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Bits + Bips: Fed Moves, Election Plays & DeFi Token Valuations

The crew also discusses how to invest in memecoins, the “Tron Summer,” and when we’re likely to see bitcoin options ETFs.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts James Seyffart, Alex Kruger, and Joe McCann welcome venture capitalist Rennick Palley to explore the implications of Fed chair Jerome Powell’s recent shift from focusing on inflation to employment, analyzing how it might influence crypto and global markets.

Palley also shares some incisive analysis for why he thinks blue-chip DeFi projects might be overvalued, and both McCann and Palley highlight why they are still bullish on memecoins.

Finally, the gang discusses the growing political influence of the crypto industry, the potential impact of Kamala Harris presidential run on future regulations, and whether Justin Sun is using Tron as his “personal piggy bank.”

Plus, what’s the latest with bitcoin ETF option applications, and what Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s arrest means.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

What’s Poppin’?

by Sage Young

Why Binance, Bybit and Bitget Want a Piece of the Solana Staking Market

Rolling out liquid staking tokens boosts the business model of these exchanges in two ways.

Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍️

• 🇺🇸 The U.S. House Financial Services Committee is set to hold a series of crypto-focused hearings in September, addressing topics such as DeFi, SEC oversight, and scams such as "pig butchering."

• 🔑 Threshold Network contributor, and NuCypher’s co-founder, MacLane Wilkison proposed the project acquire BitGo's Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) to address centralization concerns, offering $36.4 million in T tokens to transition WBTC to a decentralized custody model.

• 🐶 A Manhattan judge dismissed a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk and Tesla of manipulating Dogecoin's price through social media posts and public appearances, ruling that Musk's statements were "aspirational and puffery" rather than factual claims that could mislead investors.

• 🚨 Orderly Network's Discord channel was compromised just days after launching its ORDER token, with the team warning users to avoid clicking any links until the issue is resolved.

• 🌍 El Salvador's President Bukele acknowledged that while Bitcoin hasn't achieved widespread adoption in the country, it has positively impacted the nation's branding, investment, and tourism sectors.

• 🐷 Chainalysis reported that "pig butchering" scams continue to be a significant threat in the crypto world, with scammers using elaborate schemes to deceive victims and steal their funds.

• 💻 The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) warns that banks using permissionless blockchains face various risks, including issues related to governance, security, and compliance, as highlighted in a new report.

• 🚀 Aerodrome, a decentralized exchange on Coinbase's Base network, topped 2024 DEX revenue rankings, generating nearly $119 million year-to-date, more than double Uniswap's revenue.

The $$$ Corner…

• 💵 Web3 payment firm Bridge, founded by former Coinbase and Square employees, raised $58 million to build a stablecoin-powered money movement platform with services such as cross-border payments.

• 💸 Edge Matrix Chain (EMC) gathered $20 million in a funding round, led by Polygon Ventures and Amber Group, to launch its AI-focused layer 1 blockchain.

• 💰 Layer 1 project Quai Network garnered $5 million in a strategic funding round to enhance its development efforts, bringing its total funding to $15 million.

• 🏦 Peregrine Exploration secured $3.6 million in funding, co-led by Polychain Capital and Dragonfly, to develop Level, a stablecoin protocol backed by restaked dollar tokens.

• ⏳ Crypto startup Time.fun closed $3 million in a seed round, led by Brevan Howard Digital, to further develop its time tokenization platform built on the Base blockchain.

What Do You Meme?

📈 Your Market Update 📉

• BTC is down 0.6%, trading at $59,571

• ETH is down 1.6%, trading at $2,516

• BTC dominance: 53.9%

• Crypto market cap: $2.18T

*All data as of today, 07:31 am ET. Source: CoinGecko

Recommended Reads

1. The Defiant: Lido is Still Unprofitable Despite Being the Largest DeFi Protocol

2. 5 Lessons for Bootstrapping Protocol Communities by Paradigm’s Nick Maritsch

3. DL News: Franklin Templeton sees ‘vanilla’ tokenisation funds matching $171bn stablecoin boom

We Are Hiring!

1. A Bitcoin Reporter to cover all things Bitcoin. See the details and apply here. 

2. A Regulatory Reporter to cover regulatory topics in the space. See the details and apply here.

3. A Senior Editor to help assign and edit daily news stories, as well as work on features and other editorial projects as needed. See the details and apply here.

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