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 Simmons is Chief Strategy Officer at RDX Works, a key contributor to the Radix public ledger. He has over 13 years of experience in building &amp; growing businesses in a range of industries including online video, blockchain &amp; digital marketing. With experience in both senior leadership &amp; hands-on roles, he has repeatedly recruited, managed, and trained highly successful teams within marketing, customer success and operations functions. Adam is also a previous member of the UK Paralympic Sprint Kayaking Team and has competed in multiple World and European Championships.


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.

Adrian Brink is the co-founder of Namada and Anoma, where he focuses on building privacy-preserving systems that are resilient to global crises. Previously, he was a core developer at Tendermint (Cosmos) and worked at the Web3 Foundation. He also co-founded Cryptium Labs, which was later sold to Chorus One, and Metastate, where he contributed to major upgrades to the Tezos protocol​.

Adrien Stern is the founder &amp; CEO of Reveel, the omnichain payments infrastructure that enables one-click cross-chain payments to connect people across borders and networks. Before founding Reveel, Adrien led digital transformation efforts at BNP Paribas CIB. He was also previously a venture builder, and owns Bridge Music, a record label and recording studio. Adrien has a Bachelor’s degree in Sciences of Management from The University of Lausanne and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Esade. 

Alex Hoffman is Head of Ecosystem at Superposition Finance. Superposition is revolutionizing DeFi by addressing its core challenges through robust risk management powered by Concordia’s best-in-class risk engine, omnichain functionality, and transparency.

Alexei Zamyatin is a co-founder of BOB, a first-of-its-kind hybrid Layer-2 powered by Bitcoin and Ethereum. He has been a Bitcoin and interoperability research contributor since 2015 and is most known for his work on trustless cross-chain bridges and L2s. Alexei holds a PhD in computer science from Imperial College London.


Alison Haire is the CEO and founder of Lilypad, a serverless, decentralized compute network that democratizes access to computational power by providing scalable infrastructure for AI, machine learning and other high-demand processes. Before founding Lilypad, she held roles at companies such as Filecoin, IBM and Accenture. Under her leadership, Lilypad leverages idle GPU capacity worldwide to fuel an open AI economy, providing cost-effective and scalable compute resources. Her work focuses on making high-performance computing accessible to more developers and researchers, while challenging the dominance of large centralized cloud providers​​.

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 Redden is the CEO and CTO of Last Network, a blockchain platform focused on sustainable cash flow and reinvestment. Previously, he worked at Gitcoin and has contributed to numerous DeFi and Web3 projects. Redden's career reflects a commitment to developing technologies that prioritize long-term viability and community engagement​.

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.


Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio.

Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman in 2001. Earlier, he worked in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs &amp; Co.

In 2022, Scaramucci was ranked #47 in Cointelegraph’s Top 100 Influencers in Crypto and Blockchain. In 2016, he was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst &amp; Young’s New York Financial Services “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award.  Anthony is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and a board member of the Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation. He is the author of five books.

Scaramucci served on President Donald J. Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee, and in 2017 briefly served as Chief Strategy Officer of the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank and White House Communications Director.

Scaramucci, a native of Long Island, New York, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

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 Rubin is the CEO and co-founder of Towns, a decentralized messaging platform dedicated to redefining online communication. Rubin has a rich background and a decade of experience in creating digital spaces that build trust and foster human connection. Prior to founding Here Not There Labs, the developer of Towns, Ben founded two venture-backed startups, Meerkat and Houseparty, both of which reimagined how people interact digitally. He scaled his communication products to hundreds of millions of users and raised over $70M in funding from Sequoia Capital and Greylock. After Houseparty was acquired by Epic Games in 2019, Ben went on to found Here Not There Labs, a venture-backed startup with over $30M in funding from a16z crypto and Benchmark Capital.

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 Luedtke is the CEO and founder of Intuition, an information protocol powering a more trustful internet. Billy previously served as senior technology advisor at EY, a leading global professional services organization providing assurance, tax, audit, strategy and transactions. At EY, Billy created the company’s blockchain consulting practice, leading the technical development of blockchain-enabled distributed systems. Billy later became a senior token engineer at Consensys, a leading Ethereum developer (MetaMask, Infura, Linea). Billy continues to serve as an advisor at Consensys and MetaMask.

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.

Bob Bodily is the Provo, Utah-based CEO and Co-Founder of Bioniq, a BTC Ordinals wallet and marketplace. He has a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and a Ph.D. in educational/instructional technology from Brigham Young University, with 25 articles and 1K citations. He is a data engineer with 100K+ lines of production Python code, and he has two previous software startups, including an EdTech SaaS that sold in 2021.


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.

Three years ago, his act of burning a physical Banksy ignited global discourse on NFTs and Web3, exposing the industry's flaws. Now, through XION, founder Burnt Banksy leads a mission to democratize Web3 to the masses, making ownership accessible to all by removing unnecessary barriers and complications through chain abstraction. To date: XION has raised over $36M in funding with the goal of "making crypto disappear." Ultimately, Burnt Banksy wants to provide the benefits of crypto to people without requiring them to know anything about crypto.

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. 

Candace Kelly is the Chief Legal and Policy Officer for the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world's financial infrastructure. She leads the team responsible for SDF’s legal affairs and the policy team that is focused on bridging the gap between the public and private sectors. Previously, Candace worked for Uber Technologies, Inc., where she helped navigate the company’s response to regulatory investigations and advised on safety, security, privacy, consumer protection, and law enforcement response. Prior to that she served for 17 years at the United States Department of Justice.

Carlos Mercado is a data scientist at Flipside Crypto, specializing in the convergence of data science, cryptocurrency, economics, and open-source research. His expertise spans the Ethereum ecosystem and over 20 other blockchains, where he leverages SQL, R, Python, and Solidity to develop innovative data models and analytics tools. Carlos's notable contributions include the creation of the True Freeze DeFi primitive and leading the production of the 2023 Crypto Users Report, generating significant industry impact. Prior to Flipside, he applied his skills in AI strategy and product development at Guidehouse and offered data science consulting services.


​​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

Charles Hoskinson is a Colorado-based technology entrepreneur and mathematician. He attended Metropolitan State University of Denver and University of Colorado Boulder to study analytic number theory before moving into cryptography through industry exposure.

His professional experience includes founding three cryptocurrency-related start-ups – Invictus Innovations, Ethereum and IOHK – and he has held a variety of posts in both the public and private sectors. He was the founding chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation’s education committee and established the Cryptocurrency Research Group in 2013.

His current projects focus on educating people about cryptocurrency, being an evangelist for decentralization and making cryptographic tools easier to use for the mainstream. This includes leading the research, design and development of Cardano, a third-generation cryptocurrency that launched in September 2017.

Chris Barrett serves as the Director of Communications at Chainlink Labs and has been involved with Chainlink since 2017. Chainlink is the only on-chain data and cross-chain platform that enables financial institutions to develop customized, flexible, compliant, and future-proof blockchain applications and tokenized assets. Before this role, he founded a leading PR agency for technology startups, where he worked with over 1,000 innovative companies. Chris is also an avid runner, having maintained a streak of running for over five consecutive years. 

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.

Ciarán Murray is a seasoned veteran of the blockchain industry. Aside from advising on numerous blockchain projects over the years, and releasing a synthetics assets proof-of-concept last year, Ciarán previously worked in the media industry for British Sky Broadcasting. He is not only well placed to understand the issues facing the media industry but also how to apply blockchain and other distributed technologies to remedy them.

Da Hongfei is the founder of Neo, an open-source, community-driven blockchain platform designed to welcome developers into the Smart Economy. Hongfei operates as CEO of Neo Global Development (NGD), the executive arm of the Neo Foundation that is committed to developing the Neo protocol and its supporting ecosystem. He is seen as a luminary in the Web3 space and as a blockchain pioneer in Asia. Hongfei received his education at the South China University of Technology, receiving degrees in technology and English.

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

Dan Smith is a Senior Research Analyst based in the United States covering Curve, Convex, Aave, and Compound. Daniel previously worked in tax and valuation at EY and Bennett Thrasher. He is focused on using data visualization tools to better understand the health and profitability of various DeFi protocols. Contact Dan at daniel@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

David Schwed serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Halborn, an elite blockchain security firm. Prior to Halborn, he was the Global Head of Digital Assets Technology at BNY Mellon, the world's biggest custodian bank, where he integrated the IT strategy for the company's digital asset services. David was also CISO for Galaxy Digital, where he led the development of information security and IT infrastructure, and served as a risk committee advisor, evaluating emerging threats in financial services. He also founded the Cybersecurity Master's Program at Yeshiva University’s Katz School of Science and Health, sharing his expertise as a practitioner-in-residence.


Delphine Forma is the policy lead for Europe &amp; UK at Solidus Labs, a leading market compliance and market integrity firm in digital assets. With a career spanning roles in major banks and blockchain ventures, she brings extensive experience in compliance and legal across sectors. She is the founder of the crypto compliance and legal TG group with 1,400 members. A Sciences Po Lyon alumna, Delphine also holds advanced degrees in European Criminal Business Law and anti-money laundering.

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.

Dermot O’Riordan serves as a Director at the POKT Network Foundation where he helps steer product development and strategy. From Ireland to Silicon Valley, Dermot’s career ranged from advising tech companies and VC firms to leading marquee industry events. His interest in Web3 was sparked in 2016 with the rise of DAOs, leading him to dive deeper into the blockchain space, where he served as an advisor to projects like Radix and Dusk, and later, spearheading growth at Eden Block.

Donovan is a reporter based in Singapore. He previously worked in editorial at Bankless and is a huge fan of spaghetti Westerns and the Wu-Tang Clan. Contact Donovan at donovan@blockworks.co.

Elena leads product marketing at Hiro Systems, a developer tooling company bringing smart contracts to Bitcoin. She has spent the past six years working in blockchain and cryptocurrency startups. Elena co-founded Blockchain Latinx, an online community that explores what blockchain means for Latinos and for Latin America. She has an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

Eli Cohen is a corporate lawyer with 25+ years of experience in commercial transactions, financial services and regulatory matters and has worked in Asia, Europe and the United States. He is the General Counsel for Centrifuge, a real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and securitization platform and Chief Compliance Officer for Anemoy Capital SPC Limited a British Virgin Islands fund company issuer of the tokenized Anemoy Liquid Treasury Fund 1. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, has a Masters in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Eli Zeger writes about democracy and its relationship with technology. His work has been published in the Boston Review, Noema Magazine, Strange Matters, Zora Zine, among numerous other publications.

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 Jauvin is the host of the On the Margin podcast. Based in British Columbia, Canada, he lives and breathes where crypto and macroeconomics intersect.

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.

Frank has a diverse career that spans creative writing, day trading, and a 12-year stint in financial planning. After experimenting with blockchain and being an early adapter to the Solana ecosystem, Mathis co-founded GenesysGo in 2021 to create a faster, more reliable and more secure decentralized data storage protocol. Their flagship product, shdwDrive is built on Solana and aims to bridge the gap between blockchain technology and traditional business infrastructure. GenesysGo is powered by a new type of decentralized data storage consensus mechanism, built from the ground up by the GenesysGo team.

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.

Gijs op de Weegh is the CEO and Founder of StablR, where he leads the strategy, business operations, and investor relations. He founded StablR out of his passion for implementing blockchain technology in the financial industry and exploring its possibilities. Before founding StablR, Gijs co-founded Payvision, an e-commerce payment service provider, in 2002. Under his leadership, Payvision grew to over 300 employees and achieved a turnover exceeding €4 billion.

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.

Hadley Stern, Advisor to MPCH, has extensive experience in leadership roles within TradFi and digital asset industries. As Global Head of Custody at the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM) from 2021 to 2023, Hadley spearheaded the creation of the industry’s first bank-grade crypto-custody platform. Hadley also previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Bloq where he was responsible for the P&amp;L, product roadmap, and general operations. Hadley was Founding President of Fidelity Digital Asset Services where he led Fidelity's Blockchain Incubator and Digital Currency group and was pivotal in early product launches, including activating Bitcoin donations to Fidelity Charitable and building and running Fidelity first Bitcoin mining Operation.



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.

Harry Duckworth, a law graduate, embarked on a unique journey that led him to become the youngest trader at global commodities giant Trafigura. He then went on to set up desks for several hedge funds worldwide, accumulating over a decade of experience in trading, hedge funds, and emergent technologies. 

Through his work, he became fascinated by the revolutionary power of blockchain tech soon after the inception of Bitcoin. Years later he founded AgriDex International, to provide digital marketplaces and supply chain information for all participants in the global food chain. 

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.

Igor Telyatnikov is the CEO and co-founder of the blockchain and financial services technology company AlphaPoint. Headquartered in New York, AlphaPoint supports over 10 million users, powering marketplaces and wallets in over 35 countries. With 15 years of experience in tech and innovation, Igor has empowered over 150 clients, including CME Group and Scotiabank. In 2022, he partnered with the Government of El Salvador to upgrade its Chivo Wallet into a national Bitcoin and dollar wallet, creating the first nationalized crypto ecosystem. Igor previously held roles at Cvetlo, LiftDNA, and Ingersoll Rand/Allegion, and has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing from Penn State University. He is a frequent speaker at industry events.

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 Solana ecosystem 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 re.al, an L2 build to facilitate deep onchain liquidity for tokenized RWAs. re.al seeks to redefine how RWAs are integrated into DeFi, using yield-generating real-world assets as novel building blocks in existing DeFi primitives.

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.

Jason Allegrante is the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Fireblocks. He is an experienced Counsel with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry with both large, traditional financial institutions as well as early stage fintech startups.



Jason Dehni is the co-founder and group CEO of Credbull, a leading DeFi platform offering structured high fixed yield solutions in SME private credit. Jason has over 25 years of senior management experience in asset management, private banking, SME lending, insurance, risk management, and crypto across North America, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. His background includes serving as group COO &amp; MENA CEO of a publicly traded crypto asset management company, co-founder &amp; CEO of an SME trade finance platform, and senior leadership roles in asset management, wealth management,  insurance, and management consulting. Jason holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an Honours BA in Economics &amp; Political Science from the University of Toronto. 

Jean-Marie Mognetti is Chief Executive Officer of CoinShares, a publicly listed investment firm that manages over five billion in digital assets on behalf of a global investor base, and an experienced commodities trader with a background in quantitative strategies. A veteran of the Global Advisors group of companies since 2011, Jean-Marie has served in various leadership roles throughout his tenure, most recently as CEO of Global Advisors (Jersey) Limited and director of GABI, the world’s first regulated Bitcoin fund. In addition to his management responsibilities as CEO, Jean-Marie oversees the firm’s proprietary trading arm, capital markets portfolio, and risk management practices – areas in which he has developed unique expertise over his career. Prior to joining Global Advisors, Jean-Marie was a quantitative strategist with Hermes Commodities Fund Managers, and an Energy Trader Assistant at Lehman Brothers. He holds Master of Science degrees in Mathematical Trading and Finance from Sir John Cass Business School in London, and Bank-Finance-Insurance from Université Paris Dauphine in Paris, in addition to a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Finance from Université Paris Dauphine.

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.

Jesse Knutson is the head of operations at Bitfinex Securities, where he is responsible for expanding the platform’s issuance pipeline, overseeing distribution and building its user base while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Prior to this role, Knutson served as vice president of financial products at Blockstream, and held roles at prominent investment banks including Macquarie Group and Barclays.

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.

Joey is ranked by Chambers and Partners as one of the top 12 lawyers in the world, advising many of the largest platforms around the globe in the space. He co-chaired the Gibraltar Government’s working group on Blockchain for 3 years, which was established to develop the infrastructure to accommodate a DLT regulatory framework. Joey is also a specialist consultant to the United Nations and trains and assesses authorities primarily around South East Asia in virtual asset developments, DeFi and regulation. He is a member of several think tanks including the prestigious global ‘Wharton Reg@Tech’ initiative, the Blockchain Industry Parliamentary Roundtable on Blockchain Technologies at Parliament in the UK, and also contributed to the UK Law Society on the Blockchain Legal and Regulatory Guidance publication. He was the Xapo Representative on the Libra/Diem Association and has also contributed to various stablecoin and CBDC developments. 

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 Woods is the CTO of the Algorand Foundation, which supports Algorand’s rapidly growing ecosystem by providing a best-in-class developer environment, supporting key infrastructure and setting technical standards, offering comprehensive support to builders and entrepreneurs, and providing the framework for decentralized governance.

Prior to joining the leadership team at Algorand, John worked as Chief Architect of Cardano at IOHK. He has held roles leading software architecture and applied cryptography at a number of firms including Informatica, ConsenSys and Central Bank of Ireland.

Jeff Albus

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">subscribe</a>.



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



Crypto cycles tend to have two big innovations: something real and something ridiculous that distracts retail, pumps the wrong narrative and eventually implodes the market.



We&#8217;ve had a ton of innovations this cycle, but none have really stuck because memecoins showed up early and stole the show. However, if recent <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/helium-decentralizing-telecom-with-web3-incentives">momentum</a> from projects like Helium is anything to go by, the current run might get its more &#8220;serious&#8221; cycle innovation after all, thanks to decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN).



DePIN uses crypto incentives and public coordination to bootstrap real-world infrastructure (like wireless coverage, sensor networks, GPU clusters, energy grids). Instead of billion-dollar telcos or centralized cloud platforms, the infrastructure gets built by communities and aligned with token rewards. In theory, it&#8217;s the internet&#8217;s final Frankenstein, turning crypto into a tool to build digital utility outward into meatspace.



In recent weeks, <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/helium-decentralizing-telecom-with-web3-incentives">Helium has hit new all-time highs</a> in DAO voting participation, $MOBILE validator onboarding and usage-based rewards. It’s also <a href="https://world.helium.com/en/mobile">passed</a> major protocol milestones: expanding 5G coverage to over 4,500 radios across 2,000+ US cities and driving real-world traffic to Helium Mobile&#8217;s $20/month unlimited plan — now sold in 3,000 Walmart stores.



Take that in for a moment: These are actual phones using a crypto-backed, community-powered DePIN network.



Traditional telecom is bloated, centralized and hostile to innovation. Infrastructure costs are egregious, rural service is often non-existent, and MVNOs are locked into opaque backend deals. Helium is flipping this by letting users deploy coverage infrastructure, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/helium-mobile-introduces-free-plan">earn rewards</a> based on network demand, and manage protocol upgrades through its onchain governance systems. It&#8217;s basically Uber-for-cell-towers (ew, I know. Such a cheugy analogy at this point), except instead of squeezing labor, it aligns long-term incentives through verifiable coverage proofs and onchain traffic accounting.



That said, it’s far from a done deal for Helium. The protocol’s parent company Nova Labs underwent a significant <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/helium-parent-company-layoffs">round of layoffs</a> last summer, and it now has competition from the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/xnet-att-partnership-wifi-depin">likes of XNET</a>. It’s still unclear just how profitable Helium Mobile’s business is.



Initially launched for low-data IoT sensors (LoRaWAN), Helium&#8217;s pivot to 5G mobile was a big step toward legitimacy. Through a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/helium-cell-plan-goes-nationwide">partnership with T-Mobile</a>, Helium Mobile now operates as a hybrid carrier, routing data across both centralized infrastructure and community-run equipment. Doing this has enabled fresh experiments in coverage-based rewards, user-side rebates and real-time tracking of infrastructure usage — all of which are settled on Solana.



Helium&#8217;s not alone. In recent months, projects like Hivemapper (decentralized Street View), WeatherXM (community weather data) and Grass (browser-based data capture for AI models) have each carved out early traction. The common thread here is real-world participation, mostly thanks to tokenized incentives. These are applications that COULD exist without crypto, but they scale better with it. People like monetary rewards, it turns out.



If any of these networks hit a tipping point where proper utility gains equilibrium with the joys of token yield, I think we might see it spark the first DePIN-native flywheel.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

DePIN

Solana’s biggest DePIN is setting records

Ben Strack

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">subscribe</a>.



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



As you may recall, financial advisers in a January Bitwise/VettaFi <a href="https://bitwiseinvestments.com/crypto-market-insights/the-bitwise-vettafi-2025-benchmark-survey">survey</a> said equity ETFs were their top choice for gaining <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-exposures-volatility-stocks-analysts-saying">crypto exposure</a> in 2025.&nbsp;



And, more recently, 10T Holdings founder Dan Tapiero said on stage at the Digital Asset Summit that people will always like investing in companies with cash flows, a balance sheet, a board of directors, etc.



VanEck’s Onchain Economy ETF (NODE) — set to launch next month — looks to be different from the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/2025-crypto-stocks-to-watch">BLOK</a>), for example — or even its own Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP).



DAPP holds 20 names. Strategy is the top holding, representing nearly 11% of the portfolio. If you add bitcoin miners to the MSTR position, that’s where a majority of the fund’s assets are allocated.



While MSTR has driven gains, most miners have not offered great “across-the-cycle returns,” noted VanEck digital assets research head Matthew Sigel. He’s set to manage NODE.



With a target launch date of May 14, NODE plans to instead look for opportunities across a broader universe of more than 130 companies. Here’s how it labels them in the prospectus:&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd7WQ5mTbX98EBW7oyGk0QUM_DxNsEyneGVx5KSolkUWXzylQsQmIUH0nXyriy7phrW8TARTWZrvc07DURft8-eGh3GzmJ28CVc6KrMHbCSzjKIT-MEyn_YEPIOdiSwYzOzjppBYA?key=3B78uNv88CoZyO8r8oQKfEXL" alt=""/></figure>



The fact NODE will focus less on the volatile mining space (filled with bankruptcies and the like) means that “maybe long-term allocators would be more willing to hold this one over a multi-year horizon,” Sigel told me.&nbsp;



He didn’t want to name possible top holdings. But Sigel mentioned the opportunity in “downstream and midstream energy companies” tied to BTC mining that offer a different volatility/beta to bitcoin than the pure-play miners.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



He added: “There are a number of Web2 companies globally that have been more forward-thinking about adopting stablecoins and digital assets more broadly. And we’re focused not only on the revenue opportunity directly, but also on how crypto rails can improve the cost structure of many traditional companies.”There’s also the fact that more crypto companies (and those wading into the space) are expected <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-ipo-boom-etoro-kraken">to go public</a> (eToro, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/circle-ipo-stablecoin-competition-investors">Circle</a>, etc.).



Sigel said: “We count more than $10 billion of IPOs in the pipeline that should make for interesting hunting ground over the next year for active equity investors.”&nbsp;



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

ETFs

How a soon-to-launch crypto equity ETF looks to be different

Casey Wagner

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">subscribe</a>.



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



As the global trade war rages on, US companies navigating earnings season are being cautious to avoid forward-looking statements.&nbsp;



We’ve already seen Delta Airlines pull its 2025 guidance, with executives saying tariff policy&nbsp; “uncertainty” makes future projections challenging. CarMax also withdrew its long-term growth timeline.&nbsp;



“Why put a target out there that’s really speculative, not knowing exactly where this environment is going to go?” CarMax CEO and president Bill Nash said on the company’s earnings call earlier this month.&nbsp;



United Airlines executives took a different approach, opting on their earnings call to provide investors with two vastly different profit forecasts. On the high end — should conditions remain “stable” — adjusted earnings per share could be as high as $13.50. On the low end — if the US economy enters a recession — EPS could dip to $7.&nbsp;



President Trump’s “Liberation Day” <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/markets-rate-cut-tariff-fed-reserve">tariff policies</a> may not be directly reflected in Q1 earnings. But we know that companies and consumers have changed their behavior in the past few months in anticipation of a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/global-markets-recalibration">global trade shift</a>.&nbsp;



US retail sales were up 1.4% in March, with big-ticket items like cars leading the way — a sign consumers were looking to lock in prices ahead of tariffs going into effect. The US ISM manufacturing inventories index also rose last month, signaling companies may have been stockpiling goods and supplies before import prices go up.&nbsp;



The first of the so-called Magnificent 7 (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla) are scheduled to report earnings this week. Tesla kicks things off tomorrow, and Alphabet’s call is slated for Thursday.&nbsp;



Tesla will be particularly interesting to watch — because of CEO Elon Musk’s ties to the White House and because tariffs are expected to impact the electric vehicle company.&nbsp;



Despite Tesla ramping up its domestic supply chain in recent years and assembling its cars in the US, the company relies heavily on foreign imports (especially from China). On Tesla’s Q4 2024 earnings call, CFO Vaibhav Taneja said tariffs are expected to have an impact on the company’s “business and profitability.”&nbsp;



For Alphabet, investors will be waiting to hear how executives are thinking about global macroeconomic conditions. Business spending is expected to decrease with tariffs, leading to a smaller global ad market. Retail ads represent almost a quarter of Google’s ad revenue, analysts from Oppenheimer estimate.&nbsp;



Alphabet in February said it would invest $75 billion in capital expenditures in 2025 — spending that would help build out its AI offerings and data center infrastructure. The company has not yet adjusted this figure, but we will be listening on Thursday.&nbsp;



We’ve written before about how we’ll be watching <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/banks-lending-increase-reports-q1">quarterly cost accruals</a> this earnings season. This is not a market that will reward outperformance on earnings, so we could see companies intentionally increase reported expenses to “save” any extra earnings for later this year.&nbsp;



Coming up, Meta and Microsoft are scheduled to report on April 30. Results for the rest of the Mag 7 are slated for May.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

earnings

Tesla to kick off Mag 7 earnings as more companies withdraw guidance

Kate Irwin

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



Ah, “Base is for everyone.” If you haven’t heard that by now, go catch up quickly with <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/base-coinbase-content-coin-crash-pump-memecoin">this story</a>.



Here’s a hot take: Base is not sexy.&nbsp;



Jesse Pollak, Coinbase’s head of Base and Coinbase Wallet, has been on a posting spree since Base launched some “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/base-coinbase-content-coin-crash-pump-memecoin">content coins</a>” that pumped, dumped, and then pumped again. The first one was “Base is for everyone,” a token with seemingly no purpose other than to promote the idea that everyone should tokenize everything for profit but also, for funzies. 



One Pollak <a href="https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1913230788411429108">post</a> with a GIF full of different phrases declared, among other things, that “Base is for pimping” while another made the claim that “Base is for squirting.” Those two in particular caused a stir on Crypto Twitter.



Both have <a href="https://x.com/jacqmelinek/status/1913239619275051377">shock value</a> — and are also just a bit bizarre to state at all. In response to one <a href="https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1913248254013440414">post</a> about the latter statement, Pollak said we should respect “provocative artists.” In another reply, he <a href="https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1913250831073509730">said</a> he would love it if someone launched a “better OnlyFans on Base.”



But the company behind Base, Coinbase, isn’t for everyone.



As some have <a href="https://x.com/CupOJoseph/status/1913277432943030526">pointed out</a>, Pollak’s wish for a Base-based OnlyFans is ironic considering Coinbase’s current <a href="https://www.coinbase.com/legal/prohibited_use">terms block</a> anyone from using Coinbase who conducts business around “any sexually-related services such as prostitution, escorts, pay-per view, [or] adult live chat features.” 



Because OnlyFans involves pay-per-view and chat features, OnlyFans and creators making similar content independently or on other platforms would be banned from using Coinbase.



Coinbase has banned all types of sexually suggestive work and sex work without distinction, lumping in lewd OnlyFans photos with activities that are illegal in most states.



When I <a href="https://x.com/pixiekate13/status/1913383712034865238">posted</a> about this, a number of reply guys didn’t deny that Coinbase is doing this. But they tried the good ol’ “it’s a blockchain” argument, meaning sex workers could or should find other ways to use Base while avoiding Coinbase, the company that created it.



But is that a world we really want to live in? One where sex workers are promoted publicly and superficially when they use blockchains and are then shamed or restricted when they try to onramp or offramp their cash?&nbsp;



The head of Base, who works at Coinbase on Base, is saying sex workers should come to Base while ignoring Coinbase’s rules against letting said workers use Coinbase itself.



In 2022, CNBC found that Coinbase has been banning sex workers from its platform since at least as early as 2016. Coinbase <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/05/bitcoin-a-lifeline-for-sex-workers-like-ex-nurse-making-1point3-million.html#:~:text=Later%2C%20in%202016%2C%20Coinbase%20closed,connected%20to%20adult%20content.%22)">told</a> the news outlet in 2022 that its terms of service bar “commerce or retail services connected to adult content.”&nbsp;



All of this ties into a bigger problem: As crypto has bowed down to Wall Street in hopes of “mass adoption” and better (or at least clearer) regulation, it’s become more like those big banks it once sneered at.&nbsp;



Crypto had been touted as one of the few promised payment methods besides cash that sex workers could actually use. But it <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/sex-workers-crypto-failing-them/">has</a> <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2023/08/crypto-sex-work-banking-access.html">failed</a> to live up to that promise.



“Generally speaking, women are not outraged about Base possibly bringing adult content onchain. Adult service workers are more punk and anti-establishment than most of the people in crypto,” CoinFund Head of Comms and Marketing Jules Mossler <a href="https://x.com/julie_mo/status/1913714629429305681">wrote</a> on X.&nbsp;



“Being taken seriously is about having good taste. There is a school of thought that believes some art is cheap: gross-out humor, useless nudity, excessive cursing for shock value. It’s not really anyone’s place except the company itself to judge if using sex in their marketing is on target and a good decision,” Mossler continued in reference to Pollak’s GIF post, adding: “The use of the word ‘pimp’ is a choice though. And no matter how often the term appears in rap it doesn’t change that pimps play a central role in sex trafficking and exploitation of women.”



Pollak later <a href="https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1913384737865179525?s=46">posted</a> an apology for the “Base is for pimping” part of his previous post.



“This morning I also posted a piece of art someone coined, which (among many phrases) said ‘base is for pimping.’ To be 100% clear: this was made by a creator I wanted to support (not me or Base marketing), and it was a single phrase among many, but I&#8217;ll own this was [sic] a mistake and apologize. I&#8217;m sorry,” Pollak wrote in lowercase text, adding: “I unequivocally back artists to create without fear on Base and I support provocative art — but the messages I share matter, especially when they look and feel like a direct message from me.”



Reached for comment, a Coinbase spokesperson did not respond to my question about why the company continues to bar creators engaged in legal sex work from Coinbase.&nbsp;



Instead, the spokesperson reiterated that Base is permissionless and recommended “anyone” use Coinbase Wallet or a DeFi platform to “get onchain with Base.”



“If someone wanted to build a version of OnlyFans on Base, they would be free to do so,” the Coinbase spokesperson said.&nbsp;



But they can’t take those earnings to Coinbase itself.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Base

Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak calls for ‘better OnlyFans on Base,’ apologizes for post about ‘pimping’

Donovan Choy

This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">subscribe</a>.



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



“ETH sucks, it has no value accrual, and the L1 is dead,” says everyone with an X account. “Want Ethereum to return to its glory days? Forget the L2 roadmap — scale the L1!”



It appears the Ethereum <a href="https://x.com/christine_dkim/status/1892364990608486555">inner circles</a> are finally listening.



<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">Our discussions about the Layer 1 scaling roadmap have been extensive, and the feedback so far suggests that the community appreciates our ambition. Turning that ambition into reality now depends on the focus of the core development teams and researchers. Following the recent…&mdash; Tomasz K. Stańczak (@tkstanczak) <a href="https://twitter.com/tkstanczak/status/1914092488396091444?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



A new Vitalik blog <a href="https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/long-term-l1-execution-layer-proposal-replace-the-evm-with-risc-v/23617">post</a> published yesterday lays out an exploratory long-term and “radical” plan to scale the execution layer of the Ethereum L1. It’s a seemingly stark acknowledgement of all the past year’s complaints.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfdzTPsozY4zdgm_WI7Ht_pyZeEOFQIrzbzv05NQZajPinIfyt-ZrrP57z8yz6X92KMWs_AHIfNs2qUrNC-HI9YeKscAqeNVy1rizJuydOBBI-IlQmtPWiSKFQHcQ6grplPTBHXZg?key=yx51XPN04uqXS0mc98qqd12v" alt=""/></figure>



The upgrade, if done, may bring efficiency gains of over 100x to the L1, Vitalik says.



How would it actually be done?



Vitalik’s proposal looks to replace the beloved Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with a general purpose RISC-V virtual machine — all while maintaining the backward-compatibility of old EVM contracts.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What is a RISC-V virtual machine?</h2>



“RISC-V” is a hardware instruction set architecture (ISA). The simplest way to think of it is as a standardized language that defines communication between the hardware and software.



Though RISC-V was not originally built for blockchain purposes, its open design allowed crypto developers to leverage it for building virtual machines that could generate zero-knowledge proofs at far lower resource costs than the EVM.



The outcome is what’s known as a zero knowledge virtual machine (zkVM), which enables developers to write applications in high level languages like Rust without needing to be trained in cryptography.



In the absence of zkVMs, companies that want to leverage zk tech to build a privacy-secure application to process payroll/healthcare data would need to spend much more time writing custom zk circuits that cannot be easily changed after deployment (unlike a zkVM where devs could simply recompile RISC-V code).



Today, there are already several zkVMs built on top of RISC-V, including Succinct’s SP1, Risc Zero’s “<a href="https://dev.risczero.com/api/zkvm/">RISC0</a>,” a16z’s <a href="https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/building-jolt/">Jolt</a>, Axiom’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/scroll-announces-new-zkevm">OpenVM</a>, Polygon’s <a href="https://polygon.technology/polygon-miden">Miden</a> and more.



zkVMs have largely been talked about in the context of usage on L2 zkrollups. Vitalik’s latest blog post shifts the focus to L1 usage.



It’s an ambitious goal, given the obviously far more monumental task of implementation, given the coordination problems of upgrading the L1.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What about zkEVMs?</h2>



What does this mean, however, for zkEVMs — the interim solution for scalability? zkEVMs are more customized to an EVM instruction set, unlike the more general purpose zkVM.



Vitalik acknowledges in his post that zkEVMs will remain a “medium term” stopgap solution for L1 scalability.&nbsp;



Yet, current zkEVM proving remains resource intensive. Based on data from Succinct’s zkEVM proving of the EVM execution layer, ~59% of time spent verifying transactions comes from executing EVM code — a bottleneck inherent to the EVM’s design.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe_U675xjCBj4-5tl930MMP6YlkMx-xjn1r0zhxkmgfA9-UDd3HT9nmHD8h4G4NN5MJVcKAgxwmXoGgU3CjLnBdBUVfEnRBvEsiyfB7y5UdNPYE5tWWYs391nwBJfTsO7mvKRHj?key=yx51XPN04uqXS0mc98qqd12v" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/long-term-l1-execution-layer-proposal-replace-the-evm-with-risc-v/23617">Ethereum Magicians</a></figcaption></figure>



Succinct co-founder Kshitij Kulkarni <a href="https://x.com/ks_kulk/status/1913985882001965133">echoes</a> this view, claiming that the EVM interpreter &#8220;adds up to an 800x overhead to zkVM proving times. The EVM is very inefficient for zk.&#8221;



RISC-V based VMs would eliminate the need for the interpreter, thereby removing key bottlenecks in the EVM, which could reduce proving overhead by 50-100x.



Others <a href="https://x.com/_weidai/status/1914053842888769626">question</a> whether RISC-V is necessarily the better choice over Wasm.



“There are pros and cons for both RISC-V or Wasm. Wasm could be better because it offers the benefits that EOF (EVM Object Format) is trying to add i.e., better support for static analysis. It&#8217;s a win for Ethereum L1 regardless of the exact approach,” 1kx research partner Wei Dai told Blockworks.



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



Ethereum’s major <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-fusaka-fork-pectra-devs-call">upcoming Pectra upgrade</a> brings with it changes, including expansion of blob data availability (EIP-7691), account abstraction (EIP-7702), and raised ETH staking limits (EIP-7251). These are all welcome changes, but notably do not bring any tangible upgrades that will buttress ETH as an “ultrasound money” asset.&nbsp;



But one can at least take heart in the fact that the Ethereum ship seems to be slowly turning in that direction.&nbsp;



Don’t expect these changes — even if it gets buy-in from the community — to come any time soon.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

0xResearch Newsletter

Vitalik Buterin suggests replacing EVM with RISC-V to scale Ethereum

David Canellis

This is a segment from the Supply Shock newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



Reading back the official <a href="https://wikileaks.org/Transcript-of-secret-meeting-between-Julian-Assange-and-Google-CEO-Eric-Schmidt.html">transcript</a> of a secret five-hour meeting between Julian Assange and then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt — released 12 years ago this week — gives an equally eerie feeling.



Along with veteran global affairs fixer Jared Cohen, who was head of internal think tank Google Ideas (now Jigsaw), Schmidt was co-writing a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/New-Digital-Age-Reshaping-Business/dp/0307957136">book</a>, The New Digital Age, about the intersection of US global power and social media. It was set in the backdrop of the so-called “Twitter revolutions” of the Arab Spring in the early 2010s.&nbsp;



The meeting was set under pretence of research for that book, with Schmidt and Cohen visiting a number of tech leaders around the same time. Assange published his <a href="https://wikileaks.org/google-is-not-what-it-seems/">account</a> of the meeting in his own 2014 book When Google Met WikiLeaks.&nbsp;



WikiLeaks was highly active in mid-2011, even with Assange under house arrest in rural UK as he fought extradition to Sweden. “Schmidt plunged in at the deep end, straightaway quizzing me on the organizational and technological underpinnings of WikiLeaks,” Assange wrote. WikiLeaks had <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/julian-assange-extradition-wikileaks-crypto-wakes-up">just begun accepting bitcoin</a> donations after a high-profile banking <a href="https://wikileaks.org/Banking-Blockade.html">blockade</a> cut them off from Bank of America, Mastercard, Visa, Western Union and PayPal.



Assange didn’t think much of the visit at the time, and had considered Schmidt “a politically unambitious Silicon Valley engineer, a relic of the good old days of computer science graduate culture on the West Coast.”&nbsp;



But he felt differently after some digging into Google’s confluence with US foreign policy. “While WikiLeaks had been deeply involved in publishing the inner archive of the US State Department, the US State Department had, in effect, snuck into the WikiLeaks command center and hit me up for a free lunch.”



Bitcoin came up a few times during that lunch. The first was a little awkward: Schmidt, a former director of software engineering at Sun Microsystems, curiously said he hadn’t heard of Bitcoin when Assange asked (Cohen otherwise said he “was reading about this just yesterday”).



<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">At secret meeting Julian <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Assange?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Assange</a> describes <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a> to Google chairman Eric Schmidt in 2011 <a href="https://t.co/9LdBouHdMZ">https://t.co/9LdBouHdMZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/EalZa4LIu9">pic.twitter.com/EalZa4LIu9</a>&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a href="https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/674511298907004928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2015</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



What seems to have stuck most of all about Bitcoin — for both Schmidt and Assange — was that it was only one expression of the technology.



Maybe the global DNS regime could be overhauled to operate similarly to Bitcoin, freeing the internet from centralized control, censorship and manipulation. Like traditional financial institutions, DNS providers are prone to censorship by the state, with Assange telling Schmidt that the Chinese government was actively filtering WikiLeaks content from the country’s internet.



So, an internet routing system built on a global distributed ledger could allow WikiLeaks releases, for example, to be assigned to cryptographic hashes that were always accessible on a blockchain, just as bitcoins are.&nbsp;



Such a system would be especially effective during uprisings, when governments typically try to suppress citizen resistance by cutting off access to the internet. A truly peer-to-peer communications network would be, if it was decentralized enough, freedom technology for information in much the same way that Bitcoin is freedom technology for money.&nbsp;



Assange was describing <a href="https://bluishcoder.co.nz/2011/05/12/namecoin-a-dns-alternative-based-on-bitcoin.html">Namecoin</a>, the early Bitcoin fork based on the BitDNS concept initially <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1790.msg28696#msg28696">entertained</a> by Satoshi.



“I think we should study this quite a bit more so we generally understand it&#8230; so we might have a few more questions about it,” Schmidt told Assange, before wondering whether it would ever be possible to break that system’s encryption, undermining it completely.



<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">More so than ever, Google Is Not What It Seems: “What Lockheed Martin was to the twentieth century, technology and cybersecurity companies will be to the twenty-first,” according to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, former director of Google Ideas.…&mdash; WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) <a href="https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1903583749289529524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Assange and WikiLeaks have meticulously <a href="https://x.com/wikileaks/status/1903583749289529524">detailed</a> the links between Google and US foreign policy



Schmidt showed interest in Bitcoin’s proof of work and the scarcity of the currency, thanks in no small part to Assange’s lucid explanation of the difficulty setting.



“And scarcity will go up as time goes by, and what does that mean for incentives in going into the Bitcoin system? That means that you should get into the Bitcoin system now. Early. You should be an early adopter,” Assange said. “Because your bitcoins are going to be worth a lot of money one day.”&nbsp;



Of course, Assange was right. Bitcoin is up 5,000x (half a million percent) since the secret meeting with Google’s CEO.&nbsp;



One year later, Assange arrived, seeking asylum at the Ecuador embassy in London, where he spent seven years holed up avoiding extradition to Sweden over bunk rape charges. Assange then served another five years in a London prison as his team fought extradition to the US, and was released in June last year as part of a plea deal with the Feds.



The internet, meanwhile, is today highly <a href="https://townsendcenter.berkeley.edu/blog/internet-censorship-part-2-technology-information-control">censorable</a> by world governments and corporations, in many cases at the whim of Google itself, as Bitcoin remains free. We can only hope that the time Assange served still stands for something, in the end.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Bitcoin

WikiLeaks, Google and Bitcoin: What happened in 2011

Katherine Ross

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">subscribe</a>.



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



M&amp;A szn is still going strong.&nbsp;



Kado Software, the Web3 payments infrastructure company, was acquired by Swapped.com.&nbsp;



The team declined to disclose the terms of the deal, but it plans to grow the US operations for Swapped.com, which is a Denmark-based firm.&nbsp;



Emery Andrew, Kado’s founder, told me that the team’s been weighing its options for a while — from debating a fundraise to looking for the right fit to acquire it.&nbsp;



It was an obvious choice, he added. Especially because Andrew will stay on to help helm the US operations and product expansion. He teased that they already have some products in the works, but they’re not yet ready to disclose them.



“By merging our expertise and vision, we can accelerate the creation of best-in-class Web3 products and UX, achieving more than either team could on its own. In addition, the US market expertise is something of great value to us,” Swapped.com CEO Thomas Franklin said in a statement.&nbsp;



The company — which, transparently, was not one I was very familiar with before chatting with Andrew — is fairly new, only about three years old. Its focus is on expanding Web3 payments, which is what drew it to Kado. 



For Andrew, it’s about building the “next generation of crypto-native payments products.”



“It’s a natural progression that payments is a race to zero in terms of fees, as more players enter the market, it’s natural that there’s more competition,” he told me. Right now, it’s still quite expensive, but Andrew’s hoping to take a page out of the stablecoin book when looking at how Kado — and Swapped.com — can lower fees for users.&nbsp;&nbsp;



And now we wait to see what products these two have up their sleeves.&nbsp;



Note: Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz is an investor in Kado.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Empire Newsletter

Exclusive: Kado Software acquired by Swapped.com

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



“I think the industry a year ago was messy, was very competitive,” LayerZero CEO Bryan Pellegrino told me. But it’s been “cleared up” thanks to the friendlier environment and overall adoption.&nbsp;



Last month, the company saw $6 billion in transfers, he added, and $100 billion worth of assets were built on LayerZero.



Admittedly, Pellegrino added, he still thinks of crypto as an underdog industry, one that’s fairly small. But now that he’s regularly meeting with the BlackRocks and PayPals of the world, it might be time for a mindset shift.&nbsp;



LayerZero dominates with a whopping 75% market share, introducing a new set of challenges for Pellegrino and his team.



“It&#8217;s easy when you&#8217;re fighting for market share, because it&#8217;s very clear what you need to do. But then you get to 75% market share. And … the last 25% doesn&#8217;t seem as incrementally important,” he explained.&nbsp;



“How do we go from $6 billion a month to $100 billion a month? How do I make it so that every exchange that runs entire teams of people in the back end to deal with inventory management … you&#8217;re basically custodying these things and interacting, and how can I make it so they don&#8217;t ever need to think about that again?”



As LayerZero grows, Pellegrino noted, it’s become not just about the technology, and part of the challenge now is to make sure it’s used.&nbsp;



At the end of last week, a16z announced that it bought $55 million worth of ZRO. The VC firm has previously invested in LayerZero.&nbsp;



But what struck me about the announcement was the term length being included in the announcement. a16z Crypto partner Ali Yahya disclosed that the token purchase had a three-year lockup.



<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">I’m excited to announce that we’ve invested an additional $55M in <a href="https://twitter.com/LayerZero_Core?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LayerZero_Core</a> tokens (ZRO), with a 3-year lockup. Our global financial system is evolving, and it&#39;s great to see the protocol enabling many new businesses and complex workflows to move onchain. <a href="https://t.co/uyDHaSsKyR">pic.twitter.com/uyDHaSsKyR</a>&mdash; Ali Yahya | alive.eth (@alive_eth) <a href="https://twitter.com/alive_eth/status/1912899221868396869?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Pellegrino told me the disclosure was part of an effort to be as transparent as possible. But it also helps to show the “extreme conviction” on a16z’s part.&nbsp;



“It&#8217;s not something that they&#8217;re thinking about in the near term. It&#8217;s something they&#8217;re thinking about for the very long term. That&#8217;s how we think about the world, and that&#8217;s how we want people to think about it. We care about what we&#8217;re building,” he added.



I asked Pellegrino what the firm planned to do with the money, and he told me it’s all about “alignment.” The firm has a 10-year runway, which showcases how Pellegrino thinks about the industry.&nbsp;



While there’s not necessarily a concern about funding in crypto, the money goes quickly for a lot of startups, and he’s worked to ensure that’s not a problem his company faces.&nbsp;



LayerZero <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/layerzero-splashes-251m-week">last raised</a> in April 2023, accumulating $120 million in a Series B round. He told me that the round was less about the money, but more about getting the right folks involved to evolve the project into a “world-class company,” which is something Pellegrino didn’t have experience with.&nbsp;



He joked that the $55M check coming LayerZero’s way won’t turn into any fancy parties, and told me that while 2021 was an “interesting” time, he’s not going to be the one to revive those days



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

a16z

Inside a16z Crypto’s $55M ZRO purchase

Jack Kubinec

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



Colosseum is something like a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-solana-startup-accelerator">hackathon organizer</a> mixed with Y Combinator for Solana startups. I tend to view its hackathon entries as a proxy for what Solana builders are interested in, and I see its hackathon winners as a potential proxy for what Solana venture investors find valuable.



So this week <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un-KMR92ukM">on the Lightspeed podcast</a>, I asked Colosseum co-founder Matty Taylor what he’s excited about from the organization’s newest hackathon, and his answer surprised me.&nbsp;



“One of the things that we&#8217;re most excited about is sort of a return to crypto cypherpunk roots,” Taylor said. He cited privacy-preserving applications and new takes on DAOs as examples.&nbsp;



Taylor said he’s seeing “high performing [Solana] founders” showing a lot of interest in private trading technology, citing former Colosseum winner Darklake — which is building a zero-knowledge enabled DEX — as one example. He’s also seen builders facilitating private payments on existing stablecoins.&nbsp;



Solana developers do seem to be growing more interested in onchain privacy. The RPC provider Helius just unveiled confidential balances, a more private version of Solana’s existing token extensions. The testnet-phase encryption infrastructure network Arcium has also been buzzy of late.&nbsp;



Privacy is cypherpunk, but it’s also a necessity for some institutions to come onchain, as large capital allocators tend to like keeping their financial activities opaque.&nbsp;



Taylor also mentioned DAOs, the crypto-native governance structure that has so far proved tricky to execute. Colosseum was an early supporter of markets-based <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/metadao-solana-governance-platform">governance platform MetaDAO</a>, and Taylor talked about a futarchy-enabled token launchpad where funds are escrowed and subject to decision markets for how they should be spent.&nbsp;



That kind of service has been tried for things like NFT roadmaps in the past — so it’s unclear whether this attempt will catch on more broadly — but pretty much anything would be an improvement on the “one token, one vote” status quo.



“DAOs are really interesting again,” Taylor said.



Solana has been labeled a VC chain and has been criticized for centralization vis a vis <a href="https://jito.retool.com/embedded/public/3557dd68-f772-4f4f-8a7b-f479941dba02">95%</a> of the network’s stake currently running on the same validator client. It also — perhaps for the better — lacks some of the ideological bias toward more cypherpunk outcomes that its predecessor in Ethereum has.



So it would certainly be a noteworthy development if the pragmatic chain dominated by memecoin activity took a turn for the cypherpunk. It remains to be seen whether Colosseum and other investors will put their money where their mouth is.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Lightspeed Newsletter

Solana founders ‘returning to cypherpunk roots’: Colosseum’s Taylor

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



At the TokenizeThis conference in New York this week, I had the pleasure of moderating a conversation with executives from Dinari and STOKR on the potential for tokenized stocks.&nbsp;



I also caught a panel on the retail adoption of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoins-tokenization-blackrock-galaxy-das">tokenized real-world assets</a> (RWAs) more broadly. The headwinds, tailwinds, what have you.



First things first: Stablecoins (primarily tokenized dollars, so to speak) are a nearly $230 billion market. Outside of that, onchain RWAs currently amount to $18.5 billion, RWA.xyz <a href="https://app.rwa.xyz">data</a> shows.&nbsp;&nbsp;



A recent report from Bitwise called Q1 “the best worst quarter in crypto’s history.” While asset prices fell, stablecoin market cap hit a new high and tokenized RWAs grew 37% quarter over quarter. Not to mention <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-actions-timeline">regulatory progress</a>.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeXir0e-iHsrAEMugU0sgDEZRs2vC2kEYXV1ksIC6FqzK7pMWt_o3ri9GOnAQpMlkjAtzNDaORB5aHuBLaLi5Jr574Y0DI5y3CxvwrYLRoVr2PAzxf7dEqfTmems_AM5P9OXrRCpg?key=Twgt7dj90D-YE00D-_r3ls6g" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Bitwise</figcaption></figure>



You can see that big chunk in private credit, and the other substantial piece in the US Treasury debt category. Included in that is BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, which recently hit the $2 billion Assets Under Management (AUM) mark.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoin-legislation-top-priority">Expected legislation</a> in the US that “allows on-ramps and off-ramps to proliferate” will be crucial, Neoclassic Capital managing partner Mike Bucella said on the TokenizeThis stage Wednesday. Stablecoins and tokenized Treasury products will thus be “the foundation” for more creative onchain offerings in the coming years.



“The boring stuff is an absolute necessity, because it exists in the offchain world,” he explained. “If you can’t do that in the onchain world, then you’re not going to sit there and wait for some interesting onchain yield product; you’re going to go offchain into the traditional markets.”



As for where we go from here, Dinari Chief Business Officer Anna Wroblewska argued that after stablecoins and money market funds, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/dinari-tokenization-rwas-base">publicly listed US stocks</a> offer another easy access point for investors looking to move onchain.



Galaxy Digital tokenization head Thomas Cowan, however, noted the already-solid user experience to invest in stocks on venues like Robinhood. Therefore, he asserted, the next wave of growth could come in “places where there’s a clear lack of transparency [and] settlement risk” — i.e. private credit.



Sitting beside Cowan, 21Shares US sales head Anton Kozlov added that he also sees demand for tokenized private equity — pointing to SpaceX and OpenAI. Blockworks Research analyst Carlos Gonzalez Campo expects shares of such private companies <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/private-company-shares-tokenization">to be tokenized</a> within the next four years.



Crypto custody firm Taurus, in a recent report, pegged the “market opportunity” of fund tokenization at $1 trillion by 2030. While money market funds unlock use cases in collateral management, the report notes, Taurus is also bullish on tokenization within illiquid segments.



“Currently, if an investor needs to sell their stake in a private equity fund with a lock-up period of several years, their bank or asset manager must find a matching buyer through a manual process that can take weeks and relies primarily on emails and paper-based transactions,” the Taurus report states.



So while it’s safe to expect <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tokenized-yield-funds-complement-stablecoins">stablecoins and tokenized yield funds</a> to continue growing, it remains to be seen which of these other onchain segments will next see big traction.



Meeting investors where they are, though, is a sentiment most agree on.“[Investors] want everything in a single window — kind of like a Robinhood experience — where you can access crypto, you can access stocks, down the road you can access tokenized private credit,” Kozlov said. “That’s the dream.”



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Bitwise

Which tokenized RWA segments will boom next?

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



Crypto marketplace Magic Eden’s <a href="https://help.magiceden.io/en/articles/11098777-magic-eden-rewards-season-2-everything-you-need-to-know#h_7f2a9b5ef3">Season 2</a> campaign launched on Thursday to reward users for engaging with its platform.



Staking Magic Eden ME tokens; trading NFTs, Runes, Ordinals or coins; and linking your crypto wallets on Magic Eden will all help you climb the season’s leaderboard to ultimately earn rewards in a few months. Runes are fungible tokens on the bitcoin blockchain, and Ordinals are like NFTs, but on bitcoin.&nbsp;



<a href="https://x.com/MagicEden/status/1913236444916723828">Swapping tokens</a> on Magic Eden will also help traders climb the leaderboard, according to a post from the firm. The post suggests the rewards for this season will consist of ME tokens again, like in Season 1.



This time, Magic Eden has said rewards are based on staking power and trading volume per user. It’s also changed up the visual look of the season and has updated the look of its leaderboard.



<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">Babe wake up. Season 2 is finally here 🪄 &#8211; Stake <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24ME&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$ME</a> &#8211; Trade on Magic Eden &#8211; Earn But that&#39;s not all, we’re also shipping a whole suite of updates including leaderboard rankings, 0.5% EVM fees and an NFT platform overhaul. Touching grass can wait. Details 👇 <a href="https://t.co/aQonbsywly">pic.twitter.com/aQonbsywly</a>&mdash; Magic Eden 🪄 (@MagicEden) <a href="https://twitter.com/MagicEden/status/1912945535914483721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Magic Eden’s Season 1 <a href="https://help.magiceden.io/en/articles/10953399-me-airdrop-faq-season-1-quests">ended</a> March 31 and resulted in a total of 10 million ME tokens being distributed to participants, currently worth about $8 million. Staking ME and completing quests in Season 1 granted users rewards.



Season 2’s top participants are expected to receive rewards at the end of the season in mid-August.



“Long-term, we’re super bullish on NFTs,” Magic Eden CEO Jack Lu previously told Blockworks in an interview, adding that the company is profitable despite broader bearish sentiment in the crypto industry (Lu said Magic Eden made $70 million to $75 million in 2024).&nbsp;



Magic Eden still sees more success with Solana than Ethereum. On Thursday, daily Ethereum NFT volume from Magic Eden was around just $14,800, or 0.56% of the total ETH NFT volume traded. The trading platforms of OpenSea, Blur, and CryptoPunks are in the lead by volume, according to data from one Dune <a href="https://dune.com/hildobby/ethereum-nfts">dashboard</a> that filters out wash trading.&nbsp;



Magic Eden’s Solana roots make it a popular place to trade SOL-based NFTs, though. On March 31, it saw <a href="https://dune.com/ilemi/solana-nfts">over $3 million</a> in daily volume from Solana NFTs alone (it saw just $12,651 in ETH NFT volume that day).&nbsp;



OpenSea is one of Magic Eden’s biggest competitors, because both marketplaces target new and seasoned traders and offer a range of NFT art, profile pictures and gaming assets. But Tensor is arguably Magic Eden’s biggest competitor when it comes to Solana NFT trading (though both will have to compete with OpenSea in that category soon, too).



OpenSea has trailed Magic Eden when it comes to adding a native token. OpenSea <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/opensea-announces-token-and-open-beta">announced</a> SEA in February 2025, six months after Magic Eden <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/magic-eden-airdrops-me-token">unveiled</a> ME in August 2024.



OpenSea recently enabled Solana token trading, but still doesn’t support trading Solana-based NFTs yet. OpenSea supports a slew of other chains, though, whose native tokens are all smaller than Solana by market cap.



Magic Eden has taken steps to adapt to the changing market. Earlier this month, the marketplace announced the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/magic-eden-nft-slingshot-trading-app">acquisition</a> of mobile trading app Slingshot. No integrations between Magic Eden and the app are in the works — at least for now.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Magic Eden

Magic Eden unveils Season 2 of ME token rewards

This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



More than a year after its initial announcement, Arbitrum launched Timeboost yesterday.



Timeboost is a new way of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/offchain-labs-steven-goldfeder">ordering transactions</a> on Arbitrum. That seems pretty boring and unexciting on the surface, but hopefully we can show you why it’s a pretty big deal.



Transactions today on Arbitrum are ordered on a simple first come, first serve (FCFS) basis. Seems fair! But it’s problematic in practice:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Financial systems need a way to efficiently process transactions. When markets crash, a lending application like Aave needs a way to quickly liquidate pledged collateral before prices plummet further.</li>



<li>Since transactions are cheap and not regulated by prices due to the FCFS mechanism, MEV searchers repeatedly spam the network to increase their chances of transaction inclusion. This degrades the overall network user experience.</li>
</ul>



Think Uber without surge pricing. Sounds fair, but then everyone — regardless of their priority — would be calling for cabs, and a pregnant woman in labor who needs to get to the hospital asap struggles to get a ride.



Timeboost tries to mitigate this problem by introducing an auction where MEV searchers can bid for transaction priority. The winner of the auction gets their transaction fast-tracked in an “express lane.”&nbsp;



This is roughly how it works:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Tony and Janice are MEV searchers. </li>



<li>Both compete for priority inclusion — Tony pays 1 ETH and Janice pays 2 ETH in the auction.</li>



<li>Neither knows how much the other is bidding because transactions sit in a private mempool. </li>



<li>Janice wins the auction and pays the price of Tony’s bid (1 ETH).</li>



<li>Tony’s transaction is delayed by 200ms while Janice’s transaction receives immediate inclusion in the express lane. Hence the name: Timeboost.</li>
</ol>



Timeboost in effect introduces an optional market pricing mechanism into its fee market. It’s similar to what EIP-1559 and Flashbots’ MEV-Boost software does for the Ethereum L1, FastLane does for Polygon, and what Priority Gas Auction does for Optimism.



Timeboost is generally perceived as bullish because it creates value accrual for the ARB token by taking it back from MEV searchers.



How much are we talking? About a $30m opportunity for ARB stakers, Entropy Advisors <a href="https://x.com/EntropyAdvisors/status/1912513870704599452">estimates</a>. Arbitrum MEV searchers extracted an estimated $29.3m in March alone.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfD2bo0sW74IRtXZAF8p-zjWJURDfe-cVvV-1pKpCPvEdVMUBwJ5bboz4_m9uzNoq1SMASbzePkO-G5aGOtXfUf47s3s2J63lBse2Y7ASXfghrQC2BNhNbTxWBqLs4cSBzW8E17?key=kBoZWCJA8THqwU-HE8yjg1Dc" alt=""/></figure>



After a mere one day of being live, Timeboost has generated $2492 in DAO revenue.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeSLfeHwGfGOub2pXKCma9WzAptD1Joi1FOF8AE0k735EvwXGy6rdxnnwxBE56sCiB18aLpP7oAVilNuhzmGiq6Q0xFWBmjtKampzLQPHhyuIWoRjY6qMJx-qdl8_0OhPrOPbl5PQ?key=kBoZWCJA8THqwU-HE8yjg1Dc" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://dune.com/entropy_advisors/arbitrum-timeboost">Dune</a></figcaption></figure>



OK, so Timeboost is great. But there are broader complaints.



Some worry that the ability to monetize sequencer revenue means a shrinking incentive for Arbitrum to decentralize the sequencer. Max Resnick, for instance, has previously made that <a href="https://youtu.be/FLUJ0uLye0U?t=1324">argument</a> on the Bankless podcast.



Personally, I think the hand-wringing around centralized sequencers is somewhat overblown. Recall back in January how users were able to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/soneium-mainnet-censorship-complaints">bypass</a> sequencer-level censorship on the Soneium chain by triggering a forced transaction inclusion on the L1. Sequencer centralization is a problem, but it’s not quite as important as, say, having fraud proofs.



Yet, Arbitrum has plans to make Timeboost compatible with decentralized sequencing. It’s all part of the roadmap, Offchain Labs CEO Steven Goldfeder told me at <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethdenver-2025-day-one">ETHDenver</a>.



The complexity of Timeboost’s design and making it eventually compatible with a decentralized sequencer set was part of the reason the launch was delayed, Arbitrum CTO Harry Kalodner told Blockworks.



A September 2024 <a href="https://medium.com/@espressosys/espresso-systems-and-offchain-labs-publish-decentralized-timeboost-specification-b29ff20c5db8">blog</a> points to Arbitrum’s collaboration with Espresso to create a decentralized Timeboost. Rollups using Timeboost would be able to auction off the right to sequence blocks on the Espresso marketplace (see the formal specs <a href="https://github.com/OffchainLabs/decentralized-timeboost-spec">here</a>).



That’s essentially an auction (Timeboost) inside of an auction (Espresso) inside of an auction (L1 settlement). But hey, at least everything is decentralized.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Arbitrum’s Timeboost goes live, generates $2,491 in DAO revenue on day 1

Pete Rizzo

This is a segment from the Supply Shock newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



Rizzo, the Bitcoin Historian here, back this week with the story of one of the younger Bitcoin legends — I’m talking about the one, the only <a href="https://x.com/pete_rizzo_/status/1823407951907893384">Jack Mallers</a>.&nbsp;



If you’ve seen Jack in any of the dozens of interviews he’s given from his large, empty closet, you know he&#8217;s an eloquent defender of Bitcoin. You may not know his long road to becoming a successful entrepreneur.



Before his work on Strike, he had a few Bitcoin startup ideas that didn’t quite work. Yet all that hard work paid off when he helped an entire nation onboard to a Bitcoin standard.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bitcoin Legends: Jack Mallers</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeRyc7aI3rgnTEOdM4quVjhFn0J4V50wfi0Ftii6X-pq14B837Id6w5Y0jSaCJnYxpPhjZFhbRF_Js_aOkUpto8RP_Oj_XzMun7iEAZQFGB_IsrfpXGSWcXkepQtO0cOHI4v7Qwaw?key=2iW9JgqerEsrARfkTKEo84sz" alt=""/></figure>



Not many can say their parents got them involved in Bitcoin, but Jack can.&nbsp;



His father, <a href="https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/moneymatterspod/episodes/EP-9-WILLIAM-MALLERS-JR-e2g0li9/a-aavuk9s?_bhlid=cd4ca9c0f43302c29cf104a8c9689e1ecb7ee118&amp;utm_campaign=why-jack-mallers-is-a-bitcoin-legend">William Mallers Jr</a>., was a former Chicago Board of Trade chair who discovered bitcoin when it was under $100. He hosted a series of meet-ups in the Windy City, including one fateful afternoon when <a href="https://x.com/pete_rizzo_/status/1787875215696887828">Andreas M. Antonopoulos</a> showed up. According to Jack, the first time he truly understood Bitcoin was when the GOAT of all Bitcoin educators talked to him about the power of the tech.



One of my favorite Mallers moments was on Christmas Day 2013, when Jack and his siblings received gift cards purchased with bitcoin. The price was $1,200 back then, but the move was priceless and timeless. 



<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">2/ Here’s Jack and his siblings on Christmas day in 2013. These are gift cards his parents purchased him with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bitcoin</a>. The price was $1,200 <a href="https://t.co/ZDv8XuTLIm">pic.twitter.com/ZDv8XuTLIm</a>&mdash; The Bitcoin Historian (@pete_rizzo_) <a href="https://twitter.com/pete_rizzo_/status/1823408001870344421?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



It’s nearly cliché by now, but Jack didn’t dive into Bitcoin right away.



He enrolled in St. John&#8217;s University in New York but soon dropped out. Instead, he returned to Chicago to attend a coding camp when he realized he was more interested in technology than academics.&nbsp;



At 18, and after coding, he signed up for a school for entrepreneurs and launched his first app: <a href="https://x.com/pete_rizzo_/status/1823408094082163178">ChessExplained</a>. It was a unique way for coaches to teach the sport (or is it a discipline?), and help with students trying to advance their skills.



Here’s a demo from nine years ago:



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="jackschess.com account demo" width="1024" height="768" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xeY0sVaif3w?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



It didn’t work out, but by 2016, Jack was ready to go all in on Bitcoin.



His big idea? Using &#8220;the most revolutionary technology we&#8217;ve seen since the internet&#8221; to <a href="https://x.com/pete_rizzo_/status/1823408151388975564">disrupt the gambling industry</a> with an app called Zero House Bets. Jack&#8217;s biggest frustration came from the hefty commissions that websites like Bet Online charged.



He saw Bitcoin as the fix — It was cheaper, faster, and didn’t need a middleman to move money.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Lightning strikes</h2>



Zero House Bets didn’t take off, either. So, Jack built his first Lightning app, Zap, from his bedroom.



Here’s the early website, launched when BTC was around $1,000.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfwD-zj_T438rjg7Ah2Gu-EYGK1DpmFdAYVuQySol4It6kQJNWCD07aYnTiPsEAdXTMunMTaqVW4g1PKCtKDKC0q6Pazoqjq6mTB1VK7HKaqgh1lNNALBYfjBT9GL1Vf5NcyfomFg?key=2iW9JgqerEsrARfkTKEo84sz" alt=""/></figure>



Jack went all-in on Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. One of his earliest tweets is a manifesto to why the network would never die. “Bitcoin will succeed,” he wrote, “because I won’t let it die. The developers, unbanked, hodlers, and millennials, won’t let it die.”



He tweeted: “What’s really going parabolic is the number of people willing to fight for Bitcoin and all it stands for. Price has no choice but to follow.”



In 2018, when some still doubted Lightning&#8217;s viability, Jack made one of the world&#8217;s first Lightning purchases.



The Lightning Network wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for people like Jack. For example, here’s a map of the protocol’s first 100 nodes. The one encircled is his company, Zap.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdWOrjKcf0xbBQglVaGMWdBOgwhPmsYR-MQ-QfL_TH6d97PTuq9oMLUpIA2HMWBfRdLbSJmJCdt7PO11eGfbWTuKn3aTuDMHI2hwNUzVAUSE_ndQ4J7WtC2R_X8MkGkYOFrwKth?key=2iW9JgqerEsrARfkTKEo84sz" alt=""/></figure>



But Jack wasn’t playing around — he saw Zap becoming the app to take on giants like Venmo and Visa. Check out this 2019 <a href="https://x.com/pete_rizzo_/status/1823408288848920710">sketch</a> for what would become his baby, and one of the biggest companies in Bitcoin: Strike.&nbsp;



By 2019, Jack had raised $3 million for Strike.&nbsp;



What started in his mom&#8217;s basement had grown into a company with developers and users. Strike&#8217;s user base soon exploded, attracting endorsements from Bitcoin fans and celebrities.



In 2020, NFL star Russell Okung announced he would use Strike to become the first NFL player to get paid in BTC.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">El Salvador</h2>



Then came one of the most important speeches in Bitcoin history.



The stage: Miami. The year: 2021. Jack jumps on, sporting a blue soccer team jersey for El Salvador. I remember seeing Jack and Pomp in a corner before the speech. They seemed to be smiling at something, and reviewing slides.



There was a lot of hype, but no one saw this announcement coming.



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_59hrgTiRJU?si=5p9FJYWZ43HepKQ3" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>







El Salvador was not only investing in BTC, but making it legal tender. It became the first country in the world to legalize Satoshi’s creation, thanks in part to Jack’s influence on the ground.



Jack&#8217;s app was pivotal in making Bitcoin history. He appeared on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlj-QQgbW90&amp;t=2s">60 Minutes</a>, discussing how he met the president of El Salvador and what it meant for a nation to embrace an open financial network.



With Jack&#8217;s help, El Salvador has since stacked over 6,100 BTC. President Nayib Bukele keeps purchasing 1 BTC <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/president-nayib-bukele-bitcoin-maxi">every single day</a>. The country&#8217;s holdings are worth almost $520 million today.



Who would’ve thought that a Chicago-native coder who built a chess app would go on to help a nation stack bitcoin? It certainly wasn’t on my bingo card for 2021.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

The dropout who dared: How Strike is rewiring global money

As new leadership prepares to take over the US Securities and Exchange Commission, a crypto advocacy group believes now is the time to revive a 2021 proposal, Blockworks has exclusively learned.  



The DeFi Education Fund is asking the SEC to establish a “safe harbor” for token issuers, allowing them a limited registration exemption while they develop decentralized networks. It’s an idea Commissioner Hester Peirce first floated five years ago.&nbsp;



“The safe harbor protects token purchasers by requiring disclosures tailored to their needs, preserving the application of the antifraud provisions of the securities laws, and giving them an ability to participate in networks of interest to them,” Peirce said in a 2020 <a href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/peirce-remarks-blockress-2020-02-06">speech</a>.&nbsp;



In a <a href="https://www.defieducationfund.org/_files/ugd/84ba66_04e7a0f6cd7e4c95b47b08e0db16abb0.pdf">letter</a> sent Friday to the SEC Crypto Task Force — a group established earlier this year to tackle how securities laws apply to digital assets — DeFi Education Fund executive director and chief legal officer Amanda Tuminelli said the group supports Peirce’s concept, and they have some ideas to flesh it out. 



A safe harbor, Tuminelli said, will allow projects to safely operate “while the long-term legislation and regulatory processes play out.” Congress, Tuminelli stressed, should be responsible for addressing “broader market structure and jurisdictional issues.”&nbsp;



When establishing rules and policies for the safe harbor, regulators should be “technologically-agnostic,” Tuminelli advised.&nbsp;



“Given the vital role that the SEC plays in the U.S. economy and the fact that securities markets are constantly evolving due to ongoing innovation, the Commission must be wary of mandating specific, prescriptive requirements or formats that are unsuitable for new or emerging technologies,” the letter read.&nbsp;



In terms of which companies qualify for the safe harbor, the DeFi Education Fund suggests making sure the projects are or intend to be decentralized and are able to meet an “exit test.”&nbsp;



Exit test criteria include maintaining “maximum transparency,” a permissionless network and decentralization. Regulators should allow participating companies three to four years to meet exit test requirements, Tuminelli added.&nbsp;



The letter comes shortly after the Senate confirmed Paul Atkins, President Trump’s nominee for SEC Chairman, in a 52-44 vote. Atkins, who previously served as a Commissioner under President Bush, has not yet been sworn in.&nbsp;



During his <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/paul-atkins-sec-chair-hearing">nomination hearing</a>, Atkins said he hopes to provide “clear rules of the road” for the crypto industry.&nbsp;



Updated April 18, 2025 at 12:25 pm ET: Updated headline and clarified proposal was revived in 2021, not 2020. 



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

congress

Exclusive: DeFi Education Fund advocates for ‘safe harbor’ first proposed by Commissioner Peirce 

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



“Be prepared to do more with less,” Framework Ventures’ Michael Anderson said on this week’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/podcast/empire/123636b8-1c15-11f0-b399-77293cfdfa54">Empire round-up</a>.&nbsp;



Empire co-host Santiago Santos joined the Bell Curve round-up to chat about the cycle, and he talked a lot about what this moment means for founders, given that the overall attitude around crypto is pretty bullish…and yet it’s a tough time to build in crypto.&nbsp;



As Dragonfly’s Rob Hadick <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/defi-founders-stablecoin-dragonfly-hadick">told us yesterday</a>, the valuations are pretty high at this point, and Anderson added another interesting layer: This industry has to be “efficient with the money that we’re using.”



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qs-wmzStry0?si=ABrTzXoQHkIwHQDG" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>







“ There is generally going to be less money than people expect. Every year over the last five years, we’ve had less money than the previous year from a venture-allocation perspective,” he added.&nbsp;



For the founders out there, Santos offered some advice from his unique position of being both a VC and a founder himself: Keep at least 24 months of runway and “understand your position in the stack.”



Which means having an understanding of a monetization plan.&nbsp;



Santos added that Facebook, back when it was planning to go public — and even after it IPO’d — didn’t have a monetization plan. It actually got dinged by investors for it, if you look at the historical data.



“It just said, we&#8217;re gonna build a killer product that people love and we&#8217;ll then figure out how to monetize,” Santos said. But as crypto evolves, the path towards monetization models will also become more clear as users come onboard and — as Santos put it himself — “ if you have attention of the user, you can monetize the shit out of it.”



So go forth and monetize…one day.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

Crypto has to be more ‘efficient’ with the money being used

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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



Bitwise <a href="https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/static.bitwiseinvestments.com/Research/Bitwise-Crypto-Market-Review-Q1-2025.pdf">summed</a> up last quarter beautifully in one word: “Frustrating.”



And it’s true. We entered the quarter naive and bullish, thinking every obstacle had been moved out of the industry’s way and that we were ready to really get working.&nbsp;



Oh, how wrong we were.&nbsp;



Everyone I speak to still says crypto’s in a better place than it’s ever been. Folks still think what’s being built will one day change the world. But no one can deny that this quarter was a bit of a reality check, meaning that people are still excited about the possibility, but they also understand it’s about putting in the work to grab user attention.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfza6MMpvSvjDnmN9lWrDA8jnh8SGDTNOtxBOiQ3C5G7yVq8QxTc4U--NLTQI49PtYmoVeMsLIle4-CvXj_WHhYUaNLdFWGtUZmvwAsuGddqOk2QvkqewWsTPBAHOCzzzkGB2Z3Ng?key=BFk5YVQ_BaBKrLG6iS5gAJSH" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">How Bitwise’s top 10 index performed last quarter.</figcaption></figure>



Bitwise, in its first quarter review, looked at various datapoints across crypto. Some of it will seem familiar — like the datasets on venture capital spending, given that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/venture-capital-spending-crypto-pitchbook">we’ve spoken extensively </a>about how VC activity looked. Other parts gauged how the activity we saw in crypto last quarter translated into data.



For example, take a look at daily active addresses. Base is still popping off in terms of dominance, but the volume of active addresses clearly dropped from its peak in the fourth quarter of 2024.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdaXcPshibi-PeiDNHYJETzLwMJq6Sl5ovTVk1nCi10gUnjGZOpUOvtcBaX42_E_MFzydH5lC6bU0j9-mwzohAIiBQg6JnHiKL8XcAmsvOH_qJXiO2pSNjaX26N8RgUeLgFFFP_Rg?key=BFk5YVQ_BaBKrLG6iS5gAJSH" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Bitwise</figcaption></figure>



Now, there’s also a stablecoin chart I want to bring to your attention, and it’s quite a bullish one. And it’s perhaps one of the few datasets in the report that paints a very positive picture despite overall activity at the beginning of the year.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcxh6H6H_S3_Akti41EqITjrY4ykqmn-aJZkBzGeq7TVjzZvlfyfUm2l7OJeEXlRXr7Hd01QDE6w0lY9CJfUFlza3gVXW84WADMvQaEy5TuM4smAMZMZG9_b7e-Yhq8O9HOZIh9yA?key=BFk5YVQ_BaBKrLG6iS5gAJSH" alt=""/></figure>



You see that, right? Stablecoins outperformed Visa last quarter. Need I say anything more?



Even if you’re tired of the stablecoin discourse — and I wouldn’t blame you if you were — it’s a positive sign to see that crypto can go up against traditional payments. And this is the proof.&nbsp;



If you’re looking for another dose of positivity, Amberdata found that daily trading volumes seem to be bouncing back after the dip we saw throughout February.



“Bitcoin (BTC) volumes—which had slumped below $20 billion/day in early March—have steadily climbed back above $60 billion/day in recent sessions, a level more consistent with early February’s trading environment. Ethereum (ETH) follows a similar trajectory, with volumes rebounding from sub-$12 billion levels in mid-March to ~$26 billion/day, reflecting a broader return of trader interest,” analysts wrote.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdcpCdAzqR3aR1UJJI2f89Wj769rMqsHbYNNgoeojgdosn5oSxSyDpTkC8cH36OJiauVhmQa-NYhS3emGbfGLOtLoyxJ5nfpMRu0kbyRK0iZzt9T0OHalM-2rxyAUEI-ly62NeVLg?key=BFk5YVQ_BaBKrLG6iS5gAJSH" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Amberdata</figcaption></figure>



Solana, especially, has seen a boon. It’s bounced back from its lows of $4 billion a day to $9 billion as activity in DeFi picks up. But it’s not alone, both XRP and TRX have also seen a spike.



Looking ahead, it seems like we’re on track for a bit of a recovery, though analysts cautioned that we’re not yet near the January highs. But that’s okay, perhaps a break out from this stagnant environment is enough to put some pep in everyone’s step.



“The bounce also coincides with a broader market stabilization following ETF volatility, miner distribution pressure, and macro uncertainty. Rising volumes are often a leading indicator of renewed risk appetite. Sustained recovery in spot trading volume may pave the way for stronger price action — particularly if it continues alongside improving sentiment, lower miner pressure, and reduced volatility,” analysts wrote.



So there you have it. We’re looking pretty good right now, so long as the momentum keeps up.



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



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily">Blockworks Daily</a>: Unpacking crypto and the markets.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha directly in your inbox.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>