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⌐◪-◪ → Tornado Cash is back from the dead!

Tornado Cash just scored a major win as the U.S. Treasury Department officially removed it from the sanction list, sending TORN tokens soaring 35%. The protocol was originally targeted by OFAC back in August 2022, accused of laundering over $7 billion worth of crypto, with half a billion allegedly linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

This comes after a U.S. court overturned the sanctions last month, pushing TORN from $3.5 to $20 in a massive 470% rally. Today, it's up another 36% to $11.56 with a $45M market cap.

While Tornado Cash just got a green light, the battle isn't over. Treasury filed a late Friday pleading to claim they can still revisit the decision, despite removing TC from the list. So while privacy advocates are celebrating, it's clear that power never recedes voluntarily. As Balaji said, “Privacy wins. Tornado Cash is legal. Now Roman Storm and Alexey Pertsev should be immediately freed and reimbursed by the state.”

So, are we witnessing a real victory for privacy or just a temporary retreat from the powers that be? Stay vigilant, because they’re not giving up that easily.

One thing is for sure, privacy is a fundamental human right.

⌐◪-◪ → Fidelity is making moves on Ethereum

Fidelity Investments just filed for regulatory approval to launch the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX), a blockchain-based share class on Ethereum. This marks a big step towards tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs) and could add more legitimacy to Ethereum as the default platform for traditional finance (TradFi) on-chain.

The fund will be 99.5% backed by U.S. Treasuries and cash, using Ethereum for on-chain recordkeeping. While it doesn’t involve tokenized treasuries or a secondary market (yet), it does require a blockchain wallet to participate. The launch is expected on May 30, 2025, assuming it gets the regulatory green light.

Fidelity is not alone in this race. BlackRock and Franklin Templeton are also making strides in the RWA tokenization game. Robbie Mitchnick, head of crypto at BlackRock, called Ethereum the “natural default answer” for TradFi firms, emphasizing its credibility, security, and decentralization.

The move marks a new chapter for TradFi on Ethereum, and it’s safe to say the race for on-chain finance just got a major boost. As more institutions leverage blockchain for real-world assets, it only strengthens Ethereum’s positioning as the go-to financial layer of the internet.

⌐◪-◪ → Did BNB just flip ETH?

BNB Chain just pulled off something unthinkable — outpacing Ethereum in weekly DEX volume! According to DeFiLlama, BNB Chain clocked in $14.3B in trading volume over 7 days, compared to Ethereum’s $9.6B. This marks a 48% surge in activity while ETH, Solana, Base, and Arbitrum all saw declines.

The secret sauce? PancakeSwap. The platform accounted for a staggering 32% of total DEX volume and 94% of BNB Chain’s activity. Combine that with BNB Chain’s Total Value Locked (TVL) of $5.4B (+5.6%) and record $2.61B 24H DEX volume, and it’s clear that momentum is shifting.

Upcoming upgrades like Lorentz (April) and Maxwell (June) will cut block times to as low as 0.75 seconds, making BNB Chain one of the fastest networks in crypto. While Ethereum is still the king of DeFi, it’s clear BNB Chain is making serious moves to challenge that dominance.

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