Top Stories

BitMEX accelerated July delistings and set 65 crypto instruments for removal ahead of a Sept. 23 exchange shutdown. BitMEX froze new sign-ups and will allow only reduce-only trading from Aug. 26. BitMEX will close remaining positions before the final deadline. BMEX fell about 90% after the closure plan. Exchange services remain active until the staged wind-down reaches the Sept. 23 closure (reported 5 hours ago).

U.S. initial jobless claims dropped by 22,000 to 187,000 for the week ending July 18. Economists had expected 212,000 claims. CME FedWatch put the odds of a Fed rate hike at 33.7%, up from 11.8% a week earlier. Strong labor data may keep rate-cut expectations lower, which could pressure crypto liquidity through higher cash and bond yields. Claims could rebound toward the low 200,000s next week (reported 2 hours ago).

President Donald Trump announced new country-specific tariffs of 10% to 12.5% on dozens of trade partners, including the UK, China, the European Union, Canada, Japan and India. The U.S. ended the baseline 10% tariff that had applied uniformly to all countries. Higher import costs and higher energy prices may keep inflation pressure elevated and may reduce demand for risk assets (reported 36 min ago).

Market Trends

EU member state envoys agreed a 21st sanctions package against Russia that places 94 Russian financial institutions and the Moscow Exchange under full sanctions and expands transaction bans on additional crypto platforms. The package freezes the Russian oil price cap at $44.10 per barrel for 12 months (reported 21 hours ago).

Houthi militants hit two Saudi tankers, and Brent rose 1.8% to $95.70 on Thursday after five straight daily gains (reported 9 hours ago).

The European Central Bank kept the deposit facility rate unchanged at 2.25%, with the main refinancing rate at 2.40% and the marginal lending rate at 2.65% (reported 19 hours ago).

Regulation & Policy

Ondo Finance said Oasis Pro Markets secured regulatory authorization under SEC and FINRA oversight to offer tokenized equities and funds to U.S. investors, including over-the-counter trading, underwritten primary offerings, and private placements. Ondo did not detail a launch date for the U.S. offerings.

Kazakhstan approved Strategic Digital Mining Implementation Rules that let strategic digital mining companies receive electricity quotas at capped rates and require part of mined digital assets to be transferred to Astana Hub for the strategic crypto reserve.

Poolin and two U.S. affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey with about USD 173.1 million in debt, including USD 163.7 million in IOUs tied to Poolin Wallet customers after withdrawals were suspended in 2022. The companies plan to sell two West Texas mining sites with a combined opening bid of USD 52 million.

Institutional Updates

Nine firms unveiled the Bitcoin Security Consortium and committed $15 million over the next three years to fund work on future quantum-computing risk to Bitcoin. The consortium said it will not speak for network developers.

Coinbase Business users can now accept USDC payments from AI agents through the x402 protocol with no extra setup through Coinbase Payments.

KAIO said it launched tokenized access to one of Mubadala Capital's evergreen private market strategies across Base, Solana and Sui with about $75 million in onchain value. KAIO did not disclose the size of Coinbase's exposure.

What to Watch

If claims rebound toward the low 200,000s next week, then the rate-hike repricing may cool. This is a potential cautious re-entry signal for crypto beta.

If Brent closes above $100.64, then energy-risk hedges become a potential protective signal. Reducing high-beta crypto exposure can limit downside if oil-led risk-off pricing spreads.