Robinhood Chain launched July 1 as an Arbitrum L2 built for tokenized equities — the next infrastructure layer for its Everything Exchange ambitions. Two weeks later it has $135 million in total value locked and 800,000 wallet addresses, but almost none of that activity is in tokenized stocks. Memecoins dominate: HOOD, VLAD, HOOD2025, and dozens of others launched within hours of the chain going live and quickly overtook the platform's intended use case. The irony is sharp — Robinhood's brand was built on democratizing stock trading, and its chain is being used to recreate the exact speculative casino its founders said they wanted to disrupt. The tokenized stock use case isn't dead, but it's being crowded out by faster, noisier demand.
CoinDesk Disclosure: The information contained in this newsletter, and any information linked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency or digital assets.
L1.co Disclosure: This material is for informational purposes only, and the content contained herein should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to sell or buy any asset, strategy, or product. Investing in digital assets involves a high degree of risk, including the loss of principal.
Zcash's Tachyon upgrade is the protocol's most ambitious overhaul yet — designed to scale shielded payments, harden the network against quantum computing attacks, and stress-test whether its funding model and governance can hold under pressure. CoinDesk Research examines how the upgrade positions Zcash ahead of the quantum computing threat that most blockchains are only beginning to take seriously, and what the outcome means for privacy-preserving infrastructure at scale.
The Securities Transfer Association — the industry group representing Wall Street's transfer agents, the firms that officially track stock ownership — has submitted a comment letter to the SEC arguing that third-party tokenized representations of equities should receive different regulatory treatment than company-authorized tokenization. Their core argument: only issuer-sanctioned tokens should count as legitimate ownership records, while tokens minted by third parties like Robinhood, Coinbase, or offshore exchanges create a parallel and legally ambiguous claims structure that could undermine market integrity. The fight is a preview of the next major regulatory battle in tokenized finance — who gets to define what constitutes valid equity ownership on-chain.
U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged airstrikes over the weekend, reigniting Strait of Hormuz fears and sending Brent crude up more than 3% toward $79 a barrel. Bitcoin fell more than 1% to trade near $62,800, slipping below $63,000 during Asian hours in a minor leverage flush — liquidations about a sixth of the worst seen in the past month. The pullback is happening against a constructive backdrop: spot bitcoin and ether ETFs just broke eight-week outflow streaks. And Strategy disclosed it raised $467 million in cash last week via common stock sales — but made zero changes to its bitcoin holdings. This week’s key events: CPI Tuesday, PPI Wednesday, FOMC July 28–29.
Grayscale Solana Trust ETF (ticker: GSOL) is now delivering enhanced value to investors, including 100% staking.* Solana staking rewards have historically averaged 6-8% a year.2
GSOL, an exchange traded product, is not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“40 Act”), and therefore is not subject to the same regulations and protections as 40 Act registered ETFs and mutual funds. GSOL is subject to significant risk and heightened volatility. GSOL is not suitable for an investor who cannot afford to the loss of the entire investment. An investment in GSOL is not a direct investment in Solana.
Please read the prospectus carefully before investing in the Fund. Foreside Fund Services, LLC is the Marketing Agent for the Fund.
Potential staking rewards are earned by the Fund. Staking rewards are not guaranteed and should not be considered an indication of Fund performance. The Fund’s ability to engage in staking is conditional and may be modified. Staking requires that the Fund lock up SOL for the period of time required by the staking protocol, meaning the Fund cannot sell or transfer the staked SOL, thereby making it illiquid for the period it is being staked.
1 As of 6/4/26
2 Stakingrewards.com. The range observed is from 09/16/22 to 09/28/25 and the average over this period is 7.10%. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
CoinDesk Disclosure: The information contained in this newsletter, and any information linked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency or digital assets.
L1.co Disclosure: This material is for informational purposes only, and the content contained herein should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to sell or buy any asset, strategy, or product. Investing in digital assets involves a high degree of risk, including the loss of principal.
What matters today
Markets
Story 1 of 3
Resurgent U.S.–Iran hostilities send bitcoin lower, even as ETF flows show demand.
Bitcoin is hovering near $63,000 after falling more than 1% since midnight UTC, caught in a wider wave of risk-off sentiment following mutual U.S.–Iran airstrikes over the weekend. Brent crude futures rose more than 3% to approach $79 a barrel as the renewed fighting raised concerns over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Higher energy prices add inflationary pressure and reduce the scope for easier monetary policy — a combination that has weighed on bitcoin during every oil shock this cycle. “This week, crypto markets will experience a ‘tug-of-war’ between macro and geopolitics,” Taran Dhillon, head of digital assets at Kula, told CoinDesk. The macro side of that tug-of-war comes in two installments: Tuesday’s CPI release and Wednesday’s PPI will shape interest-rate expectations heading into the July 28–29 FOMC meeting. The geopolitical side has no calendar. Despite the pressure, the underlying demand picture is improving: spot bitcoin and ether ETFs both broke eight-week outflow streaks last week, a sign that institutional appetite is tentatively returning. The Clarity Act’s continued advancement through Congress is providing incremental regulatory tailwind, with Dhillon noting that “every step toward clarity on how digital assets are classified and overseen reduces that discount and makes the asset class easier for institutional capital to underwrite.” Bitcoin’s weekly chart shows a bounce off the $58,000 level — the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement — but the price remains in a broader pattern of lower highs. Key resistance to clear: $66,000 and $68,900. Daily RSI sits near 38 — weak, but with no divergence flagging a trend reversal.
Strategy added $467 million in cash last week — and made no changes to its bitcoin holdings.
Strategy (MSTR) disclosed Monday in a regulatory filing that it raised $466.7 million last week through its at-the-market equity program — sales of common stock — bringing its U.S. dollar reserve to $3 billion. The company maintains the reserve to fund preferred stock dividend payments and outstanding debt interest. Crucially, it made no bitcoin purchases or sales during the week, leaving its holdings unchanged at 843,775 BTC. That total was acquired at an aggregate cost of approximately $63.69 billion, including fees, at an average price of $75,476 per bitcoin — meaning at current prices around $62,800, Strategy is sitting on a paper loss of roughly $10.8 billion. MSTR shares were down around 3% in pre-market trading as bitcoin fell through the weekend. The decision to raise cash without buying BTC continues a pattern seen since the company’s June capital management announcement, when it authorized up to $1.25 billion in potential BTC sales to build the USD reserve. The reserve now stands at $3 billion — $0.45 billion above the $2.55 billion target it set at the June announcement. Whether Strategy deploys any of that reserve back into bitcoin or continues to hold it as preferred stock coverage will be closely watched as the week develops.
Bitcoin slips below $63,000 in an Asian-session leverage flush.
Bitcoin fell to around $62,800 during the Asian session Monday, down 1.4% over 24 hours, after sliding from roughly $64,300 in early Asian morning hours. Nothing structurally new drove it. Bitcoin has traded in a $59,000–$66,000 range for a month, and the Asian-session drop was a leverage flush inside that corridor — liquidations ran at about a sixth of what the market recorded at its worst over the past 30 days, per CoinGlass. Anchorage Digital analysts attribute roughly 30% of the persistent pressure on bitcoin to capital rotating into AI equities — a headwind that has nothing to do with crypto fundamentals and everything to do with where institutional dollars are going. SK Hynix fell in Seoul the same session after its U.S. trading debut, with traders pointing to profit-taking and rotation into new American depositary receipts. The memory chipmaker is down more than 30% from its June record despite a multi-year run of more than 25-fold gains since 2022. Bitcoin and AI chip stocks have traded in the same direction for weeks, tethered by the same underlying question about risk appetite and capital allocation. June’s inflation print lands July 14 and the Fed meets July 28–29 — the two events most likely to decide whether risk assets get relief or another leg down. Until then, the $59,000–$66,000 range is likely to hold as the battlefield.
CoinDesk Disclosure: The information contained in this newsletter, and any information linked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency or digital assets.
L1.co Disclosure: This material is for informational purposes only, and the content contained herein should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to sell or buy any asset, strategy, or product. Investing in digital assets involves a high degree of risk, including the loss of principal.
Crypto Daybook Americas: A newsletter from CoinDesk
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