Is Fidelity an ETH 🐂?

Fidelity applies for ETH-based derivatives, Coinbase negotiates Deribit acquisition, Germany halts stablecoin’s sale over MiCA rules.

Author

Adrian Zmudzinski
March 24, 2025

Hi! In today’s edition:

  • 🏦 Fidelity bids for new share class

  • 💳 Coinbase nears Deribit acquisition

  • ⚡ MegaETH revs up high-speed testnet 

  • 🇩🇪 German regulator bans USDe sales

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By Tikta

Fidelity to Launch Ethereum-Backed Shares for Treasury Fund

Fidelity Investments has filed a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission application to launch an Ethereum-based blockchain share class named “OnChain” for its treasury money market fund.

The new OnChain share class, which will launch on May 30, subject to regulatory approval, will be part of the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX), which invests mainly in cash and U.S. Treasury securities. 

It will record transactions on the Ethereum blockchain and serve as a secondary record, while Fidelity maintains traditional book-entry records as an official ownership ledger.

Fidelity, which manages $5.8 trillion of assets, joins major asset managers such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton in the growing market for tokenized real-world assets. 

The overall market for tokenized U.S. Treasuries is currently valued at around $4.78 billion, according to data from analytics platform RWA.xyz. 

Coinbase in Advanced Acquisition Talks for Deribit: Report

U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase is said to be in advanced negotiations to acquire Deribit, a Netherlands-based derivatives startup, according to a report by Bloomberg. 

Insiders said both companies had notified regulators in Dubai about deal discussions, but that it was not yet clear whether they had come to a final agreement. 

Derebit could be valued at $4 billion to $5 billion, Bloomberg reported earlier this year.

It is also the world's biggest options exchange for bitcoin and ether, processing nearly $1.2 trillion of trading volume across options, futures, and spot markets last year.

The news comes days after Kraken agreed to acquire retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion in the largest crypto-TradFi deal to date.

MegaETH Airdrops Testnet ETH to 190,000 Wallets in 15 Seconds

MegaETH, a layer 2 blockchain designed to enhance Ethereum's scalability, has launched its public testnet, claiming a throughput capacity of up to 20,000 transactions per second.

The team claimed to have airdropped testnet ETH to more than 190,000 wallets in just 15 seconds. 

MegaETH positions itself as the first “real-time blockchain” that’s fully compatible with Ethereum. In this context, "real-time" refers to MegaETH's ability to process transactions immediately upon arrival and publish the resulting updates without any delays.

“In this landscape, MegaETH has made design choices which allow it to achieve latencies of 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than existing chains like Solana, which are already very fast,” crypto research firm Delphi Digital said.

Earlier this month, the MegaETH team said it had no plans to tie an airdrop to usage of its public testnet, saying that the main goal was to battle test the environment while builders explore the technology.

“Nothing against points[,] just not our vibe,” the team said.

German Regulator Bans Ethena’s USDe Sales

Germany's finance system regulator has blocked the sale of Ethena GmbH's USDe stablecoin after identifying "serious deficiencies" in Ethena's compliance with the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations.

The alleged violations identified by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, better known as BaFin, include insufficient reserves, non-compliance with capital requirements, and the unauthorized sale of securities without a proper prospectus.

BaFin has ordered freezing of Ethena GmbH’s reserve assets and the closure of its website, but said that the measures were “not final.”

“Contrary to reports, no assets have been ‘frozen’ and all remain available for redemption,” Ethena Labs said in a statement posted on X. “We will be revising our terms accordingly in the coming week.”

Mantle is building the largest sustainable hub for on-chain finance. Launching three new core innovation pillars: Enhanced Index Fund, Mantle Banking and MantleX. 

  • 🌪️ The U.S. Treasury Department says its Tornado Cash sanctions lawsuit is effectively over, given that its Office of Foreign Assets Control has dropped the crypto mixer from its sanctions list, but Coinbase argues that the matter remains unresolved because the government hasn't guaranteed that it won't re-sanction the platform in the future. 

  • 🇬🇧 Lisa Gordon, chair of investment bank Cavendish, says the UK should tax crypto purchases instead of equities to encourage Britons, especially younger adults, to invest in local stocks and support economic growth.

  • 💰 U.S. authorities are working to return $7 million seized from an international cryptocurrency scam that saw investors duped into putting money into fake websites designed to look like legitimate sites.

  • 📈 U.S. President Donald Trump's memecoin, $TRUMP, surged 12% after Trump posted a supportive message on his social media network, Truth Social, making it the best-performing digital asset overnight on Monday and seeing it trade at $11.97 at 6:50 a.m. ET.

  • 💸 MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor hinted at another Bitcoin purchase on Sunday, pointing to a chart that showed bunched up BTC acquisitions around the turn of the year.

  • 🤑 Tokyo-based investment firm Metaplanet said on Monday that it had acquired an additional 150 BTC as part of its ongoing Bitcoin accumulation.

  • 💲 World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project backed by Donald Trump's family, acquired around $3 million worth of Mantle's MNT tokens on Sunday night following a major network upgrade designed to boost scalability and Ethereum compatibility.