UBS Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti said the integration of former rival Credit Suisse is almost done, according to Bloomberg. He also discussed UBS's new $3 billion share buyback program, which is set to run until mid-2027, and said he expects spikes of volatility to continue in markets for the rest of the year.

Bitcoin briefly formed two competing chains after Antpool mined block 941,881 at 15:49:35 UTC and Foundry USA mined another version of the same height 12 seconds later. According to ChainCatcher, ViaBTC then extended the Antpool version with block 941,882, while Foundry USA continued extending its own branch. Foundry USA later mined blocks 941,883 through 941,886 in succession, giving its branch the most cumulative work. Nodes then reorganized to the Foundry USA chain, orphaning the blocks mined by Antpool and ViaBTC. The affected miners lost the associated block rewards and fees, and transactions not confirmed on the winning chain returned to the mempool before being confirmed in later blocks.

Russian authorities have placed Telegram founder Pavel Durov on an international wanted list as they escalate a criminal case accusing him of facilitating terrorist activity. According to Cointelegraph, Russia’s Federal Security Service said on Wednesday that it charged Durov with facilitating terrorist activity and issued an international warrant for his arrest, according to local news agency Interfax. The FSB alleged that Telegram failed to remove channels, chats and bots used by Ukrainian intelligence services, terrorist groups and extremist organizations to coordinate attacks, recruit operatives and carry out cyber fraud. The case marks a further step in the dispute between Russian authorities and the messaging platform’s founder, who has previously denied that the investigation reflects legitimate law enforcement concerns.

According to the announcement from Binance, Binance Exchange will open trading and enable Spot Algo Trading Bots services for 10 bStocks trading pairs on Binance Spot, expanding the available trading choices for eligible users. The pairs scheduled to open at 2026-07-29 12:00 (UTC) are AAPLB/USDT, AMATB/USDT, AMZNB/USDT, BEB/USDT, DELLB/USDT, FLNCB/USDT, GSB/USDT, PYPLB/USDT, SMHB/USDT and SOXSB/USDT. The announcement identifies the bStocks as Apple (AAPLB), Applied Materials (AMATB), Amazon (AMZNB), Bloom Energy (BEB), Dell (DELLB), Fluence Energy (FLNCB), Goldman Sachs (GSB), PayPal (PYPLB), VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMHB) and Direxion Semiconductor Bear 3X ETF (SOXSB). Binance also said users will be able to trade bStocks against BTC, USDT and other tokens on Binance Convert at zero fees within one hour of a bStock being listed on Binance Spot. In addition, zero maker fees will apply to the listed bStocks trading pairs from the listing time to 2026-08-31 23:59 (UTC). Withdrawals for AAPLB, AMATB, AMZNB, BEB, DELLB, FLNCB, GSB, PYPLB, SMHB and SOXSB will open at 2026-07-29 13:00 (UTC).

According to Yonhap, POSCO International said Wednesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian miner Meteoric Resources to secure a stable supply of rare earth raw materials and build an integrated supply chain. Under the agreement, POSCO International will discuss commercial terms for buying rare earth materials from a Brazilian mine operated by Meteoric Resources and the possible acquisition of an equity stake in the company. POSCO Group Chairman Chang In-hwa said the deal would combine the group’s rare earth value chain with Brazil’s rare earth reserves to support future growth and help stabilize the domestic supply chain for key materials used in the future mobility industry. POSCO Group has already expanded in global markets through supply agreements with major automakers in North America and Europe for rare earth permanent magnets used in electric vehicle drive motors.

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc said sales rose more than expected as demand for cleaning and hygiene products strengthened in key markets including China and India, according to Bloomberg. The company cited strong Dettol demand in China as part of the sales boost.

A-share stock CXMT's turnover reached 40 billion yuan, and the stock was up 11.7%. According to Odaily, its total market value exceeded 3.51 trillion yuan.

Iraq's prime minister called for an emergency security meeting after strikes carried out by Saudi Arabia and the United States, according to a report from Jin10. According to ChainCatcher, the meeting was intended to address the current situation.

Glencore Plc said its trading team generated about $3.3 billion in first-half profit, leaving the commodities group on track for one of its best years ever, according to Bloomberg. The result underscores the strength of Glencore’s trading operations in the period.

South Korea's KOSPI had a volatile session on Wednesday, at one point falling 12% before narrowing its loss to about 8%. According to Jin10, South Korea's Finance Minister Koo Yoon-cheol apologized for launching single-stock leveraged ETFs without careful consideration, and said the government was internally studying market-stabilization measures and could further adjust rules for single-stock leveraged ETFs to address market volatility.

Broad-based ETFs in China saw significantly heavier trading again on the day, with the Science and Technology Innovation 50 ETF by China Asset Management and the ChiNext ETF by E Fund each recording turnover of more than 10 billion yuan. According to Odaily, the Southern CSI 1000 ETF and the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF each came close to 5 billion yuan in turnover. Since July, the Science and Technology Innovation 50 ETF by China Asset Management has recorded cumulative net subscriptions of 34.8 billion yuan, while the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF has recorded 29.5 billion yuan and the E Fund ChiNext ETF has recorded 29.3 billion yuan.

FIFA plans to sell up to a 21% stake in a new World Cup subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, targeting a $20 billion valuation and about $4.2 billion in immediate cash from private investors. According to BeInCrypto, UEFA condemned the plan within hours, while FIFA said the outline was confirmed the same day; Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Eternal is reportedly negotiating to lead the purchase, and JPMorgan Chase is advising the sale.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. is continuing liquefied natural gas exports from its Persian Gulf plant despite renewed regional hostilities that are prompting producers to reduce visible traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Bloomberg. The move highlights the UAE producer’s effort to keep shipments flowing even as tensions in the area remain elevated.

A wallet linked to Selini Capital deposited 495,473 HYPE to a CEX in the past hour, suggesting the firm may be planning to sell the token. According to BlockBeats On-chain Detection, the deposit was monitored by lookonchain on July 29 and was valued at about $26.8 million. The move may indicate an intention to offload HYPE.

China's smartphone shipments fell 16.6% year on year to 17.149 million units in June, according to a notice from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a unit under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Bloomberg reported. From January to June, smartphone shipments totaled 126 million units, down 3% from a year earlier. June 5G handset shipments declined 12.1% year on year to 16.201 million units.

Hermès sales rose in line with expectations as the Birkin bag maker proved more resilient than peers during a broader downturn in demand for luxury goods, according to Bloomberg.

Investor Dan Bin said on social media that he would buy during the pullback and had already used up his remaining cash. According to ChainCatcher, he previously said a 2x leveraged long SK Hynix ETF had fallen 25.72%, noting that leveraged products can amplify both gains and risks and should be used with caution. Dan Bin said SK Hynix has become one of the companies marking this stage of the AI rally. He added that the short-term direction of the market should become clear soon under the current pace of adjustment, while only companies with sustained supply-demand improvement and steadily better profitability can endure through cycles over the long term.

According to Jin10, Standard Chartered Global Head of G10 FX Research and North America Macro Strategy Steve Englander said in a report that the bank sees no urgent need for the Federal Reserve to raise rates on Wednesday. By the September meeting, the Fed will have more data to guide its decision, including two more labor reports, CPI, and retail sales figures, but it is still unclear whether they will have a more meaningful impact on demand or core inflation. In the decision to keep rates unchanged, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh may face two to four dissenting votes.

Gold was little changed ahead of a closely watched US Federal Reserve interest-rate decision due later Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. The metal also came under pressure as fighting escalated in the Middle East after a brief lull.

Jurassic Finance plans to tokenize Deaton, a Triceratops prorsus skull, on Solana (SOL) as what it calls the first tokenized dinosaur. The project is targeting 660,000 USDC for the Deaton raise, with 600,000 set for escrow to the seller and 60,000 for the RAWR token treasury, according to BeInCrypto, while tokenized Deaton would have a supply of 1 million.