“To deliver on President Trump’s goal to ensure that the United States is the crypto capital of the world, we are embracing innovation to bring more products onshore, creating clear rules of the road for capital raising with crypto assets, and providing clarity as to how market participants can custody and facilitate trading of tokenized securities onchain,” Atkins said in a statement on Tuesday, mentioning his agency’s crypto agenda before any other specific rulemaking effort.
As the process to advance a crypto market structure bill has languished in Congress, the SEC has been a bright spot for the industry’s regulatory hopes, though the agency has sometimes moved more slowly to issue policies than expected. When Atkins addressed this coming regulation almost four months ago in mid-March, he said it would be proposed in the “coming weeks.”
The busy new SEC agenda has “Regulation Crypto” slated for July, though it’s still under review at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. When proposed, it would mark the first major crypto-specific rulemaking pursued under Atkins’ leadership. Though the regulator has established a wide range of staff statements and guidance on crypto, those positions don’t carry the weight of a full rule, which can’t be changed as easily when future leaders arrive at the agency with different ideas.
BTC/USD surfed a comedown in US equities, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 down 0.6% and 2.1%, respectively, at the time of writing. Chip stocks led the sell-off, with Micron Technologies, whose earnings were highly anticipated last month, down over 9%.
At the same time, Tuesday was due to see SpaceX added to the Nasdaq 100 after its own stock turbulence in late June.
“This marks the fastest inclusion into the Nasdaq 100 in the index’s history,” trading resource The Kobeissi Letter noted in its latest commentary on X.
US spot Bitcoin ETF net flows (screenshot). Source: Farside Investors
Fresh from a second day of net inflows to the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), BTC/USD managed to avoid a major comedown.
“Correlation to the Nasdaq just flipped to +0.72 from -0.87 in the matter of days last week,” trader Daan Crypto Trades reported on X.
“That’s the difference between trading like a complete hedge/inverse and trading like a high beta tech stock. Right now we’re back to the middle on the 4H timeframe.”
Commentator Exitpump was conservative on low time frames, expecting a “rounding topping structure” and further downside next.
“The next correction on S&P should mark the true $BTC bottom according to history,” trader Killa suggested.
“Lets see if we repeat, 2015, 2018 & 2022.”
S&P 500 chart data. Source: Killa/X
Bollinger: “We are at a critical point”
In recent X discussions, meanwhile, John Bollinger, creator of the Bollinger Bands volatility indicator, had some more positive news for Bitcoin bulls.
Related: Bitcoin can fall below $58K if one of its ‘cleanest’ metrics copies history: Analysis
As Cointelegraph reported, Bollinger was eyeing a “W”-shaped reversal pattern currently in the process of confirmation on daily time frames.
Last week, he queried whether its latest iteration could end up canceling the BTC price downtrend altogether.
“We are at a critical point,” he added on Monday.
“In a bear market bullish setups break and in a bull market bearish setups break. So if this W pattern is successful I would see it as a confirmation of a change in trend.”
BTC/USD one-day chart with Bollinger Bands. Source: John Bollinger/X
Coinbase announced it secured a United Kingdom investment services license, allowing the platform to expand its local offering beyond spot trading and into products like equities and derivatives.
On Tuesday, Coinbase said the authorization would enable UK users to trade financial instruments alongside crypto on its platform. Institutional and advanced traders would gain access to perpetual futures tied to crypto, equities and commodities, while retail would be able to access equities.
The company said the approval marks its largest UK product expansion since entering the market and advances its vision of an “everything exchange” that combines crypto and traditional financial assets under a single platform. Coinbase said future rollouts would remain subject to regulatory permissions and UK market rules.
FCA research cited by Coinbase estimates that around 7 million UK adults hold crypto assets. A quarter of UK adults who do not currently own crypto said they’re more likely to participate under clearer regulation.
The authorization also comes ahead of the UK’s new crypto regime, which will begin accepting applications in September before taking effect in October 2027. It will require crypto trading platforms, custodians, stablecoin issuers, staking providers and other intermediaries to obtain FCA authorization.
The FCA did not comment before publication.
UK retail crypto derivatives remain restricted
The differing product offerings reflect FCA rules governing retail access to crypto investment products. In 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned the sale, marketing and distribution of derivatives and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) referencing certain crypto assets to retail consumers.
Related: Coinbase, Kraken and OKX move to swoop up EU users affected by MiCA restrictions
The FCA has since reopened retail access to certain crypto ETNs, with the change taking effect on Oct. 8, 2025.
As a result, retail consumers can access crypto ETNs only if they are traded on an FCA-approved, UK-based Recognised Investment Exchange, while financial promotion rules and consumer protection requirements apply. However, the FCA said its ban on retail access to crypto derivatives remains in place.
EU lawmakers on Tuesday adopted a position paper on digital assets, setting out their view on how the bloc should approach crypto regulation after the rollout of its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.
The paper calls on the European Commission to assess whether activities including decentralized finance (DeFi), crypto lending and borrowing, staking and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) should be brought more clearly into the EU’s regulatory perimeter. It also urges consistent application of MiCA across member states and warns against national rules that could fragment the bloc’s digital asset market.
The vote turns the report, “Digital assets – challenges for the competitiveness and integrity of the European Union’s financial system,” into Parliament’s formal policy position on digital assets, but it does not directly amend MiCA or create new legal obligations for crypto firms.
MiCA’s transitional period ended on July 1, requiring crypto-asset service providers that fall under the framework to obtain bloc-wide or national authorization to continue operating across the European Union.
The EU Parliament overwhelmingly approved its digital asset policy stance. Source: European Parliament
EU lawmakers look beyond MiCA
The report reflects growing pressure in Brussels to address digital asset activities that remain outside MiCA’s current scope.
While MiCA established licensing and conduct rules for crypto-asset service providers and issuers of certain tokens, lawmakers have continued to debate how the framework should treat DeFi, staking, lending, NFTs and tokenized financial assets.
Related: EU crypto rulebook faces enforcement challenge as MiCA transition ends
The EC has already been reviewing whether MiCA should be expanded. In May, it opened a public consultation that sought feedback on potential changes to the framework, including whether additional crypto activities should be covered and whether MiCA’s restrictions on interest-bearing stablecoins should be revisited.
The Parliament report approved Tuesday also takes a more supportive tone toward tokenization and euro-denominated stablecoins, arguing that digital assets could support the competitiveness of EU financial markets if regulated consistently across the bloc.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
EDX Markets, an institutional cryptocurrency trading platform, said it raised $76 million in a Series C funding round led by SBI Holdings.
The company plans to use the funds to develop new products and grow internationally. EDX operates an institution-only crypto marketplace that separates trading from custody and settlement through a central clearinghouse. The model is designed to reduce counterparty risk and mirrors the structure used in traditional financial markets.
SBI Holdings has been one of Japan’s most active financial groups in crypto. Its SBI VC Trade unit offers access to Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin in Japan, while SBI Shinsei Trust Bank recently issued JPYSC, a yen-denominated stablecoin developed with Startale Group.
Last month, SBI agreed to acquire crypto exchange Bitbank for 46.7 billion yen ($289 million), adding to its existing SBI VC Trade platform.
EDX has been moving beyond spot trading. The firm earlier this year introduced FlowConnect, a crypto-as-a-service product that allows financial firms to offer crypto trading to their customers.
Japanese companies are turning to bitcoin and XRP as a weak yen pushes them to diversify their corporate treasuries, according to SBI VC Trade, as the crypto exchange’s registered accounts passed 2 million.
The crypto arm of financial group Tokyo-based SBI Holdings said use of its corporate service, SBIVC for Prime, has grown as the weak yen drives firms to spread reserves beyond cash, with added demand from companies that hand out bitcoin or XRP through shareholder-perk programs.
It reported the account milestone on Tuesday, roughly double the 1 million it counted in 2025.
The 2 million figure combines its VCTRADE and BITPOINT services and follows SBI VC Trade’s April 2026 merger with sister firm BitPoint Japan. The company plans to fully integrate the two brands around the end of December, which it said should cut costs and unify service levels.
Bitcoin BTC$63,487.87 stalled on Tuesday, falling for the first time this month and breaking the longest stretch of gains since March. It had rallied to $64,500, its highest point in more than two weeks, on Monday.
Ether (ETH) tracked the larger cryptocurrency, dropping to $1,770 after hitting a high of $1,830 on Monday.
The July recovery can be attributed to a short-squeeze setup that was identified in late June, which saw heavy short interest despite bitcoin trading at its lowest point since 2024.
Bitcoin and other crypto tokens capitalized on a skew in short positions, recovering from oversold territory and advancing every day since the start of the month.
The total crypto market has grown by 8.4% since July 1, and is now worth $2.16 trillion.
U.S. equities fell in pre-market trading on Tuesday, with Nasdaq 100 index futures losing 0.9% since midnight UTC as the decline from June’s record high continues.
Derivatives positioning
Over $500 million in leveraged crypto futures bets have been liquidated by exchanges in 24 hours, with shorts, or bearish positions, accounting for most of the tally for a sixth straight day.
Despite the recent price strength, BTC’s futures open interest (OI) has slipped to 740K BTC, down from the July 3 high of 776K BTC. This shows that derivative traders are not participating in the price rise alongside a continued weakness in spot demand, as evidenced from ETF flows and the Coinbase premium. This raises questions about the sustainability of the gains.
The same is true for ether (ETH), which recently outperformed BTC.
OI in SOL has pulled back to 68 million tokens from the peak of over 76 million on June 24. The message is the same. The 10% rise in the token has so far failed to galvanize demand for leveraged plays.
Canton Network’s CC token has declined by over 4% in 24 hours accompanied by a 3% uptick in the futures OI to 245.59 million tokens. This, coupled with negative funding rates and 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta, points to a growing bearish bias.
Most tokens have a negative OI-adjusted CVD, a sign of bears being more aggressive by shorting at market orders rather than passive limit order plays. It suggests potential for losses ahead.
Bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV, has jumped to 40%, snapping a six-day losing streak. Still, the gauge remains well below January highs near 60% in a positive sign for crypto bulls. The same is true for ether’s index, EVIV.
On Deribit, options continue to showcase lingering downside concerns in both bitcoin and ether. Options volume in BTC paints a mixed picture with both calls and puts making it to the list of top traded bets in the past 24 hours.
On decentralized exchange Derive, a large long call condor strategy on HYPE crossed the tape, indicating expectations for a range play between $75 and $80 till July 24.
Token talk
The altcoin market continues to show internal contradictions. Tokens like FET, KASPA and WLD have all posted losses despite the broader marketwide recovery this week, while ETHFI and LIT have outperformed, adding more than 30% over the past seven days.
WLFI$0.06068 was one of the top-performing tokens on Tuesday, rising 4.8. It’s worth noting that the token, linked to the family of President Donald Trump, is down by more than 89% since it was created last August.
The decoupling of some altcoins demonstrates a maturing of the sector, with token performance based on underlying sentiment and onchain activity. Historically, the entire altcoin market moved in unison.
CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season indicator is at 46/100, below Friday’s high and higher than in May, when it was consistently around 30/100.
Nasdaq-listed Coinbase (COIN) has secured U.K. regulatory approval to offer equities and derivatives alongside crypto, expanding its product suite in one of its largest international markets.
The new license enables institutional and advanced traders to access crypto, equity and commodity perpetual futures, Coinbase said in a blog post. Retail customers in the U.K. will also be able to trade equities on Coinbase for the first time.
The authorization sits alongside Coinbase’s U.K. e-money license and crypto registration. The company received FCA cryptoasset registration in February last year, allowing it to provide crypto and fiat services in the country.
U.K. users are getting access to products Coinbase has started rolling out overseas. U.S. users already have access to stock and exchange-traded fund trading, while eligible non-U.S. customers can trade USDC-settled stock perpetual futures on large-cap names including Apple, Microsoft and Tesla.
Coinbase has also said it plans to offer tokenized stocks backed one-for-one by U.S. equities to eligible non-U.S. users. Those products are meant to give investors ownership of the underlying shares, including dividends.
Bitcoin BTC$63,069.47 fell on Tuesday after chalking out a six-day winning streak, the longest since March. The gains, in any case, looked fragile when viewed through the lens of several indicators.
The most widely followed is the Coinbase Premium, which tracks the difference between bitcoin’s price on U.S.-based exchange Coinbase (COIN) and Binance. It has now been negative for fifty straight days, according to data source Coinglass.
That means for close to two months, BTC has been cheaper on Coinbase than Binance, which doesn’t operate in the U.S. The discrepancy is an indicator of relatively weak demand in the world’s largest economy, a message underscored by the eight straight weeks of net outflows from U.S. spot exchange-traded funds. Historically, bull runs have featured consistently positive Coinbase Premiums.
Another concerning trend is seen in Japan, where bond yields just can’t stop rising. The 10-year rose to a 30-year high early today, lifting borrowing costs in the U.S., U.K. and Germany. A continued upswing, particularly in Treasury yields, could create a headwind for BTC.
While seasonality supports continued recovery, it’s the ETF flows that matter the most, according to analysts.
