The market meets Wednesday on a positive note. Bitcoin (BTC) opened the day with a rise and by 07:35 Moscow time is trading near the $64,044 mark, having updated its maximum over the last 24 hours at $63,992 with a minimum of $62,190. Ethereum (ETH) is also in the green zone, showing $1,774. In the top 10 by capitalization over the day, all coins are in the black, with the best dynamics from BTC (+2.93%). Over the week, only Solana (-1.99%) and Dogecoin (-0.67%) are in the red, while the growth leader was TRON, which added 4.51%.
In the broader top-100 list, DeXe stands out: over the day, the asset rose by 16.48%, and over the week — by an impressive 46.22%. The worst result over 24 hours is from MemeCore (-3.74%), and the largest weekly decline was recorded for Audiera (-27.50%).
The main events of the morning revolve around three key stories. First, the prediction market platform Polymarket has filed an application to provide margin trading in the US. A related structure registered on July 3 with the National Futures Association (NFA) as a futures commission merchant (FCM). For the full launch of leveraged trading, the company will also need approval from the CFTC regulator. Notably, Polymarket's competitor — the Kalshi platform — received similar NFA approval back in March 2026.
Second, the Zcash network has announced the date for the long-awaited Ironwood update — July 28. The update aims to fix a bug discovered in May in the main Orchard private transaction pool. Ironwood will close the current pool, lock new activity in it, and create a new private pool. Funds leaving Orchard will pass through an accounting checkpoint to determine whether fake ZEC tokens were created due to the bug. Previously, Shielded Labs proposed postponing the update, fearing that bridges, mining pools, and wallets would not have time to prepare. As a result, the launch was pushed back a week from the original date of July 21.
Third, Bitwise analysts have drawn attention to the anomalous resilience of tokens in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector relative to bitcoin. In June, BTC fell by about 22%, while the Bitwise index tracking tokens of major DeFi protocols dropped only 4%. This is atypical: usually, DeFi is more volatile than bitcoin and suffers more severely. According to experts, such resilience indicates a "quiet revaluation" of the sector. Protocols like Morpho and Jupiter have attracted the attention of major institutions. At the same time, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi has fallen by almost 40% since the beginning of the year — from ~$115 billion in January to just over $70 billion.
My comment: The situation with DeFi truly deserves close attention. If earlier the sector was a classic "risk barometer" that was dumped first, now we are seeing signs of a paradigm shift. Institutional interest in protocols like Morpho and Jupiter could mean that the market is beginning to assess the fundamental value of DeFi, rather than just speculating on hype. However, the 40% drop in TVL since the start of the year is a worrying signal that should not be ignored. The "quiet revaluation" could be either a harbinger of a new bull rally in the sector or a temporary calm before the storm.