On today&#8217;s episode of &#8220;<a href="https://youtu.be/wkd0zxTkN-E" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Empire</a>,&#8221; Jason Yanowitz and Santiago Roel Santos are joined by Bryan Pellegrino, co-founder of LayerZero. LayerZero is an interoperability protocol that wants to connect every contract on every chain. This is a can&#8217;t-miss episode on blockchain bridges and the future of interoperability.



They discuss how LayerZero works, how Stargate enables seamless cross-chain swaps, the flaws of synthetic/wrapped assets and why the future will be cross-chain.



Plus, hear more on:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>interoperability</li><li>being a crypto builder</li><li>how to get involved in building</li><li>and so much more!</li></ul>



Check out what they had to say in the video below.👇



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="How LayerZero Will Power A Multichain World | Bryan Pellegrino" width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wkd0zxTkN-E?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">About the show</h3>



&#8220;Empire&#8221; is a twice-a-week show. On Thursdays, Jason interviews crypto industry movers and shakers to talk about their struggles, bold moves and tough decisions. Friday&#8217;s weekly roundup episodes feature <meta charset="utf-8">co-host Santiago Roel Santos and cover the top news from the past week.



For any NPR or Guy Raz fans out there, you can think of &#8220;Empire&#8221; as a &#8220;How I Built This&#8221; for the bitcoin and crypto industry.



Subscribe to &#8220;Empire&#8221; today on&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/empire/id1554930038" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple</a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4UTePv1CR3APdKOiosR3Iq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spotify</a>. Watch episodes on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvER9nHSRN3wPkrDGTT5_8VC4Hjcq0f9U" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouTube</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



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Podcast: How LayerZero Will Power A Multichain World | Bryan Pellegrino

Byron Gilliam

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



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



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“If you want to know the real secret of Walt’s success, it’s that he never tried to make money.”



— Ward Kimball, Disney animator
</blockquote>



Andrew Keys is an Ethereum OG whose credentials include attending the first-ever Ethereum meetup in 2014 and making ETH worth more than a dollar.



“The first time Ethereum crossed $1 was because I put a permissioned version of the Java client of Ethereum on top of Azure,” he said on the <a href="https://youtu.be/KHGEZf0TnzY?si=gAPhDSRdZcyTTx6u&amp;t=3326">Empire</a> podcast, “and we put out a 100-word press release in the Wall Street Journal with Paul Vigna creating a concept of blockchain-as-a-service.”



Reading Vigna’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-MBB-42980">write-up</a> from 2015 is a reminder of how little has changed in the 10 years since.



The narrative justifying $1 ETH was that Microsoft’s Azure would use Ethereum to “improve operations from accounting to logistics to cross-border payments and settlement.”



It never really happened, but we’re now racing toward $5,000 ETH largely on the same idea that Ethereum will be the corporate blockchain of choice.&nbsp;&nbsp;



This remains speculative.



Ethereum generated $1.4 million of REV yesterday — more than it did in 2015, of course, but not a lot relative to its $4,400 token price and $531 billion market capitalization.



Keys, however, thinks that valuation is low because Ethereum is underpricing its services.



“At the expense of near-term profitability, the Ethereum Foundation decided to make L1 blob space dirt cheap,” he explained. “I think in time, the Ethereum community is going to say, ‘Well, this is too cheap,’ and you can raise that pricing.”



Consider this the Uber theory of Ethereum’s value: “Once Uber became ubiquitous, they tripled prices,” Keys notes.



He expects Ethereum to do the same: “As blockspace becomes more competitive, you can raise prices.”



Uber is an extreme example of a standard playbook for profit-maximizing corporations, so I see why he cites it.&nbsp;



But layer-one blockchains are not corporations — and I’m not sure they’re meant to be profit-maximizing.



Instead, I thought the idea was to make blockspace as cheap as possible (without sacrificing decentralization), so we can get as much stuff onchain as possible.&nbsp;



If token holders make money in the process because the blocks fill up and transactions get expensive, that’s great.



But making transactions expensive just so token holders make a profit seems…not very crypto?



Layer-one crypto tokens do have to have value, mostly to deter spam and provide security.&nbsp;



But, ideally, any additional value would come from higher usage, not higher prices.&nbsp;



And even if profitability were the primary goal, higher prices might not be the way to achieve it.



As a future source of profits, Keys cites “blobspace” — a cheap, dedicated lane on Ethereum for temporarily making large amounts of data available for anyone to validate.



But does blobspace have a moat?



“Making data available” doesn’t sound like the kind of differentiated service that would have pricing power — how hard can it be to store some data? I’m guessing Keys would argue that Ethereum will have pricing power because of its security guarantees, brand and market capitalization.&nbsp;



But that remains speculative at this point and I’d counter that it’s easier to start a new blockchain than it is a new riding-sharing service.



So I’m not sure Uber’s is the best business model for Ethereum to emulate.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Walt Disney way</h2>



Ward Kimball attributed Walt Disney’s riches to never trying to become rich: “If you want to know the real secret of Walt’s success, it’s that he never tried to make money. He was always trying to make something he could be proud of.”&nbsp;



Disney told his staff never to mention costs to him — if something made a film or his parks better, he wanted it in, whatever the price.



He built a zoo on the studio lot so animators could study animals while making Bambi. He insisted that the gargoyles on Disney World castles, too high up for anyone to see, be sculpted in full detail.



For Disney, animation and theme parks were passion projects that he pursued against all financial advice, often to the brink of bankruptcy.



It worked out in the end, of course — which proves that sometimes, the most profit-maximizing thing is to not maximize profits.



In other cases, the most profit-maximizing thing is to not make profits at all.



Linus Torvalds, for example, made his fortune by offering the Linux operating system for free. Forever.



It’s easy to imagine Torvalds would now be even wealthier if he charged even a few cents for the use of Linux — billions of devices run on the software he invented, from which he collects exactly $0.



But Linux became a global phenomenon precisely because it was free to use and free to build on — a freedom that turned users into contributors.



Torvalds developed Linux with the help of thousands of enthusiasts eager to contribute to the open-source project simply because they believed in it.



With access to the source code, users didn’t just report bugs to Torvalds — they often sent him the fix, too.



In the early days of its development, this allowed Torvalds to release updated Linux kernels as often as every day.&nbsp;



It’s impossible to imagine Microsoft releasing new versions of Windows every day.&nbsp;



It’s equally impossible to imagine that Linux could have been built any other way.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Today, Torvalds is variously estimated to be worth between $50 and $150 million — a big number, for sure. But also a tiny slice of the unmeasurable value Linux has created for the world.&nbsp;



Still, a tiny slice of a giant number is generally better than a giant slice of a small one.&nbsp;



If Torvalds had charged for Linux, his slice might have been 100% of nothing.



Unlike Linux, Ethereum can’t be free — the chain won’t work unless there’s a cost to using it.



But it doesn’t have to maximize profits, either.&nbsp;



And perhaps it shouldn’t?



By pricing their products and services as commodities, companies like Walmart, Costco, Southwest Airlines and Vanguard became giants by prioritizing growth and revenue over profit margins.



If blockspace is similarly a commodity product, the best way to maximize profits may be not to.



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



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-breakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



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



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



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



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



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



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

Should Ethereum maximize profits?

Ben Strack

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



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



A couple days after Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s widely watched Jackson Hole speech feels like a great time for a high-level update — particularly as macro’s effect on crypto markets has increased over time.



We still don’t know what the Fed will do at its Sept. 17 meeting. But to many, Powell’s comments<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/powell-jackson-hole-speech"> had a dovish tilt</a>, leaving the door open for an interest rate cut next month.&nbsp;



If we look at CME Group’s FedWatch tool — based on 30-Day fed funds futures prices, as of midday Monday — many think a 25-basis point cut is in the cards. The bottom section shows that expectation much higher than a month ago:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXe5msJkgjwcgQzk35Zy54JcJpip_H08kmBGj0YVLnbuJa9JXHS6pm_iBF-5J3vvZoPtxflo7yL18ahyB7rq9avlATiGlJAUBUKNadGIi70_PQ5-RlTN-dMFmiT4o_GDUP0oCwYWtw?key=kC-qTijup8gbsaLTwUIxQQ" alt=""/></figure>



While an interest rate cut is generally good for risk assets like bitcoin, it’s a bit more nuanced than that. BTC surged above $117,000 on Friday before reversing course to below $111,000. The asset was trading for around $112,600 at 1:30 pm ET.



The broader trajectory of where crypto markets are headed will still depend on the macro backdrop, argued YouHodler markets chief Ruslan Lienkha.



“If inflationary pressures persist, the Fed may be forced into another prolonged pause, limiting the sustained impact of a single cut,” he told me. “Moreover, if a rate reduction is perceived as an emergency response to a recession, it could weigh on crypto alongside other risk assets.”



The best scenario? A cut that is part of a successful Fed effort to engineer a soft landing. “In that environment, bitcoin is likely to capture the bulk of institutional inflows, given its position as the most established digital asset,” Lienkha said. “Select altcoins could outperform in percentage terms due to their higher volatility and lower liquidity, amplifying upside moves when capital flows broaden beyond bitcoin.”



Speaking of institutional flows, crypto investment products saw more than $1.4 billion leave their coffers last week, <a href="https://coinshares.com/us/insights/research-data/fund-flows-25-08-25/">according</a> to CoinShares — the highest weekly outflow total since March. Within that data, we saw early-week pessimism around the Fed’s stance appearing to drive the outflows, before a recovery later on (mostly with ether products) around Powell’s remarks.



While $625 million flowed into US ETH ETFs on Thursday and Friday combined, $217 million exited BTC funds on those two days. Month-to-date net inflows for ETH and BTC ETFs are at +$2.5 billion and -$1 billion, respectively, “marking a notable change in investor sentiment toward the two assets,” noted CoinShares’ James Butterfill.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXczLfoFS0xWkjQ0VJyMSKiq57KR0UvHhJAvfpTjHbo3KLwkcEkm0Tys9Vf6ZXrZed91pdNPCm9Ni0jPESDVk3BHH6C758XDuCITCGy2P9SMuD-yJ_CbEYX8ixca2T2ewtiHdTg-?key=kC-qTijup8gbsaLTwUIxQQ" alt=""/></figure>



What did asset allocators take away from Friday?&nbsp;



CK Zheng, co-founder of crypto hedge fund ZX Squared Capital, called Powell’s pivot to possibly start cutting rates “significant” for risky asset classes.



His year-end target for bitcoin is between $125,000 and $150,000. He expects ETH to finish the year between $6,000 and $7,000. (It hovered around $4,600 Monday afternoon).



Globe 3 Capital CIO Matt Lason said that any rate cut signal confirms the hedge fund’s bullish positioning given how important more liquidity is in crypto. He expects the intensity of the ongoing crypto bull market to be strongest in Q4.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The expected rate cuts spurred Globe 3 Capital to rotate more of its holdings into smaller cap tokens “as we are seeing early signs of the long-awaited alt coin season,” Lason added.



What should we expect beyond Q4? 50T Funds founder Dan Tapiero weighed in this weekend on X, citing Morgan Stanley research:



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">This bull mkt does not end with 82% of those surveyed by Morgan Stanley saying they do not own cryptocurrency. Tiny long exposure in btc and eth vs &#39;22. All of these metrics will make new highs in price and ownership during this cycle. 2026 will be a boom year. <a href="https://t.co/P5QaGFfd5E">pic.twitter.com/P5QaGFfd5E</a>&mdash; Dan Tapiero (@DTAPCAP) <a href="https://twitter.com/DTAPCAP/status/1959477135011094716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Zheng said he foresees bitcoin dominance continuing to drop after the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/genius-act-passes-house">GENIUS Act signing</a>, estimating the stablecoin market to 10x (from ~$270 billion) in the next few years. Coinbase’s latest simulations suggest the stablecoin market cap could reach $1.2 trillion by the end of 2028.&nbsp;



We know crypto markets move fast, but I think these “where-we-stand” snapshots are worth it. Even if it all changes in a few weeks, days or hours.



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



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



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



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



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

Checking in on crypto markets as the Jackson Hole dust settles

Kate Irwin

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



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



Crypto gaming has seen plenty of multimillion-dollar raises, but in many cases, that funding and hype hasn’t amounted to much. It’s not a guarantee of future success, by any means.&nbsp;



Funding in the crypto gaming sector is also <a href="https://dappradar.com/blog/state-of-blockchain-gaming-in-q2-2025">down 93%</a> year-over-year, meaning there isn’t as much of an appetite for funding large dev teams or splashy marketing budgets right now.



But builders are still finding ways to ship projects with lean teams, turning visions from the GameFi trenches into reality.



Jakpot Games, which is building out its Solana-based site with just three people in its core team, is one of those projects. Their arcade-like platform launched last week, letting players spend the platform’s JAKPOT token to try their hand at getting a high score in one of a few different browser-based games.&nbsp;



Rex Runner and Speed Racer, which both involve speeding through pixelated environments, are the two titles currently on offer.&nbsp;



Currently, each Jakpot tournament has a countdown — meaning players have anywhere from 12-24 hours to try to reach the top of a game’s leaderboard in order to win some tokens.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">To cap off the weekend, we extended our tournament over 440,000 <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24JAKPOT&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">$JAKPOT</a> on the line pure skill, pure competition less than $1 to enter <a href="https://t.co/TKc0bvNImK">pic.twitter.com/TKc0bvNImK</a>&mdash; Jakpot Games (@JakpotGames) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakpotGames/status/1959766461842612605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Users connect to the site via crypto wallet tool Privy, and buy the platform’s token using SOL.



85% of every pot is split among the top scorers. 10% goes to the team’s vault for marketing and development, and 5% rolls over into the next round’s pot, Jakpot cofounder Gannon Breslin, who previously authored The Drop, explained to me in an interview.&nbsp;



Like many gaming upstarts, Jakpot has already had to fend off an onslaught of cheaters who sought to unfairly exploit the platform for financial gain.



“They cheated in ways we didn’t even imagine possible,” Breslin said, adding that continuously monitoring and expanding upon their existing anticheat is a top priority.&nbsp;



Since its launch last week, Jakpot has seen 7,316 games played, 16.1 million game credits transferred, and 26.7 million JAKPOT paid out in total.&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">footballdotfun is awesome, and i&#39;m glad its leading the charge for gamefi seaon however, the game is still speculation which is more betting then not outright skill<a href="https://twitter.com/JakpotGames?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JakpotGames</a> is pure skill with $ on the line 19 hours left with 255,000 in the pot <a href="https://t.co/n9TOZHRnAd">pic.twitter.com/n9TOZHRnAd</a>&mdash; Gannon Breslin (@gannonbreslin) <a href="https://twitter.com/gannonbreslin/status/1959909285292593307?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



As often happens with low-cap tokens, JAKPOT’s <a href="https://dexscreener.com/solana/bpehdmdgf92pd4h6bqscaagrzdfpat8tpbas9s2bmti8">price</a> has fallen significantly from its all-time high. 26.7 million JAKPOT was worth over $53,000 just a few days ago, but would now be worth about $15,000.



“We’re 10,000 times more focused on people playing the game than the market cap,” Breslin said of the token.&nbsp;



The team is planning to add a “Degen” mode soon with higher token buy-ins per play to raise the stakes for those who want it.



They’re also building out custom game lobbies and are actively exploring which games they might add to their platform next (I suggested DOOM).&nbsp;



As the Jakpot team continues to build, they’ll have to compete for Crypto Twitter’s attention with the likes of the latest trend-of-the-moment Football.Fun, plus the Abstract gaming ecosystem and existing gaming platforms like Remix.



It’s never easy in the trenches.&nbsp;



Disclosure: Gannon Breslin is the prior owner and writer of The Drop newsletter, which was acquired by Blockworks.



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Solana-based Jakpot Games launches pay-to-play arcade

This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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



A coalition of the world’s leading stock exchanges has urged regulators to crack down on tokenized stocks, warning that blockchain-based assets could threaten investor protection and market stability.



In a letter sent on August 22 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force, the European Securities and Markets Authority, and the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ Fintech Task Force, the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) said tokenized equities mimic shares without conferring legal ownership or shareholder rights.



Reuters, which reviewed the letter, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/stock-exchanges-urge-regulators-crack-down-tokenised-stocks-2025-08-25/">reported</a> that the WFE described the tokens as imitations of listed equities that could mislead investors and expose issuing companies to reputational fallout if the products collapse. The trade group said some issuers have already voiced concerns about their shares being replicated without consent.



Tokenized equities allow investors to buy digital tokens that track the value of a company’s shares, but unlike traditional stockholders, token buyers do not gain voting rights or protections under securities law.



As Jamie Alcock <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/c8379d47-7f80-4ee6-8e9d-69b379cea027">argued</a> in the Financial Times earlier this month, these instruments provide only “synthetic exposure” to underlying assets rather than enforceable ownership. Proponents argue the tokens could lower trading costs and enable around-the-clock markets, but regulators have repeatedly stressed that securities laws still apply.



Platforms such as Robinhood and Coinbase have begun experimenting with these offerings, with Robinhood launching tokenized equities for European customers earlier this year and Coinbase seeking U.S. regulatory approval.



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



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



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



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



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



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

Global stock exchanges call for crackdown on tokenized stocks

Macauley Peterson

Cap Labs’ new stablecoin cUSD has seen rapid adoption since launch, climbing to $67.85 million in circulation over the past week, <a href="https://defillama.com/stablecoin/cap-cusd">according</a> to DefiLlama. 



Etherscan <a href="https://etherscan.io/token/0xcccc62962d17b8914c62d74ffb843d73b2a3cccc">shows</a> 2,735 holders of the token to date. The jump signals strong demand for Cap’s yield-layered digital dollar model, which combines regulated reserve assets with EigenLayer-powered credit underwriting.



Built atop the newly launched Cap Stablecoin Network (CSN), cUSD is designed as a 1:1 redeemable stablecoin backed by assets like <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/paypal">PayPal’s</a> <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/pyusd">PYUSD</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/blackrock">BlackRock</a>-managed <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/buidl-collateral-tokenization">BUIDL</a>, and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/franklin-templeton">Franklin Templeton’s</a> BENJI. The yield-bearing version stcUSD — minted by staking cUSD — is enabled by a three-party system of lenders, operators, and restakers.



Cap’s core innovation lies in its structure: operators borrow stablecoins to deploy yield strategies, restakers underwrite the operator’s credit risk, and lenders (stcUSD holders) earn a floating yield, currently around 12%, depending on market demand and operator performance. While restaker collateral provides protection against operator default, stcUSD holders are still exposed to fluctuating yield dynamics.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcu_7EBXZi3VItlG_gUlP9ZdT_spy2QXjOEzbUMHu7GkZFHRrKyJZ9-tlygRXK5q_omNcVAeG6WuoQ6iSAgmzzZFOSBYsP0chFvaZY1O5vP7YJeK2iehw-MHotrGOt4ZVsJb5OyEA?key=1HSKtor9sNS05yY8kpZnCg" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">cUSD’s impressive growth; Source: <a href="https://defillama.com/stablecoin/cap-cusd">DefiLlama</a></figcaption></figure>



Unlike many past stablecoin launches, Cap’s model is carefully tuned to comply with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/genius-act">GENIUS Act</a>, the sweeping US stablecoin legislation that prohibits interest-bearing payment tokens. Speaking at the Stablecoin Summit in Cannes <a href="https://youtu.be/fxd5wXtAaC8?si=45kDRI1mmi8Zt56U">in June</a>, Cap Labs founder Benjamin Lens was blunt:



“They said no yield, and it’s pretty clear — there’s no way around it. They do not want stablecoins giving yield to retail investors,” Lens said.



Thus, stcUSD is a separate <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/erc-4626">ERC-4626</a> vault token, which users can mint by staking cUSD. The yield is generated through a marketplace of borrowing and restaking, not directly from Cap Labs.



“Genius Act covers companies that are generating yield on behalf of users and giving them to the users,” Lens said in Cannes, whereas Cap is “an immutable open protocol like <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ethereum">Ethereum</a>, like Bitcoin.”



Combined with the fact that the percentage of any one stablecoin backing cUSD is limited to 40%, Lens thinks they have a compliant mechanism. “This is the standard that we&#8217;ve agreed to with Templeton and BlackRock for our integration with them,” Lens told Blockworks, noting it’s the same arrangement that UStB (from Ethena) made in partnership with BlackRock.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Restaking evolution</h2>



Cap’s design aligns with a trend emerging on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/eigenlayer">EigenLayer</a>: the financialization of Actively Validated Services (AVSs). Traditionally, AVSs on EigenLayer offered infrastructure services — like oracles or bridges — with risk limited to uptime or correctness. But a new wave of AVSs is using EigenLayer to underwrite financial guarantees.



Cap is one example highlighted by EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan. “A staker can stake and promise that an operator [like Susquehanna] is going to make a 10% APR,” Kannan told Blockworks. “You can underwrite financial risk using EigenLayer, which is a very new kind of risk, which requires much, much more active curation and monitoring,” he said.



What makes this possible is EigenLayer’s recent rollout of a new feature, complementary to slashing, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/restaking-use-cases-reframed">went live in April</a>.&nbsp;



While slashing enables restakers to be penalized for backing underperforming operators, <a href="https://docs.eigencloud.xyz/products/eigenlayer/concepts/slashing/redistribution">redistribution</a>, launched in late July, allows slashed funds to be redirected back to the impacted AVS — such as Cap’s lending vault — rather than burned.



That change turns EigenLayer into a programmable risk distribution layer, capable of enforcing structured finance contracts entirely onchain.



“With financial AVSs, slashing is the core logic,” Kannan said. “A liquidation is an example — if the hurdle rate is not met — slash and move the money out.” That’s easier than slashing some infrastructure AVSs like a ZK or TEE coprocessor, where it’s harder to adequately express the slashing logic onchain, he added.



According to a research note from Serenity Research and Catalysis <a href="https://serenityresearch.substack.com/p/serenity-premium-cap-money-and-cusd">published</a> Sunday, Cap’s model resembles a CDS-like structure: Restakers sign off-chain legal agreements to cover operator defaults, post collateral onchain, and are liquidated if their guarantee fails. Cap currently lists market makers like Fasanara, GSR, and Amber as operators, with Gauntlet and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/symbiotic">Symbiotic</a> restakers providing credit protection.



Cap Labs’ operating company, which handles smart contracts, social media and frontend, is based in Panama, Lens said.



“There are currently no plans to geofence the US. Since we&#8217;re functionally an autonomous, overcollateralized lending market, we&#8217;re taking a similar precedent to <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/aave">Aave</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/analytics/morpho">Morpho</a>,” he said.



As Cap’s model gains traction, it could preview a broader shift in the restaking ecosystem: from securing infrastructure to enabling onchain credit underwriting, with slashing and redistribution forming the enforcement rails for next-gen financial AVSs.



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Cap Labs attracts capital with EigenLayer-backed credit model

This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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Galaxy Digital, Multicoin Capital, and Jump Crypto are <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-08-25/galaxy-jump-multicoin-seek-1-billion-for-buying-solana-token?embedded-checkout=true">seeking to raise</a> $1 billion to acquire Solana (SOL). If successful, the effort would establish the largest corporate treasury dedicated to the token to date.



According to Bloomberg, the three firms plan to acquire a publicly traded company and convert it into a dedicated digital asset treasury vehicle, with Cantor Fitzgerald serving as lead banker.&nbsp;



The initiative, which has reportedly received support from the Solana Foundation, is expected to close in early September 2025.



Announced on the same day, Sharps Technology <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sharps-technology-inc-announces-over-400-million-private-placement-seeking-to-establish-the-largest-solana-digital-asset-treasury-strategy-302537587.html">said</a> it priced an over-$400 million private placement aimed at building its own Solana-focused treasury strategy. The Nasdaq-listed company said the plan would involve purchasing SOL both on the open market and directly from the Solana Foundation at a discount.



Investors in the Sharps placement include ParaFi, Pantera, FalconX, Republic Digital, CoinFund, Arrington Capital and other digital asset institutions. The transaction is scheduled to close later in August, subject to customary conditions.



Combined, the two efforts represent a potential $1.4 billion influx into Solana markets, significantly larger than existing treasuries held by companies such as Upexi — worth close to $400 million at current prices — and DeFi Development Corporation, valued near $240 million.



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Galaxy, Jump, and Multicoin align on $1B Solana treasury initiative

David Canellis

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Last week, we spent some time exploring what the rest of the cycle might look like.&nbsp;



Another reason that this time is different: Crypto has never been in a bull market with an agreeable SEC.



How wild this cycle might’ve looked without Gensler at the helm for the first half.



Don’t get me wrong — having a securities regulator back off on stuff like ETFs (bonus points for in-kind redemptions), liquid staking and staking-as-a-service is grand.&nbsp;



But ICOs are the Holy Grail for the crypto space. The job’s not finished until they’re back.&nbsp;



Hester Peirce, the SEC Commissioner who was earlier to crypto than practically anyone at the agency, is acutely aware that financial accessibility is at the heart of what makes crypto “crypto.”



“Obviously I’m someone who believes very strongly in the dispersion of knowledge across society, and in the fundamental value of every human being, and the ability of every human being to contribute something unique to society. And I think that concept really links up very well with crypto,” Peirce told Yano on today’s Empire podcast.



“[Crypto] is trying to bring the ability of people to engage with one another, peer to peer, and really to draw on people who society might before have shut out. If you have a centralized intermediary, what happens is that that intermediary — either of its own accord or because the government tells it to do so — shuts certain people out.”



We already know that the answer is open-source protocols that “anyone can access and use on the same terms as everyone else,” as Peirce put it. And we already have them.&nbsp;



Still, freedom of access does not come with freedom of consequences for offering token sales to US investors. At least, until the SEC finalizes a clear framework for token sales.&nbsp;



“I mean, the goal is to get a framework in place that would allow people to do ICOs, to do airdrops, in a way that they understood was compliant with the securities laws, and then I think you would see that kind of thing happening here, so that certainly is why we’re working expeditiously to try to get something done,” Peirce said.



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2OFzH92_DwI?si=VBcXTZ4iGBkbbR0Z" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>







OK, but what will that framework look like? Crypto Mom didn’t go into detail, but some of her comments earlier on in the podcast might hint towards where it’s going:



“The definition of ‘security’ is very broad. We think often of just stocks and bonds, but you also have investment contracts which are intended to capture anything where someone says, ‘Hey, give me some of your money. I&#8217;ll take it, pool it with other people&#8217;s money. You don&#8217;t have to do anything. I&#8217;ll do all the work and you&#8217;ll get profits based on the work that I do.’



“That&#8217;s something that investment contracts were designed to capture. And that&#8217;s how a lot of these token-distribution events look an awful lot like investment contract transactions. And so trying to figure out: ‘Okay, then, the token was sold as part of that transaction, but it doesn&#8217;t always carry that investment contract with it. How do we think about how long the obligations of the person selling the token should last to the people buying it?’ That&#8217;s really what we&#8217;re wrestling through.”



To me, the most telling part was that Peirce zoomed in on the SEC’s mandate to capture “the capital-raising transaction” when regulating digital assets, “but not saddling the token with securities laws for the rest of its life.”



Compare that with recent comments from SEC chair Paul Atkins, when he said that “there are very few, in my mind, tokens that are securities, but it depends on what’s the package around it and how that’s being sold.”



Something tells me that Atkins might consider many more tokens to be securities had the low-float airdrop meta never taken hold — and those airdrops were ICOs instead.&nbsp;



At this point, it could be another few years until token launches are considered safe enough to really proliferate. Just in time for the next bull market, I guess.



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Hester Peirce on the SEC’s next moves in crypto

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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“I believe that at the end of the century…one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.”



— Alan Turing, 1947
</blockquote>



Did the AI bubble just have its Burning Up moment? In March 2000, Barron’s published a cover story — <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/SB953335580704470544">Burning Up</a> — detailing how quickly internet stocks were going through cash, predicting that investors would be reluctant to give them more.



“When will the Internet Bubble burst?” the article began. “For scores of &#8216;Net upstarts, that unpleasant popping sound is likely to be heard before the end of this year.”



Incredibly, the article was published within 10 days of the Nasdaq’s peak after a five-year, 570% rally — and the start of a 78% crash.



In hindsight, the Barron’s story looks less like coincidence and more like a catalyst: By spotlighting the cash burn, it helped cut off the flow of investor money keeping the bubble inflated.



Now, investors are having similar doubts about keeping the AI bubble inflated after a <a href="https://mlq.ai/media/quarterly_decks/v0.1_State_of_AI_in_Business_2025_Report.pdf">report from MIT</a> concluded that “95% of organizations are getting zero return” on their generative AI spend.



Shares of Palantir fell as much as 20% this week in response, with Nvidia and AMD down 8% and 11%, respectively.&nbsp;



If that turns out to be the beginning of the end of investors’ love affair with those types of AI stocks, the MIT report will surely get the blame.



“These [AI] tools primarily enhance individual productivity, not P&amp;L performance,” the report found, casting doubt on why companies would continue to invest in them.&nbsp;



The problem could be structural, too. Unlike human intelligence, the report finds that “most GenAI systems do not retain feedback, adapt to context or improve over time.”&nbsp;



If that makes companies decide to stop buying AI services from software providers, software providers will stop buying cloud services from the hyperscalers, and the hyperscalers will stop buying GPUs from the chipmakers.



That would be traumatic for investors, of course — and for the whole of the US economy, which has arguably been kept afloat by the hyperscalers’ giant investments in data centers and energy.



But we should remember that this is an investment bubble and not necessarily a bubble in AI itself.



Consider that Alan Turing conceived of artificial intelligence in the 1930s, a decade before the first working computer even existed.



The current investment bubble, if that’s what it is, has dramatically accelerated the realization of Turing’s vision, but his vision is hardly dependent on it.



As the internet before it, AI might do even better after its investment bubble has popped.&nbsp;&nbsp;



If big corporations give up on AI, other more innovative companies will make the most of the infrastructure they leave behind.



When Procter &amp; Gamble <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/p-g-slashed-digital-ad-spending-by-another-100-million-1519915621">said</a> in 2018 it was cutting spending on Facebook ads because it wasn’t getting a return on them, many took it as an indictment of Facebook.



In truth, it was an indictment of Procter &amp; Gamble, whose failure to figure out how to use online ads made room for new competitors who did.



The MIT study that so worried investors this week may similarly have surveyed corporations that just don’t know what to do with a new technology.



But it’s not just corporations — the latest iteration of ChatGPT has widely been considered a <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/openai-gpt-5-backlash-sam-altman/">disappointment</a> because it’s not as much of a step-change improvement as previous versions were.



But the new version is also <a href="https://x.com/VraserX/status/1958211800547074548">creating</a> “original research-level mathematics” that human mathematicians could not come up with themselves.



And AI is also designing physics experiments that a human physicist never would: “The outputs that the thing was giving us were really not comprehensible by people,” one researcher told <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/ai-comes-up-with-bizarre-physics-experiments-but-they-work/">Wired</a>. “They were too complicated, and they looked like alien things or AI things. Just nothing that a human being would make.”



If physicists don’t quite know what to make of AI, it’s no wonder that corporations are struggling to.



Even Alan Turing did.



“Machines take me by surprise with great frequency,” Turing<a href="http://www.loebner.net/Prizef/TuringArticle.html"> wrote in 1950</a>, in response to skeptics who said machines will only ever do what we tell them to.&nbsp;



The surprise may not be that the bubble bursts — it presumably will, eventually — but that AI, like the internet, will just be getting started when it does.



Let’s check the charts.



Palantir v. Cisco:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfpdC8lZDBfYU2JmKbwdUzXremQB1Bog9t5sZEQHHV-iQhzCuCGe8nL6HbTKPXnSMCYakxzr0WPT11Bztu1Sbxr8h7_vyerIywXO7Q3AQoOy8wcmVlHePj3l8mXdCkFnAIq7F21YA?key=Gs_roawT9tnrA5MJOblb4w" alt=""/></figure>



John Authers notes that the run-up in Palantir dwarfs even the historic Cisco move in 1999. Appropriately, Cisco is finally approaching its all-time highs from 2000, thanks to a <a href="https://x.com/TheTranscript_/status/1958665424926908793">booming AI business</a>.&nbsp;



The data center boom:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfM0BP_nL2cgo7x14LBIvFFEeEMjQMk4hpvfWDrzb4pNNtBMrcT8rGccal7W-ezLj5xcWNTEkWXjnGX91_fWrXcr9M8v0mH_MarffmKCOlwag0Mp9npymuEbmabToc-5yjiKvKRmA?key=Gs_roawT9tnrA5MJOblb4w" alt=""/></figure>



The US will soon be spending more on data centers than it does on office buildings.



Back to school:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXckLcJse5hiHG9h2SsdUvgSOKNCqRayUXKajDvakK3FtspTPS4exITjRwCcl2VqTrVqhifnRFuEA5Pu2C9Kzr2Z4tZqX3qxCQgb6Hps9Dfx2hJ6pd6y0GvSfbD06iCghoSwWKY4iw?key=Gs_roawT9tnrA5MJOblb4w" alt=""/></figure>



<a href="https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2025/08/the-human-toll-of-artificial-intelligence/">Ben Carlson</a> notes that a steep drop in OpenAI usage coincided with the end of the school year. Investors will have to hope that AI finds a better use case than students outsourcing their homework.



The US is exporting government debt and AI investments:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc_B80UyE5BFWpNQG7B45L5JLvSbswLfAqpVXo572gtvKRrnq6VQGeYHBuH80ZswkzVWIVmHZEanxDpvTluEptIPyvWAZv8-ub5EqyufpPXWu_Ft1Q3uZFWnQtVfxckf6NkRIpxTA?key=Gs_roawT9tnrA5MJOblb4w" alt=""/></figure>



Brad Setser <a href="https://x.com/TheTranscript_/status/1958665424926908793">explains</a> that the AI bubble is funding the US’s current account deficit. The blue area above is thought to be mostly investment flows into US equities. The green area is mostly government debt.



Generation degen:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfneb0L_4F-MCgmS-cuKvizPgcCbedzmRvgXCxzaq_WdVkVoNEM8kWD1MYOSN_zjTQZaOkpSjAl64dYoawASJMAd30JFouxHq6GjyT-NdxWOqFU7wItdxxcZD86nJM73-PR4EtO?key=Gs_roawT9tnrA5MJOblb4w" alt=""/></figure>



This fun chart from BofA (via @MikeZaccardi) suggests millennials are driving the surge in trading volumes on US stock exchanges.



Someone is buying all the debt, too:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdQ167816WkD_62ZgKXjGPUXRSqJbDLOAEcvtVE_tZmec4idAgdpz4NIQSHWsD62DTwD1nOTz62q0XdqckGQk8r_tcQ0P1BITUNMjjm8kvJMqGTK-DYuEaqliSQ0RbI-nCFbb6IFw?key=Gs_roawT9tnrA5MJOblb4w" alt=""/></figure>



Despite all the hand-wringing over unsustainable government deficits, investors are pouring more money into bond funds than ever before.



The market is ignoring the indicators:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdlSgvapTTOitDNOmnDu1QDPm_kyyXarTeSIA5MLm0jQk2qK0Xh7yCl_8Uuo9TpuyySd6yqwoNCxtw5IMGbR-CtZjMeYCQj6WFMAxB-KLrpjCm7K5y-yJT-IrfGaMhxowmHbg1yHw?key=Gs_roawT9tnrA5MJOblb4w" alt=""/></figure>



The Conference Board’s Index of Leading Economic Indicators (in blue) has turned sharply lower. But stocks (in red) have continued to go higher.



The long view:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeh8Mhat59fzKS3leZkrnleRLsdozphl45yFfVIxj4oKkPDCi2Ux2mEHUWaRiLWVSyPzkROOfDwqu2Yozwz2EwEULO5AtcYeq8ypLOenwhyHz9CUxj-A9Pjxq2vhRcE6vPrizPo?key=Gs_roawT9tnrA5MJOblb4w" alt=""/></figure>



It’s always tempting to try to time the next investing bubble, but here’s a reminder of the opportunity cost: Adjusted for inflation, the S&amp;P 500 is up 5,462% over the past five decades.



Past performance is no guarantee of future performance, of course, and the AI investment bubble may well be due to pop. But Alan Turing might advise you to let yourself be surprised.



Have a great weekend, naturally intelligent readers.



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Friday charts: Bubbles then, and now

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There will soon be a lot more avenues to get crypto exposure.&nbsp;



Like, a lot.&nbsp;



That’s good for choice, sure — even if those options will be consolidated down the line once we get a better sense of where the space is headed. I wrote earlier this week about the demand for crypto equities (and how some <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/evaluating-crypto-stocks-ipos-on-deck">are evaluating those</a>) as more such stocks (like <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/circle-shares-nyse-day-one">Circle</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bullish-closes-89-ipo-nyse">Bullish</a>) hit major exchanges.&nbsp;&nbsp;



This IPO chapter is set to collide with regulatory clarity around more crypto ETFs, setting up an all-around boom in how people can access the segment within their brokerage accounts.&nbsp;



I imagine not all these ETFs (i.e. those looking to hold SOL, XRP, DOGE and even TRUMP) will see a whole lot of demand, particularly not right away. So for fund issuers, these next months and years will be about experimentation.&nbsp;



21Shares filed for three more ETFs yesterday. One would offer broad crypto exposure via tokens themselves, ETFs, derivatives and equities. Two others offer leveraged exposure to dogecoin and SUI via derivatives.



<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">Looks like this 21Shares ETF would invest in crypto ETPs, futures, equities. Active management &quot;lets us move beyond simple exposure and deliver strategies that adapt in real time to a rapidly evolving market.&quot; &#8211;<a href="https://twitter.com/Fede_Brokate?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Fede_Brokate</a>, head of US business (and ex-BlackRock exec). <a href="https://t.co/rCSIEgebFG">pic.twitter.com/rCSIEgebFG</a>&mdash; Ben Strack 🟪 (@strack_ben) <a href="https://twitter.com/strack_ben/status/1958525507655335937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



“With both active and leveraged ETFs, we’re moving past replication into the next chapter of crypto investing — research-driven, forward-looking and built to give investors new ways to capture long-term growth across the digital asset ecosystem,” 21Shares’ Federico Brokate said in a statement.



Brokate previously worked at BlackRock as an iShares business strategy director — helping the world’s largest asset manager get its bitcoin ETF, IBIT, off the ground. He shifted to lead 21Shares’ US business in mid-2024.



I <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/21shares-us-crypto-etf-adoption-outlook">chatted</a> with Brokate a few months before Trump’s election win. Among his points was how a solana ETF would “sit really nicely” in a portfolio alongside BTC and ETH funds.&nbsp;



Fast forward a year and the SEC again, just last week, delayed its decision on 21Shares’ proposed SOL product (and other similar proposals). Signs point to solana funds and <a href="https://x.com/NateGeraci/status/1957993497912332734">single-asset ETFs</a> holding other crypto assets gaining approval once the SEC greenlights a set of so-called “generic listing standards.” Perhaps October.&nbsp;



Crypto investment product AUM hit an all-time high of $244 billion on Aug. 13, according to CoinShares. Here’s a look at this year’s impressive flows (before this week, during which capital has leaked from BTC and ETH products): <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd7qxBRxxMh4TYTg5uvIjm2tZYYkN28aQluSNOZKqgc1LMsnD9tZ_BOVRN9RCfFUfPnswABaimwOz_9IDXXfZquD7XMEVcq9n7USt1JIUyWI-jZBXP7Es25xuLxBpFaBNpxsoziSg?key=_vmt4Y3LYDVg_0FeFnbkkg" width="624" height="469">



Another point Brokate made last August? Advisers in the US are likely going to one day be the biggest buyer of crypto ETFs. Those financial pros don’t want to have to pick winners and losers.&nbsp;



As Hashdex CIO Samir Kerbage told me: “When multiple assets become investable, crypto index investing will be the natural path forward — offering diversification, risk mitigation and a simpler way for advisers and investors to gain exposure to the crypto economy.”



Hashdex has sought to expand the investment universe for its crypto index fund that currently just holds BTC and ETH. Crypto index funds by Grayscale and Bitwise <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-greenlights-grayscale-crypto-fund-etf">gained SEC approval</a> — but the agency issued stay orders to prevent them from listing for now.



You might recall Bitwise’s Ryan Rasmussen <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/evaluating-crypto-stocks-ipos-on-deck">telling me</a> earlier this week that index funds will be all the rage on the crypto stock side too as more segment firms go public.



Investors just want easy and ample access to a market poised to benefit from more institutional adoption and (buzz phrase incoming) regulatory tailwinds. From an index of 10 crypto tokens to dogecoin leverage, there will be plenty to choose from.&nbsp;



With how nascent this industry is, issuers might as well try to bring to market as many tools as possible. They can always cull their lineups later on once we see how the industry evolves.



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Issuers keep filing ahead of expected crypto ETF launch frenzy

A proposal to pre-mint 60 million crvUSD to bootstrap Curve’s new Yield Basis AMM is sparking debate across the <a href="https://gov.curve.finance/t/pre-mint-crvusd-allocation-to-yield-basis/10774">governance forum</a> and social media, raising deeper questions about the DAO’s authority, risk management, and how to safely scale the protocol’s stablecoin footprint.



Yield Basis, led by Curve founder <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/michael-egorov">Michael Egorov</a>, is a new Curve-native AMM that uses constant leverage to eliminate impermanent loss in Bitcoin pools. To launch its first three pools — wBTC, cbBTC and tBTC — Yield Basis is asking for a 60 million crvUSD allocation, which it says would be borrowed and paired with BTC to create LP positions on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/curve">Curve</a> without selling the stablecoin into the market.



CrvUSD currently has a market cap of about $127 million, placing it around the 25th-largest stablecoin. Among decentralized stablecoins, however, it’s the third-largest behind <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/usds">USDS</a>/DAI and <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/gho">GHO</a>.



Proponents argue the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/michael-egorov-yield-basis-protocol">Yield Basis</a> design solves a key bottleneck for scaling <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/crvusd">crvUSD</a>: demand-side absorption.&nbsp;



“In a way, the pre‑mint is just a borrowing cap,” community member Llamaste <a href="https://gov.curve.finance/t/pre-mint-crvusd-allocation-to-yield-basis/10774/5">wrote</a>, since crvUSD is paired with BTC inside Curve pools rather than sold. Other backers compare the mechanism to Curve’s existing <a href="https://docs.curve.finance/crvUSD/pegkeepers/PegKeeperV2/">PegKeepers</a>, which also hold pre-allocated crvUSD that doesn’t count toward circulating supply.&nbsp;



But some are more skeptical.



TokenBrice, a builder of the DeFi transparency tool <a href="https://www.defiscan.info/">DeFiScan</a>, <a href="https://x.com/TokenBrice/status/1958071708776104004">called it</a> “a proposal suggesting to mint out-of-thin-air, unbacked, 60M crvUSD,” adding that this kind of “upgradability risk” contributed to Curve’s “Stage 0” rating in DeFiScan’s decentralization framework. That designation reflects Curve’s powerful DAO permissions, including the ability to arbitrarily mint crvUSD or assign control of key contracts.



Curve contributor Saint Rat, who helped draft Curve’s DeFiScan profile, defended the DAO’s structure but acknowledged the optics.&nbsp;



“The Curve DAO could choose to mint $1 trillion crvUSD… but that would kill the DAO,” they <a href="https://x.com/saint_rat/status/1958416971223245111">wrote</a>. Still, perception matters.



One way to contain the risk: structure the ask more explicitly as a credit line. Multiple governance commenters, including benoxmo, krypthye, and Saint Rat, have called for a capped, on-demand facility that only mints crvUSD when needed, with explicit per-pool limits and a kill-switch controlled by DAO governance.



Risk mitigation remains a core concern. The June 2025 <a href="https://www.halborn.com/blog/post/explained-the-resupply-hack-june-2025">Resupply exploit</a>, which led to nearly $10 million in losses due to a “donation attack” on a crvUSD-adjacent vault, was cited by several participants.&nbsp;



“[Resupply] was audited, yet a vulnerability was missed,” Saint Rat <a href="https://gov.curve.finance/t/pre-mint-crvusd-allocation-to-yield-basis/10774/6">warned</a>, asking what backstops would exist if Yield Basis is exploited while holding an active crvUSD balance.



In response, Yield Basis contributor ybllama <a href="https://gov.curve.finance/t/pre-mint-crvusd-allocation-to-yield-basis/10774/9">said</a> the system has undergone six audits and is currently running a <a href="https://audits.sherlock.xyz/contests/1102">Sherlock contest</a>. They reiterated that crvUSD is only minted when BTC is deposited, and that caps would be enforced at launch.



Still, the proposal as written does not include a first-loss insurance vault or an explicit risk fee paid to the DAO for underwriting systemic exposure. Several in the thread are now urging those additions, alongside telemetry dashboards and staged rollout — for instance, starting with WBTC only.



Yield Basis is being launched as a separate protocol with its own token (YB), which also raises some hackles, given that crvUSD bears the systemic exposure. Supporters counter that Curve will receive a portion of YB emissions to use for vote incentives in crvUSD/USDC and crvUSD/USDT pools, which should reinforce liquidity and fee generation for veCRV holders.



Yield Basis may offer a novel way to scale crvUSD, but several commenters argued that if Curve bears so much risk, the governance structure must evolve to reflect that.&nbsp;With veCRV <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/curve-governance-votes-on-6m-team-funding-proposal">voting power</a> already fragmented across liquid lockers and participation trending low on high-stakes votes, the outcome may hinge on whether the proposal is revised to include stricter constraints and safety levers.



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Curve debates 60M crvUSD pre-mint for Yield Basis amid governance pushback

This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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Ethereum researchers <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/08/22/protocol-update-002">published</a> a new protocol update today, outlining a multi-pronged strategy to expand blob throughput for layer-2 scalability while maintaining decentralization and censorship resistance.



Following on <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/08/05/protocol-update-001">from</a> Protocol Update 001, this update details how PeerDAS, the centerpiece design for the upcoming Fusaka upgrade, will permit nodes to sample rather than fully download blob data. This enables up to eight times higher throughput without significantly increasing hardware requirements.



Between major upgrades, “Blob Parameter Only” (BPO) forks will incrementally raise blob limits, while bandwidth optimizations like cell-level messaging <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/06/03/checkpoint-3">reduce</a> redundant data transfers.



According to AllCoreDevs discussions, Fusaka is targeting an early November mainnet launch, just <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/03/05/devconnect-2025">ahead</a> of Devconnect Buenos Aires. PeerDAS (EIP-7594) has been confirmed as Fusaka’s headliner, and a BPO mechanism (EIP-7892) has been scheduled for inclusion.



Fusaka testing is already underway on devnets, with client teams preparing for public testnet deployments through September and October before mainnet activation. 



Meanwhile, developers are <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/07/29/checkpoint-5">preparing</a> Glamsterdam, the subsequent network upgrade expected around mid-2026, which will further extend PeerDAS with advanced networking and pipelining techniques.



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Ethereum protocol update details plan to boost transaction capacity with blobs

This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/powell20250822a.htm">keynote</a> at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium delivered a cautiously optimistic signal that seems to have renewed momentum across crypto markets.&nbsp;



Bitcoin <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">rebounded</a> to trade near $115,800, up around 2% in the last 24 hours, responding to Powell’s implicit dovish lean on monetary policy. ETH and other major tokens are also showing strength, reflecting renewed investor interest heading into what could be a pivotal September Federal Reserve meeting.



Markets had pulled back in the days leading up to the speech, with BTC dipping below $112,000 and ETH <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth">sliding</a> over 4%. Traders positioned defensively amid uncertainty, but Powell’s measured tone, emphasizing flexibility and data reliance, appears to have reassured markets enough to trigger a modest relief rally. Price action suggests crypto remains highly sensitive to shifts in central bank policy expectations.



Interest rate easing typically increases liquidity and investor risk appetite, which could further boost capital flows into DeFi platforms, stablecoin infrastructure and tokenized financial instruments. Institutions and retail alike may view this environment as more conducive to launching and scaling in Web3.



However, market watchers caution that Powell’s approach was more observant and data-driven rather than decisively dovish, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/view-feds-powell-opens-door-september-easing-2025-08-22">suggesting</a> any further rallies could hinge on forthcoming economic data and Fed communication.

Powell’s Jackson Hole speech sparks renewed momentum amid rate‑cut hopes

<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Investing is about beliefs in the future, and what to do when they’re wrong.”&nbsp; — Rohit Krishnan
</blockquote>



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<a href="https://dba.xyz/fundamentals-vs-flows/">Fundamentals vs. flows</a>



The crypto investor Jon Charbonneau explains that crypto investing is just investing.



Whatever the asset class, he argues, there are only two basic ways to approach investing: forecasting fundamentals or predicting flows.



Fundamental investors form beliefs about future cash flows: “The whole point of fundamental investing is that you don’t need other people to agree with you” (aka the Warren Buffett way).



Flow investors form beliefs about future trading flows: “You’re just hoping someone else will buy it from you at an even higher multiple” (aka the greater fool theory).



These are familiar concepts, but it’s helpful to see them framed so thoughtfully in the context of crypto.



Either approach can work, Charbonneau says, but things get muddled if you don’t know which one you’re taking.



For example, is ETH a fundamental investment or a flows one?&nbsp;



It seems to be a little of both, which makes the investment case more complex: “It requires taking more leaps of faith around human behavior and market psychology.” That sounds difficult.&nbsp;



The simplicity of Bitcoin’s flows-based investment thesis, by contrast, has been so successful that it “can straddle the line of ‘fundamental investing’ and ‘greater fool investing’ depending on how you quantify monetary utility.”



I personally think “monetary utility” is mostly fake news, but I also think bitcoin has probably hit escape velocity and can now be considered a fundamental investment, like gold.&nbsp;



Crypto investing more generally may be at a similar inflection point.&nbsp;



“Historically, it has paid off to be primarily flows-driven as a crypto investor,” Charbonneau notes. “Looking forward though, I believe that focusing more on fundamentals&#8230;could finally produce more alpha as the industry matures.”



That would be good news because, as Charbonneau adds, “narrative trading” is a zero-sum game (I’d call it negative sum), while “allocating capital to projects capable of generating cashflows can be a positive-sum game.”&nbsp;



Charbonneau highlights digital asset treasury companies as flows-based investments, so it’s perhaps ironic that they’re catching on with TradFi investors at the same time that fundamentals are catching on in crypto.



“Crypto investing is becoming relatively more fundamentals-driven,” he says, while “TradFi investing is becoming relatively more flows-driven.”



“Someday they’ll converge, and we’ll just be talking about investing.”



Let’s hope they meet somewhere on the fundamentals side of center.



<a href="https://ritholtz.com/2024/02/transcript-david-einhorn/">Rethinking the value game</a>



To Charbonneau’s take on fundamental investing, I would add that people who think they are investing on fundamentals are often investing on flows.&nbsp;



Last year, David Einhorn declared that &#8220;markets are fundamentally broken,&#8221; because his standard playbook of buying a stock at, say, 10x earnings and then selling it at 15x earnings was no longer working.



&#8220;The competitors have effectively left the field,&#8221; he explained.



That sounds like good news — it’s always good to have less competition, right? But fewer competitors gave Einhorn fewer opportunities to play his preferred game of &#8220;anticipating the anticipations of others.&#8221;&nbsp;



So he was forced to find a new game: “We can’t count on other long-only investors to buy our things after us,” he <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-02-09/uk-house-prices-perk-up-but-stresses-remain">explained</a>. “We’re going to have to get paid by the company.”



Charbonneau and Buffett would approve.



<a href="https://youtu.be/n02QEe2AHnY?si=GpAeUlAvcGPWZKXn&amp;t=355">The revenue meta</a>



Luca Netz is also hopeful that crypto investing will become more fundamentals-driven: “The days of no revenue being worth billions of dollars has to be over,” he told Laura Shin. “I think this is going to be the era of result-driven success and less speculative success.”



This, he says, will help crypto build “disruptive technologies that change the world&#8221; and not just “pseudo-disruptive technologies that you tell a story around.”



Let’s hope so.



Note: Netz runs a cartoon-penguin business based on an NFT collection and an affiliated memecoin.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/analytics/treasury-companies/bitcoin-treasury-companies">Chanos is winning</a>



MSTR is down 21% over the past month, vs. bitcoin down just 2.5%.



That has taken MSTR’s all-important “mNAV” metric to just 1.34x (i.e., the stock is worth 34% more than the bitcoin it holds).



The falling mNAV represents a profit for short-seller Jim Chanos and a problem for Michael Saylor.



Saylor has said that Chanos doesn’t understand Strategy’s business model, but his <a href="https://x.com/saylor/status/1957413273122287738">decision</a> to continue selling stock at current levels seems like a tacit admission that the investment case for MSTR remains circularly dependent on the premium investors are willing to pay for it.



I’m not sure how investors should think about this.



The Ethereum DAT BTCS, for example, now trades at 0.65x NAV — does that make it a better or worse investment than, say, the Ethereum DAT BMNR at 1.35x NAV?



You usually want to pay as little for a stock as possible, but if the value of that stock is a function of people paying more for it, maybe you want to pay more?



I really don’t know. But falling multiples are certainly not good for existing shareholders.



Metaplanet (the Japanese version of Strategy) now trades on <a href="https://metaplanet.jp/en/analytics">1.95x NAV</a>, down from 8x just two months ago.



What’s the math on breaking even if you bought the stock at 8x NAV and you’re getting diluted by new sales at 1.95x?



Flows-based investing is hard.



<a href="https://reducibleerrors.com/prediction-markets/">The case against prediction markets</a>



Trader-philosopher <a href="https://x.com/AgustinLebron3">Agustin Lebron</a> says prediction markets are 1) bad at being markets and 2) bad for society.



They fail as markets, he explains, because every participant is trying to do the same thing: to make money trading.



This is different from financial markets, which work because “different participants have different risk preferences.”&nbsp;



Differing preferences means that both sides of a trade can benefit — like an airline buying a futures contract from an oil company, for example.



In prediction markets, where the buyer and seller have the same motivation, trades are zero-sum (just like the flows-based investing).



Supporters of prediction markets say they provide a service by giving people better information.&nbsp;



But Lebron (who, no, does not play for the Lakers) argues that “most or all of the supposed value of [prediction markets] for hedging evaporates under closer inspection.”



In short, he argues there’s no risk that can be effectively hedged by betting on something like a presidential election.



And since there’s no benefit from hedging, “prediction markets only work when there is a steady supply of dumb money.”



Casinos, sports betting and memecoins have proved there is a steady supply of dumb money, so I’d note that prediction markets might well be a successful market.&nbsp;



Lebron hopes they don’t, though, because “the very existence of the prediction market influences and hence distorts the underlying event that&#8217;s being predicted.”



He cites the example of someone who claims to have bet on Zoran Mamdani to win the New York City mayoral race and then funded Mamdani’s campaign to win the bet.&nbsp;



I’m not sure how likely or repeatable that is, but it illustrates the feedback loops that might amplify the kind of chaotic events that people like to bet on.



As a result, Lebron warns that, if prediction markets get big enough, “they might just kill our society.”



Let’s hope everyone does some fundamental investing instead.



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Thursday links: Investing, revenue meta, DATs, prediction markets

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Did Shopify dropping Ye push him to promote his own crypto payments processor — and memecoin?



The rapper formerly known as Kanye West’s X account, which has been frequently purged after bizarre bouts of antisemitic and incoherent tweets <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/article/unpacking-kanye-wests-antisemitic-remarks">for years</a>, is now promoting “YZY Money.”&nbsp;



Earlier this year, Shopify stopped powering payments for Ye’s Yeezy apparel website after the rapper began selling swastika t-shirts, resulting in the website’s temporary disappearance.&nbsp;



A Shopify spokesperson <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2025-02-11/ye-kanye-west-swastika-shirt-yeezy-demonetized-shopify">said</a> at the time back in February that the Yeezy site “did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms.”



Shopify’s legal counsel ultimately <a href="https://thelogic.co/news/shopify-takes-down-kanye-west-nazi-tshirt-store/">clarified</a> that the Yeezy Shopify site was taken down due to a risk of fraud to consumers, not because of the Nazi swastika itself.&nbsp;



Details of an internal Slack memo from Shopify legal counsel described the t-shirt as a “vile, disgusting, and inexcusable” stunt. They also said it “was not a good faith attempt to make money” and “brought with it the real risk of fraud.” 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1208" height="1461" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-106456" style="width:460px;height:auto" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=1208 1208w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=248 248w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=847 847w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=212 212w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=216 216w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=181 181w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/image-3.png?w=66 66w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1208px) 100vw, 1208px" /></figure>



Now there’s a YZY memecoin, Ye Pay, and the YZY Card.&nbsp;



Let’s all take a moment and ask ourselves: What could go wrong?



The memecoin is live and a contract address is visible on the Yeezy website and the rapper’s X account.&nbsp;



But RugCheck’s <a href="https://rugcheck.xyz/tokens/DrZ26cKJDksVRWib3DVVsjo9eeXccc7hKhDJviiYEEZY">analysis</a> of the token cautions: DANGER.



“The contract creator can make changes to the token contract such as contract metadata, disabling sells, changing fees, unrestrictive minting of more tokens, transferring tokens etc.,” a <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/yzy">warning</a> from RugCheck that appears on CoinGecko reads.



The YZY Money website <a href="https://money.yeezy.com/">claims</a> the whole point here is to “put you in control, free from centralized authority.”



But of course, if you buy in, it’s helping Ye free you of some of your cash.



Here’s a look at the “YZYNOMICS” of this token:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXd4ZzMdPLKlnDQOYcSmb_Jrei4o70d8toUSEo-KwgrFZWqswpQXMr_thukdECZ29QTCPMtskxjNIryS3maeuldAIGeEE3ewQ56Frk5omNo5RklnhkqIZcR1W9lecnu4lPPss72s9g?key=1ULqmJqXnQH-tthM7R4w4Q" alt=""/></figure>



The YZY Money website suggests Ye Pay is a “payments processor” that will be available to other online merchants.&nbsp;



The non-custodial Yzy Card is not currently available, but a waitlist has seemingly been opened for it. It’s envisioned as a way to spend YZY and Solana-based USDC.



The Yeezy site currently accepts credit card and debit card payments, as well as USDC on Solana. It promises that payments in the YZY token are “coming soon.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXecqOzJiUFVezYLRxwd37g6nTFIzmdGz4HmqNlLI8MYtWaQYbJP_FZb5SgCTzbJRr1WvptsppQTlJNmGE5QFap4syOzjwKNY3Pzxz0lFXqNKJ3nbLBd5AomUl-4_nH9IMahY7jMKQ?key=1ULqmJqXnQH-tthM7R4w4Q" alt=""/></figure>



Symbolically, all of this is the last thing crypto needs. Crypto does not need more <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/arts/music/ye-takes-back-apology.html">Nazis</a>,<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/arts/music/ye-takes-back-apology.html"> </a>self-described <a href="https://prasad.dyson.cornell.edu/doc/USATd.12Jan24.pdf">or otherwise</a>.&nbsp;



Do we really want figures like Ye being the spokespeople of our industry? Do we want this to be the thing your Average Joe thinks about when he thinks about crypto?



Crypto still has a bad PR problem — and moves like this will only make that worse.



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



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
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Kanye West’s YZY memecoin is the last thing crypto needs

Felix Jauvin

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



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As we reach the end of August, all eyes are once again on the Grand Tetons.&nbsp;



Not because of its striking views, but because the annual Woodstock of central banking is about to go down.&nbsp;



Tomorrow morning, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will deliver his keynote speech. Historically, these speeches have served as key inflection points for the Federal Reserve’s thinking on monetary policy from a high level. More importantly, it’s an opportunity for Powell to speak for himself and not on behalf of the whole FOMC committee.



There are two key catalysts to consider as we await tomorrow&#8217;s speech.&nbsp;



The first: any indication about whether a rate cut will come in September.&nbsp;



Right now, CME futures project a 71% odds of a cut, down from 92% odds last week: 



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdxi8FHpRLLE0Ds3c6oBluGhKF7Rj6c57hFUDN2RsI3bHGduMaRqvJK9owVNicqYccB_UCn3tE4c56dmvt_2MEaCwNANYvqkPGwxchlRA5jr0LwFH-FLn3G9vCmhzMk_QrYHIEp?key=Nxka_Imr3e70r4FrpKLjbA" alt="" style="width:692px;height:auto"/></figure>



The crux of this consideration is a very weak jobs report last month, combined with inflation that seems to keep surprising to the upside and shows no signs of returning to the Fed’s 2% target.&nbsp;



Andy Constan <a href="https://x.com/dampedspring/status/1958145296195579914">tweeted out</a> a helpful framework of how to think about the probabilities of what could happen here:



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdFsxHS3n3ZWRCOoDBtJe7GRElR0a1UVi-bp9aRcEV4ImAmbPLQUuMDCWt9mmOhBqS3EP3X9mB5OS6BMlvfzi1tUZlGfYE9Vl_TQeBmEU__nJWoLdVfJsHma79vBOCf1n1Kv53rLg?key=Nxka_Imr3e70r4FrpKLjbA" alt="" style="width:615px;height:auto"/></figure>



The second potential catalyst: The Fed will publish the results of its five-year monetary policy framework review.&nbsp;



In its last review in 2019, the FOMC introduced its flexible average interest targeting (FAIT), which targeted an average of 2% of inflation over the long term. With inflation running above its 2% target for nearly five years now, this framework is expected to be retired and a return toward a hardline target of 2% is anticipated.&nbsp;



Underlying this shift are implications around what the Fed perceives to be the neutral rate.&nbsp;



Right now, the Fed sees the current federal funds rate as slightly above neutral. This opens the possibility of Fed cuts without an easing stance. If the Fed were to move its neutral rate higher, such a move could indirectly imply that it no longer thinks the cuts are restrictive and thus dampen expectations of imminent reductions.



Personally, I believe the FOMC meeting minutes from July lay the groundwork for a hawkish surprise tomorrow.&nbsp;



The minutes were outright hawkish and hinted at a committee that is not inclined to cut at all: 



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdQ_p01JGnqvfSZriRG3RTUhYb90af9JwOMQIic-Ufq35sV6J7MjeVGSun6f363lQQFY8d7LvzF_qY-GSxprB8RZOSLMVyHi92vzTbtW711F3SHuQLKLHeJjEj4ebFtU-FxO5miXg?key=Nxka_Imr3e70r4FrpKLjbA" alt=""/></figure>



That said, these minutes were written before the weak jobs report that sparked expectations of rate cuts in September, so they could be seen as stale. I disagree with that notion.&nbsp;



These minutes can be tweaked up until right before they are released and every FOMC member needs to sign off and approve them —&nbsp;including non-voting presidents and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/powell-resolute-amid-rate-dissents">the dissenters</a> from the last meeting.&nbsp;



I believe that despite the weak jobs report from last month, the inflation story is still so volatile that Fed officials were keen to still showcase these hawkish minutes. Knowing that these were going to be the last breadcrumbs of monetary policy stance before Powell’s Jackson Hole speech, I believe they hint at a committee that is much less committed to a September rate cut compared to what markets currently believe.



Let’s see how much of that ends up being correct tomorrow or whether I’ll be eating crow.



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Could FOMC minutes be hinting at a hawkish Jackson Hole speech?

DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, has taken a notable step onchain by moving its structured-note tokenization efforts onto <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ethereum">Ethereum</a> mainnet.&nbsp;



The bank announced Thursday that it will issue crypto-linked structured notes as $1,000-denominated tokens, distributed through three digital investment platforms: ADDX, DigiFT, and HydraX.



This is DBS’s first use of Ethereum’s public blockchain for token issuance, expanding beyond earlier experiments on permissioned networks. The bank framed the launch as part of a larger strategy to “scale this ecosystem by fostering responsible innovation” and meet demand for more flexible portfolio tools, according to Li Zhen, Head of Foreign Exchange and Digital Assets, Global Financial Markets at DBS.



Unlike traditional structured notes, which typically require a $100,000 minimum investment and are tailored individually, tokenization breaks instruments into smaller, fungible units. DBS said this “bite-sized” format should make structured notes more liquid and accessible to accredited and institutional investors.



Still, the extent of that liquidity is bounded. Compared to crypto-native structured products — such as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/boros-pendle-tokenizes-funding-rates">yield instruments from Pendle</a> — DBS’s notes will not circulate freely across Ethereum’s open ecosystem.



Kelvin Tan, who heads tokenization at DBS’ global financial markets group, said the aim is to help investors “manage their portfolios across platforms with greater precision and agility.”



“Tokenising a structured note on the Ethereum public blockchain provides eligible accredited and institutional investors with greater flexibility to transfer and trade individual ‘bite-sized’ tokens between whitelisted wallets across different platforms, compared to an entire structured note,” Tan told Blockworks.&nbsp;



That design reflects how banks are approaching Ethereum: as settlement rails and programmable infrastructure rather than an open market. Tan acknowledged the bank will not deposit tokens in decentralized liquidity pools, a contrast with DeFi tokens, which often circulate unrestricted.



DBS also sees Ethereum as a foundation for future features.&nbsp;



According to Tan, “the Ethereum public blockchain gives DBS the flexibility to explore future on-chain use cases for the bank&#8217;s tokenised structured notes. This could include atomic settlement of token issuances with stablecoins, as well as wrapping tokens for re-distribution across other blockchains.”



For now, distribution remains confined to accredited and institutional investors via DBS’s selected partner platforms. That ensures compliance with KYC and AML requirements, but it also highlights the difference between bank-issued and DeFi-native instruments. Standards such as ERC-1400 and ERC-3643 exist to allow issuers to embed compliance into token behavior. However, DBS has not disclosed whether it’s using one of these established frameworks, or a custom, proprietary contract.



But the bank did say the demand for such instruments is rising.&nbsp;



In the first half of 2025, its clients traded more than $1 billion of crypto options and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-tradfi-degen-products">structured notes</a>, with volumes up nearly 60% quarter-on-quarter. The tokenized offering extends access to accredited and institutional investors who are not already DBS clients.



The bank’s first issuance is a cash-settled crypto-linked participation note, designed to deliver payouts when cryptocurrency prices rise while capping potential downside. Beyond that, DBS plans to tokenize equity-linked and credit-linked notes.



Singapore’s financial sector has been at the forefront of tokenization efforts under the country’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/project-guardian">Project Guardian</a> initiative. While open finance broadly thrives on open liquidity and permissionless composability, DBS’s experiment on Ethereum highlights both the promise and the limits of tokenization when banks come onchain.



Updated 8/21/2025 at 4:00 p.m. ET to clarify that DBS&#8217; tokenization is not part of Singapore&#8217;s Project Guardian.



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DBS taps Ethereum for tokenized structured notes, but trading stays fenced

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Speakers

Joseph Lubin is a co-founder of Ethereum, the founder and CEO of <a href="https://consensys.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Consensys</a> and Chairman of SharpLink. Since 2014, Consensys has played a foundational role in Ethereum’s growth, from pioneering products like MetaMask and Infura to shaping protocol development and staking infrastructure.



Born and raised in Toronto, Lubin graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He worked in the Princeton Robotics Lab, at tomandandy music developing an autonomous music composition tool, and at private research firm Vision Applications Inc. building autonomous mobile robots.



As a software and AI consultant, Lubin worked with eMagine on the Identrus project and was involved in the founding and operation of a hedge fund with a partner. He held positions as Director of the New York office of Blacksmith Software Consulting, and VP of Technology in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs. Through these posts, Joe focused on the intersection of cryptography, engineering, and finance.



In 2014 he met Vitalik Buterin, a Canadian programmer, writer and Founder of Ethereum and joined the Ethereum Project as a co-founder. After the Project was launched, Joe established Consensys. Since 2014 Joe and the Consensys team have been working on the foundational software for web3, the next wave of the internet for a decentralized future.

Joseph Lubin

Chris is a passionate advocate for the potential of technology and the benefits of diversity and inclusion. His core policy focus is on digital technology for the public good with a particular interest in technologies such as AI and blockchain.



In Parliament, he specializes in legislation that deals with technology. He is a member of the House of Lord’s Digital and Communications Select Committee and was appointed to the Special Bill Committee considering Digital Asset legislation. He introduced a private members’ bill that proposed the regulation of artificial intelligence and was integral to the passing of the ground-breaking Electronic Trade Documents Bill.



On technology, he has previously co-authored House of Lords Select Committee Reports on: Democracy and Digital Technologies [2020], Artificial Intelligence [2018], and Digital Skills [2015] and under his own auspices published an influential report encouraging government testing of blockchain solutions for policy delivery, DLT for Public Good: leadership, collaboration and innovation [2017] He is also adviser to several tech and fintech companies.



On inclusion, and again under his own auspices, he has published influential reports on accessibility in the public realm and support for disabled students as well as Lords reports on Financial Exclusion [2017], Social Mobility [2016] and, for the Cabinet Office, The Lord Holmes Review on opening up public appointments to disabled people. He continues to advise the government on diversity and inclusion.



An ex-Paralympic swimmer, Chris won nine gold, five silvers and one bronze medal across four Games, including a record haul of six golds at Barcelona 1992.

Lord Holmes of Richmond MBE

Robbie Mitchnick serves as the Head of Digital Assets for BlackRock. He is a member of the Corp Exec-COO Executive team. Robbie is responsible for driving BlackRock's digital assets strategy, including working with internal business units to develop and execute on strategic initiatives around digital assets.



Prior to joining BlackRock, Robbie spent time at CPP Investment Board in Public Markets and Private Investments, and at Ripple. During his time at Ripple, Robbie co-authored 'A Fundamental Valuation Framework for Cryptoassets' along with John Bates Clark medal winner Susan Athey.



Robbie has BA &amp; BCOM degrees from Queen's University and an MBA from Stanford, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar and the Robichek Award winner in Finance. He holds a Blockchain Technologies Certification from MIT Sloan and is a CFA Charterholder.

Robbie Mitchnick

Daniel is the Chairman, Founder and largest shareholder in CoinShares International Limited, Europe’s largest digital asset manager with $6 Billion USD under management. He serves on the Board of the Tezos Foundation, StableMint, GTSA, Satohshi pay, and a number of CoinShares' affiliates. Since engaging initially in 2012 in crypto he has made numerous investments across the infrastructure powering crypto from data to blockchains to wallets, defi, mining, custody and crypto banks. He was formerly the global head of energy trading at JP Morgan and ran two successful commodity hedge funds. He holds three degrees: Physics, Management Science, and Applied Statistics.

Danny Masters

Ray Hindi is the co-founded L1D and currently acts as the CEO/CIO. Ray has an investment background in venture, hedge funds and interest rate trading. Ray holds a BEng from UCL and an MSc in Finance from Imperial College. He previously acted as the CIO of Bellegarde Capital AG an independent investment group with activities focused in fintech, blockchain and other alternative investments. Also previously at Swiss Capital (StepStone Group) responsible for the firm’s macro outlook, macro hedge funds and event driven coverage. From 2005 to 2011 Ray was part of Harcourt Investment Consulting AG, a USD 6 bn fund of hedge funds firm in Zurich, and responsible for USD 2 bn of investments (rates, macro and distressed). He started his career at Bloomberg LP in London and subsequently left the firm to trade interest rates for a London based proprietary group. Ray holds a BEng from University College London (UCL) and an MSc in Finance from Imperial College.

Ray Hindi

Mike Higgins is an early Partner and acting, International CEO and Global Head of Corporate Development at Hidden Road. An experienced Director with two decades of active engagement within financial markets, Mike possesses expertise in market structure across the full spectrum of Global Financial Markets, including Digital Assets, FICC and Synthetic Swaps. A strong emphasis on electronic trading technologies, methodologies and workflows. His specific skills in E-Commerce, APIs, GUI, price generation algorithms, risk management and hedging strategies to a diverse group of market participants prove invaluable as Hidden Road network continues to expand. Prior to joining Hidden Road, Mike successfully built, managed and commercialised a number of businesses within financial markets which included solutions in technology, trading and brokerage. Having started his career in New York on Wall Street, Mike moved with his family to London in 2009. Mike earned a bachelors degree in economics and statistics from Fordham University in New York.

Michael Higgins

Ben founded ParaFi in 2018 as one of the earliest investment firms focused on the blockchain and digital asset ecosystem. Prior to founding ParaFi, Ben spent the first 10 years of his career in institutional investing roles at leading asset managers including KKR and TPG. While at KKR, Ben served as a Director in the credit business, investing across a wide array of industry sectors and parts of the capital structure, including distressed special situations, private credit, and opportunistic and liquid credit. Ben also led KKR's blockchain research as part of the firm's Innovation and Disruption Council beginning in 2016. Prior to KKR, Ben served as a Vice President with TPG’s former credit business, Sixth Street Partners. As one of the first investment professionals to join the platform, Ben helped scale its private credit vehicle, TPG Specialty Lending, which went public in 2014. Earlier in his career, Ben was a member of the private equity team at Littlejohn &amp; Company and investment banking team at Rothschild &amp; Co. Ben has a passion for capital markets, behavioral economics and game theory, all of which drew him to the blockchain space. He grew up playing chess competitively and continues to play actively to this day (peak ELO 1871). He graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ben Forman

Melvin Deng is the Chief Executive Officer of QCP, one of the first digital asset trading firms in Singapore and global market maker in digital asset derivatives. As the CEO, Melvin leads the company’s rapid growth and expansion towards its vision to partner the next generation of investors to unlock institutional opportunities in digital assets. Under his leadership, he has built the company’s institutional-grade experience, research and infrastructure into a compelling proposition for clients, in addition to overseeing all operations and risk management. He is a believer in the immense growth potential of digital asset derivatives, to unlock future adoption by traditional and institutional players. Inspired by the opportunity to disrupt financial services through digital assets and blockchain technology, he left a more than 15 year career in banking to join QCP in 2021. He was previously the Head of Treasury for a global bank, where he was a member of the Singapore management team, responsible for business and balance sheet strategy. In addition to oversight of all the bank’s Treasury-related activities, he also led balance sheet optimisation initiatives, and launched the first SORA bond in Singapore, deepening the local financial market. Melvin holds a Bachelor of Engineering with honours from the National University of Singapore, and speaks four languages.

Melvin Deng

Sandy Kaul is senior vice president, Franklin Templeton, providing advisory consulting for the firm and thought leadership as part of the Franklin Templeton Institute. She delivers actionable intelligence and insights on the future of the investment and wealth management industry for the firm and its clients. Ms. Kaul has cultivated deeply informed insights and has an extensive background in driving market leading research, thought leadership and predictive models centered on the evolution of the investment and wealth management industry. She identifies and champions opportunities to address industry advancements and drive transformation, with a focus on innovative distribution trends and digital disruption. She delivers strategic insights to inform the firm's decision-making on partnerships and investments, including within Franklin Templeton's growing digital asset business. Ms. Kaul has over 25 years of well-rounded industry experience and is a frequent speaker at industry events and a widely published author. She combines her unique blend of sell-side, buy-side and consulting insights to drive her research and thought leadership around what constitutes best practices and where innovation is occurring. Ms. Kaul joined Franklin Templeton in 2022 from Citi, where she served as Managing Director and Global Head of Business Advisory Services, and launched and built out the Citi's Business Advisory Services practice, a market leading provider of industry thought leadership spanning Citi's Markets and Global Wealth organizations. Ms. Kaul rejoined Citi in 2009, after originally starting her career there in 1985 as a Futures Research Analyst covering the soft commodities markets with Citi's predecessor firm, Shearson Lehman Brothers. She joined Commodities Corporation/Goldman Sachs Asset Management in 1995 as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) and Portfolio Manager. After managing money for nearly six years, Ms. Kaul shifted her attention to consulting where she led the strategy practice within the Financial Services division of the renowned dot.com firm, Scient, and then went on to become a Partner at the capital markets niche management consulting firm m.a.partners/Detica. Ms. Kaul holds a bachelor's degree in history and political science from Colgate University.

Sandy Kaul

Jeff Park is the CIO of ProCap. He also serves as an advisor to Bitwise Investments.

Jeff Park

Nikita is a Managing Partner and Head of Fasanara Digital, the crypto division of Fasanara Capital, a $5 billion hedge fund based in London. He oversees the investment strategies and strategic direction of Fasanara Digital. He originally started The Quant Group from his dorm room, building quant strategies for digital assets. In 2018, the team joined Fasanara Capital and became Fasanara Digital, which has since grown into one of the leading and best-performing digital asset funds in the space.



Additionally, Nikita is the founder of The Digital Asset Conference, an annual event aimed at advancing industry adoption, and hosts the Speaking to Legends podcast. He’s a regular speaker at major crypto conferences and has been recognised by Forbes 30 Under 30 and Financial News’ Rising Stars in Finance. Nikita is also a Young Leader Circle (YLC) at the Milken Institute, and holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of St Andrews.

Nikita Fadeev

Avi Felman is a Principal and Head of Digital Assets Trading at&nbsp;GoldenTree&nbsp;Asset Management. Mr. Felman is also a General Partner of&nbsp;GoldenChain, a wholly owned subsidiary of&nbsp;GoldenTree&nbsp;that manages the Firm’s funds focused on digital assets. Mr. Felman is one of the longest tenured traders in digital assets and has held several prominent positions, including most recently as Co-Portfolio Manager and Head of Trading for&nbsp;BlockTower&nbsp;Capital where he grew the flagship fund portfolio from $40mm at time of joining to over $800mm. Previously, Mr. Felman was Lead Trader at Wave Financial where he co- led the development of the first SEC-regulated Bitcoin fund and he also was responsible for the derivatives strategy and trading execution. Prior to joining Wave Financial, Mr. Felman founded Ledger Capital, a firm focused on cryptocurrency trading and investments. Mr. Felman received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering&nbsp;from&nbsp;Washington University.

Avi Felman

Meltem Demirors is Founder and General Partner at Crucible, an early-stage fund investing in the foundations of our digital future. Before launching Crucible in 2024, she served as Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares, Europe’s largest and longest standing digital asset investment firm which oversees $7B in AUM. Meltem started her crypto career on the founding team at Digital Currency Group, which grew from 40 to 200 portfolio companies and 2 to 4 subsidiaries during her tenure. Beyond her corporate positions, Meltem has lectured at MIT and Oxford and is an active angel investor in over 100 startups. She leverages her vast network – ranging from major institutions to builders at the fringe – to find and fund unique opportunities for Crucible. Before joining the crypto industry in 2015, Meltem began her career trading and working in the oil and gas industry. She studied math and econ at Rice University and has an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. When she isn’t talking about data centers, the energy grid, or forward curves she can be found reading, wandering in the woods, or scheming with her magical internet money friends.

Meltem Demirors

Amy is the head of emerging markets equity, a member of the Morgan Stanley Investment Management Operating Committee, the Morgan Stanley Investment Management Equity Technology Council, the Morgan Stanley Innovation Council and the Morgan Stanley Arts and Culture Committee. She manages digital asset initiatives at MSIM and has held roles in equity and FX trading, portfolio management support, product development and strategy. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in 2001, Amy managed business development at Arc Worldwide. She has over 25 years of financial services experience.

Amy Oldenburg

Tony Ashraf, Managing Director, is globally responsible for Digital Asset Transformation at BlackRock. In this role, he partners both internally and across the industry to leverage blockchain to disrupt traditional operating models, with a focus on partnerships, scale creation and product innovation. His work includes the firms efforts around DLT to redefine market infrastructure, tokenisation and our efforts to develop institutional grade cryptoassets solutions.



Tony’s experience spans across both the buy &amp; sell side, having worked in various Operational, Technology, Project Management, Business Management &amp; Client Service roles in the UK, Japan, China, Singapore &amp; Hungary.

Tony Ashraf

Michael Howell is CEO of CrossBorder Capital, a London-based FCA registered, independent research and investment company that he founded in 1996. The firm provides asset allocation and capital markets advice to institutional investors, and manages US$1 billion of assets. Michael is involved with educational charities and currently advises a major educational foundation on its investment strategy. He brings 40 years finance experience and is a regular international conference speaker, and a media and social media commentator. He has also advised the World Bank on capital flows, co-authoring their publication Opportunities in Emerging Markets (World Bank, 1995), served as board director of a listed Japanese investment trust and recently authored the book Capital Wars (Macmillan, 2020). Previously he was Head of Research for Baring Securities and board member, where he focussed on Emerging Markets, and Research Director of Salomon Brothers Inc, the US investment bank. Before entering finance, Michael worked as Group Economist for Blue Circle Industries plc. He holds a Phd. in financial economics from London University, specialising in Fixed Income, and is a SEC-qualified US Supervisory Analyst. Michael lives in Oxford, England, and is married with four children.

Michael Howell

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

Jess Houlgrave

Dan Tapiero is a renowned macro-focused investor with over 25 years of investing and entrepreneurial experience. He is the Founder, CEO and CIO of 1Roundtable Partners (1RT) and 10T Holdings (10T), which collectively manage over $1.4 billion of investments in 24 active companies across the Digital Asset Ecosystem (DAE). 1RT is a growth equity fund focused on mid-to-late stage companies in the DAE. Dan serves on several boards including Ledger, LEDN, Futureverse, and Quicknode. Before founding 1RT and 10T, Dan was Managing Partner of DTAP Capital Advisors, a global macro investment fund that he founded in 2003. He is Co-Founder of Gold Bullion International (GBI), a physical precious metals platform for the wealth management industry. GBI expanded into the cryptocurrency business through its integration with Uphold (fka Bitreserve) in 2014. Prior to GBI, he was formerly Co-Founder of the Agricultural Company of America (AGCoA), one of the largest farmland REITs in the U.S. at the time of its sale to the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) in 2013. Previously, from 1992-2012, Dan was a macro-focused portfolio manager and analyst at Duquesne Capital Management, SAC Capital Advisors, Tiger Management and Steinhardt Management Co. Dan graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University, where he earned his B.A.'90 and M.A.'91 in European History. Dan has been on the Board of Trustees of the Lawrenceville School for the past 15 years and currently leads the Investment Committee for its endowment.

Dan Tapiero

Santiago Roel Santos (CryptoPunk #9159) is an investor focusing at the intersection of DeFi and the Web3 metaverse (NFTs/gaming). Most recently was a Partner at ParaFi Capital, one of the largest crypto funds specializing in DeFi. Prior to that, he was at Sageview Capital investing in Internet and software and, before that, at JP Morgan investment banking. Santiago began investing in crypto in 2012.

Santiago Roel Santos

Nicolas is a Founding Partner of Numeus, a global digital asset investment and trading firm founded by a team of finance, blockchain and technology professionals. Nicolas leads the firm's asset management division, Forteus, that is backed by Schroders and offers institutional funds for investors seeking exposure to the digital asset ecosystem. Nicolas brings over twenty years of professional experience in a career spanning crypto, traditional finance and consulting industries. Before co-founding Numeus, Nicolas was a founding partner of Argentière Capital, a volatility-focused multi-strategy hedge fund where he was a Senior Portfolio Manager focusing on volatility strategies across equities and FX. He was a member of the firm’s Risk Management Committee and was instrumental in building many of the tools and processes employed by the firm across investment and risk management functions.



Prior to launching Argentière, Nicolas was a Portfolio Manager in JPMorgan Chase’s Equity Proprietary Trading Group in London. He previously spent nine years at Bain &amp; Company, where he was a Manager running consulting projects in the areas of corporate strategy, M&amp;A, private equity and operational improvements for clients in Europe, US and Japan.



Nicolas obtained his BA / MA in Mathematics from the Ecole Polytechnique of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Nicolas Vanhoutteghem 

Eric Chen is the CEO of Injective Foundation. Eric has worked within the crypto industry for over six years with his latest project, Injective, garnering interest from leading professionals across hedge funds, venture capitals and blockchain projects, including but not limited to Pantera Capital, Mark Cuban, Hashed and Binance.



Eric was featured in Forbes 30 under 30 in 2024 for his work on Injective.

Eric Chen

Rebecca Rettig is the Chief Legal Officer at Jito Labs, where she leads legal, compliance, and policy strategy. She previously held the same role at the Aave Companies, a DeFi software developer, and Polygon Labs, a blockchain technology company; at both, she built the policy function and managed all legal and compliance matters. Ms. Rettig is a pioneer in shaping legal and regulatory frameworks for blockchain systems and applications, advising on matters including decentralization, token launches, and mechanisms. DeFi, structuring, and decentralized governance. She has liaised with policymakers and regulators globally on how DeFi systems operate and the appropriate intersection of law with this novel technology. Ms. Rettig began her legal career at Cravath, Swaine &amp; Moore LLP, litigating complex financial disputes, as well as a landmark peer-to-peer file-sharing case and one of the largest airline mergersin history. She was a partner at Manatt, Phelps &amp; Phillips and currently is Of Counsel at Arktouros pllc, a boutique law firm specializing in cutting-edge technology companies. She has been recognized as one of Crain’s Top Women Lawyers in New York City.

Rebecca Rettig

Hadley is the Chief Commercial Officer at Marinade Labs, the web3 software development team behind Solana liquid and native staking protocol Marinade. He previously founded and led Fidelity’s digital assets division, after serving as SVP of Fidelity Labs where he led several divisions to research and pilot several emerging technologies, including wearable computing, VR/AR, mobile applications (including the company’s first-ever app and app brokerage), AI, and others. He also led global digital asset custody for the Bank of New York Mellon, where he launched the industry’s first bank-grade platform for digital asset custody on bitcoin and Ethereum. He also served as COO at blockchain infrastructure company Bloq, and previously led Amazon Web Services’ AWS Innovation Lab.

Hadley Stern

William joined Marshall Wace in May 2022 to oversee Fintech and Digital Assets investments for MW Digital Finance Fund.



Prior to joining Marshall Wace, William worked at Candy Capital, a family office where he was responsible for various investments across the technology sector. Prior to Candy Capital, William worked for HSBC and Greyspark Partners, were he was heading Fintech Investment Advisory. William is also an active seed investor across digital assets and fintech.

William Benattar

Jakob is the President of GSR, he previously served as the Global CEO of GSR for over 2.5 years. Prior to joining GSR, he was Head of EMEA business at Two Sigma Investments and a board director of Two Sigma International. He has 18 years of experience developing business and investment solutions in systematic investment management, including roles at Winton Capital Management and Barclays Global Investors (BGI). Jakob earned a BSc in Economics from Lund University where he also completed the MSc coursework in Economics (without dissertation). He also holds a Ships Officers Degree, Class VIII from Chalmers University of Technology.

Jakob Palmstierna

Matt Hougan is one of the world’s leading experts on crypto, ETFs, and financial technology. He is Chief Investment Officer for Bitwise Asset Management, a pioneer in cryptoasset index funds with more than $1.2 billion in assets under management. He was previously CEO of ETF.com, where he helped build the world’s first ETF data and analytics system, the leading ETF media site, and the world’s largest ETF conference, Inside ETFs. Hougan is co-author of both "A Comprehensive Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds" and "Cryptoassets: The Guide to Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies for Professional Investors" from the CFA Institute’s Research Foundation. He is a crypto columnist for Forbes, and a three-time member of the Barron’s ETF Roundtable.

Matt Hougan

Xiao-Xiao J. Zhu currently serves as Digital Operating Partner at KKR where he leads technology-driven value creation, innovation and digital transformation at the board and top management level of European private equity portfolio companies such as Axel Springer, GfK and Roompot Landal. He also leads KKR’s global Digital Assets &amp; Blockchain strategy, driving investments in foremost Crypto VCs such as Dragonfly Capital and Ethereal Ventures as well as Digital Assets companies such as Anchorage Digital. He is a regular speaker at key Digital Assets &amp; AI conferences, and is an angel investor in fast growing early stage technology companies such as Fuse Energy or Anagram. Prior to joining KKR, he was General Manager at BCG Digital Ventures in London and Beijing where he founded, launched and scaled new digital companies such as Heycar.com (backed by Volkswagen &amp; Daimler) or Tracr.com (backed by DeBeers). He began his career in management consulting advising Fortune 500 companies at the Boston Consulting Group in London. Notably, in an earlier life, he performed as a professional concert pianist on some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, and played for global leaders such as George H.W. Bush, Helmut Kohl or Mikhail Gorbachev. He holds a MSc in Managerial Economics &amp; Strategy from the London School of Economics, a BA in Philosophy &amp; Economics from the Humboldt University Berlin, and a Masters in Concert Piano from the Berlin University of Arts.

Xiao-Xiao Zhu

Konstantin Richter is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and advisor. He has been active in the blockchain ecosystem as an advisor and contributor since 2015, with the likes of Gem, <a href="http://po.et/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Po.et</a>, and MadHive. In 2017, he created Blockdaemon in order to bring institutional-grade infrastructure to blockchain protocols, crypto native and traditional financial institutions. Subsequently, Konstantin has helmed Blockdaemon through three major funding rounds raising $400M to date. The most recent being a Series C raising $207M at a $3.25B valuation led by Sapphire and Tiger Global with previous backers SoftBank, Goldman Sachs, and Citi Ventures. Blockdaemon is the world’s largest blockchain infrastructure company for node management, MPC tech, and staking.

Konstantin Richter

Jonathan Cheesman

David Mercer is the Chief Executive Officer of LMAX Group, a global, high-growth financial technology company based in London. A former City banking executive and currency specialist, he joined LMAX Group in 2011 and after a successful management buyout, rapidly built LMAX Group into the leading operator of institutional FX and cryptocurrency exchanges with offices in 11 countries and global client base. An outspoken industry commentator, David is a long term champion of the UK’s fintech sector and passionate about supporting entrepreneurship in the UK.

David Mercer

With 7 years of experience across investment banking, hedge funds, and private equity, Guy has built a strong foundation in the financial sector. Prior to founding Ethena, he spent 6 years at Cerberus Management, a firm with $60 billion in assets under management, where he focused on investing in financial services businesses across the capital structure.

Guy Young

Sid Powell is the CEO &amp; Co-Founder of Maple Finance and with his Co-Founder Joe Flanagan founded Maple in 2019. Sid comes from a background in debt capital markets and institutional banking. During his career in traditional finance, he participated in $3BN+ of corporate bond issuance,and served as Treasurer for a commercial lending company in Australia. Maple has originated more than $5b in institutional lending since inception and currently holds over $550m in assets on the platform. We aim to be the global leader in tokenized private credit and first choice for institutional borrowers.

Sid Powell

Vivek Raman

Michael Bucella is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Neoclassic Capital, a digital asset investment firm with a strong focus on Asia. Prior to Neoclassic, Michael served as General Partner with BlockTower Capital from 2017 to 2022, growing the firm near inception to managing in excess of $1B in AUM across hedge fund, venture, and credit strategies. Previous to BlockTower, Michael spent nearly a decade with Goldman Sachs in New York across both the Asset Management (GSAM) and Securities Division.

Michael Bucella

James is General Partner – Fund Manager &amp; GP at Republic. Prior to this, James worked in a wide variety of investing, business building and operating roles across the Alan Howard ecosystem. Originally hired into Brevan Howard, his focus was Principal Investing across Crypto, Web3, Fintech &amp; Frontier Technologies. James was also one of the founding team at WebN Group, the well-known incubator for Fintech &amp; Web3 innovation, where over 18 months significant equity value was created. Twinstake, TruFin, Libre, Geometry and Soter are a few of those companies. Due to James’s extensive experience, he additionally spent 6 months restructuring, realigning and putting into place operational policies and scaling procedures at Elwood, a market leading EMS &amp; PMS provider backed by Goldman Sachs, Citi Bank, and Barclays. Having been heavily involved in Web3 &amp; Digital Assets Markets for over 8 years, James started his career with ~15 years of investment banking experience across multi-asset trading, derivative, sales and structuring desks at top tier banks. His deep understanding of the intersection between digital assets, financial technologies and traditional finance has been crucial to creating robust investment thesis’s, venture builds and implementing operational policies, scalable processes and go-to-market strategies in portfolio companies. Outside of work, James is an advisor to various companies, including Saltford FC and has published numerous quantitative, financial and regulatory papers across both traditional and digital markets, most recently for the Digital Economic Initiative. As a qualified Chartered Financial Analyst®, James holds a Masters in Finance (Distinction) &amp; graduated with an Honours Degree in Economics from Durham University.

James Newman

Lekker Capital is a global macro hedge fund with a particular focus on the emerging digital asset industry. Prior to founding Lekker, Quinn served as the Head of Capital Markets for two institutional lending businesses in the digital asset ecosystem, most recently at Maple Finance. Quinn spent five years in fixed income and capital markets at Guggenheim Partners in New York before his full-time foray into crypto.

Quinn Thompson

Prior to joining the Board of the Algorand Foundation, Staci ran the Global Market Development practice at the Milken Institute, where she led its work on capital market development, crypto/blockchain solutions, and innovative finance to promote the sustainable development goals. Prior to Milken, Staci ran JPMorgan’s EMEA public sector practice out of London. Before JPMorgan, she led the Nasdaq’s two markets for microcap companies, and in the public and non-profit sectors had senior roles at the U.S. Treasury Department, the Center for Global Development, and the Harvard Institute for International Development. Staci has done business in more than 50 countries and has advised and spoken widely on the potential for cryptocurrencies and blockchain to solve real-world problems, and for financial innovation to improve inclusion and reduce global poverty. In addition to the Algorand Foundation, she sits on the Boards of the Global Blockchain Business Council, the Rwandan Capital Market Authority, and the Energy for Growth Hub. She also serves on the advisory committees of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee (STOA), the U.S. Financial Technology Association, and Evolution Environmental Asset Management.

Staci Warden

Diogo is the co-founder of Anchorage Digital, where he served as President prior to joining Haun Ventures and where he currently serves as Executive Chairman. Anchorage Digital is the first federally chartered crypto-native bank in the US. Prior to founding Anchorage Digital, Diogo served as Platform Security Lead at Square (now known as Block). At Square, Diogo worked on the infrastructure security platform (including identity, access management, and responses systems) that is now used to move over $200B in annualized gross payments volume. Diogo also served as Security Lead at Docker, where he and his team wrote code that helps secure one of the core underpinnings of modern computing infrastructure: containers. Diogo serves as the Chairman of the NEAR Foundation. He previously served as an advisor to Airtable and StackRox.

Diogo Monica

Ian brings over 20 years of experience in capital markets and fintech and is widely regarded as one of the UK’s foremost experts in blockchain and digital assets. He most recently led KPMG’s UK Crypto &amp; Digital Assets practice, and previously served as Executive Director and Board Advisor to CryptoUK, the UK’s digital asset trade association.

Ian Taylor

David Karney

Marc Vanlerberghe is the Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Algorand Foundation. Marc brings more than 20 years of experience in executive marketing positions, with a strong background in entrepreneurial, hyper-growth business environments. Prior to Algorand Foundation, he was the CEO of Rulai, a startup in the nascent conversational AI space. Before that, he was CMO at Medallia, the leading SaaS platform that enables companies to capture actionable customer data in real time. At Google, Marc was Vice President of Marketing for Access and Energy and anadvisor to CapitalG. Marc is known for launching Android and developing the brand into the most popular mobile operating system. In addition, he led marketing for Google Play and Google’s hardware and retail organizations. Marc lives in Sunnyvale, California. He sits on several boards and enjoys advising startup entrepreneurs. Marc received his MBA from Stanford University and his MS degree in engineering from the University of Ghent, Belgium.

Marc Vanlerberghe

Omar is a digital asset expert, investor, and consultant active in the space since 2016. As Chief Business Development Officer at SecondLane (Web3 native investment bank and asset manager with $100 M+ AUM) Omar leads strategic partnerships and oversees complex deal execution with a focus on legal and operational integrity.



In addition to his role at SecondLane, Omar is a LP in several leading crypto venture funds, including Multicoin Capital, Alliance DAO, and Topology Ventures, backing the next generation of protocols and infrastructure across Web3. His investment focus also spans the convergence of blockchain and artificial intelligence, with recent backing of frontier tech companies such as Figure AI and Apptronik.



With deep involvement at both the operational and capital levels, Omar operates at the intersection of institutional adoption, capital formation, and regulatory evolution in digital assets. He is driven by his deep belief in blockchain’s potential to drive long-term, meaningful social impact on a global scale.

Omar Shakeeb

Rob Hadick is a General Partner at Dragonfly, a ~$4bn crypto focused investment firm. Previously, he helped lead multi-stage investments into crypto companies and protocols at GoldenTree Asset Management ("GTAM"), a ~$50bn multi-strategy hedge fund. Prior to GTAM, Rob invested in and advised fintech, technology, and crypto companies while at Heritage Partners, Goldman Sachs, and PJT Partners. He holds a MBA from Columbia Business School, and a Bachelors in Economics and Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis.

Rob Hadick

Chris is the CIO of Digital Assets at Amitis Capital. In his early career, Chris worked at several major institutions including CIBC World Markets, Société Générale Barr Devlin, Antarctica Asset Management and ING Investment Management. In 2010, he joined SAIL Advisors (the family office of the founder of Duty-Free Shoppers) as Head of Research for Tactical Trading and Relative Value Strategies. He later joined Cliffwater LLC as Managing Director covering global macro and relative value strategies on the hedge fund research team. Most recently, Chris was the CIO of Digital Assets at Forest Road, where he oversaw a digital assets-focused venture capital fund of funds. Chris has a BA in Economics and Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and an MComm in Finance from the University of New South Wales, where he was a Federation Scholar. Chris holds the CFA, CPA, and CAIA designations. Chris has broken 9 Guinness World Records and has run marathons on all 7 continents and in all 50 US states.

Chris Solarz

Leading Strategy and Partnerships for Digital Assets in Citi's Treasury and Trade Solutions Business. Working with a truly dynamic global team serving 140 countries, 160 currencies while regulated in 95 countries.

David Cunningham

Seth Ginns is a Managing Partner and Head of Liquid Investments at CoinFund, and a key member of the Venture Investment Committee. He has 20 years of Wall Street experience and has been deeply involved in the crypto community since his angel investment in Coinbase in 2012. He is also an angel in Starkware, Chainalysis, participated in the Ethereum ICO in 2014, and loves traveling globally to developer events as a way to keep a finger on the pulse of the market. His angel portfolio also includes Instacart, BillionToOne and DoorDash, and many earlier stage, high growth startups.



Prior to CoinFund, Seth invested in public growth equities over 18 years at Jennison Associates. He holds a BA in Mathematics and South Asia Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, where he serves on the International Advisory Board of the Center for the Advanced Study of India at the School of Arts and Sciences and served as an Overseer at the School of Nursing and Co-Chair of the Innovation Committee.

Seth Ginns

Ryan Rasmussen is the Head of Research at Bitwise Asset Management. Prior to Bitwise, he held a variety of corporate finance roles at Cetera Financial Group, a network of independent broker-dealers with over 8,000 financial advisors and $300 billion in assets under administration. Before Cetera, Ryan was a business analyst at Oakley and spent time as a research associate at UK Trade &amp; Investment in Sydney, Australia. He is a graduate of the Argyros School of Business &amp; Economics at Chapman University, with a B.S. in finance and a secondary focus in graphic and web design.

Ryan Rasmussen

Paul Faecks is the Founder and CEO of Plasma, a high-performance, scalable, and secure blockchain built for stablecoin payments. At Plasma, Paul is leading the team building a blockchain tailored for stablecoin transactions from the ground up. Before founding Plasma, Paul served as the CEO and Co-Founder of Alloy, a platform for institutional digital asset operations, beginning in August 2021.

Paul Faecks

Michael Sonnenshein is an executive with over 15 years experience across financial services. As the current President of Securitize, Michael is bringing compliant digital security solutions to institutional and individual investors, bridging the traditional and decentralized finance worlds.



 Prior to Securitize, Michael Sonnenshein was CEO of Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital currency asset manager. With over a decade in the crypto industry, Michael established Grayscale as the definitive leader in crypto investing, offering a wide range of investments including single-asset and diversified products. Under Michael’s leadership, Grayscale paved the way for the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the US market. Michael is regularly featured on CNBC and Bloomberg and was honored in 2021 as one of 100 People Transforming Business by Business Insider and in 2018 as one of the publication’s Rising Stars of Wall Street. Prior to joining Grayscale, Michael was a financial advisor at JP Morgan Securities, covering HNW individuals and institutions, and an analyst at Barclays Wealth, providing coverage to middle‐market hedge funds and institutions. Michael earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and his Master of Business Administration from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.ork University.

Michael Sonnenshein

Mathew has more than 25 years of industry and leadership experience, having previously held several leadership positions at Goldman Sachs globally and across different functions. As Global Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs, Mathew is responsible for leading the firm’s cross-divisional digital assets strategy, which includes a wide range of client-led tokenization activities, crypto-linked product offerings and blockchain investments.

Mathew McDermott

Ryan is based in London and heads up Digital Assets globally and Strategic Investments across Europe and Asia at Barclays. The DA team is responsible for digital asset strategy, governance and the establishment of new asset, money and tokenisation initiatives across the bank. The SI team is responsible for originating, executing and portfolio managing all strategic principal equity investments made by Barclays in external companies.  Ryan joined Barclays in 2011 as an M&amp;amp;A advisor in the investment bank and moved to the Strategy and Corporate Development team in 2013, where he acted as a principal in originating and executing M&amp;amp;A transactions.Prior to Barclays, Ryan was at Nevsky Capital, a $7bn long/short equity asset manager, where he covered a range of sectors including oil &amp;amp; gas, chemicals and agriculture and before that worked at Deutsche Bank as a corporate finance advisor in the Industrials practice across Europe. Ryan holds a BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford and also holds an MA (Oxon) from the University of Oxford.

Ryan Hayward

Richard Green

Alwyn Clarke is a Director on Galaxy Digital’s investment banking team. Prior to joining the firm, Alwyn worked at Fenchurch Advisory Partners and Barclays Capital in London and New York, advising businesses on M&amp;A, capital raising and other strategic initiatives. He has worked with businesses across the full financial services landscape, with a core focus on financial technology and asset management. Alwyn holds a B.A. in Jurisprudence (Law with French Law) from the University of Oxford.

Alwyn Clarke

Anatoly is an investment professional with 30 years of experience in investment management and hedge fund industry. Nickel Digital is a regulated multi-PM quant hedge fund specialising in market-neutral strategies in digital assets, providing institutional-grade access to this nascent market. In co-founding Nickel Digital in 2019, Anatoly leveraged his prior experience with investment management divisions of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan in London, where he was dealing with asset allocation and portfolio construction. Anatoly earned an MA degree in International Business from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia and an Executive MBA degree from the University of Oxford in 2009. He returned to Oxford in 2018, to become part of the pioneering cohort of global investment professionals to graduate from the Oxford Blockchain Strategy Programme, which played a pivotal role in the decision to transit from traditional finance into digital assets. Anatoly is an avid sailor who has crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, on a single-hull racing sailboat and a catamaran, respectively.

Anatoly Crachilov

Jason Yanowitz

Michael Ippolito is a co-founder at Blockworks in charge of content and finance.&nbsp; Previously to co-founding Blockworks, Michael was a consultant where he advised mid-market manufacturing-focused companies on operational and capital efficiency as well as M&amp;A strategy.

Michael Ippolito

Carolina

Ben Strack is a Denver-based reporter covering macro and crypto-native funds, financial advisors, structured products, and the integration of digital assets and decentralized finance (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.

Macauley was an editor and content creator in the professional chess world for 14 years, prior to joining Blockworks. At Bucerius Law School (Master in Law and Business, 2020) he researched stablecoins, decentralized finance and central bank digital currencies. He also holds an MA in Film Studies; film credits include Associate Producer of the 2016 Netflix feature documentary, "Magnus" about World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen. He is based in Germany.

Macauley Peterson

Nikhil Chaturvedi

David Rodriguez

Marc-Thomas Arjoon

Dan Smith

Boccaccio

Hear from the world's most sophisticated investors about how liquidity, interest rates and economic drivers are shaping their digital asset portfolios.

Macro Case for Digital Assets

Institutional investment will continue to drive this crypto cycle. At DAS you'll hear from investors on strategy, portfolio allocation, and more.

ETFs & Institutional Investment

Hear allocator's perspectives from the top funds in the world on how they are navigating the expanding public & private digital asset markets.

Allocator's Perspective

This year's programming will explore the evolution of global standards and regulatory frameworks that policy makers are crafting for the maturing digital asset ecosystem.

US & Global Digital Asset Policy

The largest financial institutions like Blackrock & JPMorgan are moving onchain to settle treasuries, collateral, and other securities. At DAS, these partnerships and innovations will be at the forefront of conversations.

Tokenization & Real World Assets

DAS will delve into the evolving landscape of stablecoins and digital asset payments. Consumers and institutions alike will gain from their insight into these payments innovations.