Bitcoin Rebounds in July as the Fed Holds Rates Steady

Stay up to date with our monthly market commentary:

• Nine Bitcoin giants have pledged $15M to support Bitcoin's security and post-quantum research, while eschewing any role in Bitcoin governance or protocol decisions.
• Strategy launches a Bitcoin Banking Adoption Index, which shows that Bitcoin adoption in banks sits around 32% as of July 10, 2026.
• Bitcoin (BTC) gained roughly ~5% in July, while Ether (ETH) outperformed with a gain of ~15%.

Market Overview - July

Bitcoin (BTC) recovered in July, closing the month around 5% higher at around $62,500.*

The month began where June left off, with sentiment still weighed down by the heavy spot Bitcoin ETF redemptions of the preceding weeks. However, cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data released in mid-July revived expectations of easier monetary policy, bringing buyers back to risk assets, and Bitcoin rallied from its opening level near $59,400 to a monthly high of around $66,900 in the second half of the month.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs told the same story, flipping from June's record outflows to a net inflow of $437.8 million in July. Corporate holders added support along the way, with Strategy reaffirming its long-term Bitcoin strategy alongside its second-quarter results.

The rally cooled into month-end. Global markets remained cautious amid geopolitical instability in the Middle East and rising oil prices, and while the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates at 3.5% to 3.75% was broadly expected, it offered no fresh catalyst. 

Bitcoin eased from its highs to close the month around $62,500.

Crypto Asset Market Performance Review

In July, most major cryptoassets traded within relatively narrow ranges, with only ETH significantly outperforming the market. Seven out of the top ten digital assets closed in the green.

Bitcoin (BTC) opened the month around $59,400 and rallied up to $66,900 in the second half of the month, before correcting down to around $62,500*.

Crypto prices have largely held steady throughout the month with a few notable exceptions. 

Ether (ETH) outpaced BTC significantly with a 15% rally in July, thanks to hitting its record-high staking ratio, which sits at around 34% as of July 31. That means about a third of all ETH is locked up in staking mechanisms, reducing the liquid supply of ETH while continued investor demand supported prices. 

Another part of this demand spike came from institutional investor inflows into Ethereum ETFs. A notable example is BlackRock’s staked Ethereum fund (ETHB), which gives investors access to the staked yield as well as ETH price exposure.

An exception among the top digital assets by market cap was Hyperliquid (HYPE), which dropped around 15% in July, despite the fact that it used part of its revenue to burn HYPE tokens as part of its deflationary strategy to control supply and support the token price. 

Institutional Interest in Bitcoin

July saw institutions showing an interest in keeping Bitcoin safe while taking no role in its governance, while new research shows Bitcoin adoption in banks is growing.

Nine Major Crypto Firms and Financial Institutions Pledge $15M to Protect the Network

Anchorage Digital, ARK Invest, BlackRock, Block, Blockstream, Coinbase, Fidelity Digital Assets, Galaxy, and Strategy have joined forces to launch the Bitcoin Security Consortium, pledging an aggregate $15 million over three years to support Bitcoin's security and post-quantum research.

Day-to-day coordination sits with Mike Schmidt, Executive Director of Brink, serving in a volunteer capacity, while each member directs its own funding independently to the developers, researchers, and organizations it chooses. 

What’s more, every member explicitly committed to taking no role in Bitcoin governance or protocol decisions.

Strategy Launches a Bitcoin Banking Adoption Index

Strategy, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, published its Bitcoin Banking Adoption Index on July 13. The index scores 25 major banks on how deeply they have integrated Bitcoin into their business, using data pulled from public sources with a July 10 cutoff.

The index assigns the banking sector an overall Bitcoin adoption score of 32%, which means that the world’s largest banks are about a third of the way to full institutional Bitcoinadoption.

The scoring covers five categories: trading, custody, products, lending, and executive activity. Each category uses a Harvey balls system with five discrete levels, from zero implementation to full implementation, which are then blended into a single adoption percentage.

*Closing price data is from July 31st, 2026, 3:00 pm GMT.