Cryptoccino — Wednesday 24 June 2026

Strategy’s preferred equity slips below par, reviving leverage-model fears. STRC, Strategy’s newest preferred instrument, dipped under its par value as Bitcoin fell, prompting comparisons to the Terra spiral. Analysts pushed back hard on that framing, pointing to the structural differences in Strategy’s capital stack, but the slide highlights how exposed the entire vehicle is to spot price direction. The Block Research published a full breakdown of the capital stack mechanics for those who want the stress-test arithmetic. coindesk theblock

Bitcoin volatility is pricing cheap ahead of a consequential expiry. With $10.6 billion in BTC options settling imminently and PCE data due Thursday, implied volatility looks underpriced relative to the binary outcome range, according to desk commentary. Quarter-end rebalancing adds a further directional wildcard. Traders structuring for the move have a narrow window. coindesk

XRP tests $1.10 support while traders wait for a range break. XRP has traded in a tight band for three weeks and is now pressing its lower boundary at $1.10. The broader risk-off backdrop gives little obvious catalyst for a topside break, but a confirmed hold could attract technical buyers eyeing the prior range midpoint. coindesk

OKX Europe warns four in five crypto exchanges will not survive MiCA’s July 1 deadline. OKX Europe’s CEO said ESMA is forcing unlicensed firms to halt EU operations by the end of the month, and most lack the compliance infrastructure to qualify in time. Ripple, by contrast, secured preliminary CASP approval in Luxembourg this week, one of the few non-custodial operators to get ahead of the cutoff. The shakeout could meaningfully consolidate EU order flow toward a small number of licensed venues. theblock coindesk cointelegraph_regulation

Ethereum Foundation cuts a fifth of its workforce and 40% of its overall budget. The Foundation confirmed 54 redundancies and a restructure into five operational clusters, following a string of senior departures over the past several months. Vitalik Buterin framed it as a deliberate reset rather than a distressed response, though the timing, arriving as ETH underperforms and the Foundation’s spending model draws scrutiny, gives the move a different flavour in practice. The new cluster structure is meant to push more autonomy to working teams and reduce central overhead. coindesk theblock bloomberg_crypto decrypt

Franklin Templeton closes its 250 Digital acquisition and creates a dedicated crypto division. The deal has now formally settled, and Franklin is folding the acquired team into a new Franklin Crypto unit to house its expanding digital asset product suite. The move extends a pattern of traditional asset managers building out in-house crypto infrastructure rather than relying on third-party sub-advisers. BNY separately noted this week that FOMO is now a genuine driver pulling institutional clients toward tokenised fund products. coindesk coindesk

THORChain resumes full operations more than a month after a $10.7 million exploit. The network completed a vault migration and deployed multiple security patches before reopening all trading activity. The extended pause was contentious within the community, but the team held the line on not resuming until the vulnerability surface was addressed. Operators should re-evaluate any integrations that were paused during the downtime. cointelegraph_defi

Nouriel Roubini puts his Technodollar product on-chain. The economist, long one of crypto’s most prominent detractors, is tokenising an investment vehicle he calls the Technodollar on a public blockchain. He is careful to frame it as tokenisation of a real asset rather than an endorsement of crypto broadly, but the optics are notable given his history. It adds to a growing list of sceptic-turned-participants making conditional peace with the infrastructure. coindesk bloomberg_crypto

Two Scattered Spider members plead guilty on the opening day of what was set to be a six-week UK trial. The pair admitted their roles in the August 2024 attack on Transport for London, one of the group’s most disruptive operations. Their early pleas spare a prolonged public airing of the group’s methods but leave several co-conspirators still facing charges in separate US proceedings. krebsonsecurity

DOJ seizes Huione Group cloud infrastructure used to route billions in fraud proceeds. Authorities targeted a cloud computing account tied to the Cambodian conglomerate that FinCEN designated a primary money laundering concern last year under the Patriot Act. The seizure cuts off a key piece of the pig-butchering ecosystem’s technical stack. Expect follow-on actions given how central Huione’s infrastructure has been to Southeast Asian fraud networks. theblock

Thailand widens its probe into a Chinese grey-capital network laundering over $300 million a year via illegal crypto mining. The DSI says the network used cash mules and unlicensed mining operations to move funds out of China and obscure their origin. The scale puts it well above typical retail fraud cases and closer to state-adjacent capital flight infrastructure. decrypt

New York man sentenced to 15 months for a $1.4 million Telegram influencer impersonation scheme. The defendant posed as well-known crypto figures on Telegram, promising staking returns to lure victims. It is a textbook social-engineering fraud, but the sentencing is a useful reference point for similar cases working through the system. theblock

Anti-CBDC language clears Congress tucked inside a housing affordability bill. The Senate passed the bill 85-5 and it now heads to Trump’s desk; the embedded provision bars the Federal Reserve from issuing a retail CBDC until the end of 2030. The lopsided vote suggests broad bipartisan comfort with the restriction, even among members who were otherwise indifferent to the housing provisions. It is the furthest any CBDC ban has progressed into law. cointelegraph_regulation theblock decrypt

Senate Democrats call for hearings on the Trump family’s $500 million crypto arrangement with Abu Dhabi. Top Democrats formally urged Republican committee chairs to examine the ties between World Liberty Financial and UAE royalty, framing it as a conflict-of-interest issue rather than a crypto-policy dispute. The Republicans have not signalled any appetite for hearings. The pressure campaign is likely to intensify if the GENIUS Act or any stablecoin bill with WLF-adjacent implications moves forward. cointelegraph_regulation theblock

Fairshake-backed candidate wins Maryland primary, adding another crypto-friendly candidate to the November map. Adrian Boafo secured the Democratic nomination after Fairshake’s Protect Progress PAC spent around $5.5 to $6 million supporting him. The win extends Fairshake’s record of backing candidates who survive primaries, with the general election the next test of whether the investment converts to a seat. Crypto PACs have now notched several primary wins across the current cycle. coindesk theblock cryptobriefing

The Clarity Act’s Senate path remains murky as new opposition surfaces from Catholic advocacy groups. Nearly 100 Catholic leaders, coordinated through the Alliance to End Human Trafficking, wrote to Congress arguing that a developer liability shield in the bill could be exploited to facilitate trafficking and illicit finance. The Clarity Act already faces a narrow window before the legislative calendar tightens, and organised faith-based opposition adds a politically awkward dynamic for swing-vote senators. coindesk theblock decrypt

What else is grinding?

• Chainlink has signed up 47 South Korean and European banks to trial its cross-chain interoperability protocol for international wire transfers. coindesk
• Meta is reportedly building a Polymarket-style prediction app called Arena under Zuckerberg’s direct oversight, per the New York Times. theblock coindesk
• The European Parliament’s relevant committee passed the digital euro bill, advancing the CBDC toward a plenary vote with privacy guardrails and a cap on individual holdings intact. coindesk cointelegraph_regulation
• Goldfinch’s Prime lending product is winding down after a community governance vote, following persistent underperformance across several borrower pools. theblock
• Trump’s quantum computing executive orders are drawing praise from the Bitcoin community, though researchers warn current BTC address exposure to quantum risk is real and mitigation timelines are optimistic. decrypt theblock
• Hut 8 agreed to pay $2.35 million to settle an investor lawsuit tied to disclosures made around its US Bitcoin Corp merger. coindesk

Last sip. The Clarity Act still needs the Senate, and nobody who counts votes is optimistic about the calendar.