BIP-110, a proposal to temporarily restrict non-monetary data on the blockchain via a soft fork. BIP-110, also known as the 'reduced data temporary soft fork,' would cap arbitrary data in transactions. Supporters argue it preserves Bitcoin as peer-to-peer money, while critics like Michael Saylor and Adam Back say it turns a policy dispute into a consensus change that could invalidate fee-paying transactions. Foundry, which controls about a third of network hashrate, will signal based on miner votes weighted by their 10-day average hashrate. The company starts with a 'No' position and switches to 'Yes' only if voting hashrate exceeds 51%. Non-voters count as 'No'.

Cardano's founder Input Output announced it will hand over control of core blockchain infrastructure—including the Haskell node, Plutus platform, Daedalus wallet, and Hydra scaling tool—to external specialist firms starting in August, with full transition by 2027. The firms include Se7en Labs and Teragone, with independent node implementations in Haskell, Rust, and Go overseen by community bodies Intersect and Pragma. The handover comes ahead of the Van Rossem hard fork on July 18 at 21:44 UTC, which will upgrade Cardano to Protocol Version 11 and reduce smart contract execution costs. The fork was ratified with 77.63% approval from delegated community representatives. ADA rose about 2% to around $0.165 on Friday, but remains nearly 95% below its all-time high. Open interest in ADA futures is about $193 million with a long-to-short ratio of 2.84, indicating most traders anticipate a price increase.

US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $430 million in outflows on July 13, with Fidelity’s FBTC losing $246.3 million and BlackRock’s IBIT shedding $186.1 million. The redemptions hit a market where ETF trading volumes have collapsed 78% from their peak to $1.25 billion (30-day moving average), below 2024 levels. The IBIT outflow sparked claims that BlackRock dumped Bitcoin, but the move reflects investors redeeming shares, forcing issuers to sell BTC held in trust. The outflow followed a brief $197.4 million net inflow week that snapped eight straight losing weeks. BTC trades near $64,681. Analysts highlight $58,000 as key support; a close below could test $57,500. Upside resistance is $68,000. Long-term holders resumed accumulation on July 11-12, adding 5,912 BTC, but sustained volume recovery is needed for momentum.

Cardano developer Input Output will begin transferring control of core blockchain components, including the Haskell node, Plutus platform, and Daedalus wallet, to external specialist teams starting in August as part of a multi-year decentralization push. Independent companies such as Se7en Labs and Teragone will assume responsibility for parts of the infrastructure, while community oversight will maintain at least three Cardano implementations in Haskell, Rust, and Go. The move comes as Cardano faces weak network activity, with just $70 million in total value locked compared to rivals like Solana, and a 95% drop in ADA token price from its 2021 peak. Founder Charles Hoskinson acknowledged the challenges, describing them as necessary 'growing pains' for the network's evolution. The handover aims to reduce reliance on Input Output and test independent maintenance without slowing development.

Japan's SBI Holdings has partnered with Ondo Finance to tokenize Japanese equities via Ondo Global Markets, distribute Ondo's products across SBI's network, and use SBI's JPYSC stablecoin for settlement. The deal is part of SBI's broader push into onchain finance, which includes recent investments in Gauntlet and EDX Markets, the launch of a yen stablecoin, and a partnership with Solana Foundation. Ondo CEO Ian De Bode highlighted the collaboration as a bridge between Japanese capital markets and the tokenized economy. Tokenized equities currently represent about 15% of the broader tokenized asset market, worth nearly $13 billion.

Tokenization platform Tradable plans to bring up to $1 billion in private credit assets onto the Stellar blockchain, expanding institutional access to tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). The company said $500 million in notional value is expected to be available at launch, increasing to $1 billion over time. Tradable has already tokenized $1.7 billion in private credit assets across nearly 30 positions. The move reflects growing institutional interest in Stellar for RWAs, with partners including DTCC. The tokenized RWA market has surpassed $34 billion, driven by institutional adoption, with private credit accounting for about 44% of the sector's value.

The U.S. Treasury added four Tron-based wallets linked to Iran's central bank to its sanctions list after a ceasefire breakdown and resumed airstrikes. Tether froze $131 million in USDT held by those addresses, which previously held over $165 million. The action brings total blocked USDT tied to Iran's central bank to roughly $475 million. The funds remain onchain but cannot be transferred or redeemed. The Treasury said its published list is not exhaustive, and other addresses controlled by the bank may still be subject to sanctions.