U-Turn on the Silk Road ⤴️
Plus, 🐂 Buterin’s bullish new X pic, 🎁 Obol prepares to drop, 🌇 Coinbase to sunset USDT? And more!
Welcome to Wednesday! I’m Juan Aranovich, managing editor of Unchained.
In today’s edition:
🆓 Jailed Silk Road founder walks
🐂 The meaning of Buterin’s Milady NFT
🎁 Obol’s token airdrop approaches
⚖️ Coinbase floats delisting USDT
⚡ “Crypto Mom” takes charge of SEC task force
🦻 Trump professes ignorance of memecoin’s rise
🌐 Crypto.com’s latest U.S. launch
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What’s Poppin’?
By Veronica Irwin, Sage D. Young and Tikta
Donald Trump Frees Silk Road Founder
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday evening that he had given Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht a full pardon.
The anonymous dark web marketplace, which became popular primarily for the trading of illicit goods, became one of the first use cases for Bitcoin.
“I just called the mother of Ross William Ulbright [sic] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross,” Trump posted on his social media site, Truth Social. “The scum that worked to convict him were some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of the government against me. He was given two life sentences, plus 40 years. Ridiculous!”
Ulbricht was convicted in 2015 and given a double-life sentence without the possibility of parole for drug trafficking crimes, conspiracy to commit computer hacking and money laundering in connection with the site, which was used by more than 100,000 people to buy and sell $214 million of illegal drugs and illicit services.
Prosecutors alleged that Ulbricht had solicited the murders of people he saw as threats to his business, although he was not charged over the alleged plots and no evidence was presented that anyone had been killed.
Vitalik Buterin’s NFT Profile Change Spurs Talk of ‘Wartime Mode’
A simple change of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s social media profile picture has sparked optimism among members of the blockchain’s community that he might be stepping into a more active leadership role at the ostensibly decentralized network.
Buterin recently chose an NFT from the Ethereum-based Milady Maker collection as the avatar for his accounts on X and Farcaster. (Blockchain data suggest that a Buterin wallet address acquired the NFT as recently as last Saturday)
X users have hailed the Miladys collection as representative of the “cypherpunk ethos,” and interpreted the move by Buterin as a sign that he’s moving into “wartime mode” as concerns mount that Ethereum might be lacking in direction or lagging in progress relative to competing networks such as Solana and Bitcoin.
Obol Collective, Focused on Decentralizing Ethereum Staking, Nears Token Airdrop Launch
Obol Collective, an infrastructure project known for distributed validator technology, is nearing the launch of its first airdrop, through which it will distribute 37.5 million tokens, or 7.5% of the total supply, to several parties in its ecosystem.
On Tuesday, the airdrop checker for people to see their allocation went live, with claims opening up on Friday, Obol Association CEO Thomas Heremans told Unchained.
The airdrop has three allocations: 40% is earmarked for contribution holders who have staked and provided capital to Obol, and 30% is dedicated to all the operators that are part of Obol’s decentralized operator ecosystem. The remaining portion is for solo stakers and Rocket Pool node operators.
Coinbase to Delist USDT in the U.S. if New Laws Required
Crypto exchange Coinbase will delist Tether-issued stablecoin USDT from its U.S. trading platform if it falls out of compliance with new legislation, CEO Brian Armstrong said in an interview at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos.
Coinbase delisted USDT in Europe after new stablecoin rules under the Markets in Crypto-Asset Regulations (MiCA) came into effect last month.
Offshore stablecoins such as USDT could be banned in the U.S. if proposed stablecoin regulations introduced in the Senate move forward. Although two bills have been introduced, neither has moved forward.
Coinbase is a shareholder of Tether’s rival, Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin. Both Coinbase and Circle continue to share revenue from USDC reserves interest, based on the amount of USDC held on their respective platforms.
SEC Forms Crypto Task Force Led by Hester Peirce
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has formed a new crypto task force to develop a regulatory framework for the sector, which has long been asking for clearer rules.
The task force will be led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, nicknamed “Crypto Mom" on account of her pro-crypto stance.
It will focus on drawing clear regulatory lines, providing “realistic” paths to registration, and crafting “sensible” disclosure frameworks.
The formation of the task force follows the appointment of Mark Uyeda as acting SEC chair after the departure of Gary Gensler, who took a notoriously tough approach to crypto regulation.
“Clarity regarding who must register, and practical solutions for those seeking to register, have been elusive,” the regulator said. “The result has been confusion about what is legal, which creates an environment hostile to innovation and conducive to fraud. The SEC can do better.”
Trump ‘Didn’t Know Much’ About TRUMP Memecoin
President Donald Trump launched one of the most viral memecoins ever last week, but seemingly wasn’t aware of just how well it performed.
“I don't know much about it other than I launched it,” he said during a White House press conference on Tuesday. “I heard it was very successful. I haven’t checked it, where is it today?”
When told that the memecoin had generated several billion dollars during the previous few days, Trump said that “several billion” was “peanuts for these guys,” referring to billionaire Big Tech CEOs seated in front of his cabinet nominees.
The launch of the TRUMP coin sparked an angry reaction on Crypto Twitter, with users criticizing Trump for being involved with “shitcoins” and slamming the whole exercise as unseemly as analysts raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
The price of TRUMP dropped 19% from an intraday high of $48.17 to a low of $38.85 following his comments. At press time, it was trading at around $41, still up more than 527% since its launch.
Crypto.com Launches U.S. Institutional Crypto Platform
Singapore-based Crypto.com has launched an institutional-grade cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S.
The Crypto.com Exchange, as it is known, will offer more than 300 crypto tokens and 480 trading pairs.
Geared towards institutional and advanced traders, the new platform will feature deep global liquidity and ultra-low latency.
Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek said that since the firm’s initial test of a U.S. version of its platform in 2022, it had invested significantly in technological capabilities and banking rails.
The launch came just one day after the inauguration of President Donald Trump and roughly a month after Marszalek reportedly met with him at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida.
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🚫 A U.S. District Court reversed sanctions on Tornado Cash, declaring that the Treasury Department overstepped its authority, causing TORN’s price to surge over 140%, reigniting debates over software classification under U.S. sanctions laws.
🔄 Uniswap Labs announced that v4 deployment will begin this week, introducing a “singleton” liquidity architecture for faster transactions and lower gas fees, alongside modular “hooks” and a flash accounting system for enhanced efficiency, with full deployment expected by next week.
🎁 Jupiter will airdrop around $600 million in JUP tokens today as part of its annual “Jupuary” event, distributing 700 million tokens.
⚖️ United Arab Emirates-based crypto services firm CLS Global pleaded guilty to wash trading on Uniswap following an FBI sting operation, agreeing to pay $428,059 in fines and seized crypto while facing a ban on U.S.-accessible trading platforms.
💰 MicroStrategy shareholders approved the issuance of billions of new shares, increasing the stock float to 10.3 billion from 330 million to fund its bitcoin purchases, enabling the company to maintain its 21/21 strategy — raising US$21 billion of equity capital and US$21 billion of fixed-income capital to acquire more BTC — and expand its 461,000 BTC holdings, worth $50 billion.
🔥 Decentralized perpetual exchange Hyperliquid recorded a $22 billion 24-hour trading volume, surpassing its previous record, driven by volatile trading in Donald Trump-linked memecoins.
💵 Pseudonymous crypto scam hunter ZachXBT cashed out nearly $4 million from a memecoin unexpectedly dropped to his Solana wallet, adding liquidity before selling and transferring 16,000 SOL, while reflecting on prioritizing financial rewards after years of unpaid contributions to the crypto community.
📈 Solana’s stablecoin supply has surged 57% since Donald Trump dropped his memecoin, TRUMP, adding $3.5 billion in three days.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
📱 Telegram partnered exclusively with TON Foundation to make TON the sole blockchain infrastructure for its mini-app ecosystem, mandating developers to migrate by Feb. 21, with grants of up to $50,000 offered for assistance in the transition across Telegram’s 950 million monthly active users.
The $$$ Corner…
💳 Circle purchased tokenized asset issuer Hashnote, integrating its $1.3 billion USYC token with USDC to merge yield-bearing collateral with stablecoin liquidity while partnering with crypto trading firm Cumberland DRW and expanding USDC to the institutions-focused Canton Network.
✈️ Solana blockchain-powered flight tracker Wingbits closed $5.6 million in a funding round led by venture firms Borderless Capital and Bullish Capital to develop a decentralized physical infrastructure network-based aviation tracking system that rewards users for securing flight data through automatic dependent surveillance broadcast receivers.
🇦🇪 GRVT, a ZKsync-based hybrid crypto exchange, raised $5 million from Abu Dhabi-backed Further Ventures, expanding its total funding to $14.3 million.
🤖 Crypto exchange Tokenize Xchange acquired Coinseeker for $30 million, tapping its AI-powered analytics and blockchain insights to enhance Tokenize’s operations.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 0.9%, trading at $105,324
ETH is up 0.4%, trading at $3,313
BTC dominance: 55.12%
Crypto market cap: $3.79T
*All data as of today, 07:52 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
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