BSC News

Una Scadenza Dura Senza Atterraggio Morbido
Il cliff della licenza cripto in Europa arriva il 1 luglio 2026, e la maggior parte dell'industria non è ancora riuscita a superarlo. Dei oltre 1.200 operatori che detenevano registrazioni nazionali in tutto il blocco, 204 fornitori di servizi di cripto-asset hanno ottenuto l'autorizzazione CASP completa ai sensi del MiCA al 18 giugno 2026, secondo il registro provvisorio dell'ESMA. Una precedente istantanea di Chainscreen, analizzata direttamente dal registro ufficiale dell'ESMA, contava 183 CASP autorizzati in 20 stati membri dello SEE al 7 aprile 2026. I due conteggi riflettono un quadro in rapida evoluzione, ma in ogni caso, la stragrande maggioranza delle aziende precedentemente registrate rimane priva di licenza con solo pochi giorni a disposizione.

Banks Push Hard on Stablecoin Yield
The fight over the crypto market-structure bill has moved behind closed doors. According to @EleanorTerrett, state bankers associations are coordinating a direct lobbying push on Senate lawmakers over stablecoin yield, a provision banks view as a threat to their deposit base. The issue has become a fixture at banking conferences nationwide, even as the official Hill debate shifts toward an ethics deal, DeFi provisions, and the merging of Senate Banking and Agriculture committee texts. Terrett's sources say yield is still very much in play as more senators take a closer look at the bill.
The American Bankers Association has been escalating its pressure on senators, warning that stablecoin yield provisions could undermine bank deposits and financial stability, with bank trade groups arguing that yield-bearing stablecoins could act as substitutes for insured deposits and drain funding for mortgages and business loans. Members of the ABA have reportedly sent more than 8,000 letters to Senate offices criticizing the yield compromise.
According to the ABA, permitting yield-bearing stablecoins could rapidly scale the stablecoin market from roughly $300 billion today to as much as $2 trillion, increasing pressure on bank funding. The compromise brokered by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks attempts to split the difference. The deal bans yield equivalent to bank deposits but allows what the text calls "bona fide activities," and crypto trade groups including Coinbase and Circle immediately backed the arrangement. Banking groups, however, are pushing further. A coalition of banking advocacy groups, including the American Bankers Association and the Consumer Bankers Association, released text that would completely limit stablecoin issuers from providing any rewards on the asset.
Clock Ticking Ahead of August Recess
Beyond the yield dispute, the broader timeline for the CLARITY Act is becoming a serious concern. Outgoing House Agriculture Subcommittee Chairman @RepDustyJohnson warned that the window for passing the CLARITY Act is closing, and said failure to move the bill before the August recess could shelve crypto market structure legislation "for far too long," adding that the House could take up a Senate-passed bill within roughly two weeks if delivered, but urged the industry not to count on the lame-duck session.
Of about five major legislative packages expected to compete for floor time after the November election, Johnson said "maybe one" was likely to actually clear. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act passed the House on July 17, 2025 by a 294 to 134 margin, drawing more than 70 Democratic votes. The Senate Banking Committee reported a substitute amendment on May 14, 2026, passing it 15 to 9, and the bill landed on the Senate Legislative Calendar on June 1, 2026. The entire arc of crypto legislation now rests on a Senate floor vote that still requires 60 votes to clear a filibuster, with Republicans holding roughly 53 seats. With banking groups continuing to press their case in the hallways and DeFi provisions still unresolved between chambers, the path to the president's desk remains narrow and time is running short.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Banking groups escalate fight over stablecoin yield ahead of Senate vote
Yahoo Finance: CLARITY Act Fast-Track Hinges on Senate Floor Vote Before Recess
American Banker: Banks mobilize against crypto market structure bill markup

Patel puts crypto fraudsters on notice
FBI Director @FBIDirectorKash has delivered a blunt message to cryptocurrency fraudsters: "This FBI will find you, and we will bring you to justice." The warning, posted Friday, was tied directly to Operation Level Up, the bureau's ongoing campaign against crypto-related cybercrime.
The scale of the problem is hard to ignore. Patel noted that Americans lost billions to cyber theft last year, with more than half of those losses linked to cryptocurrency. The video accompanying his post focused on "pig butchering," a fraud technique where scammers spend weeks, sometimes months, building fake friendships or romantic relationships with targets before steering them toward fraudulent crypto investment platforms. Victims are cultivated over time and deceived into depositing funds into fraudulent investment platforms that appear to show substantial returns. In reality, all funds flow directly to the scammers.
Operation Level Up: arrests, seizures, and victims protected
The warning carries real weight given what has followed. An FBI-coordinated international operation resulted in the arrest of at least 276 individuals and the dismantlement of nine cryptocurrency scam centers. The U.S. Department of Justice described it as the product of "unprecedented cooperation" between the FBI, Dubai Police, and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.
The broader crackdown also resulted in the freezing of more than $701 million in cryptocurrency linked to money laundering, according to U.S. authorities. Beyond the arrests, Operation Level Up had, as of March 2026, notified 8,935 victims of cryptocurrency investment fraud, 77% of whom were unaware they were being scammed, saving an estimated $562 million.
"Pig butchering" schemes are designed to build trust over time, making them far harder to detect than a typical phishing attempt. Victims can lose life savings, take on debt, and suffer lasting emotional harm after being manipulated by someone they believed genuinely cared about them.
The crackdown is part of a broader push by Patel's FBI. In March 2026, authorities from the U.S. Secret Service, the UK's National Crime Agency, and Canadian authorities launched a separate operation called Operation Atlantic. The bureau has also partnered with private platforms, with @FBIDirectorKash crediting @Meta for helping take down scam networks and remove over a million scam-related online accounts in a separate June action.
Sources:
U.S. Department of Justice: Scam Center Strike Force press release
FinanceFeeds: FBI Operation Level Up targets pig butchering rings, 276 arrests
The Cooldown: FBI-led takedown shatters pig butchering crypto scam network

Un numero da prima pagina con una fregatura
L'attività onchain di Bitcoin è salita al suo livello più forte del 2026, ma la storia dietro i numeri è più complicata di quanto sembri a prima vista. L'Indice di Attività della Rete Bitcoin di CryptoQuant è aumentato costantemente da gennaio, raggiungendo il suo livello più alto dal tardo 2024, rompendo la sua tendenza a lungo termine a fine marzo per la prima volta dal metà 2024. Le transazioni giornaliere totali hanno superato le 800.000 quest'anno, vicino ai massimi del ciclo rialzista 2023-2025 e più del doppio dei minimi visti nel 2025. L'attività della rete è ora solo circa il 7% sotto il suo massimo storico raggiunto a settembre 2024.

@ethena mostra un netto disallineamento tra l'uso crescente della rete e un token che si rifiuta di reagire. Secondo @SantimentData, il 19 giugno, Santiment ha riportato 5,057 indirizzi ENA attivi giornalieri, il massimo in sette mesi, e 2,968 nuovi wallet, segnando la più forte crescita della rete in oltre due anni. L'uso, secondo qualsiasi misura on-chain, sta salendo.
Il token non si muove. $ENA rimane bloccato vicino ai minimi storici, in calo di circa il 94% dal suo massimo storico, con il boom on-chain che registra a malapena un impatto sul grafico delle velas.

Axelar (@axelar), una rete decentralizzata di interoperabilità, ha rivelato un incidente di sicurezza che coinvolge circa $4,67 milioni in token trasferiti tramite IBC alla Secret Network (@SecretNetwork), prendendo di mira gli asset trasferiti dalla chain di Axelar.
La vulnerabilità è stata isolata al contratto smart ICS-20 sul lato Secret all'interno della connessione Cosmos IBC tra le due chain, un contratto responsabile della gestione degli asset bridged da Axelar a Secret. Poiché Secret Network è una blockchain focalizzata sulla privacy, i dettagli delle transazioni e i saldi sono criptati, rendendo la transazione di exploit invisibile on-chain.

Early IPO Talks After Revenue Surges
@Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated prediction market exchange, has begun informal discussions with investment banks about a potential initial public offering, according to a report from The Information. Top executives have engaged in early, informal talks with investment banks, driven by a sharp run-up in business that has pushed annualized revenue north of $2 billion, roughly three times what it was in November, after a wave of NBA and World Cup betting boosted trading volume.
The IPO conversations remain at an early stage, and no listing is expected before late 2027 or 2028. Kalshi has not commented publicly on the discussions. As part of the conversations, Kalshi is asking prospective bank advisers to integrate with its platform, a move designed to give institutional clients of those banks direct trading access.
A $22 Billion Company With Wall Street Ambitions
The most recent major fundraising round was a $1 billion Series F in May 2026, led by Coatue at a $22 billion valuation. The round drew participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, IVP, Morgan Stanley, and ARK Invest. According to DeFiLlama data, Kalshi has raised $2.685 billion across five rounds since June 2025.
Kalshi commands more than 90% of U.S. prediction market activity, with annualized trading volume climbing from $52 billion to $178 billion over the past year, and institutional trading on the platform jumping 800% in the six months ended in early May.
A public listing would place the CFTC-regulated exchange firmly on a traditional Wall Street path. Should Kalshi go public in 2027 or 2028 at a valuation near its last private round, it would rank among the largest U.S. fintech IPOs in recent years. Its decentralized rival Polymarket operates under a different model. Kalshi runs a CFTC-regulated exchange, while Polymarket's largest prediction market exchange is domiciled offshore and claims to block U.S. users, meaning it is not effectively subject to CFTC rules.
Regulatory risk remains a real consideration. Lawsuits from more than a dozen U.S. states allege Kalshi operates unlicensed sports betting, and some estimates place sports contracts at up to 90% of Kalshi's revenue, meaning an adverse court ruling could eliminate its primary income source.
Sources:
Cryptopolitan: Kalshi considers IPO as $2B annualized revenue, $22B valuation fuels optimism
Bitcoin Magazine: Prediction Market Kalshi Eyes IPO As Revenue Hits $2 Billion
Britannica Money: Kalshi Inc.

@solana is taking market share from the biggest names in centralized crypto trading, and the numbers are hard to ignore.
Spot trading volume across Solana's decentralized exchanges has been consistently running ahead of both Coinbase and Kraken, according to Blockworks data. Solana now sits behind only Binance and Bybit, having achieved the third-highest weekly volume at roughly $7.19 billion, positioning the network as a serious contender even among the biggest crypto exchanges. Binance and Bybit recorded weekly volumes of approximately $34.4 billion and $9.5 billion, respectively.
A Recurring Trend, Not a One-Off
The milestone is not a flash in the pan. Blockworks data shows that at the start of April, Solana-based DEXs processed about $10.71 billion in spot volume over 24 hours, enough to move ahead of Coinbase and Kraken, something that would have been hard to imagine even a year ago. The network has led all blockchains in total DEX volume for 32 consecutive weeks.
There is an important caveat. On-chain DEX flow and centralized spot volume are not directly equivalent. DEX figures carry a higher proportion of bot activity and arbitrage trades, meaning the like-for-like comparison with a platform such as Coinbase is imperfect. The gap is real and recurring, but context matters.
Why It Is Happening
The latency gap that once favored centralized exchanges has largely disappeared due to Solana's network upgrades, allowing DEX aggregators like Jupiter to offer execution speeds comparable to centralized platforms. Fees are also a factor. For many retail users, trading on centralized platforms via instant buy can cost anywhere from 0.4% to 0.6%, while on Solana costs are often lower, even after factoring in network fees.
Solana has seen increased on-chain participation, new token launches, and growing interest from retail traders, driven by its fast transaction speeds and low costs that have made onboarding straightforward.
Centralized exchanges still dominate overall, accounting for roughly 80% of spot volume, but the direction of travel is beginning to shift. For the established players, Solana's rise is a reminder that on-chain infrastructure is no longer the slower, more expensive alternative it once was.
Sources
U.Today: Solana Surpasses $7 Billion in Trading Volume, Beats Coinbase and Kraken
CoinSpress: Solana Overtakes Coinbase and Kraken as DEX Volume Surges
Blockworks: Solana DEX Volume Analytics Dashboard

L'Istituto di Ricerca Monetaria di Hong Kong (HKIMR) ha ufficialmente riconosciuto @Ripple e $XRP come strumenti in grado di rendere i pagamenti internazionali più economici ed efficienti, secondo l'ultimo report dell'istituto.
XRP Ledger Messo in Evidenza come Strumento per Ridurre i Costi
Il report si concentra sull'utilità pratica del XRP Ledger (XRPL) nel ridurre i costi legati alla liquidità transfrontaliera. Il tradizionale banking corrispondente, che si affida a catene di banche intermediari per spostare denaro oltre confine, è stato a lungo criticato per le sue alte commissioni e i tempi di regolamento lenti. I risultati dell'HKIMR suggeriscono che l'infrastruttura basata su XRPL offre un'alternativa credibile per le istituzioni che cercano di abbattere questi costi.

Un whale di Bitcoin ha chiuso una posizione di 800 $BTC per circa 50,24 milioni di dollari, bloccando una perdita realizzata di 35,3 milioni di dollari, secondo la piattaforma di analisi on-chain Lookonchain.
Il wallet, identificato dal prefisso dell'indirizzo 37BnFf, aveva accumulato originariamente gli 800 $BTC circa sette mesi fa a un prezzo medio di ingresso di 106.866 dollari per moneta. Con Bitcoin che scambiava ben al di sotto di quel livello al momento della vendita, l'uscita ha rappresentato una perdita di circa il 33% sul capitale originale impiegato.
Un Modello Più Ampio di Capitulation dei Whale

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is navigating one of the most turbulent periods in its history. The organization has experienced approximately 19 staff exits and layoffs throughout 2026, with at least eight senior-level departures occurring within a five-month span.
Wang's Exit Ends the Dual-Leadership Model
Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down as co-executive director of the Ethereum Foundation, effective June 18, saying a recent sabbatical gave her space to reconsider her priorities and what she wants to build next. Wang is the second co-executive director to leave the EF this year. Tomasz Stańczak stepped down earlier in 2026 after helping steer a leadership transition at the Switzerland-based nonprofit.
During Wang's sabbatical, Ethereum Foundation board member Bastian Aue helped oversee the leadership transition and has taken on a larger role in guiding the organization in the interim following the departures of both co-executive directors. Over roughly nine years with the EF, Wang was a core contributor to some of Ethereum's most consequential upgrades, including the Beacon Chain, The Merge, Shapella, and Dencun.
Ethereum co-founder @VitalikButerin acknowledged the weight of the role Wang had held. Buterin described her position as "the most challenging" within the foundation.
A Broader Wave of Senior Departures
Wang's exit is the latest in a sustained run of high-profile losses. The departing members join a roster that includes P2P networking lead Raúl Kripalani, operations lead Josh Stark, Protocol Guild founder Trent Van Epps, and Protocol Cluster leads Barnabé Monnot and Tim Beiko. Former co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak resigned in February after serving in the role for less than a year, and long-time EF member Josh Stark left in March after seven years with the organization.
The EF rolled out a new mandate in 2025 that pushed execution outward and kept research and grants at the center, and the 2026 exits are the second-order effect of that restructuring playing out. In March, the foundation reaffirmed its mandate, placing greater emphasis on decentralization, stating that its goal is for Ethereum to pass what it called the "walkaway test," meaning the protocol would continue to function and evolve even if the EF and its core developers disappeared entirely.
At least eight senior figures have departed the organization over the past five months, fueling community scrutiny of the EF's priorities, governance, and strategic direction, as Ethereum faces mounting competition from rival blockchains. The resignation raises fresh questions about leadership continuity, even as Ethereum's supporters argue the network is larger than any one organization or role, and that its decentralized community remains its core strength.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Ethereum Foundation Loses Another Key Leader as Co-Executive Director Hsiao-Wei Wang Resigns
Unchained Crypto: Ethereum Foundation Exodus Deepens With at Least Eight Senior Departures in 2026
Bankless: Hsiao-Wei Wang Departs Ethereum Foundation After Nearly a Decade

Lummis Reframes DeFi as a Feature, Not a Flaw
@SenLummis has declared decentralized finance a "worthy innovation" rather than a regulatory loophole, marking a notable shift in how federal lawmakers are approaching non-custodial protocols. The comments reinforce what many in the crypto industry have long argued: that autonomous, permissionless software should be treated differently from traditional financial intermediaries, not forced into frameworks built for centralised institutions.
The position carries real weight given the legislative backdrop. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act cleared the House in July 2025 with a 294-134 bipartisan vote and passed the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 on May 14, 2026. Senator Lummis is now pressing for a Senate floor vote as the legislative calendar tightens.
What the Clarity Act Means for DeFi
The Clarity Act is the most advanced attempt yet to settle the biggest open question in US crypto: whether a token answers to the SEC or the CFTC. It routes decentralised digital commodities to the CFTC. The bill resolves longstanding ambiguity by creating an activity-based test: assets that are sufficiently decentralised fall under CFTC oversight as digital commodities, removing the perpetual Howey Test overhang that has weighed on institutional participation.
For DeFi specifically, the picture is nuanced. One section of the Clarity Act freed non-controlling developers from treatment as money services businesses, but an amendment revised another section that could still leave them open to being treated as securities intermediaries. A separate section outlines how to treat trading platforms that claim a place in decentralised finance but are not genuinely decentralised. These provisions will require close attention from protocol developers as the bill moves toward a floor vote.
The broader legislative stakes are clear. The Clarity Act would not end regulatory risk, but it would move the fight from agency-by-agency enforcement into a clearer statutory framework. If it passes, compliance costs may become more predictable and institutional participation easier to justify. Galaxy Research currently puts the probability of the Clarity Act becoming law in 2026 at 60 to 75 percent.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Amid the Clarity Act fanfare, worry over how a last-minute deal may affect DeFi
CryptoNews: Lummis Links Bitcoin to US Debt Crisis as CLARITY Act Nears Senate Floor
Startup Fortune: Lummis Has Put the CLARITY Act on a Senate Clock

Aerodrome Dominates Base DEX Activity
@AerodromeFi ha silenziosamente consolidato una posizione che pochi protocolli single-chain possono vantare: leader di categoria nel volume degli scambi decentralizzati, davanti ai pesi massimi multi-chain. Secondo i dati di DefiLlama, Aerodrome ha registrato oltre $17 miliardi in volume DEX su @Base negli ultimi 30 giorni, superando sia @Uniswap che @PancakeSwap sulla rete. Questa performance gli è valsa il titolo informale di "Uniswap di Base," riflettendo il suo ruolo come il principale luogo di trading e liquidità sulla Layer 2 incubata da @Coinbase.

Trustless Cross-Chain Swaps Without Bridges
Stroem Finance is preparing to debut a cross-chain atomic swap protocol that will enable trustless asset exchanges between @kaspaunchained, @Igra_Labs, and @Ethereum. The project is positioning itself as a bridge-free alternative for users who want to move assets across these three networks without relying on a centralised intermediary.
The protocol is built around hash-locked contracts, more formally known as Hash Time-Locked Contracts (HTLCs). These contracts use hash-locks and time-locks to ensure that a transaction is either completed by both parties or automatically cancelled if one side fails to meet the conditions. By using cryptographic guarantees rather than institutional trust, these transactions ensure value transfers either happen completely or not at all.
The design is a deliberate response to the risks associated with conventional cross-chain bridges. Atomic swaps allow for direct, trustless exchanges between compatible blockchains, while cross-chain bridges lock assets on one chain and create wrapped tokens on another. To date, over $2.6 billion has been lost in exploits due to cross-chain bridge hacks, which is why the Web3 ecosystem is rapidly adopting superior cross-chain solutions.
Testnet Phase Underway Before Mainnet Launch
The Stroem Finance protocol is currently restricted to a dedicated testnet environment while developers work to finalise the settlement logic. A full mainnet deployment is planned once that process is complete.
Stroem Finance has been noted as a peer-to-peer atomic swap solution between Ethereum and Kaspa , and the inclusion of @Igra_Labs broadens the scope of its interoperability ambitions. Bringing three distinct networks under a single trustless settlement layer is a technically demanding undertaking, particularly given that atomic swaps face compatibility challenges, as both blockchains must support specific cryptographic features and HTLCs for a swap to work.
If Stroem Finance delivers on its roadmap, the protocol could offer a meaningful alternative for users seeking to move assets across Kaspa, Igra, and Ethereum without wrapping tokens, paying bridge fees, or trusting a third-party custodian.
Sources:
Kaspa Notes: Cross-Chain Protocols Servicing Kaspa
Chainlink: Atomic Cross-Chain Transactions Technical Guide
Komodo Platform: Cross-Chain Atomic Swaps Explained

Andrew Tate was trending on June 18, 2026, but not for reasons he would welcome. The influencer and social media personality suffered a near-total wipeout of his active trading capital on @HyperliquidX, the decentralized perpetual futures exchange, after eight forced liquidations within a single 24-hour window.
Eight Liquidations, One Brutal Session
According to on-chain data tracked by Arkham Intelligence, Tate deposited $100,000 and opened a long position of $3.8 million in $BTC, which was subsequently liquidated. He then shorted $1 million in Bitcoin, which was also liquidated. The cycle repeated across multiple positions throughout the day. By the end of the run, Tate's Hyperliquid account held only about $14,219.
Bitcoin's price fell from roughly $66,400 to about $64,000 over the same window, in the aftermath of the Fed's June policy meeting. The broader market context was brutal: crypto analysis firm CoinGlass noted that over $400 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in that timeframe, with roughly $280 million from longs, and nearly 100,000 individual accounts were wiped out across exchanges.
This latest session is not an isolated incident. Tate's combined losses are now almost $890,000, and have been on this downward trajectory since December last year. Tate has built one of the most closely watched liquidation records on Hyperliquid, the decentralized perpetual futures exchange.
The James Wynn Comparison
The episode has renewed comparisons to James Wynn, whose leveraged trading on Hyperliquid became one of crypto's most-watched sagas in 2025. In May 2025, Wynn initiated a series of large leveraged Bitcoin long positions on Hyperliquid, with his notional size reaching $1.269 billion (11,588 BTC) at 40x leverage. While at one point showing $39 million in unrealized gains, the trade ultimately contributed to over $100 million in total losses, culminating in the near-complete liquidation of his Hyperliquid account by the end of May.
Wynn's story did not end there. He returned to Hyperliquid multiple times, depositing fresh capital and repeating the same pattern of high-leverage trades, each ending in liquidation. Arkham Intelligence data eventually confirmed his account balance had cratered from $100 million down to $900, with his peak notional exposure once reaching $1.26 billion.
The structural similarities are difficult to ignore. Both traders have used extreme leverage on $BTC positions through @HyperliquidX, both have treated each liquidation as motivation to reload and re-enter, and both have accumulated losses that dwarf their individual deposits. The key difference, for now, is scale. Tate's cumulative losses across his 2025 to 2026 trading cycle sit at roughly $700,000 to $890,000. Wynn, at his peak exposure, was operating in the billions.
Whether Tate continues down the same path remains to be seen. What the on-chain record shows is a pattern of high-conviction, undisciplined leverage that has so far produced only one consistent result.
Sources:
CCN: Andrew Tate Liquidated 8 Times in 16 Hours
CoinDesk: Hyperliquid Whale James Wynn Fully Liquidated After $16.8B in Trading Volume
Presto Research: How To Lose $85MM: James Wynn's $1.27B BTC Long

Fidelity Targets Stablecoin Reserve Market With New Fund
Fidelity Investments has entered the stablecoin reserve management business with the launch of the Fidelity Reserves Digital Fund, a money market fund built specifically for stablecoin issuers that must comply with the GENIUS Act. The fund launched on June 18, 2026, according to an SEC filing by the firm.
Fidelity is stepping into the stablecoin business, but not by issuing its own token. Instead, it has launched a government money market fund specifically designed to hold the reserves backing regulated U.S. payment stablecoins under the GENIUS Act.
The fund targets a net asset value of $1.00 per share and carries a net expense ratio of 0.18%, positioning it competitively against similar products from rivals including BlackRock, State Street, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan.
What the Fund Holds and Why It Matters
The fund holds U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds maturing in 93 days or less, cash, overnight repurchase agreements backed by U.S. Treasuries, and shares in government money market funds. Those assets align precisely with what the GENIUS Act permits for backing payment stablecoins.
The GENIUS Act created the first federal framework for payment stablecoins in the United States. The law requires issuers to hold reserves in cash, short-term Treasury securities and qualifying government money market funds, and to back outstanding stablecoins one-to-one with high-quality liquid assets.
The launch also connects to Fidelity's broader digital asset push. Earlier this year, Fidelity Digital Assets introduced the Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD), an enterprise-facing stablecoin product.
The timing reflects a wider race among established financial institutions to capture a fast-growing market. BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and BNY each launched GENIUS Act-aligned reserve funds earlier in 2026. State Street launched its own GENIUS Act-aligned fund on June 8 with approximately $121 million in assets and Anchorage Digital among its seed investors.
Stablecoins currently represent roughly $320 billion in market value, and industry projections put global issuance at $1.9 trillion to $4 trillion by 2030. If those forecasts prove accurate, issuers would need to place a substantially larger volume of reserve assets into highly liquid investments permitted under the law.
Sources:
Blockhead: Fidelity Launches Money Market Fund for Stablecoin Issuers Under GENIUS Act
Crypto Briefing: Fidelity Launches Money Market Fund for Stablecoin Issuers
Congress.gov: GENIUS Act Full Text

InterLink (@inter_link), the identity-focused crypto project, said it crossed 9 million users on June 18, with its long-promised Private Mainnet due this month. The timing matters. InterLink has spent more than a year building its user base, and the upcoming release is meant to give that base real utility.
What InterLink reported
InterLink put the headline figure at 9 million users worldwide and framed it as a step toward its next goal of 10 million. The project positions these as "real users," its term for people who clear a facial scan rather than bots or duplicate accounts.
The growth curve has been steep. InterLink reported 1 million users in June 2025 and 7 million verified users in March 2026. Its app store listing referenced 8 million as recently as early June. The jump to 9 million maintains that pace, even if it falls short of the 10 million verified target it once set for 2025.
What is InterLink?
InterLink is a phone-based network built around Proof of Personhood. The idea is simple: one verified human, one account. Users download the app on iOS or Android, pass a multi-step KYC and facial recognition check, and receive an InterLink ID that works as a verified digital passport. Verified users can then mine the project's token each day straight from their phones, with no special hardware.
If that model sounds familiar, it should. The free daily mining and referral growth share clear similarities with Pi Network, the project that built tens of millions of sign-ups on the same playbook. InterLink argues its biometric checks set it apart, making its user count harder to fake. The pitch to partners is a clean pool of verified humans, useful for things like bot-resistant apps, payments and AI training data in a web filling up with fake accounts.
The wider ecosystem already includes mini-apps, games, chat, QR payments, and a card product. The whitepaper sets a long-range goal of 1 billion verified users.
Why the Private Mainnet matters
The 9 million number is tied to a bigger event. InterLink's Private Mainnet, branded Version 6.0 or the "Seoul Private Mainnet," is due in June 2026 and is described by the team as the real start of its mainnet. Planned features include native staking for the $ITLG token, payment point integration and business token functions.
This is the test that counts. A large sign-up base is easy to celebrate and hard to value while the token cannot be traded and the network does not yet process real payments. The mainnet is meant to turn daily mining into something with utility, starting with a target of 10,000 payment points and on-chain merchant settlement.
What comes next
The 9 million milestone is the lead-in to the bigger moment. The token is set to launch with the mainnet, so the launch should bring the first real look at staking, payments and the trading that has not been possible until now. InterLink's own 2026 roadmap puts listings on major centralized exchanges next on the list, and a user base this large and this active online gives exchanges a clear reason to look once a token is live.
A big sign-up base only becomes a working network if the mainnet delivers the utility the team has promised. With the current momentum, InterLink heads into that launch with more attention than most projects ever manage to attract.
Sources:
InterLink Labs announcement of the 9 million user milestone on June 18, 2026.
InterLink official site describing the Proof of Personhood network and ecosystem.
InterLink Whitepaper roadmap setting user, listing and verification targets through 2030.
KV post detailing the Seoul Private Mainnet Version 6.0 timed for June 2026.
InterLink Network on Google Play app listing with user counts and program claims.

Charles Hoskinson ha lasciato Ethereum nel giugno 2014 dopo un conflitto diretto con il co-fondatore Vitalik Buterin su una questione fondamentale: Ethereum dovrebbe essere un'azienda a scopo di lucro o una fondazione senza scopo di lucro?
Buterin ha vinto quell'argomento, e Hoskinson se n'è andato. Ciò che ha costruito dopo, Cardano, è stato riportato essere plasmato quasi interamente da ciò che credeva Ethereum stesse sbagliando.
Chi è Charles Hoskinson?
Hoskinson è un matematico e imprenditore che si è unito al team di fondazione originale di Ethereum nel dicembre 2013 come uno dei primi cinque co-fondatori. Altri tre, Joseph Lubin, Gavin Wood e Jeffrey Wilcke, si sono uniti all'inizio del 2014, portando il totale a otto. Hoskinson ha ricoperto il ruolo di CEO della Ethereum Foundation durante la sua fase iniziale, concentrandosi sullo sviluppo commerciale e sulla strategia di raccolta fondi.

Record Metrics Across the Board
Ethereum ($ETH) recorded all-time highs in users, transactions, and throughput during the first quarter of 2026, according to Token Terminal's quarterly ecosystem report. The figures mark what analysts describe as a decisive acceleration after several quarters of slower growth.
Monthly active users on the Ethereum mainnet averaged 13.2 million in Q1, up 85.9% year over year and 53.5% from the prior quarter. Transaction count reached 200.4 million for the quarter, a figure that represents the first time Ethereum has crossed that threshold in a single quarter. Throughput climbed to a record 25.78 transactions per second, a 41.2% rise from Q4 2025.
Year-over-year, the picture is equally striking. Transactions rose 81.5% and network throughput gained 81.7% compared with Q1 2025, according to Token Terminal data cited by multiple analysts.
Lower Fees, Higher Activity
The surge in usage came alongside a sharp drop in fees. Layer-1 fee revenue fell 47.9% quarter over quarter to $39.9 million, a decline attributed largely to expanded data capacity following the Fusaka upgrade in late 2025. The dynamic reflects a deliberate trade-off: cheaper block space appears to be unlocking broader demand rather than simply eroding revenue.
Holder addresses also broadened during the period. ETH holder addresses rose 8.1% quarter over quarter and 25% year over year, suggesting ownership continued to widen even as the token's price remained well below its August 2025 peak, according to Benzinga's reporting on the Token Terminal data.
Looking ahead, the upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade is expected to more than triple the gas limit. Ethereum's longer-term roadmap targets 10,000 TPS and faster finality by 2029, according to the Ethereum Foundation's published Strawmap framework.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Ethereum's Record 200 Million Transactions in Q1 2026
FXStreet: Ethereum Q1 2026 Network Activity and Tokenization
KuCoin: Ethereum Q1 2026 Review via Token Terminal

Crypto as the Native Layer for Machine Payments
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (@cz_binance) says AI agents could become one of the most powerful drivers of crypto adoption the industry has seen. Speaking to Galaxy Research, Zhao argued that autonomous AI systems will increasingly depend on crypto wallets and blockchain infrastructure, precisely because traditional financial rails are not built for them.
The reasoning is structural. AI agents are software. They cannot satisfy the identity verification requirements that banks impose on account holders. Crypto wallets, which require only a private key to open and operate, carry no such requirement, meaning an agent holding a crypto wallet can send and receive value without any human identity attached to the transaction.
Zhao has argued that traditional banks lack the structural capacity to support an economy where AI agents transact autonomously at scale, describing a near-future scenario where autonomous systems execute microtransactions continuously, generating volumes and speeds legacy banking infrastructure cannot accommodate. Crypto networks, he said, were built for exactly that kind of environment.
The scale Zhao envisions is significant. He has said AI agents will make one million times as many payments as humans, and they will use crypto. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, he stated that "the native currency for AI agents is going to be crypto," forecasting that over time crypto will become the main medium of digital value exchange for these programmes.
Financial Inclusion as a Second Tailwind
Beyond machine-to-machine payments, Zhao also pointed to the unbanked population as a key opportunity for permissionless payment systems. The World Bank estimates that about 1.4 billion people remain unbanked as of 2024, with transactions in these communities, particularly in low-income and emerging markets, often remaining informal. Zhao argued that open, permissionless networks could unlock broader participation in the global economy for this group.
Built on decentralized blockchain networks, crypto enables secure, low-cost, peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries, making it a practical alternative for populations that lack access to conventional banking services.
The broader industry appears to share the conviction. In 2025, investors put over $565 million into startups at the intersection of AI and crypto, a 16 percent increase from 2024, according to data from DefiLlama. Bitwise estimates that the convergence of crypto and AI could add $20 trillion to global GDP by 2030.
Sources:
Crypto Economy: Changpeng Zhao Says Traditional Banks Cannot Handle the AI Agent Economy
Yahoo Finance: Why CZ and Industry Leaders Say AI Will Transform Crypto
Insurance Edge: Crypto and DeFi Offer Financial Inclusion for the Globally Unbanked