Tether’s TON Integration Pushes USDT Deeper Into Telegram’s Crypto Economy is the kind of crypto story that looks simple at headline level but becomes more useful once you place it inside the wider market backdrop. Stablecoin adoption often becomes most meaningful when it is embedded in apps people already use, and TON’s link to Telegram gives this rollout a different distribution profile.

The reason it deserves attention today is not that one announcement or filing magically changes the whole market. It is that the update adds another data point to a sector still trying to work out where capital, users, and regulation are actually moving.

For more details, visit the official Tether platform.

TL;DR

• Tether expanded native USDT utility on TON-linked yield protocols.
• The move strengthens stablecoin activity inside the Telegram-connected TON ecosystem.
• USDT on TON is becoming a payments and app-utility story, not only a trading-pair story.

Stablecoins Keep Moving Into New Distribution Channels

Native USDT support on TON can reduce friction for payments, transfers, and app-level balances.

Tether’s incentive campaigns are aimed at making the network more attractive to builders and users.

Stablecoins remain one of crypto’s clearest product-market fits. They are used for trading, transfers, payments, treasury management, and increasingly application-level balances. That is why new integrations or regulatory wrappers can matter more than they first appear.

The Bigger Stablecoin Takeaway

The wider stablecoin market is increasingly about distribution channels, not just reserve size.

The market is also becoming more competitive. Issuers are no longer only fighting over supply; they are fighting over distribution, network placement, yield design, and compliance status.

For NewsBTC readers, the practical takeaway is to avoid treating this as an isolated headline. The stronger read is to connect it with the current market environment: liquidity is still selective, regulatory pressure has not disappeared, and the projects that keep shipping useful updates are the ones most likely to hold attention when the cycle gets noisy.

That does not mean the story should be stretched beyond what the source supports. The cleaner approach is to keep the facts tight, explain the mechanism, and show readers why it may matter if follow-up data confirms the same direction over the next few sessions.

In other words, this is a development to watch rather than a guaranteed turning point. Crypto moves quickly, but the useful signals are usually the ones that still make sense after the first reaction fades.

The important thing for readers is context. A single development rarely defines the market on its own, but a series of source-backed updates can show where momentum is building. That is why this article keeps the focus on the specific mechanism in play, the source behind it, and the reason traders or builders may care today.

This article is based on information from tether.to.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Shares in Bitcoin treasury company Empery Digital rose on Friday after the firm disclosed it had sold nearly half its Bitcoin holdings to fund an AI data center project and pay down debt.

Empery Digital (EMPD) shares popped 4.2% to $3.95 within the first 35 minutes of trading on Friday after the company revealed that it sold 1,400 Bitcoin (BTC) at an average of $62,200 a coin for roughly $87.1 million over the past two months. 

Empery, which previously operated as an electric powersports vehicle manufacturer, said some of the proceeds funded its 25% stake in a Hunt Properties-affiliated venture, which is acquiring an industrial site to be converted into an AI data center. Another $10 million was also used to pay off outstanding debt.

While EMPD retraced to $3.86 — closing up 1.58% on the day — the initial pop suggests that investors viewed the Bitcoin sale favorably at a time when confidence in Bitcoin treasury strategies is fading and capital is flowing toward AI instead. 

EMPD’s change in share price over the last five trading days. Source: Google Finance

Empery’s Bitcoin sales follow months of pressure from Tice P. Brown, a near-10% shareholder in the company, who called on the firm to abandon its Bitcoin-buying strategy and demanded that the CEO and entire board resign. Empery had pivoted to a Bitcoin-centric treasury strategy in mid-2025 when Bitcoin was pushing towards its all-time high of $126,080 set in October.

The Bitcoin sales trimmed Empery’s holdings by 48% to 1,514 Bitcoin, worth $97 million at current prices.

Related: Bitcoin miners’ AI pivot faces investor scrutiny over insider sales 

Empery held a company-high 4,081 Bitcoin at its peak before offloading some of the holdings in March and April.

Strategy sold more BTC after STRC incident

Even Strategy — the largest corporate Bitcoin holder — sold 3,588 Bitcoin worth $216 million earlier this month, parting from its previous “never sell your Bitcoin” position in a move that actually saw shares in the company rise.

Strategy said it used the Bitcoin sale to cover dividend payments for investors in its top perpetual preferred stock offering, Stretch (STRC), which broke below its $100 par value to below $75 last month, raising fears that its dividend model was unsustainable. 

Features: Bitcoin nearing late stages of bear market: Jamie Coutts, Real Vision 

A key Ethereum indicator that foreshadowed previous price bottoms has flashed again, prompting attention for the second-largest cryptocurrency.

According to Ali, a crypto analyst, Ethereum might be oversold. This is because on-chain data reveals the ETH MVRV ratio has officially dropped below 0.8, a level associated with a deep accumulation zone.

Ali noted that historically, falling below the 0.8 MVRV level often signaled seller exhaustion for Ethereum, coinciding with aggregate market value falling significantly below total realized value. He noted that the last three times this setup occurred — December 2018, March 2020, and June 2022 — a particular trend was observed. Every single instance marked a bottom before a bullish reversal, Ali noted.

Traders continue to watch whether this particular instance of Ethereum’s MVRV entering grossly oversold levels will match previous instances when the price bottomed and subsequently recovered.

Ethereum short-term price action

At the time of writing, ETH was up 1.18% in the last 24 hours to $1,802 and up 1.78% weekly. ETH is outperforming Bitcoin as it looks to snap a trend of sequential lower highs and lower lows.

Ethereum surpassed the daily MA 50 at $1,767 for the first time since mid-May as its recovery from the July 8 low of $1,710 progressed.

Ethereum saw a rise at the start of July, reaching a high of $1,831 on July 6, where bulls met resistance. An attempt to surpass the daily MA 50 was also cut short as bulls could not advance.

A sustained rise above the daily MA 50 will be beneficial for Ethereum’s recovery in the short term, with the potential to surpass $2,000, reaching the daily MA 200 currently at $2,214.

The crypto derivatives market is showing signs of stabilization, with speculation easing and longer-term positioning increasing.

In separate news, a new report from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) stated that Ethereum now consumes about 7.87 GWh of electricity annually following The Merge, a decline of more than 99.9% from its pre-Merge level.

Grayscale’s Tokenization Outlook Depends on Which Ownership Model Wins

Crypto asset manager Grayscale published research on July 9 outlining three phases of equity tokenization. Head of Research Zach Pandl said Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Canton Network are best positioned to benefit as ownership models evolve.

The first phase involves third-party wrappers, which account for more than 70% of tokenized stocks by market capitalization, according to Grayscale. Under this model, traditional shares are placed into a special-purpose vehicle (SPV), and investors receive tokens representing claims on that vehicle rather than direct ownership.

These wrapped assets operate on Ethereum, Solana, and BNB Chain, where they can be traded and integrated into decentralized finance applications. Pandl said each phase of tokenization could benefit different blockchain infrastructure.

DTCC Pilot and Issuer-Sponsored Shares Could Reshape Blockchain Roles

Grayscale identifies the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)’s planned pilot as the second phase of tokenized equity development. Noting that Canton Network will be the first blockchain used in DTCC’s tokenization pilot, Pandl wrote:

“We see the tokenization of equity markets progressing in three phases, with each phase driving value to different types of blockchain infrastructure.”

DTCC plans to bring existing eligible securities onchain through regulated post-trade infrastructure rather than issue replacement versions. Grayscale describes this approach as the entitlement model, which differs from wrapper-based systems that create claims through separate vehicles.

The research says the pilot may help define Canton Network’s role alongside public blockchains supporting tokenized assets.

Could Companies Eventually Issue Shares Directly on Blockchain Networks?

Grayscale describes issuer-sponsored tokenization as the third phase, where companies issue securities natively onchain. The report says Securitize became the first public company to tokenize its own common stock at the time of its New York Stock Exchange listing.

The crypto asset manager believes this model has the greatest long-term potential and could favor Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche. Wider adoption still requires additional regulatory clarity.

The head of research stated:

“The blockchain networks best positioned to capitalize on the growth in tokenization include, in our view, Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Canton Network.”

Grayscale expects wrappers, DTCC’s entitlement model, and issuer-sponsored issuance to coexist for years. The long-term distribution of activity among Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Avalanche, and Canton Network remains uncertain. Regulatory developments, issuer adoption, and successful implementation will determine which networks capture the greatest role in digital securities markets.

Chainlink CCIP Comes To Arbitrum Orbit as Layer-3 Builders Chase Safer Messaging is the kind of crypto story that looks simple at headline level but becomes more useful once you place it inside the wider market backdrop. As networks become more modular, cross-chain messaging stops being a side feature and becomes basic infrastructure.

The reason it deserves attention today is not that one announcement or filing magically changes the whole market. It is that the update adds another data point to a sector still trying to work out where capital, users, and regulation are actually moving.

For more details, visit the official Chainlink platform.

TL;DR

• Chainlink integrated CCIP with Arbitrum Orbit.
• The move gives dedicated layer-3 networks a cross-chain messaging and data-access option.
• It reinforces Chainlink’s role as infrastructure for increasingly modular blockchain stacks.

The Technical Detail Traders Should Not Ignore

Arbitrum Orbit lets teams build dedicated chains around the Arbitrum stack.

CCIP is designed to provide a more standardized way to move messages and value across networks.

Protocol updates rarely arrive with the drama of a courtroom ruling or an ETF filing, but they are often more important over time. They decide how networks handle scale, incentives, cross-chain activity, and user cost. For builders, those details are not optional.

Why Builders Care About The Update

The integration matters most for developers building app-specific environments that still need secure external connectivity.

The market tends to reward finished products, but those products depend on this kind of maintenance. A chain that keeps improving its technical base gives developers more reasons to stay.

For NewsBTC readers, the practical takeaway is to avoid treating this as an isolated headline. The stronger read is to connect it with the current market environment: liquidity is still selective, regulatory pressure has not disappeared, and the projects that keep shipping useful updates are the ones most likely to hold attention when the cycle gets noisy.

That does not mean the story should be stretched beyond what the source supports. The cleaner approach is to keep the facts tight, explain the mechanism, and show readers why it may matter if follow-up data confirms the same direction over the next few sessions.

In other words, this is a development to watch rather than a guaranteed turning point. Crypto moves quickly, but the useful signals are usually the ones that still make sense after the first reaction fades.

The important thing for readers is context. A single development rarely defines the market on its own, but a series of source-backed updates can show where momentum is building. That is why this article keeps the focus on the specific mechanism in play, the source behind it, and the reason traders or builders may care today.

This article is based on information from chain.link.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

Ether (ETH) price gained 3% between Thursday and Friday, outperforming the broader crypto market. The move ties to growing tokenization, Robinhood Chain’s success, and ongoing corporate treasury purchases. However, ETH failed to break above $1,800 amid weak onchain and derivatives metrics. Is Ether price bound to retest $1,700?

Key takeaways:

• Ethereum leads RWA tokenization while Robinhood Chain drives fresh ETH inflows and ecosystem growth.
• Mixed signals persist as BitMine accumulates heavily, yet stagnant onchain metrics signal caution.

Robinhood Chain and tokenization growth boost ETH price

The successful launch of the layer-2 network Robinhood Chain has boosted Ether investors’ sentiment. The newly launched blockchain uses ETH as its native gas token and has netted $106 million in bridge deposits. The TradFi trading platform Robinhood offers tokenized stocks to customers in 120 countries, further strengthening the EVM-compatible ecosystem.

Distributed tokenized assets value per chain, USD. Source: rwa.xyz

Ethereum dominates the RWA (real-world assets) market with a 47% market share, according to Rwa.xyz data. Excluding stablecoins, notable highlights include SKY’s Tether Gold (XAUT), Ondo US Dollar Yield (USDY), and Franklin Templeton’s government bonds (iBENJI). Leaders among tokenized stocks include Strategy’s PP variable (STRCx) from xStocks and Circle Group (CRCLon) from Ondo.

Source: X/LeonWaidmann

Leon Waidmann, head of Research at Lisk, noted that for the first time in history, the Total Value Locked (TVL) on Ethereum at $260 billion surpassed the market cap of Ether, currently at $210 billion. According to Waidmann, this distortion signals that “ETH is underpriced,” as the current relative valuation is lower than in the 2022 bear market.

Weak onchain and derivatives metrics limit Ether’s upside

Regardless of the growing adoption of Ethereum’s layer-2 solutions and the institutional inflows, onchain metrics point to overall stagnation. The 2026 bear market has hurt blockchain demand, while competing blockchains gained ground in specific sectors, including synthetic perpetual futures and automated yield vaults.

Ethereum weekly DApps revenue, USD (left) vs. active addresses (right). Source: DefiLlama

Decentralized applications (DApps) on Ethereum generated $11 million in weekly revenue, down from $20 million in the first quarter of 2026. Notable mentions include Sky at $3.1 million, Titan Builder with $2.4 million, and Chalink’s $1.1 million. Similarly, active addresses dropped to 3.2 million from 5.4 million in the first quarter, according to DefiLlama.

ETH perpetual futures annualized funding rate. Source: Laevitas

Meanwhile, ETH’s perpetual futures annualized funding rate dropped to 3% on Saturday, below the 6% neutral threshold signaling weak demand for bullish positions. Current data contrasts with the peak 12% levels from Friday, suggesting that bulls lack confidence. However, institutional inflows likely explain the latest price gains.

Source: X/Arkham

Arkham Intelligence flagged an ETH 20,500 withdrawal on Thursday worth $36 million from Galaxy Digital to a new wallet, a pattern that matches previous Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion (BMNR US) purchases. BitMine added ETH 198,370 in the past 30 days alone, while the treasury company now holds $10.3 billion in reserves.

Ultimately, mixed signals from strong fundamentals and weak onchain metrics do not justify a retest of the $1,700 level, especially when considering BitMine’s impressive accumulation pace.

XRP continues to trade without a clear fundamental catalyst, still moving sideways near $1.10. At the time of writing, XRP was up 1.22% in the last 24 hours to $1.11 but down 4.93% in the last seven days.

Traders are now watching if XRP’s quiet range is setting up a larger breakout; a close above the daily MA 50 at $1.16 will be watched ahead of the daily MA 200 at $1.45. A move above $1.40 would be the first stronger sign that XRP might be breaking out of its broader range.

Buyers continue to defend the $1.00–$1.05 range, highlighting it as support in case price declines.

Short-term golden cross appears

A golden cross signal has appeared on the XRP four-hour chart, with the timing attracting attention as the token continues to trade in a range, with traders waiting for a catalyst to drive the next move.

The MA 50 has crossed above the MA 200, indicating a golden cross. The short-term signal comes as XRP Ledger activity hits rare lows. Citing active addresses and network growth, Santiment noted that the XRP Ledger has just seen one of its lowest on-chain days in recent memory.

According to Santiment, XRP Ledger activity has gone unusually quiet as price stayed in a range below $1.10. The XRPL network just saw only 25,350 active wallets, its 2nd-lowest day of 2026, while new wallet creation fell to 2,130, the lowest since November 2024.

After late June saw a rise in dip-buying, Santiment indicated that traders might have now resorted to waiting for a real catalyst before buying again due to a small bounce.

July has treated BTC somewhat more kindly than June. Yet bitcoin remains down more than 40% over the past 12 months and nearly 50% below its all-time high above $126,000. To probe what may come next, we consulted a wide roster of chatbots powered by some of today’s most advanced AI models, asking each to predict BTC’s price at month’s end.

Their forecasts reveal a fascinating divide over whether bitcoin is preparing for a rebound, another retreat or something far less dramatic. For this particular experiment, we enlisted nine distinct chatbots spanning various levels of computational intelligence. The AI participants were Deepseek, Grok, Meta AI, Gwen, ChatGPT 5.6 Sol, Claude Fable, Pi AI, Kimi, and Gemini.

The prompt used in this experiment was:

“As of July 10, 2026, bitcoin (BTC) is trading below $64,000. Using a clearly defined mathematical deduction model, predict BTC’s price on Aug. 1, 2026. Consider recent price action, volatility, momentum, historical patterns and relevant market conditions, then provide one specific price rather than a broad range. State the model or calculation used, briefly explain the result and limit your response to three or four concise sentences.”

Deepseek Deepthink response:

Using a smoothed momentum- volatility decay model (30-day EMA daily drift of +0.09% minus half the daily variance of 0.025², compounded over 22 calendar days), the calculation is $63,800 × (1.0005875)^22 ≈ $64,630. This accounts for tepid bullish momentum and moderate realized volatility (annualized ~40%), while historical July seasonal strength offsets recent consolidation near resistance. Therefore, my specific prediction for BTC on Aug. 1, 2026, is $64,630.

Grok 4.6 Expert mode response:

A seasonality-momentum hybrid model projects Bitcoin at $65,880 on August 1, 2026. The calculation takes the current price just below $64,000 (modeled at $63,900), applies a net +3.1% expected return (prorated historical July average of roughly +5.5% minus ~1.5% early-August seasonal drag), and scales the result by a 0.7× adjustment factor reflecting elevated realized volatility and mixed short-term momentum signals such as the recent MACD bullish flip.

This incorporates the sharp June 2026 drawdown to cycle lows near $58,000, the subsequent early-July rebound that tested above $64,000 before consolidating, historically strong July seasonality (high win rate) offset by August’s typical weakness (low win rate, negative median), and current market conditions including high post-drawdown volatility, stabilizing but volatile ETF flows, and price action still below major moving averages despite macro relief elements.

The single-point outcome reflects tempered upside from July’s positive bias and rebound momentum, constrained by consolidation risk in the high- volatility regime and the window’s overlap into historically softer early August.

Meta AI thinking response:

Gwen 3.7 Plus thinking response:

Using a Geometric Brownian Motion model parameterized with a 0.2% daily momentum drift and 3% daily historical volatility to reflect recent price action and market conditions over the 22 days until August 1, the calculation $P_t = 63,800 times e^{(0.002 – 0.03^2/2) times 22}$ is applied. Based on this mathematical deduction, Bitcoin is predicted to trade at exactly $66,013 on August 1, 2026. This specific price reflects the compounding effect of positive short-term momentum slightly offset by the mathematical drag of historical volatility, pushing the asset upward from its current level just below $64,000.

ChatGPT 5.6 Sol High intelligence response:

Claude Fable High intelligence response:

Pi AI response:

Kimi 2.6 Instant answer:

Using a Weighted Momentum-Mean Reversion Model: BTC at $63,236 with a 7-day gain of 2.72% and 30-day ETF outflows of -$5.5B implies a modest upward drift offset by institutional headwinds. Applying a 22-day annualized volatility of ~35% (derived from the Volatility Score of 3.93 and recent range-bound action), the expected move over 22 days is ±9.1%. Given extreme fear (Fear & Greed at 21), negative Coinbase premium for 50 days, and the 200-week MA holding at $62,200–$62,500 as structural support, the model weights 60% mean-reversion to the 50-day SMA (~$66,277) and 40% momentum continuation, yielding $65,420. This reflects a cautious grind higher as short covering and sentiment normalization partially offset persistent ETF selling pressure.

Gemini Pro answer:

Using a time-weighted historical seasonality model adjusted for recent market volatility, we can project Bitcoin’s price trajectory for the remainder of the month. By applying July’s historical median return of 8.2%—damped by a 0.8 volatility coefficient reflecting current geopolitical resistance and recent ETF outflows—over the remaining 21 days, the calculation is $ text{Price} = $63,900 times left(1 + left(0.082 times 0.8 times frac{21}{31}right)right) $. This formula yields a specific projected price of $66,738 on August 1, 2026, effectively balancing the asset’s historically bullish summer momentum against immediate macroeconomic headwinds.

One Outlier Breaks From the Pack

Nine AI models put their mathematical reasoning on record for where bitcoin lands by Aug. 1, and the roster mostly agrees on one thing: don’t expect fireworks. Eight of the nine forecasts landed in a tight band between $63,420 and $67,940, a spread of less than $4,500 despite each model leaning on a different framework, from geometric Brownian motion to probability-weighted scenario trees to EMA and RSI-based drift calculations.

That convergence matters more than any single number. When models built on different math and different data inputs still cluster around modest single-digit monthly moves, it suggests the broader AI consensus sees bitcoin’s near-term path as consolidation rather than a decisive breakout or breakdown, even with the asset still sitting well below its all-time high.

Pi AI broke from that consensus entirely, and not in a way that inspires confidence. Its call of $89,359 assumed a 1.5% daily compounded growth rate, described in the response as “conservative,” a characterization that does not hold up against the other eight models, several of which treated anything close to 8% monthly upside as an aggressive case. Unlike its peers, Pi AI named no model, showed no formula, and offered no downside scenario, just a flat growth assumption followed by a standard volatility disclaimer. That gap in rigor, more than the number itself, is what separates it from the rest of the field.

For readers watching bitcoin’s next move, the takeaway isn’t a single price target. It’s that most of today’s leading AI models, when asked to show their math, expect a market catching its breath rather than one gearing up for a dramatic August run.