Did Brazil just put cows onchain?

July 24, 2026

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EU crypto sanctions split experts over Russia’s next move

Key points:

  • The EU’s 21st sanctions package targets 14 foreign crypto platforms, the A7 network, and 94 banks and major financial institutions.

  • Russian experts disagree on whether the measures will spur adaptation or deepen isolation, compliance pressure, and gray-market activity.

News - The EU has widened its Russia sanctions to 14 unnamed crypto platforms in Georgia, the UAE, Panama, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and the Marshall Islands.

The package also targets the A7 cross-border payments network and its A7A5 stablecoin. Chainalysis said the network has processed nearly $120 billion. A new mechanism could further allow the EU to ban dealings with any foreign crypto provider used by Russia to evade sanctions.

Adaptation remains the first response - Some Russian experts expect activity to move toward decentralized applications, peer-to-peer markets, stablecoins, and friendlier jurisdictions.

They cited Garantex’s rapid reappearance as Grinex and Kyrgyzstan’s expanding crypto sector as evidence that blocked routes can be replaced. Under this view, cross-border payments face the greatest friction through tougher checks, freezes, and source-of-funds reviews.

Isolation could become the larger cost - Others warned that pressure on platforms outside the EU could split Russia’s crypto market into a regulated domestic system and a riskier cross-border circuit exposed to sanctions, technological risks, and account freezes.

A7A5’s daily transfer volume had already fallen from more than $1.5 billion to about $500 million after sanctions, while Uniswap blocked the token.

The target list will decide the damage - The EU has not named the 14 platforms. A narrow list may trigger another round of adaptation, while broader coverage could make transactions slower, costlier, and more concentrated in closed or gray-market channels.

Brazil tokenizes dairy cows to unlock farm credit

Key points:

  • Ten dairy cows in Paraná backed a R$100,000 loan registered on B3, giving farmers a new route to credit as bank lending tightens.

  • Data from AI-powered smart collars created encrypted digital identities for each animal, allowing lenders to monitor health, behavior, and location without routine farm inspections.

News - A dairy farm in Imbituva, Paraná, used 10 cows valued at about R$120,000 to secure a R$100,000 loan, worth roughly $19,600, in one of Brazil’s first formally registered tokenized livestock deals.

BMP issued the rural credit, Target FIDC acquired the receivables, and the transaction was registered on B3, Brazil’s main stock exchange.

The collars make the collateral visible - Cowmed’s smart collars continuously track each cow’s health, behavior, and location. That data is converted into a tamper-resistant digital identity linked to the credit contract.

The system reduces the need for physical inspections and helps prevent the same animal from being pledged across multiple loans. It can also allow a dead cow to be replaced with a live one under the agreement.

Why this matters for farm lending - Banks often apply steep discounts to livestock collateral because they cannot easily confirm an animal’s condition or whether it remains on the farm.

Real-time monitoring narrows that information gap, allowing cattle to function as movable collateral at a time when Brazilian agribusiness faces tighter credit conditions.

The model could scale beyond 10 cows - Cowmed currently monitors about 100,000 dairy cows worth more than $395 million. The company projects that up to 20% of that network could adopt tokenized financing, potentially unlocking about $77.6 million in agricultural credit.

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India targets Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat as protesters bypass internet shutdowns

Key points:

  • India’s cybercrime agency ordered GitHub to disable three Bitchat repositories, saying the app’s decentralized design makes legal surveillance, user identification, and evidence collection harder.

  • Bitchat can relay encrypted messages and bitcoin transactions without internet access, while protesters used its mesh network during Delhi shutdowns and mirrored code appeared elsewhere.

News - India’s Cyber Crime Coordination Centre ordered GitHub to remove Bitchat’s main repository, Android repository, and Android releases page within three hours under the IT Act and 2021 IT Rules.

Officials said its account-free, serverless architecture could hinder investigations and be misused during violent protests, terrorism, organized crime, misinformation, or efforts to bypass lawful restrictions.

The architecture is the real target - Bitchat connects nearby phones through Bluetooth mesh networks without servers, phone numbers, accounts, or internet access.

It can also pass Bitcoin transactions between devices until one reaches an internet connection and broadcasts them. Those features are designed to keep communications and payments running during blackouts, disasters, and government-imposed shutdowns, while making users harder to monitor and identify.

The protests explain the timing - Student demonstrators organized under the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) banner, a play on India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were protesting an exam-paper leak scandal.

When authorities suspended mobile internet around protest sites in the country's capital, New Delhi, demonstrators turned to Bitchat and similar mesh apps to continue coordinating. The Internet Freedom Foundation called the order unconstitutional and authoritarian, arguing that it named no unlawful content and bypassed established blocking procedures.

One takedown may not erase the project - GitHub had not publicly confirmed compliance by the reporting deadline, while Bitchat remained available on major app stores and copies of its code appeared on another platform. Because open-source repositories can be copied and mirrored, removing one host may restrict access without eliminating the software.

Ripple builds RLUSD rails as transfer volume falls 25%

Key points:

  • Ripple launched Ripple Mint to automate RLUSD issuance, redemption, and tracking, while its Notabene investment added compliance screening and transfer authorization for institutions.

  • The push arrives as RLUSD’s holder count and active addresses rise, but monthly transfer volume has fallen about 25% to roughly $11 billion.

News - Ripple introduced two pieces of institutional infrastructure for RLUSD while usage showed a mixed trajectory.

Ripple Mint gives institutions a dashboard and APIs to mint, redeem, bridge, and track RLUSD. Separately, Ripple invested in compliance network Notabene and added the token to its business-payments platform.

Mint removes a manual bottleneck - Institutions previously arranged RLUSD issuance directly with Ripple. The APIs can trigger minting and redemption from existing systems and track funds from fiat receipt through onchain settlement.

Real-time alerts and consistent reference IDs are designed to simplify reconciliation for exchanges and market makers.

Compliance moves before settlement - Notabene enables banks and virtual asset service providers to share identity and transaction data before funds move. Its network screens counterparties and authorizes transfers, addressing checks institutions face when using stablecoins.

RLUSD is issued by Standard Custody & Trust, a New York-chartered trust company. Ripple has also expanded the token beyond the XRP Ledger and Ethereum to Base, Optimism, Ink, Unichain, and the XRPL EVM sidechain.

The usage gap remains - RLUSD had a market value of about $1.5 billion, but monthly transfer volume fell from roughly $14.6 billion to about $11 billion. Holder count rose 6%, and active addresses climbed 70%, meaning wider ownership had not yet produced higher transfer activity.

Mint and Notabene target that gap, but their impact depends on whether institutions generate sustained transaction volume.

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Crypto scams uncovered

  • The scam came back pretending to be the refund: A July 2026 DOJ forfeiture action described a victim of an earlier fraud who was contacted by new scammers claiming they had recovered the stolen funds, then persuaded to pay a fee through a series of transactions. Prosecutors are seeking approximately $285,000 traced to the follow-on recovery scam.

  • The AI investing club had no investments behind it: The SEC alleges that WhatsApp investment clubs used supposed AI-generated trading tips to steer investors into fake crypto platforms and fictitious Security Token Offerings. When victims attempted to withdraw, they were told to pay advance fees, with at least $14 million allegedly misappropriated.

  • A blockchain job application concealed a sanctions pipeline: A DOJ forfeiture complaint alleged that North Korean IT workers used stolen or fraudulent identities to secure remote jobs, including at blockchain companies, and were often paid in USDC or USDT. U.S. authorities seized more than $7.74 million tied to the scheme, which allegedly generated and laundered revenue for North Korea.

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Top 3 coins of the day

Aster (ASTER)

Key points:

  • ASTER defended the $0.618 to $0.620 range floor and recovered toward $0.631 to $0.634 resistance as the Parabolic SAR flipped bullish at $0.617.

  • Stochastic RSI surged to 92.51 and 65.46, signaling strong but stretched momentum. Support sits at $0.624 to $0.626.

What you should know:

ASTER’s rebound gained speed before volume fully confirmed the move. Price recovered from the lower end of its recent range and reached $0.629, while the Parabolic SAR shifted beneath price at $0.617. Stochastic RSI climbed to 92.51 and 65.46, showing that buyers had regained momentum but were already approaching an overextended position. The recovery also carried support from Aster’s June tokenomics upgrade, which directs 99% of daily trading fees toward ASTER buybacks, alongside planned Q3 launches for Aster Card and Strategy Vaults. A close above $0.634 strengthens continuation toward $0.638 to $0.641, while losing $0.624 to $0.626 weakens the rebound.

TRON (TRX)

Key points:

  • TRX recovered from roughly $0.326 and reached $0.331, matching the Elliott Wave indicator’s projected wave-b endpoint and immediate resistance at $0.332 to $0.334.

  • Stochastic RSI climbed to 78.77 and 59.23 as momentum accelerated. Support sits at $0.328 to $0.329, followed by $0.326 to $0.327.

What you should know:

TRX is approaching a key inflection point as its rebound reached the point where continuation and correction now diverge. Price recovered to $0.331, nearly matching the Elliott Wave projection’s wave-b endpoint at $0.332, while Stochastic RSI rose to 78.77 and 59.23. Volume improved to 14.68 million but remained below the chart’s largest recent spikes. Sentiment also benefited from TRON’s inclusion in the S&P Pantera Digital Asset Index and weekly gasless USDT transaction volume approaching $3 billion. A sustained move above $0.334 would signal continuation and invalidate the projected wave-c decline, while failure to hold $0.328 would confirm renewed downside pressure toward $0.326 to $0.327.

Monero (XMR)

Key points:

  • XMR touched $362, exactly matching the Elliott Wave indicator’s projected wave-b endpoint, before reversing toward $352.

  • MACD crossed bearish at 4.25 versus a 4.37 signal line, while the histogram slipped to -0.12. Support sits at $350 to $351, followed by $344 to $346.

What you should know:

The strongest signal came from the rejection, not the rally. XMR reached $362 before sellers erased most of the latest rebound, while MACD crossed bearish and selling volume rose to 19.01K. The pullback followed Monero’s July 17 FCMP++ rollout, which substantially expanded the network’s transaction anonymity set and supported the preceding weekly advance. Holding $350 to $351 keeps the correction contained, but a break below that zone raises the probability of a move toward $344 to $346 and the Elliott Wave indicator’s projected wave-c level at $342.88. Reclaiming $360 to $362 weakens the corrective setup.

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