Bitcoin News Today: Scroll's New Privacy Tech Cloak Triggers 9.8% SCR Token Drop

Layer-2 network Scroll has unveiled a new privacy infrastructure called Cloak, leveraging zero-knowledge (ZK) technology to enable confidential transactions that remain auditable for compliance purposes. The system routes private transactions through a permissioned sequencer, which verifies them using ZK proofs, ensuring visibility is limited to the sender and the sequencer. Developers can also use real-time auditing tools to maintain control over their applications. The initial version of Cloak is now operational on Scroll’s testnet, with a full launch expected soon. However, following the announcement, Scroll’s native SCR token fell by 9.8%, dropping from $0.30 to $0.28 [1].

Meanwhile, asset manager Grayscale has launched the Grayscale Story Trust, a single-asset fund investing in Story Protocol’s native IP token. The fund is available to both institutions and accredited investors and currently manages over $33 million in assets, with approximately 1.75 million shares outstanding. Following the announcement, the price of IP surged to $6.53 before retreating to $5.86 [1].

Bitcoin closed July with an 11.4% increase, rising from $106,500 to $118,500. It also reached an all-time high of $122,800 in mid-July. According to CoinGlass, open interest in BTC across exchanges grew by 18.7% in July, climbing from $71.5 billion to $84.9 billion [1]. Ethereum also experienced a strong month, with its price rising by 57.2% to $3,800. The improved sentiment in ETH has also boosted altcoins and NFTs. NFT trading volume increased by 47.6% in July, reaching $577 million, while floor prices for major collections like CryptoPunks and Moonbirds saw notable gains [1].

The Polygon network faced a temporary disruption shortly after its recent Heimdall upgrade, caused by a validator exiting the mainnet and triggering a consensus bug. The incident halted block production on the primary PoS layer but did not affect the Bor layer, which continued to process transactions. The issue was resolved within an hour, and all services have since returned to normal. Following the outage, Polygon’s native POL token dropped by 3.7%, from $0.218 to $0.21, but has since recovered to $0.22 [1].

In other developments, Visa has expanded its stablecoin settlement capabilities to include PYUSD, USDG, and EURC on the Avalanche and Stellar networks, previously limited to Ethereum and Solana. Pump.fun has also seen a short-term resurgence in the price of PUMP, rising 18% due to aggressive buyback efforts. X user “Adam_Tehc” reported that 98% of Pump.fun’s recent revenue was used for token buybacks [1].

Fold, a Nasdaq-listed company, has partnered with gift card provider Blackhawk Network to introduce Bitcoin gift cards, which will be available at over 400,000 retail locations. US SEC Chair Gary Gensler announced a series of policy initiatives under “Project Crypto,” aiming to streamline crypto activities and potentially allow legal participation in airdrops and ICOs [1].

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has outlined future plans to launch tokenized equities and a predictions market, revealed through a teaser video on X. In the Solana-based DeFi space, Meteora’s S1 points checker has been released, covering liquidity provision activities from 2024 to 2025. The airdrop of the MET token is expected soon. In a legal development, the founders of Bitcoin mixer Samourai pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitter and face up to five years in prison [1].

The Ethereum community marked the 10th anniversary of the blockchain with Joe Lubin and Consensys ringing the Nasdaq closing bell. Additionally, a 168-page White House report on digital assets has been released, outlining regulatory recommendations for the crypto industry. While it acknowledges the future potential of crypto, it does not propose a national strategic Bitcoin reserve [1].

Source: [1]GeckoPulse: How do You Stay Hidden...the Right Way? (https://www.coingecko.com/learn/geckopulse-how-do-you-stay-hidden)