Circle Eyes Sale to Coinbase or Ripple Amid IPO Plans

Hi! In today’s edition:

• 🤑 Circle: Coinbase or Ripple?

• 🔐 Coinbase ransom hack in spotlight

• ✂️ Jack Dorsey: Ditch sats for bits

• 🛠️ Solana’s revved-up revamp

• 📜 U.S. stablecoin rules inch closer

Circle Considers Potential Sale to Coinbase or Ripple: Report

USDC issuer Circle is reportedly in early-stage discussions on a potential sale to either Coinbase or Ripple, while also preparing for an initial public offering targeting a $5 billion valuation.

News of the sale was first reported by Fortune, which cited sources saying that the nature of the discussions was still informal and exploratory, with no official offers, although both companies have been approached since Circle filed its IPO paperwork last month.

The insiders suggested that Coinbase would be more likely to be the acquirer due to its deep integration with Circle and USDC, including a revenue-sharing agreement and contractual rights that give it significant influence over Circle’s partnerships and intellectual property in the event of any insolvency.

Coinbase’s platform dominance and the revenue-sharing structure allow it to sometimes earn more from USDC interest than Circle itself. 

In Circle’s S-1 filing, the stablecoin firm revealed that it had paid distribution partners $1.1 billion last year, with Coinbase being the primary beneficiary. 

Coinbase Cyberattack Under DOJ Investigation: Report

The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation of the cyberattack targeting crypto exchange Coinbase earlier this month. 

The probe is focused on the perpetrators of the breach rather than Coinbase itself. 

Coinbase received an email on May 11 from an unidentified threat actor claiming to possess sensitive customer information and internal documents, and demanding a $20 million ransom to keep the data private. 

The crypto exchange refused to pay the ransom and instead offered a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attackers

Coinbase estimates that the financial impact of the breach will be between $180 million and $400 million, covering remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements

Jack Dorsey Backs Plan to Rebrand Sats to ‘Bits’

Twitter and Block Inc. founder Jack Dorsey has publicly voiced his support for a proposal to rename Bitcoin's smallest unit from "satoshis” or “sats” to "bits" or simply "bitcoin" as the base unit.

The proposal, known as BIP 177, was introduced by Synonym CEO John Carvalho, and would redefine one satoshi as one "bitcoin" (or "bit"), so what is currently 1 BTC (100,000,000 sats) would become 100,000,000 bitcoins (bits).

Dorsey, a prominent bitcoin advocate, argued that the term "sats" was confusing for new users and created a psychological barrier to Bitcoin adoption.

His support is part of a broader debate in the Bitcoin community, with some prominent figures agreeing that the change could help mainstream adoption, while others warn it may cause confusion or technical errors, especially without coordinated adoption.

“I think renaming the base unit is just plain stupid and totally pointless,” said one Bitcointalk forum participant. “Is there some problem or issue that it would solve? No.” 

Implementing BIP 177 would require coordinated changes involving wallets, exchanges, merchants, and data providers. 

Bitcoin's decentralized governance means that major changes require broad agreement among miners, developers, node operators, and users ― an especially challenging task for a non-critical change.

Anza Proposes Solana Protocol Overhaul

Solana Labs offshoot Anza has unveiled a proposal for a new consensus protocol that it describes as the “biggest change to Solana’s core protocol” since the network was set up. 

The proposed protocol, named Alpenglow, aims to overhaul Solana’s foundational consensus mechanisms, replacing both TowerBFT and the proof-of-history system, with the goal of making Solana’s blockchain performance rival that of mainstream internet infrastructure.

Alpenglow is a next-generation proof-of-stake consensus protocol designed to dramatically reduce network latency and improve finality times. It consists of two main components ― votor and rotor.

Votor handles voting transactions and block finalization logic, while rotor is a new data dissemination protocol that replaces Solana’s proof-of-history timestamping.

“My TL;DR from Anza's Alpenglow reveal: speed is everything, centralized infra is still faster than blockchain, Solana devs see a faster way forward,” said Bitwise research analyst Danny Nelson. “This overhaul will make Solana ‘viable for entirely new categories of applications that demand real-time performance.’”

Stablecoin Bill Passes Key Hurdle: Dems Join GOP To Deliver a Crypto Win

After failing in a 48-49 procedural vote earlier this month, the GENIUS Act — a U.S. bill that would establish federal oversight of payment stablecoins — made the most of its second chance this evening.

By a vote of 66-32, with 16 Democrats flipping their votes, the long-awaited stablecoin legislation achieved cloture and is now primed for a full floor vote in the Senate. 

Passage is a virtual certainty, as only a simple majority is now required rather than the high bar of the 60 senators necessary for cloture.

With the successful achievement of cloture, the Senate erases a disappointing memory from May 8, when it unexpectedly failed to move the bill to a full floor vote.

But with debate and amendments still to come, what final form will this most consequential stablecoin law actually take?

• ⚖️ Strategy, its executive chair, Michael Saylor, and other senior suits are being sued by investors alleging that the company misrepresented profitability and risk metrics during its bitcoin accumulation process, citing misleading fair-value accounting practices under new FASB rules.

• 💬 In a sharp reversal, longtime Bitcoin critic Jamie Dimon confirmed at JP Morgan’s investor day that the bank will now allow clients to buy (but not custody) BTC, marking a significant concession to customer demand despite his public skepticism.

• 🕰️ The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday extended its review period for proposed Solana ETFs from 21Shares, Bitwise, VanEck, and Canary Capital, citing unresolved legal and policy questions amid a surge in filings following signs of crypto-friendly reforms under the Trump administration.

• 💣 Defunct crypto intermediary Genesis is suing parent company DCG and CEO Barry Silbert for more than $3.1 billion, alleging that they masked financial distress through self-dealing, a misleading $1.1 billion promissory note, and crypto asset transfers during Genesis’s 2022 collapse.

• 🇰🇷 South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has captured roughly 25% of the country’s crypto trading volume, up from a single-digit share just two years ago, after aggressive marketing helped it claw back share from Upbit ahead of its planned IPO by year-end.

• 📊 Bybit on Monday enabled USDT-based contract for difference trading for 78 global stocks, including Coinbase and the so-called “Magnificent 7,” as part of a broader push to merge crypto infrastructure with traditional financial markets through its Gold & FX platform.

• 📈 Shares of DigiAsia soared 91% after the firm revealed plans to raise $100 million and potentially commit half of future profits to bitcoin reserves, although after-hours trading saw a 22% pullback amid uncertainty over execution.

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