Movement Network said the main obstacle to stablecoin-based cross-border payments is end-market liquidity rather than settlement technology. Citing World Bank data, the network said the global average cost of remittances stands at 6.36%, with some regions exceeding 8%. While stablecoins can settle transfers quickly, limited local fiat conversion depth has made it difficult for them to gain broad adoption across remittance corridors. Movement Network also said more than 90% of stablecoin circulation is still concentrated in trading and DeFi, while real-world payments account for only 5% to 10%. To address liquidity constraints in remittance corridors across emerging markets, it said USDCx has been expanded to more trading venues. Deeper liquidity, according to the network, can tighten exchange spreads and reduce the market impact of large conversions.

China and the United States are planning artificial intelligence talks in September, according to a Reuters report citing five people familiar with the matter. The discussions are set to focus on regulatory risks tied to increasingly powerful frontier AI models. One of the sources said the U.S. side is expected to be led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The people cited in the report added that both sides are still working out the participant list, agenda and venue. The item was carried by Odaily, which cited Reuters and referenced CNBC in its brief.

Robinhood Chain has reached $431 million in total value locked in less than three weeks since going live, while daily active users have climbed past 250,000. The network’s decentralized exchange has recorded $9 billion in trading volume so far, with meme tokens accounting for more than 80% of that total. FalconX said tokenized real-world assets, or RWAs, could become the key driver of activity on Robinhood Chain going forward. The figures point to strong early traction for the network, with current trading heavily concentrated in meme-related activity even as market participants watch whether tokenized asset issuance and trading can broaden usage over time.

PANews, citing PA Beacon data compiled from the Polymarket Data API, reviewed large pre-match trades across all 104 matches of the 2026 World Cup and found that so-called smart money ended the tournament in the black, but only after a sharp shift from early losses. The sample covered 312 win/draw/loss markets and only counted pre-match BUY trades worth at least $5,000, with positions grouped by wallet, match, market and direction. By the end of the event, total pre-match buying reached $474.04 million, of which $298.49 million was on the correct side. Based on a hold-to-resolution estimate, total returns came to about $502.93 million, implying net profit of $28.8858 million and an ROI of 6.09%. That headline number hides a much more uneven picture. Out of 1,856 wallets, 1,003 were profitable and 853 lost money, yet the top five profit-making wallets accounted for 37.85% of gross profits, and the top 10 accounted for 55.39%. Some accounts, including mintblade and GRIMDRIP, made outsized gains from just one or two concentrated bets, while high-frequency participants such as swisstony posted much smaller profits despite covering most of the tournament. The data also showed that large consensus by dollar amount was often driven by a few wallets rather than broad market agreement, especially in knockout-stage betting on Spain, Argentina, France and England.

PPP’s prediction market tracker shows traders on Polymarket assigning a 75% probability that WTI crude will touch or exceed $85 per barrel in July. The same market puts the odds of hitting $90 at 32% and $95 at 17%. Under the contract rules, the outcome resolves to Yes if the high of any 1-minute candlestick in the front-month WTI futures contract reaches or exceeds the target price at any point during July trading. The contract is tied to whether specific price levels are touched, not whether crude closes the month above them. The move comes after a recent shift in oil-market expectations. WTI had previously fallen back to around $70 per barrel from conflict-driven highs as easing U.S.-Iran tensions and expectations for resumed navigation through the Strait of Hormuz reduced fears of supply disruption. More recently, renewed strain in U.S.-Iran relations and rising transport risk around the Strait of Hormuz have led the market to price Middle East supply disruption risk back in, supporting a rebound in oil prices.

Gate has added Quanto perpetual contracts and launched four Hong Kong stock-linked products in its stocks section at 16:30 UTC+8 on July 21, according to an official announcement. The newly listed contracts are TENCENTHKD for Tencent Holdings (00700.HK), ZHIPUHKD for Zhipu (02513.HK), MINIMAXHKD for MINIMAX-W (00100.HK), and XIAOMIHKD for Xiaomi Group (01810.HK). All four products support leverage ranging from 1x to 20x. The exchange said Quanto perpetual contracts quote the underlying asset in local fiat currency, while margin and profit and loss are settled in USDT. That structure allows users to trade overseas stock derivatives priced in local currencies, including Hong Kong equities, without converting funds into HKD in advance. Gate also said the model can reduce the impact of exchange-rate swings on trading returns and make cross-market trading more straightforward for users.

Data cited by Odaily shows Kalshi recorded $54.338 billion in total platform trading volume during the World Cup period, about 2.6 times Polymarket’s $20.988 billion. In World Cup-related event trading alone, Kalshi posted $13.591 billion, roughly 31% higher than Polymarket’s $10.356 billion. On the user side, Kalshi’s app reached 5.368 million downloads, ahead of Polymarket’s 2.136 million, while Polymarket’s website traffic stood at 57.44 million visits. Other platforms remained far smaller: Predict.fun logged $1.092 billion in total volume and $886 million tied to World Cup events; Opinion recorded $1.137 billion in total volume and about $561 million in World Cup-related trading; Limitless posted $446 million in total volume and about $220 million related to the tournament. Kalshi and Polymarket together accounted for more than 95% of total market share.

Maharashtra is moving ahead with draft legislation for tokenized real estate, according to a post by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis cited by ChainCatcher. The proposal, titled the Maharashtra Digitization and Exchange of Land Token Assets Act, or DELTA Act, is now in the drafting stage. Fadnavis said he chaired a meeting on the matter and directed officials to study global laws, regulations, and established practices before shaping the state’s approach. He also called for the formation of an expert committee that will include representatives from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the National Stock Exchange (NSE), and other professionals. Under the proposal, real estate would be tokenized using blockchain technology, with transactions handled fully on-chain. Fadnavis said the initiative is intended to unlock the latent value of real estate, open new revenue channels, and support Maharashtra’s goal of reaching a $1 trillion GDP by 2030. If enacted, Maharashtra would become the first Indian state to introduce this type of regulation.