judgment

According to BBX data, over the weekend, cryptocurrency concept stocks faced two significant substantive events related to publicly listed companies, with the core dynamics as follows:Bitcoin Depot Inc. (Nasdaq: $BTM, bankruptcy proceedings ongoing) completed all executive termination arrangements announced in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring process on July 17. According to the Form 8-K submitted to the SEC on May 18, 2026 (disclosed under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, WARN Act), the company issued layoff notices to all employees and executives immediately after filing for bankruptcy on May 17, with last Friday being the "expected effective date." Bitcoin Depot is one of the largest Bitcoin ATM operators in the United States (with over 7,000 machines in the U.S. and Canada at its peak), and its bankruptcy is one of the most representative cases of the collapse of a cryptocurrency infrastructure company during the 2026 bear market. The corresponding regulatory background includes: CFPB's enforcement pressure on cryptocurrency ATM service fees, tightening licensing requirements for cryptocurrency ATMs in various states, and a decline in retail cryptocurrency purchase volumes due to the bear market. Meanwhile, industry-wide pressures faced by similar companies providing ATM cash-to-crypto services, such as Coinstar, Coin Cloud, and PaySign, are also intensifying. Documents related to the restructuring process have been made public on the Kroll (claims agent) platform, and creditors can track progress at restructuring.ra.kroll.com/bitcoindepot.SoFi Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: $SOFI), as the only stablecoin directly issued by a U.S. national bank regulated by the OCC (SoFi Bank, N.A.), launched SoFiUSD on May 27. Over the weekend (July 18), it became the most direct regulatory test subject under the new framework as the deadline for the GENIUS Act regulatory agency's Customer Identification Program (CIP) rules approached. Regulators must finalize the CIP rules for the GENIUS Act by July 18, clarifying which stablecoin issuers can legally operate in the U.S. and the BSA/AML standards they must meet; there is a risk that the complete rule text may not be produced on time (there is a risk of delay), but even partial clarification of the framework will have a direct impact on SoFiUSD. SoFi's advantage lies in the fact that, as an issuer holding an OCC national bank charter, SoFiUSD falls under the category of "federally chartered stablecoin" in the GENIUS Act classification system, theoretically eligible for the most favorable regulatory treatment; Q1 2026 cryptocurrency trading revenue was $121.6 million, with a net income of approximately $852,000 after deducting costs in the cryptocurrency division. The stablecoin business is still in the early stages of strategic layout, with limited revenue contribution in the short term, but the establishment of the regulatory framework will determine the mid-term commercialization path.

According to BBX data, the cryptocurrency market was under short-term pressure yesterday due to geopolitical shocks, but institutional capital flows showed a clear divergence from price trends. The core dynamics are as follows:BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: $BLK) subsidiary iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: $IBIT) experienced a decline in Bitcoin on July 13 due to the renewed tensions between the U.S. and Iran (with $253 million in leveraged positions being liquidated). However, according to CoinDesk's daily report, ETF capital flows maintained a net inflow trend, continuing the trend of capital returning after breaking a 10-day net outflow streak on July 4. On July 4, the single-day net inflow reached $221.7 million, the largest in nearly two months, with Fidelity FBTC attracting $166 million in a single day and ARK Invest ARKB attracting $91.8 million. Subsequently, IBIT exhibited a structural divergence of "price decline but no significant capital outflow" amid macroeconomic uncertainty, interpreted by analysts as a signal of institutional capital continuously accumulating at the bottom of the range rather than panicking. Today's June CPI will be announced at 8:30 AM ET; if inflation is lower than expected, it will provide the most direct macro trigger for a new round of daily net inflows into IBIT. Breaking the $64,000 resistance level for BTC will be a key technical node for the market to confirm a bottom rebound and for institutional capital to accelerate its return to IBIT. CryptoSlate analysis points out that this level is the starting point for "retesting the June 15 high of $67,250."SoFi Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: $SOFI) subsidiary SoFiUSD stablecoin (launched on May 27 as the first built-in stablecoin by a national bank in U.S. history, covering approximately 14.7 million members and supporting Ethereum and Solana chains) is facing a critical timeline for the implementation of the GENIUS Act: regulators must establish specific compliance guidelines for the customer identification program (CIP) rules in the GENIUS Act by July 18, 2026, determining which stablecoin issuers can legally operate within the U.S. This deadline is only 4 days away------if the CIP rules are implemented on time, SoFiUSD, as a stablecoin directly issued by a national bank regulated by the OCC (SoFi Bank, N.A.), is expected to automatically obtain the clearest compliance recognition, compared to Tether (USDT, registered in the British Virgin Islands) which has a first-mover compliance advantage under the U.S. regulatory framework; if the CIP rule details are vague or delayed, it will create short-term regulatory arbitrage opportunities for all non-bank stablecoin issuers. SoFi's Q1 cryptocurrency trading revenue was $121.6 million, with a net income of $852,000 after deducting costs from the cryptocurrency department.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Tuesday that it has jointly filed a motion with Gemini Trust Company LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, requesting the dismissal of a previous judgment against Gemini.The case was originally filed in June 2022, and the parties reached a consent order in January 2025. After a comprehensive review, the CFTC concluded that the lawsuit should not have been filed and would not be filed under current enforcement standards.The review identified six major issues: the complaint was primarily based on statements from a whistleblower of questionable credibility; the investigation targeted Gemini as a victim of fraud rather than the alleged fraudster; there were serious doubts about the strength of the evidence against Gemini; relevant supporting materials were concealed and not submitted to the commissioners during the CFTC's vote on the complaint; the litigation team invoked deliberative process privilege to prevent Gemini from obtaining evidence necessary for its defense; and personnel improperly used CFTC regulatory power to create leverage for settlement.The CFTC determined that continuing to enforce the forward-looking provisions of the consent order is neither consistent with its mission nor in the public interest, and that the non-forward-looking provisions of the consent order (such as civil penalties) have been fulfilled. The parties jointly request the court to vacate the remaining forward-looking provisions.

According to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency analyst Matthew Hyland stated that Bitcoin may have bottomed out around $60,000 in early February, and it is unlikely to see lower prices later this year.He pointed out that dozens of bottom signals appeared simultaneously when Bitcoin reached $60,000 in the first quarter of 2026, while these signals do not appear in the middle of a bull market. Hyland believes that the current market is not in the middle of a bear market, and this judgment has obvious flaws because bottom signals only flash at true bottoms.Previously, veteran trader Peter Brandt believed that $60,000 might not be the lowest point in 2026, while Willy Woo stated that Bitcoin has only completed about one-third of its bear market journey.

At the Web3 exchange event "Web3 Dialogues @ HKU - Academia x Industry" held at the University of Hong Kong, Gate founder and CEO Dr. Han engaged in face-to-face communication with students, sharing his entrepreneurial experiences and personal reflections in the digital asset industry.Dr. Han stated, "Do not blindly trust your parents, nor blindly trust your teachers, even though I have learned a lot from them." He pointed out that this expression does not negate experience and education itself, but rather aims to remind students that they cannot simply rely on existing authorities or established answers; they need to build independent thinking abilities to cope with the rapidly changing era of technology and markets.In the context of the accelerated integration of Web3 and AI, the rules of the cryptocurrency industry are still being reshaped. During this event, Dr. Han systematically reviewed the significant opportunities and changes in the cryptocurrency industry in recent years, engaging in in-depth discussions with the attending faculty and students on technological innovation and industry trends. Gate will deepen its communication and cooperation with academia and industry in the future, while continuing to promote the dissemination of high-quality industry experiences while leading industry development.

According to Jin Shi reports, JPMorgan analyst Bob Michele expressed his shock at the Federal Reserve's decision, believing that the decision overlooks the risks in the Middle East, and that the expectations of economic acceleration and stable employment may be a misjudgment. Michele pointed out that this will have a substantial impact on inflation as well as the economy and labor market.

According to Jinshi reports, Federal Reserve official Kashkari stated that he does not want to repeat the mistake of "transitory" misjudgment.

The a16z Crypto article "How AI 'Judges' Expand the Scale of Prediction Markets" points out that the biggest challenge facing prediction markets is not "pricing the future," but rather determining what actually happened. Similar issues frequently arise in some small-scale events, where erroneous or opaque settlement mechanisms can undermine market trust, liquidity, and the accuracy of price signals.Industry experts suggest introducing large language models (LLMs) as arbiters in prediction markets, including on-chain rule commitments, resistance to manipulation, enhanced transparency, and increased neutrality. For example, specific LLM models, timestamps, and judgment prompts could be encrypted and recorded on the blockchain at the time of contract creation, allowing traders to understand the complete decision-making mechanism in advance. The model weights would be fixed and not easily tampered with to reduce the risk of cheating, and the settlement mechanism would be publicly auditable with no arbitrary human rulings. The AI judgment mechanism could significantly improve the efficiency and scalability of prediction market settlements while ensuring transparency and fairness.

Anthropic announced the release of a new charter for its AI model Claude, which details Anthropic's vision for Claude's values and behaviors.In the new charter, Anthropic upgrades Claude's soul document from a rulebook to a textbook that combines values and reasoning, hoping that Claude can become wiser, safer, and capable of making moral judgments on its own, rather than strictly adhering to rules. This is currently the most detailed publicly available AI personality setting and ethical constitution document.

Zhao Changpeng posted on platform X: "The super cycle is coming, but I might also be wrong in my judgment."According to a tweet retweeted by Zhao Changpeng, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has removed cryptocurrencies from its priority risk list starting in 2026, which is a positive development for the crypto industry.

The General Office of the State Council recently issued the "Opinions on the Comprehensive Crackdown on Illegal Activities Related to Tobacco," which pointed out: Strengthen risk control of tobacco-related activities in inbound and outbound transportation vehicles and international mail packages, enhance analysis and judgment on illegal activities such as overseas registered websites and the use of virtual currency to trade tobacco products, and accurately crack down on smuggling of tobacco using new technologies and channels.

CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju posted on social media, "Based on the insights from 246 selected analysts, Claude AI has built an analyst consensus index. A 5-year backtest on Bitcoin shows that this index successfully predicted the crash in 2022, the rally in 2023, and the current pullback.Many people are asking how the market will move next, but in a neutral and uncertain situation like the current one, I believe the more appropriate approach is to: stick to your own judgment, maintain your current positions, and watch the changes."

Chinese cryptocurrency analyst Banmuxia stated, "In terms of Bitcoin's daily chart, the MA5, MA10, and MA30 have formed a golden cross, thus creating a subsequent support area in the range of $90,500 to $91,300.If you have previously gone long on Bitcoin in the range of $89,000 to $90,000, $98,000, $103,300, and $112,500 can be considered as planned take-profit points, adjusting judgments based on market dynamics. However, the take-profit levels are no longer suitable entry points for going long, as the risk-reward ratio is very low."

The founder of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, will receive a ruling from U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer later today in a Manhattan court. Reports indicate that prosecutors have requested the court to impose a 12-year prison sentence on Do Kwon, citing factors including his guilty plea.Previously, during a hearing presided over by Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer in the Southern District of New York, Do Kwon pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and wire fraud. In January of this year, he had pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering.

The defense attorney for FTX founder SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried) plans to file a motion for reconsideration with the appellate court, claiming that media opinion, the prosecution, and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan's hasty ruling led to his wrongful conviction. The defense is requesting a change of judge and a restart of the trial.The legal team stated that SBF had no subjective intent to defraud customers, as he always believed that user funds could be fully repaid, and accused Judge Kaplan of preventing him from presenting the key argument to the jury that "FTX had sufficient assets to repay users" during the trial. It is reported that, in addition to the appeal, SBF's parents have also sought a pardon from President Trump.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, U.S. federal prosecutors have submitted a request to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to overturn the lenient sentence of the main perpetrators in the HashFlare cryptocurrency fraud case. Estonian citizens Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin are accused of defrauding 440,000 investors worldwide through a $577 million Ponzi scheme, with prosecutors arguing that the original sentence was "exceptionally lenient."The two defendants have pleaded guilty, admitting to committing fraud through false mining contracts from 2015 to 2019, misleading investors with fake profit dashboards, and using the proceeds of the fraud to purchase luxury goods and pay returns to early investors. The original judge sentenced them to only three years of supervised release and a $25,000 fine each, while prosecutors had requested a 10-year prison sentence.The judge considered factors such as the risk of "indefinite detention" that foreign defendants might face in the U.S. Legal experts analyze that the reasoning for the sentence, based on "time served, immigration risks, and compensation considerations," is reasonable, and the Ninth Circuit usually respects the discretion of district judges, making it likely that the original sentence will be upheld.Currently, $400 million has been seized for victim compensation, and this case is referred to as the "largest fraud case" in the history of the Western District of Washington.