Market Insights July 2026

By Vincent Courquet | Monthly recap

July brought a new stablecoin consortium, the first G-SIB to offer USDC minting, further progress in tokenised securities, and a stalled US market structure bill.

Regulation

  • Trump urged the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act on 13 July. Galaxy puts 2026 passage odds at 50%.
  • JPMorgan called the bill's fading odds a setback, warning delay could hand tokenisation gains to traditional finance. Kalshi priced passage at 55%, Polymarket at 28%.
  • SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce warned on-chain vaults and lending may qualify as securities. $8.6bn sits across 788 vaults.
  • FATF found most DeFi platforms have identifiable controllers who should be licensed.
  • The ECB picked 36 firms for a digital euro pilot starting H2 2027, including Deutsche Bank, Stripe and Adyen.
  • Hong Kong's SFC gave platforms 12 months to replace one-time passwords with phishing-resistant authentication.
  • India's central bank favours prohibition and would bar banks from crypto exposure, per Reuters.
  • CFTC Chairman Mike Selig ruled out a US CBDC.
  • Russia passed a digital assets bill, keeping its crypto payment ban. Depositories must hold up to $2.8m. The framework starts in September.

TradFi

  • Standard Chartered became the first G-SIB to offer institutional USDC minting and redemption, launched from the DIFC.
  • Morgan Stanley listed spot Ethereum (MSSE) and Solana (MSOL) ETFs on NYSE Arca at 0.14%, passing staking rewards to investors. Its ETP suite now holds over $14bn.
  • Sony Bank won conditional OCC approval for Connectia Trust, a $40m stablecoin entity due in 2027.
  • Vanguard opened a search for its first head of digital assets.
  • AMINA Bank hired Cantor to explore a public listing, favouring a reverse takeover of a treasury firm.
  • JPMorgan cut Circle and Coinbase estimates. Mizuho downgraded Circle to Underperform, cutting its target from $85 to $50.
  • Standard Chartered began covering Morpho, projecting it outperforms BTC and ETH through 2030.

Payments

  • Over 140 companies formed Open Standard to issue Open USD, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock and Coinbase. Circle shares fell 16%.
  • Open USD will pass reserve yield to businesses. Coinbase's Circle deal renews on 18 August.
  • USDC supply fell to about $73bn from nearly $80bn in March. Total stablecoin market cap is around $312bn.
  • Samsung SDS is in talks with Dunamu, operator of Upbit, on stablecoin and AI payments. Samsung took a 4% stake in Dunamu in May.

Tokenisation and infrastructure

  • Tokenised equities reached $5.5bn, up 147% year to date. Citi projects $5.5tn by 2030.
  • Tradable will bring up to $1bn in private credit onto Stellar.
  • BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy, Fidelity and others committed $15m to Bitcoin post-quantum security.
  • Metaplanet bought Japanese brokerage Siiibo for $13m to build a "Bitbonds" market yielding 4% to 6%.
  • Fanatics agreed to buy a CFTC-regulated exchange and clearinghouse from BGC Group for prediction markets.

Derivatives

  • BitMEX will shut down on 23 September after 11 years. Its Bitcoin futures share fell to 0.08% from a 57% peak.
  • Binance recorded $1.61tn in June futures volume, up 80% from May. OKX reached $609bn, Bybit $434bn.
  • Total CEX futures volume fell 11% in Q2 to $15.7tn, a third straight decline. Spot fell 18.9% to $3tn.
  • Binance launched USDT-settled gold and silver options via its ADGM-regulated Nest Exchange.
  • CME warned US perpetual futures could be classed as swaps, exposing traders to IRS risk. Its CFTC suit is pending.

Capital

  • Strategy sold $263.5m of stock and bought no Bitcoin, raising its USD reserve to $3.23bn. Holdings remain 843,775 BTC.
  • BitMine holds 5,777,468 ETH, 4.8% of supply. Staking generated $45.7m last quarter.
  • SharpLink bought 10,000 ETH for $16.1m, taking holdings to 886,725 ETH.
  • MARA agreed to buy a 1,200-acre Texas site for up to $600m, targeting 2 GW for mining and AI.
  • Hyperscale Data sold about 100 BTC to fund a Michigan AI data centre, a contract that could top $3bn.

Markets

  • June CPI fell 0.4% month on month, the steepest drop since April 2020. Annual inflation came in at 3.5% against a 3.8% consensus.
  • Bitcoin cleared $64,000 on the print. An eight-week Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF outflow streak ended with $282m of inflows.
  • K33 said July Bitcoin spot volume averaged $2.2bn a day, the weakest month since November 2023.
  • Multicoin, Galaxy and Selini queued nearly $150m of HYPE for unstaking. HYPE fell about 8%.
  • Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the next bull market will be driven by crypto and TradFi converging, led by Hyperliquid and Robinhood.

July confirmed three trends: stablecoin competition moving from distribution to economics, banks becoming the access layer for digital assets, and tokenised securities operating inside existing US market infrastructure.

MidChains is a VARA-licensed regulated digital asset infrastructure provider headquartered in the UAE, serving institutional and corporate clients globally. Operating as a regulated entity since 2019, MidChains holds a VARA Broker-Dealer licence for institutional and qualified investors.

MidChains is backed by Mubadala Investment Company, Lunate, MIAX Exchange Group, Brevan Howard, GSR, Emurgo, Dhabi Holdings and Ava Labs. Services include institutional digital asset execution, OTC settlement, and stablecoin-enabled corporate treasury and cross-border payment solutions.

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, financial, legal, or tax advice, nor a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any virtual asset. Virtual assets are highly volatile and can lose their value in full or in part. Investors can lose everything they invest and are not protected by any financial safeguards. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Do your own research and consult independent licensed advisors before making any decision relating to virtual assets.