Circle has received final approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a national trust bank, according to Odaily. The stock rose over 6% in pre-market trading to $66.80 on the news. This move expands Circle's regulated financial services in the United States.
Spot BTC and ETH ETFs see net outflows
On July 9, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total net outflow of $95.3 million, while spot Ethereum ETFs saw $52.08 million in net outflows, breaking a five-day inflow streak. Separately, Deribit data shows about $1.907 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum options are expiring today at 16:00 UTC. Bitcoin options have a notional value of approximately $1.43 billion with a put/call ratio of 0.98 and a max pain price of $62,000. Ethereum options have a notional value of about $237 million, a put/call ratio of 1.21, and a max pain of $1,700. Short-term volatility may increase around key strike prices before and after expiration.
Boyaa Interactive buys 108 more BTC, ETH tops $1,800
Hong Kong-listed Boyaa Interactive disclosed it purchased an additional 108 Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 4,201 BTC. Meanwhile, Ethereum surpassed $1,800 USDT on OKX, trading at $1,800.39 with a 24-hour gain of 2.73%. Bitcoin dipped below $63,000, trading at $62,997.90 on OKX, up 0.22% on the day.
Polymarket pushes for margin trading approval in US
Polymarket is seeking regulatory approval to offer margin trading in the U.S., Bloomberg reports. Its affiliate, Coming Home GBA LLC, has filed an application with the National Futures Association to become a futures commission merchant. Approval from the CFTC is also needed. Margin trading is seen as key to attracting institutional investors. If approved, users would undergo additional identity verification, such as submitting employer information.
Hyperliquid and Phantom urge CFTC to reform on-chain trading rules
Hyperliquid and non-custodial wallet Phantom have submitted a comment letter to the CFTC, arguing that current regulations are designed for centralized intermediaries and are unsuitable for DeFi. They propose that on-chain protocol software developers should not need to register as exchanges or clearinghouses, and non-custodial wallet frontends should not register as introducing brokers. They also recommend allowing regulated entities to use blockchain for trading and clearing. The CFTC and SEC had previously requested industry input on rules affecting financial innovation.
Ethereum's July bullish pattern revisited
Sharplink research head Steven Ehrlich noted that Ethereum has risen about 11% in early July 2026, continuing a historical pattern. Over the past decade, ETH has risen in four Julys, with an average gain of about 43%. Since 2020, July has been ETH's strongest month, averaging roughly 27% gains. Ehrlich attributes this to asymmetric upside rather than mere volatility: average gains in up years were 43%, while average losses in down years were only about 5%. Key drivers in 2026 include institutional infrastructure, Ethereum roadmap upgrades, and corporate ETH accumulation. Vitalik Buterin's "Lean Ethereum" proposal on July 4 aims to simplify the structure, improve processing speed, and enhance quantum resistance over 3-4 years. Sharplink currently holds 886,725 ETH and bought 10,000 ETH last week.
Ethereum Foundation tests AI agents for security red teaming
The Ethereum Foundation's protocol security team has been using AI agents to red-team Ethereum-dependent software. The agents identified a remotely triggerable panic issue in libp2p gossipsub, a P2P layer of Ethereum consensus clients. The vulnerability was fixed and disclosed as CVE-2026-34219 on GitHub. Researchers divided AI agents into roles such as reconnaissance, exploration, and verification to find potential attack paths and reproduce failures. The Foundation emphasized that AI augments rather than replaces human researchers, though conclusions require careful review.