Three protocols were drained in a matter of hours, $35M+ gone
AFX Trade lost $24M on Arbitrum after its bridge validator keys were compromised. Verus lost $7.5M in a repeat of a bug it never fully fixed. B² Network lost $3.9M when an attacker seized its staking contract.
None of it was broken cryptography. It was keys and permissions, again. That's how most of crypto gets stolen in 2026.
AFX Trade lost $24M on Arbitrum after its bridge validator keys were compromised. Verus lost $7.5M in a repeat of a bug it never fully fixed. B² Network lost $3.9M when an attacker seized its staking contract.
None of it was broken cryptography. It was keys and permissions, again. That's how most of crypto gets stolen in 2026.
Kalshi Launches a Midterms Election Hub
Kalshi has launched the Midterms Hub — what it calls the first election hub built on the wisdom of the crowd, where real people put real money on what they think will happen.
The pitch is a real-time read on where each race actually stands — built for voters, political junkies and anyone who follows the midterms closely.
👉 x.com/Kalshi/status/2079947783482581406
Kalshi has launched the Midterms Hub — what it calls the first election hub built on the wisdom of the crowd, where real people put real money on what they think will happen.
Its markets trade 24/7, so the odds move the second news breaks, a debate lands, or results roll in. The hub pulls polling, fundraising, historical results and live market odds into one place — no spin, just skin in the game and prices that update in real time.
The pitch is a real-time read on where each race actually stands — built for voters, political junkies and anyone who follows the midterms closely.
👉 x.com/Kalshi/status/2079947783482581406
Plume’s nOPAL Brings RWA Yield to Avalanche
Plume has gone live on Avalanche with nOPAL, a tokenized vault that brings institutional-grade Brazilian credit-card receivables onchain as composable RWA yield.
The vault reports a 0% default rate since inception, audits by 0xMacro and Spearbit, and BlackOpal’s 25+ years and $200M+ in institutional backing. Avalanche is fast becoming a hub for tokenized private credit.
👉 plume.org/blog/plumes-nopal-is-now-live-on-avalanche
Plume has gone live on Avalanche with nOPAL, a tokenized vault that brings institutional-grade Brazilian credit-card receivables onchain as composable RWA yield.
Issued by BlackOpal, nOPAL turns real credit-card receivables — settled via Visa and Mastercard and registered with Brazil’s Central Bank — into an onchain asset whose returns come from real economic activity, not token incentives.
The vault reports a 0% default rate since inception, audits by 0xMacro and Spearbit, and BlackOpal’s 25+ years and $200M+ in institutional backing. Avalanche is fast becoming a hub for tokenized private credit.
👉 plume.org/blog/plumes-nopal-is-now-live-on-avalanche
Sentient Foundation Launches $42M Fund for Open-Source AI Builders
The Sentient Foundation has unveiled a $42 million funding initiative to support developers building open-source AI, with grants and investments available for projects ranging from AI models and agents to infrastructure, datasets, evaluations, and consumer applications.
The initiative aims to accelerate the open AI ecosystem by funding projects that expand the Sentient Stack and advance privacy-preserving, open-source AGI development.
👉 x.com/sentient_found/status/2070145001443729507?s=20
The Sentient Foundation has unveiled a $42 million funding initiative to support developers building open-source AI, with grants and investments available for projects ranging from AI models and agents to infrastructure, datasets, evaluations, and consumer applications.
The program is open to both individual developers and established teams, encouraging builders at every stage to develop AI that is transparent, locally deployable, and accessible without relying on centralized providers.
The initiative aims to accelerate the open AI ecosystem by funding projects that expand the Sentient Stack and advance privacy-preserving, open-source AGI development.
👉 x.com/sentient_found/status/2070145001443729507?s=20
Uniswap Launches DualPool Hook for Yield on Idle Liquidity
Uniswap has released DualPool, an audited, open-source hook for Uniswap v4 that lets liquidity providers earn yield on idle capital while still collecting swap fees, built in collaboration with Spark and developed by Uniswap Labs.
Spark will operate the largest DualPool deployment, migrating $150 million in stablecoin liquidity to it, with a livestream today at 2 p.m. ET featuring Uniswap founder Hayden Adams.
The hook has been audited by OpenZeppelin with no critical or high severity findings, and any team can now deploy their own DualPool to start earning on both active and idle assets.
👉 x.com/Uniswap/status/2079928526501785911?s=20
Uniswap has released DualPool, an audited, open-source hook for Uniswap v4 that lets liquidity providers earn yield on idle capital while still collecting swap fees, built in collaboration with Spark and developed by Uniswap Labs.
The hook works by parking pool capital in ERC-4626 yield vaults between trades, then pulling exactly what's needed into concentrated liquidity positions the moment a swap arrives, executing atomically, and re-depositing the remainder back into the vaults — all within the same block and without any keeper infrastructure.
Spark will operate the largest DualPool deployment, migrating $150 million in stablecoin liquidity to it, with a livestream today at 2 p.m. ET featuring Uniswap founder Hayden Adams.
The hook has been audited by OpenZeppelin with no critical or high severity findings, and any team can now deploy their own DualPool to start earning on both active and idle assets.
👉 x.com/Uniswap/status/2079928526501785911?s=20
Uber Founder Travis Kalanick Raises $1.7B for Atoms Industrial AI Venture
Travis Kalanick has announced a $1.7 billion equity investment into Atoms, his industrial AI venture, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with a16z partner Ben Horowitz joining the board. As part of the round, Kalanick's various businesses have been merged into a single Atoms equity structure.
Kalanick frames the round as unfinished business, having nearly partnered with Andreessen Horowitz back in 2011 during his Uber days.
The round also brought in equity partners including Bain Capital, Uber, Fifth Wall, and SV Angel, alongside debt partners Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, and Barclays, positioning Atoms as a major bet on Industrial AI powering the next wave of automation across trillion-dollar physical economy sectors.
👉 x.com/travisk/status/2079997954363117844?s=20
Travis Kalanick has announced a $1.7 billion equity investment into Atoms, his industrial AI venture, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with a16z partner Ben Horowitz joining the board. As part of the round, Kalanick's various businesses have been merged into a single Atoms equity structure.
Atoms targets heavy industries like food, mining, construction, and transport with specialized robotics and automation, framing manufacturing as the "CPU," real estate as "storage," and transportation as the "network" — extending the same bits-to-atoms thesis Kalanick pursued at Uber and later at CloudKitchens.
Kalanick frames the round as unfinished business, having nearly partnered with Andreessen Horowitz back in 2011 during his Uber days.
The round also brought in equity partners including Bain Capital, Uber, Fifth Wall, and SV Angel, alongside debt partners Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, and Barclays, positioning Atoms as a major bet on Industrial AI powering the next wave of automation across trillion-dollar physical economy sectors.
👉 x.com/travisk/status/2079997954363117844?s=20
NVIDIA Competitor Etched Raises $300M Series C at $10.3B Valuation
Etched has closed a $300 million Series C at a $10.3 billion valuation, with investment from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Jane Street, Argo, and SK Hynix, as the company works toward its mission to "run the world's inference."
The raise follows Etched's emergence from stealth with over $1 billion in customer contracts already secured and its first inference racks slated to ship this summer, building on the company's Low-Voltage Inference and Cluster-Scale Memory architecture breakthroughs unveiled alongside the funding news.
👉 x.com/Etched/status/2080307393699987849?s=20
Etched has closed a $300 million Series C at a $10.3 billion valuation, with investment from Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Jane Street, Argo, and SK Hynix, as the company works toward its mission to "run the world's inference."
The fresh capital will accelerate production of Etched's inference clusters, with the company opening an 80,000-square-foot, 10-MW facility just 15 minutes from its office to speed up prototyping and manufacturing.
The raise follows Etched's emergence from stealth with over $1 billion in customer contracts already secured and its first inference racks slated to ship this summer, building on the company's Low-Voltage Inference and Cluster-Scale Memory architecture breakthroughs unveiled alongside the funding news.
👉 x.com/Etched/status/2080307393699987849?s=20
Cryptomarket Check-In. Major Events & Headlines
AI kept attracting massive capital, stablecoin regulation moved closer to reality, major crypto companies expanded globally, while security breaches and industry shakeups continued across the market.
🔎 Recent Updates & Developments
— AMD commits up to $5B to Anthropic
— Telegram to launch a native Gram wallet
— BitMEX to shut down operations
— Movement Labs files for Chapter 11
— Tether faces GENIUS Act deadline
— Databricks reaches a $188B valuation
— Bybit expands into Indonesia with NOBI acquisition
— Samsung creates a dedicated robotics division
AI kept attracting massive capital, stablecoin regulation moved closer to reality, major crypto companies expanded globally, while security breaches and industry shakeups continued across the market.
🔎 Recent Updates & Developments
— AMD commits up to $5B to Anthropic
— Telegram to launch a native Gram wallet
— BitMEX to shut down operations
— Movement Labs files for Chapter 11
— Tether faces GENIUS Act deadline
— Databricks reaches a $188B valuation
— Bybit expands into Indonesia with NOBI acquisition
— Samsung creates a dedicated robotics division
Zama Ships a Confidential RFQ Swap on Ethereum
Zama has launched Confidential RFQ on Ethereum mainnet — what it calls the first fully onchain, composable RFQ swap where the size and direction of every trade stay confidential at all times.
👉 x.com/zama/status/2080322974557602010
Zama has launched Confidential RFQ on Ethereum mainnet — what it calls the first fully onchain, composable RFQ swap where the size and direction of every trade stay confidential at all times.
The pitch: an end to “the tyranny of MEV.” Because bots cannot see the size or side of an order, they cannot front-run or sandwich it — while the trade still settles onchain and remains composable with the rest of DeFi.
👉 x.com/zama/status/2080322974557602010
Tenor has closed Seed Round Led by Variant Fund
Tenor went live on Base on July 21, built on top of Morpho's newly launched fixed-rate primitive. It matches lenders and borrowers at predetermined rates through an interest-rate AMM, with isolated markets and fixed maturities.
👉 blog.tenor.finance/variant-leads-seed-round-in-tenor
Tenor went live on Base on July 21, built on top of Morpho's newly launched fixed-rate primitive. It matches lenders and borrowers at predetermined rates through an interest-rate AMM, with isolated markets and fixed maturities.
Nascent joined the round, with participation from Prelude, Very Early, and angel investors. Deal size and valuation were not disclosed.
👉 blog.tenor.finance/variant-leads-seed-round-in-tenor
Real Tokenizes Alpha Bulgaria’s Listed Warrants
REAL Finance has tokenized Alpha Bulgaria AD’s listed warrants — the first transaction under its securities-tokenization agreement with licensed EU broker Factori AD.
👉 x.com/RealFinOfficial/status/2080316959648809142
REAL Finance has tokenized Alpha Bulgaria AD’s listed warrants — the first transaction under its securities-tokenization agreement with licensed EU broker Factori AD.
The pilot brings 5 million warrants (ALFW, ~€2.75 each) of Bulgarian Stock Exchange-listed Alpha Bulgaria onchain through REAL’s infrastructure, while Factori handles the licensed custody, KYC/AML and transfer-agent side of the deal. It is the first slice of a $100M+ institutional pipeline Factori has committed to tokenize via REAL. REAL’s model targets only real securities — listed equities, derivatives and bonds — not synthetic exposure.
👉 x.com/RealFinOfficial/status/2080316959648809142
Odos DEX Aggregator Shuts Down: Goes Offline July 30
The company operating DEX aggregator Odos is winding down. The app switches to read-only on July 27, and all Odos services shut down permanently on July 30, 2026.
👉 x.com/odosprotocol/status/2080337624922018014
The company operating DEX aggregator Odos is winding down. The app switches to read-only on July 27, and all Odos services shut down permanently on July 30, 2026.
Odos is non-custodial — user assets stay on-chain and remain fully withdrawable, unaffected by the shutdown.
👉 x.com/odosprotocol/status/2080337624922018014
Mirae Asset Acquires Controlling Stake in Korbit
Mirae Asset has completed its acquisition of a 92.06% controlling stake in South Korean crypto exchange Korbit for ₩133.48B ($91M), becoming its largest shareholder after clearing all regulatory approvals.
First announced in February, the deal folds one of Korea's oldest crypto exchanges into Mirae Asset's financial group as the country expands its regulated digital-asset market.
👉 cointelegraph.com/news/mirae-asset-korbit-acquisition-largest-shareholder
Mirae Asset has completed its acquisition of a 92.06% controlling stake in South Korean crypto exchange Korbit for ₩133.48B ($91M), becoming its largest shareholder after clearing all regulatory approvals.
Under Korea's Virtual Asset User Protection Act, customer funds stay fully segregated — Korbit's trading, deposits, and withdrawals all continue as usual.
First announced in February, the deal folds one of Korea's oldest crypto exchanges into Mirae Asset's financial group as the country expands its regulated digital-asset market.
👉 cointelegraph.com/news/mirae-asset-korbit-acquisition-largest-shareholder
Ripple Makes Strategic Investment in Notabene
Ripple has made a strategic investment in Notabene, which operates the world's largest open network for regulated on-chain transactions, and will integrate its RLUSD stablecoin into the firm's B2B platform, Notabene Flow.
The tie-up targets institutions taking stablecoins from pilots to production, pairing RLUSD and Ripple's global reach with the counterparty checks Notabene runs before any value is moved.
👉 prnewswire.com/news-releases/notabene-announces-strategic-investment-from-ripple-302833267.html
Ripple has made a strategic investment in Notabene, which operates the world's largest open network for regulated on-chain transactions, and will integrate its RLUSD stablecoin into the firm's B2B platform, Notabene Flow.
Notabene's network already clears more than $2T in annualized volume across 2,300+ institutions and 100+ jurisdictions, and will now anchor compliance for Ripple's stablecoin payment rails.
The tie-up targets institutions taking stablecoins from pilots to production, pairing RLUSD and Ripple's global reach with the counterparty checks Notabene runs before any value is moved.
👉 prnewswire.com/news-releases/notabene-announces-strategic-investment-from-ripple-302833267.html
Poolin has Filed Chapter 11, Sets $52 Million Floor Bid
Poolin, once among the world's largest bitcoin mining pools before it halted withdrawals in 2022, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and set a $52 million floor bid for its Texas mining operations.
👉 theblock.co/post/409587
Poolin, once among the world's largest bitcoin mining pools before it halted withdrawals in 2022, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and set a $52 million floor bid for its Texas mining operations.
The $52 million offer is a stalking-horse (floor) bid for Poolin's Texas mining assets, setting the opening price for a court-supervised sale of the assets.
👉 theblock.co/post/409587
BitMEX Hit With $40M Lawsuit Over 623 BTC
BKX Services and investor David Namdar have accused BitMEX of misappropriating 623 BTC (about $40M), alleging the exchange forcibly liquidated their positions and swept the remaining funds into its insurance fund.
👉 cointelegraph.com/news/bitmex-liquidation-fraud-lawsuit-shutdown
BKX Services and investor David Namdar have accused BitMEX of misappropriating 623 BTC (about $40M), alleging the exchange forcibly liquidated their positions and swept the remaining funds into its insurance fund.
The lawsuit was filed in a New York court on the same day that BitMEX announced its upcoming shutdown.
👉 cointelegraph.com/news/bitmex-liquidation-fraud-lawsuit-shutdown
Gnoland Launches $86M FDV Public Token Sale for GNOT
Gnoland, the smart contract platform built on Gno, a Go-based interpreted language, has opened a live public sale for its native token GNOT, running as a uniform-price English auction to July 27, 2026.
The sale offers 38,760,000 GNOT (~2.9% of total supply) with a starting price of $0.0645, a $100 minimum commitment, and a $2.5M soft cap, accepting USDC and USDT on Ethereum mainnet.
US investors face a 1-year lockup, and at the $0.0645 sale price, FDV lands at roughly $86M.
Founded by Jae Kwon, co-founder of Cosmos and Tendermint, Gnoland positions itself as a "language-based, multi-user OS", letting Go developers deploy fully on-chain, human-readable smart contracts without learning a new language.
👉 sale.gno.land/cryptodiffer
Gnoland, the smart contract platform built on Gno, a Go-based interpreted language, has opened a live public sale for its native token GNOT, running as a uniform-price English auction to July 27, 2026.
The sale offers 38,760,000 GNOT (~2.9% of total supply) with a starting price of $0.0645, a $100 minimum commitment, and a $2.5M soft cap, accepting USDC and USDT on Ethereum mainnet.
Total supply is fixed at 1.33B GNOT, with only ~14.8% circulating at TGE. Allocation breaks down across a Cosmos governance snapshot airdrop (26.26%), NewTendermint LLC (24.91%), investors (22.51%), an AtomOne snapshot airdrop (17.33%), plus smaller ecosystem, core, and validator treasuries.
US investors face a 1-year lockup, and at the $0.0645 sale price, FDV lands at roughly $86M.
Participation requires identity verification through Echo's Sonar compliance platform before connecting a wallet and bidding.
Founded by Jae Kwon, co-founder of Cosmos and Tendermint, Gnoland positions itself as a "language-based, multi-user OS", letting Go developers deploy fully on-chain, human-readable smart contracts without learning a new language.
👉 sale.gno.land/cryptodiffer
HTX Named in EU's Russia Sanctions Package
HTX — the global crypto exchange formerly known as Huobi — has been included in the European Union's latest package of sanctions targeting Russia, according to a report from Reuters.
👉 reuters.com/business/finance/crypto-exchange-htx-included-eus-russia-sanctions-2026-07-24
HTX — the global crypto exchange formerly known as Huobi — has been included in the European Union's latest package of sanctions targeting Russia, according to a report from Reuters.
The inclusion places a major exchange directly under EU restrictions, underscoring the bloc's tightening focus on crypto platforms within its Russia sanctions regime.
👉 reuters.com/business/finance/crypto-exchange-htx-included-eus-russia-sanctions-2026-07-24
Colibri Trade Secures $1M to Deepen Liquidity Across Prediction Markets
Colibri Trade, a crypto-native quantitative trading firm built specifically for prediction markets, has secured a $1,000,000 trading capital allocation, deployed through Colibri's market-making infrastructure, a mandate rather than a venture investment.
Colibri already runs over $10M in monthly trading volume across 70+ markets spanning crypto, sports, politics, geopolitics, and macro, with 24/7 automated execution and risk management active on leading venues including Polymarket, Kalshi, Limitless, Predict fun, XO Markets, and Opinion.
The new capital will flow directly into Colibri's systems to provide continuous two-sided liquidity, deepen order books, and tighten spreads across those venues.
Colibri's infrastructure is positioned to close that gap, offering fair-value pricing and consistent quotes where books would otherwise stay shallow.
👉 x.com/colibri_trade/status/2080661124790329722?s=20
Colibri Trade, a crypto-native quantitative trading firm built specifically for prediction markets, has secured a $1,000,000 trading capital allocation, deployed through Colibri's market-making infrastructure, a mandate rather than a venture investment.
Colibri already runs over $10M in monthly trading volume across 70+ markets spanning crypto, sports, politics, geopolitics, and macro, with 24/7 automated execution and risk management active on leading venues including Polymarket, Kalshi, Limitless, Predict fun, XO Markets, and Opinion.
The new capital will flow directly into Colibri's systems to provide continuous two-sided liquidity, deepen order books, and tighten spreads across those venues.
The fresh fundds comes as prediction markets face a widening gap between user growth and market structure, liquidity remains fragmented across venues, order books thin outside headline markets, and spreads inconsistent, limiting how efficiently capital actually gets deployed.
Colibri's infrastructure is positioned to close that gap, offering fair-value pricing and consistent quotes where books would otherwise stay shallow.
👉 x.com/colibri_trade/status/2080661124790329722?s=20
MAJOR UPCOMING EVENTS THIS SUMMER!
A full list of Major Upcoming Events, to be updated
👉 https://cryptodiffer.com/events
A full list of Major Upcoming Events, to be updated
👉 https://cryptodiffer.com/events
