Circle’s CFO to step down at year-end, firm initiates successor selection process.

US President Donald Trump said: "I reject Iran's proposal."

Crypto KOL and former FTX community partner Benson Sun posted that he expects Bitcoin’s current market cycle to follow a slow bull run marked by successive new all-time highs, rather than the sharp short-term rallies that peaked abruptly in 2013 and 2017. Before the actual cycle peak arrives, the market may see multiple local topping signals in succession. He noted that since 2021, BTC’s main buying demand has gradually shifted from retail investors to institutional players including public companies, spot ETFs, and corporate treasuries. Since institutions primarily purchase spot assets, and some funds also use delta neutral strategies for arbitrage, traditional metrics such as funding rates and MVRV Z-Score may not reach extreme levels again at the cycle peak. The upcoming cycle peak is more likely to be defined by a lack of follow-through from institutional capital, rather than widespread retail euphoria. The Institutional Liquidity Index (ILI), which tracks overall U.S. dollar liquidity, Strategy’s mNAV, and Bitcoin ETF net flows, is designed to determine if institutional capital is aligning with BTC when the asset hits new highs. A yellow divergence occurs when BTC posts a 30-day rolling high while the ILI fails to rise in tandem; a red divergence forms when BTC breaks its all-time high and the ILI is in divergence and below 50. Benson Sun stated that he will use the number of yellow divergences as a reference for gauging the cycle’s progress: each occurrence will prompt him to appropriately reduce his altcoin positions and leverage; as the market enters its later stages, he will gradually increase his BTC allocation and eventually hold only spot assets. If a red divergence appears, he will stop further participation.

Binance has invested $100 million in Circle’s stock and signed a five-year commercial agreement to further promote and integrate USDC on its platform. Analysts note that the partnership allows Binance to directly share in Circle’s growth gains, while providing USDC with key distribution channels spanning global transactions and emerging markets. Data shows that when Binance and Circle first collaborated in December 2024, the platform hosted 140 USDC-denominated spot trading pairs, a figure that has since risen to 329. Monthly USDC trading volume on Binance has climbed from the $20 billion–$40 billion range prior to the partnership to consistently exceeding $80 billion. Since 2026, Binance has processed $5 billion to $10 billion in daily USDC spot trading volume—roughly 10 to 20 times that of most other exchanges. USDC currently holds a market capitalization of around $74 billion, still trailing USDT’s approximately $140 billion. Martins Benkitis, co-founder of Gravity Team, said both parties have clear incentives to leverage Binance’s user base and infrastructure to expand USDC’s footprint, which will add more pressure to USDT’s standing in global transactions and emerging markets. However, distribution alone cannot quickly reshape the market landscape; USDT already boasts deep trading pairs, local liquidity, and long-established user habits.

According to Forbes, Bitcoin briefly neared $90,000 earlier this month. Meanwhile, global debt continues to climb, and "currency devaluation trades" focused on the declining purchasing power of fiat currencies have emerged as one of the factors driving up assets like Bitcoin and gold. Data from the Institute of International Finance (IIF) shows global debt rose by $10 trillion in the first half of this year, pushing the total above $365 trillion. U.S. debt has exceeded $40 trillion, with annual interest payments hitting $1.27 trillion—surpassing spending on defense and Medicaid, and trailing only Social Security expenditures. The IIF warns interest costs will rise further as benchmark rates increase. Nic Puckrin, founder and cross-asset analyst at The Coin Bureau, said the current environment favors "devaluation assets" such as Bitcoin and gold, which is part of the reason for Bitcoin’s recent rally. The larger major economies’ debt loads, the more likely they are to suppress real borrowing costs and let inflation erode debt’s real value, boosting the appeal of such trades. Analysts at The Kobeissi Letter point out the U.S. dollar’s purchasing power has fallen 23% since 2020; if assets have only risen 30% over the same period, investors are essentially breaking even when adjusted for real purchasing power. U.S. inflation has stayed above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target for 60 consecutive months.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) told the "When Shift Happens" podcast that he does not oppose Hyperliquid and welcomes more centralized and decentralized exchanges to pursue innovation, noting the crypto industry is far from saturated. Zhao estimated that roughly 5% to 15% of the global population holds some crypto asset, but when measured as a share of individual wealth, crypto penetration is less than 1%, meaning the sector remains in its early stages. CZ added that some Hyperliquid community members are attempting to build their own communities by criticizing centralized exchanges and Binance, but he views this as normal competition and has no objections to the project. He also noted that former U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent mention of Hyperliquid is a positive development for the industry, with assets including HYPE, BNB, and Bitcoin all poised to benefit from the sector’s overall growth. Additionally, CZ pointed out that first movers do not always emerge as the biggest long-term winners, citing examples like Google, Facebook, and Binance—none of which were the first products in their respective fields, and later entrants often optimize on the foundation laid by pioneers. Despite holding large stakes in Binance and significant BNB holdings, centralized exchanges represent only a portion of his asset allocation; rather than focusing on expanding a single platform, he prioritizes driving the growth of the entire crypto industry.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen posted that attacker addresses linked to the exchange’s security incident have been made public and are under ongoing tracking. Bitget is now formally requesting THORChain to deny services to these addresses. “Decentralization is a design principle, and it should not serve as a shield to facilitate the flow of known stolen funds,” Chen said. She added that the entire cryptocurrency industry is monitoring THORChain’s handling of the matter.