SpendNode Podcast: Crypto News & Analysis

Galaxy Digital says it delivered 133 MW of critical IT load to CoreWeave at Helios, finishing Phase I of turning a former Bitcoin mining site into an AI data center. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/galaxy-digital-coreweave-helios-133mw-phase-one-july-2026/

Core Ethereum developers support Vitalik Buterin's Lean Ethereum roadmap but argue the 3-4 year timeline for STARKs and quantum safety should be compressed. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ethereum-developers-compress-lean-ethereum-timeline-july-2026/

New Hampshire's Governor and Executive Council hold a hearing on July 8 over a $100 million Bitcoin-backed municipal bond, a first for a US state. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/new-hampshire-100m-bitcoin-backed-municipal-bond-hearing-july-2026/

Vanguard, the $11T asset manager that spent years refusing crypto, has posted its first Head of Digital Assets role. Here is what the hire signals for retail. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/vanguard-first-head-digital-assets-role-july-2026/

China now accounts for 38% of global fintech patent filings after a 10-fold jump in a decade, overtaking the US, per a Nikkei report. The rails race is on. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/china-38-percent-global-fintech-patents-overtakes-us-july-2026/

An attacker bought $4M of BONK, pushed a malicious proposal through BonkDAO's token-weighted vote, and drained $20M from the treasury. The vote was valid. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bonkdao-governance-attack-20m-treasury-drain-july-2026/

Richard Heathcote, Tether's ex-CIO, is working with PJT Partners to sell part of his 1.26% stake. At the $500B valuation Tether floated, that slice is worth billions. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/tether-former-cio-heathcote-stake-sale-july-2026/

Oobit users can now send Litecoin straight to a bank account with no stablecoin or fiat conversion step first. Fees and country coverage are not yet published. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/oobit-direct-litecoin-bank-transfers-july-2026/

The White House says the US is working to structure its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Bloomberg reports two departments are fighting over who gets to run it. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/white-house-structuring-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-turf-war-july-2026/

Strategy sold 3,588 BTC for $216M to fund preferred dividends, its first large-scale sale ever. Holdings drop to 843,775 BTC as the math trap tightens. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/strategy-sells-3588-btc-216m-dividends-july-2026/

WSJ says Strategy is caught in a math trap: 847,363 BTC underwater, mNAV near 0.80, and a $1.2B annual preferred dividend bill. The flywheel has reversed. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/strategy-bitcoin-math-trap-flywheel-reverse-july-2026/

South Korea's Supreme Court proposed Civil Execution Rules for seizing and liquidating crypto, letting courts convert illiquid tokens to Bitcoin from October 2026. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/south-korea-supreme-court-crypto-seizure-rules-october-2026/

Ripple received its EU CASP license from Luxembourg's CSSF on July 6, making it fully MiCA-compliant and able to passport crypto services across the EEA. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ripple-mica-casp-license-luxembourg-eea-july-2026/

Coinspect discloses Ill Bloom, a weak-randomness flaw in seed phrase generation across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron and more. $5M drained since May 27. How to check. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ill-bloom-seed-phrase-flaw-5m-drained-coinspect-july-2026/

Visa data shows stablecoins settled a record $1.79 trillion in June 2026, up 63% from May. The spike landed in a Fear market, not a speculative mania. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/stablecoin-volume-record-1-79-trillion-june-visa-july-2026/

Blockaid detected an ongoing exploit on Summer Finance with roughly $6M drained as of July 6. The attack was still active when the alert went out. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/summer-finance-exploit-6m-drained-blockaid-july-2026/

Token Terminal data shows ETH bridged from Ethereum to Robinhood Chain surged roughly 10x in a few days, an early adoption signal for the broker's L2. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/eth-bridged-robinhood-chain-10x-surge-july-2026/

France logged 77 crypto kidnapping and extortion cases in H1 2026, up from 45 in all of 2025. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez answers with a three-pillar plan. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/france-77-crypto-kidnappings-security-plan-july-2026/

OKX announced it is MiCA-authorised and regulated in Europe, days after the July 1 enforcement deadline cut off unlicensed crypto firms across the EEA. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/okx-mica-authorised-europe-regulatory-era-july-2026/

Binance is reportedly leading a funding round valuing crypto payments network Mesh at up to $2 billion, doubling its January Series C valuation in six months. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/binance-2-billion-mesh-investment-stablecoin-payment-routes-july-2026/

Brazil's Operation Exchange froze roughly $2 billion tied to a PCC crypto laundering network, two days after US OFAC sanctions hit the same suspects. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/brazil-operation-exchange-2-billion-pcc-crypto-laundering-july-2026/

SARS published draft crypto tax rules on July 1 and plans audits covering up to 6 million South African users. Rates run 18% to 45%. Comments close August 31. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/south-africa-sars-audit-6-million-crypto-users-july-2026/

Reuters' Big View podcast airs the BIS case that stablecoins still need central banks, as crypto purists argue code alone can anchor digital money. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bis-digital-cash-central-bank-backstop-debate-july-2026/

Ethereum's share of stablecoin supply has climbed to 87%, per Cointelegraph. One chain now anchors nearly the entire digital dollar market, and that cuts both ways. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ethereum-87-percent-stablecoin-supply-concentration-july-2026/

Vitalik Buterin outlined a Lean Ethereum roadmap with recursive STARK verification, quantum-resistant signatures, and a 3-4 year rebuild of core protocol layers. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/vitalik-lean-ethereum-roadmap-starks-quantum-resistance-july-2026/