These are the biggest news in DeFi and crypto:

India's cybercrime agency gave GitHub three hours on July 23 to delete three Bitchat code repositories.

The order targets the tech account behind Bitchat, a Bluetooth mesh app that relays messages phone-to-phone with no server, account, or internet. Protesters camped at Delhi's Jantar Mantar have leaned on this tech through repeated mobile blackouts. Block CEO Jack Dorsey posted the notice to an audience that ran up 2.3 million views: the government “does not like technologies like bitchat and wants it taken down.”

The takedown may accomplish little. Bitchat's repo counts more than 3,000 forks, and deleting it strips nothing from phones already running the app. The Internet Freedom Foundation called the order unconstitutional, citing the Supreme Court's Shreya Singhal ruling that grants no blocking power under that section. India joins China, which pushed Apple to pull Bitchat from its local store in April.

Read more below!

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WATCH

The CLARITY Act's Make-or-Break Moment

The CLARITY Act's market-structure text is finally public, and the push for a Senate vote before the August recess is on. The Defiant team walks through what's in the bill and whether the votes are there.

REGULATION

India Orders GitHub to Remove Jack Dorsey's Bitchat Code

India's Cyber Crime Coordination Centre ordered GitHub to disable three repositories under the permissionlesstech account, threatening the platform's safe-harbor protection and criminal prosecution if it missed the three-hour window. The notice cited no specific unlawful content; the Internet Freedom Foundation says the objection is to what Bitchat does — keep people talking during the internet shutdowns imposed around the Delhi protests. The repositories stayed live past the deadline.

	TICKER	VALUE	24H
	India Orders GitHub to Remove Jack Dorsey's Bitchat Code India gave GitHub three hours to pull Jack Dorsey's Bitchat, the offline mesh app protesters use during Delhi's internet blackouts. thedefiant.io

Why this matters: A government treating an encrypted, serverless comms app as contraband is a template other states can copy, and open-source distribution makes the takedown mostly symbolic.

TRADFI

Samsung Says Wallet Will Add Stablecoin Support

Samsung product manager Lee Dinham said at Galaxy Unpacked in London that Samsung Wallet will support stablecoins, the electronics maker's first direct commitment to the asset class. He named no issuers, markets, or launch date, though an on-stage mockup showed Circle's USDC. It follows a June episode when Samsung turned up on the Open USD consortium's partner list, then denied any formal agreement.

Why this matters: Neither Apple Pay nor Google Wallet offers native stablecoin support. Putting USDC on Galaxy hardware would push stablecoins toward hundreds of millions of phones by default.

CEFI

BitMEX, Hayes Sued Over 623 BTC Liquidation Claims as Exchange Winds Down

Plaintiffs BKX Services and David Namdar accuse BitMEX of auto-liquidating their leveraged positions while their collateral was worth roughly twice their losses, then routing the excess into its insurance fund. They want 622.66 BTC back, about $40 million. The complaint alleges an internal “Insider Trading Desk” with “God access” to customer positions that kept trading through server freezes. It landed the same day BitMEX said it will close on Sept. 23.

Why this matters: Hayes and his co-founders were pardoned by Trump in March. A civil replevin suit is one of the few venues left to test the liquidation-engine claims.

TRADFI

OCC Denies Wise's US National Trust Bank Charter

The OCC denied Wise's application for a national trust bank charter, citing “significant supervisory and compliance concerns” and a “persistent inability” to manage money-laundering risk, per a decision letter reviewed by Law360. Wise shares fell as much as 10% on Nasdaq. The denial breaks the agency's streak: it cleared charters for Circle, Ripple, Paxos, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Coinbase over eight months. Wise plans to refile under a GENIUS Act framework.

Why this matters: The OCC has been the crypto industry's friendliest bank regulator lately. A rejection over AML history signals the charter door is open but not automatic.

BLOCKCHAINS

Stacks Bitcoin Staking Upgrade Vote Passes With 99%, Muneeb Says

Stacks approved SIP-045, the Bitcoin Staking upgrade, with more than 99% of votes, co-creator Muneeb Ali said, setting a hard fork for around July 29. It lets holders lock BTC in a timelocked contract under their own keys, pair it with locked STX, and earn a target 3% yield paid in bitcoin, verified by SPV proof with no custodian or bridge. The upgrade also restores STX emissions to 1,000 per block.

Why this matters: Earning bitcoin yield without a bridge or wrapper is the core pitch for Bitcoin DeFi. STX still fell 13%, underperforming bitcoin.