The Zcash (ZEC) price has climbed roughly 1,190% over the past year, earning it a spot on Forbes’ new top 10 list of the best cryptocurrencies to buy.
The privacy coin trades near $545 after rising about 17% in a week. It is one of just 10 names Forbes picked, beside Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Hyperliquid (HYPE).
To make Forbes’ shortlist, a token had to top $5 billion and pass a utility or store-of-value screen. Zcash cleared both, and its rally rests on more than sentiment.
On-chain supply is tightening. By early June, a record shielded supply held about 5.1 million ZEC. That is close to a third of all coins, and those holdings sit outside the liquid market.
A November 2024 halving added to the squeeze. It cut the block reward in half, from 3.125 to 1.5625 ZEC, slowing new issuance.
Regulatory pressure eased at the same time. The Zcash Foundation said in January that the SEC closed a two-year investigation into crypto asset offerings without enforcement. The probe had followed a 2023 subpoena.
The Case Against the Run
The risks are just as concrete. In late May, a researcher found a critical flaw in Zcash’s Orchard shielded pool. The bug had gone undetected for about four years, and in theory it could have minted counterfeit ZEC.
Electric Coin Company and the Zcash Foundation patched it through an emergency hard fork within days. Network accounting showed no fake coins were created. Still, ZEC fell about 38% on the news, and on-chain data flagged lingering stress. Gemini’s Winklevoss twins later backed formal verification, a math-based check meant to make such bugs impossible.
Europe poses the clearest threat. Under MiCA, the bloc’s crypto rulebook, platforms cannot list assets with built-in anonymity features. That provision takes effect in 2027, and some exchanges have already dropped privacy coins.
Will It Hold?
The honest answer is a qualified yes, with caveats. This run has firmer footing than past Zcash pumps. A shrinking liquid supply, slower issuance, and named institutional backers are structural, not hype. Momentum also points up, with gains across the weekly and monthly windows.
Durability is a separate question. Zcash still trades far below its 2016 record high. Adoption stays thin, and Forbes flagged volatility as a core weakness. The Orchard scare showed how fast confidence can crack.
Forbes Names 10 Top Cryptocurrencies to Buy, Including HYPE, Zcash, and Bitcoin. Source: Forbes
“Given crypto’s higher volatility, we chose a more conservative cutoff: screening only for projects with a market cap of at least $5 billion,” Forbes stated.
The takeaway is that Zcash’s rally rests on firmer ground than its history suggests, yet it is far from safe. Its longer-term price outlook now turns on a single question. Can privacy demand outlast the regulation it invites?
The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI), a nonprofit research group, has officially stepped in to fight a lawsuit that seeks to claim ownership of about 3.7 million Bitcoin.
The case, filed in New York County Supreme Court, argues that Bitcoin left untouched for years should be treated as “abandoned property” under state law. The plaintiffs, led by a person called Noah Doe, are using New York’s lost-and-found law, Article 7-B of the Personal Property Law, to get a judge to declare them the owners of roughly 39,000 wallets that haven’t moved funds in years.
BPI joins fight for Bitcoin founder’s coins
The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) announced through a post on X that it filed to intervene as a defendant in a case concerning 3.7 million bitcoin.
This includes about 1.10 million BTC from Satoshi-era addresses and nearly 80,000 BTC tied to the 2011 Mt. Gox hack.
The plaintiffs argue that they “found” dormant wallet addresses, reported them to the NYPD, sent on-chain messages using Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN field to try to contact owners, waited 90 days, and then asked a court to declare the wallets abandoned.
The Bitcoin Policy Institute, represented by the law firm White & Case, has submitted a proposed answer, 15 affirmative defenses, and plans to file a motion to dismiss.
The case has since been paused by Judge Kathy J. King until a hearing on July 14. Two amicus briefs have already been filed against the plaintiffs’ claims, one from attorney Ian Cohen and another from the Digital Chamber, a blockchain trade group.
Galaxy Research valued the targeted coins at nearly $274 billion in late May. However, the plaintiffs may never get to receive that money as analysts have flagged their claim as unenforceable.
Cryptopolitan reported back in May that Bitcoin has no mechanism to reassign funds without a wallet’s private key. The plaintiffs have admitted that they don’t have these keys.
Galaxy Research Director Alex Thorn noted that the plaintiffs had already dropped 44 addresses from the case after those wallets moved coins following the lawsuit’s filing. This alone disproves the claim that these wallets are truly abandoned.
Who else is gunning for the coins?
Before the Bitcoin Policy Institute intervened to kill the case, a pseudonymous defendant calling himself John Doe 33 filed a verified answer and affirmative defenses on July 8, appearing pro se and saying his portfolio topped $80 billion when the case was filed.
John Doe 33 argues that public Bitcoin addresses are not legal persons and cannot be sued. The plaintiffs simply copied public address data onto a USB drive, and that does not amount to finding or possessing anyone’s coins. He went on to point out that OP_RETURN messages are a poor method of notice because many wallets never display them, and cold-storage users have no reason to check. He also alleges that an identified owner had already contacted plaintiffs’ counsel by phone, disproving the claim that owners were unknown and unreachable.
Two amicus briefs also preceded the institute’s move. Attorney Ian Cohen filed the first on May 29, arguing the dormant coins cannot be treated as lost or abandoned property under New York law, as that only applies to physical objects like jewelry or cash.
The blockchain trade group Digital Chamber filed the second on July 7 with help from consulting firm CahillNXT and Brown Rudnick attorney Stephen Palley.
Despite gaining over 10% since its recent multi-year low at under $58,000, bitcoin is still not out of the woods yet as the bears continue to dominate, said Ali Martinez.
Meanwhile, fellow analyst Ted Pillows believes BTC, alongside the S&P 500, is poised for more losses, but the cryptocurrency is poised to outperform the index.
Still Bear-Dominated Market
In its most recent post on BTC’s market structure, Martinez outlined the three critical factors that have to change to overcome its current state. First, it’s the aSOPR (Adjusted Spent Output Profit Ratio), an on-chain metric measuring whether bitcoin investors are selling their units at a profit or a loss on average. It continues to hover below 1, showing that most sales are concluded by holders realizing losses.
“The first technical confirmation of a trend reversal from bearish to bullish will be the aSOPR metric crossing back above zero,” the analyst said.
The second is the Puell Multiple, which measures miner profitability by dividing the daily dollar value of newly issued BTC by its 365-day moving average. It shows whether miners are experiencing extreme income stress, as seen earlier this year during one of the largest miner walkouts.
The last factor brought up by Martinez was the Reserve Risk Multiple. The on-chain technical indicator demonstrates the confidence of long-term holders relative to its price, and it’s also below 1. Bitcoin would require a “confirmed break on the aSOPR, followed by zero-line breakouts on the Puell Multiple and Reserve Risk Multiple” to validate the start of a new bull market.
$82K and Its Importance
Michaël van de Poppe believes $82,000 holds particular significance in the current BTC structure, as the 50-week Moving Average is positioned around that level. Historically, this key MA has served as major resistance, and bitcoin solidified the end of its previous bear market only after it reclaimed that line.
At first, BTC would have to break past the 21-week MA (currently around $75,000) before heading toward the more important 50-week MA, said van de Poppe.
Separately, Ted Pillows focused on bitcoin’s relation and correlation with the S&P 500, claiming that both asset classes will “drop over the coming months.” However, he expects the cryptocurrency to emerge victorious after the final leg down. For now, though, the reality is quite different, as the index is up by over 10% this year, while BTC is down by almost 27%.
Bitcoin has reached its most oversold level against gold on record, according to on-chain data. The last time this exact setup appeared, a powerful 660% macro rally in Bitcoin followed.
Here is what the signal means and how history frames the current setup.
The BTC/Gold ratio measures how many gold ounces one Bitcoin can buy, tracking the relative strength of the two assets. An oversold reading means Bitcoin is trading at a deep discount versus the precious metal, hinting that selling pressure may be nearing exhaustion.
The current setup is extreme by any measure. The BTC/Gold oscillator now sits at -1.81 standard deviations from its long-term trend. Furthermore, it trades below its conservative four-year average of -1.42, marking the deepest reading since 2010.
On-chain highlighted the depth of the move. Bitcoin now trades below both the power-law trend and its four-year average simultaneously. Moreover, the structural fair value of that trend currently implies a Bitcoin price near $283,000.
The signal draws on specific technical measures. These include deviation readings and oversold levels for the BTC/Gold ratio. As a result, the combination points to an unusually stretched relationship between the two assets right now.
Gold’s recent strength reflects its traditional role as a safe-haven asset during uncertain times. However, Bitcoin’s relative weakness amid volatility and macroeconomic pressure has driven the ratio to its 2026 trough, one of the lowest points on record.
Extreme oversold conditions in the BTC/Gold ratio have repeatedly marked major opportunity zones for Bitcoin. The chart shows previous troughs during the 2015 and 2018-19 bear markets, COVID (2020), and the FTX collapse (2022), each near a key turning point.
The most notable precedent stands out clearly. Following those lows, Bitcoin launched a multi-year advance exceeding 660%. Similarly, deep drawdowns during earlier cycles preceded outsized gains as capital rotated back into Bitcoin from other assets across the market.
Data from Delphi Digital reinforces the pattern. Larger ratio drawdowns, around -62%, have historically preceded strong recoveries.
Also, the average subsequent rally across completed ratio crosses sits near 160%, with the deepest declines producing even bigger rebounds.
The Gold vs. Bitcoin plan is playing out exactly as described.
The final stage of Gold distribution could drive Bitcoin to new all-time highs over the next 2 to 3 years.
The setup resembles a coiled spring, though it guarantees nothing. Bitcoin often begins to outperform once broader liquidity conditions or risk sentiment improve. Consequently, shifts in monetary policy or rising risk appetite could catalyze a rotation back toward Bitcoin.
The market now sits at a potential inflection point. With the spring coiled after this rare signal, many participants are watching closely. A macro reversal could once again position Bitcoin for significant gains relative to gold.
Bitcoin’s more than $10 billion corporate credit market is still attracting new entrants after a June selloff triggered margin calls and drove its leading preferred shares far below par.
A new report from BitcoinTreasuries.net described the downturn as the sector’s first meaningful stress test, offering an early measure of whether companies can reliably build financing structures around their cryptocurrency reserves.
The selloff showed how quickly supposedly stable products can buckle when too much leverage piles in. Yet the market emerged bruised but operational. Dividend payments continued, secondary-market volumes reached record levels, and corporate treasuries kept adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets.
That resilience has drawn praise from industry proponents and sustained interest from prospective issuers, which are advancing plans for new yield-paying products across the US, Europe and Asia.
Investors are now betting that corporate Bitcoin holdings can support a wider market for preferred shares and similar debt-like products.
How leverage turned a stable trade into a cascade
Leverage piled into preferred shares that looked stable, then unwound in a rush of liquidations.
Strategy, the largest Bitcoin holding company with over 800,000 BTC, and Strive have used preferred shares to raise capital without relying entirely on common-stock sales or conventional debt. The securities typically carry a $100 stated value, pay fixed or variable dividends, and have no maturity date.
For issuers, the structure provides long-term capital that can be directed toward Bitcoin purchases or other corporate needs. Investors receive income above the yield available from many traditional fixed-income products without having to hold Bitcoin directly.
Strategy’s STRC and Strive’s SATA emerged as two of the largest instruments in the market. Strategy can adjust STRC’s dividend to keep the shares trading near $100, while SATA offers a variable payout and distributes dividends daily.
For months, both securities traded within relatively narrow ranges around par. That stability encouraged some investors to borrow money to increase their positions and amplify dividend income, BitcoinTreasuries.net said in its June corporate adoption report.
The strategy worked as long as the shares remained stable and the dividends exceeded the cost of financing the trade.
That calculation began to break down as Bitcoin fell below $60,000 in June and selling pressure spread across companies and securities tied to the cryptocurrency.
Beginning June 18, STRC and SATA moved sharply below par. Falling prices triggered margin calls for leveraged STRC holders, forcing them to sell into an already weakening market and driving further liquidations.
SATA also declined under pressure from its own market conditions and spillover from STRC’s selloff.
STRC eventually fell to about $75, roughly 25% below its stated value, while SATA declined to around $88. Bitcoin’s slide weighed on investor sentiment, even though preferred shares continued to pay their scheduled dividends.
Leverage turned products built for steady income into another source of volatility. Higher dividends might draw buyers after a selloff, but they offered little protection once indebted investors had to exit.
Raising the dividend also made the financing more expensive for the issuer. Strategy responded by increasing STRC’s annual payout to 12% and introducing a broader capital framework that included a $2.55 billion cash reserve, authority to repurchase preferred shares, and permission to sell some Bitcoin under specified conditions.
The company said the reserve was sufficient to cover about 17 months of expected preferred dividends and interest payments. It also acknowledged that STRC could remain substantially below its target range, leaving the market to determine whether the higher payout would be enough to restore demand.
Prices rebound as Bitcoin buying continues
Despite the June sell-off, the market stabilized faster than initial liquidations suggested, with prices rebounding, trading volumes hitting record highs, and corporate treasuries continuing to buy Bitcoin.
As of publication, STRC had recovered to about $87 from a low near $75, while SATA had climbed back to roughly $97.
The uneven rebound suggested investors were distinguishing between the two securities rather than abandoning the broader market.
Trading activity also accelerated during the turmoil. Combined June volume for STRC and SATA exceeded $10 billion, even as both products traded below their $100 stated values.
STRC accounted for $8.7 billion of that total, its highest monthly volume on record, and posted two of its five busiest trading weeks. SATA generated nearly $1.5 billion, almost twice its May volume, with three of its four strongest weeks occurring during the month.
Trading held up through the sharp repricing. Buyers absorbed shares from leveraged sellers, keeping the market open and dividend payments uninterrupted.
However, the heavy secondary-market activity did not translate into fresh capital for the issuers. Neither STRC nor SATA was able to raise funds through at-the-market sales in June, as most transactions involved existing shares changing hands between investors.
Strategy added a net of 3,625 Bitcoin during the month, while Strive acquired 3,364 Bitcoin. Each spent about $200 million, leaving the two companies responsible for most of June’s corporate Bitcoin purchases.
Supporters saw the continued buying as evidence that June’s turmoil stemmed from excessive leverage in the securities, rather than fading confidence in corporate Bitcoin accumulation.
New entrants push the model beyond the US
The recovery in trading and continued corporate Bitcoin buying are now encouraging treasury companies to explore whether the credit model can expand beyond the US.
On July 10, Metaplanet provided the latest sign by announcing a joint study on tokenized credit instruments in Japan.
The Tokyo-listed company will work with Siiibo Securities, the yen stablecoin issuer JPYC, and the regulated security-token platform Progmat to examine products that use Bitcoin as a backing asset or as a source of credit support. Metaplanet recently acquired Siiibo for $13 million.
According to the firm:
“Digital credit backed by Bitcoin could evolve into instruments traded and settled globally on a 24/7/365 basis, with interest and distributions accruing on a daily prorated basis according to the holding period.”
The initiative targets longstanding barriers in Japan’s corporate credit market, where smaller and growing companies can face high costs for product design, distribution, investor administration, interest payments and redemptions.
Metaplanet and its partners said digital infrastructure could reduce some of those costs. Their proposal combines stablecoins for payments and distributions, security tokens for recording ownership and transfer rights, and Bitcoin as an asset supporting the securities.
The structure could calculate interest based on how long an investor holds a product, reducing reliance on conventional record dates. It could also allow trading and settlement outside regular market hours.
The project remains at an early stage, with no issuance date, return, distribution plan, or final structure in place. The companies have yet to decide whether to run a proof of concept.
Metaplanet has also not specified whether investors would have a direct legal claim to the designated Bitcoin. That detail will determine whether the products function as formally secured instruments or rely more broadly on the issuer’s balance sheet and cryptocurrency reserves.
Metaplanet holds 43,000 Bitcoin, ranking third among publicly traded companies by BTC holdings.
Bitcoin digital credit growth forecasts meet a more demanding market
Metaplanet’s planned entry adds weight to expectations that Bitcoin-backed credit will expand, though June’s selloff has given investors a clearer view of the risks behind those forecasts.
A BitcoinTreasuries.net survey found that 78% of respondents expect the digital credit market to grow through the end of 2027. Another 22% projected that outstanding supply could exceed $50 billion, with some expecting it to surpass $100 billion.
Bitcoin Digital Credit Market (Source: BitcoinTreasuries.Net)
The results, however, reflect a group already predisposed to support the products. The report found that 87% of respondents viewed digital credit favorably and 72% had invested in the sector. About 76% also expected similarly sharp price declines to occur again.
That mix of confidence and caution offers a more measured assessment of June. Investors remain optimistic about the market’s long-term potential, even as they acknowledge that leverage and liquidity can drive large departures from par.
Michael Saylor has argued that Bitcoin makes digital credit easier to assess because its primary market risk is tied to a globally traded and continuously observable asset. Investors can track Bitcoin’s price and volatility in real time and incorporate those movements into their valuation models.
June proved Bitcoin-backed credit could survive a liquidation shock. Its next hurdle is persuading investors to fund new issuance after watching leading products trade below par.
Bitcoin-backed preferred shares STRC and SATA posted their highest combined monthly trading volume on record in June, surpassing $10 billion amid a BTC sell-off that pushed both below their $100 par value.
According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net (BTN), Strategy’s STRC generated $8.7 billion in trading volume last month, while Strive’s SATA recorded $1.5 billion, and this happened with the price of BTC falling near the $57,000 level.
June Trading Sets New Preferred Stock Record
BitcoinTreasuries’ latest corporate adoption report shows that the $8.7 billion recorded by STRC represented a 20.8% jump from the $7.2 billion in May and 11.5% above April’s $7.8 billion. The amount was also more than 52% higher than what the shares generated in March after a much quieter start to the year.
Strategy’s perpetual preferred stock volumes had reached $2.2 billion in February before climbing 159.1% in March. January recorded $2.4 billion, following $1.2 billion in December 2025.
The BTC treasuries market aggregator pointed to June as the first major stress test for the digital credit products after STRC and SATA both dropped well below their $100 par value beginning June 18. According to the firm, margin calls forced STRC and SATA leveraged traders to liquidate positions after an extended period of trading near par.
After weathering Bitcoin’s fall to a price level below $60,000, STRC recovered to about $87 by July 2 after falling as low as $75, while SATA traded near $97. A survey by BTN found that investors were quite headstrong despite the volatility, with more than half of respondents saying that the price decline was not a significant concern. 84% did not sell either of the stocks during the decline, and 52% bought one or both of them after June 18.
“The instinct after June 18 is to ask whether STRC and SATA are safe,” the survey read. “That is the wrong question. Strategy holds 847,363 BTC acquired at an average cost of approximately $75,651. The dividend obligation is a cash flow question, not a solvency question.”
It also pointed out that none of the issuers had missed a payment, and none of them had seen their credit quality change from mid-June.
Strategy, Strive, Metaplanet Lead in Issuer Confidence
In the investor confidence part of the BTN study, respondents projected the strongest issuance potential for Strategy, with the most common expectation placing new digital credit issuance between $10 billion and $30 billion for the Michael Saylor-led firm by the end of 2027.
Strive came in second place on a forecast between $2 billion and $5 billion in additional issuance, followed by Metaplanet, Smarter Web Company, and Bitmine, respectively.
When asked which digital credit issuers appeared most promising, 78.4% of those who took the poll ranked Strategy first, 74.5% tapped Strive second, and Metaplanet took third spot with 49%.
Nakamoto CEO David Bailey has resurfaced a 2014 controversy involving developer Luke Dashjr. He argues the record disqualifies Dashjr from steering Bitcoin (BTC) as the BIP-110 fight intensifies.
The claim revives a dispute over blacklists Dashjr once built into a version of Bitcoin’s software. It resurfaces as he backs BIP-110, his proposed one-year ban on storing images and other non-money data on Bitcoin.
Bailey Points to a 12-Year-Old Blacklisting Incident
On Friday, Bailey wrote that Dashjr secretly added Bitcoin address blacklists to the Gentoo Linux package he maintained in 2014.
Back in 2014 Luke secretly added bitcoin address blacklisting to Gentoo repository. His judgement cannot be trusted to run a trillion dollar asset as sole maintainer. I’m not denying he’s a brilliant person, but anyone with eyes can see it’s a non-starterhttps://t.co/r0Btv1ZrWZ
— David Bailey🇵🇷 $2.0mm/btc is the floor (@DavidFBailey) July 10, 2026
The 2014 patch shipped on by default, blocking payments to gambling services such as SatoshiDice from the Gentoo build of Bitcoin software. Node operators noticed only when transactions failed, and the backlash filled a widely shared thread.
Even then, a fellow Core developer said such changes belonged in a separately named version, not the default software.
Supporters stress the context. Dashjr reversed the default, made it optional, and apologized, and Bitcoin Core never shipped the blacklists. That same developer now drives Bitcoin’s anti-spam rule change.
BIP-110 Turns an Old Dispute Into a Trust Test
The rule targets Ordinals inscriptions, the images and text people embed on Bitcoin, which backers call spam. Dashjr runs Bitcoin Knots, an alternative version of the software that already enforces the limit.
Knots powered about a fifth of the network’s public computers, known as nodes, during 2025’s spam fight, data shows. He calls the fight existential, warning Bitcoin fails if the proposal fails.
Miners can back the change by flagging the blocks they mine. BIP-110 needs 55% of them, below Bitcoin’s usual 95% bar. Yet support has stayed under 1% since December 2025, never topping 0.79%.
Even so, computers running the software plan to reject any block that withholds support from early August. The move echoes 2017, when users forced an upgrade called SegWit the same way. That push carried broad market backing. BIP-110 does not.
Prominent voices oppose the plan. MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor called it a self-inflicted protocol risk. Blockstream’s Adam Back warned of fork risk that could strand supporters on a separate chain.
Bailey also argued that Wall Street misjudges the stakes. If the network ever split, he asked, which side would the cash-settled futures on the CME exchange treat as the real Bitcoin?
“very clear to me the Wall Street universe has no idea how Bitcoin governance works. Like which chaintip does a cash settled Bitcoin future traded on the CME settle against? Whether TradFi like it or not, they’re locked in the insane asylum with all of us,” Bailey added.
Bitcoin’s market value sits near $1.3 trillion. Critics say that trillion-dollar market value should not hinge on one developer’s preferences.
Dashjr is not Bitcoin Core’s sole maintainer, a role shared among several contributors. His direct influence runs through Knots and the people who run it.
The activation window opens in early August. Back has dismissed that deadline as the road to a minority altcoin, a small spinoff few would follow. The 2014 fight now stands in for a bigger question, who gets to shape Bitcoin.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh has appointed a high-profile group of economists, former central bankers, and technology leaders to help review how the US central bank conducts monetary policy.
While the initiative is not focused on digital assets, the inclusion of prominent Bitcoin supporter Marc Andreessen has drawn attention from crypto investors looking for signs of a more technology-aware Federal Reserve.
Warsh Launches Sweeping Fed Policy Review
The Federal Reserve announced five independent task forces on Thursday to examine communications, balance sheet policy, inflation frameworks, economic data, and the impact of artificial intelligence on productivity and employment.
“The Federal Reserve’s commitment to price stability and maximum employment is unwavering,” Warsh said in the central bank’s announcement. He added that the reviews will assess whether the Fed’s analytical tools and policy approaches can be improved.
Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan
Former Brazilian central bank chief Arminio Fraga
Nobel laureate Thomas Sargent, and
Harvard economist Greg Mankiw
Bitcoin Bull Joins AI Task Force
The appointment attracting the most attention from crypto markets is Andreessen, the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley’s most influential Bitcoin and blockchain investors.
Andreessen will co-lead the Productivity and Jobs task force with Stanford economist Charles I. Jones and Microsoft Xbox CEO Asha Sharma.
The group will study how AI and other emerging technologies could reshape economic growth and labor markets, factors that directly influence monetary policy.
Although the review does not include cryptocurrency regulation, Andreessen’s participation introduces a well-known digital asset advocate into discussions that could shape how the Fed evaluates technological change.
The task forces are expected to submit recommendations to the Federal Open Market Committee by year-end. Investors across traditional and crypto markets will closely watch whether the findings influence future thinking on inflation, productivity, and interest rates, all of which remain key drivers of Bitcoin’s long-term outlook.
The Federal Reserve released minutes from its June 16-17 meeting on July 8, showing a divided committee that unanimously held rates steady at 3.50% to 3.75% while flagging inflation risks tied to artificial intelligence spending.
The meeting was Chair Kevin Warsh’s first since taking over the Fed. All 12 voting members backed the hold, though the minutes revealed disagreement over whether a hike is still needed this year.
Officials Split Over the Case for a Hike
A few participants argued a rate increase was justified at the June meeting but ultimately supported holding steady, the minutes said. Most officials cited persistent inflation risk from tariffs, Middle East energy costs, and AI-driven demand for tech, data centers, and electricity.
Nine of 19 officials penciled in at least one rate hike before the end of 2026, a reversal from earlier projections that showed no hikes at all. Warsh did not submit a projection.
At his post-meeting press conference, Warsh described the internal debate in blunt terms.
“We had a good family fight on it for a couple of days, and we ended up, I think, in a better place.”
Fed staff raised inflation forecasts for 2026 and 2027, citing tariff pass-through, Middle East supply shocks, and surging AI infrastructure investment. Core inflation ran at 3.3% in April and was estimated near 3.4% in May, well above the Fed’s 2% target.
Several participants said AI spending could eventually lower costs through productivity gains, though that effect would take years to appear. Meanwhile, demand for data centers and high-tech equipment keeps adding upward pressure on prices.
Bitcoin Dips as Markets Digest the Hawkish Tone
Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $62,240 on Wednesday, down about 2.7% over the past 24 hours, according to BeInCrypto data at press time.
The next FOMC meeting is scheduled for July 28-29. With inflation still running above target and nine officials now leaning toward a hike, upcoming inflation and jobs data will likely determine whether Warsh’s “family fight” ends in a rate increase or another hold.
Adam Back’s Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company (BSTR) and Cantor Equity Partners I (NASDAQ: CEPO) have scrapped the terms of their year-old merger on Wednesday and postponed a shareholder vote indefinitely, restarting negotiations on how the Bitcoin treasury firm goes public.
Cantor Equity Partners I (CEPO) has said its BSTR deal will not close on the terms set in the business combination agreement dated July 16, 2025. Both sides are now discussing a new structure for the merger and amended terms meant to “better reflect current market conditions.”
The reset effectively kills the private placement financing, which was set to raise $1.5 billion, attached to the original merger.
A vote that never came to life
CEPO had initially planned its shareholder meeting for the 10th of July at 10 a.m. Eastern. But has now canceled the meeting. The company has asked shareholders to remain calm, and anyone who filed to redeem shares will have them returned.
The indefinite postponement comes after weeks of indecision on the part of the two companies. The vote was slated for June 26, then moved to July 2 and then to July 10, with each delay linked to unresolved terms on the private investment in public equity, or PIPE.
No deadline has been set for the redemption of shares.
Back sees the move as a strategic choice meant to position BSTR for more opportunities in the market. He wrote on X that BSTR and CEPO are working on a potential revised structure “intended to opportunistically better capitalize on market conditions.”
Back told CoinDesk early this year that going public in a softer Bitcoin market could help BSTR by letting it buy coins at lower prices before any recovery.
What BSTR was set to bring to the public market?
BSTR is a pure-play Bitcoin treasury company led by Adam Back. BSTR was set to go public on Nasdaq with 30,021 BTC, worth ~$1.9 billion at Wednesday’s price of ~ $62,000. CEPO’s market capitalization was $267.2 million during the merger process.
That stash would rank BSTR fifth among public corporate Bitcoin holders, behind Michael Saylor’s Strategy, Twenty One Capital, Metaplanet, and MARA Holdings.
Founders Back and Blockstream Capital were to supply 25,000 BTC, with a further 5,021 BTC coming in through the PIPE. Cryptopolitan noted BSTR had billed that arrangement as the first major in-kind Bitcoin PIPE in a SPAC deal, with investors contributing actual Bitcoin instead of cash.
CEPO is sponsored by an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald and chaired by Brandon Lutnick, son of U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The SPAC raised about $200 million in its January 2026 IPO.
What to watch next
Any new structure agreed by both companies would have to be reflected in fresh filings amending registration documents previously approved by the SEC. Then a vote can proceed. Until CEPO and BSTR make further announcements, BSTR’s path to Nasdaq remains open.
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