Summary
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BTC and ETH remained at elevated levels this week but traded with a weak bias. Macroeconomic uncertainty and cooling risk appetite weighed on short-term performance. Capital began flowing back into altcoins, but the move remained primarily a structural rotation, and the market has not yet entered a typical altcoin season.
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OpenAI raised its projected cumulative cloud-computing expenditure through 2030 to approximately $750 billion and launched a data-center project worth more than $30 billion. The BIS warned that stablecoins could weaken the effectiveness of capital controls, while monthly on-chain transfer volume for tokenized equities surpassed $9.2 billion. The AI infrastructure and RWA narratives continued to gain momentum.
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Crypto ETFs returned to a modest daily net inflow, and institutional allocation channels remained stable. Market liquidations over the past 24 hours totaled approximately $179 million, with relatively greater deleveraging pressure on long positions. The Altcoin Season Index recovered to around 50, but the market remains in a neutral rotation phase.
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On-chain dollar liquidity remained elevated, with the total stablecoin market capitalization holding near $320 billion. Ethereum mainnet gas remained at historically low levels, keeping on-chain interaction costs low.
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Financing activity this week remained concentrated in trading platforms, dollar-clearing infrastructure, and institutional-grade brokerage services. Crypto.com, Augustus, and Alpaca were the leading disclosed deals by transaction size.
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Over the next seven days, the market is expected to see concentrated token unlocks from projects including H, XPL, and SOSO, with a combined value of approximately $29.4 million. Potential price volatility arising from the increase in circulating supply should be monitored.
Market Overview
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BTC Market — The U.S.–Iran conflict continued, U.S. equities closed lower, and oil prices reached a six-week high. Amid persistent macroeconomic uncertainty, profit-taking following the earlier rebound, and declining market risk appetite, BTC shifted into weak, range-bound consolidation. The hourly moving-average structure is bearish, with short-term averages repeatedly moving around the medium-term average. Price remains above the major medium- and long-term averages, indicating that short-term momentum has cooled while the broader structure remains intact. The four-hour moving-average structure remains bullish. Short-term EMAs are flattening, MACD momentum has shifted from weak to stable but has not yet produced a clear upward signal, and RSI has returned to neutral territory. On the Bollinger Bands, price is above the middle band and close to the upper band, while bandwidth remains limited, suggesting that near-term trading will likely remain range-bound. The first support zone lies between 65,550 USDT and 65,000 USDT, with additional support at 64,800 USDT. The main resistance zone is between 66,540 USDT and 67,000 USDT.
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ETH Market — With major cryptocurrencies broadly consolidating and capital continuing to focus on RWA and on-chain financial infrastructure, ETH edged lower but remained relatively resilient. On the hourly chart, short- and medium-term moving averages are converging, while price continues to trade above the main medium- and long-term averages. The trend has shifted from bullish to consolidation at elevated levels, while the four-hour and daily structures remain neutral. Short-term EMAs are flattening, medium- and long-term EMAs continue to rise, positive MACD momentum has weakened, and RSI is in neutral territory. On the Bollinger Bands, price remains above the middle band but has failed to stay close to the upper band, indicating continued bullish support but insufficient breakout momentum. The first support zone lies between 1,910 USDT and 1,885 USDT, with additional support at 1,870 USDT. The main resistance zone is between 1,956 USDT and 1,980 USDT.
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Altcoins — The broader crypto market rose modestly over the past 24 hours, with total market capitalization increasing by approximately 0.7%. However, gains remained driven by structural rotation rather than a broad-based rally. The Altcoin Season Index stands at approximately 50, a notable recovery from the previous level of 35, indicating that capital is beginning to spread into altcoins. Nevertheless, it remains well below the level of 75 associated with a typical “altcoin season.” BTC dominance is approximately 58.9%, meaning that Bitcoin continues to hold the primary pricing power in the market.
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Stablecoins — The total stablecoin market capitalization is approximately $319.96 billion, remaining near the historically high level of $320 billion. However, it decreased by approximately $2.676 billion, or 0.83%, over the past seven days. This indicates that on-chain dollar liquidity remains abundant, although the momentum of new short-term capital inflows has slowed slightly.
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Gas Fees — Ethereum mainnet gas remains at historically low levels. Real-time Etherscan data shows low and average gas at approximately 0.032 Gwei and high gas at approximately 0.035 Gwei. Fees for ordinary transfers and on-chain interactions are generally below $0.01. Extremely low gas fees reduce user interaction costs, but they also reflect continued weakness in demand for mainnet block space and fee revenue.
Trending Tokens
Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market shifted into consolidation following the previous day’s rebound. BTC fell back toward 66,000 USDT, ETH remained relatively resilient, and GT followed the broader decline in risk appetite. Capital continued rotating into RWA, privacy computing, and selected low-market-cap assets, but upward momentum among major cryptocurrencies weakened. Today’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index stands at 31, down slightly from 33 the previous day, and remains in the “Fear” range. The simultaneous weakening of prices and sentiment indicates that regulatory progress and institutional capital inflows have not fully offset macroeconomic uncertainty, and the market still lacks the consensus required for a sustained breakout.
BANK Lorenzo Protocol (+43.35%, market cap $95.3562 million)
According to Gate market data, BANK is currently priced at 0.24977 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 43.35%. The Lorenzo Protocol is an asset management and tokenization income agreement for institutions and on-chain users, connecting traditional income opportunities with the DeFi market through income-generating assets, liquidity tools, and ecological incentives.
The rise of BANK is driven by factors such as the addition of new trading channels, USD1 income activities, and a $50,000 BANK incentive pool. The short-term attention and liquidity have significantly increased. The price has been continuously strong, and the volatility risk has increased after another large increase in a single day. It is necessary to observe the real demand and transaction acceptance after the event ends.
DODO DODO (+23.83%, market cap $19.56 million)
According to Gate market data, DODO is currently priced at 0.02042 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 23.83%. DODO is a decentralized trading protocol that uses an active market maker mechanism to improve the efficiency of chain liquidity utilization and provide publish and trading tools for traders, liquidity providers, and project parties.
DODO has not had any verifiable major project events in the past 24 hours, and this round of increase is more related to the capital rotation of undervalued DeFi assets and the amplification of short-term transactions. Its circulation market value is low and the price is sensitive to concentrated buying; the continuity of the increase still needs to be supported by the transaction volume of the agreement, liquidity and fundamental progress.
ZAMA Zama (+23.40%, market cap $103 million)
According to Gate market data, the current price of ZAMA is 0.04909 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 23.40%. ZAMA focuses on full homomorphic encryption infrastructure, enabling applications to perform calculations without decrypting data, providing a verifiable and privacy-protected power builder for blockchain, AI, and enterprise systems.
The rise of ZAMA is mainly driven by the heating up of the privacy computing narrative, recent list popularity and fund rotation. The overall social discussion in the past 24 hours is neutral, and there is no single major event that can fully explain the increase. Its circulation market value is higher than most assets on the gain list, but the price continuity still needs developers to adopt and verify the ecological landing.
Key Market Data Highlights
OpenAI Raises Cloud Spending Forecast to $700 Billion, Commits Over $30 Billion to New Data Center
On July 22, The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI has significantly increased its AI infrastructure investment plan, raising its projected cumulative cloud computing spending through 2030 from approximately $600 billion to $750 billion to support the growing computational demands of large-scale AI model training and inference. The company also announced the construction of the "Camellia" data center in Georgia, U.S., with total investment expected to exceed $30 billion and 3.2 GW of secured power capacity, making it OpenAI's largest AI infrastructure project to date.
OpenAI's continued expansion of data center investments highlights how AI competition is shifting from model capabilities toward computing power, energy, and infrastructure. As inference demand accelerates, electricity supply, high-performance GPUs, and data center capacity are becoming critical strategic resources, benefiting companies across the AI infrastructure value chain, including NVIDIA, AMD, data center operators, power providers, and cooling solution vendors. Over the long term, capital intensity and infrastructure scale are likely to become increasingly important competitive advantages alongside model innovation.
BIS Warns Stablecoins Could Weaken the Effectiveness of Capital Controls
On July 21, 2026, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published Working Paper No. 1370, analyzing U.S. dollar stablecoin inflows alongside foreign currency deposit data across more than 130 economies. The study found that stablecoin flows are largely unaffected by either broad or targeted capital flow restrictions, partly because some stablecoin activities operate outside traditional regulatory boundaries, while dollarization effects are difficult to reverse once established.
While stablecoins provide emerging markets with easier access to U.S. dollar liquidity, they also reduce the effectiveness of conventional policy tools such as foreign exchange restrictions and capital controls. As adoption continues to expand, regulators may tighten oversight of wallets, fiat on/off-ramps, and cross-border transfers. At the same time, excessive restrictions could push more activity toward non-custodial on-chain environments, making regulatory coordination even more challenging.
Monthly Tokenized Stock Transfers Surpass $9.2 Billion
On July 22, 2026, Gate News, citing data from a16z crypto, reported that monthly on-chain transfer volume for tokenized stocks reached $9.22 billion in June, up more than 170-fold from $53 million in June 2025. The figures include on-chain activities such as trading, wallet-to-wallet transfers, and collateral deposits into DeFi protocols.
The rapid increase in transfer volume suggests that tokenized equities are evolving beyond simple trading instruments into composable on-chain assets. Activities such as collateralization, settlement, and cross-platform transfers are contributing an increasing share of usage. Although the market remains small relative to traditional equities, continued issuer participation and maturing infrastructure are likely to accelerate the convergence of RWA and DeFi. Competition is also expected to shift toward regulatory compliance, custody solutions, and liquidity provision.
Focus of the Week
Crypto ETFs Return to Net Inflows, While Medium-Term Institutional Allocation Channels Remain Stable
Crypto ETFs recorded approximately $5 million in daily net inflows, with BTC ETFs receiving approximately $5.02 million and ETH ETFs remaining close to zero. Net inflows totaled approximately $158 million over the past week. The past month still recorded approximately $143 million in net outflows, while the past three months generated cumulative net inflows of approximately $147 million.
Total ETF assets under management stand at approximately $94.64 billion, comprising about $80.87 billion in BTC ETFs and $13.77 billion in ETH ETFs. Short-term flows remain volatile, but weekly and three-month flows are positive, indicating that institutional allocation channels have not entered a structural contraction. The next points to monitor are whether daily inflows can continue and whether BTC and ETH flows begin moving in the same direction again.
24-Hour Liquidations Reach Approximately $179 Million, With Greater Long-Side Liquidations
Total market liquidations over the past 24 hours reached approximately $179 million, including about $105 million in long liquidations and $74.75 million in short liquidations. The larger volume of long liquidations indicates that price volatility had a greater impact on leveraged momentum buyers, although both sides of the market experienced substantial deleveraging.
The average market funding rate remained close to zero during the same period, suggesting that the market was not experiencing systematic one-sided crowding. Risk was more concentrated in selected low-market-cap assets: some tokens had significantly positive funding rates, while others recorded deeply negative rates. Traders should prioritize the combination of abnormal funding rates, low liquidity, and concentrated token unlocks rather than relying solely on the market-wide average to assess leverage risk.
Altcoin Index Recovers to Around 50 but Has Not Yet Entered a Typical Altcoin Season
The total crypto market capitalization rose by approximately 0.7% over the past 24 hours. The Fear and Greed Index stands at 40, leaving market sentiment in the “Fear” range. The CMC Altcoin Season Index is approximately 50, representing a clear recovery from earlier lows. Capital has begun spreading from Bitcoin into selected high-beta assets, but gains remain driven by structural rotation rather than a broad-based rally.
BTC dominance is approximately 58.9%, indicating that Bitcoin continues to hold the market’s primary pricing power. Under the CMC framework, a reading of 75 is more consistent with a typical altcoin season. The current environment is therefore better characterized as a neutral rotation phase. Key indicators to monitor include whether the Altcoin Season Index continues rising, whether BTC dominance declines, and whether the number of advancing tokens continues to expand.
Weekly Financing Report
During the reporting period, major financing and strategic transactions were concentrated in trading platforms, dollar-clearing infrastructure, and institutional-grade brokerage services. Crypto.com, Augustus, and Alpaca ranked among the largest disclosed deals, with each transaction exceeding $100 million. This indicates that capital remains willing to concentrate on infrastructure projects with licenses, clearing capabilities, and scalable customer bases.
Crypto.com
On July 16, Crypto.com announced a $400 million strategic investment from Citadel Securities, valuing the company at approximately $20 billion. This was the company’s first institutional financing round since its founding. The proceeds will support innovation in crypto products and expansion into new businesses such as prediction markets and tokenized real-world assets.
Citadel Securities’ participation strengthens the connection between a traditional financial market maker and a crypto trading platform. The transaction provides not only capital but also potential synergies in institutional liquidity, pricing capabilities, and product design. The main point to monitor is whether Crypto.com can convert the capital and market-making resources into compliant market share and more stable institutional trading depth.
Augustus
On July 21, Augustus completed a $180 million Series B financing round at a valuation of approximately $1 billion. The round was led by Tiger Global, with participation from Hummingbird, QED, and others. The company positions itself as a “Global Dollar Bank,” providing programmable dollar accounts, clearing, and stablecoin-related infrastructure to international fintech companies and financial institutions.
The financing reflects continued investor interest in dollar clearing, stablecoin payments, and compliant banking infrastructure. Augustus’ core opportunity lies in connecting traditional banking licenses with demand for on-chain settlement. However, the realization of its valuation will still depend on customer growth, deposit scale, regulatory execution, and the unit economics of its cross-border dollar business.
Alpaca
On July 16, Alpaca completed a $135 million financing round, with disclosed investors including Peak XV Partners and Elefund. The company is focused on building brokerage infrastructure for tokenized markets and AI-native financial services, providing trading and asset-access capabilities to fintech companies, banks, broker-dealers, and crypto-native platforms.
The financing demonstrates that institutional-grade brokerage, tokenized securities, and embeddable trading capabilities remain key areas of investor interest. Alpaca’s growth potential comes from the global migration of assets on-chain and demand for AI applications to execute trades automatically. However, its licensing coverage, cross-market clearing capabilities, customer concentration, and actual tokenized-product trading volume will still need to be monitored.
Focus for Next Week
Token Unlocks
According to Tokenomist data, the market will see several concentrated token unlocks over the next seven days. Among the confirmed events following the reporting period, H, XPL, and SOSO rank among the largest by value and account for relatively high percentages of circulating supply. Their combined unlock value is approximately $29.4 million. Key details are as follows:
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H will unlock approximately 266 million tokens, worth around $15.6 million and representing approximately 8.6% of circulating supply.
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XPL will unlock approximately 88.89 million tokens, worth around $7.1 million and representing approximately 3.44% of circulating supply.
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SOSO will unlock approximately 23.46 million tokens, worth around $6.73 million and representing approximately 6.78% of circulating supply.
References:
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Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT
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Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/btc/
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Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT
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Gate, https://www.gate.com/crypto-market-data
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DeFiLlama, https://defillama.com/stablecoins
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Etherscan, https://etherscan.io/gastracker
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Coingecoko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/cryptocurrency-heatmap
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The Block, https://www.theblock.co/post/383595/tom-lees-bitmine-88-million-eth
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The Block, https://www.theblock.co/post/383711/polymarket-third-party-vulnerability-hack
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Coindesk, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/24/trump-media-shuffles-2-000-btc-after-fresh-bitcoin-inflows
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Rootdata, https://www.rootdata.com/Fundraising
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Tokenomist, https://tokenomist.ai/
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Deribit, https://www.deribit.com/statistics/BTC/metrics/options
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X, https://x.com/AustinBarack/status/2003902632973275405?s=20
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CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/24/nvidia-buying-ai-chip-startup-groq-for-about-20-billion-biggest-deal.html
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Disclaimer
Investing in cryptocurrency markets involves high risk. Users are advised to conduct their own research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products before making any investment decisions. Gate is not responsible for any losses or damages arising from such decisions.
