- Crypto Market Cap ($3.83T): 0% / +116%
- BTC ($103,139): +4% / +143%
- ETH ($3,900): -2% / +71%
- SOL ($222): -6% / +118%
- UNI ($16.93): -8% / +132%
- POL ($0.61): -13% / -37%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($140B): +2% / +53%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($42B): +2% / +72%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 53% / 12%

- President-elect Donald Trump said he wants to create a strategic cryptocurrency reserve, expanding previous promises of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Link. 

- According to Electric Capital’s 2024 developer report, Solana was the top ecosystem for new crypto developers in 2024, beating Ethereum for the first time in 8 years. Ethereum remained the most popular overall. Link. Link. Report.

- BlackRock has recommended investors who want a multi-asset portfolio invest up to 2% into bitcoin. Their iShares Bitcoin and Ethereum trusts are the largest crypto ETFs in terms of AUM. Link. 

- Google announced a new quantum computer chip with a record 105 qubits. Quantum computers can theoretically break encryption algorithms like those used to secure blockchains but would require several million qubits. Link. Link. 

- Microstrategy will be added to the Nasdaq-100 on December 23rd after its stock rallied nearly 500% YTD. Microstrategy is currently the largest corporate owner of Bitcoin, holding over 2% of all Bitcoin supply. Link. Link. 

- Magic Eden launched its Solana token $ME this week. Link. 

- NFT project Pudgy Penguins overtook Bored Ape Yacht Club to become the second-largest NFT collection by market cap. Pudgy Penguins plans to launch a native Pengu token on Solana this month. Link. 

- The Senate Banking Committee postponed a vote to re-confirm SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw. If Crenshaw’s nomination isn’t voted on by the entire Senate before they adjourn on 12/20, Donald Trump would gain authority to nominate replacements for all three Democrat seats on the five-member commission. Link. Link. 

- Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, said he was investing in “hard money” like bitcoin and gold due to rising global debt levels which he believes will lead to debt crises and devaluation of fiat currencies. Link. 

- Microsoft shareholders rejected a proposal to add Bitcoin to the company’s balance sheet, with less than 1% of shareholders voting for the proposal. Amazon shareholders have submitted a similar proposal to its board. Link. Link. 

- Coinbase Europe delisted multiplied stablecoins including USDT and PayPal USD due to lack of compliance with the new European Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. Link. 

- Congressman French Hill (R-Ark.) was selected to chair the House Financial Services committee. Hill currently chairs the committee's digital asset panel. Link. 

- A wallet belonging to World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project associated with Donald Trump, bought $10.4 million ETH, $1.4 million AAVE and $2.2 million LINK this week. The project has yet to launch. Link. 

- Ethereum ETFs have seen net inflows for a record 16 straight days. Blackrock’s Ethereum ETF has seen $1.5 billion in inflows since November 20 (it had $1.7 billion the 4 months prior). Link. 

- Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin has secured final approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services, with plans to launch as soon as this month. Link. 

- Bitcoin ATM giant Byte Federal said hackers stole personal data, including social security numbers and government-issued IDs, of its 58,000 customers. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($3.84T): +6% / +116%
- BTC ($99,578): +2% / +134%
- ETH ($3,970): +7% / +74%
- SOL ($235): 0% / +130%
- UNI ($18.42): +41% / +152%
- POL ($0.70): +18% / -28%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($138B): +3% / +50%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($41.1B): +3% / +68%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 51% / 13%

- The price of Bitcoin passed $100k for the first time ever this week, reaching an all time high of $104k. Link. 

- The price of ETH rose above $4,000 this week as ethereum ETFs saw over $800 million in net deposits, an all time high. Link. Link. 

- DeFi lending protocol Aave reached record net deposits of $31.4 billion this week, which would rank it the 63rd largest commercial bank in the US. Link. 

- The FDIC asked banks in 2022 and 2023 to pause cryptocurrency-related activity according to heavily redacted letters obtained in a lawsuit brought by Coinbase. Banking regulators have been accused of conspiring to “de-bank” industry participants in what crypto proponents call “Operation Chokepoint 2.0”. Link. Tweet. 

- President-elect Donald Trump selected former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins to replace Gary Gensler as chair of the SEC. Atkins served as Commissioner from 2002-2008 and co-chairs Token Alliance, a crypto lobbying group for the Chamber of Digital Commerce. Link. Link. 

- The SEC is planning to reject at least two of the five Solana ETF applications it has received. The regulator called Solana an unregistered security in multiple lawsuits with crypto exchanges. The applications are expected to be refiled after current SEC chair Gary Gensler resigns on January 20th. Link. 

- President-elect Donald Trump named venture capitalist David Sacks as “AI and Crypto Czar”, a new role that will guide the administration’s policies in both industries. Link. 

- Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun, which accounted for 62% of Solana’s volumes in November, is no longer available to users in the UK after it received a warning from UK regulators. Link. 

- NFT project Pudgy Penguins is launching its $PENGU token on Solana, with almost ¼ of the supply going to NFT holders of Pudgy Penguins and their associated projects. Link. 

- Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius, pled guilty to multiple counts of fraud and faces up to 30 years in prison. As part of the plea, Mashinsky will return $48 million to investors. Link. Link. 

- Coinbase’s Onramp service, which enables fiat-to-crypto purchases, adds Apple Pay as a payment option. Link. 

- NFT studio RTFKT announced it is shutting down. It was acquired by Nike in 2021 for an undisclosed amount and its flagship PFP collection CloneX was one of the most successful NFT launches in 2021, generating $80 million in sales. Link. Link. 

- Wikileaks is inscribing the Afghan War Logs as Bitcoin ordinals to protect it from future censorship. The classified military documents were released in 2010 by Jullian Assange and are one of the largest US intelligence leaks in history. Link. 

- Michael Gronager, co-founder and longtime CEO of blockchain data unicorn Chainalysis, is leaving the company permanently, two months after taking a temporary leave of absence. Co-founder and chief strategy officer Jonathan Levin will take over as CEO. Link. 

- YouTube views of crypto influencer content reached 4.72 million weekly viewers in November, a 12 month high. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($3.45T): +10% / +95%
- BTC ($97,047): +9% / +129%
- ETH ($3,347): +9% / +47%
- SOL ($251): +8% / +146%
- UNI ($10.76): +24% / +47%
- POL ($0.55): +42% / -42%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($132B): +4% / +45%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($38.9B): +5% / +59%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 56% / 12%

- The crypto market cap reached an all time high of nearly $3.5 trillion this week, with Bitcoin nearly eclipsing $100k for the first time ever and Solana reaching an all time high of $264. Link Link.

- Bitcoin ETFs saw record daily inflows above $1 billion amongst speculation that the Trump administration will buy Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. Link Link.

- SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and Commissioner Jaime Lizárraga will step down before Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, leaving three commissioners: Republicans Mark Uyeda, Hester Pierce, and Democrat Caroline Crenshaw. Link Link.

- Donald Trump nominated Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to be Commerce Secretary and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary. Both have expressed pro-crypto stances, with Lutnick’s Cantor Fitzgerald currently servicing USDT issuer Tether. Link Link.

- A Texas judge ruled in favor of the Blockchain Association in their lawsuit against the SEC over its broad definition of broker/dealer for DeFi, which could treat retail investors like professional traders. The judge granted a summary judgment, meaning the case does not proceed to trial. Link Summary Judgment.

- The FTX estate expects to start repaying customers in March. An exact date will be announced in December. FTX recovered $16.5 billion, or 119% of the cash value of customer’s deposits the day the exchange went bankrupt in 2022. Link.

- Donald Trump’s transition team is holding discussions with the digital asset industry about whether to create a new White House post solely dedicated to cryptocurrency policy. Link.

- Coinbase’s iOS app ranked first in downloads finance apps, and crypto wallet Phantom ranked in the top 10 of all free iOS apps in downloads this week. Link Link.

- A federal judge ruled that Lido DAO can be treated as a general partnership, which would prevent active DAO participants from evading liability in litigation. The ruling came in a class action lawsuit against Lido for selling their token as an unregistered security offering. Link Ruling.

- Cantor Fitzgerald is in talks with Tether about starting a lending program that uses Bitcoin as collateral. The firm is led by incoming commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and already custodies Tether’s billions of US treasuries for USDT. Link.

- A federal judge ruled former FTX CTO Gary Wang will not serve prison time due to his cooperation with authorities in Sam Bankman Fried’s trial. Wang pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud in 2022. Link.

- Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor will give a presentation to Microsoft leadership on Bitcoin investment strategies. Microsoft shareholders are scheduled to vote on whether the company should conduct a formal assessment of Bitcoin as an investment on Dec. 10. Link.

- The U.K. plans to draft a regulatory framework for the crypto industry by early next year, according to Economic Secretary Tulip Siddiq. Link.

- Charles Schwab incoming CEO Rick Wurster said the firm will start offering spot crypto trading once the U.S. regulatory environment changes. Link.

- Donald Trump is meeting with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong this week to discuss potential appointments in his upcoming administration. Link.

- Trump Media and Technology Group, the operator of Truth Social, is in advanced talks to buy crypto trading platform Bakkt. Link.

- NFT marketplace Magic Eden announced their solana based token $ME will launch on December 22. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.84T): +19% / +60%
- BTC ($79,152): +16% / +86%
- ETH ($3,184): +30% / +39%
- SOL ($205): +26% / +101%
- UNI ($9.24): +29% / +26%
- POL ($0.40): +31% / -58%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($123B): +2% / +34%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($37.1B): +6% / +51%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 55% / 14%

- Bitcoin closed in on $80,000 for the first time, boosted by Donald Trump's election win and the prospect of a pro-crypto Congress for the first time. Bitcoin's previous all-time high was $73,000 in March. Link. Link. Link.

- Following Donald Trump's presidential win, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis reemphasized plans to create a strategic Bitcoin reserve that would enable the US Treasury to acquire up to 5% of the total BTC supply. Link.

- The crypto industry spent $135 million during the 2024 election cycle to back more than 50 pro-crypto candidates, and nearly 100% of those candidates won their respective elections on Tuesday. Most notably, anti-crypto Democrat Sherrod Brown and Chairman of the Senate banking committee, lost the Ohio Senate race to Republican Bernie Moreno. Link. Link. Link. Tweet. Stand with Crypto Results.

- Over $3.6 billion was bet on the election outcome on decentralized prediction marketplace Polymarket, with odds of Trump's victory growing well before the election was called by official outlets. Link. Link.

- BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF hit $34 billion of net assets after a record $1.1 billion of net inflows after the election, surpassing the $33 billion of assets held in BlackRock's gold ETF. Link. Link.

- President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has begun vetting potential candidates to replace current SEC chairman Gary Gensler. Candidates include Robinhood legal chief Dan Gallagher, Kirkland & Ellis partner Norm Champ, and former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins, among others. Current pro-crypto SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce has indicated she's not interested in the position. Link.

- Starting mid-2025, Detroit residents will be able to pay taxes and city fees using cryptocurrencies including bitcoin and ethereum. Link. Press Release.

- Coinbase's stock surged more than 30% following Donald Trump's win and the announcement of a $1 billion stock buyback program. Link.

- The FTX bankruptcy estate filed 23 lawsuits against Anthony Scaramucci, his hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, and other organizations including Crypto.com in an attempt to claw back money for creditors. Link.

- The Ethereum Foundation reported it holds $789 million of crypto assets, mostly in ether, and $181 million in non-crypto investments as of October 31. The Foundation also announced a new conflict-of-interest policy for its contributors. Link. Link.

- Block, previously known as Square, announced it was winding down its defi business TBD, and dedicating more resources towards bitcoin mining and its self-custody offerings. The company also announced Q3 earnings that missed analyst forecasts, leading to a 15% drop in share price. Link.

- A mystery trader known as the "Trump whale" profited more than $50 million on decentralized prediction market Polymarket after betting on Donald Trump's election win. Link. Link.

- The State of Michigan Retirement System, which oversees $13.6 billion in pension fund assets, purchased $10 million worth of spot ethereum ETF shares. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.38T): -1% / +34%
- BTC ($68,204): +1% / +61%
- ETH ($2,450): -2% / +7%
- SOL ($163): -7% / +60%
- UNI ($7.16): -5% / -2%
- POL ($0.31): -7% / -68%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($121B): 0% / +31%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.9B): +1% / +42%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 57% / 12%

- The Blockchain Association's member firms say they have spent $400 million on costs associated with enforcement actions brought by the SEC under Chair Gary Gensler. Link.

- Web3 gaming firm Immutable received a Wells Notice (letter notifying the company the agency believed the company violated securities law) just hours after initially being contacted by the SEC. The legal action is suspected to be connected with the IMX token launch in 2021. Link. Link.

- Since launching in January 2024, US Bitcoin ETFs have amassed $70 billion in net assets, more than half the net assets held by US Gold ETFs. Link.

- Former FTX chief engineer Nishad Singh was sentenced to time served for his role in the FTX collapse. Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison, and Caroline Ellison received a 2 year sentence. Link.

- The average number of blobs posted to ethereum hit a new record, indicating increased demand for rollup transactions on Layer 2s. Link.

- Coinbase pledged $25 million to Fairshake, a digital asset PAC that plans to use the money to support pro-crypto candidates in the 2026 midterm election. Link.

- World liberty financial, a DeFi project associated with Donald Trump, changed the fundraising goal for its governance token by 90%, just two week after launch. The project also announced it will launch a stablecoin. Link. Link.

- Social media platform Reddit sold all of its bitcoin and ethereum holdings, earning $6.87 million. Link.

- The US government is negotiating for the return of up to $13.25 million in political donations made by former FTX executives, according to a new filing in federal court. Link.

- The US Treasury is concerned about the growth of the stablecoin market and believes privately issued stablecoins should eventually be replaced by a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Link. Report.

- Coinbase reported a drop in Q3 2024 revenue due to reduced trading volumes but maintained profitability year over year. COIN dropped 15% on the news. Link. Link. Link.

- UBS launched a tokenized money market investment fund on ethereum called uMint. Link.

- Microstrategy is planning to raise $42 billion over the next three years to buy more Bitcoin. The company is the largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin, holding 252,220 BTC valued at over $18.2 billion. Link.

- On-chain derivatives exchange DYdx laid off 35% of its workforce. The exchange’s TVL (total value locked) is down 50% from its March 2024 peak. Link.

- Kraken will receive 25 million OP tokens as part of the launch of their ethereum L2 Ink, which uses the Optimism tech stack. Link.

- Crypto.com overtook Coinbase in spot trading volumes in North America in August. Link.

- Emory University holds $15 million in Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF, becoming the first endowment to publicly report having exposure to bitcoin. Link.

- Donald Trump’s odds of winning the presidency on Polymarket have fallen more than 10% from previous highs, and currently sit around 54%. Link.

- Binance founder CZ made his first public appearance since serving a 3-month prison sentence. CZ announced he has no plans to return to an official role at Binance. Link.

- Wallet infrastructure company Triangle is being acquired by stablecoin platform Bridge for an undisclosed amount. Bridge was acquired by FinTech giant Stripe for $1.1 billion. Link.

- 21shares filed an application with the SEC to list an XRP ETF. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.41T): -3% / +36%
- BTC ($67,705): -1% / +59%
- ETH ($2,490): -8% / +9%
- SOL ($176): +10% / +73%
- UNI ($7.53): -1% / +3%
- POL ($0.33): -14% / -66%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($120B): 0% / +31%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.6B): -1% / +42%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 56% / 13%

- The US is investigating Tether and its USDT stablecoin for sanctions and anti-money laundering violations. The news sparked a sell-off across crypto assets. Link. Link.

- Stripe acquired stablecoin software provider Bridge for $1.1 billion, the largest acquisition ever for the cryptocurrency industry. Link.

- Decentralized social media platform Farcaster made $32k in revenue last month, a decline of over 96% from a peak of $415k in February. Link.

- Microsoft shareholders will vote on investing in bitcoin during its annual shareholder meeting in December. The board of directors has recommended that shareholders vote against it. Link.

- Truth Terminal, the AI trading bot funded with $50,000 worth of bitcoin in July by venture capitalist Marc Andreesen, now holds over $10 million in its crypto wallet. It's trading activity has led to a surge in AI meme tokens and AI agents that use cryptocurrencies. Link. Link.

- Pennsylvania became the latest state to pass a bill protecting residents' rights to self-custody digital assets and use bitcoin as a payment. Roughly 12% of residents in the state own some form of digital assets. Link.

- Ethereum Layer 2 ApeChain launched during ApeFest in Lisbon. APE rose 100% on the announcement. Link.

- Centralized exchange Kraken is launching its own ethereum Layer 2 built on Optimism's tech stack. Link.

- Buenos Aires launched a digital identity service that uses ZK proofs to allow residents to access municipal services without revealing personal information. Link.

- A Nigerian court dropped charges and authorized the release of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, who had been detained in the country since February. Link. 

- Layer 2 network Scroll released its native governance token this week. Scroll is notable for being one of the few fully EVM equivalent zero knowledge rollups. Link.

- Early bitcoin developer Peter Todd has been in hiding since an HBO documentary alleged he is Satoshi Nakamoto. Link.

- Leading oracle provider Chainlink is expanding its services to Bitcoin for the first time with a partnership with Bitcoin Layer 2 Spiderchain. Link.

- Liquid restaking protocol Lido plans to support ethereum solo staking with a minimum of 1.5 ETH, vs the 32 ETH required to run an individual ethereum node. Lido currently accounts for less than 30% of the staking market. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.47T): +7% / +39%
- BTC ($68,581): +9% / +61%
- ETH ($2,700): +9% / +18%
- SOL ($160): +8% / +57%
- UNI ($7.64): -1% / +5%
- POL ($0.38): +4% / -61%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($120B): 0% / +31%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($35.0B): 0% / +43%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 55% / 13%

- Stripe is in advanced talks to acquire stablecoin platform Bridge. Bridge raised a $40 million Series A this past summer, in a round led by Sequoia. Link.

- Bitcoin spot ETFs received $2 billion in inflows this past week, hitting a total net asset value of over $66 billion - nearly 5% of bitcoin's total market cap. Link.

- Kamala Harris's transition team is reportedly vetting candidates with more favorable views on crypto to replace current SEC Chair Gary Gensler. This includes Georgetown Law professor Chris Brummer and Chair of PCAOB Erica Williams. Link.

- Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin laid out plans to achieve 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) on L1 and L2s ("The Surge"), as well as plans to minimize proof-of-stake centralization ("The Scourge"). Link. Link. Surge Blog Post. Scourge Blog Post.

- World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project associated with Donald Trump, launched its governance token this week, raising less than 10% of its $300 million target. The token is non-transferable and only available to accredited investors. Link.

- Italy plans to increase capital gains taxes on cryptocurrencies to 42%, up from 26%, in order to fund social programs. Link.

- The market cap of PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin has fallen 40% over the past six weeks to $618 million, after Solana lending protocol Kamino reduced staking rewards. Link.

- Ethereum’s monthly staking revenue has fallen 30% since March to $174 million. Staked ETH rose 10% over the same period, and currently sits at 1.1 million ETH. Link. Link.

- Bitcoin’s monthly trading volumes have averaged $2 trillion YTD, up 76% from last year. Link. Report.

- Donald Trump's campaign received $5 million in digital currencies between July and the end of September. Link.

- The FBI arrested a man suspected of hacking the SEC’s official twitter account in January to prematurely announce the approval of multiple bitcoin ETFs. Link. Announcement

- FTX engineering director Nishad Singh is requesting no prison time in his sentencing due to his cooperation in the cases against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and executive Ryan Salame. Singh pled guilty to six charges and will be sentenced on October 30th. Link.

- Robinhood plans to support bitcoin and ethereum futures trading as part of a broader rollout of futures products. Link . Announcement.

- Grayscale filed paperwork with the SEC to convert its current Digital Large Cap Fund, which includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Avalanche, into an ETF. Link.

- Polymarket betting volume on the US presidential election crossed $2 billion this week, with Donald Trump's odds of winning the election growing to almost 60%. Link. Link. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.3T): -1% / +30%
- BTC ($62,979): -1% / +48%
- ETH ($2,475): -1% / +8%
- SOL ($148): -1% / +45%
- UNI ($7.71): +5% / +51%
- POL ($0.37): -6% / -62%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($120B): 0% / +31%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($35.0B): -1% / +43%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 13%

- Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher is emerging as a leading contender to head the SEC should Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election. Link. 

- A new Ethereum Improvement Proposal, EIP-7781, aims to increase network throughput 50% by reducing block times from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. Link. Proposal.

- The FTX bankruptcy estate received approval to repay $12.6 billion to FTX customers who had their crypto locked when the exchange imploded in 2022. Link. Link. 

- Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange on ethereum, announced it is launching a dedicated Layer-2 called Unichain built on Optimism’s tech stack. No details yet of how Uniswap’s governance token UNI will be integrated. Link. Blog Post.

- Fidelity filed paperwork with the SEC to launch a tokenized money market fund that uses blockchain for transaction efficiency. Link. 

- Stripe merchants can now accept USDC payments that settle as fiat in their merchant accounts. Link. Announcement. 

- An HBO documentary called “Money Electric” makes the case that early Bitcoin developer Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto, a claim Todd categorically denies. Link. Link. 

- Almost half of hedge funds have exposure to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, up from 29% in 2023 and 37% in 2022. Link. 

- The FBI created a fake cryptocurrency company, NexFundAI, in a sting operation that resulted in fraud charges against 18 individuals and three trading firms for engaging in wash trading and market manipulation. Link. Link. Link. 

- Crypto.com is suing the SEC, claiming they are overstepping their jurisdiction by claiming virtually any exchange of crypto assets is a securities transaction, after receiving a Wells Notice from the regulator. Link. Blog Post. Filing. 

- Crypto exchange Binance saw its overall market share drop to 36%, it’s lowest since 2020. Link.

- South Korea’s top financial watchdog said it would reevaluate its 2021 ban on spot crypto ETFs and institutional trading on crypto exchanges. Link. 

- Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager is taking a temporary personal leave of absence from the company. Link. 

- US prosecutors recommended an 18 month sentence for Razzlekhan, who is accused of helping her husband hide almost 120,000 BTC stolen from the Bitfinex exchange in 2016. Link. 

- Crypto transactions in the UAE will be exempt from paying a 5% value-added tax (VAT). The change applies retroactively to transactions as far back as 2018. Link. 

- World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project associated with Donald Trump, will launch its governance token next week, aiming to raise $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation from accredited investors. The first phase of the project involves deploying a fork of the Aave lending protocol on Ethereum Layer-2 Scroll. Link. 

- Former FTX executive Ryan Salame discussed his time at FTX and his trial in an interview with Tucker Carlson. He was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for campaign finance and money transmitter violations, a ruling he is currently appealing. Link. Interview. 

- Asset manager VanEck is launching a $30 million venture capital fund to invest in digital assets, fintech, and AI startups. VanEck was one of the first institutions to file for Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs. Link. 

- Canary Capital filed paperwork with the SEC for an XRP ETF, just a week after Bitwise Asset Management. The SEC is appealing a 2023 legal ruling that the secondary trading of XRP did not constitute a securities offering. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.3T): -3% / +31%
- BTC ($63,812): -2% / +50%
- ETH ($2,493): -5% / +9%
- SOL ($150): -5% / +47%
- UNI ($7.32): -1% / 0%
- POL ($0.39): -7% / -60%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($120B): 0% / +30%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($35.5B): -2% / +45%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 13%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Bitcoin prices fell this week as geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel intensified, while investors shifted away from risk-on assets like cryptocurrencies to risk-off assets like gold. Link.

- Banks in North America, Europe and Asia will begin live trials of digital asset and currency transactions over Swift's global messaging network in early 2025. Link.

- After meeting one-on-one with Gary Gensler, Mark Cuban described the SEC chairman as genuinely unaware of why the regulator's enforcement strategy is unpopular. Link.

- The SEC filed an appeal in its lawsuit against Ripple and its XRP token, which it claims was sold as an unregistered securities offering. The judge ordered Ripple to pay a $125 million civil penalty, while the SEC sought for $2 billion. Link.

- The SEC's top enforcement official, Gurbir Grewal, is leaving the agency for private practice. Link.

- A new documentary coming out October 8 on HBO claims it will reveal the true identity of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Link.

- Bitcoin miners saw a 6% decline in profit last month, hitting new lows driven by the halving in April. Link.

- Bitwise filed paperwork with the SEC to launch an XRP ETF. XRP is the native token of Ripple, the seventh largest digital token. Link.

- Visa launches a platform to help financial institutions issue fiat-backed tokens and test their use cases, with Spain's BBVA as the first user. Link. Link.

- ETH restaking protocol Eigenlayer’s token began trading this week after being locked since May of this year. Link.

- A new report from CryptoISAC indicates cash remains the dominant payment method for illicit activities, and crypto is declining in usage. Link.

- Coinbase is planning to delist USDT in Europe if it does not obtain proper licensing for the EU’s new MiCA rules by December 31. Other exchanges such as OKX made similar plans. Tether has maintained a stance that it will offer a “technology-based solution” in the EU. Link .  

- Binance's spot trading volume dipped more than 20% last month, leaving it with a 27% share of the spot market, its lowest level since September 2020 when it had over 40% market share. Link. Link.

- Grayscale is launching an Aave Trust product akin to its past BTC and ETH trusts. Grayscale currently has trust products for Chainlink, Filecoin and Bitcoin Cash, among others. Link.

- Video game publisher Ubisoft released a multiplayer shooting game powered by NFTs on Arbitrum. The game is based on the Captain Laserhawk: The G.A.M.E” show on Netflix. Link.

- PayPal completed its first business to business transaction using its stablecoin PyUSD. The Fintech giant recently permitted merchants to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrencies. Link.

- Asset manager Franklin Templeton announced its FOBXX tokenized treasury fund is launching on Aptos. The fund is already available on Arbitrum and Avalanche. Link .

- Aave V3's total value locked on Ethereum surpassed $10 billion, up 197% YTD. Aerodrome, the top DEX on Base, eclipsed $1 billion total value locked this week. Link . Link.

- A group of crypto industry leaders penned a letter to Kamala Harris’s campaign policy team asking for a meeting in October to discuss industry regulation. Link.

- Jesse Pollak announced he was joining the Coinbase executive team, and leading Coinbase Wallet development in addition to leading the company's Layer 2 solution Base. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.4T): +4% / +35%
- BTC ($65,215): +4% / +54%
- ETH ($2,634): +2% / +15%
- SOL ($158): +7% / +55%
- UNI ($7.39): +11% / +1%
- POL ($0.42): +3% / -57%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($119B): 0% / +30%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($36.2B): +1% / +48%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 14%

- The price of Bitcoin rallied this week, following positive US jobs data and economic stimulus promises from China. Link. 

- FTX debtors agreed to set aside up to 18% of all proceeds, approximately $230 million, to repay preferred shareholders and investors of the defunct exchange. Link. 

- BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF fund passed $1 billion in assets, two months after launch. Link. 

- Presidential candidate Kamala Harris said she planned to ensure the US remained “dominant” in emerging technologies such as blockchain, AI, and quantum computing, though she did not offer specific policies. Link. 

- Democratic House Representative Ritchie Torres questioned SEC Chairman Gary Gensler about the agency’s definition of a security by comparing buying an NFT to buying a Yankees ticket. All 5 SEC Commissioners, including Gensler and crypto advocate Hester Peirce testified before Congress about the agency’s approach to regulating digital assets. Link. Link. Link. Testimony. 

- Increased pressure from regulators around Silvergate Bank’s digital asset focused business model was the primary driver for its closing in early 2023. Link. 

- BNY Mellon, the oldest bank in the US, is planning to offer custodial services to ETF clients. Link. Link. 

- PayPal will allow US businesses and merchants to buy, sell, and accept cryptocurrencies. Link. 

- Binance founder CZ was released from custody after serving a four-month sentence in the US after a federal investigation found the exchange had failed to stop criminal activity on its platform. Link. Link. Link.

- Fintech firms Robinhood and Revolut are considering launching their own stablecoins. Link. 

- Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of FTX affiliate Alameda Research, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading to fraud charges related to the exchange’s collapse. Link. 

- Ethereum gas prices rose 500% over the past month due to an increase of on-chain activity. The median transaction on Ethereum now costs $1.69 compared to $0.09 at the start of the month. Link. 

- Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 blockchain, crossed $2 billion of total value locked for the first time, a 370% increase YTD. Link. 

- Blackrock’s Bitcoin ETF surged to $24 billion in AUM this week, or 1.7% of the total circulating supply of BTC. Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF is the second largest at $16 billion. Link. 

- Solana DeFi platform Mango Markets settled with the SEC over charges related to the unregistered offering and sale of the MNGO token. Mango Markets is most famous for its $110 million exploit by Aviram Eisenberg, who was convicted of fraud earlier this year. Link. Link. 

- Crypto-based betting market Polymarket is reportedly raising $50 million in new funding, after seeing over $470 million of betting volume in August, mostly related to the US presidential election. Link. Link. 

- A federal judge denied Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s motion to dismiss. The trial will begin December 2 and if convicted on all three counts, Storm faces up to 45 years in prison. Link. 

- South Korea fined Worldcoin $829,000 for violating the country’s laws on personal information protection by not informing users their data would be transferred to foreign countries. Link. 

- The SEC greenlit NASDAQ listing options for Blackrock’s iBIT Bitcoin ETF. Link. 

- Crypto companies in Dubai will be required to add a disclaimer to promotional material related to digital assets that says, ““virtual assets may lose their value in full or in part and are subject to extreme volatility”. Link. 

- The US House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution urging Nigeria to release Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, who was detained in February on charges of money laundering and currency manipulation related to Binance’s operations in the country. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.3T): +6% / +30%
- BTC ($62,992): +5% / +48%
- ETH ($2,587): +9% / +13%
- SOL ($148): +11% / +45%
- UNI ($6.68): 0% / -9%
- POL ($0.40): +2% / -58%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($119B): 0% / +30%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($35.9B): 0% / +47%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 14%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Bitcoin traded with other risk assets and rallied to a three-week high after the Fed announced it a 50 basis point cut in borrowing rates, the first cut in over four years. Link. 

- Shares of crypto exchange Coinbase, which sometimes acts as a proxy to crypto markets, jumped 7%. Link. 

- BIS, known as the bank of central banks, is exploring the creation of a global ledger that would tokenize cross-border trading of risk-free central bank money. Link. 

- Wyoming is investing $5.8 million into launching a stablecoin by early 2025. Link. 

- Louisiana residents can now pay for various state services with various cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and USDC. The first crypto payment processed was a Wildlife and Fisheries fine paid on the bitcoin lightning network. Link. 

- The Kingdom of Bhutan holds over $750 million of bitcoin, making it the fourth-largest government to hold the cryptocurrency. Link.  

- BNY, the largest custodian bank in the US, received SEC exemption from SAB 121 accounting rules, which require crypto custodians to report assets as liabilities on their balance sheets. Link. 

- The SEC approved Nasdaq’s application to list options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, an important hurdle for derivatives trading tied to spot pricing. Link.

- MicroStrategy sold $1 billion of convertible notes to add bitcoin to its balance sheet. The company owns $15.8 billion bitcoin. Link. 

- Coinbase’s Layer 2 Base recorded over 4.5 million transactions in a single day. Link. 

- The FBI arrested 3 men in Miami for stealing $240 million in bitcoin from a Genesis creditor, thanks to an investigation by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT. Link. 

- MoviePass users can pay for their subscriptions using USDC on the Sui blockchain. Link. 

- London-based fintech Revolut, last valued at $45 billion, plans to issue its own stablecoin. Link.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.2T): +8% / +23%
- BTC ($59,839): +10% / +41%
- ETH ($2,382): +5% / +4%
- SOL ($133): +3% / +30%
- UNI ($6.69): +6% / -8%
- POL* ($0.40): +6% / -59%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($119B): +1% / +30%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($35.7B): +2% / +46%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 13%
*ex-MATIC

- The SEC said it “regrets” referring to crypto tokens themselves as securities, according to a filing in its case against Binance. Link. Filing (pg. 24, footnote 6).  

- A recent enforcement action indicates the SEC no longer considers ethereum to be a security. Crypto trading platform eToro agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine for operating as an unregistered trading platform, and will cease trading on all cryptoassets except for bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and ether. Link. Link. 

- Decentralized prediction market Polymarket has received nearly $900 million in bets for the winner of the US 2024 presidential election. Link. 

- Crypto social network Friend.tech shut down just a year after launching. The startup had raised capital from Paradigm and generated over $90 million in fees since launch. Link. 

- Top memecoins are down 63% YTD on average. Link. 

- A federal judge restricted the CFTC’s oversight of electoral betting markets, potentially opening the door for prediction markets such as Polymarket to operate in the US. Link. Link. 

- The UK government introduced a bill that would give digital assets such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs the legal protections of “personal property”. Link. Link. 

- Russia’s central bank announced the country’s largest banks and businesses would need to be able to support many digital ruble operations including transfers of money, by July 1, 2025. Link. Press Release. 

- Singapore saw $1 billion of stablecoin volumes in Q2 according to a new report from Chainalysis, with $161 million coming from merchant transactions. Link. Report. 

- Visa released a dashboard for monitoring stablecoin volumes and transactions. Link. 

- Financial messaging network Swift is piloting support for stablecoins and crypto assets. Link. Tweet. 

- Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried requested a new trial, claiming the federal judge overseeing his original trial was biased and prevented him from mounting a proper defense. SBF is currently serving a 25 year prison year sentence for his role in the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in 2022. Link. Link. 

- Enterprise software maker MicroStrategy purchased 18,300 Bitcoin for around $1.11 billion, bringing its total bitcoin holdings to $14 billion and roughly 1% of current bitcoin supply. Link. 

- Utah-based tZero became the second firm after Prometheum to receive a special-purpose broker-dealer license from the SEC and FINRA to custody and trade digital assets. Link. 

- Three major Japanese banks will trial a cross-border stablecoin transfer platform, aimed at offering faster international settlement for enterprises. Link. 

- PayPal and Venmo users can now use ENS names (like “xyz.eth”) to transfer crypto assets. Link. Link. 

- The House Financial Services Committee held its first ever DeFi hearing, with Republicans praising its potential and Democrats raising concerns about its role in illicit finance. Link. Hearing Video. 

- The FBI reported a 45% uptick in fraud losses related to crypto from 2022 to 2023. Link. Report. 

- CryptoPunk #2386, one of 24 with the ape trait valued at 600 ETH, was acquired for just 10 ETH due to a buyout triggered through a now-defunct fractionalization platform. Link. 

- US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris faced off in their first debate but neither candidate mentioned crypto. The official Democratic Party platform also makes no mention of blockchain while the Republican Party platform has multiple proposed policies for the industry. Link. Link. 

- Stablecoin volumes on ethereum hit a new high of $1.46 trillion, led by DAI with $960B of volume. PayPal’s PYUSD grew from $500 million to $2.4 billion. Link. 

- Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan is stepping away from the blockchain after seven years of contributions. Ryan served as lead coordinator for Ethereum’s shift to proof-of-stake. Link. Announcement. 

- Representative John Rose introduced the BRIDGE Digital Assets Act, a joint committee between the SEC and CFTC to provide a regulatory landscape for digital assets. Link. Link. Draft Bill. 

- Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, is seeking a sentence of time served for her role in FTX's collapse, citing her cooperation with the government and the FTX bankruptcy team. Ellison, who testified against Sam Bankman-Fried and pleaded guilty to fraud, will be sentenced on September 24. Link. Filing.

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.0T): -5% / +13%
- BTC ($54,337): -6% / +28%
- ETH ($2,272): -7% / -1%
- SOL ($129): -1% / +26%
- UNI ($6.33): +11% / -13%
- POL* ($0.37): -8% / -61%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($118B): 0% / +29%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.9B): 0% / +43%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 53% / 14%
*ex-MATIC

- A disappointing US jobs report caused a risk-off sell-off in the market, effecting assets like Bitcoin and equities. Link. 

- SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda suggested the agency create a new form of its S-1 specifically for registering cryptocurrencies. Link. Link. 

- The SEC warned FTX’s bankruptcy estate it could challenge the legality of paying back claims in cash or dollar pegged stablecoins, rather than in-kind distributions of crypto assets. Link. Filing.

- Ethereum has significantly underperformed gold and silver YTD. Gold and silver are up 23% and 19% respectively, while ETH is flat. Link.

- Monthly fees earned by DeFi protocols dropped almost 25% in August to $288 million. Link. 

- Trading volumes on centralized crypto exchanges increased 6.6% in August to $1.2 trillion, with Binance capturing almost 40% of volumes. Crypto.com led in North America with volumes of $96 billion. Link. 

- The Bitcoin network hash rate, a measure of the compute needed to mine Bitcoin, hit an all time high 746 EH/s despite BTC trading below $60,000. Link. 

- Polygon’s migration of its MATIC token to POL went live. MATIC holders on Polygon PoS will be upgraded automatically, while MATIC holders on Ethereum, Polygon zkEVM, or centralized exchanges must migrate their tokens to POL. POL is the native gas and staking token on Polygon’s proof-of-stake blockchain. Link. Tweet. 

- The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, the country's largest financial regulator, has rejected 87% of crypto company applications. Link. 

- Uniswap Labs paid $175,000 to settle charges with the CFTC in connection with its offering of “illegal digital asset derivatives”. Link. Link. Press Release. 

- Telegram CEO Pavel Durov criticized the French government for pursuing “misguided criminal charges”. Durov was arrested in France over alleged criminal activity on the messaging app, and the platform’s lack of cooperation with law enforcement. Link. Original Post. 

- A Nigerian court postponed a bail decision for Binance's compliance lead, Tigran Gambaryan, who has been under arrest since February. He faces charges of money laundering and currency manipulation related to Binance’s activities in the country. Link. 

- Crypto friendly United Texas Bank received a cease and desist order from the Federal Reserve over its risk management and AML policies for digital assets. Link. Order. 

- Robinhood will pay the state of California $3.9m to settle claims that the platform prevented users from withdrawing digital assets to external crypto wallets from 2018-2022. Link. 

- Investment manager VanEck is shutting down its ETH Futures ETF on September 16. The decision was related to the approval of VanEck's spot Ethereum ETF. Link. Announcement. 

- Ripple’s CEO said it was very close to launching its US dollar-pegged stablecoin. He also said the company would not be seeking an IPO, given the SEC’s hostile stance towards crypto. Link. 

- Polymarket's election prediction data has been integrated into Bloomberg Terminal. Link. 

- Former Binance CEO CZ is barred for life from running the company, but will retain his majority ownership. Link. 

- The FBI issued a warning to firms associated with the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs of new threats from North Korea to steal customer funds using elaborate social engineering tactics. Link. Announcement.

- Matter Labs, the company behind Layer-2 protocol ZKsync, cut 16% of its workforce. Link. Link. 

- Galois Capital, the hedge fund most famous for predicting and profiting off of Terra’s collapse, settled with the SEC over charges of holding crypto assets on non-qualified custodians such as FTX. Galois shut down in February 2023. Link. Link. 

- A leaked whitepaper for Donald Trump’s DeFi project "World Liberty Financial" reveals it’s built on Aave and features a non-transferrable governance token. There is no public launch date for the project. Link. 

- Ethereum L2 Arbitrum announced the mainnet launch of Arbitrum Stylus, a blockchain that supports smart contracts in languages like C/C++ and Rust. Link. 

- The FTC warned consumers about increasing fraud at Bitcoin ATMs, citing $66 million lost in scams in the first half of 2024. Link.

- WazirX, the Indian crypto exchange that was hacked for $234 million in July, said at least 43% of customer funds were unlikely to be recovered. Link.

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.6T): -4% / +45%
- BTC ($66,672): -4% / +57%
- ETH ($3,635): -1% / +59%
- SOL ($150): -6% / +47%
- UNI ($11.61): +19% / +59%
- MATIC ($0.62): -4% / -36% 
- Tether Mkt Cap ($113B): 0% / +23%  
- USDC Mkt Cap ($33B): +1% / +33%  
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 51% / 17%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Bitcoin fell alongside US equities after hawkish comments from the Fed indicated there would only be one rate cut this year. Link. Link.

- SEC chair Gary Gensler said final approval of an ethereum spot ETF could come during the summer. Link.

- US share of crypto developers has fallen from 40% to 26% over the past five years according to a report from Coinbase. Link. Report.

- Presidential candidate Donald Trump is doubling down on crypto, calling himself the "crypto president". Link.

- 94% of central banks are exploring a central bank digital currency, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Link.

- The number of daily ethereum NFT traders fell to below 4,000 for the first time since June 2021. Link.

- Deutsche Telecom, the largest telecom provider in Europe and majority shareholder of T-Mobile, said it will begin mining bitcoin. Link.

- User deposits on ethereum Layer-2 network Base grew 20% in May to $1.7 billion. The protocol, which was launched by Coinbase in partnership with Optimism, is now the 3rd most valuable Layer-2 after Arbitrum and Blast. Link.

- The SEC settles with TerraForm and its founder Do Kwon for $4.47 billion related to the collapse of the company's Luna/Terra $UST stablecoin. The company reported it had $430 million in assets against $451 million in liabilities, making it unlikely the SEC will be able to collect the full amount, if anything. Link. Link.

- Parallel, an NFT-driven competitive card game, launched in the Epic Games store. Link.

- Uniswap Labs acquires crypto reality show 'Crypto: The Game' (CTG) for an undisclosed amount. The survival game has generated cultlike status in crypto since its launch earlier this year. Link.

- Fintech company Robinhood acquires European crypto exchange Bitstamp for $200 million, as it looks to expand outside of the US. Link. Link.

- DeFi aggregator and portfolio management tool Zapper will be launching Zapper Protocol to incentivize the interpretation and contextualization of on-chain data. Link. Announcement.

- Crypto venture firm Paradigm raised $850 million for its third fund. Link.

- Roughly $4 billion has been distributed via crypto airdrops in 2024. The three largest airdrops were Jupiter, Starknet, and Notcoin, each of which distributed roughly $1 billion. Link.

- Crypto wallet MetaMask will let US and UK users stake ethereum directly from their wallet. Link.

- South Korean regulators issued new guidelines that will treat certain NFTs as regular cryptocurrencies, particularly if they are mass-produced, fairly exchangeable, and capable of being fractionalized or used for payments. Link.

- PleasrDAO is suing "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli for saving and sharing the Wu-Tang Clan album "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin". PleasrDAO purchased the IP in 2021 for $4 million. Link. Lawsuit.

- Decentralized social media platform Friend.tech plans to migrate from Coinbase's Layer 2 network Base to its own blockchain, Friendchain. Link.

- Singer Drake bet $1 million worth of crypto on the Edmonton Oilers and the Dallas Mavericks to win their respective Stanley Cup and NBA finals. Link.

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.14T): -10% / +19%
- BTC ($57,659): -10% / +36%
- ETH ($2,450): -11% / +7%
- SOL ($130): -18% / +27%
- UNI ($5.69): -14% / -22%
- MATIC ($0.41): -22% / -58%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($118B): 0% / +29%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.8B): 0% / +42%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 14%

- NFT marketplace OpenSea received a Wells Notice from the SEC, indicating the regulator’s intention to sue the company. The SEC alleges the NFTs sold on OpenSea’s platform are unregistered securities. Link. Link. Link. Tweet. Blog Post.   

- Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was indicted in France on charges of providing cryptography tools and services that facilitated money laundering, child pornography and drug trafficking on the messaging app. Link. Link. 

- Cryptocurrencies extended losses mid-week, following a wave of liquidations of leveraged crypto derivatives. Bitcoin fell below $60,000. Link. 

- Predictions market Polymarket saw $463 million in volumes in August, more than the $377 million seen across NFTs. Link. 

- The US House Financial Services Committee is planning four hearings in September to discuss crypto-related issues across DeFi, SEC regulations, and crypto scams. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is expected to testify on September 23, along with the other 5 SEC commissioners. Link. 

- Elon Musk and Tesla won dismissal of a lawsuit claiming they pumped up the price of Dogecoin into a $258 billion ‘pyramid scheme’. A judge called Musk’s promotion “aspirational”, and said “no reasonable investor could rely upon them.” Link. 

- Presidential candidate Donald Trump posted on social media he would unveil plans to ensure the US would be the “crypto capital of the planet.” Link. Tweet. 

- DeFi platform MakerDAO is rebranding to Sky and launching two new tokens. Holders of the protocol’s DAI stablecoin and MKR tokens will have the option to upgrade their tokens to USDS and SKY to earn rewards on the new platform. Link. 

- Russia will begin testing the use of cryptocurrencies for cross-border transactions on September 1. Link. 

- Web3 browser Brave laid off 15% of its workforce. Link. Link. 

- Coinbase’s L2 blockchain Base passed 1 million daily active users for the first time, after seeing a 70% increase in active addresses over the past 30 days. Link. 

- Telegram’s TON blockchain stopped producing blocks for 6 hours after validators lost consensus due to an overload of transactions related to a memecoin airdrop. Link. 

- Crypto exchange Binance urged the US government to exert political pressure to secure the release of a Binance executive who has been held by Nigerian authorities for 6 months. Link. 

- Robinhood added support for Solana in its self-custodied Robinhood Wallet. Link. 

- Sony’s Ethereum L2 Soneium, a protocol for IP collaborations, rolled out its first testnet and announced a grants program. Link. 

- Majority of crypto scams have shifted from Ponzi schemes to common social engineering strategies according to a new Chainalysis report. Link. Report.

- Solana memecoin platform Pump.fun passed $100 million in cumulative revenue since launching in January. Link. 

- Telegram held $400 million in digital assets at the end of 2023. 40% of revenue, roughly $150 million, came from its integrated wallet and digital collectibles products. Link

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.3T): +8% / +32%
- BTC ($64,067): +9% / +51%
- ETH ($2,742): +4% / +20%
- SOL ($159): +11% / +56%
- UNI ($6.59): +6% / -10%
- MATIC ($0.52): +27% / -46%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($118B): +1% / +29%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.8B): 0% / +42%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 14%

- Bitcoin rebounded above $67,000 after Jerome Powell indicated the Fed would decrease interest rates in September. Risk markets more broadly rallied on the news. Link. Link. 

- The US Treasury Department withdrew a proposed rule from 2020 that would have required reporting of self-custodied crypto transactions to FinCEN. Link. 

- BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) is the first of the 11 spot ether ETFs to surpass $1 billion in net inflows since launching in July. Link. 

- Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov was taken into custody in Paris on suspicions of failing to take steps to prevent criminal use of the messaging application. Telegram has about 900 million active users and recently launched its own blockchain. Link. 

- Kamala Harris campaign advisor Brian Nelson said the administration would champion policies supporting the growth of digital assets in the US, but did not provide any concrete details. The official Democratic Party platform makes zero mentions of crypto, in contrast to the Republican Party platform. Link. Link.

- A judge ruled against Kraken’s motion to dismiss in its case with the SEC, who alleges the exchange is selling unregistered securities. The judge said some transactions might be investment contracts but criticized the agency's labeling of tokens as “crypto asset securities” as unclear and confusing. Link. 

- The crypto industry has contributed $119 million cumulatively to PACs this election cycle, trailing only the fossil fuel industry. Link. 

- Grayscale is launching an AVAX Trust product for Avalanche akin to its past BTC and ETH trusts. Grayscale currently has trust products for Chainlink, Filecoin and Bitcoin Cash, among others. Link. 

- Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are launching a DeFi project called The Defiant Ones. There’s little details of the project but Donald Trump posted a dedicated telegram channel on his Truth Social account this week. Link. 

- Asset manager Franklin Templeton announced its FOBXX tokenized treasury fund is launching on Avalanche. The fund is already available on Arbitrum. Link. 

- Tether announced the launch of a stablecoin pegged to the UAE Dirham, joining its existing lineup of stablecoins pegged to the US Dollar, Euro, Chinese Yuan, and Mexican Peso. Link. 

- Gas on Ethereum mainnet reached an all time low of 3 gwei (roughly 5 cents) this week. Link. 

- Former FTX executive Ryan Salame is urging a court to enforce his plea deal with the DOJ, claiming they have not upheld their promise to stop investigating his partner, Michelle Bond, for campaign finance violations related to her 2022 congressional campaign. Link. Link. Court Filing.

- Ethereum layer-2 Optimism is planning a hard fork after undergoing security audits that revealed vulnerabilities in its fault proof system. The foundation said the vulnerabilities identified during the audit have not been exploited. Link. 

- Prometheum, the controversial crypto firm known for agreeing with the SEC’s stance that most crypto tokens are securities, plans to expand its custody service to include UNI and ARB. The firm currently offers custodial services for ETH, which it has labeled a security. Link.

- Story Protocol announced a Series A raise co-led by A16z and Polychain Capital at a $2.25 billion valuation. The company is building a blockchain dedicated to protecting and distributing intellectual property and has raised $140 million to date. Link.

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.2T): -1% / +22%
- BTC ($58,773): -2% / +38%
- ETH ($2,626): -2% / +15%
- SOL ($143): -2% / +40%
- UNI ($6.21): 0% / -15%
- MATIC ($0.41): -3% / -57%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($117B): +1% / +27%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.8B): +1% / +42%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 15%

- Bitcoin ETFs are on pace to hold more bitcoin than the 1.1 million BTC held by the cryptocurrency’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. Link. 

- Gas fees on ethereum fell to a 5 year low. Link. 

- DeFi dominance, measured as a percentage of the global crypto market cap, dropped to its lowest point since January 2021. Link. Link. 

- Decentralized exchange Uniswap Labs has earned more than $50 million in fees from its front-end. The exchange began charging a 0.15% fee on transactions made in its web app and wallet in October. Link. 

- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced plans to enact crypto legislation by the end of the year at a campaign event for presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Harris has yet to comment on crypto policy. Link. Link. 

- Coinbase said it was resuming its exchange services in Hawaii, seven years after leaving the state. Coinbase is now available in all 50 states. Link. Link. 

- Crypto exchange Binance said it was relaunching its service in India after receiving the necessary approvals, 7 months after first suspending operations in the country. Link. Link. 

- Campaign finance filings show that Donald Trump holds between $1 million - $5 million in ETH. Trump’s running mate JD Vance holds between $100,000 - $250,000 in BTC. Link. Link. 

- Blackrock surpassed Grayscale in terms of assets under management (AUM) for publicly-listed crypto products, with $22 billion AUM vs. $20.7 billion. Link. 

- Employees of restaking protocol EigenLayer received nearly $5 million in airdrops from ecosystem partners this year, bringing into question conflicts of interest. EigenLayer has since banned the practice. Link. 

- Franklin Templeton filed paperwork with the SEC last Friday for a BTC/ETH combo ETF. The SEC already said it was delaying its decision for a similar ETF application by Hashdex to September 30. Link. 

- Liquidators for the failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) are seeking $1.3 billion from TerraForm Labs, for losses the fund suffered following the 2022 crash of its UST stablecoin / Luna token. Link. 

- Ripple began testing its dollar-pegged stablecoin RUSD on its XRP blockchain. RUSD is backed by short-term US Treasuries, dollar deposits, and cash equivalents. Link. 

- Crypto exchange Coinbase teased a potential launch of a tokenized bitcoin product under the ticker cbBTC, which could allow users to hold bitcoin on Ethereum and other chains including its own Layer-2 Base. Link. Tweet. 

- Metamask, Mastercard and Baanx are launching a debit card that enables purchasing directly from a Metamask wallet. The pilot is expected to launch in the EU later this year. Link. 

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.2T): +1% / +24%
- BTC ($59,828): +2% / +41%
- ETH ($2,669): -3% / +17%
- SOL ($146): +4% / +43%
- UNI ($6.18): -1% / -15%
- MATIC ($0.42): -1% / -56%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($115B): +1% / +26%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.3B): +3% / +40%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 15%

- Bitcoin dropped over 15% and traded below $50,000 this week, its lowest level since February. Ethereum fell over 23% to below $2,200, it's lowest level since January. The sell off was driven by a variety of events, including week economic data, Jump Crypto selling $500M of ethereum, and increasing probability of Kamala Harris winning the upcoming election over pro-crypto Donald Trump. Link. Link. Link. Link. 

- The CFTC proposed a rule to ban prediction markets, which would effect crypto prediction markets as well. Coinbase, Gemini, and Crypto.com opposed the new ruling. Link. 

- Jump Crypto, the crypto arm of market maker Jump Trading, liquidated over $500 million of staked ether. The US CFTC is allegedly looking into the firm's crypto investing activity. Link.

- The IRS released a revised draft of the 1099-DA tax form for crypto investors, removing the requirement for reporting wallet addresses, transaction IDs, and transaction dates. Link. 

- A judge fined Ripple $125 million for violating securities laws, bringing its multi-year lawsuit with the SEC to an end. The judge ruled that Ripple's original sale of XRP to institutional investors qualified as an unregistered security. The SEC had been seeking fines of $2 billion. Link. Link. Ruling. 

- Decentralized exchanges including Uniswap saw $18.2 billion in trading volume in a 24 hour period, the third most active day in DeFi’s history. Link. 

- Crypto lender Genesis Global, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2023, began distributing $4 billion worth of assets to creditors. Creditors will recover 64% of their crypto holdings. Link.

- Trading platform Robinhood saw revenue from crypto transactions increase 161% to $81 million in Q2. Link.

- Crypto startups raised more money across fewer deals in Q2, though activity remains far below 2021 highs. VC investment in crypto companies totaled $2.7 billion for the quarter. Link. 

- The SEC delayed a decision to approve Hashdex’s proposed single bitcoin/ethereum spot ETF to September 30th. Link. 

- Global asset management firm Franklin Templeton launched an on chain money market fund on Layer 1 blockchain Arbitrum. This is the second largest fund of its kind, following Blackrock’s BUIDL fund, which deployed on Ethereum mainnet earlier this year. Link. Link.

- A US court ordered bankrupt crypto exchange FTX to pay $12.7 billion in relief to its customers as part of its settlement with the CFTC. The regulator said it will not collect any payment from FTX until customers are paid back in full. Link. 

- London's High Court froze the assets of OneCoin founder Ruja Ignatova, the "Cryptoqueen," and others involved in the $4 billion Ponzi scheme of OneCoin. Ignatova, who disappeared in 2017, remains on the FBI's most wanted list with a $5 million reward for information leading to her arrest. Link. 

- Brazil’s securities and exchange commission approved a Solana-based ETF by QR Asset, making it the second of its kind after 21Shares launched a Solana ETF in Switzerland in June 2021. Link. 

- MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor said he has personally accumulated around $1 billion worth of bitcoin. MicroStrategy currently holds 226,500 btc, valued at over $13.5 billion. Link.

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.2T): -14% / +23%
- BTC ($58,892): -13% / +39%
- ETH ($2,742): -16% / +20%
- SOL ($141): -23% / +38%
- UNI ($6.26): -17% / -14%
- MATIC ($0.43): -16% / -56%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($114B): 0% / +25%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($33.2B): -3% / +36%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 15%

- The price of bitcoin and ethereum fell below $60,000 and $3,000 respectively, amidst a poor US jobs report that also caused the S&P 500 to have its worst day since 2022. Link. 

- Nine spot ethereum ETFs began trading this week. The ETFs witnessed net outflows of over $400 million, driven by the Grayscale Ethereum Trust which saw $1.5 billion in outflows. Link. Link. 

- Senator Cynthia Lummis unveiled a bill to make bitcoin a strategic part of the US Treasury, for the purpose of reducing debt. The bill proposes a reserve of 1,000,000 bitcoin, to be held for a minimum of 20 years. Link. 

- Donald Trump vowed to fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on his first day in office and make bitcoin a part of his Treasury policy. Trump also vowed to turn the US into a “bitcoin superpower” and commute the sentence of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. Link. Link. Link. Link.

- The FBI arrested BitClout founder Nader Al-Naji for wire fraud related to the $257 million he raised for the decentralized social network. Allegations include spending investor funds for personal use. The SEC also filed civil charges against Al-Naji for securities violations related to BitClout. Link. Link. Link.

- Avalanche partnered with the state of California to tokenize all 42 million car titles in the state. The project allows residents to claim their vehicle titles through a mobile app, which will reduce the need for in person DMV visits. Link. 

- In response to economic sanctions against the country, Russian lawmakers passed a bill allowing Russian companies to settle international transactions using cryptocurrency. Link. 

- Coinbase beat earnings estimates in Q2, posting $1.4 billion revenue and $36 million net income. Though transaction revenue was down almost 30%, the company’s USDC interest program grew its balance sheet by over $730 million. It also saw significant increase in usage of its Layer 2 blockchain Base, which grew 300% over the quarter. Link. Shareholder Letter. 

- USDT issuer Tether posted record profits of $5.2 billion for the first half of 2024. Tether holds $97 billion in US Treasury bills and 75,000 bitcoin in its reserves. Link. Link. 

- NFT artists Brian Frye and Johnathan Mann filed a lawsuit against the SEC to get a declaratory judgment that their upcoming NFT project is not at risk of SEC suits. Link. Lawsuit.  

- Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, is valued at $5 billion in the secondary market ahead of its upcoming IPO. The company tried to go public through a SPAC at a $9 billion valuation in 2022, but the deal was unsuccessful due to a lack of SEC approval. Link. 

- Solana’s DEX ecosystem now has a higher trading volume than Ethereum’s, driven by 2 million weekly active addresses and $24 billion in trading volume from leading DEX Raydium. Link. 

- DraftKings announced it is shutting down its NFT business, effective immediately. The company is embroiled in multiple class action lawsuits alleging its NFT sales violated securities laws. Link. 

- Hamilton Lane, the investment firm with over $920 billion in AUM, launched its private credit fund on the Solana blockchain. Investors can purchase tokens that represent ownership in its Senior Credit Opportunities Fund (“Scope”).  Link. 

- Morgan Stanley will allow its 15,000 financial advisers to purchase spot bitcoin ETFs for their clients. Link. 

- Montenegro courts ruled that Terra founder Do Kwon would be extradited to his native South Korea, rather than the United States. Do Kwon faces criminal charges in both countries related to the failed UST/Luna algorithmic stablecoin.  Link. Link. 

- Bitcoin’s hashrate, the amount of computational power needed to mine a block, is nearing all-time highs. Link. 

- The SEC amended its complaint against Binance to drop unregistered securities charges related to third-party tokens including Solana and Polygon. Experts say the decision may have been a litigation tactic, and not a change in policy. Link. Tweet.

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Crypto Market Cap ($2.6T): +10% / +44%
- BTC ($67,055): +12% / +58%
- ETH ($3,472): +9% / +52%
- SOL ($175): +21% / +72%
- UNI ($7.84): -4% / +7%
- MATIC ($0.53): +2% / -45%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($114B): +2% / +25%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($34.1B): +1% / +39%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 52% / 16%

- At least 5 ethereum spot ETFs received the greenlight from the SEC to begin trading Tuesday, July 23 including funds from Fidelity and VanEck. Bitcoin spot ETFs have accumulated over $54 billion in AUM since launching in January. Link. Link. Link. Link.

- Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin published a blog post arguing against voting for candidates simply for being "crypto friendly". The post comes a day after a16z co-founders Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreesseen publicly endorsed Donald Trump. Link. Post. Link.

- Cryptocurrencies rallied in part on expectations that a Donald Trump administration would lead to a more favorable regulatory environment for the space, including a possible leadership change at the SEC. Link. Link.

- Financial services and banking giant State Street is exploring ways to get involved in settling payments on the blockchain, including creating its own stablecoin. Link.

- Liquid staking provider Lido earned $19.1 million in fees this week, more than bitcoin ($5.9 million) and ethereum ($16.2 million). Link.

- WazirX, one of India's largest crypto exchanges, lost $230 million (nearly half its reserves) in a hack suspected to have been led by North Korea's Lazarus Group. Link. Link.

- More new tokens have been listed on centralized crypto exchanges in the first of 2024 than in all of 2023. Link. Link.

- The German government netted $2.88 billion from selling 50,000 BTC seized in January from an illegal piracy operation. Link. Announcement.

- Messari founder Ryan Selkis stepped down as CEO of the blockchain analytics firm after a series of politically charged tweets tied to his recent support for Donald Trump. Link.

- Ripple's XRP token surged 40% over speculation that the company had reached a settlement with regulators. The lawsuit has been ongoing since 2020 and is expected to have broad implications for the space. Link.

- Restaking protocol EigenLayer has $14.6 billion of total value locked deposited on its protocol, down 27% from an all-time high of $20 billion at the beginning of June. Link.

- The IRS said its program to identify people who omit crypto from their tax returns, dubbed "Operation Hidden Treasure", failed to produce any results since launching in 2021. Link.

- Donald Trump said he plans to release a fourth NFT collection. Link. Interview.

- Grayscale, the investment firm behind one of the largest spot bitcoin ETFs, announced a new digital asset fund to invest in AI-focused tokens. Initial holdings include Filecoin (FIL), Livepeer (LPT), Near (NEAR) and Render (RNDR). Link. Announcement.

- Polygon Labs said it would begin the technical upgrade of swapping out its MATIC token for its new POL token starting September. The technical upgrade enables POL to be the native gas and staking token for Polygon. Link.

- The Winklevoss twins, founders of the Gemini exchange, donated $1 million in bitcoin to Republican candidate John Deaton, who is running against Elizabeth Warren. Link.

- Defunct crypto lender BlockFi will begin distributing funds to its users via Coinbase. Link.

- Uniswap Labs publicly launched its wallet browser extension on Chrome. Link.

- Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith had his sentence reduced by 7 months. Griffith was sentenced to 63 months in 2022 for violating sanctions laws when he gave a presentation on cryptocurrency in North Korea in 2019. Link.

- Craig Wright, the Australian computer scientist who has claimed for years he was Satoshi Nakamoto, was forced by a judge to say he is not the founder of bitcoin. Link.