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⌐◪-◪ → The total stablecoin market cap, excluding algorithmic stablecoins, just hit a new all-time high of over $168B — surpassing previous highs in 2022. For context, USDT is dominating this market:

• USDT = $118B → 70.2% of total

• USDC = $34.3B → 20.5% of total

Most of these stablecoins are circulating on Ethereum and TRON, a top 10 crypto by market cap.

While Tether and Circle are leading the pack, they’re not alone. PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin just surpassed a $1B market cap, primarily driven by growth on Solana.

Amid all the noise, stablecoins are proving to be one of crypto’s best use cases as not only a stable store of value but a bridge between the TradFi and DeFi worlds.

💬 Do you have a favorite stablecoin?

⌐◪-◪ → Coinbase’s L2 network, Base, just surpassed 1M daily active users — a massive accomplishment!

Shoutout to Jesse Pollack and the entire Base team for building such a strong community. While Coinbase’s support surely helped, I think the real secret to Base’s success is its positive, builder-first culture. It’s a contagious energy I haven’t felt since the early days of NounsDAO.

This milestone follows the success of their On-Chain Summer event and the launch of Basenames. Also, shoutout to @LitForNothing for securing base.valko.eth.

💬 The real question is, will Base ever launch a token?

⌐◪-◪ → France has formally charged Pavel Durov with 12 criminal counts, including “providing cryptology services aiming to ensure confidentiality” and six counts of “complicity” related to criminal activity on Telegram.

These charges were initially leaked via WikiLeaks and then officially confirmed by the Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris.

Elon Musk got involved (shocker right), demanding that Macron share more information on Pavel’s arrest following Macron’s vague tweet.

The simplest explanation here is that someone wants access to Telegram's encryption keys for surveillance and/or censorship, and Durov’s release might hinge on his compliance. However, there could be more to the story.

Meanwhile, Polymarket gives Pavel a 39% chance of being released in August — not bad considering there are only 5 days left.

💬 Do you think France’s arrest is legitimate, or overreach?

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