Unchained

The GENIUS Act is now law, and it could reshape the future of payments, banking, and DeFi.

This week in crypto: Solana’s $1.5B treasury play, Polymarket’s return and stablecoin pivot, and legal heat for top Solana and Jito execs.

Ethena is bringing its USDtb stablecoin to U.S. markets through Anchorage Digital, marking the first launch under the newly passed GENIUS Act.

McCann has been in the news this week because of reported poor investor returns at his firm Asymmetric. But according to a pitch deck seen by Unchained, he might be moving on to a new position.

The price of PUMP is now down below the ICO price. What went wrong? And can it recover?

This week in crypto: Trump eyes crypto in 401(k) plans, regulators close the book on Polymarket, and Cantor Fitzgerald plans a $4B bitcoin acquisition.

Pump.fun’s $500M ICO, Hyperliquid’s Trading Surge, and Crypto’s Legislative Breakthroughs Collide in a Frenzied Bull Market  – The Chopping Block

What if crypto’s next big narrative isn’t DeFi, but financial entertainment?

Over $2 billion in ETH is waiting to exit the network amid a wave of profit-taking, causing the longest validator withdrawal delays in over a year.

BlackRock filed to enable staking in its ETH ETF, aiming to generate yield for investors while reinforcing Ethereum’s network security.

SharpLink plans to raise up to $5 billion more to grow its ETH reserves, surpassing the Ethereum Foundation as it leans fully into a crypto-native strategy.

Ether hit a six-month high above $3,400 as spot ETFs saw record inflows and institutional demand pushed futures open interest to all-time highs.

GameSquare acquired a rare CryptoPunk from Robert Leshner for $5.15 million as part of its growing digital asset treasury strategy.

Bybit happened to publish a proof of reserves the day before the $1.5 billion hack by North Korea. But the incomplete snapshot of the exchange’s finances lays bare why they don’t serve customers when disaster strikes.

Buterin’s acquisition and use of a Miladys NFT on his social media accounts X and Farcaster comes at a time when the Ethereum community has expressed a number of concerns about the network’s trajectory and leadership.

From the groundbreaking success of the ETFs to Solana’s dominance and the Trump effect on Bitcoin, we look back at the stories and voices that defined 2024.

WOO X suffered a $14 million exploit impacting nine accounts, prompting a withdrawal freeze and a cross-chain chase for stolen funds.

The Clarity Act Passes, Bitcoin Hits $120K, and Congress Throws Crypto a Lifeline – The Chopping Block

The SEC approved Bitwise’s crypto index ETF conversion—then abruptly paused it—marking the second multi-asset ETF reversal this month.

CoinDCX lost $44 million in a targeted server breach, but says customer funds are safe and losses will be covered from its own reserves.

Coinbase rebranded Base as “Basechain” and launched a revamped Base App, combining wallet, payments, trading, and social into one fast, unified platform.

Polygon will activate its biggest hard fork yet with Heimdall v2, slashing finality times and overhauling its core consensus system.

Phantom wallet is rolling out built-in perp trading via Hyperliquid, offering up to 40x leverage without needing to leave the app.

Jack Dorsey is trialing Bitchat, an offline, encrypted messaging app built on a Bluetooth mesh network for decentralized communication.