BTC Price Approaches Record High of $123,000
Bitcoin hit a new all-time high this week, surpassing $123,000, up 13% since the start of the month. The rally was supported by strong institutional demand via spot ETFs and a growing trend of corporates adding BTC to their reserves. According to ARK Invest, corporate interest in holding crypto assets on their balance sheets has doubled since the start of the year. On-chain activity remains moderate, with the average number of transactions per day reaching 364,000, well below the peaks of 530,000–666,000 at previous market highs.
ETH Reaches $3,400
Ethereum has gained 8.9% in 24 hours, reaching $3,452 — its highest since mid-January, CoinGecko reports. The rally was supported by record capital inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs: on July 16, net inflows into nine funds amounted to $726.74 million, of which $499 million came from BlackRock's ETHA. Since the beginning of the month, spot ETH ETFs have attracted $2.27 billion, setting an all-time record since their launch.
BNB Chain Roadmap to 2026
The BNB Chain team presented a network development strategy until 2026, aiming to create a next-generation blockchain capable of competing with large CEXs and traditional financial platforms. Over the past six months, Lorentz and Maxwell updates have accelerated the network, reduced fees, and reduced the number of malicious attacks, allowing it to process up to 17.6 million transactions per day with a volume of $9.3 billion.
In the second half of 2025, the developers will focus on scaling: they plan to increase the gas limit in blocks by 10 times, switch to a new client on Rust, and optimize work with the database to reach 5,000 DEX swaps per second. From 2026, the team intends to create a completely new architecture with transaction confirmation in less than 150 ms, a throughput of more than 20,000 operations per second, and improved privacy, while maintaining the convenience of the Web2 level.
Flashblocks Update on Base Network
The BNB Chain team presented a network development strategy until 2026, aiming to create a next-generation blockchain capable of competing with large CEXs and traditional financial platforms. Over the past six months, Lorentz and Maxwell updates have accelerated the network, reduced fees, and reduced the number of malicious attacks, allowing it to process up to 17.6 million transactions per day with a volume of $9.3 billion.
In the second half of 2025, the developers will focus on scaling: they plan to increase the gas limit in blocks by 10 times, switch to a new client on Rust, and optimize work with the database to reach 5,000 DEX swaps per second. From 2026, the team intends to create a completely new architecture with transaction confirmation in less than 150 ms, a throughput of more than 20,000 operations per second, and improved privacy, while maintaining the convenience of the Web2 level.
XRP Reaches All-Time High of $3.65
On July 17, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen transferred $30 million worth of XRP to Coinbase, The Block reports. The next day, the token hit a new all-time high, reaching $3.65. Since the beginning of 2025, Larsen has transferred $344 million worth of XRP to exchanges and external wallets, but it is unknown whether the assets were sold. According to XRPScan, he owns about 2.6 billion XRP worth over $8.5 billion. Forbes estimates his fortune at $9.7 billion, $6.5 billion more than a year ago. Larsen's transfers coincided with XRP's growth of almost 6% in a day. On July 18, the token exceeded the 2018 record of $3.4.
Bitcoin Developers Propose Plan to Protect 25% of Bitcoin from Quantum Threats
A group of developers has proposed a way to protect the Bitcoin network from threats from quantum computers. Casa CTO Jameson Lopp published an initiative on GitHub, the essence of which is to transfer users to quantum-resistant addresses and freeze old ones with the ability to restore funds. A separate BIP will be required for implementation.
The developers refer to BIP 360, proposed by engineer Anduro under the pseudonym Hunter Beast, which involves the introduction of addresses with post-quantum cryptography. According to Deloitte, 25% of all bitcoins may be at risk, including 1 million BTC belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto.
