Bitcoin declines below $65,000 as Trump threatens Iran after tanker attacks send Oil above $100
Bitcoin traded below $65,000 as oil prices rose above $100 and the 10-year US Treasury yield approached 4.7%, amid a wider retreat in risk assets. Data cited by CryptoSlate showed Bitcoin near $64,980 while Brent crude was on pace for an almost 10% weekly gain. On July 23, oil settled 7% higher at $100.69 a barrel, the first close above $100 since May, before easing to about $96.70 in European trading by press time. The same day, the 10-year US Treasury yield climbed to roughly 4.7%, its highest level since January 2025, while the S&P 500 fell 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.2%. This repricing followed attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, after which President Donald Trump threatened Iran and the Houthis with “major military punishment.” The escalation also increased concerns about energy flows that had already been disrupted by reduced traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $225.2 million in net outflows on July 23, ending a seven-session inflow streak, according to SoSoValue. Those funds had attracted nearly $1 billion during the streak and still showed about $274 million in net inflows for the week through Thursday. CME FedWatch put the probability of a quarter-point Fed increase at the July 28-29 meeting near 40%, while traders also raised the odds of another Fed move to nearly 40%.
National Fraternal Order of Police Gives Green Light to Clarity Act in Latest Support for Crypto Bill
U.S. lawmakers are considering the newest version of the Clarity Act, a crypto market structure measure described as seeking to fix digital asset regulation in law. The revised text includes safeguards intended to address fraud and victimization tied to digital asset kiosks and related activity, and it also sets anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance duties across the digital asset ecosystem. This week, several organizations backed the bill, with the National Fraternal Order of Police joining that group as the latest supporter. In a Friday statement addressed specifically to Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren and Timothy Eugene Scott, the Fraternal Order of Police said it approved the updated legislation. Other support on Friday came from the Crypto Council for Innovation, the Blockchain Association, and the Digital Chamber, which also endorsed the latest draft. Those trade groups said enactment is needed to create what they called the first comprehensive federal consumer protection framework for digital asset markets as crypto use and investment expand among Americans. The newest draft also bars officials and their families from issuing or promoting crypto. That restriction addresses an issue opposition lawmakers had previously raised, and Democratic politicians have argued that President Donald Trump’s family has unfairly benefited from crypto ventures. On Wednesday, Senator Warren said the current bill would let President Donald Trump profit from crypto and would also help criminals.
A $5 billion cluster has formed in bitcoin options. It tells a bullish story
Bitcoin options on Deribit are concentrated at the $70,000 and $72,000 strike prices. Those two strikes together account for nearly $5 billion of open interest, about 18% of Deribit’s $28 billion total BTC options open interest. One contract on the exchange represents one BTC, and these two strikes are described as the most popular contracts there. Laevitas said the $70,000 strike represents about 49% of total call open interest, while the $72,000 strike accounts for about 50%. At the $70,000 level, roughly 39,000 call contracts were active versus about 3,800 puts, according to Laevitas data. At $72,000, the exchange carried around 37,900 calls compared with about 1,200 puts. Laevitas also identified a large bull call spread that involved buying the $70,000 call and selling the $72,000 call. Another trader or group of traders bought many $70,000 calls and paid $3.4 million in premium for upside exposure. Jimmy Yang of Orbit Markets said earlier in the month there was solid demand for BTC upside calls, especially the 31 July $70,000 and $72,000 strikes, and that much of the positioning was driven by expectations that the CLARITY Act could pass before month-end. Yang also said that over the last 24 hours some of those bullish positions were unwound, while Polymarket odds of the act becoming law this year fell to 38% from 51% earlier in the week.
Odos to Shut Down DEX Aggregator on July 30
The Odos team said on X that the operating company behind Odos is winding down its operations after what it described as much consideration. According to the team, the app will switch to read-only status on July 27, and all Odos services will end permanently on July 30, 2026. The announcement did not include a reason for the shutdown, based on the team’s statement. At the time of the announcement, Odos disabled new account signups, wallet creation, and limit orders, while swaps were set to continue until the app becomes read-only on July 27. The team said Odos is non-custodial, meaning users’ assets remain on-chain and under their control. It also said that users who made wallets through social or email login must move assets or export private keys before the deadline. The team stated that the ODOS token remains unaffected on-chain and that the Odos DAO operates separately from the company. In the same message, the team warned that any offers after the shutdown involving token migration, claims, or airdrops are scams. Separately, the project had closed a Series A in August 2024 with backers including Uniswap, CE Innovation Capital, Orbs, Mantle, and PAKA, though the amount was not disclosed. Odos launched in 2022, and one claim says it was built by Semiotic Labs around a proprietary Smart Order Routing algorithm spanning about 900 liquidity sources across roughly 15 EVM chains.
World Foundation raises $52.5M in Pantera-led funding to expand World ID infrastructure
World Foundation said it secured an initial $52.5 million by selling locked WLD tokens to strategic investors, with Pantera Capital leading the round. The Friday announcement said participants also included Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco Holdings, Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto and other investors. The nonprofit behind the World protocol said the newly raised funds are intended to expand World ID infrastructure. It described World ID as a system built to distinguish human users from AI agents. According to the organization, World ID issues a digital credential after a user completes biometric verification at a World Orb device. World Foundation said it is seeking to grow its biometric identity network as online demand for human verification increases. The organization also said that AI-generated content and autonomous agents are driving greater demand for systems that can confirm whether an online user is a real person. It said the WLD tokens sold in the fundraising are subject to a 12-month lockup period. A related claim said the raise took place a few weeks before Coinbase introduced tools that let businesses accept USDC payments from autonomous AI agents. That same claim said Coinbase noted AI-generated traffic exceeded human traffic on its Base developer documentation for the first time last month.
Reader comments