Venezuela USDT volume hits 75% of oil exports at $1.39bn
Binance P2P traded 1.39bn USDT in Venezuela in a month - 75% of oil export value and 64% of central-bank dollar supply. The stablecoin state within a state.
Karthik Subramanian
Digital Assets Correspondent
Karthik Subramanian is a founder, writer, and technology consultant with nine years in the crypto ecosystem. He covers token economics, L1/L2 infrastructure, DeFi protocols, wallets/custody, and the bridge between crypto and forex—broker technology, liquidity, and macro drivers. Karthik’s writing focuses on clear, practical frameworks that help professionals evaluate new products and on-chain innovation alongside FX market realities.
July 2026
Visa launches stablecoin platform for 15,000 banks, fintechs
Visa's new Stablecoin Platform lets banks mint, move and manage stablecoins across nine chains - supporting Open USD, USDC and USDG. Why it's a land grab.
Japan folds crypto into securities law, cuts tax to 20%
Japan's Diet passes FIEA amendments reclassifying crypto as financial products — insider-trading rules, a spot-ETF path, and a 55%-to-20% tax cut from 2028.
Velocity raises $38m to push stablecoins into treasury ops
Velocity's $38m Series A puts Capital One, Coinbase, Wintermute and Ripple on one cap table — a bet that post-July 18 rules make stablecoin treasury enterprise-ready.
US stablecoin yield ban pushes idle USDC into DeFi rewards
US stablecoin rules barring issuer-paid yield finalise around July 18, 2026. Coinbase and others are routing idle USDC into activity-based and DeFi rewards instead.
Attacker spends $4.4m to drain $20m from BonkDAO treasury
A BonkDAO attacker spent about $4.4 million to buy a voting majority and pass a proposal draining $20 million in BONK — governance, not code, was the flaw.
XRP, HYPE ETFs draw inflows as $2.7bn exits BTC, ETH funds
Institutions pulled roughly $2.7 billion from spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in two weeks while rotating into XRP, Hyperliquid and Solana funds — rotation, not retreat.
UK targets live tokenised repo in 12 months in £33bn plan
A UK Treasury-backed report puts repo and gilts onchain in 12 months with Ripple and BlackRock - while admitting public chains can reverse settled trades.
Solana targets 100ms finality as four chains ship H2 upgrades
Solana's Alpenglow targets 100ms finality vs 12.8s today. With Ethereum, Base and Avalanche also shipping, the upgrade race is now about settlement, not speed.
Coinbase’s 3.5% USDC reward survives the July 18 yield ban
The US stablecoin yield ban lands July 18, 2026 — but it binds issuers, not exchanges. Coinbase's 3.5% USDC reward is untouched, and that relocates the economics.
Crypto ETFs snap 8-week outflow run but IBIT still bleeds
Bitcoin and Ether ETFs took $282m last week, ending an eight-week, $9.46bn outflow run. But BlackRock's IBIT was still selling — that's rotation, not re-entry.
DeFi hacks hit record count as losses fall 57% to $972m
207 crypto hacks in H1 2026, a record - yet losses fell 57%. KelpDAO's $292m breach came from a 1-of-1 verifier. Configuration, not cryptography.
Visa, Stripe and Coinbase back Open USD to challenge USDC
A 140-member consortium launched Open USD to share stablecoin reserve income. Circle's Allaire says it is winner-take-most. The float is the real fight.
Solana to $150 into H2 2026: the staking-ETF case
Solana (SOL) price prediction: near $86, the base case is $120-$150 into H2 2026 on staking-ETF inflows and Firedancer, with a $250 bull case and $60 downside risk.
Binance says 70% of EU users self-custodied after MiCA
Binance co-CEO Richard Teng says roughly 70% of departing EEA users moved to self-custody after MiCA, with just 30% joining licensed rivals — a regulatory backfire.
Crypto ETF outflows hit $147m as institutions rotate
US spot crypto ETFs shed $147m on July 9, 2026, but the issuer-level split points to tactical institutional rotation between BTC, ETH and SOL — not a retreat.
Swift blockchain ledger goes live with 17 banks piloting
Swift's EVM-compatible shared ledger is live, with 17 banks from Citi to MUFG piloting tokenised-deposit payments — the counterweight to stablecoins arrives.
SEC puts Regulation Crypto on July agenda with three rules
SEC targets a July NPRM for Regulation Crypto plus broker-dealer and market-structure rules — why final US crypto rules still trail MiCA by a full cycle.
Bitcoin holds $62,500 as Iran strikes fail to break support
Bitcoin holds $62,500 after US strikes on Iran: ETF outflows of $84m and short liquidations, not geopolitics, are setting the price. What decides the $60K test.
Also filing this week: Rick Steves and Abdelaziz Fathi.