Insider Move? 🤨
Plus, 🚧 A16z protects its name, 🚨 Insider trading allegations at Aerodrome, 🪙 Bitcoin in the Mormon belt, and more!
Happy hump day! I’m Juan Aranovich, managing editor of Unchained.
In today’s edition:
🔥 Trump-linked MOVE purchase raises eyebrows
👊 AI16z rebrands after push from a16z
🚨 Aerodrome suspends two over VVV trades
🏛️ Utah moves closer to Bitcoin reserve
📈 Cboe BZX files for Solana ETFs
🐶 More ETF action with Dogecoin fund bid
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What’s Poppin’?
By Sage D. Young and Tikta
Trump’s Crypto Project Buys MOVE as DOGE News Leaks
Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial scooped up MOVE, the native digital token of the Movement blockchain, minutes before a report that the project might be discussing blockchain use with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, a development that drove its price around 20% higher on Tuesday.
Blockchain data showed that a crypto wallet address linked to Trump’s decentralized finance project bought about $2 million of the tokens as the price was climbing.
The timing prompted some commenters on social media to wonder aloud whether the transaction was a case of “inside buying.”
Ai16z to Rebrand After Request From VC Firm a16z
Decentralized autonomous organization AI16z, which integrates artificial intelligence into treasury management and investment, will change its name following a request from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z.
A16z Crypto managing partner Chris Dixon revealed the request in the latest episode of Unchained.
“We were not connected with AI16z,” Dixon said. “I believe they are in the process of changing [their name]. We’ve asked them to. It just was creating a little bit of confusion.”
A spokesperson for a16z confirmed by email that by “we,” Dixon had meant a16z, not a16z crypto.
Aerodrome Suspends Two Over Alleged VVV Insider Trading
DeFi protocol Aerodrome Finance suspended two contributors over their alleged insider trading of Venice AI’s VVV token at its launch.
Venice AI is a privacy-focused artificial intelligence project created by crypto entrepreneur Erik Voorhees.
“The timing of a small percentage of the trading activity around the VVV launch was flagged by internal monitoring in less than 30 minutes — triggering an internal investigation,” the Aerodrome team said on X.
Two contributors identified as a result of that investigation were suspended within three hours of VVV’s launch, Aerodrome said.
The VVV token amassed a fully diluted value of $1.65 billion a little over two hours after launching.
“Really appreciate Aerodrome's transparency on this,” Voorhees said. “They reached out and let us know when they found out. Been great to work with them.”
Utah Moves to Adopt Bitcoin as Strategic Reserve
The Utah House Committee on Tuesday approved a bill to adopt Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, making Utah the second U.S. state to push forward with plans for a BTC strategic reserve after Arizona.
Arizona’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act was passed by its Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 27 and will now move to the Senate Rules Committee for final debate and amendments. Approval by the Senate would send the bill to the House of Representatives.
Utah’s bill is awaiting a Senate vote and, if passed, will allow the state to invest certain public funds in qualifying digital assets. State treasurers will also be authorized to stake and lend those assets under certain conditions.
The move comes on the heels of earlier crypto-related regulatory developments in Utah. In 2019, the state enacted amendments to the Money Transmitter Act, providing specific definitions and regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
That legislation clarified that blockchain tokens are not classified as money transmissions under Utah law, exempting several crypto firms from certain licensing requirements.
Cboe BZX Reapplies for Four Solana ETFs
Cboe BZX Exchange on Tuesday refiled 19b-4 applications for four Solana exchange-traded funds — the VanEck Solana Trust, the Canary Solana Trust, the Bitwise Solana ETF, and the 21Shares Core Solana ETF.
The resubmissions come after previous applications for the ETFs were reportedly rejected by the Gary Gensler-led U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year.
The new applications aim to address the issues that led to the earlier rejections and are part of a broader effort to gain approval for investment vehicles that would provide investors with direct exposure to SOL.
If the SEC acknowledges the filings, it will begin a formal review process, including a public comment period with the filings published in the Federal Register.
Bitwise Files for Dogecoin ETF
Bitwise Asset Management on Tuesday applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a spot Dogecoin exchange-traded fund.
The Jan. 28 S-1 filing follows Bitwise’s registration of a Dogecoin trust in Delaware earlier this month — the first step towards setting up the ETF.
The S-1 was filed under the Securities Act of 1933, which is typically used for niche commodity-based ETFs. Funds structured under the act often have fewer regulatory constraints, which can make them more flexible but also increase perceptions that they are riskier.
Bitwise has proposed Coinbase Custody as the custodian for the ETF, a common choice among crypto ETF issuers.
DOGE was trading at around $0.32 as of 6:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, down by about 1.3% in the previous 24 hours.
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Chris Dixon on Why We Will Finally See New App Innovation in Crypto
According to a16z crypto’s managing partner Chris Dixon, crypto innovation has been stifled by bad policy, but the tide is turning.
Chris Dixon, founder and managing partner of a16z crypto, joins Unchained to share why he believes crypto innovation is about to explode. From Ethereum’s potential to new crypto legislation, Chris delves into why the industry is poised for a major breakout.
He also discusses why the Biden administration’s “lawfare campaign” led to the memecoin craze, how AI and crypto together could transform technology, and why bad tech policy stifled the industry for years.
Plus, he shares his take on the executive order signed by President Donald Trump and its significance for the industry.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍
🎓 Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler is returning to MIT to teach artificial intelligence, shifting his focus from crypto regulation to AI risks and policy as global competition in AI innovation, particularly from China, intensifies.
🔄 Blockchain project Symbiotic on Tuesday launched the first fully permissionless restaking protocol on Ethereum, allowing users to enhance capital efficiency by securing multiple networks with the same staked assets while implementing robust security features.
⚖️ French prosecutors expanded their probe of Binance, investigating alleged money laundering and tax fraud across the European Union between 2019 and last year, as the exchange vowed to fight the charges in court.
📈 Ethereum’s active addresses surged 37% to 575,000, driven by renewed institutional interest, DeFi engagement, and growing transaction volume as competition with Solana in layer 1 adoption heats up.
🛡️ Crypto venture firm Paradigm committed $1.25 million to Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s legal defense, saying that his prosecution for building privacy-preserving open-source software sets a dangerous precedent.
🎭 DogWifTools, a token bundling tool often used by memecoin scammers, was exploited for $10 million, with attackers draining hot wallets, hardware wallets, and even centralized exchange accounts by keylogging private keys and credentials from users’ devices.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
🇨🇿 Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl proposed allocating up to 5% of the bank’s $146 billion reserves to bitcoin, arguing that diversification and rising institutional adoption make BTC a viable investment, despite acknowledging its volatility and potential for a total collapse.
🇦🇷 Coinbase secured regulatory approval in Argentina, allowing it to expand services, integrate local payment methods, and operate fully within the country’s legal framework after first launching crypto-to-crypto trading there in 2019.
The $$$ Corner…
💰 YZi Labs, rebranded from Binance Labs, invested $16 million in token distribution platform Sign, marking its first deal since ex-Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao resumed a major role in Web3- and AI-focused investments.
🚀 Layer 1 network developer Pod closed $10 million to develop a “consensusless” layer 1 blockchain, promising transaction speeds as fast as a Google search by eliminating traditional consensus mechanisms, with backing from venture capital firms a16z and 1kx, alongside research organization Flashbots.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down 0.3%, trading at $102,312
ETH is down 1.8%, trading at $3,118
BTC dominance: 56%
Crypto market cap: $3.62T
*All data as of today, 07:47 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
Recommended Reads
Washington Post: Opinion by Vlad Tenev, the chief executive and co-founder of Robinhood Markets | An investing revolution is coming. The U.S. isn’t ready for it.
Bloomberg: Trump Memecoin Likely Generated at Least $11 Million in Fees, Analysis Shows
Why did I quit in 2022 by Andre Conje, co-founder of Sonic Labs
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