Jun 18, 2026 · 7:56 AM
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Ron Patel

Ron Patel covers cryptocurrency markets, blockchain developments, and digital asset news for Startup Fortune. With a background in financial journalism and over eight years tracking crypto markets through multiple cycles, Ron brings analytical perspective to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and emerging token ecosystems.
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Vietnam moves to make crypto collateral available for SME loans
Ron Patel ·
Vietnam moves to make crypto collateral available for SME loans
Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance has proposed allowing SMEs to use digital assets, virtual assets and intellectual property as loan collateral. The move could widen credit access for startups, but banks will need strong valuation, custody and risk rules before the idea becomes practical.

A former CIA official faces a $40 million gold theft case
Ron Patel ·
A former CIA official faces a $40 million gold theft case
Former senior CIA official David Rush is accused of stealing more than $40 million in government gold bars and storing them at his Virginia home. The case raises fresh questions about custody, audits and internal controls around physical reserve assets.

Arcium moves encrypted computation on Solana past the testnet
Ron Patel ·
Arcium moves encrypted computation on Solana past the testnet
Arcium has moved beyond its 50,000 encrypted computation testnet milestone and is now live on Solana Mainnet Alpha. The bigger question is whether encrypted compute can become practical infrastructure for DeFi, AI, and enterprise applications that cannot expose raw data on-chain.

Foundation wants to put humanoid robots closer to the battlefield
Ron Patel ·
Foundation wants to put humanoid robots closer to the battlefield
Foundation Future Industries is testing humanoid robots in Ukraine and pursuing U.S. military work, but the story is less about robot soldiers than the hard limits of embodied AI. The company’s Trump connection adds political scrutiny to a technical race where durability, cost and field performance matter more than demos.


Microsoft's AI cost warning makes automation math harder
Ron Patel ·
Microsoft's AI cost warning makes automation math harder
Microsoft's reported pullback from direct Claude Code access shows how quickly enterprise AI costs can outrun early expectations. The next phase of adoption will depend less on hype and more on disciplined use cases that prove measurable returns.

Trash bags are exposing the weakness in Flock camera contracts
Ron Patel ·
Trash bags are exposing the weakness in Flock camera contracts
Dayton's covered Flock cameras show how quickly public safety technology can become a governance problem. The backlash is a warning to surveillance startups and city buyers that contracts, audit logs, and data sharing controls now matter as much as the hardware.

Congress is preparing truck drivers for the autonomous freight era
Ron Patel ·
Congress is preparing truck drivers for the autonomous freight era
The BUILD America 250 Act would create the first federal framework for autonomous commercial trucks while funding workforce programs for drivers and related roles. The bill shows that Washington is beginning to treat driverless freight as a labor and compliance issue, not just a technology milestone.

SoftBank makes France the next test of its AI infrastructure gamble
Ron Patel ·
SoftBank makes France the next test of its AI infrastructure gamble
SoftBank has pledged up to €75 billion for AI data center capacity in France, including an initial €45 billion phase in Hauts-de-France. The plan strengthens France’s sovereign AI ambitions, but it also raises fresh questions about how far SoftBank can stretch its balance sheet across global AI infrastructure bets.

GitHub is making Copilot costs harder for founders to ignore
Ron Patel ·
GitHub is making Copilot costs harder for founders to ignore
GitHub Copilot moves to usage-based billing on June 1, replacing premium request units with AI Credits tied to token use. For founders and CTOs, the change turns AI coding assistants from a simple seat subscription into a tool that needs real budget controls.

Hyperliquid's HYPE sets a record above $67 as ICE's CEO calls it bigger than Nasdaq and CFTC opens the door to regulated perps
Ron Patel ·
Hyperliquid's HYPE sets a record above $67 as ICE's CEO calls it bigger than Nasdaq and CFTC opens the door to regulated perps
Hyperliquid's HYPE token hit a record $67.24 on May 29 as the CFTC approved the first regulated Bitcoin perpetual futures contract and ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher called the decentralized exchange bigger than Nasdaq. The milestone reflects Hyperliquid's dominance of on-chain derivatives, where it controls roughly 70% of perpetual futures volume and runs a $1.3 billion annualized buyback program funded entirely by trading fees.

MiniMax chose Hong Kong over Wall Street and its shareholders are glad it did
Ron Patel ·
MiniMax chose Hong Kong over Wall Street and its shareholders are glad it did
MiniMax's January 2026 Hong Kong IPO raised $619 million and saw shares double on debut. Five months later, the Shanghai-based AI startup has doubled its ARR, grown its enterprise client base fivefold, and is set to join the Hang Seng Index, while teasing a next-generation model built for AI agent deployments.

Jamie Dimon vows to fight the Clarity Act as SEC's Atkins signals the bill is close to done
Ron Patel ·
Jamie Dimon vows to fight the Clarity Act as SEC's Atkins signals the bill is close to done
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has publicly committed to fighting the Clarity Act, the crypto market structure bill that would clarify SEC and CFTC jurisdiction over digital assets, even as SEC Chair Paul Atkins pushes Congress to finalize it. The clash pits Wall Street's most powerful banker directly against the top U.S. securities regulator, with an August recess deadline adding urgency to a bill the crypto industry has invested heavily to pass.

Sui has now halted twice in two days and the reliability story is getting harder to sell
Ron Patel ·
Sui has now halted twice in two days and the reliability story is getting harder to sell
Sui suffered its second network outage in 48 hours on May 29, 2026, as a bug in the v1.72 protocol upgrade crashed validators and halted block production. The back-to-back stalls, the third major outage of the year, disrupted DeFi protocols including Cetus and NAVI and sent the SUI token down roughly 8%. The incidents arrive just after CME launched Sui futures contracts, raising pointed questions about the network's reliability for institutional and developer audiences.


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