Japan's 10-year bond yield touched 2.93% on Monday, its highest level since 1996, according to Financial Times reporting. The Japan bond yield has been climbing steadily as a weakening yen and persistently high oil prices from the Iran war fuel inflation expectations and push investors to price in a Bank of Japan rate hike in September. Bond yields move inversely to prices; rising yields signal investors demanding higher returns to hold government debt.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval on Friday for a national bank trust charter to World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture that counts Donald Trump as co-founder emeritus. The World Liberty Financial banking licence covers stablecoin issuance and digital asset custody. WLF will not be permitted to provide loans or take direct deposits.

A team of European Central Bank economists published a warning on Monday that a correction in US technology stocks is likely and could threaten eurozone financial stability, even if artificial intelligence ultimately delivers on its promise. The AI stock market correction risk, they argued, does not require irrational investor behaviour to materialise and "should be expected even if current valuations are rational."

Fidelity Investments has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to add staking to its spot Ether ETF, the Fidelity Ethereum Fund. The Fidelity Ethereum ETF staking proposal, filed Tuesday, would allow FETH to stake up to 100% of its Ether holdings under normal conditions, excluding ETH reserved for redemptions, expenses and liquidity needs. The fund would retain 85% of staking rewards, with 15% allocated to staking fees, and plans to distribute rewards to investors quarterly, though payouts are not guaranteed. Fidelity expects staking to begin "as soon as practicable" after the prospectus becomes effective. The preliminary filing remains subject to change.

Bitcoin ETF flows for the year remain deeply negative — $5.29 billion in net outflows year-to-date, with outflows in four of the seven months of 2026. June alone posted $4.5 billion in outflows, the largest monthly withdrawal on record. July's $172.4 million recovery barely registers against that backdrop.