Crypto markets recovered after a difficult start to the week, with Bitcoin briefly reaching a three-week high of $65,200 after softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data reduced expectations for another Federal Reserve rate increase. Ether also climbed to $1,895, its highest level since early June, before both assets gave back part of their gains. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index rose to 27 on July 17, moving into “Fear” from 25 yesterday and 23 last week. Sentiment remains cautious, however, with geopolitical tensions and uneven institutional demand continuing to limit the recovery.
Visa Launches Stablecoin Platform
Visa introduced an enterprise platform this week that gives banks, fintechs and crypto companies one environment for managing stablecoin operations. The Visa Stablecoin Platform supports minting, redeeming, holding and transferring Open USD, along with wallet infrastructure, audit logs, transfer allow lists and dual-approval controls. It is also designed to connect stablecoin activity with Visa’s existing payment, treasury and settlement services. The platform, including its Wallet-as-a-Service offering, is initially available in beta to selected clients, with broader availability expected to be shaped by the results of that testing.
Citadel Invests $400 Million in Crypto.com
Citadel Securities invested $400 million in Crypto.com at a $20 billion valuation, marking the exchange’s first institutional fundraising round since its founding in 2016. Crypto.com said the new capital will support expansion into tokenized securities, derivatives and other asset classes as digital-asset companies broaden into full-service financial platforms. The investment also brings one of the world’s largest traditional market makers deeper into crypto infrastructure. The deal stands out against a weaker market backdrop, with Bitcoin still down nearly 27% this year and the overall crypto market valued at about $2.3 trillion.
Bitcoin ETFs opened Monday with $424.7 million in net outflows, led by $245.6 million from Fidelity’s FBTC, $185.5 million from BlackRock’s IBIT and $53.1 million from Grayscale’s GBTC. Tuesday reversed course with $181.1 million in net inflows, including $138.9 million for IBIT and $21.1 million for FBTC. Wednesday added $107.7 million, led by IBIT at $80.8 million, while Thursday brought another $79.1 million across IBIT, FBTC and Bitwise’s BITB. Despite three consecutive positive sessions after Monday’s selloff, the reporting period ended with $56.8 million in net outflows overall.
Ethereum ETFs began Monday with $15.4 million in net outflows, entirely from Fidelity’s FETH. Tuesday delivered a sharp reversal with $58.3 million in net inflows, all directed to BlackRock’s ETHA. Wednesday added another $53.9 million, led by $45.3 million for ETHA, with smaller contributions from Grayscale’s ETH and Bitwise’s ETHB. Thursday was the weakest midweek session at $28.0 million in net outflows, driven by ETH, FETH and Grayscale’s ETHE. Ethereum funds still finished the reporting period with $68.8 million in net inflows overall.
XPR Network was the strongest performer among the tracked Metal Pay assets, gaining 13.2% over seven days and finishing well ahead of Loan Protocol at 6.0%. Ethereum rose 3.1%, while Metal Blockchain and Litecoin recorded smaller gains and Bitcoin finished flat. The remaining assets declined modestly, with Cardano, Stellar and XRP holding up better than Dogecoin, Metal DAO, Solana and Hedera.
