Filtering the noise: July 18, 2026

Important news for today:

Macro

• The European Commission urged changes in a report to improve the competitiveness of the bloc’s banking sector, laying the political groundwork for what could become a substantial overhaul of EU banking rules to unlock billions in capital. The report proposes measures to encourage more cross-border banking, simplifying supervisory rules and deepen the integration of EU capital markets through closer links with the Savings and Investments Union. It follows a year-long push from the Commission to simplify rules, which Brussels says will not lead to de-regulation even if the proposals look to scale back rules previously enforced by the European Union.
• EU CPI remained stagnant at 2.8%.
• Meta is in talks to lease computing power from its AI data centers to Anthropic, in a deal potentially worth up to $10 billion, over 2 years.

Crypto

• Venice introduces a new feature of programmatic burning. In the future, $5 out of every $100 of credits purchased through Venice will be used to buy and burn VVV.

Corporate

• SBI Holdings has acquired a majority stake in Holdbuild, the parent company of Singaporean crypto platform Coinhako, after receiving regulatory approval from Singapore’s central bank.
• HSBC has received approval to operate in the UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox (DSS), allowing its digital assets platform, HSBC Orion, to support the issuance, servicing and settlement of digital securities.
• FTX Recovery Trust would distribute about $900 million to claimants in the recovery plan’s convenience and non-convenience classes. Eligible creditors can receive funds through their BitGo, Kraken or Payoneer accounts within 1 to 3 business days starting from July 31.
• ESMA added 14 new crypto firms, including Ripple Payments Europe, to its MiCA register, bringing the total number of licensed crypto service providers to 294.
• Bank of America has appointed new leaders to spearhead the firm’s digital assets and artificial intelligence strategies, following a trend of traditional financial institutions building specialized teams around the technologies.
• Bitcoin Japan Corporation has raised $60 million through convertible bonds. They are allocating $4.08 million to make their first purchase for their BTC treasury.

Regulations

• The House Financial Committee will hold an informational CLARITY Act hearing in New York at 10 AM ET. Meanwhile, industry leaders are expecting updated Senate text next week.

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