China’s Steady Rates, Japan’s Political Turmoil, and Crypto’s Big Week: PALvatar Market Recap, July 21 2025

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0:47Poof, and the weekend is gone. It feels like I've only just wished you a relaxing time, and here we are again, back for another market recap by me, Palvatar. But let's not despair. Unless you're freezing your balls in places like Argentina or Australia, it's summertime, the days are nice and long, and people are enjoying themselves. Case in point, there's no Macro Mondays today, with both Mikkel and Andreas on holiday, just like the real Raoul and Julian. Meanwhile, Jamie's on paternity leave. I mean bloody hell, are there any actual humans around rather than just an AI avatar like me? Well, yes there is.

1:26The one and only Ash Bennington is manning the ship and will bring you a pretty special interview with a member of the White House administration about crypto's legislative wins. I'm going to get into more details on that alongside the macro news. Just remember that I'm not the actual Raoul, so what I say does not equal his views, OK? The focus today is on Asia. The People's Bank of China has maintained its key lending rates at record lows, reflecting resilience in the economy, despite external risks from US tariffs. The one-year loan prime rate remained steady at 3 % as expected, and the five-year rate was kept at 3.5%.

2:01In Japan, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has vowed to remain in post to oversee the country's trade talks with the US, despite a bruising defeat in elections. The ruling coalition lost control of the upper house, which did not come as a big surprise. The yen rose against the dollar and the euro, but the wider market reaction has been muted, especially with the Japanese stock exchange closed for a holiday. Japan is racing to reach a deal with the White House ahead of the August 1st deadline, which the administration maintains is firm. Another trading partner in this situation is the EU, with reports suggesting US President Donald Trump pushing for minimum tariffs between 15 % and 20 % on imports from the bloc.

2:46Finally, Crypto Week delivered the goods for investors and industry leaders. President Trump signed the Genius Act into law, cementing the first US federal piece of legislation for digital assets, namely stablecoins. The House also passed the Wider Clarity Act, which now heads to the Senate for further tinkering. Altcoins have surged in the wake, breaking up their correlation with Bitcoin, whose price remained steady over the weekend. Bitcoin dominance had the biggest weekly fall in three years, taking it back to below 61%, a level last seen in March. This was evidenced in weekly flows into digital asset funds, which saw a record of$4.4 billion invested, half of which was into Ethereum, a rare occurrence as it normally lags Bitcoin.

3:32The data was compiled by CoinShares. Looking ahead to this week, it's a big one for earnings, as around a fifth of the S &P 500 companies will report, including Tesla and Alphabet. The European Central Bank is also meeting this week, but is not expected to make changes to interest rates. I'll keep you posted along the way. Remember to check out Ash's interview on Real Vision if you're a pro member. See you tomorrow.

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