Today’s biggest crypto stories, including Core Scientific’s major AMD AI infrastructure deal, Securitize’s SEC adviser registration, the prediction-market ruling in Minnesota, new pressure on the CLARITY Act, shifting ETF demand and a $1.8 million fake-wallet lawsuit.
Summary
The boundaries between crypto, artificial intelligence and regulated finance shifted again today.
Bitcoin miner Core Scientific agreed to provide AMD with as much as 2.5 gigawatts of data-centre capacity, reinforcing the transformation of mining companies into energy and high-performance computing businesses.
Tokenisation platform Securitize added an SEC-registered investment adviser to its regulated US infrastructure, allowing it to work more directly with asset managers on onchain investment strategies.
Prediction markets received a legal victory after a federal judge temporarily blocked Minnesota’s proposed ban on platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket. The decision strengthens the argument that many event contracts fall under federal commodities law rather than state gambling regulation.
However, the broader regulatory environment remains contested. New York Attorney General Letitia James warned that the CLARITY Act could weaken state enforcement and called for stronger anti-money-laundering, cybersecurity and consumer-protection requirements.
Markets remained cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s July 28 and 29 meeting. Bitcoin traded near $63,145, while modest ETF data suggested investors were rotating selectively rather than returning aggressively to digital assets.
Market Snapshot
Bitcoin traded near $63,145 at the time of writing after moving between approximately $62,772 and $65,285 during the session. Ether was around $1,625, while Solana traded near $78.
The pullback came as investors reduced risk ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting on July 28 and 29. The central bank is scheduled to release its policy decision and hold a press conference on July 29.
The immediate question for crypto markets is not simply whether rates change. Investors will be listening for guidance on inflation, future easing and the likely direction of US Treasury yields.
Higher yields tend to make non-yielding assets such as Bitcoin less attractive relative to government debt. Lower yields and expectations of easier financial conditions can support risk appetite across crypto, technology stocks and other growth-sensitive markets.
Core Scientific Signs a Multi-Gigawatt AI Deal With AMD
Core Scientific signed an infrastructure agreement that will give semiconductor company AMD access to more than 500 megawatts of AI-ready data-centre capacity beginning in 2027.
The arrangement can expand to as much as 2.5 gigawatts, which would make it one of the most significant infrastructure agreements involving a former Bitcoin-focused mining company.
Core Scientific will also work with AMD on data-centre design and the deployment of AMD hardware and software. AMD will receive market-priced warrants to purchase Core Scientific shares if certain commercial conditions are met. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Bitcoin Miners Are Becoming Power Companies
The deal reflects a structural transformation across the mining sector.
Bitcoin miners already control several assets needed by the artificial-intelligence industry:
- Large electricity allocations
- Land near power infrastructure
- Cooling and ventilation systems
- Data-centre buildings
- Grid connections
- Experience operating energy-intensive computing equipment
AI companies need many of the same resources, but AI workloads can generate more predictable revenue through long-term hosting agreements.
Bitcoin mining revenue changes continuously according to Bitcoin’s price, network difficulty, transaction fees and electricity costs. A multi-year AI contract may provide more stable cash flow.
The Strategic Trade-Off
The pivot does not mean that Bitcoin mining will disappear.
Instead, mining companies are becoming diversified compute-infrastructure operators. Some may allocate available power between Bitcoin mining and AI workloads depending on expected returns.
That strategy introduces new risks.
Converting mining facilities for high-performance computing requires capital, specialised cooling and stricter operational standards. Companies may also need to sign long-term energy commitments before receiving revenue from AI clients.
Investors should therefore distinguish between miners with binding contracts and secured financing, and companies that merely describe themselves as AI infrastructure providers.
Core Scientific’s AMD agreement is significant because it moves beyond a general corporate strategy and provides a defined path toward large-scale customer deployment.
Securitize Adds an SEC-Registered Investment Adviser
Securitize Capital registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as an investment adviser.
The registration allows the tokenisation company to work more closely with institutional investors and asset managers developing regulated onchain investment products and portfolio strategies.
Securitize’s US platform now combines four regulated components:
- An SEC-registered investment adviser
- A registered broker-dealer operating an alternative trading system
- A registered transfer agent
- Fund-administration services
Securitize also became publicly traded through a merger with Cantor Equity Partners II earlier in July.
Tokenisation Is Becoming a Full Financial Stack
Tokenising a fund or security requires more than creating a blockchain token.
An institutional platform must be able to manage:
- Investor eligibility
- Securities issuance
- Ownership records
- Transfers and secondary trading
- Compliance restrictions
- Fund administration
- Portfolio management
- Redemptions and distributions
Securitize’s adviser registration brings investment strategy into the same regulated environment as issuance, transfer agency and trading.
This could make it easier for asset managers to launch funds designed specifically for onchain markets rather than placing a digital wrapper around an existing traditional product.
Regulation Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage
The early tokenisation narrative often assumed blockchain infrastructure would remove intermediaries.
The institutional market is evolving differently.
Asset managers still require licensed advisers, registered trading venues, transfer agents and legally enforceable ownership structures. Blockchain may improve how those functions communicate and settle transactions, but it does not eliminate the regulatory obligations behind them.
Companies able to integrate the entire process may gain an advantage over technology providers offering only token issuance.
Judge Blocks Minnesota’s Prediction-Market Ban
A US federal judge temporarily blocked Minnesota from enforcing a law that would have made it the first state to impose an outright ban on prediction markets.
The law targeted platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket and was scheduled to take effect on August 1.
US District Judge Katherine Menendez issued a preliminary injunction after concluding that federal commodities law was likely to pre-empt Minnesota’s restrictions. The ruling allows the platforms to continue serving Minnesota users while the litigation proceeds.
Are Prediction Markets Derivatives or Gambling?
Prediction-market platforms allow users to trade contracts based on the outcome of elections, sporting events, economic data and other real-world developments.
The central legal dispute concerns how those contracts should be classified.
Kalshi and Polymarket argue that qualifying event contracts are derivatives or swaps regulated at the federal level by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
State authorities argue that many contracts, particularly those connected to sport, operate like gambling and should be subject to state licensing and consumer-protection rules.
The judge found that at least some contracts offered by the platforms appear to fit the federal definition of a swap. She also indicated that the injunction could eventually be narrowed if particular contracts fall outside that definition.
The Ruling Does Not Settle the Industry’s Future
The decision is a meaningful victory for prediction markets, but it is preliminary.
Other states have secured rulings restricting Kalshi’s activities under existing gaming laws. Minnesota’s legislation was unusual because it directly attempted to prohibit prediction markets as a category.
The CFTC is separately reviewing public feedback on proposed rules governing event contracts. Critics argue that some sports contracts should remain under state gambling regulation, while supporters say federally regulated markets can offer consistent national standards.
The outcome will affect not only Kalshi and Polymarket, but also exchanges, brokerages and fintech applications that are integrating prediction markets into mainstream trading platforms.
New York Challenges the CLARITY Act
New York Attorney General Letitia James urged Congress to strengthen the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, arguing that the current proposal could restrict state and local authorities from pursuing crypto fraud.
James said complaints to her office involving cryptocurrency scams had tripled during the previous three years. Reported crypto scam losses submitted to the office totalled nearly $500 million over five years.
The CLARITY Act would transfer substantial digital asset oversight to federal regulators and could override portions of state law.
James argued that this would weaken the ability of state regulators to protect residents and hold platforms financially accountable for fraud.
The Proposed Alternative
The New York attorney general called for legislation that would:
- Require anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer compliance
- Establish mandatory cybersecurity protocols
- Prevent non-compliant companies and jurisdictions from entering regulated markets
- Restrict the dollar conversion of assets passed through mixers
- Preserve existing securities, commodities and money-transmission laws
- Require platforms to monitor markets for manipulation
- Make crypto intermediaries financially responsible when they fail to protect customers
She also called for stronger restrictions preventing elected officials and recent government employees from regulating an industry in which they may have financial interests.
Federal Clarity Versus State Enforcement
The dispute reveals a recurring tension in US financial regulation.
Crypto companies generally prefer one national framework because complying with different rules in every state can be expensive and operationally difficult.
State regulators argue that they are often closer to victims and can respond more quickly when federal authorities fail to act.
A workable national framework may need to create consistent licensing and asset-classification rules without removing the ability of states to prosecute fraud, deceptive conduct or consumer abuse.
Bitcoin and Ether ETF Flows Move in Opposite Directions
US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded an estimated $11.6 million net outflow on July 27, while spot Ether products attracted approximately $11.7 million.
BlackRock’s ETHA reportedly accounted for the Ether inflow, while the other listed products showed little or no net movement.
The values are small compared with the multibillion-dollar movements seen during stronger institutional cycles. They nevertheless suggest that allocators are making selective choices between Bitcoin and Ether rather than treating crypto exposure as one uniform category.
Why Ether May Be Attracting Selective Demand
Ether offers a different institutional thesis from Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is primarily evaluated as a scarce monetary asset, macro hedge and reserve asset.
Ether is tied to:
- Smart-contract activity
- Stablecoin settlement
- Tokenised assets
- Decentralised finance
- Network transaction demand
- Staking income
Institutional interest in tokenisation and staking may therefore support Ether-focused products even when overall crypto risk appetite remains cautious.
One day of flows is not enough to establish a durable rotation. The stronger signal would be several consecutive weeks in which Ether products consistently attract capital while Bitcoin products experience redemptions.
Blockchain Use Rises Even as Token Prices Fall
Research highlighted by Bitwise found that Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche became busier and cheaper to use during the past year, even as ETH, SOL and AVAX each lost roughly half or more of their market value.
The decline in network revenue was partly attributed to protocol upgrades that made blockspace cheaper and more abundant rather than to a universal collapse in transaction activity.
Approximately 40.2 million ETH, representing around one-third of Ethereum’s supply, was staked at the end of the second quarter. Bitwise said institutions, exchange-traded funds and corporate treasuries accounted for much of the new staking activity.
Adoption and Token Value Are Not the Same Thing
The divergence raises an important question for investors.
A blockchain can become faster, cheaper and more widely used without creating greater value for its token holders.
Lower fees benefit users, but they can reduce protocol revenue. Higher staking participation can strengthen network security, but it can also spread rewards across more validators and reduce individual yields.
Bitwise estimated that newly issued tokens accounted for 93% of Ethereum staking rewards and more than 90% of Solana staking rewards during the second quarter.
This means much of the headline staking yield represents token issuance rather than revenue collected from users.
Investors evaluating proof-of-stake assets should therefore look beyond transaction counts and advertised yields. The more important measures include real fees, token inflation, validator concentration, economic settlement and whether growing network usage translates into sustainable demand for the token.
Apple Faces a $1.8 Million Fake-Wallet Lawsuit
Three users sued Apple after allegedly losing more than $1.8 million through a fraudulent crypto wallet distributed through the App Store.
The application impersonated Sparrow Wallet, a Bitcoin wallet that does not offer an official iOS application.
According to the complaint, the three plaintiffs lost approximately $875,000, $840,000 and $120,000 respectively after transferring Bitcoin into the fraudulent application.
Apple said applications impersonating other products violate its policies and that it removes them when identified. The company declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit.
App-Store Approval Is Not a Security Guarantee
The incident demonstrates that users cannot rely entirely on an app store’s review process when installing financial software.
A professional-looking application can imitate the branding, interface and name of a legitimate wallet. The attackers may then request a seed phrase, private key or deposit.
Users should verify:
- Whether the wallet developer lists an official mobile application
- Whether links come directly from the developer’s verified website
- The application publisher’s exact name
- Independent reviews and release history
- Whether the application asks for an existing seed phrase unexpectedly
A seed phrase should never be entered into an unfamiliar wallet merely because the application appears inside an official app store.
For substantial holdings, users should test new wallet software with a small amount before transferring their primary balance.
What Today’s Crypto News Really Means
Mining Infrastructure Is Being Repriced
Core Scientific’s AMD agreement shows that access to electricity and data-centre capacity may be more valuable than the Bitcoin-mining equipment operating inside a facility.
Mining companies are increasingly being valued as owners of scarce power infrastructure.
Tokenisation Is Choosing Regulation
Securitize’s adviser registration demonstrates that institutional onchain finance is developing through licensed entities rather than outside the regulated system.
The likely future is not traditional finance or blockchain. It is traditional financial rights administered through blockchain infrastructure.
Prediction Markets Have Become a Federalism Test
The Minnesota ruling strengthens the federal derivatives argument, but state regulators are unlikely to abandon their gambling and consumer-protection claims.
The eventual result may depend on the specific subject of each contract rather than one universal classification.
Regulatory Clarity Can Reduce Local Enforcement
The CLARITY Act could create national consistency, but New York’s objections show that federal pre-emption may also weaken regulators with established enforcement experience.
The strongest legislation would distinguish between market-structure regulation and the ability to pursue fraud.
Usage Does Not Guarantee Token Appreciation
Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche show that better technology and greater activity do not necessarily produce higher token prices.
Token holders must understand how network usage translates, or fails to translate, into token demand and economic value.
What to Watch Next
The most immediate event is the Federal Reserve policy decision on July 29.
Investors should also monitor:
- The market’s response to the Fed’s inflation and interest-rate guidance
- Additional details regarding Core Scientific’s AMD contracts and financing requirements
- Whether more tokenisation firms pursue investment-adviser registration
- The next stage of the Minnesota prediction-market case
- CFTC rules for sports and other event contracts
- Senate negotiations over the CLARITY Act
- Whether state enforcement powers are preserved in the final legislation
- Bitcoin and Ether ETF flows
- The legal response to fake crypto applications
- Whether increasing blockchain activity eventually improves protocol revenue
Explore Crypto Markets
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Platform availability, products, leverage limits and regulatory protections differ by jurisdiction. Confirm local eligibility, licensing and withdrawal conditions before registering or depositing funds.
Disclaimer
This article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Crypto assets are volatile and may result in substantial losses. Readers must be 18 or older and should conduct independent research before making financial decisions.
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