Popcorn

Kate Irwin

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



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As most of you probably know by now, Doodles — the rainbow-barfing Ethereum NFT collection of 10,000 PFPs of the 2021 NFT boom — is launching a token on Solana.&nbsp;



Response so far has been pretty mixed. A lot of Crypto Twitter loves a token, especially one from an established brand, but there’s also been some criticism. First, there’s the token allocation. As one poster has pointed out, the Doodles team may receive up to 57% of the DOOD tokens, once you combine the parts of the pie that goes to the team plus the other pieces that could go to the team. That doesn’t look too cute, considering how tokens are often marketed as a way to “give back to the community.”



And then there’s the issue of timing. Is launching a token now, on a different chain than the NFT collection, too little, too late? Will DOOD serve any functional purpose, besides offering exit liquidity, a memecoin, and a way to get a bit more attention?&nbsp;



The market has been rough out there for art- and gaming-related tokens lately. PENGU, the Pudgy Penguins’ token, is still down 67% in the past month. PIXELS, the token behind the Ronin-based game of the same name, is also still down 50% in the past month. Apecoin, the once-hyped token behind the Yuga Labs world, remains down 50% in the past year.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcG4up-Vn0LJexf2fkJAjSvocp-TBM5cpYvfpNrp0lX9jEIBNEm9UwHZaz8hw5mq2Jhvon0Cw6V8V4D4yqFt0cUE9XcasMGE2NRJ2hO-zHl9LdI5HJugatjUKLSUuEzMHy7M-X4wA?key=xnUEi2Lbmszt8LaPf2XfzfBf" alt=""/></figure>



The Doodles team has tried other brand plays to generate interest in its IP, from striking a deal with rapper-producer Pharrell to join as their chief brand officer in 2023 to partnering with McDonald&#8217;s to release cups in November. Despite those high-profile deals, however, Doodles NFTs haven’t soared above the rest.



The DOOD announcement hasn’t really rejuvenated excitement around the NFT collection either, when we look at sales and volume traded. In the past week, Doodles sales volume is down 32%, according to CryptoSlam data.



Launching a token seems to be the latest way for crypto projects to monetize their IP. While I do think the Doodles’ art and aesthetic is cool in a minimalist way, I’m not sure their token will have a different fate than so many of the others currently out there. Time and time again, we’ve seen an initial pump and then a selloff, followed by flatlining or slowly declining price action.



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Doodles’ Solana token fails to impress

Katherine Ross

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



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Admittedly, it’s been a pretty bearish week for crypto, though an optimist can still find pockets of good news.



Amberdata’s Greg Magadini thinks the data out of the derivatives markets shows that options trading volume on Solana peaked around the inauguration last month which could imply that SOL hit its top.&nbsp;



“I think the bearish story within altcoins is that the supply of altcoins is essentially unlimited. And so we&#8217;re seeing so many new altcoins … every day there&#8217;s just kind of a new increase in the total altcoin float, which is completely opposed to the limited fixed supply of the bitcoin value proposition. And so I think that dynamic is hard to overcome,” Magadini explained.&nbsp;



The divide is simple and can be seen outside of crypto, too. It’s what Magadini would call the hard money narrative: Gold’s going up while commodities like coffee and cocoa become more expensive. Add in the discussions we’ve had about a potential AI bubble and, well, the bitcoin vs. crypto discussion makes a bit more sense.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcrK2qQFQTqtRCPAfK_YM17bQZaLQSyJIZ7VtX4lOQhe_59xA80d0Cq5BPinh2Ev-7kBXMAGTZtKHvFjmKr5ArxVWhUBYztkj2-hmjDGnPNHveqI4epewretpQM1eLRPQ9B8EjFIw?key=1xLBMXvanotHMhKUI4odMbhr" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A look at ETH’s <a href="https://docs.amberdata.io/docs/block-volumes">block trades</a> courtesy of Amberdata</figcaption></figure>



Bitcoin, in this case, is still the solid narrative. Everything’s going swimmingly right now and we’re all waiting to hear about a potential bitcoin reserve. For altcoins, which don’t have the same catalysts on the horizon, the picture is unfortunately more bearish.&nbsp;



This isn’t to say that bitcoin’s going to pop off though. Magadini thinks that we’ll continue to see it trade sideways, between $85,000 and $100,000 for the next two to three months. He told me this action is needed after the bullishness we saw going into the end of last year.



“I think during that hanging out period, bitcoin actually gains dominance. It&#8217;s a relatively strong asset. I think for the altcoin space, we&#8217;re getting a little bit of a flush out, and we&#8217;re really seeing that right now with SOL and ETH.”



“If we just look at the charts of ether and bitcoin [in terms of] the relative price, the fact that we had a huge spike lower for ether versus bitcoin is pretty rare because those are very correlated assets. The move that it had was a very volatile move, which is unusual. That was significant, that meant something. And we&#8217;re seeing the same thing with the SOL-BTC ratio, where it pretty much popped out at a local high on inauguration day and has just come down since,” he explained. His read is that it’s a sign of retail flow — or lack thereof.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdAE6Njif-dzy41xM_YRzgwb_uYpcJgK78-aIDAYfgE5PHMb1gMjc9dZqXvgY6Ucpy7BAdpgwILbcw5gihH_ZysLDGqWziJRDW5egi4YWwrBrdL_Hsl89ZphY7loElrumPaVNg0xg?key=1xLBMXvanotHMhKUI4odMbhr" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">And bitcoin’s <a href="https://docs.amberdata.io/docs/block-volumes">block trades</a> courtesy of Amberdata</figcaption></figure>



It’s not something to be terribly worried about, he added, but rather it’s a natural sign that we may be hitting the speculative phase because there aren’t fundamentals tied to many altcoins just yet. But, hey, at least we don’t have to blame everything on memecoins…right?



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What’s behind ‘bearish’ altcoin action: Amberdata

Ben Strack

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



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The Blockchain Association has spoken again. Or, well, they’ve written another letter.&nbsp;



From the advocacy group that last month brought you a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/blockchain-association-consensus-position-on-market-structure-policy">“consensus position”</a> on market structure policy comes a warning to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.&nbsp;



The choices they have: act, or possibly “cripple DeFi innovation in this country altogether.”



If you don’t remember, there was a proposed rule — finalized under the Biden administration — that would <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-expands-dealer-rule-crypto-firms">expand the “broker” definition</a> to include software that allows users to access DeFi protocols.



The Blockchain Association says this “inappropriately and unlawfully misclassifies technology infrastructure as intermediaries” — forcing software companies that never take custody of users’ assets to nonetheless collect (and report to the government) those users’ personal info and transaction details.



The Wednesday <a href="https://theblockchainassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Blockchain-Association-Letter-to-Congress-on-DeFi-Broker-Rule-CRA-Vote.pdf">letter</a>, addressed to Sens. John Thune and Chuck Schumer, as well as Reps. Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries, calls for them to vote “yes” on Sen. Ted Cruz’s Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution and repeal the so-called DeFi broker rule.



Blockchain Association’s Kristin Smith reminded us how long this battle goes back:



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">2/ 3+ years ago, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act became law and amended the definition of a “broker” to include “any person who, for consideration, is responsible for regularly providing any service effectuating transfers of digital assets on behalf of another person.”&mdash; Kristin Smith (@KMSmithDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/KMSmithDC/status/1889740579824611440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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The IRS then sought to implement this new definition in 2023. The agency, in June 2024, applied the rule to centralized intermediaries — leaving out reporting requirements for decentralized or non-custodial brokers.&nbsp;



In December though, a second IRS rule <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/irs-new-form-crypto-accountants">sought to force</a> tax reporting obligations onto crypto software providers that don’t act as intermediaries.



The effort by Cruz and Rep. Mike Carey to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/irs-crypto-broker-rule-opposition">reverse it</a> came two days after Trump’s inauguration.



<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">This vote is (very) big for two reasons: (1) We get a heat check from the Dems on a limited crypto-specific resolution. They had an unpopular crypto platform under Biden and this rule encapsulates everything wrong with that approach. It&#39;s going to pass regardless, with at least… <a href="https://t.co/oSm0H4eBAK">https://t.co/oSm0H4eBAK</a>&mdash; Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) <a href="https://twitter.com/SGJohnsson/status/1892237592222965883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Blockchain Association members are set to discuss the CRA resolution with Congressional offices in DC on Feb. 26, a group spokesperson said. It’s unclear when exactly a vote would take place. The latest letter adds: “Policy decisions with such severe consequences should be made by Congress deliberately — not accidentally through ill-conceived midnight rulemaking.”



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Objection to DeFi ‘broker rule’ returns to focus

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



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A bitcoin financial services company is now listed on the Nasdaq — joining a limited list of public players in the segment.&nbsp;



Called Fold, the company revealed a combination with FTAC Emerald Acquisition Corp. last July in an effort to go public.



Then, in December, Fold closed a $20 million convertible note financing from ATW Partners. That was secured in part by the company’s bitcoin holdings (totaling roughly 1,000 BTC) as collateral and was set to mature three years after Fold became a public company.&nbsp;



That brings us to today, when Fold shares were set to start trading on the Nasdaq after its deal with FTAC was approved. Founded in 2019, Fold lets customers accumulate BTC through its rewards program.



Among the top crypto predictions for 2025 were more crypto-related companies <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/2025-crypto-stocks-to-watch">going public</a> — joining Coinbase, Strategy and a bunch of miners.&nbsp;



Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said at the Ondo Summit <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-narratives-to-watch">earlier this month</a> he expected such progress on that front by May or June. His firm has been waiting to list publicly in the US for four-plus years.



Shares of crypto wallet provider Exodus hit the NYSE American stock exchange <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/exodus-uplists-to-nyse-american">in December</a>. That company held 1,900 BTC and 2,660 ETH in its reserves at the time.



Dan Weiskopf, co-portfolio manager of the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK), said he counts about 20 blockchain-related companies at various stages of the US public listing process (or considering it).



A revamped SEC that has Hester Peirce leading a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-new-crypto-task-force">crypto task force</a> should support an expected 2025 public listing boom, Weiskopf added.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Bitcoin price action will continue to be the focus of excitement,” he told me. “But behind the scenes people forget that the picks and axes are also an important way to capitalize on the innovation that is in front of us.”



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Bitcoin company joins the publicly traded ‘Fold’

Casey Wagner

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



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I <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tariff-trade-overshadows-earnings-season">wrote yesterday</a> about how the market has generally remained pretty resilient despite recent bouts of volatility.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-markets-tariff-reaction">Tariff concerns</a>, geopolitical tensions, earnings season and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/fed-rate-cutting-journey">inflation</a> have all weighed on US equities at different points throughout 2025, but one tailwind has remained constant: economic growth is — at least for now — solid enough.&nbsp;



Some economic data points are looking really strong. Manufacturing is on the rise with the most recent ISM manufacturing PMI and the Empire State Manufacturing Survey both coming in better than expected.&nbsp;



January’s ISM services PMI came in a bit lower than December’s figure, but is still healthily above 50. Retail sales saw their expected January dip, but are also still in a Goldilocks range.&nbsp;



On the labor front, non-farm payrolls were up solidly, and initial jobless claims ticked up only slightly in recent weeks. Unemployment has stabilized and wage growth has started to moderate. Our labor market is, as Powell said, “solid.”&nbsp;



The Conference Board projects real US GDP to come in at 2.3% in 2025, a decline from 2.8% in 2024. Globally, the non-profit expects real GDP to show 3% growth for 2025.&nbsp;



“While the US economy is set to start 2025 on strong footing after a year of surprisingly robust growth, a combination of proposed policies will likely weigh on growth and leave inflation elevated as the year progresses, resulting in a more patient policy stance from the Fed,” The Conference Board wrote in a statement earlier this month.&nbsp;



So, what does all of this mean? I think it means the Fed just may be on track to achieve its coveted soft landing — that is if the data continues to reflect decent economic growth.&nbsp;



Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said a few weeks ago he’s still “optimistic” about a soft landing.&nbsp;



Minutes from the FOMC’s most recent meeting (released today) show staff have concerns about the direction of federal policy.&nbsp;



They “continued to note elevated uncertainty regarding the scope, timing and potential economic effects of possible changes to trade, immigration, fiscal and regulatory policies,” the <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/fomcminutes20250129.pdf">minutes</a> read.&nbsp;



Trade and immigration specifically could impact progress being made on inflation reduction, some staff noted.&nbsp;



Several participants also said it could be appropriate to pause or slow balance sheet runoff until Congress reaches a debt ceiling resolution.&nbsp;



It sounds like the pause on interest rate cuts will continue in the near term, unless there are significant changes to economic conditions.&nbsp;



“If labor market conditions deteriorated, economic activity faltered or inflation returned to 2% more quickly than anticipated,” committee members would consider easing monetary policy.&nbsp;



Generally, the minutes reflect what we’ve known since <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/jerome-powell-testimony-capitol-hill">Powell</a>’s last press conference: Officials are on hold until inflation trends much lower.&nbsp;



The economic data situation however remains the same. And again, unless we see major declines in growth, a soft landing is not out of the question.



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Economic growth data says we’re on track for a soft landing

Donovan Choy

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



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Crypto is a volatile industry for primarily two reasons: 1) it’s permissionless (anyone can make a token) and 2) it’s still largely looking for product-market fit.



What does this mean to a short-term trader looking to flip a quick buck? If you’re trying to frontrun the market, you’d want to know when a certain narrative is falling in (and out of) favor.&nbsp;



You can then spend absurd hours doomscrolling Twitter and Telegram groups — or you can use Kaito, a Web3-focused search engine that scrapes troves of data across social media to generate quantifiable sentiment analysis for you.



If you’ve spent time on CT in the last year, you’ve likely seen many of these useful Kaito dashboards around.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcY4JFvrXLi5IXhwdAk8n0E0bn5WUgwTfEikldvvnLsgPCdP0qdeCyqTPw4T70vQg-QHn1Ve5OsllI_X6QF_IIgZJlBMFpR5cq1CkcP9cf5Kt0R_jld87dM4bWHuKrkbyp9HqYsQw?key=OwV2jL9DN49AICoIFwBGNID_" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://x.com/sandraaleow">@sandraaleow</a></figcaption></figure>



But people are excited about Kaito today because of its token airdrop, not its core analytical product.



Wait, a data analytics platform needs a token?



Yes it does, because you can apparently tokenize anything in crypto. In Kaito’s case, it’s tokenizing the attention economy of Crypto Twitter.



Everyone has a shot — you can connect your X account to Kaito, and tweet a lot to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kaito-yap-to-earn-takeover">earn “Yap” </a>points, which entitle you to a larger KAITO airdrop.



To deter mindless spam, the team <a href="https://docs.kaito.ai/kaito-yaps-tokenized-attention">weights</a> Twitter posts by relevance (proof-of-work), originality (proof-of-insight) and engagement based on “reputation” (proof-of-exchange).



<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">Kaito has made CT a much shittier place. Discussion quality has gone down, outrage marketing has further gone up. You can really tell which people are performing for the algorithm. If you’re reading this &#8211; you know who you are.&mdash; Hasu⚡️🤖 (@hasufl) <a href="https://twitter.com/hasufl/status/1887513212414771485?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



This entire idea is based on a familiar sales pitch: Big Tech sucks because they monopolize the value created by content creators. Kaito lets the people retain some of that value.



It also opens up a very interesting business model for Web3 marketing.&nbsp;



The users who’ve signed up to “yap” away on Twitter provide Kaito with quality data around crypto trends and KOLs that can be sold to major ecosystem projects.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXciaK9GojuG18YNWods_Pb6auHf7pZSlS6t93GQEWDJzMRmUuhl_bYMztxgBJWQg3_-SgiFHu6e4nR0dQOggSfHHQc3AsTNZ7kIFMOc68US87HDaL_fWbBZKgQFrpbrnagfDHJj4g?key=OwV2jL9DN49AICoIFwBGNID_" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://yaps.kaito.ai/movement">Kaito</a></figcaption></figure>



“Essentially Kaito does all the hard work that marketing teams would otherwise need to spec out to determine how and where to develop and spend on social marketing campaigns in terms of selecting the right set of KOLs, targeting the proper audience and so forth,” Blockworks’ Danny Knettel told me.



<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">We are talking about <a href="https://twitter.com/KaitoAI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@KaitoAI</a> in the crypto marketing cabal today Some say it doesn’t reward “high quality” posts. I don’t think that is kaito’s purpose in the first place It’s a measurement of influence, quality of reach influence ≠ quality content If i was in house at a… <a href="https://t.co/wAVK4VnRiz">pic.twitter.com/wAVK4VnRiz</a>&mdash; Emily Lai (@emilyxlai) <a href="https://twitter.com/emilyxlai/status/1891187384169214392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Now back to the points. Maybe you think this is another pointless “SocialFi” game we’ve seen with <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-doj-charge-bitclout-creator-crypto-fraud-social-media">BitClout</a> or <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/frienddottech-relinquishes-platform-control">friend.tech</a>, but Kaito’s points are actually shaping up to be valuable.



Based on <a href="https://x.com/ren_gmi/status/1890385280114315736?s=46&amp;t=2q9OLMlaobNlHLewOXT4uA">@Ren_gmi’s estimates</a>, YAP points are worth anything between $20 to $140 per point.



It’s unclear how Kaito’s token product ties into its core analytics product, and it’s still too early to speculate on there being any kind of value accrual between the two.



Assuming an annual price of <a href="https://kaito.ai/pricing">$10,000</a> and 1,000 paid seats, Kaito generates annualized revenues of $10 million.



One could value KAITO at a conservative 20x P/S multiple, which would place the token’s value at a $200 million market cap (assuming a 24% token supply airdrop). On Aevo’s pre-launch market, KAITO is<a href="https://app.aevo.xyz/perpetual/kaito"> presently trading</a> at a $320 million market cap/$1.3 billion FDV.



Updated Feb. 19, 2025 at 1:48 pm ET: Updated KAITO P/S multiple.



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Crypto sentiment analytics platform Kaito AI prepares for token launch

David Canellis

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



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Trump didn’t take a direct route to Bitcoin — having sold three NFT collections on Polygon long before he <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/on-the-margin-newsletter-trump-bitcoin-mining-meeting">met with bitcoin mining executives</a> at Mar-a-Lago last June.



And Trump is obviously no maxi. He and the First Lady have their own memecoins on Solana, not to mention his DeFi project World Liberty Fi has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-backed-project-token-swaps">actively courted crypto teams</a> for token swap deals and other types of partnerships.



Still, something clearly happened last year that changed his tune toward bitcoin, which he’d initially <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57392734">called</a> a “scam against the dollar” in the thick of the 2021 bull run.



Turns out that thing was Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort.



On this week’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcpCNXyHGaE">episode</a> of Empire, David Bailey, CEO at BTC Inc, gave host Jason Yanowitz&nbsp; the inside scoop on how <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/26/trump-orange-pilled-by-three-bitcoiners-in-puerto-rico-100-million.html">he and two other Bitcoiners</a> were able to orange-pill Trump heading into election season.



“I was hanging out in Puerto Rico with a friend of mine that lives here and we were sitting around — this is in January 2024 — and like, we’re a company but we are all in on bitcoin, all in emotionally, spiritually, financially. Our mission is hyperbitcoinization and we actually [wonder] all the time, &#8220;how do we accelerate hyperbitcoinization?&#8221;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXf114aaZOa81M9ZeW87EgCLZwcsvabFuL-bQiF6QVlA_HgR5WqZ3pdmj1hdRCe0ZMPkw7Jbr5urhjURmHQ0FSSl_rpvqA04zW6C3rQH3XhI-z7tCQoLtV0JDkzWzWxjFby7ZJcRfQ?key=S6ZUtrpxMXUcwkCzW7EXNWHK" alt=""/></figure>



“And so, we were sitting around like ‘damn, if we could just get in front of Trump, like we could pitch bitcoin to Trump and get him bought in on it, and it&#8217;d be huge for bitcoin.’”



By happenstance, Bailey’s friend could make that connection — through her sister, whose godfather is Manafort. “So she was able to get a call set up with Paul, and so that’s how it got started.”



From there, it took months of Bitcoin education with Trump’s team before getting all the way to the big man, who had one key concern that hadn’t yet been resolved: Bitcoiners say bitcoin is going to destroy the dollar.&nbsp;



Trump likes the dollar — so what gives?



“And we&#8217;re like, ‘well, you know, America built Fort Knox and stored the world&#8217;s gold in Fort Knox — that didn&#8217;t undermine the dollar; it made the dollar stronger than ever. And if you want the dollar to stay strong into the future, then we got to build the digital Fort Knox and need to have the world&#8217;s digital gold stored in America as well. That&#8217;s how we get another 200 years of the dollar being relevant.’”



According to Bailey, Trump instantly understood and agreed to the next step — meeting in person at Trump Tower. And the rest is history.



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This long-time Trump figure was pivotal to his orange-pilling

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



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The vibes may be off over on CT, but they’re not off for wrapped asset startup Universal, which exclusively told Empire about a $9 million round it raised led by a16z.&nbsp;



Universal Protocol was deployed roughly six months ago. According to Universal’s Austin Diamond — who’s also behind Alongside — the team’s been “really excited about the growth it’s seen since then.”



Which is understandable, given the metrics readily available via Dune. Since the launch, users have traded well over $800 million in uAsset volume.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdoFaDXz9cJ2hogUam6-l7fWAiqEjijcdRwS2BVpCCLGZpTNuFO1JTetznT6KCUu9W5sHtGufAHDE60lVNfuCjYUmIBP9d8lf74-zkqDbpRSoyvNP9Gzrib2j7JlW7Qa9dYbDxC9w?key=S6ZUtrpxMXUcwkCzW7EXNWHK" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://dune.com/universalasset/universal">Dune</a></figcaption></figure>



But let me back up quickly: The idea of Universal is kind of baked into the name, which is to make all kinds of tokens “tradable on crypto rails.”



&nbsp;“The goal with Universal is to make everything that we consider to be a crypto asset tradable with very deep liquidity on crypto rails, such that not only can end users just access any asset that they might be able to access on a centralized exchange but that any developer can use those,” Diamond explained.&nbsp;



So, Universal wraps the assets for users to trade. Taking it outside of crypto, Diamond likened it to bringing analog newspapers online.



“Historically speaking, none of those newspapers talk to each other. And now it&#8217;s like everything lives on a shared internet,” which is why Universal wants to make assets usable and tradable onchain.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfDuAnf03Cf90n3NfLOhcR-Jw47Cb60GH0k4jjia73jsI0PFrZJQ3NKKVceRwBD87rG2A2oPrZ68ervXjyAvoiqoX5qmS0K1VHh-orgMax5gRPAqr32KC7OSwWIaSuSkTo6L4mC?key=S6ZUtrpxMXUcwkCzW7EXNWHK" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://docs.universal.xyz/universal-protocol/introduction-to-universal/universal-asset-overview">Universal’s docs</a></figcaption></figure>



Diamond explained that this most recent funding round was a chance to once again work with partners — like a16z — and they pursued the round after Universal gained traction.&nbsp;



“We really reached kind of an inflection point on our growth, it felt like it was the right time to be in a position to pour gas on it, and so we view that money as fuel to be able to expand on what we&#8217;re doing. To date, we&#8217;ve launched largely through distributing new assets through other dapps. We want to continue to do that, but also want to drive more people to our front-end experience. And I think it felt like a good time for us” to raise now, Diamond explained. 



For the team, it’s “champagne problems” of having to scale up. It hasn’t been an easy road, Diamond noted…well, until they got “sufficient traction.”



“It was a very long and windy path to get there. I think once we&#8217;ve reached escape velocity and … We were lucky to have a long-standing relationship with a lot of our investors, and they trusted us. We were very upfront about the trials and tribulations over the course of the last couple of years. We came to them with [the] growth. There are real numbers here, here’s [what] our plans look like over the course of the next three, six months to six years,” he said.&nbsp;



Diamond’s dream is to make Universal’s offerings as “ubiquitous as wrapped bitcoin” which he admitted is not a simple task. But the goal is to break folks out of some of the “tribalism” and “divided factions” in crypto.&nbsp;



Perhaps that’s the next big narrative.



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Exclusive: Universal raises $9M in round led by a16z

Jack Kubinec

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



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One thing to note about Argentine President Javier Milei’s disastrous memecoin launch is that nothing about it was that unprecedented.



Every viral memecoin tends to pump before quickly losing value. So-called snipers have long been known to buy up new tokens before the broader public gets involved. Celebrities and “key opinion leaders” often engage with crypto on pay-to-play terms. Hell, two other presidents launched memecoins this past month.&nbsp;



When Melania Trump’s token pumped and dumped, the world moved on. Crypto doesn’t seem so willing to forgive and forget this time around. Maybe that&#8217;s because of how brazen the whole thing was.&nbsp;



LIBRA raced above $4 billion in market cap before dropping under $200 million in a matter of hours — a pump and dump far more drastic than, say, the MELANIA coin. After the fact, popular crypto figures spoke openly about trading on insider information. Barstool Sports CEO Dave Portnoy was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/libra-memecoin-sausage-gross">allegedly refunded</a> the $5 million he put into LIBRA, a privilege not afforded to most traders who lost money.



And unlike the majority of celebrity memecoin launches, this one had real-world fallout attached. Most surprisingly, it was announced that Ben Chow, CEO of Jupiter-linked DeFi platform Meteora, chose to resign — although Chow and Jupiter’s pseudonymous CEO meow both maintain that he did nothing tangibly wrong apart from showing a “lack of judgement.” Meow said Jupiter would be hiring the tech law firm Fenwick &amp; West to investigate what happened.



Milei faces a lawsuit, Argentina’s stock market fell 5% after the opening bell yesterday, and SOL is down nearly 20% since Friday. KOLs started <a href="https://x.com/notthreadguy/status/1891635451011776953">issuing</a> mea culpas.



Crypto’s Twitterati is also very mad, and some are insistent that Solana needs to get back to focusing on constructive use cases like DePIN. It all feels a bit performative in the same way that investors and venture capitalists raced to explain why they never trusted Sam Bankman-Fried only after FTX went belly-up. I expect Kelsier Ventures CEO Hayden Davis — a LIBRA and MELANIA kingmaker who is doing a bizarre amount of media for someone accused of impropriety — to face some sort of legal action following all this collective ire.



But while lawyers will certainly rack up billable hours as a result of LIBRA, I doubt memecoin trading will take much of a hit. I asked Sphere CEO Arnold Lee whether he thinks the LIBRA fallout hints toward crypto finally drawing some sort of line on memecoins.



“An elephant never forgets, but crypto is not an elephant,” Lee said.



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LIBRA jumped the shark

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



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One of the biggest Biden-era crypto enforcement actions may be on its way to resolution.&nbsp;



The SEC last week said its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/new-sec-crypto-task-force">new crypto task force</a> “may affect and could facilitate the potential resolution” of the agency’s lawsuit against crypto exchange Coinbase.&nbsp;



The lawsuit, first filed in 2023, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-howey-question-second-circuit">was escalated</a> to the Second Circuit last month with Coinbase’s successful motion for an interlocutory appeal.&nbsp;



Basically, the SDNY (the federal court that handled SBF’s trial and many other ongoing crypto matters) decided that a higher court needs to step in to resolve a key question: Do intermediated crypto transactions involve investment contracts (i.e., transactions made on an exchange)?



If the answer to this question is yes, then that means crypto exchanges are facilitating securities transactions, which would be a problem.&nbsp;



On the one hand, a ruling from the Second Circuit on this question would bring a lot more clarity to the space. One of the biggest issues with crypto regulation and enforcement today is that district court judges, sometimes even from the same district, are taking different stances.&nbsp;



An appeals court ruling would provide more concrete precedent for <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/legal-pro-analyzes-coinbase-sec-ruling">future cases</a>. (The caveat here is the appeals process is long and expensive. And either party could keep appealing to higher courts should things not go their way.)



On the other hand, a definitive crypto policy stance from the SEC would be even better than legal precedent. “Better,” of course, is relative here. The agency could come up with something the industry opposes.&nbsp;



So lots of potential outcomes here. We’ll have to wait and see how it all shakes out.



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SEC says crypto task force could help end Coinbase suit

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



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The “tariff trade,” or the market volatility we’ve seen the past couple of weeks as investors evaluate <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-markets-tariff-reaction">tariff risks</a>, has overshadowed the tail end of earnings season.&nbsp;



But many analysts still think US equities have room to go higher.&nbsp;



President Trump’s threats have been delayed, not canceled. 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum tariffs are slated to start next month, and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/reciprocal-tariffs-may-be-coming">reciprocal tariffs</a> against a range of countries are still being designed, so the news cycle — and market — are likely to take a break from focusing on duties.&nbsp;



In the meantime, Big Tech stocks are just starting to recover from some post-earnings dips, but the S&amp;P 500 is still outperforming the Magnificent Seven.&nbsp;



Amazon’s web services business reported a 37% profit margin in Q4 2024 — an impressive feat, but investors weren’t sold. Shares fell more than 4% following the company’s report.&nbsp;



Microsoft was a similar story. Shares had their worst day since 2022 after execs reported Q4 earnings, even though figures for earnings per share and revenue came in higher than expected.&nbsp;



Google shares were down more than 8% after Alphabet missed on Q4 revenue.&nbsp;



Still, Sevens Report Research founder Tom Essaye says that as long as economic data continues to stay in the “Goldilocks” range, the market should prove resilient. Should the Fed signal that this pause is likely to continue for a long while, we could be in trouble.



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Earnings season takes back seat to interest rate, tariff concerns 

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



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BTC was rather quiet again last week as various narratives seem to be pulling sentiment in different directions.



We then saw the asset’s price sink below $94,000 around 1 pm ET Tuesday — down more than 3% from seven days prior.



Crypto exchange volumes reached their lowest level since the US presidential election, Compass Point analysts said in a Tuesday note.&nbsp;



Last week, the US spot bitcoin ETFs had $580 million of net outflows, Farside Investors <a href="https://farside.co.uk/bitcoin-etf-flow-all-data/">data</a> shows — breaking a six-week inflow streak.



And yet, on the other side, we have Crypto Twitter lighting up at each sign of institutional buying. 13F filings (showing holdings of investment managers with at least $100 million AUM) have given us a glimpse into that.&nbsp;



There was the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund — Mubadala Investment Co. — holding $437 million of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), as of Dec. 31.



Meanwhile, the state of Wisconsin reported having nearly 6.1 million shares of IBIT in Q4 — roughly double the 2.9 million shares it had held the prior quarter.&nbsp;



There was also Tudor Investment Corp’s increased BTC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923093/000090266425001008/xslForm13F_X02/infotable.xml">position</a>. The Paul Tudor Jones-founded firm upped its 4.4 million shares of IBIT held in Q3 to 8 million shares (worth $427 million) in Q4.



This reminded me of a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/paul-tudor-jones-likes-bitcoin-as-portfolio-diversifier">piece</a> I wrote early in my Blockworks career. Jones, talking about bitcoin, said on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the time: “I like the idea of investing in something that’s reliable, consistent, honest and 100% certain.”


<div class="wp-block-image wp-duotone-grayscale">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc3mYD6ITxck2yEVUWBYWLys1K0QJFO3rQnzTCmCiSTeivrPeqxOnCrEo-CrFW8EQIXDJPSpGvvzdjM7sIKFCgBtto6mcWMuiq305yTa-VEs-6l0U45umwjsbwKvTLDt1mysWqMrA?key=Y3ev__dZt6jpCFns2ttWkIiP" alt="" style="width:572px;height:auto"/></figure></div>


Jones noted allocations of 5% in gold, 5% in bitcoin, 5% in cash and 5% in commodities at that point before considering other positions based on Fed actions, etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The billionaire then <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/paul-tudor-jones-bitcoin-looming-recession">said</a> in October 2023 that gold and BTC “probably take on a larger percentage of your portfolio” given the macro picture and geopolitical tensions.&nbsp;



So, based on past comments, Tudor’s hefty IBIT position reveal is not exactly surprising. But this bitcoin vehicle being among the firm’s largest single positions is certainly noteworthy.&nbsp;



Going back to price action, BTC remains well off its all-time high around $109,000.&nbsp;



Mike Marshall, Amberdata’s head of research, noted that liquidity is accumulating around the $95,000 mark “with smart money positioning and retail making small purchases.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



He attributed BTC’s “quiet phase” to investors waiting for clearer economic data [and] <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-friendly-congress-steps-into-power">policy</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/top-signals-of-this-cycle">renewed</a> market confidence.&nbsp;



“Better CPI results for February and resolution of tariff uncertainty could trigger this,” Marshall noted.



BTC&#8217;s recent low-volatility profile mirrors those seen in September/October 2023, as well as those in February, June and October of 2024, Compass Point’s Ed Engel and Joe Flynn argued.&nbsp;



“Pronounced volatility” followed each of those four periods, they added, with price moving upward three times.



“Crypto prices often rally into the spring before declining into summer,” Engel and Flynn wrote. “BTC&#8217;s [$92,000] cost basis for short-term holders still provides strong support.”



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BTC sinks after a quiet week. But now what?

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The Open Network, aka TON, made a splash with Telegram games and crypto integrations built on top, like with NOTcoin, which has seen over $1 billion in total volume traded since its launch.



A TON app page lists over 570 different gaming-related TON apps, which is a staggering number for any chain. But are the games on TON any good — and where does the TON ecosystem go from here?



“It’s been a hell of a ride,” Ivan Gusev, head of fun at TON NFT marketplace Getgems, tells me.



The games that launched on TON in 2024 are very early-stage right now. Jack Booth, co-founder of TON Society, an organization that contributes to TON, tells me he believes the games that release in 2025 and beyond will be evolved — hopefully better — versions of what we’re seeing now.



The tokens launched via TON and Telegram also don’t have much staying power. The games are typically very simple, using “tap-to-earn,” spinning a roulette, or other play-to-earn methods.



“The sustainable token model is something that I think these games will start to implement,” Booth said, noting that in his view, crypto in general has been too much about price speculation thus far.



In addition to playing games to earn altcoins, Telegram users can also buy Telegram usernames, profile decals, stickers, and more via TON as NFTs using the TON cryptocurrency.



Telegram has begun using TON for its own products and ads without notifying TON builders, Booth said. Telegram doesn’t tell TON builders what it’s going to do or when, creating a symbiotic but disjointed relationship.



Booth and Gusev both separately told me that TON builders like themselves have “zero relationship” with Telegram.



“We don’t know Telegram’s plans. I’m pretty sure Pavel doesn’t know Telegram’s plans,” Gusev tells me with a smile, referring to Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov. “They operate in chaos.”



Despite that chaos, however, TON builders like Booth and Gusev are confident that keeping TON tied to Telegram is the best move.



This is primarily because Telegram already has so many users — billions, in fact, many of whom like crypto. And user acquisition and growth is arguably one of crypto’s biggest hurdles.



Booth sees 2025 as a year where more favorable US regulation could mean the Telegram Wallet may become available in the US “very soon.”



Updated Feb. 19, 2025 at 3:06 pm ET: Clarified language.



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TON builders reveal there’s ‘zero relationship’ with Telegram

Macauley Peterson

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



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Blockworks has published <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ftx">520 articles</a> on FTX over the years, including a play-by-play of the exchange’s implosion <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/the-last-10-days-in-the-ftx-saga-a-timeline">and its aftermath</a>.



Given the company’s scale and influence, the FTX bankruptcy was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ftx-is-bankrupt-but-you-can-still-trade-crypto-there">a surreal experience</a> for those of us working full-time in crypto in November 2022.



But down it went! And for the thousands of customers left with assets stranded in bankruptcy limbo, it was painful. At the time, I don’t think anyone would’ve expected that two years and three months later, creditors would be seeing 120% recovery of those funds. (Yes, yes, I know — only in depreciated nominal terms from the petition date — and many have missed out on realizing gains from the bull market of 2023-24, but still…)



It could have been a lot worse.



Unsecured creditors typically recover a fraction of their claims in bankruptcy cases. FTX paying effectively 9% interest on the USD value is a rare outcome.



At any rate, creditor payments are now flowing. According to multiple members of the “FTX 2.0 coalition” Telegram group, Kraken — one of two official distribution partners for the FTX estate — credited accounts on schedule around 10:00 am ET. Many claimants who selected BitGo are still waiting as its website is apparently buckling under the traffic influx — though that should be short-lived.



Around $1.2 billion in total is eligible to be paid to creditors with claims under $50,000. But for now, that will only include creditors who completed all preliminary steps including KYC with FTX — I’ve seen 70% or so mentioned — and around a third of those claims (an <a href="https://x.com/sunil_trades/status/1891821557338538468">estimated</a> $400m worth) were resold. That money is most likely not coming back into crypto.



So, let’s assume $400 million will be available to original FTX users today. What will they do with that cash?



Given the current market sentiment, I’d bet they won’t put it all back into the market. And perhaps not even most of it. No matter where you think bitcoin is going long term, or what your views are on a “super cycle,” you have to at least entertain the possibility that the top is in for a good long while. Folks who were burned by FTX — uncertain for years whether they would see any of that money — are prone to be cautious.



<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">$1.2b worth of FTX distributions going out today Where does the money go? &#8211; Surely some goes to mending wounds. Straight into repaying debts and cash. &#8211; Everyone is exhausted with memecoins and in extension SOL. &#8211; ETH on a relative basis has gone nowhere. &#8211; AI just did -90%.… <a href="https://t.co/qd5hwYVS7r">https://t.co/qd5hwYVS7r</a>&mdash; hansolar (@hansolar21) <a href="https://twitter.com/hansolar21/status/1891661657660850526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Not everyone agrees. Mena Theodorou, co-founder at crypto exchange Coinstash, suggests Solana (SOL) may be a major beneficiary.



“FTX’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-crypto-portfolio">historic investments in SOL</a> and the Solana ecosystem make it likely that some of these funds will flow back into the network, especially since SOL has been a standout performer, rising over 500% in the past year, with strong onchain activity and developer growth continuing to fuel demand,” Theodorou told Blockworks.



I’m not so sure. In the wake of the latest <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/libra-latest-solana-memecoin-episode">memecoin scandal</a>, SOL has now broken through a key daily support level on both the USD and BTC charts. For aggressive dip buyers, this arguably could be an opportunity, but for many it’s time to panic.



Even if I’m wrong on the trader psychology, this isn’t likely to be the big liquidity injection that some have been hoping for. The vast majority of the claims in nominal terms are those greater than $50k — some $17b worth — and for any of that to re-enter crypto we’ll have to wait at least a few months longer.



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FTX payouts begin, but will creditors buy back in?

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Kanye West. J.K. Rowling. Woody Allen. Some find it nearly impossible to separate art from artist.



Crypto markets are struggling with something similar about Solana. While there are all sorts of use cases for the chain that don’t have anything to do with highly manipulated memecoins, SOL is still getting punished for the LIBRA debacle — which all happened on Solana.



Since LIBRA insiders pumped and dumped the coin on Friday evening (supposedly to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/libra-memecoin-sausage-gross">outsnipe the snipers</a> waiting to capitalize first), SOL has tanked by as much as 18%.



It’s rebounded slightly since but the damage is clear, especially considering BTC and ETH are mostly even over the same period. SOL now has a $83.4 billion market cap, just over half that of XRP.



Meteora is tied to both Jupiter — though it’s said that the two have been positioned independently over the past year — and LIBRA. JUP, the native token for Solana DEX aggregator Jupiter, has also shed as much as 24%.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfUhy5p_b413tBM0t9o3mP24arRq7RoOF69aRpkIrMs6t7Fu8LqA5aGJXM-U04MhEeZ5HkJMV-CNKnuJwntLu68XyoTTOEw38ZxYBYG3xpqUDSx75DuI_kPxu5i9wqopYuNI99ldA?key=NsXOV3_qihTu7KComdTDSng6" alt=""/></figure>



The chart above plots price action for six coins throughout the LIBRA launch starting almost two days earlier: TRUMP (orange), MELANIA (yellow), ETH (green), SOL (purple) and JUP (pink).



LIBRA’s market cap is otherwise shown by the blue area in the front.&nbsp;



What’s peculiar is that TRUMP, JUP and MELANIA rallied hard leading up to LIBRA’s sudden appearance, with the former reaching as high as 54% just four hours before LIBRA launched, and JUP as much as 17%.&nbsp;



Those trajectories changed one or two hours before LIBRA hit the chain and have been trending downward ever since the scandal broke out.&nbsp;



Jupiter, in a <a href="https://x.com/JupiterExchange/status/1891181433588470052">statement</a> on X, described plans to launch LIBRA as an “open secret in memecoin circles.” The team says it has conducted an internal investigation and found no evidence of insider trading.



We’ll probably never know if the pre-LIBRA pumps were coincidences. But it’s obvious that the market finds it all convenient enough to bundle them all together under one roof — the Solana memecoin complex, as Galaxy’s Thorn put it — and it’s indeed valued much lower than before, at least over the short term.



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Crypto market no longer able to separate memecoins from Solana

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“I spread the word,” Argentine President Javier Milei <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-18/milei-denies-wrongdoing-in-his-first-defense-of-crypto-debacle?embedded-checkout=true">reportedly said</a> in a TV interview yesterday defending his promotion of Libra.&nbsp;



Milei seems pretty set in denying any wrongdoing in the Libra fiasco, despite promoting the coin on his own social media and watching it tumble more than 90% overnight after briefly hitting a $4.5 billion market cap.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe8GIPSGkx-88qnIc7B2M--ZTy2yEKXlMz3dDSLktcioIoPm4QhaKSvVNN8xR7KbR5uu8blfXBBF4iR_Gd_ePp6KZXK7dIEsWcW1-3bhJD0TCg8CoYNqQQLTblQfXklzH5J37Zdeg?key=NsXOV3_qihTu7KComdTDSng6" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A quick timeline for those of you who didn’t catch <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/libra-memecoin-sausage-gross">David’s write-up on LIBRA</a> Monday morning</figcaption></figure>



For Milei, who admitted he’s not an “expert,” the lack of judgment here is potentially career-damaging. And my use of “potentially” there is generous given Milei’s excuse that his specialty is “economic growth, with and without money.”&nbsp;



Monday morning saw the S&amp;P Merval index — the benchmark stock market index for Argentina — fall over 5%. Mind you, for the folks who don’t keep up with the Argentinian economy, it just <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c92c1c71-99e7-49c1-b885-253033e26ea5">exited</a> a recession.



As Galaxy’s Alex Thorn pointed out, this is just the latest Solana memecoin debacle after TRUMP and MELANIA earlier this year. And that’s going to lead to some potentially painful questions.&nbsp;



“While a souring memecoin narrative had already begun following the liquidity suck caused by $TRUMP’s launch, the fallout from the $LIBRA launch and dump could result in further destruction of the memecoin complex, thus reducing the market’s need to hold SOL,” Thorn wrote in a note.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd6XO8BqFjXWswufoDMlmXxppNsvECbUIlxfQXhNhMR2STSkNYBZvEOrgjm9x8sAOmLXa_39Wpl6H5MiYXI67Wwk4c8tBTlPpoCjSMkYHUfH2Sz8DhwpQAVU10mO2VJ6js1zWN9yQ?key=NsXOV3_qihTu7KComdTDSng6" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A look at SOLUSD</figcaption></figure>



This saga, however, has all the drama: A president in hot water, onchain data showing insider selling, and — as of late last night — an executive departure.&nbsp;



Ben Chow, co-founder of Meteora (which was used to create liquidity pools for LIBRA), resigned late Monday after the scandal.&nbsp;



Prior to Chow’s resignation, he said: “Meteora and I personally, have never received or managed any tokens on the side, do not receive knowledge or get involved with any offchain dealings, and we keep to the highest levels of confidentiality for any token launch happening on our platform.”



<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">There have been questions regarding Meteora and my involvement in <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24LIBRA&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$LIBRA</a>, so I want to explain our role and share why we work with 3rd parties. Meteora and I personally, have never received or managed any tokens on the side, do not receive knowledge or get involved with any…&mdash; benchow.sol (@hellochow) <a href="https://twitter.com/hellochow/status/1891341548115149190?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Meow, who founded Jupiter and co-founded Meteora, said he believes Chow’s statement that there wasn’t any “financial inappropriateness in dealing with partners” but that he had “shown a lack of judgment and care about some of the core aspects of the project.”



For Thorn, this is just the latest “sordid episode of Solana’s memecoin complex.”



<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">Hi, I’m meow from Jupiter, and I also cofounded Meteora. Firstly, I’d like to reiterate my confidence that no one at Jupiter or Meteora committed any insider trading or financial wrongdoing, or received any tokens inappropriately. Secondly, we are hiring an independent 3rd…&mdash; meow (🐱, 🐐) (@weremeow) <a href="https://twitter.com/weremeow/status/1891664435321647186?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Here’s the thing: There’s now a pattern of memecoin launches tied to political figures and I can’t be the only one watching it take place with discomfort.&nbsp;



There’s no denying that memecoins have had quite the run, but — as Thorn pointed out — this type of activity could just lead to the market reducing overall positions in SOL.&nbsp;



Which leaves me wondering: Where do we go from here?



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