Tether now holds over 140 tons of gold worth $24B, becoming the largest private holder outside banks and governments; XAUt dominates 50%+ of gold-backed stablecoin market.
Gold has rebounded from the $4,023 area and moved back above $4,300. Analysts are focused on resistance at $4,366, near-term support at $4,300-$4,310, and Fibonacci support at $4,154.
Western Union plans to roll out USDPT on Solana next month through Anchorage Digital Bank, starting with institutional settlement while also building a wallet network and a stablecoin payment card.
BitMart said in an official announcement that its futures stock zone will add nine new perpetual contracts on July 21, 2026, at 15:00 UTC+8. The listings include CPNGUSDT, MUFGUSDT, NVDLUSDT, TSLLUSDT, GGLLUSDT, AMZUUSDT, METUUSDT, AAPUUSDT, and MSFUUSDT. According to the announcement, all of the newly listed contracts will support leverage of up to 20x. The update was reported by Odaily.
A broad set of crypto, payments, regulatory and AI developments emerged between July 16 and July 17. CoinGecko’s 2026 second-quarter report showed total crypto market capitalization fell 12.6% to $2.1 trillion by the end of June, while stablecoin market cap slipped 1.6% to $305.1 billion, marking its first decline since Q3 2023. Centralized exchange spot volume dropped 27.9% to $1.95 trillion, but prediction market notional volume rose 48.7% to $113.8 billion. In Washington, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a new Regulation E-Delivery framework that would let issuers, broker-dealers and investment advisers default to electronic delivery for a wide range of required disclosures, with a 60-day public comment period after publication in the Federal Register. Separately, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether trading on Kalshi involving alleged early access to Trump speech content may have relied on nonpublic information. Corporate and product announcements also accelerated. Visa launched its Visa Stablecoin Platform, while Flex raised $70 million for its stablecoin-based cross-border banking platform. Crypto.com disclosed a $400 million strategic investment from Citadel Securities at a $20 billion valuation, and T. Rowe Price launched TKNZ, described as the first actively managed multi-token spot crypto ETF. Binance, MoonPay, Alpaca, Fireworks, Ethena and several other firms also announced new listings, acquisitions, funding rounds or ecosystem expansions.
Binance Futures is set to add five USD-margined TradFi perpetual contracts, according to an official announcement cited by PANews on July 16. The new listings cover MINIMAXUSDT, ZHIPUUSDT, HK0700USDT, HK1810USDT and TENCENTUSDT. The rollout is scheduled for July 17 on a staggered timetable in UTC+8. MINIMAXUSDT will go live at 11:00, followed by ZHIPUUSDT at 11:05. HK0700USDT and HK1810USDT, both listed as Quanto perpetual contracts, are scheduled for 11:10 and 11:15 respectively. TENCENTUSDT, a USDT-settled perpetual contract, is due to launch later at 13:00. The notice identifies MINIMAXUSDT, ZHIPUUSDT and TENCENTUSDT as USDT-denominated perpetual contracts, while HK0700USDT and HK1810USDT will be introduced as Quanto perpetual contracts.
OneBullEx has added a new batch of USDT-margined stock and index-related contracts, including QQQUSDT, NVDAUSDT, TSLAUSDT, AAPLUSDT, MUUSDT, WDCUSDT and SPCXUSDT, according to an official announcement cited by ChainCatcher. The newly listed products support both cross margin and isolated margin modes. The exchange said the latest listings span several key segments tied to global innovation industries. QQQ offers broader exposure to large-cap technology and growth names, while Nvidia, Micron Technology and Western Digital correspond to AI computing power, memory and data storage infrastructure. Apple and Tesla extend the lineup into smart devices, automation and energy technology. With the addition of SPCXUSDT, the platform said its global asset coverage now also reaches commercial space, satellite connectivity and space infrastructure. OneBullEx said the launch expands its product offering beyond crypto assets by adding instruments linked to global technology companies and indexes. The platform added that it will continue expanding global asset coverage around its goal of building an AI-native financial exchange, while also exploring long-term applications for AI-powered trading capabilities across more asset classes and market scenarios.
Binance Futures is set to launch three USDT-margined perpetual contracts on July 16, 2026, according to an official announcement cited by Odaily. The rollout will begin with MUUUSDT at 09:00 UTC, followed by SOXSUSDT at 09:05 UTC and TZAUSDT at 09:10 UTC. The exchange said all three contracts will carry the same core trading parameters. Each will offer leverage of up to 25x, with a minimum order quantity of 0.01 and a minimum notional value of 5 USDT. Binance also set the funding rate cap at +2.00% and -2.00%, while funding settlement will take place once every eight hours. The announcement covers the listing schedule and contract specifications for the three products and does not provide additional details beyond those trading terms.
