Vitalik proposes the "Minimalist Consensus Chain" plan: Reconstructing Ethereum's consensus layer using ZK-STARK, with the goal of supporting one million validators.

A decade ago, Elon Musk viewed SpaceX and Tesla as "weakly linked" and deemed there was insufficient justification for a merger. Today, market discussions have shifted from "whether a merger will happen" to "when it will occur", with long-term investors seeing a merger as a foregone conclusion. While Musk has not publicly confirmed the move, he has frequently referenced "integration" between his business units, and SpaceX has hinted in regulatory filings at a potential large stock issuance, fueling merger speculation. Both companies have pivoted to AI in recent years: Tesla is betting on autonomous driving and humanoid robots, while SpaceX acquired xAI and plans to deploy space-based data centers, with AI projected to become SpaceX’s largest revenue source starting this year. The business ties between the two have strengthened significantly: SpaceX has disclosed purchasing batteries and Cybertrucks from Tesla, and Tesla holds indirect equity in SpaceX via its xAI acquisition. Despite Musk dismissing the merger logic a decade ago, in 2025 he acknowledged synergies between the three entities in the field of solar-powered AI satellites—a key technology he views as critical for "obtaining massive solar energy".

A Bitcoin address dormant for nearly 15 years recently processed its first transfer, sending 30 BTC worth approximately $1.88 million at current prices. Galaxy Research on-chain data shows the address, labeled "1KV47," had not moved any funds since receiving 30 BTC in August 2011, until it sent funds externally for the first time last Saturday local time. This address is one of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses involved in a New York lawsuit. Plaintiff "Noah Doe" and two Wyoming-registered companies are seeking to claim ownership of Bitcoin in these long-inactive addresses under New York State’s abandoned property law. Sani, founder of analytics platform Timechain Index, noted this group of addresses holds roughly 3.7 million BTC, valued at around $234 billion, including an address widely believed to belong to Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, said activity in dormant addresses linked to the lawsuit has risen sharply recently: 31 addresses transferred 17,527 BTC in June, compared to just 5 addresses moving 4,834 BTC in February this year. However, the legal community generally views the lawsuit as having weak grounds. Last Friday local time, a defendant identifying as "John Doe 33" who claims control over one of the addresses filed a motion to dismiss the suit, arguing Bitcoin addresses are merely data strings and not entities that can be sued. Edwin Mata, CEO and lawyer at tokenization platform Brickken, stated that an address’s long inactivity alone does not prove asset abandonment. Under property law, establishing abandonment typically requires proof that the owner explicitly intended to relinquish their property rights; dormant addresses may stem from long-term cold storage, lost private keys, or holders choosing to hold assets long-term, so they do not sufficiently support the plaintiffs’ claims.

This week, the crypto market will focus on Federal Reserve meeting minutes, U.S. economic data, and several crypto industry events; macro conditions and on-chain dynamics may jointly influence digital asset trends. On the macro front, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its June FOMC meeting in the early hours of July 9 (Beijing time), and markets hope to use this to gauge the future interest rate path. Additionally, the U.S. ISM Services PMI, consumer inflation expectations, initial jobless claims, and China’s June CPI data will be released sequentially. On the industry side, SpaceX will officially be added to the Nasdaq 100 Index on July 7, becoming the fourth index constituent to hold Bitcoin, following Tesla, Strategy, and Mercado Libre. Data shows SpaceX currently holds approximately 18,712 BTC, and its inclusion in the index is expected to benefit from passive allocation demand from index funds. In addition, U.S. crypto miner American Bitcoin (ABTC) will resume trading after completing a 1-for-15 reverse stock split to avoid delisting by Nasdaq; Berachain will complete its PoL Next upgrade on July 7. In terms of on-chain governance, DAOs including ENS DAO, Frax DAO, Nexus Mutual DAO, and Arbitrum DAO will wrap up voting on multiple governance proposals this week. For token unlocks: Hyperliquid (HYPE) will unlock tokens equivalent to 0.2% of its circulating supply on July 6, worth approximately $30.39 million; RAIN will unlock ~7.64% of its circulating supply on July 11, valued at ~$787 million; PUMP will unlock ~29.12% of its circulating supply on July 12, worth ~$130 million. Beyond macro data, developments in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the continued weakening of the Japanese yen also merit attention. Recently, Bitcoin has shown a strong negative correlation with the USD/JPY exchange rate, with yen depreciation often accompanying Bitcoin price rallies.

Morgan Stanley strategists believe U.S. equities face headwinds in hitting new all-time highs as investors rotate out of this year’s top-performing tech stocks and into other sectors. This rotation could erode the market leadership pattern previously dominated by AI and mega-cap tech stocks. The firm’s analysis notes that most positive economic and earnings news has already been priced in, leaving index performance stagnant, and truly upside surprises will be needed to drive further gains. Markets are eager for concrete proof that massive AI capital expenditures can translate into sustained returns, rather than just growing spending figures, and this uncertainty is pushing more capital to shift from mega-cap tech to broader equities. Morgan Stanley advises investors to prioritize earnings realizability and quality, take partial profits in small-cap stocks, and expand allocations to AI beneficiaries in select sectors. Earlier research from the bank also showed that while large-cap tech posted strong Q3 results, their stock gains have lagged significantly, dragging valuations lower—a stark contrast to industrials and cyclical sectors that have rallied on rate-cut expectations, further confirming a shift in market capital flows.

The "Clean Net: Special Operation to Rectify AI Application Disorders" launched in April 2026, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has targeted AI application irregularities including failure to fulfill mandatory large model filing obligations, insufficient AI platform security and content moderation capabilities, AI data poisoning, and inadequate implementation of synthetic content labeling. The CAC has instructed local cyberspace authorities to advance key rectification tasks in the first phase, and opened a "Reporting Zone for AI Application Disorders" to accept public reports. Thanks to joint efforts from all parties, the first phase has disposed over 14,000 AI products including illegal websites, applications, and intelligent agents, cleared more than 6 million illegal and harmful pieces of information, handled over 26,000 accounts, removed over 1,300 illegal AI goods and 9 illegal open-source datasets, with all work achieving positive progress.

According to official announcements, the 2026 trading competition "Island Project", jointly hosted by Deribit and SignalPlus, has officially launched. The event offers a maximum total prize pool of 600,000 USDC, marking the first time a private island is set as the grand prize. Multiple winning tracks are open, including daily trading, block trading, and referral rewards, allowing participants to start competing for rewards immediately. Key highlights of the competition: 1. Registration: All participants can claim a free option. 2. Balance: Users maintaining a balance of ≥0.1 USDC will enter a draw for a 600 USDC action camera. 3. Block Trading: Block trading fees are reduced by 30%–50%, and an additional draw for a 2,000 USDC luxury trip will be held post-event. 4. Trading: All daily traders win rewards, plus a draw for a 60,000 USDC private island in Finland. 5. Referral: Referring friends guarantees rewards, and an additional draw for a 30,000 USDC private island in Canada will be held post-event. The competition runs from July 6 to August 11 (UTC+8, deadline at 7:59). For registration details, please refer to the official announcement.