Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock and other giants plan to jointly launch the stablecoin OUSD.

Binance announced in a statement that to expand trading options and enhance user trading experience, Binance Futures will launch two U-margined perpetual contracts: The BTCU U-margined perpetual contract will go live at 09:00 UTC on July 1 with a maximum leverage of 100x; the ETHU U-margined perpetual contract will launch at 10:00 UTC on July 1, also with a maximum leverage of 100x. Both contracts use U as the settlement asset, with funding rates settled every 8 hours, a funding rate cap of ±0.375%, and support for multi-asset mode and copy trading features. Binance noted that it will dynamically adjust contract parameters including funding rates, maximum leverage, and margin requirements based on market risk conditions.

Nonprofit organization Sovright, founded by former members of Zcash’s original developer Electric Coin Company (ECC) governance team, has launched wallet recovery tool Argos to help early Zcash users retrieve assets from shielded addresses that became inaccessible after ZEC Wallet Lite ceased maintenance in 2022. Sovright Executive Chair Michelle Lai stated that users holding the original wallet mnemonic phrase can recover funds via Argos. While the exact number of affected addresses is unconfirmed, the involved funds are estimated to be substantial, primarily impacting Zcash’s early and long-term users. In addition to Argos, Sovright recently launched a testnet version of its Sovright Mining Pool, designed to help individual miners participate in mining and address Zcash’s overly concentrated hash rate issue. Sovright was established following a prior governance dispute between ECC and Zcash’s governance body Bootstrap. All former ECC staff left to form for-profit Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL), while three former Bootstrap board members founded Sovright to continue advancing Zcash’s ecosystem on a nonprofit basis.

CNN reported on June 29 that three distinct shipping routes have emerged in the Strait of Hormuz. The first route is located in the northern part of the strait and controlled by Iran. The second runs through the central section, serving as the regular international shipping lane before disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz. The third lies in the southern part of the strait, passing through waters near Oman, and is operated in coordination by Oman, the United States, and the International Maritime Organization. Market analysis indicates that the differing management of these multiple routes has made shipping order in the Strait of Hormuz more complex.

According to CryptoRank data, Ethereum (ETH) fell 25.2% in Q2 2026, notching its third consecutive quarter of negative returns and setting the first-ever record of three straight quarterly declines in Ethereum’s history. The data shows that since 2020, Ethereum has posted gains in 16 out of 26 quarters, with an average quarterly return of 20.1%.

Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that U.S. job openings (JOLTS) rose to around 7.6 million in May, up from 7.59 million in April, hitting a nearly two-year high and remaining unaffected by uncertainties stemming from the Iran conflict. Previously, economists had widely projected May job openings would drop by roughly 10% to around 6.975 million, and viewed April’s sharp increase in job openings as likely a temporary phenomenon. Analysts note that the latest figures indicate the U.S. labor market has not only not weakened significantly amid Middle East tensions and energy price fluctuations, but may instead be further stabilizing and expanding. Earlier data from job platforms including Indeed and LinkUp showed overall hiring demand has slowed so far this year, but the official data marks a sharp contrast with market expectations.

According to Bitget market data, the US tech equipment sector saw broad gains, with individual stocks rising as follows: ONTO up 6.84%, AMAT up 3.60%, LRCX up 4.58%, KLAC up 5.97%, TER up 2.98%, and ENTG up 2.89%.