Tech Headlines

1. BlackRock, Coinbase and Seven Other Institutions Form Bitcoin Security Alliance, Plan to Provide $15 Million in Funding Over Three Years

https://x.com/CoinDesk/status/2080522111274348993

BlackRock, Fidelity Digital Assets, Coinbase, Strategy, Anchorage Digital, Ark Invest, Block, Blockstream and Galaxy Digital have jointly formed the Bitcoin Security Alliance, pledging to provide $15 million over three years to fund Bitcoin open-source developers.

2. EIP-8222 Proposed to Bring Privacy Protection to Ethereum Staking, Institutions Must Weigh Speed and Compliance Costs

https://news.bitcoin.com/institutional-ethereum-stakers-weigh-speed-and-privacy-trade-off-under-eip-8222/

Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-8222 ("Lean Staking") is drawing attention from institutional stakers. The proposal aims to use STARK encryption to separate deposits from withdrawals and re-anonymize validators, allowing institutions to participate in staking without publicly revealing their overall staking positions, addressing long-standing privacy concerns. Thibault Dubuis, head of staking and DeFi products at Sygnum Bank, said EIP-8222 would allow institutions to stake without exposing their positions to the market, but the enhanced privacy could bring execution-level challenges such as higher operational costs, withdrawal delays and compliance audits. While fixed deposit denominations may help improve anonymity, they could also reduce capital efficiency; institutions would still need to manage validator keys, custody arrangements, slashing risks and regulatory reporting. The proposal is still under discussion and its deployment timeline has not yet been determined.

3. Franklin Templeton: Agentic AI Is Crypto's "Killer Use Case"

https://decrypt.co/374055/franklin-templeton-agentic-ai-crypto-killer-use-case

Franklin Templeton's Head of Digital Assets and Innovation, Sandy Kaul, released a report saying agentic AI will become the "killer use case" driving blockchain adoption. The report argues that traditional payment networks are neither structured nor fast enough for the needs of agentic AI—blockchains complete record-keeping and settlement at the same time, while Visa settlement takes one to three business days, a speed gap that matters when AI agents are making thousands of micro-payments per hour. Citing forecasts, the report says AI agents could account for 15% to 25% of U.S. e-commerce sales by 2030, with agentic commerce reaching 3 trillion to 5 trillion. Kaul believes that if each agent uses blockchain-native tokens to buy data, compute, and API services, demand for tokens such as Solana and Ethereum will increase, and investors need to buy these cryptocurrencies to capture the value of decentralized networks.

Industry Dynamics

1. Russia's Parliament Passes First Crypto Law, Retail Annual Coin Purchase Cap at About $3,800

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/07/21/russia-s-parliament-passes-crypto-market-law-rules-to-take-effect-sept-1

Russia's State Duma has passed the country's first comprehensive crypto asset regulation law, which will take effect on September 1. The new law requires that only institutions listed in a "special register" may operate crypto trading platforms, and authorizes banks to refuse transfers to unauthorized platforms. Retail investors may only purchase the most liquid cryptocurrencies through licensed intermediaries, with an annual purchase cap of about $3,800 per intermediary, while qualified investors face no such limit. The law provides judicial protection for holders of unreported crypto assets and brings mining, issuance and circulation, as well as services from brokers, asset managers and trading platforms, under regulation. Russia still prohibits the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services within the country, but allows limited use in foreign trade settlements, transactions involving mining proceeds, and certain digital-asset-related settlements.

2. London Stock Exchange Plans to Launch 24/7 Trading in the First Half of 2027 to Win Back Retail Investors

https://www.ft.com/content/11a512f3-22b8-407f-b913-7ebea1c90d03?syn-25a6b1a6=1

According to the Financial Times, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) plans to launch a standalone overnight trading venue in the first half of 2027 to win back retail investors and compete with crypto platforms that operate 24/7. In the initial phase, this after-hours market will offer trading services for exchange-traded products (ETPs), including funds tracking UK and US equities.

3. Anchorpoint, Led by Standard Chartered, Expected to Launch HKD Stablecoin HKDAP as Soon as This Month

https://finance.sina.com.cn/7x24/2026-07-20/doc-iniimean9805842.shtml

According to a report by Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily citing people familiar with the matter, Anchorpoint, the fintech venture led by Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong), is expected to announce the launch of a stablecoin by the end of this month at the earliest. Anchorpoint plans to launch HKDAP, a stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar. Virtual asset trading platforms including OSL Group and HashKey Exchange will serve as distributors. An Anchorpoint spokesperson told Sing Tao Daily that it is proceeding according to plan with preparations for the phased issuance of HKDAP, a regulated stablecoin pegged to the Hong Kong dollar, and will announce the latest developments in due course.

4. BNY Mellon Plans to Support 24/7 U.S. Treasury Settlement in 2027, Tokenized Pilot to Start by Year-End

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-22/bny-pushes-toward-24-7-treasury-settlement-for-digital-assets?srnd=phx-crypto

BNY Mellon is preparing to offer around-the-clock settlement for U.S. Treasuries in response to the impact of the growing digital asset market on traditional financial infrastructure. In a letter to clients, the bank said it had earlier this year facilitated after-hours U.S. Treasury trades involving stablecoin issuers, and plans to launch tokenized Treasuries by the end of 2026 and conduct pilot trading on its private blockchain, with the goal of enabling 24/7 settlement for both traditional and tokenized Treasuries in 2027. Earlier this year, the bank facilitated post-close Treasury transactions involving stablecoin issuers Ripple, which issues RLUSD, and OpenEden, which issues USDO; both stablecoins are backed by short-term U.S. Treasuries. BNY said the trade "shows that Treasury market activity related to the digital asset ecosystem can continue beyond traditional cutoff times."

In-Depth Analysis

1. Ethereum's 2030 Blueprint: 200x Faster, Quantum-Resistant, and Native Privacy

https://www.panewslab.com/zh/articles/019fa7b7-3649-7268-90d0-4830cf5435f1

Ethereum has been in continuous iteration since its launch in 2015, with upgrades from The Merge to Shapella, Dencun, Pectra, and Fusaka steadily advancing the network's evolution. In July 2025, Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake proposed the Lean Ethereum vision, aiming to consolidate fragmented research directions, retain only the core necessary modules, and form a unified roadmap. This vision was later further developed into the Strawmap draft, and has continued to be updated throughout 2026, outlining the upgrade path for the coming years. The article examines its five "North Star goals" and looks ahead to Ethereum's development prospects in 2030.