In this weekly recap, we cover:
- Tether’s Record Profit: Tether, the issuer of stablecoin USDT, announces a net profit of $5.2 billion for the first half of 2024, with significant reserves in U.S. Treasuries.
- Artists Sue SEC Over NFTs: Artists Jonathan Mann and Brian Frye file a lawsuit against the SEC, seeking regulatory clarity on whether NFTs are considered securities.
- Pump.Fun’s Revenue Surge: The Solana-based token launchpad Pump.Fun reports a record $25.6 million in revenue for July, driven by the popularity of memecoins.
- California DMV Goes Blockchain: The California DMV digitizes 42 million car titles using the Avalanche blockchain, streamlining the title transfer process and reducing fraud.
- BitClout Founder Charged: Nader Al-Naji, founder of BitClout, faces charges of wire fraud and selling unregistered securities, with allegations of misappropriating $7 million for personal expenses.
- Do Kwon Extradition to South Korea: Montenegro’s court of appeals rules to extradite Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon to South Korea to face charges related to the collapse of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem.
- Mt. Gox Bitcoin Transfer: The bankrupt crypto exchange Mt. Gox moves $2.2 billion in Bitcoin to a new wallet, as it begins repaying 17,000 creditors.
- Compound Governance Dispute: The Compound lending protocol resolves a governance dispute with a counter-proposal for a new staking product, restoring market confidence.
- Terra Blockchain Exploit: Terra blockchain halts operations for four hours to patch an exploit that resulted in the theft of $4 million in tokens, including ASTRO, USDC, and USDT.
