BitMart’s platform token BMX plunged more than 53% in 24 hours, after the cryptocurrency exchange announced it would cease operations.

Iran has announced it is suspending retaliatory strikes after the U.S. halted its own military operations for the second consecutive night. An Iranian military spokesperson warned that any renewed U.S. attacks would escalate the conflict, as fighting has spread to the Strait of Mandeb.

In response to the successive closures of BitMEX and BitMart, crypto researcher Haotian stated that this is not a simple case of centralized exchange (CEX) implosions signaling a bull market, but rather an active reshuffle driven by fierce competition among CEXs under the global compliance trend. Haotian pointed out that CEXs’ competition has shifted to compliance requirements such as licensing, proof of reserves, and KYC/AML, while actively expanding TradFi (Traditional Finance) assets like tokenized US stocks to open up new revenue streams—but this also means the gradual erosion of pricing power in traditional crypto trading. "Small and medium-sized exchanges must find a differentiated positioning to survive: either deepening regional licensing and localized services to exploit regulatory arbitrage, focusing on specific niche products such as TradFi assets, perpetual contracts (Perps), and RWAFi (Real-World Assets Finance), or fully embracing crypto-native innovation narratives—including DeFi, the Agentic Economy, and MEMEs—with the support of crypto-native communities to weather market cycles. In any case, continuing homogeneous cutthroat competition will only accelerate the elimination wave, though it’s not all bad to clear out some less competitive players."

Binance’s Chief Security Officer Jimmy Su stated that the crypto exchange conducts internal red team testing on a monthly basis to evaluate employees’ overall security awareness. Test scenarios include impersonating recruiters, sending free meeting invitations, and tricking staff into submitting personal information. Employees who fail the tests are required to complete corrective training, and the results will be factored into their performance evaluations. Those who fail multiple times seriously may face termination. Note: Red team testing (or red teaming) is a security assessment method that simulates real attackers, mainly used to verify the overall defense capabilities of organizations, systems, networks or personnel against advanced, persistent threats. (Cointelegraph)

According to Iranian sources, in the early hours of local time on the 26th, Hossein Mohabbi, spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), warned that if Israel reignites war, Iran will "make it bear severe consequences". He emphasized that any country supporting the US in the Iran-US conflict, including the UK and Gulf states, will be regarded as Iran's "legitimate strike targets". Mohabbi said that US military B-1 strategic bombers have recently used British military bases, and if the UK continues to support the US, it will become a "clear and legitimate strike target". He also stated that Iran has "formulated specific plans for every scenario". Mohabbi pointed out that Israel is inciting the US President and providing him with false information, attempting to leverage US capabilities to keep the US in the region so as to achieve Israel's own strategic goals. He warned: "Israel is fully aware of what consequences it will face if it chooses to return to the battlefield and become our core strike target." (CCTV News)

SHIB rose approximately 36% on Sunday, climbing to $0.0000057, adding around $1 billion to its market cap in a single day. Its current market capitalization stands at roughly $3.4 billion, with 24-hour trading volume near $380 million, and trading activity has hit multi-month highs. There is no clear fundamental catalyst for the rally. Shibarium did not release any related announcements, and other meme coin peers lagged significantly: DOGE rose about 6% over the same period, while smaller-cap meme tokens saw maximum gains of around 10%, indicating capital concentrated in SHIB rather than a broad-based meme coin sector rally. South Korean buying pressure was prominent: Upbit’s SHIB/KRW trading pair recorded around $62 million in turnover, making it the world’s largest single trading market, accounting for over 10% of global volume, with a small price premium over USD-denominated trading venues like Binance. SHIB’s rally began on Saturday evening, consolidated for roughly 9 hours, then saw a second surge during Asian trading hours. During the rally, positions of approximately 2,300 traders in SHIB and 1000SHIB were liquidated, with total liquidations reaching around $6 million, of which roughly $5 million were short positions. However, these liquidations occurred after the price rally and were not large enough to explain the 36% gain.

BitMart Global CEO Nenter Chow released a statement saying he was not involved in, consulted on, or given advance notice of BitMart’s July 26 announcement regarding the orderly suspension of its platform operations—learning of the news only after the announcement went public. Chow added that on July 24, he was informed the company would terminate his role as Global CEO, triggering separation procedures, though no confirmed final departure date has been set. Since July 24, he has not participated in BitMart’s management, decision-making, or any operational activities. He noted his current top priority is BitMart’s users and employees, urging users to access account information exclusively via BitMart’s official channels, read official announcements promptly, and take action in line with the provided guidelines. Chow also stated he will not offer further comments on the matter at this time.