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.

Byron Gilliam writes the Blockworks Daily newsletter, in which he tries to explain crypto markets to traditional investors and traditional markets to crypto investors (while trying to explain both to himself). Before joining Blockworks, Byron spent 25 years trading international equities for banks and brokers in Frankfurt, London, Paris and New York. He holds a bachelor's degree in History from Binghamton University. Contact Byron at byron@blockworks.co.

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 is the CEO of Reown, the onchain UX platform and builders of the WalletConnect Network. Previously she led Crypto at Checkout.com, a global fintech company. Jess was also a member of the Bank of England CBDC Engagement Forum and a member of UK Finance New Digital Money Steering Group, Innovate Finance Fintech Strategy Group and Department for International Trade Fintech Group.

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. 

Byron Gilliam

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read more editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/brand/the-breakdown">subscribe</a>.



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



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“What the market expects is almost never what happens.”



— Jamie Dimon
</blockquote>



US equities hit all-time highs again this week, and it’s hard to know what that means.



Consider that this is also the week that the president of the United States <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/114873827864802531">called</a> the chair of the Federal Reserve a “numbskull.”



Worse than name-calling, the president went on to say that the FOMC should lower interest rates to 1%, expressly so the government could save “One Trillion Dollars a year in Interest Costs.”



That is the definition of “fiscal dominance”: When a central bank keeps interest rates artificially low to accommodate a government’s deficit spending, with unthinkable consequences presumably to follow.



Fortunately, we’re not quite there yet.



Chair Powell still has 10 months on the job and the president hasn’t figured out how to fire him, although he appears to still be trying.



(We live in a bizarre timeline where the <a href="https://x.com/NickTimiraos/status/1946241807563592044">amount of marble</a> included in the facade of the Federal Reserve building is relevant to monetary policy.)



But the leading candidate to take Powell’s place, Kevin Warsh, is openly offering to subjugate the Fed to the White House in return for the appointment — a Faustian bargain for which we would all pay the price.



This seems like something that markets would worry about: Economists have long warned that fiscal dominance is guaranteed to undermine faith in the dollar, government debt and the entire US economy.



But US stocks continue to levitate and Treasury bonds seem generally unperturbed.



The legendary hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller once said that the best economist he knew was the stock market, so maybe that means we can rest easy?



Can we take the market’s sanguine price action as an endorsement of steep tariffs and Fed bullying? Or is it a prediction that he won’t do what he says he’ll do?



Alternatively, could the market have conceded that tariff and monetary policy are currently too volatile to bother predicting?&nbsp;



Or is it a sign that policy doesn’t matter as much as we thought?



I’m probably overthinking it.



Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who doesn’t seem to be campaigning to be Powell’s replacement, said this week that &#8220;with inflation near target and the upside risks to inflation limited, we should not wait until the labor market deteriorates before we cut the policy rate.&#8221;



The market loves rate cuts, so maybe that’s all that matters.



Or could it be that none of this matters because AI is on the verge of changing everything anyway?



This week, Mark Zuckerberg <a href="https://x.com/TheTranscript_/status/1945528949867794624">said</a> that Meta is “starting to see early glimpses of self-improvement with [AI] models” and that “superintelligence is now in sight.”



Specifically, he thinks we could be as little as two or three years away from artificial intelligence surpassing human intelligence — not just in coding or newsletter writing, but in all fields.&nbsp;



If a world of superintelligent AIs with the capacity to self-improve is less than three years away, should we care whether Fed funds is 1% or 5%? Or whether tariffs are 0% or 50%?



That will be a whole new world, presumably, and the best economist Stanley Druckenmiller knows seems to think it will be a good one.



Let’s hope it’s right. 



Imports are inflating:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfbzl-dhBz2dBBL6yFcGb0TMvr7_-JL7thN8Jr9sFnJBGFJ8Z2N7N15EtSjOvk4aJKhkMgMvTGRNIJ7EUD_7nD7kQaef0qiA9tR4K9wYzfPGjUiX7HVbW58oCtwlvvBiF8QksYI3Q?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



An academic <a href="https://www.pricinglab.org/files/TrackingTariffs_Cavallo_Llamas_Vazquez.pdf">study</a> finds that tariffs have caused the price of imports to rise faster than the price of domestic goods. It hasn’t affected the US economy much as of yet, but Ben Cassleman <a href="https://x.com/bencasselman/status/1945472944534151660?t=m9WO7HaG2grZwkEoLWzmjw&amp;s=19">explains</a> why that doesn’t mean it won’t. <a href="https://pca.st/episode/3a6399a4-8292-4064-8e25-e0509d6df36e">Analysts at Morgan Stanley</a> think the economy should start showing the negative impact of tariffs in the third quarter (which is now).



For now, things are pretty good:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfspY14iokgTv64CipDBb6NQeKPUjvsAJatCVwhS071KsibdZZFmyNirzcEJiAfuo5STYs5ZKKpHBPgmgPjdYhQafAQy7jFIpDQhALcV5Wn3NswpongE1T3bAKkJM9clcHp_zdBdw?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



Ed Yardeni highlights that the “misery index” — the sum of the unemployment and inflation rates — remains well below the long-term average.



Economists have been too worried lately:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfy464vL48HPvEwD8p1q9X5yga3h_5mxUlb_Z1PnzLl0ge5AwXir7tXyyxQjb6C4ufRTFj9C2CAOVh_IU2lEM9SZ-UbcjbaB5bR8_NEQ_HjIZ7jiXAsLYLCbZyqSpiP63a005YdBw?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



<a href="https://x.com/AnnaEconomist">Anna Wong</a> notes that US growth and inflation data have both been better than consensus expectations recently.



It’s been worse than expected for male college grads:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcrZvH3GbEp8fgK8Myb2ipL8ZwLM4dS3iGdUcc9ynmZuFWMx33BN97N68YRKvCzK3PGvdMQ-wJu7WYlsiuVz1wreYN7GBtewV-2g1Sqw_WnH5kZRCPQZrGQIuIXaSk3JjONdfXr4w?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



The FT columnist John Burn-Murdoch <a href="https://x.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1946220407725384136">notes</a> that young men with college degrees are just as likely to be unemployed as young men without degrees. Women college graduates continue to fare better, probably because they&#8217;re more likely to work in health care.&nbsp;



Don’t blame comp sci:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdA4a-gJvvtMqF3ar8kcI4m-Df9Ve4fFiXEX8BBC-Gtylrwe6Y0PTriHKx5lB0vIai41yMwCKN0rCnzfv8Xw2vvVaCaS0qvlfBqNRtFPWf-mrCvx3ddiv4-WXitdv4ms897OWX08w?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



Contrary to popular belief, Burn-Murdoch notes as well that “relative to the pre-generative AI era, recent grads have secured coding jobs at the same rate as they’ve found any job, if not slightly higher.”&nbsp;



US companies are still the best:&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe7uilBti9UtrLXhe6bkUsaKHim9-b0e0gYiIsEAZvn0cdO0ePSX2ncnFOV1Nrn33CILEhcLKryrNOB7Ze-rDf257XozO6uOjZsbh_oAsL-BS_4dF6vQspyfBWprFqxZalTley9RQ?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



Goldman Sachs reminds us that big US companies are far more profitable than companies in the rest of the world. They might get even more so: Amazon and Microsoft were both said to be reducing their payrolls by thousands of employees this week, reportedly because they believe they can ask AI to do more of the work.



On the other hand…



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdlLYeoaQ8Zb9YMghhUF8itsTm5v-vmqVS2zc0IiE5z4HgFDOvwUAV9N-NvflGVAmXPeIrr6VNA2AW2WWKWqUGfyFMLLKonBfcyii0mOrMaEW_0U5xURrLBtI8VWRUdkqCmNu1EXA?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



By <a href="https://x.com/avtarsehra/status/1941530489363275957?t=uxKm0hWf7HqBW3lJrIU6IQ&amp;s=19">multiple measures</a>, China has pulled ahead of the US in scientific research. Maybe US mega tech companies will make up the difference. But if we’re in a two-country race to superintelligence, now seems like a bad time for the government to be cutting research grants.



New highs are normal:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeERm154AGQwFF8DeSwyRa575XX0FIuqYC_8rxRksJ2q32kyEdAidpwxCMIfyQBV_vPai-5iVAjsUieZzSy088FG2qBxoBfzpko_3yL44K4vV1MSNa7DQIXe9SFt4BDqUTzwYX6Bg?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



This graphic from @ryandetrick is a reminder that making new highs is the norm for US equities. This year’s total of nine is still pretty modest.



Zimbabwe stocks made a lot of new highs, too:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe74H2ba8WCkzQiH5sqnUVSQa02Yh0-17qyS8g5Wq_tLVB7KzaT8nmMahnlJetP6HhYO9MJj2FCd1OXXgpeLeHUsu0s_WiSYwEFFDZnkZvLY4X5MnkAr82mcah7aTXzqoMc08lg?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



Zimbabwean stock prices boomed during the bout of hyperinflation that started in 2019 — simply because stocks are denominated in the local currency. When the currency was revalued in March, stocks were revalued, too.



Not Zimbabwe yet:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfqKO-ffZwElxlYWuHOJ2_sZukQ3NWHJuW6DloJPHfFqhnS-D3LxJ3G_GIikOzpNox6KGRbAHTkZhqpQ5HbQxl37_G1EpqjX85tYc5g-2gumW0DsmdhLrQFKNjIfIMdUuxlUwtl?key=IIs-8ktBLMjMZqvCmeXjXQ" alt=""/></figure>



Despite the rising risk of fiscal dominance, the market for forward inflation expectations implies that US inflation will be just 2.3% in five years’ time — which would be great news for the world.&nbsp;



If the market is keeping its faith in the Fed, shouldn’t we all? Jamie Dimon would tell you that’s not how it works, but let’s hope he’s wrong.



Have a great weekend, predictive readers.



<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/thebreakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</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 Breakdown Newsletter

Friday charts: Fiscal dominance and super intelligence

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"/>



The Solana liquid-staking startup Sanctum has acquired Ironforge in an all-cash deal, Lightspeed has learned exclusively.&nbsp;



Sanctum did not disclose the deal terms. Ironforge’s team, founded by Italo Casas, will join Sanctum, according to a blog post.



Ironforge builds Solana infrastructure, including for landing transactions on the network. With the acquisition, Sanctum plans to add transaction infrastructure as a business vertical.



Sanctum emerged in mid-2024 as a buzzy new Solana startup after going through Solana’s startup incubator. Until now, the project has focused on liquid staking tokens, which are tokenized representations of staked SOL. Its flagship product is INF, a liquid staking token that holds a basket of Solana LSTs.&nbsp;



After a much-talked-about points program gave way to a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-sanctum-airdrop-backlash">somewhat-controversial</a> airdrop, Sanctum has added a couple new business lines. One was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-liquid-staking-startup-trial">creator coins</a>, LSTs which share rewards with creators. Another was what are essentially <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sanctum-adding-binance-bitget-bybit-as-partners">white-label LSTs</a>, starting with Binance, Bitget and Bybit. 



It was while working with these partners that Sanctum realized how difficult it can be to land transactions on Solana. The onchain pain became particularly acute during Donald Trump’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-more-than-a-memecoin">memecoin launch</a>, which left Solana very congested.&nbsp;



“Solving that problem meant either building a solution from scratch ourselves or teaming up with the best developers already working in that niche,” Sanctum said in a blog post, adding: “Ironforge was that team.”



And so, Sanctum has struck out on a non-LST business vertical for the first time.



“[There are] a profusion of transaction landing solutions on Solana and no good way to observe and adjudicate their performance. [We] aggregate and make observability a first class citizen giving developers full control and observability,” Sanctum co-founder FP Lee said.



Ironforge did not immediately return a request for comment.



<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/thebreakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</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

Sanctum acquires Ironforge, plots transaction infrastructure vertical

Ben Strack

The GENIUS Act is now law.&nbsp;



President Donald Trump on Friday signed the legislation, which provides a first-of-its-kind regulatory framework for US dollar-backed stablecoins.



Growing adoption of stablecoins — tokens pegged to fiat currencies that hold a market capitalization of roughly $250 billion — will have “a profound effect” on dollar dominance and demand for US debt, a senior US Treasury official said on a Friday press call.&nbsp;



More than a crypto bill, the law marks a milestone for payments innovation, the person added — as the federal government is essentially giving an unprecedented vote of confidence to permissionless blockchains.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecon-execs-bullish-stablecoins-financial-revolution">Digesting Stablecon: Execs bullish on imminent financial infrastructure revolution</a>



Trump’s signing of the bill comes a day after the House of Representatives <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/genius-act-passes-house">passed the GENIUS Act</a> in a 307-122 vote. The Senate had advanced the bill last month, when 18 Democrats joined Republicans as part of a 68-30 vote.&nbsp;



The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22genius+act%22%7D">bill</a> gives the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) substantial oversight over prospective and approved stablecoin issuers. It requires such entities to keep fully-backed liquid reserves — such as cash and short-term Treasury securities — and ensures that those with more than $50 billion in issued tokens undergo annual audits.&nbsp;



The GENIUS Act also essentially requires state regulators to maintain frameworks that are “substantially similar” to those at the federal level. It offers an alternative to the previous “patchwork of state regulatory frameworks” that stablecoin issuers previously had to rely on, the senior Treasury official noted.&nbsp;



On Thursday, the House also <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-house-passes-clarity-act">passed the CLARITY Act</a>. That bill, which establishes a definition for “digital commodities” and divides crypto oversight between the CFTC and the SEC, now heads to the Senate.&nbsp;



Steve Kurz, Global Head of Asset Management at Galaxy, told Blockworks that these bills represent a huge unlock for not just crypto-native companies but for the larger financial institutions that Galaxy interacts with.&nbsp;



“It really takes what had been a business plan, a [crypto] working group or a check-the-box exercise and it puts it immediately into ‘Wait a minute, this is here, this is now, this is legal, we have to be doing it [because] our competitors are doing it,’” Kurz explained.&nbsp;



“I think this catch-up moment around digital infrastructure within large institutions is going to surprise a lot of people,” he added.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/franklin-templeton-products-onchain-exec-says">All Franklin Templeton products will one day be onchain, exec says</a>



The bill signing comes as bitcoin has hit a number of new all-time highs this month, peaking around $123,000 this week. 



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/circle-shares-nyse-day-one">Shares of Circle</a> — the second-largest stablecoin issuer behind Tether — were trading around $225, as of 2 p.m. ET — up 13% from a month ago.



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congress

President Trump signs GENIUS Act into law

David Canellis

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>.



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The pump.fun ICO was a roaring success, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/pump-fun-500m-ico-twitch">raising $500 million onchain</a> at a $4 billion fully-diluted value (FDV). Another $100 million was raised via CEXs.



More than 10,000 addresses took part in the Saturday sale conducted on Solana. In total, 12.5% of the entire supply was sold in 12 minutes — 125 billion PUMP for $0.004 each.&nbsp;



Within two days, PUMP had reached as high as 70% above that initial mark and has since retraced to be 14% ahead with a $4.6 billion FDV.



Such a rapid sale made availability a primary concern for anyone trying to get in — and as it turned out, it was much easier to scoop up tokens on decentralized exchanges than on standard trading platforms.



Blockworks Research analyst Boccaccio told the 0xResearch podcast:



“I  have a very medium, luke-warm take, and it&#8217;s that this is the first time that I can think of [for a sale like this].



“Historically, if anybody gave you the option — either do this [token sale] on a centralized exchange versus on like decentralized rails — you would always do it on a centralized exchange, because it&#8217;s typically more performant; it&#8217;s more stable.



“I think this is the only example that I can think of where, like, you got fucked if you tried to do it on a centralized exchange. And if you did it on a decentralized [exchange] — like on Solana itself — you actually managed to get in. I think the average check size is like 500 as well. So, like, you didn&#8217;t have to be particularly sophisticated to get in.”



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R8h6ucZm_2c?si=uP0dDx4hAY_ErJk_&amp;start=140" 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>







Ryan Connor, Blockworks Research’s head of research, sees this as something of a fork in the road for token sales moving forward.&nbsp;



Boccaccio agreed: “It dispels the myth that Solana is unstable and you can&#8217;t do anything on it. At least, what a lot of .eth’s have said historically is that you can&#8217;t do anything, you can&#8217;t trust Solana, necessarily, because it used to have outages.



“We saw that it [Solana] outperformed CEXs, and I think it also speaks to Hyperliquid in that it&#8217;s able to capture some volume.”



Catch the full episode on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@0xresearchPodcast">Youtube</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/0rGocvZ7oZR6vuy0UHKAON">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/0xresearch/id1651683074">Apple Podcasts</a> and <a href="https://x.com/0xresearch?lang=en">X</a>.



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DEXs

PUMP post-mortem: Breaking down the pump.fun ICO

Donovan Choy

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>.



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It has often been said that most crypto startups are guilty of making “blockchains in search of a problem.”



Perhaps one segment that defies that stereotype is crypto casinos. The Financial Times pegs this niche market to be <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/66f879c6-e51c-4e9d-91ba-b15eecac45c1?utm_source=chatgpt.com">roughly</a> at $81 billion in 2024.



Consider Shuffle.



Incubated by Fisher8 Capital and co-founded by former Alameda trader Noah Dummett, Shuffle is a casino and lottery platform boasting at least $100 million in annualized “net gaming revenues” — meaning all revenues after VIP rebates and cashbacks.



The SHFL token’s current FDV of $232 million is about a cheap 2.3x multiple, compared to the range of 10-40x revenue multiples for most other top DeFi tokens. Those revenue numbers would place Shuffle on a list of the top 20 revenue-generating Web3 businesses, yet the project remains largely absent from the so-called “<a href="https://x.com/simononchain/status/1942460321525911857">revenue meta</a>” conversation on Crypto Twitter.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Shuffle’s architecture</h2>



Despite being frequently referred to as a “crypto casino,” Shuffle executes the majority of its gameplay mechanics offchain — largely due to the fact that posting every bet on a public chain would overwhelm even the fast L2 networks.



Additionally, most of Shuffle’s gambling games are outsourced toiGaming content studios like Evolution, Hacksaw Gaming, Pragmatic Play, etc. So while Shuffle provides players with a frontend and bankroll, iGaming studios generates the outcomes on the backend.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeGUlAzRa_bCzwfxYawpZZl9A4SG4e2dqCwTCzhBWIveIFKkDuhnpY6waH-K_MFr14xeTzmxrZjU9blRUfPScu8-Nqb8SIRNatrsfoqeSs5SOjY2JZFQm6MB0EhmHrq0KeVdRrfGw?key=75US7HV7Q6NZkZ3cXZidqA" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Shuffle.com</figcaption></figure>



This separation limits Shuffle’s tampering risk but also means revenue cannot be verified onchain.&nbsp;



Yet in a highly commoditized sector like gambling, this may be a conscious decision, where revealing wager volumes would expose strategic information about a casino’s balance sheet, runway, and its ability to take large bets to competitors.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How blockchains come in</h2>



Traditional casino businesses rely on card networks and bank wires that typically treat gambling as a high-risk “sin” vertical. This means that players face various forms of friction such as extremely high fees, frequent declines, chargeback complications, and blocked cross-border deposits.



These problems that plague traditional gaming businesses introduce a lucrative entrepreneurial opportunity for crypto casinos like Shuffle to tackle using blockchains, through which crypto assets can settle globally in seconds without chargeback risks.



This on- and off-ramping of assets is the decisive key selling point for crypto casinos like Shuffle, Stake, Roobet and more.



But then there is also, of course, the SHFL token, an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. This is where Shuffle gets interesting and stands out from its crypto competitors.



While Shuffle originally used a buyback and burn value accrual mechanism, last year it introduced a weekly lottery that pays out USDC rewards to staked SHFL token holders.



15% of Shuffle’s weekly revenues (something like $200k-$300k) are returned through this lottery, which closes at a fixed time every Friday. In APR terms, the team told me that’s about a 48% annual return.



(A new onchain lottery is soon to be <a href="https://shfl.shuffle.com/the-shfl-lottery-the-internets-lotto">launched</a>.)



A further 30% of gaming revenues earned in SHFL continues to be burned, creating a deflationary sink for the token.



To date, Shuffle has burned about 5% of its total circulating supply.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeCUF69cjnV-Msh5xyDGcpoWAGHikpGMcb9yP_LuEaZQ-7CXcFKfuXZ0RuqbAGDgHdtkNzc7nl1W9qK9-wlc13jaYcwJF8rTprnHfdA95NhZccny9YNhb-GklWbhDcRUipSqgzj?key=75US7HV7Q6NZkZ3cXZidqA" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://shuffle.com/token">Shuffle</a></figcaption></figure>



This decision was largely motivated by strategic customer retention reasons — because buyback and burns were perceived as an intangible value accrual mechanism, Fisher8 Capital investment analyst Lai Yuen told me.



Because all token movements occur onchain, anyone can track lottery prize funding, draws and burns in real time — levels of transparency that are almost unheard of in traditional gambling.



On Crypto Twitter, gambling businesses seem to be largely left out of the conversation, perhaps for ethical reasons. Other sources I’ve spoken to have also mentioned that some liquid funds generally have a mandate to avoid sin verticals.



But there’s no denying that GambleFi offers a unique insight into the kind of technological innovation that blockchains bring.



Companies like Shuffle have traction precisely because they solve an acute payments-and-access problem for a global customer base that wants to gamble, and is willing to accept regulatory risk in exchange for instant deposits and fast withdrawals.



That regulatory-payments arbitrage is the wedge that lets crypto casino businesses carve out an annual $80 billion gray-market industry despite outright bans or geoblocks in most major jurisdictions.



Shuffle recently announced plans to channel that model into a compliant US offering (ShuffleUSA), signaling growth expansion on the horizon.



<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">A new era of play is about to land 🇺🇸<a href="https://t.co/Gj7KpvH5Fn">https://t.co/Gj7KpvH5Fn</a> <a href="https://t.co/SJNPR8UHWS">pic.twitter.com/SJNPR8UHWS</a>&mdash; Shuffle.us (@ShuffleUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShuffleUSA/status/1941165106626216397?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



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0xResearch Newsletter

How blockchains are changing the traditional casino business

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read more editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/brand/the-breakdown">subscribe</a>.



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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences!”



— Timothy May, 1988
</blockquote>



<a href="https://nakamotoinstitute.org/library/crypto-anarchist-manifesto/">The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto</a>



What would Timothy May think of “Crypto Week”?



If the OG cypherpunk and author of The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto were here to read the <a href="https://financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=410793">statement</a> from the House of Representatives — itself a kind of manifesto — declaring this to be Crypto Week, I expect he’d have mixed feelings about it.



He’d certainly object to the idea of a “Crypto Czar,” appointed by the president of the very government whose authority he hoped to undermine.



(“Cryptologic methods,” he believed, would undermine “government interference in economic transactions.”)



On the other hand, he’d be pleasantly surprised, if not shocked, to learn that the US government is banning itself from issuing a central bank digital currency.



But he’d be most surprised to learn that the US government’s stated aim is to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency.



“The State will of course try to slow or halt the spread of this technology,” he wrote in the manifesto.



I guess not!



He’d have reservations, sure.&nbsp;



Markets, he thought, should self-police via mathematics, not laws, and that’s not what’s being promoted this week.



The CLARITY Act, for example, applies the Bank Secrecy Act (public enemy No. 1 for financial cypherpunks) and other KYC/AML rules to most intermediaries.



But “intermediaries” is the key word there: The Act also preserves the right to hold and use digital assets in personal wallets.&nbsp;



May’s vision was that “two persons may exchange messages, conduct business, and negotiate electronic contracts without ever knowing the True Name, or legal identity, of the other.”&nbsp;



Insert an intermediary, though, and even May might think the government is right to regulate.



What might shock him most, though, is some of the rhetoric.



“Ensuring the future of the digital economy,” Representative Tom Emmer says in the official House statement, “reflects our values of privacy, individual sovereignty and free-market competitiveness.”&nbsp;



Privacy and individual sovereignty are cryptoanarchist values, too.



In that sense, Crypto Week feels like a surprising vindication for May and the community of cypherpunks he inspired (Bitcoiners included).



He would, however, take note of the multiple mentions of “protecting consumers” in the House statement and see that as evidence that the State is not surrendering its surveillance powers anytime soon.&nbsp;



May ends his manifesto with a vivid image: governments fencing in citizens like livestock on a barbed-wire ranch.



Even after Crypto Week, I’m sure he’d say the fences remain up.



<a href="https://www.elliptic.co/resources/the-state-of-cross-chain-crime-2025">Crypto remains popular with criminals</a>



In its latest report on crypto crime, onchain analytics firm Elliptic reports that the crypto ecosystem is “increasingly being exploited by illicit actors.”



Specifically, it estimates that the all-time total of “cross-chain criminal and high-risk” crypto transactions has risen to $21.8 billion, including over $2.17 billion in the first half of 2025.



Elliptic attributes 12% of the total to North Korean hackers (which, I imagine, is how Kim Jong Un paid for his new <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/07/05/g-s1-75663/north-korea-beach-resort-wonsan-tourism">beach resort</a>).



Blockchains remain transparent, but the report suggests that following crypto money trails may be getting harder: 20% of money laundering actions, it notes, move crypto across more than 10 blockchains.



The result is that crypto continues to play its role in the disturbing rise of “industrial-scale fraud.”



The most recent example came this week, when the DEA <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-drug-raids-net-10-million-in-crypto-linked-to-notorious-mexican-sinaloa-cartel-officials-say/">announced</a> that it had seized more than $10 million in cryptocurrency from Mexico&#8217;s Sinaloa cartel, in raids that also netted massive quantities of fentanyl.



(Tariffs on fentanyl still aren’t high enough, I guess.)



Timothy May would be unperturbed. “Various criminal and foreign elements will be active users of CryptoNet,” he wrote. “But this will not halt the spread of crypto anarchy.”



But the crypto industry still needs to do more to police itself.



After researching the ByBit hack in March, the onchain sleuth <a href="https://x.com/zachxbt">ZachXBT</a> wrote in his Telegram channel that the industry “is unbelievably cooked when it comes to exploits/hacks.”



Attempting to retrieve funds from the ByBit hack was “eye-opening,” he wrote, noting that “several ‘decentralized’ protocols have recently had nearly 100% of their monthly volume/fees derived from [North Korea] and refuse to take any accountability.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



Centralized exchanges, he added, are even worse because they take “multiple hours” to respond to his inquiries, which is far too slow: “It only takes minutes to launder.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



The industry, he warned, is so negligent in policing itself that it risks inviting much tighter government regulation.



Maybe not this week, though.



<a href="https://x.com/leereiners/status/1944528985712394729">Stablecoins won’t save the US dollar</a>



<a href="https://x.com/leereiners">Lee Reiners</a> takes exception to all of the “techno-utopian soundbites” DC politicians have been using to promote stablecoins recently.



The idea that stablecoins will extend the reign of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency has been repeated so often that it’s become received wisdom both in and out of crypto circles.



But Reiners takes the opposite view, arguing that stablecoins will have “no impact on the dollar’s status as a global reserve currency.”



“By imposing stricter requirements,” he argues, the GENIUS Act “could actually diminish dollar dominance if it drives stablecoin users and issuers toward non-USD alternatives that remain unregulated or offshore.”



In other words, he thinks stablecoins will lose their appeal for “bad actors” once they’ve been regulated.



(I doubt it, though. They’ll still be dollars that are not subject to KYC checks.)



But even if dollar-pegged stablecoins are used more frequently, he continues, “that growth would likely cannibalize existing dollar instruments…rather than expand the overall footprint of the dollar.”



I still think stablecoins could help at the margin by encouraging more international transactions to be done in dollars, basically.



But if the US government so debases the dollar that people question its value, stablecoins won’t be nearly enough to save it.



<a href="https://x.com/TheOneandOmsy/status/1945280399946420527?t=70HVVyNl5C_s6YE993EFdQ&amp;s=19">Citi stablecoin plans</a>



The one thing that Citi is truly good at is global payments: Its Trade and Treasury Services business, which moves money around for large customers, is the world’s biggest.



So I think it’s telling that Citi has advanced plans to issue a stablecoin and integrate it into its global payments offering.



CEO Jane Fraser noted that only 6% of stablecoin volume is related to payments, which she attributes to the high cost of on- and off-ramping them into and out of fiat — costs that add up to 7%, she says.



Citi expects to change all that, offering to move stablecoins across borders and in and out of fiat at near-zero cost, she implied (“without incurring that transaction cost”).



She also suggested, however, that it&#8217;s more likely to use tokenized deposits than stablecoins.



Tokenized deposits might prove difficult for the crypto industry to compete with.



The GENIUS Act, Fraser added, levels the playing field for banks to get involved in digital assets and Citi is enthusiastic about it.



Of that, I’m certain Timothy May would not approve.



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Anarchy, crime and stablecoins

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>.



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As issues with Solana’s code have been ironed out over the years, block times — or how long it takes the network to produce a new block of transactions — have <a href="https://x.com/steviez_sol/status/1894482387406319962">declined</a>, even dipping under Solana’s putative level of 400ms.



But over the past month, an interesting trend has emerged: Median block times spiked, and Solana was adding new transactions to the blockchain slower than before. At fault was a new meta among Solana validators that showed it can be lucrative to produce blocks slowly. Anza, Jito and Marinade appear to be weighing fixes to the problem, Blockworks has learned.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfXqJmWLpKAEI12nVQH6IfRYyMVCgZ4a9Gpvb_kpRMHc10X0VBFPnOWpvhcCSsgN4dn6rbbqyyn4MCWd8cfDabSdgWa3EKtteNsHr3oCZTKlBNj_oYFUxj7-r07SrX3tQveb7pAPA?key=LFAZsqUetGzUNwFhKYUlxQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Solana epoch lengths spiked in June. Source: <a href="https://risk.kamino.finance/Epoch_Slot_Durations">Kamino</a></figcaption></figure>



Every Solana block has a validator who serves as leader — meaning they collect transactions, create a block and broadcast it to the network. Leaders collect transaction fees from the blocks they create. More order flow means more fee opportunities, so it can be more lucrative for validators to see and process 500ms worth of transactions as opposed to 300ms, for instance.&nbsp;



At a basic level, some Solana validators appear to be waiting as long as possible to pack blocks with transactions in hopes of maximizing their yield, which has caused Solana’s epoch lengths to increase.&nbsp;



This isn’t ideal for a network focused on being <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/nasdaq-on-solana-opening-bell-sol-strategies">as fast as the Nasdaq</a>. Plus, fewer epochs per year means fewer opportunities for staking rewards to compound for stakers, Sol Strategies chief technology officer Max Kaplan noted.



Solana offers something called “grace ticks,” which is a late period wherein leaders can still successfully submit blocks. This prevents validators in far-flung locations from being unfairly penalized, but it also opens the door for validators to be late on purpose.&nbsp;



The alternative Solana client Frankendancer also recently released a revenue-maximizing scheduler, and validators running the client appear to be packing their blocks a bit more slowly than normal, Kaplan said.&nbsp;



Kaplan added that the Frankendancer delay is minimal compared to more egregious delayers, and that he wouldn’t portray it as a “bad thing.” Plus, block delaying isn’t a new concept on proof-of-stake blockchains. Firedancer’s upgrade may have brought this strategy to light on Solana, however. Jump did not immediately return a request for comment.



Interestingly, Firedancer software engineer Michael McGee described the phenomenon on this week’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbY0vLjQO9A">Lightspeed podcast episode</a>.



“One of the things we&#8217;ve seen with our current validator…[is that validators] can often make a more profitable block by delaying execution of transactions,” McGee noted.



Solana validators who are more noticeably delaying blocks tend to be running modified versions of the Agave-Jito client, Blockworks Research analyst Victor Pham noted.&nbsp;



For example, during epoch 802 in mid-June, Galaxy and Kiln’s median block time was higher than 570ms each. A number of unlabeled validators were also slow, and Temporal’s validators had 475ms median block times, according to Solana Compass <a href="https://solanacompass.com/statistics/block-times?epoch=802">data</a>.



Kiln co-founder Ernest Oppetit admitted the validator — Solana’s sixth-largest by stake — had been delaying slots “for a period” but said it has stopped doing so.



“At Kiln we pride ourselves in offering the top staking APY in the market without compromising on security. We have been doing R&amp;D on different parts of the stack, including timing games, and are in constant discussions with our customers, client teams and the foundation on this. At this point we are following the spec and not delaying blocks, but many actors are still doing so. We believe the incentive issue (fast block production leads to lower rewards) ultimately needs to be addressed at the protocol level,” Oppetit said.



“I will say that we are not the reason that people know about this,” Temporal engineering director Ben Coverston said when reached for comment about the validator’s <a href="https://solanacompass.com/validators/Haz7b47sZBpxh9SwggGndN3fAyNQ1S949BPdxWXS3ab6">apparent</a> participation in the slow block trend.



“We, as a service provider, support validator configurations that prioritize maximizing staking rewards for our clients. On Solana, that may mean proposing slightly slower blocks to ensure higher reward capture. Galaxy also remains responsive to community feedback and have since increased block times to within an agreeable threshold,” a Galaxy spokesperson said.



The Solana validator community doesn’t find slowing the network down to be kosher, and slow validators are now facing <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-underperforming-validators">public backlash</a>.



They may soon face more material punishments. Blockworks has learned that Jito plans to blacklist slow validators from its stake pool, which is Solana’s largest.



Jito Foundation president Brian Smith said the organization is “drafting a governance proposal that empowers a committee to remove laggards from the JitoSOL delegation set. This should be available for community discussion within a few days.”



Michael Repetny, co-founder of the third-largest stake pool in Marinade, said the pool provider is “[considering] putting it to a governance proposal to discuss pros and cons of introducing [slow validators] as a hard rule/offense of the delegation strategy.”



Help is on the way at the protocol level, too. Anza’s GitHub repository <a href="https://github.com/anza-xyz/agave/pull/6982">shows</a> a new proposal to shrink Solana’s grace tick period by half. Plus, Solana’s proposed consensus overhaul should fix things.



“Alpenglow will solve this by enabling skip votes,” Anza vice president of core engineering Brennan Watt said.



Watt said on a recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN5Novxjybs">Lightspeed podcast episode</a> that Anza hopes to have Alpenglow live on mainnet by Solana’s Breakpoint conference in December. 



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blockchain

Behind the scenes of Solana’s slow validator problem

Felix Jauvin

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>.



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With a flurry of economic data out today, it’s evident that the US economy is in pretty good shape, churning away despite the ever-unfolding stop-start tariff saga.



Let’s recap the data and what it all tells us.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Retail sales</h2>



Retail sales came out the gate swinging today, beating most expectations:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Retail sales month over month: Actual: 0.6%; expected: 0.1%</li>



<li>Retail sales control group MoM: Actual: 0.5%, expected: 0.3%</li>



<li>Retail sales (ex autos) MoM: Actual: 0.5%, expected: 0.3%</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeAO1hOv56DocuBWKYPddPFHhZbqqQ4g7ngfS4G_DQt13DJAIiUlNJTaKQBELAI-BVFug2xhGq_PchZqa8hDKN7_nyFuHsWYxHSjTxs6AzS4LREmPSOPYC243kr0_ncb9hH_8H4?key=0jMFv4_hiMBO-rq2BjHb_g" alt=""/></figure>



It’s important to remember that retail sales are a nominal metric and therefore include inflation. In an era of persistently above-target inflation, this becomes increasingly pertinent.&nbsp;



Despite the nominal good news, you can see how consumers’ purchasing power continues to decline in real terms. For example, this chart from economist Parker Ross:&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcq7_Lftb25B6X9Bmmb_XEMk0bV9gJxt3kBG5W3e5l7ljUy8len08LNPhKAL5jmKBnkZQB92_B1rFdYX6tv742_r75qru_xkPayMp1CbQlxL0AGD984kbtIqcR9me34A9hKNrUu?key=0jMFv4_hiMBO-rq2BjHb_g" alt=""/></figure>



This vignette shows why significant recession is so difficult to trigger in a regime of higher inflation.&nbsp;



A recession could occur on a “real” basis —&nbsp;whilst nominal GDP continues to churn higher — in which the net effect is a decrease in purchasing power, as opposed to a nominal decrease in spending and incomes across the economy.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Philly Fed survey</h2>



Setting aside the hard data, we received updates to the Philly Fed survey, which has been exceptionally accurate in recent years.



This soft data shows clear signs of an economy rebounding from Liberation Day uncertainty and adapting to where tariffs stand today.&nbsp;



Across the board, every metric continued higher:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Philly Fed CAPEX index: Actual 17.10, previous: 14.50</li>



<li>Philly Fed employment: Actual: 10.3, previous: -9.8</li>



<li>Philly Fed new orders: Actual: 18.4, previous: 2.3</li>



<li>Philly Fed prices paid: Actual: 58.80, previous: 41.40</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXernSbjHBLUvPqmx-QcxvXydt0O1FPcnI3tayR8Zy6EIfR5VoY_CSlswk9UCHlcWfzjIiC9Th5gSZIyqkY5zOhfTd3LueDR3sT4BL77-vQimU-ilnqmQ_pHqpVvxmmdTPrU0Rxu?key=0jMFv4_hiMBO-rq2BjHb_g" alt=""/></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Jobless claims</h2>



We see further validation of a surprisingly strong economy in the weekly jobless claims data.



Initial claims surprised to the downside and continued their decline:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdUoUtebtTOeaTBrBG9sVpOUVsMuVb4SaALKZPVZRVgm7PkdxEYh1WRGfZBGn5QEQBsTXZ_hivvgF9rVNORotGhEBjRcDjd0Y4yR3Qax0HFp7bdnI8BkT8o4a-ARZoQu6DhN6uStw?key=0jMFv4_hiMBO-rq2BjHb_g" alt=""/></figure>



Continuing jobless claims also surprised to the downside, showing signs that the recent surge over the last month has stalled:&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdHcwsC9PHpZeM9VSCtGPC_hWPeidlphxAHXZLA5SWQPGJFmLmPigiWFOC-H0ZnWfWeB6GrEQTtRlijcB9EYAqNEKaBYR67kSEwA-tKIBbLo1wksBZ3o3U0NatVOmC5uS0IE9MQPw?key=0jMFv4_hiMBO-rq2BjHb_g" alt=""/></figure>



This contrast between initial and continuing claims is crucial for understanding the state of the labor market. The economy is solid enough to avoid triggering a meaningful layoff cycle, but weak enough so that those who do become unemployed are having a hard time finding a new job and thus remaining on continuing claims for longer.&nbsp;



Putting this all together, it’s clear the soft and hard data are beginning to rebound and improve.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdJK23Q5iQxmxLKhLgi0gO4oK5W35-L0DuoqSCEV14jMK-mdl47aMo4HYubx6RyqJND3ztmKT3EGPVL4HTqgTovbTjQLNChvgFy3wq-Ci-x2KmoPrhSDGQiDEZ-n332OAUjDVCcmQ?key=0jMFv4_hiMBO-rq2BjHb_g" alt=""/></figure>



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Economy

Recapping the latest US data: Philly Fed, retail sales and more

Casey Wagner

The US House on Thursday passed the GENIUS Act in a 307-122 vote. The landmark stablecoin legislation will now advance to President Trump, who is expected to sign the bill into law on Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter.&nbsp;



The Senate passed the GENIUS Act last month with a 68-30 vote. 18 Democrats voted in favor.&nbsp;



The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1582/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22genius+act%22%7D">bill</a> requires stablecoin issuers to maintain fully-backed reserves of US dollars or “similarly liquid” government-issued assets, such as bonds. Issuers with more than $50 billion in issued tokens must complete annual audits.&nbsp;



The law also affords more authority to state regulators, which will be required to maintain regulatory frameworks that are “substantially similar” to those at the federal level. Issuers who exceed $10 billion in issuance must be overseen by federal regulators or apply for an exemption.&nbsp;



Rep. Bryan Steil, who chairs the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence, hailed the GENIUS Act as an important milestone for US crypto policy.&nbsp;



“It encourages the innovation and development of Web3 businesses here in the United States,” Steil said during the debate on Thursday morning. “It establishes clear rules to ensure that consumers are protected and businesses have clear regulations to responsibly participate in the digital asset ecosystem.”



Other Representatives insisted that the GENIUS Act does little to protect consumers and prevent runs on stablecoins.&nbsp;



“Central bankers last week issued a warning that stablecoins threaten global financial stability and need a much more restrictive regime than traditional finance,” Democrat Sean Casten said during Thursday morning’s debate.&nbsp;



“The GENIUS act ignores all those experts and instead ties stablecoins into our financial system, but without the safeguards that are required by banks and investment companies,” he added.&nbsp;



The passage comes after a dramatic few days for crypto policy.&nbsp;



After initially failing to pass a procedural vote on Tuesday, Trump met with GOP holdouts to come to an agreement to get the GENIUS Act over the finish line.&nbsp;



In a follow-up vote on Wednesday morning, the measure once again failed before eventually passing late in the evening after hours of vote-flipping and behind-closed-doors debate, according to people familiar with the matter.&nbsp;



Much of the holdup was due to two other crypto bills Representatives are currently considering: the CLARITY Act, which focuses on crypto market structure, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act. Some Republicans wanted to combine the GENIUS and Anti-CBDC Acts, but the faction of the party that insisted on keeping the legislation separate ultimately prevailed.



This is a developing story.



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GENIUS Act passes House

The US House on Thursday passed the CLARITY Act, a first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency market structure bill that has divided the industry.&nbsp;



The bill passed in a 294-134 vote with 78 Democrats voting in favor of the measure. 



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-bills-in-congress">Move over, big, beautiful bill: Crypto Week is coming</a>



The CLARITY Act divides authority over digital assets between the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.&nbsp;



The legislation also establishes a formal definition for “digital commodities.” These would fall under the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cftc">CFTC</a>’s purview while cryptocurrencies classified as securities would be the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a>’s responsibility.&nbsp;



Representatives who voted against the bill argue it does not provide enough oversight of the industry and leaves gaps that could harm cryptocurrency users.&nbsp;



“Let me be clear, I support the growth of digital assets, blockchain innovation and the promise crypto holds for expanding financial access and economic justice, but this bill is not clarity,” Democrat <a href="https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=1e37bafbf7b08436&amp;rlz=1C5GCEA_enUS953US953&amp;q=Sydney+Kamlager-Dove&amp;si=AMgyJEt32eZTIgICHpuyQ6jv7FxcAqGka2TT2wt4tUSnSUs0hH1zXxXuBwVTPacDLozS2WvqTxrGJn-EwTnoPNmyzronwM0uhKmGrdtlwWwjh2xS3YE9b0T_5tNDepmrQG7RMhOCnPsLyWoHHJrQucE6X72e6sHOtg%3D%3D&amp;sa=X&amp;sqi=2&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi-gcLewsSOAxUOE1kFHYVSIaYQ_coHegQIEBAB&amp;ictx=0">Sydney Kamlager-Dove</a> said during debate Thursday morning. “It is confusion cloaked in legislation.”&nbsp;



Some in the industry have taken issue with decentralization in the bill. Sufficiently decentralized blockchains — defined in the legislation as transparent chains with no person or individual in control — are considered commodities.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-week-bills-debate">The bills up for debate as ‘Crypto Week’ continues</a>



Others support aspects of the bill, but insist that it still needs more work to fully close existing regulatory gaps.&nbsp;



“As drafted, CLARITY does not extend federal preemption to the ‘exclusions for decentralized finance activities,’ leaving states free to create different, inconsistent rules,” crypto advocacy group DeFi Education Fund wrote in a recent <a href="https://www.defieducationfund.org/post/defi-scores-meaningful-wins-in-clarity-act">blog</a> post.&nbsp;



“It’s important to close this gap and ensure that after all of the hard work Congress is doing to create clear laws for the industry, we don’t end up with a patchwork of 50 state laws taking differing positions.”&nbsp;



The bill succeeds in other ways, though, DEF added, such as allowing for self-custody and excusing certain protocols and software engineers from some reporting and regulatory requirements. 



The legislation now moves to the Senate, where its path to becoming law could stall. Senate Democrats have expressed concern that the legislation does not include enough consumer protections and paves the way for President Trump’s crypto <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-wallet-magic-eden">business interests</a> to flourish.



Updated at 3:32 p.m. ET to reflect final vote count.



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Crypto market structure bill passes US House

Macauley Peterson

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>.



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Interchain Labs (ICL) has charted a new course for <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/cosmos">Cosmos</a>.



The core team, which has been behind the ecosystem’s strategy and development since the start of the year, announced that it’s shelving plans to make the Cosmos Hub a smart contract platform <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cosmos-canonical-evm">hosting an EVM layer</a>. Instead, it will double down on the Cosmos Stack’s role as an infrastructure toolkit for sovereign L1s, targeting businesses, institutions and developers looking to launch their own chains.



The decision wasn’t easy. ICL leadership admitted in a candid townhall that the push to add its EVM directly onto the Hub was pulling resources in too many directions, according to ICL co-CEO Barry Plunkett.



In recent weeks, “we got a lot of confidence that we were going over a cliff,” Plunkett said on a livestream.



Despite early enthusiasm, ICL found the pitch simply wasn’t landing with new developers and investors outside of Cosmos’ existing base. Meanwhile, rising costs and a rapidly fragmenting market for blockspace made competing as yet another general-purpose contract platform increasingly untenable.



Instead, ICL says it wants to focus on what Cosmos does best: helping others launch customizable, sovereign chains connected by IBC. It’s betting big on institutional demand — from banks to stablecoin issuers — who want dedicated L1s with selective interoperability and full control over their infrastructure. The Cosmos Hub is seen as a service marketplace to route assets and provide bridging via products like IBC Eureka.



“We&#8217;re not trying to be someone else,” said ICL co-CEO Magmar. “We&#8217;re going to be Cosmos — except we&#8217;re going to do it on overdrive.”



But that vision raises difficult questions. How exactly will the Cosmos Hub&#8217;s role as a service marketplace drive concrete demand for <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/atom">ATOM</a>? The team insists ATOM remains the “monetization layer” for Cosmos, but specifics remain vague. They point to transaction fees, routing services and potential institutional payments that could buy and burn ATOM, or use it as collateral. Yet ATOM holders have heard variations of that promise before.



There’s also the question of the builders who invested months preparing Hub-native deployments. How will ICL support those teams left in the lurch?



<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">To be honest, we were very surprised by this news. We&#39;ve been 100% locked in on the Cosmos DEX for 4-5 months, working very closely with the ICL on product and GTM. The DEX is even about 80% done &#8211; we thought the EVM was going to launch in the next couple months. That said, I… <a href="https://t.co/GVqrZEWNhz">https://t.co/GVqrZEWNhz</a>&mdash; Aidan | Stride (@aidan0x) <a href="https://twitter.com/aidan0x/status/1944892026962551100?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Leadership says in some cases it will help them migrate to other Cosmos chains (like Neutron) and continue any prior funding commitments. But after this flipflop, will developers trust the next promise?



Strategic consistency has been a presumed advantage to the ICF <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cosmos-ecosystem-changes-after-skip-acquisition">acquihire of the Skip team</a>. Cosmos has long been infamous for its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cosmos-ecosystem-will-soon-vote-on-atom-2-0-revised-white-paper">ideological malleability</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cosmos-fork-jae-kwon">governance drama</a>. ICL will need to work to contain damage to builder and investor confidence. Its answer is apparently to narrow scope, prioritize institutional customers and stop trying to serve everyone at once.



“There’s already a conglomerate of Japanese banks using Cosmos and IBC to transfer data and assets, collaborating with SWIFT to offer a seamless SWIFT-to-IBC bridge,” Plunkett said. “That happened without our involvement, which is a very good sign.”



The challenge will be to balance the role as an open infrastructure provider with accountability to the ATOM community. Cosmos is arguably more than just its stack; it’s a social contract with the people and capital that have faithfully bet on ATOM’s centrality.



ICL says it’s entering “startup mode” — iterating fast, testing customer needs and refining the long-term strategy. For Cosmos, this could be the beginning of a sharper, more sustainable vision. Or it might be one pivot too many.



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Cosmos drops Hub-native EVM in sudden pivot

Katherine Ross

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>.



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We’re over halfway through the year, so let’s do a little recap, shall we?



I mentioned K33’s H1 report in an <a href="https://empire-blockworks.beehiiv.com/p/d7b9ce97-94a1-4902-8655-39efc986574f?draft=true&amp;last_resource_guid=Post%3A48d23733-dc25-48fd-b8ed-eb7e32a16956&amp;utm_campaign=you-can-handle-the-truth&amp;utm_medium=newsletter&amp;utm_source=empire-blockworks.beehiiv.com">intro the other day</a>, but there’s a lot of interesting data to digest.



Such as the fact that the bitcoin treasury companies acquired a whopping 244,991 bitcoin by the end of June, which marked the official transition from H1 to H2.&nbsp;



Not to mention that the number of treasury companies, perhaps unsurprisingly, almost doubled by the end of the first half. At the beginning of the year, there were 70 firms with bitcoin on their balance sheet, but that quickly ballooned to 134.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeZ3wASDGIv118NxJmfY415bKaIH7oUZxuj9-HrlzoqTM1B8XfFFBO1OWT8F_JCkIYaZUl06xxb7rjUIRcYYRqyPpj3EQAAZCb9C3T1TEADffy5sLhKD9BnSIQjIqGywvNBp8VN?key=9V9NlQxCwTD4hZgXpoDROQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: K33</figcaption></figure>



Companies from the US, Canada, Japan and UK are at the top of the list when it comes to companies pivoting to a bitcoin treasury strategy, but the total sum is made up of companies from 27 countries, according to K33. That gives you a rough idea of how global this is, though the US tops the chart with 41 public companies.&nbsp;



But it’s not all about bitcoin treasury firms or even just bitcoin. A lot has happened this year, as both <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/rwas-35b-securitize">Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitwise-daily-attestations-bitcoin-etfs">Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley</a> were eager to point out to us just this week.&nbsp;



In the first half of the year, USDT and USDC’s circulating supply grew by $38 billion as folks flocked to the stablecoin narrative.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdWOBCE11Y7_qRs3EafJFG9mpU31MefeNRaQP9rruEDTP-puaB2zdXaix9Ye6OVhezRPMevq-GugxUD10iyMNk20cemaC_OKVX2tFalSHewfnI-0jdkFu9HqKCG8P22zya7w2GL?key=9V9NlQxCwTD4hZgXpoDROQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: K33</figcaption></figure>



Unfortunately, if you take stablecoins out of the mix, then only nine of the top 50 cryptos saw positive returns in H1, showing that altcoins are still struggling to find their footing in a market dominated by bitcoin and stablecoins.&nbsp;



Of that nine, K33 noted that three specifically outperformed bitcoin: XMR, HYPE and SKY. 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeP-4iTVsMBcpP36_WH7FrTOI1dExDhLQaKzKEkN8W1Z3EImvX8ZCFYk4kyL9GqYcUsfczk_Md_rZdguwXFpP7HLAha0bkmIJwOV-bGUO8_hj-hWA9w3WXNeOYhS8rR8A7l4uo9aQ?key=9V9NlQxCwTD4hZgXpoDROQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: K33</figcaption></figure>



So it looks like the momentum still isn’t there for an altcoin season. Looking ahead though, there may be some hope on the horizon if some of these altcoin ETFs are approved, which could happen by the end of this year, as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-etf-sec-forms">we previously reported</a>.&nbsp;



K33 noted that H2 tends to be the stronger half for bitcoin seasonally, and we have other tailwinds such as more crypto IPOs to follow in Circle’s footsteps and we could get some more information on the proposed US strategic bitcoin reserve.



Not to mention the role that regulation could play, especially as lawmakers on the Hill discuss the crypto bills this week.&nbsp;



So there’s still a lot of gas left in the tank — let’s see where it takes us.



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Empire Newsletter

Bitcoin treasury companies acquired 244,991 BTC in the first half of 2025: K33

Canary Capital proposed a product offering exposure to the native token of the Injective blockchain as it continues its crypto ETF filing spree.



The New York-based fund group’s latest ETF proposal comes as interest in staking-based products accelerates, Canary notes.



The Canary Staked INJ ETF would hold INJ directly and stake a portion of the assets it holds, according to a Thursday <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2073616/000199937125009309/canaryinj-s1_071725.htm">filing</a> submitted to the SEC. The filing did not specify the amount it would stake or the staking provider.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The Injective layer-1 blockchain focuses on letting developers create financial applications. INJ’s market capitalization sits at roughly $1.3 billion — ranking it 89th largest among crypto assets, according to CoinGecko.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXecUh7ocz9ccRJUGidfXlxU_emZ0P4QpEqlsXkNy52mamnFVfxKEjsZYftTgozDnYTS7agTM1lFNLKZXEWy9rB5Iz_nEwBhnH92OXsBBLlZBKj1LGtSHiAGvloO30kJ-FIFHvYBjg?key=X6MR8vqUb1FBghI7mSYuaA" alt="" style="width:646px;height:auto"/></figure>



Founded by former Valkyrie CIO Steven McClurg, Canary has filed for a number of crypto ETFs in recent months — including those that would hold litecoin (LTC), solana (SOL), XRP, HBAR and Sui (SUI).&nbsp;



Canary also <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2059693/000199937125002883/canarypengu-s1_032025.htm">filed</a> for a PENGU ETF — to hold both the Pudgy Penguins token and NFTs&nbsp; — as Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit was taking place in March.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/execs-das-crypto-futures-etfs">Executives noted at the time</a> that while the SEC (under a new chair and with its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/new-sec-crypto-task-force">crypto task force</a>) is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hester-peirce-on-sec-priorities">more willing</a> to actively engage about products, the bevy of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-etf-plans-abound">altcoin ETF filings</a> isn’t necessarily a sign issuers are being told they have a good shot.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



A person close to the altcoin ETF filings, who was granted anonymity to discuss non-public information, told Blockworks earlier this month that the SEC might wait to develop “generic listing standards” before greenlighting any more single-asset crypto ETFs.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-etf-launch-timelines-sec">Why crypto ETF launch timelines remain up in the air</a>



Injective Labs, in a July 9 <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/ctf-wrriten-input-noah-axler-injective-labs-inc-070925.pdf">letter</a> to SEC commissioner Hester Peirce, made several recommendations to the agency’s crypto task force.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdfMFUkooNMdjepUSXVs629Oo85_i-_RHqTxriTWdDyzgQVzFoyFBBNf2sj5uI1WlDSgstxh6ozp_09G_s5QrZh42oRIkKLtvxig6qYBvgheiqhEkppa8QZBciE-8mcLGlqD_EI?key=X6MR8vqUb1FBghI7mSYuaA" alt=""/></figure>



Injective CEO Eric Chen told Blockworks this week that he’d be closely monitoring the crypto bills Congress is considering.&nbsp;



“With the CLARITY Act, basically what happens is we get to iterate extremely quickly because there’s no more [ambiguity] when it comes to the different profile design [or] different decentralization design that might create compliance issues,” Chen said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Regularity clarity would help Injective form a “very predictable growth plan,” he added — particularly as the blockchain looks to bring liquidity and use cases to real-world assets within the Injective ecosystem.



“Because one of the biggest problems right now within the RWA ecosystem is that it’s pretty much a certificate of ownership that’s recorded on a blockchain with no mobility or real on-chain utility — or very limited, to that extent,” Chen said.&nbsp;



The breadth of assets to be democratized will be what “truly shines” as the RWA space evolves, the Injective CEO explained.&nbsp;



Chen noted: “Finding liquidity, congregating capital and finding an investor base on a very scarcely traded asset or an exotic asset and then being able to locate them and create capital formation all across the world … [is] the most exciting part.”



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ETFs

Canary continues filing spree with staked Injective ETF proposal

Jeff Albus

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>.



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After months of little ado about everything, the markets are finally seeing some of their old momentum.



As BTC <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">surged</a> above $122,000 on Monday, Solana was pulled along in the gravity tail of bitcoin&#8217;s inflation-cooled rebound. SOL jumped 13% to <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/sol">reach</a> $174.45 — its highest level in weeks — likely buoyed by the excitement around pump.fun&#8217;s recent, <a href="https://blockworks.co/analytics/pumpfun/pump-fun-ico">highly successful</a> ICO.



On macro, this week&#8217;s backdrop gave just enough breathing room for risk assets to stretch.&nbsp;



While the CPI came in <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cpi/">hotter</a> than expected at 2.7% year over year, the PPI cooled to 2.3%, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cpi/latest-numbers.htm">below</a> forecasts. In short, the split was just soft enough to soothe the market&#8217;s anxiety over imminent Fed tightening, even if the July 30 <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/calendar.htm">FOMC meeting</a> remains priced for a hold.



Meanwhile, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to <a href="https://x.com/BoHines/status/1945146377933078559">urge Republicans to support</a> the GENIUS Act and a broader package of digital asset legislation, including stablecoin regulation and an outright ban on a Fed-issued CBDC.



While the House initially <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-week-bills-debate">failed to pass</a> the resolution, a motion to reconsider passed 215-211 the following day.&nbsp;



Back yonder in crypto land, the news spurred continued ETF inflows, thin but directional conviction from institutional buyers and a modest uptick in leverage.



Bitcoin&#8217;s price <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">hovers</a> just below a cluster of liquidity between $119k and $121k, with market makers circling a $120k target before month&#8217;s end.



Solana is showing signs of independent strength. Transaction activity <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/solana?dashboard=131">holds steady</a> at 100+ million per day, excluding validator votes, while staking <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/solana?dashboard=202">remained</a> healthy at a 66.43% participation rate and a net 7.17% yield.



Network revenue <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/solana?dashboard=15">continues</a> its uptick from a post-May lull, and app-level earnings showed similar resilience, with consistent fee generation from DEXs, token vending platforms and staking derivatives sustaining developer and validator income.



Predictably, the <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/pumpfun-tge">standout</a> this week was pump.fun. Despite challengers like letsbonk.fun drawing attention, pump.fun saw nearly 30 million trades and over $1.7 billion in DEX volume, according to recent insights from Blockworks Research. 94% of this was <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/research/pumpfun-tge">concentrated</a> in meme tokens. That said, Bonk is still winning on overall trading volume.



Pump also <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/pump-fun-500m-ico-twitch">completed</a> its blockbuster token generation event that targeted up to $1.3 billion across public and private allocations, with a $720 million private raise confirmed and a 25% discretionary <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/pump-revenue-sharing-token-holders">buyback commitment</a>.



With BTC defying gravity again and the Solana rabble growing louder, it&#8217;s looking like those who patiently waited out the lull may finally find themselves back in action.



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Solana rallies as risk appetite returns

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>.



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M&amp;A hasn’t slowed as Congress mulls crypto legislation and efforts to get more real-world assets onchain continue.



I chatted with Ondo Finance CEO Nathan Allman last month about the RWA space ahead of the company’s tokenization platform launch slated for this summer (Ondo doesn’t yet have a go-live date).&nbsp;



Saying the vast majority of regulated financial assets will ultimately settle on blockchain rails is “not a crazy prediction” anymore,<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoins-iceberg-rwas-mature-ondo"> Allman told me</a>. Others agree,<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blackrock-fink-bitcoin-dollar"> including Larry Fink</a> (the man leading the world’s largest asset manager) and Franklin Templeton’s Sandy Kaul (check out<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/franklin-templeton-products-onchain-exec-says"> my Q&amp;A with her</a> here).&nbsp;



Fast forward to Monday and Ondo said it acquired Strangelove, which focuses on designing and deploying open-source infrastructure across multiple blockchains. This deal was done “strategically” ahead of the aforementioned tokenization platform launch, said Ondo chief strategy officer Ian De Bode.&nbsp;



Called Ondo Global Markets, it’ll initially offer access to 100+ stocks and ETFs — starting on Ethereum and expanding to BNB Chain and Solana.



Strangelove CEO Jack Zampolin said his company’s work on cross-chain communication protocols, permissioned/unpermissioned validator frameworks and modular consensus architecture (that’s a lot of big words) will help Ondo’s platform evolve from a centralized one to a distributed network where institutions can participate in tokenized asset ops.&nbsp;



All told: What stablecoins did for dollars, Ondo is looking to do for securities, De Bode added. At least for the most liquid ones, to start. Others, like Apollo Global Management, are focusing on tokenization<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tokenized-rwa-segments-will-boom-next"> </a>within <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tokenized-rwa-segments-will-boom-next">less liquid segments</a> like private credit.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeOpUiGvz1SYg-1VMWoUAw0-fWdRG2UsaDtz5Zazoy_xhyH3_-d2GzkTf6jCFRhKJyrEa7ZbrAnwA96VLnEJuqe8AtncdzNSMjZvbCcfqvz0PdKGn3zmi4Jqic0G_IfPBnC_BINyQ?key=4yS2jUSrAEbpfqLBgJNLuA" alt=""/></figure>



It’s worth noting that Ondo earlier this month said it would buy Oasis Pro, gaining access to its SEC-registered broker-dealer, alternative trading system and transfer agent. We know how coveted US digital asset licenses are.&nbsp;



Speaking of which, Nasdaq-listed BSGM this week detailed plans to acquire a FINRA- and SEC-registered broker-dealer to one day offer gold-backed tokenized assets for US investors.&nbsp;



It’s not hard to see why companies want in on this space given some of the projections thrown around (like from that April Ripple/BCG report above).&nbsp;



There’ll be plenty of competition here from both crypto-native and TradFi giants, so grab your proverbial popcorn. Better yet, throw an actual bag in the microwave.



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Forward Guidance newsletter

RWA-related M&A picks up as companies hunt for US licenses

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>.



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US equities were in the red midway through Wednesday’s trading session, after inflation data may have started to reflect tariff-related price hikes and President Trump renewed <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-criticizes-fed-chair-powell">threats to fire</a> Fed Chair Jerome Powell.&nbsp;



Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies were mostly flat as the industry continues to monitor the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-week-bills-debate">status of three bills</a> in the House.&nbsp;



There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get started.&nbsp;



First up: inflation and tariffs. June’s CPI report showed the headline figure increased 0.3% month over month. The 12-month rate is now 2.7% — in line with expectations but higher than May’s 2.4% reading.&nbsp;



A grain of salt here: The Bureau of Labor Statistics <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cpi/notices/2025/collection-reduction.htm">announced</a> last month that it was reducing its sample collection areas across the US. The change is due to staffing shortages at the agency. Fewer workers on hand to check prices means more estimating and guessing in the data.&nbsp;



The department <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cpi/tables/imputation.htm">based 35%</a> of its missing prices on other regions of the country or different products in June. Prior to staffing shortages, around 10% was typical.&nbsp;



Sectors most exposed to tariffs, like household furnishings and appliances, were up over the month, increasing 1% and 1.9%, respectively. Prices for new and used cars, on the other hand, declined 0.3%.&nbsp;



Odds of interest rates staying the same later this month increased to 97.4% after the print, per <a href="https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html?redirect=/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html">data</a> from CME Group.&nbsp;



Speaking of Fed policy brings us to our second topic: Trump is apparently back at it again with threats against Powell.&nbsp;



The president last night showed a draft letter firing the chair to a group of House Republicans, the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-fire-fed-chair-powell-8e33497e">WSJ</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/us/politics/trump-powell-firing-letter.html">New York Times</a> reported. Trump on Wednesday, however, told reporters “we’re not planning on doing anything.” 



“I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely,” Trump added. “Unless he has to leave for fraud.”&nbsp;



That last comment comes after the White House alleged Powell either made false statements to Congress about the Fed’s $2.5 billion renovation of its offices, or failed to comply with permit requirements. The challenge came via a letter sent last week from Trump budget director Russell Vought.&nbsp;



Trump did admit to meeting with House Representatives on Tuesday night, which brings us to topic number three: What’s going on with crypto policy?&nbsp;



In a Truth Social post yesterday evening, Trump wrote:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc8iwquD2MrnNNvCJRx7QPHXOhoZmJ871c2ywt9d7nH4eSpUV-pMyRQLRqWDapsV-JBOlqN3E-J3FN82Niqtec1eVqDtGAD8VoNmYuuk6JFIVJqbzKgBmpZdVC9eXyznlj43vT7AQ?key=4yS2jUSrAEbpfqLBgJNLuA" alt=""/></figure>



The post came after the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/genius-act">GENIUS Act</a> failed to pass a procedural vote Tuesday. A group of GOP Freedom Caucus members refused to vote in favor of advancing the bill, citing concerns over the GENIUS Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act being separate pieces of legislation, a person familiar with the matter told me.&nbsp;



Representatives gathered on Wednesday to reconsider the rule, but the deal President Trump struck with hardliners on Tuesday did not appear to be effective. The drama was still playing out at time of publishing, so keep an eye on Blockworks’ <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/congress">congressional coverage</a> for updates.&nbsp;



The holdup comes as lawmakers and industry members alike insisted the bill was poised to pass. I’ve been told the White House has already scheduled time in the Oval Office for Trump to sign the bill into law on Friday.



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