Core

Casey Wagner

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



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Members of the House Financial Services Committee heard from crypto and banking executives on the state of payment stablecoins this morning.&nbsp;



Lawmakers have a few bills to consider: the <a href="https://files.constantcontact.com/9f2b5e3d701/6c1f8aa0-095c-4a22-9982-2f4380d0b531.pdf">STABLE Act</a>, Rep. Tom Emmer’s <a href="https://emmer.house.gov/press-releases?ID=E5F1A85D-F204-496A-9AAC-9EEFB6D01DD7">anti-CBDC bill</a>, and the CRA seeking to <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-joint-resolution/64/text">overturn the CFPB’s</a> new rule that would expand federal supervision over wallet and payment providers.&nbsp;



The hearing comes as the industry continues to quarrel over <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoin-legislation-top-priority">what stablecoin regulation</a> should look like in the US. In the Senate, the latest discussion draft of the GENIUS Act sets reserve and anti-money laundering requirements for overseas stablecoin issuers. The bill is set to go to mark-up on Thursday.&nbsp;



Both the GENIUS Act and the STABLE Act seek to divide oversight authority between federal and state agencies.&nbsp;



Party lines showed during today’s hearing. Rep. Maxine Waters, in her opening remarks, criticized the Trump administration for its approach to the digital asset industry.&nbsp;



“Despite my belief that the Trump administration only wants crypto legislation that personally benefits them and protects [its] crypto financiers, I still hope that we can work together on a bill that requires stablecoins be robustly and fairly regulated,” Waters said to Rep. French Hill.&nbsp;



Trump last week said he expects to have a stablecoin bill on his desk by August. But if committees keep up their current pace, a bill could make it to a full floor vote sooner.&nbsp;



Of course, for anything to make it to the White House, both chambers will have to approve the legislation. That could be a tall order.



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House Financial Services kicks off stablecoin discussions 

Ben Strack

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



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After Trump’s executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve fell flat for some, we have a new development.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-btc-reserve-mixed-reactions">Criticisms</a> of the EO? The vague language around possibly buying more BTC. Plus, Trump doesn’t have Congressional support. Not yet, at least.&nbsp;



Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis seeks to rectify that by re-introducing <a href="https://www.lummis.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/BITCOINAct.pdf">a bill</a> that stalled last year.&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">The BITCOIN Act is back. <a href="https://t.co/WNeU6SWPj3">pic.twitter.com/WNeU6SWPj3</a>&mdash; Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenLummis/status/1899449083628036177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 11, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



“This asset is a game-changer for the whole world,” Lummis said Tuesday at a Bitcoin Policy Institute event. “So for America — the leader in financial innovation — to have sat on the sidelines for as long as we have is unusual for us.”&nbsp;



Trump’s executive order — committing to not selling the country’s stash of roughly 200,000 seized bitcoin — gets the US off the sidelines and “in the arena of global policymaking,” she added.&nbsp;



But it was still just a first step.&nbsp;



While Trump’s EO authorized the Treasury and Commerce secretaries to develop “budget-neutral” strategies to buy more bitcoin, Lummis’ bill draft offers more specifics.



In case you forgot, the senator’s so-called BITCOIN Act — first <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/senator-lummis-bitcoin-reserve-bill-crypto-policy">unveiled last July</a> — includes buying up to 200,000 bitcoin per year over a five-year period. So a million BTC, or roughly 5% of the asset’s total supply.&nbsp;



The Treasury department would issue new gold certificates to the Federal Reserve that reflect current prices, and the Fed would use the difference (between the old and new certificates) to fund the buying.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The Secretary of the Treasury would hold all BTC bought for and deposited in this reserve for at least 20 years to ensure its “long-term stability and security,” the bill notes.&nbsp;



Michael Saylor spoke shortly after Lummis, doing some math for us.



Moving 20 years into the future, the Strategy executive chair’s base case for bitcoin price is more than $13 million per coin. Yes, you read that right.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Under that scenario, the ~200,000 BTC the US government already has from forfeiture proceedings would be worth about $3 trillion in 2045.&nbsp;



That alone is valuable, as Saylor said frankly: “Sometimes the absence of doing awful and stupid things is making money.” He was, of course, referring to selling bitcoin. Remember <a href="https://x.com/davidsacks47/status/1897640660338925938">this tweet</a> from crypto/AI czar David Sacks?&nbsp;



But the bigger opportunity is buying another million BTC to make the pile worth roughly $16 trillion, Saylor noted.



Lummis was at home sick with pneumonia during Friday’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-summit-without-substance">White House crypto summit</a>. At times that meant watching news anchors mistake bitcoin with ETH and other digital assets, she said.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-28/lummis-says-bitcoin-reserve-is-likely-to-come-first-from-states">Lummis said last month</a> there’re Congress members still not understanding BTC’s role as a sort of “digital gold.” She noted that US states could thus <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-states-btc-reserve-proposals">approve a bitcoin reserve</a> before the federal government.



The senator’s home state is among those where bitcoin reserve proposals have recently died.



Lummis’ PR team didn’t immediately comment on whether Lummis expects to see more support for the proposal this time around. I feel like we’ve preached about the value of patience before, so I’ll spare you.



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Another try for the BITCOIN Act

Katherine Ross

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



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It’s a bloodbath, no matter where you look.



And unfortunately, there’s no denying equities and crypto are interconnected this time around.&nbsp;



ETH’s trading just a few hundred dollars above where it was around the time FTX collapsed in November 2022, while bitcoin’s maintained a sizable distance from that figure (a cool $65,000 above where it was at the time of the collapse, if you want a positive number).



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="1114" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png" alt="" class="wp-image-98581" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=369 369w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=375 375w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=315 315w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/AD_4nXdBXtQFwfGlX0F1GCLY_-oHbpHA4nZI2FZeYRKuLSRZzoFYwWj2dRKcQlT4jbJbnCHA-CIEp7kAWnLmkP5TVkZWuXaJDZsVgCN8i1Orx4zh8SZcbXi8fmGgfHd823aBn5QnyXH7ig.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A look at ETH</figcaption></figure>



Justin Barlow, head of BD &amp; Investments at Sei, told me it’s hard to pinpoint any bottom, not just the bottom, but right now, we’re very much tied into the macro narrative.&nbsp;



If sentiment were to flip, then he wouldn’t be surprised if crypto changed its tune and we started to see more green pop up on various charts.&nbsp;



“If you look at historical correlations between the equities market and crypto, it’s seemingly increased over time as crypto becomes more and more mainstream. And I think that&#8217;s to be expected right now: You have a lot of the big names that are active in traditional markets, very active in crypto markets, and naturally, when they want to be risk off, that translates into not just obviously equities, but the crypto market as well,” Barlow explained.&nbsp;



Basically, when things are good, having BlackRock and other big financial giants in the space is great. But when things go sideways, well, crypto’s one of the first trades that gets cycled out.&nbsp;



In the short term, this leaves crypto in a bad spot. Continue to expect a bit more pain until there’s more favorable economic data, but this doesn’t change the thinking that, long term, crypto is still looking strong.&nbsp;



This is just one of the first cycles, Barlow said, where we’re seeing the mesh of traditional financial institutions and crypto play out.&nbsp;



“Not to say that there aren&#8217;t opportunities for crypto to diverge from traditional markets, but it&#8217;s certainly a factor, particularly for some of the larger assets,” he added.&nbsp;



The cycles are happening “much faster,” and he wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see some excitement “bubble back up” in the “near future.”



“I think the important thing is just looking at things from the long term and thinking about it in terms of the underlying metrics that matter, and growth that matters [to] users, rather than just intraday price fluctuations,” he told me.&nbsp;



This is just an unfortunate side effect of adoption, I guess.



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Correlation between equities and crypto has increased due to adoption

Kate Irwin

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



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Wanna be a wizard?&nbsp;



Taproot Wizards, a collection of “magic internet jpegs” inspired by the 2013 r/Bitcoin wizard, are holding their first-ever public sale. This sale is happening two years after the Wizards were inscribed onto Bitcoin as Ordinals. Unlike traditional NFTs, Ordinals are pieces of data or art attached directly to satoshis (sats), which are 1/100,000,000th of a bitcoin.



2,085 Wizards will be up for sale through <a href="http://taprootwizards.com">the project’s website</a> starting March 25, with additional honorary Wizards to be inscribed soon and not included in the sale. The honorary Wizards will be given away.&nbsp;



Minting a Taproot Wizard will cost hopeful collectors 0.2 BTC (roughly $16,000 at time of writing), though it&#8217;s worth noting that there will be discounts for holders of Quantum Cats — another Bitcoin Ordinals collection from the same team.



If you own two &#8220;entangled&#8221; Quantum Cats — one with the &#8220;alive&#8221; trait and one with the &#8220;dead&#8221; trait — you can mint a Wizard for 0.1 BTC (about $7,900). The &#8220;entangled&#8221; mechanic plays off Schrödinger’s Cat, the famous quantum physics thought experiment where a cat inside a box exists within both a living and dead state until observed.



The Taproot Wizards price reflects their scarcity — only 2,121 exist, unlike more typical 10,000-piece collections. And yes, the price is steep, especially in this market. But with their cult-like following, I wouldn’t be surprised if they still sell out.



“It’s been quite the journey,” Wizards founder Udi Wertheimer said of the past two years since launching the project.&nbsp;



The mere existence of Ordinals art on Bitcoin has disgruntled some Bitcoin maximalists, with some calling it blockchain “<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/btc/comments/10wk9h1/speculation_about_the_btc_taproot_wizards_nft/?rdt=34803">vandalism</a>.”



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXf1oeSBCb7cICysbuGoDhIjSwAk7cD679CPZ-MF5dub1wyUGnNPRK_4nJ5hGcWh42vJ_Mf6uV3c0QEYaOOvxFDp1U81Th19RdyH21dr8YII4xGtXeYXA1yrqtBQuwZddo0jrM9H0A?key=-n5DtPXh_laWAw4zNloOFZ2D" alt=""/></figure>



Instead, fans had to prove their worth through various bizarre-yet-hilarious displays of commitment. According to Wertheimer, some took it to extremes — showering in full wizard attire, leaping out of helicopters into swimming pools wearing robes and pointy hats, or even braving a car wash with the windows down, robe and all — just to get the team’s attention.



Unorthodox? Perhaps. But plenty were willing to embrace the absurdity for a shot at owning a piece of Bitcoin history.



“If someone wants a Taproot Wizard bad enough, they’ll find a way,” he said.



The Taproot Wizards team, which currently operates with 10 people, is actively hiring. Last month, they raised $30 million in a funding round led by Standard Crypto. They’re advocating for OP_CAT, a proposal that could add more functionality to Bitcoin and would be similar to what Ethereum’s smart contracts offer if passed. Originally created by Satoshi Nakamoto, OP_CAT was disabled in 2010 due to concerns over potential security risks and limited immediate use cases at the time. If reintroduced, it would allow Bitcoin scripts to manipulate and combine pieces of data dynamically, opening the door for more advanced transaction types.



Among other possibilities, it could enable covenants (rules restricting how BTC can be spent), improved smart contracts, and more flexible transaction logic. While not as complex as Ethereum’s smart contracts, OP_CAT could expand Bitcoin’s capabilities without compromising its security and decentralization-first ethos.



Most Wizards will be sold via the whitelist, and a few will be offered on Dutch auction. Another few are being set aside to be given to users for free, who have proved their interest in and loyalty to the Wizards, like one guy who replied on Twitter asking for a Wizard for 365 days in a row.



Why did they wait two years before offering the Wizards for sale?&nbsp;



“It proves to everyone that this is a long-lasting thing, it’s not just a bunch of jpegs we’re trying to sell and move on,” Wertheimer said.&nbsp;



I do agree with Udi that Bitcoin (and its layer-2s like Stacks and Lightning) have so much potential to become a real hub for art, apps, and other neat crypto use cases besides for payments alone.



In my opinion, people won’t likely be buying Taproot Wizards for the Microsoft Paint-esque art. They’ll be buying it for clout, for the community, and to be a part of one of the more famous Ordinals collections.



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Taproot Wizards on sale 2 years after being inscribed on Bitcoin

Macauley Peterson

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



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Bitcoin programmability is evolving fast — without waiting for a single line of Bitcoin Core code to change. As debates over additional opcodes such as <a href="https://blockworks-research.beehiiv.com/p/upgrades-galore">OP_CAT</a> continue, new solutions are proving that Bitcoin can enable <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-rollups-closer-than-expected">zk rollups</a>, covenants and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/unlocking-bitcoin-defi-potential">even full DeFi ecosystems</a> right now.



Xverse, a popular Bitcoin wallet, today <a href="https://www.starknet.io/blog/starknet-bitcoin-scaling/">announced</a> its upcoming integration with Starknet — the Ethereum-native L2 now expanding to Bitcoin. Starknet, which struggled to attract users in the crowded Ethereum L2 rollups market, is positioning itself as “Bitcoin’s execution layer.” The goal is to scale Bitcoin to thousands of transactions per second while introducing all the DeFi trappings like yield farming, staking, and lending — but without waiting for Bitcoin’s meandering governance process.



The idea has growing proponents. A broader push to unlock Bitcoin’s smart contract potential without protocol changes started with research breakthroughs in the form of <a href="https://blockworks-research.beehiiv.com/p/bitcoin-s-christmas-past">BitVM</a>, followed by Starknet-backed <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/colliderscript-bitcoin-covenants-no-fork">ColliderScript</a>, and most recently Bitcoin PIPEs.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Enter PIPEs</h2>



Bitcoin PIPEs (Polynomial Inner Product Encryption) is one of the more ambitious projects in this space. The Polychain Capital-backed project has <a href="https://x.com/nemothenoone/status/1843382870901235907">developed</a> a cryptographic method to verify zk-SNARKs on Bitcoin without new opcodes — offering a trust-minimized alternative to existing solutions.



They key promise of PIPEs is to reduce the process to checking <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/anticipating-bitcoins-taproot-upgrade-heres-what-you-need-to-know">Schnorr signatures</a>, as Misha Komarov of cryptography research and development company [[alloc] init] explains:



“What can we verify on Bitcoin? We can verify signatures,” Komarov told Blockworks. “We turn the zk verification into a signature verification,” thus sidestepping Bitcoin’s script limitations using cryptography.



This approach avoids contentious opcode upgrades, proving that zk rollups and covenants don’t need a protocol change. The tradeoff is that it’s expensive to compute — for now.&nbsp;



Komarov sees PIPEs as a potential replacement for BitVM, which relies on challenge-response mechanics to provide trust-minimized bridging to <a href="https://blockworks-research.beehiiv.com/p/bitcoin-l2-narrowing-definition">off-chain layers</a>. While innovative, it lacks the instant finality of PIPEs, which offer a single-transaction verification method.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">ColliderScript and Starknet’s push</h2>



Bitcoin PIPEs is also an alternative to ColliderScript, developed by Starknet researchers to enable covenants on Bitcoin without a fork. Starknet has pitched this as a stepping stone to its broader Bitcoin expansion, which now includes the impending Xverse integration.



StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson calls Bitcoin PIPEs “an interesting approach” that “has the potential to be cheaper than ColliderScript, but its feasibility is much less certain.”



&#8220;ColliderScript has a complete proposal and security analysis, whereas PIPEs rely on more cryptographic conjectures,” Ben-Sasson told Blockworks. “In other words, it requires more leaps of cryptographic faith.”



Starknet’s integration with Xverse is <a href="https://www.starknet.io/blog/starknet-bitcoin-scaling/">the latest step</a> in the Bitcoin L2 race. While it involves some trust assumptions, the goal is similar: deliver a seamless DeFi experience to Bitcoin users without protocol changes.



As Ben-Sasson sees it, Bitcoin’s power as a store of value is cemented. Now, it’s time to unlock its utility.



With Bitcoin PIPEs v2 unveiling in April, and the Starknet Xverse integration also launching in the second quarter, 2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for Bitcoin — whether it upgrades or not.



“Functionally speaking, Bitcoin can now ossify,” Komarov said. “We can even start simplifying it, to be honest.”



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No forks given — Bitcoin DeFi without upgrades

Pete Rizzo

This is a segment from the Supply Shock newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://bitcoinhistorynl.beehiiv.com/">subscribe</a>.&nbsp;



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Serial entrepreneur Dan Held, whose past exits include <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2013/12/24/blockchaininfo-acquires-bitcoin-price-app-zeroblock">Zeroblock</a> and <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/07/31/kraken-boosts-institutional-offerings-with-acquisition-of-dan-helds-interchange">Interchange</a>, sees Bitcoin DeFi as the largest untapped opportunity of his decade-long crypto career.



Speaking on the Supply Shock podcast Tuesday, Held told host Pete Rizzo that he sees decentralized finance (DeFi) as the key to unlocking bitcoin’s potential as a $300 trillion global asset. He pointed to the ability to earn yield for lending bitcoin — one of the many financial functions DeFi replicates without centralized intermediaries — as a major opportunity.



Held&#8217;s journey into Bitcoin DeFi began with his exploration of yield-generating opportunities, including providing liquidity for Lightning channels and Coinjoins. Initially skeptical of DeFi due to its association with scams, Held became convinced of its potential after witnessing new use cases on alternative crypto platforms like Ethereum and Solana. He noted that DeFi could <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-powerful-defi-potential">introduce new users to bitcoin</a>, much like early adopters were drawn in through activities like Silk Road and speculation. &#8220;If DeFi could be unlocked on Bitcoin, it would be by far the biggest opportunity ever to happen in crypto,&#8221; Held said. Elsewhere, Held told Rizzo he does not see Bitcoin DeFi as a zero-sum game where Bitcoin replaces other blockchains entirely. “I think what will happen is that this just absorbs market share from the other ones significantly, but not totally, and that this increases Bitcoin&#8217;s dominance,&#8221; Held explained.&nbsp;



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cLbw2OZiIP8?si=IkR0bKigE-Nqzdnb" 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>







“I think <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-web3-defi-adoption">Bitcoin dominance</a> goes up if DeFi and Bitcoin gets unlocked…because in doing so, it locks up a lot of bitcoin. It also drives more demand to buy bitcoin. And so I think all of that&#8217;s good for Bitcoin,” he continued.&nbsp;



Held recently co-founded <a href="https://asymmetric.financial/">Asymmetric</a> with Joe McCann. The venture capital firm&#8217;s portfolio includes Bitcoin DeFi startups such as Liquidium, Fractal and BitLayer. The addition of DeFi opportunities to Bitcoin is not without its challenges. Held noted Bitcoin&#8217;s user experience must compete with Solana, which offers low-cost transactions. However, Held believes that Bitcoin&#8217;s L2 solutions will play a crucial role in enhancing user experience, offering performance similar to Ethereum and Solana. 



&#8220;I think there&#8217;s going to be this renaissance in the Bitcoin DeFi world [in 2025],&#8221; Held said.



Updated March 11, 2025 at 1:59 pm ET: Added mention of Asymmetric co-founder.



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Bitcoin DeFi key to unlocking $300T potential: Asymmetric Founder

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



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Right before the weekend kicked off — and in the middle of the White House Crypto Summit — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency clarified that, actually, banks could engage in some crypto activities.&nbsp;



What’s more, they don’t necessarily need to seek the okay from regulators before hopping into crypto.&nbsp;



It’s a big deal, but one that got lost in the sauce because we were a bit preoccupied with the executive order on the strategic bitcoin reserve and stockpile. Essentially, this was the first step that banks were waiting for.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeyL9KxuVxJ1MGDcKdjfJRMfuQZBsvYsX6ql5BDIix3SnrPYJw_yp45fVjaJv3qtl_T4QPUoRFiRF8U3lw3vTMbk2s4rmqvQzqVTd6s6jb7-B_ypZOBy9c1jb2jv4heeMrVCwCS?key=ad6T2Fh4Ptmmhj_iW6kXREw1" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">From the OCC’s <a href="https://occ.gov/news-issuances/bulletins/2025/bulletin-2025-2.html">statement</a> last week</figcaption></figure>



Pillsbury partner Brian Montgomery told me his clients — which include banks, financial institutions and the like — are excited. He spoke to me from a banking conference where OCC’s acting Comptroller Rodney Hood appeared, and Hood sounded “very eager” to open the avenue for banks.



Apparently, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan isn’t the only one considering a stablecoin either, as quite a few large national banks are mulling the idea, too.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“Some banks have wanted to be able to provide services in the digital asset space, and haven&#8217;t been able to do it. So I don&#8217;t know that the tone for banks has changed. I think the tone from regulators has been changing over the last several months,” Montgomery told me.



The thing is that the OCC’s statement only covers national banks. We’d need to see something similar on the federal level from the FDIC and even the Federal Reserve to actually change the stance of regulators, but Montgomery thinks it’s just a matter of time before everyone’s in alignment.&nbsp;



The timing could be a matter of months — specifically three to four months, though Montgomery was careful to note that the timeline is a bit speculative.&nbsp;



I should note <a href="https://x.com/s_lutz95/status/1899184113979949225">there are reports floating around</a> that suggest President Trump is mulling an executive order that would roll back some of the anti-crypto banking policies that the former administration put into place. Specifically, the EO would be expected to focus on the Federal Reserve’s policies and could be signed as soon as this week.



Either way, guidance could arrive in the next month or two. If this timeline works out, then it gives banks and regulators a cushion between letting financial institutions explore potential offerings and (hopefully) the passing of stablecoin regulation or other crypto regulation over in DC.&nbsp;



It’s not just stablecoins the banks are interested in, either. They’re also looking to custody crypto and provide banking services to crypto firms (which is a shift in tone from <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/is-crypto-early-in-the-cycle">Operation Chokepoint 2.0</a>).&nbsp;



“We&#8217;ve had to remind folks and think to ourselves that there are still state regulators out there that have a say in a lot of how this works, and so — whether it’s potential money transmission activity or state charter banks providing these services — it&#8217;s a positive step that the federal administration and federal regulators are moving in this direction. But that&#8217;s not always the end of the game. [We] need to be thinking about state regulation as well,” Montgomery explained.



It’ll be a “hurdle” given that not all state regulators are crypto friendly, but it’s nothing Montgomery is concerned about — just something that he’ll be mulling in further conversations with his clients.



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What the OCC’s tone shift means for banks adopting crypto

Jack Kubinec

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



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Solana-focused holding company Sol Strategies disclosed that it acquired Laine, Solana’s 65th largest individual validator. The acquisition adds another 1.5 million to Sol Strategies’ existing pile of 1.8 million delegated staked SOL — nearly doubling its position.&nbsp;



Sol Strategies has now acquired three Solana validator operators since its September <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-sol-strategies-rebrand">pivot into Solana</a>. The company’s biggest catch yet comes as a sizable cut to Solana validator revenue looks primed to pass a governance vote.&nbsp;



Sol Strategies is a publicly traded company in Canada whose business can fairly be called <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sol-strategies-is-solanas-microstrategy">Solana’s equivalent</a> of Michael Saylor’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/strategy-rebrand-and-2025-targets">bitcoin-buying Strategy</a>. Investors seeking regulated access to Solana can buy Sol Strategies stock, and Sol Strategies acquires SOL and runs validators. This service could be especially valuable for investors in the US, where SOL ETFs have been <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-sol-etfs-unlikely-to-be-approved-soon">slow to develop</a>. Sol Strategies is still only listed in Canada, however, though it has applied to be listed on the Nasdaq.



Laine founder Michael Hubbard was aqui-hired as Sol Strategies’ chief strategy officer as part of the deal. The company also gains access to stakewiz.com, a popular site for information about Solana validators.&nbsp;



Hubbard — who is an active member of Solana’s validator community — confirmed the hire in an X post Monday afternoon, casting the move as a way to “amplify [his] impact” on Solana.&nbsp;



As Sol Strategy doubles down on Solana staking, voting is underway and looking likely to pass <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-proposal-could-spook-institutions">for SIMD-0228</a>, a proposal to move Solana to a market-based inflation mechanism. The measure is meant to prevent Solana from overpaying for security, but the reduced SOL issuance will cut into validator revenue. I’d bet Hubbard will have SIMD-0228 landing on his desk in the new role.



As of Monday afternoon, 72% of Solana validator votes — including Laine’s and Sol Strategies’ — were cast in favor of SIMD-0228, while 23% were against and 5% abstained, according to a <a href="https://flipsidecrypto.xyz/MostlyData_/vote---simd28-proposal-wBAFS8">dashboard</a>.&nbsp;



In a message, Wald said the vote wouldn’t change the “fundamental demand” for SOL staking, and the potential approval of Solana ETFs could <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitwise-ceo-solana-ncredible-emerging-asset">create institutional inflows</a> that would reinforce demand for staking services. In the end, Wald thinks SIMD-0228 could help drive Solana’s “potential appreciation.”



“We see these shifts as an opportunity to solidify our role as the leading publicly traded Solana company, leveraging both organic growth through staking and inorganic expansion through strategic acquisitions,” Wald said.



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Sol Strategies nearly doubles Solana stake with Laine acquisition

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



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The White House crypto summit — not to be confused with the Blockworks <a href="https://blockworks.co/event/digital-asset-summit-2025-new-york/tickets">Digital Asset Summit</a> — dominated headlines on Friday. But as the dust settled over the weekend, crypto investors were left wondering what, if anything, was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/white-house-crypto-summit-flop">actually accomplished</a>.&nbsp;



The summit was closed-door, save for a 20-minute televised address <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/first-industry-crypto-summit">from Trump</a> and his top lieutenants.&nbsp;



A quick note: The public portion of the afternoon <a href="https://x.com/caseywagnerr/status/1898115012159586627">inexplicably</a> started with the unveiling of the 2026 World Cup trophy and remarks from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. We were just as confused as some of the executives in the room looked.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1206" height="1198" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-98506" style="width:759px;height:auto" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=1206 1206w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=150 150w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=259 259w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=263 263w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=220 220w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-14.58.35.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1206px) 100vw, 1206px" /></figure>



Trump later highlighted how different his approach to crypto is from his predecessor.&nbsp;



“My administration also is working to end the federal bureaucracy&#8217;s war on crypto, which was really going on pretty wildly during Biden,” Trump said.&nbsp;



Industry executives in attendance included Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, Michael Saylor of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) and the Winklevoss twins (who crypto czar David Sacks admittedly cannot tell apart. Join the club.).&nbsp;



Those hoping for an executive order, a bill draft, or a major announcement from the CFTC or SEC were disappointed. Industry members who attended the meeting were diplomatic in expressing their gratitude to the president for the invitation, but were light on any details of concrete plans. Perhaps because none were made.&nbsp;



Armstrong told reporters Friday afternoon that he feels “more confident” investing in Coinbase’s US business. He added that the company will be adding 1,000 stateside positions.&nbsp;



Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/senator-lummis-bitcoin-reserve-bill-crypto-policy">introduced a bill</a> last year to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve, was notably absent from the summit. She posted on X that she was under the weather. Sacks on Friday reiterated that the Trump team is looking for budget-neutral (i.e., without taxpayer money) ways to gain exposure to bitcoin. But, following Trump’s executive <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-establishes-the-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-and-u-s-digital-asset-stockpile/">order</a> Thursday night, no more details about <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-btc-reserve-mixed-reactions">the strategic bitcoin reserve</a> were revealed.&nbsp;



Even though apparently little happened at the White House on Friday, the president gathering industry execs is a major development. The Winklevoss twins apparently commented at the summit that just a year ago, they’d have sooner expected to be in jail than be a White House guest.&nbsp;



Rumor has it that there’s another closed-door meeting at the White House tomorrow, this one on the strategic bitcoin reserve. This gathering will not include industry executives and investors, people familiar with the matter told me.&nbsp;



The industry is also expecting more executive orders from the president, hopefully on topics like debanking the crypto industry. I’m being told any chatter about an EO declaring crypto capital gains tax-free are unsubstantiated rumors.



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Crypto summit without substance?

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



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I’d say it’s a good time for another Monday market check-in after bitcoin retreated below $80,000.



BTC’s {{BTC}} price at 2:10 pm ET: $78,100 (a 3% drop in 24 hours). Investors took $740 million out of the US spot bitcoin ETFs from March 3-7, marking the category’s fourth straight week of net outflows.



Some of the price dip could be attributed to the lack of new information at Friday’s crypto summit.&nbsp;



LMAX Digital’s Joel Kruger argued that current <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/btc-price-at-critical-juncture">crypto market weakness</a> is “more about a sell-the-news effect and overdue technical correction than anything else.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



But there’s more at play, of course, as uncertainty around the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/economic-strains-for-growth-outlook">US economy’s outlook</a> spurs a risk-off wave.



As YouHodler markets chief Ruslan Lienkha points out: Last year showed that bitcoin&#8217;s consolidation phase can last several months (even half a year) before the next upward move.&nbsp;



But, he argued, the current market environment presents more complexities.&nbsp;



“Pessimism has prevailed in the US stock market, and concerns about a potential recession in the US are growing,” Lienkha said in an email. “Given these factors, the current consolidation phase could evolve into a medium-term bearish market.”



Indeed, Donald Trump talked of a “period of transition” when <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/media/trump-us-experience-period-transition-economy-see-recession-year">asked</a> about a possible recession. The S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes were down 2.8% and 4.3% on the day, respectively, as of 2:10 pm ET.&nbsp;



Still, Kruger believes bitcoin is getting closer to finding a bottom before a recovery in Q2. And the asset “should be exceptionally well-supported” at the previous resistance area between $69,000 to $74,000.



Kruger previously told me BTC’s store-of-value narrative could help it break away from “misleading” correlations to traditional risk assets.



But Lienkha notes: “While bitcoin has the potential to evolve into a hedging asset in the future, it is currently perceived by investors as a high-risk asset, often reacting to broader market sentiment even more strongly than traditional financial markets.”



So we’ll be watching the stock market.&nbsp;



After the European Central Bank cut rates for a sixth time last week, industry watchers also continue to keep an eye on how economic data could impact the Federal Reserve’s rate-cutting cycle. And the ripple effect of that.



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A BTC check-in as price sinks below $80K 

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



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WolvesDAO’s gaming and AI token WOOF launched on Avalanche on Friday — and quickly crashed in price.&nbsp;



It went live around 10 am ET. Within two hours, it went from $0.041 to $0.009, according to its chart on GeckoTerminal.&nbsp;&nbsp;



That’s a 78% price dump in 120 minutes. Some on Crypto Twitter have <a href="https://x.com/Cody_Gains/status/1898743246085595457">accused</a> “insiders and organizers” of <a href="https://x.com/metacryptonian/status/1898787498681053575">selling</a> early and contributing to the quick price plunge.&nbsp;



Others, like investor and gaming influencer Jonah Blake, have <a href="https://x.com/RealJonahBlake/status/1898813327545106759">decided</a> to buy the token well after the fact because they like the team (and admittedly don’t care if they lose that money). Looking at the history of WOOF in its earliest hours on GeckoTerminal reveals that some “whales” did sell (wallets with over $10K in WOOF). I counted 10 whales selling between 10:18 am ET, shortly after the token launched, until 10:45 am the same day.&nbsp;



Together, they sold off about $143,000 worth of WOOF combined. Between 10:45 am and noon, two more whale wallets sold.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc9Gpm-Sl1HILeonnrkJmZiHcFBCUMKQv2RAsz9lVkRcJzt4bRYVCVgYFQgyp1strKUvsDmOjJ62UF68s4_Q3mZNilisLrPDPAgE3cG615Mi-3hil6SfAJeii9XAMzLwIKebupmjA?key=Zr8yAnNgVJNMw1HSe1Pg9yNZ" alt=""/></figure>



That’s not that much, though, considering its market cap was around $16 million at launch. There were also a lot of “dolphins” selling between $5K and $10K, too.



While there was a small rebound Friday afternoon, by Friday night the token’s price was more or less trending downward.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXepb_WITHj0NfPBHtIPKok0O-pHaxO6p3aSyHhkOw5oMYmRcRNj-kJyjCxlDYM6a3CwwP7H1Tj-KquO1QXaOT8PHn9PLcPLB8wF-GHz8Om_kfEDZpTn8PHpXKgOULgxDHcdtMoi?key=Zr8yAnNgVJNMw1HSe1Pg9yNZ" alt=""/></figure>



By Sunday afternoon, it hit the closest to zero it had ever been, at around $0.005, plummeting another 42% from Saturday to Sunday in a weekend selloff.



Thing is, this price action of a fast pump and then a long, painful decline toward zero has happened time and time again with memecoins.&nbsp;



But WOOF wasn’t intended to be a memecoin. Its price action and shifting sentiment so far reminds me of <a href="https://thedrop.beehiiv.com/p/what-happened-to-cgx">what happened</a> with another gaming-related token, CGX, which launched 18 days ago and is down about 84% from its all-time high.



WolvesDAO is an exclusive gaming-focused Discord server and community with about 300 members that has been around for years. The founders use their real names and have been around in the blockchain gaming space working with different projects or independently for a while.&nbsp;



One of the founders, Payton Kaleiwahea, has shared both publicly and previously with me how the token is going to be an access token for WolvesDAO’s <a href="https://x.com/WolvesDAO/status/1894475204803661980">upcoming AI agent</a> for blockchain gaming data searches. The agent will have access to “proprietary data” and could offer a better game discovery experience than Twitter or Google Search.&nbsp;



So why did the token fall so fast?



One self-described “Avax degen” <a href="https://x.com/lowcap_hunt3r/status/1898038089337245966">said</a> what I think is going on here: “WAKE UP. It&#8217;s not the project, it&#8217;s the market.”&nbsp;



Launching a token has been and will always be risky. It’s hard to get people out of the current memecoin mindset. You also have to really trust the team behind it, but even if the team is full of trustworthy, ethical people, it may not pan out financially (like so many of my NFTs from 2021).



KAITO was one of the tokens that bucked the trend recently. It’s been more resilient price-wise than other new tokens coming to market. But it’s down 30% in the past week.



But I also don’t blame people for selling part or all of their WOOF allocation. It’s difficult to really predict what the team, whales or holders are going to do, and selling part of an allocation or swapping it into stablecoins is one way to potentially de-risk with a low-cap coin.



I applied and was granted 40,000 WOOF. I’ve since swapped half into USDC on Avalanche, which was less than $300, with potential plans to swap that again at some point. I still have 20,000 WOOF in my wallet. It was worth another $300 a few days ago, but it’s now worth about $100.&nbsp;



I reached out to Wolves co-founders Kaleiwahea and Sam Steffanina for their thoughts on the token’s weekend action.



“We feel pretty decent all things considered, tough market and we missed the Avax meta by about 36 hours, so that sucks,” Steffanina told me in a DM. “That said, we’re building real products and have enough from presale to actually build the things we want to build, which was our main focus.”



Kaleiwahea added: “We are excited for what we are building with the AI agent and also for the companion app. People who believe in us, as the Wolves did, will have all my effort in bringing value to that decision.”



On Saturday, Kaleiwahea shared on Twitter that IRL events are planned <a href="https://x.com/paytkaleiwahea/status/1898467892292981106">next</a>: “You thought we would take off over the weekend? Lol, you will learn soon enough.”



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WolvesDAO’s WOOF token struggles after launch

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



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The much-hyped Trump crypto summit turned out to be a textbook PR exercise — big on optics, light on substance. While some viewed the event as a watershed moment, the reality is that we’re still very much in wait-and-see mode. Yes, it represents a break from the past administration’s overt hostility to crypto, but we knew that already. The US government is not buying your bags — <a href="https://t.co/Z0xkPZpRrY">nor should it</a> — but it’s also not buying someone else’s bags — maybe <a href="https://x.com/yeluacaM/status/1896688478022459497">a positive outcome</a>? Net net, as Impossible Cloud Network co-founder Kai Warwzinek bluntly put it: “While promising great change for crypto, the US president delivered almost nothing.”



The market got the message, and prices fell sharply in response. Avi Feldman and Jonah Van Bourg from the 1000x podcast were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz6Iq871PrM">flipping bearish</a> in real time, describing the session as an opportunity for “obsequious fawning” where attendees took turns “kissing the ring” of President Trump.



For those hoping that crypto’s political status in the US has fundamentally changed for the long term, the partisan nature of the embrace should be a red flag. There may be tangible progress stemming from Trump’s rhetorical shift, including an apparent end to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/operation-choke-point-2-0">Chokepoint 2.0</a>, a friendlier stance toward stablecoins, a vague nod to crypto at the Small Business Administration — this is all welcome. But to the extent the president sees this as an opportunity to make crypto a Republican issue, the relief could be short-lived.



Without real legislative progress in the next two years, most anything can be reversed just as quickly if Democrats retake power. And given the current state of left-leaning discourse on crypto, that’s exactly what would happen.



The left isn’t getting any sense of crypto’s utility or potential for society. It’s getting Rachel Maddow <a href="https://x.com/tftc21/status/1898052897075871808">comparing</a> Bitcoin to Beanie Babies. It’s getting Zeke Faux <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/03/09/nx-s1-5321407/trump-is-going-to-create-a-cryptocurrency-reserve-heres-how-that-would-actually-work">insisting</a> crypto is nothing but an offshore casino.



It’s always been mystifying why the Democratic establishment has bought into the Elizabeth Warren narrative that crypto is more or less solely a tool for criminals and tax cheats. Much of the cypherpunk ethos and expectations that crypto can disintermediate the big banks and Big Tech for the public’s benefit should resonate with progressives. But as long as that framing dominates, whatever promises Trump makes can be undone at the stroke of a pen.



The 119th Congress is on the clock, with probably 18 months to provide lasting legal clarity complementing executive regulatory moves. As an industry, crypto has about the same timespan to demonstrate its unambiguously useful role in the American economy. Without that, crypto will remain politically fragile.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">All hat, no cattle — or was it?</h2>



Don’t get me wrong; there were bright spots at the summit. The endorsement of stablecoins as a way to promote the US dollar is a pragmatic shift, and there’s general agreement that stablecoins are currently crypto’s best “killer app” calling card.



Revisiting IRS treatment of crypto could prove fruitful — something as simple as a <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/daily/issue/post_1d4e5507-08f6-479b-9ae5-f1d5dd4a7afe">de minimis exemption</a> on crypto transactions that shield small payments from capital gains tax would remove a major friction point.



In parallel, Texas’ passage of Senate Bill 21 last week — allowing the state to establish its own bitcoin reserve — is an example of how states can move forward even if Washington dithers, according to Harrison Seletsky, director of business development at SPACE ID.



“A year ago, none of us could have dreamed of this,” Seletsky told Blockworks, suggesting “Texas’ move could open the floodgates for other states to follow suit.”



But as for the Feds, for all the posturing about <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-btc-reserve-mixed-reactions">never selling the contents</a> of the new bitcoin stockpile, Trump himself clownishly undercut the idea on Friday.



“‘Never sell your Bitcoin’ is a little phrase that they say. I don’t know if they’re right or not — who the hell knows?” Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but well in line with the notion that his support — like much of his chaotic policymaking —&nbsp;is transactional in nature. In this case, responding to the incentives of the US’ broken political campaign finance system.



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Trump’s crypto summit: Fleeting gains or lasting change?

David Canellis

This is a segment from the Supply Shock newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://bitcoinhistorynl.beehiiv.com/">subscribe</a>.&nbsp;



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Bitcoin is writing history as we speak.&nbsp;



Blockworks’ newest podcast <a href="https://blockworks.co/podcast/supplyshock">Supply Shock</a> now actively <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/introducing-supply-shock-new-bitcoin-brand">connects the dots</a> between the current state of Bitcoin and its tumultuous timeline — all anchored by the unique perspective of its host Pete Rizzo, the Bitcoin Historian.



So, let’s get you up to speed with the three most memorable moments in Bitcoin from the past week:



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Uncle Diamond Hands</h2>



It’s happening: The US government officially holds bitcoin as a reserve asset.



Could last Thursday’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/03/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-establishes-the-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-and-u-s-digital-asset-stockpile/">executive order</a> have been more bullish? Maybe. The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve will, in the beginning, only hold bitcoin seized in criminal and civil cases — a list that presumably includes Silk Road, which Arkham <a href="https://intel.arkm.com/explorer/entity/usg">puts</a> at 198,109 BTC ($16.64 billion) in total, <a href="https://www.ainvest.com/news/government-allocate-88-000-btc-strategic-reserve-bitfinex-return-2503/">though it’s likely much less</a>.



That’s more than 40 times larger than the separate Digital Asset Stockpile to be composed of seized coins other than BTC, which today amount to about $419 million.



Still, the order authorized the Secretary and Commerce Secretaries to develop “budget-neutral strategies” to actively buy bitcoin in the future, as long as taxpayers don’t foot the bill. Key officials have already said they are actively exploring the idea through at least two government agencies.&nbsp;


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1194" height="1224" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-98483" style="width:522px;height:auto" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=1194 1194w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=293 293w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=999 999w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=251 251w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=255 255w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=214 214w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-11.55.23.png?w=78 78w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1194px) 100vw, 1194px" /></figure></div>


The same can’t be said for other cryptocurrencies — with the executive order stating the government will not acquire more assets for the Digital Asset Stockpile outside of forfeiture proceedings.&nbsp;



No. Second. Best.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">11th hour in Utah</h2>



The Utah Senate <a href="https://le.utah.gov/DynaBill/svotes.jsp?sessionid=2025GS&amp;voteid=2141&amp;house=S">passed</a> the Bitcoin-focused bill known as HB230 by a 19-7-3 vote on Friday — which should’ve allowed the state to create its own strategic bitcoin reserve.



Lawmakers pulled the key provision effectively at the last minute. Had they not, Utah might’ve become the first US state to actively buy bitcoin.



Initially, the bill had made room for the state treasury to invest up to 5% of certain funds into digital assets, including accounts related to state disaster recovery and income tax fund budgets, among others.



The catch: the treasury could’ve only bought coins with a market cap above $500 billion, averaged over the last year. Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that fits that definition right now, so the bill was largely considered a move towards a de facto strategic bitcoin reserve.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="942" height="1246" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-98517" style="width:639px;height:auto" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=942 942w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=227 227w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=774 774w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=194 194w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=197 197w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=166 166w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-03-10-at-16.56.03.png?w=60 60w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 942px) 100vw, 942px" /></figure>



There’s good news. The bill enshrined certain rights for Bitcoiners into law, including the right to mine, self-custody and run nodes. Other provisions allow for staking, including for coins other than bitcoin, while devs will be able build software on blockchain rails without shirking money transmitter laws.



All well and good. But at least the state bitcoin reserve dream is still alive in more than a dozen <a href="https://bitcoinlaws.io/reserve-race">states</a> including Arizona, Texas, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Florida and Georgia.&nbsp;



Five states have so far rejected related bills.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Hydro-powered by Bitcoin</h2>



The Kingdom of Bhutan is a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bhutan-btc-mining-operations">Buddhist Bitcoin whale</a> that’s been mining since as early as February 2021.



Last week, we were blessed with the first known interview with Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay about the kingdom’s mining operations, which aim to offset declining tourism revenue. “There are hundreds of people who have made billions of dollars on the back of Bitcoin. Why aren’t governments doing more?” Tobgay told Al Jazeera.&nbsp;



“We have used bitcoin for health — to provide free healthcare, for [the] environment. But these are minor. The main use of Bitcoin has been to finance the salaries of public servants.”



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wN6hMRqR43w?si=uqXN2ZFSuhQ4jvw_" 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>







A <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bhutan-btc-mining-operations">Blockworks analysis</a> last September found Bhutan was raking in up to $4.9 million BTC per day and in total had generated 27,727 BTC up until that point, valued at nearly $2.3 billion at current prices. At the time, the government may have netted around $578.5 million from selling its mined coins over time. Its wallets currently contain 10,635 BTC ($876 million), per <a href="https://intel.arkm.com/explorer/entity/druk-holding-investments">Arkham</a>.



And when asked whether the Bhutanese will one day make bitcoin offerings to Buddha, the outlet said that Tobgay thinks the world is “heading inevitably towards using and exchanging bitcoin just like any other currency.”



I couldn&#8217;t have said it better myself.



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Bitcoin has formally entered its sovereign state era

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



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An interesting dynamic is taking place in the market right now: Dinocoins are having a bit of a moment. 



In a research note from K33, analysts looked at why institutions favor “older, more established coins over the new shiny things with no track record.”



“This, in turn, is causing more interest among retail investors and traders for the familiar ‘boomer’ or ‘dino&#8217; coins.”



Some of this also comes from the fact that President Trump’s administration has changed the tide, and he’s effectively “given altcoins the institutional stamp of approval.”



“The typical (young) altcoin trader favors the latest trending DeFi token or the latest memecoin looking to cook a 100x run. In contrast, cautious long-term participants seek out what they perceive as safer bets,” the analysts wrote.&nbsp;



“The term “boomer” may be facetious, but it reflects how older, or at least more institutionally minded, investors are now firmly marking their territory in the crypto space. Such investors are more comfortable with assets that have weathered market cycles while being supported by entities that present in a professional manner.”



In fact, DOGE is included alongside coins like LTC, XRP and ADA, the analysts said. Though, let’s be fair: ADA and XRP have massive, heavily-focused (or obsessed depending on who you talk to) retail followings. That following is quite different from the institutions that are looking for altcoin exposure.&nbsp;



ADA, for example, has been dubbed a so-called Ethereum killer, but that narrative hasn’t quite played out. Though there are plenty of comments one could make about the state of Ethereum right now, so perhaps I’m speaking too soon.



Ironically, this also fits into what Dedic and Pomp said about founders: Folks are looking for coins that can survive the narratives.&nbsp;



Whether or not the use cases for some of these dinocoins have come to fruition, they’re still around and kicking and they’ve managed to gain a spotlight — not just a post from the president.&nbsp;



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Dinocoins are making a comeback: K33

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



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It’s still a tough market right now, as the post-White House summit euphoria wasn’t enough to carry us through the weekend.&nbsp;



But the mindset hasn’t changed for a lot of the folks I talk to — from analysts to venture capitalists — who still think the long-term outcome is bullish. And that’s led me to think about one group I haven’t really written about, outside of raise announcements: founders.&nbsp;



In this morning’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/podcast/empire/5fba0882-fc4f-11ef-9017-a37c51110493">episode of Empire</a>, Anthony Pompliano joined host Jason Yanowitz and the two discussed a variety of topics, though I, admittedly, perked up when listening to Pomp explain how he finds talent and operates as a founder.



Pomp said he looks for people who are running away from something rather than toward it. Basically, motivation is more built-in for folks who are seeking to either escape the norm or the situation they were in and build something different and perhaps better. At least, that’s the dream right?&nbsp;



“You want somebody who has a high propensity for action, you want somebody who is detail oriented,” and bonus points if they’re “borderline obsessive,” Pomp said.



When I spoke to Simon Dedic of Moonrock Capital last week, I asked him what advice he’s giving to founders. His big thing right now: telling folks to zoom out.



“Just focus on your vision, just keep building,” he added.&nbsp;



Ideally, the 5-10 year horizon should be the norm, and the payout when founders and projects get to that stage is larger than the pump we’re seeing now.&nbsp;



But another hurdle stands in the way for a lot of founders: chasing hype.&nbsp;



With crypto so narrative-driven at the moment, “VCs are often not better than the retailers out there,” Dedic told me. They’re also trying to capitalize on the hype of the moment and when we see market conditions that, well, suck, it makes everyone a bit more risk-averse —&nbsp;even if they’re long-term bullish.&nbsp;



The goal for founders who are actively building should be simple, Dedic noted. Create a solid project. Don’t get distracted by the fartcoins or random memecoin mania that don’t even have a five month timeline much less a five year timeline.&nbsp;



While both Pomp and Dedic spoke about founders and to founders, it seems to me that their way of thinking is relevant to anyone trying to survive in cryptoland. Just keep swimming, right?



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How founders should approach this market

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



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The Solana world has worked itself into a frenzy over SIMD-0228, a proposal to change Solana’s inflation mechanism. It’s either a ploy to <a href="https://x.com/solblaze_org/status/1897466559112581409">destroy</a> Solana’s decentralization or will only <a href="https://x.com/MaxResnick1/status/1897675394976723301">fail</a> to pass due to CIA-style sabotage.



I was sure voting on the proposal would be pushed back, but as far as I can tell, voting is still slated to begin in Solana epoch 753 at around 8:30 pm ET.&nbsp;



Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz, Blockworks Research data lead Dan Smith, and yours truly broke the proposal down in this week’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTpHMBoTjuE">Lightspeed podcast roundup episode</a>. SIMD-0228 proponents say Solana is overpaying for security and market-based mechanisms are more efficient, while <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-proposal-could-spook-institutions">detractors say</a> the reduction of issuance rewards could centralize the network’s power.&nbsp;



My editors tell me I need to add analysis to my reporting on the news, however, so I’ll give you my take.&nbsp;



Although network centralization is a concern — MEV tips will contribute proportionately more REV, so Jito will <a href="https://x.com/whosknave/status/1897010713031578050">have</a> relatively more power, for instance — what’s more important is that Solana doesn’t lose the scrappy pragmatism that made it so popular in the first place. Issuance is probably too high, and validator revenue should start coming from real value creation in the form of MEV and priority fees. SIMD-0228 should probably pass.



We’ll have more to say on that next week, but I think there’s an even more interesting conversation to be had around SIMD-0096, a move to stop burning half of Solana priority fees that was <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-update-liquid-staking-tokens">implemented in February</a>. Since 100% of the fees now go to validators, Solana’s inflation has climbed a bit — from 3.7% to 4.6% on an annualized basis, Blockworks Research analyst Carlos Gonzalez Campo told me on this week’s <a href="https://youtu.be/GTpHMBoTjuE">other Lightspeed podcast episode</a>.&nbsp;



That’s a predictable outcome. But what I found interesting is how unpredictable parts of the response to SIMD-0096 going live has been.



If users and validators were perfectly rational, then users should have started paying fewer priority fees, Campo said. That’s because Solana removed what was essentially a 50% tax on fee revenue, so validators could charge half as much for fees while generating as much revenue as before. But so far, priority fees have stayed constant — perhaps indicating that competition between users isn’t putting downward pressure on priority fees.



On top of this, validator revenue from priority fees was proportionately lower after SIMD-0096 than it had been previously. Users made proportionately more use of MEV tips, and validators couldn’t get them to switch to paying priority fees instead. All of this is a little early to extrapolate absolute trends from, but it’s still interesting to note.  Campo offered an interesting goalpost for SIMD-0096’s success: a reduction in the number of transaction processing units on Solana. TPUs are out of protocol services for transaction inclusion, and their proliferation adds developer complexity and overhead cost. SIMD-0096 — which was first pitched as a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-validators-tackle-side-deals">way to prevent side deals</a> — could prevent new TPUs from coming to the network.



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