India’s Enforcement Directorate, through its Bengaluru zonal office, carried out search operations on July 18 and 19 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with a virtual asset over-the-counter fraud case targeting overseas investors. According to ChainCatcher, the group allegedly used private social channels to claim it could supply tokens including MultiversX, Kava, BEAM, GRASS, SUI, VANA and AGLD at discounted prices, drawing foreign investors into sending funds. The total amount tied to the case was reported at about $35 million, and the matter was initially registered following a complaint from a Dutch entity. During the operation, authorities seized electronic devices, wallet-related records and crypto assets worth 8,700 USDT. The agency said the investigation is still expanding as officials work to uncover the full criminal chain.

A commentary published by MarsBit on July 21 argues that Stripe’s latest push around PayPal, stablecoins and agent-driven payments reflects a broader reality in financial technology: payments remain fragmented, deeply tied to banking infrastructure and resistant to any single company’s attempt at full control. The piece says Stripe missed its pandemic-era IPO window after once reaching a $100 billion valuation, then turned to acquisitions and new narratives spanning merchant acquiring, stablecoins and agent-side protocols. In the author’s view, that strategy is partly an effort to fill Stripe’s weak consumer-facing position after limited progress using stablecoins to crack the C-end market. The article also casts doubt on whether PayPal, despite products such as Venmo and PYUSD, can reverse its decline through new business lines alone. It further compares Stripe with Circle, saying both are moving toward a mix of public chains, stablecoins and settlement rails, while arguing that long-term value may sit less in token issuance economics and more in settlement efficiency. The core claim is that third-party payments have no simple “first principle” because the sector is shaped by local licensing, banking control and a durable patchwork of regional operators.

WhiteLine Daily argues that the market is entering a new phase in the AI buildout, where the key question is no longer just how much large tech companies are willing to spend. The focus is shifting to the cost of financing that spending and whether new AI revenue can keep pace. The note highlights Alphabet and IBM ahead of their July 22 results, saying enterprise budgets appear to be moving toward servers, storage, and memory rather than being evenly spread across software and consulting. That puts pressure on cloud providers to show that rising demand for compute can turn into revenue, operating profit, and orders. The analysis also pushes back on the idea that weaker free cash flow alone would force Alphabet to slow down. WhiteLine says Alphabet still has strong operating cash flow and fast-growing cloud revenue, making it more likely to rely on a mix of cash flow, debt, and equity than to cut infrastructure spending. Oracle is presented as a live market test: even with strong order metrics, its shares still fell after investors focused on whether future profits would cover depreciation, interest expense, and financing costs. WhiteLine’s central view is that the first hard limit on AI CapEx is credit deterioration, not free cash flow compression.

Russia’s State Duma has approved a bill that sets out rules for the country’s crypto market and creates a legal framework for the use of digital assets in domestic operations and cross-border trade. According to official Duma records, lawmakers on Tuesday completed the second and third readings of bill No. 1194918-8, titled the Law on Digital Currency and Digital Rights, and formally passed it after a final vote had already been scheduled. The bill establishes a regulatory structure for crypto market participants, including trading platforms, brokers, asset managers, and custodians, while also imposing compliance requirements on related businesses. Under its provisions, crypto assets may be used for foreign trade, or cross-border trade settlements, but crypto remains barred as a payment method for goods and services inside Russia. The main provisions are expected to take effect on Sept. 1, 2026, followed by a transition period running until July 1, 2027. The measure still requires President Vladimir Putin’s signature before it can take legal effect.

Beijing’s Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology said the city’s digital economy value added grew 7.8% in the first half of the year, while value added from core digital economy industries rose 9.8%, making a notable contribution to overall GDP growth. Looking to the second half of 2026, the bureau said Beijing will advance annual tasks tied to building a benchmark digital economy city and push forward its “AI+” action plan. Among the measures outlined, Beijing plans to formulate policies for the development of the Token economy, focusing on production, distribution, and application. The city also plans to build a Token factory and a Token distribution platform, with intended use cases in sectors including industry, education, and culture and tourism. The bureau also said it will expand AI adoption in consumer-facing scenarios such as smart translation and simultaneous interpretation in the tourism and cultural consumption sector, while supporting OPC roadshows, AIGC training programs, and an open-source ecosystem built around “RISC-V+AI OS.”

US Treasury Secretary Bessent said on July 21 that the government is trying to create market signals through its holdings in corporate shares, according to BlockBeats. He also said he wants the Clarity Act passed before Congress goes into recess. The remarks point to a policy stance in which government-held equity stakes are viewed not only as assets on the balance sheet, but also as a way to communicate direction to markets. The update did not include further detail on which holdings were involved or how such signals would be implemented. Bessent’s comments were published by BlockBeats as a short policy and regulation update.

A Reuters poll cited by Odaily found unanimous expectations among 104 economists that the U.S. Federal Reserve will leave the federal funds rate unchanged at 3.50%-3.75% on July 29. The survey also showed that 78 of the 104 economists expect the Fed to keep the policy rate in the same 3.50%-3.75% range throughout 2026. In the previous month’s poll, 78 out of 102 economists had the same expectation for 2026. The update was attributed to Jin10 in the Odaily newsflash.

US Treasury Secretary Bessent said the United States supports open-source models, while rejecting intellectual property theft. He also said US authorities had previously frozen $130 million in crypto wallets tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. In the same remarks, Bessent said officials are tracking the Ayatollah’s assets and hope to identify the relevant addresses. The comments were cited by market sources and reported by Odaily.