Trump’s Bitcoin Bombshell, Optimism’s Turbo Boost & Crypto’s Wildest Week Yet

Politics meets proof-of-work as former President Trump reportedly considers adding Bitcoin to US reserves—just as the asset smashes through $70K again. Meanwhile, Optimism's latest upgrade slashes gas fees by 40%, sending DeFi degens into a frenzy.

Not your average Tuesday in crypto-land.

Layer 2 wars heat up: Optimism's 'Superchain' upgrade could finally make Ethereum scaling fees competitive with Solana—if the devs deliver. Early tests show 12,000 TPS capacity, though mainnet reality may differ (when doesn't it?).

Elsewhere: BlackRock's BTC holdings quietly cross $15B, Venezuelan oil now trades for USDT, and a certain meme coin with a dog fetish somehow maintains top-10 status. TradFi analysts still can't decide if this is 'the future of finance' or collective psychosis.

Closing thought: When nation-states and Wall Street giants start playing your game, either buy the dip—or check your exit strategy. The institutional bulldozer cometh.

Kaito Announcement

AI-powered information platform Kaito said it was working on its launchpad, a prospective jumping-off point for new projects.

Capital Launchpad loading…

90% pic.twitter.com/mD6O5zvTr0

Kaito founder, Yu Hu, also indicated plans for the network to power an opinion capital markets, christened Opinions.fun. This product will provide an avenue for opinion polls, hot takes, and debates.

It remains unknown what the announcement will be about, but the wager is on the launchpad, with Yu Hu teasing the next chapter of Kaito.

“Initial Community Offerings via a launchpad OWNED by the community next chapter of Kaito starts here more details soon,” Yu Hu said in a recent post.

Trump’s Bitcoin Reserve Funding Plan

Another crypto news item that could move markets this week is Trump’s report on crypto policy, due July 22. The US government is also rumored to release a BTC reserve funding plan.

BREAKING:Trump administration will publish a report on Crypto policy July 22.

"It may include recommendations on funding a strategic Bitcoin reserve"$BTC $ETH $ONDO pic.twitter.com/GBFDOi2BfK

It comes only days after the successful Crypto Week, which began on July 14 and spotlighted three key crypto bills: the GENIUS Act, the CLARITY Act, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.

BeInCrypto reported the passing of the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts, with the US President teasing that the former was named after him.

As markets watch for the bitcoin reserve funding plan, it is worth noting that experts have been worried about this venture since early in the year. It remains uncertain whether taxpayers will fund the reserve, how big it will be, or whether it will be used to pay off the US federal debt. 

Nobody announced a tax or a spending program. Maybe you should wait to find out what’s actually being proposed. https://t.co/TNBFxoYVjz

Sonic S1 Airdrop Claiming Portal Opens

Traders and investors will also be watching for the claiming portal of Sonic’s season 1 airdrop to open. In a July 5 post, Sonic Labs gave a window between July 15 and 22.

Claims for S1 of the $S airdrop will open randomly between July 15 – 22.

Be ready. pic.twitter.com/TAwYwCLRoP

Sonic Labs said the first season of the S airdrop will be distributed in two phases. The first is a 25% liquidity distribution. This means a quarter of participants’ allocations are instantly claimable for liquid S tokens.

Secondly, the remaining 75% will be vested over 270 days as tradeable NFTs with early-burns.

The first season of the $S airdrop will be distributed in two phases.

25% Liquid
A quarter of your allocations will be instantly claimable for liquid $S.

75% Vested
The rest vests over 270 days as tradeable NFTs with early-claim burns.

https://t.co/5pUtkpXkNU pic.twitter.com/gopzZ1Gcvp

The claim comes after the first season of the airdrop closed on June 18. Meanwhile, amid the anticipation, airdrop farmers watch for scams. Bad actors are likely to capitalize on the HYPE to take advantage of unsuspecting victims.

Sonic’s S token was trading for $0.4097, up by over 5% in the last 24 hours.

Optimism Superchain Upgrade

Another crypto news to watch this week is the Optimism Superchain upgrade. On June 16, the Ethereum Layer-2 rollup unleashed Superchain as part of its Season 8 initiative. The upgrade is part of a governance initiative.

“Superchain Upgrade 16 just passed OP Governance and will go live next week,” Optimism said on July 17.

Key components of this upgrade include smart contract changes to support the road to interoperability. It also includes increased decentralization and security to align with L2Beat’s updated criteria for chains to remain at Stage 1, including OP Mainnet, Base, Ink, and Unichain.

Additional improvements to the OP Stack include increased gas limits to 500m gas per block. In a follow-up post on July 17, Optimism hinted at a possible integration with Coinbase Layer-2 (L2) chain, Base.

Base is bringing new innovation and utility to the Superchain, all powered by ethereum and the OP Stack.

Just announced at A New Day One:

– Base becomes Base Chain, powering the infrastructure for the onchain economy.

– Flashblocks reduce block times from 2 seconds to 200… pic.twitter.com/p8iORxcR7B