TikTok On-Chain

A crypto foundation and startup partner to submit an offer to acquire U.S. TikTok operations

In partnership with

Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Markets decline sharply following Trump’s tariff announcement, Fidelity gives users direct crypto access in new retirement accounts, a proposal to acquire TikTok was made by a crypto foundation and startup, Justin Sun makes questionable allegations against stablecoins, Ted Cruz wants Texas to be a crypto mining leader, and so much more.

Happy almost Friday - Feeling extra bullish now that Q2 is in swing 😅. Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

Data on 4.2.25 per CoinMarketCap

  • Yesterday afternoon President Trump announced a 10% baseline tariff on all imports, with much higher rates for certain countries - China faced 54%, the EU 20%, and Japan 24%.

  • Stock Market Reaction: U.S. stock futures plummeted—S&P 500 dropped over 3%, Nasdaq nearly 4.5%, and the Dow over 2%. Big global companies like Apple and Amazon saw sharp declines.

  • After the announcement Bitcoin fell around -4% to $82,000, with other major cryptocurrencies like Ether and XRP also dipping, as market uncertainty spread

    • Fears of a global trade war spiked, increasing volatility

    • Investors flocked to safe-haven assets like gold, which surged to record highs.

Headline Roundup
The major headlines driving crypto markets

  • Trump’s reciprocal global tariff announcement drops crypto and stock market - read full breakdown of the tariffs here

  • Zoop, founded by former OnlyFans founder, and HBAR Foundation partner for TikTok acquisition proposal (TB)

  • Fidelity adds direct crypto investing IRA option for users (TB)

  • Mastercard is working on a blockchain to provide a ‘Venmo-like’ experience to connect TradFi and crypto (CN)

  • Stablecoin FDUSD depegs after insolvency scare by Justin Sun (TD)

  • Texas Senator Ted Cruz introduces green bill to improve bitcoin mining (DT)

  • First Digital Trust says they will pursue legal action against Justin Sun for insolvency allegations (CD)

  • DTCC plans to build tokenized collateral platform to introduce TradFi giants to crypto (CD)

  • Social media platform X asks U.S. Supreme Court to block Coinbase data retrieval from IRS (TB

  • Chicago Mercantile Exchange hits $11.3B volume mark in Q1 (CD)

  • Sonic’s TVM skyrockets above $1B (TD)

  • BNB ETF may be the next product under VanEck (CD)

  • Ava Labs and Fireblocks near partnership with Japanese banking giant for stablecoin testing (CD)

  • California representative Maxine Waters suggests Trump wants to replace USD with his preferred stablecoin (CT)

  • Gunzilla Games added Bored Ape avatars to ‘Off the Grid’ game (DT)

  • Babylon Labs plans for launch of first ever Bitcoin-secured layer-1, Genesis (BW)

  • Breez announces Misty Breez wallet built on Liquid sidechain (BM)

  • Grayscale files S-3 registration statement for digital large cap fund ETF (TD)

  • Bitfarms receives access up to $300M from Macquarie for Pennsylvania facility build (CD)

Don't miss crypto's most influential event

Consensus is the world’s longest-running gathering of the global crypto, blockchain, and AI communities.

Curated by CoinDesk and celebrated as ‘The Super Bowl of Blockchain’, Consensus will host North America’s biggest industry-wide event in Toronto this May 14-16. This flagship festival will welcome 20,000 builders, investors, policymakers, and pioneers shaping the future of the decentralized digital economy.

Ready to invest in what’s next? Consensus is your best bet to unlock market-moving intel, make meaningful connections and get business done. You can’t afford to miss it.

M&A Announcements

  • Drip Labs gets acquired by decentralized exchange Jupiter (TD)

Launches

  • Ripple stablecoin RLUSD launches on Kraken and integrates with payment platform (TB)

  • Onchain sportsbook Overtime launches $OVER token and full account abstraction UX (DH)

  • Grayscale introduces two new Bitcoin related ETFs to minimize volatility (DT)

Venture Capital

  • The9 Limited $NCTY ( ▼ 3.26% ) announces it received $8M strategic backing from Elune Capital and Fine Vision Fund (T9)

  • Eido Labs raises $6.9M seed round from daos.fun and baoskee (CH)

  • Cambrian Network completes $5.9M fundraise led by A16Z CSX (CC)

  • Hana Network raises $1.75M via public sale at a $40M valuation (IA)

  • Morph and Foresight Ventures invest $1M into on-chain AI agent fund bAI Fund (CC)

  • Aptos Foundation makes strategic investment into Universal Health Token for proof-of-health protocol (CN)

  • 9 startups reach phase 4 of a16z crypto startup accelerator (FI)

Regulation

  • Kraken obtains new dealer registration in Canada in latest compliance milestone (CT)

  • Galaxy receives UK approval for derivatives offerings (CD)

  • Bill to regulate stablecoins advances from House Financial Services Committee vote (TB)

Cybersecurity

  • Usual partners with blockchain security firm Sherlock for largest crypto bounty ever (CN)

  • ZachXBT discovers Coinbase user scammed for $34M of BTC (TB)

  • Hacker behind $10M zkLend exploit loses over 50% due to improper send (TD)

  • British woman accidentally trashes bitcoin hard drive with $3.8M (TD)

  • Crypto holders lost $1.67B in Q1 (BT)

Extra Reads

  • The Blockchain Trilemma: Security, Scalability, and Decentralization

The latest Bitget onchain report shows 46% of people favor speed of crypto but are still torn over security concerns

  • Media production and content consumption continues to follow the drastic shift from Web 1.0 —> Web 2.0 —> Web 3.0

Chart of the Day

U.S. President Donald J. Trump addressed the world yesterday with information on reciprocal tariffs to 40+ countries. Here’s a breakdown of them all

How was today's newsletter

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Meme Dump

Pls send us crypto memes to be featured in the newsletter 🤝

🐦 Follow Us: Visit our X account for constant updates on all things web3, DeFi, and crypto.

💵 Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity’s brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what’s up? Buy his time here.

📧 Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend Beehiiv to get started.