SpendNode Podcast: Crypto News & Analysis

Ripple has acquired a stake in Flutterwave, valuing the African fintech at $3.3B, as it pushes deeper into cross-border payments and stablecoin settlement in Africa. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ripple-flutterwave-stake-3-3b-africa-payments-june-2026/

Reuters reports Binance's application for an EU MiCA license is heading for rejection, weeks before the transition deadline that forces unlicensed exchanges out. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/binance-eu-mica-license-rejection-reuters-june-2026/

Mirae Asset, a $721B manager, signed an MOU with Ondo Finance to tokenize US-listed ETFs through Global X, including a covered-call ETF share class in Q3 2026. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ondo-mirae-asset-tokenized-global-x-etfs-june-2026/

The Fed meets today for its first rate decision under new governor Kevin Warsh. Crypto is rallying into it, with ETH up 3.5% and SOL 4% as of June 16, 2026. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/fed-first-rate-decision-kevin-warsh-crypto-rally-june-2026/

BlackRock debuted BITA, a Bitcoin income ETF that sells call options to pay double-digit yield while limiting upside. Here is the tradeoff, as of June 16, 2026. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/blackrock-bita-bitcoin-income-etf-covered-call-june-2026/

The Bank of Japan raised its benchmark rate to 1%, the highest since 1995. The yen pared gains and altcoins held firm. Here is what it means for crypto. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/boj-hikes-1-percent-highest-since-1995-june-2026/

DTCC says it is close to a live demonstration of tokenizing securities held at The Depository Trust Company, the clearest step yet toward on-chain Wall Street settlement. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/dtcc-live-tokenization-demo-dtc-securities-june-2026/

The Bank of Japan is set to raise rates to a 31-year high and signal more hikes. Here is the yen carry-trade link to crypto, with ETH up 3.2% as of June 16, 2026. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/boj-rate-hike-31-year-high-yen-carry-trade-crypto-june-2026/

Nous Research connected its Hermes agent to Stripe so it can make purchases, pay APIs, and provision SaaS on its own, with configurable safety limits as the guardrail. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/nous-research-stripe-hermes-agent-payments-june-2026/

China's May retail sales fell for the first time in over three years. Here is the data, the deflation risk, and how it reads against a 3%+ crypto bid. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/china-consumer-spending-first-decline-since-pandemic-june-2026/

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says his instinct is that Bitcoin already bottomed at $60,000. The call lands while the Fear and Greed index reads 25. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/armstrong-bitcoin-bottomed-60k-fear-june-2026/

Ether, XRP and Solana each rose about 4% on June 16, 2026 as the Dow closed at a record on a US-Iran deal, yet crypto's Fear and Greed index held at 24. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/altcoins-outpace-bitcoin-dow-record-crypto-fear-june-2026/

US headline CPI hit its highest reading since 2023, yet ETH, SOL and XRP rose 4-6% on the day while the Fear & Greed index sat at 25. Here is the divergence. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/crypto-rallies-us-cpi-highest-since-2023-june-2026/

China is preparing a commercial rollout of mBridge, a blockchain-based multi-CBDC settlement network that has cleared 470B yuan and is pitched against SWIFT. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/china-mbridge-cbdc-commercial-rollout-swift-rival-june-2026/

A Brazilian Chamber of Deputies committee advanced Bill 4212/25, which would stop any future CBDC from replacing cash, becoming forced legal tender, or enabling surveillance. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/brazil-cbdc-ban-bill-4212-cash-surveillance-june-2026/

A bipartisan House bill would cap crypto ATM transactions, force scam warnings, and require refunds for fraud after Americans lost $333M to kiosk scams in 2025. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/stop-crypto-atm-scams-act-2000-daily-cap-june-2026/

Kraken opened CFTC-regulated perpetual futures to US customers through Bitnomial on June 15, 2026, ending years of offshore-only access to a $60T market. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/kraken-cftc-perpetual-futures-onshore-us-june-2026/

BitMine added 76,881 ETH this week after a $274M preferred stock raise, lifting its stack to 5.62M ETH, or 4.66% of circulating supply, as ETH jumped 7.7%. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitmine-76881-eth-purchase-4-66-percent-supply-june-2026/

Bybit has tied Western Union into its conversion flow, letting users across Latin America turn local currencies into USDPT in a few steps. Here is the detail. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bybit-western-union-usdpt-latam-conversions-june-2026/

Zooko Wilcox says prior exploitation of the Orchard counterfeiting bug looks unlikely, but cryptography alone cannot confirm no fake ZEC was ever minted. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/zcash-orchard-counterfeiting-bug-prior-exploitation-june-2026/

XRP spot ETFs pulled net inflows last week while Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana spot ETFs saw net outflows, a rotation that landed as XRP led the majors at $1.18. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/xrp-spot-etfs-inflows-btc-eth-sol-outflows-june-2026/

Charles Hoskinson says Cardano's disputed 1,096 BTC funded a 2016 crowdsale audit. The coins cost about $454,000 then and are worth roughly $72M now. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/cardano-hoskinson-1096-btc-2016-audit-dispute-june-2026/

Bitcoin rose to $65,740 and oil fell nearly 5% after the US and Iran reached an interim deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with signing set for Switzerland Friday. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitcoin-iran-peace-deal-strait-of-hormuz-reopen-june-2026/

Illinois passed the first U.S. state tax on digital asset trading: 0.2% per covered transaction, registration rules, and Class 3 felony charges for unregistered brokers. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/illinois-digital-asset-privilege-tax-02-percent-felony-june-2026/

Three US-listed spot HYPE ETFs gathered $161M in net inflows a month after launch, with only one outflow day, even as broad crypto sentiment stayed in fear. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/hype-spot-etfs-161m-first-month-inflows-june-2026/