Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Parents of Sam Bankman-Fried want Trump to pardon him, another major crypto ETF was approved, Coinbase derivatives lists 2 new tokens with futures, Ross Ulbricht lost $12M yesterday, Nelk Boys are in hot water over their NFT project, and much more.

Finally Friday. Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

As of 1/30/2025. Data per CoinMarketCap.

  • January CPI data is expected to remain the same as December

    • January’s CPI data releases February 12th

  • Bitcoin breaks $106k midday Thursday, while ETH neared $3.3k

  • Litecoin ($LTC) finishes the week up 9.5% ahead of looming ETF decision by SEC

    • Initial responses must be provided by SEC within 45 days of filing (March 2025) and final decisions to be made within 240 days (September 2025)

  • Solana memecoins continue to surge, with recent leaders being Dogsh*t2, LUX, Bonecoin, and Buttcoin, up 10,000%, 5,100%, 4,400%, and 1,500%, respectively – wild times

Market Predictions

  • Traders on Kalshi are currently predicting if Trump will reduce the national debt

  • You can trade this market by checking out Kalshi

  • Get a $20 bonus when you deposit $100 or more with code “LIT” on signup

Headline Roundup
The major headlines driving crypto markets

  • Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents are seeking a presidential pardon for SBF (BBG) 

  • The SEC approved Bitwise’s combined Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF (BBG)

  • Did a $400 Bitcoin mining rig really just mine a $330K reward? No and here’s why

  • Grayscale files XRP ETF with New York Stock Exchange (WG)

  • Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht lost $12M due to a liquidity pool error (TD)

  • Pump.fun hit with another lawsuit for allegedly selling unregistered securities (CN)

  • The Czech National Bank’s board approves a proposal to consider investing reserves in other assets, including Bitcoin (CD) 

  • Kraken reinstates crypto staking for US customers (CD) 

  • Apollo partners with Securitize to offer blockchain-based credit fund (BN)

  • The US M2 money supply increased to $21.5T in December (CD) 

  • El Salvador rolls back pro-Bitcoin legislation to comply with new IMF loan terms (DC) 

  • Crypto skeptic and disgraced former US senator Bob Menendez is sentenced to 11 years in prison for bribery (CD) 

  • Bitcoin has the highest correlation with the Russell 2000 tech sector (TB)

  • Swap volumes on XRP Ledger’s DEX surpasses $400M in Janaury (CD) 

  • MoonPay partners with the Shots Podcast Network (DC) 

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Launches

  • Coinbase’s derivatives arm looks to launch futures for Solana and Hedera after February 18 (CD)

  • Venmo co-founder Iqram Magdon-Ismail launched a token for his new startup (BW)

Venture Capital

  • Zero-knowledge proofs startup Irreducible raises a $24M Series A led by Bain Capital Crypto and Paradigm (TB) 

  • Decentralized infrastructure provider Elastos raises $20M in funding from Rollman Management (CD) 

  • Stablecoin payment platform Cedar Money raises a $9.9M seed round led by QED Investors (TC) 

  • Pell Network raises $6.5M to develop its omnichain Bitcoin restaking network (TD) 

  • Mechanism Capital and CitizenX co-lead $1.2M round for DeFi startup Canopy (CC)

  • Gate Ventures, the VC division of Gate.io partners with the Morph Venture Capital Collective (MS)

Regulation

  • Illinois is exploring a possible state strategic Bitcoin reserve (DC) 

  • MiCA regulations force Crypto.com to delist USDT and 9 other tokens (CMC)

  • WhiteBIT Group CEO says 2025 is focused on “synergy of innovation and regulation” (CB)

Cybersecurity

  • Nelk Boys ‘failed to deliver’ on NFT project promises, class suit claims (CT)

  • The crypto industry lost $73.9M in January due to hacks and exploits (TB) 

  • The UFC’s Instagram was hacked to promote a scam Solana meme coin (DC) 

  • Time Magazine has X account hacked to promote scam Solana token (UT)

Extra Reads

Chart of the Day

14 States have introduced a bill for a strategic bitcoin reserve 📈

Meme Dump

Pls send us crypto memes to be featured in the newsletter 🤝

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