Cryptoccino — Wednesday 22 July 2026

Bitcoin stalls approaching $68,000. After touching a one-month high above $66,000 on Clarity Act optimism and a chip-stock tailwind, Bitcoin pulled back on renewed Trump threats toward Iran. Analysts flag $68,000 as a key technical level, with thin summer volumes making false breaks more likely. ETF inflows posted a fifth consecutive positive day, the first such streak since April, suggesting institutional support underpins the range. coindesk coindesk bloomberg_crypto

Satsuma unwinds its bitcoin treasury less than a year after raising $218 million. Shareholders of the UK-listed bitcoin treasury company voted to liquidate roughly $43 million in BTC and delist from the London Stock Exchange. The implosion, so soon after a sizeable capital raise, is an awkward data point for the corporate bitcoin-treasury playbook. No replacement strategy was announced. theblock decrypt

WLD jumps 8% on a Grayscale spot ETF filing. Grayscale filed an S-1 for a spot Worldcoin fund, which would be the first US ETF tied to Sam Altman’s biometric identity project. The move follows Grayscale’s established pattern of converting existing trusts and filing for new products while regulatory conditions allow. WLD has no revenue-generating protocol, so an ETF wrapper would be pricing pure speculative and thematic demand. decrypt

Solana and Hyperliquid altcoin ETFs quietly accumulating. Solana ETFs have reached $904 million AUM, while Hyperliquid funds have pulled in $350 million in net inflows, both largely under the radar of the Bitcoin ETF conversation. The flows suggest institutional allocators are willing to take structured exposure to higher-beta assets without going spot. Neither product has generated the headline moment the Bitcoin ETFs did at launch. theblock

Movement Labs files Chapter 11 with liabilities up to $10 million. MVMT reported assets of between $100,001 and $500,000 against liabilities up to $10 million, with the ousted founder holding the largest single claim at $1.6 million. The bankruptcy comes months after a token market-making scandal triggered a strategic overhaul that clearly failed to stabilise the business. The filing effectively closes the book on one of 2025’s higher-profile L2 narratives. coindesk theblock

Jack Mallers exits Twenty One Capital as the Tether three-way merger collapses. Strike withdrew from Tether’s plan to combine three bitcoin-focused firms, and Twenty One Capital named Raphael Zagury as replacement CEO. XXI stock fell nearly 18% on the news. The failed consolidation leaves the Tether-backed corporate bitcoin vehicle intact but without its most prominent founder and public face. theblock coindesk decrypt

Augustus closes $180 million Series B to build a stablecoin-native clearing bank. The Tiger Global-led round values Augustus at $1 billion. The startup is wiring stablecoin settlement rails directly into a federally chartered bank structure, targeting the correspondent-banking layer in cross-border payments. It supports SWIFT, ACH, and SEPA alongside on-chain rails. theblock coindesk decrypt

Telegram plans a non-custodial wallet rollout for its entire billion-plus user base. Pavel Durov framed the initiative as the largest non-custodial crypto wallet deployment in history, with zero-fee transactions as the headline feature. The native Gram token rose 7% on the announcement. Whether Telegram can convert passive messaging users into active on-chain participants at scale remains the real test. theblock decrypt

HTX rotating wallets to evade UK sanctions screening. TRM Labs found the exchange, sanctioned by UK authorities in May for alleged Russian sanctions evasion, has been cycling wallet addresses to stay ahead of blockchain monitoring. The technique is straightforward but effective against static blocklists. theblock

Glassnode discloses possible customer data exposure. The blockchain analytics firm warned users that an incident may have exposed email addresses and other customer data, urging vigilance against phishing. No financial losses were reported. cryptobriefing

Russia’s State Duma passes a crypto market law with a retail purchase cap. Non-qualified Russian retail investors will face an annual purchase limit equivalent to roughly $3,800 once the legislation takes effect on 1 September, pending Putin’s signature. The law creates a regulated framework for exchanges and market participants operating inside Russia. The retail cap is the most restrictive element and will constrain the onboarding of ordinary Russians. theblock coindesk cointelegraph_regulation

The Digital Chamber sues Illinois over a 0.2% digital asset transaction tax. The lobby group filed suit to block the incoming levy, arguing it creates an unconstitutional burden on crypto activity at the state level. Illinois is one of the few US states to attempt a transaction-specific tax on digital assets rather than treating gains under existing capital frameworks. The case could set a precedent for how aggressively states can tax on-chain activity. theblock coindesk

UK parliament opens a formal inquiry into banking access for crypto firms. A cross-party parliamentary group is examining why UK banks routinely block accounts and payments for crypto businesses and consumers, and whether the practice is dampening investment and competition. The inquiry follows years of de-banking complaints from the sector with little formal government response. Findings could feed into the UK’s broader digital asset regulatory framework. coindesk cointelegraph_regulation decrypt

MiCA compliance costs may push more licensed firms out of the EU. Gate Europe’s CEO told CoinTelegraph that the ongoing burden of MiCA compliance is unsustainable for a portion of currently licensed operators. The concern is that smaller or margin-thin firms will exit rather than maintain the infrastructure required under the regime. Europe risks a consolidation toward a handful of well-capitalised exchanges rather than a competitive open market. cointelegraph_regulation

What else is grinding?

• Galaxy committed up to $5 million in developer grants to its Bitcoin Quantum Readiness Initiative, citing warnings that Q-Day could arrive as soon as 2030. theblock decrypt
• Morpho launched a fixed-rate lending protocol called Morpho Midnight on Base, adding defined maturities alongside its existing variable-rate markets. cointelegraph_defi
• Coinbase attributed its 50-minute outage on 14 July to a routine low-risk configuration change, confirming no user funds were lost and stuck transactions completed on restoration. theblock
• Malaysia revoked the licence for Balaji Srinivasan’s Network School in Forest City, ordering the digital-nomad commune to cease operations by 22 July. theblock
• S&P Global excluded Bitcoin and XRP from its new crypto index on the grounds that neither meets its revenue-based inclusion criteria. cryptobriefing
• Bitget CEO Gracy Chen said the exchange will pursue US expansion regardless of whether the Clarity Act passes, reversing a retreat made in 2022. theblock

Last sip. The ethics language is signed, the odds are nearly even, and Senate Democrats still haven’t moved.