T. Rowe Price Launches Active ETF as Bitcoin Options Bet $2.5B on the Fed

T. Rowe Price listed the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF (TKNZ), bringing $1.89 trillion in AUM to the spot crypto market. Bitcoin traders responded with a $2.5 billion call spread targeting $72,000 by the July 31 Fed meeting. U.S. regulators missed the GENIUS Act's one-year deadline for final stablecoin rules, while the FATF labeled stablecoins the top on-chain illicit-activity vector.

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T. Rowe Price launches actively managed multi-token spot ETF The $1.89 trillion asset manager listed the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF (TKNZ) on NYSE Arca on July 16, offering traditional investors diversified spot exposure to major digital assets through a single regulated product. 1

Massive $2.5B Bitcoin call spread targets $72,000 by Fed meeting Large traders on Deribit constructed a $2.5 billion notional bull call spread on BTC, buying July 31 $70,000 calls and selling $72,000 calls. The trade aligns with the Federal Reserve's July 29 interest rate decision, suggesting expectations of a macro catalyst. 2

US regulators miss GENIUS Act's one-year deadline for stablecoin rules The Federal Reserve, OCC, FDIC, NCUA, and Treasury failed to finalize stablecoin regulations by the July 18, 2026 statutory deadline. The delay creates ambiguity for issuers of the $310 billion stablecoin market while the effective date of the law approaches. Separately, Paradigm urged the NCUA to revise proposed rules, arguing they exceed congressional intent. 3 4 5 6

Uniswap governance votes to activate protocol fees on v4 pools On-chain voting kicked off on proposals to activate protocol fees on select Uniswap v4 pools across 11 chains, including Robinhood Chain and Arbitrum. The fees will be routed to Ethereum and burned, extending the deflationary UNI supply mechanism established in the late-2025 UNIfication vote. 7 8

FATF flags stablecoins as top on-chain illicit-activity vector The FATF's seventh progress report on virtual asset supervision identifies stablecoins—particularly USDT and USDC—as carrying the largest share of identified on-chain illicit flows. The report also notes 91 of 109 jurisdictions have now legislated the Travel Rule, though enforcement remains limited. 9

Bank of America names digital assets and AI strategy heads The bank appointed Sonali Theisen as head of its global digital assets platform and Kevin Milsom as head of AI transformation. The appointments reflect how major institutions are embedding digital assets and AI into core market infrastructure. 10

Crypto ETFs end the week with nearly $200M in combined inflows Data from SoSoValue shows roughly $200 million in net inflows into spot crypto ETFs for the week. Ethereum ETFs led with $105.4 million, followed by Bitcoin ETFs at $75.67 million and DOGE ETFs at $10.03 million. 11