Trump’s $15 Billion Lawsuit Ties NYT to TRUMP Token Collapse

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Hi! In today’s edition:

• 💥 Trump hits NYT with $15B lawsuit tied to TRUMP token

• 🛑 Binance close to ending DOJ oversight

• 🔗 Circle invests in Hyperliquid, brings native USDC

• 💤 12-year-old BTC whale wakes, moves $116M

On the podcast:

• 🎙️ Bits + Bips: Coinbase’s Base token: super app or showdown?

• 🎧 Unchained: Why a Base vs. Solana fight could be brewing

A shoutout to Token2049 and Ledn for sponsoring today’s issue.

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Trump’s $15 Billion Lawsuit Claims NYT Contributed to TRUMP Token Decline

President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation lawsuit against The New York Times and Penguin Random House.

The lawsuit alleges that the newspaper and several of its journalists intentionally disparaged his reputation, including targeting his TRUMP crypto project, harming its market value and investor confidence. 

The TRUMP token has lost over 88% of its value since its launch in January, and Trump's legal team argues that negative coverage by the Times worsened this decline.

The suit also names book publishing firm Penguin, which published an alleged “defamatory book” about the President that Trump’s lawyers say was released during the election season to inflict political damage.

“They practiced this longterm INTENT and pattern of abuse, which is both unacceptable and illegal. The New York Times has been allowed to freely lie, smear, and defame me for far too long, and that stops, NOW! The suit is being brought in the Great State of Florida,” said Trump in a Truth Social post. 

Binance Nears Deal to End $4.3B DOJ Settlement Monitor Requirement: Report

Binance is negotiating with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to end the three-year independent compliance monitor imposed in its settlement with regulators, according to a report from Bloomberg on Tuesday.

In November 2023, Binance agreed to a $4.3 billion settlement with the DOJ after admitting to violations of anti-money laundering laws, the Bank Secrecy Act, and regulatory failures. 

Part of the settlement included a requirement to undergo three years of independent monitoring by Forensic Risk Alliance, which evaluated compliance protocols and reported directly to the DOJ.

If the DOJ agrees to terminate Binance’s monitors, it would significantly reduce the extended regulatory oversight on the exchange, which is still subject to a separate compliance monitor from the Treasury Department. 

Binance’s native token BNB rallied to an all-time high of $958.66 after news of the potential development was made public. Binance’s former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also updated his X profile, changing his bio from “ex-@binance” to “@binance.”

Circle Brings Native USDC to Hyperliquid Ahead of USDH Rollout

Circle has launched a native version of its USDC stablecoin on Hyperliquid, expanding its presence beyond the previously bridged USDC on the platform.

The launch accompanies the upgraded Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol version 2 (CCTP V2) on Hyperliquid's HyperEVM.

The stablecoin issuer has also made an investment in Hyperliquid's native token HYPE, becoming a stakeholder in the ecosystem, and is exploring the possibility of becoming a network validator.

Circle did not disclose the amount it had invested in HYPE, but an onchain transfer flagged by pseudonymous researcher MLM on Sept. 12 showed a wallet linked to Circle bought $4.6 million worth of HYPE tokens.

The decision to launch native USDC on the platform comes ahead of Hyperliquid’s own USDH stablecoin rollout. Native Markets, elected as the token’s issuer by Hyperliquid validators, said earlier this week that USDH deployment was just “days away.”

If Hyperliquid transitions all $5.9 billion USDC collateral to USDH, Circle would lose as much as $200 million in annual reserve income.

Bitcoin Whale Moves $116M BTC After Nearly 12 Years

A wallet that was untouched for the better part of 12 years moved a massive 1,000 BTC worth $116.8 million to a new wallet on Tuesday.

Onchain wallet tracker Lookonchain flagged the transfer, citing data from  Arkham, noting that the whale wallet in question had first received the coins when the price of bitcoin was just $847.

Bitcoin is currently trading at around $116,790, gaining a modest 1.5% in the last 24 hours as traders await the outcome of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.

According to crypto asset manager Swissblock, markets have priced in a 25 basis point rate cut from the Federal Reserve.

“Volatility is guaranteed: the Risk will guide whether BTC’s bullish structure holds or if a sell-off looms on the horizon,” said Swissblock on X.

Bits + Bips: Could a Base Token Be Coinbase’s Key to a Super App?

Base may be launching a token. What utility might it have, and what could it mean for Coinbase’s shareholders? Plus: the upcoming Fed decision on rates.

This week on Bits + Bips, hosts Steve Ehrlich and Ram Ahluwalia speak with Blockchain.com’s Nic Cary and Franklin Templeton’s Max Gokhman.

We talk about how the potential Base token would alter the L2 landscape, and who should capture the value if Coinbase becomes the backbone for DeFi. Also, whether Web2 and TradFi giants will buy their way onchain, why privacy infrastructure is overdue, and how TON’s superapp strategy could pressure social platforms to follow suit.

Plus: how Franklin Templeton is valuing L2s and other tokens, why the FOMC’s decision matters for crypto risk, and how tariff talk could spill into digital assets.

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

Base Will Likely Have a Token: Why Now, Who Wins, and How Big It Gets

At BaseCamp, Jesse Pollak announced Base was considering a token, plus a Solana bridge. Is this setting the stage for a Base vs. Solana matchup?

Base just crossed its own Rubicon. After months of saying “no token,” Jesse Pollak now says Base must decentralize and is “exploring” a token. What changed?

On this episode, Proof of Play’s ICO Beast and former Coinbase Ventures investor Ryan Yi unpack why “exploring” is the operative word, how policy (the Clarity Act) could shape the rollout, and what a points-driven airdrop might look like.

We dig into governance realism (what Coinbase will and won’t give up), token utility and valuation math, and how a Base↔Solana bridge could ignite a fight for DeFi liquidity while Solana keeps winning Gen-Z consumers.

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

• 🇬🇧 The UK’s financial regulator said it would relax certain rules for crypto companies next year, arguing that traditional finance laws don’t fit digital assets and pledging tailored oversight without lowering overall standards.

• 🤝 The UK is preparing to announce tighter crypto collaboration with the U.S., aiming to align digital asset rules, boost investment, and give British firms better access to U.S. capital markets amid pressure to catch up with America’s pro-crypto policies.

• 🧪 Ethereum developers opened a $2 million bug bounty contest for their upcoming Fusaka upgrade, aiming to find vulnerabilities before its late 2025 mainnet launch with backing from security firms like Sherlock, Gnosis, and Lido.

• 🚀 Galaxy Digital plans to launch its own tokenized money market fund across Ethereum, Solana, and Stellar, aiming to offer a more crypto-native version of products like BlackRock’s BUIDL, with Anchorage Digital set to safeguard the assets.

• 🤖 Google unveiled a new AI-to-AI payments system that includes stablecoin support, developed in partnership with Coinbase and 60+ other firms, to power seamless transactions between autonomous digital agents.

• 🏦 UBS, PostFinance, and Sygnum claimed the first-ever legally binding bank payment using public blockchain, settling tokenized deposit transfers across multiple institutions in a trial seen as a stablecoin alternative.

• 📲 Santander’s Openbank rolled out crypto trading in Germany, letting customers buy and hold bitcoin, ether, litecoin, polygon, and cardano with plans to expand the service to Spain in the coming weeks.

• 🪙 SharpLink Gaming repurchased 1 million shares of its stock for $16.67 each while growing its ETH reserves, saying its market value is undervalued compared to its crypto treasury holdings.

• 🏢 Keyrock acquired Luxembourg-based Turing Capital for $27.8 million to kickstart its asset and wealth management business, expanding its crypto services for institutions and launching a New York office.

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