U.S. spot XRP ETFs now hold 977.41 million tokens, worth $1.04 billion combined, locking away a record 1.47% of XRP's entire circulating supply. SoSoValue data from July 23, 2026 confirms the figure, and the timing is no coincidence: the CLARITY Act faces a hard Senate deadline before the August 7 congressional recess, roughly two weeks out.

Institutions are front-running the vote. Funds are buying XRP on the spot market and moving coins into custodial wallets, pulling them entirely out of exchange circulation. The closer the Senate gets to that recess date without a deal, the louder the pressure on lawmakers becomes, and the faster the accumulation looks to be moving.

Grayscale drops the four-year halving playbook

Zach Pandl at Grayscale argued publicly that Bitcoin has simply outgrown its classic four-year halving cycle as a market framework. Instead, he pointed to the Federal Reserve's July 28 29 meeting as the next real price catalyst worth watching. It is a notable shift: the halving narrative has driven crypto sentiment for years, and one of the industry's largest asset managers walking away from it signals how much the market has matured since the early retail-driven cycles.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin ETFs posted a seven-day inflow streak totaling $1 billion. Kazakhstan launched state-backed mining operations, and Circle brought USDC to 20 million users across the Kakao and Toss platforms in South Korea, expanding dollar-pegged liquidity into one of Asia's most active mobile finance markets.

Three DeFi protocols hacked in quick succession

Three separate exploits hit crypto protocols in rapid succession, draining a combined $35.56 million. The affected projects:

  • AFX Trade, hit in the first exploit
  • Verus Bridge, struck twice within three months by the same unpatched vulnerability
  • B² Network, the third target in the sequence

Verus getting caught by the same bug a second time, just three months after the first incident, is the detail that stings most. It suggests the fix either never shipped or was incomplete, and attackers clearly noticed before the team did.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Crypto assets carry significant risk; always do your own research before making investment decisions.