Daily News: US and EU Near 15% Tariff Agreement, Block Joins S&P 500, FTX Next Distribution Scheduled, and More

US and EU Near Trade Agreement with 15% Tariffs, FT Reports

The EU and United States are closing in on a trade deal that would impose 15% tariffs on European imports, similar to President Trump's recent agreement with Japan, according to a Financial Times report on July 23. The proposed agreement would waive tariffs on certain products including aircraft, spirits, and medical devices, while the EU continues preparing a potential €93 billion ($109 billion) retaliatory tariff package of up to 30% in case negotiations fail by the August 1 deadline, as Trump has threatened to impose 30% tariffs on the 27-nation bloc if no deal is reached.

Bitcoin Treasury Company Block Officially Joins S&P 500 Index

Payment giant Block Inc. will officially join the S&P 500 index today, CNBC reports. Block currently holds 8,584 bitcoins on its balance sheet.

BitMine Launches NYSE Options Trading, Plans to Acquire 5% of Total ETH Supply

Ethereum treasury and cryptocurrency mining company BitMine Immersion (ticker: BMNR), associated with Peter Thiel, has launched common stock options trading on the New York Stock Exchange and disclosed plans to acquire 5% of the total ETH supply, The Block reports.

Crypto Mining Company MARA to Issue $850 Million Convertible Notes to Purchase More Bitcoin

Bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings announced the issuance of $850 million in 0% convertible notes to purchase more Bitcoin (as well as to repay $50 million in existing notes and for general corporate purposes).

Tesla's Bitcoin Holdings Surge to $1.2 Billion Following Q2 Cryptocurrency Rally

Tesla reported that its bitcoin holdings are now valued at approximately $1.2 billion after the cryptocurrency experienced a 30% price increase during the second quarter of 2025. The electric vehicle manufacturer currently holds 11,509 BTC, making it the tenth largest publicly traded company with cryptocurrency on its balance sheet, with bitcoin trading around $118,000 compared to $83,000 on April 1.

Aspecta Tokenomics: 45% Allocated to Community and Ecosystem Development

Aspecta has announced its tokenomics with a total supply of 1 billion tokens, distributed as follows:

• 45% - community and ecosystem;

  • 30% - community and ecosystem growth);

  • 7.6% - users and community supporters at TGE;

  • 6.7% - market and broader blockchain users;

  • 0.7% - pre-market price discovery;

• 20% - investors;

• 17% - the foundation.

• 15% - early contributors;

• 3% - for liquidity;

Aspecta will open airdrop checking at 07:00 UTC on July 24, with airdrop claiming available at TGE at 10:00 UTC.

FTX: Next Distribution Scheduled for End of September, Disputed Claims Reserve Reduced by $1.9 Billion

FTX announced that the next round of fund distribution will begin on September 30, 2025, with a record date of August 15. This distribution targets customers with allowed claims, general unsecured claimholders, and convenience claimholders who have not previously received distributions.

Meanwhile, the bankruptcy court has approved FTX's reduction of disputed claims reserve from $6.5 billion to $4.3 billion, releasing approximately $1.9 billion for this round of distribution.

The distribution will be conducted through three service providers: BitGo, Kraken, and Payoneer. FTX reminds users to complete KYC verification and tax form submissions, and warns against potential phishing scams.

Analysis: 620,000 ETH Unstaked Due to Aave Bulk Withdrawal Surge

On-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa cites analysis from @0xdoge_bull suggesting that the 620,000 ETH bulk unstaking event may be related to massive ETH deposit withdrawals on the Aave platform causing borrowing rates to surge. Large-scale withdrawals of ETH deposits on Aave in a short period caused borrowing rates to spike, forcing leveraged lending players from profiting on interest rate spreads to losses, compelling them to redeem stETH to deleverage, leading to the current situation.

• Aave ETH borrowing APR once surged to 10%

• Lido $stETH exit waiting period has now extended to 21 days (normally within one week)

• On-chain stETH to ETH conversion still trades at nearly 0.4% discount

Regarding the implementation of leveraged lending, Aave's collateral ratio for ETH is 93%, meaning arbitrage players can even use up to 14x leverage to capture interest rate spreads, with annualized returns on principal typically reaching ~7% under normal conditions.

Previously reported, pending ETH unstaking reached 620,000 tokens, with net redemptions of approximately 271,000 tokens.

2 Billion PUMP Tokens Allegedly Transferred from Binance Hot Wallet Back to Project-Related Address

According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa monitoring, 2 billion PUMP tokens were allegedly transferred from Binance hot wallet back to a project-related address.

It's reported that these tokens were deposited into Binance a week ago and then transferred to address 9SnqXZ7ERMu1Aa2FHt1MNwCvg5EnA7qz9P6L3tBseSGz, before being transferred back in batches from that address half an hour ago. The analyst noted that tomorrow is the expected airdrop distribution date.

Arthur Hayes: Predicts Bitcoin Will Reach $250,000 and Ethereum $10,000 by Year-End

Arthur Hayes predicts that Bitcoin price will reach $250,000 by the end of the year, with Ethereum touching $10,000 in his latest article. Hayes points out that the Trump administration's wartime economic policies are creating credit growth flowing into the cryptocurrency market, and the model of stablecoin issuers purchasing Treasury bills to finance government deficits will further drive market gains.

Joe McCann Targets $1.5 Billion for New Solana Treasury Company

Joe McCann, founder and CEO of crypto hedge fund Asymmetric Financial, is set to become CEO of a new Solana treasury company called Accelerate, which aims to raise $1.5 billion through a SPAC merger with Gores X Holding.

Tron Inc. to Ring Nasdaq Opening Bell in Blockchain Milestone

Tron Inc. (Nasdaq: TRON) announced it will ring the Nasdaq Stock Market Opening Bell on Thursday, July 24, 2025 at 13:30 UTC, with the ceremony led by Justin Sun, Founder of the TRON Blockchain and Global Advisor to the company. This milestone marks Tron Inc.'s transformation into blockchain and digital asset innovation, positioning itself as the public company with the largest TRON (TRX) token holdings while expanding its blockchain-powered treasury strategy for long-term shareholder value creation.