IBM shares fell as much as 25% in Tuesday trading after the company released preliminary second-quarter results on July 14 that came in below Wall Street expectations, marking its biggest single-day drop since 1968. The company reported preliminary revenue of $17.2 billion, versus analyst expectations of $17.9 billion. Chief Executive Arvind Krishna told investors IBM had not adjusted quickly enough internally, which delayed several large deals and left a revenue gap in the quarter. He also said customers are shifting capital spending away from traditional software and services and toward AI infrastructure, including chips and servers. The read-through hit other software and IT services names, with Microsoft, Workday, Salesforce, and Autodesk all falling on Tuesday. The move added to a wider split already seen across the technology sector in 2026: the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF has fallen more than 12% this year, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has risen more than 78%, pointing to a sharp divergence between hardware and software valuations.

ChainFeeds Research’s latest PRO issue centered on incentive failures in proposer-builder separation, arguing that builder misconduct is not just a reputational problem but a structural weakness in PBS. Citing nuconstruct, the report said non-TEE builders could theoretically extract about $26 million a year by reusing searcher information, with the potential scale rising to roughly $49 million if risks suppressed by BuilderNet’s TEE design are also counted. The issue also reviewed Nostr Wallet Connect as a way for apps to interact with users’ Lightning wallets without taking custody or touching private keys, and covered Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #413’s discussion of fountain codes for initial block download. On Ethereum, it examined EIP-8287 and the pERC20 privacy-native fungible token model, which hides balances, counterparties and transfer amounts while keeping total supply publicly verifiable. Another featured paper, SPREAD, proposed an optional GossipSub-compatible extension designed to improve sender anonymity without sharply increasing propagation delays. The newsletter also summarized recent MEV research from Flashbots and highlighted a DeFi lending paper on the Reverse Kelly Automated Market Maker, or rkAMM, which uses offchain explainable AI oracle inputs on default probability to price loan risk more directly than static utilization curves.

Goldman Sachs said IBM stands out as the relative beneficiary in its July 10 preview of the Americas technology IT services group for 2Q26, while warning that companies with greater exposure to discretionary spending, including EPAM, face a tougher setup. The report covered IBM, Cognizant, EPAM, Globant, and TaskUs. The bank’s central view is that second-quarter results should be broadly in line with expectations, but macro uncertainty that began affecting client decision-making in April and May is now tightening the range of forward guidance. Goldman expects companies across the group to trim the top end of their guidance ranges and anchor investor expectations closer to the midpoint. IBM was the only stock in the group to receive a Buy rating from Goldman, with a $335 price target. The firm pointed to resilience in IBM’s software business and demand tied to enterprise AI. Goldman forecast IBM’s second-quarter software revenue at $8.16 billion and full-year software revenue at $33.2 billion, with total 2026 revenue at $71.3 billion and free cash flow guidance around $16 billion. By contrast, Goldman kept a Neutral rating on EPAM and said its concentration in application implementation and consulting leaves it more exposed to weaker discretionary budgets. The bank expects EPAM to narrow its full-year organic growth guidance to 2.5%-4.0% from 2.5%-5.0%.

Kisspatent report reveals blockchain patents surged in 2020, with Alibaba Group leading by holding 10 times as many as IBM. Tencent, Nchain, and others follow, showcasing China's dominance in blockchain IP.

Walmart has opened a Food Safety Collaboration Center in Beijing and teamed up with IBM and Tsinghua University to use blockchain and Hyperledger for food traceability, supply chain transparency, and safer retail operations.

IBM partners with Stronghold to launch Stronghold USD, a new stablecoin backed 1:1 by USD held at Prime Trust. The token runs on Stellar and is aimed at B2B financial institutions, with potential retail access later.

IBM partners with Stronghold to launch Stronghold USD, a 1:1 dollar-backed stablecoin on Stellar, designed for institutional B2B use. Reserves held at Prime Trust. IBM also opens blockchain research center with Columbia University.

Stronghold has launched a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin with reserves held at Prime Trust, while IBM is working with the company to explore enterprise blockchain payment use cases.