gm, Defiers!

These were the biggest stories in DeFi and crypto today:

Crypto got the Fed decision it wanted on Wednesday. It held the gains for about an hour.

The Federal Reserve left its benchmark at 3.50%-3.75% in a 9-3 vote and Bitcoin pushed above $64,400 on the print. Chair Kevin Warsh then opened his press conference with the line that took the move back: “There is no soft inflation target.” BTC traded just under $64,000 at press time, up about 1% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. Ether was off 1.9% at $1,882 and Solana down 2% at $72.58.

Three dissents on a hold is a wide split for Warsh's first meeting in the chair, and the presser told rates desks he will defend the 2% target through the discomfort. Crypto spent most of July pricing a friendlier Fed. Wednesday repriced the chair.

Read more below!

WATCH

The CLARITY Act's Make-or-Break Moment

Three of the people negotiating crypto policy in Washington — Miller Whitehouse-Levine of the Solana Policy Institute, Amanda Tuminelli of the DeFi Education Fund and Adrian Wall of the Digital Sovereignty Alliance — walk through the July 22 Senate draft, the ethics provisions holding up Democratic votes, and the odds of a floor vote before the August recess. Watch the episode.

MARKETS

Bitcoin Slips Below $64K After Warsh Says “No Soft Inflation Target”

Bitcoin climbed above $64,400 after the Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.50%-3.75% on Wednesday in a 9-3 vote, then handed the move back when Chair Kevin Warsh opened his press conference by saying, “There is no soft inflation target.” BTC was trading just under $64,000 at press time, up about 1% over 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. Ether fell 1.9% to $1,882 and Solana 2% to $72.58 as the risk-off tone spread across the majors.

	TICKER	VALUE	24H
	Bitcoin Slips Below $64K After Warsh Says “No Soft Inflation Target” Crypto's relief pop after the Fed's 9-3 hold faded within the hour as the new chair's hawkish press conference dragged risk assets lower. thedefiant.io

Why this matters: Warsh's first meeting in the chair set the tone for the rest of the year, and crypto had been trading a rate path he declined to endorse on day one.

TRADFI AND FINTECH

Morgan Stanley Launches Spot Ether, Solana ETPs on NYSE Arca

Morgan Stanley listed spot Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products on NYSE Arca under the tickers MSSE and MSOL, each charging a 0.14% expense ratio. Both trusts will stake a portion of their holdings and pass the rewards through to investors, which puts a staking yield inside a listed wrapper the bank's own wealth channel can sell.

Why this matters: Staking rewards inside an NYSE-listed wrapper hand Morgan Stanley's wealth arm a yield-bearing crypto product, and 0.14% sets the fee bar for whoever lists next.

HACKS

Crypto Hacks Hit Record 212 Incidents in H1 2026: Blockaid

Crypto projects lost more than $1 billion across 212 exploits in the first half of 2026, a record incident count, according to Blockaid. North Korea-linked actors drove the largest single losses, with the $292 million KelpDAO and $285 million Drift exploits both tied to DPRK groups. Ethereum and Solana were the hardest-hit chains.

Why this matters: Two DPRK-linked exploits account for more than half the billion dollars lost, which keeps state-backed crews the single biggest line item in crypto's security bill.

TRADFI AND FINTECH

SoFi Says SoFiUSD Settlement Now Live on Q2 Earnings Call

SoFi told investors on its Q2 2026 earnings call that it has begun settling transactions with SoFiUSD, the company's own dollar stablecoin. The first live settlements sit inside real-time commercial payments on its Big Business Banking platform, running on Solana and routed over the SoFi Exchange Network.

Why this matters: A US bank is settling commercial payments in its own stablecoin on a public chain, which moves bank-issued dollars off pilot decks and into production volume.

DEFI

Morpho Signs First Hong Kong Partnership With HashKey's HSK Chain

Morpho signed its first major Hong Kong partnership with HashKey Group, deploying its onchain lending stack on HSK Chain and becoming the chain's official credit partner. The deal gives Morpho a licensed counterparty inside one of Asia's tightest regulatory perimeters and gives HSK Chain a credit market it did not have to build itself.

Why this matters: HashKey operates one of Hong Kong's licensed exchanges, so routing its chain's credit through Morpho drops a DeFi lending market into a regulated Asian venue's stack.