The cryptocurrency segment has reached the most important crossroads of its existence, and the narrative of an imminent "future of finance" is showing serious cracks. The current deep price drop and prolonged investor apathy in 2026 are no longer just a manifestation of the typical cyclicality this volatile market was used to. This is a deep structural crisis of legitimacy and an exhaustion of previous narratives. The era of cheap money and zero interest rates has definitively ended.

Whether this newsletter finds you at the office or on vacation, we believe there is always room for interesting content and hope you can spare a few minutes to catch up on the latest industry news from the past month. The holiday season also marks the slow end of the conference season. We managed to attend a few, and we are sharing our key takeaways with you here.

From June 16–18, our representative, Ondřej Mikulčík, attended the iFX EXPO International 2026 conference, which took place in Limassol, Cyprus. This is one of the most significant conferences focusing on online trading, fintech, brokerage, and related technological solutions.

Ondřej Mikulčík represented us at the Venture & FinTech MeetUp business mission in Hungary, which took place on June 10–11 in Budapest, organized by CzechTrade. The program focused on establishing contacts between Czech startups, fintech companies, and technology companies on one side, and Hungarian investors, banks, associations, and other key players in the local ecosystem on the other.

Summer is just around the corner, so it's a good time to catch up on new industry insights before the start of the traditional summer slowdown. In this issue, we bring you plenty of them. You can also mark August 27th in your calendars now, as it's when the 6th annual edition of our CryptoNight conference will take place.

You may have noticed that this edition of the newsletter arrived in your inbox later than usual. We were diligently preparing for our flagship conference, FinTech Roadmap 2026, and scheduled its distribution for a time when we could provide you with a recording from the main stage of the conference.