France’s national gaming regulator has ordered internet service providers to completely block access to the crypto-based prediction site Polymarket.

FTX Trading Ltd. and the FTX Recovery Trust will send roughly $900 million to creditors starting July 31, 2026, marking the estate’s fifth major distribution since the exchange’s 2022 collapse.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armmsgtong stressed that self-custody wallets were essential for reaching cryptocurrency adoption in the billions, praising the simplicity of entering markets that lack clear regulations. Agentic adoption, a future growth avenue, also benefits from self-custody, he pointed out.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor published a lengthy essay Saturday rejecting BIP 110, a proposed Bitcoin softfork that would temporarily restrict several types of transactions carrying non-payment data.

Sixteen years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto answered a doubter on a forum in 2010, and the reply still guides how the network defends its money today.

Rap superstar Drake has placed a $1.5 million bet in USDT on Argentina to beat Spain in Sunday’s FIFA World Cup final, a wager that could pay out roughly $5.175 million if Lionel Messi’s team wins in regulation or extra time.

This week’s crypto storylines mixed balance-sheet stress, regulation, venture hindsight, geopolitics, and macro sentiment. Michael Saylor built a $3 billion cash buffer around Strategy’s bitcoin stack, the CFTC backed Kalshi in its Michigan fight, and Tim Draper reflected on missing Coinbase before later joining the ride. Trump’s Iran remarks rattled oil and bitcoin, while Larry Fink struck a bullish tone on markets and said crypto looks more stable after the leverage washout.

Two prediction market platforms are pricing the same outcome for Sunday’s World Cup final, with Polymarket and Kalshi bettors both putting Spain ahead of Argentina as the teams prepare to meet at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey.

Bitcoin trades near $64,000 on July 18, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. EDT, holding inside a tight range after bouncing off a 24-hour low of $62,516. The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has consolidated between $63,900 and $64,000 for several hours as traders wait for a volume-backed move past nearby resistance.

Traditional wealth management is constrained by slow, expensive, siloed legacy settlement layers that rely on redundant manual compliance checks. Abdul Rafay Gadit discusses how purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain architecture resolves these systemic inefficiencies.

Self-custodial trading platform Sedona has partnered with Fhenix to integrate confidential fully homomorphic encryption infrastructure into its system.

SBI Holdings has acquired a majority stake in Singapore-based crypto exchange Coinhako after securing regulatory approval. The deal strengthens the Japanese financial group’s push into digital assets, stablecoins and tokenized markets across Asia.

Dmitry Dubynin, CEO of the National Payment Card System (NSPK), stressed that cards issued by Visa and Mastercard “don’t provide any value,” as their operations are currently supported by the national system. Visa and Mastercard exited the Russian market in March 2022.

Ripple has committed $250,000 in RLUSD-funded grants to 25 veteran- and military spouse-owned businesses through a collaboration with Hire Heroes USA.

T. Rowe Price, which manages $1.89 trillion in client assets, has launched TKNZ, an actively managed multi-token spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering exposure to bitcoin, ether, XRP, and other leading cryptocurrencies.