SpendNode Podcast: Crypto News & Analysis

Michael Saylor posted 'Bitcoin Drive engaged,' his usual tell before a Strategy BTC purchase. It would break a five-week pause, with BTC at $63,364. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/saylor-bitcoin-drive-engaged-purchase-signal-august-2026/

Robinhood posted record $1.31B Q2 revenue, with event contracts contributing $156M, roughly 12% of the total and up 10x year over year. Here is what the numbers show. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/robinhood-prediction-markets-156m-event-contracts-august-2026/

The Senate has roughly five working days to move the CLARITY Act before August recess. A miss pushes crypto market-structure rules into an uncertain fall. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/senate-five-days-crypto-clarity-act-recess-august-2026/

The CLARITY Act bars government officials from issuing crypto, but a single paragraph exempts royalty income from tokens that already exist. Here is why that matters. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/clarity-act-royalty-income-exemption-officials-august-2026/

Trump Media sent more than 2,600 BTC, worth about $165M, to Crypto.com on August 2, 2026. Here is what the transfer signals about corporate bitcoin treasuries. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/trump-media-2600-btc-crypto-com-custody-august-2026/

South Korean stablecoins have posted 18 straight months of net outflows to overseas exchanges, per WuBlockchain data, as traders chase offshore liquidity. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/south-korea-stablecoins-18-month-outflow-streak-august-2026/

Bitwise is liquidating six crypto option income ETFs that advertised double-digit yields but posted 0% SEC yield and paid investors back their own money. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitwise-liquidates-six-crypto-option-etfs-august-2026/

Wirex says its crypto card has reached a ~$2B annualized spend run-rate eight months after launch, with July alone adding $160M+ in onchain card spend. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/wirex-2b-annualized-card-spend-august-2026/

Senator Cynthia Lummis accuses Democrats of running out the clock on the CLARITY Act to avoid an on-record vote, deepening the fight over US crypto rules. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/lummis-democrats-stalling-clarity-act-august-2026/

Uphold launched instant crypto-backed loans through Exactly Protocol, letting users borrow against holdings instead of selling. Terms and rates were not disclosed. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/uphold-instant-crypto-backed-loans-exactly-protocol-august-2026/

The BIS says Project Agora settled 800,000 Swiss francs in real-value tokenized payments across six currencies, with 28 banks running 17 transaction scenarios. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bis-project-agora-tokenized-payments-six-currencies-august-2026/

The xrpld 3.3.0 release brings back Batch and Permission Delegation, two XRP Ledger features pulled in 2025 and 2026 after critical signature and fee-drain bugs. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/xrp-ledger-restores-batch-permission-delegation-august-2026/

Tether's Q2 excess reserves reportedly halved and the quarter's overall result may have exceeded a $4 billion loss, raising fresh questions for USDT holders. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/tether-q2-excess-reserves-halved-4b-loss-august-2026/

Bitget Wallet's Assetback card now returns up to 3% on purchases in BTC, gold, or tokenized stocks, credited straight to your portfolio. Here is what it means for cardholders. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitget-assetback-card-3-percent-btc-gold-tokenized-stocks-august-2026/

Russia will keep crypto mining banned in Moscow and several regions until 2032, tightening control over one of the world's largest mining bases. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/russia-extends-moscow-crypto-mining-ban-2032-august-2026/

Pump.fun reportedly laid off employees months before their token allocations vested, reigniting debate over how crypto startups handle equity and worker pay. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/pump-fun-layoffs-token-rewards-vesting-crypto-startups-august-2026/

The Bank of Italy says stablecoins only gain a real efficiency edge when users can spend them end-to-end without converting back to cash. Here is the takeaway. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bank-of-italy-stablecoin-cash-conversion-efficiency-august-2026/

Real-world asset perpetual futures reached 99.2% of Bitcoin perp volume on Hyperliquid and Binance, per Cointelegraph. What the tokenized asset surge means. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/rwa-perpetual-futures-bitcoin-volume-hyperliquid-binance-july-2026/

Aviva Investors launched a tokenized share class of its US Dollar Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger after Central Bank of Ireland approval. What it signals. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/aviva-investors-tokenized-usd-fund-xrp-ledger-july-2026/

Open USD, a stablecoin backed by 140+ firms including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and BlackRock, launches on Ethereum from day one. What the consortium signals. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/open-usd-visa-mastercard-stripe-ethereum-stablecoin-july-2026/

Celsius bankruptcy recovery shares begin trading on Nasdaq, yet a lock-up blocks 37 million from immediate sale. Here is what the restriction means for creditors. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/celsius-bankruptcy-shares-nasdaq-lockup-july-2026/

SoFi reported 388,336 crypto products live in Q2 2026 but only $1.2M in net crypto transaction revenue. The gap shows how thin retail crypto spending still is. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/sofi-388k-crypto-products-1-2m-q2-revenue-july-2026/

Brian Armstrong says Coinbase's USDC revenue-share deal with Circle auto-renews in perpetuity on the same terms, locking in the exchange's stablecoin income. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/coinbase-circle-usdc-deal-auto-renews-perpetuity-july-2026/

Coinbase reported its third consecutive quarterly loss as trading volume slowed. Here is what the earnings signal for the largest US crypto exchange and its users. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/coinbase-third-straight-quarterly-loss-trading-slowdown-july-2026/

Coinbase is launching US500 perpetual futures in August, letting US traders go long or short on the 500 largest American companies from a crypto exchange. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/coinbase-us500-perpetual-futures-stock-index-july-2026/