BlockBeats will organize the key industry news content of the week (7.14-7.20) in this article, and recommend in-depth articles to help readers better understand the market and learn about industry trends.
Important News Review
The crypto market continued to rise this week: Bitcoin broke through $123,000 to set a new record high, and Ethereum broke through $3,600
On July 14, Bitcoin broke through $123,000 for the first time, setting a new record high. At the same time, the huge short positions of "insider trader" @qwatio were all liquidated, with a total value of $334 million. On July 18, ETH rose above $3,600, and led a number of Altcoin to rise simultaneously, and the total market value of cryptocurrencies exceeded $4 trillion. Related reading: "ETH soared nearly 12% in a single day. Which Altcoin may follow suit?" , "Which five major macro factors boosted the crypto market's strong rebound? " , "Trader Observation | What is the future of Bitcoin after breaking through a new high? "
The U.S. House of Representatives passed all three cryptocurrency bills, and the GENIUS Act was officially signed into law
On July 18, the U.S. House of Representatives passed three cryptocurrency-related legislations, the CLARITY Act, the GENIUS Act, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act. The CLARITY Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act will be sent to the Senate for deliberation. The GENIUS Act was signed into law by Trump on Friday local time. Related reading: "The stablecoin bill in hand and the restless Wall Street bankers" , "Crypto milestones are approaching, what impact will the passage of the three major crypto bills have on the crypto industry?" , "Washington's "Crypto Week" has begun, how will the three major bills rewrite the fate of crypto?"
Trump repeatedly criticized the renovation of the Federal Reserve building, and Powell responded
On July 13, White House economic adviser Hassett said that if there is evidence to support it, US President Trump has the right to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Powell, adding that the Fed "bears a lot of responsibility" for the over-budget renovation costs of its Washington headquarters. But in the following days, Trump's attitude on the topic of whether to fire Powell was always wavering. On the 18th, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell responded to the renovation of the Federal Reserve building and said that the cooperation with the National Capital Planning Committee was constructive and robust, and it was promoted voluntarily by the Federal Reserve. The changes to the project since the approval of the National Development Council (NCPC) have only reduced and simplified the construction content. No new elements have been added and no further review is required. Related reading: "The whole story of Trump forcing Powell: a global flood caused by renovation" , "On Powell's "stay or go": the prediction market listens to Trump, and the interest rate market listens to Bessant"
Base held a "New Day One" event this week and launched the "universal application" Base App to replace Coinbase Wallet
On July 17, Base held an event called "A New Day One". Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Base co-founder Jesse Pollak gave speeches and announced the launch of the "everything app" - "Base App", which aims to attract more users to the crypto economy. This new application, which replaces Coinbase Wallet, integrates wallet, transaction, and payment functions, while integrating social media, instant messaging, and mini-program support, all running on its self-developed Ethereum second-layer network Base. At the same time, Flashblocks was launched to increase the basic speed of the network by 10 times, making the Base network the fastest EVM chain currently. Related reading: "Base Conference Express: From Superchain to Super App", "Coinbase Doesn't Want to Be a Trading Platform Anymore" , "One Step Faster Than Twitter, the New Coinbase Wallet Evolves into WeChat"
Backpack officially opens FTX debt sales channel
On July 18, Backpack tweeted that it has officially opened the FTX debt sales channel. Users can complete the entire process on the platform: real-name authentication, debt verification, quotation confirmation + settlement payment. Backpack will not charge any fees during the entire process. "To help other users who still hold FTX debt, we will launch a non-profit, completely neutral debt sales channel from now on to help FTX global debt holders connect with third-party buyers willing to acquire FTX debt."
Musk solicits names for Grok male partners, triggering drastic fluctuations in related meme coins
On July 16, Musk solicited names for Grok's male partner on the X platform. In response to the community's mention of "Taki, derived from your name (Musk)", Musk replied with a "love" emoticon, which seemed to indicate approval. Affected by this news, the relevant meme coins fluctuated violently in a short period of time. Among them, Ani briefly surged to a market value of 40 million US dollars and then fell back; the male partner's original name CHAD had a market value of over 2 million US dollars; "Taki" had multiple meme coins with the same name in a short period of time. On the 17th, Musk posted a message saying that the name of the male companion in Grok's humanoid partner will be Valentine, named after the protagonist in Heinlein's novel "Stranger in a Strange Land". Subsequently, CHAD plummeted by more than 50% in a short period of time, with a market value of less than 500,000 US dollars. The market value on the same day exceeded 10 million US dollars. In addition, the Grok humanoid partner-related memes Ani and rudi both fell in the short term, with Ani's market value falling to $70 million and rudi's market value falling to $12 million. Related reading: "The concept of AI girlfriend soars, what is Ani, which Musk is promoting again?"
" A whale with 80,000 BTC in silence for 14 years" transferred 40,010 BTC to Galaxy Digital this week, and another 40,000 BTC to an address starting with bc1qs
On July 15, according to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, the "80,000 BTC whale who has been silent for 14 years" moved 40,010 BTC and transferred them all to Galaxy Digital, with an average transfer price of $117,391. This transfer may be for sale. On the 17th, according to on-chain analyst Ai Yi's monitoring, the whale transferred another 40,000 BTC to the bc1qs...f4au0 address, totaling $4.74 billion.
BlackRock iShares Ethereum ETF Submits Collateral Application
On July 18, BlackRock iShares Ethereum ETF submitted a pledge application. According to a document filed on Thursday, the application was submitted by Nasdaq in accordance with SEC Rule 19b-4. 21Shares and Grayscale have also submitted similar proposals to introduce a pledge function for their Ethereum ETFs. Perhaps affected by this news, LDO rose by more than 11% in a short period of time.
SharpLink's holdings surpassed the Ethereum Foundation to become the largest ETH holding institution
On July 15, according to on-chain data, the number of ETH held by SharpLink Gaming, a US-listed company, has reached 294,000, with an average purchase price of approximately US$2,695. As the largest ETH holder, SharpLink's holdings have surpassed the Ethereum Foundation by approximately 51,200 ETH. The Foundation currently holds 242,500 ETH, ranking second. The Ethereum Foundation's holdings have fallen by 6.52% in the past 30 days, while SharpLink Gaming's holdings have increased by approximately 48.5% in the past 30 days. Related reading: "ETH New Dealer: Why Are We Betting on SBET?"
Ethereum will celebrate its 10th anniversary. EF will hold global community events in cities such as Shenzhen, China
On July 18, according to an official announcement, the Ethereum Foundation will hold a global community event in cities such as Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China on July 30, the 10th anniversary of Ethereum.
Trump to allow pension funds to invest in cryptocurrencies, gold
On July 18, it was reported that Trump is preparing to open up cryptocurrencies, gold and private equity to the $9 trillion U.S. retirement market, a move that would spur a fundamental shift in how Americans manage their savings. Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week to open up 401k retirement plans to alternative investments beyond traditional stocks and bonds, according to three people familiar with the matter. These investments will cover a wide range of asset classes, from digital assets to metals, as well as funds focused on corporate acquisitions, private loans and infrastructure deals. Related reading: "9 trillion pension funds entering the crypto? Trump wants to lift the ban on 401(k) investments in crypto assets"
Grayscale has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement for its initial public offering to the SEC
On July 14, according to official news, Grayscale Investments announced that it had secretly submitted a draft registration statement in Form S-1 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The number of shares to be registered and the price range have not yet been finalized. The registration is expected to be implemented after the SEC completes the review process, which will depend on market and other conditions. Related reading: "As Bitcoin reaches its peak, asset management giant Grayscale "silently" launches IPO plan"
Conflux public chain 3.0 is about to be launched, and plans to participate in the "Belt and Road" offshore RMB stablecoin issuance pilot
On July 20, the Conflux Technology and Ecosystem Development Conference was held in Shanghai from the 18th to the 20th of this month. At the conference, it was announced that the Conflux Conflux public chain 3.0 will be officially launched in August, and the transaction throughput will be increased to 15,000 TPS. It will natively support the on-chain call of artificial intelligence agents, enable cross-border payments and RWA asset batch settlement, and create a "digital highway" for Web3. Conflux has also reached a strategic cooperation with AnchorX and Eastcom Peace, and will jointly participate in the promotion of offshore RMB stablecoin issuance, cross-border settlement, RWA and other application scenarios in the countries participating in the "Belt and Road" initiative. Influenced by this news, CFX rose by more than 50% in the past 6 hours.
Binance Wallet and Four.Meme jointly launched an exclusive TGE model based on the Bonding Curve mechanism
On July 14, according to the official announcement, Binance Wallet will launch a new Token Generation Event (TGE) model, using the Bonding Curve mechanism - a pricing method that dynamically adjusts token prices based on market demand. This event was jointly launched by Binance and Four.Meme, and it is the first TGE on the platform to adopt this mechanism. On July 16, Binance Wallet's exclusive Bonding Curve version of TGE launched the first project Hyperion (RION). Related reading: "Binance's new gameplay Bonding Curve version of TGE: What is the origin of the first project Hyperion?"
Linea project leader: Token economics will be announced at the end of July instead of TGE. The specific TGE time depends on external factors such as CEX
On July 14, Linea project leader Declan Fox released clear information on social media: Linea token economics and governance details will be announced at the end of July (non-token generation event TGE); airdrop query tools and eligibility criteria will be announced a few days before TGE; the specific time of TGE depends on external factors such as CEX, but it will not be delayed too long; SBET is the stock code of Sharplink. The Linea token code is LINEA, but SBET, ETH and LINEA will form a "Three Musketeers" combination through Ethereum. Related reading: "Linea is finally going to TGE, looking back at the 900 days of life and death of the L2 unicorn"
The U.S. Department of Justice said that as of March, the agency only held 29,000 BTC, which is significantly lower than market speculation.
On July 17, according to documents obtained by crypto independent journalist L0la L33tz through the Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. Marshals Service holds far fewer bitcoins than previously thought. The Department of Justice revealed in a reply that as of March, the agency held only 28,988 bitcoins. This figure differs significantly from other market data sources: Arkham Intelligence estimates that various U.S. government departments hold a total of nearly $25 billion worth of cryptocurrency assets; Bitcoin Treasuries data shows that the U.S. government should hold 198,012 BTC (about $25 billion). Senator Cynthia Lummis, a major supporter of the strategic Bitcoin reserve, said: "It is shocking that the United States has reportedly sold more than 80% of its Bitcoin reserves, leaving only about 29,000. If true, this will be a major strategic mistake that will set the United States back several years in the competition in the Bitcoin field." Related reading: "Trump's encryption reserve plan was frustrated. Did the U.S. Marshals Service secretly sell 170,000 BTC? "
Former FSL Chief Growth Officer Mable Jiang announces creation of social protocol Trends
On July 17, Mable Jiang, chief growth officer of Stepn's parent company FSL, announced his resignation and founded the social protocol Trends. Trends will be anchored by value and committed to advancing the boundaries of information finance. Trends received early support from many outstanding founders and angel investors, including Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana Foundation Chairman Lily Liu, Jupiter co-founders Meow & Siong, etc. Mable said that in many years of exploring the popularization of encrypted applications, three first principles have been distilled: First, real Web3 innovations are accompanied by a significant reduction in the cost of value flow; second, the trend of integration of tokens as information containers and social media; third, the cost of on-chain issuance and value transfer continues to decline, and social scenarios are ready for this. Related reading: "Solana All-Star Support, How to Play Trends.fun, "Tweets Turn into Tokens"? "
Standard Chartered Bank Launches Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot Trading Services for Institutional Clients
On July 15, Standard Chartered Bank launched spot trading services for Bitcoin and Ethereum for institutional clients through its UK branch to meet the growing demand for crypto assets. Standard Chartered Bank said it has become the first global systemically important bank to provide deliverable Bitcoin and Ethereum spot trading services with secure, compliant and scalable access capabilities.
Trump family crypto project "WLFI token tradable" proposal has been passed
On July 17, according to the relevant page information, the Trump family crypto project "WLFI tokens are tradable" proposal has ended voting and passed. The goals of this proposal are as follows: Make WLFI tokens tradable, thereby achieving broader community governance participation through peer-to-peer transactions or secondary markets; promote the transition of the WLFI ecosystem from closed participation to open participation; enhance the practicality and scope of use of tokens; initiate the next stage of community ownership and interaction; align long-term token incentives with the adoption and success of the protocol. Related reading: "WLFI is about to be unlocked and launched, what is the valuation?"
Hungary implements the world's strictest crypto regulations, digital asset transactions may be convicted
On July 14, it was reported that Hungary officially implemented one of the world's most stringent cryptocurrency regulations on July 1, forcing several large fintech companies to suspend related services and potentially criminalizing digital asset transactions by hundreds of thousands of citizens. This major policy change has caused widespread confusion and concern in the fintech sector. The new regulations add two criminal charges: "crypto-asset misuse" and "providing unauthorized crypto-asset exchange services." Individuals who use unauthorized cryptocurrency trading services may face up to two years in prison for the underlying transaction; if the transaction amount exceeds 50 million Hungarian forints (about $140,000), the sentence can be up to three years; if it exceeds 500 million forints (about $1.4 million), the sentence can be up to five years.
Decentralized card game fantasy.top announced migration to Base
On July 15, according to official news, the decentralized card game fantasy.top announced its migration to Base, and the cross-chain bridge required for the migration will be open at 1 pm on July 15. On December 13 last year, the decentralized card game Fantasy.top based on Blast announced the launch of the second version of the platform, Fantasy V2, and completed a seed round of financing of US$4.25 million. This round of financing was led by Dragonfly and participated by Manifold Ventures. Related reading: "Fantasy.top, the "flag bearer" of the ecosystem, left, what happened to Blast?"
California Governor launches "Breakthrough Project" and invites senior executives from crypto companies such as Ripple and Coinbase to participate in government-enterprise collaboration reform
On July 15, FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett said that California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the launch of the "California Breakthrough Project" and invited senior leaders from technology and crypto companies such as Ripple, Coinbase, and MoonPay to participate in the project, aiming to provide advice and support for improving California government efficiency and cross-departmental collaboration. The project working group held its first meeting at Ripple's headquarters in San Francisco on June 6. Other participants included executives from Instacart, Snapchat, Anduril Technologies, and well-known angel investor Ron Conway.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the CFTC have concluded their investigation into Polymarket
On July 15, Bloomberg reported that during Trump’s administration, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) ended their investigation into the prediction platform Polymarket.
Nvidia to resume H20 chip sales in China
On July 15, according to market news, Nvidia (NVDA.O) said it would resume sales of H20 chips in China and announced the launch of a new, fully compliant GPU for China. The US government has assured Nvidia of a license, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon. Related reading: "Huang Renxun: After 30 years of financial freedom, I have no dreams"
Bitcoin mortgages debut in Australia
On July 18, Block Earner reportedly launched Australia’s first Bitcoin-backed home loan, following more than two years of the company’s court battle with regulators. The launch of the product was aided by a Federal Court ruling in April that determined that Block Earner’s cryptocurrency lending products were not “financial products” under the Corporations Act. The ruling meant that the company did not need to hold a financial services license to accept Bitcoin as collateral for home loans.
Mainland virtual currency scam hits Hong Kong, more than 100 Hong Kong people deceived, police arrest 4 people
On July 18, Caixin reported that the mainland virtual currency investment scam has spread to Hong Kong, with at least 118 people falling into the scam and losing a total of about HK$3.2 million. The Hong Kong police revealed that on July 15, four Hong Kong locals were arrested for "conspiracy to defraud". They were suspected of hosting a promotional dinner for the mainland virtual currency scam, recruiting victims and collecting HK$3.89 million in fraudulent funds. Except for a small amount of funds that were withdrawn, the remaining approximately HK$3.2 million has not yet been recovered.
This week's big rounds: Function, Two Prime, Dakota, Spiko, Ephemera, Blockskye, Substack, ACM
On July 15, it was reported that crypto infrastructure company Function completed a $10 million seed round of financing, led by Galaxy Digital, with participation from Antalpha and Mantle.
On the 15th, it was reported that Two Prime, an investment advisor and institutional lender registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), currently manages approximately $1.75 billion in assets. The company announced the completion of a $20 million equity financing round led by bitcoin mining company MARA Holdings (MARA), with Susquehanna Crypto also participating in this round of financing. In addition to acquiring equity in the company, MARA will also participate in the number of bitcoin allocations for Two Prime's institutional-level income strategy, increasing from the original 500 BTC to 2,000 BTC.
On the 15th, it was reported that Dakota, a crypto-integrated banking platform for enterprises, completed a US$12.5 million Series A financing round, led by CoinFund, with participation from 6th Man Ventures and Triton Ventures, aiming to expand its borderless banking services.
On the 17th, it was reported that the tokenized money market fund platform Spiko announced the completion of a US$22 million Series A financing round, led by Index Ventures, with participation from White Star Capital, Frst, Rerail, Bpifrance and Blockwall.
On the 17th, it was reported that Ephemera, the developer of the decentralized messaging protocol XMTP, completed a $20 million Series B financing round to build and develop its ecosystem. This round of financing was jointly led by Union Square Ventures, a16z crypto and Lightspeed Faction, and participated by Coinbase Ventures, Offline Ventures, Sound Ventures and others.
On the 18th, it was reported that Blockskye, which builds blockchain infrastructure for business travel, completed a US$15.8 million Series C financing round, led by Blockchange, with participation from United Airlines Venture Capital, Lightspeed Faction, KSV Global, Lasagna and others.
On the 18th, it was reported that the content subscription payment platform Substack recently completed a US$100 million financing round led by BOND and The Chernin Group, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group and Skims Body Inc co-founder Jens Grede.
On the 18th, the privacy financial protocol AI Cross Matrix (ACM) announced the completion of a US$12 million seed round of financing. Investors include Asva Capital, Genesis Capital, BuzzBridge Capital (BZB), Avalon Wealth Club and M2M Capital.
Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX was hacked, losing about $44.2 million
On July 19, the chain detective ZachXBT wrote in a post, "It looks like India's centralized trading platform CoinDCX may have been stolen about 17 hours ago, with a loss of approximately $44.2 million, but the incident has not been disclosed to the community so far. The attacker's address initially received 1 ETH as start-up capital through Tornado Cash, and then transferred part of the stolen funds from Solana to Ethereum across the chain. Thanks to @Cyvers for reminding me of these abnormal transfers. The affected CoinDCX hot wallet is not publicly marked, nor is it included in the current reserve proof, so I can only manually identify the ownership by reviewing the counterparty address. On July 20, CoinDCX issued a follow-up announcement of "losing approximately $44.2 million in the attack", stating that the cause of the attack was that the internal operating account was stolen due to an attack on the server, and the CoinDCX wallet used to store customer assets was not affected. The related losses will be borne entirely by CoinDCX's own vault reserves. Assets are currently being frozen and recovered, and a vulnerability bounty program is planned.
UK Home Office plans to sell around $7 billion in seized crypto assets to fill fiscal gap
On July 20, the British Daily Telegraph reported that the UK Home Office is working with the police to sell a batch of seized cryptocurrencies to fill the financial gap. The total amount of cryptocurrencies seized by the police is still unclear, but a raid in 2018 seized about 61,000 bitcoins from a Ponzi scheme case, with a total value of more than 5.4 billion pounds (about 7 billion U.S. dollars), about 20 times higher than when it was seized. The Home Office plans to establish a "cryptocurrency storage and liquidation framework" to allow law enforcement agencies to safely store frozen digital currencies and sell them. According to a tender notice issued by BlueLight Commercial, a police procurement company, on behalf of the Home Office, the British government will also provide a contract to operate a centralized service responsible for holding and selling seized cryptocurrencies. The contract is worth up to $53.7 million and will be valid for at least four years, but the proposal has not yet received an acceptable bid. The time between the police seizing digital assets and clearing and selling them is usually long. "The average time between asset seizure and the end of legal proceedings (realisation) is less than one year, but for more complex cases it may take three to four years," the tender notice said.
This week's hot articles
The Stablecoin Bill in Hand and the Restless Wall Street Bankers
The passage of the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act in the United States marks the official "landing" of stablecoins, which have become official financial instruments endorsed by the state. The improvement in regulatory clarity has triggered a collective entry of traditional Wall Street banks. JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, etc. have all laid out stablecoins and on-chain payments, and Standard Chartered Bank has directly opened spot transactions for Bitcoin and Ethereum. At the same time, Peter Thiel and others launched a new bank, Erebor, to provide compliant stablecoin services for high-risk innovative companies. With the reopening of the federal trust bank license, Circle, Ripple, Anchorage, etc. are actively seeking access to the Federal Reserve clearing system. Crypto finance is moving from the margins to the mainstream, setting off the next wave of reconstruction of financial infrastructure.
"ETH's Change of Dealership: From Retail Investor Consensus to Wall Street Collusion?"
ETH plummeted to $1,500 from the beginning of the year. In fact, it was a premeditated market cleanup and market change process by institutions. On-chain data shows that the chips are concentrated in the hands of a few large investors. Small-cap U.S. stocks such as SBET and BMNR have purchased ETH in large quantities through PIPE financing. The promoters behind them include Pantera, Consensys, Founders Fund and other crypto OGs. The narrative of ETH's rise has switched from a hype narrative to a structured financial instrument, attracting traditional financial funds. This script was planned and executed by Ethereum Core Capital. ETH is shifting from a community consensus asset to an institutional collusion asset. The narrative has changed, but the controller is still the familiar crypto old banker.
《Coinbase doesn’t want to be a trading platform anymore》
Coinbase is undergoing a deep transformation from a traditional trading platform to an on-chain financial infrastructure provider. Faced with challenges such as declining profits, lost trading volume and intensified competition, the company has acquired Spindl, Iron Fish, Liquifi and Deribit to build a full-stack ecosystem covering payment, privacy, token management and institutional services around the Base chain, USDC network, wallet and derivatives market, gradually getting rid of its dependence on spot trading. Coinbase is building itself into the "Apple + Visa + AWS" of the Web3 world, reshaping the underlying structure of the crypto world with identity systems, on-chain social networking, payment settlement, etc. as the fulcrum. Its ultimate competitor is no longer the crypto exchange, but the entire traditional financial system.
"If ETH reaches $5,000, how much can SBET rise?"
Over the past month, as Ethereum has soared from $2,100 to $3,000, ETH is quietly becoming a new strategic asset pursued by US-listed companies. Five US-listed companies have purchased more than 540,000 ETH in total, with a market value of more than $1.6 billion. SharpLink (SBET) has increased its holdings by nearly 50,000 in just five days, and its staking income has exceeded 300 ETH, with its holdings surpassing the Ethereum Foundation. The mNAV indicator shows that the current valuation is still rational and has not yet entered the emotional bubble stage. Institutions value the three major attributes of ETH-staking income, RWA narrative and replicable "MSTR model", which are driving an institutional value discovery of Ethereum. If ETH continues to rise to $5,000, these "Ethereum coin stocks" may usher in a new round of valuation revaluation.
《Behind the surge of $PENGU, the little penguin is going to become the face of finance》
Pudgy Penguins is redefining the narrative and positioning of NFT. Recently, its NFT floor price and token $PENGU have both soared, not due to hot speculation, but ignited by a "tacit action" of crypto giants collectively changing their penguin avatars, reflecting its rise as a symbol of industry consensus. From the deep binding of Web3 core projects to the traditional financial breakthrough of ringing the Nasdaq opening bell, Pudgy Penguins is competing for the seat of "visual spokesperson of the financial world" with its friendly and cute image. It is no longer just a Meme or NFT project, but intends to become a brand symbol connecting the mainstream and encryption.
"What are the conditions for a project to move from Binance Alpha to Binance spot?"
After Binance Alpha was upgraded to 2.0, most of the projects listed on Binance spot are new projects with strong financing backgrounds and formal project owners, accounting for only about 20%, showing a higher entry threshold. These projects are diverse in type, without obvious preference for popular narratives or self-invested projects, but generally have strong financing capabilities and synchronized TGE + airdrop rhythms. From the performance point of view, the maximum diluted market value of more than 70% of the projects on the first day of opening exceeded 20 times the financing amount, and the market's valuation expectations for "regular army" projects have gradually formed an invisible threshold.
"Big investors are rushing to buy, how attractive is Plasma's XPL public sale?"
Plasma was invested by Bitfinex, the parent company of Tether, and Peter Thiel. In just two months, it raised $27.5 million and was valued at $500 million, becoming the most watched stablecoin dedicated public chain. It combines the security of the Bitcoin settlement layer and the compatibility of the Ethereum virtual machine, supports free USDT transfers, privacy protection, and native BTC liquidity, and has attracted a large number of users to participate in the XPL public sale. Its unique charging mechanism and two-tier architecture not only improve performance, but also open up new sources of income and voice for Tether, and may become the new stablecoin overlord challenging TRON.
"What are the potential pitfalls in the surge of crypto reserve companies?"
The "crypto-treasuryization" of listed companies is evolving from simply buying coins to a carefully designed financial project, using traditional financing tools such as PIPE, SPAC, ATM and convertible bonds to drive market value with narratives and guide liquidity with structures. Driven by institutions such as UTXO, Pantera, and Galaxy, many companies have transformed into "coin-based monster stocks", but this capital game also hides structural risks: information asymmetry, dilution suppression, and liquidity mismatch often put retail investors in a passive position. What really drives stock prices up and down may not be the price of Bitcoin, but the invisible logic of capital structure.
"Underestimated Opportunity: Ethereum meme may be the wealth code of this cycle"
In this article, the author shares his specific strategy for achieving financial freedom through Ethereum meme coins: gradually withdraw from the Solana ecosystem with declining liquidity, turn to Ethereum meme coins with strong liquidity and DeFi compatibility, focus on blue-chip projects such as PEPE, MOG, and SHIB, and moderately hold small and medium-cap coins to increase potential returns. Through the IMF agreement, meme coins are mortgaged for lending, and low-risk spot leverage operations are carried out to maximize returns. Finally, the author emphasizes taking profits in batches and setting clear exit strategies, and believes that meme coins will continue to explode in the next round of bull market.
Peter Thiel: 2024 is the first year Musk no longer believes in Mars
The reason why the relationship between Silicon Valley and Trump is complicated and confusing is due to Silicon Valley's deep technological anxiety and ideological shift. In a conversation with Ross Douthat, Peter Thiel reiterated his concerns about "technological stagnation", believing that since the 1970s, society has gradually lost its driving force for progress, and a soft totalitarianism is lurking in the name of "peace and security". He criticized the mainstream science and technology culture for having lost its adventurous spirit, called for the rekindling of the belief in radical exploration, and warned that environmentalism and global governance may become a hotbed for "Antichrist"-style control in the future. In his view, AI is the only technological breakthrough at present, but it may promote reconstruction or aggravate stagnation. Facing the future, he has both the sobriety of realism and the hope of retaining free will.
When Wall Street starts buying ETH, Ethereum has its moment of glory
As Wall Street refocuses on crypto assets, ETH is becoming a core target in the eyes of institutions - it has ETF support, a strong on-chain stablecoin ecosystem, and is positioned as a "digital gold beta". Although Ethereum still faces expansion and value capture issues, in the eyes of investors, ETH is attracting structural incremental funds with its "Lindy effect" and relatively low valuation, pushing its asset pricing to gradually break away from the on-chain narrative and move towards a potential historical high.
Blockchain tokenized stocks attempt to make it easier for global users to invest in U.S. stocks, but in actual operation, there are serious price deviations, insufficient liquidity and regulatory risks, which have raised concerns about market manipulation and insider trading. The prices of multiple tokens skyrocketed in the early stages of issuance, far exceeding the underlying stocks, and the tokens launched by Robinhood that are linked to unlisted companies have also been questioned by the authorities. Although the issuer claims that blockchain transactions are more transparent, transactions on anonymous platforms are still seen as potential regulatory loopholes.
Solana ecosystem wallet Phantom has reached a cooperation with decentralized contract exchange Hyperliquid, allowing users to trade contracts with up to 40 times leverage directly in the wallet. The cooperation has brought significant effects: Hyperliquid has reached tens of millions of users, and the token price has reached a new high; Phantom has made rapid profits with the help of the rebate mechanism, and the contract trading function has expanded its product strength; users can enjoy better liquidity and close to institutional-level handling fees. This cross-ecological seamless integration is also regarded as a practical example of the future of chain abstraction, showing a new direction for the integration and evolution of crypto products.
"In the battle of Solana Meme platforms, Raydium becomes the biggest beneficiary?"
Letsbonk.fun has surpassed Pump.fun to become the most popular Meme token launch platform with the number of daily deployments and graduated tokens, and its LaunchLab architecture based on Raydium has made Raydium one of the biggest beneficiaries of this craze. With a large number of new coins issued through Letsbonk.fun, Raydium not only obtains continuous transaction fees, but also increases the repurchase of RAY through the fee mechanism of LaunchLab. At present, the repurchase funds account for 12% of the circulating market value, forming a strong support. In addition, the layout of US stock tokenized trading on Raydium also indicates the potential for further growth in future revenue.
In the next two years, Ethereum will promote technological innovation in five major directions: zkEVM, execution architecture, L1-L2 collaboration, validator mechanism and sharding: zkEVM will directly enhance the efficiency of the main chain and institutional compliance, RISC-V architecture will reshape execution performance and cost structure, L1-L2 collaboration will break through cross-chain barriers and integrate massive liquidity, validator threshold and revenue optimization is expected to increase the pledge rate and strengthen deflation logic, and the restart of the sharding plan will pave the way for the scale of Web3. Technological changes and structural improvement in capital supply and demand may provide medium- and long-term support for ETH prices.
Trump used the renovation of the Fed headquarters to force Powell to step down, escalating the seven-year political game into a high-risk event that affects the global market. If Powell is really forced to step down, it will shake the independence of the Fed, trigger a depreciation of the US dollar, drastic fluctuations in US bond yields, and increase uncertainty in the global financial market. This is not only a battle over interest rates and inflation paths, but also a direct conflict between institutional authority and political power.
From Grassroots to a Market Value of 600 Billion, Robinhood Lives on Entertainment
Robinhood started as a zero-commission trading platform. With its gamification design and order flow payment model, it quickly attracted millennial retail investors and triggered changes in the industry's commission structure. After the GameStop incident, the company's reputation was damaged, but it also took the opportunity to accelerate its crypto strategic layout. With the Dogecoin craze, the launch of Robinhood Wallet, and SBF's investment, the crypto business has grown rapidly. In 2025, Robinhood acquired Bitstamp, developed its own chain, and opened blockchain securities trading, completing the transformation from a retail broker to a global financial technology platform. The stock price exceeded $100, the market value exceeded 88 billion, and reshaped the protagonist status of the financial narrative.
In the first half of 2025, the overall crypto market showed a volatile recovery pattern. Under the interweaving of macro-negative and policy-positive factors, the total market value rose slightly by 1.99%. Bitcoin's market value has remained stable at $2 trillion through ETFs and listed companies. The Ethereum ecosystem continues to be resilient, and Solana and BNB Chain maintain high activity. DeFi has entered a mature stage, and RWA, prediction markets and stablecoins have become new growth points. The trend of institutional entry and tokenization of traditional financial assets has accelerated, and the supervision of the United States and the European Union has gradually become clear, providing compliance support for the market. In the second half of the year, the market will continue to be profoundly affected by the shift in monetary policy, the advancement of legislation and the integration process of TradFi.
More and more listed companies are incorporating crypto assets into their financial strategies, from Bitcoin and Ethereum to stablecoins and AI tokens, forming a wave of "crypto treasuryization", behind which crypto venture capital and funds including Pantera, Galaxy Digital, Animoca, Sora, DWF Labs, etc. are promoting layout through PIPE, convertible bonds, mergers and acquisitions, etc. These institutions not only provide funds, but also participate in corporate governance and strategy formulation, promoting companies such as MicroStrategy, SharpLink, Upexi, etc. to build on-chain financial systems based on BTC, ETH or SOL, accelerating the crypto transformation of traditional enterprises, and also indicating that crypto assets are gradually becoming a new reserve asset category in the global capital market.
"US$500 million sold out in 12 minutes, is PUMP IPO just a game for institutions and whale?"
The PUMP pre-sale ignited market sentiment, and $500 million was sold in just 12 minutes. However, data showed that the actual participants were extremely concentrated, and the CEX channel was almost empty. Only two people on Kraken received a high amount. Although the number of participants on the official website reached 10,000, the median purchase amount was only 540 US dollars, and most users had limited actual investment; and large investors circumvented restrictions through new wallets and dominated the flow of funds. Overall, this seemingly decentralized feast with the participation of all people has actually become a sophisticated layout of a few whale, and marginal retail investors are more of onlookers and liquidity exit parties.
Strategy Company leads the trend of listed companies holding Bitcoin with the debt-for-coin model, forming a leveraged flywheel of "buy coins-finance-buy coins again"; this model is being further simplified and replicated by SPAC backdoor listing. Emerging companies do not even need actual business, and can enter the capital market by just holding coins and financial structure packaging. Although the SPAC path has advantages such as loose supervision and flexible narrative, it also faces hidden dangers such as transparency, governance and risk accumulation. However, driven by bull market sentiment and institutional endorsement, SPAC is becoming a new track for securitization of Bitcoin exposure. Investors need to be wary of the gap between its complex structure and the nature of the asset.
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