Why Robinhood Bets Big on Arbitrum for Its New Crypto Rails

Hi! In today’s edition:

• 🤝 Why Robinhood is going all in on Arbitrum

• ⚖️ Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm may testify

• 🧮 Solana’s Backpack suffers post-update glitch

• 🐳 DeFi Dev loads up nearly $100M in SOL

• 🏦 Ripple’s stablecoin play vs XRP’s future

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Why the Arbitrum Stack Won in the Race to Support Robinhood Chain

Robinhood’s new move on Arbitrum might be the most important crypto adoption story of the year.

Offchain Labs CEO Steven Goldfeder explains why Arbitrum was chosen by Robinhood to rebuild its core product on crypto rails, what tokenized stocks onchain could unlock, and why we may be entering crypto’s “zero-to-one” phase all over again. 

Tornado Cash’s Roman Storm Leaves Testimony Plans Open Ahead of Trial

Tornado Cash cofounder Roman Storm has not clarified whether he will testify in his own defense at his upcoming criminal trial, which is scheduled to begin on July 14 in New York. 

In a recent interview with Crypto In America, Storm said, “This is the decision that we will make. I don’t have a 100% answer right now. I may or may not.” 

Storm faces charges including money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter, and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions.

The trial is seen as a landmark case for open-source software developers and decentralized finance, with significant industry attention and financial support for Storm’s defense.

Storm said in June that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has attempted to block several of his expert witnesses, with the DOJ arguing that their testimony is not directly relevant to the charges.

“They don’t want the jury to hear the truth about how Tornado Cash actually works or why what I built was legal,” said Storm.

Solana’s Backpack Users Hit by Faulty Futures Orders and Balance Errors

A post-maintenance glitch on Solana-based Backpack exchange on Thursday led to incorrect futures orders and erroneous balance reports for users.

After scheduled maintenance that halted trading at 6 am ET and resumed two hours later, the restart triggered significant account errors including order reversals and position flips.

One Brazil-based trader, who goes by Defi Remora on X, said he had a $104,000 withdrawal request returned as 891 SOL, while his margin debit expanded from 31,000 USDT to 111,000 USDT, forcing him to manually unwind the position at a personal cost estimated at $300 to $400.

Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante acknowledged the issue as a “programming error” on the project’s Discord channel, promising affected users a thorough review and reimbursement.

DeFi Development Corp.’s Total Solana Holdings Near $100M

Publicly traded firm DeFi Development Corp. just bought another 17,760 SOL at an average price of $153.10 per token. The latest $2.72 million acquisition puts the company’s total Solana holdings at 640,585 SOL, valued at about $96.3 million.

After being acquired by former Kraken executives in April, DeFi Development Corp. became the first public company to adopt a treasury strategy focused on accumulating and compounding Solana. 

That approach not only involves holding and staking SOL, but also includes operating its own Solana validator infrastructure to generate native yield. The newly acquired SOL will be held long-term and staked across a range of validators.

The move comes after the firm secured a $112.5 million private placement to fund further Solana purchases.

Ripple’s Legal Saga Is Over. But With Its Stablecoin Pivot, Where Does XRP Go?

Fresh off of getting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) monkey off of his back, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse is operating like he has a new lease on life.

On July 2, the company announced that it is applying for a federal bank charter via the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), hoping to become just the second company after Anchorage Digital to achieve the distinction. In addition, its New York State-regulated custody provider, Standard Custody and Trust Company, is trying to become the first crypto firm to get a highly coveted Fed master account so that it can directly hold deposits underpinning its $469 million stablecoin RLUSD at the Federal Reserve.

But as Ripple doubles down on RLUSD, is XRP being sidelined, or can both tokens thrive under one roof?

• 🇺🇸📜 House Republicans announced a coordinated push for “Crypto Week” starting July 14, aiming to fast-track three bills that would restrict a digital dollar, weaken SEC authority, and formalize crypto rules as part of Trump’s broader fintech agenda.

• 🇨🇳 JD.com and Ant Group have reportedly lobbied China’s central bank to approve offshore yuan stablecoins, hoping to curb U.S. dollar dominance in digital trade and promote yuan internationalization amid shifting policy attitudes.

• 🧾 Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced a revised crypto tax bill that would exempt sub-$300 transactions and prevent double taxation of staking and mining, reviving her earlier failed attempt to attach it to Trump’s omnibus proposal.

• 🌾 Tether signed a memorandum with Latin American energy firm Adecoagro to launch a bitcoin mining project using surplus renewable power, expanding its regional footprint and enabling Adecoagro’s BTC treasury exposure.

• 🎮 EverQuest co-creator John Smedley raised $30.5 million for Distinct Possibility Studios to develop “Reaper Actual,” a hybrid MMO-FPS shooter targeting AAA audiences on Steam and Epic Games.

• 📱 The Open Platform, a key builder on Telegram’s TON blockchain, secured $28.5 million at a $1 billion valuation, selling about 5% equity without crypto, to fuel crypto integration into the billion-user app.

• 💼🪙 Amber International garnered $25.5 million in a private sale to expand its $100 million crypto reserve, with proceeds allocated toward acquiring BTC, ETH, SOL, and other major tokens.

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