The morning of July 8 begins with a moderate decline in the digital asset market. Bitcoin (BTC) is trading around the $62,838 mark at the time of analysis, briefly dipping to a local low of $62,505. Ethereum is also showing a downward trend, hovering near $1,754.
Among the top cryptocurrencies by market cap over the past 24 hours, TRON stands out with a slight gain of 0.22%, while Ethereum posts the best weekly result, up 10.39%. Dogecoin is under the most pressure in the last 24 hours, losing 3.05%. In the top 100 altcoins, Zcash shows strong growth (+7.50%), and MemeCore is the weekly champion (+71.61%). The laggards are Bonk (-8.42%) and Audiera (-32.12% for the week).
Kraken wins $22 million arbitration against former auditor Mazars
The parent company of the Kraken exchange, Payward, has won an arbitration case against its former auditor, Mazars USA. The lawsuit stems from 2022, during the height of Operation "Choke Point 2.0," when the auditor abruptly halted an almost completed audit of Kraken, causing reputational damage to the exchange. Payward is now seeking a final court ruling in the state of Delaware. Notably, Mazars confirmed in writing that it had no complaints against the exchange's management, citing uncertainty due to the SEC lawsuit. After Gary Gensler's departure, this lawsuit, like many other regulatory cases against crypto companies, was dismissed.
Secret Network leaves Cosmos for Arbitrum
The privacy-focused Layer 1 blockchain Secret Network has announced plans to migrate from the Cosmos ecosystem to Arbitrum, a Layer 2 solution for Ethereum. The team cites security risks associated with the development of artificial intelligence as a key reason. In their view, old code is becoming increasingly vulnerable to analysis and attacks using AI, which sharply reduces the cost of finding vulnerabilities. The trigger was a $4.7 million bridge hack in June, although the native token SCRT was not affected. Developers also complain about the outflow of liquidity from Cosmos and the departure of specialists. A balance snapshot is scheduled for September 1, based on which a new ERC-20 standard token will be issued on Arbitrum. The market reaction was negative: SCRT crashed by 24% in a day.
Strike launches "volatility-proof" loans backed by BTC
Financial services platform Strike has introduced a new credit product that, according to CEO Jack Mallers, eliminates margin calls and forced liquidations. The mechanism works as follows: even with a sharp drop in Bitcoin, the client's collateral remains untouched. In return, users receive a high rate—up to 14.2% APR—but for a shorter six-month term and with a commitment to timely payments. The product is a response to criticism of Strike's first credit service, which triggered a wave of liquidations in May 2025. The maximum loan-to-collateral ratio is 45%. If a client misses a payment, they have 10 days to resolve the situation, after which Strike may begin selling the collateral.
My analysis: The Secret Network migration signals growing fragmentation in the Cosmos ecosystem and increased competition among Ethereum L2 solutions. And while Strike's product sounds like a breakthrough, it essentially shifts the volatility risk onto the borrower through a higher rate, which could prove to be an expensive proposition in the long run.