COIN closed at $165.48 on July 2, up about 19% over five sessions (+$26.30), touching an intraday high above $173 — its strongest run since the winter selloff that had left it pinned near a $139.18 52-week low.
The move tracked Coinbase’s second “System Update,” which rolled out tokenized stocks for non-US users, on-platform options, external-portfolio support, and an AI-powered, SEC-registered Coinbase Advisor.
Wall Street stayed constructive: Bernstein ($330), Benchmark ($270) and Cantor Fitzgerald ($250) reiterated Buy-side calls, while Barclays held a $107 bear target.
Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) just reminded the market why it remains one of the most volatile names in the S&P 500. After weeks of grinding near its 52-week low, the stock ripped roughly 19% in five sessions to close at $165.48 on July 2, briefly trading above $173 intraday before settling — a sharp reclaim of support off the mid-$140s.
Coinbase Share Price | Source: Google
Why Coinbase (COIN) Stock Jumped in July 2026
The catalyst was product velocity. Coinbase’s second “System Update” event unveiled tokenized stocks for non-US users, on-platform options trading, support for external stock portfolios, broad US equity and ETF access, and an AI-powered, SEC-registered Coinbase Advisor — the clearest signal yet of CEO Brian Armstrong’s ambition to turn the platform into an “everything exchange” spanning crypto, equities, derivatives and prediction markets.
Momentum built further as Coinbase joined a consortium of more than 140 firms, including Visa and Mastercard, to launch Open USD (OUSD), a new dollar-pegged stablecoin, deepening its footprint in on-chain payments.
Smart money leaned in during the dip, too: Ark Invest bought $44 million of Coinbase stock in June 2026, reinforcing the accumulationnarrative just as the product news hit. For traders looking at the broader picture behind the exchange’s aggressive roadmap, Coinbase’s recent trading-product expansion offers useful context on how far the super-app strategy has already stretched.
Coinbase (COIN) Stock Price Target: What Analysts Say
Even after the run, most of the Street still sees room above current levels. Bernstein reiterated a Buy with a Street-high $330 target following the System Update event, pointing to Coinbase’s diversification into stock trading, custody, stablecoins, Base and institutional offerings. Benchmark’s Mark Palmer held a Buy with a $270 target, and Cantor Fitzgerald’s Ramsey El Assal maintained a Buy after lifting his target to $250. Rosenblatt, Clear Street and Deutsche Bank also reiterated bullish ratings with targets in the $208–$270 range, framing Coinbase as a developing financial “super app.”
The bull case isn’t unanimous. Barclays reiterated an Underweight rating and a $107 target, arguing new products are unlikely to offset muted crypto trading volumes — a reminder that COIN still trades at a premium valuation while Q1 revenue came in soft. With the next earnings report due, the gap between the platform’s product execution and its trading-volume reality is the swing factor for whether COIN can hold its July gains.
Also Read: Top Crypto Stocks to Watch in July 2026: Latest Wall Street Price Targets
Disclaimer: The information researched and reported by The Crypto Times is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional financial advice. Investing in crypto assets involves significant risk due to market volatility. Always Do Your Own Research (DYOR) and consult with a qualified Financial Advisor before making any investment decisions.
Coronation Street viewers watched Megan Walsh’s future sealed on Friday (July 3) as she was handed a five-year prison sentence after being found guilty.
It was the outcome the Driscoll family had been hoping for after months of turmoil, but for Megan and her mum Janine, the courtroom verdict marked a devastating turning point.
With Megan now behind bars, fans are already wondering whether this was the last time they’ll see Beth Nixon on the cobbles.
Megan’s behind bars (Credit: ITV)
Megan sentenced to five years in Coronation Street
The Driscoll family faced an emotional wait as Megan Walsh’s trial finally reached its conclusion. Will hoped the verdict would finally bring an end to the ordeal she had put him through.
Inside the courtroom, Will sat alongside his family, while Megan’s mum Janine anxiously awaited the jury’s decision.
After deliberating, the jury returned guilty verdicts on both charges. Megan was found guilty of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, including doing so while in a position of trust.
The judge then sentenced Megan to five years in prison, although Maggie pointed out she could end up serving only half that time.
As officers led her away, Megan called Will a ‘liar’ before desperately begging Janine to help her. Holding back tears, Janine could only watch as her daughter pleaded with her to “do something” before being taken to her cell.
Later, Ollie urged Will to look ahead, with Megan now finally behind bars.
Megan received her sentence (Credit: ITV)
Beth Nixon’s exit from Coronation Street
While Coronation Street has yet to confirm whether Megan’s sentencing marked Beth Nixon’s final scenes, it certainly looks that way.
Unless Megan returns in future prison scenes, it appears the storyline has now reached its conclusion. If that is the case, it would also bring Beth’s time filming on the soap to an end.
Back in May, it was reported that Beth was preparing to film her final scenes. A source told The Sun: “It’s not easy coming in as such a twisted character but she has done a brilliant job and really impressed bosses.
“Sadly, there’s no way back for her character otherwise, she would have had a long future in Weatherfield.
“Beth is gearing up to film her final scenes which will play out on screen later this year.”
Earlier this week, co-star Jude Riordan also shared a photo of himself and Beth from her final days on set as he paid tribute to his friend on Instagram.
In the picture, Beth appeared to be standing beside Jude with tears in her eyes. Jude captioned the post: “FRIENDS REALLY. I really enjoyed working with Beth. Megan really tormented Sam and pushed him right over the edge but shows what a great baddie she is!”
Beth replied: “Aww Jude, you can see the tears in my eyes here. I loved working with you and you are smashing this storyline.” She also congratulated Jude on his recent award nomination for his portrayal of Sam Blakeman.
Read more: Coronation Street opinion: Soap losing balance as villains dominate
Coronation Street usually airs Monday-Friday at 8.30pm on ITV.
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Before walking down the aisle with Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce was already thinking about what married life might look like.
Travis reflected on hitting the stage as a backup dancer during fiancée Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stop at London’s Wembley Stadium in June 2024, during a conversation with Prince William on Travis and brother Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast on Friday, July 3.
“Definitely a very proud moment of my life,” Travis, 36, said.
William, 44, was such a fan of the moment that he encouraged Travis to “do it again.”
“If Tay’s gonna sign up for a tour, I’ll happily make sure that we bring it back to life,” Travis boasted.
Travis, Jason, 38, and Swift, 36, met William and two of his children — son George, 12, and daughter Charlotte, 11 — during the pop star’s run of Eras Tour shows at Wembley. William also shares son Louis, 8, with his wife, Princess Kate Middleton.
“One of the coolest moments ever was meeting you and the little ones that day,” Travis said. “Me and Jason joke about it all the time. We were so nervous to meet you guys and the royal family.”
Jason was especially nervous when meeting the royal family, unsure what he was supposed to do with his hands while he was holding a beer.
“It wasn’t a joke, it was reality,” Jason recalled. “You want to be respectful and know the protocols.”
Jason added, “Princess Charlotte was the highlight for me. I have four daughters, as well. She was great.”
The former Philadelphia Eagles center and his wife, Kylie, share Wyatt, 6, Elliotte, 5, Bennett, 3, and Finn, 15 months. Dad-of-three William marveled at how Jason and Kylie manage to juggle it all.
“Congratulations on having four daughters, I don’t know how you do that,” he said.
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After a hearty laugh, Jason responded, “That is definitely a difficult task. The hardest job.”
Travis is rumored to be getting married to Swift at Madison Square Garden on Friday, July 3. The couple appeared to hold their rehearsal dinner at the iconic arena on Thursday, July 2, with guests including Erin Andrews, Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, Jack Antonoff, Gigi Hadid, Adam Sandler and more.
While plans for another Swift tour are likely far off, she did release the song “I Knew It, I Knew You” from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack last month, the first new music she’s put out since her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, in October 2025.
There’s this funny little Nintendo DS RPG called Contact, developed by Grasshopper and inspired heavily by Earthbound. Its Metacritic score is hmm, and most people I speak to have never heard of it. But I have profoundly fond memories of this silly little game, and it’s all thanks to a jumbled-up used video game bargain bin at a GameStop where I found it at random one day over a decade ago. It cost $5.
Man, I miss those big, disorganized bins of unbelievably cheap, usually mediocre, used video games.
For no reason whatsoever, I’ve been thinking a lot about physical media since yesterday. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about my own physical game collection, and how I’ve slowly moved away from physical games to digital over the years. There are a lot of reasons for that, most of them related to sheer convenience, but it occurred to me that one factor which has contributed to the dwindling of my physical game collection is the decreasingly frequency with which I encounter such bins out in the wild.
They’re not gone entirely. A few GameStops still have used video game racks, and local game stores are often far more fruitful. But as our consumption of everything has slowly become more digital, there is a growing scarcity of the kind of bargain bin I really love: a big, square vat that just has a bunch of stuff thrown in seemingly at random. I used to love digging through these. You’ll start at the top, which is mostly all the sports games no one wants and whatever Call of Dutys are oldest/least popular at the moment. But the deeper you dig, the more interesting things you’ll find. Treasures I manifested from such bins in the past include Evolution Worlds, Ar Tonelico, and several different Art Academy games. I’m pretty sure this is also how I ended up playing the most underrated Tales game, Tales of Legendia. I have incredibly fond memories of all of these, I definitely paid less than $20 for each one back when their respective systems were still relatively current, and I probably never would have encountered them if not for the bargain bin.
With Sony ditching disc games in 2028, I can only assume that the good ol’ used game bargain bin will only continue to fade into memory. Not only will physical games be a far more precious commodity, but deep discounts like GameStop’s classic 4 for $20 are almost certainly gone for good. It hurts my heart to know that the next generation will never have the joy of sifting through about 100 copies of a several-year-old Madden game just to, surprise! find the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers game and experience its joys for themselves.
Anyone find any good bargain bin games back in the day? Or even now? Tell me about them, please. Let’s keep the memories alive.
Days of Our Lives hint that Holly Jonas’ (Ashley Puzemis) health issues could prove fatal as her arsenic poisoning worsens and Tate Black (Leo Howard) just said that Holly’s mom, Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker), was back in the US and had landed in Chicago.
However, it seems like a long shot that we are getting Arianne Zucker back. We’re seeing Holly’s health go from bad to worse with EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel), the only one who knows that it’s arsenic killing her. And with Nicole in town and EJ in deep trouble, this is getting good.
Days of Our Lives: Holly’s Arsenic Crisis and the Nicole Question
So, Holly said she was feeling better, but that was a blatant lie that she told to Tate so that he would leave and go do what he needed to. She didn’t want him to worry about her. But then when he left, Holly curled up in a ball in agonizing pain. We know that Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey) told Brady Black (Eric Martsolf) that it would be three to five days to get the test results back, but EJ already has test results.
His guy George said that their water sample came back fast because they knew what to test for: arsenic. As of now, Sarah has no idea what is causing the symptoms or how to treat Holly. And Sarah’s scared that Holly might die like her patient Destiny did. And when EJ asked George, “Won’t Holly recover from the arsenic?” George gave EJ very bad news. So, George said Holly’s doctors may not be able to save her because they don’t know that they need to be treating arsenic poisoning. So, it’s getting worse and she may die. And that leaves EJ in a real pickle.
Days of our Lives: Brady Suspects a Relapse
Right now all Brady and Sarah know is that Holly had Coriseal in her system and was drinking a lot of water. So, Brady wonders if Holly might be using illegal drugs again, just that she might have relapsed because of all this stress, including Sophia’s death and Amy Choi’s (Shi Ne Neilson) lawsuit. And EJ’s doubly stressed because George saw Brady on Smith Island, and George said Brady was taking a water sample.
Bottom line is Nicole’s back in Illinois. Holly’s dying and EJ’s family company is to blame for at least two deaths and possibly three if Holly doesn’t pull out of this. And Tate told Holly to expect Nicole to come see her soon, but unless they’ve done a temporary recast, I doubt we’re actually going to see Holly’s mom.
Arianne Zucker was suing Days and Sony and Albert Allar and Ken Corde and I think some others. They settled out of court with Arianne, but networks usually don’t rehire people that sue them. I’m team Arianne on this. However, I really doubt that she’s back. I mean, fingers crossed, but it seems a slim chance.
Days of our Lives: Nicole May Not Be Seen
And it seems crazy to think about, but they could have written this so Nicole’s stuff is all off-screen. We could hear Holly got a visit from her mom, but then she left to take a shower. Or EJ comes in and says, “Oh, I just talked to Nicole and she’s really mad about Holly’s illness.” Crazy stuff like that. A recast would make a lot more sense because Holly needs to be able to feel her mom’s arms around her comforting her because she’s scared. She’s in pain. And right now, Nicole, Eric Brady (Greg Vaughan), and their son Jude all live in Paris.
They did an off-screen Nicole return when Holly had her high school graduation. If you remember, we only saw Greg Vaughan as Eric, and they mentioned that Nicole’s mad at him and didn’t sit near him at the ceremony and then left.
Days of our Lives Lawsuit
Again, if you don’t recall the whole backstory to this, Arianne Zucker sued them, alleging sexual harassment, discrimination, and I think hostile work environment as well. And this was after Albert Allar was accused of some pretty icky stuff behind the scenes. And there was that bloodbath when he reportedly fired so many actresses. Nicole was written off mid 2023 after about 25 years on Days of Our Lives.
And Arianne alleged that her firing was in retaliation for her complaint. She claimed there was a toxic work environment for women on the set of Days. Nicole Walker’s last air date was July 29, 2024, almost two years ago now. The court case settled in October of 2025, but the terms were never made public. But Albert Allar’s side claims that he only settled to get it over with.
Days of our Lives: Perfect Timing to Bring the Real Nicole Back
Usually settlements like that come with a gag order. So, Arianne Zucker wouldn’t be able to talk about the terms of the settlement. And longtime Days of Our Lives fans obviously would love to have the real Nicole back to Salem. And this storyline would be the perfect time for it to happen.
But there’s no way of knowing if Arianna Zucker would even be open to coming back to Days. Although Albert Allar was fired, Ken Corde, the guy who should have been preventing these alleged bad things from happening, is still very much in place. But since it is July sweeps, if they were going to bring back Arianne’s Nicole, now would be the time to do it.
Days of Our Lives: Holly’s Survival and EJ’s Cover-Up
We know, however, that Holly’s not sticking around. Her portrayer Ashley Puzemis and scene partner Leo Howard, who plays Tate, were both fired from Days when they came back from Christmas break at the beginning of this year. But that should put their exit dates closer to September than right now.
So, I tend to think Holly survives. I’m expecting Tate and Holly to maybe exit together in the fall. We could see her deciding that she’s had enough of Salem after the Sophia Choi (Rachel Boyd) and Amy drama. So, Holly may enroll in the Sorbonne since she was accepted there, and Tate follows along to teach self-defense to the French or something.
I think it would be great to see Arianne Zucker return as Nicole Walker, even if it was just for a handful of episodes, but again, I doubt it. I also expect we’re about to get some scenes from that big summer promo like the ones with EJ screaming at Sarah that she doesn’t need his help and EJ’s firing Sarah. The likely situation is Holly being the catalyst, and we know that by the end of this week EJ enlists Johnny DiMera’s (Carson Boatman) help with the DiMera drug mess and he is soon breaking into and searching Sarah’s office.
Days of Our Lives: Holly Jonas – Nicole Walker
Days of our Lives: More Drama Ahead for Holly
So, I doubt that EJ fires her this week, or else Johnny wouldn’t have to sneak into Sarah’s office to look around. Plus, we know that Holly’s going to survive this arsenic crisis, but faces more drama soon. Another scene from the big promo has Tate and Holly back up at the hospital.
And she’s insisting that those pills aren’t mine. And in front of Sarah, we’re going to see Holly raging at Tate. Holly screams at Tate to get out when he asks Holly if they can just talk about it, knowing she’s not going to die. That points to Nicole’s return maybe being an off-screen thing.
Plus, I think Days fans would probably rant and riot if they recast Nicole, especially after how the actress was allegedly treated. Fans raged when Arianna was fired. So, EJ probably is going to find a way to get word that Sarah needs to be treating Holly for arsenic poisoning. You know, maybe EJ can speed up the lab test results so Sarah will know what to do for Holly.
Days of our Lives: Holly Survives the Poisoning
And if you look at the current storyline, it certainly seems dire and it points to Holly really needing her mom Nicole. But when you look at the timeline for Ashley Puzemis’s exit and the spoiler scenes from the summer promo, it’s pretty easy to figure out that Holly recovers.
So, Nicole isn’t needed for a deathbed scene and then needs to be there when her daughter dies or anything. It almost feels like Days writers are trying to score more July Sweeps attention by even bringing up Nicole’s name, but never put it past them that they wouldn’t do a recast for a couple of days, even if it would tick off fans with a whole new Nicole. I mean, heck, Ken Corday might even do it as a slap at Arianne Zucker for suing him.
U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) ended a 10-day streak of net outflows on Thursday, attracting $221.7 million in fresh capital as weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve could ease its monetary stance. The renewed institutional demand helped Bitcoin rebound above $61,000 after falling below $58,000 earlier in the week, offering investors a rare positive signal following one of the sector’s weakest months on record.
According to SoSoValue, Thursday’s inflows were the largest daily total for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in nearly two months, reversing a period that saw investors withdraw approximately $2.73 billion from the funds over the previous 10 trading sessions. The recovery follows a difficult June, during which U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs recorded roughly $4.5 billion in net outflows, making it the industry’s worst month since the products launched in January 2024.
Fidelity Leads Institutional Buying
Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) accounted for the majority of Thursday’s inflows, attracting $165.96 million. The ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) followed with $91.84 million, while VanEck’s HODL added $4.35 million.
The only major fund to post losses was BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which recorded $40.43 million in net outflows. The world’s largest spot Bitcoin ETF has now experienced several consecutive sessions of investor withdrawals dating back to mid-June, although it remains the dominant fund by assets under management.
While one day of positive flows does little to offset recent selling, it marked the first time since early May that U.S. Bitcoin ETFs collectively attracted more than $200 million in new investments, suggesting institutional sentiment may be stabilizing.
U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETF Flows (Source: SosoValue)
Bitcoin Recovers Above $61,000
The improvement in ETF demand coincided with a recovery in Bitcoin’s market price.
Bitcoin had fallen to its lowest level in roughly 21 months earlier this week amid broad macroeconomic uncertainty and continued ETF outflows. However, following Thursday’s economic data, the cryptocurrency climbed back above $61,000, trading around $61,800 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.
The rebound also lifted broader digital asset markets after weeks of pressure driven by concerns that elevated U.S. interest rates would continue weighing on speculative investments.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Performance on July 03, 2026 (Source: CoinMarketCap)
Weak Jobs Report Shifts Rate Expectations
The primary catalyst behind Thursday’s recovery was a softer-than-expected U.S. labor market report.
The June employment report showed the U.S. economy added just 57,000 nonfarm payrolls, well below economists’ consensus estimate of around 110,000. The weaker hiring figures strengthened market expectations that the Federal Reserve could adopt a more accommodative policy path if economic growth continues to slow.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh also indicated that inflation risks have eased, helping reinforce expectations that policymakers may not need to tighten monetary policy further.
The shift pushed Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar lower, creating a more supportive environment for non-yielding assets such as Bitcoin. Historically, cryptocurrencies have benefited when expectations for higher interest rates begin to fade.
Analysts Link ETF Demand to Improving Macro Sentiment
Analysts largely attributed Thursday’s ETF inflows to improving macroeconomic conditions rather than crypto-specific developments.
Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute, said easing inflation concerns and the Federal Reserve’s softer tone helped improve overall market sentiment, encouraging investors to return to digital assets. He added that the same trend is beginning to benefit spot Ethereum ETFs, which attracted $14.9 million in inflows on Wednesday and another $29.1 million on Thursday, according to SoSoValue.
Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey, likewise argued that previous ETF outflows reflected market pricing in the possibility of additional interest-rate hikes. As expectations for tighter monetary policy have weakened following the latest jobs report, investors have become more willing to allocate capital back into Bitcoin.
U.S. Spot ETH ETF Flows (Source: SosoValue)
Recovery Remains Fragile
Despite Thursday’s encouraging figures, market observers caution that a single day of inflows is not enough to confirm a sustained recovery.
The previous 10-day outflow streak erased more than $2.7 billion from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, while cumulative net flows for 2026 remain deeply negative. Thursday’s $221.7 million inflow therefore represents only a small fraction of the capital that left the market during June.
Historically, Bitcoin bull markets have been supported by consistent institutional buying through ETFs rather than isolated daily inflows. Investors will be watching closely to see whether Thursday’s rebound develops into a broader trend over the coming weeks.
Stephen Wundke, strategy and revenue director at Algoz Technologies, believes recent buyers are taking advantage of oversold conditions after investors rotated heavily into defensive assets such as U.S. Treasury bills during the recent selloff. He noted that declining Treasury yields and easing oil prices point to moderating inflation, potentially improving the outlook for risk assets.
Still, he expects Bitcoin to remain range-bound before establishing a clearer direction. That cautious outlook is reflected in prediction markets, where traders continue assigning a significantly higher probability that Bitcoin’s next major move will be toward $55,000 rather than $84,000.
For now, the return of more than $221 million in ETF inflows provides a welcome boost after weeks of persistent selling. Whether it marks the beginning of renewed institutional accumulation or merely a short-term rebound will depend largely on upcoming U.S. economic data, Federal Reserve policy decisions, and whether ETF demand remains positive in the weeks ahead.
Zcash developers say the Ironwood upgrade is nearing testnet activation.
Work continues on a formal proof of soundness ahead of the network upgrade.
Shielded Labs says migrating exchanges, wallets, and mining pools to new software remains the biggest deployment challenge.
In a series of posts on the Zcash forum on Thursday, developers said the privacy-focused cryptocurrency’s Ironwood upgrade is moving closer to activation—first on a testnet—bringing the network a step nearer to allowing users to verify the integrity of its circulating supply following last month’s disclosure of a critical counterfeiting vulnerability.
Announced in June, Ironwood is a proposed Zcash network upgrade that introduces a new shielded pool and accounting system designed to let anyone verify the network’s circulating supply while preserving transaction privacy.
The upgrade is intended to eliminate the uncertainty exposed by the Orchard vulnerability in May, which left developers unable to prove whether counterfeit ZEC had ever been created.
The panic around the vulnerability disclosure led to a massive price drop for the coin, which lost more than half of its value in a matter of two days, falling from more than $600 to a recent bottom around $300. ZEC has made up about half the losses so far, recently trading at $457, per data from CoinGecko.
“At Shielded Labs our focus has been security, and in particular our new project, which we are calling Zero, of supporting enterprise users (e.g. mining pools, exchanges, and wallets),” Zcash co-founder Zooko Wilcox wrote. “Our current focus within the Zero project is to help them prepare to safely make the transition to Ironwood.”
The update comes weeks after security researcher Taylor Hornby, using Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8, uncovered a four-year-old flaw in Zcash’s Orchard shielded pool that could have allowed unlimited counterfeit ZEC to be created without detection.
Although developers patched the bug on June 1, Zcash’s privacy features meant there was no cryptographic way to determine whether it had ever been exploited, which led Zcash developers to propose Ironwood to eliminate that uncertainty.
Since then, Zcash developers say they have made significant progress on Ironwood activation in Zcash.
“Ironwood’s prompt and safe activation on Zcash mainnet is extremely important to our users, in addition to the formal verification work we’re doing in parallel to provide reassurance that there aren’t any supply integrity concerns,” Zcash developer Sean Bowe wrote on X on Thursday, adding that “sufficient hash rate is signaling technical readiness for the mainnet upgrade.”
“The outstanding concern is that some wallets will not be prepared for the upgrade in time,” Bowe wrote. “This does not justify delaying Ironwood, given there will be adequate alternatives and sufficient time on testnet for anyone who needs it.”
Jason McGee of Shielded Labs said development is focused on two parallel efforts: the Ironwood (NU6.3) network upgrade, and migrating the Zcash ecosystem from its legacy Zcashd software to the new Z3 stack, which includes the Zebra full node, the Zaino indexing service, and the Zallet wallet.
According to McGee, development is moving forward on schedule, and testnet activation of the new consensus rules “is expected shortly.”
“The current goal is to complete both efforts by late July,” McGee wrote. “With regard to Ironwood, the teams at Project Tachyon, Valar Group, ZODL, the Zcash Foundation, and Shielded Labs have been working hard and have made significant progress over the past several weeks.”
Work is also continuing on formal verification of the new circuit, McGee added, with the goal of completing a proof of soundness before Ironwood activates.
The larger challenge, McGee said, is preparing infrastructure providers for the transition to the new software stack. Key Z3 components, including Zallet and Zaino, are still under development, leaving exchanges, mining pools, and wallet providers with limited time to deploy and test everything before Ironwood activates.
“The consistent feedback we’ve received is that completing both the Ironwood upgrade and the migration to Z3 on the current timeline will be challenging,” McGee wrote, adding that a recent questionnaire had some respondents “indicating they’ll be ready while others said they need additional time.”
According to McGee, several options are being considered to reduce deployment risk, including delaying Ironwood, conducting independent third-party security audits before deployment, or temporarily supporting Ironwood through Zcashd while partners complete the migration.
“Ultimately, we all share the same goal to activate Ironwood as quickly as possible while making sure our partners can safely migrate away from Zcashd,” he wrote. “We think the focus over the coming weeks should be on making that transition as smooth and secure as possible.”
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Young and the Restless exciting new spoilers for next week have Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman) being in critical condition after a brutal attack and Cane Ashby (Billy Flynn) making another big move as CEO of Chancellor.
There’s blood, there’s trouble, and major drama the week of July 6th. We have got the latest Y&R spoilers including action for Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott), Holden Novak (Nathan Owens), Diane Jenkins (Susan Walters), and many more.
Young and the Restless: Jack’s Brutal Attack and Rescue Mission
Now, let’s talk about the hot plots coming the second full week of Sweeps. So, let’s start with the Abbotts because there’s life and death drama for a couple of them at the end of this week and going into next week.
So, at the end of this week, Jack and Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) have this whole big plan that they have cooked up and they are going to thwart Patty Williams (Stacy Haiduk) and they’re going to save Diane from the evil doctor. So, Jack is at the mansion distracting Patty while Kyle goes over to Markham’s house after they lured the psycho shrink away. So, Kyle broke a window to get inside and he’s thrilled to see Diane, but they can’t go back the way he came because the way he came there were the crazy dogs.
And Kyle brought a bunch of beef for Markham’s psycho dogs, but he says they’ve likely finished it all by now. And with the doors all locked, there’s not a safe way out. And then Markham returns. So, Diane hides Kyle out of sight. And then Diane’s getting all flirty with Markham, asking him to pour wine, talking about their dinner she made them. Leaves him with some hors d’oeuvres. And Diane tells Markham that she’s got feelings for him, and he says he has feelings for her, too.
Young and the Restless Spoilers: Diane’s Plan Works
So, after Diane walks out, Markham tries one of the hors d’oeuvres. Then he goes to kiss Diane. She tells him to sit down. Markham’s woozy and Diane tells the sicko shrink that she drugged him and she calls for Kyle. So, after Markham passes out, they search him and find his keys. Then Kyle and Diane take off.
Meanwhile, over at the Abbott mansion, Patty’s being creepy, trying to get Jack to do intimate activities with her. And it seems like he’s pretty confident that Kyle succeeded because Jack stops even playing Patty’s reindeer games. He’s fending her off as Patty’s talking crazy about them still being married. And she tells Jack that Diane needs to pay for cheating with him when Patty and Jack were married decades ago.
Then Patty gets more aggressive and blames Jack for her winding up in the psych hospital. And Patty says she ended up there because he cheated with Diane. She’s making threats, telling Jack to join her upstairs. Patty dropped her robe, appeared nude downstairs, and then went and crawled into bed upstairs waiting on him.
Young and the Restless Spoilers: Patty Flips Out
So, Jack texts Kyle and then tells Patty that Kyle got Diane out, and they are on their way home. So, Jack’s feeling very cocky and he tells Patty that he tricked Markham, sending a text from her phone. Patty’s enraged and says Jack broke her heart again and now Diane’s got a death sentence because of him.
Patty isn’t buying it, though. She’s doubtful. So, she calls Markham to check it out and Diane answers his phone. So, Patty freaks out and then Jack tells her, “Get out of my house.” Jack’s talking to Diane and Kyle and says, “Patty’s gone and he’s going to burn everything in the house that she touched.”
But guess what? Patty’s not gone. She just went to get a knife. So, she gives Jack a kiss and then stabs him in the gut. And Patty says they will be together forever in the afterlife.
So, Kyle and Diane are racing home and Kyle wants to know if his mom is coming to the mansion or if she wants to go back to the Genoa City Athletic Club. And Diane says she loves Jack and is ready to come home.
Young and the Restless: Jack’s Medical Crisis and Nikki’s Recovery
But next week, it looks like Kyle and Diane walk into a nightmare bloodbath scene. Spoilers for the week of July 6th on Young and the Restless have Kyle and Diane coming home to the Abbott mansion and calling out for Jack, but they don’t hear him. They don’t see him.
So, Diane wonders if Jack left and went somewhere, but then they hear the sound of glass breaking. So, after Patty stabbed him, Jack is clearly bleeding out. Other spoilers say his life is on the line and Patty is nowhere near done with Diane.
But also, Jack’s sister, Ashley Abbott (Eileen Davidson) is back. She returns next Friday for Jack’s medical crisis caused by Patty. So, I’m willing to bet that the Newmans don’t want to tell Nikki about Jack’s stabbing and his life hanging in the balance while she is still recovering.
But once Nikki finds out what Patty did, I think she will rage at Victor Newman (Eric Braeden) because he is the only reason that Patty’s back in town and that Jack might die. And of course, we know that he’s not going to die, but still, it’s the principle of the thing.
Young and the Restless Spoilers: Nikki’s Out of Surgery
And speaking of Nikki, we know she made it through surgery, okay. But we don’t know the fate of her eyesight. But Stephanie Simmons (Vivica A. Fox) releases Nikki from the hospital next week and as expected, she is not going back to the Genoa City Athletic Club, at least not as far as she knows.
So, we predicted that Victor would bring her home and would set up the ranch to accommodate her new accessibility issues. And once she comes home, we’ll see. Nikki’s eyes are both still bandaged up. So, Victoria (Amelia Heinle) and Nick (Joshua Morrow) are there to get Nikki settled in.
What I wonder is if Nikki thinks that Victoria and Nick are taking her back to her room at the Genoa City Athletic Club or if Nikki realizes that she’s at home, the home that Victor tossed her out of. So, also next week, it looks like her estranged husband is making decisions about her medical care, and Nikki may not like that at all.
Young and the Restless Spoilers: Jack Abbott – Cane Ashby
Young and the Restless: Cane’s CEO Moves and Holden’s New Role
We’ve also got more action coming for Cane Ashby as CEO of Chancellor. And we know that he has already hired Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson) to head up R&D. And Lily Winters (Christel Khalil) is certain that it’s not going to work out and she’ll have to fire Billy in the end.
But the week of July 6 on Young and the Restless, we’ve got Lily and Cane talking to Holden Novak. Despite Devon Hamilton Winters (Bryton James) being a jerk about both Cane and Holden, we’re going to see Lily pressing forward with what she wants to do. So, Lily asks her new brother Holden what are his plans career-wise going forward. And he tells Lily he really has no idea.
If you remember, Devon already chastised Holden and told him not to think that Lily is some sort of meal ticket for him. I mean, it’s not like Holden is broke. His mom is a very successful doctor. But Cane tells Holden that he thinks he can remedy Holden not knowing what is next.
Young and the Restless Spoilers: Holden Goes Back to Working for Cane?
Now, if you recall, Holden worked for Cane before. It was Holden that handled all of Cane’s real estate transactions in Genoa City, all the buyups that he was doing. Remember that was back when Cane was still doing his international business work. So, obviously Cane knows that he can trust Holden. And I’m sure that Lily wants to keep Holden close and set her brother up for success. I’m honestly enjoying the Lily and Holden, you know, just discovered that we’re siblings dynamic.
I’m also enjoying Cane and Lily’s rekindling romance that we’re getting right now. The only issue with any of this is whenever doom and gloom Devon shows up to be an angry jerk and throwing off everybody’s vibes. It should have been Devon under the chandelier on the Beyond the Gates crossover.
Retail trading platform eToro is expanding its decentralized finance ambitions after leading a $12.5 million strategic funding round for Extended, an on-chain perpetual futures exchange founded by former Revolut executives. The investment signals eToro’s latest move to bridge traditional finance with blockchain-based trading infrastructure following its recent acquisition of self-custody wallet provider Zengo.
The funding round, announced by Extended on July 2, also included participation from Jump Crypto and investment firm Alber Blanc. Rather than serving as a standalone investment, the deal is closely tied to a broader partnership that will see Extended’s perpetual futures technology integrated into Zengo, enabling users to trade on-chain derivatives while retaining full control of their digital assets.
eToro Builds a DeFi Ecosystem Around Zengo
The Extended investment represents the next phase of eToro‘s Web3 strategy after agreeing to acquire Zengo for approximately $70 million earlier this year. The acquisition was designed to strengthen eToro’s self-custody capabilities while laying the foundation for blockchain-native financial products.
Under the new partnership, Extended’s perpetual futures engine will be integrated directly into the Zengo wallet, allowing users to access decentralized derivatives without surrendering custody of their crypto holdings. Zengo’s multi-party computation (MPC) wallet architecture eliminates the need for traditional seed phrases while maintaining user ownership of private keys. The wallet already supports token swaps, staking, and decentralized application access, making it a natural gateway for additional DeFi services.
Beyond derivatives, eToro has indicated it intends to gradually expand the availability of decentralized finance products across its broader trading platform. The company said the partnership aims to improve access to global financial markets through next-generation on-chain infrastructure while exploring ways to connect traditional financial assets with decentralized trading environments.
The strategy also comes as eToro looks to diversify its crypto business. The company has been expanding beyond spot trading into infrastructure and self-custody solutions, reflecting growing demand among investors for blockchain-based financial products that do not rely on centralized intermediaries.
eToro leads $12.5 Million Round In Onchain Perps Exchange Extended
Extended was founded by former Revolut employees, including CEO Ruslan Fakhrutdinov, with the goal of bringing professional-grade derivatives trading to decentralized markets.
The exchange is built on StarkWare‘s StarkEx scaling engine, enabling high-throughput trading while settling transactions on Ethereum. Unlike centralized futures exchanges, Extended allows users to maintain custody of their assets throughout the trading process while benefiting from execution speeds designed for active traders.
Perpetual futures, commonly known as “perps,” have become the dominant derivatives product in crypto markets because they have no expiration date and allow traders to maintain leveraged positions indefinitely through periodic funding payments.
Since opening public trading in late 2024, Extended has steadily expanded its offering. The platform now supports more than 100 perpetual markets and has reportedly processed over $245 billion in cumulative trading volume as of June 2026. Future roadmap items include spot trading, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), unified margin functionality, and multi-asset collateral support.
Traditional Brokers Race Toward On-Chain Perpetuals
eToro’s investment reflects a broader industry trend as traditional brokerages increasingly embrace blockchain-based derivatives instead of building proprietary infrastructure from scratch.
Just one day before the Extended announcement, Robinhood unveiled its own expansion into perpetual futures through Lighter alongside tokenized stocks and other decentralized finance products for European users. Meanwhile, major crypto platforms including Coinbase have expanded their own derivatives offerings, while prediction market operators such as Kalshi and Polymarket have also entered perpetual-style markets.
The growing competition has fueled what many industry observers describe as the race to become an “everything exchange”—a platform combining traditional investing, crypto trading, tokenized assets, derivatives, payments, and decentralized finance within a single ecosystem.
Perpetual DEXs Continue to Gain Market Share
The timing of eToro’s investment coincides with accelerating adoption of decentralized perpetual futures exchanges.
According to CoinGecko’s 2026 Crypto Perpetuals Report, decentralized exchanges have steadily captured a larger share of the perpetual futures market. Open interest on perpetual DEXs increased from approximately 3.6% in early 2025 to 13.5% in 2026, even as centralized exchanges such as Binance and OKX continue to dominate overall trading volumes.
That growth is attracting both venture capital and established financial firms seeking exposure to on-chain market infrastructure. Rather than competing directly with decentralized exchanges, brokerages are increasingly partnering with crypto-native platforms that already possess the trading technology while contributing regulatory expertise, customer distribution, and mainstream user acquisition.
For eToro, backing Extended provides a direct entry point into one of crypto’s fastest-growing market segments while reinforcing its broader strategy of combining traditional investing with decentralized finance. As more financial institutions explore tokenized assets and blockchain-based trading, partnerships between retail brokers and DeFi infrastructure providers are likely to become increasingly common.
The AI boom minted more fortunes than any gold rush in modern memory, and almost none of them belonged to the people actually using the product. OpenAI announced $40 billion in new funding at a $300 billion post-money valuation in March 2025, a round built to serve the hundreds of millions of people who use ChatGPT every week. Yet, none of them held a stake in the company itself. Anthropic told a similar story.
Bloomberg reported that Anthropic’s revenue run rate topped $30 billion in April 2026, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025, growth driven by enterprise customers rather than public shareholders. Both companies built their valuations behind closed doors, funded by venture capital that retail investors never touched.
If you are searching for crypto to buy for the next bull run, the pattern worth watching is not hype. It is access. Stargate LLM is opening a door the AI industry has kept shut for years, starting with a live presale priced well below its listed launch price, and structured so the people using the platform can also hold a piece of it.
Retail Never Got a Seat at the AI Table
The gap between who builds AI’s value and who captures it has been consistent across every major player in the sector. OpenAI raised $8.3 billion at that $300 billion valuation in an oversubscribed round backed by Blackstone, TPG, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz, firms with the capital and access to buy in before the public ever could. Anthropic’s climb was just as steep. The company closed a $30 billion Series G in February 2026 at a $380 billion valuation, later filing confidentially for an IPO at a $965 billion valuation. Everyday users paid the subscription fees. They generated the usage data. They drove the demand that built these valuations. None of it came back to them.
This is the gap Stargate LLM is built around. Not a speculative token riding an AI narrative with no product behind it, but a functioning platform: chat, image generation, video generation, and private search, tied to a token that gives holders a direct stake in how it grows.
What Batch 1 Pricing Actually Looks Like
Think of Stargate LLM’s presale as a ladder, five rungs, each one pricier than the last. Batch 1 sits at the bottom right now, open at $0.0005 per token, a 50x discount to the listed launch price of $0.025. Once a batch fills, the price climbs to the next rung automatically. Whoever buys lowest, wins the biggest, at least on paper.
Total supply is fixed at 150 billion tokens, with no additional minting planned after launch. Most private AI companies hand founders and early investors the lion’s share of the upside. Stargate LLM flips the script, with only 1 percent going to the team and the bulk flowing into presale access and community rewards. No board seat needed. No minimum check size. Access, not equity.
What Happens When Batch 1 Sells Out?
Simple: the price moves to Batch 2, and the discount that early buyers locked in disappears for everyone who waited. Stargate LLM ties holding the token to actually using the platform, so buying in is not where the mechanics stop. Proof of Usage rewards return tokens to people who use its chat, image, and video tools. Vault staking lets holders lock tokens to earn rewards tied to platform revenue. DAO-voted governance gives holders a say in how that revenue gets distributed as the platform scales.
There is no IPO to wait for that may never come. The presale is open now, at Batch 1 pricing, before 9 more batches raise the price on the way to the $0.025 launch. For anyone building a list of crypto to buy for the next bull run, that is the entire pitch in one sentence: get in before the ladder climbs without you.
The Door Doesn’t Stay Open at the Same Price Twice
The AI industry has spent the last three years minting some of the largest private valuations in history, and retail investors watched every single one from the outside looking in. Stargate LLM built its token structure around a different premise: the people who use the platform should also be able to own a piece of it. Batch 1 pricing at $0.0005 will not hold once the cap fills, and the next rung on the ladder opens at double the price.
For anyone actively tracking crypto to buy for the next bull run, the combination is hard to ignore: a working product, a fixed and community-weighted token supply, and a presale priced well under its own launch target. Check the current batch status before the price moves again. The door doesn’t stay open at the same price twice.
