Russia plans to pay commercial banks for processing payroll via the Bank of Russia’s digital ruble platform, aiming to boost usage of the CBDC among consumers. The central bank said banks will receive 67 kopecks ($0.67) per payroll instruction starting January 1, 2027. The move is part of a multi-year rollout that has already included an initial government salary payment in digital rubles. Officials expect incentives and new bulk-payment tools to drive banks to market digital-ruble payroll services to corporate clients.

San Francisco-based Ground came out of stealth on June 24 after raising $3.6 million in a pre-seed round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and ParaFi. The raise was structured as a SAFE with token warrants and did not grant investors any board seats or advisor roles. The financing closes a fundraise that started in September 2025 and wrapped the following month.

Cboe Global Markets launched its prediction-markets suite on June 23, listing binary option contracts on the Mini-S&P 500 Index as XSPBW and XSPBX. The contracts went live on Interactive Brokers Tuesday and are expected to expand to Charles Schwab in the coming months. Economically, the XSP contracts resemble the event-style contracts offered by Kalshi and Polymarket.

On June 23, the U.S. Department of Justice seized a cloud computing account used to run backend systems linked to Cambodia’s Huione Group, as authorities intensify efforts to disrupt crypto-enabled fraud laundering networks operating through messaging platforms and blockchains. The action targeted infrastructure supporting Huione Guarantee, a Telegram-based marketplace U.S. authorities allege served as an escrow hub for laundering illicit cryptocurrency proceeds. The details were set out in DOJ filings.

On Monday, June 22, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission asked market participants to weigh in on two potential changes to U.S. energy derivatives: 24/7 trading for standard futures and perpetual contracts tied to physical energy commodities such as crude oil. The initiative would test whether a crypto-style always-on market structure can be applied to energy products. The agency is seeking public input on how these shifts could affect trading, operations, and risk management.

On Monday (June 22), Hong Kong-based on-chain trading platform TurboFlow raised $6 million in seed funding. The round was led by Pantera Capital, with Susquehanna Crypto and Digital Currency Group also participating. The raise comes as expectations build that global prediction market volumes will increase fivefold this year.

Five former Ethereum Foundation researchers have launched Ethlabs, an independent nonprofit R&D group backed by Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and major ETH treasury firms. The move signals that some core Ethereum research is shifting into independently funded organizations outside the Ethereum Foundation. The shift could influence how Ethereum evolves as more institutional capital moves on-chain.

About $4.67 million in tokens was drained from Secret Network after an attacker exploited an ICS-20-based smart contract used for cross-chain transfers, according to Axelar’s June 19 statement. The incident highlighted another weakness in bridge infrastructure linking Cosmos-based blockchains. Axelar said the issue was confined to the Secret-side ICS-20 smart contract and did not impact its core protocol or other connections.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission permanently barred Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky from commodity trading and from registering with the agency under a consent order entered on June 18 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The order closes the regulator’s July 2023 fraud case and what the CFTC has described as its first crypto-lending enforcement action. The ban also prevents Mashinsky from soliciting customer funds for commodity transactions and from taking senior or operational roles at CFTC-registered firms.