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Here's a quick preview of today’s content: DOJ sets its sights on the Tornado cash founder, UK regulators get nosey about crypto customer transactions, a well known venture capitalist gets caught in the Coinbase data breach fiasco, crypto influencer and builder Cobie joins a major crypto investment firm, and more

Oh by the way we started a crypto meme instagram that’s definitely worth the follow

Happy Monday – let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

  • Major cryptocurrencies, including ether, XRP, and dogecoin, fell about -3% after Moody's downgraded the U.S. credit rating

    • Moody's cut the U.S. sovereign credit rating to Aa1 from Aaa, citing rising deficits and interest expenses

      • The firm now joins Fitch and S&P in assigning a rating below the once-unblemished triple-A status long held by the world’s largest economy

  • The U.S. Treasury yields rose and S&P 500 futures dipped following the downgrade, impacting both traditional and crypto markets.

Headline Roundup
The major headlines driving crypto markets

  • Moody’s rating agency strips the U.S. of ‘AAA’ rating over debt repayment and interest rate ratio concerns – read the full impact of the downgrade here

  • The DOJ decides to movie forward with case against Tornado Cash founder Roman Storm (BW)

  • Sequoia Capital partner Roelof Botha was part of the 1% affected by Coinbase data breach (CT)

  • Undercover NYPD arrest NFT influencer and artist Isaac ‘DrifterShoots’ Wright  at his own art exhibition – watch it unfold here

  • JP Morgan analysts believe bitcoin investments could outpace gold in the coming years with corporate adoption (DT)

  • A judge denied a $50M Ripple x SEC settlement due to improper filing and jurisdictional issues (CD)

  • Argentinean President Javier Milei fails to attend mediation hearing as judge orders to unseal bank records (TB)

  • Nick Almond steps in as Head of Governance for the Jito Foundation (BW)

  • Ethereum stablecoin volume hits new record of $908B (BL)

  • Crypto industry to benefit directly from Saudi Arabia’s $600B pledged investment into U.S. emerging technologies (NJ)

  • Warren Buffet profits $250M exiting position in crypto-friendly Nubank (CT)

  • The state of Wisconsin sells $350M spot bitcoin ETF holdings following market downturn in 2024 (CD)

  • A public healthcare company is negotiating a shareholder vote to acquire $1B of bitcoin for ‘Asia growth strategy’ (DT)

  • Brazil fintech firm Meliuz buys 247 BTC with plans for bitcoin treasury (TB)

  • Coinsilium Group advised by CoinDesk analyst to establish Bitcoin Treasury strategy (CD)

  • Craft spirits company Heritage Distilling $CASK ( ▼ 17.97% ) to accept bitcoin payments and establish treasury (BM)

  • KULR Technology mining group sees $18.8M net loss due to market adjustments from $2.5M Q1 revenue (TB)

  • Hong Kong based Top Win International partners with Sora Ventures for rebrand to AsiaStrategy to focus on digital assets (DF)

  • Steak ‘N Shake U.S. burger chain now accepts bitcoin payments through the Lightning Network (BM)

  • GlobalStake and BitGo establish partnership for secure, scalable, sustainable institutional crypto offerings (BW)

  • EOS token surges 11% as Trump-tied WLF invests $3M (DF)

  • Nyan Heroes shuts down operations as fundraising issues stall Solana gaming company (DT)

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M&A Announcements

  • Solana developer DexterLab acquired by web3 learning platform Alchemy to meet surging enterprise demand (CD)

Venture Capital

  • On-chain trading platform TrendX raises $11.2M including new investors Animoca Brands and Cream Labs (TX)

  • Giza announces $5.2M seed round from Base Ecosystem Fund, CoinFund, and more institutional investors (GZ)

  • Vinanz secures $4M institutional investment to boost BTC holdings ahead of Nasdaq listing (CCN)

  • Taker Protocol gets strategic backing from 071 Labs to create a diversified bitcoin community (TP)

  • Echo founder and popular crypto trader Jordan Fisher (also known as 'Cobie' online) joins investment firm Paradigm as advisor (TB)

Launches

  • World Financial Liberty stablecoin USD1 now available across multiple blockchains via Chainlink integration (CD)

  • Tron-issued USDT surpasses Ethereum with latest $2B mint (DF)

Regulation

  • Every customer transaction on a UK crypto firms platform must be reported to the government starting in 2026 (CT)

  • Binance is supporting Ukraine to adopt bitcoin for it’s national reserves (CS)

  • Multiple kidnappings lead to French Minister implementing new security measures to protect crypto professionals (CD)

  • Every customer transaction on crypto firms’ platforms must be reported to UK government starting in 2026 (CT)

Cybersecurity

  • An artist that built a $2M crypto nest egg loses entire portfolio to Coinbase hack (BBG)

  • 12 individuals arrested by Hong Kong police in suspected $15M cross-border laundering scheme (TB)

  • Man that hacked the SEC X account to post false Bitcoin ETF announcement sentenced to 14 months (CD)

  • DOJ indicts 12 over $263M sophisticated crypto laundering scheme (BL)

  • Three undocumented Chinese immigrants deported from Paraguay after failed attempt to steal crypto mining machines (CT)

  • Barclays analysts say Coinbase $COIN ( ▲ 9.01% ) -7.2% stock dip was a ‘overreaction’ to the recent data hack situation (YF)

Extra Reads

Chart of the Day

The odds of a US recession have significantly dropped in 2025 on prediction markets

Meme Dump

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