TLDR CRYPTO 2025-05-01

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BITCOIN MINING NEARLY UNPROFITABLE ON AVERAGE

Bitcoin mining has become nearly unprofitable, with major public miners spending over $82,000 per BTC and smaller U.S. operations over $137,000—well above Bitcoin's current market price. In high-cost regions like Germany, the cost climbs to nearly $200,000 per coin. To adapt, large mining farms are deploying energy-efficient rigs and leasing excess computing capacity for alternative revenue streams.

VISA AND BRIDGE PARTNER ON NEW PRODUCT ENABLING STABLECOIN-BACKED CARDS

Visa and Bridge, a Stripe-acquired startup, have launched a new product that allows developers to issue Visa cards backed by stablecoins. Users can spend crypto at any Visa-accepting merchant, with merchants receiving payments in local currencies. The rollout will begin in several Latin American countries.

FULL VERSION OF LLAMAFEED LAUNCHED

LlamaFeed has launched its Full Version, offering Pro and Llama+ users expanded data, customizable content filters, AI-generated summaries, and new dashboard sections. The update also includes a redesigned mobile interface for improved on-the-go usability.

INTRODUCING INFINEX CONNECT

Infinex has unveiled Infinex Connect, a new SDK that transforms its wallet into a centralized hub for managing dApps across multiple blockchains. This innovation allows users to interact with various decentralized applications directly within the Infinex wallet, eliminating the need to switch between different interfaces and apps.

TOWARD A UNITED CHAINS OF ETHEREUM

Ethereum is currently a fragile alliance of semi-sovereign rollups, akin to post-Revolution America. To evolve, it must adopt a more unified, “federal” architecture that makes ETH the indispensable value anchor. Through L1 scaling and native rollups more tightly integrated with the base layer, Ethereum could become a cohesive republic of chains.

THE EVOLUTIONARY PATH

Crypto's increasing dollarization should be viewed as an evolutionary proving ground rather than a failure. Innovations in DeFi—lending, AMMs, derivatives, and governance—highlight the potential of code-based finance. Crypto currently has two unsustainable relationships with TradFi, one as an R&D lab for incumbents, and another as a tech layer relying on incumbent infrastructure. Ultimately, one model will prevail—whether by merging, reverting to centralization, or advancing fully decentralized protocols.

EIP-7938: EXPONENTIAL GAS LIMIT INCREASE VIA DEFAULT CLIENT VOTING BEHAVIOR

EIP-7938 proposes a bold gas limit increase schedule that could scale Ethereum's L1 execution capacity by 100–1000x in the coming years. The proposal, supported by advances in ZK proofs, DAS, and evolving node roles, emphasizes the importance of keeping L1 as Ethereum's economic hub.

STABLECOIN B2B PAYMENT IS ALL ABOUT WORKFLOWS, NOT PAYMENT ITSELF

B2B payments are shaped less by the act of transferring funds and more by the complex workflows that surround them—such as data validation, compliance checks, tax reconciliation, and multi-party approvals. To meet these demands, stablecoins must be embedded within orchestration layers that manage these processes end-to-end. When integrated into automated workflows, stablecoin infrastructure can enable near-instant settlement, onchain compliance triggers, transparent FX handling, and advanced services like real-time invoice factoring.

INSIDE MOVEMENT'S TOKEN-DUMP SCANDAL: SECRET CONTRACTS, SHADOW ADVISERS, AND HIDDEN MIDDLEMEN

Movement Labs is facing backlash after a botched market-making deal led to a $38M token dump and internal turmoil. Documents show that an obscure middleman, Rentech, gained control of 66 million MOVE tokens under questionable terms. The scandal has exposed internal disagreements, unclear roles between founders, advisers, and legal teams and raised serious concerns about governance and due diligence within one of crypto's most high-profile projects.

KAITO: THE ROBINHOOD OF CRYPTO

Kaito's success stems from its reward system—weekly leaderboard payouts and airdrops which creates a self-reinforcing loop of user participation and accessible monetization.

BARRY SILBERT ON CRYPTO'S EVOLUTION AND WHY BITTENSOR MAY BE THE NEXT BITCOIN

Barry Silbert discusses crypto's evolution, lessons from 2008, and his bullish outlook on Bittensor—a decentralized AI network he believes could become foundational like Bitcoin.

COINBASE UPS BITCOIN-BACKED USDC LOAN LIMIT TO $1 MILLION AFTER SEEING $130 MILLION IN ORIGINATIONS THIS YEAR

Coinbase's service, powered by Morpho, enables users to borrow without selling BTC.

RIPPLE'S $4–5B BID FOR CIRCLE REJECTED

Circle, which filed for an IPO earlier this month, was last valued at $9 billion in 2022.