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Good Morning,

Always a GM to read top headlines in crypto, blockchain, web3 😎

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: The SEC is determined to combat crypto cyber fraud, institutions are scooping up all the bitcoin, Visa’s stablecoin transactions skyrocket, Deribit could get acquired for $5B+ by on of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, and so much more.

Finally Friday. Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

Data on 2/20/25 per CoinMarketCap

  • BTC/USD building on gains after the previous daily candle closed at $98,330 on Bitstamp

    • Popular trader Patric H. said that flipping $100,000 to support was one of the essential next moves.

  • US macro data aided the recovery, with initial jobless claims exceeding the median forecast by 4,000 to reach 219,000 — a potential sign that the labor market may not withstand longer periods of restrictive economic policy.

    • There’s practically zero likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its next meeting in March

Headline Roundup
The major headlines driving crypto markets

  • The SEC replaces its crypto enforcement unit with a smaller team focused on combatting cyber fraud (BBG) 

  • Institutional investors tripled their bitcoin holdings in Q4 2024, over $38B (CB)

  • Microsoft is enhancing infrastructure capacity for OpenAI's GPT-4.5 models (CT) 

  • The SEC approves Figure Markets’ yield-bearing stablecoins (BBG) 

  • Franklin Templeton combo BTC-ETH ETF begins trading in U.S. (CS)

  • Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried now sees himself as a Republican (CT) 

  • European Central Bank is exploring the development of a blockchain-based payment system (TD)

  • Kraken saw a 39% increase in data requests from law enforcement in 2024 (CS) 

  • Visa reports a 40% increase in stablecoin transactions over the past two years (TD)

  • Onramp partners with lending platform Arch to offer Bitcoin-backed lending service (CD) 

  • Metaplanet acquires an additional $6.6M of Bitcoin (TB)

  • Crypto intelligence platform Kaito AI’s airdrop raises concerns over tokenomics (CT) 

  • Blockchain game Fantasy Top to expand from Ethereum L2 Blast to Monad testnet (DT)

  • LayerZero plans first integration with Bitcoin via connection to sidechain Rootstock (CD) 

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See Investor Insights

M&A Announcements

  • Kraken is still in talks to potentially acquire crypto options exchange Deribit, which was last valued at $5B (CD)

Launches

  • Pi Network's PI token launches at $195B valuation despite limited liquidity (CD) 

  • Franklin Templeton launches an ETF holding both Bitcoin and Ether (CT)

  • Community Gaming launches prediction market Forkast and the CGX governance token (BW) 

  • Arweave-based network AR.IO launches mainnet and token generation event (TB) 

  • Decentralized exchange SynFutures launches AI trading agent Synthia (CD) 

  • KAITO token launches on Base for aidrop claims ahead of its listing on centralized exchanges (TB) 

  • Canary Capital launches Axelar private investment fund to offer institutional access to AXL token (CT) 

Venture Capital

  • Cross-border payment firm MANSA secures $10M in a funding round led by Tether (TB) 

  • Primus Labs, an on-chain data startup, announced a $6.5M pre-seed round led by VanEck, Symbolic VC, and Dispersion Capital (X)

  • Bitcoin staking platform Acre raises $4M at a $90M token valuation (TB) 

  • Boost VC doubles down on Research Hub with $2M investment for transparent research (X)

Regulation

  • Coinbase proposes a 6-point plan for improving U.S. crypto regulation

  • Australian regulator warns of heightened financial fraud with U.S. loose regulations (CS)

  • Kraken looks at giving India another shot with new regulations in place (TW)

  • 10 Bills going through D.C. that could severely impact crypto (DL)

Cybersecurity

  • Woman who defrauded Bybit out of $4.2M sentenced to 10 years in prison (DC)

  • Economist Paul Krugman has X account hacked to shill New York Times scam coin alongside a fake website (FU)

  • Hector Monsegur, hacker behind LulzSec, is now working with the FBI after facing 125 year sentence (TS)

  • It was raining crypto hacks this week (BiS)

Extra Reads

Chart of the Day

Bitcoin is the first trillion dollar asset to be owned predominately by individuals

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