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Bitcoin rises 2.2% to $66,681 as Iran claims Amazon data center strike
Edgen Crypto·Jul 21 2026, 17:07Share to
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[1] Bitcoin and XRP rally into resistance as Iran claims Amazon strike (https://crypto.news/bitcoin-xrp-rally-into-re ...)[2] Iran Launches Retaliatory Strike on Amazon Data Center in Bahrain (https://en.tempo.co/read/2114798/iran-launche ...)[3] Amazon AWS data centre in Bahrain hit with cruise missiles, says Iran (https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/amazon-a ...)[4] Iran claims strikes on US-linked targets in Jordan, Bahrain (https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/iran-cla ...)[5] Iran DESTROYS Amazon’s Data Centre in Bahrain With Cruise Missile Strikes; Openly Dares Trump (https://www.oneindia.com/videos/iran-destroys ...)
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Jul 21 2026, 19:29
Pakistan launches crypto crime unit as 3rd-largest adoption market
**Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency established a dedicated cryptocurrency investigation unit to police money laundering and terrorism financing conducted through digital assets.** Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency set up a dedicated cryptocurrency investigation unit inside its new National Command and Control Centre, targeting money laundering and terrorism financing routed through virtual currencies. "The unit will investigate the criminal use of crypto while PVARA remains responsible for regulating digital assets," Dr Muhammad Athar Waheed, director of the FIA's Counter-Terrorism Wing, told Dawn. He urged the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency and the Anti-Narcotics Force to build similar units to counter crypto's use in cybercrime and the drug trade. The NC3 centre consolidates the FIA's financial-crime tools on one platform, including anti-money laundering and virtual-currency investigation desks, an Interpol coordination point, and units for open-source intelligence, cyber patrolling and dark web investigation. New rules are being drafted to wrap up inquiries within fixed timeframes, Waheed said. The enforcement push gives Islamabad a policing arm to match its regulatory ambitions — even as the country's religious scholars debate whether crypto is permissible under Islamic law. PVARA chairman Bilal bin Saqib has asked the Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi seminary to distinguish between speculative tokens and asset-backed instruments such as fully reserved stablecoins and blockchain-recorded sukuk, telling Reuters that Pakistan could "lead the world in Shariah-compliant digital finance." **Regulatory push meets religious uncertainty** Pakistan ranked third in the Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, and the government has moved aggressively to formalize the sector. Islamabad lifted an eight-year crypto banking ban, created the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority in July 2025, began advancing licenses for exchanges including Binance and HTX, and explored tokenizing state assets. The country has also woven crypto into its diplomacy with Washington, striking a deal with an affiliate of World Liberty Financial — the Trump family's crypto venture — to explore using its USD1 stablecoin for cross-border payments. That embrace hit a snag in June, when the influential Jamia Darul Uloom Karachi seminary ruled that cryptocurrency is not "wealth" under Islamic law and therefore not a valid means of payment. The fatwa cast doubt on the government's plans, though Saqib has argued that asset-backed tokens such as fully reserved stablecoins should be treated differently from purely speculative instruments. **Dual-track enforcement model** The FIA unit gives Pakistan an enforcement framework alongside its licensing regime — a dual-track approach that mirrors strategies in jurisdictions such as Singapore and the UAE, where regulators have built both promotional and policing functions in parallel. With the unit now operational and PVARA issuing exchange licenses, Pakistan is building out both sides of its crypto regulatory architecture even as the question of whether digital assets are permissible under Islamic law remains unresolved. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Jul 21 2026, 19:07
XRP Ledger nears 10 million agentic payments after x402 Foundation entry
**The XRP Ledger has processed more than 1 million agentic payments in roughly four weeks and is on track to hit 10 million, as Ripple takes a governance seat alongside Visa and Mastercard in the standard that lets AI agents pay each other.** XRP Ledger agentic transactions are approaching 10 million after surpassing 1 million in roughly four weeks, each costing a fixed $0.0002. "The x402 Foundation brings together 40 major organizations to build an open payment standard for AI agents, and Ripple's membership puts XRP and RLUSD inside that standard from day one," a Ripple spokesperson said. Ripple joined the x402 Foundation as a Premier Member on July 14, the same day the Linux Foundation formally launched the nonprofit to govern the protocol. The membership caps months of infrastructure work, including the June release of the XRPL AI Starter Kit — a developer toolkit that gives AI agents wallets and lets them pay in XRP or RLUSD without human approval. Mastercard also named Ripple as one of more than 30 launch partners for its own agent-payments network in the same period. The competitive backdrop matters. Coinbase's Base network has processed more than 119 million x402 payments, and Solana about 35 million, both with a year's head start and most volume settled in USDC. XRPL's 1 million transactions are early-stage by comparison, but the foundation is network-neutral — meaning XRP competes alongside USDC under the same protocol. Foundation membership gives Ripple a governance role in how the standard evolves, which matters more at this stage than raw transaction counts. ## What Ripple Brought Before the Membership The foundation membership follows deliberate infrastructure work rather than arriving as a standalone announcement. In June, Ripple released the XRPL AI Starter Kit, including an MCP documentation server, an agent wallet skill, and a payment tutorial that guides developers from initial setup to a confirmed XRPL transaction supporting x402 payments in XRP and RLUSD. Ripple-backed t54.ai followed with the XRPL AI Hub, providing resources for developers building AI-powered applications on the ledger. The XRPL's technical characteristics suit the use case. Transactions achieve deterministic finality in three to five seconds. Fees are predictable and fixed at approximately $0.0002. Agents can operate non-custodial wallets funded with XRP or RLUSD, paying for APIs, storage, and cloud computing without relying on banks, and can retain XRP earned from completed tasks to fund future operations. ## Where XRP Sits Against USDC in the x402 Race The x402 Foundation's broader membership underscores how seriously the largest technology and payments companies are treating the machine-economy payment layer. AWS, American Express, Cloudflare, Fiserv, Shopify, the Solana Foundation, and the Stellar Development Foundation are all Premier Members. The standard the foundation governs will likely become the default payment infrastructure for AI agents across the internet within this decade. Where XRP and RLUSD land in that standard's adoption curve depends on whether Ripple can convert its governance position and developer toolkit into the kind of institutional-grade transaction volume that USDC currently holds on Base. RLUSD, Ripple's dollar-backed stablecoin with a $1.26 billion market cap, gives agents a steady dollar to price things in, while XRP is the native asset the whole ledger runs on. Every payment uses a small amount of XRP in fees, agent wallets must hold XRP in reserve to function, and XRP can move liquidity between currencies when an agent needs it. The more agents transact on the ledger, the more of that activity runs through XRP. If AI agents become mainstream users of blockchain infrastructure, demand for assets that can settle payments quickly and cheaply could increase. XRP's low fees and three-to-five-second settlement time make it technically competitive, but sustained growth will depend on whether Ripple can convert its governance role, developer tools, and institutional partnerships into meaningful transaction volume rather than announcements alone. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Jul 21 2026, 18:59
Telegram plans Gram wallet for 1 billion users after Toncoin rebrand
Telegram will roll out a native non-custodial Gram wallet to its more than 1 billion monthly active users this summer, founder Pavel Durov said on Tuesday, calling it the "largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history." "This summer will see the largest rollout of a non-custodial crypto wallet in human history. Instant zero-fee crypto transactions for over a billion users are about to become reality," Durov wrote on his official Telegram channel. The wallet will be native to GRAM, the token formerly known as Toncoin that was rebranded on June 15 with 81.22% community approval. GRAM traded at $1.53 as of Tuesday, up 8.4% in 24 hours with a $4.17 billion market capitalization, according to CoinGecko. The token ranks 25th among all cryptocurrencies but remains down more than 54% over the past year. The price move followed Durov's post, which marks his most aggressive step yet toward making Gram the default currency inside the messaging app. The announcement revives a promise Durov first made in November 2022, when he said Telegram would build non-custodial wallets and a decentralized exchange after FTX's collapse — a version that never shipped at scale. What changed is control: Telegram replaced the TON Foundation as the network's primary steward in May, became its largest validator, and cut transaction fees roughly sixfold. The structural shift means Telegram now owns the validator set, the token brand and the distribution channel, removing the dependency on third parties that stalled earlier efforts. **What the wallet rollout means for GRAM** The new wallet is separate from Wallet in Telegram, the custodial multi-chain product built by The Open Platform that has more than 150 million registered users. Andrew Rogozov, founder of TOP, said the two products will coexist for different audiences. "Telegram Wallet serves as a simple gateway into crypto, whereas Wallet in Telegram is built for users seeking advanced trading, investment, and asset management capabilities," Rogozov told BeInCrypto. Converting even 1% of Telegram's user base into active wallet holders would produce roughly 10 million participants, a figure comparable to the active user counts of several top-10 blockchain networks. The technical foundation for the zero-fee claim rests on TON's Catchain 2.0 consensus upgrade, which went live on April 9 and cut block times from roughly 2.5 seconds to about 400 milliseconds, reducing settlement to approximately one second. Skeptics remain. Blockstream CEO Adam Back recently questioned GRAM's inflation mechanics after Durov compared the token favorably with Bitcoin. Projected annual inflation rose from roughly 0.6% to about 3.6% following the network changes. Self-custody at Telegram's scale is also untested — whether a billion users activate the wallet rather than simply receiving it will determine the rollout's real impact. The wallet rollout is plausibly step five of a publicly stated seven-step roadmap that began with the Toncoin-to-GRAM rebrand. Durov has now promised this product twice. The difference is that he finally owns every piece required to deliver it. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.