Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: GENIUS stablecoin act is moving onto the House, Ark continues to sell Circle stock, a South Korean crypto exec was acquitted for 9 figure fraud, Thailand incentivizes crypto investors with tax break, Bitcoin miners are being powered by natural gas, and so much more.

Happy Wednesday - the Senate is bullish and so are we. Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

• Bitcoin dropped sharply amid fears of a potential U.S. conflict with Iran - Trump suggested in a social media post that the U.S. might assassinate Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (see here)

  • Trump also suggested military action against Iran which could impact oil prices

• Crypto stocks are also taking a hit, with Coinbase $COIN, Strategy $MSTR and Circle $CRLC all down -2% to -3%, and bitcoin miners such as Bitdeer $BTDR, Riot Platforms $RIOT, CleanSpark $CLSK, HIVE $HIVE and Hut 8 $HUT losing -6% to -7%

• The tech-focused Nasdaq and S&P 500, which possesses a hefty technology component, were both down about -.7%

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

• The U.S. Senate passes the stablecoin GENIUS Act with bipartisan vote, next comes the House vote - full details on the landmark ruling here

• JPMorgan executive thinks the stablecoin market may already be overcrowded (DT)

• Eric Trump denies any ties to Tron and SRM Entertainment $SRM ( ▲ 34.63% ) Nasdaq deal (DT)

• A letter from Gemini implied the firm had ‘no choice but to settle’ in $5M settlement with CFTC (BW)

• Sam Altman says Meta offered OpenAI staff $100 million bonuses, as Mark Zuckerberg ramps up AI poaching efforts (CNBC)

• ARK Invest sells another $44M of Circle $CRCL ( ▲ 20.39% ) shares 24 hours after $52M dump (TB)

• Agriculture firm AgriFORCE powers 120 crypto miners with natural gas (CT)

• Spain’s second largest bank is telling wealthy clients to consider 7% Bitcoin allocation (BM)

• Digital asset funds see 9 consecutive weeks of growth with $1.9B inflow last week (DF)

• DDC Enterprise Limited $DDC ( ▲ 5.63% ) raises $528M from Animoca Brands, Anson Funds, and others for bitcoin acquisition (BM)

• Fold Holdings secures $250M equity facility for bitcoin purchases (BM)

• Singapore-based Davis Commodities Limited $DTCK ( ▼ 2.43% ) announces $30M bitcoin reserve and real world asset tokenization strategy (DF)

• Publicly listed Hong Kong firm MemeStrategy sees shares soar ~ 30% following initial SOL reserve purchase (CT)

• Liquid Collective and Galaxy partner for institutional liquid staking solutions after pro-staking SEC regulatory clarity (TB)

• ERC-404 minting frenzy lead to 3-month record 1M daily transactions for Avalanche (TB)

• Plasma $1B token deposit sparks backlash after doubling amount twice (DF)

• Gemini files complaint against CFTC, alleges 7-year 'lawfare' campaign (DC)

Venture Capital

• A16Z Crypto partner Ali Yahya announces the firm has invested $70M into EigenLayer tokens with a lockup (AY)

• Ubyx, a stablecoin clearing and settlement startup, raises $10M from VanEck, Galaxy, and others (CD)

• Pantera Capital and Multicoin Capital co-lead $10M seed round for decentralized AI startup Gradient Network (CN)

• Cross-border payments startup XFX closes $9.1M seed round led by Haun Ventures (AX)

• Web3 startup PublicAI raises $8M Series A from Saudi Telecom Group, MH Ventures, Blockchain Builders Fund, and others (TB)

Launches

• VanEck’s spot SOL ETF listed on site maintained by DTCC for active and pre-launch funds (TB)

• JPMorgan $JPM to test deposit tokens on Base chain with announcement of JPMD trademark (DF)

• EigenCloud launches alongside EigenLayer fundraise from A16Z (BW)

• Kraken’s Ethereum Layer-2 ‘Ink’ to launch a INK token (DT)

• With the TikTok deadline to sell its U.S. operations now just two days away, a new decentralized social media app 'Own' launched its beta to the public on Tuesday (TC)

Regulation

• A 5 year tax exemption on cryptocurrency profits has been approved in Thailand (BM)

• A new bill in Ukraine proposes acceptance of itcoin in national reserves (BM)

• Coinbase looks to offer blockchain-based stock trading for its users with SEC approval (DF)

Cybersecurity

• Haru Invest CEO acquitted by South Korean court for $650M crypto fraud (TB)

• Meta Pool avoids $27M through early detection of affected smart contract as hacker only takes $132k (CT)

• TRM Labs report states 99% of stablecoin activity in 2024 was licit (TB)

• Returned stolen crypto can be a taxable event - learn how

Extra Reads

• Circle's move to go public doesn't impact USDC's stability rating, according to S&P analyst - What Happens to USDC Reserves If Circle Goes Bankrupt?

• With pump.fun set to reportedly raise $1B via a token sale, it’s fair to assume the memecoin launchpad will at least be open to exploring acquisitions as a way of putting its fresh capital to work - 4 companies pump.fun could look at acquiring after its $1B raise

Chart of the Day

Spot Crypto ETFs see strong inflow to start June with ETH leading the way

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