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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.


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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Jag is the CEO and co-founder of re.al, an L2 build to facilitate deep onchain liquidity for tokenized RWAs. re.al seeks to redefine how RWAs are integrated into DeFi, using yield-generating real-world assets as novel building blocks in existing DeFi primitives.

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Jack Kubinec

Today, enjoy the Lightspeed newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to the Lightspeed newsletter</a>. 



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Happy birthday, Solana bull run.



A year ago today, SOL was trading at around $22. By the end of October 2023, the price had nearly doubled. By Christmas day, it crossed $120 — a price appreciation of over 400% in less than three months. The chart pierced $200 a couple times in March, but SOL has oscillated above and below $150 for much of the past six months.&nbsp;



The asset was trading at around $155 at press time, a 606% increase from a year ago, according to CoinGecko.



Solana’s downtrend ended with its chief perpetrator — former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried — on trial for fraud. As the market realized that FTX estate sales of SOL wouldn’t be as catastrophic as some feared, the price began to tick upward. Still, common knowledge held that Solana would struggle to shake off its FTX ties quite so quickly.



“Solana Is Down 15% Since Hitting a 14-Month High. Is the Rally Over?,” read one headline as SOL’s price sat around $40.



As the Bankman-Fried circus slowly receded from public view, token airdrops took over Solana’s mindshare. Multiple Solana-based DeFi protocols — most notably <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/jupiter-airdrop-draws-criticism">Jupiter</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/jito-airdrop-value">Jito</a> — distributed new native tokens to their users. Airdrop farming, or moving assets around in hopes of increasing one’s allocation, partly juiced the assets in Solana DeFi protocols to over $4 billion in March for the first time since early 2022. Today, Solana DeFi holds over $6 billion in assets, according to DeFiLlama.



For the bull run’s third act — one we’re very much still in the middle of — SOL rode a wave of excitement surrounding memecoins. What started with <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/slerf-investor-lose-money-crypto">missing pre-sale funds</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/memecoin-dogwifhat-shibainu-lasvegas-sphere">DogWifHat on the Las Vegas Sphere</a> gave way to pump.fun, a novel launchpad that let anyone launch a memecoin for a couple of dollars-worth in SOL. The platform, which is younger than Solana’s bull run, has <a href="https://dune.com/adam_tehc/pumpfun">generated</a> nearly $130 million in revenue.&nbsp;



As with many things in crypto, Solana’s bull run has involved a heavy dose of unseriousness — “free money” and speculative pet pictures abounded. And obviously, price trends like Solana’s can’t last forever, and we could very well be reflecting on Solana’s 500% drop a year from today. But for those who timed the bull run correctly, there was life-changing money to be made.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/permissionless-iii-day-three-solana">Last week at Permissionless III</a>, I met Klaus Wenzel, a Lightspeed reader who paid his way to attending the conference with profits he had taken from a SOL investment last October. Wenzel pays his bills with staking rewards from his SOL, he told me in a direct message.



“Now I can scroll Twitter, listen to Blockworks podcasts and research crypto full time. Life has never been better,” Wenzel said.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Solana’s bull run is 1 year old today

Macauley Peterson

Donovan Choy

Today, enjoy the 0xResearch newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">Subscribe to the 0xResearch newsletter</a>. 



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why bitcoin ETF flows matter</h2>



As we approach the mid-point of October, net inflows for the US bitcoin ETFs have flipped into positive territory for the first time this month.



Bitcoin ETFs notched $253.6 million in net inflows on Friday, breaking a three-day negative streak. They ended the week with a solid net of $348.5 million.



ETF flows provide insights into bitcoin price movements, acting as a potential indicator of directional trends, according to David Lawant, head of research at FalconX.



In addition to a correlation between BTC price and ETF flows overall, “a positive shock to ETF flows leads to a persistent positive effect on bitcoin prices, peaking around days 3-4 with approximately a 1.2% price increase before gradually diminishing,” Lawant wrote in a research note Friday.



BTC is up about 5% today, threatening to break above the daily high set on Sept. 28 at nearly $66,000. The brief dip below $60,000 last week has turned into a spring, setting up a <a href="https://x.com/BigCheds/status/1845821835574759861">bullish double-bottom</a> chart pattern.



Ritesh Dutta, Deputy CEO at AMINA Bank, finds solace in the relative outperformance of venture capital-backed cryptos. “The recent surge in VC-backed cryptocurrencies, particularly SUI and Aptos, is a strong signal of market confidence in <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/on-the-margin-newsletter-inevitable-institutional-digital-assets-involvement">institutional adoption</a> of innovative blockchain technologies,” Dutta told Blockworks. He also likes the “resilience in DeFi,” which has maintained its total value locked (TVL) in the third quarter, alongside a 14% rise in the total stablecoin market cap to $172 billion.



For most crypto assets, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/btc-uptober-market-odds">anticipated “Uptober”</a> has been more like a continuation of “<a href="https://blockworks-research.beehiiv.com/p/closing-september-on-a-pullback">Choptember</a>.” But the present attempt to reverse a longer-term downtrend looks promising.



— Macauley Peterson 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Chart of the Day</h2>



Slow and steady progress with Ethereum solo stakers:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdRifiwliPYTJVYY_Fy7hfk2fs8ViYZZ4mOYNqCpY4bXtFh_m9Fy2NunrQPZYF-CDxf6Xl27b8kmommTR4Q2MaiKX5c3vkDOO9LUPyuCsPv9fxSIFrvuFBhF1dnIkGIXyzev3FMZ_6zQajj1CZnzHp-uPA?key=cpT_n3yTt4E3sWur4lvNGQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://ethresear.ch/t/on-solo-staking-local-block-building-and-blobs/20540">Ethresearch</a></figcaption></figure>



How well has Ethereum been preserving decentralization? According to research from Toni Wahrstätter, the reorg rate for solo stakers (dark purple line) has decreased about 0.25% since the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ethereum-dencun-upgrade-mainnet">Dencun hard fork</a> in March 2024.&nbsp;



Solo stakers may not necessarily be local block builders, however, as a certain subset are using third-party relays and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mev-the-relays-problem">MEV-Boost</a> to outsource block building. The bad news: Based on the last 12 months, local block builders — considered the holy grail of decentralization — are still about 5x more likely to be reorged than MEV-Boost block builders.



— Donovan Choy 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Governance</h2>



Ethena proposal to onboard SOL as USDe backing asset:



In August, Ethena made the <a href="https://x.com/ethena_labs/status/1821185511563956569">strategic decision</a> to expand its yield-bearing synthetic stablecoin USDe <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-ethena-solana-integration">to Solana</a> with the use of LayerZero’s OFT (Omnichain Fungible Token) standard. Ethena looks to further expand its presence in Solana with a governance proposal <a href="https://gov.ethenafoundation.com/t/proposal-onboard-sol-as-a-usde-backing-asset/232">posted</a> last Thursday looking to onboard SOL as a backing asset to USDe.



Unlike centralized stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, USDe is collateralized by a “cash-and-carry” trade. Short positions on perpetuals futures are taken by Ethena against user-deposited BTC, ETH and possibly SOL (the long position) to exploit a difference in funding rates for profit, with a <a href="https://app.ethena.fi/dashboards/solvency">reserve fund</a> ($46.6 million) to mitigate short-term volatility.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXddKWJYtjSSqfUk4MbpsCss8cFtc_evkinQiVsOZbu6IR9hbvGnKMVjnIjHX6q3jkb4WWwwuMn0zRsMVAiWB-j5lRgPsbfNEg3-ypnankxvZ-ngbOlToMJWPJaUCkB4GuSgGHdDpRqmAX-h3ns7gK_flDVo?key=cpT_n3yTt4E3sWur4lvNGQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://app.ethena.fi/dashboards/positions">Ethena</a></figcaption></figure>



Posted by Ethena Labs Research, the economic rationale for the proposal is the relatively favorable funding rates of SOL perpetual futures in 2024 to BTC and ETH over the last several months.&nbsp;



If approved, the plan is to target an initial allocation range of $100 to $200 million SOL for USDe. That is about 5-10% of SOL open interest, compared to Ethena’s present stake in 3% of BTC open interest and 9% of ETH open interest.



— Donovan Choy



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Bitcoin is poised for a bullish reversal

Katherine Ross

As part of a larger investigation into TD Bank’s transactions and adherence to anti-money laundering laws, a FinCEN investigation found that the traditional finance bank failed to disclose “suspicious activity” regarding crypto.



A consent order alleges that the bank processed transactions for “Customer Group C,” which is an unknown entity, “including the facilitation of over $420 million to a financial institution offering cryptocurrency services in the high-risk jurisdiction of Colombia.”



There was a pattern, FinCEN <a href="https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement_action/2024-10-10/FinCEN-TD-Bank-Consent-Order-508FINAL.pdf">said</a>, of Customer Group C doing over $100 million in wire transfers a month, “most of which facilitated apparent third-party cryptocurrency trading and involved high-risk industries and jurisdictions, including Colombia, China and countries in the Middle East.”



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/fincen-hearing-crypto-illegal-financing">House hearing on FinCEN oversight turns into crypto debate&nbsp;</a>



Customer Group C saw transactions top $1 billion in a period of time from July 2023 to April 2024, the order found. Ninety percent of that came from an unnamed crypto exchange, though this one was UK-based. Sixty percent of the outgoing transactions went to a Colombian financial institution — again unnamed.&nbsp;



The group was also tied to an “international cryptocurrency exchange platform,” the order states, and received over $650 million from it. However, it’s not clear which platform <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/fincen">FinCEN</a> is referring to.&nbsp;



“TD Bank processed these transactions on behalf of Customer Group C, due in part to a lack of clear controls applicable to customers dealing in cryptocurrency: the limited high level written policies the Bank had in place relating to virtual assets alluded to the requirements for certain additional controls and monitoring,” the order claims.



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-innovation-suffering-inside-closed-networks">Crypto is becoming the same broken system it promised to fix</a>



“However, there is no evidence any enhanced controls were ever applied to Customer Group C’s extensive transactions with virtual asset service providers.”



The bank failed to report the activity until it received “multiple law enforcement inquiries” about the unnamed entity.



Last week, TD Bank pleaded guilty to <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/aml">AML</a> violations, paying a hefty fine of $3 billion in penalties. Of that sum, $1.3 billion went to FinCEN according to the order filed with the government office.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

TD Bank failed to disclose ‘suspicious’ crypto transactions tied to unnamed customer group 

David Canellis

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



I think we can all agree that NFTs won’t undergo the same explosion we saw last cycle.&nbsp;



That’s not, of course, to say that NFTs can’t make a comeback of any sort. But it looks like we won’t see CryptoPunk #5822 fetch another $23 million (8,000 ETH at the time) like it did a few years ago.&nbsp;



(For reference, in the past 24 hours, CryptoPunk #8135 sold for a cool 29 ETH, or $71,000, per CryptoSlam.)



OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer <a href="https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iii/recordings">told me at Permissionless</a> that this time will be a little different. And part of that, he said, is the utility behind NFTs.&nbsp;



“The technology has just been getting better and better,” since the last boom, he said on a panel.&nbsp;



The previous cycle caused some <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-werent-supposed-end-like/618488/">issues</a>, even with the demand. Gas fees, among other things, were pain points for consumers who wanted to simply purchase an NFT. Finzer said that they’ve “solved” a lot of those problems since 2021.&nbsp;



“Now you can build all of the cool stuff that we’ve always dreamed of building because…scaling is here on Ethereum, for example,” he explained. Though OpenSea continues to work on onboarding and user experience, he said.



Admittedly, it seems already that any sort of NFT comeback is going to appear vastly removed from what we saw in 2021. Not just anyone is going to be able to create and successfully sell off an NFT.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfvJU1H4_fHYwDH1OvB2FYoSWZYQHn_GE_oFl4asiEhSqo4Q1oUiTDSqtMuK4yAwlq9hXX5B5EVwLMsh8hhZYq6vLD8Fcoicrl2Zpqgo4hHVVQ6A9qFL-DbD9eMQGZ3ebOTGIskrPRKcbSA4tNhRveAXgtc?key=lBKbl17C1g4q2pGnkOLNZQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: CryptoSlam!</figcaption></figure>



Finzer said that he’s looking at transaction and user counts to monitor momentum, putting transaction volume to the side. Overall, Finzer said the space is showing a lot of “momentum.”



For example, three <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/7-nft-use-cases">use cases</a> are becoming abundantly clear this time around: gaming, physical collectibles tied to a digital collectible, and tokenizing real-life objects (like Galaxy <a href="https://investor.galaxy.com/news/news-details/2024/Galaxy-Announces-Tokenization-of-the-1708-Stradivarius-Violin-Empress-Caterina/default.aspx">tokenizing</a> a famous violin).



“Gaming’s probably the [use case] I’m most bullish on,” Finzer told the crowd at Permissionless. In a close follow-up, Finzer said he’s keeping an eye on physical assets, which encompasses both tokenized real-life items and digitizing certain things such as tickets.



Ubisoft’s announcement of a crypto game — Champions Tactics — that’ll launch later this month shows that perhaps gaming, a segment that didn’t flourish when Bored Apes were selling for millions, shows how demand has shifted. The <a href="https://championstactics.ubisoft.com/">page</a> for the game notes that 75,000 playable characters, or Champions, have been minted.



Not to mention that Off the Grid, another crypto game, which climbed to the top of the charts in the Epic Games store.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">10 months later &#8211; most popular free game on the Epic Games Store &#8211; #1 trending game on Epic &#8211; 150k Twitch streamers on Friday was more than League of Legends &#8211; partnership with Ninja &#8211; has an Avalanche L1 for token, marketplace, and NFTs Onchain gaming has arrived. <a href="https://t.co/A3uPMVTKxH">https://t.co/A3uPMVTKxH</a>&mdash; Yano 🟪 (@JasonYanowitz) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz/status/1845621334237155785?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



But there’s one other storm cloud over NFTs right now, and that’s the Securities and Exchange Commission, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-issues-wells-notice-opensea-nfts">sent OpenSea a Wells notice</a> a few months ago, though <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-an-sec-lawsuit-against-opeansea-could-look-like">no lawsuit’s been filed yet</a>.



Finzer hopes that the momentum isn’t stymied by any potential regulatory action, given that OpenSea, among others, is “ready to go and fight if push comes to shove.”



“No news on that,” Finzer told me when I asked if they’d heard from the regulator since the notice.



As for where we end up over the mid-term, Finzer said that he expects a “wild” few years. “In five years, I think we’ll all be living in the metaverse potentially,” he said.&nbsp;



If that’s the case, I just hope my mortgage is cheaper.



— Katherine Ross



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



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>BTC and ETH have broken upwards this morning, climbing over 3% to monthly highs of $64,800 and $2,530 apiece.</li>



<li>SUI set a new price record of $2.35 on Sunday evening, having gained 15% in the past week. It has since retraced slightly to $2.24 (mcap: $6.19 billion).</li>



<li>Base transaction counts have also hit a new peak, per <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/base?dashboard=base-onchain-activity&amp;interval=weekly">Blockworks Research</a> data: 40.82 million in the past week, up over 17% from the previous period. Trading bots including Banana Gun are leading gas consumption on the network, alongside AMM Aerodrome.</li>



<li>Base’s TVL has hit a new <a href="https://defillama.com/chains">record</a> of $2.455 billion, up 54% in the past month.</li>



<li>Bitcoin is the second-most popular <a href="https://www.cryptoslam.io/blockchains">venue</a> for NFT trading in the past month after Ethereum: $67.2 million volume vs. $107.8 million.</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Off the Grid, on the chain</h2>



Off the Grid — one of the first true AAA games infused with crypto — is a ballsy experiment worthy of your attention.



I spent the weekend (and some of this morning) blasting through as many rounds as I could, earning what appears to be a stand-in tester cryptocurrency for every kill.&nbsp;



And yes, it’s actually fun.



The third-person shooter, from Ukrainian-German studio Gunzilla Games, throws the player into a battle royale set in a world ripped straight from dystopian action thrillers Elysium, Chappie and District 9.&nbsp;



Which is to be expected: Director Neill Blomkamp co-founded the studio and serves as its creative chief.



It’s a cool twist on the genre made big by PUBG, Fortnite and Warzone. The lore goes that players have their limbs surgically removed to compete on the hyper-violent <a href="https://gameoffthegrid.com/">Teardrop Island</a> — to be replaced by mechanized arms and legs fitted with all sorts of weaponry, from swords and shields to drones and poison gas.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeofdex5GrzuWd8WxVysCMPKXoI2gxHda_jeZp1HZIBpdQ7vsv3XOdzeOU0vBm3YkcOL8efkk0A3lCoB5giShB5pNzw_r5yr7i0Rg5a5wIR1INCM9xaiCjBlVBBWLZYaIbBc376VsUMbo6pFSB461BwTLs?key=lBKbl17C1g4q2pGnkOLNZQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Always dressed for crypto summer</figcaption></figure>



Freedom of movement is where Off the Grid really shines. Jetpacks are standard — so lots of zooming between buildings, cranes and other climbables — while legs can come loaded with ultra-speed or mega-jump capabilities.&nbsp;



It’s super fast-paced and smooth, although the PS5 beta does suffer from some optimization issues in the current version.



As for the crypto stuff: It’s not totally live just yet.



Weapons and other items like skins and clothing can be optionally minted NFTs and traded on the in-game marketplace for a native token, GUN. Just like a crypto version of the Steam marketplace.



Those mechanics run on an Avalanche subnet (through which transactions don’t eventually settle via the main Avalanche chain, as is the case with Ethereum rollups and mainnet).



Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund <a href="https://gunzillagames.com/en/news/55-Gunzilla-Games-Announces----M-in-Funding-Co-Led-by-CoinFund-and-Avalanche">co-led</a> a $30 million funding round in March for Gunzilla Games, alongside CoinFund.



And you can indeed earn GUN for killing enemies, ranking highly in matches and extracting what’s known as HEX cubes — loot boxes that you can then sell for more GUN. Above average items go for around 80 to 100 GUN at the moment.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc5mzZzLaLB162oxJUbxEVQBX8qTWhoVF9m2afCOnT8BaohpjLXVncich_wGzTW-1CL9d097DENqKAvhQur6aASgC98kLN0JPiNQT7CP1M6P0DCuXbJOBKSx6fy-FI5fiiPRQ7Xk_0bb_YPZ_42ieGKHnEP?key=lBKbl17C1g4q2pGnkOLNZQ" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Three kills earned me 0.3 GUN, with an additional 1.2 GUN coming from the monthly battle pass subscription </figcaption></figure>



For now, the GUN token payouts and NFT minting appear to still be occurring on a testnet version of Gunzilla Games’ subnet, GUNZ, although all early access progress is set to carry over to the full release. I reached out to the team to confirm and I’ll drop a note in a future edition with their answer.&nbsp;



Either way, the <a href="https://scan.gunztoken.io/">testnet</a> has seen over three million transactions per day for the past three days running with 5.5 million wallet addresses — positively humming along. And in the future, items will be <a href="https://gunzillagames.com/en/news/56-Gunzilla-Games-Announces-Integration-of-its-GUNZ-Blockchain-Into-OpenSea-Marketplace">tradable</a> as NFTs on OpenSea, denominated in the GUN token, which the team previously <a href="https://decrypt.co/207849/district-9-director-avalanche-shooter-off-grid-launches-mobile-game-subnet-rollout">said</a> it plans to list on centralized crypto exchanges.



Aside from maintaining Twitch <a href="https://twitchtracker.com/games/983841243">attention</a>, the real keys to success will be whether Off the Grid can stave off cheaters while maintaining balance in its crypto-economy as it ramps up.



In the meantime, who can argue with pwning noobs to earn crypto.



— David Canellis



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



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Avalanche Foundation struck a <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/320833/avalanche-foundation-to-repurchase-tokens-sold-to-terras-lfg-in-2022-deal-pending-court-approval?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss">deal</a> to repurchase nearly two million tokens sold to Terra’s Luna Foundation Guard, pending court approval.</li>



<li>Arkham Intelligence is <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-11/crypto-firm-arkham-backed-by-openai-s-altman-to-launch-derivatives-exchange?utm_source=telegram&amp;utm_content=crypto&amp;utm_medium=social">reportedly</a> plotting to launch a derivatives exchange.</li>



<li>Samara Asset Holdings is <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/10/14/samara-asset-group-plans-up-to-328m-bond-to-expand-bitcoin-holdings/?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=rss&amp;utm_campaign=headlines">planning</a> to issue a $30 million bond to buy up some bitcoin. </li>



<li>Copper <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/10/14/crypto-custodian-copper-appoints-former-sec-advisor-amar-kuchinad-as-new-global-ceo/?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=rss&amp;utm_campaign=headlines">tapped</a> former Goldman Sachs and SEC employee Amar Kuchinad as its new CEO.</li>



<li>Horst Jicha, a German national <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/11/horst-jicha-skips-bail-new-york-cryptocurrency-fraud-fugitive.html">accused</a> of running a $150 million crypto scam, went poof from his New York City home while on a $5 million bond.</li>
</ul>



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



Q: Are gamers coming around to crypto?



Off the Grid will be the best test of that to date.



To be clear, the game is very much still in beta. But there are already a slew of <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/OffTheGridGame/comments/1g2hn64/anyone_else_having_trouble_with_purchases_fml/">posts</a> <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/OffTheGridGame/comments/1g31wnh/failed_transactions/">complaining</a> about failed transactions for in-game stuff, and blockchain is, apparently, still very easy to blame.



One Redditor wrote:



“Why the hell does it take 15 tries of 15 different items before I can purchase anything on marketplace. Right now I can even buy anything on there like I been locked out by moderators for interfering on their stupid cryptocurrency scam they got going. Like what do u get by holding onto all the rarest items and preventing others from buying them. Only a handful of market gate holders have a majority of the valuable items and what does that get then at the end of the day a couple thousand dollars worth of savings in a video game they likely don&#8217;t even play. Fricken vultures man why don&#8217;t they just not use our market place to make crypto pennies and leave the gaming to gamers …”



Make of that what you will.



— David Canellis



It’s too early to tell.&nbsp;



I don’t think gamers necessarily have anything really against crypto (though, understandably, I think a lot of game developers have a bad taste in their mouth from previous iterations, but that’s a whole other can of worms).



The over-monetization of games can easily burn folks out. Remember back in 2017-2018 when loot boxes became more widely used, and therefore, controversial? I think folks just want to avoid that.&nbsp;



I’ll be honest with you, I’m an avid Sims player so I’m well aware of how much it sucks to continually sink money into a game. And I think it’s a fair concern for games with NFT functionality. But I hope that we’ve finally struck a fair balance.&nbsp;



No one’s gonna care if it’s a crypto game as long as it’s good, and doesn’t require you to drain your bank account to have a fun time.&nbsp;



Let’s be real, at the end of the day, the gameplay is what really matters.



— Katherine Ross



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A wave of new games could prove NFTs aren’t dead after all

Karate Combat announced the launch of its upcoming layer-2 blockchain, UP, built on the Hedera layer-1 network.



The first professional striking league governed by its own KARATE token, the project allows over 100,000 users to earn tokens by accurately predicting fight outcomes using its Up Only Gaming software.



Through the use of the Up Only Gaming software stack, more than 100,000 users on the platform can earn KARATE tokens by correctly predicting fight outcomes.



The UP layer-2 is set to be launched in Q1 2025. Its own $UP token is planned to be launched within the same year, with up to 30% of the token going to KARATE stakers.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/permissionless-day-two-vibes">Politics and memecoins drive the conversation on day 2 of Permissionless</a>



“Karate Combat is already massively incentivized to spread its Up Only Gaming technology to other sports, esports, fantasy sports, crypto projects and more,” onlylarping, Karate Combat’s pseudonymous co-founder, said. “UP is the enabling technology to not only allow us to provide all the tech for free, but to give grants and our user base to early partners.”



Karate Combat’s latest combat sporting event <a href="https://www.universe.com/events/karate-combat-50-permissionless-tickets-NP6T1Z">KC 50</a> is being held at <a href="https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iii">Permissionless III</a> in Salt Lake City, UT. It will feature a fight between David Hoffman, co-founder of Bankless, and Kain Warwick, co-founder of Infinex.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/permissionless-iii-day-three-defi">Permissionless III: DeFi phoenix looms as OG builders forecast next phase</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Polemos partners with Buff</h2>



On Wednesday, the blockchain <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/gaming">gaming</a> asset management platform Polemos announced a partnership with Buff.game — a gaming company that runs a loyalty program for over 15 million players across games like Dota 2, Fortnite, League of Legends, Valorant and more.



The partnership is leveraging Polemos&#8217; asset management wallet and non-collateralized lending solution to let gamers trade, lend, borrow and access in-game items without the need for players to make an upfront investment.



Carl Wilgenbus, CEO of Polemos, said of the partnership: &#8220;This collaboration with Buff.game represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of gaming. By combining our Web3 expertise with Buff&#8217;s massive player base, we&#8217;re set to catalyze widespread adoption of blockchain gaming technologies.&#8221;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">One interesting stat:</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Pudgy Penguin <a href="https://x.com/pudgypenguins/status/1841878248101196078">GIFs</a> on Giphy have seen more than 30 billion views. </li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Also of note:</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>ENS domain names are now <a href="https://x.com/nalin/status/1843750140332650851">searchable</a> on Google.</li>



<li>The CryptoKitties NFT project is <a href="https://x.com/CryptoKitties/status/1841206455153934824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1841206455153934824%7Ctwgr%5Ef0beffe8b1d8a196bee0ddfc0667d6d00ce86b14%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fopensea.io%2Fblog%2Farticles%2Fopensea-digest-october-10-2024">launching</a> “All the Zen,” a new monster breeding game on the Telegram messaging platform.</li>



<li>The Avalanche-based battle royale shooter Off the Grid from Gunzilla Games went <a href="https://x.com/playoffthegrid/status/1843685237546725748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1843685237546725748%7Ctwgr%5Ef0beffe8b1d8a196bee0ddfc0667d6d00ce86b14%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fopensea.io%2Fblog%2Farticles%2Fopensea-digest-october-10-2024">live</a> on PlayStation 5, Xbox and PC, making it the first ever blockchain game on PlayStation 5.</li>
</ul>



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Web3 Watch: Karate Combat announces the launch of its UP L2

Ben Strack

Casey Wagner

Today, enjoy the Forward Guidance newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



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



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The state of crypto ETFs: Permissionless edition</h2>



We’ve already noted there has been plenty of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/empire-newsletter-permissionless-crypto-regulation">regulatory talk</a> at Permissionless.&nbsp;



ETFs were also a major point of discussion following the milestone launches of US spot <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-approves-bitcoin-etf">bitcoin</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ether-etfs-approved-for-us-exchange-july-23">ether</a> funds in January and July, respectively.&nbsp;



The bitcoin ETF chatter focused, in part, on the buyers driving the so-far $18.6 billion of net flows into the segment.



“The industry had an expectation that was summed up by: ‘Here come the boomers,’” Bianco Research’s Jim Bianco said during a panel discussion. “I don’t think it’s really been that at all.”



Rather, he and fellow panelist Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart, noted that a large <a href="https://x.com/biancoresearch/status/1802764031415271586">chunk</a> of that money has come from existing digital wallets.



Indeed, Samara Cohen, BlackRock’s CIO of ETF and index investments, noted that 75% of buyers of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) had never bought an iShares product before — signaling many IBIT holders are more crypto native investors.&nbsp;



While a number of wealth managers have <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/advisers-bitcoin-etfs-client-portfolios">jumped into</a> these products, many more remain on the sidelines. Morgan Stanley has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/on-the-margin-newsletter-morgan-stanley-bitcoin-adoption">allowed</a> its financial advisers to offer the BlackRock and/or Fidelity bitcoin ETFs to certain clients, but other wirehouses have not yet followed suit.



“Really what they want to look at is who are the right investors, what’s the right level of liquidity needs, risk tolerance…and what’s the role bitcoin might play in a portfolio so they can recommend an appropriate allocation,” Cohen said. “That’s not a trivial exercise with relatively limited trading data and a pretty interesting market backdrop over the last few years.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Seemingly more involved than wealth managers in bitcoin ETFs right now are hedge funds that are executing basis trades, Permissionless speakers have noted. That means they are taking positions in both the BTC spot and futures markets in a bid to profit from price differences.



As for the spot ether ETFs, Seyffart acknowledged his flow estimate for those funds (at between 15% and 25% those of the BTC funds, in the first year) appears to have been “way too bullish.”



Those US ETH products have so far seen net outflows amounting to $548 million.



A few reasons for this include the product launches occurring during the summer “doldrums,” ETH’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tough-ethereum-vibes">price trajectory</a> around the launch and the need for <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/education-required-to-spur-eth-etf-outflows">more education</a> around the asset.&nbsp;



And, of course, the ETFs can not yet <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/proposed-ether-etfs-not-staking-eth">stake</a> the ETH that they hold.&nbsp;



“People who understand this and are staking their ETH would never go to an Ethereum ETF because you’re giving up that 3% or 4% yield,” Seyffart said. “You lose more utility by taking Ethereum and putting it in an ETF wrapper than you do taking bitcoin and putting it into an ETF wrapper.”



— Ben Strack



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">13.75%</h3>



The amount MicroStrategy shares were up on Friday, as of 2:15 pm ET. The business intelligence firm’s stock price is now at a 52-week high.



The run-up comes as MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor announced plans to launch a bitcoin bank during a recent interview with research firm Bernstein. MicroStrategy currently holds 252,220 BTC.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Did You Notice</h2>



Happy Friday! Inflation data this week came in above expectations, painting an uncertain picture as investors and analysts continue to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/btc-uptober-market-odds">speculate</a> about what we might see from the Fed in November. Here are the highlights:&nbsp;



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Thursday’s CPI report came in hotter than expected. As Felix said <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/forward-guidance-newsletter-hot-inflation-data">yesterday</a>, the report wasn’t smoking hot, but left much to be desired. We’ll call it warm. Core CPI rose 0.3% month over month, vs. the 0.2% that analysts expected. Annually, core CPI came in at 3.3%, just above the forecasted 3.2%. Same with headline CPI, which was up 0.2% from the prior month and 2.4% year over year, compared with 0.1% and 2.3% expected, respectively. </li>



<li>Friday’s PPI report showed core PPI inflation rose to 2.8% annually. Analysts had called for 2.7%. The monthly increase for the core index showed a 0.2% increase in line with forecasts. Neither the PPI nor the CPI are the Fed’s top inflationary gauge, but they are still important data points to note. </li>



<li>The University of Michigan published its Survey of Consumers on Friday, showing sentiment dropped 1.7% from September to October. At the same time, near-term inflation expectations increased to 2.9%. It’s the highest inflation expectation we’ve seen since the summer. </li>
</ul>



— Casey Wagner



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bulletin Board&nbsp;</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said during a Permissionless panel that Donald Trump is “very committed to the crypto issue” and that the Harris campaign “has done a really good job in beginning to talk to us.” We asked the executive about some other things; check <a href="http://blockworks.co">Blockworks.co</a> next week for our full interview with Shirzad.</li>



<li>Bitcoin’s price surged above $62,900 by 2 pm ET — up more than 4% from 24 hours prior.  </li>



<li>After notching $245 million of net inflows on Monday, the US-listed spot BTC funds endured three straight days of outflows this week (amounting to a combined $140 million), Farside Investors <a href="https://farside.co.uk/bitcoin-etf-flow-all-data/">data</a> shows. <a href="https://farside.co.uk/ethereum-etf-flow-all-data/">Flows</a> into the US ETH products have been roughly flat since Monday. </li>



<li>Permissionless is wrapping up today, but Blockworks’ DAS is coming back to NYC from March 18-20, 2025! Early bird tickets are <a href="https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2025-new-york">available now</a>.</li>
</ul>



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Crypto ETF takes from the Permissionless stage

DeFi is getting top billing on day three of Permissionless III, with a high-profile main stage session and its own <a href="https://blockworks.co/permissionless#agenda">breakout track</a>.



After lying in wait during recent years, DeFi is on the brink of a renaissance, according to panelists who discussed the category’s future role in crypto on Friday morning. Kain Warwick, Stani Kulechov and Sam Kazemian delved into the maturation of DeFi, the prospects for new innovations, a shift from experimentation to consolidation, the next phase of scaling and competing with centralized services.



Moderator David Hoffman kicked off the session with the observation that we haven’t seen much evolution since the heady days post-DeFi summer. Warwick, the founder of Synthetix credited with creating the concept of yield farming, suggested that innovation in DeFi typically stems from combining new technologies.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/permissionless-day-two-vibes">Politics and memecoins drive the conversation on day 2 of Permissionless</a>



“We’re sort of waiting for that next thing to combine,” Warwick said, noting that <a href="https://blockworks.co/podcast/empire/3bcc1a58-8768-11ee-bb69-9b6b85d39f7e">Synthetix spin-off</a> Infinex was built to integrate newer primitives that improve user experience and help those technologies gain distribution. He believes the DeFi market still holds immense potential, particularly among users currently “trapped” in centralized services.



Kulechov cited the shift away from experimentation and towards profitability as indicative of DeFi protocols reaching a stage of maturity, with select DAOs leading the charge. The next phase of DeFi&#8217;s growth will focus on building trust, network effects and brand value, positioning DeFi as a serious alternative to centralized exchanges, Kulechov said. That’s already happened with centralized lending, largely supplanted by non-custodial alternatives, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/aave">Aave</a> founder added.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/0xresearch-newsletter-trump-world-liberty-financial-aave">Trump’s World Liberty Financial is using Aave</a>



Kazemian of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/frax">Frax Finance</a> praised the growing number of decentralized chains. He referenced <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/0xresearch-newsletter-uniswap-layer-2">Uniswap’s launch of Unichain</a> yesterday as a vindication of Frax’s earlier decision to launch its own chain, Fraxtal. He envisions a future where most computation occurs on decentralized chains rather than centralized servers. This shift, according to Kazemian, will blur the lines between centralized and decentralized services, further enhancing interoperability.



The group noted the trend of centralized exchanges launching or closely affiliating themselves with their own chains, with varying degrees of decentralization. While these went unnamed, chief examples are Binance and BNB Chain, Coinbase and Base, Bybit and Mantle, OKX and X-layer, Crypto.com and Cronos.



In some respects, exchanges were the first cross-chain interoperability solutions, Kazemian said. DeFi has historically catered to fervent enthusiasts and “decentralization maxis,” Warwick pointed out, a strategy that has limited mainstream adoption. The focus must now shift toward simplifying user experience and expanding market access.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/empire-newsletter-permissionless-crypto-regulation">A16z’s Chris Dixon pushes for bipartisan legislation at Permissionless III</a>



“We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over — we’re not breaking through this enthusiast wall,” he said.



So, what are centralized services weak points, asked Blockworks co-founder Michael Ippolito. Unichain is also a hallmark of a trend towards vertical integration in DeFi, he said. That’s a departure from how we’ve viewed dapp development in years past. As applications move into various layers of the stack, such as Uniswap, “it looks like they are just trying to own the entire thing,” in an attempt to mimic a centralized experience, Ippolito said.



There’s an inevitability to this, Warwick said, even at the cost of some censorship resistance. “If we can’t get through the problems in our own backyard, we’re not going to be credible in saying we’re going to take down banks,” he said. It doesn’t matter that Unichain may directly compete with Infinex — that’s fine, argued Warwick. “We’re all competing against Binance.”



Kazemian said the script has now flipped from “why do you need a chain” to “why don’t you need a chain?”



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Permissionless III: DeFi phoenix looms as OG builders forecast next phase

Today, enjoy the 0xResearch newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">Subscribe to the 0xResearch newsletter</a>. 



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



The notion that a (former) president of the United States would throw his support behind a DeFi project would’ve been inconceivable just a few years ago, but <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/on-the-margin-newsletter-trump-family-defi-venture">it’s happening</a>.



The Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLF) project <a href="https://governance.aave.com/t/temp-check-world-liberty-financial-aave-v3-instance-on-ethereum-mainnet-proposal/19383">submitted</a> on the Aave governance forums a proposal to deploy an Aave v3 instance on Wednesday.



WLF is not technically a fork of Aave’s code, as confirmed by Aave founder Stani Kulechov on the Chopping Block <a href="https://youtu.be/gZyn9R_hBIc">podcast</a>.&nbsp;



On the backend, WLF seems to be a segregated instance of its own “Aave” from the main Aave protocol. WLF’s users are then serviced from its own separate <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/world-liberty-financial-kyc-starts">KYC’d front-end</a>, where it will presumably charge a trading fee.



That makes it very much a “DeFi” project, insofar as World Liberty Financial is running on the largest smart contract compatible public blockchain and leveraging core DeFi primitives.



Yet it’s also not quite “DeFi,” given its strict KYC measures for global users and how it’s presently limited to only accredited investors in the US.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd3U24H8ZS257qXT9Hvwhd4CNlOhRsf_dk2y4ovh-2IKO-Q1vZSO7qk9o8j9mf05Wf240MIPaE9Eyb43h6ZE-yCYEcKsJuvdpmtTl8XwDhigVG2VrzPNOlmlslKlcITB8iWge1otfQ-P3TUMKOvlfBZqz5k?key=JQMVYvq9Jhk3rOrcyxUrZg" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://www.worldlibertyfinancial.com/">World Liberty Financial</a></figcaption></figure>



In exchange for using Aave, WLF is offering 20% of its protocol fees and 7% of its WLFI governance token supply to Aave.



Part of the allocated WLFI token supply is explicitly for liquidity mining rewards on Aave, despite previous claims from a <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/09/03/inside-the-trump-crypto-project-linked-to-a-2m-defi-hack-and-former-pick-up-artist/">leaked draft</a> of World Liberty’s plans that the token will be non-transferable.



USDC, USDT, ETH and WBTC are four of the assets to be initially listed on WLF for lending and borrowing.&nbsp;



The proposal has received the verbal <a href="https://governance.aave.com/t/temp-check-world-liberty-financial-aave-v3-instance-on-ethereum-mainnet-proposal/19383/4">approval</a> of Aave-chan Initiative (ACI) founder Marc Zeller, who “welcomes the alignment between the WLF and the Aave ecosystem.” However, other DAO members are <a href="https://governance.aave.com/t/temp-check-world-liberty-financial-aave-v3-instance-on-ethereum-mainnet-proposal/19383/9">questioning</a> the strategy of saddling Aave with the baggage of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/on-the-margin-newsletter-trump-crypto-promises">Trump’s politics</a>.



Though the Trump family’s names are attached to the project, it’s hard to believe that it goes beyond much more than a brand name association.



<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 href="https://twitter.com/worldlibertyfi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@worldlibertyfi</a> <a href="https://t.co/mwhVIzPJyq">pic.twitter.com/mwhVIzPJyq</a>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1829141447087648796?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The people behind WLF are clearly crypto natives. From the precise selection of Aave, and the strategy to incentivize liquidity providers with its own native token, to the linguistic nuances of its governance proposal, WLF has all the trappings of a team that understands how things are done in this business.



Who knows how it will end —&nbsp;stay tuned, as they say.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Chart of the Day</h2>



Optimism Collective generates $911 million in monthly revenues:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXes5oaGYzL4yu5BVrVawekIcM1CLBfUtqIwvyqnWet2tdkrPr2mgyHBiw9y4JApTkCI1jpbtjQy-GKL_UVnF8vtXPJ624F5B9SuKKkie6OODx8s9ChzXsHd2SlykEqtiCihk9_7J6qGO-uc5ARW71Crng_Y?key=JQMVYvq9Jhk3rOrcyxUrZg" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/superchain">Blockworks Research</a></figcaption></figure>



Uniswap announced its own <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/0xresearch-newsletter-uniswap-layer-2">Unichain L2</a> yesterday as part of the Optimism Collective/Superchain. One revenue-sharing <a href="https://base.mirror.xyz/aBwt4flT1WAKJGQTj2AXBpH_8Qd3umQ-ZECLAJoO_nE">criteria</a> of being an L2 chain within the Optimism Collective is to share 2.5% of your total sequencing revenues, or 15% of your gas fee profits (after deducting data availability costs) — whichever is higher.



In the month of September, the Optimism Collective raked in $911 million in total revenue. Optimism mainnet and Base make up the two largest revenue contributors, at $646 million and $263 million, respectively.



Note that the Blast L2 is left out of the above chart. Though L2s may be built with the Optimism’s OP Stack developmental kit, that does not make them necessarily committed to the Optimism Collective.



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Trump’s World Liberty Financial is using Aave

Today is day three of <a href="https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-iii">Permissionless III</a> — have fun staying richly informed and entertained to all the attendees headed to the event this morning.



Keep reading for the inside scoop on where the crypto vibes are headed from Katherine, reporting from Salt Lake City. Catch you next week!



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">App revolution</h2>



It’s looking like crypto is ready to transcend to its next major phase.&nbsp;



Apps, not infrastructure.



There have been calls to renew focus on funding and building apps for a while now. Not “crypto apps,” like perps DEXs and lending protocols, but more genpop apps that regular people really want to use at scale — that would just so happen to run on blockchain rails.



With good reason. Infrastructure plays dominate the market. I spent the morning cataloging the top-200 cryptocurrencies by capitalization — which represents 96% of the entire market — per CoinGecko into three top-level categories: infrastructure, currency and apps.



Within each of those headline items were subcategories. Under infrastructure there’s layer-1 tokens like ether, SOL and TON, layer-2s arbitrum, mantle and optimism and pure-play infra assets including chainlink, PYTH and EIGEN.&nbsp;



Under currency there are stablecoins, memecoins and tokens derived from wrapping, staking or bridging other assets, like wrapped bitcoin and lido staked ETH.&nbsp;



App categories include exchange tokens — both DEX and CEX — as well as ones for metaverses, wallets and compute marketplaces like Akash, and DeFi platforms such as sky (formerly maker), pendle and aave.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1513" height="1600" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png" alt="" class="wp-image-93002" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=1513 1513w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=284 284w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=968 968w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=1452 1452w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=243 243w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=247 247w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=207 207w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image.png?w=76 76w" sizes="(max-width: 1513px) 100vw, 1513px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Appcoins are in purple, with exchanges and DeFi tokens the most common</figcaption></figure>



It obviously took some value judgments: Are liquid staking platforms Jupiter and Lido “apps” or “DeFi”? Probably the former. You use your crypto through the platform and immediately receive something else in return — in those cases a liquid staking token. DeFi apps would otherwise generate potential rewards over time.



Bitcoin was labeled a “currency,” and not a layer-1 under infrastructure. Those are mostly smart contract-native platforms on which apps can be deployed: coins that aim to offer ownership, exposure and utility to the underlying architecture of Web3.



All told, infrastructure coins, when sorted this way, represent $660.5 billion out of the $973.2 billion that remains of crypto after excluding bitcoin — 68% of the whole.



Appcoins are worth just $45.3 billion, or less than 5% of the total. Currencies other than bitcoin meanwhile make up over 27%.



Of course, the next wave of consumer apps, like the ones crypto-forward TradFi titan VanEck is looking to back with its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/forward-guidance-newsletter-vaneck-vc-fund">new fund</a>, might not even have their own token. The blockchain and crypto elements could be buried underneath slick UX, so that users are none-the-wiser that they’ve landed in Web3.&nbsp;



Polymarket, for instance, doesn’t have its own coin but is one of this cycle’s most successful apps within the broader zeitgeist.



Still, there’s obviously room for growth within the app space. It’s difficult to say how big the explosion in adoption could be.&nbsp;



Despite the example of Polymarket, I suspect that token launches — specifically ones that prioritize access to the general public — will need to be central to those projects. Perhaps the shift to the applayer will bring about the return of initial coin offerings.&nbsp;



After all, it could be that infrastructure tokens are only so dominant because they offer exposure to potential growth within those ecosystems, through their native coins.



App projects may do well in following that formula — as long as they can stomach a potential visit from a trigger-happy SEC.&nbsp;



With that in mind, whatever success is destined for the applayer rests on how well <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/forward-guidance-newsletter-sec-ripple-inflation">Coinbase</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/uniswap-at-center-of-us-war-on-crypto">Uniswap Labs</a> and now <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-charges-cumberland-unregistered-dealer">Cumberland DRW</a> fairs against the regulator in court. Joy.



— David Canellis



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">IYKYK</h2>



We’re bringing you something a little different this week.



Instead of just sitting down and absorbing what Blockworks co-founder — and Empire host — Jason Yanowitz said on the podcast this week, I tracked him down at Permissionless.



“The biggest takeaway from me is that the energy online is very different online from the energy in person,” Yanowitz told me.&nbsp;



“There [are] like three stages of companies from 2017-2020, which was the CeFi infrastructure people (like Fireblocks, BitGo, Anchorage), 2020 to 2024 was infrastructure and now I think we’re entering this application era,” Yanowitz said. “Every panel ends up talking about applications in some way, which we’ve never seen at a conference before.”



“I think all signs are actually pointing to 2025 being [the year that all applications] are funded,” he explained.&nbsp;



So the bullish vibes really are real.For Yanowitz, the energy felt “rejuvenating.” He thinks bitcoin could carve out fresh all-time highs in November or December, setting the stage for a (potentially) bullish start to 2025.



And now you know.



<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">Day 2 at <a href="https://twitter.com/Permissionless?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Permissionless</a> was awesome. -Favorite talk was on macro by <a href="https://twitter.com/JanvanEck3?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JanvanEck3</a> and others, TLDR bullish setup for crypto. -Way too many bullish on memecoins and bearish alts. Short term basis in my opinion. Alts are just memecoins with fundamentals. Memecoins will trend… <a href="https://t.co/mCrrj3wxYQ">pic.twitter.com/mCrrj3wxYQ</a>&mdash; Jesse Eckel (@Jesseeckel) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jesseeckel/status/1844590367829786665?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2024</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



&#8220;Despite (SEC) Chairman (Gary) Gensler’s call to just &#8216;come in and register,&#8217; Cumberland has for years been expressly prohibited from using its now-dormant registered broker-dealer for crypto asset activity. We cannot comply with rules that do not exist or a framework that regulators are interpreting to prohibit trading in natively issued crypto assets,” Cumberland said.



While it may look like next year is potentially bullish, the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to target companies in the crypto space.&nbsp;



Yesterday, it was Cumberland.&nbsp;



“We are not making any changes to our business operations or the assets in which we provide liquidity as a result of this action by the SEC,” Cumberland said in a statement.



“Despite frequent protestations by the industry that sales of crypto assets are all akin to sales of commodities, our complaint alleges that Cumberland, the respective issuers, and objective investors treated the offer and sale of the crypto assets at issue in this case as investments in securities, and Cumberland profited from its dealer activity in these assets without providing investors and the market with the important protections afforded by registration,” Jorge G. Tenreiro, acting chief of the agency’s crypto assets and cyber unit, alleged.



It’s one of those cases that could have lasting effects on the crypto space, but first, we need to see how it plays out.



— Katherine Ross



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Crypto set for a new era of apps over infrastructure

Crypto conference panel titles are like little time capsules that give a sense of what the crypto world was interested in at a certain moment in time (at least in the eyes of conference organizers).



So here’s one telling example I found: A year ago at Permissionless II, a host of Solana founders sat on a panel called “Solana DeFi: A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes.”&nbsp;



This year, the main stage saw a talk called “DeFi: A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes,” but the panel was populated with Ethereum DeFi founders instead.



During that 2023 panel, SOL was trading at around $18. Today, it&#8217;s around $140. This week, the fees and tips being <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/sol?dashboard=sol-financial&amp;interval=weekly">processed</a> by the Solana blockchain are roughly 70 times what they were during the last Permissionless.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/permissionless-day-two-vibes">Politics and memecoins drive the conversation on day 2 of Permissionless</a>



In brief, it appears that the phoenix has risen from the ashes.&nbsp;



This year’s Permissionless conference fell less than a month after Solana’s flagship conference in Singapore, so it was a light week as far as bombshell <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/solana">Solana</a> announcements went. Instead, the Solana content was a bit of a heady brew.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-solana-breakpoint-2024">These 3 questions remain after Solana Breakpoint</a>



Eugene Chen from Ellipsis Labs <a href="https://x.com/whosknave/status/1844104857437049207">said</a> that “fighting [maximal extractible value] is almost like fighting gravity” due to the inevitable economic force to pack blocks tightly. DRiP’s Vibhu Norby said that memecoins can be better thought of as commerce than as investment during a live taping of the Lightspeed podcast. And someone I chatted with near the coffee station said decentralized physical infrastructure (<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/depin">DePIN</a>) projects where the infrastructure’s supply comes from the same place as its demand are the most likely to succeed (think of a shared computing network where users offer and also use computing power, as an easy example).



As attendees chugged water and generously applied chapstick to battle the Salt Lake City dryness, it became clear to me that Solana has become, for lack of a better word, cool. The Solana breakout track was reasonably full, and a Solana Foundation-sponsored founder summit had to turn around its fair share of curious interlopers.&nbsp;



For Solana founders I heard from, the plaudits feel good, especially given how some in crypto tabbed Solana a lost cause following FTX’s unraveling.&nbsp;



But it’s also uncharted territory for Solana, which has always felt like a contrarian bet against the much-larger Ethereum. Today, Solana is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-solana-defi-activity-expanding">much closer to Ethereum</a> in key usage metrics, and professional investors seem to be <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-sol-strategies-rebrand">taking a liking to SOL</a>.&nbsp;



The question I was struck by during the conference is how Solana can adjust to a world where it’s not quite the contrarian underdog anymore. What if new chains come to fruition that are faster, cheaper, more impious to crypto’s high priests?



Crypto fans tend to not be fans of social consensus, and being more of a consensus blockchain could prove to be disadvantageous. Solana has certainly risen from the ashes over the past year. It’s now a question of whether the phoenix can also fly.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



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Permissionless III dispatch: What a difference a year makes for Solana

Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan was denied bail at a Nigerian hearing on Friday.



The executive’s been detained since February when he visited the country to meet with Nigerian officials on behalf of Binance. He’s facing money laundering charges.&nbsp;



Gambaryan’s also suffering from health issues yet is still imprisoned at the Kuje Prison. And I wish I could report that there was, well, more to report. But unfortunately, at this point, there’s not.&nbsp;



&#8220;We all know that Tigran was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-detained-exec-charges-dropped-nigeria">never a decision-maker at Binance</a> and that he is entirely innocent but I am not surprised by this decision. It is completely unjust to deny someone in Tigran’s condition the opportunity to seek appropriate medical help and I just pray that when he is finally released that the damage he is suffering is not permanent. I am exhausted and deeply disappointed, but I will continue fighting for my husband’s rightful freedom,” his wife, Yuki Gambaryan, said in a statement.



Read more: ​​<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/continued-detainment-binance-executive-outrageous">Rep. Hill calls continued detainment of Binance executive ‘outrageous’</a>



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance">Binance</a> echoed her thoughts, with a spokesperson telling Blockworks that the company is “deeply disappointed by the court’s decision to deny Tigran bail, particularly given his deteriorating health. He has been unlawfully detained for over 220 days.”&nbsp;



“We are committed to working with the Nigerian government to resolve issues,” they added.&nbsp;



Gambaryan has a long and storied history with crypto. Prior to joining Binance, he worked as an IRS agent with a focus on digital currency.&nbsp;



He <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/empire-newsletter-binance-exec-silk-road-arrests">served as a special agent</a> involved in taking down former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Mark Force and former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges, who were both involved in the Silk Road.&nbsp;



Gambaryan wrote that the two “abused their positions” as federal agents in a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/opa/press-releases/attachments/2015/03/30/criminal_complaint_force.pdf">2015 affidavit</a>. When detailing his experience, he said that he “developed a specialty in cyber and digital currency crimes.”



Wired’s Andy Greenberg — who wrote the book Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency with Gambaryan as the protagonist — called the former IRS agent “kind of a legendary figure in the crypto crime investigation world.”



Earlier this month, Yuki Gambaryan did an interview with Illicit Edge’s new podcast “Designated” about his imprisonment.&nbsp;



“Tigran is innocent, he didn’t do anything wrong,” she told host Yaya Jata Fanusie. She also pushed for more “decisive actions” from the US government.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I am having this constant fear of losing Tigran,” Yuki went on to say.



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



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Binance exec Tigran Gambaryan denied bail in Nigeria

The mix of retail and institutional, DeFi and TradFi, suits and T-shirts has been a staple at Permissionless since the inaugural event in 2022. Crypto influencers and US senators find themselves under the same roof this year for three days in Utah.&nbsp;



But the circumstances this year are special. When Permissionless III wraps on Friday, there will be 26 days left until the 2024 presidential election. This reality has crept into almost every discussion, both on stage and on the expo floor.&nbsp;


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1200" height="800" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-92981" style="width:557px;height:auto" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=1200 1200w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=386 386w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=392 392w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=329 329w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/20241010_Permissionless_3966.jpg?w=80 80w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Mike Lawrence for Blockworks</figcaption></figure></div>


“I think it is bullish if Trump wins, and it&#8217;s probably negative for a little bit if [Harris] wins,” Dan Tapiero, founder of 1Roundtable Partners and 10T Holdings, said during a Thursday panel discussion. “But the reality is that this move toward putting all value on a blockchain is bigger than one election.”&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/permissionless-3-day-one-vibes">Axe throws and crypto wizards: Permissionless III is underway</a>



The comments contrast a widely accepted narrative from many industry players — and certain politicians — that a second Donald Trump presidency will lead to a more friendly environment for crypto in the US.&nbsp;



“He’s evolved on this issue to the point where he’s going to advocate for it,” House Majority Whip <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/forward-guidance-newsletter-vaneck-vc-fund">Tom Emmer told Blockworks</a> of Trump’s crypto stance and the about-face he’s done in recent months.&nbsp;



“[<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/kamala-harris">Harris</a>] doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” he added.&nbsp;



Couple the looming election with increasingly uncertain macroeconomic conditions and a crypto market that just can’t seem to take off again, and you paint a somewhat bleak picture. Still, the speakers in Salt Lake City managed to bring some levity to the situation: Focus on the memes.&nbsp;



“I don&#8217;t want to wax too philosophical here, but partially because the transparency of mobile phones, trust in US institutions has really gone down,” <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/vaneck">VanEck</a> CEO Jan van Eck said on stage.&nbsp;



“Trust in Congress, trust in academia, trust in mainstream media has basically disappeared,” van Eck added. “The fact that some of the memecoins make fun of some of that, I think, is great. It&#8217;s a joyful response, a social response.”&nbsp;



Read more from our opinion section: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/political-candidates-cannot-ignore-crypto-voters">Political candidates can no longer ignore crypto voters</a>



Aside from politics and memecoins, it just wouldn’t be a crypto conference if people didn’t talk about price action. Even as bitcoin dipped below $59,000 Thursday, the bulls were unphased.&nbsp;



Tapiero said he expects BTC to hit between $150,000 and $180,000 in two years or so.&nbsp;



Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead threw out a number too: $117,000 by August 2025. Van Eck didn’t share a specific price expectation, but added with a smile: “I think we’re all bulls on this stage.”



Ben Strack contributed reporting.



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Politics and memecoins drive the conversation on day 2 of Permissionless

Felix Jauvin

Today, enjoy the Forward Guidance newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



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



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Structural sticky inflation is here&nbsp;</h2>



Today’s inflation data tells a story of sticky prices that are going to have a lot of trouble coming down and getting us back to the 2% target.&nbsp;



Off the top, the key data points vs. expectations:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Core CPI MoM: 0.3% actual, 0.2% expected</li>



<li>Core CPI YoY: 3.3% actual, 3.2% expected</li>



<li>Headline CPI MoM: 0.2% actual, 0.1% expected</li>



<li>Headline CPI YoY: 2.4% actual, 2.3% expected</li>
</ul>



As we can see, the CPI print was hot. Not smoking hot, and also not because any major outliers drove it higher. What we’re seeing is really just a broad-based inability for inflation data points to meaningfully move lower.



Before digging into the hot points, let’s quickly run through what accounts for 55% of this month’s inflation: shelter.



Following a rebound last month, owner-equivalent-rent and primary rents both continued their trajectory lower, leading to shelter inflation coming in at 0.22% MoM vs. expected 0.46%. By all accounts, this was a positive outcome for disinflation.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdt7ccAM23USZ7WS3MDujDSesbV1kt6R84kh93rvFctWoErOd42OGkBLB1saG5cU6CPKWNGVcK0Hl9C7Lm7FIDyu5pCQu3Jz7OL5kuQknS9XW_Pl2sYnWcMm9a8mS1x5SCypfBbL9P-DcAwCVLN-3d1Xqvw?key=0JUZeaMwPbST8WRCQEVVkA" alt=""/></figure>



That’s about as far as we can go in terms of positive data points in today’s print.



The big red flag is that core goods rebounded higher at 0.17% vs. the anticipated 0.02%. Goods MoM deflation has been the core driver of the disinflation story we’ve seen this year and which has allowed the Fed to cut with confidence. So if we’re beginning to see a rebound in goods inflation, that will be a concern.



Overall, today’s CPI print paints a picture of sticky inflation, but not re-acceleration. I think this print will still allow the Fed to cut by 25 basis points in November, but 50bps is surely off the table at this point.



— Felix Jauvin



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">$24&nbsp;</h3>



The price target (in CAD) for Galaxy Digital, according to a Thursday note from HC Wainwright &amp; Co., which started covering the stock. The company’s share price closed at $17.73 CAD on Wednesday.&nbsp;



Galaxy is one of just two diversified crypto-focused public companies (outside of the bitcoin miners) with a market cap of more than $1 billion, the analysts wrote. And an expected sharp crypto rally starting in Q4 could be the single biggest driver of a Galaxy stock price increase.



The HC Wainwright &amp; Co pros added: “Further, institutional understanding and adoption of digital assets has never <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/on-the-margin-newsletter-inevitable-institutional-digital-assets-involvement">been greater</a>, and we see a wave of incremental <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/forward-guidance-newsletter-vaneck-vc-fund">institutional capital </a>pouring into the space in the coming years, further amplifying the upcoming bull market.”&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">On the ground at Permissionless&nbsp;</h2>



Day two of Blockworks’ Permissionless was in progress when this newsletter went out, but let’s take a look at some of what people were talking about on day one.&nbsp;



There seems to be a calm before the storm. And we’re not talking about Hurricane Milton (our thoughts are with everyone in the affected areas and their loved ones), but rather the seeming holding pattern as we await the Nov. 5 <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/political-candidates-cannot-ignore-crypto-voters">presidential election</a>.&nbsp;



The need for regulatory clarity was mentioned a lot. That’s not really new, but it is even more highlighted given we’re now just 26 days from the big day.&nbsp;



Casey <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/forward-guidance-newsletter-vaneck-vc-fund">mentioned</a> some of House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s thoughts yesterday about how the presidential election could impact the crypto industry’s trajectory.



Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal said during the same panel that he’s looking beyond just the Donald Trump-Kamala Harris match-up. “Congress is going to matter a lot here, regardless of who’s elected as president,” he said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



During a session later in the day, Lumida CEO Ram Ahluwalia argued that Harris — who he called the “presumptive leader of the Democratic party today” — could terminate SEC Chair Gary Gensler before the election if she wanted to.&nbsp;



But he expects to see “status quo” if Harris is elected, implying no quick change in SEC leadership would be made.



While Donald Trump has vowed to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/donald-trump-speaks-bitcoin-2024">fire Gensler</a>, Harris has shared some <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/kamala-harris-crypto-policy-reset-outlook">pro-crypto comments </a>without noting how she might address the agency’s current leadership.&nbsp;



Clearing out the leaders with negative views of the industry should be positive for an agency that overall realizes the crypto industry’s value to capital markets and American innovation, said Bitwise’s Juan Leon.



But, he added in a panel alongside Ahluwalia: “I don’t think it’s as black and white as people in this industry seem to be thinking. Really what matters is the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/house-passes-act-fit21-with-bipartisan-support">bipartisan support</a>, which is there.”



While regulation was mentioned in some shape or form in nearly every panel I listened in on, some other points worth noting strayed from strict policy.



In a panel on the future of bitcoin mining, Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel seemed to question the strategy of industry rival Core Scientific, which this year has <a href="https://investors.corescientific.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/78/core-scientific-announces-new-contract-with-coreweave-for-delivery-of-approximately-70-mw-of-additional-infrastructure-to-host-high-performance-computing-operations">inked</a> high-performance computing (HPC) <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/post-bitcoin-halving-mining-strategies">hosting contracts</a> with cloud-computing firm CoreWeave.



Core Scientific has said it projects more than $4.7 billion in cumulative revenue over the 12-year timeline of the CoreWeave contracts.



But Thiel argued: “That’s a race to zero,” noting that competition in the arena of renting rack space will ultimately hurt margins.&nbsp;



And we can’t not mention the world’s largest asset manager being in the building.&nbsp;



Samara Cohen, BlackRock’s CIO of ETF and index investments, said we are in “act one” in terms of institutional crypto adoption. This theater analogy came in lieu of the baseball-focused “early innings” line you typically hear (though Let’s Go Mets, am I right?).&nbsp;



While hedge funds and other asset managers have been jumping in, there remains “a fair amount of plumbing” needed to unlock others’ ability to buy bitcoin (namely pensions and endowments).&nbsp;



Outside of regulation, investment guidelines consideration and board approval are other hurdles to clear for those asset allocators.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“These things take a longer period of time…and this is a process that is underway,” Cohen said.



— Ben Strack&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bulletin Board&nbsp;</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>The SEC on Thursday charged crypto market maker Cumberland DRW with acting as an <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-charges-cumberland-unregistered-dealer">unregistered dealer</a>. Regulators <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2024/comp-pr2024-168.pdf">allege</a> the Chicago-based firm has been “operating as an unregistered dealer in more than $2 billion of crypto assets offered and sold as securities.” In a statement posted on X, Cumberland expressed frustration with being the SEC’s “latest target” and pledged to defend itself “against overzealous regulators.” </li>



<li>Initial jobless <a href="https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf">claims</a> released Thursday showed 258,000 first-time filers for the week ended Oct. 5, marking the highest weekly initial claims since August 2023. Analysts had expected 230,000. </li>



<li>Permissionless III continues! Check out the day one recap from Blockworks editor Katherine Ross <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/permissionless-3-day-one-vibes">here</a>, and keep an eye on Blockworks.co for the latest updates. </li>
</ul>



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Latest inflation data comes in hotter than expected, led by housing costs

Michael McSweeney

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the crypto market-maker Cumberland DRW with acting as an unregistered dealer.



The agency, which revealed the charges Thursday, alleged that the Chicago-based firm has been “operating as an unregistered dealer in more than $2 billion of crypto assets offered and sold as securities.”



“Despite frequent protestations by the industry that sales of crypto assets are all akin to sales of commodities, our complaint alleges that Cumberland, the respective issuers, and objective investors treated the offer and sale of the crypto assets at issue in this case as investments in securities, and Cumberland profited from its dealer activity in these assets without providing investors and the market with the important protections afforded by registration,” Jorge G. Tenreiro, acting chief of the agency&#8217;s crypto assets and cyber unit, said in a <a href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024-169">statement</a>.&nbsp;



In the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/complaints/2024/comp-pr2024-168.pdf">complaint</a>, the SEC alleged that the firm “has made available for trading many crypto assets offered or sold as investment contracts and, therefore, as securities.” The agency cited POL (formerly MATIC), SOL, FIL, ALGO and ATOM.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-mango-markets-sol">SEC’s Mango settlement reiterates its case that SOL is a security</a>



Such inclusions are likely to spur further criticism of the agency, given the SEC’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-wrong-about-crypto-asset-securities">recent step back</a> from the use of the term “crypto asset securities” in some of its more high-profile court cases. The SEC’s critics have accused the agency of specifically targeting the crypto sector.



Cumberland echoed those complaints in a <a href="https://x.com/CumberlandSays/status/1844424478660624806">statement</a> published Thursday, in which the market maker pledged to defend itself. The firm said it had become “the latest target of the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a>’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-crippling-digital-assets">enforcement-first approach</a> to stifling innovation and preventing legitimate companies from engaging in digital assets.”



“We are not making any changes to our business operations or the assets in which we provide liquidity as a result of this action by the SEC,” Cumberland said. “We are confident in our strong compliance framework and disciplined adherence to all known rules and regulations — even as they have been a moving target (it wasn’t long ago ETH was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/consensys-files-lawsuit-against-sec">claimed to be a security</a>).”



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SEC files lawsuit against crypto market-maker Cumberland DRW

<a href="https://trondao.org/">TRON DAO</a> was proud to host the TRON Builder Tour at Columbia University with <a href="https://blockchainatcolumbia.org/">Blockchain at Columbia</a> and <a href="https://www.bublockchain.xyz/">Boston University Blockchain</a> on October 5. The TRON Builder Tour merges hands-on workshops with enriching discussions, connecting students, developers and mentors. Previously, TRON DAO has organized successful TRON Builder Tour events at prestigious institutions like MIT, Cornell, Princeton, and Harvard, fostering deeper connections and advancing blockchain knowledge within academic communities. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">TRON Builder Tour: Columbia Stop</h3>



The TRON Builder Tour hosted a hackathon at Columbia University on October 5, co-hosted by <a href="https://blockchainatcolumbia.org/">Blockchain at Columbia</a> and <a href="https://www.bublockchain.xyz/">Boston University Blockchain</a>. The 12-hour event attracted over 120 sign-ups from students all eager to build on the TRON blockchain. Attendees included individuals from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Boston University, NYU, Berkeley, Columbia, University of Waterloo, and Princeton. Longtime developers and early builders in the TRON community flew in from all over the U.S. to help students with their projects. Among the mentors were Dwayne Gordon, founder of a TRON community project, Eder Teixeira, a TRON Super Representative and Wes Jorgensen from Boston University Blockchain.Their collective experience provided students with invaluable insights and guidance, reinforcing TRON&#8217;s commitment to fostering innovation and education within the blockchain space. Throughout the hackathon, students developed decentralized applications (dApps) across four tracks: DeFi, Artistry, Integration, and Web3. The top three projects from each track were awarded their respective share of the grand prize pool.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Judge-Selected Winners</h3>



DeFi Track Showcasing projects that transform finance through decentralization, empowering individuals with transparent, accessible, and inclusive protocols for asset management. The winners of the DeFi track are as follows: 1. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/stakecess-learn2earn/27716">Stakecess</a> by Stakecess 



2. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/teamdr-by-team-d-pok-it-starts-with-an-idea/27718">TEAMDR</a> by Team D-POK 



3. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/prisoncoin-by-teampc/27858">PrisonCoin</a> by TeamPC&nbsp;



Artistry Track Where entertainment meets blockchain technology. The artistry track spotlights creative prowess in visual projects that embrace GameFi, NFTs, assets, and ventures related to the Metaverse. The winners of the Artistry track are as follows: 1. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/monkey-lotto-buy-lottery-tickets-and-win-as-quick-as-popping-a-balloon/27720">Monkey Lotto</a> by Monkey Lotto 



2. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/nocapmaps-earn-nfts-by-exploring-national-parks-in-us/27738">NoCapMaps</a> by NoCapMaps&nbsp;



3. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/metaforge-unlocking-creative-power-in-the-artistry-metaverse/27725">MetaForge</a> by MetaForge Team&nbsp;



Integration Track 



The Integration track prompts participants to integrate advanced protocols into the TRON ecosystem, urging them to incorporate existing protocols, dapps, or services on TRON/BTTC into their applications. Participants create impactful features/tools for enhancing applications within the TRON/BTTC ecosystems. The winners of the Integration track are as follows: 1. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/tronfundyou-fund-me-fund-you/27715">TRONFundYou</a> by NYBO 



2. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/swap-squad-decentralized-marketplace/27737">Swap Squad</a> by BU Blockchain RKJ 



Web3 Track The Web3 category aims to honor teams that usher along the transition of Web 2.0 to Web 3.0 by introducing next-gen DAO tools, SocialFi, blockchain/web infrastructure, SDKs, and other dapps. The winner of the Web3 track is below: 1. <a href="https://forum.trondao.org/t/tron-support-ai/27717">AI Bot</a> by TRON Support AI



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">HackaTRON Season 7</h3>



In tandem with the TRON Builder Tour, TRON DAO continues to push the envelope with HackaTRON Season 7, a competition that challenges innovators across multiple tracks to create solutions that leverage the TRON blockchain.



Stay updated and get involved by following TRON DAO on <a href="https://x.com/trondao">X</a> and visiting the<a href="https://trondao.org/hackatron/"> HackaTRON official page</a> for the latest news and participation opportunities!



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TRON DAO hosted the TRON Builder Tour at Columbia University with Blockchain at Columbia and Boston University Blockchain

Following <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stripe-to-bring-back-crypto-payments">months of build-up</a>, the fintech giant Stripe officially brought back crypto payments in the US, a product lead announced yesterday via X.&nbsp;



Customers can pay merchants in USDC or USDP on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon, while US-based merchants are paid in dollars. Stripe takes 1.5% of the transaction amount, which is lower than the 2.9% plus $0.30 fee it typically <a href="https://stripe.com/pricing">charges</a> on card payments. The move comes nearly seven years after Stripe <a href="https://stripe.com/blog/ending-Bitcoin-support">discontinued</a> its first crypto experiment amid the growing realization that bitcoin would not become a blockchain optimized for payments. Stripe <a href="https://stripe.com/blog/bitcoin-the-stripe-perspective">began</a> its foray into crypto in 2014.&nbsp;



The check-out flow, which you can mess around with <a href="https://t.co/g1ryr2ZvZv">here</a>, involves connecting a crypto wallet and signing a transaction from Stripe before paying with your stablecoin of choice. Interestingly, fees appear to be abstracted away from the user, so Solana isn’t really given a chance to flex its cheap fees relative to Ethereum’s.



On one hand, it’s a big deal for crypto adoption that Stripe is dipping its toes back into crypto. Most of anyone who has paid for things on the internet has interacted with Stripe’s payment flows.&nbsp;



Stripe’s stablecoin usage can make it easier for US merchants to sell to international customers, since the fintech firm <a href="https://stripe.com/pricing">charges</a> an extra 150 bips for international cards. In its first 24 hours of crypto reintegration, customers from more than 70 countries paid with stablecoins on Stripe, <a href="https://x.com/BackseatVC/status/1844074052576821445">according</a> to another Stripe employee.&nbsp;



But still, cards are certain to account for a large majority of US internet payments for the foreseeable future. Crypto payments solutions like Stripe’s (<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/helio-upgrades-solana-pay-plugin-for-shopify">and Shopify’s before it</a>) have a bit of a discoverability problem: a minority of people use crypto wallets, and there’s no central repository of merchants for crypto users to find crypto-friendly merchants. (I learned this firsthand while <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-solana-stablecoin-purchases">trying to pay for things</a> with stablecoins this summer).



There may also be structural forces getting in the way of Stripe’s crypto payment solution catching on as currently conceived. In a blog <a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-150031096?source=queue">post</a>, Nico Pei from Sky Lab characterized Stripe’s payment solution — which relies on wallets and their sometimes-onerous requirements — as “useful for crypto-natives” but “unintuitive” for everyone else.&nbsp;



Pei also characterized the 1.5% fee, which is already 50% cheaper than current alternatives, as “predatory” given how little crypto payments actually cost Stripe.&nbsp;



And for crypto payments to actually compete with the credit card giants, Pei says, they’ll need to compete with the sprawling ecosystem of cash back, travel points, and loyalty rewards that incentivize customers to make use of credit cards.&nbsp;



Stripe reintegrating crypto is certainly an encouraging sign for the uptake of crypto payments — something I’m always intrigued by for Lightspeed, given Solana’s focus on payments use cases.



But for the time being, I tend to agree with Pei that this current iteration is likely to tickle a small group of crypto enthusiasts, and leave much of the rest of the payments world untouched.



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