STATE OF CRYPTO

Summary from the TLDR Crypto newsletter

Crypto shows strong fundamental signals, including Stripe's Tempo SWIFT/ACH disruption ambitions, Citadel's $200 million Kraken investment, and $35 billion total RWA value, yet "fun crypto" has become compressed as average participants struggle to profit while research analysis fails to translate into trading returns. Public token sales at $1-2.5 billion valuations like Monad and MegaETH don't replicate early-stage venture exposure, creating a disconnect where only majors are recommendable despite DePIN revenues growing 400% year-over-year and monthly application revenue hitting $400 million. Upcoming research priorities include DePIN tokenomics reconciling strong sector growth with poor token performance, DeAI agent infrastructure and agentic payments via x402, Tempo's explicit positioning as a SWIFT alternative rather than a PayPal competitor, and internet capital markets exploring whether launchpad design or founder quality matters more after Believe's struggles versus MetaDAO's success.