New U.S. stablecoin legislation is driving a significant increase in stablecoin issuance from banks, asset managers, and tech companies. Industry experts, including Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, say clearer regulatory guidelines are encouraging more players to enter the market. Chainlink is noted for providing essential data, interoperability, and compliance tools that support the large-scale creation of stablecoins. This legislative push is seen as a key factor fueling growth and innovation in the U.S. stablecoin sector.
CME has announced that its XRP and Micro XRP futures have hit a major milestone. On July 11, more than $235 million worth of these futures were traded in a single day. This took the cumulative notional volume since inception to surpass $1.6 billion. Rising Institutional Interest in CME XRP futures Shown in Record Trading
Ethereum’s long‑awaited Pectra upgrade is live, activating 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals on the mainnet.
The network crossed the upgrade slot at 10:05 UTC and reached finality roughly 12 minutes later, clearing the last hurdle after two turbulent testnet runs.
Ethereum’s Pectra Hard Fork Goes Live: What You Need to Know
The headline change, EIP‑7251, raises each validator’s effective balance from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH, letting large staking providers consolidate thousands of nodes and slash bandwidth costs.
Pectra has gone live and finalized ! Testing of the newly activated EIPs continues.
Pectra Upgrade also debuts EIP‑7702, allowing externally owned accounts to temporarily execute smart‑contract code. The feature unlocks gas‑fee payments in stablecoins, subscription‑style transfers, and native wallet‑recovery tools. Nine additional EIPs target data availability, validator onboarding, and cryptographic efficiency.
At press time, ETH trades around $1,840, up almost 3% over the last 24 hours, as markets digest the upgrade while bracing for today’s FOMC rate decision.
Core developers will now pivot to the next hard fork, “Fusaka,” slated for late 2025, but today’s smooth rollout cements Ethereum’s momentum after three years of incremental tweaks.
BeInCrypto contacted Bitfinex analysts for insight on the Pectra Upgrade. In their opinion, Pectra brings both opportunities and challenges for Ethereum Layer 2s.
While it boosts efficiency and lowers costs, it may also concentrate validator power and reduce Layer 2 fee revenues.
According to the analysts, this shift could impact decentralization and incentives, pushing Layer 2s to adapt through innovation and user-focused design.
“Ultimately, the Pectra upgrade represents a double-edged sword for Ethereum’s Layer 2s,” Bitfinex analysts told BeInCrypto.
Others like Nicolai Sondergaard, Research Analyst at Nansen, offer a more measured outlook. Speaking to BeInCrypto, Sondergaard said Pectra enhances Ethereum’s Layer-2 ecosystem by doubling blob capacity and raising calldata costs.
According to Sondergaard, this makes blobs the standard for rollup data, with lower fees and smoother UX on dApps.
He said DeFi and NFTs benefit from smarter wallets, gas sponsorship, and cheaper transactions, while onboarding and voting in DAOs and social apps become easier.
“Gasless voting or simplified onboarding becomes more practical with the new wallet capabilities. Meanwhile, the upgrade doesn’t introduce backward-incompatible changes, meaning existing contracts continue functioning as-is,” Sondergaard concluded.
Meanwhile, while the technical changes are mostly invisible to users, major exchanges like Binance and Coinbase implemented temporary service pauses as a precaution.
Binance and Coinbase Halt Key Services
Binance exchange said deposits and withdrawals of 14 tokens would not be available starting Wednesday at 09:45 (UTC).
“Starting at approximately 2025-05-07 09:45 (UTC), Binance will suspend the deposits and withdrawals of token(s)…to support the Ethereum network upgrade and hard fork to ensure the best user experience,” read the announcement.
With this news, the following tokens will not be available for depositing and withdrawing on Binance. Services will resume once the tokens are deemed stable and the volatility inspired by the Pectra Upgrade has eased.
Ethereum (ETH)
Polygon (POL)
Arbitrum (ARB)
Metis (METIS)
Optimism (OP)
Scroll (SCR)
zkSync Era (ZKSYNC)
Cyber (CYBER)
Base (BASE)
Metal DAO (MTL)
Manta Network (MANTA)
Celo (CELO)
Starknet (STRK)
Worldcoin (WLD)
Binance suspends deposits and withdrawals for 14 tokens. Source: Binance announcement
This suspension comes as the exchange looks to support the Ethereum network upgrade and hard fork, ensuring the best user experience.
Notably, while Binance halts deposit and withdrawal functions for these tokens, trading on their networks will remain operational.
Coinbase also announced a similar move, pausing some operations to ensure a smooth and secure transition.
“To ensure user fund safety, we will temporarily pause Ethereum deposits and withdrawals from 2:50 AM to 3:45 AM PT,” Coinbase stated in a post.
However, the initiation of new staking requests on the Coinbase exchange will be delayed during that time. Normalcy will resume after 3:45 AM PT without affecting existing staked positions.
After weeks of sideways action, Bitcoin and Ethereum are finally showing strong signs of recovery. Bitcoin has jumped to a seven-week high of $91,000, climbing from a recent low of $74,400, a gain of around 22%.
But this price jump isn’t just about Bitcoin, Ethereum too, is back in the green, now trading above $1,700 after a solid 5.5% rise in just 24 hours.
So, what’s behind this sudden price pump? Let’s break it down.
Institutional Money is Flowing Back into Bitcoin
One of the biggest reasons behind Bitcoin’s jump is the return of institutional investors. In the last few weeks, U.S.-based Bitcoin ETFs saw their biggest daily inflow, pulling in $381.3 million.
Leading the charge was ARK’s Bitcoin ETF with $116 million, followed by Fidelity’s fund with $87 million. This strong inflow shows that institutional players are confident about Bitcoin’s future again.
Political Pressure on the Fed to Cut Rates
Another key reason is the political pressure being placed on the Federal Reserve. U.S. President Donald Trump is urging the Fed to lower interest rates, which often leads investors to seek out alternative assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
There are even talks of whether Trump could try to remove Fed Chair Jerome Powell, which is creating uncertainty in traditional markets.
Dollar Weakness and Growing Liquidity
The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) recently hit its lowest point since February 2022, dropping to around 98.77. A weaker dollar tends to boost crypto prices, especially when global liquidity is on the rise.
As more money flows through the system, digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum often benefit.
Bitcoin & Ethereum Price Outlook
As of now, Bitcoin is trading at $90,859, up 4%, with a market cap near $1.8 trillion. But crypto expert Ali Martinez warns of hurdles ahead, as key resistance levels between $95,600 and $98,290 could slow it down. If Bitcoin breaks through, though, the path to $100K might finally open up.
On the other hand, Ethereum is seen trading around $1,695, up 5.5% in the past day. According to Crypto Rover, two big investors (called whales) just bought 4,500 ETH worth $7.36 million.
This shows strong trust in Ethereum and could help push its price even higher—some even believe it might reach $10,000 someday.
The post Why Bitcoin & Ethereum Price Surge Today? Key Reason Behind It appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News
After weeks of sideways action, Bitcoin and Ethereum are finally showing strong signs of recovery. Bitcoin has jumped to a seven-week high of $91,000, climbing from a recent low of $74,400, a gain of around 22%. But this price jump isn’t just about Bitcoin, Ethereum too, is back in the green, now trading above $1,700 …
! Testing of the newly activated EIPs continues.
