Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Lido’s Core Upgrade is officially heading to mainnet. The Lido DAO approved the sweeping protocol overhaul on or around July 23, 2026, after clearing every required governance hurdle, including a clean pass through Dual Governance with no vetoes from any stakeholder.

For context, Dual Governance is Lido’s highest-level approval mechanism, designed so that even a well-organized dissenting faction can pump the brakes on a proposal.

What actually changed The Core Upgrade bundles two major components: the Community Staking Module updated to version 3, and the brand-new Curated Module v2.

The Community Staking Module, or CSM, is Lido’s permissionless entry point for node operators. Version 3 pushes that flexibility further, making it easier for new operators to participate at scale.

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Curated Module v2 introduces bond-based security mechanisms, which means node operators post collateral as a performance guarantee rather than relying solely on governance-managed reputation. The practical effect is less governance overhead per operator.

Together, the two modules are designed to improve scalability, tighten security, and reduce governance friction.

Existing stakers do not need to do anything. The upgrade operates entirely at the protocol layer, meaning stETH holders wake up on mainnet deployment day with the same holdings and no migration steps required.

The road to mainnet The upgrade did not arrive overnight. Lido ran the components through thorough testnet phases before the DAO vote opened, and multiple independent security audits assessed the smart contracts and governance logic specifically.

Lido has been a dominant player in Ethereum’s liquid staking landscape since liquid staking became a category worth talking about. Its stETH token, which represents a staker’s ETH position plus accruing rewards, became one of the most widely integrated assets in DeFi. That deep integration means upgrades to Lido’s core infrastructure have downstream effects across a substantial portion of the Ethereum ecosystem, not just for direct Lido users.

The bond-based security model in Curated Module v2 changes the economic incentives for node operators. When operators have skin in the game through posted collateral, the protocol’s alignment with good validator behavior becomes structural rather than reputational.

What it means for the market For stETH holders, the most immediate takeaway is that Lido’s infrastructure is getting more robust without requiring any action on their part.

Lido controls a significant share of the total staked ETH on Ethereum. Upgrades that make the protocol more secure and scalable directly affect confidence in stETH as a collateral asset across lending protocols, liquidity pools, and structured products that have integrated it.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

10h05 ▪ 7 min read ▪ by Ariela R.

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Facing profitability under pressure since the last halving in April 2024, bitcoin mining companies have made a strategic pivot towards AI. Enough to excite Wall Street. However, a report from Blocksbridge Consulting published on July 9, 2026, paints an alarming reality. It highlights massive stock sales by executives and board members of some companies. More details in the following paragraphs!

In Brief Bitcoin miners accelerate their diversification towards AI infrastructures to offset the drop in mining profitability after the halving. Several mining company executives sold shares after the rise in BTC prices. The current situation fuels questions about corporate governance and investor confidence. An industrial pivot forced by the realities of the Bitcoin network At the end of 2025, the global Bitcoin network hashrate had reached a historic peak of 1,160 EH/s. This intensified competition. According to sector reports from CoinShares, the weighted average cost to validate a single BTC was about $80,000 in Q4 2025 for publicly listed entities. Result: 15 to 20% of the global fleet of obsolete ASIC machines were forced to operate at a loss.

To improve their cash flows, major players in bitcoin mining chose to convert their energy capacities to power supercomputers. A striking example: the signing of a 20-year lease contract between TeraWulf and Anthropic. The deal is valued at nearly $19 billion.

For many, this diversification attests to the transformation of the BTC mining industry’s business model. Some analysts nonetheless raise a fundamental point: this requires significant capital. This explains why many firms have had to liquidate their own bitcoin reserves. This is notably the case for Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), which sold more than 15,000 BTC from its institutional treasury. The latest bitcoin sale dates back to April 2026.

Bitcoin and insider sales: the TeraWulf case closely scrutinized by crypto investors On June 29, Beowulf E&D Holdings, an entity managed by CEO Paul Prager, declared the sale of 275,000 TeraWulf shares. The weighted average price stands at $26.596. This represents about $7.3 million in gross proceeds. This operation attracts particular attention as it occurs one week before the announcement of a 20-year lease with Anthropic for AI infrastructure.

According to data, Prager and his entity have sold a total of about 1.59 million bitcoin-linked shares since the end of March. This equals approximately $32.7 million, with an average price of about $20.55.

On July 6, TeraWulf confirms its lease with Anthropic. According to the official press release, it is expected to generate nearly $19 billion in contractual revenue on 401 megawatts of critical load. At the same time, the company sold its 50.1% stake in the Abernathy joint venture for about $450 million.

The TeraWulf case is not isolated in the bitcoin miners universe engaged in AI CEO of Cipher Digital, Tyler Page, filed a transfer request for 112,500 shares worth $2.38 million on July 8. This action is part of a Rule 10b5-1 plan adopted in December 2025.

At Riot Platforms, CEO Jason Les sold:

175,000 shares for $4.2 million in May; an additional 250,000 shares for $7.03 million on June 22. As for Core Scientific, its legal officer sold 140,000 shares for $3 million on July 6. This brings his total sales to about 260,000 shares and $5.9 million.

That’s not all! At Hut 8, a director also sold 20,000 shares on May 21 for about $2 million. Admittedly, these transactions were executed under pre-established plans, but they still fuel doubt about the alignment between bitcoin mining executives and public shareholders.

The bitcoin mining sector faces another major challenge An analysis by VanEck published on June 16 estimates the short-term funding deficit at about $50 billion. However, this figure could rise to $221 billion to cover all future AI infrastructure needs.

Source: VanEck Research To bridge this gap, bitcoin miners have three options:

dilute shareholders through new share issuances; incur debt in a still high interest rate environment; sell part of their bitcoin reserves. Some have already started liquidating positions. If projections hold, AI could represent up to 70% of some bitcoin miners’ revenues by the end of 2026. Raising questions about the future role of BTC mining in their business model.

Bitcoin and governance: the IREN case and the question of stock tokens On June 30, the board of the former bitcoin miner turned AI cloud actor IREN approved the grant of over 18 million free shares in total to its two co-CEOs, William and Daniel Roberts, over a combined lock-up period of six years. The company assures that no other grants will be made before 2031.

The decision is not unanimous within the crypto community. Many point to the extent of dilution for bitcoin mining shareholders. Yet, IREN’s AI strategy has not yet proven sustainable profitability. Result: the stock price has fallen considerably.

What consequences for investors? For holders of shares linked to bitcoin mining, three points deserve particular attention:

the recurrence of insider sales during uptrends, an indicator of confidence; the method chosen to bridge the funding gap identified by VanEck; the real economics of signed contracts, beyond announcement figures. Dilution, debt or bitcoin sale? Each option will have a different impact on shareholder value.

Tether, for example, reduced its exposure to Bitdeer after increasing it during a market dip. This illustrates growing caution among strategic investors regarding AI-version bitcoin. If miners continue selling their reserves to finance AI infrastructure, this would indeed remove a historical buying pressure source from the bitcoin market.

Anyway, the technological transformation of bitcoin mining companies towards artificial intelligence is redefining industry standards. The current debate on governance and gain allocation could extend throughout the AI-backed crypto ecosystem.

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Ariela R.

My name is Ariela, and I am 31 years old. I have been working in the field of web writing for 7 years now. I only discovered trading and cryptocurrency a few years ago, but it is a universe that greatly interests me. The topics covered on the platform allow me to learn more. A singer in my spare time, I also cultivate a great passion for music and reading (and animals!)

DISCLAIMER

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.

Dogecoin does not always get taken seriously when the market is in meme mode, but infrastructure updates are where the joke stops and the network starts. Core 1.14.8 is one of those releases that matters because it focuses on security and stability, not sentiment.

That makes it relevant even for traders who never run a node. Healthy networks are built on boring work done properly.

For more details, visit the official GitHub platform.

TL;DR Dogecoin developers released Core 1.14.8 with critical security patches.The release addresses vulnerabilities referenced in the project notes, including remote code execution fixes.For node operators and the network, this is less hype story and more maintenance that genuinely matters. A Reminder That Maintenance Matters The GitHub notes make clear that the new version includes critical security patches. That alone should be enough to get the attention of node operators and anyone responsible for infrastructure around DOGE.

Crypto markets often reward spectacle, but security updates are the difference between a network that looks active and a network that can actually be trusted. For Dogecoin, that means the conversation should be about resilience rather than memes.

What It Means For The Ecosystem Releases like this also help reinforce that Dogecoin is still maintained code, not just a ticker powered by online culture. That distinction matters whenever the asset is discussed as if it exists only on social momentum.

The immediate market impact may be limited, but the underlying point is straightforward: networks that keep patching, updating, and hardening themselves give holders and service providers more confidence over time.

This report is based on the Dogecoin GitHub release notes.

This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.

PLFIF is excited to announce the results of Filecoin Public Goods Funding (ProPGF) Batch 2 - General Track, with $3,220,200 allocated across 16 projects supporting critical infrastructure, developer tooling, ecosystem growth, and coordination within the Filecoin network.

Batch 2 reflects a maturing funding strategy: more selective, more capital disciplined, and strongly aligned with long-term network resilience.

🌱 About ProPGF Protocol Labs’ Filecoin Public Goods Funding (PGF) programs support projects that strengthen the Filecoin ecosystem and broader open-source infrastructure.

Funding is distributed through:

ProPGF - Prospective funding for forward-looking initiatives RetroPGF - Retroactive rewards for demonstrated impact While RetroPGF evaluates past impact, ProPGF is designed to strategically allocate capital toward future ecosystem priorities through milestone-based funding and structured review.

ProPGF runs in recurring cycles and continues to evolve as Filecoin’s capital formation layer matures.

📊 Batch 2 at a Glance 102 total applications 53 shortlisted 42 advanced to final review 16 projects funded $3,220,200 allocated The majority of grants are structured over 6 months, with select soft commitments extending toward 12 months This represents a 15.7% acceptance rate, reflecting the rigor of the review process and the competitive nature of the round.

🧮 Capital Discipline & Negotiation

Across the 16 selected projects:

Total requested: $4,632,800 Total approved: $3,220,200 Note: Batch 2 reflects a more capital-disciplined approach: of the $4.63M requested across selected proposals, $3.22M was approved. This reflects a selective funding approach - prioritizing scope clarity, milestone alignment, and long-term ecosystem impact.

The committee conducted structured negotiations across scope, milestones, and budget sizing to ensure:

Capital efficiency Alignment with ecosystem priorities Clear accountability through milestone gating Average grant size: $201,262 Median grant size: $129,000

This reflects a portfolio approach — balancing large, high-leverage infrastructure bets with smaller, targeted interventions.

🏗 Funding Allocation by Category Batch 2 demonstrates a clear prioritization of core network stability and dependencies.

Capital Distribution:

Infra & Core Dependencies: 62.4% Tooling & Developer Ecosystem: 16.1% Ecosystem Growth: 16.3% Coordination: 3.1% Integrations: 2.0% Over 60% of capital was allocated toward core infrastructure — nodes, maintenance, retrieval systems, indexing, and protocol-level dependencies — signaling strong emphasis on network robustness.

🚀 Meet the Funded Projects 🏗 Infra & Core Dependencies Filecoin Infrastructure Services  by ChainSafe Team – $138,000 The project aims to increase independent operator diversity on Filecoin’s Calibnet test network by running a long-lived, production-like storage miner using Curio. Forest: Efficient and lightweight Filecoin node implementation by ChainSafe Team – $504,000 Forest is a lightweight Filecoin node implementation that makes running network infrastructure cheaper and more reliable. This grant supports its continued maintenance and protocol upgrade readiness. IPNI by IPNI Team - $288,000 IPNI is the indexing service that helps applications discover where data is stored across Filecoin and IPFS. This funding ensures it remains reliable, scalable, and sustainably operated as network usage grows. Enhancing the visibility and verifiability of Filecoin Onchain Cloud within the Filecoin ecosystem through the Filfox explorer by 6Block Team – $30,000 This project enhances the Filfox explorer to improve the visibility and verifiability of FOC, PDP, and Filecoin Pay activity, helping developers, providers, and integrators better understand and troubleshoot onchain service behavior. Curio Storage by Curio Team – $500,000 Curio Storage is building core software and infrastructure that helps Filecoin Storage Providers (SPs) deliver paid deals. This grant funds continued development of “Market 2.0” deal interfaces, plus ongoing support and calibration network stability work that operators rely on. Lotus Miner + Boost Maintenance by Storswift Team – $50,000 This project funds ongoing maintenance of Lotus Miner and Boost, two core components that many Storage Providers rely on for storage and deal operations. The work ensures these systems remain secure, upgrade-compatible, and stable. Calib Network Miner by Storswift Team – $28,000 This project adds a production-grade, independent miner to the Calibration Network to improve upgrade testing, operator diversity, and overall network resilience. Venus Maintenance by IPFS Team – $300,000 Venus maintains and upgrades the second-largest Filecoin client implementation, ensuring continued client diversity and network resilience. This grant supports four network upgrades, zero-day compatibility, and ongoing maintenance of Filscan and FIPs.cc to improve transparency and governance clarity across the ecosystem. Drand by Drand Team – $120,000 This grant funds the continued operation and maintenance of drand - the public randomness service that underpins Filecoin’s block production and network liveness. OpenModel by 6Block Team – $50,000 OpenModel is building a decentralized AI model distribution and compute infrastructure on Filecoin, enabling fast, verifiable model downloads and pay-as-you-go access using Filecoin Pay. 🛠 Tooling & Developer Ecosystem Filecoin Developer Experience & FEVM Development by FIL-B Team – $420,000 FIL-B is building and running the developer experience layer for Filecoin in 2026, partnering with the FOC pod to drive builder adoption (docs, integrations, activations) while also improving core FEVM and Filecoin DX. ProbeLab Gauge for FOC and Retrieval Testing by ProbeLab Team – $100,000 ProbeLab will build retrieval testing tooling and live dashboards to measure Filecoin’s retrieval success rate and Filecoin Onchain Cloud (FOC) performance. This provides transparent, real-time metrics and SLAs to help developers, Storage Providers, and protocol teams monitor and improve network reliability. 🌍 Ecosystem Growth Secured Finance by Secured Finance Team – $225,000 Secured Finance maintains and expands USDFC, a FIL-collateralized stablecoin designed as native financial infrastructure for Filecoin. This grant supports interoperable payment rails, improved user interfaces, and audited onchain vaults to enable stable-value transactions and capital retention within the Filecoin ecosystem. FilPonto by FILPonto Team – $300,000 FilPonto supports core Filecoin infrastructure and ecosystem coordination, sustained FOC developer contributions, and a flexible grants pool for high-impact integrations and experimentation. This grant funds advanced JS contributions to FOC, and responsive technical support across the ecosystem. 🤝 Coordination Filecoin Foundation Infrastructure & Coordination Stewardship by SEAD Team – $101,200 This project provides ongoing stewardship and governance of the Filecoin Foundation’s core coordination infrastructure, including shared systems such as Slack, Google Workspace, and GitHub. The grant ensures secure access management, clear ownership boundaries, and operational continuity across organizational lines to reduce systemic risk and support ecosystem execution. 🔗 Integrations Oku Trade by Oku Team – $66,000 Oku Trade provides Filecoin’s primary decentralized exchange interface and meta-aggregator, enabling fee-less swaps, bridging, and liquidity provision via Uniswap v3 infrastructure. This grant supports ongoing hosting and indexing to ensure reliable DEX access and liquidity flows across EVM networks into Filecoin. 📈 What Batch 2 Signals Compared to earlier cycles, Batch 2 reflects:

Stronger selectivity (16 out of 102 funded) Greater capital concentration into core infrastructure Clear negotiation discipline Emphasis on long-term network sustainability This was not a broad experimentation round. It was a stability and resilience round.

📉 For Teams Not Selected We recognize the high quality of many proposals that were not funded in this cycle.

ProPGF operates within a defined capital envelope and prioritizes strategic alignment, scope readiness, and budget feasibility.

Importantly, we are currently working on a separate grant initiative outside of ProPGF, designed to support projects that may be better suited for a different funding structure or scope.

Our team will be reaching out directly to selected applicants as this program takes shape.

We strongly encourage teams to remain engaged and apply in future cycles.

💸 What Happens Next Agreements and KYB completion Milestone tracking via Karma Grantee Slack onboarding Structured reporting and transparency Initial disbursements begin shortly.

🔭 Looking Ahead As Filecoin continues to mature, so too does its capital allocation strategy.

ProPGF is evolving toward:

Greater funding transparency Stronger milestone accountability Better capital efficiency Alignment with long-term network KPIs Batch 2 marks another step toward building sustainable capital infrastructure around Filecoin.

We’re excited to support this cohort and look forward to sharing more about the long-term roadmap for ProPGF in upcoming posts.

📣 Stay Engaged If you’d like to explore the scope of funded work and follow progress updates from Batch 2 teams, please visit filpgf.io and navigate to the ProPGF Batch 2 → Approved Projects section. All funded projects will be reporting milestone updates there.

For applicants: you should be able to access your full application details directly via filpgf.io. If you encounter any issues or have questions regarding agreements, KYB, or payouts, please reach out to [email protected].

We appreciate the continued engagement from the ecosystem and look forward to building the next phase of Filecoin infrastructure together.

TLDR: Venus Core Pool now accepts TSLAB, NVDAB, and SPCXB as collateral for borrowing assets. Users keep stock price exposure while unlocking liquidity without selling their holdings. Binance, PancakeSwap, and Trust Wallet support the tokenization and transfer pathway. Rollout follows conservative risk parameters set through Venus governance procedures. Venus Protocol has launched tokenized stocks as collateral for the first time, introducing bStocks to its Core Pool on BNB Chain.

The integration lets users borrow against tokenized stock positions without selling their holdings. This marks the first tokenized stock collateral market available on the platform.

bStocks Enter Venus Core Pool Venus Core Pool now supports TSLAB, NVDAB, and SPCXB as eligible collateral assets. These bStocks represent tokenized versions of Tesla, Nvidia, and SpaceX-linked stock exposure.

Users supplying bStocks retain price exposure to the underlying equities. At the same time, they unlock borrowing power within the protocol.

Borrowers can access supported assets in Venus Core Pool using bStocks as backing. This includes stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and U.

Other listed tokens on the platform are also available for borrowing. The structure allows holders to keep their stock exposure while accessing liquidity.

Venus Core Pool remains the largest decentralized lending market on BNB Chain. bStocks now sit alongside BTC, ETH, BNB, and major stablecoins in the pool.

This places tokenized equities within the same liquidity infrastructure backing billions in active lending. Venus describes the addition as part of its core financial stack rather than a separate offering.

The bStocks launch follows earlier tokenized commodity listings on Venus, including XAUm. Those markets showed demand for real-world asset exposure within decentralized finance.

Venus is now extending that approach from commodities into equities. This broadens the categories of tokenized assets usable as on-chain collateral.

Ecosystem Collaboration Powers the Rollout The launch involved coordination across multiple platforms within the BNB Chain ecosystem. Binance supplies the tokenization infrastructure behind bStocks.

Users can convert existing Direct Stock holdings into bStocks without fees. Alternatively, bStocks can be purchased directly through Binance Spot.

PancakeSwap and Trust Wallet provide secondary market access for bStocks once tokenized. Holders can move tokens into self-custody wallets through these platforms.

From there, bStocks can be supplied directly to Venus Core Pool. This completes the path from tokenization to active collateral use in DeFi.

Venus Protocol’s Head of BD, Leon, said tokenized assets are turning into a genuine bridge between traditional finance and on-chain systems.

He described the development as a working product rather than a concept, adding that allowing users to borrow against tokenized stock positions without selling expands the meaning of collateral on BNB Chain.

The initial rollout includes a limited set of bStocks under conservative risk parameters. These parameters were set through Venus governance processes.

Any future expansion to additional tokenized stocks will require governance approval. Collateral markets operate continuously, allowing borrowers to access credit at any time.

Capital remains at risk throughout participation in these markets. Tokenized stock values depend on third-party issuers and available liquidity.

Borrowing positions may face automatic liquidation if collateral values decline. Users should review all disclosures before participating in these markets.