9/26/24: Welcome To The Herd, Kamala 🐘💸🪨

Top News

  1. Kamala Harris vows to keep the US “dominant in blockchain”

  2. PayPal now lets U.S. businesses buy, hold, and sell crypto

  3. Ethena to launch stablecoin backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL fund

Specs’ Insights

1. Kamala Harris vows to keep the US “dominant in blockchain”

⌐◪-◪ → Kamala wants the US to “remain dominant” in blockchain technology. While this wasn’t her first public statement supporting crypto, it was certainly her loudest.

Some popular takes on Twitter you won’t want to miss:

  • @TrustlessState: this is the pivot. she’s now technically pro-crypto

  • @Twobitidiot: calls @TrustlessState pathetic, has brain maggots

  • @RyanSAdams: suggests things Kamala can do to stay dominant

  • @AdamCochran: calls out double standard from the right

  • @Art_Pleb: he doesn't believe her as long as Gary holds office

In my opinion, this is progress. It’s certainly better than the alternative, vilifying crypto or straight-up ignoring it (like the Democratic party platform).

It’s amazing how crypto went from being the laughingstock of Wall Street and Politics to being the belle of the ball. Now both the Dems and Reps want us.

It’s nice to feel wanted.

2. PayPal now lets U.S. businesses buy, hold, and sell crypto

⌐◪-◪ → PayPal is doubling down on crypto. They just enabled a feature that lets 30M businesses buy, hold, and sell Bitcoin directly from their accounts.

The company isn’t new to crypto, PayPal and Venmo have let retail users trade crypto for years, but this is the first time they are enabling the same for businesses.

If this wasn’t bullish enough, listen to this…

The new feature lets US businesses transfer their funds to external wallets, a massive unlock! Now, my business isn’t limited to the confines of centralized exchanges like Coinbase, the entire digital frontier is at my fingertips. Time to use revenue to buy more CryptoPunks.

The only bad news is the service will be unavailable to businesses in New York State, with no estimate on when that might change. No surprise here.

3. Ethena to launch stablecoin backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL fund

⌐◪-◪ → DeFi and TradFi just got a lot closer. Ethena, the company known for its synthetic dollar with native yield, just announced a new stablecoin — UStb.

What’s unique about UStb is that it will be fully backed by BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity fund, also known as BUIDL.

So, while the token will function like other stablecoins, it will be backed by the largest tokenized US Treasuries fund, holding over $522M in assets — a strong alternative foundation for the new stablecoin versus other synthetic or fiat-backed options.

Note: This new stablecoin will exist wholly independent product from their existing stablecoin USDe, which is currently the 5th largest stablecoin with a market cap of $2.5B. For context, USDe is 3.6x larger than PayPal’s PYUSD and 21.8x smaller than Tether’s USDT.

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

  • Arthur Hayes family offices gives out another Bitcoin developer grant

  • Curve Finance mulls removing TrueUSD as collateral for Curve USD

  • Former Mt. Gox CEO returns to crypto with launch of EllipX

  • Truflation, Coinbase-backed startup, hacked for $5M says ZachXBT

  • LayerZero activity surges 433% following second airdrop announcement

  • Ethereum demand concentrated in a few speculative areas, says CoinShares

  • Retail accumulation and exchange outflows mark optimism for Bitcoin

  • Telegram wallet app temporarily blocked in the UK and US

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

  • US Bitcoin ETFs see 5th straight day of inflows, $105M yesterday

  • Stablecoins will drive institutional adoption in Asia, says Chainalysis

  • Visa building platform to help banks issue fiat-backed tokens on Ethereum

  • Huddle01 prepares $8M node sale for decentralized video conferencing

  • AminoChain raises $7M for decentralized biobank DeSci startup

  • Initia raises $14M Series A at $350M token valuation

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

  • Eric Adams, crypto-friendly NY Mayor, indicted in corruption probe

  • NYDFS superintendent is eager for Federal crypto legislation

  • Utah Judge rules SEC’s case against crypto mining scam can proceed to trial

  • Congress agrees on resolution to urge Nigeria to free Binance exec

🌎 Rest Of The World

  • Swiss firm Taurus partners with Aktionariat on tokenization

  • South Korea fines Worldcoin for data privacy violations

  • Singapore court grants WazirX four-month conditional moratorium

  • Binance helps Indian government track $47M crypto stolen in gaming scam

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

  • Moo Deng memecoin surpasses $100M and 12,400 unique wallets

  • Meta unveils Orion AR glasses in the company’s first “iPhone” moment

  • Hamster Kombat teases token buyback, NFTs and launch of webapp

  • Fantasy Top has a strong September, averaging $60k weekly inflows

  • Valko, the most handsome collector in web3, launches Valko.art

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