BitMEX will formally shut down on Sept. 23, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. Beijing time, while Shenzhen authorities said several self-media accounts tied to virtual currency promotion have been permanently closed, according to the developments highlighted in Odaily’s July 24 market roundup.
CEX trading leaders and 24-hour moves
The top 10 CEX tokens by trading volume and their 24-hour changes were listed as follows:
- BTC: -1.18%
- ETH: -2.92%
- SOL: -2.91%
- XRP: -2.7%
- BNB: -0.53%
- DOGE: -4.88%
- KITE: -11.71%
- TRX: -0.03%
- ZEC: -1.66%
- QQQB: -1.91%
The 24-hour top gainers, with data from OKX, were:
- RE: +24.89%
- VELO: +10.95%
- WLFI: +9.1%
- ZAMA: +7.36%
- FLUID: +6.87%
- POR: +6.52%
- DGB: +5.29%
- XYZ: +5.17%
- 1INCH: +4.55%
- GMX: +4.42%
The 24-hour crypto-linked stock gainers, based on msx.com data, were:
- TSLQ.M: +25.85%
- MSTZ.M: +12.16%
- LMT.M: +10.42%
- UMAC.M: +10.37%
- AMKR.M: +9.35%
- PONY.M: +7.32%
- RTX.M: +7.2%
- HUT.M: +7.16%
- ZSL.M: +6.95%
- USO.M: +6.71%
- VICR.M: +6.46%
- MRLN.M: +6.15%
Top on-chain meme tokens
The top five on-chain meme tokens, with data from GMGN, were:
- GME (Robinhood Chain)
- VLAD (Robinhood Chain)
- NVDA (Robinhood Chain)
- Wangwang (BSC)
- DOYR (BSC)
BitMEX outlines shutdown timeline
According to an official announcement, crypto exchange BitMEX will close on Sept. 23, 2026 at 12:00 p.m. Beijing time and has stopped accepting new user registrations with immediate effect. The exchange said its parent company, HDR Global Trading Limited, decided to close the platform after a strategic review by the board.
BitMEX said the platform will continue normal operations before the shutdown, but from Aug. 26 at 12:00 p.m. Beijing time, users will no longer be able to open new positions and will only be allowed to reduce positions. Any remaining positions after the closing time will be forcibly liquidated. For KYC users who do not withdraw assets before the shutdown deadline, BitMEX said it will charge an account management fee of either $50 per month or 1% of the account balance, whichever is higher, and that the fee may be raised.
Shenzhen reports permanent closures of crypto-related accounts
The Shenzhen branch of the People’s Bank of China, the Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau, the municipal Cyberspace Administration office and the local financial regulator said they have continued a special clean-up campaign and pushed locally based internet platforms to fulfill their responsibilities by dealing with a batch of illegal or non-compliant self-media accounts.
The reported examples included accounts named “USDT 商家交流群,” “抱团来玩虚拟货币,” “搜搜比特币,” “微支快换,” “中链老九,” “药碎个好觉,” “小金鱼 9884,” and “用户 0767527971.” Authorities said those accounts illegally provided marketing and promotional information related to virtual currency business activities to domestic users and induced the public to participate in illegal virtual currency financial activities. Under policy rules including the Notice on Further Preventing and Handling Risks Related to Virtual Currency, the accounts were permanently shut down by the platforms.
U.S. macro data
Initial jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ended July 18 came in at 187,000, below the 212,000 consensus estimate. The previous reading was revised to 209,000 from 208,000. The latest figure marked the lowest level since the week ended Sept. 24, 2022.
Policy and regulatory developments
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the EU had imposed sanctions on more than 100 banks and cryptocurrency operators, more than 40 shadow fleet vessels, and several refineries in Russia and Belarus.
Argentina is moving to loosen capital market controls and plans to allow mutual investment funds, or FCI, to invest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, while also permitting virtual assets to be used as pledged collateral. The measure comes from a draft deregulation bill prepared by Economy Minister Federico Sturzenegger and is awaiting President Javier Milei’s signature before being sent to Congress.
The draft explicitly allows FCI portfolios to allocate assets to virtual assets and creates funds for “qualified investors.” Argentina’s national securities commission would limit its oversight of FCI to legality and technical solvency reviews, while the central bank would have exclusive oversight over registration or transfer infrastructure involving cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets. The draft also states that securities including stocks and convertible bonds could be issued, stored and traded through crypto networks.
Project and company updates
An SEC filing submitted by Grayscale for a Worldcoin ETF said about 90% of circulating WLD tokens are concentrated in 100 wallets. The filing also said the World Chain sequencer is operated in a centralized manner, while upgrade functions are coordinated and controlled by a small group from World Foundation, Tools for Humanity and Optimism, with governance still mainly guided by World Foundation.
Randy, an employee at Moonshot AI, responded on X to comments from Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, about claims that Moonshot AI used Anthropic’s Fable distillation to develop its K3 model. Randy said Fable was publicly introduced on July 1 and K3 launched on July 15, meaning the team trained what he described as a brand-new frontier model in just 15 days, calling that “Guinness world record-level.”
Bitcoin developer Paul Sztorc said in April that the bitcoin eCash hard fork will activate at block height 963648, around Aug. 21. At that point, a new chain called eCash will go live. Holders of bitcoin at addresses existing before block height 963648 will receive a 1:1 airdrop of the eCash network token ECX. No registration or advance claim is required, but users need to move BTC into an eCash self-custody wallet. The report said support for the hard fork in the bitcoin community remains low at this stage.
Changxin Technology said its shares will be listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market on July 27, 2026.
Michael Saylor said on X that BlackRock, Coinbase, Block, Strategy and other bitcoin ecosystem companies and financial institutions have formed the Bitcoin Security Consortium to support the long-term security and resilience of the bitcoin network, with post-quantum cryptography as a focus area.
The consortium was jointly launched by Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Block, Blockstream, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy and Strategy, among others. The member base includes bitcoin holders, custodians, trading venues, infrastructure service providers and asset managers. Saylor also said the consortium comes with $15 million in committed support.
Funding deals
K25.ai said it completed a Series A round with strategic support from Amber Group, reaching a post-money valuation of $200 million. The company said it will use the funds to accelerate product development, global expansion, institutional liquidity infrastructure and creator ecosystem construction. Its business centers on combining AI with live-streaming content, allowing users to make real-time predictions across sports, esports and entertainment, while its in-house AI infrastructure handles real-time market generation, content monitoring and outcome adjudication.
Stablecoin issuer Mandela Digital said it raised $5 million with participation from Datavault AI. The funding will be used for stablecoin infrastructure, compliance, exchange integrations, liquidity and marketing, and to accelerate the launch of Mandela Dollar, or MUSD, a stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. According to the report, MUSD is aimed at financial inclusion, cross-border remittances and digital payments in the Global South. Datavault AI will also provide technology support including an AI platform, blockchain tokenization, SanQtum post-quantum encryption and a real-world asset framework.
AI chip startup Etched said it completed a $300 million Series C round at a $10.3 billion valuation. Sequoia led the round, with Andreessen Horowitz, SK Hynix, Jane Street and Diffusion Capital also participating.
People and market views
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said on X that the crypto market is showing signs of having bottomed. He wrote that since July 1, bitcoin has risen 9% while the Nasdaq 100 has fallen 6%, ETF fund flows have turned positive and market sentiment has improved.
Hougan added that the next crypto bull market should focus on Hyperliquid, or HYPE, and Robinhood, or HOOD, because in his view they are examples of combining traditional finance with crypto. He described Hyperliquid as a crypto financial application with real revenue and solid token economics, and Robinhood as an established company doing a strong job of building businesses on crypto technology.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes posted a farewell message to the platform, thanking partners, BitMEX employees and customers. “It’s been an incredible ride. We built something special together, and I’m proud of what we achieved,” he wrote.
Hayes also said BitMEX will complete the shutdown responsibly and “in our way.” He repeated his long-held crypto stance, saying he is “against traditional finance, against banks,” and ended the message with “Satoshi for life.”