It’s Much More Than the Presidency 🗳️
In today’s edition: 🚀 Bitcoin ETFs hit $5B daily volume, 📉 Circle hikes USDC fees, 😮 Laura Shin's big reveal, and more!
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Unchained founder Laura Shin published an opinion piece in Time, titled Kamala Harris Shouldn’t Just Embrace Crypto. She Must Help It Flourish, in which she revealed her political stance. Give it a read! Also, take a look at her thread on X.
It’s Not Just the Presidency. Congressional Races Matter a Lot for Crypto
The Congressional races hold significant implications for crypto regulation, with key committees, influential members, and the potential for bipartisan support all impacting the industry’s future.
With the presidential race in the spotlight, it’s easy to overlook the powerful role that Congress could play in shaping crypto policy in the coming years. From committee chairs to legislative allies, crypto advocates are keenly focused on the outcome of key Congressional races. Kristin Smith of the Blockchain Association and Alex Grieve of Paradigm join us today to break down which races and committees are critical for crypto, why the industry is more visible in Washington than ever, and what the chances are for lame duck legislation this year.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
What’s Poppin’?
by Tikta and Veronica Irwin
Crypto Council for Innovation Expands Global Reach With New Partnerships
The crypto advocacy group is also adding a new advisor and increasing its expertise in crypto staking.
Bitcoin ETFs Record $5 Billion in Daily Volume as Inflows Top $870 Million
Spot ETFs for the “OG” cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, had their strongest day of inflows since early June.
Circle Raises USDC Redemption Fees Again Even as Market Share Declines
The move from stablecoin issuer Circle comes amid concerns that higher fees harm USDC’s appeal for use in trades.
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Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍
🐙 Kraken’s decision to build on Optimism’s OP Stack for its new layer 2 network, Ink, followed a 25 million OP token grant worth around $42.5 million, aligning Kraken with other “Superchain” projects such as Coinbase's Base and Sony's Soneium.
🔻 ConsenSys, the developer behind MetaMask, announced a 20% workforce reduction due to economic pressures and regulatory uncertainties, offering affected staff enhanced severance and extended stock options.
🚪 dYdX CEO Antonio Juliano also reduced the workforce of dYdx by 35% to realign the company’s focus after a challenging year for the onchain derivatives exchange, amidst growing competition from rivals such as Hyperliquid.
🔓 Tapioca DAO successfully executed a counter-hack to recover $2.7 million in ether from a hacker who initially exploited the DeFi platform for $4.7 million, partially mitigating investor losses.
📈 VanEck began offering regulated SOL staking through a new partnership with Kiln, giving European investors access to Solana staking rewards amid growing interest in altcoin ETFs.
🔗 Swell announced a transition from Polygon to Optimism’s OP Stack for developing its layer 2 rollup, integrating with the Superchain ecosystem and allocating sequencer revenue to the Optimism Collective.
🍸 Crypto trading firm DWF Labs dismissed a partner following allegations of drink spiking in Hong Kong, stating it is investigating the incident.
🐕 Three Arrowz Capitel, a spin-off resembling the defunct hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, invested heavily in volatile memecoins, sparking allegations of pump-and-dump tactics amid low liquidity and sharp price drops for its token acquisitions.
⚡ Stacks activated its anticipated “Nakamoto” upgrade to improve transaction speeds and make the transactions “as irreversible as Bitcoin's,” laying the groundwork for the launch of sBTC later this year.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
🌍 Solana-based AgriDex integrated with Stripe's Bridge stablecoin solution, enabling cost-effective cross-border payments in the agricultural sector, allowing transactions to be settled in USDC on Solana's blockchain.
☁️ Google Cloud partnered with Mantra Chain as its primary infrastructure provider and validator, enhancing Mantra’s RWA-focused blockchain operations. The two organizations are also collaborating on an accelerator program for blockchain innovation, set for early 2025.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 1.7%, trading at $72,338
ETH is up 1.9%, trading at $2,682
BTC dominance: 56.21%
Crypto market cap: $2.55T
*All data as of today, 06:50 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
Recommended Reads
Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise, on whether the U.S. dollar need to collapse for bitcoin to hit $200,000
Tim Robinson, head of crypto research at BlueYard Capital, on why he thinks that blobs are “insanely bullish for ETH long term”
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