Ethereum’s [ETH] 11th anniversary is here, and everyone wants to come to the party. Many are choosing to buy ETH, and more ETH is locked in staking too.
Is this just a short-term buzz play, or the start of a big move up for the token?
Ethereum takes the spotlight
So far this week, BlackRock clients have recorded $60 million in net outflows from the company’s IBIT Bitcoin [BTC] ETF. Over the same period, they reportedly purchased more than $20 million worth of ETH. The contrast between the two flows is hard to ignore.
Source: Arkham Intelligence
Whale activity is adding to the story. A wallet identified as 0x2d59 recently withdrew 40,000 ETH, worth approximately $76.58 million, from Binance.
Source: Lookonchain
Large exchange withdrawals are often viewed as a good indicator because the assets are moved away from trading. However, this wallet owner’s exact intention remains unknown.
Source: Bitwise
Ethereum staking has also hit a new high. In Q2 2026, the amount of staked ETH climbed to a record 40.2 million ETH, around 33% of the total supply and worth over $63 billion.
Belief in Ethereum is growing among both large holders and those that are here for the long run.
11th anniversary increasing hopes of an ETH rally?
Investors may be positioning for possible gains ahead of Ethereum’s 11th anniversary. None of the above numbers guarantees a rally, but their timing has certainly added to the bullish mood.
About the network’s progress over the years, Raj Karkara of ZebPay told AMBCrypto,
Ethereum has evolved from an ambitious vision of a programmable blockchain into the foundation of a thriving digital ecosystem.
He also believes the transition to Proof-of-Stake and scalability improvements have “strengthened the network’s long-term sustainability.”
The anniversary gives investors a reason to look beyond daily price movements and focus on Ethereum’s progress. If demand and staking continue to rise, the milestone could become more than a symbolic moment.
However, lasting gains will happen only if the pace continues long after the celebrations end.
Final Summary
BlackRock clients added over $20 million in ETH.
Ethereum staking reached a record 40.2 million ETH as well; whale activity added to hopes of an anniversary rally.
BIP-360, the proposal to give bitcoin quantum-resistant addresses, specifies three algorithms NIST has already standardized, and includes several deliberately so users have fallbacks if one is later broken by quantum or classical advances.
What changed is the speed of the classical side. BIP-361, the companion proposal that would freeze more than a third of bitcoin’s supply, argues that the migration window is closing because cryptographic attacks are improving by up to 20-fold. Anthropic’s results align with that trend, with a model behind it.
Against HAWK’s smallest parameter set, Anthropic said the expected cost of recovering a key fell from about 2^64 operations to 2^38. Larger keys remain impractical to attack, but doubling key sizes to compensate removes most of what made HAWK attractive.
The company disclosed the attack to HAWK’s authors in June and coordinated publication with NIST’s public mailing list.
A second result improved attacks on a deliberately weakened version of AES, the cipher used across the industry to encrypt wallet files, by factors of 200 to 800.
Importantly for crypto developers, Anthropic said the model produced smaller improvements, under tenfold, against Poseidon, the hash function that underpins many zero-knowledge proof systems, including those securing rollups and privacy protocols.
Nara Smith, 24, says going to couples therapy before a crisis struck helped her and her husband, Lucky Blue Smith, navigate their daughter’s cancer diagnosis.
On Wednesday’s episode of “Call Her Daddy,” Smith, a model and TikTok creator known for her viral cooking-from-scratch videos, opened up about the difficult period when her daughter Whimsy Lou underwent chemotherapy.
Smith said she and her husband didn’t fully process their daughter’s diagnosis until the physical effects of chemotherapy set in, including hair loss and nausea.
“We started crumbling a little bit,” Smith told podcast host Alex Cooper.
Smith and her husband took turns leaning on each other, with each stepping in to lift the other up whenever they felt they couldn’t go on, she said.
“When I had a hard day with it, he picked me up. When he had a hard day, I picked him up, and we were like, ‘Let’s just keep going,'” Smith said. “It felt like that game where you’re tied to someone else, and you have to make it to the finish line together.”
The couple also has three other children: Rumble Honey, Slim Easy, and Fawnie Golden.
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Looking back, going to couples therapy early in their relationship gave them the tools to navigate this period of their lives, Smith, whose content is often associated with the “tradwife” aesthetic, said.
She added that she first suggested couples therapy because she knew they had grown up differently and wanted them to build “a strong foundation” from the start.
Many people assume couples therapy is only for troubled relationships, but she doesn’t see it that way.
“Sometimes nothing’s wrong, and you just want to have the tools to have the best life. I want to have the best life in every aspect of my life, and that to me comes with work,” she said.
Smith said one of the main things she and her husband learned was how to communicate with each other, which “came in really handy” during their daughter’s treatment.
“Even though I might have felt whatever I felt, I created the space for him to feel the way he felt, and for him to communicate that with me, and for us to work through that together and really be heard by each other,” she said.
Smith revealed in an Instagram post in early July that her daughter had been diagnosed with cancer late last year, though she did not disclose the type. At the time of the post, her daughter had already completed treatment and was in remission, an update Smith shared two weeks later.
Smith joins a growing number of celebrities who have spoken openly about the benefits of couples therapy.
In 2024, Rob Lowe said he and his wife, Sheryl Berkoff, see couples counseling as a way to maintain their relationship.
“It’s like taking your car in and making sure the engine’s running great,” he said.
In 2025, Manny Jacinto said the best marriage advice he’s ever gotten is to go to couples therapy when things are good.
“It goes for therapy in general. You don’t want to be going to couples therapy when you’re in a really bad spot because sometimes it might be too late,” Jacinto said.
Parallel said the layoffs began on July 6 or during the 14-day period that followed.
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Employees were placed on paid administrative leave beginning July 6 and were expected to continue receiving their regular compensation and benefits through their respective termination dates without being required to report to work.
At the Wimauma facility, affected positions include cultivation technicians, production technicians, processing technicians, laboratory workers, packaging employees, and supervisors overseeing extraction and refinement.
Among the largest groups affected are 43 Production Technician I employees, 27 cultivation technicians, 12 production team leads, and 11 Processing Technician II workers.
At the Lakeland facility, the cuts include 22 cultivation technicians, 5 cultivation team leads, and employees working in harvesting, pest management, environmental services, research and development, and facility operations.
Parallel is a multi-state cannabis business with operations spanning across multiple stages of the industry, from cultivation and manufacturing through retail.
The company currently lists Surterra Wellness as its Florida retail brand, operating 45 Surterra stores in the state.
In Massachusetts, Parallel operates under the NETA brand, and in Texas, under the Goodblend brand.
Surterra offers medical marijuana products that include cannabis flower, pre-rolls, vaporizers, edibles, and other cannabinoid products.
Parallel, company behind Surterra Wellness, closes 2 facilities in Florida.Scott Shymko / Getty Images
Parallel is nearing a possible change in control
The facility closures come as Parallel approaches the possible conclusion of a financial restructuring that could transfer control of certain company assets to its creditors.
Creditors affiliated with SunStream Bancorp, a cannabis-investment joint venture in which Canadian cannabis company SNDL holds an interest, previously provided financing to Parallel.
After Parallel encountered financial difficulties, those creditors entered into a strict foreclosure agreement covering certain assets that had been pledged as security for the debt.
A strict foreclosure is different from a conventional acquisition.
Instead of one company buying another, secured creditors can take control of pledged assets to satisfy outstanding debt, subject to regulatory approvals and the terms of the agreement.
The proposed transaction would place certain Parallel operations under the control of an entity formed for the benefit of its creditors.
The process began in 2023 and has since cleared several major hurdles.
The Florida Department of Health approved the transfer of Parallel’s cannabis license in February 2025, according to SNDL‘s first-quarter 2026 earnings reports.
“In December 2025, a settlement was reached resolving the final remaining litigation, and SNDL currently expects the strict foreclosure process to close in Q3 2026, subject to completion of remaining steps, satisfaction of applicable conditions, and any required approvals,” SNDL said in the earnings release.
TheStreet reached out to Parallel for information about why the facilities were closing and whether the decision was connected to the restructuring.
But the company did not reply to a request for comment.
Cannabis market grows as operators face pressure
Parallel’s cuts come as the broader cannabis market continues to expand, even as individual operators face a difficult and uneven business environment.
Fortune Business Insights valued the global cannabis market at $102.72 billion in 2025 and estimates it will grow to $137.67 billion in 2026.
The research firm projects the market could reach approximately $1.43 trillion by 2034, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 34% between 2026 and 2034.
North America accounted for approximately 83.8% of the global market in 2025, supported by legalization, medical use, and consumer demand.
But strong projections for the overall industry do not mean every cannabis company is growing at the same pace.
Operators still face pricing competition, high production costs, varying state regulations, and federal tax restrictions.
Although the results do not reflect Parallel’s operations, recent SNDL earnings illustrate the uneven conditions facing cannabis businesses.
Revenue from SNDL’s own cannabis operations fell 14.2% year over year during the first quarter of 2026, citing softer demand, inventory reductions, and changes in the timing of business-to-business orders.
Parallel continues to operate 45 Surterra Wellness locations across Florida, but the two facility closures represent a significant reduction in the cultivation and production infrastructure supporting that retail network.
Spot decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume has slumped to one of its weakest levels in nearly two years, a slide that has taken hold as activity across the wider crypto market keeps thinning out.
DEXs have grown into a central venue for investors over recent months, largely because they now sit at the crossroads between crypto and traditional finance.
The role improves with the arrival of on-chain stocks, whose explosive run earlier in the month pulled fresh capital and attention onto decentralized trading rails before the momentum faded.
Spot DEX volume plummets
Blockworks’ Spot DEX dashboard indicated a major collapse in the activity moving through these venues, with the numbers pointing to a market that has lost much of its earlier energy.
Volume, which measures the combined inflow and outflow of assets across these exchanges, has fallen to roughly $130.77 billion. The figure sits 26% below the $177.55 billion volume traded in June and captures just how quickly liquidity has left the space.
The latest reading marks the lowest level since September 2024, when spot DEX volume sat at roughly $108 billion.
Source: Blockworks
Such a steep decline signals firm bearish control over the market and points to a heavy outflow of capital across the 35 blockchains where DEX activity is currently tracked.
The decline built up gradually through consistently thin daily turnover in July. Spot DEX trading volume crossed the $6 billion mark only once, around the 8th of July, when it reached roughly $6.191 billion. Weekly totals told the same story, staying subdued and reflecting steadily weaker participation across the market.
Stablecoin supply shrinks despite rally in July
The stablecoin market has contributed a substantial portion of overall spot DEX volume, cementing its position as one of the busiest corners of decentralized trading.
Blockworks reported roughly $31.53 billion in stablecoin volume over the same period, a figure accumulated steadily through July. That total accounted for close to 30% of all DEX activity at the time.
Source: Blockworks
Stablecoins commanding such a large portion of the flow do not necessarily point to a bullish market, even though the total crypto market capitalization surged by roughly $192 billion, an 11% gain, over the same window.
A closer look at DeFiLlama’s stablecoin market capitalization from the 1st of July to date tells a more cautious story.
Across the very period when broader market capital climbed, the stablecoin supply moved in the opposite direction and contracted.
Stablecoin market capitalization has fallen by $2.23 billion so far this month, sliding to $308.473 billion. Until supply begins to expand again, the odds of a sustained market rally remain slim.
On-chain FX and tokenized equities cool
The connection between crypto and traditional finance has continued to strengthen, yet the total on-chain foreign exchange (FX) currency volume and tokenized stocks traded have followed the wider market lower.
Week-on-week FX turnover has trended downward from the start of July, with total currency volume amounting to $646.12 million compared to $721.42 generated in June.
Source: Blockworks
Tokenized equities volume has weakened alongside it, landing at $1.405 billion. The reading marks a slight decline from June’s $3.56 billion, which still stands as the second-highest level recorded since the product launched.
Final Summary
Spot DEX trading volume dropped to roughly $130.77 billion, its lowest level since September 2024 and a 26% fall from June.
Stablecoin supply shrank by $2.23 billion this month even as the broader crypto market cap climbed.
Stablecoin infrastructure firm Brale is rolling out an interoperability protocol designed to end what it says is a bottleneck in the industry’s growth: moving a rapidly expanding number of custom stablecoins across blockchains.
Dubbed ION Protocol, it allows participating stablecoins to move between blockchains by burning tokens on one network and minting an equivalent amount on another. Unlike most blockchain bridges, the model does not require liquidity pools to be pre-funded on every supported chain.
While the $300 billion stablecoin market is dominated by Tether’s USDT and Circle Internet’s USDC, new participants are piling in. Banks, fintechs, crypto firms and asset managers are increasingly issuing their own branded tokens for payments, settlements and tokenized assets.
Data provider CoinGecko already tracks more than 350 of the coins, whose value is pegged to a real-world asset such as a fiat currency, underscoring the growing need for infrastructure to connect an increasingly fragmented ecosystem. Brale argues today’s interoperability model won’t scale as more issuers introduce their own versions.
Stablecoin scaling problem
The company supports over a hundred stablecoin programs across more than 30 blockchains, founder and CEO Ben Milne said in an interview with CoinDesk. Many of its customers process billions of dollars in monthly payment volume while maintaining relatively small stablecoin balances because their tokens are designed for transactions rather than investment.
Emirates has begun accepting cryptocurrency payments for flights. The airline on July 28 launched Crypto.com Pay across its website and app, letting customers with a Crypto.com account pay for tickets directly from their digital wallets.
The option is open to eligible UAE residents for bookings priced and settled in Emirati dirham (AED). It appears at checkout on emirates.com and the Emirates App, with transactions processed in line with UAE regulatory standards. The move delivers on a partnership the two companies signed in July 2025, taking the project from memorandum to live product in under a year.
“Bringing this initiative to life delivers on our commitment to expanding customer choice in how they pay for travel,” said Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ deputy president and chief commercial officer, pointing to “a younger, digitally fluent generation who manage their money and plan their journeys primarily from their phones.”
Eric Anziani, president and chief operating officer of Crypto.com, called the deal “a milestone for Crypto.com and our Pay feature,” and credited the UAE’s “forward thinking approach to innovation.”
Just how big Emirates is
Emirates is the world’s largest long-haul international airline and, by its own results, the most profitable.
For the financial year ended March 31, 2026, the airline posted a record profit of AED 19.7 billion (about $5.4 billion) on record revenue of roughly $41 billion, and carried 53.2 million passengers. The wider Emirates Group cleared AED 24.4 billion (around $6.6 billion), its best result ever.
Founded in 1985 and owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai, the airline flies a fleet of about 277 wide-body aircraft to more than 140 destinations. It is the largest operator of both the double-decker Airbus A380 and the Boeing 777, and at the 2025 Dubai Airshow it committed a further $41.4 billion to new jets.
Dubai, UAE – November 8, 2024: A row of Emirates Airlines airplanes at the terminal in Dubai, UAE.
Its reputation, though, rests on the cabin. Emirates is a fixture near the top of global airline rankings and a byword for premium travel — its A380s feature onboard shower spas in first class, a lounge and bar for premium flyers, and private first-class suites, alongside chauffeur-driven airport transfers. Putting a crypto checkout button in front of that customer base is what makes the launch notable.
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How it works
On mobile, customers booking in the Emirates App are sent to the Crypto.com app to approve the payment from their wallet, then returned to Emirates for their confirmation and e-ticket.
On desktop, they select Crypto.com Pay, scan a QR code on the booking page, and approve the payment in the Crypto.com app. Emirates is paid in AED, with the crypto side handled inside the Crypto.com account.
Why it’s happening in Dubai
The launch leans on the UAE’s push to become a crypto and fintech hub.
The integration runs through Crypto.com’s Dubai entity, which it says was the first Virtual Asset Service Provider granted a Stored Value Facilities licence by the Central Bank of the UAE — the regulatory approval that lets it handle payments at all.
It also feeds Dubai’s Cashless Strategy under the D33 economic agenda, which aims to make 90% of all transactions across government and private sectors digital by the end of 2026. Crypto.com is expanding its retail app to UAE customers, with more than 250 cryptocurrencies available, and has separately partnered with Dubai Finance to accept digital payments for government services.
