Circle minted an additional 250 million USDC on Solana two hours ago.

BlackRock, Coinbase, Strategy, Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, Block, Blockstream, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Galaxy have formed the Bitcoin Security Consortium, pledging a combined $15 million over three years to fund Bitcoin security research and open-source development focused on quantum computing defense. The consortium does not hold or allocate funds; each member will directly select developers and researchers to support. It noted that it will not guide Bitcoin development or take positions on protocol changes. Mike Schmidt of Brink, a nonprofit developer funding organization, will coordinate the work on a volunteer basis. Currently, no quantum computer exists that can crack Bitcoin’s cryptography. Approximately 6.9 million BTC, worth $450 billion, are held in addresses that could be affected if such quantum computers emerge. Fixing this issue will require coordination among wallets, exchanges, miners, and users. Relevant efforts include proposals like BIP 360, which designs a new output type to limit public key exposure and pairs with post-quantum signature schemes. Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, stated that Core developers do important work, and the organization will provide additional funding for Bitcoin’s long-term security.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF deposited 3,126 Bitcoin into Coinbase Prime over the past hour, valued at $203 million.

US Bank (BofA) European Equity Strategist Sebastian Raedler recently issued a stark warning: current stock market pricing logic is entirely predicated on an "everything is perfect" assumption. This extreme optimism has not only pushed market valuations to elevated levels but also left investors’ risk exposures completely unprotected. Raedler pointed out that the market’s expectations for core metrics including profit margins and five-year forward earnings growth have surged to all-time highs. In stark contrast, the "risk premium"—a gauge of market risk aversion—has dropped to a 20-year low. Raedler advised investors to decisively exit cyclical sectors with high valuations and fragile fundamentals, shifting instead to high-quality defensive stocks that have been long overlooked by the market. He specifically highlighted the healthcare and consumer staples sectors.

The European Union (EU) has expanded its sanctions against Russia, targeting the A7 cross-border payment network and its newly established African links, as well as the A7A5 stablecoin used for evading sanctions. The latest sanctions package extends transaction bans to 14 crypto-related platforms in countries including Georgia, the United Arab Emirates, and Panama, and introduces a tool to fully prohibit Russia from using crypto asset services. Beyond digital asset measures, the EU has imposed asset freezes and transaction bans on 94 banks and major financial institutions, and extended transaction bans to another 33 Russian credit and financial institutions.

Glassnode released Bitcoin options market data showing that the Bitcoin put/call open interest ratio has dropped sharply from around 0.76 at the end of June to 0.52, indicating that defensive positions are being unwound, while BTC price remains stable near $67,000. At-the-money (ATM; BlockBeats note: An at-the-money option refers to an option whose strike price is closest to the current price of the underlying asset) implied volatility remains compressed: 34.3% for 1-month tenors and 40.8% for 6-month tenors, with the term structure sloping upward, signaling that short-term event risks are being underestimated by the market. The short-term 25-delta skew has plummeted to around 4%, reflecting weakened recent demand for bearish hedging, though medium- and long-term skew still holds at a defensive premium level of 11-12%.

Whale 0x446B sold 8,010 $ETH($15.11M) 2 hours ago after 8 months of inactivity, incurring a loss of $10.8M (-37%).