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.


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.

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 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 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 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

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 a publishing and production manager based in Washington, DC. She holds an LLB with a focus on emerging technologies. 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. 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' editorial operations manager 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 Solana ecosystem reporter based in Brooklyn, New York. Jack previously interned at Blockworks before joining full-time. He graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a degree in sociology. Contact Jack at jack.kubinec@blockworks.co.

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 over a decade, most recently working as US news editor at Cointelegraph. 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 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.

Joey is ranked by Chambers and Partners as one of the top 12 lawyers in the world, advising many of the largest platforms around the globe in the space. He co-chaired the Gibraltar Government’s working group on Blockchain for 3 years, which was established to develop the infrastructure to accommodate a DLT regulatory framework. Joey is also a specialist consultant to the United Nations and trains and assesses authorities primarily around South East Asia in virtual asset developments, DeFi and regulation. He is a member of several think tanks including the prestigious global ‘Wharton Reg@Tech’ initiative, the Blockchain Industry Parliamentary Roundtable on Blockchain Technologies at Parliament in the UK, and also contributed to the UK Law Society on the Blockchain Legal and Regulatory Guidance publication. He was the Xapo Representative on the Libra/Diem Association and has also contributed to various stablecoin and CBDC developments. 

Joeyz Yu is an entrepreneur with over 18 years of experience in product design and development. He co-founded Sending Labs to revolutionize communication protocols and social applications for Web3, leading the development of their flagship products SendingMe and SendingNetwork. Previously, Joeyz co-founded MoboTab, where he created the Dolphin Browser, used by over 200 million users and later acquired by ChangYou. Joeyz's passion for empowering users and building exceptional teams drives his mission to shape the future of the internet. 

John is the Editor of Evergreen Content at Blockworks. Before Blockworks, he was the producer and founder of an explainer studio called Best Explained. As Evergreen Editor, he manages the production of explainers, guides and all educational content for anything crypto related. He is passionate about making digital asset education more accessible for degens and fence-sitters alike. Contact John at john@blockworks.co

John Woods is the CTO of the Algorand Foundation, which supports Algorand’s rapidly growing ecosystem by providing a best-in-class developer environment, supporting key infrastructure and setting technical standards, offering comprehensive support to builders and entrepreneurs, and providing the framework for decentralized governance.

Prior to joining the leadership team at Algorand, John worked as Chief Architect of Cardano at IOHK. He has held roles leading software architecture and applied cryptography at a number of firms including Informatica, ConsenSys and Central Bank of Ireland.

John Wu is President of Ava Labs, an Andresseen Horowitz backed technology company building the next-generation blockchain platform: Avalanche. John’s objective is to open up financial services and products to all. In this role, he leverages his expertise from over 20 years as a fintech executive and technology investor to create a blockchain-enabled solution for originating, issuing, and trading financial assets.  

Katherine Ross

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">subscribe</a>.



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Coinbase is shaking things up.&nbsp;



If you somehow didn’t hear, Morpho and Coinbase have teamed up to offer loans where Coinbase users (though New York users can’t, much to the disappointment of some of my colleagues) can borrow USDC against bitcoin held on Coinbase. Pretty cool, right? Definitely yet another sign of the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/accountable-wants-to-be-the-new-celsius">changing times</a>.&nbsp;



Blockworks data whiz Dan Smith joined <a href="https://blockworks.co/podcast/empire/307eeabe-d45a-11ef-b591-8f988d3ad736">Empire’s round-up this week</a>, telling host Jason Yanowitz that he thinks the announcement is a win for bitcoin… with some caveats.



“ Bitcoin&#8217;s money, they [Coinbase] want it to be everywhere,” Smith said. But the asterisk, as he called it, is that the loanee now has to trust that Morpho can hold that bitcoin as collateral on Base. This can, understandably, cause anxiety about that going wrong.



As Smith pointed out, the upside is that Coinbase is the largest centralized exchange in the US.



For some folks, that’ll be enough to entrust Morpho and Coinbase with holding their loaned bitcoin.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="What&#039;s Wrong with Crypto Data (And How To Fix It) | Roundup" width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WrwwEzkC2xQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Watch today’s Empire roundup through the jump</figcaption></figure>



There’s been a lot of demand for the product, according to Coinbase’s VP of Product Max Branzburg.



Smith, in the episode, also noted that the pairing of onchain lending startup Morpho and Coinbase here is a huge win for the former.



For Branzburg and Coinbase, Morpho was the go-to because it has “built some really great products in this area, and has built protocols that are very well audited that are safe, secure, [and] provide that kind of value.”



But he’s not ruling out the potential for other integrations with other projects.&nbsp;



“As more people are building on base, we&#8217;ll find ways to bring Coinbase users to those builders,” Branzburg said.&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">The future of finance is onchain. Onchain is faster, more efficient, and more global &#8211; and it&#39;s now in the hands of millions of Coinbase users with billions of dollars of assets to put to work. This is step one &#8211; imagine what&#39;s next. <a href="https://t.co/1GObSQjAyP">https://t.co/1GObSQjAyP</a>&mdash; Max Branzburg 🛡 (@maxbranzburg) <a href="https://twitter.com/maxbranzburg/status/1879910470313972173?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 16, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Honestly, one of my burning questions personally was two-fold, why bitcoin, and is this only going to be a bitcoin offering?&nbsp;



A few weeks ago, when I spoke with Haynes Boone partner Matthew Frankle, we discussed the rising appetite for bitcoin margin loans (which unfortunately didn’t make <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-crypto-lawsuits-future">its way into this newsletter</a>…yet). And now we have this big partnership announcement from Coinbase.



Branzburg’s simple answer to the first part is that bitcoin’s the “OG.” It’s really following the same formula Coinbase used when it announced its wrapped bitcoin product last year, which allowed folks to utilize their bitcoin exposure on Base.



“That was a pretty cool breakthrough a few months ago, but you still had to go take your bitcoin, get it into your wallet, navigate the protocols, figure out how to use it. What&#8217;s happening here is, under the hood, we&#8217;re doing all of that for you, abstracting all that complexity away,” he explained.&nbsp;



Essentially, it gives customers a potential value add for their bitcoin (and keeps it from getting dusty, of course).&nbsp;



Anyway, the last tidbit of information I gleaned was that bitcoin’s just the start for onchain lending via Coinbase.



“This roadmap will expand to other assets over time as well,” Branzburg told me.



So there you have it folks, Coinbase is going further onchain and, perhaps, just in time for crypto to have its moment in the spotlight.



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



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Coinbase’s bitcoin-backed loans are just the start

David Canellis

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">subscribe</a>.



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True believers of an impending <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/altcoin-market-returns-against-btc">altcoin season</a> now have their most compelling evidence to date:



XRP is at all-time highs (sort of), and the XRP Army is finally looking like the smart ones in the room.



It’s for sure a big deal. Price records for XRP have turned out to be crypto’s answer to Haley’s comet: They only come around once every half-decade or so. Which is eons around here.



There’ve been mixed reports over whether XRP has really broken its 2018 peak. A Fortune <a href="https://fortune.com/crypto/2025/01/16/ripples-xrp-breaks-3-for-first-time-since-2018-nears-all-time-high/">piece</a> yesterday pointed out that XRP’s all-time high is $3.84 on Binance while CoinGecko says $3.40.



XRP reached as high as $3.3991 on Binance on Thursday afternoon, per TradingView data. So eh, close enough.&nbsp;



Not to mention, Ripple Labs CTO David “JoelKatz” Schwartz has historically been <a href="https://x.com/JoelKatz/status/1879804948663398505">adamant</a> that XRP had never actually reached $3.84 in 2018 for most of the crypto trading world.



That price was supposedly met only briefly on South Korean exchanges, which at the time placed a hefty <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/k/kimchi-premium.asp">premium</a> on many top coins, including BTC and XRP.



Keep in mind that the goal for most crypto traders and investors is to avoid “round-tripping” their bags — holding coins from bull market top to bear market trough and back again.



Real roundtripping in XRP’s case would mean holding through a 90% collapse between January 2018 and December 2019, and another 80% drop between April 2021 and the following June.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXekw00ZhA5s4bW8zVHia7MMcFK82jH4Wi9xCeepk9RweCpgQDguZzn-6E5KAgC1Tg05MPvVrUIyEPGihqTXPUT7yU6yDyCy3piEolSBGmuG-70a0d2sTr0Wt2NWRHnkmfiFEcai9g?key=uNt10HG54B7aajpTJAD8tDt9" alt=""/></figure>



Here’s the rub: because XRP’s last all-time high was so long ago, its equivalent today would be much higher due to US dollar inflation.



What was $3.40 in 2018’s money would now be $4.25. XRP would need to rally by another 25% or so to break its inflation-adjusted all-time high, as shown by the beige area at the top of the chart above.



But that’s only against the dollar. XRP’s bitcoin and ether ratios continue to be firmly underwater, even despite its near-500% rally since this time last year.



The purple line on the chart below plots XRP’s performance against ETH, while the pink line is its BTC ratio.&nbsp;



XRP has lost 64% of its value against ETH since Ethereum launched in 2015 and 42% against BTC over its recorded trading history, starting in 2013.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdWXPGHvj_qw3RrwaZIGgTMMx985sXCxnobfJWthn7oSwGHNMN3jSo4V1t3doaSPCcy6WOSwJvnB3-Qk_Lmen7d61JVNY7eCpqhu5BCJkyG8ObwwmuJrpGIIww-0RZccDwOuQBuSQ?key=uNt10HG54B7aajpTJAD8tDt9" alt=""/></figure>



No matter. XRP’s rally is still very much a symbol of a crypto groundswell in the US ahead of Trump’s second term. A sign of the times that screams the US is open for crypto business.



Take Ripple’s branding and communication in its <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130427154139/https://ripple.com/bitcoiners/">early</a> years: “crypto” and “blockchain” were curiously absent right up until <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170801103655/https://ripple.com/">mid-2017</a>, instead opting to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131206081901/https://ripple.com/guide/#ripple-is-like-email">present</a> its distributed ledger as a payments protocol similar to email.



Now, they’re “<a href="https://ripple.com/company/">pioneers in crypto</a>.”



If there was such a thing as reverse <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/definitive-guide-chain-abstraction">chain abstraction</a>, Ripple has nailed it. And it’s paying off.



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



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Roasting Ripple: XRP Army finally becomes the smart money

Jack Kubinec

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">subscribe</a>.



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 Multicoin Capital was one of Solana’s early investors. Now it’s trying to change the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-solana-economics">network’s inflation mechanism.</a>



The Austin, Texas-based firm <a href="https://github.com/solana-foundation/solana-improvement-documents/pull/228/commits/8969b469c724e89f64ac42540d5f99948f6dc3b5">published</a> a Solana Improvement Document this morning that would change SOL emissions from the current fixed schedule to a market-based solution. Multicoin’s proposal would likely drive down inflation — which dilutes SOL holders — but would also lower staking yields, which are a boon for SOL stakers.



In Solana terms, inflation refers to the network issuing SOL to the validators who run Solana’s software and help build the blockchain. Validators then pass this issuance along with some MEV rewards to the stakers who delegate staked SOL to them.&nbsp;



In brief, Multicoin’s proposal sets a target staking rate of 50% for security and decentralization purposes. If more than 50% of SOL is staked, then issuance would decrease to discourage staking by reducing yield. If less than 50% of SOL is staked, then issuance would increase to raise yields and encourage staking. The minimum inflation would be 0%, and the maximum would be based on the current Solana issuance curve.&nbsp;



Solana’s inflation rate was initially set at 8%, and this figure will decrease by 15% yearly until it reaches 1.5% inflation. SOL’s inflation rate is currently around 4.8%, according to Solana Compass. Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLsSUqQc-N8">on the Lightspeed podcast</a> that the fixed rate idea was borrowed from the Cosmos blockchain, and inflation is just “accounting.”



Yakovenko doesn’t care much about inflation, because the process of SOL issuance doesn’t create or destroy value, it simply moves value around. Newly-minted SOL gets passed along to stakers, while non-stakers see their holdings become relatively less valuable.



Still, Multicoin sees a reduction in SOL inflation as necessary for a few reasons. New SOL being passed only to stakers centralizes the network, high inflation reduces the usefulness of SOL for things like DeFi since there’s a high opportunity cost to not stake, and only 9% of staked SOL is liquid. Lower staking rewards could also reduce sell pressure in jurisdictions where staking rewards are counted as income for tax purposes.&nbsp;



Even though issuance doesn’t technically induce a cost to the network as a whole, the negative perception created by unstaked SOL being diluted makes it worth limiting inflation in Multicoin’s view.



There’s some positive precedent here: Ethereum had narrative success defining ETH as ultrasound money after becoming a proof-of-stake network and greatly diminishing its issuance. But there’s also negative precedent in a different way: Cosmos adopted a market-based inflation mechanism for ATOM, but its community has <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/273899/cosmos-hub-inflation-reduction-proposal-rejection">quibbled</a> over where the bounds should be — and ATOM’s price is still down 34% over the past year.&nbsp;



In any event, Multicoin partner JR Reed told me the proposal was inspired by perpetual swaps and their use of funding rates, not Ethereum’s mechanism for limiting inflation. 



There’s one other obvious consequence of Multicoin’s proposal: SOL staking yield, which has <a href="https://dune.com/21co/solana-key-metrics">historically</a> stayed higher than 7%, would decrease if issuance decreased. A growth in MEV rewards could offset the lower inflation, but otherwise, staking SOL would begin to pay fewer dividends.



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



Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Solana to weigh possible SOL inflation cut

Felix Jauvin

This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/forwardguidance">subscribe</a>.



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Ever since COVID closed global economies in 2020, gauging where we stand in the business cycle has been a very difficult act.&nbsp;



The typical business cycle looks as follows, and historically, it’s been fairly easy to have a general idea of where we stood by contrasting it with interest rates and monetary policy:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1251" height="876" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-96329" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=1251 1251w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=367 367w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=373 373w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=313 313w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-3.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1251px) 100vw, 1251px" /></figure>



However, everything has been somewhat upside down in recent years, leaving many economists befuddled.&nbsp;



For example, in 2022 we saw negative real GDP prints (initially at two but then revised down to one):



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcaD8bJiY9EI6a_un5011HMUAE4n7ebj2s_5L5kMY0FZFczdw-D709gyxWMsOHcQ10-Lxuf45W42gKdvFetRjM_yxCIor80D161xiORXbMsIENJ3z0S87FY2mZXKHRj5y88FfGwyg?key=Gt2XLrt4V7a7uq7GkcoKF_N2" alt=""/></figure>



However, during that same time we saw one of the hottest labor markets we’ve ever seen, as per JOLTS data.&nbsp;



It’s hard to believe in a recession with a labor market that strong:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfu1pS8mCEdMrnS9J3iGUp6gAL8JCfIDtYyn-kGoEFZvoR43BLyADoRFcRQEqzar_TQZrKSDVO1UN3gEVurdCjqw87-MlsArccmbQPBF_Og3OGJuvEOC_VQc1vDj0NntflgCL78?key=Gt2XLrt4V7a7uq7GkcoKF_N2" alt=""/></figure>



Since 2022, we’ve seen a major rate hiking cycle from the Fed that somehow also didn’t tilt the economy into a recession when looking at it on an aggregate basis. Stocks hit new highs everyday, the labor market cooled but remained resilient, and GDP growth powered ahead.



During that same time, however, if you honed in on the manufacturing and goods sector and set aside the services economy, it almost looks like we’ve just been through a manufacturing recession.&nbsp;



ISM Manufacturing PMIs have been in contraction territory for a couple years now:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="1002" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-96328" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=410 410w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=417 417w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=350 350w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-2-1.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



During that time, we saw significant disinflation leading to outright deflation in the goods sector of the economy:



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfgDG1Vk4pLHxhRoWvTWu4Odo0vZpcfPvp3egPuVaVpT39kmU3Wq7mJ2EOvfkxMkHMbQm5SM6mXOhcU-0mB_z37DzuAOX9yLHd8dA3PBUmGXcaau2BkoCeXSIQ4Hu3_UEpMJvXN1A?key=Gt2XLrt4V7a7uq7GkcoKF_N2" alt="" style="width:480px;height:auto"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://inflationguy.blog/2025/01/15/inflation-guys-cpi-summary-december-2024/">inflationguy.blog</a> </figcaption></figure>



Fast forward to today, and we’ve seen the Fed cut rates to frontrun concerns about the labor market and continue attempting a soft landing of the economy where we move into a new business cycle without a recession.



We’re now seeing leading indicators hinting that the manufacturing sector might be exiting the doldrums and heading toward a new upswing.



We’re starting to see commodities begin to break out after two years of consolidation, hinting at an upswing in economic growth:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXemmqOzL4DMgA6_oqmypMeAV88GMrAAuwLilLBFwzrbGzVH_JZMOuHF4WsC9O8agmsVvcg1hP10KrrsgvIVOcfj0SlN0JA4fG1lQ2nDtiad4XRGc3jpai2kV72_RjLEfEZekeL5?key=Gt2XLrt4V7a7uq7GkcoKF_N2" alt=""/></figure>



ISM new orders look to be breaking out, as well as the Philly Fed manufacturing index: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1600" height="853" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-96327" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=1600 1600w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-1-1.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px" /></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeJJdCi6qIkwK5gQkla7A3FAtcLx_w3R6cLf3gZiCPpyAc9HkeC9rbM4G4oJ3N6r8-Q-GAA8TGs3OOattGg5lB4QqW643LdYPDor7ChxhBb18lMZU0axQRWHViEftCFH_yhq6wmrQ?key=Gt2XLrt4V7a7uq7GkcoKF_N2" alt=""/></figure>



Per the survey data, it’s looking like much of this is being led by optimism from the business sector ever since the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/donald-trump-declared-president-2024-election">election</a>:



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfpE451KEJufpBH6Rq7ZdDK10o8EG5j2AQRGI7SbOz0vQNLgtaNGjRT4Xy0GDzzlH0T_qXeO6EBr9YMGjtbiwvQdAoZeBdNYTZoR8GktQDNHN-vlBEhhZu_83bCPRQoCmvDaIXNaw?key=Gt2XLrt4V7a7uq7GkcoKF_N2" alt=""/></figure>



So where does this chart-geeking journey lead us?&nbsp;



I think it’s safe to say we’re not late in the cycle. It increasingly looks like we are in fact in the early innings of a new business cycle that avoided a recession due to the huge fiscal stimulus and deficits during the last couple of years.



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Are we at the start of a new business cycle?

Casey Wagner

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The SEC has moved forward with an appeal in its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-files-ripple-appeal-precedent">case against Ripple</a>.&nbsp;



The securities regulator is seeking to reverse a 2023 <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/judge-rules-ripple-xrp-not-security">ruling</a> that determined retail sales of Ripple’s XRP token were not unregistered securities offerings. Federal Judge Analisa Torres said that blind/programmatic sales of XRP, which occur on exchanges, were not in violation of US securities laws.&nbsp;



“The district court erred both factually and legally in concluding that defendants’ offers and sales of XRP to public buyers who purchased on crypto asset trading platforms,” the SEC wrote in its opening brief, filed late last night.&nbsp;



Even if buyers didn’t know their XRP tokens were coming from third parties or Ripple itself, Ripple still led the public to have “reasonable expectations of profits” from the cryptocurrency, the SEC said. Ripple’s “public marketing campaign…specifically engaged ‘less sophisticated’ investors,” the regulator added.&nbsp;



Ripple chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty dismissed the SEC’s claims, writing on <a href="https://x.com/s_alderoty/status/1879680738926481670">X</a> that the brief is nothing but “a rehash of already failed arguments.”&nbsp;



Plus, Alderoty added, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-chair-nominee-crypto-past">new leadership</a> at the SEC is likely to &#8220;abandon&#8221; the case altogether.&nbsp;&nbsp;



On this last point, I’m less certain that the SEC will drop this case after Trump takes office and Chair Gary Gensler <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gary-gensler-resigning">departs</a>, at least immediately. It’s possible, but any decisions Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda make in the short term (before three additional commissioners are appointed and confirmed) will face harsh legal scrutiny. 



We’re much more likely to see commission votes resume after there are at least three sitting commissioners.



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SEC moves ahead with Ripple appeal in Gensler’s final days 

Ben Strack

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Amid ongoing speculation about an American strategic bitcoin reserve, several US states are looking to take matters into their own hands.&nbsp;



“It&#8217;s time for Texas to lead the way in establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve,” Texas senator Charles Schwertner wrote in a Wednesday X <a href="https://x.com/DrSchwertner/status/1879630775835890082">post</a>.&nbsp;



The GOP lawmaker’s proposal calls bitcoin a valuable digital asset “with strategic potential for enhancing this state’s financial resilience.” Its decentralized nature and finite supply are “unique qualities that can serve as a hedge against inflation and economic volatility.”



The draft bill seems to echo a Texas House <a href="https://legiscan.com/TX/text/HB1598/2025">proposal</a> from Rep. Giovanni Capriglione last month.&nbsp;



The reserve would be a “special fund” outside the state treasury’s general revenue fund. The comptroller would be responsible for establishing secure custody of the BTC (i.e. via cold storage) and may contract a US-based third party for help.&nbsp;



The Texas legislature — by a two-thirds majority vote in each house — can direct the comptroller to transfer, sell or convert the reserve’s BTC. It would then deposit proceeds to another state treasury fund or account.&nbsp;



Meanwhile, a lawmaker from Oklahoma (Cody Maynard) <a href="http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/cf_pdf/2025-26%20int/hb/HB1203%20int.pdf">introduced</a> a bill to allow the state treasurer to invest public funds in BTC, stablecoins or any other digital asset with an average market cap north of $500 billion over the previous calendar year.&nbsp;



Money used for such purchases could come from the state’s general, revenue stabilization and/or constitutional reserve funds. The amount it invests in BTC can’t exceed 10% of the public funds in the account.&nbsp;



These proposals follow similar ones by <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?bn=2664&amp;body=H&amp;sInd=0&amp;sYear=2023&amp;type=B">Pennsylvania</a>, <a href="https://x.com/Dennis_Porter_/status/1877746381949116787">New Hampshire</a>, North Dakota and other states.



While the fate of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-as-a-potential-us-reserve-asset">Cynthia Lummis’s</a> national BTC reserve plan remains unclear, at the very least <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-campaign-promises-bitcoin-reserve">Trump has promised</a> to keep the BTC the government already possesses.



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State bitcoin reserve plans proliferate

Macauley Peterson

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The rise of “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-powerful-defi-potential">Bitcoin DeFi</a>” on new networks looking to scale Bitcoin has primarily come through bitcoin-backed derivatives like SolvBTC.BBN and LBTC. These derivatives receive staking rewards from Babylon, offering new avenues for liquidity and yield generation. However, concerns about the transparency of these platforms, particularly regarding the management of bitcoin reserves, have sparked debate within the Bitcoin community.



A recent <a href="https://x.com/trackoor/status/1875307649862135830">article</a> by the co-founder of Nubit, known online as Hans, raised alarms about the potential for unbacked reserves and the inflation of total value locked (TVL) in platforms like Solv. These concerns highlight broader risks in the bitcoin-backed derivatives space, especially as market volatility persists.



SolvBTC is minted by depositing either BTC or flavors of wrapped bitcoin so that solvBTC tokens mirror the value of the BTC held in reserves 1:1.



But after that, solvBTC can be moved freely across chains and apps, making it challenging to track TVL. That led to <a href="https://x.com/trackoor/status/1875876403536953575">allegations</a> of double-counting solvBTC issuance.



Solv co-founder Ryan Chow <a href="https://x.com/RyanChow_DeFi/status/1875414459747070086">called</a> the claims “a smear campaign, coordinated and orchestrated” by Solv’s competitors.



SolvBTC.BBN suffers from a liquidity discount which <a href="https://x.com/januszg_/status/1876728550931190049">deepened</a> to 7% last week following a hack of the protocol’s X account.



Solv has <a href="https://x.com/SolvProtocol/status/1876544783507988566">pledged</a> to reimburse user funds lost as a result of the hack.



Despite these clarifications, the core issue remains that Solv, like other bitcoin-backed derivatives platforms, introduces additional layers of trust. While some transparency improvements are being made, the underlying reliance on centralized mechanisms to mint and manage bitcoin-backed derivatives adds risk for users. As @0xTindorr pointed out in an X <a href="https://x.com/0xTindorr/status/1876479673154392268">thread</a> defending Solv, any bitcoin liquid staking tokens (LSTs) inherently carry additional risk.



As the bitcoin-backed derivatives market continues to expand, ensuring these platforms are genuinely backed by reserves and thus remaining transparent will be crucial to maintaining trust and mitigating risks. Users must remain cautious, understanding that the promise of liquidity and yield often comes with hidden risks, especially when the backing of assets is unclear.



Solv Protocol’s native token, SOLV, is set to list Thursday on Binance with a total supply of 9.66 billion and an initial circulating supply of approximately 1.48 billion at time of listing. The token’s launch, which followed a points campaign, adds a new layer to the growing ecosystem of bitcoin-backed derivatives. It will be revealing to monitor performance in this space in light of the potential risks associated with Solv’s expanding offerings.



Other bitcoin derivative issuers, including Lombard and Bedrock, have been using points programs to entice deposits, often a prelude to launching a token.



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Risky business? Transparency in BTC-backed derivatives

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If I were to boil it down, I’d say there are three key reasons why Tribe Capital’s Evan Park is bullish on DePIN. The use cases, sustainability, and — of course — the revenue potential.



Tribe’s backed a few DePINs including Wynd Networks (the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/grass-data-verification-depin-funding">company behind Grass</a>), flight tracking project Wingbits and Akash.&nbsp;



When looking at DePIN projects, Park’s biggest question is whether or not the project is “solving a problem where real demand can be generated.”



Specifically, when Park is being pitched, he’s skeptical when a project shows him revenue figures that aren’t necessarily coming from the underlying network.&nbsp;



I asked him what makes him call bullshit on a DePIN pitch and he told me: It’s “important to distinguish revenue in crypto, but also in DePIN.” He wants to know where the revenue is coming from, essentially. Are the users also validators? Are individuals “contributing to the network and their data, is that the thing that’s making revenue?”



He also keeps a close eye on organic growth and gets validation on potential demand.



But a good team, and a founder “deep in the space” are huge green flags for Park. If this sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because Wyatt Lonergan of VanEck Ventures told us that he also pays close attention to project teams last month.



“It&#8217;s a consideration that&#8217;s more important in DePIN than any other sector. But also having domain expertise, or having advisors and team members that have that domain expertise in your given industry, while bridging that with crypto native experience. It&#8217;s not enough to have one without the other,” he noted.&nbsp;



And there’s your insider scoop for the day.



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What to look for in DePIN projects: Tribe Capital VC

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The full version of Firedancer — a very-performant re-write of Solana’s validator software authored by Jump Crypto — may still be <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/2025-solana-product-launches">a ways away</a>. But in the meantime, Solana validators still can use a limited version of the client named Frankendancer. 



Frankendancer was spawned by Jump taking the Agave client, which is descended from the original Solana Labs software, and replacing parts of it piecemeal to create a new client akin to Frankenstein’s monster. Frankendancer <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lightspeed-newsletter-solana-firedancer-testnet">went to Solana mainnet in September</a> during Solana’s Breakpoint conference — but since then, it’s seen limited uptake.



So far, 12 validators controlling roughly 5.4 million staked SOL are running Frankendancer, according to <a href="https://beta.validatorbase.com/solana">data</a> from Validatorbase. That’s out of 392 million staked SOL in existence, according to Solana Compass.



The “main reason most validators aren&#8217;t running [Frankendancer] yet is because it doesn&#8217;t capture MEV efficiently,” Temporal engineering partner Ben Coverston told me.



Maximal extractible value, or MEV, is the processing of adding, removing, or reordering transactions in a block to extract extra value. Many Solana validators capture MEV by running the Jito-Solana client, which is a version of the Agave client with MEV modifications attached.&nbsp;



MEV is quite lucrative for Solana validators. Around 25% of validator staking rewards — which can be thought of like the revenue a validator creates by running Solana — currently come from MEV, <a href="https://dune.com/21co/solana-key-metrics">according</a> to a Dune dashboard. Roughly 65% of the rewards come from SOL issuance, and 10% comes from fees.&nbsp;



It’s not impossible to capture MEV without Jito, Coverston added, but it is certainly more difficult, so any validators who want to run Frankendancer are likely looking at a lower return on their investment.



That’s not to say there’s no reason to run Frankendancer. Phase Labs announced today that its validator has upgraded to the Frankendancer client, calling the software “the next leap forward” for Solana.



Phase’s Aeropool stake pool <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/solana-stake-pools-yield-vs-punishment">has specifically said</a> that its stake delegation strategy is to empower positive Solana contributors rather than only chase the highest APY.



Most validators don’t share this strategy — over 93% of Solana validators currently <a href="https://www.jito.network/stakenet/history/">use</a> Jito-Solana. On testnet, they may begin seeing some pressure to try Frankendancer however: Solana developer shop Anza has <a href="https://discord.com/channels/428295358100013066/594138785558691840/1326768397047824487">talked</a> about beginning to push for a Frankendancer supermajority of stake on testnet next week.



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Solana validators slow to adopt Frankendancer for MEV reasons

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Crypto is a creature of extremes. Look no further than the major narratives right now.&nbsp;



AI agents and memecoins are almost completely virtual. DePIN, meanwhile, derives practically its entire value proposition from very physical networks of hardware. In the real world.&nbsp;



So, you can’t fault Helium — the decentralized wireless carrier powered by Solana — for teaming up with DAWN to expand both their networks, together.



The pair have struck a partnership to allow Helium hotspot operators to serve DAWN broadband internet, and vice versa, to create “the world’s first fully decentralized last-mile internet solution.”



Like how Helium is shooting to disrupt centralized telecoms, DAWN is pushing to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/two-vaneck-funds-back-depin-dawn">change our relationship with traditional ISPs</a>, allowing regular users to both own the infrastructure and be rewarded in crypto for providing wireless broadband to anyone in range.



“The conversation started with a strong alignment on the mission of decentralizing internet access,” a Helium spokesperson told me. “We&#8217;re moving toward making connectivity owned by the many and accessible to everyone.”



It means that the Helium Network will automatically grow by 8,000 nodes that already serve the DAWN ecosystem, according to a press release.



A Helium Foundation <a href="https://dune.com/helium-foundation/helium-makers">dashboard</a> meanwhile points to more than 25,000 mobile hotspots onboarded since last April, which hypothetically could serve DAWN broadband once the functionality is rolled out, although it’s not immediately clear how many are currently active.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1382" height="998" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png" alt="" class="wp-image-96300" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png?w=1382 1382w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png?w=356 356w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png?w=361 361w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png?w=303 303w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXcS2KLUG9cyxVVCmOyGyMtabV-GqO6WfmGYnWh-Jyw1sYAued80xonZL9J3L_UXvxcfOcSfyJaKEQyJW9mBV6ui_1t8RJQKdsPJwnUTe5Av3abo1bUC-NVYnfEE6SXvEVFkKRnhvw.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1382px) 100vw, 1382px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Helium’s HNT is still working on reclaiming highs from the last cycle. DAWN, which has an active points program, is yet to confirm a token launch</figcaption></figure>



The spokesperson said that there’s no equity or investment deal as part of the partnership. Still, it all suggests a certain coalescence in the DePIN space.&nbsp;



Like how GPUs and ASIC mining rigs can be used to mine a number of different cryptocurrencies — switching between them based on profitability — we could be headed for a world where DePIN devices in our homes can be pointed to all sorts of different use cases depending on demand.&nbsp;



It might mean additional income for the household without the often extreme overheads related to proof-of-work mining, although how much would be largely dependent on token prices and whatnot.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1380" height="1000" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png" alt="" class="wp-image-96299" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png?w=1380 1380w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png?w=355 355w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png?w=360 360w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png?w=302 302w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/AD_4nXd1nND-GiHGinDzKPsTMQoHZpIsMAO9sRbIxvucteXY8QVyXzckJPVYFPSWbaG8q5B4smbdT9Sk21fQxESHnBI7ao1gb3IEupRaUJ1vkGak1ZA4ae1RNMwTOYrta425yRYk5J8aKg.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1380px) 100vw, 1380px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Helium users are spending ~$6,000 HNT per week right now, up from under $3,000 in January 2024</figcaption></figure>



What’s interesting is that had this partnership not been made, eventually Helium and DAWN would’ve been considered competitors. But not really anymore.



Wouldn’t that make Elon Musk’s Starlink the biggest rival to the Helium-DAWN partnership, outside of the traditional carriers?



“Starlink is disrupting the connectivity industry in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago,” the Helium spokesperson said. “Several Helium deployments use Starlink as an internet backhaul in the US and Mexico.”&nbsp;



The team has also developed a connectivity kit that combines Starlink with Helium Hotspots, to better serve phones in areas without cell coverage.



In any case, the Helium-DAWN partnership makes total sense, especially considering the latter is expected to airdrop a token to early adopters at some point.



After all, when it comes to incentivizing people to set up physical devices in their homes, two token flywheels must be better than one.



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Helium partners with DAWN to create ‘last-mile internet solution’

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I broke down the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-sec-appeals-decision">Coinbase-SEC court ruling</a> yesterday and noted it would take some time to sort out its broader implications.&nbsp;



One legal pro’s viewpoint suggests the decision could be a final straw of sorts to force long-anticipated regulatory clarity.



Monday’s court decision was not exactly surprising, according to Arie Heijkoop, a partner in Haynes Boone’s investment management practice group. The SEC’s response to Coinbase’s petition “was lacking in any substance,” he explained; but a court ordering an agency to issue a new rule has a high bar.&nbsp;&nbsp;



That said, Heijkoop told me the opinion’s descriptive language (exhibiting increased understanding of the space) suggests “the SEC may be running out of room to continue evading coming out with a defined position on crypto and digital asset regulation.”



Indeed, Judge Stephanos Bibas notes the SEC’s “old regulations fit poorly with this new technology, and its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/regulation-by-enforcement-unsustainable">enforcement strategy</a> raises constitutional notice concerns.”



Bibas’s concurring opinion, in particular, seems to implore the SEC to distinguish the coins that operate more like securities from those that do not, Heijkoop explained.&nbsp;



“As the number of crypto products, and how they function, proliferate, if there will ever be crypto regulation handed down, it will likely have to account for those differences,” the Haynes Boone partner added.



This ruling may provide some optimism to defendants to challenge crypto enforcement actions if there is no further SEC guidance. But handing down a new rule would be “a fairly seismic action,” Heijkoop said.&nbsp;



Further, SEC actions for unregistered securities offerings may not fully cease given the decision’s recognition of crypto products with securities-type characteristics.



Whether the agency’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-chair-nominee-crypto-past">new administration</a> offers more guidance through regulation rather than litigation remains a key question.



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Weighing in on the latest Coinbase-SEC ruling

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As President Biden rounds out his final days in office, the Senate has begun the process of confirming President-elect Trump’s Cabinet picks.



Defense Secretary hopeful Pete Hegseth was the first to take the hot seat.&nbsp;



Republicans, as expected, embraced Hegseth, calling his “unconventional” resume a strength while Democrats grilled him about his <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/5084889-tim-kaine-pete-hegseth-hearing-infidelity/">character and judgement</a>. It was hours of tense questioning, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he plans to schedule the vote soon, and Hegseth should have the nomination in the bag.&nbsp;



On tap for confirmation hearings today are Trump’s picks for attorney general (Pam Bondi), CIA director (John Ratcliffe) and the White House office of management and budget (Russ Vought).&nbsp;



The Senate Banking Committee has not yet scheduled <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/trump-nominates-new-sec-chair">SEC chair hopeful</a> Paul Atkins’s confirmation hearing, but with widespread Republican <a href="https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/majority/scott-statement-on-meeting-with-paul-atkins-nominee-to-serve-as-sec-chairman">support</a> Atkins should be a shoo-in. In the meantime, Trump will select either Commissioner Peirce or Uyeda to serve as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-crenshaw-confirmation-vote-cancelled">acting chair</a>. We’re expecting the transition team to announce this decision in the next few days.&nbsp;



In his final <a href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/gensler-sec-011425?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery">town hall</a> address Tuesday, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-commissioner-crenshaw-vote-delayed">outgoing</a> SEC Chair Gary Gensler praised his agency staff for their “wise counsel and help.”&nbsp;



“You vigorously followed the facts and the law without fear or favor to ensure that market participants comply with the securities laws, whether it be regarding traditional financial products or more recent ones like crypto,” Gensler said, in what may be his final nod to the industry as head of the agency.&nbsp;



Trump has still not named his pick for CFTC Chair. Rostin Behnam, who long <a href="https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/SpeechesTestimony/opabehnam48">advocated</a> for Congress to grant the CFTC explicit oversight of digital asset commodities, will be <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cftc-chair-announces-departure">stepping down</a> on Monday. Caroline Pham or Summer Mersinger, both Republican CFTC commissioners, are expected to head the agency in the interim.&nbsp;



External candidates who’ve made Trump’s short list reportedly include former CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz, former agency official Josh Sterling and attorney Neal Kumar. I doubt we get an official nomination from Team Trump before Monday, but we’ll be on the lookout just in case.&nbsp;



Over in the House, Majority Whip Tom Emmer yesterday was selected to vice chair the digital assets subcommittee.&nbsp;



“With President Trump in the White House, and Gary Gensler confined to the waste bin of Washington, we have an excellent opportunity to ensure that the future of digital assets is guided by Americans, with American values,” Emmer wrote in a <a href="https://x.com/GOPMajorityWhip/status/1879319142303498579">statement</a> on X. 



Emmer, who co-sponsored the CBDC Anti-Surveillance <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/house-passes-cbdc-anti-surveillance-act">State Act</a>, the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/senate-passes-resolution-to-overturn-sab121">anti-SAB 121</a> resolution and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/fit21-crypto-bill-advances-to-senate">FIT21</a>, has advocated for <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/reps-ask-sec-for-clarity-securities-airdrops">more lenient</a> crypto regulation in recent years. The House Financial Services Committee has not yet released a schedule of upcoming hearings.



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Confirmation hearings for Trump Cabinet picks are underway

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The December CPI report shows some prices are coming down more than expected while the cost of other goods and services continue to rise.&nbsp;



Today’s release was enough to satisfy investors, though.&nbsp;



The S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes were trading 1.8% and 2.3% higher, respectively, at 2 pm ET Wednesday. The mid-week rally helped pare losses from earlier in the week. The Nasdaq Composite is now flat for the past five trading days while the S&amp;P 500 has edged into the green, now up 0.5% over that time.&nbsp;



Prices increased 0.4% over the month and 2.9% over the year, coming in close to the forecasted readings of 0.3% and 2.9%, respectively. Core CPI though, which excludes food and energy prices, slowed to 3.2% in the 12 months ended December, just under analysts’ expectations of 3.3%.&nbsp;



The report had little impact on interest rate expectations, with fed funds futures markets still calling for a 97% chance committee members hold rates steady later this month.&nbsp;



Still, December’s reading shows the central bank has made some progress in moving inflation back down to its 2% target, and investors were thrilled.&nbsp;



Looking ahead, analysts say <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/rate-cutting-cycle-2025">rate cuts in 2025</a> are probably still in the cards, but not too many of them.&nbsp;



“The key question now is whether the FOMC’s ‘skip’ turns into a more prolonged ‘pause’,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone. “Risks around the policy outlook this year are considerably more two-sided than those seen last year, with a renewed hawkish risk re-introduced to the policy path.”



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US equities pare recent losses after mixed inflation print 

Donovan Choy

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Sony launched its much-acclaimed Soneium L2 blockchain yesterday. It had a somewhat rocky start.



Built atop the OP Stack, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sony-astar-ethereum-rollup-soneium">Soneium</a> is a joint venture launch by Sony Group and Startale Group. The latter previously launched the Astar Network L1 and the Astar L2 zkEVM.



Soneium’s “Minato” testnet began in August 2024 and drew over 1,700 applicants to its Spark <a href="https://soneium.org/en/blog/meet-the-winners-of-soneium-spark-incubation/">incubator</a>, while garnering 47 million transactions over 14 million active wallets.



What’s placed Soneium in the Crypto Twitter limelight, however, are calls for the chain’s sequencer-level censorship.



Memecoins launched on the chain yesterday, such as AIBO, traded to a $2.7 million market cap high 13 hours after launch before being <a href="https://x.com/PopPunkOnChain/status/1879066023875482041">censored</a> by Soneium’s sequencer and blocked on the chain’s block explorer (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIBO">AIBO</a> is a Sony-developed robotic dog from the 90s).



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXeQEw6lUDVuA1cftl1_rmmWvfbgph5shdyru9Hdk3ztFmXl6Ate2rH3P248zjg2xVGspONLMzbC-kp0noNxIXvPGfGCaxKPnc5pkVqBbthv_3_-9rsvDXSMzLY0we02tL_YeT6ZkQ?key=gEzTklHsJ6ULa1ZFDIZ1_3_f" alt=""/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Source: <a href="https://soneium.blockscout.com/token/0x5EebdC6bc22b64888BF8c448cd67b2AEEae4Aedd">Blockscout</a></figcaption></figure>



Surprised? You shouldn’t be. According to Soneium’s <a href="https://docs.soneium.org/docs/ip-and-contracts-restriction">docs</a>, the chain already planned a tiered restriction system to protect intellectual property rights. This system flags potential intellectual property violations and will enforce blocks at the RPC level if they’re not resolved in time:



Contract addresses on this list will have their activities restricted on Soneium, for example via RPC-level blocks, limited visibility on Block Explorer and exclusion from wallets.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdH1Xh5p1ovmsy1ZIPUj5Xxo-0c_MzE02IHOe_TNaYtiG0QweS8dJ2vdoaQkXXfmiMuOJ_qOBR4tJfIHSfmuseGGh6rrjbWTMZ_Uc8Vp4X_SJdGTuzKznxqwNfN79qogqqZxYXBOQ?key=gEzTklHsJ6ULa1ZFDIZ1_3_f" alt=""/></figure>



It turns out, however, that L2s are more resilient than widely believed. The sequencer block backfired, as users were able to trigger a forced transaction inclusion mechanism on the Ethereum L1.



<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">then i go to etherscan (on L1!), to their OptimismPortal (contract used to send L1-&gt;L2 msgs), and craft a depositTransaction with such calldata. i want to call the exchange contract on L2 (0xE1A&#8230;3Ab) with the appropriate value to swap and the calldata above. check the tx… <a href="https://t.co/kTcGCXwJ19">pic.twitter.com/kTcGCXwJ19</a>&mdash; donnoh.eth 💗 (@donnoh_eth) <a href="https://twitter.com/donnoh_eth/status/1879210483191783534?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 14, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



For OP Stack chains, any EOA (externally owned account) wallet can create an L2 transaction and call the main OptimismPortal contract, thereby allowing the submission of a transaction to Ethereum L1 without going through the L2’s centralized sequencer.



This mechanism is sometimes referred to by Ethereum researchers as an “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/layer-2-secured-by-ethereum">escape hatch</a>,” an interim failsafe solution pending L2 rollups decentralizing their sequencers.



As Justin Drake put it on a previous <a href="https://youtu.be/thPIc-_h2ms?t=2531">Bankless podcast</a>, even a <a href="https://medium.com/l2beat/introducing-stages-a-framework-to-evaluate-rollups-maturity-d290bb22befe">Stage 2</a> rollup with a centralized sequencer cannot freeze or steal assets like a centralized custodian could. Real-time censorship-resistance may be compromised, but the ability to force transaction inclusions still grants some explicit level of ownership over assets on L2 chains.



Sequencer decentralization is being tackled by Ethereum researchers in a myriad of ways, such as sequencer marketplaces like Astria and Espresso, or based rollup designs that simply defer sequencing duties to L1 validators (i.e. <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/unpacking-the-based-rollups-debate">based sequencing</a>).



“Based rollups, using Ethereum’s sequencers, offer real-time censorship resistance. Unless censorship resistance is baked in, there will always be risks. While there are risks, we will never see true decentralization, permissionless and security,” Brecht Devos, co-founder and CTO of Taiko, told Blockworks.



Putting aside the thorny discussion as to whether it was right for Soneium to censor, note that this “censorship” isn’t all that different from the kinds of permissioned chains that already exist as Ethereum L2s and on Avalanche subnets.



What’s truly questionable is Soneium’s decision from a practical perspective. Trying to blacklist every intellectual property violation on a permissionless ledger is a fiendishly complex task with no end in sight.



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Sonieum launches mainnet to censorship complaints

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">subscribe</a>.



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There are three certainties in crypto life.



Hacks, taxes and memecoins tied to every mildly interesting aspect of pop culture.



So, with social media enjoooyers in the US preparing for a potential life without TikTok, it’s no surprise that there’s already a memecoin.



The Supreme Court is <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/01/13/tiktok-ban-timeline">currently</a> mulling a bipartisan bill passed last year that would force TikTok’s owner — the Chinese tech giant ByteDance — to sell the app to a US company by Jan. 19, citing national security concerns around influence and spying.



It was initially <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/24/tiktok-ban-benefits-meta-google/">thought</a> that a ban would mostly benefit Meta and Google. In the meantime though, so-called “TikTok refugees” have flooded Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, a Chinese app similar to Instagram and backed by Tencent and Alibaba.&nbsp;



On RedNote (and a number of other local apps), where there’s strict content moderation and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonsnyder/2025/01/14/tiktok-and-rednoteconsent-without-transparency-isnt-freedom-its-control/">censorship</a>, the default username has been “momo.”&nbsp;



Younger Chinese netizens eventually <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202408/06/WS66b17c1aa3104e74fddb8a0e.html">adopted</a> the moniker, along with a <a href="https://restofworld.org/2023/social-media-privacy-momo-dinosaur/">cute pink dinosaur</a> mascot, after finding they could post more freely without using their real names online.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXepa_KG5lVIxltK_R9koaoOv1JxRn52IgRUNuUBGhyV9n1_rOKd3N4UglKROjRlGgRJIDr5pQL1Wke6XciK-DjUfpwnSs0BI8T_4BZ6Sg7rBjB4OoxnxAAZdDaObgdxw63VGHxP0g?key=jqLXOMKC5H0MIUydy2iagSQh" alt=""/></figure>



No surprise then that Solana memecoin MOMO — initially launched via pump.fun way back in October — has gone 160x in the past three days.



MOMO is still tiny, with a market cap under $5 million, and it took less than $40 million in volume to drive it to its new valuation.



Still, it’s enough for MOMO to have now returned about half that of leading AI agent coin AI16Z. AI16Z has done about 295x since its October launch, about two weeks after MOMO.



For what it’s worth, I poked around RedNote and didn’t find much crypto content beyond bitcoin and major memecoins like shiba inu (and lots of pepe).



That clearly makes the app fertile ground for the US’s fastest-growing digital export: onchain degeneracy. They simply won’t know what hit ‘em.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



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TikTok’s potential US ban has already sent a Chinese memecoin 100x

This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">subscribe</a>. 



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Hurricane Helene ravaged western North Carolina this fall, leading to over 100 deaths and roughly $60 billion in damage, according to a state government report.&nbsp;



As the storm worsened, Nova Labs vice president of business development Mark Phillips had an idea. Helium — which is building a network of hotspots that emit wireless coverage — could repurpose its technology to provide cell connectivity in North Carolina, where more than 20% of cell sites impacted by Helene went out of service, according to an FCC report.&nbsp;



Phillips messaged Helium Foundation CEO Abhay Kumar saying they should make a wireless hotspot for disaster relief. Within 48 hours, they had a prototype. Phillips and others at Nova Labs (which is the developer company behind the cell service company Helium Mobile) and Helium then began building the kits while also trying to get their hands on Starlink terminals that connect to the satellite-powered internet provider backed by Elon Musk.



Starlinks have an order backlog, but through a connection Phillips was able to secure 20 terminals within four days. Put together and plugged into a power source, Starlink and Helium’s tech create the “Helium hotspot beacon” — a miniature off-grid cell phone tower that uses Starlink for network backhaul and a Helium hotspot for radio connectivity to phones.&nbsp;



Helium sent a few of these beacons to North Carolina as the state’s wireless infrastructure continued to buckle. The most widely-used deployment came in Hendersonville, NC, after an organization named Land of Sky emailed asking for a beacon. They set the hardware up in a local park, and it received more than 20,000 unique connections from locals. The beacons received around 24,000 connections in total.



Because Helium hotspots provide cell service and not just Wi-Fi, anyone within 1,000 feet of the deployment had their phones automatically connect to service like with their regular carrier, Phillips told me.&nbsp;



The saga highlights a benefit of decentralized physical infrastructure, a sector referred to as DePIN in crypto circles.&nbsp;



When natural disasters strike, it is possible for legacy cell carriers to deploy mini cell towers — and America’s cell phone incumbents are <a href="https://www.lightreading.com/wireless/verizon-at-t-and-t-mobile-take-on-california-wildfires">doing</a> so amid the ongoing California wildfires. But those solutions are expensive and somewhat inflexible, requiring large trucks to drive around with little towers attached.&nbsp;



Helium offers portable kits that are plug and play for getting cell service. If deployed widely, the hotspot beacons could make America’s wireless networks much more resilient to natural disasters.



Helium has offered 10 hotspot beacon kits to the authorities in southern California, Phillips said.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/lightspeed">Subscribe to daily Solana news</a> from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.