Scouting in July: Mainnet Launches, $1.3B Hacks, and the RWA Boom

TL;DR. Robinhood Chain launched. Crypto.com raised $400M at $20B valuation. Hackers hit $1.3B in H1 and are now using AI deepfakes. Polygon acquired Coinme and Sequence for payment consolidation. CLARITY Act goes to th Senate.

Industry Headlines

Robinhood Chain Launches as Public Mainnet

Robinhood went live with a new Layer 2 blockchain (built on Arbitrum) designed specifically for tokenized real-world assets and starting with Stock Tokens that track actual equities. Available in 120+ countries with settlement on Ethereum for security. This marks the moment when traditional finance started treating blockchain as core infrastructure, not an experiment.

Read more on The Block

Crypto.com Raises $400M from Citadel Securities

On July 16, Citadel Securities led a strategic investment at a $20 billion valuation, with the capital going toward tokenized securities, derivatives, RWA, and prediction markets. The message: the largest crypto exchange by volume is pivoting into institutional finance — and major traditional players are betting on it.

Coverage on Blockchain Council

Crypto M&A Peaks at $12.9B in Q2

Polygon led the charge by acquiring Coinme (regulated crypto-as-a-service) and Sequence (cross-blockchain payments). Public blockchains are now acting as strategic acquirers, locking in transaction volume and consumer experience. L1 and L2 networks buying user-facing apps is the new consolidation play.

Architect Partners M&A Snapshot

Hackers Hit $1.3B in H1, Shift to AI and Wallet Attacks

The first half of 2026 saw roughly $1.32 billion in losses across 224 incidents. North Korea accounted for $643 million (66% of the total). The shift: attackers are now using AI-generated videos and voice deepfakes to bypass KYC, trick support teams, and impersonate executives. Wallet compromise has become the costliest attack vector.

Full analysis on Forbes

CLARITY Act Advances — Senate Approval Looming

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act passed the House and the Senate Banking Committee. It hasn't yet received a full Senate floor vote, but the window for 2026 passage is narrow — mid-August before the August recess. If it passes, the first clear U.S. regulatory framework for token offerings, custody, and on-chain trading could become law by Labor Day.

SEC crypto agenda update

Blockscout Updates

3,000+ Chains Now Supported

We crossed the multichain milestone — Blockscout now powers explorers for over 3,000 EVM-compatible networks. From L1 mainnets to app-specific rollups to testnets. You can explore any chain here.

MCP Server Enters Mainstream

Our Model Context Protocol integration is live, letting AI agents (Claude, Anthropic, others) query blockchain data directly in chat and in agentic workflows. Early adopters report 3x faster onchain research cycles. Start building with MCP.

What's next month

• Ethereum Dencun shadow fork — scaling upgrades incoming.
• Pi Network Mainnet buzz — after months of testnet, the hype train is heating up.
• Prediction markets boom — with Polymarket on Polygon and new platforms launching, this narrative is accelerating.