SpendNode Podcast: Crypto News & Analysis

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest bought 170,634 SPCX shares worth $20.5M while selling Robinhood stock, a rotation toward Solana-linked equity as SOL trades near $78. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/ark-invest-20-5m-spcx-shares-solana-bet-july-2026/

Bybit is offering 2X cashback on eligible spend through a limited-time Summer Virtual Card. Here is what cardholders should check before activating. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bybit-summer-virtual-card-2x-cashback-july-2026/

Revolut secured a full banking license in Australia and pledged $280M to take on the country's Big Four banks, per a July 21 Cointelegraph report. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/revolut-full-australian-banking-license-280m-big-four-july-2026/

Celsius co-founders Daniel Leon and Nuke Goldstein have agreed to pay the FTC more than $6M, adding to Alex Mashinsky's $10M settlement from April. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/celsius-co-founders-ftc-6m-settlement-july-2026/

Vietnam has decreed penalties of up to $7,700 for unlicensed crypto trading and AML breaches, effective September 2026, moving from policy talk to enforcement. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/vietnam-7700-fines-unlicensed-crypto-trading-aml-september-2026/

The London Stock Exchange plans round-the-clock trading in early 2027 to win back retail investors drawn to crypto's always-on markets, per the FT. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/london-stock-exchange-24-7-trading-2027-crypto-competition-july-2026/

Michael Saylor's Strategy raised $263.5M through MSTR share sales, lifting its cash reserve to $3.225B while its Bitcoin stack holds at 843,775 BTC. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/strategy-263-5m-mstr-raise-843775-bitcoin-july-2026/

US agencies blew past the GENIUS Act's one-year deadline to write stablecoin rules, leaving issuer, custody and payment questions open before January. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/us-regulators-miss-genius-act-stablecoin-rulemaking-deadline-july-2026/

South Korea's central bank plans live CBDC transactions with nine banks in September, moving its digital won pilot from lab testing to real settlement. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bank-of-korea-cbdc-live-transactions-nine-banks-september-2026/

Polymarket puts a 93.5% probability on the Fed holding rates at its July 29 meeting. Here is how crypto traders are positioned as BTC sits at $63,873. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/polymarket-93-percent-fed-rate-hold-july-29-2026/

Cardano's Van Rossem hard fork went live July 20, cutting smart contract execution costs and setting up the Ouroboros Leios throughput upgrade due late 2026. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/cardano-van-rossem-hard-fork-leios-scaling-july-2026/

Hyperliquid's HIP-4 vote lets anyone deploy custom outcome markets by staking 500,000 HYPE, moving prediction-style markets into a permissionless model on-chain. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/hyperliquid-hip-4-permissionless-outcome-markets-500k-hype-july-2026/

Cointelegraph says the CLARITY Act market structure bill hinges on Trump's conflicts of interest, and the odds of a clean passage aren't looking great. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/clarity-act-trump-ethics-crypto-market-structure-july-2026/

Allbridge Core halted its cross-chain bridge after a $1.65M flash loan attack manipulated its stablecoin swap pricing. Here is what happened and why bridges keep failing this way. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/allbridge-core-165m-flash-loan-exploit-bridge-pause-july-2026/

A Japanese logistics company plans to pay thousands of transportation contractors in JPYC, the regulated yen stablecoin, in one of Asia's first high-volume payroll rollouts. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/japan-logistics-jpyc-stablecoin-driver-payroll-july-2026/

A UK offence effective July 17, 2026 ties delayed wallet identification to criminal liability of up to 14 years, forcing crypto firms to rebuild custody records. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/uk-wallet-identification-14-year-criminal-penalty-crypto-firms-july-2026/

Japan recognizes crypto as a financial product, South Korea plans tokenized treasuries, and Russia opens USDT and USDC trading to qualified investors. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/asia-crypto-regulation-japan-korea-russia-wave-july-2026/

Roughly 2,000 institutional investors disclosed Bitcoin exposure in their Q1 2026 SEC filings, a fresh sign of how far ownership has spread beyond retail. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/institutions-2000-bitcoin-holdings-sec-filings-q1-2026-july-2026/

A firm branded Bitcoin Japan is raising $60M despite holding zero BTC, the latest example of a treasury-company name outrunning its actual balance sheet. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitcoin-japan-60m-raise-zero-btc-july-2026/

South Korean authorities are investigating 30 crypto market manipulation cases under the country's new digital asset law, an early test of its enforcement teeth. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/south-korea-30-crypto-market-manipulation-cases-new-law-july-2026/

Zcash developers released Zakura v1.0.0, a node built to push private payments from about 1 transaction per second toward the 50,000 TPS that Visa handles. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/zcash-zakura-node-visa-scale-privacy-50000-tps-july-2026/

Bloomberg Intelligence says Bitcoin ETFs are set to mirror gold's 22-year ETF maturation, giving investors a timeline for institutional crypto adoption. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bitcoin-etf-gold-22-year-adoption-path-bloomberg-july-2026/

Bank of America appointed new executives to scale its digital asset platforms, tokenization business, and AI work, signaling a deeper institutional commitment to blockchain. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/bank-of-america-digital-asset-tokenization-executives-july-2026/

Morgan Stanley updated its spot Ethereum and Solana ETF filings, moving the products closer to launch as Wall Street pushes past Bitcoin-only crypto funds. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/morgan-stanley-ether-solana-etf-amended-filings-launch-july-2026/

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says USDT is onboarding over 30 million new wallets per quarter, a sign of where stablecoin demand is actually landing in 2026. Read the full article: https://www.spendnode.io/blog/tether-usdt-30m-wallets-per-quarter-stablecoin-adoption-july-2026/