Lost in Space 🌌

Hey!

In today’s edition:

• ⚠️ Solana’s Jupiter DEX scammed

• 🏆 MicroStrategy rebrands

• 🌍 BlackRock plans Europe BTC fund

• 📈 Memecoins and DeFi push Solana to new highs

Share your vision with Stellar’s Build Better initiative. Help shape blockchain’s future and enter to win from a $30,000 prize pool.

Solana DEX Jupiter’s Hacked X Account Shills Fake Token

Solana-based decentralized exchange Jupiter was compromised on Wednesday, with users reportedly losing millions of dollars after trading a fraudulent token promoted by hackers.

The hackers encouraged users to trade a scam memecoin named MEOW, then rugged the token when it reached a market cap of $30 million.

“It’s amazing how we trust these protocols with billions of dollars in liquidity but they’re not competent enough to protect their social media,” Beanie, the pseudonymous founder of venture firm GM Capital, wrote on X. “Quite the paradox we see too often here,”. 

Jupiter regained control of its X account on Thursday at around 1 a.m. ET.

MicroStrategy Rebrands to ‘Strategy’ With Bitcoin Logo 

Just when you thought MicroStrategy couldn’t possibly align itself more with Bitcoin, the Michael Saylor-led firm will prove you wrong — MicroStrategy officially rebranded as Strategy on Wednesday, reflecting its position as the largest Bitcoin treasury company.

The firm, founded in 1989 with its roots in software, unveiled a new logo featuring a stylized "B," symbolizing its association with Bitcoin, and adopted orange as its primary brand color.

The rebrand comes shortly after Strategy announced plans to raise $563 million for additional BTC purchases.

The firm also reported an impairment loss on its digital assets of $1.006 billion in Q4, but said it had achieved a 74.3% BTC yield in 2024. Strategy uses BTC yield to measure the performance of its bitcoin acquisitions. 

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

BlackRock to Launch BTC Exchange-Traded Product in Europe: Report

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is planning to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded product in Europe, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The fund will be domiciled in Switzerland, and BlackRock could start marketing it as early as this month. It will be BlackRock’s first crypto-linked fund outside the U.S.

The move comes after the success of BlackRock's U.S.-based iShares Bitcoin ETF, which has accumulated $40.7 billion of inflows since its launch in January last year.

The European crypto ETP market currently includes more than 160 products tracking various digital assets, with a total market cap of $17.3 billion. 

U.S.-based Bitcoin ETFs currently dominate the global market, with a 91% share. 

A multi-currency wallet that’s easy, quick, and secure? …That’s RockWallet! Discover how you can take control of your assets and feel confident in the digital economy.

Sign up now to take advantage of a special $75 welcome promo for the Unchained community.

Solana Chain GDP Rises 213% to $840M in Q4

Solana’s total application revenue, or “chain GDP”, surged 213% from $268 million to $840 million during the fourth quarter of last year, according to a report by crypto intelligence platform Messari. 

The consistent quarter-over-quarter growth makes Solana the second-largest chain to operate in the DeFi space, with $8.6 billion in total value locked.

As was the case in previous quarters, memecoin trading activity drove most of the growth. Memecoin marketplace Pump.fun’s revenue was $235 million for the quarter, while speed-focused trading platform Photon saw revenue of $140 million.

“Popular Solana tokens are AI16z, which reached a $2.5 billion market cap in Q4, and FARTCOIN, which reached a $1.5 billion market cap at the end of Q4,” Messari wrote.

Build real-time, reactive, fully on-chain applications with Somnia: 400,000 TPS, sub-second finality, and sub-cent fees. Perfect for gaming, social, and metaverse builders.

• 🏛 The U.S. Senate Banking Committee held its first hearing on crypto debanking on Wednesday, with industry leaders arguing that unclear regulations and alleged bias have driven businesses overseas.

• ❄️ Ethereum’s supply has surged back to pre-Merge levels, with analysts blaming last year’s Dencun upgrade for reducing the amount of ETH burned through transaction fees, raising concerns about the “ultra-sound money” narrative and potential long-term security risks.

• 🐻 Berachain detailed its tokenomics ahead of its mainnet launch, scheduled for today, revealing a 15.8% BERA airdrop from its 500 million supply, a 10% annual inflation model, and a non-transferable governance token (BGT) rewarding ecosystem participation.

• 📶 Token incentivization-powered telco Helium Mobile restructured its pricing, introducing a free plan with limited data, a $15 tier for 10GB, and unlimited data for $30, while existing $20 subscribers keep their rates — part of an overhaul following layoffs and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against parent company Nova Labs that alleges it conducted unregistered offerings of crypto assets as securities and defrauded investors.

• 📈 DeFi protocol Fluid DEX hit a record $1.34 billion in weekly trading volume, becoming the third-largest Ethereum-based exchange, while its lending arm surpassed $850 million.

• 🪙 Ethereum layer 2 MegaETH announced a novel initial coin offering using a soulbound NFT mint, allocating at least 5% of its token supply to 10,000 non-transferable NFTs, backed by Vitalik Buterin and other crypto figures.

• 📈 Cboe BZX proposed allowing options trading in spot Ethereum ETFs, mirroring Bitcoin ETF options that launched last November.

• 💰 Developer platform Reservoir raised $14 million in series-A funding led by Union Square Ventures to expand beyond NFTs, enabling seamless token trading across multiple blockchains.

• 🤖 0G Foundation launched an $88.8 million fund to support decentralized AI applications, attracting backing from Hack VC, Delphi Ventures, and OKX Ventures, with a focus on DeFi, AI-powered gaming, social platforms, and secure onchain data sharing.

1. Unchained: How I Almost Got Slaughtered in a Pig Butchering Crypto Scam

2. DL News: Why new stablecoin bill is a boost for tokenisation in potential $16tn market

3. The Genie by BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes