Cryptoccino — Wednesday 29 July 2026

SK Hynix perp flash-crash on Hyperliquid. Perpetuals tracking SK Hynix equity collapsed to $900 on Hyperliquid as the Korean memory giant’s stock was pummelled in the broader Kospi selloff. The episode illustrated the liquidity risk baked into equity-linked perps on a venue that is still building out its RWA infrastructure, even as RWA weekly volume on Hyperliquid has now overtaken native crypto pairs. coindesk cryptobriefing

Fed decision the next macro pin. Analysts say even a mildly dovish signal from the Fed this week could provide short-term support for Bitcoin, with Fed futures open interest hitting a record ahead of the announcement. The market has priced in no cut but is hunting for language shifts. coindesk cryptobriefing

Altcoins stuck despite Bitcoin’s relative calm. Bitcoin’s recent sideways grind has not translated into a broader altcoin rotation, with ETH L2 TVL sliding to a two-year low near $5 billion. Robinhood Chain’s memecoin-driven launch momentum is also fading, with daily active accounts down 7% week-on-week even as deposits climb. coindesk theblock theblock

BitMEX and BitMart flagged as early trading-slump casualties. A new analysis identifies the two exchanges as potential early victims of a sustained crypto trading volume downturn, with thin order books and declining user bases leaving them structurally exposed. The broader volume contraction is already visible in Luno separately announcing a 20% global headcount reduction. coindesk bloomberg_crypto

Morgan Stanley debuts ETH and SOL ETPs with staking and the market’s lowest fee. The firm has launched spot Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products roughly two and a half years after the first spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading, offering staking rewards and undercutting rivals on fees. The move extends Morgan Stanley’s digital asset strategy following the success of its Bitcoin fund and signals continued TradFi appetite for altcoin exposure vehicles. theblock coindesk decrypt

Ondo scraps public blockchain plans in favour of private high-speed trading network. Ondo has abandoned its earlier tokenised-asset blockchain concept and is instead building a private, high-throughput trading network aimed at institutional counterparties. The pivot reflects a consistent theme among RWA projects: the compliance and latency requirements of institutional finance are difficult to reconcile with public chain tradeoffs. coindesk

Core Scientific pairs with AMD in a multi-gigawatt AI infrastructure deal. The partnership covers 500 MW of US AI data-centre capacity from 2027, scalable to 2.5 GW, with AMD receiving warrants to buy CORZ stock. The deal cements Core Scientific’s full pivot away from Bitcoin mining and into hyperscale AI compute hosting, following its earlier CoreWeave arrangement. theblock coindesk

European banks launch RL1 as a regulated shared blockchain layer. A coalition of European financial institutions has launched RL1, a blockchain infrastructure project designed to align with EU regulatory frameworks from the ground up. It joins a crowded field of bank-backed chain initiatives, though its cooperative structure and regulatory-first design may give it more institutional traction than predecessors. cryptobriefing

Crypto hacks set a new H1 record, crossing $1 billion in losses. Blockaid’s mid-year report puts total H1 2026 hack losses above $1 billion, the highest first-half figure on record. Ethereum projects bore the largest share at $332 million, followed closely by Solana at $326 million. theblock

Zcash Ironwood upgrade seals vulnerable Orchard shielded pool. The Ironwood network upgrade has activated, locking a $1.7 billion shielded pool and retiring the Orchard component after Shielded Labs discovered a counterfeiting vulnerability. The unified developer effort behind the patch represents a notable coordination moment for a historically fragmented ecosystem. coindesk theblock decrypt

Apple faces lawsuit over fake Bitcoin wallet left on App Store after theft report. A lawsuit alleges Apple kept a fraudulent Bitcoin wallet application live after being notified of an $875,000 theft linked to it. The case raises platform-liability questions that will be closely watched by both crypto security researchers and app-store regulators. coindesk

Binance accused of obstructing crypto crime investigations. A new report alleges Binance’s operational practices make it materially harder for law enforcement to trace and recover funds linked to illicit activity. The exchange has not publicly responded to the specific claims outlined in the report. coindesk

Senate shelves Clarity Act, SEC threatens to act unilaterally. The Senate has pushed crypto market structure legislation to autumn at the earliest despite public backing from BlackRock, Fidelity, and other major TradFi names. SEC Chair Atkins responded by stating the agency is prepared to issue its own crypto rules if Congress continues to stall, a position that introduces a different set of risks for the industry than a negotiated legislative framework would. cryptobriefing cryptobriefing bloomberg_crypto coindesk

South Korea drafts consolidated crypto law with stablecoin rules as opposition targets tax repeal. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is reportedly preparing a unified digital asset bill covering stablecoins and exchange oversight, while opposition lawmakers are separately pushing to scrap the planned 22% crypto capital gains tax before its 2027 implementation. The twin tracks reflect a political environment where the ruling and opposition camps are pulling crypto policy in different directions simultaneously. cointelegraph_regulation

Minnesota prediction market ban blocked by federal judge. A federal court issued a preliminary injunction halting Minnesota’s enforcement of its new law banning prediction market contracts, handing Kalshi and Polymarket a temporary win. The ruling turns on whether individual contracts qualify as swaps under federal law, a question the judge found unresolved enough to warrant the injunction. theblock decrypt

Myanmar enacts life sentences for crypto fraud, death penalty for forced scam labour. Myanmar’s parliament has passed an anti-online scam bill prescribing prison terms from ten years to life for crypto fraud offences, and the death penalty for operators of forced-labour scam centres. The UN estimated regional scam operations drove $114 billion in losses in 2025. cointelegraph_regulation decrypt

What else is grinding?

• Translunar crypto hedge fund founder Justin Ryan Schmidt was sentenced to 37 months for tax evasion after renouncing US citizenship in an apparent attempt to avoid the bill. bloomberg_crypto cryptobriefing
• 1inch’s Aqua shared liquidity protocol is now live across 13 EVM chains, backed by a 10 million 1INCH incentive programme for self-custodial liquidity providers. theblock coindesk decrypt
• Galaxy Digital has acquired 500 acres in McGregor, Texas for a second AI data centre campus, projected to contribute a minimum of $130 million to the local tax base. theblock
• IMF warned that Brazil’s stablecoin cross-border flows are expanding faster than traditional capital flows, flagging macroprudential monitoring gaps. cointelegraph_regulation
• Ionic Digital, built from Celsius Mining’s former assets, jumped 25% on its Nasdaq debut after pivoting the inherited infrastructure toward AI compute. theblock
• JPYC’s tokenised yen stablecoin has seen its market cap rise 60% in a single month, the sharpest growth among regulated yen-denominated digital instruments. cryptobriefing

Last sip. The SEC’s offer to write the rules itself if Congress won’t is sitting in the room, unanswered.