Out of left field: 140+ companies — Visa, Mastercard, Google, Samsung, PayPal, BlackRock, Coinbase, Stripe and more — announced Open USD, one shared stablecoin where the partners keep the reserve earnings. Then came the backlash: firms saying they never signed on, and Circle's CEO firing back. Meanwhile Strategy published a real plan for STRC (including permission to sell some Bitcoin), whales scooped up ~$16.7B, and Robinhood went full crypto. No one told the builders it's a bear market.

In this episode of Good For Bitcoin, Brandon and Kate discuss:

• The bombshell: Open Standard announced Open USD, a stablecoin with 140+ partners — Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, Google, Samsung, PayPal, BlackRock, Coinbase, Stripe and more — where partners keep the reserve earnings. Then the backlash: firms saying they never signed on, and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire firing back — 'integrity matters.' A consortium-sized shot at USDC.
• Strategy skipped the weekly buy and published its Digital Credit Capital Framework instead: USD reserve raised to $2.55B (17.4 months of STRC dividend coverage), STRC dividend up 50 bps to 12%, a $99–$100 target band, and a BTC monetization program allowing up to $1.25B of Bitcoin sales. Markets liked seeing a plan — MSTR up ~20%, STRC back near $87. Also: Saylor's Channel 4 walk-off — 'let me finish.'
• No one told the builders it's a bear market. OG whales bought an estimated ~$16.7B of Bitcoin in the last two weeks — classic late-bear accumulation. Metaplanet added 2,823 BTC to reach an even 43,000, and Galaxy Digital joined the Russell 1000.
• Robinhood's 'World Is Flat' event: launching in Canada with zero trading fees for 90 days, Robinhood Earn (lend USDG on-chain from a self-custody wallet at 7% APY), and Robinhood Chain — an AI-native L1 for financial services and real-world assets.
• Quick hits: Binance will stop serving UK clients after missing the MiCA licensing deadline; Trump disclosed $50M+ of Bitcoin held in cold storage (JD Vance under $500K); SPI Holdings is shutting its mining pool July 31 — ~2% of global hashrate — pivoting to exchange, stablecoin, and AI plays.
• Pain and hopium to close: the average IBIT investor is now down ~40% as spot ETFs logged $1.79B of weekly outflows — their second-worst week ever. But Bitcoin just printed its third straight red quarterly candle, historically a bottom marker.
• Follow the show on X — @goodforbtc.

Hosts:

• Brandon Marshall — @marshallmixing
• Kate Parkman — @katemparkman

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