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WE-Launch
This Week in Review | Binance Reports Employee "Front-Running"; Hyperliquid Faces Another Attack, Performs "Pulling the Plug" Self-Rescue
BlockBeats will curate key industry news of the week (3.24-3.30) in this article, and recommend in-depth articles to help readers better understand the market and industry trends.
Important News Recap
Hyperliquid Vault Faces Whale Attack, Exchange Lists $JELLYJELLY Contract to "Assist" Whale, Hyperliquid Emergency Token Delisting
On the evening of March 26, an address opened a long position of 2.5 billion $JELLYJELLY tokens on Hyperliquid at a price of 0.0095. Ten minutes later, another address opened a 3.98 billion $JELLYJELLY short position on Hyperliquid perpetual futures, while also buying $JELLYJELLY spot on-chain to artificially inflate the $JELLYJELLY spot price, remove margin from the short position, trigger HLP's liquidation mechanism, where, in the event of a $JELLYJELLY price drop, HLP will use Hyperliquid Vault funds during liquidation to act as a counterparty and inherit the short position. The whale address continued to buy back $JELLYJELLY, causing a price surge due to low liquidity. At this point, HLP held a passive short position of 3.98 billion $JELLYJELLY tokens, resulting in HLP losing nearly $12 million.
OKX and Binance announced the listing of JELLYJELLY perpetual contracts, further boosting the token's price, challenging the Hyperliquid Treasury. However, as a DEX, Hyperliquid also identified this suspicious market activity and quickly claimed to have passed a validator vote to decide to delist the JELLY perpetual contract. Except for the marked address, all user losses will be fully compensated by the Hyper Foundation. By settling the on-chain activity directly at a price of $0.0095, Hyperliquid ultimately did not lose any funds and even profited $700,000 in this settlement. Related Readings: "Hyperliquid Under Attack Again, 'Unplugging the Network Cable' Saves $200 Million | Timeline", "Hyperliquid 'Unplugged Network Cable' Forced Settlement: TVL Sees Sharp Decline, Significant USDC Outflow Trend", "Hyperliquid in a Desperate Struggle: Tripartite Game, Winner Takes All"
GPT-4o Introduces Image Generation Feature This Week, Ghibli-Style Images Go Viral, Namesake Meme Coin Skyrockets
On March 26, GPT-4o's image generation feature was officially launched and will be gradually rolled out to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Team, and free users. Several celebrities such as Musk, Ultraman, CZ, and others posted Ghibli-themed AI images on X platform. The namesake meme's market value surged, briefly exceeding $40 million. GPT-4o is an "Omni" model. In addition to text data, OpenAI has also trained it on image data and even audiovisual data, enabling it to understand all these forms of media and their similarities and generate the specified media based on user prompts without relying on any external models. Related reads: "$Ghibli Moonshot 100x in Half a Day, GPT-4o's New Feature Sweeps the 'Miyazaki Style' Across the Web", "$Ghibli Hits New High in Market Cap, Ghibli 'Off-Chain CEOs' in Panic"
Polymarket's $7 Million Pool Misjudged Due to an "Attack," Correct Bettors Face Loss, Polymarket Refuses Compensation
On March 25, a user manipulated Polymarket's prediction event on the "Ukraine Rare Earth Market" by hijacking the UMA oracle. In reality, both the US and Ukraine have not yet reached an agreement on the trade, so the actual outcome of this prediction should be "no." However, the user had previously placed a large bet on the "yes" prediction and, to avoid losing funds, manipulated the UMA oracle's outcome, causing Polymarket's $7 million pool to provide an incorrect verdict due to the "attack," leading to financial losses for the correct bettors.
Polymarket's official statement on the matter indicated that they had identified the circumstances surrounding the "Ukraine Rare Earth Market" prediction event but deemed it not a market failure and therefore will not issue refunds. Related read: "Polymarket's $7 Million Pool Misjudged Due to an "Attack," Correct Bettors Face Loss"
Binance Reports Insider Trading Complaint by Employee: Suspended and Legal Action to Be Taken, Awards $100,000 to Four Whistleblowers
On March 25, Binance Wallet stated that Binance's internal audit team received a complaint alleging that an employee engaged in insider trading using confidential information for front-running trades. The preliminary investigation yielded the following results: 1. Investigation Findings: The employee had previously held a business development position at BNB Chain before joining the Binance Wallet team. Leveraging information obtained from the previous role, the employee purchased a particular project's token in advance and swiftly sold it at a substantial profit following the project's announcement. This behavior violated company policy and constituted front-running based on non-public information. 2. Disciplinary Action: The employee has been suspended pending further disciplinary action. Binance will actively cooperate with relevant authorities and take appropriate legal action. 3. Whistleblower Rewards: Binance encourages community oversight and rewards valid information reported through official channels. A total of $100,000 in rewards has been distributed to four whistleblowers. For future leads, the community can continue to submit through official channels. Binance is committed to enhancing internal controls to ensure transparency, fairness, and integrity, safeguarding a secure trading environment.
On March 27, according to official sources, uDEX announced the completion of the first batch of token burns, with 37.2% of the UUU token's total supply being burned. Related reading: "Binance First Publicly Handled Insider Trading, How Should the Industry Respond to Front Running?", "Binance Employee Front Running Evidence Confirmed, Faces Legal Consequences for Losing $110,000"
Trump Announces 25% Tariff on All Imported Cars; May Also Impose Around 20% Tariff on the EU with No Exemptions or Exceptions
On March 27, U.S. President Trump issued a statement announcing a 25% tariff on all imported cars. The tariff will take effect on April 2. Trump stated that the car tariff will be permanent. U.S. officials say the tariff is expected to generate over $100 billion in additional annual revenue. The 25% car tariff is imposed on top of the existing tariff (usually 2.5%). On the same day, the EU expects that as part of President Trump's "equivalent tariff" plan to be announced on April 2, the tariff rates for the entire EU will reach double digits. According to sources, the U.S. plans to adopt a uniform tariff rate for the EU, rather than setting differentiated standards for member countries. This week, EU Trade Commissioner Sevkovic expects Trump to impose around a 20% tariff on the EU next week. Additionally, the U.S. has not indicated that there will be any exemptions or exceptions.
Trump Has Pardoned BitMEX's Three Co-Founders
On March 29, according to CNBC, President Trump has pardoned the three co-founders of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX. These three co-founders—Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed—had previously pleaded guilty to a series of federal criminal charges related to money laundering and operating an unlicensed exchange. Reed pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act and agreed to pay a $10 million fine. Previously, prosecutors accused these individuals of essentially operating BitMEX as a "money laundering platform" and stated that their claims of exiting the U.S. market were "false."
Binance Announces First Batch of Coin Listing Vote Results, MUBARAK, BROCCOLI714, TUT, and BANANAS31 Listed with Seed Tags
On March 28, based on the voting results and due diligence, Binance has listed Mubarak (MUBARAK), CZ'S Dog (BROCCOLI714), Tutorial (TUT), and Banana For Scale (BANANAS31) for spot trading as of March 28, 2025, 05:00 (UTC+8). Tokens that were not listed in the first batch of the vote-to-list pool will still be considered for listing in the future but must undergo ongoing performance evaluations and comprehensive due diligence.
Binance Wallet Launches Particle and KiloEx TGE Events This Week, Overfunding by Hundreds of Times, Subscription Limit Set at 3 BNB Each
On March 25, Binance Wallet will partner with PancakeSwap to hold an exclusive TGE event for ParticleNetwork (PARTI). This event saw a total of 326,963 BNB invested, distributing 1% of the total PARTI tokens, with a one-hour investment period aiming to raise 1994.99 BNB. The overfunding reached 163.89 times the target. On the 27th, Binance Wallet once again launched the KiloEx TGE on PancakeSwap, with a 3 BNB subscription limit. The event had a two-hour investment period, with approximately 442,900 BNB (280 million USD) subscribed. The project aimed to raise 1213.94 BNB, surpassing the target by over 36491%. Prior to this, according to the official announcement, KiloEx's token sale offered 50 million tokens, accounting for 5% of the total supply, priced at 0.015 USD per token (calculated in BNB), with a total fundraising amount of 750,000 USD (calculated in BNB).
Binance Issues Violation Handling Measures for Movement (MOVE) Market Makers
On March 25, Binance released the "Movement (MOVE) Project Market Maker Market Violation Handling Measures," confirming that the project's market maker (hereinafter referred to as the "market maker") of Movement (MOVE) was associated with another market maker who had recently been delisted and banned from further market-making activities on Binance. Some of the market maker's activities included selling about 66 million MOVE tokens on December 10, 2024 (UTC) with few buy orders on the first day MOVE was listed. By the market maker's exit on March 18, 2025, they had made a net profit of 38 million USDT. Currently, Binance has frozen the market maker's related earnings, and the MOVE project team has committed to using the market maker's related earnings to compensate users.
Binance Launchpool Introduces 66th Phase Project GUNZ (GUN)
On March 27, according to an official announcement, Binance Launchpool has launched the 66th phase project GUNZ (GUN), an L1 public chain for an AAA game developed by Gunzilla. Users can stake BNB, FDUSD, and USDC on the Launchpool website after 08:00 on March 28, 2025 (UTC+8) to earn GUN rewards, with the event lasting for 3 days. Binance will list GUNZ (GUN) on March 31, 2025, at 21:00 (UTC+8) and open trading markets for GUN/USDT, GUN/BNB, GUN/FDUSD, and GUN/TRY, following the seed label trading rules. The total supply of GUN is 10 billion tokens, with an initial circulating supply of 645 million tokens (6.05% of the total token supply), and a total Launchpool allocation of 400 million tokens (4% of the total token supply). Related Read: "Decoding Binance Launchpool's New Project GUNZ: Team Receives Over 100 Million USD in Funding, Is the Chain Game Sector Active Again?"
GMX and MIM Spell Associated Contracts Suffer Attack, Losing Approximately $13 Million
On March 25, according to PeckShield monitoring, the GMX and MIM Spell related contracts were hacked, losing about 6,260 ETH (worth approximately $13 million). On the same day, GMX's official statement clarified that the GMX contract did not have any issues and was not affected by this unfortunate event. On the 26th, MIM Spell posted on the X platform stating that the earlier hack resulted in a $13 million loss, with 50% repayment within 36 hours, ensuring zero loss for user funds. Abracadabra is expanding the system through platforms like Berachain. Pre-repayment bond holders hold approximately $19 million in liquid assets.
OKX Wallet Standalone App Now Available on Google Play Store
On March 24, OKX Web3 product manager Kyle announced on social media, "The OKX Wallet standalone app is now available on the Google Play Store; search to download. Users in some regions and on some devices may not yet have access, while the app is still under review for the App Store."
SEC Meets with Wintermute Representatives to Discuss Crypto Regulation Solutions
On March 29, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a statement indicating that members of the cryptocurrency working group met on March 28 with representatives from Wintermute Trading Ltd. and Morrison Cohen LLP. The meeting focused on solutions to regulatory issues concerning crypto assets. Representatives from Wintermute Trading Ltd. and Morrison Cohen LLP provided supplementary documents, discussing the topics within the documents during the meeting. Wintermute discussed trading and liquidity provision issues in the U.S. cryptocurrency market.
Ethereum Network Sees Historic Low in Daily ETH Burn Last Saturday
On March 24, according to The Block data, the Ethereum network burned only 53.07 ETH in a single day last Saturday, valued at approximately $106,000 at current prices, marking a historic low. This indicates a significant decrease in demand for Ethereum block space. Ethereum's EIP-1559 change simplified the fee process while requiring the network to burn all ETH used to pay the base transaction fee. This mechanism aims to reduce inflationary pressure and may potentially make Ethereum a deflationary asset during periods of high network activity. Additionally, the seven-day moving average of active addresses recently dropped to the lowest level since October 2024. In recent weeks, new address creation, transaction count, and daily transaction volume have also seen declines.
BlackRock to Launch Bitcoin ETP in Europe
On March 25, the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, announced the launch of a Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product (ETP) in Europe, following its successful experience with a Bitcoin Spot ETF in the U.S. (with assets under management of $48 billion). The new product, iShares Bitcoin ETP, debuted on March 25 on the German Xetra exchange, the Paris Euroclear exchange (trading code IB1T), and the Amsterdam Euroclear exchange (trading code BTCN). Following the U.S., BlackRock is expanding its crypto footprint to the three major financial centers in Europe to accelerate traditional fund inflow. ETPs, similar to ETFs, are usually issued as cryptocurrency tracking products in the European regulatory framework. Related reading: "BlackRock Launches First Bitcoin Fund 'IB1T' in Europe, Can It Replicate the Miracle of the U.S. BTC ETF?"
U.S. SEC Officially Drops Lawsuits Against Kraken, Consensys, and Cumberland; Ends Investigation Into Crypto.com Without Enforcement Action
On March 28, the SEC issued an announcement officially declaring the dismissal of the lawsuits against Kraken, Consensys, and Cumberland. On the same day, according to insiders, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formally ended its investigation into Crypto.com and will not take any enforcement action against the exchange platform. This move came after the company received a Wells notice from the SEC in October last year, when the company responded by proactively suing the agency, accusing it of overreach. Following Trump's announcement of the intention to appoint crypto-friendly Paul Atkins to succeed Gensler as the next SEC chairman, Crypto.com withdrew the lawsuit in December.
Ripple Agrees to Waive Cross-Appeal; U.S. SEC to Retain $50 Million Out of $125 Million Fine
On March 26, Ripple's Chief Legal Officer, Stuart Alderoty, wrote, "Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) agreed to unconditionally waive its appeal. Ripple has now agreed to waive its cross-appeal. The SEC will retain $50 million of the $125 million fine (already deposited in an interest-bearing escrow account in cash), and the remaining amount will be returned to Ripple. The agency will also seek the court to lift the standard injunction previously imposed at the SEC's request. All of this is subject to a vote by the commission, drafting of final documents, and regular court procedures."
26 U.S. States Have Introduced Bitcoin Reserve Bills; South Carolina to Allow 10% of State Funds to Be Invested in Bitcoin
On March 26, according to Cointelegraph, more than half of the U.S. states (26 out of 50) have introduced Bitcoin reserve bills, with many states proposing to allocate up to 10% of state funds to crypto assets. Wisconsin became the first state to purchase a Bitcoin ETF, holding $588 million as of the fourth quarter of 2024. On the 28th, according to Bitcoin Laws, the Bitcoin Reserve Bill of South Carolina (House Bill 4256) will allow the State Treasurer to invest 10% of state funds in Bitcoin. The upper limit for the Bitcoin reserve is set at 1 million BTC. The bill was introduced by Representative Jordan Pace.
2025 Hurun Global Rich List: CZ Remains the Richest Person in the Cryptocurrency Field with a Net Worth of 160 Billion
On March 27, the Hurun Research Institute released the "2025 Hurun Global Rich List," showing that the number of global billionaires has increased to 3,442, up by 163 from last year, a 5% increase, reaching a historical high. The U.S. tops the list with 870 billionaires, followed by China with 823 billionaires. Binance founder CZ's wealth has grown to 160 billion RMB, remaining the richest person in the cryptocurrency field. Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong's wealth has increased by 72% to reach 80 billion RMB. On average, wealth in the cryptocurrency field has grown by 80% year-on-year.
L2 SocialFi Blockchain Lens Chain Set to Launch Mainnet
On March 26, Stani, the founder of the Layer 2 SocialFi blockchain Lens Chain, announced that Lens Chain is set to launch. Previously reported, on February 26, the social protocol Lens Protocol migrated to Lens Chain and, through a partnership with ZKSync, the Lens team developed a migration solution to maintain maximum data integrity. The successful migration transferred 650,000 user accounts along with their digital identities, 28 million follower connections, social graphs, and 360 applications.
Bitcoin NFT Project Taproot Wizards Opens NFT Minting, Whitelist Minting Starting at a Minimum of 0.1BTC, Dutch Auction Final Sale Price at 0.31BTC
The Bitcoin NFT project Taproot Wizards was launched on March 25 after a 2-year-long development. The total supply of this NFT is 2121, with 36 distributed as airdrops to early supporters over the past 2 years, 100 airdropped to deep contributors, holders of the Quantum Cats with the "Golden Robe" feature, and a lottery for early Bitcoin Wizards holders, and 200 reserved by the team. Only 1785 Taproot Wizards entered this release. The total number of whitelists was set at 1750. Among them, 828 whitelisted mintings were priced at 0.1 BTC, where these whitelists received a discount for staking 2 Quantum Cats (the features of the 2 Quantum Cats must be 1 "alive" + 1 "dead"). Additionally, 922 whitelisted mintings were priced at 0.2 BTC. After the whitelist minting, Taproot Wizards started a Dutch auction with an initial price of 0.42 BTC, decreasing by 0.01 BTC every 3 minutes. This auction included 80 NFTs, allowing participation with Bitcoin and SOL. The Dutch auction ended with a final settlement price of 0.31 BTC. Related Read: "Taproot Wizards Launching Soon, Will a New NFT Blue Chip Emerge?"
BlackRock's BUIDL Fund Surpasses $1.9 Billion in Size, 30-Day Growth Reaches 203.63%
On March 28, BlackRock's BUIDL Fund surpassed $1.9 billion, reaching $1,935,226,721, with a 30-day growth of 203.63%. The current number of holders is 62 (targeting institutional investors with a minimum threshold of $5 million), APY reported at 4.50%, and a management fee of 0.20-0.50%.
Justin Sun Featured on Forbes English Cover: Crypto Billionaire Who Helped Trump Family Earn $400 Million
On March 28, Justin Sun, the founder of TRON and global advisor to Huobi HTX, appeared on the English cover of Forbes. Forbes featured an interview with Justin Sun titled "Crypto Billionaire Who Helped Trump Family Earn $400 Million," stating that Justin Sun "is building a global payment system at a rapid pace through the TRON platform, which has reached 300 million users and is still growing." Justin Sun is the fourth person in the cryptocurrency exchange field after CZ, SBF, and Brian Armstrong. As a global advisor, Justin Sun's Huobi HTX was recently selected as one of Forbes' most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges for 2025. Speaking on Platform X, Justin Sun expressed, "From vision to global leadership—very honored to be on the cover of Forbes."
He Yi Shares Meme Learning Notes: Investors Should Hold or Take Profits Based on Market Cycle
On March 28, Binance co-founder He Yi shared personal Meme learning notes on social media, stating, "Memes transcend cultural boundaries, representing the ultimate expression of a group and the subculture's impact on the mainstream culture. Every culture has a resonant group, and Memes are not following trends but creating them. Dogecoin, as a symbol of crypto culture, proves that Meme originates from community consensus rather than celebrity opinions. True Memes come from cultural accumulation, not temporary hotspots of attention. Long-termism is still effective, and investors should operate based on the market cycle, understanding when to hold or take profits. The crypto market will stabilize over time, and opportunities will always exist." Related Read: "He Yi: My Meme Learning Notes"
Ezhou Court Concludes 2 Virtual Currency Network Fraud Cases: Nearly 30,000 People Scammed, Involving a Total Amount of 460 Million Yuan
On March 28, according to the Ezhou Intermediate People's Court public account, the Ezhou court recently successfully concluded two virtual currency fraud cases. A fraud group consisting of 34 defendants used a forged virtual currency trading platform to meticulously plan fraud. In just one year, nearly 30,000 people were deceived, involving a total amount of 460 million yuan. Some defendants argued in court that this was "investment trading," but the court ultimately determined that their actions constituted fraud and sentenced them to three to twelve years of imprisonment and imposed fines. The fraud group set up a fake platform called "OURBIT Digital Currency Trading Platform" (Oubit Platform), falsely promoting "Singapore registration," "holding a US and UK financial license," and other fake qualifications, and even falsified trading K-line charts and virtual currency trading data, introducing gimmicks such as "brand new stop-loss and take-profit" and "pioneering 0 slippage trading" to create a professional and compliant facade, attracting investors to join.
Top Articles of the Week
"$Ghibli Soars 100x in Half a Day, New Feature of GPT-4o Takes 'Hayao Miyazaki Style' by Storm"
The image generation feature of GPT-4o quickly became popular due to its highly faithful reproduction of the Hayao Miyazaki style. A large number of users on platforms like X uploaded Studio Ghibli-style meme images, triggering a "Ghibli viral spread," and even driving the market value of the meme coin $Ghibli up by over a hundredfold. Despite the increasing convenience of AI creation, Hayao Miyazaki himself has strongly opposed AI animation, seeing it as an offense to life. Meanwhile, the "Omni" feature of GPT-4o also signifies AI's comprehensive evolution into a multimodal creative tool.
"Pump.fun Founder Accidentally Reveals Face on Podcast, Related Memes Suffer 'Takedown'"
A conversation between Ethereum podcast Bankless and Alon, the founder of Pump.fun, the most successful anonymous project in the Solana ecosystem, sparked controversy. The focus shifted from product philosophy to the question of the survival of meme coins. The host, with a critical presupposed stance, portrayed Pump.fun as the culprit of market disruption, triggering community dissatisfaction with the media's hypocritical attitude. Alon, on the other hand, insists that crypto should maintain open experimentalism, emphasizing that meme coins are merely a product of the natural evolution of the market. This conflict also reflects the ecosystem split and discourse conflict between Ethereum's "establishment" and Solana's "barbarian" factions.
A Binance employee was exposed for using non-public information obtained from their former position to preemptively buy a large amount of a project's token before its public release, profiting over $110,000 in a classic front-running transaction. The employee has been suspended and will face legal action, while the whistleblower has received a total reward of $100,000. The incident has exposed the deep-rooted issue of insider trading in the crypto industry. Despite high on-chain transparency, the lack of unified regulation and effective internal controls still allows exchanges to be breeding grounds for front-running behavior, necessitating further industry efforts to strengthen compliance and risk management.
"He Yi: My MeMe Learning Notes"
On the night of March 28, Binance co-founder He Yi published an article titled "MeMe Learning Notes." She mentioned that subculture is the response and deconstruction of marginalized groups to mainstream culture, and MEME is the ultimate expression of its emotions and identity, not relying on authority, celebrities, or hot topics, but originating from a true inner resonance; Doge's success is not only due to its playful nature but also because the community has given it vitality and faith; long-termism is not outdated, the key is to choose the right objects worth believing in and accompanying, and value will eventually emerge after crossing cycles; in investment, attention should be paid to certainty, understanding cycles, following the Pareto principle, controlling risks, and achieving things far more important than just knowing.
"Cryptocurrency, Real Crime: Unveiling Cambodia's 'Crypto Money Laundering Factory'
Cambodia has become one of the hubs for global online fraud and money laundering. Scammers lure victims through social platforms, swiftly transfer and launder the proceeds, backed by an efficient underground financial network. Key roles include "middlemen" and "money mules." The Wanchain Group and its subsidiaries have been revealed as platforms providing money laundering services, operating not only payment systems but also acting as mediators on the Telegram black market, providing guarantees and fund conversion channels for criminal groups. Despite continuous international law enforcement crackdowns, this system continues to revive and expand, resulting in billions of dollars being illegally transferred globally each year, leaving many victims penniless, and even leading to human trafficking victims being forced to participate in scams.
"Hunted by Whales and CEX, Hyperliquid 'Pulls the Plug' to Save $200 Million"
A video social app-related token $JELLY launched by former Venmo co-founders caused a severe fluctuation, leading to a liquidity crisis for the top derivative DEX Hyperliquid. Whales manipulated the spot and futures markets for arbitrage, causing protocol losses of over tens of millions of dollars, triggering the platform's emergency de-listing and self-rescue of contracts, and even sparking positive conflicts with CEX. This event exposed significant flaws in decentralized platforms in governance, fairness, and anti-manipulation capabilities, as well as sparked intense industry debates on whether "decentralization" truly exists.
"Hyperliquid's Struggle: Tripartite Game, Winner Takes All"
On March 26, an attacker manipulated the price of the low-liquidity meme token $JELLYJELLY, opened a short position on Hyperliquid, and induced the liquidation mechanism to activate, leading to the platform's treasury taking over the position and facing a significant unrealized loss. Additionally, by leveraging the coin's listing on a centralized exchange (CEX) to push the price higher, the treasury's losses were exacerbated, nearly triggering a $240 million liquidation crisis. Although Hyperliquid eventually emergency halted the contract with no actual losses, the incident exposed the vulnerabilities of DeFi in high-leverage trading, liquidity management, and platform governance, highlighting the deep-seated contradictions between decentralized ideals and reality.
"Taproot Wizards Launch Imminent, New NFT Blue Chip about to Emerge?"
Taproot Wizards is one of the most anticipated projects in the Bitcoin NFT market. Against the backdrop of an overall market downturn, it is still being offered for sale at a price as high as 0.2 BTC. Almost all of the 1,785 publicly available sale slots have been reserved, expecting to bring the team over $23 million in revenue. Combined with the previous Quantum Cats sale, the total revenue reaches $36.4 million. Behind the project is the controversial and influential founder Udi Wizardheimer, who has completed two rounds of fundraising totaling $37.5 million. The core goal is to drive the implementation of smart contracts on the Bitcoin mainnet. Taproot Wizards not only continues the early wizard meme of Bitcoin but also continually attracts attention within the community through a series of thematic operations, becoming a representative project in the Bitcoin NFT space.
"Trump Family Enters the Stablecoin Race? Understanding the 'Presidential Stablecoin' USD1 on BSC"
The DeFi project WLFI supported by the Trump family launched the USD-pegged stablecoin USD1 on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), triggering market speculation and quickly plummeting by over 50% due to concerns about fake tokens flooding the market. WLFI, leveraging the Trump aura, regulatory tailwinds, and stablecoin demand, attempted to transition from a meme project to a compliant DeFi player. However, its tokenomics are opaque, and controversies over family interest distributions persist, leading to external skepticism about its motives and future.
The prediction market platform Polymarket has suffered a serious oracle manipulation attack, resulting in an incorrect outcome for a prediction event with a betting amount of over $7 million. The winner was mistakenly determined to be "Ukraine will reach a rare earth agreement with Trump before April," as the UMA oracle's voting mechanism was manipulated by a large amount of UMA tokens. This incident exposed the low cost of malfeasance and the vulnerability of the governance mechanism in the current system, triggering strong community dissatisfaction. The official stance is that the event does not constitute a system failure, so refunds are not possible, further exacerbating user outrage.
"Eclipse TGE of 'Green Bull Chain' is Coming, Is Ethereum's New Savior Here?"
Eclipse is a Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) Layer 2 project running on Ethereum, combining Solana's high-speed parallel processing capabilities with Ethereum's security and liquidity. With innovative GSVM technology and a "beefy sequencer" architecture, it has unique advantages in performance and scalability. Since its mainnet launch, it has attracted over a million users and dozens of ecosystem projects, covering DeFi, GameFi, NFTs, and other fields. The TGE token $ES has been exposed, indicating an upcoming token issuance phase, sparking widespread market attention.
"Off The Grid" is a cyberpunk-style blockchain game developed by Gunzilla Games, integrating console-level battle royale gameplay with an optional on-chain economic system. Players obtain and forge NFT items through an in-game extraction mechanism, avoiding the traditional label of gold farming in blockchain games. The native token GUN is used in various aspects such as transactions, governance, and staking, and relies on its self-built GUNZ subnet to support efficient and low-fee transactions. The project has received support from institutions like Delphi Ventures, aiming to achieve a breakthrough in the gaming industry from "mass-produced" to "boutique" through high-quality content and technology.
"Michael J. Saylor's Strategic Wager: Bitcoin's Premium Issuance and Capital Control"
Under the leadership of founder Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy has completely transformed from an enterprise software company to a capital operation platform with Bitcoin as its core asset. By issuing stocks at a high premium and issuing bonds to fund Bitcoin purchases, which are then used to boost the stock price through Bitcoin's price appreciation, it has built a "financial alchemy" deeply tied to Bitcoin. Its stock price is highly sensitive to Bitcoin's price due to leverage, making it an "ETF alternative" for institutional investors who cannot directly invest in Bitcoin. Despite facing the dual risks of market sentiment and regulatory policies, its clever financing structure, cult-like marketing, and commitment to "never sell Bitcoin" have propelled it like a wealth engine in a bull market, but it may also face the baptism of crypto winter in a bear market.
"Stablecoin APR Exceeds 20%: The Most Comprehensive Berachain Mining Guide"
This article will provide you with the most comprehensive overview of POL, including its impact on the ecosystem, especially the potential effect on BERA's price. The content covers the basic mechanisms, inflation emission schedule, tokenomics, and key strategies (or tips) to absorb inflation pressure. Berachain's PoL mechanism drives ecosystem growth through liquidity incentives and delegation rewards, creating a positive cycle and capital efficiency. It provides liquidity and staking rewards through iBGT and iBERA, driving the revival of the DeFi ecosystem.
"Has the Four-Year Cycle of Cryptocurrency Come to an End?"
The impact of Bitcoin's four-year halving cycle on price is gradually diminishing. In the past two years, the crypto market landscape has undergone profound changes. The introduction of ETFs attracted significant institutional funds to Bitcoin, while altcoins lost attractiveness due to inflation and a myriad of types, making it difficult to replicate past bull market performances. In the current environment, betting on Bitcoin is a game for winners, while indulging in altcoins is more like choosing losers in the game. Long-term, Bitcoin remains the most promising crypto asset.
"MegaETH Launches Testnet: A Guide to Experience the Ecosystem's dApp"
The article introduces a participation guide for the MegaETH testnet, a high-performance Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution that raised $30 million. The guide details how to claim test tokens and recommends experiencing multiple ecosystem dApps, including the decentralized exchange GTE (raised $10.94 million), the lending protocol TEKO, the meme coin platform XL Memecom, and the chain game autonomous world engine.
"Spending 0.1BNB to Chat Privately with CZ: How to Use the New Crypto Social Product ReachME?"
CZ's late-night update on X introduced and promoted ReachMe, a pay-to-chat application based on BNB, sparking community interest. The platform aims to address effective communication issues between KOLs and fans by improving information quality through mechanisms such as paying per message, timeout refunds, and prohibiting attachments. The platform does not issue tokens, charges a 10% fee, with the rest going to the KOLs, and CZ's income will be donated to charity. The team behind it may be related to the Droppod project and may have received support from venture capital firm Paper Ventures. Although the platform is still in its early stages, with preliminary user activity driven by CZ, its future performance is worth looking forward to.
A senior US national security official accidentally added a journalist to a group chat, inadvertently revealing a confidential plan to launch a military strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen, exposing the casual and chaotic nature of global power centers' operational methods. This incident once again drew attention to the communication software Signal, known for its privacy protection. Its founder, Moxie Marlinspike, is a legendary hacker and anarchist. Signal, with its end-to-end encryption and extreme privacy concept, has attracted users ranging from dissidents to government officials. It has also shown tension between being a tool and an ideology in the context of controversies intertwined with cryptocurrency.
"Bitcoin's Duplicate Transactions: An Interesting Bug with Minimal Risk"
In the Bitcoin blockchain, two completely identical transactions occurred in 2010 due to coinbase transactions having no input, which could generate identical transaction data, resulting in the same transaction ID (TXID), causing system confusion and potential attack risks. Although developers have significantly mitigated this issue through schemes like BIP30 and BIP34, they have not completely eradicated it. Theoretically, the next possible duplicate transaction might appear in 2046. The cost of an attack is extremely high and almost non-profitable, hence the overall risk is low. However, this rare and complex vulnerability remains a technical concern and anecdote in Bitcoin's history.
"BlackRock's Reexamination of Stablecoins"
If stablecoins reach a sufficiently large scale, they could pose a threat to the US economy by reducing the money supply in the banking system and weakening the Federal Reserve's ability to execute monetary policy. However, stablecoins promote the dominance of the US dollar globally, improve cross-border payment efficiency, and help non-US residents access stable currencies. When the stablecoin supply reaches trillions of dollars, issuers like Circle could become part of the US economy, and regulatory agencies will need to balance monetary policy with the demand for programmable money.
"Is Crypto Investment Over? Data Reflects the Reality of the Primary Market"
Over the past few years, the early-stage funding scale of Web3 has expanded, but funds are concentrated in a few companies, leading to increased funding difficulty. After the FTX collapse, LP funds gathered in a few leading funds, making it harder for startups to raise funds. Token liquidity has decreased, the investment return cycle has lengthened, and the market is more focused on profitability and PMF (Product/Market Fit). Venture capital will not disappear; Web3 infrastructure has matured, and AI development has brought new opportunities. In the future, capital will favor founders with long-term competitiveness rather than short-term token gains. The key question is which founders and investors can persevere until the end and find the ultimate answer to industry evolution.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler was known for his tough regulatory stance during his tenure, especially launching intensive crackdowns on the cryptocurrency industry, including suing multiple large crypto companies, emphasizing that most tokens are securities, and pushing for key events such as the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF. After he stepped down, the more crypto-friendly Mark Uyeda took over his position, and the return of the Trump administration brought market expectations of loose policies and a new bull market, including initiatives such as launching an official Meme coin and establishing a national Bitcoin reserve, triggering a new round of speculative frenzy but also exacerbating potential bubble risks.
"Building an AI Moat: How Crypto Capital and AI Agents Dance Together?"
Crypto AI empowers autonomous intelligent agents, enabling them to manage assets, optimize cash flows, and operate independently within the DeFi ecosystem. Compared to Web2 AI, it can access decentralized data, utilize open model collaboration, and accelerate evolution. With the development of DeFi, Darwinian AI, and decentralized infrastructure, AI will not only be an assistant but a direct participant in the on-chain economy, achieving asset holding, trading, and value creation. Crypto AI combines programmable currency with intelligent agents to build a decentralized economic system, accelerating the arrival of autonomous intelligent agent economies and breaking through the limitations of Web2 AI.
"Is Culture the 'Hard Currency' of Public Chains?"
The competition in the crypto industry is shifting from technological competition to cultural resonance, with Culture Chains becoming a new trend. The technology has become "good enough," and the key to the future lies in community atmosphere and resonance. Investors should focus on believers, inside jokes, and community culture, rather than just code performance. Culture Chains provide an exclusive ecosystem for fans and creators but also face challenges such as excessive speculation and liquidity dispersion. Successful Culture Chains need a strong community, open development, and composability to truly become the core track of the next cycle.
"ABCDE: ETH Rollup Technology Scaling, Solana Tokenomics and Application"
Recently, the most notable development on Ethereum (ETH) is the proposal of Native Rollup, which further delegates the state execution to L1 validators on top of Based Rollup. While this approach shows potential, it faces technical and hardware barriers. Meanwhile, Solana sparked discussions with the SIMD-0228 proposal for an inflation model adjustment, showcasing governance efficiency. Its next-generation SPL standard — Token Extension — is favored by RWA projects for its chain-level native support of features like privacy, KYC, and yield, making Solana an attractive option. These advancements demonstrate that the two major blockchains are gradually converging in their scaling approaches and infrastructure evolution.
"Why Will RWA Tokenization Be the Lifeline of the Traditional Financial Market?"
Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is becoming the breakthrough for the traditional financial market. In the context of global financial system turmoil, liquidity constraints, and lack of transparency, RWA leverages blockchain technology to digitize tangible assets such as bonds and real estate. This transformation not only offers stable returns, increased liquidity, and transparency, but also significantly reduces transaction costs, addresses cross-border investment challenges, promotes financial democratization, and enables ordinary individuals to enjoy institutional-level asset returns. With giants like JPMorgan Chase and BlackRock entering the scene, RWA is poised to lead a new financial revolution and reshape the market landscape.
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Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Infrastructure Bill'
If the US stablecoin bill, the "GENIUS Act," passes smoothly this time, its significance will be tremendous. I even think it's significant enough to enter the top five in Crypto history.
Although abbreviated as the GENIUS Act, which translates directly to the Genius Act, it is actually the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, which translates to "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Dollar Stablecoins."
The proposal is lengthy, with several key points summarized for everyone:
· Mandatory 1:1 Full Asset Backing: Assets include cash, demand deposits, and short-term US Treasuries. At the same time, misappropriation and rehypothecation are strictly prohibited.
· High-Frequency Disclosure: Reserve reports must be published at least monthly, introducing external audits.
· Licensing Requirement: Once the circulating market cap of the issuer's stablecoin exceeds $100 billion, it must transition into the federal regulatory system within a specified timeframe, adopting banking-grade regulation.
· Introduction of Custody: The custodian of the stablecoin and its reserve assets must be a regulated qualified financial institution.
· Clear Definition as a Payment Medium: The bill explicitly defines stablecoin as a new type of payment medium, primarily regulated by the banking regulatory system, rather than restricted by the securities or commodities regulatory system.
· Embracing Existing Stablecoins: A maximum 18-month grace period after the bill's enactment, aimed at encouraging existing stablecoin issuers (such as USDT, USDC, etc.) to promptly obtain licenses or become compliant.
After finishing the main content, let's talk about the significance of this matter with an excited heart.
Over the years, when others asked, "After working in the Crypto industry for 16 years, what application have you created?"
In the future, you can confidently tell others—Stablecoins.
Some people have held opposing views. In the past, people's impression of stablecoins was that they were an opaque black box. Every few months, there would be FUD — whether Tether's assets were frozen or Circle had a significant black hole deficit.
In fact, if you think about it, Tether easily rakes in billions of dollars a year just from the interest on those underlying government bonds. Circle, slightly less, also made a $1.7 billion profit last year.
They basically made money while standing there. From a motivational standpoint, they have no malicious intentions. In fact, they are the most eager for compliance.
Now, this opaque black box will become a transparent white box.
In the past, the only complaint was that Tether's funds might have been frozen by the United States. Now, they will be directly placed into U.S. compliant custodial institutions, with high-frequency disclosures, so you can rest assured.
【No need to worry about a rug pull】 is such a huge advantage—I think especially all Crypto people understand this.
Stablecoins were once almost on the verge of being overtaken by CBDCs. In any country, if a central bank digital currency really exists, it is highly likely not built on a blockchain, at most it is built on some internal central bank consortium chain, which to be honest, is meaningless.
When CBDCs were at their peak, that was the most dangerous time for stablecoins.
If CBDCs had become a reality back then, stablecoins today would have been relentlessly suppressed into a dark corner, and blockchain would only be able to play a minimal role.
The remaining half-dead stablecoins would even have to learn the standards of central bank digital currencies, completely relinquishing their standard-setting power.
And now, stablecoins have won (or are about to).
Instead, everyone should learn the 【Blockchain + Token】 standard.
Nowadays, many blockchains actually have no meaningful applications on top, only stablecoin transfers. For example, with Aptos, the only scenario I use Aptos for is transfers between Binance and OKX.
And now, stablecoins will be legislated, what does that mean?
That's right, blockchain will become the only standard.
In the future, every stablecoin user will be the first to learn how to use a wallet.
As an aside, I actually think Ethereum's concerted push for EIP-7702 is quite forward-thinking. While other chains are all about memes, thank you Ethereum for sticking to account abstraction.
EIP-7702 is about Account Abstraction, which can support, for example:
· Social Account Registration Wallet
· Paying GAS with Native Coin
· And more
This paves the way for future new users to heavily use stablecoins, solving the last-mile problem.
Furthermore, once stablecoins receive legislative support, deposits and withdrawals will become even easier.
Let's imagine a scenario: previously, hindered by the gray nature of stablecoins, but after the bill passes, many traditional brokerages can support stablecoins themselves. The money from a US stock investor can be converted into stablecoins in minutes and instantly deposited into Coinbase. Believe it or not.
Let's imagine another scenario: if the brilliant bill smoothly passes through the House of Representatives, next, you will see:
Due to the extremely lucrative nature of this trading, existing stablecoin leaders and newly entering traditional giants will crazily start promoting their stablecoin products.
And an outsider, due to these promotions, will start using stablecoins. And then one day, after finding out that the wallet account has been created, will explore Bitcoin inside. Is mining Bitcoin difficult?
Stablecoins are a huge Trojan horse. The moment you start using stablecoins, you unwittingly step half a foot into the Crypto world.
As a large reservoir for digesting US debt, although stablecoins cannot directly absorb debt, they at least provide ammunition for the US debt secondary market. These functions are quite important, and slowly, stablecoins are becoming a part of the US debt market's body. Therefore, once the US legislation is passed and experiences the benefits, there is no turning back.
And, we are also confident that stablecoins are indeed one of the great innovations in our industry. People who have used stablecoins will find it hard to return to the traditional cash-banking system.
Once the bill is passed, users can't go back. In the future, concerns are about to be resolved, standards will be mastered, and the era of large deposits seems to be on the horizon.
Original Article Link
Pharos, deeply integrated with AntChain, is about to launch. How can we get involved?
$COIN Joins S&P 500, but Coinbase Isn't Celebrating
On May 13, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Coinbase would officially replace Discover Financial Services in the S&P 500 on May 19. While other companies like Block and MicroStrategy, closely tied to Bitcoin, were already part of the S&P 500, Coinbase became the first cryptocurrency exchange whose primary business is in the index. This also signifies that cryptocurrency is gradually moving from the fringes to the mainstream in the U.S.
On the day of the announcement, Coinbase's stock price surged by 23%, surpassing the $250 mark. However, just 3 days later, Coinbase was hit by two consecutive events: a hack where employees were bribed to steal customer data and a demand for a $20 million ransom, and an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the authenticity of its claim of having over 100 million "verified users" in its securities filings and marketing materials. These two events acted as mini-bombs, and at the time of writing, Coinbase's stock had already dropped by over 7.3%.
Coincidentally, Discover Financial Services, being replaced by Coinbase, can also be considered the "Coinbase" of the previous payment era. Discover is a U.S.-based digital banking and payment services company headquartered in Illinois, founded in 1960. Its payment network, Discover Network, is the fourth largest payment network apart from Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
In April, after the approval of the acquisition of Discover by the sixth-largest U.S. bank, Capital One, this well-established digital banking company of over 60 years smoothly handed over its S&P 500 "seat" to this emerging cryptocurrency "bank." This unexpected coincidence also portrayed the handover between the new and old eras in Coinbase's entry into the S&P 500, resembling a relay race scene. However, this relay baton also brought Coinbase's accumulated "external troubles and internal strife" to a tipping point.
Over the past decade, cryptocurrency exchanges have been the most stable "profit machines." They play a role in providing liquidity to the entire industry and rely on trading fees to sustain their operations. However, with the comprehensive rollout of ETF products in the U.S. market, this profit model is facing unprecedented challenges. As the leader in the "American stack," with over 80% of its business coming from the U.S., Coinbase is most affected by this.
Starting from the approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, traditional financial capital has significantly onboarded users and funds that originally belonged to exchanges in a more cost-effective, compliant, and transparent manner. The transaction fee revenue of cryptocurrency exchanges has started to decline, and this trend may further intensify in the coming months.
According to Coinbase's 2024 Q4 financial report, the platform's total trading revenue was $417 million, a 45% year-on-year decrease. The contribution of BTC and ETH's trading revenue dropped from 65% in the same period last year to less than 50%.
This decline is not a result of a decrease in market enthusiasm. In fact, since the approval of the Bitcoin ETF in January 2024, the inflow of BTC into the U.S. market has continued to reach new highs, with asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity rapidly expanding their management scale. Data shows that BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) alone has surpassed $17 billion in assets under management. As of mid-May 2025, the cumulative net inflow of 11 major institutional Bitcoin spot ETFs on the market has exceeded $41.5 billion, with a total net asset value of $1214.69 billion, accounting for approximately 5.91% of the total Bitcoin market capitalization.
Institutional investors and some retail investors are shifting towards ETF products, partly due to compliance and tax considerations. On one hand, ETFs have much lower trading costs compared to cryptocurrency exchanges. While Coinbase's spot trading fee rate varies annually in a tiered manner but averages around 1.49%, for example, the management fee for IBIT ETF is only 0.25%, and the majority of ETF institution fees fluctuate around 0.15% to 0.25%.
In other words, the more rational users are, the more likely they are to move from exchanges to ETF products, especially for investors aiming for long-term holdings.
According to multiple sources, several institutions, including VanEck and Grayscale, have submitted applications to the SEC for a Solana (SOL) ETF, with some institutions also planning to submit an XRP ETF proposal. Once approved, this may trigger a new round of fund migration. According to a report submitted by Coinbase to the SEC, as of April, the platform's trading revenue from XRP and Solana accounted for 18% and 10%, nearly one-third of the platform's fee revenue.
However, the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs passed in 2024 also reduced the fees for these two tokens on Coinbase from 30% and 15% to 26% and 10%, respectively. If the SOL and XRP ETFs are approved, it will further undermine the core fee revenue of exchanges like Coinbase.
The expansion of ETF products is gradually weakening the financial intermediary status of cryptocurrency exchanges. From their original roles as matchmakers and clearers to now gradually becoming mere "on-ramps and off-ramps" for funds, exchanges are seeing their marginal value squeezed by ETFs.
On May 12, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins gave a keynote speech at the Tokenization and Cryptocurrency Working Group roundtable. The theme of his speech revolved around "It is a new day at the SEC," where he indicated that the SEC would not approach enforcement and regulation the same way as before but would instead pave the way for cryptocurrency assets in the U.S. market.
With signs of cryptocurrency compliance such as the SEC's "NEW DAY" declaration, an increasing number of traditional brokerages are attempting to enter the cryptocurrency industry. One of the most representative cases is the well-known U.S. brokerage Robinhood, which began expanding its crypto business in 2018. By the time of its IPO in 2021, Robinhood's crypto business revenue accounted for over 50% of the company, with a significant boost from the Dogecoin "moonshot" promoted by Musk.
In Q1 2025 earnings report, Robinhood showcased strong growth, especially in revenue from cryptocurrency and options trading. Fueled by Trump's Memecoin, cryptocurrency-related revenue reached $250 million, nearly doubling year-over-year. Consequently, Robinhood Gold subscription users reached 3.5 million, a 90% increase from the previous year, with the rapid growth of Robinhood Gold providing the company with a stable source of income.
Meanwhile, RobinHood is actively pursuing acquisitions in the cryptocurrency space. In 2024, it announced a $2 billion acquisition of the long-standing European cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp. Additionally, Canada's largest cryptocurrency CEX, WonderFi, which recently went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange, also announced its integration with RobinHood Crypto. After obtaining virtual asset licenses in the UK, Canada, Singapore, and other markets, RobinHood has taken a proactive approach in the compliant cryptocurrency trading market.
Furthermore, an increasing number of brokerage firms are exploring the same path. Futu Securities, Tiger Brokers, and others are also dipping their toes into cryptocurrency trading, with some having applied for or obtained the VA license from the Hong Kong SFC. Although their user bases are currently small, traditional brokerages have a natural advantage in user trust, regulatory licenses, and low fee structures. This could pose a threat to native cryptocurrency platforms in the future.
In April 2025, security researchers discovered that some Coinbase user data was leaked on the dark web. While the platform initially responded by attributing it to a "technical misinformation," it still raised concerns among users regarding its security and privacy protection. Just two days before Dow Jones Indexes announced Coinbase's addition to the S&P 500 Index, on May 11, 2025, Coinbase received an email from an unknown threat actor claiming to have obtained customer account information and internal documents, demanding a $20 million ransom to keep the data private. Subsequent investigations confirmed the data breach.
Cybercriminals obtained the data by bribing overseas customer service agents and support staff, mainly in "non-U.S. regions such as India." These agents abused their access to Coinbase's internal customer support system and stole customer data. As early as February this year, blockchain detective ZachXBT revealed on X platform that between December 2024 and January 2025, Coinbase users lost over $65 million to social engineering scams, with the actual amount potentially higher.
Among the victims was a well-known figure, 67-year-old Ed Suman, an established artist in the art world for nearly two decades, having been involved in the creation of artworks such as Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog" sculpture. Earlier this year, he fell victim to an impersonation scam involving fake Coinbase customer support, resulting in a loss of over $2 million in cryptocurrency. ZachXBT critiqued Coinbase for its inadequate handling of such scams, noting that other major exchanges have not faced similar issues and recommending Coinbase to enhance its security measures.
Amidst a series of ongoing social engineering incidents, although there has not been any impact on user assets at the technical level so far, it has raised concerns among many retail and institutional investors. Especially institutions holding massive assets on Coinbase. Just considering the U.S. BTC ETF institutions, as of mid-May 2025, they collectively hold nearly 840,000 BTC, and 75% of these are custodied by Coinbase. If we price BTC at $100,000, this amount reaches a staggering $63 billion, which is equivalent to the nominal GDP of two Iceland in the year 2024.
In addition, Coinbase Custody also serves over 300 institutional clients, including hedge funds, family offices, pension funds, and endowments. As of the Q1 2025 financial report, Coinbase's total assets under management (including institutional and retail clients) reached $404 billion. The specific amount of institutional custodied assets was not explicitly disclosed in the latest report, but it should still be over 50% based on the Q4 2024 report.
Once this security barrier is breached, not only could the rate of user attrition far exceed expectations, but more importantly, institutional trust in it would undermine the foundation of its business. Therefore, after a hacking event, Coinbase's stock price plummeted significantly.
Facing a decline in spot trading fee revenue, Coinbase is also accelerating its transformation, attempting to find growth opportunities in derivatives and emerging assets. Coinbase acquired a stake in the options platform Deribit at the end of 2024 and announced the official launch of perpetual contract products in 2025. This acquisition fills in Coinbase's gap in options trading and its relatively small global market share.
Deribit has a strong presence in non-U.S. markets, especially in Asia and Europe. The acquisition has enabled Coinbase to gain a dominant position in bitcoin and ethereum options trading on Deribit, accounting for approximately 80% of the global options trading volume, with daily trading volume remaining above $2 billion.
Meanwhile, 80-90% of Deribit's customer base consists of institutional investors, with their professionalism and liquidity in the Bitcoin and Ethereum options market highly favored by institutions. Coinbase's compliance advantage, coupled with its already robust institutional ecosystem, makes it even more suitable. By using institutions as an entry point, it can face the squeeze from giants like Binance and OKX in the derivatives market.
Facing a similar dilemma is Kraken, which is attempting to replicate Binance Futures' model in non-U.S. markets. Since the derivatives market relies more on professional users, fee rates are relatively higher and stickiness is stronger, making it a significant source of revenue for exchanges. In the first half of 2025, Kraken completed the acquisition of TradeStation Crypto and a futures exchange, aiming to build a complete derivatives trading ecosystem to hedge the risk of declining spot transaction fee income.
With the surge of Memecoin in 2024, Binance, OKX, and various CEX platforms began massively listing small-market-cap, highly volatile tokens to activate active trading users. Due to the wealth effect and trading activity of Memecoins, Coinbase was also forced to join the battle, successively listing popular tokens from the Solana ecosystem such as BOOK OF MEME and Dogwifhat. Although these coins are controversial, they are frequently traded, with fee rates several times higher than mainstream coins, serving as a "blood-boosting" method for spot trading.
However, due to its status as a publicly traded company, this practice is a riskier endeavor for Coinbase. Even in the current crypto-friendly environment, the SEC is still investigating whether tokens like SOL, ADA, and SAND constitute securities.
In addition to the forced transformation strategies carried out by the aforementioned CEXs, they are also starting to lay out RWAs and the most talked-about stablecoin payment fields, such as the PYUSD launched through a collaboration between Coinbase and Paypal, Coinbase's support for the Euro stablecoin EURC by Circle that complies with EU MiCA regulatory requirements, or the USD1 launched through a collaboration between Binance and WIFL. In the increasingly crowded trading field, many CEXs have shifted their focus from just the trading market to the application field.
The golden age of transaction fees has quietly ended, and the second half of the crypto exchange platform game has silently begun.
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Key Market Intelligence on May 14th, how much did you miss out on?
1.Binance Alpha Launches HIPPO, BLUE, and Other Tokens
2.Believe Ecosystem Tokens See General Rise, LAUNCHCOIN Surges Over 250% in 24 Hours
3.Tiger Securities Introduces Cryptocurrency Deposit and Withdrawal Service, Supports Mainstream Cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH
4.Current Bitcoin Rally Possibly Driven by Institutions, Retail Traders Yet to Join
5.Binance Wallet's New TGE Privasea AI Participation Requires a 198 Point Threshold, with a Point Consumption of 15
Source: Overheard on CT (tg: @overheardonct), Kaito
PUMP: Today's discussions about PUMP focus on its new creator revenue-sharing model: the platform will allocate 50% of PumpSwap revenue to token creators, sparking varied reactions from users. Some criticize the move as insufficient or even misleading, while others view it as a positive step the platform is taking to reward creators. Meanwhile, PUMP faces market pressure from emerging competitors like LetsBONKfun and Raydium, which are rapidly gaining market share. Users also express concerns about PUMP's sustainability and potential regulatory risks in the U.S., with discussions extending to the platform's impact on the entire memecoin ecosystem.
COINBASE: Today, Coinbase became the first crypto company to join the S&P 500 Index, replacing Discover Financial Services, sparking widespread industry attention. The entire crypto community views this milestone as a significant development, signaling that crypto assets are further integrating into the mainstream financial system. The news has sparked lively discussions on Twitter, with many users pointing out that this may attract more institutional investors to enter the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency markets.
XRP: XRP became the focal point of today's crypto discussion, with its significant market movements and strategic advances drawing attention. XRP has surpassed USDT to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, sparking market excitement and discussions about its future potential. The surge in market capitalization and price is believed to be related to increasing institutional interest, deepening strategic partnerships, and its role in the crypto ecosystem. Additionally, XRP's integration into multiple financial systems and its potential as a macro asset class are also seen as key factors driving the current market sentiment.
DYDX: Today's discussions about DYDX mainly focused on the dYdX Yapper Leaderboard launched by KaitoAI. The leaderboard aims to identify the most active community participants, with a total of $150,000 in rewards to be distributed over the first three seasons. This initiative has sparked broad community participation, with many users discussing the potential rewards and the incentive effect on the DYDX ecosystem. Meanwhile, progress on the ethDYDX to dYdX native chain migration and historical airdrop events have also been topics of discussion.
1. "What Is 'ICM'? Holding Up the $4 Billion Market Cap Solana's New Narrative"
Overnight, the hottest narrative in the crypto space has become "Internet Capital Markets," with a host of crypto projects and founders, led by the Solana ecosystem's new Launchpad platform Believe, releasing this phrase. Together with "Believe in something," it has become the new slogan heralding the onset of a bull market. What exactly is the so-called "Internet Capital Market," will it become a short-lived hype phrase like the Base ecosystem's previous Content Coin, and what related targets are available for selection?2.《LaunchCoin Surges 20x in One Day, How Did Believe Create a $200M Market Cap Shiba Inu After Going to Zero?｜100x Retrospective》
LAUNCHCOIN broke through a $200 million market cap today, with the long-lost liquidity and such a high market cap "Memecoin" almost bringing half of the on-chain crypto community CT into the fray. The community is crazily discussing this token, with half of it being FOMO and the other half being FUD. This token, originally issued by Believe founder Ben Pasternak under his personal identity, transformed into a new platform token after a renaming. From once going to zero to a $200 million market cap, what happened in between?May 14 On-chain Fund Flow
Within 24 hours, GOONC's market cap soared to 70 million, could GOONC be the next billion-dollar dog on the Believe platform?
Bitcoin has broken $100,000, Ethereum has surpassed 2500, and is Solana's hot streak about to make a comeback?
The current market is in a state of macro euphoria, with GOONC riding the wave today, skyrocketing 10x in just a few hours, reaching a market cap of tens of millions of dollars, trading volume soaring past 50 million, and rumors swirling that the developer may be from OpenAI (unconfirmed but intriguing enough).
A ludicrous and absurd Solana meme that some actually buy into.
GOONC is a meme coin that has sprouted from the "gooning" subculture, offering no technological innovation or practical use, its sole function being speculation.
It takes inspiration from an NSFW term "gooning," which refers to a person being deeply immersed in certain content (you know what), eventually entering a nearly religious-like trance.
In Reddit (such as r/GOONED, r/GoonCaves) and some counterculture media outlets (such as MEL Magazine in 2020), "gooning" has gradually transitioned from an adult label to a meme-addicted, digital content and virtual self-indulgence synonym, arguably the epitome of Degen spirit.
GOONC is playing around with this concept, packaging the addictive nature, uselessness, and irony of gooning into a tradable financial product. The project team has made it clear: "We do not solve blockchain problems, we only trade absurdity." Blunt but oddly genuine.
GOONC launched on May 13, 2025, using the meme coin launch platform Believe App's LaunchCoin module on Solana. This tool is highly Degen: zero technical barriers, a few clicks to create a coin, perfect for projects like GOONC that can come up with ideas out of the blue.
The mastermind behind GOONC is also quite something and is the most talked-about, with KOL @basedalexandoor on X platform (alias "Pata van Goon") personally involved. His profile even caught the attention of Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, making onlookers unable to resist speculating if GOONC has a hint of OpenAI lineage.
While this 'OpenAI Endorsement' is currently just community speculation, it is definitely a good card to play to fuel hype. Saying "we are pure speculation" on one hand, while tagging a few "AI + a16z" on the other.
GOONC took off as soon as it launched. After its launch on May 13, 2025, its market capitalization skyrocketed to $22 million within 4 hours, with a trading volume exceeding $25.6 million in 24 hours. According to platform data, the first day of trading saw an astonishing +41,100% surge, soaring from $0.0000001 to $0.02, becoming a "missed-the-boat" situation.
GOONC quickly formed an active trading community post-launch, with a lot of discussion and trading signals appearing on X platform (such as the 292x return signal provided by DeBot). Liquidity pools on exchanges like Raydium and Meteora grew rapidly, supporting high trading volumes and price increases.
The real climax occurred between May 13 and May 14, with the market cap rising to $5.5 million in the morning and directly surpassing $55 million in the afternoon. By the 14th, it briefly approached a $70 million market cap, with the trading volume soaring to $59 million. Some community members even posted screenshots claiming an increase of +85,000%, creating a new myth out of the ruins.
As of 1:30 pm on May 14, the price stabilized around $0.039, with a total market cap and FDV both around $39.6 million, and a 24-hour trading volume of $5.43 million. Active platforms include XT.COM, LBank, Meteora, and others.
Although there was a slight pullback from the peak ($0.07), the coin's popularity remains strong. For a coin that relies purely on "irony + community + X post" to thrive, this performance is already at a stellar level.
Currently, the background of the token's development team is not transparent, increasing the potential risk of a rug pull. Rugcheck.xyz warns that the creator of the GOONC contract may have permission to modify the contract (e.g., change fees or mint additional tokens), posing certain security risks.
Community members speculate that the meteoric rise of GOONC may be the "last hurrah".
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After Surging 40%, Has Ethereum Price Peaked Upon Exiting the Craze?
Whether you are an insider or an outsider, these days you must be familiar with the news about Ethereum. The reason is simple, causing Ethereum enthusiasts to sigh with emotion and almost throwing off-guard those who defend Ethereum, Ethereum, with a "3-day surge of 40%," climbed to the top of the Douyin Hot List.
As we all know, Ethereum launched the Pectra upgrade on May 7th. This most significant network upgrade since early 2024 integrates the Prague execution layer hard fork and the Electra consensus layer upgrade, significantly improving Ethereum's performance through 11 improvement proposals. The account abstraction feature (EIP-7702) allows users to flexibly manage wallets through social media accounts or multi-signature schemes, reducing the user threshold, attracting more users and developers. The staking mechanism optimization increases the validator ETH cap from 32ETH to 2048ETH and introduces a flexible withdrawal method, making it easier for institutions and individuals to participate in network security, enhancing the market's confidence in Ethereum's long-term value.
At the same time, Pectra optimized the interaction efficiency of Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum and Optimism, making transactions faster and cheaper, leading to a surge in on-chain activity. As a crucial step for Ethereum's transition from "2G" to "5G," the Pectra upgrade not only enhances network vitality but also "recharges confidence" in the market, directly driving the price increase.
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It's not just Ethereum itself, as Wall Street also brought important bullish news.
The world's largest asset management company, BlackRock, proposed to the SEC allowing Ethereum ETFs for staking. This proposal is expected to elevate Ethereum ETFs from a mere investment tool to a bond-like "interest-bearing asset," bringing investors both capital appreciation and passive income, igniting market optimism about Ethereum's future potential.
Specifically, BlackRock has proposed to amend its S-1 filing to allow investors to create and redeem ETF shares directly with Ethereum instead of the U.S. dollar (i.e., in-kind redemption). This move, combined with its $2.9 billion BUIDL Fund launched in March 2024, aims to deepen the integration of traditional finance with blockchain. The BUIDL Fund is a tokenized fund operating on the Ethereum network, investing in traditional assets such as U.S. Treasury bonds. This setup is highly attractive to institutional investors, as they can not only benefit from Ethereum's price appreciation but also earn stable cash flow through staking.
Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock's Head of Digital Assets, stated in a CNBC interview in March 2025 that the addition of staking functionality will significantly enhance the appeal of the Ethereum ETF. He admitted that when the Ethereum spot ETF was launched in July 2024 without staking functionality, the market demand was lackluster, and staking could be the key to reversing this trend.
Meanwhile, the SEC's shifting stance on cryptocurrency regulation has also fueled this upward trend. During the tenure of the previous SEC chairman, the regulatory approach was tough, and staking was strictly viewed through the Howey test as a potential unregistered security. Therefore, when approving the Ethereum spot ETF in May 2024, staking functionality was explicitly prohibited.
However, with Trump back in the White House and Paul Atkins taking over the SEC, there has been a noticeable relaxation in crypto regulation. Apart from BlackRock, ETF issuers such as Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, WisdomTree, and 21Shares have also submitted applications for similar staking and in-kind redemption.
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If staking ETFs are approved, the benefits are likely to go beyond price appreciation. The introduction of staking functionality could redefine the role of crypto assets, making them more similar to traditional financial products that provide returns and value appreciation, thereby driving Ethereum closer to mainstream finance.
Currently, the SEC still needs to address several decisions related to crypto ETFs, including whether to approve ETFs for Solana, XRP, Litecoin, and even Dogecoin. With the calls for an "altcoin season" growing louder, Ethereum's strong performance may just be the beginning of a larger crypto market frenzy.
In addition, the Trump family-related DeFi project WLFI is also bullish on this wave of rise, with frequent on-chain activities. According to on-chain data analyst @ai_9684xtpa's monitoring, a WLFI-related address is currently borrowing coins to go long on ETH, borrowing 4 million U from Aave to buy 1590 ETH at an average price of $2515 per ETH.
For this epic surge of Ethereum after half a year of silence, the community has indeed gained more confidence and hope, which has also led to a revival of the entire altcoin market. However, amidst the joy, there are also voices of pessimism. Below is a summary conducted by BlockBeats based on community discussions.
The optimists point out that the current market structure is similar to the eve of the bull markets in 2016 and 2020, predicting a life-changing surge in the next 3-6 months, where some altcoins may even achieve astonishing single-day gains of up to 40%.
@liuwei16602825 stated that this surge signifies the return of the bull market as a sure thing. There is no need to worry about a pullback. The driving force behind the surge uses a high-cost isolated operation, fearing a drop more than any retail investor and will definitely do everything to support the price.
Related Reading: "Ethereum Leads the Surge Triggering the 'Altcoin Season' Speculation, How Do Traders View the Future Market?"
The bears mainly believe that this surge is different from the bull market of 2021, as the current market lacks the confidence of large-scale retail investors entering and holding positions for the long term, with funds rotating too quickly.
@market_beggar observed that a Bitfinex E/B whale has started to close positions and believes that if this whale maintains its high-speed position-closing operation for the next few days, it can be inferred that the whale no longer sees the upside potential of ETH, preparing to take profits and exit. The closing time will be a key focus going forward.
@FLS_OTC stated that there are still many uncertainties at the macro level, and the liquidity cannot support a major bull market. At this stage, it is a "last hurrah," not a complete reversal, and will continue to remain in a short position.
@off_thetarget believes that after ETH transitioned from POW to POS, it lost the "gold standard" of mining machine power cost support. The staking economic model led to a breakdown in value anchoring. Additionally, the L2 ecosystem (such as Starknet, zkSync, etc.) suffered from liquidity fragmentation, failing to establish an effective capital inflow mechanism, causing the collapse of the split disc pattern. Furthermore, the ETH community's excessive pursuit of technical narratives divorced from real-world needs resulted in a weak ecosystem growth. Therefore, he believes that ETH's intrinsic value system has crumbled, and the price is bound to plummet to the 800-1200 range, with a decisive short position at 1800.
@Airdrop_Guard, based on the core logic of the "High Probability Trading Strategy," where three sets of underlying logic different trading systems (such as volume depletion, price supply-demand, long/short position funding rate, etc.) simultaneously issue a short signal at the same point (2580), creating a high-probability trading opportunity. He emphasizes that these systems must be based on different algorithms and logics (rather than mere technical indicator overlays). The current ETH trend aligns with the short conditions in multiple independent dimensions of his trading system, hence the decision to short.
Overall, Bitcoin still maintains over 54% market dominance, and institutional funds' continued preference for it may limit the altcoin's upward potential. The market's future direction will depend on multiple factors, such as Bitcoin's price trend, global macroeconomic conditions, and whether funds can effectively rotate from Bitcoin to the altcoin sector.
Although Ethereum's recent leadership in the market has brought about optimistic sentiment, investors still need to remain rational as different sectors of altcoins are likely to show divergence in trends. Whether this round of Ethereum's rise will usher in a true altcoin frenzy may require more time and conducive conditions.
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Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Infrastructure Bill'
If the US stablecoin bill, the "GENIUS Act," passes smoothly this time, its significance will be tremendous. I even think it's significant enough to enter the top five in Crypto history.
Although abbreviated as the GENIUS Act, which translates directly to the Genius Act, it is actually the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, which translates to "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Dollar Stablecoins."
The proposal is lengthy, with several key points summarized for everyone:
· Mandatory 1:1 Full Asset Backing: Assets include cash, demand deposits, and short-term US Treasuries. At the same time, misappropriation and rehypothecation are strictly prohibited.
· High-Frequency Disclosure: Reserve reports must be published at least monthly, introducing external audits.
· Licensing Requirement: Once the circulating market cap of the issuer's stablecoin exceeds $100 billion, it must transition into the federal regulatory system within a specified timeframe, adopting banking-grade regulation.
· Introduction of Custody: The custodian of the stablecoin and its reserve assets must be a regulated qualified financial institution.
· Clear Definition as a Payment Medium: The bill explicitly defines stablecoin as a new type of payment medium, primarily regulated by the banking regulatory system, rather than restricted by the securities or commodities regulatory system.
· Embracing Existing Stablecoins: A maximum 18-month grace period after the bill's enactment, aimed at encouraging existing stablecoin issuers (such as USDT, USDC, etc.) to promptly obtain licenses or become compliant.
After finishing the main content, let's talk about the significance of this matter with an excited heart.
Over the years, when others asked, "After working in the Crypto industry for 16 years, what application have you created?"
In the future, you can confidently tell others—Stablecoins.
Some people have held opposing views. In the past, people's impression of stablecoins was that they were an opaque black box. Every few months, there would be FUD — whether Tether's assets were frozen or Circle had a significant black hole deficit.
In fact, if you think about it, Tether easily rakes in billions of dollars a year just from the interest on those underlying government bonds. Circle, slightly less, also made a $1.7 billion profit last year.
They basically made money while standing there. From a motivational standpoint, they have no malicious intentions. In fact, they are the most eager for compliance.
Now, this opaque black box will become a transparent white box.
In the past, the only complaint was that Tether's funds might have been frozen by the United States. Now, they will be directly placed into U.S. compliant custodial institutions, with high-frequency disclosures, so you can rest assured.
【No need to worry about a rug pull】 is such a huge advantage—I think especially all Crypto people understand this.
Stablecoins were once almost on the verge of being overtaken by CBDCs. In any country, if a central bank digital currency really exists, it is highly likely not built on a blockchain, at most it is built on some internal central bank consortium chain, which to be honest, is meaningless.
When CBDCs were at their peak, that was the most dangerous time for stablecoins.
If CBDCs had become a reality back then, stablecoins today would have been relentlessly suppressed into a dark corner, and blockchain would only be able to play a minimal role.
The remaining half-dead stablecoins would even have to learn the standards of central bank digital currencies, completely relinquishing their standard-setting power.
And now, stablecoins have won (or are about to).
Instead, everyone should learn the 【Blockchain + Token】 standard.
Nowadays, many blockchains actually have no meaningful applications on top, only stablecoin transfers. For example, with Aptos, the only scenario I use Aptos for is transfers between Binance and OKX.
And now, stablecoins will be legislated, what does that mean?
That's right, blockchain will become the only standard.
In the future, every stablecoin user will be the first to learn how to use a wallet.
As an aside, I actually think Ethereum's concerted push for EIP-7702 is quite forward-thinking. While other chains are all about memes, thank you Ethereum for sticking to account abstraction.
EIP-7702 is about Account Abstraction, which can support, for example:
· Social Account Registration Wallet
· Paying GAS with Native Coin
· And more
This paves the way for future new users to heavily use stablecoins, solving the last-mile problem.
Furthermore, once stablecoins receive legislative support, deposits and withdrawals will become even easier.
Let's imagine a scenario: previously, hindered by the gray nature of stablecoins, but after the bill passes, many traditional brokerages can support stablecoins themselves. The money from a US stock investor can be converted into stablecoins in minutes and instantly deposited into Coinbase. Believe it or not.
Let's imagine another scenario: if the brilliant bill smoothly passes through the House of Representatives, next, you will see:
Due to the extremely lucrative nature of this trading, existing stablecoin leaders and newly entering traditional giants will crazily start promoting their stablecoin products.
And an outsider, due to these promotions, will start using stablecoins. And then one day, after finding out that the wallet account has been created, will explore Bitcoin inside. Is mining Bitcoin difficult?
Stablecoins are a huge Trojan horse. The moment you start using stablecoins, you unwittingly step half a foot into the Crypto world.
As a large reservoir for digesting US debt, although stablecoins cannot directly absorb debt, they at least provide ammunition for the US debt secondary market. These functions are quite important, and slowly, stablecoins are becoming a part of the US debt market's body. Therefore, once the US legislation is passed and experiences the benefits, there is no turning back.
And, we are also confident that stablecoins are indeed one of the great innovations in our industry. People who have used stablecoins will find it hard to return to the traditional cash-banking system.
Once the bill is passed, users can't go back. In the future, concerns are about to be resolved, standards will be mastered, and the era of large deposits seems to be on the horizon.
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$COIN Joins S&P 500, but Coinbase Isn't Celebrating
On May 13, S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Coinbase would officially replace Discover Financial Services in the S&P 500 on May 19. While other companies like Block and MicroStrategy, closely tied to Bitcoin, were already part of the S&P 500, Coinbase became the first cryptocurrency exchange whose primary business is in the index. This also signifies that cryptocurrency is gradually moving from the fringes to the mainstream in the U.S.
On the day of the announcement, Coinbase's stock price surged by 23%, surpassing the $250 mark. However, just 3 days later, Coinbase was hit by two consecutive events: a hack where employees were bribed to steal customer data and a demand for a $20 million ransom, and an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into the authenticity of its claim of having over 100 million "verified users" in its securities filings and marketing materials. These two events acted as mini-bombs, and at the time of writing, Coinbase's stock had already dropped by over 7.3%.
Coincidentally, Discover Financial Services, being replaced by Coinbase, can also be considered the "Coinbase" of the previous payment era. Discover is a U.S.-based digital banking and payment services company headquartered in Illinois, founded in 1960. Its payment network, Discover Network, is the fourth largest payment network apart from Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
In April, after the approval of the acquisition of Discover by the sixth-largest U.S. bank, Capital One, this well-established digital banking company of over 60 years smoothly handed over its S&P 500 "seat" to this emerging cryptocurrency "bank." This unexpected coincidence also portrayed the handover between the new and old eras in Coinbase's entry into the S&P 500, resembling a relay race scene. However, this relay baton also brought Coinbase's accumulated "external troubles and internal strife" to a tipping point.
Over the past decade, cryptocurrency exchanges have been the most stable "profit machines." They play a role in providing liquidity to the entire industry and rely on trading fees to sustain their operations. However, with the comprehensive rollout of ETF products in the U.S. market, this profit model is facing unprecedented challenges. As the leader in the "American stack," with over 80% of its business coming from the U.S., Coinbase is most affected by this.
Starting from the approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, traditional financial capital has significantly onboarded users and funds that originally belonged to exchanges in a more cost-effective, compliant, and transparent manner. The transaction fee revenue of cryptocurrency exchanges has started to decline, and this trend may further intensify in the coming months.
According to Coinbase's 2024 Q4 financial report, the platform's total trading revenue was $417 million, a 45% year-on-year decrease. The contribution of BTC and ETH's trading revenue dropped from 65% in the same period last year to less than 50%.
This decline is not a result of a decrease in market enthusiasm. In fact, since the approval of the Bitcoin ETF in January 2024, the inflow of BTC into the U.S. market has continued to reach new highs, with asset management giants like BlackRock and Fidelity rapidly expanding their management scale. Data shows that BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) alone has surpassed $17 billion in assets under management. As of mid-May 2025, the cumulative net inflow of 11 major institutional Bitcoin spot ETFs on the market has exceeded $41.5 billion, with a total net asset value of $1214.69 billion, accounting for approximately 5.91% of the total Bitcoin market capitalization.
Institutional investors and some retail investors are shifting towards ETF products, partly due to compliance and tax considerations. On one hand, ETFs have much lower trading costs compared to cryptocurrency exchanges. While Coinbase's spot trading fee rate varies annually in a tiered manner but averages around 1.49%, for example, the management fee for IBIT ETF is only 0.25%, and the majority of ETF institution fees fluctuate around 0.15% to 0.25%.
In other words, the more rational users are, the more likely they are to move from exchanges to ETF products, especially for investors aiming for long-term holdings.
According to multiple sources, several institutions, including VanEck and Grayscale, have submitted applications to the SEC for a Solana (SOL) ETF, with some institutions also planning to submit an XRP ETF proposal. Once approved, this may trigger a new round of fund migration. According to a report submitted by Coinbase to the SEC, as of April, the platform's trading revenue from XRP and Solana accounted for 18% and 10%, nearly one-third of the platform's fee revenue.
However, the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs passed in 2024 also reduced the fees for these two tokens on Coinbase from 30% and 15% to 26% and 10%, respectively. If the SOL and XRP ETFs are approved, it will further undermine the core fee revenue of exchanges like Coinbase.
The expansion of ETF products is gradually weakening the financial intermediary status of cryptocurrency exchanges. From their original roles as matchmakers and clearers to now gradually becoming mere "on-ramps and off-ramps" for funds, exchanges are seeing their marginal value squeezed by ETFs.
On May 12, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins gave a keynote speech at the Tokenization and Cryptocurrency Working Group roundtable. The theme of his speech revolved around "It is a new day at the SEC," where he indicated that the SEC would not approach enforcement and regulation the same way as before but would instead pave the way for cryptocurrency assets in the U.S. market.
With signs of cryptocurrency compliance such as the SEC's "NEW DAY" declaration, an increasing number of traditional brokerages are attempting to enter the cryptocurrency industry. One of the most representative cases is the well-known U.S. brokerage Robinhood, which began expanding its crypto business in 2018. By the time of its IPO in 2021, Robinhood's crypto business revenue accounted for over 50% of the company, with a significant boost from the Dogecoin "moonshot" promoted by Musk.
In Q1 2025 earnings report, Robinhood showcased strong growth, especially in revenue from cryptocurrency and options trading. Fueled by Trump's Memecoin, cryptocurrency-related revenue reached $250 million, nearly doubling year-over-year. Consequently, Robinhood Gold subscription users reached 3.5 million, a 90% increase from the previous year, with the rapid growth of Robinhood Gold providing the company with a stable source of income.
Meanwhile, RobinHood is actively pursuing acquisitions in the cryptocurrency space. In 2024, it announced a $2 billion acquisition of the long-standing European cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp. Additionally, Canada's largest cryptocurrency CEX, WonderFi, which recently went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange, also announced its integration with RobinHood Crypto. After obtaining virtual asset licenses in the UK, Canada, Singapore, and other markets, RobinHood has taken a proactive approach in the compliant cryptocurrency trading market.
Furthermore, an increasing number of brokerage firms are exploring the same path. Futu Securities, Tiger Brokers, and others are also dipping their toes into cryptocurrency trading, with some having applied for or obtained the VA license from the Hong Kong SFC. Although their user bases are currently small, traditional brokerages have a natural advantage in user trust, regulatory licenses, and low fee structures. This could pose a threat to native cryptocurrency platforms in the future.
In April 2025, security researchers discovered that some Coinbase user data was leaked on the dark web. While the platform initially responded by attributing it to a "technical misinformation," it still raised concerns among users regarding its security and privacy protection. Just two days before Dow Jones Indexes announced Coinbase's addition to the S&P 500 Index, on May 11, 2025, Coinbase received an email from an unknown threat actor claiming to have obtained customer account information and internal documents, demanding a $20 million ransom to keep the data private. Subsequent investigations confirmed the data breach.
Cybercriminals obtained the data by bribing overseas customer service agents and support staff, mainly in "non-U.S. regions such as India." These agents abused their access to Coinbase's internal customer support system and stole customer data. As early as February this year, blockchain detective ZachXBT revealed on X platform that between December 2024 and January 2025, Coinbase users lost over $65 million to social engineering scams, with the actual amount potentially higher.
Among the victims was a well-known figure, 67-year-old Ed Suman, an established artist in the art world for nearly two decades, having been involved in the creation of artworks such as Jeff Koons' "Balloon Dog" sculpture. Earlier this year, he fell victim to an impersonation scam involving fake Coinbase customer support, resulting in a loss of over $2 million in cryptocurrency. ZachXBT critiqued Coinbase for its inadequate handling of such scams, noting that other major exchanges have not faced similar issues and recommending Coinbase to enhance its security measures.
Amidst a series of ongoing social engineering incidents, although there has not been any impact on user assets at the technical level so far, it has raised concerns among many retail and institutional investors. Especially institutions holding massive assets on Coinbase. Just considering the U.S. BTC ETF institutions, as of mid-May 2025, they collectively hold nearly 840,000 BTC, and 75% of these are custodied by Coinbase. If we price BTC at $100,000, this amount reaches a staggering $63 billion, which is equivalent to the nominal GDP of two Iceland in the year 2024.
In addition, Coinbase Custody also serves over 300 institutional clients, including hedge funds, family offices, pension funds, and endowments. As of the Q1 2025 financial report, Coinbase's total assets under management (including institutional and retail clients) reached $404 billion. The specific amount of institutional custodied assets was not explicitly disclosed in the latest report, but it should still be over 50% based on the Q4 2024 report.
Once this security barrier is breached, not only could the rate of user attrition far exceed expectations, but more importantly, institutional trust in it would undermine the foundation of its business. Therefore, after a hacking event, Coinbase's stock price plummeted significantly.
Facing a decline in spot trading fee revenue, Coinbase is also accelerating its transformation, attempting to find growth opportunities in derivatives and emerging assets. Coinbase acquired a stake in the options platform Deribit at the end of 2024 and announced the official launch of perpetual contract products in 2025. This acquisition fills in Coinbase's gap in options trading and its relatively small global market share.
Deribit has a strong presence in non-U.S. markets, especially in Asia and Europe. The acquisition has enabled Coinbase to gain a dominant position in bitcoin and ethereum options trading on Deribit, accounting for approximately 80% of the global options trading volume, with daily trading volume remaining above $2 billion.
Meanwhile, 80-90% of Deribit's customer base consists of institutional investors, with their professionalism and liquidity in the Bitcoin and Ethereum options market highly favored by institutions. Coinbase's compliance advantage, coupled with its already robust institutional ecosystem, makes it even more suitable. By using institutions as an entry point, it can face the squeeze from giants like Binance and OKX in the derivatives market.
Facing a similar dilemma is Kraken, which is attempting to replicate Binance Futures' model in non-U.S. markets. Since the derivatives market relies more on professional users, fee rates are relatively higher and stickiness is stronger, making it a significant source of revenue for exchanges. In the first half of 2025, Kraken completed the acquisition of TradeStation Crypto and a futures exchange, aiming to build a complete derivatives trading ecosystem to hedge the risk of declining spot transaction fee income.
With the surge of Memecoin in 2024, Binance, OKX, and various CEX platforms began massively listing small-market-cap, highly volatile tokens to activate active trading users. Due to the wealth effect and trading activity of Memecoins, Coinbase was also forced to join the battle, successively listing popular tokens from the Solana ecosystem such as BOOK OF MEME and Dogwifhat. Although these coins are controversial, they are frequently traded, with fee rates several times higher than mainstream coins, serving as a "blood-boosting" method for spot trading.
However, due to its status as a publicly traded company, this practice is a riskier endeavor for Coinbase. Even in the current crypto-friendly environment, the SEC is still investigating whether tokens like SOL, ADA, and SAND constitute securities.
In addition to the forced transformation strategies carried out by the aforementioned CEXs, they are also starting to lay out RWAs and the most talked-about stablecoin payment fields, such as the PYUSD launched through a collaboration between Coinbase and Paypal, Coinbase's support for the Euro stablecoin EURC by Circle that complies with EU MiCA regulatory requirements, or the USD1 launched through a collaboration between Binance and WIFL. In the increasingly crowded trading field, many CEXs have shifted their focus from just the trading market to the application field.
The golden age of transaction fees has quietly ended, and the second half of the crypto exchange platform game has silently begun.
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