Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) responds to the proposal to extend stock trading hours: It is studying extending trading sessions for its derivatives market.

According to GMGN monitoring, Robinhood Chain ecosystem token PONS briefly hit an all-time high market cap of over $39 million, and is now trading at $34 million, up 110% in 24 hours with around $10 million in trading volume over the same period. PONS is the native platform token of Pons, a token-launching platform on Robinhood Chain. The platform supports creating and issuing fixed-supply tokens, uses collected WETH fees to repurchase PONS, and directly burns PONS fees. It is viewed by some community members as the "pump.fun" of Robinhood Chain.

According to data from the Korea Financial Investment Association, as of July 16, the margin balance used for stock financing has fallen to 33.4 trillion won (about $226 billion), the lowest level since April 15. The figure is 13% lower than the peak of 38.6 trillion won recorded at the end of June. Additional data indicates that South Korean retail investors’ enthusiasm for stocks may be cooling. Per the Korea Financial Investment Association, as of July 16, investor deposits dropped to 108.1 trillion won, down from the high of 139.7 trillion won on June 4. (Jinshi)

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest purchased 170,634 shares of SpaceX on Monday, valued at approximately $20.5 million. Meanwhile, it sold 41,322 shares of Robinhood, worth around $4.1 million.

According to Bitget data, South Korea’s KOSPI index posted an intraday gain of 2.51%, with Samsung Electronics rising 4.51% and SK Hynix up 3.52%.

Trump has agreed to the ethics provisions in the CLARITY Act, clearing a key hurdle for the crypto legislation to advance to a Senate vote. Industry sources said that after months of negotiations, all parties reached an agreement on the relevant ethics terms, and Trump approved the plan late Monday. The provisions aim to restrict the president, vice president, members of Congress, and other federal officials from profiting from digital assets while in office. The controversy has long centered on Trump-linked meme coins and his family’s involvement in World Liberty Financial. Ethics issues were previously viewed as the last major obstacle to the bill’s passage. The CLARITY Act seeks to introduce the first comprehensive federal regulation of the digital asset industry, and clarifies the jurisdictional authority of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). However, Democratic lawmakers have not yet seen the latest provision text. The revised bill text is expected to be released in the coming days, with the earliest possible launch being Monday evening, though it may also be delayed. The Senate must complete its vote before the first week of August; if the bill passes, it will need to return to the House of Representatives for consideration before being sent to the president for signing.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett revealed that, according to multiple industry sources, the White House has reached an agreement on the ethics provisions of the CLARITY Act and sent the relevant text to some Republican senators that afternoon. The specific details of the agreement remain unclear, but industry insiders expect the revised bill text to likely be released soon following progress on the ethics provisions.