TLDR Index
TLDR Crypto

TLDR CRYPTO 2025-08-18

5 sections12 entrieslinks blockcomplete parse

Parse notes

  • Subscription/account footer truncated before parsefooter_truncated

01MARKETS & BUSINESS

FED ENDS CRYPTO BANK SUPERVISION PROGRAM

The U.S. Federal Reserve has shut down its “Novel Activities Supervision Program,” which was created in 2023 to oversee banks engaging in crypto and fintech partnerships. The Fed said it has integrated the lessons learned into its standard supervisory process, rescinding the program's guidance letter. The move continues a broader regulatory pullback under the Trump administration, with agencies easing restrictions on banks' crypto involvement and shifting toward updated rulemaking.

links.tldrnewsletter.com3 min read

NORWAY'S SOVEREIGN WEALTH FUND BOOSTS BITCOIN EXPOSURE 83% IN Q2

Norges Bank Investment Management, the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, increased its bitcoin-linked holdings from 6,200 BTC to 11,400 BTC in Q2. The fund's exposure is almost entirely through MicroStrategy, with a small addition in Metaplanet shares. The proactive move is part of a broader trend of sovereign entities gaining indirect BTC exposure.

links.tldrnewsletter.com3 min read

02INNOVATION & LAUNCHES

GEMINI FILES FOR IPO ON NASDAQ

Gemini has filed a public S-1 to list on Nasdaq under the ticker GEMI. Revealing a $282.5M net loss in H1 2025 compared to $41.3M in the same period last year, the filing shows a shift of most users to its Florida-based Moonbase entity, away from New York's stricter regulatory regime. Gemini also disclosed a $75M credit agreement with Ripple, payable in RLUSD stablecoin, marking a deeper partnership as it aims to become the third U.S.-listed crypto exchange after Coinbase and Bullish.

links.tldrnewsletter.com3 min read

THE NEXT FRONTIER FOR LIMINAL, UNIT, AND HYPERLIQUID

Hyperliquid, Unit, and Liminal are converging to launch tokenized delta-neutral strategies through xTokens ($xHYPE, $xBTC, and $xETH) that represent pooled positions maintaining long spot exposure via Unit's bridged assets while shorting perps with measured leverage to capture funding payments. These self-appreciating tokens make Hyperliquid's native yield portable across HyperEVM and EVM chains, enabling composability within DeFi protocols like AMMs, lending markets, and Pendle-style yield trading venues for additional capital efficiency. The system offers two product lines: Customized for bespoke self-custody strategies and Tokenized for pooled, scalable positions that can serve as collateral or yield sources for retail users, institutions, and protocols.

x.com10 min read

03GUIDES & TUTORIALS

BEST CRYPTO DEBIT CARDS

The crypto card market, driven by increased crypto adoption and demand for seamless spending solutions, is experiencing rapid expansion. It is projected to grow from $1.6 billion in 2024 to $9 billion by 2034. Top performers include MetaMask Card, KAST Card, and Solayer's Emerald Card. The cards cater to different user priorities, with options optimized for privacy, low fees, global accessibility, or ecosystem token rewards.

x.com8 min read

ZORA FLYWHEEL EXPLAINED

Zora's tokenomics flywheel operates through a 3% trading fee structure (1% each to creator, platform, and LP) where all assets are paired with $ZORA, creating consistent buy pressure of 2.5% on every trade through fees and token sinks. The model addresses a critical flaw in Virtuals' design by routing all trading volume through canonical pools, preventing the liquidity fragmentation that weakened Virtuals when mature tokens migrated to more efficient venues like Uniswap v3. Despite concerns about the 3% fee sustainability, precedent exists in NFT markets that sustained $5B monthly volumes with ~10% fees, and current Solana meme coin trading effectively approaches 3% when factoring in platform fees, interface costs, and MEV. Trading volume of Zora coins will be the key performance indicator as this flywheel mechanism scales, with the token sink remaining active throughout a creator coin's entire lifecycle rather than just during initial launch phases.

threadreaderapp.com6 min read

04MISCELLANEOUS

THE STATE OF CRYPTO LEVERAGE – Q2 2025

Crypto leverage expanded significantly across all major sectors in Q2 2025, with DeFi lending reaching an all-time high of $26.47 billion (+42.11% QoQ), CeFi lending growing to $17.78 billion (+14.66% QoQ), and futures open interest surging to $132.6 billion (+37.47% QoQ). Growth was driven by three primary factors: reflexivity between rising asset prices and borrowing activity, increased demand from digital asset treasury companies, and the scaling of capital-efficient collateral strategies in DeFi, particularly Ethena's Liquid Leverage program with Aave and Pendle principal token looping strategies. The quarter highlighted DeFi's systemic importance when large ETH withdrawals from Aave caused borrowing rates to spike above staking yields, creating a cascading effect that pushed Ethereum's unstaking queue to a record 13 days. Market concentration remains high, with Tether commanding 57% of CeFi lending and the combined leverage ecosystem reaching $53.09 billion in total crypto-collateralized lending, approaching levels last seen in early 2022.

galaxy.com30 min read

THE AWS MOMENT FOR PAYMENTS

Circle's Arc and Stripe's rumored Tempo mark the shift to “payment-native chains” that do for money what AWS did for compute. They commoditize infrastructure and let competition move up the stack. With USDC as gas, built-in compliance, and high-throughput rails, these chains are designed for AI-driven transaction growth and enterprise adoption. Stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and CBDCs will coexist as complementary rails, making TradFi backward-compatible with DeFi.

fintechbrainfood.com10 min read