Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Gensler deleted texts when he was the SEC Chair, TON Foundation launch an app allowing users to vote on who gets to board a Blue Origin rocket, Phantom launches money app 'Phantom Cash', SEC weighs plan to allow blockchain-based stock trading, Kentucky State Senator in hot water over Bitcoin business, and so much more

Happy Wednesday - Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

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• The crypto market edged lower giving back some of yesterday's gains as investors weighed macro headwinds

  • BTC is trading at $113,101, down roughly -0.7%, while ETH is at $4,120, declining about -1.1%

  • ETH and BTC ETFs surpass $1B in net inflows

  • Futures open interest jumped from $29B to $31B in a sign of bullish bias

  • Most activity is occurring in the altcoin sphere, with DEX Aster racking up $64B in daily trading volume

Market Predictions

• Bettors on Kalshi are predicting best AI next month?

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Headline Roundup
^{_{The major headlines driving crypto markets}}

• Former SEC Chair Gary Gensler's deleted texts under scrutiny from House Republicans (TB)

• US-based SERA and TON Foundation launch an app allowing users to vote on who gets to board a Blue Origin rocket (CT)

• Robinhood plans to expand its prediction markets product to international markets (CD)

• Tether increases its Bitcoin reserves by $1B (CD)

• OpenAI reveals Sora 2, a new social app (DC)

• Coinbase has issued more than $1B in Bitcoin-backed loans since January (CD)

• Billionaire Tim Draper predicts retailers will only accept Bitcoin payments one day (BM)

• Indonesian university to begin storing student course records on-chain (DC)

• Crypto sponsorships in sports exceeds $530M (CD)

• Visa pilots pre-funding for the use of stablecoins through Visa Direct (CD)

• BlackRock’s Canadian arm grants securities lending for iShares Bitcoin ETF (CS)

• New study shows AI outpaces humans in game testing (DC)

• SEC won’t take action against tokens tied to blockchain-based DePIN (CT)

• Ripple CTO David Schwartz announces departure by end of year (TB)

• Crypto exchange LBank surpasses 20M users (CD)

• U.S. bank Citizens initiates coverage of stablecoin issuer Circle Internet (CD)

• RWA company Republic to tokenize equity in Web3 company Animoca Brand (CT)

• Starknet begins letting users stake Bitcoin (DC)

• Base NFTs overtake rivals in sales count (CT)

• Arf, a Swiss liquidity provider, joins Circle Payments to offer on-demand credit for cross-border payments (CD)

Venture Capital

• Thumzup initiates a $2.5M loan to DogeHash (TB)

• KGeN announced the completion of another $13.5M funding round led by Jump Crypto (CR)

• True Labs, a Hong Kong-based AI-first decentralized exchange company, raised $10M in seed funding led by UAE-based investor Core Holding (FM)

M&A Announcements

• Crypto trading platform CoinRoutes acquires QIS Risk for $5M in cash and stock (CD)

Launches

• Phantom launches money app 'Phantom Cash' (BW)

• Chainlink launches a solution allowing banks to interact with tokenized investment funds (CD)

• Deutsche Börse and Circle explore deploying USDC and EURC in European markets (CD)

• Stripe unveils its stablecoin issuance platform Open Issuance (CD)

• Gate rolls out token launcher ‘Gate Fun’ on new Layer-2 network (CD)

• DeFi protocol Solstice Finance launches its USX stablecoin (TD)

• SG-FORGE debuts its euro and dollar stablecoins (CD)

• Nodepay launches crypto’s largest prediction intelligence platform (CD)

• IoTeX launches a decentralized and blockchain-powered AI (CT)

• Bitcoin DeFi project BOB enables BTC transfers across 11 blockchains (CD)

• Templar Protocol launches native Bitcoin lending (BM)

• Keel debuts on Solana to deploy $2.5B into DeFi and RWA (CD)

• Integral launches stablecoin based crypto prime broker (FM)

• dYdX launches Telegram perps trading (CD)

• OKX SG introduces OKX Pay, a stablecoin-powered payment service (CD)

Regulation

• SEC weighs plan to allow blockchain-based stock trading (CT)

• Wisconsin bill to exempt crypto businesses from money licenses (CT)

• Sen. Lummis says progress is underway on crypto tax rules in the Senate (TB)

• The SEC and CFTC pledge closer cooperation on crypto oversight (DC)

• Turkey moves to expand watchdog powers over crypto and bank accounts (DC)

• SEC’s Hester Peirce expresses openness to engage with tokenized asset issuers (CD)

• EU watchdog pushes for stablecoin ban (CT)

• Investment platform IG Group wins FCA approval for crypto license in the UK (CD)

Cybersecurity

• Ex-LA sheriff’s deputy pleads guilty to extortion scheme with ‘Crypto Godfather’ (DC)

• Kentucky State Senator sued over Bitcoin mining business (DC)

• DeFi Pendle discloses that an on-chain wallet has been drained and an exploiter is minting tokens (TB)

Extra Reads

• Being able to transmit value like information, as fast as a text message, has profound implications for society - Here’s how Bitcoin’s utility unlocks that

• eSports have exploded over the past decade, and crypto is starting to play a role, influencing how fans engage, and how player’s are compensated - Here’s how crypto is changing the landscape of eSports

Chart of the Day

Google searches for ‘altcoins’ are rising again

Meme Dump

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*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot advisers LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks including the risk of the loss of principal. Performance doesn’t include fees. See more here.