Adam Efrima is the SSV Core team Co-founder. He has been active in the crypto industry since 2013. Over eight years living in China working in the financial industry and fintech space, Adam has worked in CITIC Bank covering outbound investments for Chinese SOEs, he was also in charge of setting up the eToro Shanghai operation. Since then, Adam has been deeply involved in Ethereum staking, co-founding top performing staking project Bloxstaking as well as co-founding SSV Network, a decentralized validator infrastructure for ETH staking.

Adam Swick is the Chief Growth Officer at Marathon Digital Holdings. Prior to joining Marathon, he served as a principal at Refinery Ventures, where he was responsible for identifying and recommending business strategies to accelerate the growth of all companies in Refinery’s portfolio. Before Refinery, Swick was the director of strategic finance at Kraken Digital Asset Exchange, where he managed the company’s balance sheet, debt program, investor relations, and all forecasting activities. Prior to Kraken, he founded Swick Capital, a crypto-asset hedge fund, worked at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group. Swick holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

With over 20 years of experience leading and designing games and tech companies, Alun is well-versed in creating innovative products that tackle experiential and developer challenges. In addition to his stewardship of LAOS Network, he is CEO and co-founder of the company building LAOS, Freeverse, which focuses on building scalable blockchain infrastructure. His history as the co-creator of ‘Barcelona World Race - THE GAME,’ a cutting-edge video game enabling virtual participation in real-world events, and his wider passion for gaming, have fed into his vision for LAOS Network as a solution for the intersection of Web3 tech with both gaming and real-world applications. Alun also led Shar3d.io, a pioneering company enabling collaborative 3D web applications, and served as CTO of Bodypal.com, a virtual garment services company. He holds a Ph.D. in Medical Physics from University College London.



Amanda Cassatt is the founder and CEO of Serotonin. Amanda previously served as Chief Marketing Officer of ConsenSys from 2016 through 2019. Joining one year after the launch of Ethereum, Amanda played a crucial role in defining, creating, and growing the narrative for ConsenSys, Ethereum, and blockchain overall.

Amanda stewarded the ConsenSys brand through its global expansion across enterprises, governments, developers, and consumers. She created and scaled the marketing team to over 50 people, serving both the ConsenSys brand and 50+ portfolio companies such as MetaMask, Infura, Truffle, and Gitcoin; managing teams in product marketing, growth, design, content, community, events, email, analytics and SEO. Amanda’s contributions to some of the most successful product launches, token sales and fundraises landed her on Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016. Amanda is the author of the world's first web3 marketing book, Web3 Marketing: A Handbook for the Next Internet Revolution.

Amanda Keleher currently serves as Chief People Officer at Consensys, one of the largest and fastest-growing companies in the blockchain technology space. A well-rounded business leader with an over 25-year career in the technology space, Amanda is the driving force behind the human element of Consensys where she is responsible for overseeing all of the aspects of people, from building and maintaining the company culture to harnessing human capital as a key driver of business. 

Before joining ConsenSys, Amanda served as the Head of People at ThoughtWorks, a global technology consultancy company, for nearly ten years, where she led the global scale expansion by opening offices around the world and recruiting a diverse workforce at a time when the DevOps movement had just been born and a new skill set were yet to be developed. After her time at ThoughWorks, she served as the Executive Vice President, People &amp; Culture of Index Exchange, one of the world’s premier ad tech organizations; and as VP of People at Little Bits and Intent Media where she excelled in designing effective and creative strategies to attract and retain world-class talent in hyper competitive environments

Andrea Berry is a seasoned online video strategist with 15+ years of experience in transformative media partnerships. 

Her early successes include helping to launch Qello Concerts, the first direct-to-consumer live-music OTT service, later transforming it into Qello Media Services and Vimeo’s OTT channels offering across various industries as their first strategic sales director for their enterprise.

Currently, as the Head of Business Development at Theta Labs, Andrea leverages her expertise in online video and blockchain to drive strategic partnerships and growth opportunities for the company. She helps enterprises take advantage and lean into the opportunities Web3 presents. 

Andrew Thurman is a Data Editor based in Washington, DC. He previously wrote for CoinDesk and Cointelegraph, and worked in various roles for Chainlink and Nansen. His analysis has been quoted in The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, Reuters, The BBC, CNBC, and elsewhere. Contact Andrew at andrew@blockworks.co.

Andrey Sergeenkov writes educational articles as a freelancer. His works have been published in Coindesk, Cointelegraph, Entrepreneur and CoinMarketCap. He believes that transforming society towards lifelong learning, combined with decentralization in government and business, will lead to exponential social development.

Andy Bromberg is CEO of Beam and Contributor to the Eco Protocol. Eco has raised more than $90 million from an array of leading investors, including a16z Crypto, L Catterton, Activant Capital, Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, and others. Prior to Eco, Andy was Co-founder and President of CoinList. Andy is also a founding board member at FreeWorld, a non-profit seeking to end institutionalized poverty in the United States by providing access to living-wage jobs for people with criminal histories. He studied Mathematics and Computer Science at Stanford University and co-founded the Stanford Bitcoin Group.

An established and versatile Financial Executive with over two decades of experience running multiple trading businesses across top-level banks such as HSBC, Barclays, and UBS. After running the top Agency and SSA business for both UBS and Barclays, he took over Emerging Markets macro trading for Barclays. In 2018, wanting to go deeper into Emerging Markets he took a role as Head of Latam local markets trading where he was responsible for trading activities across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. In 2021 DeMartino moved into Crypto when he became CEO and founder of Coinbase Risk Strategies focused on DeFi and Derivatives trading. More recently he started Trident Digital Group, a crypto-native solutions firm that is focused on lending and safe yield generation and stablecoin adoption.


Antoni is a co-founder of Aleph Zero Foundation (Switzerland), an organization overseeing the development of the Aleph Zero blockchain, and a Managing Partner of Cardinal Cryptography (Poland), firm focused on core development of the Aleph Zero ecosystem.

Ari Juels is the Weill Family Foundation and Joan and Sanford I. Weill Professor in the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and the Technion and a Computer Science faculty member at Cornell University. He is a Co-Director of the Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts (IC3). He is also Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs. He is the author of crypto thriller novel The Oracle (Talos Press), which was released on 20 February 2024.

Austin Alexander is co-founder of LayerTwo Labs, a company focused on advancing the Bitcoin ecosystem through innovative solutions and specializing in the development of Drivechain, a specific type of blockchain sidechain designed to foster creativity and scalability within Bitcoin.

Austin Campbell is the founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. Previously, he has run portfolio management at Paxos for the stablecoins as well as being the chief risk officer of Paxos National Trust, has managed fixed income trading desks at JP Morgan and Citi, and has been a portfolio manager and structurer at Stone Ridge, the parent of NYDIG. He holds a BS in Mathematics from CSU Chico and a MBA from NYU Stern.

Ben Mills is the co-founder of Meso, a payments platform connecting banks and blockchains. Prior to Meso, Ben spent a decade building payments products as an early team member at Braintree (acquired by PayPal), as Head of Product at Venmo, and working on Solana Pay at Solana Labs.

Ben Strack is a senior reporter covering macro and crypto-native funds, financial advisors, structured products, and the integration of digital assets and DeFi into traditional finance. Prior to joining Blockworks, he covered the asset management industry for Fund Intelligence and was a reporter and editor for various local newspapers on Long Island. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism.

Contact Ben via email at ben@blockworks.co

Bessie is a Brooklyn-based reporter covering DeFi and technology. Bessie worked as a tech journalist for The Org prior to joining Blockworks and was a management consultant for KPMG in another life. She is originally from Melbourne, Australia and holds an MA from New York University. She is also the mother of a bratty cat named Mochi. You can reach Bessie at bessie@blockworks.co

Bezalel Eithan Raviv, an ex-member of IDF Cyber Unit 8200, is a seasoned entrepreneur with deep expertise in technology and innovation. He now leads Lionsgate Network, a blockchain analysis firm specializing in professional money recovery services for digital asset investors in the +$2.5 trillion market. Prior to this role, Bezalel founded an investment banking firm supporting AI startups and developed Halleluiah, a pioneering web3 migration pattern for global music copyrights.

Billy Sebell is the Executive Director of the XDC Foundation and an early contributor to the XDC Network. Since early 2018, Billy has worked to develop the XDC community, focused on ecosystem and network growth and implementing use cases in trade finance. Billy previously spent more than 25 years in manufacturing and consumer products, dealing with the challenges businesses face in capital markets and international trade.

Bogdan is the Co-Founder and CTO of Tenderly, the full-stack infrastructure solutions provider powering Web3 developer teams with the essential tools and services throughout their development journeys. 

Prior to co-founding Tenderly, Bogdan worked as a software engineer for major software platforms such as MVP Workshop and Go Daddy where he was responsible for constructing and managing the development of distributed cloud systems before realizing the lack of infrastructural support for Web3 developers. With his vast experience in constructing, expanding, and overseeing extensive distributed cloud systems, he is well-versed in the intricacies of blockchain technologies and their practical applications. 

Brandon Truong is lead product contributor for ZetaChain. He previously co-founded social platform Yada (which was acquired in 2020) and spent time building products for BuzzFeed and Udacity. 


 Brian Pak is CEO &amp; Co-Founder of ChainLight, an award-winning blockchain security firm that specializes in smart contract audits and on-chain monitoring. He is also a co-founder of Theori, an established US-based offensive cybersecurity company, since 2016, which he still leads today, having now amassed trusted partners including Microsoft, Google and Samsung. Brian’s early career started when he co-founded and developed Kaprica Security, inventing and patenting the Skorpion Charger, an Android mobile charger that can detect malicious software with no user action required. He has worked on research and development projects with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the US. Brian is also a founder of the team PPP (Plaid Parliament of Pwning) which won DEF CON CTF, one of the most prestigious hacker competitions held in Las Vegas, in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Brian graduated with a Masters Degree in Software Security Research from Carnegie Mellon University.

Byron Donalds grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and he is also the proud son of a hardworking and loving single mother. His mother dedicated her time instilling in him that greatness requires sacrifice, which drives him as a devoted family man and United States Congressman.  

Byron is a graduate of Florida State University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in finance and marketing. Byron's career led him to Southwest Florida, where he worked in the banking, finance, and insurance industries. Elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016, Byron represented Hendry County and east Collier County in the State Capitol. During his tenure in the Florida House, Byron served as the PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee Chair during the 2018-2019 Legislative Session and served as the Insurance &amp; Banking Subcommittee's Chairman 2019-2020 Legislative Session. While serving in the Florida House, primarily focused on elder affairs, criminal justice reform, and ensuring that each child has access to a world-class education. 

Byron is committed to serving and giving back to the community that gave him so much. He has served Southwest Florida in many ways, including previously serving on the Board of Trustees for Florida Southwestern State College after being appointed by then-Governor Rick Scott. Byron continues to volunteer in his church as a youth leader and a mentor. He also enjoys volunteering as a coach in youth football and basketball leagues.

Congressman Byron Donalds lives in Naples, Florida, with his wife, Erika, and their three sons: Damon, Darin, and Mason. Byron has spent his entire adult life serving others, whether it be through volunteering, business, or leadership. He is committed to representing Florida's 19th Congressional District's conservative values in Washington DC to ensure a stronger Florida and a stronger nation.

Cameron B. Pick is a partner and patent attorney at the Chicago-based intellectual property boutique law firm Marshall, Gerstein &amp; Borun. He prosecutes patents for emerging technologies, including blockchain and crypto, among other innovative areas. He may be reached at cpick@marshallip.com. 

​​Casey Wagner is a Senior Reporter based in New York. Casey covers crypto regulation, markets and central banks. Prior to joining Blockworks, she reported on macroeconomics at Bloomberg News. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Media Studies. Contact Casey via email at casey@blockworks.co

Chris Brooks founded CryptoAssetRecovery.com in 2017 to help digital asset owners recover lost assets. Chris was a programmer at Fidelity Investments, VP of Technology at venture-backed Carescout (which sold to GenWorth, a spinoff of General Electric) and has founded and sold three bootstrapped internet companies. 

Chris Swenor is a seasoned entrepreneur and blockchain pioneer with a 20-year career that kicked off as a self-taught programmer at age 13. He swiftly moved from corporate roles into startups, leading several to successful acquisitions. Chris started venturing into blockchain and cryptocurrency in 2013, founding Reach in 2019, a platform that has since attracted over $13M in funding and onboarded more than 8,000 developers.

In recent years, Chris founded Humble, a decentralized exchange on Algorand, and Alloy, a blockchain gaming platform acquired in 2023. He is currently working on Voi Network, a layer 1 blockchain empowering its community with user-centric governance and economics. 

Christopher Perkins is President of CoinFund, a web3 focused Registered Investment Advisor.  He is also a member of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee and its Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee.

Damian Alvarez is a communications professional helping Web3 clients get their stories heard. He is currently the Head of Communications at Aori, an omni-chain logic layer that leverages off-chain data storage to enable high-frequency on-chain trading. He has worked at agencies such as Edelman and YAP Global to assist a variety of emerging and established clients to engage in industry-wide narratives surrounding technology. He may be contacted at damian@aori.io.

Dan Keeler is Editor-in-Chief at Blockworks. Prior to joining Blockworks, he was Frontier Markets Editor at the Wall Street Journal where he managed the Journal’s coverage of smaller emerging markets as well as created a number of high-profile events and a highly regarded newsletter. Before joining the WSJ, he was the Editor of Global Finance magazine. He is also the founder of New York’s FM Network, a group that hosts gatherings of finance professionals focused on smaller emerging markets.

Contact Dan via email at dan@blockworks.co

Daniel Batten is a ClimateTech investor, Bitcoin environmental impact analyst, CEO advisor and author. He is most widely known for his data-driven approach to Bitcoin mining research.


Daniel Cawrey has been involved full-time in the crypto space since 2013, including as an editor at CoinDesk. He is author of 2020’s “Mastering Blockchain” and 2023’s “Understanding Crypto” books, both available on Amazon.

Daranee Ganesh is a publishing and production manager based in Washington, DC. She holds an LLB with a focus on emerging technologies. Prior to Blockworks, Daranee worked on several legal and non-profit projects aimed at integrating decentralized solutions in the social justice framework, specifically within immigration and environmental law. Contact Daranee at daranee@blockworks.co.

Darren Kleine is an Alberta-based reporter covering podcast content at Blockworks. Previously reporting for Cointelegraph, he wrote feature content and a weekly series focused on the personal stories of influential figures in the Web3 space. He has been an active participant in the NFT art scene since 2020, creating works on curated platforms including SuperRare and KnownOrigin and hosting an NFT art-focused podcast called NFP with DKleine. Contact Darren Kleine at darren@blockworks.co.

David is an Editor based in the Netherlands focused on data-driven journalism. Previously, he wrote for TheNextWeb's crypto vertical before launching Protos in 2021. He's a reformed hardline Bitcoiner passionate about permissionless and decentralized networks. Contact David at david@blockworks.co

Denelle Dixon is the CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting changemakers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. She leads the teams that help maintain Stellar's codebase, support the communities around Stellar, and advocate on behalf of the network with international stakeholders. Before joining Stellar, Dixon served as COO of Mozilla, one of the most successful mission-driven open-source organizations.. During her tenure at Mozilla, she led the organization’s business, revenue and policy teams including the ongoing fight for net neutrality and the global effort to ensure that people can control their personal data.

Elliot is the Head of Climate Strategy at Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol, where he is helping unlock Bitcoin's clean energy potential by bridging sustainable miners and climate-conscious investors. In his role at Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol, Elliot educates policymakers and NGOs on Bitcoin’s relationship with the energy system. He is a climatetech operator focused on alleviating energy poverty, bridging the digital divide, and promoting financial inclusion through technologies such as Bitcoin. Elliot was previously a Schwarzman Scholar and has served in the military, US Department of Energy, Clinton Foundation, and more. 

Evan Thomas is General Counsel for Alluvial, a software development company supporting the Liquid Collective liquid staking protocol. He was previously at Wealthsimple, Canada’s largest consumer fintech, where he was Head of Legal for Wealthsimple’s crypto trading platform. While at Wealthsimple, Evan helped launch Canada’s first regulated staking product. Before Wealthsimple, Evan was a litigator at Osler, Hoskin &amp; Harcourt LLP for nearly 15 years. Among other notable cases, Evan was hearing counsel to 3iQ Corp. in its appeal securing regulatory approval for Canada’s first publicly traded bitcoin fund in 2019.

Felix Xu, crypto geek, early adopter, and NFT collector. Felix graduated from NYU Stern and founded two crypto projects, ARPA and Bella Protocol, among the global top 500 by market cap. Felix previously worked at Fosun Investment, Sackler family office, and Vertical Research in New York and Beijing. Felix loves sailing, kitesurfing and was featured in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for his NFT collection.

Fraser is co-founder &amp; CTO of Cubist and an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She is an expert in software correctness: her research focuses on systems security, automated bug finding, and formal verification, from verifying (parts of) production systems like browser JITs, to finding exploitable bugs in real codebases. Her tools have found many zero-day bountied bugs and CVEs in the Chrome and Firefox browsers and multiple operating systems. Fraser received her BA in English and her MS and PhD in Computer Science from Stanford.


Garrett Harper is the producer for the Empire podcast. Garrett worked in private equity and product management before jumping into crypto full-time in 2021. His favorite thing about crypto? It conflates art, gaming, finance, software, and psychology into one hyper-growth industry.

Gísli Kristjánsson is co-founder and CTO of Monerium, the first company to issue fiat onchain. He fell in love with programming at the age of 13. After working as a bonds broker, Gísli saw the inefficiencies of securities settlements firsthand and recognized the potential of Bitcoin. Prior to co-founding Monerium in 2015, Gísli founded and sold a platform to give users access to geo-blocked content. Fun fact: Gísli’s Ethereum address is among the 1% of the oldest addresses.

Haden Patrick is Director of Business Operations of Cordial Systems, a provider of institutional-grade self custody software using a Zero Trust security model.  Haden has executive experience in team leadership, engineering and education originating from his 24 year career as a Naval Officer. After co-founding SoloKeys, the first open-source security key company, he went on to manage projects connecting web3 to traditional finance at a cryptocurrency trading firm before joining Cordial Systems.

Hannah Finnerty is Blockworks' editorial operations manager and is based in the US. Hannah previously worked in podcast production for The National in Abu Dhabi. She graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in multiplatform journalism and Middle Eastern politics. Contact Hannah at hannah@blockworks.co.

Hatu Sheikh is the co-founder and CMO of DAO Maker, the largest on-chain funding platform with 1.5M+ users. The platform's contracts have distributed over $600M, with a cumulative return of around 10x. Hatu has a strong background in marketing and strategy and has played a pivotal role in driving the success of various blockchain-based projects and tokens, crafting effective marketing strategies, and forging powerful synergies within the industry.

Hind Kurhan is a Co-Founder of Thesis Defense, a decentralized technology security auditing company whose mission is the facilitation of broad adoption of decentralized technology by improving security and audit consistency throughout the blockchain sphere.


Ian Rogers is the Chief Experience Officer at Ledger, leading the consumer-facing business delivering the world’s #1 way to buy and secure cryptocurrency.  Prior, Ian was the Chief Digital Officer at LVMH for five transformative years, working with a portfolio of nearly one hundred brands across luxury including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Sephora, and Hennessy.  Ian also sits on the boards of Dr Marten’s and Lyst.

Ian spent twenty years bringing digital music to the mainstream, first with Winamp then Yahoo!, Beats, and Apple.  Ian contributed to the 2015 launch of Apple Music including Beats 1, their digital streaming channel. Ian graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science (with honors, Phi Beta Kappa) from Indiana University in 1994.  Ian built some of the earliest music-related Web sites in the early 90s and has been working with Beastie Boys since 1993.

Ishan is a University of Texas McCombs School of Business graduate with a BBA in Finance &amp; Marketing. He founded and managed a Private Equity Fund that reached an eight-figure Assets Under Management (AUM) and has also gained experience with many top 200 projects of crypto market cap. In 2022, he helped found SCRIB3, a Web3 Marketing and PR venture. He was notably among the first to raise an alert about potential deceptive and unethical business practices by FTX. Ishan contributes as a DeFi analyst, an active angel investor, and an advisor in projects like Polygon Technologies.

Jack Kubinec is a DeFi and DAO reporter based in Brooklyn, New York. Jack previously interned at Blockworks before joining full-time. He graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a degree in sociology. Contact Jack at jack.kubinec@blockworks.co.

Jag is the CEO and Co-Founder of Tangible, a platform focused on redefining asset ownership and value creation by transforming the way real-world assets, specifically real estate, are bought, sold, and leveraged on-chain. As a serial entrepreneur, Jag has founded three companies prior to Tangible. Lime Fuel, Jag’s first company, offers a wholesale fuel market for small and medium-sized enterprises, was sold to Applegreen PLC after four years of operation. Jag went on to found Vid Inc., a platform disrupting the social media industry with a video social media platform that rewards users for the value they provide to the platform. Jag most recently founded Singh Capital, a crypto-dedicated fund that conducts yield farming, quant and arbitrage strategies, which he still remains involved in.


James Cirrone is a breaking news reporter based in New York. Prior to joining Blockworks, James was a reporter and newsletter writer at Bloomberg News. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism. He also played trumpet in the university’s marching band. Contact James via email at james.cirrone@blockworks.co.

Jeff is an editor at Blockworks, based in the United States. He has been a part of the blockchain space for over a decade, most recently working as US news editor at Cointelegraph. His areas of focus include empowering artists and creators through technology, using proof-of-participation methods to reward self-improvement, reducing the effectiveness of Sybil attacks, seeking transparent equity for disadvantaged communities, and exploring fairer models of world governance. Contact Jeff at Jeffrey@blockworks.co.

Jesper Johansen is the founder and CEO of NORTHSTAKE, a regulated custodial staking company specialized in building regulatory compliant crypto staking products for institutional investors and financial institutions. The team holds backgrounds from financial institutions, pension funds, large investment companies to consulting, technology and audit firms, such as Accenture, Deloitte, PwC as well as blockchain and crypto projects e.g. DAI Foundation (MakerDao), Ethereum and L1/L2s. 

Prior to NORTHSTAKE, Jesper held leadership positions with Accenture Strategy and Deloitte Consulting advising clients in heavily regulated industries to implement new technologies and drive business transformation. He holds a MBA from Copenhagen Business School and a B.Sc. in International Business. 

Jess Sun is an independent writer and content strategist. She loves bringing good ideas to light, helping the people behind them shine, and bridging gaps in understanding. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn. Go to her website to learn about working with her.

Jim Myers is an engineer, early-stage investor, and the CTO &amp; Co-Founder of Flipside Crypto, a leading blockchain data analytics and business intelligence platform. Prior to co-founding Flipside, Jim developed the core technology that took products from 0 to 1 at companies such as Mylestone, Pluralsight, and Smarterer. Jim’s journey into the crypto industry began in 2015, eventually co-founding Flipside Crypto in 2017 to help empower crypto communities to create and share data-driven insights on the projects they care most about. Jim's passion for building extends to the broader startup community via his developer event series, Stack Dive, and as an angel investor to several local Boston-area startups, including AdHawk and LinkSquares. In a previous life, Jim developed advanced models to quantify risk and abnormal returns in the market for Financial Transmission Rights, a type of energy derivative.

JJ is an advisor, mentor and co-founder working across Bitcoin, mining and web3. He currently mentors for Outlier Ventures new Bitcoin Base Camp program and has co-founded a new protocol operating in stealth mode.

Joeyz Yu is an entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience in product design and development. He co-founded Sending Labs to revolutionize communication protocols and social applications for Web3, leading the development of their flagship products SendingMe and SendingNetwork. Previously, Joeyz co-founded MoboTab, where he created the Dolphin Browser, used by over 200 million users and later acquired by ChangYou. Joeyz's passion for empowering users and building exceptional teams drives his mission to shape the future of the internet. 

John is the Editor of Evergreen Content at Blockworks. Before Blockworks, he was the producer and founder of an explainer studio called Best Explained. As Evergreen Editor, he manages the production of explainers, guides and all educational content for anything crypto related. He is passionate about making digital asset education more accessible for degens and fence-sitters alike. Contact John at john@blockworks.co

John Wu is President of Ava Labs, an Andresseen Horowitz backed technology company building the next-generation blockchain platform: Avalanche. John’s objective is to open up financial services and products to all. In this role, he leverages his expertise from over 20 years as a fintech executive and technology investor to create a blockchain-enabled solution for originating, issuing, and trading financial assets.  

Jonathan currently serves as the Global Head of Growth at the Web3 ecosystem, Elastos, overseeing marketing, business development, investment and ecosystem strategies. With a background in corporate communications and technology marketing from roles at Edelman, Weber Shandwick, and Burson-Marsteller, Jonathan has transitioned to focus on Web3 innovation in his recent positions at Elastos and CreDA.

Joseph Schiarizzi is the Founder of Open Dollar, a lending protocol built on Arbitrum and has been a blockchain developer for 7 years. Before Open Dollar, Joseph worked at ConsenSys and later led Developer Relations for Gitcoin. He has contributed to impactful DAOs including Meta Cartel and Raid Guild, and is also the chair of the environmental sustainability council for Falls Church, VA. $5B+ has gone through smart contracts Joseph has contributed to. 

Julian Deschler is the Co-Founder of Elusiv, a universal encryption layer for Web3 powering the decentralized world. Elusiv went live on Solana Mainnet in March 2023 following a $3.5 million seed round in November. Julian started carving out his entrepreneurial path during his studies. Involved in the startup world as a board member of START Munich, a member of Sigma Squared, and a scholarship holder from UnternehmerTUM, he brought this wealth of experience to the Web3 landscape. With past roles in TradFi &amp; several Web3 companies, including Staking Facilities, Julian drives the business strategy of Elusiv. His extensive speaking participation at numerous Web3 conferences further underscores his dedication to fostering the future of privacy in Web3. 


Justin Banon is a thought leader and advocate for Web3 technologies, as well as being co-founder of Boson Protocol — a decentralized commerce protocol enabling the tokenization and trade of physical assets without intermediaries.


Katherine is a news editor based in Austin. She worked as a senior producer and correspondent at TheStreet prior to joining Blockworks. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus on journalism from Sarah Lawrence. Contact Katherine via email at katherine@blockworks.co.

Kevin is the co-founder and CEO of Keyrock. Before founding Keyrock in 2017, Kevin worked at Roland Berger, where he spent a few years as a consultant and started investigating the expanding cryptocurrency market in 2014. With a background in Business Engineering and International Management, Kevin is an entrepreneur at heart passionate about using innovative technologies to build efficient markets and increase financial inclusiveness. 

Kristin is the Executive Director of the Blockchain Association, the Washington DC-based trade association representing more than 80 of the industry’s leading companies. Kristin serves as a liaison between policymakers and the cryptocurrency industry to assist in the creation of legislation and regulation that promotes the growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the US.

Lasha Antadze is the co-founder of Rarilabs (formerly Rarify Labs), a company advancing Rarimo, a layer for universal access and verification for digital identities. In 2022, Rarilabs received US$10 million in a Series A funding round from Pantera Capital at a $100 million valuation.

As a serial founder, Lasha has close to a decade of experience in the blockchain industry. Prior to Rarilabs, Lasha co-founded decentralized auction platform Shelf Network. This was recognized by the 2018 Frontier Innovations Awards as the best blockchain use-case for the real world. It was acquired by the Aurora Group in 2022.

As early as 2015, Lasha led the world’s first government blockchain initiatives as a part of the anti-corruption reform for state property auctioning in Ukraine. Prior to this, he worked on the Ukrainian government’s e-identity and digitalization reform and EU's Stork 2.0 digital signature standardization, placing him in a distinctive position at the intersection of identity and Web3.

Laura is a digital assets policy expert, and serves as the UK Policy Lead for Crypto Council For Innovation (CCI). CCI is the premier global alliance for advancing innovation, which believes in leading with a global view, advocating for inclusive regulation, and developing evidence-based insights to support government and business leaders.  

Leo Li is the Chief Growth Officer of CARV, spearheading operations, strategy, and outreach across departments. At CARV, a leading data-sharing protocol and AI-powered gaming super app, Leo oversees more than 600 onboarded games and 1.5 million users. His leadership ensures the seamless integration and utilization of CARV's suite of tools for user acquisition, onboarding, and management.

Before joining CARV, Leo held key roles as a publishing producer and operations manager at Electronic Arts, Garena, and Tencent. His extensive background includes the global publishing of popular titles including FIFA Online, Apex Legends Mobile, Arena of Valor, and more.

Leo Mizuhara is the Founder and CEO of Hashnote, a fully regulated, institutional-grade investment management platform for DeFi, seamlessly merging the advantages of traditional finance with the innovation of decentralized finance. Leo’s leadership and passion for fintech stems from his successful career, including previously running Systematic Trading for FICC Options at DRW for five years, and a 12-year tenure at Bank of America as a managing director and senior portfolio manager in the Corporate Investments Group in New York. His vision for Hashnote is to create the future of finance – one that integrates the best of both traditional and DeFi systems.

Leroy Hofer is the CEO and Co-Founder of ELOOP, a Vienna-based carsharing provider and blockchain startup. He graduated from the Commercial Academy Bregenz before studying Business Administration at the University of Vienna, from which he soon switched to the field of Journalism and ultimately completed his education with a Bachelor's degree. Together with his roommate Nico Prugger, Leroy Hofer developed the idea for ELOOP. In the company founded in 2019, he is primarily responsible for the areas of vision, business development, and legal matters.

Macauley is a Senior Editor based in Germany. He was an editor and content creator in the pro chess world for 14 years before an interest in crypto led him to Bucerius Law School (MLB 2020), a thesis on stablecoins, DeFi and CBDC, and a career change. He also holds an MA in Film Studies; film credits include Associate Producer of the 2016 Netflix feature documentary, "Magnus" about World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. Contact: macauley@blockworks.co

Marc Taverner is the CEO and co-founder of XEROF, a leading Swiss financial services provider specializing in cryptoassets. He has more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry and now pioneers the use of cryptoassets for liquidity and efficiency in financial services worldwide.

Previously, Marc founded InComm Conferencing, a company focusing on detailed events ranging from large-port calls, operator-assisted conferences, webcasts, medical education events, investor relations calls, and onsite production. He successfully sold the company to join the C-suite of the leading European Bitcoin and blockchain firm, Bitfury. Marc then directed INATBA, one of the largest multi-stakeholder blockchain trade associations in Europe, backed by the European Commission and Abu Dhabi Global Market. During his tenure, he led the multi-stakeholder response to the EU cryptoasset regulation MiCA. Marc is also an angel investor and advisor to several web3 and crypto companies.

Mariana Krym, COO of VSC, a HealthFi ecosystem that leverages Web3 technology to promote positive lifestyle habits through anonymized health data monetization. Mariana has also worked as a crypto trader for close to a decade and is a veteran media consultant expert, having worked with such notable companies as Waze (now Google), Twitter, Spotify, Snapchat, and LinkedIn.

Mark Hendrickson is a product leader who lives in Barcelona, Spain having previously grown up in Menlo Park, California, studied at Bowdoin College, and started his technology career in San Francisco. He has extensive experience leading product strategy, management, design, development, and marketing efforts at early-stage software startups such as Hiro, TechCrunch, Plancast, Lift, and KITE. He currently serves as the general manager for Leather, the Bitcoin and Stacks wallet.

Mark Long is CEO of Shrapnel, a AAA first-person extraction shooter, with a creator ecosystem that empowers players to own their creations and shape the future of the game. A former head of Xcloud at Microsoft and publishing at HBO, he is a 27-year game industry veteran who has produced more than 32 titles on every platform from SEGA Genesis to Oculus Rift. Established across many media forms, Mark is also a member of the Producers Guild and a New York Times bestselling graphic novel author.

Dr. Markus Franke is an economist who has been working at the intersection of economics and technology in TradFi (J.P.Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Allianz), as a post-doc researcher (including the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Columbia Business School in New York and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), and in Web3 (on Celo, as a board member of cLabs, founder of Mento Labs, and advisor of many projects in the EVM space).  

Markus Infanger joined Ripple in January 2019 and currently is the SVP of RippleX, a business unit supporting partnerships and developer growth around the XRP Ledger. Prior to Ripple, Markus was in banking for over 20 years leading global teams in Foreign Exchange. He is currently also completing an Executive MBA with TRIUM (LSE, NYU, HEC Paris). 

Martin Derka, Ph.D., is the Head of New Initiatives at Quantstamp, a web3 security company. He has years of experience in the development of smart contracts and platforms built on Ethereum, specializing in DeFi security and economic manipulations. At Quantstamp, Martin assists with both securing projects prior to deployment, and crisis management in the aftermath of an exploit.

Martin Goycoolea Scott is the Product Lead &amp; Builder of Zeal. His journey into the crypto space began in 2017, via a drive to make personal finance approachable and user-friendly. Since then, Martin has spent his time focused on making personal finance and payments easier and friendlier. Martin has a wealth of experience in tech, working as Head of Growth at Mach, Office Lead at Revolut, Head of Product and Growth at EdTech firm Eedi.

Matan Almakis, Head of Protocol at DOP, is actively contributing to the wave of data ownership in Web3. With a background in driving growth at Lamina, Matan now leads DOP's product architecture, giving Web3 users the power to share their data exactly how and with whom they prefer. He believes that encrypting sensitive financial information on chain is a fundamental human right and affirms that data ownership is crucial for the mass adoption of Web3. Matan is dedicated to leveraging blockchain technology to address real-world challenges with a human-centered approach.


Matthew is a brand strategist and Web3 product builder. He is the co-founder &amp; COO of Mojito, the first company to spin out of Serotonin. Mojito is a Web3 platform for NFT commerce that powers Sotheby’s dedicated NFT marketplace, Sotheby’s Metaverse, where Matthew currently serves as Managing Director. Previous to his work at Serotonin, Matthew founded the blockchain-for-journalism startup Civil, which was acquired by ConsenSys, one of the most important companies in the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem. Before entering the world of decentralized technology, Matthew led Nine Lines, a prominent marketing agency where he worked with 40+ consumer startups over 6 years, and he co-created the digital marketing course for General Assembly. 

Mauricio is the co-founder of Ledn, a digital currency lending company that prioritizes transparency and client control through new, innovative products such as DCNs, Growth Accounts, and Custodied loans. Ledn was the crypto industry's first digital asset lending company to complete a Proof-of-Reserves.  Since its inception in 2018, Ledn has originated over $635M (USD) retail loans and over $4B in institutional loans.

Mauricio experienced the impacts of hyperinflation in Venezuela and saw how quickly money can lose all its value. In hopes that he could provide for his family in the future, he escaped the economic catastrophe through Bitcoin and went on to earn his MBA at Western University in Canada.

Views are my own. The author is a co-founder of 21 Technologies Inc. (Ledn). Read Ledn’s disclaimers at https://ledn.io/legal/disclaimers and risk disclosure statement at https://ledn.io/legal/risk-disclosure-statement.

Michael Bodley is a US-based senior editor (investigations) at Blockworks, where he focuses on the intersection of Wall Street and digital assets. Before that, he worked for TheStreet.com and institutional newsletter Hedge Fund Alert. His work has been published in outlets including The Boston Globe and The Washington Post. Contact Michael at michael.bodley@blockworks.co

Michael McSweeney has worked in crypto media since 2014, including editorships at CoinDesk and The Block. In his spare time, he writes fiction and plays disc golf. Contact Michael at michael.mcsweeney@blockworks.co.

 Mike Mallazzo is a revenue leader, writer and red sauce aficionado. By night, he drinks Dorothy Parker gin and writes United States of Amazon, a newsletter covering the nexus of commerce, technology and democracy. His words have appeared in Bloomberg, Adweek, The Drum, AdExchanger, QZ, The Next Web, Entrepreneur, Chicago Tribune and many more. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, daughter and English bulldog and was once mistaken for Justin Bieber in a South Africa's largest karaoke bar.

Misha Komarov, founder of =nil; Foundation, a leading developer of zero-knowledge infrastructure and Ethereum scalability such as =nil;’s native circuit compiler zkLLVM, Proof Market, ‘Placeholder’, and the self-titled zkSharding rollup, =nil;. Misha is a leading developer of infrastructure for effective zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) generation. He is a researcher and developer in the fields of cryptography and database management systems (DBMS), developing vital infrastructure within zero-knowledge technology such as =nil;’s native circuit compiler zkLLVM, Proof Market, and ‘Placeholder’.

Mitch Kochman is Director of Platform Sales at BitGo, where he manages BitGo’s premier client relationships with exchanges, miners and payments platforms. He is predominantly focused and passionate about the Bitcoin-only ecosystem. Mitch has been with BitGo since 2022 and previously spent 11 years at IBM as a sales executive leading global software strategy at several major banks, the last of which being J.P. Morgan Chase. Mitch graduated from University of Maryland with a B.S. in Information Systems and Accounting.


Mo Shaikh is the Co-Founder &amp; CEO of Aptos Labs. He is a 3x founder with over a decade of blockchain/crypto and multinational financial services experience—including a stint on the alternative assets team at Blackrock.

Molly Jane Zuckerman is the opinion editor at Blockworks. She previously led educational content at CoinMarketCap and ran the news desk at Cointelegraph. Molly Jane is now based in New York after almost a decade in Russia, and can talk your ear off about Russia lit and detective novels. Contact Molly Jane: molly@blockworks.co

Nathaniel Harmon is the co-founder of OceanBit, a leading ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) provider ushering in an era of clean baseload energy. Nate is the inventor of Demand Response OTEC, a chemical oceanographer and engineer who received his M.S. in Marine Geology, Geochemistry, and Marine Geology and a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Hawaii where he focused on autonomous oceanographic instrument development and microfluidic chemical engineering. Prior to co-founding OceanBit, Nate worked on proposals and research for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative and founded the Bitcoin-software development and consulting firm Blockchain Solutions Hawaii. 	

Ben Strack

Vanguard has said it doesn’t believe in crypto’s investment case, and it doesn’t allow bitcoin ETFs to trade on its platform.



But the fund giant’s new CEO, Salim Ramji, led BlackRock’s ETF business as the company spurred an industry double-take with its bitcoin ETF filing last year.&nbsp;



So something’s got to give, right?&nbsp;



Maybe not soon, but ultimately yes, according to Ric Edelman, founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals (DACFP).



Ramji was <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/blackrock">BlackRock</a>’s global head of iShares and index investing before leaving the world’s largest asset manager in January. He started his career leading the firm’s corporate strategy and moved on to become its head of US wealth advisory.



Vanguard said Tuesday that Ramji would succeed Tim Buckley as chief executive on July 8. The firm had revealed in February that Buckley was set to retire by the year’s end.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Though Ramji left BlackRock the month that US spot bitcoin ETFs <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-approves-bitcoin-etf">gained Securities and Exchange Commission clearance</a>, he was of course involved in the lead-up.



Fast-forward four months, and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has so far <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blackrock-bitcoin-etf-inflows-streak">led the category with $15.5 billion of net inflows</a>. IBIT trails the segment’s largest fund — the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) — by less than $1 billion in assets under management.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-etf-performance-first-four-months">Strong start, slowing demand: The first 4 months of US spot bitcoin ETFs </a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



In a July 2023 <a href="https://twitter.com/BloombergTV/status/1678499259581100040">interview</a> on Bloomberg TV, Ramji said the company was “incredibly excited” about blockchain technology given its ability to remove considerable “friction” across the financial ecosystem.



The then-BlackRock executive likened the planned bitcoin product to its physical gold ETF — the iShares Gold Trust (IAU) — launched in 2005.



“The gold is held in custody in a vault, which is remote from us, but it’s now easier to transact in gold using our gold ETFs,” he said at the time. “We’re applying that same philosophy to other new and emerging asset classes like bitcoin, just as we did to gold 20 years ago and just as we did to bonds 20 years ago.”



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitcoin-etf">bitcoin ETF</a> bid was an effort to “help investors gain access to parts of the market that otherwise have been more difficult or really expensive or opaque for them to access otherwise,” Ramji added.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



For what it’s worth, Vanguard’s Tuesday news release does not mention IBIT or crypto.



A company spokesperson did not immediately return a request for further comment.&nbsp;



While brokerage firms Fidelity and Charles Schwab, for example, give investors access to trade bitcoin ETFs, Vanguard does not. The company has called the investment case for cryptocurrencies “weak” — noting that most crypto assets “lack intrinsic economic value” and are highly volatile.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/vanguard-disallows-bitcoin-etf-trading">As spot bitcoin ETF volumes soar, Vanguard is blocking such trades</a>



DACFP’s Edelman, who also founded Edelman Financial Services, said he believes Ramji will bring a more “market-focused approach” to Vanguard.&nbsp;



After all, he noted, the company’s focus on being the cheapest doesn’t give it as much of an edge in an increasingly low-cost industry.



“Paternalistic views that prevent investors from owning what they want won’t foster growth either,” Edelman told Blockworks.



Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart said in an X <a href="https://twitter.com/JSeyff/status/1790504096195084583">post</a> that he doesn’t think the hire means Vanguard launches a bitcoin ETF in the near-term.



“But I think Salim could reverse Vanguard’s stance on not allowing their clients to buy spot bitcoin ETFs on their brokerage platform,” Seyffart added.



Bitcoin won’t be the first item on Salim’s agenda, Edelman noted.



“But eventually…Vanguard will indeed offer bitcoin ETFs,” he said. “From a purely business perspective, it’s foolish not to. And Salim is not foolish.”



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Yes, Vanguard’s new CEO supported BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF launch

Katherine Ross

Circle’s looking to move across the pond.&nbsp;



The USDC issuer confirmed to Blockworks that its parent company filed the “required paperwork with the High Court of the Republic of Ireland to redomicile the company to the US.”



<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-15/usdc-issuer-circle-to-make-us-legal-home-ahead-of-ipo">Bloomberg</a> first reported the news.



Earlier this year, Circle revealed that it confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US in January of this year. The approach is common and has been used by other companies such as Airbnb and Uber. 



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/circle-files-ipo">Circle confidentially files for US IPO</a>



“The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The initial public offering is expected to take place after the [Securities and Exchange Commission] completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions,” the press release said at the time.&nbsp;



This isn’t the first time that <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/circle">Circle</a>’s expressed interest in a US IPO, though the move from Ireland could suggest that the company is pursuing the traditional approach to going public.&nbsp;



Circle had previously <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/circles-public-listing-plans-undeterred">expressed interest in going public</a> through a special-purpose acquisition company or SPAC. The route — which requires the private company looking to go public to merge with an existing publicly listed shell company — was popular throughout 2021 and 2022.&nbsp;



While the S-1 filed with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a> hasn’t been publicly released yet, it shows that the company is pursuing the more traditional IPO model this time around. 



Per SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/corpfin/announcement/draft-registration-statement-processing-procedures-expanded">rules</a>, potential investors won’t be able to publicly view the S-1 filed with the regulatory agency until 15 days before the company starts its roadshow. This changes, however, to 15 days prior to the registration date if a company chooses to not pursue a roadshow.



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Circle says it plans to ‘redomicile’ company in the US

Miller Whitehouse-Levine

We find ourselves in a strange interregnum for crypto policy in the United States.&nbsp;



On one side, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/secs-gensler-crypto-disclosures-for-investors">ramping up an all-out war</a> against the crypto industry, accelerating enforcement actions and saber-rattling, perhaps in anticipation of being replaced after November&#8217;s elections. The aim seems straightforward: Let’s do as much damage to crypto while we have the chance.&nbsp;



On the other side, a growing bipartisan group in Congress is working, ploddingly, towards new crypto-focused legislation in an acknowledgment that the current status quo is untenable.&nbsp;



The slow and steady legislative pace gives Chair Gensler the chance to be the fox in the crypto henhouse while our lawmakers are occupied with other jobs on the farm.&nbsp;



The insatiable campaign against crypto undermines the work that Congress has done so far to address crypto’s long-standing regulatory quagmire. It’s time the farmers regain control and flush the fox out.



Indeed, Congress has made notable progress towards addressing key regulatory issues, even if their efforts remain imperfect and incomplete. Some of the pieces of draft legislation could prove a net positive for the crypto ecosystem with considered revisions. Rep. Patrick McHenry and Rep. Maxine Waters&#8217; yet-to-be-released stablecoin bill has <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/03/20/key-us-lawmaker-mchenry-says-house-has-workable-stablecoin-bill/">garnered decent bipartisan support</a> and could reach a House floor vote this session. McHenry&#8217;s FIT21 bill on crypto market structure is <a href="https://rules.house.gov/bill/118/hr-4763">headed for a full-House vote at the end of May</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Just last week, <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/05/08/house-vote-sab121-sec-guidance-crypto-custody">a bipartisan House coalition repealed</a> the SEC&#8217;s punitive SAB 121 accounting rules for crypto — a clear rebuke of Gensler&#8217;s aggressive tactics, and a sign there is Congressional appetite to move quicker than the typical glacial speed they are accustomed to with core crypto issues.&nbsp;



These moves demonstrate that lawmakers at least seem to grasp that if they don&#8217;t act soon to rein in Gensler&#8217;s crusade, they may end up protecting just a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-industry-will-move-offshore-if-congress-doesnt-act-executives-warn">rump of what was once a vibrant American crypto industry.</a>



What is to be done? Congress faces two key constraints: It&#8217;s an election year when major legislative lifts are difficult, and they must consolidate enough bipartisan consensus to push comprehensive crypto legislation over the finish line.



Fortunately, new polling indicates growing public engagement on the crypto issue which could provide productive tailwinds.&nbsp;



According to a <a href="https://theblockchainassociation.org/cryptovoters/">recent Harris Poll</a>, most voters don&#8217;t trust elected officials to understand innovative technologies like crypto, and over half are concerned about policymakers stifling innovation through heavy-handed regulation. Those sentiments are warning lights for the SEC and are opportunities for members of Congress. Former President Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/EleanorTerrett/status/1788375364223283485">recent overtures</a> embracing crypto and courting crypto-aligned voters should also add impetus for Congressional action.



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/eth-not-security-howey">No, ETH isn’t suddenly a security now</a>



Ultimately, lawmakers must recognize that an overzealous regulator is attempting to unilaterally decide the fate of an ecosystem that is vitally important to America&#8217;s future economic competitiveness and technological leadership. This circumvents the proper role of Congress in setting foundational rules, and our elected officials should reassert their prerogative rather than ceding that power to crypto&#8217;s most fervent detractors.



The clock is ticking. As election day approaches, the impetus for Chair Gensler to gobble up even more crypto hens will grow stronger. Our nation&#8217;s legislative farmers must return to the crucial task of protecting and catalyzing the homegrown crypto ecosystem. They’re close to drafting fit-for-purpose rules that would clarify how the government understands and regulates crypto, though much more work needs to be done.&nbsp;



If they don’t move quickly, they may find the hen house empty and wonder why they didn’t act sooner.



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<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Miller has overall strategic and operational responsibility for the execution of the organization’s mission and goals. Prior to joining the fund, Miller led the Blockchain Association’s policy operation and worked at Goldstein Policy Solutions on a range of public policy issues, including crypto. Miller holds a B.S. in international politics and a minor in Mandarin Chinese from Georgetown&#8217;s School of Foreign Service.
</div>


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It’s time for Congress to protect the crypto henhouse

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A new scare tactic</h2>



Crypto mixers, and those who make them, are having their day in court.&nbsp;



Yesterday, Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/alexey-pertsev-tornado-cash-guilty">found guilty of money laundering</a> and sentenced to 64 months in a Dutch prison.&nbsp;



The sentencing, which happened after a brief trial in March, left CoinCenter’s Peter Van Valkenburgh “sad” and “angry that the money laundering laws in the Netherlands have such a low threshold for intent, especially mere negligence.”



But the verdict shouldn’t impact US cases, which is important to note because <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/tornado-cash">Tornado Cash</a> co-founder Roman Storm is expected to face a trial later this year.&nbsp;



So let’s zoom out for a second here.&nbsp;



Crypto mixers, such as Tornado Cash, have clearly hit a nerve with governments outside the US. But, as we previously mentioned here, the US government is looking to seriously inhibit or scare people away from these services. Tornado Cash was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/roman-semenov-tornado-cash-ofac-list">sanctioned years ago</a>, then both Storm and Roman Semenov were charged. (Semenov is notably still at large, though Storm was arrested.)



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/8AcwGA-hMmu3Qec1xlLPHqD85nj2Mc6DHjQ2s_NgBuux66vOKMeg_YqASNZLOQyU1SlYHgUejbRAARHyukSUy9BV6F3Rj2sZ-c_6aKMoSZZuc-n2Nn0v_MwdyeUunJif36UfiGCIBfMzcqf0oruSyS8" alt=""/></figure>



The chart from Dune shows that there are still cash deposit transactions happening on Tornado Cash, though there’s clearly been a drop-off since the March 2022 highs. The US government sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, making it illegal for US citizens to interact with the protocol, which is reflected in charts of deposit and withdrawal transactions.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/sNZzs8Jh4Qw_JoezRWH20lQfq8pO_ys_2VWtQqcsuaC7zd2_1YKaXM9k-26yEXjKQEOwG5ukqGNsEYhdHKwJAW75K-sXEGzFnpqWY6J0GFXIumOeDJyEm85GkWKqwDj-Q4sYxWqTHRslM84LBirDv3M" alt=""/></figure>



The privacy tool has many lawful users and provides a receipt mechanism to prove the provenance of withdrawn funds when requested by an appropriate authority.



Then there’s Samourai Wallet, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/doj-arrests-founders-samourai">saw a bit of a different approach</a> from the US government.



The Department of Justice teamed up with other international agencies to not only arrest two co-founders — William Lonergan Hill and Keonne Rodriguez —- but also seized the web servers and domain “in coordination with law enforcement authorities in Iceland.”



The indictment accuses the Samourai Wallet account on X of encouraging users to “launder proceeds” using its services.&nbsp;



What’s the aim here for the government? Is it to suppress the technology or is it to punish those behind it?



That’s the question I’ve been mulling over when looking at the approach that the DOJ has taken to both cases.&nbsp;



CoinCenter’s note earlier this month explained how the DOJ changed tack when it comes to the developers.&nbsp;



As we <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-changpeng-zhao-deal-unpacked">talked</a> about previously, guidance from FinCEN — the Treasury’s financial enforcement bureau — has long suggested that crypto shouldn’t count as funds.



The agency further wrote: “The person participating in the transaction to provide additional validation at the request of the owner does not have total independent control over the value.”



These points are worth bringing up once again because of the potential shift they show. The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/doj">DOJ</a> has seemingly disregarded such guidance in favor of directly targeting the developers.&nbsp;



And, while the Dutch legal system is totally separate and neither the US nor the Dutch systems will have any direct influence on these types of cases, the underlying theme here is that multiple governments have targeted the developers behind the technology.



Is that enough to end mixers? In crypto, probably not as seen by the aforementioned charts. But it’s clearly enough to scare folks from using the services.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Data Center</h2>



<ul>
<li>Among memecoins, FLOKI’s <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/crypto-gainers-losers?top=100">leading</a> the gains — up 10% — this morning as Roaring Kitty continues to post videos on X. </li>



<li>Grayscale’s bitcoin ETF saw outflows of $50 million on Tuesday, while ARKB brought in $133 million, per <a href="https://farside.co.uk/?p=997">Farside data</a>. </li>



<li>Ark’s Bitcoin Monthly <a href="https://ark-invest.com/crypto-reports/the-bitcoin-monthly-april-2024-report/?utm_campaign=The%20Bitcoin%20Monthly&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9omYG7oTStDKnjIqc2-iL8QUtnSf0MsTMGsbQs9fWfDd-FC9mGUNfLMVvcbUH9OVM0Dz6w-ikAqe-DaoKGfL9u4KYVEQ&amp;_hsmi=307073862&amp;utm_content=307073862&amp;utm_source=hs_email">noted</a> that there are two “crucial” support levels remaining for bitcoin: the 200-day moving average of $48,335 and the on-chain mean, which is $42,538.</li>



<li>BTC’s price is hovering around $62,000, a 1.2% change in the last day.</li>



<li>Core Consumer Price Index month-over-month fell to 0.3%, just under the 0.4% expected in April. </li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The end is near</h2>



After a few years of bankruptcy proceedings, we may be near the endgame when it comes to the companies that failed at the beginning of last cycle’s downturn.&nbsp;



As we wrote about last week, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ftx">FTX</a> put forth a creditor payback plan that could be approved by both a creditor vote and, in June, a court.



But it may not be all smooth sailing for the former crypto exchange, as Blockworks’ Ben Strack and I <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-latest-creditor-payback-proposal">previously reported</a>. The estate’s plan does have some “controversial elements” that aim to shield some of the non-debtor entities from potential future lawsuits, Matthew Gold, partner at Kelinberg Kaplan, told Ben last week.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ftx">FTX</a>’s bankruptcy — though it came at a time when there were a number of other bankruptcies such as Celsius, Voyager and BlockFi — <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-comparison-crypto-bankruptcies">stands on its own</a>, said Jonathan Groth, partner at DGIM Law.



The bankrupt exchange is a “special case” in comparison.&nbsp;



“The plan that they&#8217;re proposing [and the fund they’ve amassed] to repay creditors is really based more on the liquidation of securities holdings through FTX’s branch of Alameda and other recoveries…just really selling off other assets,” Groth said.



Voyager and Celsius returned between 35% and 65% to 85%, respectively, to creditors. Just looking on a numbers basis, FTX is saying it is planning to make customers whole and even pay interest to some. That, of course, doesn’t take into account the appreciation of certain cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. When FTX filed for bankruptcy, bitcoin was under $20,000. Now, of course, it’s above $60,000. That’s clearly a massive change.&nbsp;



However, the bankruptcy code — which Judge John Dorsey <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-bankruptcy-victim-compensation">upheld earlier this year</a> at a hearing after some creditors said they wanted their <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-former-customers-oppose-bankruptcy-plan">payouts to recognize current prices</a> — says that customers should be repaid based on the date that the company declared bankruptcy.&nbsp;



FTX also benefited from the asset location, managing to cobble together between $14 billion and $16 billion to repay creditors. Creditors are owed $11 billion.



“In any of these other insolvency proceedings where the estate and the fiduciary may be lucky enough to still hold some crypto assets, they may be able to benefit from this market upswing that we’re seeing,” Groth said.



Even if some creditors are unhappy with the plan, Groth said “it’ll be really difficult for a court to look at this and say, ‘How unhappy can you be?…You’re being made whole.’”&nbsp;



— Katherine Ross



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Works</h2>



<ul>
<li>Circle is looking to make the US its legal home base ahead of its planned IPO, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-15/usdc-issuer-circle-to-make-us-legal-home-ahead-of-ipo">reports</a>. </li>



<li>Peter Thiel’s VC fund and Vitalik Buterin <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-14/peter-thiel-s-founders-fund-backs-election-betting-with-polymarket-funding">backed</a> Polymarket in a $70 million raise across Series A and Series B rounds.</li>



<li>Ex-FTX executive Ryan Salame is <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/05/15/former-ftx-exec-ryan-salame-asks-for-lenient-18-months-in-prison/">seeking</a> an 18-month sentence, according to a court filing.</li>



<li>Robinhood <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-solana-staking-europe">announced</a> its first-ever staking product — Solana staking — for customers in Europe. </li>



<li>Berachain’s $1.5 billion valuation following its $100 million Series B raise last month <a href="https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/unicorn-board-april-2024-ai-web3-e-commerce-xaira/">earned</a> it a spot on Crunchbase’s Unicorn Board. </li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Morning Riff</h2>



Former Binance CEO <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/changpeng-zhao">Changpeng Zhao</a> is about to have a lot of time on his hands as he prepares to serve his four-month prison sentence in the US. Or, as he called it, “quiet time.”



So what’s a guy to do with all that time?



Sounds like CZ might be going the very classic route of publishing a book. The former executive said he’ll “give it a try” in a <a href="https://twitter.com/B_daojia/status/1789506320204435781">response</a> on X.&nbsp;



What could the said book be about? I’m thinking not about what led to his prison sentence, and Zhao — at least in court — said he’d go back and “change that part of Binance’s story” when discussing what led him to be in front of a judge for sentencing.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/empire-newsletter-cz-vs-sbf-sentencings">Empire Newsletter: Why CZ and SBF’s sentencings were so different</a>



CZ’s newest endeavor is Giggle Academy, a nonprofit education platform, so maybe he’ll pen a self-help book or advice on how to be the next crypto kingpin.&nbsp;



Actually, the latter might be helpful — depending on what he writes about — because we’ve seen quite a few topple thanks to casual law-breaking and deceptive practices. But, hey, there’s always room for improvement.&nbsp;



Either way, there’s no denying that CZ is a force within crypto even putting the guilty plea aside. I’m hoping that his book ends up in the hands of our very own Molly Jane Zuckerman.&nbsp;



— Katherine Ross



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Empire Newsletter: Crypto mixers have their day in court

Yet another potential milestone for crypto is just days away.



Or, we may find out US spot ether ETFs are — for now — not meant to be.



The Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision on such funds by fund firms Ark Invest and VanEck, slated to come by May 23, is only half of what to watch for next week.



In the case of a denial, the SEC is set to give its reasoning. There is also the question of whether a lawsuit follows, how quickly it is filed, and who would lead that charge.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Expected reasons for possible denial&nbsp;</h2>



The SEC was essentially forced to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-approves-bitcoin-etf">approve spot bitcoin ETFs</a> in January after Grayscale Investments notched a legal victory against the regulator.



Then there was SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s warning in his statement published a day before spot bitcoin ETFs launched on Jan. 11: “Today’s commission action is cabined to ETPs holding one non-security commodity, bitcoin.”



A reasonable interpretation: Not so fast, prospective ether ETF issuers.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ether-etf-approval-unlikely-soon">Ether ETFs coming in May? Here’s why many are bearish</a>



“I think the SEC is aware that sponsors may assume an air of inevitability of additional spot crypto approvals once multiple crypto ETPs have been approved,” said Arie Heijkoop, partner at law firm Haynes Boone. “It will take an extra cautious approach as a result before approving any further spot crypto ETP — at least under this current administration.”



Perhaps the biggest elephant in the room is the SEC’s reticence to call ether a security or a commodity.



A March 8 <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/08/2024-04928/self-regulatory-organizations-the-nasdaq-stock-market-llc-order-instituting-proceedings-to-determine">filing</a> confirms the regulator continues to mull this question, Van Buren Capital general partner Scott Johnsson said in an X post.



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a> asks in the document whether the listing exchange — in this case Nasdaq — filed to properly list and trade shares of BlackRock’s proposed iShares Ethereum Trust “given the nature of the underlying assets held by the trust.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">The obvious purpose is to potentially deny on the basis that these spot filings are improperly filed as commodity-based trust shares and do not qualify if they are holding a security.&mdash; Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) <a href="https://twitter.com/SGJohnsson/status/1790219763211198510?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The document also asks whether arguments supporting the list of spot bitcoin ETFs apply to ether given “its proof of stake consensus mechanism and concentration of control or influence by a few individuals or entities.”



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-investigation-of-eth-as-security">SEC has been investigating ETH for over a year, new court filing shows</a>&nbsp;



Indeed, K&amp;L Gates partner Richard Kerr noted during an ETF Prime <a href="https://etfstore.com/vanecks-matthew-sigel-on-spot-ether-etf-hodl-cryptos-investment-case/">podcast</a> last week that the proposed spot ether ETFs are registered under the Securities Act of 1933 as commodities-based products. They would not be allowed to trade under that designation if ether is deemed a security, he noted.&nbsp;



More likely, Kerr added, the SEC will “very carefully try to push the decision on ETH down the line” by saying the correlation between the ether futures and spot markets is not as strong.&nbsp;



The SEC <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ether-futures-etfs-vaneck-proshares-bitwise-offerings#">allowed ETFs that hold ether futures contracts</a> to start trading last October.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital assets research, said during the same podcast he does not believe such an argument holds water.



A March <a href="https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/markets/nyse-arca/rule-filings/filings/2024/SR-NYSEArca-2024-31.pdf">analysis</a> by crypto asset manager Bitwise <a href="https://twitter.com/BitwiseInvest/status/1773427635919458551">found</a> the correlation values for the ether futures and spot markets, when compared to bitcoin, differ up to 0.2% for the hourly correlation, 5% for the five-minute correlation and 8% for the one-minute correlation.



“We think the SEC may use any reason, not necessarily a logical one, to disapprove,” Sigel said. “But we would highlight that the correlation between ethereum spot and ethereum futures…is similar to what the SEC found acceptable for the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs.”



Approved or not, multiple industry watchers previously told Blockworks the SEC would almost definitely not allow ether products that stake their holdings. Ark Invest and 21Shares, which previously <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ark21shares-ether-etf-staking">proposed for their planned fund to stake the fund’s ETH</a>, did not include such language in a May 10 <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1992508/000121390024041758/ea0205580-01.htm">filing</a>.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Would a lawsuit follow?</h2>



An SEC denial could be challenged, as the bitcoin ETF rejections ultimately were.



Some lawyers have told Blockworks a court decision could be the best route to seeing these products launch.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ether-etf-sec-question">Court decision could be only way US spot ether ETFs see light of day</a>



But Johnsson <a href="https://twitter.com/SGJohnsson/status/1788973146478948614">said</a> he would be surprised to see a lawsuit after Grayscale withdrew its ether futures ETF application earlier this month.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/grayscale">Grayscale</a> CEO Michael Sonnenshein <a href="https://www.dlnews.com/articles/regulation/grayscale-to-focus-on-spot-ethereum-products-says-ceo/">reportedly</a> said at an event hosted by the Financial Times that the firm “decided to focus our energy on our spot products.”&nbsp;



A company spokesperson declined to comment further on the proposal withdrawal.&nbsp;



Johnsson noted in a separate X <a href="https://twitter.com/SGJohnsson/status/1787955970762490042">post</a> that keeping the product in registration would have put the SEC “on record with a 19b-4 order” related to ether futures.&nbsp;



A 19b-4 form is filed by stock exchanges and other entities to record a rule change with the SEC. A regulatory decision on such a rule change was “critical” in Grayscale’s legal victory against the SEC last year, Johnsson added.



Existing US ether futures ETFs, registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, did not go through the 19b-4 process.



Heijkoop said he doesn’t expect Grayscale’s ether futures product withdrawal to impact a decision to sue the SEC, if it comes to that.



“If a litigant can show strong correlation between ether futures and spot prices, I think the same premise of the Grayscale bitcoin court ruling should provide legal precedent here, which is that disparate treatment of futures and spot market products is ‘arbitrary and capricious’ in cases where strong correlation is present,” Heijkoop told Blockworks.&nbsp;



Neena Mishra, director of ETF research at Zacks Investment Research, puts low odds on a lawsuit, noting the regulator should approve the products based on the correlation argument.&nbsp;



Issuers, she guessed, would re-apply for ether funds and hope for more engagement with the SEC within the next 240-day period.



“The legal process is costly, and spot ether ETFs are likely to attract much less interest from investors compared to spot bitcoin ETFs,” Mishra explained. “Moreover, with elections approaching, issuers may prefer to wait until the outcomes are known. They will hope for an SEC chair who is more favorable towards cryptocurrency.”



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Why the SEC could choose to deny ether ETFs, and what could happen next

Jack Kubinec

Robinhood’s European crypto branch launched Solana staking.



The feature will offer roughly 5% APY at launch, though that could vary as staking rewards change, Robinhood Crypto general manager Johann Kerbrat told Blockworks in an interview.&nbsp;



This puts Robinhood Crypto a tick below Coinbase, which offers an estimated reward of 5.42% for Solana stakers. The Phantom wallet offers Solana staking with an APY as high as 7.58%.



The firm chose Solana for its first staking product because SOL’s one of the most popular tokens among its EU customers, and staking on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/solana">Solana</a> is simpler than on Ethereum, Kerbrat said.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-trading-volume-february">Robinhood’s crypto trade volume rose 10% in February</a>



(Bitcoin is the most-held crypto among EU customers, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/robinhood">Robinhood</a> said in a press release.)



Kerbrat mentioned that the company was drawn to Solana’s shorter bonding period — the amount of time it takes before newly-staked assets begin earning yield. Solana’s bonding <a href="https://solana.com/staking#how-do-i-estimate-and-view-my-staking-rewards">period</a> is roughly two days, while Ethereum’s <a href="https://help.coinbase.com/en/prime/staking/unbonding">varies</a> from a few days to a few weeks.



When asked if Robinhood Crypto would add <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/staking">staking</a> for additional assets — like Ethereum — in the future, Kerbrat said “we are definitely thinking about it,” but declined to go into specifics.&nbsp;



Robinhood Crypto launched in December as a crypto trading app in the European Union. The entity is registered and regulated in Lithuania, according to a Robinhood blog <a href="https://newsroom.aboutrobinhood.com/robinhood-launches-crypto-trading-in-the-eu/">post</a>. The company’s crypto arm noted that its app is highly downloaded by users in Poland, Italy and Lithuania.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-eyes-eu-expansion">Robinhood looks to jumpstart crypto trading revenue via EU expansion</a>



Robinhood Crypto lists 33 tokens, as opposed to Robinhood’s US trading app, which only <a href="https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/no-commission-crypto/">offers</a> 15 crypto assets — even fewer in New York and Texas.&nbsp;



SOL and Solana <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/meme-coins">memecoins</a> including BONK and DogWifHat are available in the EU but not the US.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-nixes-ada-matic-sol">Robinhood’s US arm delisted Solana</a> — among other cryptocurrencies alleged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to be unregistered securities — in June of last year after the agency filed lawsuits against Coinbase and Binance.



Robinhood’s crypto efforts in <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/europe">Europe</a> are perhaps overshadowed by the company receiving a Wells Notice from the US SEC for its crypto listings last week. 



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-wells-notice-sec">Robinhood discloses Wells notice over its crypto business</a>



Robinhood and Robinhood’s EU crypto branch are “completely separate entities with different business models and different structures, and so at this point, the business in Europe is completely isolated from what&#8217;s happening in the US,” Kerbrat said.



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Robinhood enables Solana staking for customers in Europe

Jeff Albus

Hiya!



Markets may be down slightly, but that’s not the main thing bumming me out today. Last night, I took a train all the way up to Queens just to see the Mets blow a 9th-inning lead. What even is a “Phillie?”



Anyways, let’s talk Solana.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Pandora’s Box of L2s</h2>



Solana’s lack of layer-2s has long been a point of pride for some Solana supporters.&nbsp;



Rather than relying on a fragmented and expanding network of blockchains to scale à la Ethereum, why not just move to a blockchain fast and cheap enough to keep everyone in the same building?



But since fast things can always be faster, and cheap things cheaper, the layer-2 bug appears to be coming for Solana.&nbsp;



Zeta Markets announced a $5 million raise Tuesday, partially to build a DeFi layer-2 on Solana. Electric Capital led the round, which added to the $8.5 million Zeta Markets raised in a 2021 seed round led by Jump Capital.&nbsp;



Zeta Markets currently runs a regular derivatives DEX — the fifth-largest on Solana, <a href="https://defillama.com/protocols/Derivatives/Solana">according</a> to DefiLlama. By adding a layer-2 to the mix, it wants to make its DEX as fast as a CEX.



Zeta Markets founder Tristan Frizza told me that he’s always been a “monolithic chain maxi,” but when you’re letting traders take big leverage on derivatives, market makers want to see some really low latency.



“Solana does what, 400 millisecond block times? But these guys are used to like 10 milliseconds on Binance,” Frizza said.



Off-chain centralized exchanges can basically figure out the price of assets faster than decentralized exchanges, which are slowed down by the underlying blockchain’s throughput. In some cases, savvy arbitrageurs can exploit the momentary differences in price — <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bell-curve-lvr-defi-liquidity-providers-unfair">to the detriment</a> of DEX liquidity providers.&nbsp;



So, there are justifiable reasons beyond snake oil sales for why Solana would want to build layer-2s. Still, it bears notice that Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko — who invested in this Zeta Markets round — <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-yakovenko-layer-2-scaling">appeared on Lightspeed</a> in August asserting that having too many layer-2s can create massive composability and user experience problems. Other notable Solana ecosystem angel investors also took part in Zeta’s round.



Perhaps this signals that Solana’s thought leaders are softening toward rollups.&nbsp;



Zeta’s layer-2 is set to launch in the first quarter 2025, The Block <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/294284/solana-dex-zeta-markets-token-funding-round">reported</a>. By then, I wouldn’t be surprised to see other Solana projects following suit.



— Jack Kubinec



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Zero In</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="963" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png" alt="" class="wp-image-85890" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=434 434w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=364 364w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-3.png?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



Solana&#8217;s fee generation looks to be rapidly closing the gap with Uniswap. Over the past year, Uniswap&#8217;s fees stand at $751.193 million, while Solana&#8217;s reach $185.173 million; that&#8217;s about $14.446 million and $3.562 million per week, respectively.&nbsp;



However, Solana&#8217;s fees have risen sharply over the past week to $10.078 million, nearly matching Uniswap&#8217;s $12.260 million. Interest in the Solana network continues to increase, thanks at least in part to Solana&#8217;s high network uptime, low transaction fees, and ever-increasing user adoption in the DeFi and NFT segments.&nbsp;



If this trend continues, Solana could soon surpass Uniswap in fee generation. This rise suggests growing network usage and transaction volume, which — while positive for Solana&#8217;s ecosystem — could also mean higher costs for users​.



— Jeffrey Albus



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Pulse</h2>



If you&#8217;ve ever spent time exploring Solanaland, you&#8217;ve probably come across the term OPOS — Only Possible on Solana. And while this may sound exaggerated to the uninitiated, it is true that certain innovations are indeed only achievable within the Solana ecosystem. Well, for the most part&#8230; kind of&#8230; at least for now.



The idea isn&#8217;t so much that other blockchains can&#8217;t do what Solana is capable of, full stop. It&#8217;s more that there are a lot of things that other chains just can&#8217;t do quite so well.&nbsp;



For instance, Solana&#8217;s state compression technology drastically reduces the cost of storing data on-chain. That makes large-scale transactions far more feasible, and is why projects like Drip Haus are able to affordably distribute millions of NFTs to users across the ecosystem. Other blockchains, which famously struggle with scalability and high fees, would have a tough time developing similar projects.



Projects like Hivemapper and Helium also benefit from Solana&#8217;s high throughput and low costs in support of their decentralized mapping and community-powered 5G services. This is yet another area where transaction speeds and costs hinder the practical implementation of such large-scale decentralized applications for most other chains.



But while Solana holds the advantage in these areas for now, there is little reason to believe it will stay that way forever. Competing networks are assuredly taking notes on what is and isn&#8217;t working across Web3, and may soon develop similar or even superior capabilities. So the question is: Will Solana be able to keep up with these challenges over the long term? Anything is possible.



— Jeffrey Albus



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">One Good DM</h2>



An excerpt of our chat with Sam Lehman, principal at Symbolic Capital:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="550" height="628" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-14-at-11.48.57-AM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-85886" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-14-at-11.48.57-AM.png?w=550 550w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-14-at-11.48.57-AM.png?w=263 263w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-14-at-11.48.57-AM.png?w=225 225w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-14-at-11.48.57-AM.png?w=229 229w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-14-at-11.48.57-AM.png?w=192 192w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Screenshot-2024-05-14-at-11.48.57-AM.png?w=70 70w" sizes="(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px" /></figure>



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Lightspeed Newsletter: Solana caught the layer-2 bug

Macauley Peterson

On-chain social network infrastructure Lens is getting a new home.



The new Lens Network will build upon the work of the original Lens Protocol as one of zkSync’s ZK Stack hyperchains.



Lens Lab develops the protocol under the umbrella of Avara, which also built DeFi giant Aave.



But <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/aave-companies-rebrands-avara">Avara CEO Stani Kulechov</a> told Blockworks that the non-financial use cases of crypto — citing identity and online social interactions — have the potential to be even bigger.



“The way I think about finance and social [spaces] is that there are a lot of people who have financial capital, but everyone on the planet has social capital — the content we create, the relationships we create and the identities we interact with,” Kulechov said.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/web2-social-media-kinda-sucks">Web2 social media kinda sucks. So why aren’t people using Web3 platforms?</a>



The ZK Stack chain will serve as a “central hub” for Lens, which, according to a blog <a href="https://app.t2.world/article/clw6l2z0018727620mc1dq26xr2">post</a> released Tuesday, will “seamlessly integrate with other EVM and non-EVM blockchains.”



A testnet release of the new network is still months away. The current version of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/lens-protocol">Lens</a> has been operational on Polygon’s PoS chain since May 2022.



The modular, open-source ZK Stack framework, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zksyncs-evm-era-opens-to-the-public">based on the zkSync Era code</a>, will provide Lens with horizontal scaling, connecting as many Lens chains as needed by zk bridges, according to Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski.



“You can add one billion users and you will not lose any of the properties of verifiability,” Gluchowski told Blockworks. “Every single transaction of those millions and billions of users will be verified by every single Ethereum validator — which is the magic of zk,” he said.



Lens pioneered on-chain social infrastructure, but was initially conceived and developed at a time when <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/zero-knowledge-rollup">zk rollup</a> technology was still seen as years away from production at scale.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zksync-launches-op-stack-rival">ZkSync launches rival to Optimism’s OP Stack</a>



“We want to build something that enables open and fair social spaces that anyone can participate on a network level, and because of the ownership aspect that also means you can own your social capital,” Kulechov explained.



That’s not possible with today’s social networks. User-created content is owned by the platforms, giving users limited ways to monetize without locking them in or relying on advertisers.



“We see Lens as the forebearer of Ethereum values when it comes to social,” Gluchowski said. “Lens is the only network that is actually making users the owners of their identities and their content. Everything is happening on-chain.”



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/empire-newsletter-crypto-users">Empire Newsletter: Here’s where all the crypto users really are</a>



That’s in contrast to <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/farcaster">Farcaster</a>, where posts and interactions are primarily off-chain, as are user profiles, although they are linked to an on-chain Ethereum address.



Mainstream <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/web2">Web2</a> social options like Facebook are <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/web3-web2-interoperability-mistakes">centralized and silo user-generated content</a>.



“Our mission is to change the relationship to be more fair [and] give more ownership and power to the users. Hopefully that user choice creates more open social spaces where users can choose algorithms and experiences as well, and there’s more competition on the application level,” Kulechov said.



The parties did not disclose any financial terms related to the move, or a strategy to incentivize users to migrate to the new version.



“We haven’t had any thoughts on migration incentives,” Kulechov said, adding: “I think people will organically migrate from the existing structure into the Lens Net fork down the line.”



But Kulechov noted that the phased approach to the rollout would include inviting users to migrate during a testnet phase and then be upgraded into the mainnet when ready.



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Lens Network to migrate to zkSync

Gísli Kristjánsson

A <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-05/more-than-90-of-stablecoin-transactions-aren-t-real-study-finds">Bloomberg headline</a> recently claimed that &#8220;more than 90% of stablecoin transactions aren’t from real users,” sparking concern about the authenticity of transactions within the blockchain ecosystem.&nbsp;



This isn’t the first time that the digital assets industry has faced scrutiny about an apparent lack of authenticity in transactions. Last year, the SEC <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/some-binance-us-crypto-trading-was-a-mirage-the-sec-alleges-55a6e321?st=ruat3lr6wfei3rn&amp;reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink">accused</a> Binance.US of inflating trading volumes. Way back in 2019, a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/22/majority-of-bitcoin-trading-is-a-hoax-new-study-finds.html">study</a> by Bitwise found that 95% of spot bitcoin trading volume by unregulated exchanges was faked. Both findings have their detractors.



This isn’t the first moral panic around crypto’s legitimacy, and it won’t be the last.



However, a deeper dive into this “more than 90%” figure reveals a more nuanced narrative. A narrative, in fact, that oversells the fraudulent nature of crypto and severely undersells the transformative nature of blockchain technology.



The cited source for this headline, a collaboration between Allium and VISA, introduces a <a href="https://www.allium.so/post/visa-x-allium---making-sense-of-stablecoins">dashboard</a> that attempts to differentiate between &#8220;organic&#8221; stablecoin transactions initiated by end consumers and businesses versus transactions orchestrated by computer programs.&nbsp;



This differentiation, while well-intentioned, fails to grasp the unique execution model of blockchain technology.



Blockchain technology operates on a fundamentally different paradigm compared to traditional payment rails. At its core, blockchains are decentralized, immutable ledgers maintained by a network of nodes. Transactions on blockchains are executed through smart contracts, which are self-executing agreements with contract terms directly written into code.



Unlike centralized payment systems where transactions are initiated and validated by trusted intermediaries, blockchain transactions are triggered by external actions interacting with smart contracts. These actions can be programmatically executed by automated processes — commonly referred to as bots — without the need to extend any trust to the bots.



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cryptographer-expertise-web3">You’re still rolling your own crypto. You need to stop.</a>



Bots play a crucial role in facilitating efficient and secure transactions on blockchains. They serve various functions, from optimizing transaction fees to executing complex financial operations on behalf of users. They are not the equivalent of social media “bots” like those that now plague Elon Musk’s X.



With that in mind, let&#8217;s explore some practical examples of bot-initiated stablecoin transactions:



1. Gas payment services: With blockchain networks like Ethereum, users must pay gas fees to execute transactions. Paymasters are services that cover these gas fees on behalf of users, ensuring seamless transaction execution without requiring the user to own the underlying transactional token.



2. Recurring payments: Smart contracts can be programmed to execute recurring payments based on predefined conditions set by users. While authorized by users, the execution of these payments is automated through smart contract logic initiated by bots.



3. Coupon payments for tokenized bonds: In DeFi, tokenized bonds can automate coupon payments to bondholders through smart contracts, ensuring timely and transparent distribution of interest payments. Smart contracts are unable to initiate future coupon payments, so bots must be the initiators of the payments. Importantly, the bots are trustless in the sense that they never have custody of the funds being paid.



4. Intent-based trading: Users can express their trading intentions, e.g., swapping a token for a stablecoin, by providing a digital signature to a bot through user interfaces. Bots then leverage DEXs to identify the best trade routes and execute transactions on behalf of users, optimizing for efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The blockchain ensures that the bots are unable to do anything other than what was expressed by the user.



5. Rollups and layer-2 solutions: Scaling solutions like rollups enable off-chain transaction aggregation while settling final balances on the main blockchain. Bots can initiate transactions on these layer-2 solutions, streamlining transaction throughput and reducing costs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">No cause for alarm</h2>



The dominance of bot-initiated transactions in stablecoin flows is not a cause for alarm, but a testament to the disruptive capabilities of blockchains. It is a feature, not a bug.&nbsp;



Automation empowers developers to create sophisticated financial applications. For instance, imagine a future where flash loans are used for daily mortgage refinancing, facilitated entirely through automated smart contract execution initiated by bots. This level of automation reduces operational overhead and introduces unprecedented accessibility to financial services.



The dominance of bot-initiated stablecoin transactions is a sign of the maturation of blockchains into a robust infrastructure for automated financial interactions. Rather than viewing bots as a detractor of &#8220;real&#8221; transactions, we should celebrate their role in enhancing user experience and unlocking new use cases. Embracing automation on blockchains enhances efficiency and fosters innovation across diverse industries.&nbsp;



As we navigate the evolving landscape of blockchain-based payments, it&#8217;s essential to revisit our understanding of what constitutes a &#8220;real&#8221; transaction.



In traditional finance, payments are often equated with direct human interaction. However, blockchain&#8217;s execution model introduces a paradigm shift where transactions are initiated and executed through autonomous code.&nbsp;



That isn’t to say that fraudulent transactions don’t exist, or that trading volumes aren’t ever inflated — but a casual read-across from traditional finance to DeFi is rarely so easy.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>


<div class="wp-block-post-author-biography">Gísli Kristjánsson is co-founder and CTO of Monerium, the first company to issue fiat onchain. He fell in love with programming at the age of 13. After working as a bonds broker, Gísli saw the inefficiencies of securities settlements firsthand and recognized the potential of Bitcoin. Prior to co-founding Monerium in 2015, Gísli founded and sold a platform to give users access to geo-blocked content. Fun fact: Gísli’s Ethereum address is among the 1% of the oldest addresses.</div>


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Stablecoins bots are a feature, not a bug

The upcoming US presidential election may spur bitcoin out of its current “consolidation phase,” according to Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz.



Crypto will likely stay politicized until more Democrats pivot their anti-segment stance, he argued, meaning a change in administration could be significant for the space.



Novogratz said during a Tuesday earnings call that, following the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs and last month’s block reward halving, he believes bitcoin could keep trading between $55,000 and $75,000 in the near-term.&nbsp;



The price of bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) was at about $61,450 at 12:30 pm ET Tuesday.



“I think that’s probably where we are — certainly for this quarter and maybe next quarter — until either the Fed starts cutting rates because the economy finally slows or we get through the election.”



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/macro-headwinds-bitcoin-summer">Macro headwinds could spur a ‘boring’ bitcoin summer — or something worse</a>



The 2024 presidential election is likely to bring clarity to the crypto regulatory landscape as the segment has increasingly been politicized. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are set to face-off in a rematch as they did four years ago.



Just last week, the Biden administration said in a statement that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/biden-backing-gary-gensler-resolution">the president would veto a resolution</a> invalidating Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 if it reached his desk. The bulletin, introduced in 2022, says crypto custodians <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-staff-call-for-crypto-entities-to-show-liability-on-balance-sheet">should report a liability and “corresponding assets”</a> on their balance sheets for all custodied cryptocurrencies.&nbsp;



“It just read to the crypto community as the Democrats saying no to crypto,” <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/mike-novogratz">Novogratz</a> said of the Biden administration&#8217;s comments. “And it’s unfair; there are a ton of Democrats that are pro-crypto…but the power has been held by Elizabeth Warren on the Senate banking committee, [Gary] Gensler and a few others.”



The Galaxy CEO likened Democrats’ crypto opposition to party members bad-mouthing dogs.



“Can you imagine a party coming out and saying we don’t like dogs?” Novogratz said. “It’s just terrible politics, but that’s where we’re at.”&nbsp;



Forbes pegs the number of US dog owners at 65 million. There could be as many as 93 million crypto owners in America, according to recent <a href="https://www.security.org/digital-security/cryptocurrency-annual-consumer-report/">estimates</a> by Security.org.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Pair Biden’s veto possibility with Trump signaling he would be a pro-crypto president, and the differing attitudes become more highlighted. Trump invited Ryan Selkis, founder of crypto data platform Messari, to speak during an event last week at Mar-a-Lago.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“There was a shift in the Twitter space; there was a shift in people I spoke to saying, ‘Wow, Republicans good, Democrats bad,’” Novogratz said.



“I think that’s kind of dangerous thinking in that broadly, for our industry to thrive, you’re going to need bipartisan support,” he added. “Because you can’t go from one regime to the next and not know where you stand.”



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/only-a-fool-would-vote-on-crypto-alone">Only a fool would vote on crypto alone</a>



After the House of Representatives approved the resolution to reverse SAB 121 in a 228-182 vote, it now moves onto the Senate. Along with across-the-board support from House Republicans, 21 Democrats backed it.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Novogratz said a prospective Senate vote would be the “first litmus test” on whether some Democrats would look to pivot their stance on crypto.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Though the House has passed several bills out of committee, like the<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoin-bill-bipartisan-support"> Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act</a>, it has not held floor votes on them.&nbsp;



Sens. Cynthia Lummis,&nbsp; R-Wyom., and Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., brought a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2281/all-actions">new</a> version of their Responsible Financial Innovation Act to the Senate floor last summer, but the bill has not progressed.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-bills-in-house-and-senate">Crypto bill update: What legislation is making its way forward?&nbsp;</a>



“We’re in an election year, and you’re having a hard time getting Dems and Republicans to do much together,” Novogratz said. “While, for us, this is unbelievably important…broadly it just doesn’t rise to the level of [being] important enough for the mass of Congress to care enough about.”&nbsp;



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Bitcoin may stay in a ‘consolidation phase’ until US election: Novogratz

Casey Wagner

As the 2024 election looms, crypto-focused legislation is starting to make its way through the US House. But roadblocks in the Senate still loom.&nbsp;



House members last week approved joint resolution 109 — which would invalidate the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 — in a 228-182 vote. It’s the first time a crypto bill has made it to and passed the House in a floor vote.&nbsp;



The resolution now moves on to the Senate, where the Democrat majority makes it unlikely to pass, although there were 21 Democrats who voted against their party and in favor of the resolution in the House. If the legislation does make it past the Senate, however, the Biden administration has said the president will veto the resolution.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/biden-backing-gary-gensler-resolution">Biden backs Gensler as House advances resolution to power-check SEC&nbsp;</a>



​​“Limiting the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a>’s ability to maintain a comprehensive and effective financial regulatory framework for crypto assets would introduce substantial financial instability and market uncertainty,” the White House wrote in a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/SAP-HJRes109.pdf">statement</a> last week.&nbsp;



The House has passed several crypto bills out of Committee, but has failed to bring the vast majority of them to the floor for a full vote. The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/republicans-landmark-crypto-bill-clears-2-house-committees">Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act</a>, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoin-bill-bipartisan-support">Clarity for Payment Stablecoins Act</a>, the Keep Your Coins <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4841/text">Act</a> and the Financial Technology Protection <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2969/text">Act</a> all survived markup, but have not been scheduled for a full vote.&nbsp;



The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, known as the FIT act, last week advanced to the House Committee on Rules. It should be <a href="https://financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=409251">heading</a> for a floor vote later this month, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



In the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/senate">Senate</a>, crypto-related bills, even those with bipartisan support, have yet to grab the interest of committee heads, who would need to add markups to their respective agendas.&nbsp;



The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, backed by Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has been the topic of several Senate Banking Committee hearings, but has not been voted on or marked up.&nbsp;



“At the end of the day, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/elizabeth-warren">Elizabeth Warren</a> has a lot of power right now in the Biden administration, she&#8217;s got a lot of influence over who the appointees are,” Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith said last month at a Brown Rudnick event in New York. “But she hasn&#8217;t always been influential in actually getting legislation passed.”&nbsp;



Longtime collaborators Sens. Cynthia Lummis,&nbsp; R-Wyom., and Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., last summer brought a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2281/all-actions">revamped</a> version of their Responsible Financial Innovation Act to the Senate floor, but the bill has not progressed.&nbsp;



The Senate received joint resolution 109 last week but has not yet scheduled a date to vote. Both the Senate and House are scheduled to recess on May 24 until June 3.



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Crypto bill update: What legislation is making its way forward? 

<a href="https://trondao.org/">TRON DAO</a> today announced that Google Cloud has joined its roster of Super Representative candidates on the TRON blockchain. <a href="https://tronscan.org/#/sr/representatives">Super Representatives</a> are responsible for producing blocks and packing transactions to help ensure blockchain governance on the TRON network.&nbsp;



This initiative builds on TRON’s collaboration with Google Cloud to make its data <a href="https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/product/bigquery-public-data/blockchain-analytics-tron-mainnet-us?hl=en-GB">available</a> on BigQuery, Google Cloud’s fully-managed, serverless data warehouse. Having TRON data on BigQuery equips developers with advanced analytics to dissect blockchain transactions and smart contract intricacies on the TRON network. 



It not only streamlines in-depth analysis for data-driven decision-making but also paves the way for more sophisticated decentralized applications (dapps). The scalability and cost-efficiency of BigQuery bolsters the TRON ecosystem, aligning with its vision of an accessible decentralized internet. 



TRON will also be using Google Cloud’s suite of solutions that empower the Web3 space including Compute Engine for scalable computing resources and Kubernetes Engine for managing containerized applications.



Dave Uhriyniak, Ecosystem Lead at the TRON DAO, expressed enthusiasm about this collaboration: &#8220;The initiative with Google Cloud represents a significant&nbsp; step for TRON DAO in our journey towards decentralizing the web and making blockchain technology more mainstream. Google Cloud&#8217;s becoming a Super Representative candidate underscores our shared vision for a secure, innovative, and decentralized future.&#8221;



“At Google Cloud, we’re committed to making it easy for developers to build Web3 products on our efficient, secure, and reliable infrastructure. We look forward to providing this infrastructure for the TRON ecosystem,” said Rishi Ramchandani, Head of APAC Web3, Google Cloud.



With its high-performance blockchain that supports smart contracts, dApps, and a wide array of digital assets, TRON facilitates fast, low-cost transactions, making it an attractive platform for developers and users alike.



This content is sponsored by TRON and does not serve as an endorsement by Blockworks. The veracity of this content has not been verified and should not serve as financial advice. We encourage readers to conduct their own research before making financial decisions.  



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TRON DAO adds Google Cloud as a Super Representative candidate on the TRON blockchain

Degen chain, a layer-3 blockchain, hasn’t produced a block in over 42 hours. 



According to the last post on Degen’s X account, a resync was expected to be completed at around 9 am ET, or 6 am PT. Yet hours later, the network remains stalled.&nbsp;



“Post-resync, they&#8217;ll test the chain to ensure all data affected by the reorganization is restored. We apologize for the downtime,” the last post — which went up earlier Tuesday — <a href="https://twitter.com/degentokenbase/status/1790267562137153780">said</a>.



Degen’s chain explorer <a href="https://explorer.degen.tips/">shows</a> that no transactions have happened today, and that the last transaction took place two days ago.



Third-party infrastructure provider Conduit’s last post is nearly 24 hours old.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/community-focused-layer-3-degen-chain">What is Degen chain? The L3 built for the memecoin community Degen</a>



“After a custom config change on Friday at [2 pm ET] 11 am PT, two Conduit chains, Degen and Proof of Play’s Apex, stopped posting batches for more than 24 hours. Upon resuming, the first batches triggered reorgs on both chains,” Conduit <a href="https://twitter.com/conduitxyz/status/1790065376975552549">said</a>.



“We’re working with both teams and Offchain Labs to restore service and minimize impact to users,” the post continued.



As previously reported by Blockworks, Degen chain was designed to let developers access the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/meme-coins">memecoin</a> community, and has become especially popular with <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/farcaster">Farcaster</a> users.



“Degen, an ERC-20 token launched in January 2024, has reshaped the Farcaster ecosystem by enabling Casters to reward others with Degen for posting quality content,” Degen’s site <a href="https://www.degen.tips/">said</a>.



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L3 Degen chain stopped producing blocks 42 hours ago

The state of Wisconsin’s investment board disclosed holdings in BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF on Tuesday.&nbsp;



The 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the board bought $99 million, or roughly 2.4 million shares, of IBIT. The <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/854157/000106299324010116/xslForm13F_X02/form13fInfoTable.xml">filing</a> also revealed that the board holds roughly one million shares of Grayscale’s bitcoin ETF. 



According to its website, the agency is an investment organization that manages the Wisconsin Retirement System and the State Investment Funds alongside some smaller funds.



“SWIB has been successful in generating respectable returns and maintaining the trust of the beneficiaries and stakeholders of the funds we oversee,” the site said.&nbsp;



SWIB declined to comment on the holdings in the disclosure. 



Investment managers are required to disclose their holdings in 13F forms if they manage $100 million or more. The filings show what firms bought and held through the last quarter.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/13f-filings-institutional-appetite-bitcoin-etfs">What 13F filings tell us about institutional appetite for bitcoin ETFs</a>



Blockworks previously reported that BNY Mellon as well as BNP Paribas disclosed holdings, though both banks owned far less shares in comparison to Wisconsin’s disclosure on Tuesday.&nbsp;



Paribas disclosed roughly 1,000 shares, and BNY Mellon had 20,000 shares of IBIT and 7,000 shares of Grayscale.&nbsp;



Other investment managers have disclosed much larger holdings. Quattro Advisors, a Pittsburgh-based registered investment manager, disclosed 468,000 shares of IBIT, for example.&nbsp;



On Monday, Wolverine Asset Management <a href="https://twitter.com/MacroScope17/status/1790070606748131651">reported</a> that it owned 874,000 shares of Fidelity’s bitcoin ETF. So far, that’s the largest Fidelity position that’s been disclosed.&nbsp;



Investment managers have until mid-May to file their 13Fs. 



Updated May 14, 2024 at 3:05 pm ET: Noted that SWIB declined to comment, updated number of Grayscale shares.



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State of Wisconsin’s investment board discloses nearly $100M of BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF

A Dutch court found Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev guilty on Tuesday, sentencing him to 64 months in prison.&nbsp;



Pertsev was accused of laundering $1.2 billion of crypto through Tornado Cash, per an <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/03/20/tornado-cash-dev-pertsevs-12b-money-laundering-allegations-detailed-ahead-of-dutch-trial/?_gl=1*wxsxj6*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTI0NjQxOTk0LjE3MTU2OTEzNjA.*_ga_VM3STRYVN8*MTcxNTY5NDA5OC4yLjEuMTcxNTY5NDEwMi4wLjAuMTg1MjMzMTU4MA..">indictment</a> earlier this year. He stood trial back in March.&nbsp;



“The court concludes that the suspect consciously accepted the significant chance that the charged Ether resulting from a crime was deposited in [crypto system], as a result of which he was guilty of laundering it,” a translated version of the <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/03/20/tornado-cash-dev-pertsevs-12b-money-laundering-allegations-detailed-ahead-of-dutch-trial/?_gl=1*wxsxj6*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTI0NjQxOTk0LjE3MTU2OTEzNjA.*_ga_VM3STRYVN8*MTcxNTY5NDA5OC4yLjEuMTcxNTY5NDEwMi4wLjAuMTg1MjMzMTU4MA..">ruling</a> said.&nbsp;



“In view of all this, the court was of the opinion that it was foreseeable from the start that Ether resulting from crime would be deposited in [crypto system] due to the concealing effect of [crypto system]. This has actually happened frequently and to a large extent. Concealment has de facto always been a core activity of [crypto system],” the ruling continued.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/empire-newsletter-doj-wallet-developers">The DOJ’s about-face on money transmitters</a>



Pertsev’s conviction comes as the US also looks to crack down on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/tornado-cash">Tornado Cash</a>. Government officials sanctioned Tornado Cash in 2022, and last year, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/roman-semenov-tornado-cash-ofac-list">US publicly targeted two co-founders</a> of Tornado Cash — Roman Storm and Roman Semenov — and charged them with money laundering and sanctions violations. Storm was arrested, though Semenov remains at large.&nbsp;



Semenov’s known email addresses and Ethereum wallet addresses were <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-treasury-bans-citizens-from-using-mixing-service-tornado-cash">added to OFAC’s list </a>last August.



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tornado-cash-privacy-prevention">Tornado Cash got wrecked, and we could have prevented it</a>



Storm is expected to face a trial in the US later this year. CoinCenter’s head of research Peter Van Valkenburgh said that the outcome shouldn’t impact Storm’s trial later this year.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">My preliminary thoughts on the Pertsev verdict in this thread. I&#39;m sad for Alexey and angry that the money laundering laws in the Netherlands have such a low threshold for intent, essentially mere negligence. Nothing in this ruling should prejudice or carry weight in Roman… <a href="https://t.co/t8ilOSeeCZ">https://t.co/t8ilOSeeCZ</a>&mdash; Peter Van Valkenburgh (@valkenburgh) <a href="https://twitter.com/valkenburgh/status/1790379572686442713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



“Some of this would be highly questionable under US constitutional law. Unlike in the SDNY case that focuses primarily on ongoing activities of the defendants, the Dutch ruling seems to come straight out and say that you can be criminally responsible merely for inventing a crypto system,” Van Valkenburgh <a href="https://twitter.com/valkenburgh/status/1790368771531538798">said</a> in a post on X.&nbsp;



Van Valkenburgh penned a note earlier this month on how the Department of Justice had turned its nose to previous guidance from the Treasury Department’s FinCEN on money transmitters, according to legal documents filed in the case against the Tornado Cash developers and also its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/empire-newsletter-doj-targets-crypto-mixers">case against Samourai Wallet</a>.&nbsp;



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Alexey Pertsev found guilty of money laundering, faces 64 months in prison

David Canellis

Michael McSweeney

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Memecoins show the way</h2>



What are brand-new projects to do in such a topsy-turvy market, one that’s either <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/altseason-is-coming-or-at-least-data-suggests-that-its-close">teetering</a> on the brink of altcoin season or about to veer off into another crypto <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2024/03/28/is-this-the-end-of-bitcoins-4-year-bullbear-market-cycle/">winter</a>?



It’s been about seven months since a fake news tweet from Cointelegraph pushed crypto into overdrive. The market is clearly still confused.



The salacious tweet — which reported that the SEC had approved spot bitcoin ETFs for US markets — confirmed a major bitcoin rally that had been brewing all through 2023.



Bitcoin surged by two-thirds in the months between the post and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-approves-bitcoin-etf">official SEC approval</a> in early January, and then by another 80% after the fact.



Crypto has since been outright messy. Memecoin, DePIN and computing marketplace projects have pumped, privacy coins have dumped, and ETH is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ether-etf-approval-unlikely-soon">stuck in no-man’s land</a> awaiting approval of its own spot ETFs a la BlackRock’s IBIT.



As Jason touches on in today’s <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ed8B3wRHkHndO6AKVIIJp">Empire podcast</a> episode, creative ways of issuing new tokens have emerged between this cycle and the last.&nbsp;



Startups and protocol stewards commonly run private token sales in funding rounds with venture capitalists — which apparently don’t piss off the SEC — before airdropping slices of the circulating supply to users and other early adopters (read: those pesky airdrop farmers).



No ICO means no SEC lawsuits, the thinking goes, while the supply ends up with folks who actively use the protocols they power. Seems like a win-win.



A byproduct of this New Style of doing crypto business is that token supplies are often drip-dropped into the market over a number of years. It’s now relatively routine for tokens to launch with less than 25% of the supply circulating — and in some cases much less.&nbsp;



The rest is kept by the team, early backers and other insiders to fund development, marketing and, eventually, provide ROI. What results is a number of low-float tokens with massively high fully-diluted valuations compared to their actual market caps, a blueprint largely perfected by Sam Bankman-Fried and Alameda Research with Serum and other “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sbf-altcoins-market-rally">Sam Coins</a>.”



It all begs the question of whether there’s any correlation between price performance and low-float supply dynamics.&nbsp;



There are individual cases: dYdX, for instance, had only 18% of the supply circulating when Cointelegraph’s fake news tweet confirmed the bitcoin bull market and has since released an additional 34% of the supply. dYdX’s price against bitcoin has collapsed by more than half in that time.&nbsp;



The airdropped Starknet token is another — it only has 7.3% circulating supply and its bitcoin ratio has also halved.



But after analyzing the current top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, as well as another two dozen or so tokens featured in the top 100 just before the bitcoin bull run really kicked off, broader correlation is harder to find.



Tokens at the top of the chart have high floats. Tokens to the right of the dotted line have beaten bitcoin. Brighter circles have increased their supplies more than darker ones. And larger circles have grown bigger market caps.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/nRc4hUAPOGTq59RH0UB8NOFr58wCM8QcpPFOICA4hRdI9wKz7n_Xi2DWaVLqG0zyFO3RiM36fGvtQqHPdTkGaSewMJKVCdt3V1YZ4QXyZrHX3BjKCR_YfLDSiRtc0qGAL-bAWTJdu6L5x2PATQVfznA" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The cluster in the top left shows even the highest-float tokens have found it hard to beat bitcoin</figcaption></figure>



After removing a few outliers, about 40% of the top end of the market have outperformed bitcoin since October. At that time, the median circulating supply for tokens that have gone onto beat bitcoin was 70%. For underperformers, it was 79%. Not exactly a huge difference. Low float cryptocurrencies generally did as well as high floats.



Then, the median performance against bitcoin for tokens with circulating supplies of 80% or more was minus 21%. So, high-float tokens appear just as susceptible to losing significant ground as low-floats.



Even projects with some of the lowest floats — 19 tokens with under 25% of the supply circulating — on average have beaten BTC by 25%, while the median was almost 1% ahead.



But for standout performers, there does appear to be a link. Bitcoin ratios of nearly a dozen top cryptocurrencies have more than tripled since October. Their median circulating supply was 94% before the rally.



All those stars were memecoins and DePIN projects, which aside from Bittensor, all had a large majority of their supplies already circulating.&nbsp;



A great irony of crypto in 2024 is that perhaps, it’s time to treat <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/meme-coins">memecoin</a> launches as the new standard moving forward.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/_zapj7HgDJOmNugHMiuF7M4ksxPS1R1lljG7zGynT5gpIg-QrL0ur5-IxQJa975PTtbwr4nydf1lNtWEeZu7rO-pLtYyftXyb3lBlo65yEpCTtIuAurHRu3iglMkODcs53joRZmz0GGZb1Ol2wHXfrU" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">And of course, WIF blows them all out of the water</figcaption></figure>



— David Canellis



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Data Center</h2>



<ul>
<li>Solana (a layer-1) and Uniswap (a DEX) are neck-and-neck for fees <a href="https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/metrics/fees">generated</a> in the past seven days — both $10 million.</li>



<li>Ethereum only has 174 validators waiting in the queue, down from more than 22,000 this time last month. Active <a href="https://www.validatorqueue.com/">validators</a> were at an all-time high yesterday: 1,014,915.</li>



<li>Bitcoin <a href="https://dune.com/cryptokoryo/runes">transactions</a> are more than 80% standard BTC transfers, plugging the gap left by lower interest in Runes and Ordinals.</li>



<li>Pepe’s leading the memestocks, gaining 18% over the past 24 hours, <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/crypto-gainers-losers?top=100">according</a> to CoinGecko.</li>



<li>GameStop’s stock is above $65 in premarket trading, on pace to shatter its 52-week high of $38.</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Deja vu</h2>



He’s back.&nbsp;



I am, of course, talking about the man, the myth, the legend: Roaring Kitty.&nbsp;



The return of Keith Gill, the man behind the powerful online persona, sent memestocks and memecoins soaring on Monday.&nbsp;



We were left asking one big question: Is history repeating itself? The answer is…maybe?&nbsp;



We’re nowhere near the 2021 memestock mania, when GameStop’s stock rose to new heights. And it’s not just the retail investors who benefited from the memestock focus either back then or right now.&nbsp;



Pepe, Dogecoin, FLOKI, Dogwifhat and, of course, some random GME-themed memecoins (with no affiliation with the company) gained after Roaring Kitty posted a video suggesting his return.



That’s not even mentioning that GameStop’s market cap is back over $9 billion, or that the stock closed up 74% on Monday. AMC, another memestock favorite, closed up 78%.



A number of factors made 2021 unique. I’m not saying it’s impossible in this cycle, but the threads may be more similar instead of the exact same.



Memecoins dominate today’s market narrative, whereas 2021 saw NFTs booming —&nbsp;nowadays, not so much.&nbsp;



There are macro differences, too. Zooming out of crypto, interest rates are sky high with the Federal Reserve holding on to the 5.25%-and-5.50% range since the summer of 2023. Inflation still runs rampant. Retail investors simply aren’t seeing the same economic environment, not to mention the pandemic that was still a thing in 2021.&nbsp;



Back then, interest rates were so low that millennials could actually afford to buy houses.



The point is: We’re not coming out of lockdown, and we’re seeing crypto bounce back with some weakness after a rough bear market. Of course, that’s not going to stop folks who want to jump into either the memestocks or memecoins. But the conditions don’t look to be ripe enough for a repeat.&nbsp;



Just remember: Diamond hands may be forever, but these cycles tend to have a short — and volatile — lifespan.



— Katherine Ross



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Works</h2>



<ul>
<li>Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was <a href="https://twitter.com/KoosCouvee/status/1790346985733505040">found guilty</a> of money laundering by a Dutch court this morning.&nbsp;</li>



<li>A new crypto-focused political action committee <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stand-with-crypto-pac-us-elections">launched</a>, according to Blockworks’ Casey Wagner.&nbsp;</li>



<li>A bitcoin mining company said to have ties to China was <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/14/us-orders-chinese-backed-crypto-miner-to-sell-land-near-military-base.html">ordered</a> by the US government to divest land holdings near a nuclear missile base, according to CNBC.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Crypto prime brokerage Falcon Labs <a href="https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8909-24?utm_source=govdelivery">settled</a> with the CFTC for $1.7 million. The regulator said Falcon Labs failed to register as a futures commission merchant.&nbsp;</li>



<li>OpenAI <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/13/tech/openai-altman-new-ai-model-gpt-4o/index.html">released</a> a new, upgraded AI model called ChatGPT-4o, according to CNN.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Morning Riff</h2>



Here’s an interesting find: Speculators on the prediction market Polymarket seem to be giving US President Joe Biden similar chances at victory than challenger Donald Trump in a new, major national poll.&nbsp;



On <a href="https://polymarket.com/event/presidential-election-winner-2024?tid=1715684883221">Polymarket</a> right now —&nbsp;in a market that has earned more than $125 million worth of bets —&nbsp;Trump leads Biden 49% to 44%. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., meanwhile, pulls a mere 3% — one percentage point less than Michelle Obama, wife of former president Barack Obama.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stand-with-crypto-pac-us-elections">Stand With Crypto PAC launches as industry interest in campaign funding ramps up&nbsp;</a>



Let’s look at the new New York Times poll from this week.



Trump leads in an array of battleground states, per the Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/us/politics/biden-trump-battleground-poll.html">poll</a>. In two of those states, Trump pulls 49% to Biden’s 42%. Biden fares best in Wisconsin, pulling 47% to Trump’s 45%.&nbsp;



Interestingly, RFK Jr. polled around 10% in each of the battleground states —&nbsp;a marker of strength for the independent candidate and much stronger than what the folks on Polymarket are saying.&nbsp;



The polls and prediction market aren’t moving in tandem, but at some points, they rhyme. To be sure, the crypto-powered Polymarket has been giving Trump strong chances for months. But it’s a fascinating lens for a major political matchup —&nbsp;I’ll be watching as the bets continue to develop. Stay tuned.&nbsp;



— Michael McSweeney



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