Crypto Downtrend Continues as "Whale" is Forced to Sell Again

According to a report from Axios, a senior Israeli official said that the Israel Defense Forces will withdraw from the pilot area in southern Lebanon on local time Tuesday.

Crypto KOL Ansem posted that although the current market is still in a correction phase, this cycle has multiple conditions that can drive large-scale retail participation. Ansem noted that Solana is currently down around 75% from its all-time high, while Bitcoin is roughly 50% off its peak. However, the industry’s infrastructure and user experience have improved significantly compared to the previous cycle, including more mature mobile trading experiences, easier cross-chain functions, and lower entry barriers for new users. He added that in this cycle, more high-quality developers are building projects via a combination of tokens and equity, while institutions’ interest in Real World Assets (RWA), regulatory frameworks related to the Clarity Act, and crypto initiatives from traditional tech firms like Stripe and Robinhood is growing. Ansem believes the surge in AI stocks over the past few years, along with wealth-creation cases from meme coins in crypto, is boosting the market’s focus on short-term trading opportunities. Some meme coins have previously grown from scratch to reach hundreds of billions in market cap, while current popular meme projects remain at relatively low circulating market cap stages. He pointed out that with the development of perpetual contracts, institutional-grade trading products, and the trading ecosystem for meme coins and small-cap tokens, this cycle could attract both institutional investors and risk-seeking retail participants. Ansem said that if teams can successfully advance their mobile app rollouts, it will further draw new users who previously stayed out of crypto due to operational complexity, pushing this cycle to become one of the largest in terms of retail participation.

Russia’s State Duma is scheduled to hold the second and third readings of its cryptocurrency bill this Tuesday. The legislation, numbered 1194918-8 and titled the “Digital Currency and Digital Rights Law”, will see its core provisions take effect on September 1 if passed. The bill aims to establish a clear legal framework for crypto activities in Russia, focusing on investor limits, transaction regulation, and the use of digital assets in cross-border trade. Under the draft, non-qualified investors face an annual cap of 300,000 rubles (around $3,800) for crypto purchases via a single intermediary, with a cross-border transfer limit of 100,000 rubles. Qualified investors will have higher thresholds: 3 million rubles annually for purchases, and a 1 million ruble cross-border transfer cap. Crypto trading platforms and related intermediaries will be required to verify investor identities, monitor purchase volumes and cross-border transfers, and enforce tiered limits based on investor classification. Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma’s Financial Market Committee, stated that the bill will create legal conditions for businesses to use crypto assets for trade settlements, allowing relevant enterprises to utilize digital assets “without excessive legal restrictions”. Analysts note that Russia’s regulatory approach here is not opening the crypto market, but bringing crypto assets under state control via investment limits and intermediary oversight. The policy may boost crypto asset adoption in cross-border trade, payment infrastructure and institutional investment, though enterprises will still face challenges including sanctions risks, liquidity concerns, tax obligations and compliance issues.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has responded to recent discussions over changes to his X account profile photo and the Base community’s claims of “insufficient support,” thanking the community for its feedback and acknowledging that he failed to clearly communicate relevant expectations earlier. Armstrong stressed that users should not treat content on his personal X account as investment advice or token trading signals. He explained that the posts he shares are mostly online content he finds interesting, and he may not always know if such content is linked to a specific token or project. Neither his profile photo nor his posts represent endorsement of or commitment to any project. Addressing the Base community’s calls for more support, Armstrong outlined Base’s mission: to build financial service infrastructure that supports applications including tokenized stocks, lending protocols, stablecoin payments, and meme coin trading. He stated that while he advocates for economic freedom, he will not use his personal account to “promote specific tokens” or issue trading calls. Armstrong added that Coinbase has numerous tokens it wants to list, but cannot support all due to compliance and regulatory requirements. The Base team also does not promote specific projects or tokens to users. He detailed that Coinbase and Base currently support ecosystem growth primarily through offline Base Batches events, developer grant programs, investments via Coinbase Ventures and the Base Ecosystem Fund, and integrating top-tier Base DeFi protocols into Coinbase products. Armstrong noted that going forward, Coinbase will continue to prioritize supporting projects that deliver long-term user value, while reiterating that his personal social media content “is not investment advice.”

On-chain detective ZachXBT published a post stating that cross-chain bridge project TeleSwap was allegedly hit by an attack of more than $735,000 on July 15, 2026. As of now, five days after the incident, the project team has not publicly disclosed any information regarding the event. ZachXBT noted that shortly after suspicious funds flowed out, TeleSwap’s Bitcoin hot wallet ceased processing transactions. Approximately two hours ago, the attacker transferred the stolen funds to Tornado Cash. According to his disclosure, the addresses linked to the stolen funds include: bc1pz95zv3qhpmt52yezs84a5zrddrk5jsxm8a60rln5kzlk06e87a3q8pf79l0x2448cbaee50a67030692b7519a954e5550dc27180xfc5048fbba2f74ed482ffcd7663601f818c5bb470xf8706a51f8df01a71f408e50c901dd14916a12c7. TeleSwap’s Bitcoin hot wallet address is: bc1q5wnpn4k99wc587maaaa6eqnx27g4r6mduxg2s5. To date, TeleSwap has not issued an official statement on the incident, and the cause of the attack and the status of fund recovery remain unconfirmed.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, a Hyperliquid whale carried out new on-chain operations today after earning over $1 million in profits, staking 115,000 HYPE (worth roughly $7.2 million). The address currently holds: 115,000 staked HYPE, 100,000 HYPE in available balance, and $1.1 million in USDC. For today’s trades, the whale closed two short positions: a $3.5 million short on $MU, netting $439,100 in profit; and a $2.42 million short on $SKHX, generating $581,900 in gains. The address still holds a large cumulative asset size, with the market closely monitoring its subsequent trading moves.