SharpLink Gaming Expands Ethereum Exposure, Now Holds Over 165,000 ETH.

SharpLink Gaming has further bet on Ethereum by staking an additional 2 million worth of ETH into lsETH. The action increases its overall Ethereum holdings to more than 165,000 ETH, which is about $458 million, as per on-chain data provided by Arkham.

Through lsETH, SharpLink will be able to receive staking rewards without locking its ETH. This enables the company to remain liquid and flexible to future DeFi opportunities. Indeed, lsETH has increased by more than 5 percent in the recent past, further increasing the value of SharpLink portfolio.

SEC Halts Grayscale Large Cap Fund Conversion For ‘Review’.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s leaders are reviewing the agency’s recent approval of a Grayscale effort to convert a fund into an exchange-traded fund, a letter dated July 1 said.

The SEC allowed Grayscale to uplist the Digital Large Cap Fund, which holds $755 million in bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana and Cardano, into an ETF through delegated authority — meaning the SEC’s commissioners did not vote to approve the conversion, but rather agency staff gave the sign-off.

Standard Chartered Expects Bitcoin To Hit New Highs Of $135K In Q3.

Global bank Standard Chartered is bullish on Bitcoin for the rest of the year, citing increasing corporate treasury buying and strong exchange-traded fund inflows.

Standard Chartered expects Bitcoin to print new highs of $135,000 by the end of the third quarter and then break $200,000 by the end of the year, the bank’s digital asset research head, Geoff Kendrick, said in a Wednesday report.

The latest report reinforces Standard Chartered’s bullishness on Bitcoin, with the bank expecting it to hit $500,000 a coin by 2028.

First Solana Staking ETF Hits $12mn In ‘Healthy’ First Trading Day.

The United States’ first Solana staking exchange-traded fund ended its debut trading day with $12 million in inflows — a positive sign for crypto staking-enabled ETFs.

The REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF debuted on the Cboe BZX Exchange on Wednesday, recording $33 million in trading volume and $12 million in inflows, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

It was a “healthy start to trading,” said Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, who observed that it had seen $8 million in trading volume in the first 20 minutes.

Trump’s Crypto Ventures Have Added $620mn To His Net Worth.

US President Donald Trump has reportedly added at least $620 million to his portfolio in a matter of months, thanks to ventures connected to the cryptocurrency industry.

According to a Bloomberg report, Trump’s crypto holdings represented “a sizeable portion” of his wealth for the first time, mainly due to windfalls from his family-backed crypto business World Liberty Financial and his personal memecoin, ‘Official Trump’.

Though the bulk of his net worth comprised stakes in his media venture, Trump Media and Technology Group, and real estate, crypto ventures reportedly accounted for roughly 9% of his wealth as of June.

OpenAI Says Robinhood Tokens Are Not Equity In The Company.

OpenAI issued a statement on Wednesday clarifying that OpenAI tokens distributed to European Union users by the trading platform Robinhood do not represent equity in the company.

“We are not involved in this and do not endorse it,” representatives of the company wrote on social media.”

Robinhood distributed $5 worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to clients in the EU region on Monday as part of the company’s push into tokenized stock trading, which included launching a layer-2 blockchain network to settle tokenized equity trades.

Blackrock Bitcoin ETF Titan Dethrones Its $624bn S&P 500 Fund In Fee Revenue.

A sharp divergence in exchange-traded fund revenue streams reveals how investor demand for crypto exposure is overtaking traditional equity strategies in fee generation. Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, is now estimated to be earning more from its Ishares Bitcoin Trust ETF than from its flagship Ishares Core S&P 500 ETF, signaling a growing shift toward digital assets in institutional portfolios.

While IBIT’s assets under management are nearly nine times smaller than IVV’s, its 0.25% expense ratio translates into roughly $187.2 million in annual revenue—just above the $187.1 million generated by IVV’s 0.03% fee, according to a Bloomberg calculation.

Ripple Applies For Federal Bank Trust Charter, XRP Jumps 3%.

Ripple, the digital asset firm closely associated with the XRP Ledger network, has applied on Wednesday for a national banking license at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a spokesperson confirmed to CoinDesk.

The license would allow the company expand its crypto services and operate across state lines under federal regulation. Ripple issues the $440 million RLUSD stablecoin regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), and also provides digital asset custody services.

XRP, the native cryptocurrency of the payments-focused XRP Ledger network, advanced 3% on the news.

Vinanz Targets £1mn In Latest Investment Round As It Becomes London BTC Company.

Vinanz Ltd, the Bitcoin-focused investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange, has launched a fresh retail share offer worth £1 million and confirmed its name change to London BTC Company.

The group, which holds 65 Bitcoin and operates mining operations across the United States and Canada, is selling roughly 5.4 million new shares at 18.5p apiece through the Winterflood Retail Access Platform, known as WRAP.

The offer is open to new and existing UK-based investors with a minimum subscription of £500.

Bybit & OKX Expand Crypto Services In Europe Under MiCA.

Crypto exchanges Bybit and OKX both launched fully regulated platforms in Europe this week as regulatory clarity continues to attract major exchanges to the bloc.

According to a Wednesday announcement, crypto exchange Bybit.eu launched to serve European Economic Area users with a Crypto-Asset Service Provider license under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation framework. Under the rules, Bybit’s Austria-based operations, established in late May, are licensed in the 29 European Economic Area countries.

Competing crypto exchange OKX also announced on Wednesday that it has launched its fully regulated centralized crypto exchange in France via MiCA passporting.

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