š MARKET MOVING NEWS! (01/04/25)
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1ļøā£ Coinbase CEO Slams āOutdatedā Stablecoin Rules, Pushes for Interest Payments š
In a March 31 post on X, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called on U.S. lawmakers to ensure that the stablecoin legislation allows consumers to earn āonchain interestā on their stablecoin holdings. This feature would allow stablecoins to function like interest-bearing checking accounts.
Armstrong wrote,
The government shouldnāt put its thumb on the scale to benefit one industry over another. Banks and crypto companies alike should be allowed to, and incentivised to, share interest with consumers. This is consistent with a free market approach.
2ļøā£ Privacy Pools Launch On Ethereum ā¶ļø
Privacy Pools, a new semi-permissionless privacy tool first proposed in 2023, has reportedly launched on Ethereum mainnet. The new tool will allow users to transact privately while proving their funds arenāt linked to illicit activities. The tool, launched by Ethereum builders 0xbow.io, has earned support from the likes of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Notably, Buterin not only backed the privacy project but made one of the first deposits on the platform.
3ļøā£ Trump Family Now Controls At Least 60% Stake Over World Liberty Financial ā”ļø
According to a Reuters report, U.S. President Donald Trumpās family is consolidating control over DeFi platform World Liberty Financial. The report cited changes in the fine print on World Libertyās website that shows co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro have been replaced as ācontrolling partiesā of the platform by an entity in which the Trump family holds a 60% stake. Notably, the move comes just two weeks after World Liberty raised an additional $250 million in funding through a second WLFI token offering. In a document published at the time of launch, World Liberty said the Trump family could take home 75% of the net revenue from WLFI token sales and 60% from World Liberty operations once the core business gets going.
4ļøā£ Metaplanet Issues $13M Zero-Coupon Bond to Buy More Bitcoin šø
Japanese firm Metaplanet has reportedly issued a 2-billion-yen ($13.3 million) zero-coupon ordinary bond to fund more Bitcoin buys. The bond is scheduled to redeem on Sept. 30. Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich claimed the firm was ābuying the dip.ā The announcement coincides with Metaplanetās addition to the BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (CRYP), a fund with over $50 billion in assets under management. Metaplanet currently holds the largest weighting in the ETF at 15.5%, followed by Strategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) in the second and third spots, respectively.
5ļøā£ NFT Marketplace X2Y2 Shuts Down After 3 Years, Pivots To AI š
NFT marketplace X2Y2 has announced that it will be shutting down on April 30. The closure comes as the team pivots its focus to an artificial intelligence project. Token Terminal data shows that the NFT marketplace, which operated for over 3 years, saw $53.6 million worth of trading volume over the last 365 days, which is a 90% decline in NFT trading volume from its peak during 2021. While details on X2Y2ās AI pivot is sparse, the firm suggested that the readers should imagine āyields in a permissionless way, powered by AI.ā
6ļøā£ Brazil Bars Major Pension Funds From Investing in Cryptocurrencies š
Brazilās top financial policy body, the National Monetary Council (CMN), has reportedly banned a few pension funds from investing in cryptocurrencies on account of the assetās risk profile. Specifically, the pension funds it banned are closed pension entities known as the Entidades Fechadas de PrevidĆŖncia Complementar (EFPCs). For context, EFPCs manage retirement savings for tens of thousands of unionized and company-employed workers. Its reserves are typically made up of bonds and equities. The ruling does not appear to apply to open pension funds or individual retirement products sold by banks and insurers.
