In this weekly recap, we cover:
- SEC Chair Gary Gensler expresses disappointment over a court ruling on Ripple, while Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse remains optimistic about the future.
- Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, lays off over 1,000 employees and scales back employee benefits due to a decline in profits.
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is set to meet with House Democrats to discuss crypto legislation amid ongoing lawsuits from the SEC.
- Uniswap launches a new open-source protocol, UniswapX, aiming to aggregate liquidity across decentralized exchange pools and offer users gas-free execution.
- BlockFi creditors allege that the company’s CEO ignored warnings about the shaky financials of FTX and Alameda Research, leading to losses of over $1 billion.
- Arkham Intelligence’s native token (ARKM) makes a splashy debut on the Binance launchpad, and the company launches the Arkham Intel Exchange, offering bounties for crypto sleuths to solve high-profile cases.
- Presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Ron DeSantis make bold promises regarding crypto policy, highlighting the growing importance of crypto in U.S. politics.
- The SEC begins the formal review process for six spot Bitcoin ETF applications, including those from industry giants BlackRock and Bitwise.
