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⌐◪-◪ → Penguins are coming to Wall Street!

Canary Capital just filed an S-1 for the first-ever $PENGU and Pudgy Penguins NFT ETF — a groundbreaking moment as it would be the first U.S. ETF to hold NFTs if approved. This move comes just two weeks after Robinhood listed $PENGU on their app for trading, making it accessible to the masses.

The ETF won’t just hold $PENGU and Pudgy Penguins NFTs, but will also include other digital assets like SOL and ETH required for transactions and custody. Canary Capital is aiming to open the door to mainstream adoption of NFTs via the traditional finance route.

Honestly, I knew an NFT ETF was coming eventually, but seeing Pudgy Penguins lead the charge is pretty crazy. Shoutout to the team for making it happen — good luck on the approval. If this goes through, it could inspire other NFT collections to follow suit, but I can't help but feel a bit conflicted about the idea of Punks doing it — it’s probably good for bags, but definitely feels anti-punk.

NFTs on Wall Street — who would’ve thought?

⌐◪-◪ → POW! Proof-of-Work for the win.

The SEC just dropped a staff statement clarifying that Proof-of-Work (PoW) crypto mining, both solo and pooled, is outside its jurisdiction. Translation: no need for mining operators to register transactions with the SEC.

The reasoning here is that PoW doesn’t meet the definition of a security under the Howey Test, specifically because it’s “not undertaken with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of others.”

This is a huge win for the mining community — and the broader crypto space — as it ends fears of enforcement action, which has been the SEC’s MO under Gary Gensler.

This statement comes shortly after the SEC published a similar statement suggesting that most memecoins do not constitute securities.

Zooming out, this feels like part of a larger effort to provide much-needed regulatory clarity around crypto assets, something we’ve been fighting over for years. If the SEC is taking the stance that PoW isn’t their problem, it’s a promising sign for how other projects might be handled moving forward.

The future of crypto in America has never looked brighter!

⌐◪-◪ → PumpFun just dropped its own DEX!

PumpFun just launched its native decentralized exchange called PumpSwap — and it’s primed to become the go-to DEX for memecoin trading. With its focus on user experience, instant migrations, thicker liquidity, and no migration fees, it’s a significant upgrade from past setups, where switching protocols could cost as much as 6 SOL ($750).

The platform charges a 0.25% fee, which is slightly lower than Uniswap V2’s 0.3% fee and on par with Raydium’s 0.25% fee. PumpSwap will host all coins that complete PumpFun bonding curves, allowing instant migration and integration with key partners like Ethena’s USDe, Coinbase’s cbBTC, and TRON.

The most intriguing part is a revenue-sharing mechanism for creators that could really shake up the space. While PumpFun makes moves with its DEX, Raydium isn’t sitting still. They just introduced their own memecoin launchpad, putting them in direct competition with PumpFun on both the launchpad and DEX fronts.

Let the Pump vs. Raydium wars begin!

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