The morning of July 15 was eventful: the US government blocked over $130 million in crypto assets linked to Iran, mining company Bitmine switched to Ethereum staking and earned $45.7 million, and OpenAI integrated quotes from the Kalshi prediction platform into ChatGPT. Let's break down the details.
Market Dynamics: Sideways Movement Among Leaders
Bitcoin (BTC) started the day in sideways movement. As of 07:35 (Moscow time), the asset is trading at $64,751, with a 24-hour low of $62,434 and a high of $65,046. Ethereum (ETH) is also consolidating at $1,876. In the top 10 by market cap, the best daily performance was shown by Hyperliquid (+5.81%), and over the week by Ethereum (+6.98%). All coins are in the green zone over the past 24 hours. In the top 100, growth leaders are Pump.fun (+13.01% daily) and DeXe (+45.28% weekly). The biggest losses were recorded for Pi (-23.33% weekly).
Top Morning News
US Freezes $131 Million in Cryptocurrency Linked to Iran
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that Tether froze four wallets on the Tron network containing $131 million in USDT. According to him, these addresses are linked to the Central Bank of Iran. The freeze coincided with an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East: the US resumed the blockade of Iranian ports and announced a new wave of strikes. Bessent stated that the Treasury will continue to strictly monitor financial flows, depriving the Iranian regime of revenue from illegal schemes. This is a significant signal for the market: regulators are increasingly using stablecoin blocking tools.
Bitmine Earns $45.7 Million from Ethereum Staking
Bitmine Immersion Technologies reported revenue for the quarter ending May 31. 98% of all revenue ($45.7 million) came from Ethereum staking after launching an institutional platform in March. For comparison, its own Bitcoin mining brought in only $624,000, and consulting $168,000. By July 13, the company had staked about 4.9 million ETH (85% of its ether reserves). This is a clear trend: traditional miners are pivoting to staking as a more stable income source.
ChatGPT Begins Displaying Kalshi Quotes for World Cup Matches
OpenAI integrated data from the Kalshi prediction market platform into ChatGPT search results. Users can now see charts with team win probabilities for World Cup matches. There was no official partnership announcement, but this appears to be OpenAI's first integration with a prediction platform. This opens new opportunities for popularizing cryptocurrency prediction markets.
My Conclusion: The morning events confirm that the crypto market is becoming an arena for both geopolitical maneuvers and institutional capital flow into staking. The integration of Kalshi into ChatGPT is a step toward democratizing access to prediction markets, which could enhance their liquidity and influence.