Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Crypto acquisition hits a fever high pitch (our biggest section yet), Animoca jumps right back into web3 with a new acquisition, Bezos’ Blue Origin shifts to crypto payments, Turkey makes crypto arrests as the country tightens its grip on the industry, Stripe looking to launch a layer-1, and so much more

Happy Tuesday – Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

  • Bitcoin's overnight surge above $122,000 met with heavy selling, pushing prices below $119,000 later in the U.S. session

  • Ether held up above $4,200, while major altcoins SOL, DOGE, SUI declined 3%-4%

    • ETH transaction volume is once again on an upward trajectory, closing in its all time high of 1.9M transactions in a single day in January 2024

  • Bitfinex analysts suggest BTC's momentum will depend on upcoming U.S. CPI and PPI inflation data, with potential for increased volatility

Market Predictions

  • Bettors on Kalshi are predicting how high CPI will be in July 2025 (this is being announced alter today)

  • Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi

  • Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100

Headline Roundup
The major headlines driving crypto markets

  • Safety Shot, a healthy beverage company, is set to receive $25M worth of BONK, a Solana meme coin, from the founders (CS)

  • Terraform's Do Kwon set to plead guilty in $40B TerraUSD fraud (TD)

  • Senator Elizabeth Warren has warned that pending cryptocurrency legislation "supercharges President Trump's corruption." – see full statements here

  • Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin now accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana for Spaceflights (DC)

  • Strategy purchased 155 BTC worth $18M at an average Bitcoin price of $116,401 per coin, bringing its total holdings to 628,946 BTC (BM)

  • CME Ethereum futures volume hits record $118B in July (TB)

  • Cryptocurrency infrastructure firm Paxos has filed an application with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter (TD)

  • Aave poised to hit $100B in deposits, rivaling Deutsche Bank (CY)

  • Bitcoin’s weekend surge leaves CME Gap leaving traders worried (CD)

  • Thiel-backed crypto firm Bullish 'upsizes' IPO, eyes raising up to $990M (TB)

  • Michael Saylor's latest Bitcoin buy is Strategy's smallest in months (DC)

  • Orca DEX plans buybacks and token staking (BW)

  • Crypto Treasury firm begins deploying $500M war chest to buy BNB (DC)

  • Vitalik Buterin is a billionaire again as Ethereum flips Palantir (DC)

  • Coinbase Ventures Buys Toncoin Directly From Telegram, TON Foundation Says (TD)

  • Snail Inc. is selling its shares to fund its “digital asset initiative,” including a possible stablecoin (TD)

  • Ark Invest buys $19M worth of Block Inc. shares as stock hits three-week low (TB)

  • Supporters of late AI critic Suchir Balaji have turned to crypto to back his family’s legal fight using Solana-based meme coins (DC)

Former Zillow exec targets $1.3T

The top companies target big markets. Like Nvidia growing ~200% in 2024 on AI’s $214B tailwind. That’s why the same VCs behind Uber and Venmo also backed Pacaso. Created by a former Zillow exec, Pacaso’s co-ownership tech transforms a $1.3 trillion market. With $110M+ in gross profit to date, Pacaso just reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

Invest for $2.90/Share

Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.

Venture Capital

  • ALT5 Sigma raises $1.5B for WLFI Treasury, adds Eric Trump as board director (TD)

M&A Announcements

  • Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings is making its biggest AI play to date, signing a $168M deal to buy a 64% stake in Exaion (CT)

  • Safety Shot has acquired a 10% revenue stake in BONK.fun, adding $25M in BONK tokens to its treasury (CD)

  • Rumble said Monday that it has proposed a deal to gain control of Northern Data's cloud business, Taiga, and its large-scale data center arm, Ardent, in a $1.17B all-stock transaction (DC)

  • Animoca has invested in Cool Cats Group, gaining a majority stake in the NFT brand (BW)

  • Cango buys 50 MW BTC mining site in Georgia for $19.5M (TB)

  • LayerZero Foundation has put forward a $110M proposal to acquire the Stargate cross-chain bridge and all outstanding STG tokens (TD)

  • SUI treasury Mill City Ventures adds $20M more of the token at slight discount (TB)

Launches

  • Stripe is developing an in-house layer-1 blockchain dubbed “Tempo” in partnership with crypto venture capital firm Paradigm (TD)

  • Nostr Wallet connect is the USB-C connector of Bitcoin wallets (BM)

  • El Salvador launches Bitcoin investment banks under August 7th law with $50M capital (TD)

Regulation

  • Turkey arrests Ethereum developer as crypto regulations tighten (FX)

Cybersecurity

  • Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says YouTube ignored multiple takedown requests after his likeness was used in a Bitcoin scam that effected people’s life savings (DC)

  • $34M in crypto payments traced to 'Embargo' ransomware group (TB)

  • FTX users bolster lawsuit claiming law firm was ‘key’ to FTX fraud (CT)

Extra Reads

Chart of the Day

Remember when banks were scared of crypto?

Meme Dump

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

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