Adam Efrima is the SSV Core team Co-founder. He has been active in the crypto industry since 2013. Over eight years living in China working in the financial industry and fintech space, Adam has worked in CITIC Bank covering outbound investments for Chinese SOEs, he was also in charge of setting up the eToro Shanghai operation. Since then, Adam has been deeply involved in Ethereum staking, co-founding top performing staking project Bloxstaking as well as co-founding SSV Network, a decentralized validator infrastructure for ETH staking.

Adam Simmons is Chief Strategy Officer at RDX Works, a key contributor to the Radix public ledger. He has over 13 years of experience in building &amp; growing businesses in a range of industries including online video, blockchain &amp; digital marketing. With experience in both senior leadership &amp; hands-on roles, he has repeatedly recruited, managed, and trained highly successful teams within marketing, customer success and operations functions. Adam is also a previous member of the UK Paralympic Sprint Kayaking Team and has competed in multiple World and European Championships.


Adam Swick is the Chief Growth Officer at Marathon Digital Holdings. Prior to joining Marathon, he served as a principal at Refinery Ventures, where he was responsible for identifying and recommending business strategies to accelerate the growth of all companies in Refinery’s portfolio. Before Refinery, Swick was the director of strategic finance at Kraken Digital Asset Exchange, where he managed the company’s balance sheet, debt program, investor relations, and all forecasting activities. Prior to Kraken, he founded Swick Capital, a crypto-asset hedge fund, worked at Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group. Swick holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Adrian Brink is the co-founder of Namada and Anoma, where he focuses on building privacy-preserving systems that are resilient to global crises. Previously, he was a core developer at Tendermint (Cosmos) and worked at the Web3 Foundation. He also co-founded Cryptium Labs, which was later sold to Chorus One, and Metastate, where he contributed to major upgrades to the Tezos protocol​.

Adrien Stern is the founder &amp; CEO of Reveel, the omnichain payments infrastructure that enables one-click cross-chain payments to connect people across borders and networks. Before founding Reveel, Adrien led digital transformation efforts at BNP Paribas CIB. He was also previously a venture builder, and owns Bridge Music, a record label and recording studio. Adrien has a Bachelor’s degree in Sciences of Management from The University of Lausanne and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Esade. 

Alex Hoffman is Head of Ecosystem at Superposition Finance. Superposition is revolutionizing DeFi by addressing its core challenges through robust risk management powered by Concordia’s best-in-class risk engine, omnichain functionality, and transparency.

Alexei Zamyatin is a co-founder of BOB, a first-of-its-kind hybrid Layer-2 powered by Bitcoin and Ethereum. He has been a Bitcoin and interoperability research contributor since 2015 and is most known for his work on trustless cross-chain bridges and L2s. Alexei holds a PhD in computer science from Imperial College London.


Alison Haire is the CEO and founder of Lilypad, a serverless, decentralized compute network that democratizes access to computational power by providing scalable infrastructure for AI, machine learning and other high-demand processes. Before founding Lilypad, she held roles at companies such as Filecoin, IBM and Accenture. Under her leadership, Lilypad leverages idle GPU capacity worldwide to fuel an open AI economy, providing cost-effective and scalable compute resources. Her work focuses on making high-performance computing accessible to more developers and researchers, while challenging the dominance of large centralized cloud providers​​.

With over 20 years of experience leading and designing games and tech companies, Alun is well-versed in creating innovative products that tackle experiential and developer challenges. In addition to his stewardship of LAOS Network, he is CEO and co-founder of the company building LAOS, Freeverse, which focuses on building scalable blockchain infrastructure. His history as the co-creator of ‘Barcelona World Race - THE GAME,’ a cutting-edge video game enabling virtual participation in real-world events, and his wider passion for gaming, have fed into his vision for LAOS Network as a solution for the intersection of Web3 tech with both gaming and real-world applications. Alun also led Shar3d.io, a pioneering company enabling collaborative 3D web applications, and served as CTO of Bodypal.com, a virtual garment services company. He holds a Ph.D. in Medical Physics from University College London.



Amanda Cassatt is the founder and CEO of Serotonin. Amanda previously served as Chief Marketing Officer of ConsenSys from 2016 through 2019. Joining one year after the launch of Ethereum, Amanda played a crucial role in defining, creating, and growing the narrative for ConsenSys, Ethereum, and blockchain overall.

Amanda stewarded the ConsenSys brand through its global expansion across enterprises, governments, developers, and consumers. She created and scaled the marketing team to over 50 people, serving both the ConsenSys brand and 50+ portfolio companies such as MetaMask, Infura, Truffle, and Gitcoin; managing teams in product marketing, growth, design, content, community, events, email, analytics and SEO. Amanda’s contributions to some of the most successful product launches, token sales and fundraises landed her on Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016. Amanda is the author of the world's first web3 marketing book, Web3 Marketing: A Handbook for the Next Internet Revolution.

Amanda Keleher currently serves as Chief People Officer at Consensys, one of the largest and fastest-growing companies in the blockchain technology space. A well-rounded business leader with an over 25-year career in the technology space, Amanda is the driving force behind the human element of Consensys where she is responsible for overseeing all of the aspects of people, from building and maintaining the company culture to harnessing human capital as a key driver of business. 

Before joining ConsenSys, Amanda served as the Head of People at ThoughtWorks, a global technology consultancy company, for nearly ten years, where she led the global scale expansion by opening offices around the world and recruiting a diverse workforce at a time when the DevOps movement had just been born and a new skill set were yet to be developed. After her time at ThoughWorks, she served as the Executive Vice President, People &amp; Culture of Index Exchange, one of the world’s premier ad tech organizations; and as VP of People at Little Bits and Intent Media where she excelled in designing effective and creative strategies to attract and retain world-class talent in hyper competitive environments

Andrea Berry is a seasoned online video strategist with 15+ years of experience in transformative media partnerships. 

Her early successes include helping to launch Qello Concerts, the first direct-to-consumer live-music OTT service, later transforming it into Qello Media Services and Vimeo’s OTT channels offering across various industries as their first strategic sales director for their enterprise.

Currently, as the Head of Business Development at Theta Labs, Andrea leverages her expertise in online video and blockchain to drive strategic partnerships and growth opportunities for the company. She helps enterprises take advantage and lean into the opportunities Web3 presents. 

Andrew Redden is the CEO and CTO of Last Network, a blockchain platform focused on sustainable cash flow and reinvestment. Previously, he worked at Gitcoin and has contributed to numerous DeFi and Web3 projects. Redden's career reflects a commitment to developing technologies that prioritize long-term viability and community engagement​.

Andrew Thurman is a Data Editor based in Washington, DC. He previously wrote for CoinDesk and Cointelegraph, and worked in various roles for Chainlink and Nansen. His analysis has been quoted in The Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Forbes, Fortune, Reuters, The BBC, CNBC, and elsewhere. Contact Andrew at andrew@blockworks.co.

Andrey Sergeenkov writes educational articles as a freelancer. His works have been published in Coindesk, Cointelegraph, Entrepreneur and CoinMarketCap. He believes that transforming society towards lifelong learning, combined with decentralization in government and business, will lead to exponential social development.

Andy Bromberg is CEO of Beam and Contributor to the Eco Protocol. Eco has raised more than $90 million from an array of leading investors, including a16z Crypto, L Catterton, Activant Capital, Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, and others. Prior to Eco, Andy was Co-founder and President of CoinList. Andy is also a founding board member at FreeWorld, a non-profit seeking to end institutionalized poverty in the United States by providing access to living-wage jobs for people with criminal histories. He studied Mathematics and Computer Science at Stanford University and co-founded the Stanford Bitcoin Group.

An established and versatile Financial Executive with over two decades of experience running multiple trading businesses across top-level banks such as HSBC, Barclays, and UBS. After running the top Agency and SSA business for both UBS and Barclays, he took over Emerging Markets macro trading for Barclays. In 2018, wanting to go deeper into Emerging Markets he took a role as Head of Latam local markets trading where he was responsible for trading activities across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile. In 2021 DeMartino moved into Crypto when he became CEO and founder of Coinbase Risk Strategies focused on DeFi and Derivatives trading. More recently he started Trident Digital Group, a crypto-native solutions firm that is focused on lending and safe yield generation and stablecoin adoption.


Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio.

Prior to founding SkyBridge in 2005, Scaramucci co-founded investment partnership Oscar Capital Management, which was sold to Neuberger Berman in 2001. Earlier, he worked in Private Wealth Management at Goldman Sachs &amp; Co.

In 2022, Scaramucci was ranked #47 in Cointelegraph’s Top 100 Influencers in Crypto and Blockchain. In 2016, he was ranked #85 in Worth Magazine’s Power 100: The 100 Most Powerful People in Global Finance. In 2011, he received Ernst &amp; Young’s New York Financial Services “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award.  Anthony is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and a board member of the Federal Enforcement Homeland Security Foundation. He is the author of five books.

Scaramucci served on President Donald J. Trump’s 16-person Presidential Transition Team Executive Committee, and in 2017 briefly served as Chief Strategy Officer of the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank and White House Communications Director.

Scaramucci, a native of Long Island, New York, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Tufts University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

Antoni is a co-founder of Aleph Zero Foundation (Switzerland), an organization overseeing the development of the Aleph Zero blockchain, and a Managing Partner of Cardinal Cryptography (Poland), firm focused on core development of the Aleph Zero ecosystem.

Ari Juels is the Weill Family Foundation and Joan and Sanford I. Weill Professor in the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech and the Technion and a Computer Science faculty member at Cornell University. He is a Co-Director of the Initiative for CryptoCurrencies and Contracts (IC3). He is also Chief Scientist at Chainlink Labs. He is the author of crypto thriller novel The Oracle (Talos Press), which was released on 20 February 2024.

Austin Alexander is co-founder of LayerTwo Labs, a company focused on advancing the Bitcoin ecosystem through innovative solutions and specializing in the development of Drivechain, a specific type of blockchain sidechain designed to foster creativity and scalability within Bitcoin.

Austin Campbell is the founder and managing partner of Zero Knowledge Consulting and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. Previously, he has run portfolio management at Paxos for the stablecoins as well as being the chief risk officer of Paxos National Trust, has managed fixed income trading desks at JP Morgan and Citi, and has been a portfolio manager and structurer at Stone Ridge, the parent of NYDIG. He holds a BS in Mathematics from CSU Chico and a MBA from NYU Stern.

Ben Mills is the co-founder of Meso, a payments platform connecting banks and blockchains. Prior to Meso, Ben spent a decade building payments products as an early team member at Braintree (acquired by PayPal), as Head of Product at Venmo, and working on Solana Pay at Solana Labs.

Ben Rubin is the CEO and co-founder of Towns, a decentralized messaging platform dedicated to redefining online communication. Rubin has a rich background and a decade of experience in creating digital spaces that build trust and foster human connection. Prior to founding Here Not There Labs, the developer of Towns, Ben founded two venture-backed startups, Meerkat and Houseparty, both of which reimagined how people interact digitally. He scaled his communication products to hundreds of millions of users and raised over $70M in funding from Sequoia Capital and Greylock. After Houseparty was acquired by Epic Games in 2019, Ben went on to found Here Not There Labs, a venture-backed startup with over $30M in funding from a16z crypto and Benchmark Capital.

Ben Strack is a senior reporter covering macro and crypto-native funds, financial advisors, structured products, and the integration of digital assets and DeFi into traditional finance. Prior to joining Blockworks, he covered the asset management industry for Fund Intelligence and was a reporter and editor for various local newspapers on Long Island. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism.

Contact Ben via email at ben@blockworks.co

Bessie is a Brooklyn-based reporter covering DeFi and technology. Bessie worked as a tech journalist for The Org prior to joining Blockworks and was a management consultant for KPMG in another life. She is originally from Melbourne, Australia and holds an MA from New York University. She is also the mother of a bratty cat named Mochi. You can reach Bessie at bessie@blockworks.co

Bezalel Eithan Raviv, an ex-member of IDF Cyber Unit 8200, is a seasoned entrepreneur with deep expertise in technology and innovation. He now leads Lionsgate Network, a blockchain analysis firm specializing in professional money recovery services for digital asset investors in the +$2.5 trillion market. Prior to this role, Bezalel founded an investment banking firm supporting AI startups and developed Halleluiah, a pioneering web3 migration pattern for global music copyrights.

Billy Luedtke is the CEO and founder of Intuition, an information protocol powering a more trustful internet. Billy previously served as senior technology advisor at EY, a leading global professional services organization providing assurance, tax, audit, strategy and transactions. At EY, Billy created the company’s blockchain consulting practice, leading the technical development of blockchain-enabled distributed systems. Billy later became a senior token engineer at Consensys, a leading Ethereum developer (MetaMask, Infura, Linea). Billy continues to serve as an advisor at Consensys and MetaMask.

Billy Sebell is the Executive Director of the XDC Foundation and an early contributor to the XDC Network. Since early 2018, Billy has worked to develop the XDC community, focused on ecosystem and network growth and implementing use cases in trade finance. Billy previously spent more than 25 years in manufacturing and consumer products, dealing with the challenges businesses face in capital markets and international trade.

Bob Bodily is the Provo, Utah-based CEO and Co-Founder of Bioniq, a BTC Ordinals wallet and marketplace. He has a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and a Ph.D. in educational/instructional technology from Brigham Young University, with 25 articles and 1K citations. He is a data engineer with 100K+ lines of production Python code, and he has two previous software startups, including an EdTech SaaS that sold in 2021.


Senior Research Analyst at Blockworks Research

Bogdan is the Co-Founder and CTO of Tenderly, the full-stack infrastructure solutions provider powering Web3 developer teams with the essential tools and services throughout their development journeys. 

Prior to co-founding Tenderly, Bogdan worked as a software engineer for major software platforms such as MVP Workshop and Go Daddy where he was responsible for constructing and managing the development of distributed cloud systems before realizing the lack of infrastructural support for Web3 developers. With his vast experience in constructing, expanding, and overseeing extensive distributed cloud systems, he is well-versed in the intricacies of blockchain technologies and their practical applications. 

Brandon Truong is lead product contributor for ZetaChain. He previously co-founded social platform Yada (which was acquired in 2020) and spent time building products for BuzzFeed and Udacity. 


 Brian Pak is CEO &amp; Co-Founder of ChainLight, an award-winning blockchain security firm that specializes in smart contract audits and on-chain monitoring. He is also a co-founder of Theori, an established US-based offensive cybersecurity company, since 2016, which he still leads today, having now amassed trusted partners including Microsoft, Google and Samsung. Brian’s early career started when he co-founded and developed Kaprica Security, inventing and patenting the Skorpion Charger, an Android mobile charger that can detect malicious software with no user action required. He has worked on research and development projects with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the US. Brian is also a founder of the team PPP (Plaid Parliament of Pwning) which won DEF CON CTF, one of the most prestigious hacker competitions held in Las Vegas, in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Brian graduated with a Masters Degree in Software Security Research from Carnegie Mellon University.

Three years ago, his act of burning a physical Banksy ignited global discourse on NFTs and Web3, exposing the industry's flaws. Now, through XION, founder Burnt Banksy leads a mission to democratize Web3 to the masses, making ownership accessible to all by removing unnecessary barriers and complications through chain abstraction. To date: XION has raised over $36M in funding with the goal of "making crypto disappear." Ultimately, Burnt Banksy wants to provide the benefits of crypto to people without requiring them to know anything about crypto.

Byron Donalds grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and he is also the proud son of a hardworking and loving single mother. His mother dedicated her time instilling in him that greatness requires sacrifice, which drives him as a devoted family man and United States Congressman.  

Byron is a graduate of Florida State University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in finance and marketing. Byron's career led him to Southwest Florida, where he worked in the banking, finance, and insurance industries. Elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016, Byron represented Hendry County and east Collier County in the State Capitol. During his tenure in the Florida House, Byron served as the PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee Chair during the 2018-2019 Legislative Session and served as the Insurance &amp; Banking Subcommittee's Chairman 2019-2020 Legislative Session. While serving in the Florida House, primarily focused on elder affairs, criminal justice reform, and ensuring that each child has access to a world-class education. 

Byron is committed to serving and giving back to the community that gave him so much. He has served Southwest Florida in many ways, including previously serving on the Board of Trustees for Florida Southwestern State College after being appointed by then-Governor Rick Scott. Byron continues to volunteer in his church as a youth leader and a mentor. He also enjoys volunteering as a coach in youth football and basketball leagues.

Congressman Byron Donalds lives in Naples, Florida, with his wife, Erika, and their three sons: Damon, Darin, and Mason. Byron has spent his entire adult life serving others, whether it be through volunteering, business, or leadership. He is committed to representing Florida's 19th Congressional District's conservative values in Washington DC to ensure a stronger Florida and a stronger nation.

Byron Gilliam writes The Breakdown newsletter, in which he tries to explain crypto markets to traditional investors and traditional markets to crypto investors (while trying to explain both to himself). Before joining Blockworks, Byron spent 25 years trading international equities for banks and brokers in Frankfurt, London, Paris and New York. He holds a bachelor's degree in History from Binghamton University. Contact Byron at byron@blockworks.co.

Cameron B. Pick is a partner and patent attorney at the Chicago-based intellectual property boutique law firm Marshall, Gerstein &amp; Borun. He prosecutes patents for emerging technologies, including blockchain and crypto, among other innovative areas. He may be reached at cpick@marshallip.com. 

Candace Kelly is the Chief Legal and Policy Officer for the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization that supports the development and growth of Stellar, an open-source network that connects the world's financial infrastructure. She leads the team responsible for SDF’s legal affairs and the policy team that is focused on bridging the gap between the public and private sectors. Previously, Candace worked for Uber Technologies, Inc., where she helped navigate the company’s response to regulatory investigations and advised on safety, security, privacy, consumer protection, and law enforcement response. Prior to that she served for 17 years at the United States Department of Justice.

Carlos is a Research Analyst based in Guatemala covering Solana and DeFi applications. Carlos previously held a research role at 21Shares. Contact Carlos at carlos.campos@blockworks.co.

Carlos Mercado is a data scientist at Flipside Crypto, specializing in the convergence of data science, cryptocurrency, economics, and open-source research. His expertise spans the Ethereum ecosystem and over 20 other blockchains, where he leverages SQL, R, Python, and Solidity to develop innovative data models and analytics tools. Carlos's notable contributions include the creation of the True Freeze DeFi primitive and leading the production of the 2023 Crypto Users Report, generating significant industry impact. Prior to Flipside, he applied his skills in AI strategy and product development at Guidehouse and offered data science consulting services.


Casey Wagner is a senior reporter on the scoops and investigations team, based in New York. Casey covers crypto regulation, markets and central banks. Prior to joining Blockworks, she reported on macroeconomics at Bloomberg News. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in Media Studies. Contact Casey or send her tips via email at casey@blockworks.co


Charles Hoskinson is a Colorado-based technology entrepreneur and mathematician. He attended Metropolitan State University of Denver and University of Colorado Boulder to study analytic number theory before moving into cryptography through industry exposure.

His professional experience includes founding three cryptocurrency-related start-ups – Invictus Innovations, Ethereum and IOHK – and he has held a variety of posts in both the public and private sectors. He was the founding chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation’s education committee and established the Cryptocurrency Research Group in 2013.

His current projects focus on educating people about cryptocurrency, being an evangelist for decentralization and making cryptographic tools easier to use for the mainstream. This includes leading the research, design and development of Cardano, a third-generation cryptocurrency that launched in September 2017.

Chris Barrett serves as the Director of Communications at Chainlink Labs and has been involved with Chainlink since 2017. Chainlink is the only on-chain data and cross-chain platform that enables financial institutions to develop customized, flexible, compliant, and future-proof blockchain applications and tokenized assets. Before this role, he founded a leading PR agency for technology startups, where he worked with over 1,000 innovative companies. Chris is also an avid runner, having maintained a streak of running for over five consecutive years. 

Chris Brooks founded CryptoAssetRecovery.com in 2017 to help digital asset owners recover lost assets. Chris was a programmer at Fidelity Investments, VP of Technology at venture-backed Carescout (which sold to GenWorth, a spinoff of General Electric) and has founded and sold three bootstrapped internet companies. 

Chris Swenor is a seasoned entrepreneur and blockchain pioneer with a 20-year career that kicked off as a self-taught programmer at age 13. He swiftly moved from corporate roles into startups, leading several to successful acquisitions. Chris started venturing into blockchain and cryptocurrency in 2013, founding Reach in 2019, a platform that has since attracted over $13M in funding and onboarded more than 8,000 developers.

In recent years, Chris founded Humble, a decentralized exchange on Algorand, and Alloy, a blockchain gaming platform acquired in 2023. He is currently working on Voi Network, a layer 1 blockchain empowering its community with user-centric governance and economics. 

Christopher Perkins is President of CoinFund, a web3 focused Registered Investment Advisor.  He is also a member of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee and its Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee.

Ciarán Murray is a seasoned veteran of the blockchain industry. Aside from advising on numerous blockchain projects over the years, and releasing a synthetics assets proof-of-concept last year, Ciarán previously worked in the media industry for British Sky Broadcasting. He is not only well placed to understand the issues facing the media industry but also how to apply blockchain and other distributed technologies to remedy them.

Da Hongfei is the founder of Neo, an open-source, community-driven blockchain platform designed to welcome developers into the Smart Economy. Hongfei operates as CEO of Neo Global Development (NGD), the executive arm of the Neo Foundation that is committed to developing the Neo protocol and its supporting ecosystem. He is seen as a luminary in the Web3 space and as a blockchain pioneer in Asia. Hongfei received his education at the South China University of Technology, receiving degrees in technology and English.

Damian Alvarez is a communications professional helping Web3 clients get their stories heard. He is currently the Head of Communications at Aori, an omni-chain logic layer that leverages off-chain data storage to enable high-frequency on-chain trading. He has worked at agencies such as Edelman and YAP Global to assist a variety of emerging and established clients to engage in industry-wide narratives surrounding technology. He may be contacted at damian@aori.io.

Dan Keeler is Editor-in-Chief at Blockworks. Prior to joining Blockworks, he was Frontier Markets Editor at the Wall Street Journal where he managed the Journal’s coverage of smaller emerging markets as well as created a number of high-profile events and a highly regarded newsletter. Before joining the WSJ, he was the Editor of Global Finance magazine. He is also the founder of New York’s FM Network, a group that hosts gatherings of finance professionals focused on smaller emerging markets.

Contact Dan via email at dan@blockworks.co

Dan Smith is a Senior Research Analyst based in the United States covering Curve, Convex, Aave, and Compound. Daniel previously worked in tax and valuation at EY and Bennett Thrasher. He is focused on using data visualization tools to better understand the health and profitability of various DeFi protocols. Contact Dan at daniel@blockworks.co

Daniel Batten is a ClimateTech investor, Bitcoin environmental impact analyst, CEO advisor and author. He is most widely known for his data-driven approach to Bitcoin mining research.


Daniel Cawrey has been involved full-time in the crypto space since 2013, including as an editor at CoinDesk. He is author of 2020’s “Mastering Blockchain” and 2023’s “Understanding Crypto” books, both available on Amazon.

Daranee Ganesh is Blockworks' editorial operations manager based in New Mexico. Prior to Blockworks, Daranee worked on several legal and non-profit projects aimed at integrating decentralized solutions in the social justice framework, specifically within immigration and environmental law. Contact Daranee at daranee@blockworks.co.

Darren Kleine is an Alberta-based reporter covering podcast content at Blockworks. Previously reporting for Cointelegraph, he wrote feature content and a weekly series focused on the personal stories of influential figures in the Web3 space. He has been an active participant in the NFT art scene since 2020, creating works on curated platforms including SuperRare and KnownOrigin and hosting an NFT art-focused podcast called NFP with DKleine. Contact Darren Kleine at darren@blockworks.co.

David is an Editor based in the Netherlands focused on data-driven journalism. Previously, he wrote for TheNextWeb's crypto vertical before launching Protos in 2021. He's a reformed hardline Bitcoiner passionate about permissionless and decentralized networks. Contact David at david@blockworks.co

David Schwed serves as the Chief Operating Officer at Halborn, an elite blockchain security firm. Prior to Halborn, he was the Global Head of Digital Assets Technology at BNY Mellon, the world's biggest custodian bank, where he integrated the IT strategy for the company's digital asset services. David was also CISO for Galaxy Digital, where he led the development of information security and IT infrastructure, and served as a risk committee advisor, evaluating emerging threats in financial services. He also founded the Cybersecurity Master's Program at Yeshiva University’s Katz School of Science and Health, sharing his expertise as a practitioner-in-residence.


Delphine Forma is the policy lead for Europe &amp; UK at Solidus Labs, a leading market compliance and market integrity firm in digital assets. With a career spanning roles in major banks and blockchain ventures, she brings extensive experience in compliance and legal across sectors. She is the founder of the crypto compliance and legal TG group with 1,400 members. A Sciences Po Lyon alumna, Delphine also holds advanced degrees in European Criminal Business Law and anti-money laundering.

Denelle Dixon is the CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF), a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting changemakers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. She leads the teams that help maintain Stellar's codebase, support the communities around Stellar, and advocate on behalf of the network with international stakeholders. Before joining Stellar, Dixon served as COO of Mozilla, one of the most successful mission-driven open-source organizations.. During her tenure at Mozilla, she led the organization’s business, revenue and policy teams including the ongoing fight for net neutrality and the global effort to ensure that people can control their personal data.

Dermot O’Riordan serves as a Director at the POKT Network Foundation where he helps steer product development and strategy. From Ireland to Silicon Valley, Dermot’s career ranged from advising tech companies and VC firms to leading marquee industry events. His interest in Web3 was sparked in 2016 with the rise of DAOs, leading him to dive deeper into the blockchain space, where he served as an advisor to projects like Radix and Dusk, and later, spearheading growth at Eden Block.

Donovan is a reporter based in Singapore and the author of the Lightspeed newsletter. He previously worked in editorial at Bankless and is a huge fan of spaghetti Westerns and the Wu-Tang Clan. Contact Donovan at donovan@blockworks.co.

Elena leads product marketing at Hiro Systems, a developer tooling company bringing smart contracts to Bitcoin. She has spent the past six years working in blockchain and cryptocurrency startups. Elena co-founded Blockchain Latinx, an online community that explores what blockchain means for Latinos and for Latin America. She has an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

Eli Cohen is a corporate lawyer with 25+ years of experience in commercial transactions, financial services and regulatory matters and has worked in Asia, Europe and the United States. He is the General Counsel for Centrifuge, a real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and securitization platform and Chief Compliance Officer for Anemoy Capital SPC Limited a British Virgin Islands fund company issuer of the tokenized Anemoy Liquid Treasury Fund 1. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, has a Masters in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Eli Zeger writes about democracy and its relationship with technology. His work has been published in the Boston Review, Noema Magazine, Strange Matters, Zora Zine, among numerous other publications.

Elliot is the Head of Climate Strategy at Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol, where he is helping unlock Bitcoin's clean energy potential by bridging sustainable miners and climate-conscious investors. In his role at Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol, Elliot educates policymakers and NGOs on Bitcoin’s relationship with the energy system. He is a climatetech operator focused on alleviating energy poverty, bridging the digital divide, and promoting financial inclusion through technologies such as Bitcoin. Elliot was previously a Schwarzman Scholar and has served in the military, US Department of Energy, Clinton Foundation, and more. 

Evan Thomas is General Counsel for Alluvial, a software development company supporting the Liquid Collective liquid staking protocol. He was previously at Wealthsimple, Canada’s largest consumer fintech, where he was Head of Legal for Wealthsimple’s crypto trading platform. While at Wealthsimple, Evan helped launch Canada’s first regulated staking product. Before Wealthsimple, Evan was a litigator at Osler, Hoskin &amp; Harcourt LLP for nearly 15 years. Among other notable cases, Evan was hearing counsel to 3iQ Corp. in its appeal securing regulatory approval for Canada’s first publicly traded bitcoin fund in 2019.

Felix Jauvin is the host of the On the Margin podcast. Based in British Columbia, Canada, he lives and breathes where crypto and macroeconomics intersect.

Felix Xu, crypto geek, early adopter, and NFT collector. Felix graduated from NYU Stern and founded two crypto projects, ARPA and Bella Protocol, among the global top 500 by market cap. Felix previously worked at Fosun Investment, Sackler family office, and Vertical Research in New York and Beijing. Felix loves sailing, kitesurfing and was featured in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for his NFT collection.

Frank has a diverse career that spans creative writing, day trading, and a 12-year stint in financial planning. After experimenting with blockchain and being an early adapter to the Solana ecosystem, Mathis co-founded GenesysGo in 2021 to create a faster, more reliable and more secure decentralized data storage protocol. Their flagship product, shdwDrive is built on Solana and aims to bridge the gap between blockchain technology and traditional business infrastructure. GenesysGo is powered by a new type of decentralized data storage consensus mechanism, built from the ground up by the GenesysGo team.

Fraser is co-founder &amp; CTO of Cubist and an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She is an expert in software correctness: her research focuses on systems security, automated bug finding, and formal verification, from verifying (parts of) production systems like browser JITs, to finding exploitable bugs in real codebases. Her tools have found many zero-day bountied bugs and CVEs in the Chrome and Firefox browsers and multiple operating systems. Fraser received her BA in English and her MS and PhD in Computer Science from Stanford.


Garrett Harper is the producer for the Empire podcast. Garrett worked in private equity and product management before jumping into crypto full-time in 2021. His favorite thing about crypto? It conflates art, gaming, finance, software, and psychology into one hyper-growth industry.

Gijs op de Weegh is the CEO and Founder of StablR, where he leads the strategy, business operations, and investor relations. He founded StablR out of his passion for implementing blockchain technology in the financial industry and exploring its possibilities. Before founding StablR, Gijs co-founded Payvision, an e-commerce payment service provider, in 2002. Under his leadership, Payvision grew to over 300 employees and achieved a turnover exceeding €4 billion.

Gísli Kristjánsson is co-founder and CTO of Monerium, the first company to issue fiat onchain. He fell in love with programming at the age of 13. After working as a bonds broker, Gísli saw the inefficiencies of securities settlements firsthand and recognized the potential of Bitcoin. Prior to co-founding Monerium in 2015, Gísli founded and sold a platform to give users access to geo-blocked content. Fun fact: Gísli’s Ethereum address is among the 1% of the oldest addresses.

Haden Patrick is Director of Business Operations of Cordial Systems, a provider of institutional-grade self custody software using a Zero Trust security model.  Haden has executive experience in team leadership, engineering and education originating from his 24 year career as a Naval Officer. After co-founding SoloKeys, the first open-source security key company, he went on to manage projects connecting web3 to traditional finance at a cryptocurrency trading firm before joining Cordial Systems.

Hadley Stern, Advisor to MPCH, has extensive experience in leadership roles within TradFi and digital asset industries. As Global Head of Custody at the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM) from 2021 to 2023, Hadley spearheaded the creation of the industry’s first bank-grade crypto-custody platform. Hadley also previously served as Chief Operating Officer at Bloq where he was responsible for the P&amp;L, product roadmap, and general operations. Hadley was Founding President of Fidelity Digital Asset Services where he led Fidelity's Blockchain Incubator and Digital Currency group and was pivotal in early product launches, including activating Bitcoin donations to Fidelity Charitable and building and running Fidelity first Bitcoin mining Operation.



Hannah Finnerty is Blockworks' head of media ops and is based in the US. Hannah previously worked in podcast production for The National in Abu Dhabi. She graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in multiplatform journalism and Middle Eastern politics. Contact Hannah at hannah@blockworks.co.

Hatu Sheikh is the co-founder and CMO of DAO Maker, the largest on-chain funding platform with 1.5M+ users. The platform's contracts have distributed over $600M, with a cumulative return of around 10x. Hatu has a strong background in marketing and strategy and has played a pivotal role in driving the success of various blockchain-based projects and tokens, crafting effective marketing strategies, and forging powerful synergies within the industry.

Harry Duckworth, a law graduate, embarked on a unique journey that led him to become the youngest trader at global commodities giant Trafigura. He then went on to set up desks for several hedge funds worldwide, accumulating over a decade of experience in trading, hedge funds, and emergent technologies. 

Through his work, he became fascinated by the revolutionary power of blockchain tech soon after the inception of Bitcoin. Years later he founded AgriDex International, to provide digital marketplaces and supply chain information for all participants in the global food chain. 

Hind Kurhan is a Co-Founder of Thesis Defense, a decentralized technology security auditing company whose mission is the facilitation of broad adoption of decentralized technology by improving security and audit consistency throughout the blockchain sphere.


Ian Rogers is the Chief Experience Officer at Ledger, leading the consumer-facing business delivering the world’s #1 way to buy and secure cryptocurrency.  Prior, Ian was the Chief Digital Officer at LVMH for five transformative years, working with a portfolio of nearly one hundred brands across luxury including Louis Vuitton, Dior, Sephora, and Hennessy.  Ian also sits on the boards of Dr Marten’s and Lyst.

Ian spent twenty years bringing digital music to the mainstream, first with Winamp then Yahoo!, Beats, and Apple.  Ian contributed to the 2015 launch of Apple Music including Beats 1, their digital streaming channel. Ian graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science (with honors, Phi Beta Kappa) from Indiana University in 1994.  Ian built some of the earliest music-related Web sites in the early 90s and has been working with Beastie Boys since 1993.

Igor Telyatnikov is the CEO and co-founder of the blockchain and financial services technology company AlphaPoint. Headquartered in New York, AlphaPoint supports over 10 million users, powering marketplaces and wallets in over 35 countries. With 15 years of experience in tech and innovation, Igor has empowered over 150 clients, including CME Group and Scotiabank. In 2022, he partnered with the Government of El Salvador to upgrade its Chivo Wallet into a national Bitcoin and dollar wallet, creating the first nationalized crypto ecosystem. Igor previously held roles at Cvetlo, LiftDNA, and Ingersoll Rand/Allegion, and has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing from Penn State University. He is a frequent speaker at industry events.

Ishan is a University of Texas McCombs School of Business graduate with a BBA in Finance &amp; Marketing. He founded and managed a Private Equity Fund that reached an eight-figure Assets Under Management (AUM) and has also gained experience with many top 200 projects of crypto market cap. In 2022, he helped found SCRIB3, a Web3 Marketing and PR venture. He was notably among the first to raise an alert about potential deceptive and unethical business practices by FTX. Ishan contributes as a DeFi analyst, an active angel investor, and an advisor in projects like Polygon Technologies.

Jack Kubinec is a New York-based reporter and podcast host. He focuses on scoops and investigations at the intersection of money and power in crypto. In 2024, he was awarded Best Impact by a New Journalist by the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers. Jack can be reached for tips (not pitches) at jackkubinec.23 on Signal and jackkubinec@proton.me.













Jag is the CEO and co-founder of re.al, an L2 build to facilitate deep onchain liquidity for tokenized RWAs. re.al seeks to redefine how RWAs are integrated into DeFi, using yield-generating real-world assets as novel building blocks in existing DeFi primitives.

James Cirrone is a breaking news reporter based in New York. Prior to joining Blockworks, James was a reporter and newsletter writer at Bloomberg News. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in journalism. He also played trumpet in the university’s marching band. Contact James via email at james.cirrone@blockworks.co.

Jason Allegrante is the Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Fireblocks. He is an experienced Counsel with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry with both large, traditional financial institutions as well as early stage fintech startups.



Jason Dehni is the co-founder and group CEO of Credbull, a leading DeFi platform offering structured high fixed yield solutions in SME private credit. Jason has over 25 years of senior management experience in asset management, private banking, SME lending, insurance, risk management, and crypto across North America, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. His background includes serving as group COO &amp; MENA CEO of a publicly traded crypto asset management company, co-founder &amp; CEO of an SME trade finance platform, and senior leadership roles in asset management, wealth management,  insurance, and management consulting. Jason holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an Honours BA in Economics &amp; Political Science from the University of Toronto. 

Jean-Marie Mognetti is Chief Executive Officer of CoinShares, a publicly listed investment firm that manages over five billion in digital assets on behalf of a global investor base, and an experienced commodities trader with a background in quantitative strategies. A veteran of the Global Advisors group of companies since 2011, Jean-Marie has served in various leadership roles throughout his tenure, most recently as CEO of Global Advisors (Jersey) Limited and director of GABI, the world’s first regulated Bitcoin fund. In addition to his management responsibilities as CEO, Jean-Marie oversees the firm’s proprietary trading arm, capital markets portfolio, and risk management practices – areas in which he has developed unique expertise over his career. Prior to joining Global Advisors, Jean-Marie was a quantitative strategist with Hermes Commodities Fund Managers, and an Energy Trader Assistant at Lehman Brothers. He holds Master of Science degrees in Mathematical Trading and Finance from Sir John Cass Business School in London, and Bank-Finance-Insurance from Université Paris Dauphine in Paris, in addition to a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Finance from Université Paris Dauphine.

Jeff is an editor at Blockworks, based in the United States. He has been a part of the blockchain space for nearly 15 years. His areas of focus include empowering artists and creators through technology, using proof-of-participation methods to reward self-improvement, reducing the effectiveness of Sybil attacks, seeking transparent equity for disadvantaged communities and exploring fairer models of world governance. Contact Jeff at Jeffrey@blockworks.co.


Jesper Johansen is the founder and CEO of NORTHSTAKE, a regulated custodial staking company specialized in building regulatory compliant crypto staking products for institutional investors and financial institutions. The team holds backgrounds from financial institutions, pension funds, large investment companies to consulting, technology and audit firms, such as Accenture, Deloitte, PwC as well as blockchain and crypto projects e.g. DAI Foundation (MakerDao), Ethereum and L1/L2s. 

Prior to NORTHSTAKE, Jesper held leadership positions with Accenture Strategy and Deloitte Consulting advising clients in heavily regulated industries to implement new technologies and drive business transformation. He holds a MBA from Copenhagen Business School and a B.Sc. in International Business. 

Jess is the CEO of Reown, the onchain UX platform and builders of the WalletConnect Network. Previously she led Crypto at Checkout.com, a global fintech company. Jess was also a member of the Bank of England CBDC Engagement Forum and a member of UK Finance New Digital Money Steering Group, Innovate Finance Fintech Strategy Group and Department for International Trade Fintech Group.

Jess Sun is an independent writer and content strategist. She loves bringing good ideas to light, helping the people behind them shine, and bridging gaps in understanding. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn. Go to her website to learn about working with her.

Jesse Knutson is the head of operations at Bitfinex Securities, where he is responsible for expanding the platform’s issuance pipeline, overseeing distribution and building its user base while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. Prior to this role, Knutson served as vice president of financial products at Blockstream, and held roles at prominent investment banks including Macquarie Group and Barclays.

Jim Myers is an engineer, early-stage investor, and the CTO &amp; Co-Founder of Flipside Crypto, a leading blockchain data analytics and business intelligence platform. Prior to co-founding Flipside, Jim developed the core technology that took products from 0 to 1 at companies such as Mylestone, Pluralsight, and Smarterer. Jim’s journey into the crypto industry began in 2015, eventually co-founding Flipside Crypto in 2017 to help empower crypto communities to create and share data-driven insights on the projects they care most about. Jim's passion for building extends to the broader startup community via his developer event series, Stack Dive, and as an angel investor to several local Boston-area startups, including AdHawk and LinkSquares. In a previous life, Jim developed advanced models to quantify risk and abnormal returns in the market for Financial Transmission Rights, a type of energy derivative.

JJ is an advisor, mentor and co-founder working across Bitcoin, mining and web3. He currently mentors for Outlier Ventures new Bitcoin Base Camp program and has co-founded a new protocol operating in stealth mode.

Kate Irwin

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-drop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



The TGE for LINEA has begun — and Consensys CEO Joe Lubin is hinting that more tokens are coming.



LINEA is the token for Consensys’ existing Ethereum L2 zk rollup of the same name. The token comes roughly <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/linea-mainnet-ethereum">two years after</a> the Linea blockchain’s mainnet launch.&nbsp;



But LINEA isn’t the chain’s native gas token — it’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/linea-previews-eth-first-roadmap">using ETH for that</a>. LINEA also isn’t a governance token, either, which might lead some to ask: What is it for?



LINEA’s market cap was higher than $560 million at launch. That’s already been <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/linea">sliced</a> down to $360 million as of Thursday morning — a 36% plunge in less than a day.&nbsp;



For better or worse, a token’s price history tells a story. While that story can certainly be manipulated or subject to macroeconomic pressure, token price fluctuations can also be an indicator of interest over time.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Lubin is now telling traders why he thinks the LINEA token is worth hanging onto: You may get a lot more tokens.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Well, just holding Linea will open up further rewards opportunities, mostly in other tokens; some from Consensys and some from protocols that we are aligned with. MetaMask and Linea are cooking somETHing together to make this happen. Together we are all bootstrapping the Linea… <a href="https://t.co/AGhPovMSBH">https://t.co/AGhPovMSBH</a>&mdash; Joseph Lubin (@ethereumJoseph) <a href="https://twitter.com/ethereumJoseph/status/1965986280828727566?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



“Just holding Linea will open up further rewards opportunities, mostly in other tokens,” Lubin <a href="https://x.com/ethereumJoseph/status/1965986280828727566">wrote</a> late Wednesday night. “MetaMask and Linea are cooking somETHing together to make this happen.”



He added: “If we notice, at some date in the future that you&#8217;ve held n LINEA tokens for m days, that just might lead to another token landing in your account.”&nbsp;



Does this mean MASK is coming?&nbsp;



Lubin previously <a href="https://decrypt.co/95039/metamask-consensys-30-million-users">confirmed</a> a MetaMask token was part of the bigger plan back in 2022, though that hasn’t materialized yet.&nbsp;



Now that the US regulatory outlook has changed, it’s possible that dream may be revived.&nbsp;



MetaMask recently <a href="https://thedrop.beehiiv.com/p/hot-take-friday">announced</a> its own stablecoin, mUSD, which will exist on Ethereum and Linea.



While we’re speculating, Lubin’s comments could alternatively mean some kind of yield could be in the works, whereby holding LINEA in your fox wallet results in other tokens (like ETH or mUSD) being earned over time.&nbsp;



But the way his comment was phrased — with other tokens just “landing” in your wallet one day — sounds more like he’s describing future airdrops across one-time events and not a steady earning mechanism.



Hence my speculation that a fox token (that’s not a stablecoin) could be coming.



Lubin’s comments didn’t appear to inspire a surge of buyers to drive LINEA’s price back up. Since his post, LINEA’s price has more or less remained stable around $0.02 with a $360 million market cap. The dangled carrot of future rewards might have prevented further selloffs, though.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="560" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107614" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-86.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Image: A look at Linea’s profitability as a chain. </figcaption></figure>



As a chain, Linea is profitable for Consensys. It’s seen over $65 million in L2 revenue so far, with a profit of over $34.3 million after subtracting costs for proofs and other fees, according to SeaLaunch data on Dune.&nbsp;



It’s still much smaller than Base and Arbitrum from a profits standpoint, but it’s still in the game.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



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<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

ConsenSys

Consensys CEO Joe Lubin hints at future LINEA perks

Macauley Peterson

Starknet’s most ambitious upgrade to date has gone live, but it promptly reminded users of the risks of pushing cutting-edge infrastructure into production.



The layer-2 network rolled out its Grinta <a href="https://x.com/starknet/status/1962457868277305357">upgrade</a> earlier this month, a sweeping release that touches nearly every layer of its architecture. Among the headline features:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Instant transactions with ~0.5 second pre-confirmations, bringing a “Web2-like” user experience.</li>



<li>Seven-times faster block production, reducing latency for DeFi, gaming, and AI applications.</li>



<li>A new fee market modeled on Ethereum’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/eip-1559">EIP-1559</a>, with STRK as the default gas token. Paymasters can still let users pay in ETH or stablecoins.</li>



<li>The first step toward sequencer decentralization, with three sequencers sharing responsibility instead of a single centralized one.</li>



<li>A mempool upgrade that lets users prioritize transactions by fee, akin to Ethereum’s gas bidding.</li>



<li>A standardized Paymaster API (<a href="https://github.com/starknet-io/SNIPs/blob/main/SNIPS/snip-29.md">SNIP-29</a>) to simplify integration for wallets and dApps.</li>
</ul>



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/starkware">StarkWare</a>, the team behind Starknet, framed the release as a historic milestone. “Starknet is moving from a centralized network to a credibly neutral, performant network ready to onboard millions of users,” the project said in its Grinta announcement.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Outage overshadows launch</h2>



But the triumph was quickly tempered. On September 2, just after Grinta’s debut, Starknet went offline for more than two hours. A chain reorganization wiped transactions submitted during a roughly two-hour window, frustrating users and raising questions about rollout strategy.



According to the incident report <a href="https://www.starknet.io/blog/starknet-incident-report-september-2-2025/">published</a> today, the root cause was “ungraceful recovery from earlier P2P issues on the Ethereum network.” Specifically, the sequencer processed an unprovable stream of transactions, forcing a rollback.



Developers acknowledged the severity: “It sucks, plain and simple,” StarkWare contributor Abdelhamid Bakhta <a href="https://x.com/dimahledba/status/1962810098922795030">wrote</a> on X. He emphasized, however, that “no one has decentralized a ZK rollup architecture on a live chain before. Setbacks come with the territory, but they drive progress.”



The upgrade’s scale contributed to the risk. StarkWare batched multiple features into a single release, rather than phasing them in. “Usually when we know there is a major upgrade coming that will anyway require a short downtime, we prefer to batch multiple features,” Bakhta <a href="https://x.com/dimahledba/status/1962810098922795030">explained</a> in response to community criticism. Strategically, he added, the team wanted Grinta live ahead of “something important coming very soon related to the Bitcoin plans.”



Reaction was mixed. Bakhta compared the episode to Solana’s repeated outages — a network that nevertheless retained developer momentum. “Bullish on Starknet downtime. Solana playbook, all planned,” he <a href="https://x.com/dimahledba/status/1962810098922795030">quipped</a>. Others noted the irony of a rollup, whose very selling point is Ethereum-grade reliability, suffering downtime.



Researcher Eric Wall, a StarkWare advisor, pressed why the rollout wasn’t staged more carefully. Bakhta <a href="https://x.com/dimahledba/status/1962810098922795030">countered</a> that progress in uncharted ZK rollup design comes with inevitable turbulence.



Despite the hiccup, Grinta marks a turning point. Starknet is now the first rollup to decentralize sequencing in production, technically, although all sequencers operated by StarkWare for now. Future phases will bring in independent operators, aiming to improve censorship resistance, reliability, and throughput.



As the outage fades from memory, the scope of the upgrade should come to the fore. As Bakhta put it: “We’re humbled by the issues, but proud of what we’ve achieved. Let’s fix it, learn from it, and keep building.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-breakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. </li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Empire</a>: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forward-guidance">Forward Guidance</a>: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/thedrop">The Drop</a>: Apps, games, memes and more.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Lightspeed</a>: All things Solana.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supply-shock">Supply Shock</a>: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.</li>
</ul>

blockchain

Starknet’s Grinta upgrade is massive, but arrived with turbulence

Kunal Doshi

Shaunda Devens

This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



With risk assets back in rally mode, crypto is leaning hard into the easing narrative. Softer inflation data has lifted expectations for Fed cuts, sending majors higher and reigniting speculative flows. In this environment, protocols are reaching for every tool available to capture attention and support valuations, from pump.fun buying ecosystem memes to Lido potentially experimenting with buybacks as a way to bolster token performance.



<h1 class="wp-block-heading">Market Update</h1>



It’s a field of green today with BTC, ETH and SOL up 2.3%, 1.7% and 2.7%, respectively in the last 24 hours. This follows the PPI surprising to the downside, falling 0.1% MoM vs a forecast +0.3%. Traders took it as proof that Trump’s tariffs aren’t fanning inflation.



All eyes now turn to tonight’s CPI print to confirm the trend and pave the path for rate cuts ahead. <a href="https://kalshi.com/markets/kxfeddecision/fed-meeting/kxfeddecision-25sep">Current odds</a> show an 82% chance of a 25bp cut next week, with even a 17% chance of 50bp cut. Expectations for three cuts this year have <a href="https://kalshi.com/markets/kxratecutcount/number-of-rate-cuts/kxratecutcount-25dec31">doubled</a> since last week. The anticipation of an easing cycle has turned sentiment bullish, with Pump the standout performer, up 46% in the last seven seven days.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="448" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107587" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



The easing cycle that began last September sparked Solana’s meme season, peaking in December 2024 when the Fed signaled slower cuts ahead. Potential airdrops from Meteora, Seeker, and maybe even Pump in Q4 could fuel the next wave. Historically, infrastructure plays like Raydium and Solana benefited most from meme trading, but flows now tilt towards Pump as a more direct play. In August, pump.fun drove 31% of Solana app revenue and currently dominates <a href="https://dune.com/queries/5440992/8878702">92%</a> of launchpad volumes.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="900" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107588" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-79.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



Initially criticized as extractive, pump.fun has since emphasized community alignment. Its <a href="https://dune.com/adam_tehc/pumpfun-glass-full-foundation">Glass Full Foundation</a> injects liquidity into ecosystem tokens, while <a href="https://dune.com/adam_tehc/pumpfun-creator-earnings">Project Ascend</a> boosted creator earnings by 12x. Fading a project with PMF is a losing trade, and Pump keeps printing.



— <a href="https://x.com/Kunallegendd">Kunal</a>&nbsp;



<h1 class="wp-block-heading">Lido: Buybacks without profits</h1>



Lido contributors and <a href="https://www.steakhouse.financial/">Steakhouse</a> have proposed <a href="https://research.lido.fi/t/nest-network-economic-support-tokenomics/10648">NEST</a> (Network Economic Support Tokenomics), a buyback sink that uses stETH set aside by the DAO to buy LDO. The mechanism operates as follows:



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>Funding: The DAO fills NEST with a chosen amount of stETH via <a href="https://vote.lido.fi/">Aragon</a> votes.</li>



<li>Execution cadence: For any stETH held in NEST, at least one CowSwap order must be created every ~7,000 blocks (approximately once per day), with a maximum order size calibrated to stay under 1% slippage.</li>



<li>Keeper incentive: Whoever triggers an eligible order receives two basis points of the order size in stETH as a reward.</li>
</ol>



Two factors make this proposal particularly interesting. First, Lido DAO will be responsible for filling and topping up the NEST contract with stETH, meaning the buybacks are uncorrelated from the protocol&#8217;s direct earnings, a contrast to the majority of programs that fund themselves with revenue. With Lido&#8217;s treasury holding 26,816 stETH ($115 million), although there&#8217;s no indication of how much will be deployed, it&#8217;s likely that holders will appreciate any form of financial engineering that could support price appreciation.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="900" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107590" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-81.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



However, the irony is that Lido DAO has yet to turn a profit. The protocol has accumulated $345.4 million in cumulative losses since 2021, despite processing over $2.68 billion in gross staking rewards. While 2025 shows improvement with losses narrowing to just $200K (approaching breakeven), the fundamental economics remain challenging.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="900" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107589" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-80.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



Interestingly, the topic has been discussed extensively before, particularly in 2024 after Uniswap&#8217;s fee switch proposal ignited a buyback meta among DeFi 1.0 projects. Hasu pushed back, arguing that revenues are insufficient to cover the runway and that the protocol should wait for profitability before implementing buybacks.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="448" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107586" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-78.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



But with LDO trading 78% below its all-time high at $1.26, perhaps the DAO has grown tired of waiting. Watching the whole market pump, the prospect of deploying treasury assets to support token price may be more attractive than enduring another year of underperformance. 



— <a href="https://x.com/shaundadevens">Shaunda</a>



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Lido

Respect the PUMP: Crypto’s emerging meme season

Byron Gilliam

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read more editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/brand/the-breakdown">subscribe</a>



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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
“Inflation in the United States is made in Washington and nowhere else.”



— Milton Friedman
</blockquote>



When Fed Chair Paul Volcker raised short-term interest rates to as high as 22%, angry construction workers sent him two-by-fours in the mail in protest.



They had no other use for them, they explained, because his rate hikes were stopping them from building houses for people.



It was a fair point. The recessions Volcker induced with rate hikes are credited with ending inflation in the US — but they probably shouldn’t be because raising interest rates can only slow inflation in the near term.



In the medium term, higher interest rates might even do the opposite: The Fed fights inflation by reducing demand, but that can ultimately be counterproductive.



Putting home builders out of work, for example, reduces the supply of houses and fewer houses means higher house prices.



“Today’s demand is tomorrow’s supply,” John Cochrane writes in explaining why rate hikes can be counterproductive to durably reducing inflation. “The economy needs investment and housing.”



In the long term, higher interest rates are probably no help at all.



Inflation is ultimately a case of too much money chasing too few goods and higher rates don’t change that.



Why then did it work for Volcker? Cochrane argues it’s because “tight money in the early 1980s was quickly followed by tax, spending and regulatory reform.”



Those reforms reassured consumers and investors that the government would not have to resort to printing money to pay off its debts.



Volcker might get credit for that, too, however: It was the threat of repeated Fed-induced recessions that forced the White House and Congress to demonstrate they were committed to lowering the deficit over the long term. In Cochrane’s view, this is the only way to durably lower inflation: “The US has to persuade people that over the long haul of several decades it will return to its tradition of running small primary surpluses that gradually repay debts.” The Fed can’t help with that — but thanks to the legend of Volcker, everyone thinks it can.



Economist and ex-Fed board member Henry Wallich recognized this as long ago as 1975, <a href="https://oll-resources.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/oll3/store/titles/1097/0102.08_LFeBk.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">bemoaning</a> the mistaken belief that &#8220;deficits can do no major damage so long as the central bank does its job right.&#8221;



Volcker then supercharged that belief. He raised rates and inflation went down, so it seems like that’s all there is to it: When inflation happens, it’s the Fed’s job to fix it.



His successors have cemented that impression.



After the last FOMC meeting, for example, Chair Powell <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/mediacenter/files/FOMCpresconf20250730.pdf">reassured</a> markets “there should be no doubt that we will do what we need to do to keep inflation under control.”



He has to say that, of course — a big part of how the Fed keeps inflation in check is by using the kind of confident language that keeps inflation expectations in check.



But the confident language also lets Congress and the White House off the hook.



Why do the hard, politically treacherous work of raising taxes, cutting spending and promoting growth if the Fed can simply control inflation with interest rates?



In other words, we have a free rider problem: Congress and the White House don’t feel responsible for inflation, so they do feel free to run giant deficits — always, even when the economy is good.&nbsp;



But what if interest rates were effectively set by the White House?



President Trump has recently been terrifying economists with a campaign to end the Fed’s independence, explicitly calling on the Fed to lower interest rates in order to make the deficit easier to finance.&nbsp;&nbsp;



This is the “fiscal dominance” that economists have long warned would undermine faith in the US dollar and risk runaway inflation.



But this non-economist wonders if it might have an entirely different effect.



Is it too naive to think that if the president politicizes the Fed, politicians will be forced to take responsibility for inflation?&nbsp;



Volcker spooked Congress into fiscal responsibility in the 1980s, and maybe voters, once they realize that inflation is made in Congress, could do so now.



There may not be any other choice, because the Fed is not so scary anymore.



If the Fed were to dramatically raise interest rates, the first-order effect would be higher interest costs on the government’s $37 trillion of debt, which in turn creates inflation by undermining people’s belief that the debt can ever be paid off.



That makes rate hikes unsuitable as a short-term fix for inflation and counterproductive as a longer-term one — and no longer something the Fed can plausibly threaten.



Ideally, recognition of this new reality would focus politicians&#8217; minds on the long-term fixes that only they can implement.



They will be reluctant, of course, because the fixes are politically unpopular and Congress would prefer that the proverbial two-by-fours continue to be mailed to the Fed.



But inflation is wildly unpopular, too, and if voters recognize that politicians are ultimately responsible for it, they might force them into action (or out of office).



To be clear, few economists are rooting for the president to succeed in his campaign to break the Fed, and it&#8217;s not my first choice, either.



But if you break it, you own it — and now is the time for the White House and Congress to own the inflation problem.



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The Breakdown Newsletter

How I stopped worrying and learned to love a politicized Fed

Ben Strack

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forward-guidance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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I started covering Franklin Templeton half a dozen years ago while on the asset management beat at a B2B finance pub. I wasn’t aware of the term TradFi back then and knew little about crypto.



The $1.6 trillion money manager is still very relevant to my transformed beat. You might remember my July interview with Sandy Kaul, during which she said all Franklin Templeton products are likely to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/franklin-templeton-products-onchain-exec-says">end up onchain</a>.&nbsp;



She promised there’d be more to come. Sure enough, the financial giant said today it would team up with Binance on digital asset initiatives and solutions.



The companies were vague, noting they’d share more details later this year. But essentially, they are combining Franklin’s tokenization muscle with Binance’s trading infrastructure and investor reach to bring offerings with “competitive yield generation and settlement efficiency.”



Blockworks Research data shows Binance’s prevalence in crypto today — with the definitive edge over competitors in spot volume, for example:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1352" height="741" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107571" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=1352 1352w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-76.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1352px) 100vw, 1352px" /></figure>



As Franklin Templeton’s Sandy Kaul said in a Wednesday statement: “We see blockchain not as a threat to legacy systems, but as an opportunity to reimagine them.”&nbsp;



And so we’ve seen the company migrate more into the crypto segment in recent years. It was one of the dozen or so issuers that lined up to launch a bitcoin ETF in January 2024. But well before that — in 2021 — Franklin launched a money market fund that used the Stellar blockchain to record transactions. A share of the fund is represented by one BENJI token, which the firm made accessible in digital wallets through an app.&nbsp;



I recall Franklin exec Roger Bayston telling me in mid-2023 how BENJI can essentially <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoin-with-yield-franklin-templeton">act as a stablecoin</a> while also generating income. That conversion was about a year before BlackRock launched a similar yield fund (aka BUIDL), which spurred tokenized treasury momentum.&nbsp;



BUIDL quickly surpassed Franklin’s product in assets under management, with the totals now standing at ~$2.2 billion and ~$740 million, respectively.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Speaking of BlackRock, today’s news kind of reminded me of the world’s largest asset manager <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/industry-watchers-execs-weigh-significance-of-blackrock-coinbase-deal">teaming up with Coinbase</a> in 2022.&nbsp;



The bottom line is this trend of TradFi and DeFi worlds coming together is in no way slowing. That means I’ll have to be cautious about not reusing headlines — whether one from <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tradfi-bid-nasdaq-fidelity">earlier this week</a> or months back. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="blob:https://cms.blockworks.co/42acb2e6-66f9-465c-8d35-6a2474c1a465" width="624" height="183">



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1586" height="344" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107572" style="width:643px;height:auto" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=1586 1586w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-77.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1586px) 100vw, 1586px" /></figure>



Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson has said she thinks we’ll see more financial market infrastructure transformation in the next five years than we’ve seen in the last 50.&nbsp;



Translation: It’s a rad time to be a crypto/finance journalist and reader.



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Binance

Fund giant-crypto exchange collab another bid to ‘reimagine’ finance

Jack Kubinec

VanEck plans to file for a Hyperliquid spot staking ETF in the US and an exchange-traded product in Europe, two employees at the firm told Blockworks.



HYPE would become the youngest token to earn an ETF filing from the crypto-friendly investment management firm, which currently offers bitcoin and ether ETFs among other crypto funds.&nbsp;



Hyperliquid has been a major focus for VanEck’s liquid fund this year, VanEck senior digital assets investment analyst Matt Maximo said.



The firm is considering allocating a percentage of the investment products’ net profits to HYPE buybacks, digital assets products director Kyle Dacruz added. Hyperliquid currently performs HYPE buybacks <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/flashnotes/hype-still-cheap">equal</a> to nearly all of the platform’s revenue.



The pair declined to comment on when VanEck’s HYPE ETF filing may go live. A spokesperson for the firm did not immediately return a request for comment.



Hyperliquid is a layer-1 blockchain that underpins a popular perpetual futures exchange. The chain grew quickly after launching in 2023.&nbsp;



It has led all blockchains in network revenue for four consecutive weeks, according to Blockworks research data.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="948" height="549" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-75.png" alt="" class="wp-image-107563" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-75.png?w=948 948w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-75.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-75.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-75.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-75.png?w=451 451w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-75.png?w=378 378w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-75.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 948px) 100vw, 948px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: Blockworks Research</figcaption></figure>



VanEck finds Hyperliquid to be an attractive ETF candidate because it has “plenty of demand” but does not currently trade on major US crypto exchanges like Coinbase, Dacruz said. A HYPE staking ETF would give US investors better access to the token — and perhaps nudge exchanges to list the token, he added.



The firm’s Hyperliquid products would depend on regulatory approval, although 21Shares successfully <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/08/29/3141292/0/en/21Shares-Launches-First-ETP-Tracking-Hyperliquid-the-Market-Leader-in-Decentralized-Perpetuals.html">launched</a> a European Hyperliquid ETP in August.&nbsp;



In the US, approvals may take a little more time. The SEC has a slew of crypto ETF applications to work through, including ones for larger tokens like XRP and SOL.



VanEck has also applied to list ETFs for AVAX, SOL, JitoSOL, and BNB.



The move comes amid a sweepstakes to issue USDH, a ticker <a href="https://discord.com/channels/1029781241702129716/1030197017655394447/1414930967843438663">reserved</a> for a Hyperliquid-aligned stablecoin. One of the contestants is Agora, a stablecoin startup co-founded by Nick van Eck, son of VanEck CEO Jan van Eck. The senior van Eck <a href="https://x.com/JanvanEck3/status/1965193995182899702">posted</a> on X defending Agora’s proposal to issue USDH, and VanEck <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-stablecoin-startup-agora-raises-120000399.html">reportedly</a> helps manage Agora’s reserves.



The CEO also added that the firm is “bullish Hyperliquid.”



Dacruz said VanEck’s decision to file for Hyperliquid ETPs is“completely separate” from Agora’s USDH bid and stressed that the products are not contingent on Agora being USDH’s issuer. He also noted Agora and VanEck are separate entities. 



If VanEck gets its HYPE ETF filing in first, it would continue a trend for the firm, which was also <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/eight-firms-listing-solana-etfs">first to file</a> for both Solana and <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/vaneck-files-for-first-ethereum-etf-in-us-2021-05-07">Ethereum</a> ETFs.



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VanEck plans to file for Hyperliquid staking ETF, European ETP

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-drop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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A new financial app trend is emerging: Just add posting.



Last night, Robinhood <a href="https://x.com/RobinhoodApp/status/1965589746937446623">unveiled</a> “Robinhood Social,” an upcoming new tab within the Robinhood app that will let Robinhood users see and create posts about stocks and crypto tied to real trades and follow others’ accounts. There’s a “For You” page and a “Following” page, too.&nbsp;



Sounds a lot like Crypto Twitter, if you ask me.&nbsp;



But Robinhood’s also deploying these social media features to help show traders new assets to buy — which could ultimately keep users on the app longer and make Robinhood more money. Traders may also copy others’ trades, as TechCrunch has <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/09/robinhood-embraces-copy-trading-after-warning-competitors-about-regulatory-risks/#:~:text=Roughly%20nine%20months%20after%20suggesting,feature%2C%20all%20the%20more%20notable.">pointed out</a>, which is a tune-change from Robinhood’s prior concerns about the practice.



“Most people today use social media before trading, especially our active traders, yet social media is overrun with clickbait, marketing bots, fake profiles and doctored screenshots,” Robinhood VP of product Abhishek Fatehpuria <a href="https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1mrGmBVPjgBJy">said</a> during the company’s “Enter The Mainframe” event on Tuesday.&nbsp;



Robinhood thinks it’ll be able to establish itself as a trusted SocialFi platform because users are tied to Robinhood trading accounts.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Introducing Robinhood Social. Coming next year. Show off your recent gains, discuss strategies, follow your favorite traders, and make market moves in real-time.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RobinhoodPresents?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RobinhoodPresents</a> <a href="https://t.co/cLhiCw7bpH">https://t.co/cLhiCw7bpH</a> <a href="https://t.co/LYaLgkcuuM">pic.twitter.com/LYaLgkcuuM</a>&mdash; Robinhood (@RobinhoodApp) <a href="https://twitter.com/RobinhoodApp/status/1965589746937446623?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



But Robinhood isn’t the only consumer finance app pushing heavily into SocialFi features — Coinbase continues to add lots of social media features into the beta version of its wallet overhaul, too. Yesterday Base <a href="https://x.com/baseapp/status/1965532254433857959">said</a> users will be able to create posts from the Base app’s homepage and buy each other’s posts, much like what Zora also offers. Zora’s being integrated into Base (and Zora posting via the Base app now <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zora-app-accounts-debate">accounts for a notable portion</a> of Zora’s overall activity).



Upstart players have also been trying to forge a name for themselves in the SocialFi space.&nbsp;



<a href="https://fomo.family/">FOMO</a> lets users track others’ trading activity by tying accounts to Twitter handles and letting them buy and sell tokens all on one mobile app. And Pump has made livestreaming a big part of its site — and recently added “Pump Chat” to its mobile app.



This year, we’ve even seen Kraken release a Venmo-like app hilariously dubbed <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kraken.pay.app&amp;hl=en_CA">Krak</a>, which displays a list of your friends on the app and lets you send them crypto (they compare sending money on Krak to sending a DM).



A trend is clearly emerging: US crypto exchanges see social features as a key part of crypto’s future growth.&nbsp;



But will this latest SocialFi push amount to little more than a limited-time experiment — like the since-forgotten CoinbaseNFT?&nbsp;



I think this latest social push is going to stick around for a while, though it could run out of steam if traders get tired of juggling multiple apps.&nbsp;



Robinhood and Coinbase may be angling to swipe some of Twitter’s market share in the finance sector and retain users by becoming more like the “everything apps” WeChat and Naver have already become.



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Coinbase

From Base to Robinhood: Why trading apps are going social

US Securities and Exchange Commission chair Paul Atkins said during a keynote address on Wednesday that “most crypto tokens are not securities,” signaling a major policy shift for the agency. Speaking at the OECD Roundtable, Atkins <a href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/atkins-keynote-address-inaugural-oecd-roundtable-global-financial-markets-091025">reiterated</a> the SEC’s Project Crypto initiative — first launched in July — and sharpened its focus by pledging that most tokens will fall outside securities law and that entrepreneurs will be able to raise capital on-chain without &#8220;endless legal uncertainty.&#8221;



He argued that for too long, the SEC relied on ad hoc enforcement actions that drove innovation offshore, and pledged instead to offer predictable regulatory guidance for digital assets.



The statement seemingly breaks with years of SEC practice since the 2017 DAO Report, which applied the Howey test to many token sales, leading to enforcement actions against exchanges and issuers. Under Atkins, the agency will distinguish more clearly between securities and non-securities, giving entrepreneurs firmer ground when structuring tokenized projects. He also endorsed a “super-app” platform model that would allow trading, lending, and staking under a single regulatory framework, aligning the SEC more closely with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regime.



Atkins’ comments follow the President’s Working Group report on digital asset markets, which urged agencies to accelerate rulemaking to keep the US competitive.



This is a developing story.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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regulation

SEC chair Atkins says most tokens not securities in regulatory shift

Polymarket crystallizes what the past couple days of X speculation and tea-leaf reading only hinted at: Native Markets, in collaboration with Stripe-owned stablecoins infra provider Bridge, is now the clear favorite to win the USDH ticker on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/hyperliquid">Hyperliquid</a>.



As of 12:30 p.m. ET, Polymarket betters gave Native around 65% odds, with <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/paxos">Paxos</a> a distant second, and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ethena">Ethena</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/frax">Frax</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/stablecoin-adoption-timeline-tradfi-van-eck">Agora</a>, and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/makerdao">Sky</a> all but written off.



That lines up with early validator signaling. Infinite Field and CMI Trading have both <a href="https://x.com/ArthuronHL/status/1965516060603601171">publicly committed</a> to voting for Native, citing its Hyperliquid-alignment and execution speed. Voting is now open, and final vote tallies are expected Sunday.



Paxos is still in the running. After an initial pitch centered on regulatory pedigree, the issuer revised its proposal Wednesday, pledging a larger share of reserve yield to Hyperliquid’s Assistance Fund and deferring any issuer take until the product scales.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1912" height="880" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107524" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=1912 1912w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-73.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1912px) 100vw, 1912px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://polymarket.com/event/who-will-win-the-usdh-ticker-159">Polymarket</a></figcaption></figure>



The shift made their offer more competitive, and gives them a plausible path to upset if validator sentiment swings. 



But for now, the debate’s center of gravity has shifted firmly toward Native.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What validators heard in the roundtable</h2>



Much of that momentum was shaped in real time during yesterday’s multi-hour <a href="https://x.com/i/spaces/1YpKkkbbavmKj">community roundtable</a>. Three themes consistently rose to the surface.



Being “Hyperliquid-first” isn’t just a slogan. Validators pressed each bidder on how exactly they’d issue USDH. Native made clear it would mint directly on <a href="https://blockworks.com/analytics/hyperliquid/hyperliquid-financials-12748/hyperliquid-network-rev">HyperEVM</a> and anchor issuance to Hypercore from day one, with no wrapping or cross-chain friction.



Frax, initially planning to mirror frxUSD, reversed course and committed to native issuance after community feedback. Paxos emphasized it would also mint directly on-chain, with full fiat and brokerage rails attached. The message bubbling up from community feedback: USDH must behave like a system-native asset, not a bridged approximation. That alone seems to be enough to derail Sky’s bid, since its core protocol is on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ethereum">Ethereum</a> mainnet.



Second, transparency and enforceability mattered more than raw numbers. Nearly all bidders promised a high percentage of reserve yield routed back to Hyperliquid — whether through buybacks or contributions to the Assistance Fund — but validators wanted more than vague percentages.&nbsp;



Native said its split would be contractually hard-coded. Frax leaned on its track record of on-chain streaming and dashboard visibility. Paxos <a href="https://paxoslabs.com/blog/usdh-v2">offered</a> monthly transparency reports and a rising allocation toward the Assistance Fund, now beginning at 50% and scaling toward 90–95%. For a validator set tasked with securing the economic base of the platform, the pitches that pointed to auditability rather than just “trust us,” are preferable.



Hyperliquid’s surging protocol revenue underscores why the USDH race has attracted so much attention. As seen in Blockworks Research data, Hyperliquid is now generating over $20 million in weekly revenue, with recent peaks pushing above $25 million. That translates to a projected run rate nearing $1 billion annually, making the platform one of crypto’s most lucrative venues.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="889" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107525" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-74.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/hyperliquid?dashboard=268">Blockworks Research</a></figcaption></figure>



According to Blockworks researcher 0xCarlos, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/hyperliquids-usdh-battle-datco">the battle over who gets to issue USDH</a> is ultimately a bet on who can align best with this engine of yield.



“Migrating $5 billion in USDC deposits to USDH could represent an additional $200 million in revenue for Hyperliquid annually,” he noted — roughly an incremental 20% boost. The proposals diverge sharply in how that revenue would flow back into the ecosystem, but Hyperliquid itself looks to be the real winner, regardless.



Finally, the regulatory debate took center stage. Paxos and Bastion both leaned heavily into their NYDFS trust charters, painting them as essential for long-term compliance. Paxos framed many rivals as still “planning to get licensed,” implying a real risk of future shutdowns.



But that framing ran headlong into a different validator concern — sovereignty. Native’s argument was that relying on a single institutional issuer, even one as credentialed as Paxos, simply replaces one dependency (<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/usdc">USDC</a>/<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/circle">Circle</a>) with another. Its own architecture, they argued, is issuer-agnostic by design, with contractual off-ramps and modular custody. In other words, any concerns over a risk of Stripe’s influence is contained.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Questions on the process</h2>



In such a strong field, the apparent ease of Native’s ascent was bound to raise eyebrows. Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi <a href="https://x.com/hosseeb/status/1965520465172328717">posted</a> on X that multiple bidders believed the race had been fixed from the start. Native’s initial proposal dropped almost immediately after the RFP was announced, he noted, suggesting advance notice. And while Ethena briefly surged on Polymarket following its detailed entry, odds collapsed just hours later — according to Qureshi, after validators dismissed its chances behind closed doors.



These allegations sparked heated replies. Some questioned Dragonfly’s close association with rival bidders like Ethena and Agora. Others argued that in a system where validators are free to stake based on whatever criteria they choose, early alignment is a feature not a bug.



The structure of the vote itself reinforces that. Delegators are not passive observers. Between September 11, when validator preferences are published, and the final vote on September 14, HYPE holders can re-delegate. If a validator appears unresponsive to its stake base, it can lose part of its power base. In that sense, the system is functioning as designed: a high-stakes political game.



What this episode made clear is that rapid governance timelines leave little tolerance for missteps in optics. With just a four-day window between proposal deadlines and the start of voting, teams already close to the Hyperliquid core had a significant leg up. Native’s deep familiarity with the validator set — and integration into HyperEVM infrastructure — meant its pitch was not just better prepared, but already partially vetted.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What could dent Native’s lead</h2>



Native’s offer appears to map cleanly onto the priorities of Hyperliquid’s validator set. The team is known for its ability to ship inside HL for months, and many trust that continuity matters more than a brand name.



But the race isn’t over.



Paxos, after its revised proposal, is increasingly competitive. It offers not only regulatory clarity but global distribution: Integrations with <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/paypal">PayPal</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/venmo">Venmo</a>, and top brokerages are on deck. For validators focused on growing USDH volume beyond HL’s internal ecosystem, that might be the more scalable long-term play.



Ethena’s <a href="https://mirror.xyz/0xF99d0E4E3435cc9C9868D1C6274DfaB3e2721341/vG9tVz8p6Da6vX8CiZ30A0CYM3wIiWlIBX6Zlj0qhQ8">proposal</a> also made waves. While not currently a frontrunner, it introduced several novel elements: a USDtb/BUIDL backing structure, ecosystem-wide basis trade infrastructure, and a plan to finance USDC migration with direct incentives. And it made clear that Ethena would natively mint on HyperEVM and even help launch Hyperliquid’s equities markets. If validator sentiment begins to prioritize aggressive external growth over internal alignment, Ethena could re-enter contention.



The one lingering concern is the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/visa-bridge-card-stablecoin-adoption-latin-america">Bridge</a> tie-up. Some in the community have raised the alarm about relying on a Stripe subsidiary to manage mint and redemption infrastructure, especially as it now <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tempo-stripe-paradigm-planned-l1">plans to launch its own blockchain</a>.



Native insists that their architecture is designed to be issuer-agnostic, and that swap-in/out functionality can be upgraded over time. Whether that satisfies sovereignty-minded delegates remains to be seen.



All eyes now turn to validator declarations expected Thursday. By then final proposal tweaks will be locked, and the governance machine will start to move toward a decision. It’s worth remembering: This vote is only about the ticker. Quote assets are likely to become permissionless under upcoming governance changes. But in a platform where monetary base, trading flows, and incentive design are so tightly coupled, the USDH decision will be about much more than branding.



At stake is the stablecoin standard that will define not only what many users trade on Hyperliquid, but who benefits from those flows. Native’s pitch is clear and long-standing, and so far the market is buying it. But there’s still time for one of the established players to make the case that long-term scale matters more than early integration and good vibes.



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Native Markets leads USDH race as validators signal early support

Donovan Choy

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Tens of thousands of tokens are launched on Solana daily.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="937" height="497" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-72.png" alt="" class="wp-image-107513" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-72.png?w=937 937w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-72.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-72.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-72.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-72.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-72.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-72.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px" /></figure>



Every single one of those tokens needs a way to facilitate price discovery, and the standard way today is the bonding curve, popularized by Pump.



The problems of bonding curves are well known. Though Solana doesn’t have a public mempool, transactions are observable in flight via RPC queues and bundle relays. This creates a race environment wherein sniper bots can frontrun trades by pre-positioning ahead of organic demand, or sandwich the trades by bidding higher priority fees.



Launching a token is easy in theory, but tricky in practice. Of late, Solana teams are coming up with a slew of token launch solutions to address these challenges.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Metaplex</h2>



Metaplex is a team popularly known for providing the key token infrastructure on Solana. In July, the team diversified from this core product offering and launched the “Genesis” ICO launch platform.



To date, three projects have executed their token generation event with Genesis: DeFiTuna, Collector’s Crypt and Portals. Later today marks its fourth TGE launch with <a href="https://x.com/exotic_markets_/status/1962547894181081439">Exotic Markets</a>, a relatively new DeFi options protocol that went live on July 30.



Exotic is launching its token with Metaplex’s new “<a href="https://x.com/metaplex/status/1965097829049008601">Uniform Price Auctions</a>” feature, meant to facilitate organic price discovery while deterring frontrunning and sniping.



The auctions work as such: Users place bids for how many tokens they’d like to buy and at what price. All bidders eventually pay at the same clearing price, defined as the lowest bidding price that fully sells the supply.



Because bids are evaluated only at the end of the auction, there is no benefit for a sniper to jump ahead with a higher priority fee — a sniper that submits a high last-minute bid shoots themselves in the foot.



“Everyone gets the same price. There’s no frontrunning, no sniping, cabals and bundling. We’re solving for the trust and transparency issues surrounding token launches by bringing everything onchain so there’s no inside group with an edge and the community gets a chance to participate at the earliest stages,” Metaplex co-founder Stephen Hess told me.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Heaven</h2>



Another player tackling fairer token launches is the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/heaven-memecoin-launchpad-buys-back-everything">Heaven memecoin launchpad</a>.&nbsp;



Heaven pairs its launchpad with a proprietary AMM DEX, listing tokens exclusively from the first second of trading.&nbsp;



This vertical integration avoids the standard memecoin bonding curve and lets the team enforce anti-MEV protections during price discovery. At launch, the DEX says it applies a linearly decaying, six-second “sniper tax” to deter bots and last-second snipes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ellipsis&#8217; Gavel</h2>



Like Heaven, Ellipsis’ <a href="https://www.ellipsislabs.xyz/blog-posts/introducing-gavel">Gavel</a> follows a similar vertical integrated design by tying together the product of token distribution and a sandwich-resistant AMM. When tokens end their public sale, funds raised are migrated to Ellipsis’ AMM at the same opening price as the sale’s close to deter any post-sale sniping or arbitrage opportunities.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Meteora</h2>



Meteora lets teams launch tokens on pools using “<a href="https://docs.meteora.ag/">anti-sniper</a>” features like decaying fees (Fee Scheduler), size-based surcharges (Rate Limiter), and gated early-access deposits.



These features work together to penalize early bot bursts and outsized purchases, thereby reducing extractable alpha for snipers. It slows down the first blocks of price discovery and lets organic demand get in their buys before public pools open.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Orca</h2>



Finally, there is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/orca-solana-token-launchpad?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Orca’s Wavebreak</a> memecoin launchpad. Wavebreak retains a bonding curve model but adds several safeguards. It employs an “anti-bot” system that includes an onchain CAPTCHA system to slow bots in the curve phase.&nbsp;



While this design seems to improve fair access in the bonding phase for non-bot participants, it does not explicitly exclude automated bots and snipers.



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How Solana is cutting MEV snipers out of token launches

Boccaccio

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The past three days on the timeline have been strictly focused on the bid for USDH, a ticker on Hyperliquid.



As background, the USDH ticker, currently reserved, is set to be released through an onchain validator vote with the goal of launching a Hyperliquid-first and compliant USD stablecoin. Validators will vote on which team may purchase and deploy the ticker, using the same onchain mechanism as delisting votes. Teams interested must submit proposals in the USDH Discord forum, including their address, and the approved team will still need to participate in the spot deploy gas auction.



In the longer term, spot quote assets will become permissionless, starting with testnet, with staking and slashing requirements to be announced. The USDH ticker does not carry special privileges and will exist alongside multiple stablecoins within the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Voting for the ticker is based on stake, with proposals due by Sept. 10 at 10:00 UTC, validator intent to be declared by Sept. 11 at 10:00 UTC, and the final vote to occur on Sept. 14 between 10:00-11:00 UTC.&nbsp;



As of today, nine validators have announced who they intend to vote for, with six voting for Native Markets, two for Paxos and one for Ethena. The remaining 10 validators, who hold approximately 58% of stake, are unassigned (86.76M HYPE). Native Markets is currently in the lead with 30.8% of voting share, while Ethena and Paxos combine for 11.6%.&nbsp;



In terms of benefits for Hyperliquid and HYPE, there are a few things to consider. Firstly, it is interesting to see that incumbents from large teams (Ethena, Paxos etc.) are battling out to gain dominance within Hyperliquid by giving up a large percentage of their revenue.&nbsp;



Context regarding the three most relevant proposals:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Paxos: Milestone-based. Starts at 20% AF when &lt;$1 billion, rising to 70% at >$5 billion, capped at 70%.</li>



<li>Ethena: 95% passthrough to AF/HYPE, KPI could drop to 90% with 5% to an Ethena entity.</li>



<li>Native Markets: 50% of reserve yield streamed to AF, remaining 50% for growth across HIP-3, builder codes and DeFi frontends.</li>
</ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="900" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107507" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=464 464w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-71.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



For Ethena, the lowest contribution to the Assistance Fund would still be more than $40 million per year, even in the conservative KPI scenario. At full scale, its contribution rises to nearly $250 million, making it the strongest provider of direct economic value among the three. For Paxos, the lowest level of contribution is around $9 million per year at small scale, while its highest contribution tops out at roughly $183 million once it reaches the largest market share bracket. Native Markets, with a fixed 50% allocation, is currently the leader based on declared intent. Its range runs from about $23 million per year at the low end to around $130 million at full capture.



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0xResearch Newsletter

USDH and the search for another AF

Cracked Labs today announced BattleCodes — The DeFi Arena, a high-stakes, esports-style tournament set to redefine crypto events. Hosted on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, at OS NYC in Lower Manhattan, this one-day event combines developer competition with live trading for a $10,000 winner-take-all prize, streamed in real-time on Twitch and YouTube.



Unlike traditional conferences featuring panels and passive engagement, BattleCodes stages a head-to-head bracket competition where ten finalists, and only the best, compete live using BNB Chain via Aster. Participants execute real trades under pressure, with results displayed on venue LED leaderboards and broadcast globally.



Ellis Norman, CEO of Cracked Labs, emphasizes the format shift: “Panels and hackathons aren’t enough anymore. BattleCodes is bringing drama, stakes, and outcomes that matter, tested live, in public.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A format borrowed from esports, built for crypto</h2>



BattleCodes embraces an esports-style structure instead of the standard conference layout. The competition begins with open qualifiers from September 10 to 18 on Aster × BNB Chain, where traders compete for the top 20 spots.&nbsp;



From there, participants refine their strategies and personal profiles in a week-long “Virtual Sprint,” with workshops led by sponsors. A livestreamed Draft Day on September 25 allows partners to draft their finalists, factoring in fan voting and wildcard entries. The selected finalists then enter a week-long Bootcamp (September 26 to October 6), preparing their systems, accounts, and media assets.&nbsp;



The grand finals on October 7 comprise three intense phases:



1. Opening Bell, 2. Endgame Push, and 3. The Cage Match.



All determined by P&amp;L performance, technical execution, and audience engagement. In this tournament, every round is public and decisive. Winners advance, others are eliminated.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Sponsors as competitive infrastructure</h2>



The key differentiator of BattleCodes is how sponsors function as foundational pillars, not passive backdrops. BNB Chain provides the execution layer, wallet onboarding, and attribution framework. JZ, Senior Solutions Architect at BNB Chain remarks, “Every trade in BattleCodes runs on BNB Chain. Real execution under pressure is how ecosystems win adoption.” Meanwhile, Aster delivers the referral funnel, trading infrastructure, and real-time leaderboards, turning participation into measurable ecosystem growth. A spokesperson for Aster states, “BattleCodes turns our platform into a global stage—showing attribution, growth, and performance in real time.” Additional partner support from: Spartan Lab’s Superfund is contributing to the prediction market activation. Vercel/v0, Axelar, Chainstack, Thirdweb, Lava, ZetaChain, and Alchemy. They all contribute technical reliability, cross-chain tooling, and developer empowerment across the event’s phases.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why BattleCodes matters</h2>



For developers and traders, BattleCodes provides a genuine proving ground in the intersection of Web3: a stage where reputation is earned through live performance, not relegated to GitHub or panel slides. Sponsors benefit from highly vetted talent pools tested under pressure, with attribution from wallet creation to trade volume. Viewers receive a watchable, dynamic experience merging esports energy with DeFi substance. Cracked Labs underlines retention as the mission: turning ephemeral engagement into long-term ecosystem engagement. To apply as a participant, <a href="https://airtable.com/appqUkw6HSQ4h5thp/pagPrif695zlemHlF/form">apply here</a>. Free Tickets to the event are available <a href="https://luma.com/9y3zbnry">here</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">About Cracked Labs</h2>



Cracked Labs designs programs and competitions that elevate developers into ecosystem founders. With over 100 successful programs across leading blockchains, Cracked Labs is known for creating formats that drive retention, measurable outcomes, and cultural milestones. Learn more at <a href="https://crackedlabs.xyz?utm_source=blockworks">https://crackedlabs.xyz</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">About BNB Chain</h2>



<a href="https://www.bnbchain.org/en?utm_source=blockworks">BNB Chain</a> is a community-driven blockchain ecosystem that is removing barriers to Web3 adoption. It is composed of:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://www.bnbchain.org/en/bnb-smart-chain?utm_source=blockworks">BNB Smart Chain (BSC)</a>: A secure DeFi hub with the lowest gas fees of any EVM-compatible L1; serves as the ecosystem’s governance chain.  </li>



<li><a href="https://opbnb.bnbchain.org/en?utm_source=blockworks">opBNB</a>: A scalability L2 that delivers some of the lowest gas fees of any L2 and rapid processing speeds.</li>



<li><a href="https://greenfield.bnbchain.org/en?utm_source=blockworks">BNB Greenfield</a>: Meets decentralized storage needs for the ecosystem and lets users establish their own data marketplaces.</li>
</ul>



Setting a high bar for security, the <a href="https://www.avengerdao.org/?utm_source=blockworks">AvengerDAO</a> community protects BNB Chain users while <a href="https://dappbay.bnbchain.org/red-alarm/dapp">Red Alarm</a> provides a real-time risk-scanner for Dapps. The ecosystem also offers a range of monetary and ecosystem rewards as part of its <a href="https://www.bnbchain.org/en/developers/developer-programs/?utm_source=blockworks">Builder Support Program</a>.



For more, follow BNB Chain on <a href="https://twitter.com/BNBCHAIN">X</a> or start exploring via our <a href="https://dappbay.bnbchain.org/?utm_source=blockworks">Dapp library</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">About Aster</h2>



Aster is a next-generation decentralized exchange offering both Perpetual and Spot trading, designed as a one-stop onchain venue for global crypto traders. It features MEV-free, one-click execution in Simple Mode. Pro Mode adds 24/7 stock perpetuals, Hidden Orders, and grid trading, available across BNB Chain, Ethereum, Solana, and Arbitrum. Its unique edge lies in the ability to offer liquid-staking tokens (asBNB) or yield-generating stablecoins (USDF) as collateral, unlocking unparalleled capital efficiency. Powered by Aster Chain, a high-performance and privacy-focused L1, and backed by YZi Labs, Aster is building the future of DeFi: fast, flexible, and community-first.



Learn more at <a href="https://www.asterdex.com?utm_source=blockworks">https://asterdex.com</a>.



This content is sponsored and does not serve as an endorsement by Blockworks. The veracity of this content has not been verified and should not serve as financial advice. We encourage readers to conduct their own research before making financial decisions.



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Cracked Labs launches BattleCodes: Turning crypto events into a sport

Binance and Franklin Templeton announced a strategic collaboration to develop new digital asset products that combine blockchain technology with traditional finance.



The initiative focuses on evaluating tokenization use cases by combining Binance’s global trading infrastructure with Franklin Templeton’s experience in regulated fund management. Franklin Templeton manages $1.6 trillion in assets and has developed tokenized money market funds through its Benji Investments Technology Platform. Binance remains the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.



Executives from both firms said the collaboration is intended to increase efficiency in capital markets by lowering settlement costs and improving collateral management.



“We see blockchain not as a threat to legacy systems, but as an opportunity to reimagine them. By working with Binance, we can harness tokenization to bring institutional-grade solutions like our Benji Technology Platform to a wider set of investors and help bridge the worlds of traditional and decentralized finance,” said Sandy Kaul, head of innovation at Franklin Templeton.&nbsp;



Roger Bayston, who oversees digital assets, added it could “take tokenization from concept to practice for clients to achieve efficiencies in settlement, collateral management, and portfolio construction at scale.”



Binance’s Catherine Chen said the exchange’s goal “furthers our commitment to bridge crypto with traditional capital markets and open up greater possibilities.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



This article was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by editor&nbsp;<a href="mailto:jeffrey@blockworks.co">Jeffrey Albus</a>&nbsp;before publication.



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Binance and Franklin Templeton partner on tokenization

This is a segment from The Breakdown newsletter. To read more editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/brand/the-breakdown">subscribe</a>



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<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
&nbsp;&#8220;Nobody goes to the store to buy a Swiss Army knife. It’s something you get for Christmas.”



— Jensen Huang
</blockquote>



Great businesses start as scalpels, not Swiss Army knives.



By choosing one thing to do, companies are more likely to get great at that one thing — and customers are more likely to know that’s the thing they do.



Here, for example, is Yahoo’s homepage, circa 1999: <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="blob:https://cms.blockworks.co/0f9c6e90-a5b4-4f0d-aa85-6c8ee5d5aeeb" width="624" height="271">



There’s a lot going on there — search, auctions, news, email, instant messaging — and Yahoo wasn’t particularly good at any of it.



Here’s Google’s homepage, circa 1999:



<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="624" height="219" src="blob:https://cms.blockworks.co/2162e9ff-dbf4-4579-8dfb-a35589f0f55c">



It’s easy to see why that proved to be the winner: the single-purpose website made it clear to users what Google does, and that helped Google get very good at doing it.



The fact that lowercase “google” has since become a verb and Yahoo doesn’t do anything more important than host my fantasy baseball league is evidence that being great at one thing generally beats being average at many things.



Will that apply to blockchains, too?



Bitcoin is a single-purpose chain — all it does is send bitcoin — and its simplicity might be the main reason it&#8217;s been such a success.



But Ethereum and Solana are also general-purpose chains and they, too, have had some success.&nbsp;



And neither approach seems to be encroaching on the other: Bitcoin has so far failed at DeFi and Ethereum has so far failed to become money.



So maybe both approaches can peacefully co-exist?



It might be too early to answer, because general-purpose chains will soon have a new, single-minded competitor.



Last week, Stripe and Paradigm formally announced the development of a stablecoin-focused blockchain, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tempo-stripe-paradigm-planned-l1">Tempo</a>, that feels like an instant favorite to win the emerging crypto payments business.



Tempo will be purpose-built for stablecoins, offering predictable fees (paid not in a native token, but stables), near-instant finality, “opt-in” privacy and compliance functionality, “lanes” exclusively for payments, and high throughput — all things that general-purpose chains struggle with.



Matt Huang, who leads the development of Tempo, <a href="https://x.com/matthuang/status/1964123449045242041">suggests</a> that being more narrowly focused will allow the chain to develop faster:&nbsp; “We feel urgency to build for the demand that’s coming and want fewer dependencies, including on the rate of Ethereum L1 progress.”



Calling out Ethereum like that might suggest that Tempo will have ambitions beyond payments.



Perhaps tellingly, Huang says that, while Tempo will start with a permissioned validator set, the chain will be “permissionless” from day 1 and will “decentralize further from there.”



A fully decentralized and permissionless blockchain that excels at payments sounds a lot like what you’d want a general-purpose blockchain to be.



Could Tempo pose a threat to Ethereum and Solana not just in payments, but in everything?



The Google example suggests it’s possible: they beat Yahoo at search, then expanded horizontally into email, cloud computing, smartphones, self-driving cars — becoming even more of a Swiss Army knife than Yahoo was in 1999.



There are several such examples: Microsoft was just BASIC, Amazon was just books, Apple was just PCs, Southwest Airlines was just Texas.



But there are counter-examples, too.



To name just one, single-purpose calculators used to be better for doing quick math than general-purpose computers, but who owns one now?



You’re more likely to have a Swiss Army knife in a drawer somewhere than a Texas Instruments calculator.&nbsp;



So, if general-purpose computers could make calculators unnecessary, maybe general-purpose blockchains can eventually make payments blockchains unnecessary, too.



Max Resnick is confident they will: “Decentralized blockchains,” he <a href="https://x.com/MaxResnick1/status/1964072214568784069">predicts</a>,&nbsp; “will be superior to centralized ones in every way” — including speed, scale, reliability, and even regulatory compliance.



If so, Tempo may have fired the starting gun in a race to make general-purpose chains super fast before a super fast, single-purpose chain can be decentralized.



This might be a race with no finish line: it might be impossible to be both decentralized and optimized for payments.



Mert Mumtaz, for example, <a href="https://x.com/tbpn/status/1964079154795860310">thinks</a> Tempo won’t even be a blockchain, let alone a general-purpose one: “How can you possibly have something that’s a payments-only chain?”



For Mumtaz, blockchains are decentralized by definition — and a decentralized blockchain is by definition general-purpose.



Tempo says they will progress toward decentralization.&nbsp;



But Mumtaz thinks that will inevitably flood the chain with frivolous things like Fartcoin, clogging things up and degrading the chain’s performance in payments.



There are only two ways to be a payments chain, he says.



One is to make the chain “not Turing complete,” like Bitcoin, “where you can’t do anything other than send money” — and the other is to “permission the chain.”



If so, Ethereum and Solana can rest easy that they’re not going to become Yahoo to Tempo’s Google.



But what if Tempo gets all the users without decentralizing?



If Tempo really is faster, cheaper, and where all the stablecoins will end up, users might go there not just for payments, but for everything — without regard to whether it meets Mumtaz’s definition of a blockchain.



So this might turn into more of a test than a race. Is decentralization the kind of thing people are willing to pay for?



Or the kind of thing you only get for Christmas?



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Should blockchains be single-purpose?

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A crypto company plots a US public listing (yes, again). And one wading deeper into the space is likely to benefit from an “index effect” that boosts visibility and demand.&nbsp;



This is a follow-up of sorts to the crypto public listing update I wrote last week. That was after American Bitcoin shares hit the Nasdaq and Gemini took another <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/2055592/000110465925085963/tm255912-15_s1a.htm">step</a> toward its IPO.&nbsp;



I also <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-stock-digest-sep-2025">compared Coinbase and Robinhood</a>, noting the latter company was potentially set to join the S&amp;P 500. We found out Friday that HOOD will indeed become part of that index on Sept. 22 — joining COIN, which was added in May. The former stock saw a boost on the news.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1562" height="880" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107484" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=1562 1562w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=463 463w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-70.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1562px) 100vw, 1562px" /></figure>



Robinhood’s crypto transaction revenue was $160 million in Q2 — making up ~30% of the company’s $539 million in overall transaction revenue. That $160 million figure was down ~37% from Q1 crypto revenue, but marked a 98% year-over-year increase.



Robinhood has doubled down on crypto this year, launching stock tokens in Europe and crypto staking to eligible US customers. It also closed its acquisition of Bitstamp and even <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/robinhood-l2-staking-us">shared plans for a layer-2 blockchain</a>.



So investors with capital in an S&amp;P 500 fund will soon be exposed to both COIN and HOOD automatically. But those still looking to choose between them may consider what Blockworks Research analyst Marc Arjoon called the “beta vs. balance” trade-off.&nbsp;



“Coinbase offers superior upside convexity to crypto cycles but with materially higher earnings volatility,” he wrote in an Aug. 29 report. “Robinhood’s improving, more repeatable EBITDA supports a higher quality multiple.”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="938" height="516" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-4.35.21 PM.png" alt="" class="wp-image-107490" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-4.35.21 PM.png?w=938 938w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-4.35.21 PM.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-4.35.21 PM.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-4.35.21 PM.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-4.35.21 PM.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-4.35.21 PM.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Screenshot-2025-09-09-at-4.35.21 PM.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 938px) 100vw, 938px" /></figure>



Despite speculation that Michael Saylor’s Strategy could also be added to the S&amp;P 500, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin was left out of the index for now. Strategy’s market cap of $93 billion is ~4x above the S&amp;P 500 minimum of $22.7 billion, making it one of the biggest companies not in the index.



The omission says less about Strategy’s business and more about the index committee’s evolving comfort level with bitcoin-centric corporate models, Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer argued in a Monday research note. The company, after all, logged a profitable second quarter — the last criteria it required for S&amp;P 500 inclusion.



“But the index is not a purely rules-based club,” Palmer added. “The committee explicitly reserves judgment to maintain sector balance and index representativeness such that a company can ‘check all the boxes’ and still find itself waiting for a slot.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Thinking about the S&amp;P right now… <a href="https://t.co/Y5nPc9XT4l">pic.twitter.com/Y5nPc9XT4l</a>&mdash; Michael Saylor (@saylor) <a href="https://twitter.com/saylor/status/1964219505694892123?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Finally, it’s worth mentioning that CoinShares yesterday revealed a plan to go public in the US later this year via a deal with a SPAC called Vine Hill Capital Investment Corp. It’s currently listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm.



It’s part of CoinShares’ broader strategy to expand in the US after <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinshares-buys-valkyrie-fund-business">buying Valkyrie’s fund business</a> last year. The largest crypto ETP issuer in Europe has seen its assets under management triple to about $10 billion over the past two years.



This comes a couple months after we saw competing asset manager <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/grayscale-exposure-signals-etfs">Grayscale appear to take a step</a> toward going public. All’s to say, the year of crypto-public markets intersection rages on.



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Equities

Inside the S&P 500’s HOOD inclusion, MSTR rebuff

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-drop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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After receiving bids from Arbitrum, Polygon, zkSync, and Optimism, gaming-focused Ronin has <a href="https://x.com/Ronin_Network/status/1965220031320793442">announced</a> it’s going to use Optimism’s tech to transform itself from an Ethereum sidechain into a full Ethereum L2.



“This was a highly contested battle between L2 providers,” Ronin cofounder Jeffrey “Jihoz” Zirlin <a href="https://x.com/Jihoz_Axie/status/1965223718491230286">said</a>. “This move opens up Ronin&#8217;s upgrade to Proof of distribution which will create more rewards for the builders.”



Ronin will join the likes of Base, Unichain, Worldchain and Kraken’s Ink, who also use Optimism’s codebase for their respective L2s.



Arbitrum had <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/arbitrum-offer-ronin-750k-arb">placed</a> the first offer, a move that ultimately <a href="https://x.com/pixiekate13/status/1958696275777659067">did not appear</a> to land in its favor.&nbsp;



And in case you missed Optimism’s final bid, it <a href="https://x.com/agoshoUY/status/1963178614830076225">offered</a> 5 million OP tokens, contingent on hitting certain revenue metrics with 500,000 OP upfront — plus support from Eigen Labs, Conduit and Boundless. Ronin <a href="https://x.com/Ronin_Network/status/1965220461366968665">said</a> this translates to an addition of about $5 million to $7 million to its treasury via OP, ZKC and Eigen tokens.&nbsp;



In a post about the news, Optimism cofounder Mark Tyneway <a href="https://x.com/tyneslol/status/1965234801885217064">said</a>: “Don’t get caught up in the recent alt L1 narratives, it’s still incredibly attractive to launch an OP Stack based L2.”



Bidding chains ultimately expected to gain net revenue from Ronin joining them — and so were willing to offer some financial and resource perks upfront (though some of the offers were contingent on Ronin hitting certain targets).



As Arbitrum Gaming Ventures’ David Bolger <a href="https://x.com/CocoraEth/status/1958811195042832648">argued</a> in part of his response to my tweet about their first bid: “Ronin is a billion dollar ecosystem with a massive opportunity ahead.”



Last year, the Optimism Collective saw over $24.6 million in fee split revenue, Blockworks Research <a href="https://blockworks.com/analytics/superchain">data</a> shows.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="1052" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107477" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=391 391w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=397 397w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=333 333w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-69.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



In Q1 and Q2 this year, 73% of Optimism Collective’s fee split revenue has come from Base.&nbsp;



Unichain, Ink, and Worldchain make up a much, much smaller percentage of that pie — and currently resemble small blips on the fee revenue chart.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="849" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107476" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-68.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



We don’t yet know how much Optimism will stand to make from Ronin, but the gaming chain is far smaller than Base (Ronin has about $54M in TVL while Base has over $4.7B in TVL, per DeFi Llama).&nbsp;



Ronin could certainly benefit from a closer proximity to Base’s ecosystem, though. And while crypto gaming currently feels quiet right now, Optimism does stand to benefit from having the team behind one of the most successful blockchain games of all time among its ranks.&nbsp;



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