DeFiance Daily – The $88 million MethaneSAT, launched to track methane emissions with unprecedented precision, suddenly went dark over the Pacific on June 20. While the official explanation points to technical failure, its abrupt silence has raised serious questions—especially after it exposed widespread underreporting of methane leaks from major fossil fuel regions.

DeFiance Daily – The Indy Autonomous Challenge is bringing the world’s fastest AI-powered racecars to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca on July 24, launching Grand Prix of Monterey weekend with a time-trial showdown unlike anything in motorsports. The fully driverless event will test university-built AI software against one of the most technical tracks in the U.S.—complete with the infamous Corkscrew drop.

DeFiance Daily – Flexiv has launched the Flexiv-Isaac Bridge App, enabling robotics developers to simulate real-world, force-controlled AI tasks inside NVIDIA’s Isaac Sim. The new tool dramatically reduces the sim-to-real gap by making it possible to train and test applications virtually, then deploy them with identical performance in the physical world.

DeFiance Daily – The Senate Banking Committee held a landmark hearing titled “From Wall Street to Web3,” bringing together top crypto leaders, former regulators, and lawmakers across party lines. The session spotlighted urgent calls for clear regulation, transparency in blockchain, and bipartisan momentum toward a digital asset framework.

DeFiance Daily – Trump Media & Technology Group is diving deeper into crypto, filing for SEC approval of a new exchange-traded fund that would track five major cryptocurrencies. Dubbed the “Crypto Blue Chip ETF,” the proposed fund allocates 70% to Bitcoin, with the remaining split across Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Cronos (CRO).

Colossal Biosciences has announced its next de-extinction project: the return of the giant moa, a flightless bird native to New Zealand that vanished nearly 600 years ago. The effort, backed by filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson and led in partnership with South Island Māori leaders, aims to revive one of the world’s most iconic extinct species.

Web3 identity startup Solo has closed a $1.2 million pre-seed round led by Draper Associates to expand its decentralized proof-of-humanity system. The platform enables continuous biometric verification without relying on centralized hardware, bringing scalable, privacy-preserving identity to digital ecosystems.

Propy closed out June with major advances across token access, policy engagement, and real-world infrastructure. From listing the PRO token on KuCoin to contributing at the Coinbase Summit and NAR Legislative Meetings, Propy is actively scaling the tools and partnerships needed to bring real estate fully onchain.

D-Wave Quantum Inc. has completed a $400 million at-the-market equity offering, raising funds at a 149% premium to its previous ATM round. The company now holds approximately $815 million in cash, positioning it for acquisitions and long-term expansion in commercial quantum computing.

ICEYE has been chosen to provide the Royal Netherlands Air Force with its first operational military satellite ISR system, including four high-resolution SAR satellites, local ground infrastructure, and an AI-powered mobile intelligence hub. The agreement marks a major step toward sovereign space-based defense capabilities for the Netherlands.