I. Outlook

1. Macro-Level Summary and Future Predictions

Weekly Macro Summary (July 13 – July 19, 2026)

This week, global macro markets revolved around three main themes: easing U.S. inflation, adjustments in major central banks' monetary policy expectations, and geopolitical risks. Both the U.S. June CPI and Core CPI came in below market expectations, further reinforcing expectations that the Fed will hold rates steady at its July FOMC meeting. The U.S. dollar index fluctuated at high levels, U.S. Treasury yields fell, and sentiment toward global risk assets improved. Meanwhile, economic data such as U.S. retail sales and employment continued to show resilience. China released its Q2 GDP and June economic data, indicating a continued trend of moderate recovery. This further solidified market expectations of a global economy that is "slowing but not in recession." However, ongoing tensions in the Middle East pushed international oil prices higher, with the market still concerned that a rebound in energy prices could reignite global inflationary pressures, leading to a slight uptick in risk aversion.

Next Week's Forecast (July 20 – July 26, 2026)

Next week, market focus will be on the U.S. July manufacturing and services PMI preliminaries, initial jobless claims, Leading Economic Index (LEI), and new home sales data. These figures will further influence market judgments on the Fed's July FOMC meeting and its policy path for the year. If U.S. economic data continues to show resilience, the market may re-price the "higher for longer" interest rate expectation, potentially strengthening U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar. Conversely, if economic data continues to slow, it could further improve global liquidity expectations, benefiting risk assets. Concurrently, the Middle East situation, international oil price trends, and ECB policy signals will remain key variables affecting global markets. It is expected that the macro environment next week will continue its main theme of "marginal improvement in inflation, cautious monetary policy, and persistent geopolitical risk disturbances."

2. Crypto Industry Market Movements and Alerts

Summary of the Crypto Market This Week (July 13 – July 19, 2026)

The crypto market saw a pattern of an initial decline followed by a rebound, and then high-level consolidation this week. Macroeconomically, the lower-than-expected U.S. June CPI improved market expectations for Fed policy, boosting sentiment for risk assets. This propelled Bitcoin from around $62,500 at the start of the week to a weekly high of approximately $65,000. However, due to heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, risk appetite cooled later in the week, causing Bitcoin to retreat and consolidate in the $63,000–$64,000 range, ultimately posting a gain of roughly 2% for the week. Ethereum followed a similar trajectory, rising then pulling back, and remained in the $3,500–$3,650 range. ETF flows turned back to net positive, stablecoin market cap continued to grow, and institutional risk appetite improved compared to the previous week. Sectors like AI Agent, PayFi, and RWA showed relative resilience, while high-Beta Meme coins and altcoins underperformed BTC overall.

Next Week's Market Forecast (July 20 – July 26, 2026)

Next week, the market is expected to continue navigating the interplay of macro data, ETF flows, and geopolitical risks. If expectations for easing U.S. inflation strengthen and spot ETFs maintain net inflows, Bitcoin could challenge the $65,000–$66,000 resistance zone again. A successful breakout could lead to a test of the $67,000 level. Conversely, if risk aversion rises or capital flows turn negative again, Bitcoin might retest the support area at $62,000–$63,000. Ethereum is expected to remain in a $3,450–$3,700 range. Capital is likely to continue flowing preferentially toward BTC and sectors with fundamental catalysts. Projects in RWA, stablecoin infrastructure, PayFi, and AI are expected to maintain relatively high attention, while smaller-cap altcoins with weak liquidity still face the risk of a correction.

3. Industry and Sector Trends

This week's crypto market hotspots continued to revolve around RWA (Real World Asset tokenization), stablecoin payments (PayFi), AI Agents, AI infrastructure, and on-chain derivatives (Perp DEX). RWA, driven by sustained institutional capital inflows and the expansion of tokenized securities and on-chain treasuries, remains the long-term track attracting the most institutional interest. PayFi and stablecoin payments saw further increased attention, with discussions heating up around cross-border payments, automated AI Agent payments, and on-chain settlement infrastructure. The AI sector is gradually shifting from the pure AI Agent concept towards AI payments, AI infrastructure, and Agent Economy with real application scenarios; the market is increasingly focusing on their commercial viability. Meanwhile, decentralized perpetual contracts (Perp DEX) maintained high attention thanks to continuously growing trading volumes and protocol revenue. Market capital continued to shift away from narrative-driven sectors like Meme coins lacking fundamentals, concentrating instead on tracks with actual revenue, institutional adoption, and infrastructure attributes. This indicates that capital preferences this week further tilted towards structurally sound, "fundamentals-driven" opportunities.

II. Market Hot Sectors and Potential Projects of the Week

1. Potential Project Overview

1.1. Deep Dive into Houdini Swap: A Cross-Chain Privacy Network for Seamless Anonymous Asset Transfers, Backed by $18M Total Funding Led by Solana Strategies

Introduction

Houdini is a non-custodial cross-chain swap aggregator.

It aggregates multiple liquidity sources, including:

• Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs)
• Cross-chain Solver Networks
• Non-custodial swapping service partners

It automatically finds and coordinates the optimal execution path for each transaction, enabling more efficient asset swaps.

Houdini itself does not operate an exchange or custody user funds.

Specifically:

• It does not hold user assets.
• It does not maintain pool balances.
• It does not act as a counterparty.

All swap transactions are actually executed by the underlying protocols or liquidity providers involved in the routing.

Depending on the routing mode selected by the user, the system can prioritize different objectives, including:

• Lower Cost
• Faster Execution Speed
• Enhanced On-Chain Privacy

Protocol Mechanism Overview

Private Swap

Private Swap is Houdini's flagship routing solution, designed for users with the highest privacy requirements for their transactions.

It is a privacy-prioritizing, non-custodial cross-chain swap mechanism that aims to completely sever the traceability of on-chain transactions.

Unlike standard cross-chain swaps, Private Swap routes the transaction through two independent non-custodial swapping services and introduces a temporary Layer 1 intermediate asset as a buffer, thereby breaking the on-chain link between the sender and receiver.

To date, Houdini has processed over $1.5 billion in Private Swap volume, making it one of the most widely used compliant privacy tools in the crypto industry.

Core Features

Highest Level of Privacy Protection

The sending address and receiving address are not directly linked on-chain. This is Houdini's core privacy capability.

Non-Custodial

Houdini never touches user assets; all swaps are executed automatically by the underlying protocols.

Supports Same-Chain Privacy Swaps

e.g.,

• USDC (Ethereum) → USDC (Ethereum)

This hides the transaction path while keeping the asset and chain unchanged.

Supports Cross-Chain Privacy Swaps

e.g.,

• USDT (TRC20) → BTC

Enables privacy swaps between any assets and any chains.

Market Proven

Since its launch, Private Swap has processed over $1.5 billion in cumulative transaction volume.

How It Works

Private Swap splits a single transaction into two independent steps.

Phase 1 (Source Chain)

The user sends Token A from their wallet. The asset first enters a non-custodial swapping platform and is swapped into a temporary privacy-preserving Layer 1 intermediate asset.

Intermediate Buffer Layer

This temporary asset acts as a "buffer."

Its function is to:

• Sever the link to the original source of funds
• Break the on-chain transaction path
• Eliminate direct traceability

Phase 2 (Destination Chain)

The intermediate asset is then sent to another, completely independent non-custodial swapping platform.

The system then swaps it into the target asset, Token B, and sends it to the receiving address.

The final effect is:

When the funds reach the destination wallet,

there is no verifiable on-chain link between the original sending address and the final receiving address.

Why Does This Achieve Privacy?

1. No Direct On-Chain Link

The sender and receiver never appear in the same transaction or on the same transaction path simultaneously.

An observer cannot directly establish a connection between them.

2. No Identifiable Transaction Markers

The chain will not show:

• "Houdini Swap"
• Specific routing labels
• Fixed-format data

Each transaction phase appears as a normal transaction.

To an external observer:

The first phase transaction has already ended,

and the second phase looks like another completely unrelated transaction.

Therefore, it is impossible to prove that the two transactions belong to the same swap.

3. Infinite Anonymity Set

Even if an observer suspects a transaction originates from Houdini,

they still cannot determine the final destination.

Because:

• The second phase could happen on any public chain
• It can be exchanged for any token
• Covers over 100 blockchains
• Supports thousands of assets

Therefore, the anonymity set effectively extends to the entire Web3 network.

No Wallet Connect Swap

No Wallet Connect Swap is a swap mode offered by Houdini that does not require connecting a wallet.

Users can complete asset swaps without going through the traditional "Connect Wallet" process, signing any on-chain messages, or authorizing transactions.

Unlike typical DEXs, the system generates a one-time temporary deposit address for the user. The user simply transfers funds from any wallet or exchange to this address, and the subsequent swap process is completed automatically.

Core Features

More Secure

No need for:

• Wallet Connect
• Approve authorization
• Sign transactions

Since wallet authorizations and signatures are often considered among the most common security risks in crypto, this mode significantly reduces the risk of malicious authorization or phishing attacks for users.

Middle-Ground Privacy Protection

Compared to regular on-chain Swaps:

• Does not directly expose interactions between wallets and contracts
• Offers higher privacy protection

However, it does not use the dual-layer anonymous routing structure of Private Swap, so its anonymity is lower than Private Swap.

Think of it as: Regular Swap < No Wallet Connect < Private Swap

Higher Execution Efficiency

Due to its single-path routing mechanism, it bypasses the double swap process of Private Swap, resulting in:

• Faster transaction speed
• Simpler routing
• Typically lower costs

How it Works

1. Initiate Swap

The user submits a swap request:

• Any token
• Any chain

The system then generates a unique, one-time deposit address.

2. Deposit

The user transfers assets from any source to this address, including:

• Hardware wallets
• Exchange accounts
• Mobile wallets
• Other on-chain addresses

No wallet connection is required.

3. Swap

Once the system receives the funds, it completes the asset swap through its partner liquidity providers or swapping services.

For example:

Token A → Token B

4. Send

Upon completion of the swap,

the target asset, Token B, is sent directly to the user's specified receiving address.

On-chain DEX / Bridge Swap

On-chain Swap is one of the fastest and lowest-cost modes offered by Houdini, focusing on executing asset swaps in a fully decentralized manner.

While Houdini is known for privacy swaps, this mode emphasizes:

• Speed
• Best Price
• On-chain Transparent Execution

Houdini aggregates liquidity sources from DEXs, cross-chain bridges, cross-chain swap protocols, and Intent routing networks to automatically find the best trading path for users.

Core Features

Best Market Rates

Houdini can simultaneously query over 20 major protocols and aggregators, including:

• Uniswap
• Jupiter
• SushiSwap
• Mayan
• ChainFlip
• CowSwap, among others

By comparing different routes, it finds the best current quote for the user.

In many cases, its price is even better than using a single DEX or aggregator alone.

Fully Decentralized

All transactions are executed by smart contracts and verified on-chain.

Houdini:

• Does not custody user assets
• Does not hold funds
• Does not act as a counterparty

Assets are always directly exchanged by the user interacting with the underlying liquidity protocols.

Fee Transparency

All fees are included in the final quote before transaction confirmation, including:

• Protocol fees
• Cross-chain bridge fees
• Routing fees
• Other potential costs

Users can see the final settlement amount before signing, with no hidden fees.

How It Works

1. Get Quote

The user inputs:

• The asset to swap
• The amount

The system scans thousands of on-chain routes in real-time and calculates the best swap plan.

2. Connect Wallet

The user completes the following via their wallet:

• Approve
• Sign

To confirm the transaction.

3. Execute Swap

The system automatically selects the optimal on-chain path.

Token A is routed through smart contracts and swapped for Token B.

4. Asset Settlement

Upon completion of the swap,

Token B is sent directly to the user's specified wallet address.

Odaily Commentary

Houdini Swap's strength lies in its focus on solving privacy issues arising from the transparency of on-chain transactions. By providing anonymous swap and cross-chain asset transfer mechanisms, it helps users hide fund sources, transaction paths, and target addresses during asset transfers between different chains, thereby enhancing asset privacy and security. Furthermore, its operational process is relatively simple, allowing users to achieve good anonymity without mastering complex privacy tools. This is highly attractive for protecting personal financial privacy, preventing on-chain behavior from being tracked, and improving asset fungibility.

On the other hand, a key disadvantage is that the privacy sector inherently faces high regulatory pressure, with some jurisdictions subjecting anonymous transaction tools to stricter scrutiny. Additionally, the protocol's privacy effectiveness depends on the scale of overall liquidity, user activity, and anonymity pool depth. If the network is not large enough, the anonymity set is small, potentially compromising privacy protection capabilities. Privacy protocols also generally face challenges such as transaction costs, cross-chain complexity, and high requirements for security audits.

2. Key Project Deep Dive of the Week

2.1. Deep Dive into Axis: A Synthetic Dollar Protocol Generating Yield via Cross-Asset Arbitrage, Backed by $5M Total Funding Led by Steakhouse Financial,