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Ethereum L2s hit $37.4B TVL as Base, Arbitrum, Optimism lead scaling push
Edgen Crypto·Jul 23 2026, 02:39Share to
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[1] Ethereum L2s now hold $37.4B TVL – Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism lead the charge (https://ambcrypto.com/ethereum-l2s-now-hold-3 ...)
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Jul 23 2026, 02:42
Japan to approve first Bitcoin ETF by 2028 with ¥3 trillion inflows
Japan's Financial Services Agency plans to revise investment-fund rules to allow the first domestic Bitcoin ETF by 2028, with potential inflows reaching ¥3 trillion (~$20 billion). "The legal framework is being prepared, and once the tax treatment is clarified, an ETF can be done anytime," Hiroki Yamamichi, chief executive of Japan Exchange Group, said. A July 23 Nikkei report said the FSA is moving crypto regulation from the Payment Services Act into the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, treating digital assets as financial investment products rather than payment tools. The shift follows parliamentary amendments approved earlier this month. Major financial groups including SBI Securities, Rakuten Securities, Nomura, Daiwa, SMBC-linked firms and Asset Management One are preparing crypto investment trusts and ETF products. Osaka Exchange has discussed launching Bitcoin futures in 2028 if spot ETFs become legal. The regulatory overhaul opens Japan — the world's third-largest economy and a G7 member with more than 14 million domestic crypto accounts — to a wave of institutional capital that could pressure other conservative Asian regulators to follow suit. The FSA still needs to finalize detailed investment-trust rules and listing requirements before any product can launch. **Retail investors, not institutions, may drive the bulk of demand** Japan's Bitcoin ETF market is expected to differ from the U.S. version, where institutional investors dominate spot ETF flows. Bank of Japan data shows households keep roughly half of their financial wealth in cash and deposits, while the FSA has reported that about 70% of crypto account holders earn less than ¥7 million annually. A regulated ETF would let these investors gain Bitcoin exposure through securities accounts without managing crypto wallets directly. The July 23 Nikkei report estimated Japanese Bitcoin ETFs could attract as much as ¥3 trillion by fiscal 2028. Rakuten plans to make crypto investment trusts available through smartphone services, while other brokerages are studying products that could fit into existing investment platforms used by individual customers. **Institutional interest builds, but remains measured** Nomura Holdings' 2026 survey found that 79% of respondents considering crypto investment over the next three years planned to invest, with 60% expecting to allocate between 2% and less than 5% of their portfolios. About 65% viewed crypto assets as a way to diversify. Some pension managers have begun testing small allocations. The National Business Pension Fund in Okayama, representing about 1,200 small and medium-sized businesses, plans to allocate roughly 1% of its ¥21.5 billion in assets to crypto-related funds during fiscal 2026. Aiyu Kiguchi, the fund's executive director of investment management, said the move is driven by crypto's low correlation with the U.S. dollar. The timeline depends on how quickly the FSA completes its investment-trust rules and how exchanges set listing requirements. JPX's Yamamichi previously said an ETF "can be done anytime once the legal framework is in place and the tax treatment is clarified." The latest Nikkei report points to 2028 as the earliest launch window, though Japan Exchange Group had earlier considered listings as early as 2027. If approved, Japan's Bitcoin ETF would mark a major validation for crypto as an asset class in Asia, potentially pressuring regulators in South Korea and other conservative jurisdictions to accelerate their own frameworks. For Bitcoin, the addition of a G7 capital market with ¥3 trillion in potential inflows represents a structural demand catalyst that could reshape the token's liquidity profile in the next cycle. *This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.*
Jul 23 2026, 01:40
dYdX Chain v5.1 opens permissionless listings as exchange rivalry heats up
dYdX Chain released version 5.1 on July 22, introducing permissionless market listings that allow any user to create new trading markets without governance approval, a structural shift designed to expand the platform's addressable market. "This upgrade removes the bottleneck of governance votes for new market creation, letting the community and market makers respond to demand in real time," a dYdX spokesperson said. The v5.1 upgrade eliminates the previous requirement for governance proposals to list new perpetual and spot markets. Any user can now deploy markets by meeting on-chain parameters, including minimum liquidity thresholds and oracle feed requirements. The change mirrors the permissionless expansion playbook that Hyperliquid deployed through its HIP-3 and HIP-4 upgrades, which opened perpetual and outcome market listings to staked deployers starting in October 2025. The upgrade positions dYdX to compete more directly with Hyperliquid, which generated $1.34 trillion in trading volume and $320 million in revenue during the first half of 2026, according to Bitwise. dYdX's market share in perpetual futures has faced pressure as Hyperliquid's unified margin model and lower fee structure attracted volume. Whether v5.1 reverses that trend depends on how quickly deployers create markets and whether liquidity providers follow. **How Permissionless Listings Work on dYdX** Under v5.1, deployers must meet on-chain parameter requirements rather than passing a governance vote for each listing. The system uses predefined templates for market structure, similar to the template-based approach Hyperliquid introduced with HIP-4 on July 20. Hyperliquid's HIP-4 requires deployers to stake 500,000 HYPE tokens, worth about $30 million, locked for at least six months. dYdX has not disclosed equivalent staking requirements for its permissionless system, with details expected in forthcoming documentation. The competitive stakes are significant. Hyperliquid's HIP-4 outcome markets generated roughly $100 million in trading volume during their first month after launching on mainnet in May 2026, according to the protocol. dYdX's v5.1 does not include outcome markets — it focuses on perpetual and spot listings — but the architectural shift toward permissionless deployment follows the same strategic logic: let external deployers drive market growth rather than bottlenecking it through governance. **What This Means for DYDX Token Economics** The permissionless upgrade introduces a new demand driver for DYDX if deployers must stake or hold the token to create markets. Hyperliquid's HIP-3 and HIP-4 staking requirements have removed millions of HYPE from circulating supply — each HIP-4 deployer locks 500,000 HYPE worth roughly $30 million. dYdX's specific token requirements for permissionless deployment remain unannounced, but any staking mechanism would create similar supply-side pressure. dYdX's total value locked stood at roughly $480 million across its perpetual and spot markets as of mid-July, according to DefiLlama, compared with Hyperliquid's $2.1 billion. The v5.1 upgrade gives dYdX a path to narrow that gap by letting external market makers and trading firms list the pairs they want to trade, without waiting for governance cycles that can take weeks. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Jul 23 2026, 01:37
Injective files for SEC transfer agent registration in $6.8B RWA push
Injective filed a Form TA-1 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to register as a transfer agent, a move that would place the layer-1 blockchain within the existing US securities infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets. "This is a transfer agent registration, not a securities registration for the INJ token," a person familiar with the filing told Edgen. "Form TA-1 is what a service provider files, not what an issuer files. It positions Injective as regulated infrastructure for tokenized assets." The filing, submitted alongside the launch of Injective Mint on July 17, represents a direct engagement with US securities law rather than an attempt to work around it. Transfer agents maintain official ownership records of securities, process changes in ownership, and manage investor communications — functions that Injective aims to bring onchain. Under US rules, the transfer agent's register remains the legal source of truth even when a token exists on a blockchain, with the smart contract enforcing transfer restrictions to non-approved wallets. The strategic significance extends beyond the filing itself. Injective has already settled $6.8 billion in real-world asset volume on its network and surpassed $1.1 billion in native asset issuance, according to the company. The Injective Mint platform, now in private alpha, allows institutions to issue equities, bonds, ETFs, and foreign exchange products through a single compliance-ready interface — with holder restrictions, jurisdictional screening, and freeze controls built into the issuance process rather than added afterward. The SEC filing and platform launch follow a series of institutional infrastructure moves. BitGo joined Injective as a validator in June 2025, and the network has processed 2.94 billion onchain transactions to date. Injective also completed the migration of its INJ token from Ethereum's ERC-20 standard to its native Injective EVM, with Coinbase supporting a direct 1:1 conversion, boosting access to DeFi applications on the network. INJ traded at $5.28 as of July 20, up 4.2% from the prior week, with a daily trading volume of $88 million, according to CoinGecko. The token had a roughly $494 million market cap when it launched on Robinhood on July 16 at $4.76 to $5.00, and the listing was accompanied by a broader press cycle that included a Linux Foundation membership, an AI development kit, and a MiCA whitepaper. The approval timeline for the transfer agent registration remains uncertain. If approved, Injective would become one of the first blockchain networks to operate as a registered securities infrastructure provider in the US, potentially opening the door for traditional financial institutions to issue tokenized assets on its chain. Future releases and integrations on Injective Mint will be powered by the INJ token, creating a structural link between institutional adoption and token demand that could shift the network's economic dynamics as issuance scales. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.