SpendNode Podcast: Crypto News & Analysis

The SEC will meet Friday to consider a tailored offering regime for crypto investment contracts, a shift from enforcement toward written rules for token sales. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/sec-tailored-offering-regime-crypto-investment-contracts-august-2026/

Grayscale's ETHE, GSOL and GAVA funds must sell staking rewards at least quarterly, turning $1.1B in staked crypto into recurring cash distributions for ETF holders. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/grayscale-staking-rewards-quarterly-sales-etf-distributions-august-2026/

Jupiter launched Lend v2 on Solana, letting supplied and borrowed assets both earn DEX trading fees. Here is what changes for lending economics on Solana. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/jupiter-lend-v2-borrowed-assets-earn-solana-trading-fees-august-2026/

Hedge funds on CME have flipped to net long Bitcoin futures for the first time in years, per CryptoQuant's CEO. What the rare positioning shift signals. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/hedge-funds-net-long-bitcoin-futures-cme-august-2026/

Mastercard acquired stablecoin payments company BVNK for $1.8 billion, moving to own the settlement rails instead of routing around them. What the deal signals. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/mastercard-bvnk-1-8-billion-stablecoin-acquisition-august-2026/

The UK's FCA is drafting a regulatory framework for tokenized gold to protect London's bullion trade as China's onchain gold market expands, per FT reporting. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/uk-fca-tokenized-gold-framework-london-bullion-august-2026/

US spot crypto ETFs pulled in over $1.3B last week, led by $853.54M into Bitcoin and $244.94M into Ether, with Solana and XRP funds also net positive. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/spot-etf-inflows-1-3-billion-weekly-btc-eth-sol-xrp-august-2026/

NYSE President Lynn Martin says the exchange is developing native onchain settlement for tokenized securities, a structural shift for how US markets clear trades. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/nyse-onchain-settlement-tokenized-securities-august-2026/

Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper says passing the CLARITY Act is a national security matter, reframing US crypto rules as a contest over dollar stablecoins. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/esper-clarity-act-national-security-priority-august-2026/

Trump-backed World Liberty Financial received $100M from Guren 'Bobby' Zhou, a businessman under money-laundering investigation, per a New York Times report. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/world-liberty-financial-100m-money-laundering-suspect-august-2026/

The CLARITY Act has stalled again in the Senate, and the resistance is coming from community bankers worried about deposits, not the usual crypto skeptics. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/community-bankers-block-clarity-act-crypto-lobby-august-2026/

Grayscale withdrew S-1 registrations for its Cardano, Hedera and Polkadot spot ETFs on August 7, 2026, filing all three Form RW requests within minutes. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/grayscale-withdraws-cardano-hedera-polkadot-etf-registrations-august-2026/

Hardware wallet sales in Russia jumped 107% as users move to self-custody ahead of a new crypto law, per Cointelegraph. Regulation is pushing coins off exchanges. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/russia-cold-wallet-sales-107-percent-putin-crypto-law-august-2026/

BlackRock, Circle, and Franklin Templeton hold $7.23B in tokenized funds, but only $49.7M (0.69%) has reached DeFi. Q2 2026's record 99 hacks help explain why. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/wall-street-7b-tokenized-funds-defi-under-1-percent-august-2026/

Empery offloaded 1,635 BTC for $102.2M in just over a month, cutting its unrestricted Bitcoin to 325 coins and testing the limits of the never-sell treasury model. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/empery-sells-1635-btc-never-sell-model-cracks-august-2026/

More than 100 crypto projects have shut down in 2026 in a dot-com-style washout. Here is what the failures mean for anyone holding funds on a platform. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/crypto-dotcom-shakeout-100-projects-fold-2026/

BTCPay Server cut off remote Lightning access after attackers exploited a vulnerability to drain funds from LND nodes. Here is what merchants need to check now. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/btcpay-restricts-remote-lightning-lnd-vulnerability-august-2026/

Marathon Digital pledged 18,750 BTC to secure $600M in new loans for energy and AI infrastructure, keeping its Bitcoin stack while raising growth capital. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/marathon-digital-600m-loan-18750-btc-collateral-august-2026/

Two weeks into BIP-110's mandatory signaling window, miner support sits near 0%. Here is what that number means for how Bitcoin upgrades actually pass. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitcoin-miners-reject-bip-110-zero-signaling-august-2026/

BitMEX's roughly $1 billion sale process fell apart after potential buyers backed out, leaving one of crypto's oldest derivatives venues without a deal. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitmex-1-billion-sale-collapses-buyers-walk-away-august-2026/

A fresh exploit is draining merchant Lightning nodes on Bitcoin's payment layer, the latest hit to the infrastructure that settles instant BTC transactions. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitcoin-lightning-payment-servers-infrastructure-exploit-august-2026/

Backpack has added GTA6 publisher Take-Two Interactive to its tokenized stock lineup on Solana via Sunrise, months before the game's November release. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/take-two-tokenized-stock-solana-backpack-gta6-august-2026/

A Michigan federal judge refused to shield Coinbase from state action over its sports event contracts, ruling federal law does not override state jurisdiction. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/coinbase-michigan-state-crypto-enforcement-sports-contracts-august-2026/

A US court granted Bybit expedited discovery to trace funds from the $1.5B North Korea hack, opening account identities, balances, and transaction records. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bybit-us-court-trace-15-billion-north-korea-hack-august-2026/

New XRP Ledger protocol amendments aim to support $530 million in tokenized Wall Street assets, positioning the network as an institutional settlement layer. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/xrp-ledger-amendments-530-million-tokenized-wall-street-assets-august-2026/