Things We're Reading – Week of July 13, 2026

Bitcoin's price rebounded above $63,000, marking a 6.09% weekly increase, following a 21-month low in late June.

Vitalik Buterin published the 'Lean Ethereum' roadmap, outlining a 3-4 year protocol rebuild focusing on recursive STARKs, quantum-resistant cryptography, and native privacy.

Securitize listed on the NYSE as SECZ and tokenized its own shares on Solana and Avalanche, becoming the first company to bring stock on-chain at IPO.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $221.7 million in net inflows, snapping a 10-day, $2.7 billion outflow streak after weak June jobs data cooled rate-hike pressure.

Ethereum Institutional, a nonprofit backed by Joe Lubin, launched to create a dedicated front door for banks and asset managers to the Ethereum ecosystem.

Stablecoin transaction volume reached a record $1.79 trillion in June, led by USDC with $1.21 trillion.

Microsoft announced the elimination of approximately 4,800 roles, citing AI's impact on automating tasks and changing how work gets done.

OpenAI released the GPT-5.6 model suite, including Sol, Terra, and Luna, marking the end of its restricted preview phase.

The European Parliament gave final approval to the Digital Omnibus, extending key AI Act deadlines while banning certain harmful applications.

Amazon is effectively putting Mechanical Turk into maintenance mode by closing it to new customers, marking a shift in its approach to human labor marketplaces.