Why Ripple and Cardano?

Which Crypto Assets Belong in a Reserve? This VC Says Not XRP and ADA

The crypto markets are in waiting mode—but waiting for what? Here’s why traders are eyeing policy moves, how XRP and Cardano’s potential inclusion in a government reserve is causing debate, and what catalysts could actually trigger the next rally.

Trump’s latest crypto moves have sent the market on a rollercoaster.

First, he posted on Truth Social that a U.S. crypto reserve would include XRP, Solana, and Cardano. A couple hours later, he had to clarify that Bitcoin and Ethereum would also be included. The market jumped 12%—only to crash the next day.

Meanwhile, the White House crypto summit is happening Friday, and not everyone is happy with the guest list. Some say it’s a step toward real regulation, while others argue that without DeFi voices, it’s just a meeting of centralized players.

So what does it all mean? David Nage, VC at Arca, joins Unchained to talk about:

• Why David is unfazed by crypto’s swings around Trump’s reserve posts

• David’s take on Cardano and XRP being named for the crypto reserve list

• Why he thinks Bitcoin is a strong candidate for a national reserve asset

• Why David isn’t impressed with the guest list at the White House Crypto Summit

• Why the markets have been struggling—and what could finally turn things around

Will real crypto policy changes emerge from this? Or is this just another distraction in a year full of big promises?

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

Now, let’s get into this week’s news! In today’s edition:

• 🔥 Ripple lobbied to get Solana into Trump’s crypto reserve.

• 🚪 Cardano’s Hoskinson didn’t make the White House summit guest list.

• 🎙️ SBF blames his prison sentence on shifting political donations.

• 📈 Jump Trading is quietly rebuilding its U.S. crypto operations.

• 💰 Aave’s new tokenomics plan could shake up DeFi staking.

• ⚖️ The White House wants to kill a controversial crypto tax rule.

• 🛑 The SEC keeps backing off, dropping more crypto lawsuits.

• 📱 Reddit’s Alexis Ohanian wants to put TikTok onchain.

• 💸 North Korea’s Lazarus Group just cleaned $1.3B through DeFi.

• 🚀 Ethereum’s big Pectra upgrade hits another testnet snag.

• 🏛️ Ethereum Foundation names new leaders after community pressure.

• 🤣 Bukele keeps buying Bitcoin, IMF rules be damned.

Ripple Pitched Solana to Bolster XRP’s Inclusion in U.S. Crypto Reserve

Ripple executives, including CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Chief Legal Officer Stu Alderoty, lobbied President Donald Trump to include solana in the newly announced U.S. crypto reserve, Unchained reported on Wednesday. 

According to sources familiar with the discussions, the move aimed to lend credibility to the reserve, which prominently featured XRP, SOL, and ADA but initially omitted bitcoin and ether.

Following Trump’s announcement, which Unchained reported yesterday came at the surprise of White House and D.C. insiders, XRP surged 28%, though skepticism remains over whether the reserve is a strategic initiative or a public relations move. This poses the question of whether large amounts of these tokens will be accumulated or if the plan primarily benefits early investors.

Garlinghouse responded to criticism by emphasizing unity in the crypto industry, stating, “Maximalism is the enemy of progress. Glad to see POTUS recognizing we live in a multichain world.” Further details may emerge at Friday’s White House Crypto Policy Summit, where the administration is expected to clarify the reserve’s structure and strategy.

Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson Excluded From Crypto Summit

One notable absence has been confirmed at the White House Crypto Summit—Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson. 

Despite ADA’s inclusion in the reserve alongside XRP and Solana, a White House source told Unchained that Hoskinson and his team are not involved in policy discussions and were not invited.

“They are running around town trying to push their own sort of narrative,” the source said.

Hoskinson was previously rumored to have attended a MAGA Inc. fundraising dinner, but reports indicate he was instead at ETH Denver. Meanwhile, ADA’s price spiked 100% following Trump’s announcement before settling lower. With the summit expected to clarify the reserve’s structure, Hoskinson’s exclusion raises questions about Cardano’s actual role in the administration’s crypto reserve.

Sam Bankman-Fried Tries to Rewrite His Story From Behind Bars

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) isn’t staying quiet behind bars. In a new interview with Tucker Carlson, the former FTX CEO hinted that his shift toward Republican donations in 2022 may have contributed to his 25-year sentence.

“In 2020, I was center-left and gave to Biden’s campaign,” SBF said. “By late 2022, I was giving to Republicans privately as much as Democrats. And that started becoming known right around FTX’s collapse, so that probably played a role.”

Moreover, he claimed that he “doesn’t think he was a criminal.”

SBF also took aim at the SEC, calling it “something out of a nightmare” under former Chair Gary Gensler. When asked if he sought political favors during his trial, he denied it—but reports indicate his parents have been engaging with Trump’s circle, potentially laying the groundwork for a pardon request.

Now housed at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, SBF says he spends his time eating rice and beans, claiming he’s been abandoned by former allies while awaiting his appeal.

Jump Trading Rebuilds Crypto Operations in the U.S.

Chicago-based trading giant Jump is reportedly ramping up its cryptocurrency operations in the U.S. after scaling back amid regulatory uncertainty. The firm, which had significantly reduced its digital asset division in 2023, is now actively hiring crypto engineers and policy experts to navigate the evolving regulatory landscape.

Jump’s retreat from the U.S. market followed scrutiny after the collapse of Terra’s LUNA and the FTX bankruptcy. Last year, its crypto unit, Jump Crypto, spun off its Wormhole protocol and saw its workforce reduced by half. Additionally, subsidiary Tai Mo Shan settled a $123 million SEC investigation tied to TerraUSD without admitting wrongdoing.

Now, as regulatory conditions shift, Jump is expanding its trading activities globally while re-establishing its U.S. presence. The firm also contributed $15 million to Fairshake, a super-PAC supporting pro-crypto lawmakers in the 2024 election cycle, signaling its renewed commitment to shaping crypto policy.

Aave Unveils ‘Aavenomics’ Overhaul With $24M Buyback Plan

Major DeFi platform Aave is considering a major tokenomics transformation as part of its newly proposed “Aavenomics” update. Introduced by Marc Zeller of the Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), a community-driven group within Aave, the proposal outlines weekly AAVE buybacks of $1 million for six months, with potential increases based on revenue growth. The initiative aims to optimize liquidity management, protocol revenue distribution, and staking incentives.

A key component of the overhaul is the introduction of Anti-GHO, a non-transferable ERC-20 token that will replace the current discount on Aave’s GHO stablecoin and reward stkAAVE holders. Additionally, the proposal introduces “Umbrella,” a revamped safety module designed to protect users from billions in potential bad debt.

Zeller called the plan “the most important proposal” in Aave’s history, highlighting the protocol’s strong financial position and growing dominance in the DeFi lending sector, where it currently leads with $41 billion in total value locked.

White House Backs Senate Vote to Overturn IRS DeFi Broker Rule

The White House has thrown its support behind efforts to repeal the controversial IRS DeFi broker rule, which would have classified decentralized finance businesses as brokers, requiring them to collect and report user data to the IRS. The regulation, introduced late in the Biden administration, was widely criticized as unworkable by crypto advocates.

The Senate voted 70-27 on Tuesday to overturn the rule, with support from both Republicans and some Democrats. The resolution, introduced by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Representative Mike Carey (R-OH), now moves to the House of Representatives before reaching the president’s desk.

David Sacks, the Trump administration’s AI and crypto policy advisor, on Tuesday called the IRS rule “an 11th-hour attack” on the crypto industry. If signed into law, the repeal would block the IRS from reintroducing similar regulations in the future, marking a significant victory for DeFi advocates and the broader crypto sector.

SEC Keeps Dropping Crypto Lawsuits

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its lawsuits against crypto exchange Kraken and NFT firm Yuga Labs, marking another significant step in the agency’s retreat from aggressive crypto enforcement.

Kraken, which had been fighting allegations of operating as an unregistered securities broker and commingling funds, announced that the SEC had closed its case without penalties, business changes, or admissions of wrongdoing. The exchange called the decision “a turning point for crypto regulation in the U.S.”

Similarly, Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, confirmed that the SEC had closed its three-year-long investigation into whether its NFTs and ApeCoin (APE) were securities. “This is a huge win for NFTs and all creators,” Yuga Labs said.

Moreover, the SEC agreed on Tuesday to drop its enforcement case against crypto asset trading firm Cumberland DRW.

Alexis Ohanian Joins Bid to Buy TikTok and Put It Onchain

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian has joined Project Liberty’s bid to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations, with plans to bring the social media giant onchain using blockchain technology. Ohanian confirmed his involvement on X, saying, “Users should own their data. Creators should own their audience. Period.”

The bid, led by Frank McCourt, aims to restructure TikTok’s data model by integrating Frequency, a decentralized social media protocol. If successful, TikTok would shift toward a blockchain-based system, giving users more control over their personal data and online presence. Crypto investor Kevin O’Leary is also backing the initiative.

The acquisition push comes as the U.S. government forces ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations over national security concerns. While Ohanian has previously explored blockchain-based social media projects, this deal could mark one of the largest integrations of Web3 technology into a mainstream platform.

Lazarus Group Converts Stolen ETH

The Lazarus Group, the North Korean state-backed hacking collective, has converted the $1.3 billion worth of ether stolen in the Bybit exploit into bitcoin, primarily using THORChain’s Asgardex decentralized exchange and coin mixer eXch, according to blockchain security experts.

Taylor Monahan, head of security at MetaMask, tracked the movement of funds, confirming that the hackers successfully funneled the stolen assets out of traceable circulation. Her analysis shows that nearly 49% of the transactions went through THORChain, despite Bybit CEO Ben Zhou’s attempts to halt the flow of funds. Zhou reached out to eXch, but the platform instead posted his email publicly and refused to intervene.

Onchain investigator EmberCN estimated that THORChain collected $5.5 million in fees while processing transactions linked to the hack. While a small portion of the stolen funds remains traceable, Monahan and other security researchers believe that the vast majority is now beyond recovery.

Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Faces Setback on Sepolia Testnet

Ethereum’s upcoming Pectra upgrade encountered a technical issue on the Sepolia testnet, temporarily disrupting transaction processing. The problem stemmed from a misconfigured custom deposit contract, which prevented execution layer (EL) clients from including transactions in blocks.

Ethereum Foundation Protocol Support Lead Tim Beiko acknowledged the glitch shortly after deployment, stating, “We’re investigating an issue caused by the custom deposit contract on Sepolia.” Developers quickly coordinated a fix, restoring block transactions after about five hours. However, infrastructure providers and wallets may require node updates to ensure full stability.

This is the second testnet issue for Pectra, following earlier validator misconfigurations on Holesky that delayed finalization. Ethereum developers had initially planned a mainnet launch in early April, but ongoing testnet challenges could impact the timeline. The upgrade is expected to enhance scalability, security, and validator staking limits, making it one of Ethereum’s most ambitious updates since The Merge.

Ethereum Foundation Appoints Co-Executive Directors

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) has announced a major leadership restructuring, naming Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stańczak as co-executive directors, while former director Aya Miyaguchi transitions to the role of president.

Wang, a longtime Ethereum researcher, has been instrumental in Ethereum’s scaling efforts, including sharding and The Merge. Stańczak, the founder of Nethermind, brings extensive experience in Ethereum’s execution layer. Their appointments follow growing community criticism over the foundation’s leadership, with some calling for Miyaguchi’s complete departure due to concerns over Ethereum’s competitive positioning.

Meanwhile, former Ethereum researcher Danny Ryan has taken a different path, joining Etherealize, a newly launched initiative focused on promoting Ethereum’s adoption in traditional finance. Ryan described his goal as building an institution that ensures Ethereum becomes a key part of the global financial system.

Core Ethereum developer Tim Beiko called the leadership transition “one of the most consequential turning points in Ethereum’s history,” as the foundation aims to strengthen its role in the evolving crypto landscape.

Fun Bits: Bukele Doesn’t Bow to IMF

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has a message for the International Monetary Fund (IMF): “No, it’s not stopping.” The IMF, which approved a $1.4 billion loan in December, is now demanding El Salvador halt bitcoin purchases, liquidate its Bitcoin trust, and disclose all government wallet addresses. Bukele isn’t having it.

Just as the IMF laid out its new rules, El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office announced it had added another BTC to its national reserves—because, of course, it did. The country now holds 6,101 BTC ($510 million).

Bitcoin evangelist Michael Saylor jumped in, declaring, “Bitcoin adoption is unstoppable.” Bukele, never one to miss a punchline, fired back with, “Proof of work > proof of whining.”

The IMF wants compliance, but Bukele seems more interested in stacking sats. The showdown continues—and so do the bitcoin buys.

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