Great rip with @jonathan_mg27 recapping GLXY's record Q3. We touch on the CRWV deal (obviously), Galaxy's latest financial products, what AI means for the future of Galaxy's mining fleet, and everything in between.

In September, bitcoin-backed lending app @lava_xyz pushed a mandatory update. Most users didn't think anything of it. @OwenKemeys, an early adopter of Lava, thought "under the hood, they’ve done something with the DLCs" -- the Bitcoin smart contracts used to manage loans. It

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The CEO continued to say that many Lava customers are pleased with the update -- that the app runs more smoothly and that they appreciate the lower interest rate. Even Kemeys himself relished the UX of the update at first. But that was before he realized it was because the

Maredia acknowledged that Lava fumbled comms on the event, saying the company often walks a "fine line" with messaging between over communicating to the technically unaware and under communicating to the tech adept. “We realize that some users feel that we under-communicated

At the crux of the matter, like most things in this industry, is trust. Kemeys and others signed up for Lava explicitly to use its DLC-powered product. That they would move away from this model is fine enough, Kemeys said, but he and other users feel duped. Not only was the

Kemeys railed that the update did not make it clear that they were authorizing a transaction. "Did you have my app signing transactions that changed my role in the custody setup? Because you certainly did not tell me that that’s what I was doing or approving,” he asked

After the update, Lava now holds all user funds in institution-grade cold storage, with Maredia claiming that the DLC model was too risky for Lava to scale its product. At first, users were taken aback because they didn't know how the funds were moved, and whether they had

At this point, it became clear to Kemeys and others that the September update was more than a facelift: it was a complete overhaul of Lava's custodial design. Before, Lava used discreet-log contracts (DLCs) to lock bitcoin collateral for loans in a 2-of-2 multsig. An "oracle"

Fast forward to November 3, Lava announces a $200M raise to extend its bitcoin-backed credit options, as well as a revamp of Lava's loan structure. Lava would now offer rates as low as 5% with a 2% credit fee on top. A day later, Lava CEO @MarediaShehzan added additional

On September 22, Lava support emailed users about an "Important App Update." Upon opening their Lava apps, a message asked users to "migrate funds from [their] existing Lava Vaults to the latest version." Users had no choice but to upgrade to access the app and their funds.

In September, bitcoin-backed lending app @lava_xyz pushed a mandatory update. Most users didn't think anything of it. @OwenKemeys, an early adopter of Lava, thought "under the hood, they’ve done something with the DLCs" -- the Bitcoin smart contracts used to manage loans. It

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In Sept., @lava_xyz quietly updated the vaults for its bitcoin-backed lending product. The change seemed minor at first, but it belied a fundamental re-haul of Lava's custody design: the company was ditching DLCs, a feature that enabled self-custody on Lava loans and which some

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Overall, given the country's energy resources, we anticipate that Russia's BTC mining industry will remain a dominant player for the foreseeable future. If you liked this research, consider subscribing the the @blockspacepod newsletter for insights like this twice a week!

With bitcoin mining investment surging in the region, miners are tapping into Russia's vast wealth of O&G to build mobile power centers with natural gas generators. The stop gas solutions allows miners to deploy more rapidly, but the economics might not make sense for smaller

Despite recent regulations, much of Russia's mining market operates in a gray area. In 2022, for example, as much as 60% of all mining equipment was improperly declared at the border to avoid tariffs, according to the head of Russia's Industrial Mining Association. Miners also

The restrictions led to a notable shake-up in the industry. According to official estimates, bitcoin miners have turned off 370 MW worth of equipment since late 2024. Sources in the industry believe that the impact was even bigger, around 450 MW. Some of the unplugged machines

The parabolic rise of hashrate in Russia has led to friction with officials, particularly with unregistered retail miners setting up garage operations on subsidized residential power. Last year, Russian officials rolled out an official registration and taxation process for