Search the archive

Invest Now at $0.85/share

DTCC GETS SEC CLEARANCE TO PILOT TOKENIZED SECURITIES

DTCC received an SEC no-action letter approval for a three-year pilot program starting H2 2026 to tokenize Russell 1000 stocks, major ETFs, and US Treasury securities onchain while maintaining identical rights and protections as original securities. Potential benefits include collateral mobility, 24/7 trading access, and programmable assets. The move signals growing acceptance of blockchain in traditional finance, with over $33 billion in real-world assets now onchain. DeFi protocol Ondo Finance urged the SEC to delay Nasdaq's tokenization plans until DTC settlement processes are disclosed publicly to ensure fair competition and prevent larger institutions from gaining advantages.

TERRA'S DO KWON SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON

Do Kwon received a 15-year prison sentence for his role in Terra's $50 billion collapse, exceeding prosecutors' 12-year request and tripling the defense's five-year proposal, which the judge called "utterly unthinkable and wildly unreasonable." District Judge Paul Engelmeyer cited the "eye-popping" magnitude of the crime, which affected hundreds of victims, Kwon's flight to Serbia and Montenegro on false passports, and "despicable" conduct during UST's de-peg advising retail to stay invested while insiders exited positions, with Kwon's trollish Twitter presence particularly galling to the judge. Kwon pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy and wire fraud after extradition in Montenegro, reducing the original nine-count indictment, which carried 135 years maximum, to two counts. He must serve at least half his sentence before applying for a South Korea transfer, where additional charges await.

BHUTAN DEBUTS TER GOLD-BACKED TOKEN

Bhutan has launched TER, a Solana-based gold-backed token issued through Gelephu Mindfulness City with custody by DK Bank, the kingdom's first licensed digital bank, offering international investors blockchain-based physical gold ownership with digital portability. The announcement follows Kyrgyzstan's $50 million USDKG gold-backed stablecoin launch days earlier, demonstrating a pattern of smaller nations using blockchain to fuse traditional asset reserves with regulated digital finance. Gelephu Mindfulness City operates as a special administrative region using digital assets for financial reserves and innovation as part of Bhutan's broader blockchain strategy to diversify its economy.

COINBASE INTRODUCES X402 V2

Coinbase has released x402 V2, an updated stablecoin-based AI agent payments protocol that features wallet-based identity, eliminating per-call repayment, automatic API discovery, dynamic payment recipients, and multi-chain/fiat support via Chain Agnostic Improvement Proposals. The modular SDK enables custom networks and schemes, moving the protocol from "what does it do" to "which services plug in next" as developers combine payments with secure wallet access. The update expands on the original open-source x402 protocol and x402 Bazaar discovery layer released earlier this year, positioning the system as future-proof infrastructure for unified payment models between agents and humans.

FOGO CANCELS $20 MILLION PRE-SALE

Fogo cancelled its $20 million token pre-sale, originally planned for December 17, instead airdropping the 2% allocation to better distribute tokens and reward early users ahead of its mainnet launch on January 13, with 38.98% of supply unlocked. The Solana Virtual Machine-based Layer 1 adjusted tokenomics to give institutional investors, Distributed Global and CMS Holdings, 8.77% while burning an additional 2% from core contributors' genesis allocation, with the team taking a snapshot of testnet Fogo Fishers and Portal Bridge users for Fogo Flames points redeemable for tokens. Fogo is the first blockchain implementing Jump Crypto's Firedancer client.

THE INDIAN USDT PREMIUM, EXPLAINED

The persistent ~6% premium for USDT in India isn't a retail quirk, it's a shadow exchange rate driven by capital controls and gold smuggling economics. India legally taxes imported gold at 6%, and historically, smugglers bypassed this using the hawala system to move money offshore. Today, hawala has upgraded to USDT as people with unreported cash buy Tether at a premium in India to pay gold suppliers abroad, pushing USDT above the RBI-managed INR/USD rate. The premium tracks the gold duty almost perfectly, as when the tax was 15%, the USDT premium was ~15% and when the tax dropped to 6%, the premium fell to ~6%.

WE NEED TO FIX OUR DEAL WITH BANKS

Consumers have an unfair relationship with banks. People earn almost nothing on deposits while banks take large risks, keep the upside, and rely on taxpayer bailouts for the downside. Historically, this was controlled by Glass-Steagall, which forced banks to separate boring deposit-taking from speculative investment banking, creating a safer and more socially aligned system. Deregulation in the 80s–90s removed those guardrails, letting banks earn huge profits while lobbying to restrict competition from yield-bearing stablecoins. There are two paths we may pursue: one is to allow free competition between banks and stablecoins, or consider bringing back Glass-Steagall to realign banks with public interest.

CRYPTO CARDS AREN'T THE ENDGAME, BUT THEY'RE NOT DEAD EITHER

Dismissing crypto cards because they're “not the endgame” misses how infra transitions actually happen, as we won't jump from SWIFT to self-custodial ZK payments overnight, and cards exist because merchant acceptance rails haven't moved yet. Commoditizing Cards-as-a-Service is an accelerant (not a weakness) that pushes differentiation up-stack into custody, yield routing, tax/FX transparency, UX, and compliance. Most crypto cards will die, especially in bear markets, but the winners will be self-custodial, multi-stablecoin native, yield-safe, low-FX, niche-focused, and genuinely user-first.

TETHER SUBMITS PROPOSAL TO ACQUIRE JUVENTUS FOOTBALL

Tether, a sponsor and partner of Juventus Football, submitted a $1.3 billion bid to acquire a majority stake in the football club, which was quickly declined.

MEME COINS AS ATTENTION MARKETS, NOT JOKES

Meme coins aren't just about gambling or “financial nihilism”, they're the first large-scale experiment in turning attention itself into a tradeable asset.

CITADEL MISREPRESENTS DEFI TO THE SEC, AND THE INDUSTRY PUSHES BACK

Citadel Securities sent a letter to the SEC urging it to regulate DeFi technology as if it were traditional financial intermediaries, arguing that validators, wallets, and smart contract developers should be treated like brokers.

STRIPE'S STABLECOIN PAYMENTS ARE GAINING REAL TRACTION ON POLYGON

Stripe's stablecoin volume on Polygon has grown from under $1M per month in late 2024 to peaks of $8–9M in 2025, signaling rising merchant confidence in Polygon as a payments layer.

FED ‘HAWKISH CUT' DECREASE CHANCES OF BTC SANTA RALLY

The Fed cut rates by 25 bps as expected, but paired it with cautious guidance as only one more cut is penciled in for 2026. The committee had its most dissents since 2018 (9-3 votes). Markets largely ignored the rate cut, with BTC dropping back to ~$90k and ETH below $3.2k as traders read the decision as a classic “hawkish cut” rather than the start of a dovish pivot. At the same time, the Fed will buy $40B in T-bills over the next month to keep reserves ample, adding a quiet liquidity tailwind even as Powell stresses data-dependence. Spot BTC ETFs continue to see healthy inflows (BlackRock added ~$193M on Tuesday), but retail selling and macro uncertainty are keeping price action range-bound instead of delivering the hoped-for Santa rally.

US SENATE'S CRYPTO MARKET STRUCTURE BILL GETS MESSY

Senate Democrats delivered a counteroffer on crypto market structure legislation outlining unresolved demands on financial stability protections, ethics rules preventing elected officials from profiting off crypto projects targeting Trump family ventures, and stablecoin yield limits reflecting deposit flight fears from community banks. The White House blocked ethics provisions and Democratic commissioner nominees, according to Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, as divisions persist over long-term CFTC/SEC oversight splits and secondary-market protections, with Democrats rejecting markup calls despite GOP assurances that the bill is nearly ready. The Senate has days left in its 2025 calendar ending next week before slipping into midterm election pressures and January 30's expiring Continuing Resolution, risking another government shutdown, while progressive groups and Senator Elizabeth Warren criticize the effort as threatening financial stability despite being sidelined by Democrats negotiating directly with Republicans.

SURF: MAKING INVESTING AS EASY AS ASKING

Surf AI solves crypto's education challenge as mainstream AI models, including GPT-5, Grok 4, and Claude Opus, achieve under 70% accuracy on specific crypto data queries versus Surf's multi-agent reasoning system combining social sentiment, technical analysis, and onchain tracking. The chatbot interface delivers verified research reports addressing crypto's fragmented workflow, requiring manual API writing and Dune queries, with transparent reasoning reducing hallucination risk in a high-stakes environment where single ticker mistakes could cost millions. Founded by serial entrepreneurs from BitTorrent, Instagram, and Google who previously built and sold DLive and Cyber, Surf attracted 80,000 registered users spanning institutional investors validating theses to grassroots communities understanding token markets.

OP SUCCINCT LITE IS ACTIVATED ON CELO MAINNET

Celo activated its Jello Hardfork on mainnet, becoming the first chain to implement OP Succinct Lite in production and launch a fully auditable DA bridge for EigenDA, which introduces ZK-powered non-interactive fault proofs for efficient dispute resolution. The upgrade includes a six-member challenger set, including five independent ecosystem participants monitoring sequencer behavior and enforcing security guarantees as Celo moves toward L2 Beat's Stage 2 decentralization criteria. The backward-compatible activation required no action from full nodes or developers while deploying a new Rust-based Celo-Kona EVM client constructed using Succinct's SP1 framework. The foundation enables Celo's Layer 2 roadmap to target greater throughput, improved Ethereum interoperability, and enhanced finality guarantees for its mobile-friendly, low-fee payment network.

THE INTERNET'S BLUEPRINT FOR ETHEREUM

You can't value Ethereum like a company or a normal L1. Instead, you have to treat it like the internet's base protocols (TCP/IP, DNS). It is a public good, so its main value comes from enabling everyone else. Ethereum should be valued based on captured value, Ethereum-dependent economic flow, and trust surplus. Captured value is the current market cap of ETH + L2s + DeFi blue chips, which is ~$0.6-0.9T today. Ethereum-dependent economic flows are like digital GDP, which is the annual value of activity that actually relies on Ethereum (e.g., stablecoins, tokenized assets, DeFi, NFTs, etc. which is capitalized at ~$0.3-3T. Trust surplus is the invisible value from lower fraud, counterparty risk, and rent extraction. It is estimated to be around $0.15-0.6T.

I DO NOT REGRET SPENDING 8 YEARS OF MY LIFE IN CRYPTO

Nic Carter responds to Ken Chang's "I wasted 8 years in crypto" post by acknowledging that crypto largely became a casino rather than the promised financial revolution, but argues pragmatic optimism remains justified as speculation is an inevitable externality of building permissionless infrastructure. Chang's disillusionment mirrors Mike Hearn's 2016 Bitcoin exit over centralization concerns, both stemming from tension between idealistic expectations and reality, though crypto's five teloi – sound money, smart contracts, digital property, capital market efficiency, and global financial access – are advancing more slowly and less dramatically than hoped. Real progress exists in Bitcoin, stablecoins, DEXes, and prediction markets, with increasing evidence of being on the right track, requiring acceptance that hyperbitcoinization won't happen, most value may accrue to corporations or consumer surplus, and the normalization of gambling among youth is a depressing but unavoidable cost of permissionless capital markets.

ETHEREUM'S IRREPLICABLE MOAT & WWIII-RESISTANT SETTLEMENT

Crypto natives are undervaluing how uniquely hard it would be to recreate Ethereum's politically neutral, globally shared settlement layer. The historical window that allowed Bitcoin and Ethereum to bootstrap legitimacy with open, general-purpose launches is closed, so new L1s are competing under very different, more financialized conditions. Meanwhile, institutional behavior is quietly confirming the thesis that when banks, fintechs, and tokenization projects pick a base chain, they increasingly default to Ethereum for its reliability, neutrality, and minimized counterparty risk. As more assets, rollups, and devs pile onto the EVM and rollup stack, its network effects compound, and with Fusaka as well as sharper EF execution, Ethereum's moat is widening rather than eroding.

MEGAETH LIQUIDITY MINING & LIKELY TGE TIMING

Aave's governance proposal to deploy on MegaETH reveals new details about the chain's incentive design. Aave Labs is slated to receive 30M MegaETH “points” for liquidity mining, with accrual and redemption happening on MegaETH's own site at the end of each ~2-month “season,” and eligibility restricted to KYC-verified users. If mainnet and Season 1 incentives start around January 2026, that schedule implies a plausible MEGA token TGE window around March or April 2026, when Season 1 points can first be redeemed.

ETHEREUM CLIENT POLITICS: ETHREX VS. RETH

Ethereum should be cautious about adopting Reth, a full node client funded and controlled by a single venture-backed entity (Paradigm) that's also investing in competing infra.

PENDLE'S STABLECOIN POWERHOUSE

Pendle's stablecoin markets are now dominated by Ethena's USDe, which accounts for ~50% of yield-bearing stablecoin TVL on the platform.

PHANTOM'S CASH SUPPLY TOPS $100M

Phantom's CASH stablecoin surpassed $100 million in supply two months after its September 30 launch.

SPACEX MOVES ANOTHER $95 MILLION OF ITS BITCOIN STASH

SpaceX moved 1,021 BTC worth $94.5 million to two unlabeled addresses on Wednesday via Coinbase Prime, marking the ninth transfer this year totaling 8,910 BTC ($924 million).

BITCOIN AND THE FED RATE CUT

The Federal Reserve cut rates 25 basis points to 3.50-3.75% as expected, despite unusually large public dissension, with Kansas City Fed's Jeffrey Schmid and Chicago Fed's Austan Goolsbee voting to hold steady, while Trump appointee Stephen Miran dissented for a 50 basis point cut. Updated projections lowered core inflation to 3% for 2025 and raised GDP growth to 2.3% for 2026, though the dot plot maintained one 2026 rate cut versus markets pricing two as policymakers operate without key economic data delayed by the government shutdown. Bitcoin remained around $92,400 following the announcement as US stocks moved modestly higher and the 10-year Treasury yield dipped 2 basis points to 4.15%, with CME FedWatch pricing 24% odds of a January cut ahead of Powell's press conference.

GEMINI WINS CFTC APPROVAL FOR PREDICTION MARKETS

Gemini just got CFTC approval to run a Designated Contract Market, clearing it to launch a fully regulated prediction market called Gemini Titan in the US. It will start with simple binary “yes/no” event contracts and could later expand into crypto futures, options, and perpetuals under the same regulatory umbrella. Gemini actually filed for this DCM license back in 2020, but only now is positioning it directly for the booming prediction-market vertical that Kalshi and Polymarket helped prove out.

CIRCLE LAUNCHING PRIVACY-CENTRIC VERSION OF USDC ON ALEO

Circle launched USDCx on Aleo's testnet via its xReserve platform, enabling privacy-preserving stablecoin transactions using zero-knowledge proofs for use cases spanning payroll, remittances, foreign aid, and national security. Aleo is building blockchain privacy infrastructure, with mainnet launch expected by the end of January, allowing users to protect transaction histories while maintaining regulatory compliance. Circle's xReserve enables blockchains to launch USDC-backed stablecoins that interoperate with native USDC, unifying liquidity.

GONDOR: BORROW AGAINST YOUR POLYMARKET POSITIONS

Gondor launched a DeFi protocol, allowing traders to borrow USDC at up to 50% loan-to-value against Polymarket ERC-1155 position tokens with dynamic interest capped at 10-30% based on market risk, liquidating at a 77% threshold by buying opposite outcomes and merging pairs for $1 redemption. The platform offers automated 2x leverage through recursive borrowing loops and applies early closure mechanisms for time-sensitive markets that linearly reduce liquidation thresholds to zero starting seven days before resolution. Three actively-managed funds – Conservative, Moderate, and Growth – currently supply lending liquidity during beta with team-selected market support based on liquidity, spreads, and slippage. V1 launching in 2026 will introduce cross-margining, enabling multiple positions as collateral bundles with diversified pricing, addressing remaining prediction market borrowing risks.

THE ANATOMY OF A CRYPTO NEOBANK/“DEFIBANK”

A “crypto neobank” effectively rebuilds four functions (Saving, Spending, Earning, and Borrowing) onchain. Today, CEXes act like quasi-neobanks but are still tied to legacy rails and custodial risk, while most DeFi products are siloed. A true DefiBank would be fully onchain, self-custodial, and composable with stablecoin “savings” backed 1:1, payments that bypass card networks, trading/earn built on DEX routing, and borrowing that mixes onchain collateral with offchain credit data.

THE ETHEREUM MOAT

Ethereum's unopinionated, general-purpose strategy that enabled its WWIII-resistant global settlement system is now impossible to replicate as institutions choose Ethereum over alternatives for reliability, neutrality, and minimized counterparty risk, similar to Bitcoin's institutional appeal. Network effects compound as more assets tokenize, rollups like Base anchor to Ethereum's security hub, and EVM developer onboarding accelerates, with Vitalik Buterin's rollup-centric roadmap widening Ethereum's moat rather than shrinking it. The Ethereum Foundation appears to be "righting the ship" after two years of struggle, as anecdotal evidence and data show institutions defaulting to Ethereum despite crypto-native sentiment turning bearish on L1 valuations.

LOW-RISK DEFI AS A GLOBAL SAVINGS ACCOUNT

“Low-risk DeFi on Ethereum” effectively becomes a universal savings account as anyone, anywhere can park money in dollar stablecoins and earn ~4% onchain, versus ~0.4% in a US bank account and often negative real yields elsewhere. By making treasury-like returns accessible globally, Ethereum turns compounding interest from a rich-country privilege into something available to a single mom, a refugee, or a teenager learning finance. In that framing, the win isn't speculative upside. Instead, it's simply letting people hold value that keeps up with (or beats) inflation.

STRIPE'S USDC FEE ISN'T JUST “GAS”

Stripe isn't charging to move USDC, it's charging to wrap stablecoins in a full payments stack (checkout UI, multi-rail routing, refunds, fiat settlement, fraud and compliance, subscriptions, analytics, and support) and embedding it where merchants already accept cards, PayPal, etc. To actually undercut 1.5%, a competitor would need to replicate that entire suite, not just accept a wallet transfer, which is why most merchants won't roll their own crypto integration for what is still incremental volume.

ETH VS ETHEREUM VALUE ACCRUAL

“Ultrasound Money” as a mechanical thesis is dead with Fusaka, fees and burn are structurally lower, institutions mostly want USD-denominated blockspace, and Ethereum's success no longer guarantees direct value accrual to ETH.

AAVE V4 IN ONE MINUTE

Aave v3 fragmented liquidity across markets.

SEI PARTNERS WITH XIAOMI FOR SMARTPHONE WALLETS

All new Xiaomi phones sold outside of mainland China and the United States will come pre-loaded with crypto apps.

STRIPE ACQUIRES VALORA WALLET TEAM

Stripe acquired the team behind mobile-first self-custody wallet Valora in an undisclosed acqui-hire as founder Jackie Bona transitions to pursue "expanding global access to financial systems," while the app's intellectual property returns to original developer cLabs.

Bridge now with Across →

US CRYPTO MARKET STRUCTURE TALKS STALL IN SENATE

The House has already passed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, but the Senate is juggling competing drafts from the Banking and Agriculture Committees that must reconcile SEC/CFTC jurisdiction, define “ancillary assets,” and set guardrails for DeFi and stablecoin yield. Hopes for a pre-Christmas markup are fading, with some senators citing timeline and White House concerns over ethics and quorum language, plus political noise around President Trump's extensive crypto holdings. Although a stablecoin law is on the books, broader rules for exchanges, tokens, and DeFi are still stuck in committee drama.

SEC APPROVES US' SECOND CRYPTO INDEX ETP

The Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund received SEC approval to trade on NYSE Arca as the second US-listed multi-asset crypto ETP following Grayscale's July approval, offering diversified exposure to the 10 largest cryptocurrencies rebalanced monthly. The $1.25 billion fund originally launched in 2020 as an OTC fund. It now joins the regulated structure used by gold, oil, and commodity funds, potentially easing operational risks for traditional allocators wary of direct token exposure.

PNC ROLLS OUT DIRECT BITCOIN TRADING FOR HIGH-NET-WORTH CLIENTS

PNC Bank launched direct spot bitcoin trading for private bank clients through Coinbase integration, enabling purchases funded from existing accounts with crypto positions appearing alongside traditional investments as the first major US lender offering direct asset trading versus passive ETFs. The move is a customer retention strategy that prevents migration to fintech platforms rather than immediate demand response. Expansion to institutional accounts, nonprofits, endowments, and foundations has been planned for early 2026. The launch extends Coinbase's push to supply crypto infrastructure to banks, avoiding internal buildouts while PNC provides banking and treasury services to Coinbase in return.

CIRCLE GETS ADGM GREENLIGHT IN ABU DHABI

Circle has received a Money Services Provider license from Abu Dhabi Global Market's FSRA. It can now offer regulated payment and settlement services out of the UAE. With the license, Circle can push USDC-based rails to businesses, banks, and developers across the region under a clear, bespoke digital-asset regime. The firm has hired ex-Visa exec Saeeda Jaffar as MD for the Middle East and Africa to drive institutional partnerships and onchain payments adoption. This move lands alongside ADGM's recognition of USDT on multiple chains and Binance.com's full authorization, signaling a coordinated push to make Abu Dhabi a key stablecoin and exchange hub.

THE NEW CRYPTO MARKETING PLAYBOOK

“Intern meme accounts + mascots” aren't enough anymore as social media algorithms now reward interaction, substance, and high-quality production. Founder-led and team-led content, short-form video with story, technical explainers for dev ecosystems, and cross-posting podcast/AMA clips across YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc, currently seem to be winning content strategies. Platform-specific writing and clipping long-form founder content can be cheaper and more effective than paying big KOLs. The long game is consistent, multi-person content from inside the team, not one viral post or one charismatic founder.

THE BLOCKCHAIN CANON

Blockchain's canon split after The DAO's 2016 fork into financial infrastructure focused on stablecoins and ETFs versus institutional machinery pursuing DAOs and network states. This comprehensive timeline spans from Chaum's 1983 blind signatures through Satoshi's 2008 whitepaper to 2025's GENIUS Act and Aztec's privacy-first technical whitepaper, documenting how the unified cypherpunk vision fractured when early governance experiments collided with reality. The canon compiled includes cryptographic foundations, political manifestos, catastrophic failures like Mt. Gox and Terra, regulatory milestones, and the shift from protest-oriented infrastructure to institutionally-recognized financial products as blockchain searches for synthesis between its twin mythologies.

PROPOSED ‘AFTERDARK' BITCOIN ETF WOULD SKIP US TRADING HOURS

Nicholas Financial filed with the SEC for an "AfterDark" bitcoin ETF holding BTC only from 4 pm to 9:30 am ET when US markets are closed, rotating into short-term Treasuries during American trading sessions based on data showing Bitcoin trending green overnight and red during US hours. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas confirmed similar 2024 patterns, suggesting spot ETFs or derivatives positioning may be driving the divergence. The fund is a novel approach that treats time of day as a key strategy factor in the growing ecosystem of bitcoin investment products.

BITWISE CIO SEES CRYPTO GROWING 10–20X IN THE NEXT DECADE

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan projects crypto growing 10-20x over the next decade, citing SEC Chair Paul Atkins's expectation that all US equities will move onchain within "a couple of years," contrasting $68 trillion in US equities against $670 million in tokenized stocks today. Despite eight years working in crypto, Hougan argues that blockchain winner-picking remains nearly impossible as outcomes depend on regulation, execution, macro conditions, and luck among hundreds of variables. Market-cap-weighted index exposure is preferable to directional chain bets to avoid backing the wrong horse even in a rapidly growing market.

CFTC DIGITAL-ASSET COLLATERAL PILOT

The CFTC's acting chair, Caroline Pham, has announced a digital assets pilot program that will allow certain crypto assets (BTC, ETH, and USDC) to be used as collateral in regulated derivatives markets.

ETHEREUM'S NEXT FRONTIER IS VALIDATOR PRIVACY IN THE P2P LAYER

Making validator networking private and fast requires attestation gossip via an OHTTP-style two-hop relay (breaking the IP and validator link), prioritized meshes using a ZK “proof-of-validator” (sybil-resistant without revealing identity), rate-limiting nullifiers to stop spam, and decoy traffic to hide behavioral patterns.

TOM LEE BUYS $435M ETHEREUM

Bitmine, the “Strategy of Ethereum,” bought an additional $435 million of ETH, bringing its total holdings to over $12 billion.