Crypto Industry News & Market Trends

Pavel Durov brings fee-free Gram wallet to 1 billion Telegram users

Telegram has announced plans to introduce a native, non-custodial Gram wallet to more than 1 billion monthly users this summer, enabling instant cryptocurrency transfers without fees.　　Pavel Durov, writing on Telegram on Wednesday, described the planned integration as the “largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history.” The Telegram founder did not provide a fixed release date, list supported assets, or explain how the app would cover network costs while offering fee-free transfers.　　Source: Telegram　　Unlike a custodial service, the proposed wallet would let users control their crypto rather than leaving their assets with Telegram or another company. Durovs announcement places the feature directly inside the messaging app, removing the need for users to download a separate wallet before sending funds to their contacts.　　Telegram reported more than 1 billion monthly active users in 2025, giving the Gram wallet access to an audience few standalone crypto products can match. While Durov did not publish an adoption target, the companys user count means even a small uptake could introduce millions of people to self-custody and peer-to-peer crypto transfers.　　Exact launch conditions remain unclear because Telegram has not explained whether the wallet will become available worldwide at once or arrive through a phased release. The

07-22Industry

BIS exposes how stablecoins are slipping past capital controls

BIS researchers have found that dollar-backed stablecoin inflows across more than 130 economies remain largely unaffected by capital controls, exposing a growing challenge for emerging-market governments.　　The BIS study compared stablecoin inflows with foreign-currency bank deposits to examine how households and businesses gain exposure to the U.S. dollar during periods of financial stress. Both forms of dollarization increased alongside sovereign crises, banking problems and strong exchange-rate pass-through, but only traditional deposits responded clearly to restrictions on foreign currency and capital flows.　　Unlike bank deposits, dollar-pegged tokens can move through crypto exchanges, peer-to-peer markets and self-hosted wallets without passing through domestic banks. According to the researchers, this difference likely exists because “stablecoins are partly circulating outside the regulatory perimeter.”　　The results indicate that restrictions designed for bank accounts may have limited influence over digital tokens. While governments can require approval for foreign-currency deposits or restrict transfers through financial institutions, users can still receive, hold, and send stablecoins through blockchain networks.　　Researchers also found that deposit and stablecoin dollarization tend to persist once established. Their analysis showed little evidence that users simply replace foreign-currency deposits with stablecoins, suggesting the two channels can expand at the same time instead of competing for the same demand.　　Capital controls are

07-22Industry

Hut 8 Stock Surges Up to 200% in 2026 as Bitcoin Mining Unit Struggles

Hut 8 Corp. (HUT) shares have swung between $44 and $133 in 2026, a peak-to-trough gain of about 200%, according to TradingView data.　　The stock now trades near $108, up about 128% for the year, after Hut 8 signed a $9.8 billion, 15-year lease with an unnamed technology hyperscaler.　　The AI Pivot　　Speaking to CNBC, CEO Asher Genoot said the was proof that Hut 8s pivot from Bitcoin mining to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is paying off for shareholders.　　The new lease adds 704 megawatts of capacity to Beacon Point, Hut 8s AI data center campus in Texas, and carries an implied $653 million in annual revenue. Genoot said Hut 8 had zero contracted AI revenue about a year ago.　　He now counts roughly $27 billion in contracted AI revenue and about $1.75 billion in annualized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA).　　What Happened to the Bitcoin Mining Business　　Hut 8 was firstly known as a Bitcoin mining business, but the company technically no longer runs Bitcoin mining directly. In March 2025, it moved the business into American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC), a separately traded subsidiary that Hut 8 majority owns and that Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. partly back.　　Hut 8 has seen much more

07-22Industry

UK CPI data expected to show less need for BoE rate hikes

The UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) will release the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures on Wednesday at 06:00 GMT, a print that will matter for markets. Consensus expectations point to inflation pressures still above the Bank of Englands (BoE) target, although losing further momentum.　　UK consumer inflation remains one of the most important inputs for the BoE and typically carries real weight for the British Pound (GBP). Following the latest cautious hold by the BoE on June 18, investors now favour a steady hand by the ‘Old Lady’ at its meeting on July 30.　　What to expect from the next UK inflation report？　　Headline UK CPI is expected to clock 2.7% in the year to June, a tad lower than the May reading. On a monthly basis, inflation is seen gaining 0.1%, adding to the 0.2% increase recorded the previous month.　　Core inflation, which strips out the more volatile food and energy components and is therefore more closely watched by the BoE, is forecast at 2.5% on an annual basis, down a tenth of percent from May.　　How will the UK CPI data affect GBP/USD？　　The BoE met expectations and kept the bank rate unchanged at 3.75% on June 18. However, the 7–2 vote

07-22Industry

Kospi Jumps 5% as Asian Chipmakers Rebound From AI Selloff

South Korea‘s Kospi surged over 5% to a high of 7,164 on Wednesday’s early trading, extending its rebound from an artificial intelligence stock selloff.Asian chipmakers led the gains for a second straight session.　　Japan‘s Nikkei 225 added near 2% to 67,524.22, also in early trading. The rally builds on Tuesday’s rebound across Asian markets.　　Samsung, SK Hynix Lead the Recovery　　The gains extend July 21s rebound, when the Kospi jumped 3.6% and the Nikkei rose 3% after a number of days trending downwards. Chipmakers are looking to pull the Kospi back from a bear market slide that AI valuation fears caused earlier this month.　　Samsung Electronics surged reversed its downward trend on Tuesday while SK Hynix, the memory chipmaker, gained also started gaining, recovering from its sharp sidecar plunge earlier this month.　　The Kospi has managed to stop the fall in its price seen over the last few days. Image Source: Trading View　　The Kospi is still down more than 20% over the past month, even after gaining over 50% year-to-date. Investors had locked in profits on AI bubble concerns.　　Wall Street Also Jumps at Semiconductors　　Wall Street added its own momentum on Tuesday. The Nasdaq 100 posted its best session in three weeks, and a key semiconductor

07-22Industry

Google Is Building an AI Chip Just for Gemini—And Investors Already Moved On It

In briefGoogle is reportedly developing a server chip called Frozen v2 that hardwires part of Geminis architecture into silicon.Based on reports, engineers project six to ten times the efficiency of current TPUs and a 2028 deployment target.Alphabet shares climbed roughly 3% during Mondays trading session after the news broke, ahead of Q2 2026 earnings due Wednesday, July 22.　　Google is building a chip designed for one job: running Gemini faster and cheaper.　　The chip, codenamed Frozen v2, was reported by The Information on Monday and gives Google a potential answer to a problem it cant spend its way out of fast enough: It is running out of capacity to serve the AI demand it has already generated.　　In March, Google told Meta it couldnt fill the volume of Gemini compute Meta wanted to purchase. Meta had to instruct employees to ration their AI usage. Google—spending up to $190 billion on AI infrastructure this year—was turning away customers because it didnt have enough servers to serve them.　　So now its building a chip designed only for its AI models.　　There‘s not much information about this new chip, but by naming convention it’s not another upgrade to Googles Tensor Processing Units (TPUs)—the custom chips Google has been

07-22Industry

The $1.2 billion options wall came down, and this time Bitcoin actually moved

For most of the month, traders had a pretty good explanation for Bitcoins refusal to budge. A dense cluster of options contracts, they argued, was holding the price in a cage between $60,000 and $65,000, with dealers buying dips and selling rallies to stay hedged.　　Fridays expiry cleared roughly $1.2 billion of that exposure, and the aftermath was supposed to settle the question. If the options were pinning Bitcoin near $63,000, price should start drifting once they vanished.　　And it did. Bitcoin was trading around $66,200 on Tuesday, up about 2.9% on the day and roughly 5% on the week, pressing against a $65,700 resistance-turned-support level it hasnt held all month. You could call this vindication: remove the wall of options suffocating price, and the market breathes.　　But the more accurate take is that the expiry was never doing the heavy lifting, and the fuel behind this weeks move actually came from somewhere else.　　The options wall came down, and the demand walked in　　About 19,000 Bitcoin options contracts settled on July 17 with a notional value near $1.2 billion, a put-call ratio of 0.9 and a maximum-pain level at $63,000. Ethereum added 123,000 contracts worth roughly $230 million, carrying a much heavier 1.61 put-call

07-22Industry

XRP Breaks Out on Clarity Act Hopes. The Charts Are Still Cautious

In briefXRP jumped 3.25% to $1.1485, ranking third among top-50 performers on the day, behind Ondo and Cardano.Reports that Trump agreed to the Clarity Acts stalled ethics provision sent Polymarkets odds of passage from 32% to 43%, fueling a broad crypto rally.XRP charts hint at more upside—but bearish signals remain that may make traders cautious.　　It was a good day to own some crypto.　　Reports emerged late Monday that President Donald Trump agreed to the ethics provision that had been holding the Clarity Act hostage in the Senate—a major sticking point in months of negotiations. Bitcoin climbed above $66,000 following the news, five-day spot ETF inflows surpassed $700 million, and a bounce in Asian AI and semiconductor stocks added to the risk-on tone that lifted nearly every digital asset.　　XRP caught the wave harder than most. As Decrypt reported five days ago, the Ripple-linked token had been lagging the broader market recovery—stuck below the $1.13 resistance that had capped every rally since late June. Today that ceiling cracked open.　　The price of XRP pushed to an intraday high of $1.1511, still hovering around a $68 billion market cap, triggering roughly $2.93 million in leveraged short liquidations, and settled at $1.1485—a 3.5% intra-day gain that

07-22Industry

XRP Ledger pushes v3.2.0 rollout as amendment deadline nears

XRP Ledgers v3.2.0 software has reached 66% validator adoption, with 99 validators now running the release as the network approaches a July 29 amendment activation.　　SummaryXRP Ledger v3.2.0 now runs on 66% of tracked validators and 57.33% of nodes.The fixCleanup3_2_0 amendment holds 85.71% support ahead of its July 29 activation.The update fixes vault, lending, and permissioned DEX issues while renaming rippled to xrpld.　　According to recent XRPL Explorer data, 481 nodes, or 57.33% of the tracked network, have installed v3.2.0. The figures show that the latest software has gained ground since its June rollout, although a sizeable share of operators remain on the previous release.　　Version 3.1.3 still runs on 42 validators, equal to 28% of the validator set covered by the tracker. Another 323 nodes, representing 38.41% of the 825 observed nodes, also continue to use the older software.　　Software adoption and amendment approval are separate processes on the XRP Ledger. Installing v3.2.0 gives operators access to the latest fixes, while an amendment requires support from at least 80% of trusted validators for two consecutive weeks before its rules can take effect.　　You might also like:　　Aztec v5 brings private smart contracts to Ethereum in alpha launch　　The fixCleanup3_2_0 amendment has already crossed that voting threshold.

07-22Industry

Jack Mallers leaves Twenty One as Strike tie-up ends and Bitcoin treasury pressure builds

Jack Mallers is stepping down as chief executive of Twenty One Capital to focus on Strike, while Twenty One and the Bitcoin payments company abandon a contemplated combination.　　Raphael Zagury, a Twenty One board member with experience in capital markets and Bitcoin infrastructure, will take over as CEO. The change puts him in charge of building cash-generating operations around one of the largest corporate Bitcoin treasuries as weaker prices and tighter financing test the wider sector.　　Mallers said he had decided to step down after the role clarified what he wanted to build. “My lifes work remains Bitcoin. My Bitcoin company is Strike. The work continues,” he wrote.　　Tether, Twenty Ones controlling shareholder, confirmed that Zagury would succeed Mallers and that the companies were working toward an orderly handover.　　The Strike combination is no longer on the table　　The split closes off a strategy Twenty One outlined less than three months ago.　　On April 29, the company announced an operating plan centered on possible acquisitions of Strike and Elektron, a Bitcoin mining and energy infrastructure business associated with Zagury.　　The plan was never a completed deal. Twenty Ones March-quarter filing, filed in May, said there were no binding commitments or agreements for either acquisition and that its

07-22Industry

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