Good Morning,

Here's a quick preview of today’s content: Kraken closes another huge round, Hyperliquid-based Hyperdrive losses $782k worth of tokens,South Korean actor sentenced for embezzling $3M from her agency, The US Government might be heading to a shutdown, stablecoin supply has hit an new all time high, a full breakdown of the DEX everyone is talkin about (Aster), and so much more

Happy Monday - Let’s dive in.

Market Snapshot

Click here to learn more about the Gannon’s portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

• Traders are also weighing the risk of a potential U.S. government shutdown

• After a sharp midweek selloff, the crypto market entered the weekend in a fragile mode, with total mcap slipping another -4% to $3.9T

  • BTC and ETH have fallen over the past week, though ETH rebounded slightly on Saturday to above $4,000

  • Ethereum ETFs saw $800M worth of outflows last week, as spot Bitcoin ETFs lost over $900M

  • Over $1.5B in crypto liquidations hit this weekend, mostly long positions

Market Predictions

• Bettors on Kalshi are predicting who will headline the Pro Football Championship halftime show?

• Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi

• Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100

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

• Vanguard explores offering its brokerage clients access to crypto ETFs (TB)

• International bank HSBC announces the first successful test of quantum computing in a trading application (CT)

• AI protester on 24 days of hunger strike outside Anthropic’s San Francisco offices (DC)

• Onramp, a Bitcoin-only financial services company, launches an asset management offering (BM)

• The UK government unveils a mandatory Digital ID scheme (DC)

• Singapore and the UAE rank as the world’s most crypto-obsessed countries (CT)

• Elon Musk’s xAI sues OpenAI over alleged trade secret theft (DC)

• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticizes the EU’s Chat Control law (CT)

• BlackRock’s fund increases its holdings in spot Bitcoin ETFs by 38.4% (CS)

• Corporate clients account for 10-15% of AUC on Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil's largest crypto exchange (CD)

• Bitwise files for a Hyperliquid ETF (TB)

• Trump-backed WLFI burns $1.43M in tokens after a $1.06M buyback (CT)

• Caltech physicists create the largest neutral-atom quantum computer to date (DC)

• DEX Aster refunds users who lost funds due to “abnormal price movements” (DC)

• BlackRock files to register a Delaware trust company for its Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (CT)

• Crypto project POIDH offers 10M DEGEN tokens to beat a specific Guinness World Record (DC)

• Bitfinex-backed stablechain Plasma surpasses $2.7B in deposits in less than 24 hours (TD)

• Swift, the global payments network, experiments with on-chain migration using Ethereum Layer 2 (TB)

• CoinStats partners with Hexens to detect token smart contract threats for traders (CD)

Venture Capital

• Kraken closes a $500M raise at a $15B valuation (TB)

• Tether seeks to raise $15-20B for a 3% stake, backed by Ark Invest and Softbank (DC)

• TeraWulf, a Bitcoin mining firm, seeks to raise $3B in a deal supported by Google (TB)

• Bitcoin miner Cipher Mining upsizes its private offering of convertible senior notes to $1.1B (TB)

M&A Announcements

• AlphaTON Capital completes its first $30M Toncoin acquisition (TB)

• Strive Asset Management acquires Semler Scientific in an all-stock deal (CD)

Launches

• The People’s Bank of China inaugurates a digital yuan operation centre (CD)

• Curve Finance Founder Michael Egorov launches Bitcoin yield protocol 'designed to eliminate impermanent loss' (CD)

• OpenAI launches ChatGPT Pulse (CT)

• Zeus Network launches BitcoinKit, a set of dev tools to make Bitcoin usable inside Solana’s defi ecosystem (BW)

• Jito launches its Block Assembly Marketplace on the Solana mainnet (BW)

• Major UK banks start a live pilot for tokenized sterling deposits (TB)

• Dexari, a mobile trading platform, unveils a $1M cash prize trading competition (CD)

• Global crypto exchange LBank launches its $100M Bonus Pro campaign (CD)

Regulation

• The SEC and FINRA probe trading patterns that occurred before crypto treasury companies announced plans to purchase crypto (TB)

• Hong Kong’s stablecoin regulatory framework limits their use for derivatives trading on blockchain networks (CT)

• SEC Chair Atkins addresses conflicts of interests and says the agency will 'enforce laws where indicated' (TB)

Cybersecurity

• Hyperliquid-based Hyperdrive losses $782k worth of tokens following a smart contract exploit (TB)

• Tennessee couple defrauds investors out of $6.5M with "Blessings of God Thru Crypto" commodity pool (DC)

• South Korean actor sentenced for embezzling $3M from her agency to invest in crypto (DC)

• KuCoin appeals $14M penalty from Canadian regulator over AML violations (TB)

• $3.6M drained from Hyperliquid DeFi platform Hypervault in an ‘abnormal withdrawal’ (DC)

• A network of crypto wallets linked to Russian entities helps move more than $8B to bypass Western sanctions (CS)

Extra Reads

• DEX Aster has caught traders’ attention thanks to its eye-watering 1,001x leverage options, support from Binance co-founder, and a soaring token - A full breakdown of what Aster is, the DEX that’s taking on Hyperliquid
  

• Crypto treasury firms that stockpile tokens could evolve into long-run economic engines for blockchains - Here’s how crypto treasury firms could become long-term giants like Berkshire Hathaway
  

• Cybersecurity experts say AI threat detection and enhanced wallet management may save crypto firms from North Korean infiltrators - Why crypto needs dual wallet management and AI monitoring
  

Chart of the Day

Total Stablecoin Supply hits a new all time high of $293B

Meme Dump

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

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

💰 Gannon’s Crypto Portfolio: Trade alongside Gannon’s crypto on Autopilot

💵 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.

*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.