Crypto, Blockchain, DLT

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Circle - >>> The $50 Billion Company That Does Almost Nothing

Wall Street is valuing crypto firm Circle like the next big thing in tech. Its entire business? Holding your dollars and keeping the interest.

Gizmodo

by Luc Olinga

June 21, 2025


https://gizmodo.com/the-50-billion-company-that-does-almost-nothing-2000618670


Something strange is happening on Wall Street. It isn’t Elon Musk, AI, or a late-night post from Donald Trump. It’s a crypto company called Circle Internet Group, and it’s making the market feel like the glory days of the dot-com bubble are back.

Circle went public on June 5. In just eleven trading sessions, its stock exploded by an almost unprecedented 675%, adding over $42 billion to its market cap. The company now trades at a valuation that puts it in the same league as tech unicorns and AI moonshots, commanding a price that has investors paying, in essence, $295 for every $1 of its earnings.

There’s just one problem. Circle doesn’t have revolutionary AI. It doesn’t build sleek consumer gadgets. Its business model is shockingly simple.

Here’s how it works: You give Circle a dollar. They give you a digital token, called USDC, worth that same dollar. They then take your actual dollar, invest it in something safe like short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, and collect the interest.

You get the token. They get the profit. That’s it. That’s the entire business.

This has led critics to label Circle as little more than a glorified “money wrapper.” So why is Wall Street treating it like the next Tesla?

The answer is one word: stablecoin.

USDC is a stablecoin, a digital token pegged to a stable asset, in this case, the U.S. dollar. The idea is that for every USDC token, there’s a real dollar sitting in a reserve account. This makes it incredibly useful for crypto traders who need the speed of digital assets without the wild volatility of Bitcoin.

And now, the bulls are betting that stablecoins are about to go mainstream. The Senate just passed the “Genius Act,” landmark legislation that paves the way for banks, fintechs like PayPal, and even retailers like Walmart and Amazon to use stablecoins for payments. Suddenly, the dream of crypto becoming a real alternative to Visa or Mastercard seems within reach.

Analysts are salivating. Citi predicts the stablecoin market could hit $3.7 trillion by 2030. In that scenario, Circle, as a neutral platform not tied to any single bank, is perfectly positioned to cash in.

But there’s a catch. The business model that seems so brilliant in a high-interest-rate environment is also its greatest weakness.

“Circle’s whole business is literally glued to Fed policy,” one user wrote in a viral post on Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets. “It’s a Treasury ETF in a trench coat.”

If the Federal Reserve cuts rates, Circle’s main revenue stream shrinks. There’s also nothing stopping bigger players from launching their own lookalike stablecoins, erasing Circle’s edge overnight. If everyone’s offering the same thing, Circle’s moat starts looking very shallow. And yet, Wall Street is piling in like it’s the next OpenAI. What if regulators change their tune? The entire model could be at risk. The business is remarkably fragile.

When contacted by Gizmodo, a spokesperson said the company was in a post-IPO “quiet period,” legally restricting it from making promotional statements.

For now, the hype is winning. Circle’s stock is on fire, fueled by the promise of a future where we all pay for our coffee with digital dollars. But beneath the surface, this $50 billion company doesn’t innovate or disrupt. It just holds your cash, gives you a digital receipt, and pockets the interest. And in the bizarre world of 2025 finance, that’s apparently enough to be crowned the new king of Wall Street.

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Catherine Fitts -- full interview -

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>>> Coinbase, Circle , SRM lead stock rally as Trump cheers GENIUS Act in another dream week for crypto


Yahoo Finance

by David Hollerith

June 20, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-circle-srm-lead-stock-rally-as-trump-cheers-genius-act-in-another-dream-week-for-crypto-163951634.html


It was another dream week for the crypto world. Here's what happened.

A few days back, the Senate passed a bill that would establish a federal framework for dollar-backed cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins.

While this bill, known as the GENIUS Act, still needs approval from the House and President Trump, its swift progress has already been lauded by the crypto industry as a major step toward opening the doors for stablecoins to be used more widely in traditional financial services.

Shares of Circle (CRCL), issuer of the world’s second-largest stablecoin (USDC), closed Friday with an 80% gain through the week. In total, the stock is up roughly eight times its initial June 5 IPO price.

Major US crypto exchange and crucial Circle partner Coinbase Global (COIN) has also ridden the wave, climbing 27% through the week. Coinbase owns a minority stake in Circle and also earns a share of revenue from Circle's USDC.

But nothing compares to the weekly rise of little-known Winter Park, Fla.-based theme park and entertainment industry merchandiser SRM Entertainment (SRM), which is up roughly 661% since announcing on June 16 that it had struck a deal with crypto platform Tron to begin purchasing Tron tokens, rename itself Tron Inc., and bring on Tron founder Justin Sun as an adviser.

President Trump joined the fun too. A day after the GENIUS Act passed in Congress’s upper chamber by a vote of 68-30, the president, in a post, called the legislation “an incredible Bill that is going to make America the UNDISPUTED Leader in Digital Assets.”

No secret why the president is so cheery. As the crypto world has been racking up wins in Washington this year, Trump and his family have deepened their ties with the industry. (See chart below.)

Corporations tied to Trump or his family have ventured into everything from issuing memecoins and dollar-backed stablecoins to mining bitcoin.

After announcing a $2.5 billion fundraise to purchase cryptocurrencies, Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT) was declared effective a week ago by the SEC to issue equity and debt to begin buying and holding bitcoin.

In an updated financial disclosure published a week ago, the president reported earning $57 million last year from his ownership of tokens tied to World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance project that lists him and his sons as advisers.

Led by CEO Zach Witkoff, son of Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy to the Middle East, that same venture launched a stablecoin earlier this year that was chosen as the payment method for UAE sovereign wealth fund MGX to deliver $2 billion in fundraising to crypto exchange Binance. Its founder, Changpeng Zhao, has been seeking a pardon, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Earlier this month, the SEC announced the dismissal of an ongoing civil enforcement action against Binance entities and Zhao filed in June 2023 that alleged securities violations.

Tron founder Sun is also a big backer of two crypto ventures tied to the president. As the largest holder of Trump's memecoin, Sun attended an exclusive dinner hosted at Trump's Virginia golf course last month. Before that, he poured $75 million into World Liberty tokens.

Crypto’s success in D.C., with President Trump and the passage of the GENIUS Act, has been cheered in the crypto world as a “watershed moment that signals digital assets are now a part of the financial fabric,” said Yat Siu, executive chairman of Hong Kong-based crypto developer and venture firm Animoca Brands. “The bill’s bipartisan support gives stablecoin issuers, including banks, tech, and gaming companies, the green light to innovate within a clear regulatory framework.”

The Trump administration has been telegraphing its desire to see the stablecoin market grow. Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers that this legislation could help push the US stablecoin market beyond $2 trillion by the end of 2028.

Because the GENIUS Act requires companies issuing stablecoins to hold $1 in cash or short-term US Treasurys for every $1 in stablecoins they give out, the stablecoin market’s growth is expected to mean more demand for US debt obligations.

Recent analyst estimates from Standard Chartered and Morgan Stanley put the stablecoin market’s current US Treasury holdings between $166 billion and just under $200 billion.

But the bill was not without some criticism.

Some Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have expressed their frustration with their inability to get through amendments to the bill that would bolster consumer protections — and specifically bar the president and his family from having ties to businesses that would benefit from the legislation.

"The GENIUS Act has a major loophole allowing Big Tech companies and major retailers to issue their own private currencies structured as stablecoins," Warren said ahead of the bill's passage.

"This bill shouldn't pass without amendments preventing these risks," she added.

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>>> Circle stock soars on stablecoin bill passage, adds to 500% rally: 'History is being made'


Yahoo Finance

by Ines Ferré

June 18, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/circle-stock-soars-on-stablecoin-bill-passage-adds-to-500-rally-history-is-being-made-161438242.html


Circle (CRCL) stock soared over 30% on Wednesday after the Senate passed a bill that would establish a federal framework for dollar-backed cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins.

Shares of Circle, an issuer of stablecoin, have gained more than 500% since the company's blockbuster public debut on June 5 as enthusiasm surrounding crypto builds.

The GENIUS Act, which still has to be approved by the House and gain signature from President Trump, sets up regulations for how US companies can issue and manage dollar-backed stablecoins for payments.

"History is being made, as the US Senate passes the GENIUS Act, taking us one step closer to breakthrough legislation being signed into law that will drive US economic and national competitiveness for decades to come," Circle co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire said on X following the bill's passage.

The bill's passage late Tuesday also sent shares of crypto exchange platform Coinbase (COIN) up 12% while trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) gained 4%.

Bernstein analysts are bullish on the legislation becoming law later this summer.

"The intent of the GENIUS ACT is to bring stablecoin innovation back to the US onshore from the offshore markets," Bernstein's Gautam Chhugani and his team said in a note earlier this week.

"The bill clearly defines a stablecoin as a payment stablecoin, making its legal treatment as digital cash," he added, "Thus, the intent of the bill is to drive broader mainstream adoption for payments & settlement, beyond simply settlement currency for crypto/digital assets (~80-90% of the use case today)."

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>>> Senate passes GENIUS stablecoin bill, giving crypto industry first major legislative win


CNBC

by MacKenzie Sigalos

6-18-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/senate-passes-genius-stablecoin-bill-giving-crypto-industry-first-major-legislative-win/ar-AA1GUEmj


The GENIUS Act establishes the first federal framework for dollar-pegged stablecoins, granting sweeping authority to the Department of Treasury and opening the door to banks, fintechs, and retailers.

Democrats failed to secure a provision barring the president from profiting, even as Trump disclosed earning $57 million from token sales in 2024 alone.

Industry giants like Amazon and Walmart are reportedly moving toward stablecoin-style offerings as payment networks brace for disruption.

The Senate on Tuesday passed the GENIUS Act, a landmark bill that for the first time establishes federal guardrails for U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoins and creates a regulated pathway for private companies to issue digital dollars with the blessing of the federal government.

The bill passed with a 68-30 vote.

It's a milestone day for the crypto industry and for President Donald Trump's sprawling digital asset empire.

This is the first legislative victory for the digital asset industry, which put around $250 million in the 2024 cycle to elect what's now considered to be the most pro-crypto Congress in U.S. history.

"The GENIUS Act will protect consumers, enable responsible innovation, and safeguard the dominance of the U.S. dollar," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who was one of the sponsors of the bill, in a statement after the bill's passage.

The bill still faces hurdles in the Republican-held House, but passage in the Senate signals a turning point — not just for the technology, but for the political clout behind it.

The GENIUS Act, short for the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act, sets guardrails for the industry, including full reserve backing, monthly audits, and anti-money laundering compliance.

It also opens the door to a broader range of issuers, including banks, fintechs, and major retailers looking to launch their own stablecoins or integrate them into existing payment systems.

Let's start with the core of it, creating a framework

The bill grants sweeping authority to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who last week told a Senate appropriations subcommittee in a hearing that the U.S. stablecoin market could grow nearly eightfold to over $2 trillion in the next few years.

"Stablecoin legislation backed by U.S. Treasuries or T-bills will create a market that will expand U.S. dollar usage via these stablecoins all around the world," Bessent said.

GENIUS now heads to the House, which has its own version of a stablecoin bill dubbed STABLE. Both prohibit yield-bearing consumer stablecoins — but diverge on who regulates what.

The Senate's version centralizes oversight with Treasury, while the House splits authority between the Federal Reserve, the Comptroller of the Currency, and others. Reconciling the two could take a while, according to Congressional aides.

The GENIUS Act was supposed to be the easiest crypto bill to pass, but took months to reach the Senate floor, failed once, and passed only after fierce negotiations.

"We thought it would be easiest to start with stablecoins," Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said on stage in Las Vegas at this year's Bitcoin 2025 conference, which focused heavily on stablecoins.

"It has been extremely difficult. I had no idea how hard this was going to be," she said.

At the same event, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., echoed the frustration: "It has been murder to get them there," he said of the 18 Senate Democrats who ultimately crossed the aisle.

Stablecoins are a subset of cryptocurrencies pegged to the value of real-world assets. About 99% of all stablecoins are tethered to the price of the U.S. dollar.

The appeal is simple: Stablecoins offer instant settlement and lower transaction fees, cutting out the middlemen and directly threatening legacy payment rails.

Shopify has already rolled out USDC-powered payments through Coinbase and Stripe. Bank of America's CEO said last week at a Morgan Stanley conference that they're having conversations with the industry and individually exploring stablecoin issuance.

Payment stocks like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Block slid after The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon and Walmart are exploring their own stablecoins.

That action has helped drive Circle's blockbuster stock surge, with shares up 400% since its public debut on June 5.

Deutsche Bank found that stablecoin transactions hit $28 trillion last year, surpassing that of Mastercard and Visa, combined.

Still, there are limits. The GENIUS Act restricts non-financial Big Tech companies from directly issuing stablecoins unless they establish or partner with regulated financial entities — a provision meant to blunt monopoly concerns.

JPMorgan, meanwhile, is taking a different route, launching JPMD, a deposit token designed to function like a stablecoin but tightly integrated with the traditional banking system.

Issued on Coinbase's Base blockchain, JPMD is only available to institutional clients and offers features like 24/7 settlement and interest payments — part of the broader push by legacy finance to adapt to the stablecoin era without ceding ground to crypto-native firms.

While Democrats tried to amend the bill to prevent the president from profiting off crypto ventures, the final legislation only bars members of Congress and their families from doing so.

Trump's first financial disclosure as president, released Friday, revealed he earned at least $57 million in 2024 alone from token sales tied to World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform closely aligned with his political brand.

He holds nearly 16 billion WLFI governance tokens — the crypto equivalent of voting shares — which could be worth close to $1 billion on paper, based on prior private sales.

That's just one slice of the Trump crypto pie.

The family's ventures, which include the controversial $TRUMP meme coin, a $2.5 billion bitcoin Treasury and proposed bitcoin and ether ETFs via Truth.Fi, and a newly launched mining firm called American Bitcoin, reflect a full-throttle push into digital finance.

Forbes recently estimated Trump's crypto holdings at nearly $1 billion, lifting his total net worth to $5.6 billion.

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Payola Don -- >>> It bans members of Congress and their families from earning profits from stablecoins but not President Trump and his family, an omission that has irked some Democrats and slowed progress on the legislation this spring. <<<

>>> Their near-instant settlement and programmability also carry advantages proponents believe could enhance cross-border transactions and wider access to the US dollar. <<<


As Rickards and Fitts have said, Stablecoin is the smokescreen for CBDC. Once the infrastructure / plumbing is in place, the various stablecoins are absorbed into the official 'Dollar Stablecoin', with its associated the Social Credit score system.


https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=176329842



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>>> Crypto hails Senate vote on stablecoin bill as a major victory


Yahoo Finance

by David Hollerith and Jennifer Schonberger

June 17, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/crypto-hails-senate-vote-on-stablecoin-bill-as-a-major-victory-113240488.html


The Senate is preparing for a final vote Tuesday on a bill that would establish the first federal framework for dollar-backed cryptocurrencies known as stablecoins, a major victory for an industry that has pushed for more favorable oversight in Washington, D.C.

Though passage of the GENIUS Act in the upper chamber won’t yet make the new legislation law — it still needs approval from the House and President Trump — the crypto world is already lauding the bill’s swift progress as a major step.

“I feel really good about [this bill],” said Dante Disparte, chief strategy officer and head of global policy and operations at Circle (CRCL), the largest US stablecoin issuer.

Circle’s stock has soared roughly 400% since its debut day of trading on June 5, a sign of growing investor enthusiasm for stablecoins as the legislation advances in Congress.

“I think with the GENIUS Act, we actually have the right thing,” Disparte said. “You have every issuer, whether a bank, a credit union, or a non-bank, would have a common regulatory floor under which they would operate.”

The GENIUS Act, which stands for “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins,” sets a framework for how US companies can issue and manage dollar-backed stablecoins for payments.

It bans members of Congress and their families from earning profits from stablecoins but not President Trump and his family, an omission that has irked some Democrats and slowed progress on the legislation this spring.

Trump is deepening his own financial involvement in stablecoins as the legislation advances. World Liberty Financial, a new crypto startup backed by President Trump and his sons, has launched its own US-dollar-pegged stablecoin (USD1) in partnership with BitGo.

If the legislation clears the House, it is expected to unleash a wave of new stablecoin entrants as traditional companies ranging from reportedly giant lenders to mega retailers are already considering whether to issue their own coins.

“We're working with the industry, working individually,” Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan said of BofA’s stablecoin prospects last week at a Morgan Stanley conference.

Earlier this month, Bank of America and other big banks convened to explore prospects for launching a collaborative stablecoin network. The Wall Street Journal also reported last week that Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT) are exploring stablecoin opportunities.

The new wave of competition could upend the traditional payment system, especially if merchants look to get around conventional card-based networks such as Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA).

“While we continuously explore new payment technologies in efforts to support our customers, we are not piloting any programs and do not currently have any plans in place to issue our own stablecoin,” a Walmart spokeswoman told Yahoo Finance.

The legislation currently before the Senate would empower the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to oversee stablecoin issuers that hold $10 billion or more in assets, while smaller issuers would be under the purview of state regulators.

All issuers would be required to hold reserves in cash or US Treasurys, undergo regular audits, and publicly disclose their holdings and redemption processes.

Like money market funds, the tokens must aim to be redeemable at face value. But unlike money market funds, stablecoins under this bill cannot pay interest.

Stablecoins are touted by their proponents as a haven from crypto’s wild volatility and a safer place for traders to store their gains because they can be pegged to non-crypto assets like the dollar.

Their near-instant settlement and programmability also carry advantages proponents believe could enhance cross-border transactions and wider access to the US dollar.

"To be able to sort of give the US dollar when it is native on the internet legal clarity, there is no substitute for that,” Circle’s Disparte said.

But there are still concerns among detractors that there could be risks with stablecoins, including the possibility of panic runs among investors.

Circle’s Disparte says the bill will 100% protect financial stability, citing criminal penalties for failing to report transparently and submit to an audit, a review, or an attestation of your reserves.

Consumer protection issues, he added, are addressed "through and through" in this bill.

Some Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have expressed concerns that the bill would allow giant tech companies such as Amazon (AMZN) or Meta (META) to launch their own stablecoins.

But Disparte noted that the bill stipulates that any tech company wanting to issue a stablecoin would have to go through a special committee at the Treasury Department to get approval.

The head of that department, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, has high hopes for what this legislation may mean.

He told lawmakers last week that the legislation could help push the US stablecoin market beyond $2 trillion by the end of 2028. The global stablecoin market currently sits around $250 billion, according to data provider DeFiLlama.

If the bill passes the Senate, there may be an effort in the House to attach it to a wider bill offering more sweeping regulation of all crypto assets.

And that may complicate matters. Trump has said he wants to sign stablecoin legislation before Congress leaves for its August recess.

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Trump keeps cashing in - >>> ‘Trump Mobile’ Cell Phone Service Announced In Latest Presidency Monetization Push


6-16-25

by Derek Saul

Forbes


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/technology/trump-mobile-cell-phone-service-announced-in-latest-presidency-monetization-push/ar-AA1GOnfr


The Trump Organization announced Monday its latest venture – a cell phone service and smartphone line – with clear branding tied to President Donald Trump, the latest example of blurred lines between Trump’s Oval Office position and his family’s private business dealings.

The service said its monthly plan will start at $47.45 per month, a nod to Trump’s standing as the 45th and 47th U.S. president. The

Key Facts

Trump’s eldest sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump unveiled the “Trump Mobile” entity, which will have a monthly talk, text and data plan and its own phone.

Called the “47 plan,” the monthly mobile service will start at $47.45 before taxes and fees, a reference to Trump being the U.S.’ 45th and 47th president, according to the Trump Mobile website.

The company said its signature “T1 Phone” will start at $499, and the website’s mockup of the device “coming soon” shows an etched American flag on the back of the phone.

The “Trump Mobile” phone will run on Google’s Android operating system and will be built in the U.S., according to Eric Trump.

Surprising Fact

The “Trump Mobile” announcement comes less than a month after the president threatened to slap 25% tariffs on iPhone maker Apple and other smartphone giants for not producing their phones domestically.

Key Background

Donald Trump maintains “significant control” over the Trump Organization, according to a recent U.K. filing. Since Trump won a second presidential term in November, much of the Trump family’s business dealings with hazy boundaries between the public and private sectors have been in the cryptocurrency space, including launching a $TRUMP memecoin which netted top investors in the inherently worthless token a dinner with the president at his Virginia golf club. The Trump Organization has also announced several massive overseas deals in recent months, including a $1.5 billion golf club in Vietnam.

Trump is worth $5.3 billion, according to our latest estimates. A majority of his wealth comes from his controlling stake in the public Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the ticker $DJT, the president’s initials. Originally the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social social media site, Trump Media has since expanded heavily into crypto, saying last month it raised $2.5 billion to purchase bitcoin, the world’s most valuable crypto token.

Shares of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all declined Monday morning despite a broader rally. Trump Media stock rose 2%.

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Based on the new info from Catherine Fitts, the main 'project' right now for the finance oligarchy (the apex of which is the BIS / Bank for Intl Settlelments) is getting the 'dollar stablecoin' in place and operational. Time is of the essence for the US since BRICS is going full speed with their own digital payments system. The dollar system has a big advantage of already being the entrenched legacy system for the world, but the 'dollar stablecoin' scheme needs to get moving ASAP.

Fitts explains how once in place, the huge credit that can be offered to countries will be irresistable, thus ensuring they stay with the dollar, and over time they'll also start using the dollar stablecoin for domestic spending instead of their own curencies. With the dollar stablecoin, the huge flow of credit it makes possible means the dollar can remain the dominant reserve and trade currency for the world. But it has to become available before the BRICS equivalent can gain traction.

In addition to saving the global dollar reserve system, the new 'stablecoin dollar' paradigm solves the fiscal deficit problem. Fitts explains that while the central banks control monetary policy (% rates, money supply, etc), they don't control fiscal policy (spending, taxing), which is the purview Congress. But once in place, the dollar stablecoin system gives the central bankers fiscal control over a country's spending. They can add or remove money from accounts at will, raise or lower taxes, freeze and unfreeze accounts, determine how much can be spent, etc. If they need to bring the 2 tril/year deficit down, they just tweak the amount as needed. So the dollar stablecoin system 1) keeps the dollar as the world's reserve currency, and 2) gets the deficits under control and de-fuses the debt bomb.

That's the 'good' side, but here's the bad (next post).



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More Catherine Fitts -

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Based on what Catherine Fitts said, this Stablecoin plan will also be key to maintaining the dollar as the world's reserve currency. The regular dollar morphs into the Dollar Stablecoin, which is fully backed / collateralized by US Treasuries. This all digital dollar stablecoin has the Orwellian control aspects of CBDC, and can be used in conjunction with a Social Credit Score system (ala China), etc.

So the broader plan is becoming clearer. Trump (who claims to be anti CBDC) is an ideal vehicle / smokescreen for getting this adopted. BRICS will have its competing payments system, but having the dollar already so entrenched globally should be a big competitive advantage.



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Catherine Fitts on how Trump is being used to deliver the CBDC, pushing Real ID, the 'Genius Act' / Stablecoin, etc. As long as Trump delivers on this, he gets to personally profiteer to his heart's content -

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The Donald continues to blatantly line his pockets (below). Hillary and Biden were crooks 'on the sly', but Trump does it right out in the open. The reason they are allowing him to do it? Trump's embracing of crypto enables the infrastructure buildout for the CBDC -


>>> Trump Media to raise $2.5 billion to buy bitcoin


Yahoo Finance

by Alexandra Canal

May 27, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-media-to-raise-25-billion-to-buy-bitcoin-142942484.html


Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) is doubling down on cryptocurrency, unveiling plans Tuesday to create what it claims will be one of the largest bitcoin treasuries held by any public company.

The initiative is backed by a $2.5 billion private funding round, with commitments from roughly 50 institutional investors, according to a company press release. The deal includes $1.5 billion in Trump Media common stock and $1 billion in convertible senior secured notes, set to close on or around May 29.

Once finalized, the move will place bitcoin directly on Trump Media's balance sheet, alongside existing cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaling $759 million as of the end of Q1 2025.

Shares of Trump Media, which are majority owned by President Trump, fell over 7% in early trading following the announcement. Bitcoin (BTC-USD), meanwhile, is hovering near record highs, trading around $110,000 per coin.

Trump Media, the parent company of social media platform Truth Social, streaming service Truth+, and fintech brand Truth.Fi, said the bitcoin play is part of a broader strategy to integrate digital assets across its media and financial ecosystem.

"We view bitcoin as an apex instrument of financial freedom, and now Trump Media will hold cryptocurrency as a crucial part of our assets," Trump Media CEO and chair Devin Nunes said in the release.

Nunes called it a "big step forward" in Trump Media's plans to transform into a diversified holding company focused on acquiring "profit-generating, crown jewel assets consistent with America First principles."

Earlier this year, the company revealed plans to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), part of a broader expansion into digital finance that includes trademark filings for a "Bitcoin Plus ETF" and other investment products. The move builds on Trump's vocal support for cryptocurrency during his campaign, when he pledged to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet."

Just before taking office, his team introduced official meme coins for the 47th president (TRUMP) and first lady Melania Trump (MELANIA) on the Solana (SOL) blockchain.

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>>> Crypto bill clears first Senate hurdle after Democrats drop rebellion


by David Sivak

Washington Examiner

5-20-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/crypto-bill-clears-first-senate-hurdle-after-democrats-drop-rebellion/ar-AA1F5SHK?ocid=TobArticle


The Senate advanced a first-of-its-kind cryptocurrency bill on Monday as a bloc of industry-friendly Democrats, satisfied with last-minute tweaks to the legislation, handed Republicans their votes.

It could take days for the Senate to pass the GENIUS Act, which would set rules of the road for stablecoins, a digital asset with a value tied to the U.S. dollar, but Monday’s vote, a procedural step needed to begin debate on the legislation, represents a major victory for the cryptocurrency industry. Almost two weeks ago, the same vote failed as Democrats made a surprise set of late demands.

Democrats declared a series of “wins” as a new deal came together, including language on foreign issuers and Big Tech. However, President Donald Trump’s heavy investment in cryptocurrency was the biggest flashpoint. His family is launching a stablecoin, while Trump is hosting a dinner this week with major holders of his memecoin.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, circulated a memo saying the bill, as it stands, would “fuel Trump’s crypto profits” as other Democrats introduced legislation banning presidents from issuing or endorsing digital assets.

However, the conflict-of-interest concerns were not enough to derail the legislation. Sixteen Democrats crossed party lines in a 66-32 vote, beginning what could be a tedious process to pass the bill.

Just two Republicans, Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), were opposed.

The legislation that advanced Monday does not include the tweaks negotiated between the two sides, meaning an amendment will be needed to update the draft bill. Fence-sitting Democrats are also demanding further changes to win their support on the final vote.

Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), one of the Democrats who supported the measure in a March committee markup, opposed it on Monday, citing a desire for revised language on illicit financing.

However, he expressed optimism that Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), the lead GOP sponsor, talked through his reservations on the Senate floor.

“I don't want to speculate where things can go, but the fact that they're still engaged, even though we're right there on the floor, I took that as a good sign,” he said.

Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE) took the opposite approach, voting to advance the legislation, but signaled she is not a given without further amendments.

“I think the bill is better. I still have concerns, so I'm going to vote ‘yes’ tonight to allow for an open amendment process,” she told the Washington Examiner, though she declined to elaborate on what changes she is seeking.

Notably, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has convened negotiators for repeated meetings in his leadership office, voted against the procedural vote.

It’s possible the legislation could clear the Senate by the end of the week, in time for the Memorial Day recess, but the more likely outcome is that senators hold a final vote once they return in early June.

“It might go into the week after Memorial Day break,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), one of the bill’s primary sponsors.

The legislation was drafted to address the so-called legal “gray zone” associated with stablecoins and could serve an economic imperative for the United States, facilitating the use of digital coins that are pegged to the dollar or Treasury bonds.

Ahead of the Senate vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) called the bill a way to keep the U.S.'s "fiscal house" in order, while its Democratic sponsors argued the stability offered by the regulatory framework should take precedence over concerns about Trump.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s far better than the status quo,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said in a statement. "Innovation in this space is happening, with or without us. We have a responsibility to ensure it happens safely, transparently, and in a way that advances U.S. economic and national security interests."

Lummis said the next step after Senate passage would be to meet with members of the House Financial Services Committee, where similar stablecoin legislation was approved earlier this year.

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And more slime - >>> Trump's meme coin dinner stirs controversy at pivotal moment for crypto world


Yahoo Finance

by David Hollerith

May 23, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trumps-meme-coin-dinner-stirs-controversy-at-pivotal-moment-for-crypto-world-175110484.html


President Trump hosted an exclusive dinner Thursday night for the 220 biggest buyers of his $TRUMP (TRUMP-OFFICIAL-USD) meme coin, an event that stirred controversy in the nation's capital during a pivotal moment for the crypto world.

“The past administration made your lives miserable,” Mr. Trump told the dinner guests, according to account from the New York Times.

The Biden administration "persecuted crypto innovators, and we’re bringing them back into the USA where they belong,” he added, according to another account from the Wall Street Journal.

The highly publicized event at his private Virginia golf club was the source of widespread unease among Democrats, who highlighted their conflict of interest concerns, and even some GOP lawmakers.

"This is my president that we’re talking about, but I am willing to say that this gives me pause," Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis said of the dinner in a NBC interview earlier this month.

"There is a big ‘For Sale’ sign on the White House lawn,” Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said at a press conference Thursday. "US policy for sale."

Invitees to the gala won their invitations by participating in a form of auction that identified the 220 with the largest holdings of Trump's coin, based on their average holdings between April 23 and May 12.

These investors spent an estimated $148 million on the $TRUMP coin to secure their seats at the dinner, with the 25 largest spending over $111 million, according to an analysis from crypto firm Inca Digital.

An even more exclusive set of the 25 biggest holders were promised a "special tour” and "private VIP reception with the President,” according to the coin’s website, which is owned by Fight Fight Fight LLC.

That Delaware-registered organization and another Trump Organization affiliate called CIC Digital LLC own a combined 80% of the meme coin’s tokens. A share of revenue earned from the coin’s trading volume also goes to these Trump family affiliates.

Between January and the end of April, more than $320 million in trading fees have flowed to wallets tied to the token’s creator, according to an analysis from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. That includes some $1.3 million between the dinner announcement and May 1.

The attendees ranged from former NBA player Lamar Odom to crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who said he won first place in the dinner competition.

"It’s really nice to be here today with, like, everyone in crypto,” Sun in a video posted on X.

Founder of the blockchain network Tron, the 34-year-old Sun already has at least one link to the president’s affairs. He is known as the biggest backer of World Liberty Financial, a crypto business run by CEO Zach Witkoff, son of Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy to the Middle East.

Sun invested $75 million into World Liberty and helped bootstrap the project’s initial token launch by buying $30 million worth of the token (WLF). He's since appeared on stage at two separate conferences with World Liberty executives.

“Justin, you've been instrumental in our success, so thank you,” Witkoff told Sun while onstage at a Dubai conference earlier this month that also included the president’s son Eric Trump.

The SEC previously sued Sun and his crypto companies for alleged fraud in 2023, but the case was paused in February.

Democrat lawmakers — including Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) — pointed to the dinner and Trump's other crypto ties as examples of what they view to be the president's corruption.

“Donald Trump’s dinner is an orgy of corruption,” Warren said Thursday. “That’s what this is all about. We are here today to talk about exactly one topic: corruption, corruption in its ugliest form.”

The White House has consistently maintained that there are no conflicts of interest, noting that Trump's assets are managed in a trust overseen by his children and he has no role in operations, and his press secretary repeated that point Thursday.

"I have also stated previously from this podium that the president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws that are applicable to the president, and I think everybody, the American public believe it's absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is (not) profiting off of this," Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

The Trump family has gone even deeper into crypto since the 2024 election. The president and first lady Melania Trump each have official meme coins and his namesake, Trump Media (DJT), also offers crypto ETFs through its financial services brand Truth.Fi.

The president’s son Eric is also co-founder of a bitcoin mining firm set to go public through an all-stock merger that’s expected to close as early as the third quarter.

World Liberty is also launching a stablecoin at a time when the Senate is considering legislation to regulate those digital assets. A vote on that bill could happen next week.

“Net, net, I think this administration has been great for crypto,” Galaxy Digital (GLXY) CEO Mike Novogratz told Yahoo Finance last Friday.

As long as they don’t break a law, the president and his family have a right to participate in crypto, Novogratz, an outspoken Democrat who has nonetheless been critical of the Biden administration’s handling of crypto regulation, said.

“Do I wish we didn’t have a Trump coin and Melania coin? Yeah, I do. But you know, we're going to live with it,” Novogratz added.

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More slimy deals - >>> Eric Trump's Bitcoin Firm Goes Public Amid White House Crypto Expansion


MSN.com

by Gabe Whisnant

5-12-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/eric-trump-s-bitcoin-firm-goes-public-amid-white-house-crypto-expansion/ar-AA1EDZe4?ocid=BingHp01&cvid=ef4eb6674d0444e5fb5cb3e3ba89bc14&ei=81


Eric Trump, son of President Donald Trump, is taking his bitcoin mining company public through American Bitcoin's merger with Gryphon Digital Mining.

The merged entity will retain the American Bitcoin name and be managed by its current leadership, with plans to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker "ABTC."

Why It Matters

President Trump has increasingly aligned himself with the cryptocurrency sector, backing ventures such as the Trump-themed meme coin "TRUMP" and the NFT trading card series bearing his likeness. While Trump once dismissed Bitcoin as a scam, he has since shifted his stance, voicing support for crypto innovation and calling for a regulatory environment that encourages digital asset growth. He has also criticized federal agencies for what he describes as overreach.

In March, the president signed an executive order establishing a national Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, as well as a separate Digital Asset Stockpile. Like other commodity reserves, such as gold or petroleum, the currency will be held by the government as a financial safety net to hedge against future economic instability.

American Bitcoin will join Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) as publicly traded Trump-led companies. Its stock trades under the ticker symbol DJT.

American Bitcoin was founded earlier in the year in collaboration with Hut 8, whose CEO Asher Genoot also serves on American Bitcoin's board. Genoot highlighted that going public is a crucial move for accelerating business growth.

Following the announcement, Gryphon's shares surged 285 percent to $2 and have risen nearly 400 percent year-to-date.

Hut 8 shares gained 10 percent following the news but are still down 25 percent for the year.

In recent weeks, multiple corporations have unveiled new ventures or secured deals aimed at becoming entities that hold bitcoin on their balance sheets. These initiatives offer investors indirect exposure to the cryptocurrency—without the need to purchase it themselves—an approach popularized by MicroStrategy in 2020. This model has since gained significant traction among retail traders.

What People Are Saying

Eric Trump emphasized the company's mission to establish a scalable and long-term value-creating bitcoin investment platform, "Our vision for American Bitcoin is to create the most investable Bitcoin accumulation platform in the market."

Allan Marshall, CEO of e-commerce platform Upexi said in an interview last week, "Buying a stock is a very familiar investment to way more people than buying crypto on a platform."

President Trump's March executive order read: "Taking affirmative steps to centralize ownership, control, and management of these assets within the Federal government will ensure proper oversight, accurate tracking, and a cohesive approach to managing the government's cryptocurrency holdings ... President Donald Trump is fulfilling his promise to position America as the global leader in cryptocurrency."

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro took Trump to task over his meme coin venture, saying on a recent podcast, "And then in April, that Trump meme coin announced that the top 220 holders of the meme coin would be invited to an intimate private dinner with President Trump at his golf club. This raises the question of influence peddling. If you basically buy a bunch of Trump meme coin and then funnel money to organizations associated with President Trump so you can have dinner with Trump. That doesn't look great."

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>>> Binance Holdings Ltd., branded Binance, is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao, a developer who had previously created high-frequency trading software. Binance was initially based in China, then moved to Japan shortly before the Chinese government restricted cryptocurrency companies. Binance subsequently left Japan for Malta and currently has no official company headquarters.

Binance has been the subject of lawsuits and challenges from regulatory authorities throughout its history. As a result, Binance has been banned from operating or ordered to cease operations in some countries, and has been issued fines. In 2021, Binance was put under investigation by both the United States Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service on allegations of money laundering and tax offenses.[8][9][10] The UK's Financial Conduct Authority ordered Binance to stop all regulated activity in the United Kingdom in June 2021.[11] That same year, Binance shared client data, including names and addresses, with the Russian government.[12]

In November 2023, the company pleaded guilty in a US federal court to money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting, and sanctions violations...

...2024-present

In March 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported that the family of Donald Trump through World Liberty Financial had entered into talks with Binance to acquire a stake in the US arm of the business. This coincided with a push from Zhao to receive a presidential pardon for his felony conviction. According to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal, Trump advisor Steve Witkoff was involved, although his office denied this. According to the Wall Street Journal, a pardon from President Trump would simplify a revival of Binance's presence in the US.[82][83] On March 12 2025, it was announced that the Abu Dhabi government-backed investment fund MGX Fund Management Limited had made a minority $2 billion investment in Binance.[84]

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>>> Coinbase stock soars 24% as inclusion in S&P 500 signals 'dramatic turnaround' for crypto industry


Yahoo Finance

by Ines Ferré

May 13, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-stock-soars-24-as-inclusion-in-sp-500-signals-dramatic-turnaround-for-crypto-industry-201230743.html


Coinbase (COIN) stock surged nearly 24% on Tuesday as Wall Street cheered the inclusion of the first and only crypto exchange in the S&P 500 (^GSPC) — a major milestone for the company and an industry once in the crosshairs of regulators.

"Coinbase has gone from being in an intense litigation with the SEC just a few months back (later dropped by the SEC under the Trump regime) to being the latest addition to S&P 500," Bernstein managing director Gautam Chhugani wrote on Tuesday morning.

"This event symbolises the dramatic turnaround in fortunes for the crypto industry and its rising significance as the frontier of financial innovation," he added.

The significance of formally joining the S&P 500 on May 19 was not lost on company executives either.

"This is a major milestone, not just for Coinbase, but also for the entire crypto industry," wrote Alesia Haas, Coinbase's CFO, on Monday afternoon. "Joining this prestigious index reflects how far Coinbase and the industry have come and is a signal of where the world is heading."

The announcement came days after Bitcoin (BTC-USD) crossed the $100,000 level to reach its highest level since late January.

The cryptocurrency has rallied since President Trump won the White House last year and put in place key figures to forge ahead with a token-friendly framework, a promise on which he campaigned.

One of those moves included placing cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins at the helm of the SEC after Gary Gensler stepped down on Jan. 20.

In late February, Coinbase announced the SEC had agreed to drop its enforcement case against the company.

Under Gensler, the agency had charged Coinbase with operating as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.

Coinbase shares rallied to all-time highs in December, surging 90% since Trump's election. The stock declined to pre-election levels in April as the overall market sank following Trump's tariff policy unveiling.

Year to date, Coinbase shares are up more than 3%.

Bernstein has a Buy rating on the stock with a $310 price target. The analysts point to the crypto exchange's $320 billion in assets with around 10 million active users.

"With the Trump Administration’s aspiration to make America the ‘crypto capital of the world’, Coinbase remains the dominant platform (66% U.S market share) to ride the tailwinds," wrote Chhugani.

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>>> Coinbase stock drops after cyberattack and news of a SEC investigation


Yahoo Finance

by David Hollerith and Jennifer Schonberger

May 15, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-stock-drops-after-cyberattack-and-news-of-a-sec-investigation-165523301.html


Coinbase's stock (COIN) closed down 7% on Thursday after two developments raised new questions about the company's controls and regulatory headaches.

First, the US crypto exchange disclosed that cyberattackers had stolen sensitive customer data and threatened to publish it unless the company paid a $20 million ransom.

Then the New York Times reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission still has an open investigation into whether Coinbase misreported user data years ago.

Coinbase said no passwords or private crypto wallet codes had been compromised by the cyberattack and that the data leak affected less than 1% of Coinbase's monthly transacting customers, according to a blog post.

Separately, Coinbase's chief legal officer Paul Grewal shared his response to the New York Times with Yahoo Finance, saying the SEC matter was "a holdover investigation from the prior administration about a metric we stopped reporting two and a half years ago,” adding that "we remain committed to working with the SEC to bring this matter to a close."

The SEC declined to comment.

The two developments Thursday represented an unexpected setback for Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange, following a series of wins this year as the crypto world gained deeper mainstream acceptance on Wall Street and in Washington, D.C.

Last week, the company announced a $2.9 billion acquisition of crypto options exchange Deribit. Earlier this week, Coinbase's stock soared after it was officially added to the S&P 500 index (^GSPC).

"Coinbase joining the S&P 500 means crypto's here to stay," Armstrong said in a Yahoo Finance interview on Capitol Hill Wednesday.

"It's going to be in everybody's 401(k). Everyone's going to have crypto exposure at least indirectly through Coinbase. And it's also a symbol that crypto is updating the financial system," Armstrong added.

On Thursday morning, Armstrong posted a video on X addressing the breach.

He explained that instead of paying the ransom, Coinbase is establishing a $20 million reward or bounty program for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attackers. He also said the company is planning to reimburse customers affected by the incident.

"No, we're not going to pay your ransom," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said.

"These attackers had been approaching our overseas customer support agents, looking for a weak link, someone to accept a bribe in exchange for sharing some customer information," Armstrong said.

A preliminary estimate of the cost for the incident is "approximately $180 million to $400 million," Coinbase said in a Thursday SEC filing. A spokesperson clarified that the cost is "mostly" for the bounty program and reimbursing affected customers.

The attackers gained control of customer information, including names, emails, physical addresses, phone numbers, and government identification details — including the last four digits of their Social Security numbers — along with some bank account identifiers and snapshots of customer balance data and transaction history.

The news that the SEC still has an open investigation into Coinbase reinforced that the company's regulatory troubles may not be over, even after announcing in late February that the SEC had agreed to drop an enforcement case initiated by former SEC boss Gary Gensler.

Under Gensler, the agency had charged Coinbase with operating as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. President Trump replaced Gensler with cryptocurrency advocate Paul Atkins.

The outstanding SEC inquiry that remains open also began during the Biden administration, according to the New York Times. It centers on whether the company misstated its "verified user" numbers in financial disclosures as far back as its initial filing to go public, according to the Times.

Coinbase stopped using the "verified user" metric in 2023. "Based on our evaluation of our Verified Users metric, we do not believe this metric, which is an indicator of the scale of our platform, provides meaningful information related to our business performance," the company said in a February filing of that year.

Grewal, Coinbase's chief legal officer, said the metric was "fully disclosed to the public. We explained that the verified users metric includes anyone who verified their email address or phone number with us, so it may overstate the number of unique customers."

"We also disclosed — and continue to disclose — the more relevant metric of ‘monthly transacting users’ — the number of people who use our platform in a given month."

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>>> Coinbase Is Buying Bitcoin, Just Don’t Call It a Treasury Strategy.


Coin Desk

by Sam Reynolds

May 10, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/analysis-coinbase-buying-bitcoin-just-113001775.html


Coinbase (COIN) has its own strategy for BTC on the corporate balance sheet, but it's not a bitcoin maximalist play like that of Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR).

On the company's first quarter 2025 earnings call, CFO Alesia Haas revealed that Coinbase purchased $150 million in crypto, “predominantly bitcoin,” bringing its long-term investment portfolio to $1.3 billion, or 25% of net cash.

Haas, however, went out of her way to draw a line between Coinbase and firms that explicitly tie their corporate identity to holding bitcoin on the balance sheet.

“To be clear, we're an operating company,” she said. “But we do invest alongside the space.”

In other words, Coinbase isn’t betting the company on bitcoin. On a Q&A call with retail investors, Armstrong said there was a temptation in its early days to put a lot of BTC on the balance sheet, but it was too risky. Crypto is volatile and, at the time, Coinbase was too young of a company to take that risk.

Now, as a listed giant things have changed, but there's still not a need to go all-in on bitcoin. Coinbase is allocating profits from operations back into crypto assets, similarly to how a commodity firm might accumulate raw materials it understands deeply. The move is less Michael Saylor and more sector-aligned capital recycling.

In fact, Coinbase didn’t even trumpet the purchase in its shareholder letter. The news only surfaced in response to a retail shareholder's question about “accruing hard crypto reserve assets.”

CEO Brian Armstrong didn’t speak directly about the purchases, but he did offer a philosophical context. Coinbase, he reminded investors, isn’t dabbling in crypto – it is crypto.

“We’ve been focused on crypto since the beginning, 12 years ago, and we continue to be focused there,” Armstrong said. “Crypto is eating financial services.”

For Armstrong, buying BTC is a byproduct of conviction and operational alignment and not a headline play, treasury pivot, or activist bet.

Coinbase isn’t holding BTC to signal to markets some broader conviction, or become a proxy like MSTR. Behind the accounting language is something deeper: a long-view bet that holding Bitcoin, like building the rails beneath it, is simply part of Coinbase's job.

That's not a treasury strategy — it's something in the middle.

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CME, CBOE, ICE - >>> CME Hits 52-Week High: Time to Buy Despite Expensive Valuation?


Zacks

by Tanuka De

May 8, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cme-hits-52-week-high-172800347.html


CME Group CME hit a 52-week high of $286.48 on May 7. Shares closed at $284.82 after gaining 22% year to date, outperforming the industry, the sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite in the same time frame.

CME Group has outperformed its peers, Cboe Global Markets CBOE and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. ICE, which have gained 19.9% and 18.5%, respectively, year to date.

With a capitalization of $102.6 billion, CME Group is the largest futures exchange in the world in terms of trading volume and notional value traded. The average number of shares traded in the last three months was 2.6 million.

Its solid portfolio of futures products in emerging markets, diversified derivative product lines and global reach, along with its OTC offerings, increased electronic trading, cross-selling through alliances, and a strong global presence and liquidity position should continue to drive CME Group.

CME shares are trading above the 50-day and 200-day moving averages, indicating a bullish trend.

CME Shares Are Expensive

CME Group shares are trading at a premium to the industry. The company’s price-to-earnings of 25.33X is higher than the industry average of 24.55X.

The stock is also expensive compared with other players like Intercontinental Exchange and Cboe Global Markets.

Cboe Global Markets is the largest stock exchange operator by volume in the United States and a leading market globally for ETP trading. Its strategy of expanding its product line across asset classes, broadening geographic reach and diversifying the business mix reflects operational expertise, which, in turn, poises it well for growth.

Intercontinental Exchange is poised for growth, banking on the strength of its compelling portfolio and expansive risk-management services, which also ensure revenue flow, as well as strategic buyouts, a solid balance sheet and effective capital deployment. Its dividend history is impressive.

Target Price Reflects Potential Downside

Based on short-term price targets offered by 18 analysts, the Zacks average price target is $270.39 per share. The average indicates a potential 4.6% downside from the last closing price.

Optimistic Analyst Sentiment and Growth Projection for CME Instill Confidence

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings is pegged at $11.11, indicating an 8.3% year-over-year increase on 6.7% higher revenues of $6.5 billion. The consensus estimate for 2026 is pegged at $11.50, indicating a 3.5% year-over-year increase on 4.5% higher revenues of $6.8 billion. The expected long-term earnings growth rate is 6.5%.

The consensus estimate for 2025 and 2026 earnings has moved 3.6% and 2.9% north in the past 30 days, respectively, reflecting analyst optimism.

CME’s Return on Capital

Return on equity, which reflects the company’s efficiency in utilizing shareholders' funds, was 14% in the trailing 12 months, better than the industry average of 13.9%.

Return on invested capital (ROIC) hovered around 10% over the last few years, reflecting CME’s efficiency in utilizing funds to generate income. However, ROIC in the trailing 12 months was 0.6%, which compared unfavorably with the industry average of 5.2%.

Factors Impacting CME

CME Group demonstrates strong organic growth. Given that CME is an exchange, it naturally benefits from heightened market volatility, which fuels trading activity and, in turn, increases clearing and transaction fees. These fees continue to be the largest contributor to CME’s top line, and their sustained growth bodes well for future revenue expansion.

CME Group is also seeing rising electronic trading activity and increasing traction in crypto assets, driven by growing participation in the broader crypto economy. With Donald Trump’s second term ushering in a more crypto-friendly regulatory climate, CME is well-positioned to capitalize on these trends.

CME’s investments are delivering positive returns, and its ongoing focus on cost efficiency is helping to improve margins. A robust capital base supports initiatives to grow its market data business, broaden its product range, and pursue strategic capital deployment.

Moreover, CME has consistently delivered strong financial performance, with free cash flow conversion exceeding 85% in recent quarters—a testament to its solid earnings quality.

Nonetheless, CME remains exposed to concentration risk, as it continues to rely heavily on Interest Rate and Equity products for a large portion of its clearing and transaction fee revenues, despite diversification efforts. It also operates in a highly competitive environment. The derivatives exchange segment faces rising pressure from crypto trading platforms, while other segments contend with competition from electronic communication networks, single-dealer platforms, and bank-owned trading venues.

Parting Thoughts on CME

A strong global presence, a compelling product portfolio, focus on over-the-counter clearing services and a solid capital position poise CME well for growth. A crypto-friendly regulatory climate will add to the upside.

CME’s dividend history is impressive too. It pays five dividends per year, with the fifth being variable and based on excess cash flow, making it an attractive pick for yield-seeking investors.

Despite its premium valuation, an unfavorable ROIC and concentration risk, the tailwinds make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock worth adding to one’s portfolio. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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>>> US Justice Dept disbands crypto enforcement team, citing Trump order


Reuters

by Sarah N. Lynch and Chris Prentice

4-8-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/us-justice-dept-disbands-crypto-enforcement-team-citing-trump-order/ar-AA1Cy1QL?ocid=TobArticle


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is disbanding its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and ordering prosecutors to narrow crypto investigations to focus on drug cartels and terrorist groups, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

The memo from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, sent out to employees late on Monday night, accused former Democratic President Joe Biden's administration of pursuing a "reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution" of the digital asset sector.

The unit, known as NCET and launched in February 2022 as part of the administration's bid to combat fraud and illicit finance, investigated and coordinating cases including one against Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to violating laws designed to prevent money laundering.

But under President Donald Trump, whose family is building its own crypto enterprise, the U.S. government has been reversing course on crypto. The Republican promised to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet".

Going forward, Blanche said, the department will prioritize investigations into "individuals who victimize digital asset investors, or those who use digital assets in furtherance of criminal offenses such as terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking, organized crime, hacking, and cartel and gang financing."

Any ongoing investigations "inconsistent" with this new policy "should be closed," Blanche wrote.

A Justice Department spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

Blanche cited one of Trump's executive orders as the basis for his directive. That executive order calls for the government to help ensure that both individuals and private sector companies can access "open blockchain networks without persecution".

NEW STANCE ON CRYPTO, AND A PERSONAL STAKE

Trump, who courted the sector on the 2024 campaign trail, has called for easing crypto regulations. Since he took office, regulators have begun swiftly rolling back the government's efforts to rein in the industry.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, the top U.S. markets regulator, has refocused its own crypto enforcement team and paused or altogether walked away from high-profile cases many thought the agency was winning. A U.S. banking regulator last month told banks they could engage in some crypto activities.

The Deputy Attorney General's Monday memo said the Justice Department would stop targeting virtual currency exchanges, offline wallets and services known as mixers and tumblers designed to make crypto transactions anonymous, for "acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations".

Blanche, one of President Trump’s former criminal defense attorneys, was confirmed last month in the No. 2 role at the Justice Department.

In his memo, he ordered prosecutors not to charge regulatory violations under federal banking, securities and commodities laws unless there is evidence that the company or individual willfully violated licensing or registration requirements.

Crypto is a sector in which Trump and his family now have a stake. Reuters previously reported that the Trump family has a claim on 75% of net revenues from token sales by World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture.

Ahead of his inauguration, Trump also launched a crypto token. The companies behind the "meme coins" $TRUMP and $MELANIA, for first lady Melania Trump, said they are not investments or securities but are an "expression of support".

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>>> The Trump Family Is Going All-In on Crypto Projects, From Bitcoin Mining to Stablecoins


Bloomberg

by Teresa Xie and Olga Kharif

April 12, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-family-going-crypto-projects-140000972.html


(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump and his family have taken a interest in just about every corner of the crypto industry.

There are nonfungible tokens and digital collectibles; a decentralized finance project; a proposed stablecoin; an effort at Bitcoin mining; and a pair of memecoins, one for the president and one for First Lady Melania Trump.

Taken together, the various projects are approaching $1 billion in paper gains even after accounting for the latest round of trade war-induced market gyrations, according to Bloomberg calculations based on publicly available data.

Donald Trump is already the richest person to have ever become US president, and his non-crypto holdings include significant investments in real estate. After his first election in 2016, Trump’s lawyers created a trust to handle his business affairs. That was managed by his two eldest sons and by Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of Trump’s real estate company.

Eric Trump has emphasized that “there are no conflicts” related to the family’s crypto investments.

“I don’t work with the White House,” Eric Trump said during a Bloomberg TV interview in April. “We’ve believed in crypto for a long time.”

The president’s own public conversion to crypto is still relatively new. Trump called Bitcoin a “scam” as recently as 2021, telling Fox Business at the time that he didn’t like the token “because it’s another currency competing against the dollar” and that it should be regulated “very, very high.”

Trump’s relationship with the digital asset industry has evolved significantly since then. As a candidate, he courted and benefited from significant contributions to his reelection campaign from crypto executives and advocates.

In his second term, Trump has signed executive orders in support of his promise to make the US the crypto capital of the planet, installed David Sacks and Bo Hines to represent the interests of the industry, and continued to tout his memecoin with posts on Truth Social.

“Trump and his family seem eager to establish a broad foothold in the sector prior to further regulatory actions that are likely to boost cryptoasset valuations,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

Here’s how the Trump crypto portfolio has evolved.

Nonfungible Tokens: Dec. 2022

Trump became a crypto convert after falling in love with his own digital collectibles, known as nonfungible tokens.

Bill Zanker, a friend of Trump’s and the founder of adult-education company The Learning Annex, initially pitched him the idea. Since then, the Trump Trading Cards NFTs, which show him in a variety of poses and outfits (sometimes dressed as a superhero), have been spread out over four collections.

The president last year hosted dinners for fans who purchased his NFTs, which, according to financial disclosures, have brought in millions of dollars.

Decentralized Finance: Sept. 2024

The Trump family announced its crypto project World Liberty Financial ahead of the US election. Since its inception, the project has been buying up millions of dollars worth of other cryptocurrencies, including Ether and Tron, though has yet to offer promised DeFi services like lending crypto without any intermediaries.

A company affiliated with Trump receives 75% of net revenue as a fee, including the proceeds of token sales, according to offering documents. The Trump family owns 60% of the equity share of the World Liberty through their company DT Marks DeFi LLC.

The company has raised $550 million in token sales after completing a second round last month.

Zach Witkoff, one of World Liberty’s co-founders, is the son of Steve Witkoff, who helped connect the president’s family to other World Liberty Financial’s participants. Since the platform’s token sale in October, observers have raised questions about its potential conflicts of interest for the Trump family, given the administration’s sway over regulations.

Trump’s sons, Donald Jr., Eric, and Barron, are all listed as “Web3 Advisors” to World Liberty Financial. The family actively promotes the project through social media and public appearances.

Memecoins: Jan. 2025

The day before Trump’s inauguration, he and his wife, Melania, launched their own memecoins, a highly speculative corner of crypto in which the asset doesn’t have much intrinsic value. After an initial surge, which likely generated more than $11.4 million in fees for entities linked to the president in January alone, prices have tanked.

The foray was met with mixed reaction from the crypto industry, as many believed it hurt the push to appear more legitimate. Two Trump-linked entities — CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC — own 80% of the supply, a holding that will be unlocked over three years.

ETFs: Feb. 2025

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. said in early February that it had applied to trademark brands for investment products with themes that track Trump’s priorities, including a “Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF.”

It has said it would work with Crypto.com to launch the ETF. The month before Trump’s election win, the SEC filed a notice that it intended to sue Crypto.com for operating an unregistered securities exchange. It closed its probe in March, according to the company.

Stablecoin: March 25

World Liberty Financial announced plans to launch its own dollar-tracking stablecoin called USD1, which will be initially minted on the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain blockchains. The token will be backed one-to-one by short-term US Treasuries, dollar deposits and other cash equivalents, according to World Liberty.

The move came just ahead of landmark stablecoin legislation that advanced through the House Financial Services Committee, with crypto companies pitching stablecoins as a way to make global financial transactions cheaper and faster.

Bitcoin Mining: March 31

The Trump family said it plans to launch a Bitcoin mining-focused venture with Hut 8 Corp. Bitcoin miners were early supporters of Trump’s reelection campaign. In June 2024, then-candidate Trump hosted several mining executives at Mar-a-Lago, telling them he’d be an advocate for them in the White House.

The Bitcoin mining sector in the US has morphed into a multibillion dollar industry.

“Investing in crypto is no longer as simple as holding Bitcoin,” said Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke University. “There are many different crypto segments. Trump has a presence in lending, a future stablecoin, other cryptoassets, and now a mining operation.”

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Trump's own Stablecoin is announced, and there's hardly a peep from the mainstream media about this off the charts level of profiteering by Slimy Don and his family. Now Trump not only has his own meme coins, his own family of ETFs, but now his own Stablecoin! Any questions about why the Donald completely reversed course on his previous opposition to crypto have been answered. He's going right to the bank.

But it gets A LOT worse, because Trump is letting himself be used by the Fed / finance ghouls to build out the infrastructure for their coming CBDC. He claims to be anti CBDC, but like 'most things Trump' it's a bunch of self serving BS. When the Orwellian CBDC arrives in 5 years, and effectively ends what's left of our freedoms, Slimy Don will have the multi $ billion bribes he took for selling out the country.



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Grifting Don - >>> Trump Family Venture Plunges Deeper Into Crypto With New ‘Stablecoin’


The Wall Street Journal

by Vicky Ge Huang

3-25-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-family-venture-plunges-deeper-into-crypto-with-new-stablecoin/ar-AA1BCO22?cvid=8b89bc13f93e49899368c2122e0b91b3&ei=109


The Trump family’s World Liberty Financial is launching a stablecoin, its latest bid to capitalize on a crypto-market revival kindled by the president’s election.

World Liberty’s USD1 will be backed by short-term U.S. Treasurys, U.S. dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents, the company said Tuesday. The token will be issued on the Ethereum network and a blockchain created by Binance, the crypto exchange that has sought to forge closer ties to the president’s family.

Stablecoins provide the backbone to the decentralized web of digital networks that comprise the crypto markets, functioning as digital dollars used widely to store cash or pay for purchases of other tokens. They aim to maintain a 1:1 exchange ratio with government-issued currencies, and store reserves in cash or cash-like assets such as Treasurys to keep the peg in place.

World Liberty’s stablecoin project marks the Trump family’s latest push into crypto, and comes as the president’s administration has sought to make the U.S. a more-welcoming market for digital assets. Earlier this month, Trump pledged to make the U.S. the “undisputed bitcoin superpower and the crypto capital of the world.”

The Trumps launched World Liberty in October, billing the entity as a decentralized finance project that would help match crypto investors eager to borrow and lend from, and trade with, one another.

Related video: Trump Media Surges 9% In After-Hours Trading After Announcing Partnership With Crypto.com To Launch 'Made In America'-Focused ETFs.

Critics said World Liberty’s stablecoin launch poses a major conflict of interest for President Trump, who has said he hoped to see stablecoin legislation on his desk before Congress’s August recess.

“We haven’t had a president in recent memory ever sign legislation that could directly affect his financial interest,” said Kedric Payne, senior director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, an ethics watchdog group. “It is a clear violation of the ethics norm.”

The measure that is gaining momentum in Congress now intends to give issuers of stablecoins a regulatory framework, specifying rules on reserves and customer protections. The Trump family’s foray into stablecoins through World Liberty could derail those efforts, according to TD Cowen’s Washington Research Group analyst Jaret Seiberg. Democrats may now press for stronger investor protections and question whether the Securities and Exchange Commission could be trusted as the lead regulator on the stablecoin, Seiberg said.

DeFi users transact with each other without the usual banks and other intermediaries that dominate traditional finance, with terms written directly into the software code. And by swapping stablecoins to complete those transactions, users don’t have to worry about price volatility. The most popular stablecoin is Tether, which traders have widely used to stash their cash, invest in other tokens and swap for traditional currencies. It has also been heavily used for illicit activities, including terrorism financing and drug trafficking.

World Liberty said recently it had raised $550 million from more than 85,000 U.S. and non-U. S. investors—including its largest investor Justin Sun, the founder of Tron—by selling a token called WLFI. Earlier this year, President Trump and first lady Melania Trump also launched a pair of meme coins, a type of cryptocurrency with no intrinsic value. DT Marks DEFI, an entity affiliated with Trump and certain members of his family, owns approximately 60% of the equity interests in WLF Holdco, the parent company of World Liberty Financial.

News about the USD1 stablecoin spread on social media on Monday when Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, welcomed the token to the Binance Smart Chain in a post on X. Zhao later said in another post that scammers created coins with the same name since his initial post, warning that “the official USD1 isn’t tradable yet.”

Representatives of the Trumps have held talks to take a financial stake in Binance’s U.S. arm, The Wall Street Journal reported, and Zhao has been pushing for the Trump administration to grant him a pardon.

World Liberty Financial said it is taking a conservative approach in ensuring its token maintains its stability. TerraUSD, a so-called algorithmic stablecoin, used financial engineering to maintain price stability. The token, which generated yields as high as 20%, crashed in May 2022, wiping out $40 billion and causing financial ruin for investors worldwide.

“USD1 provides what algorithmic and anonymous crypto projects cannot—access to the power of DeFi underpinned by the credibility and safeguards of the most respected names in traditional finance,” Zach Witkoff, a co-founder of World Liberty Financial, said in a statement.

Witkoff didn’t identify those respected names in the statement, and he and other company executives weren’t made available for comment.

Witkoff, the son of Trump’s ?Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, was among two dozen crypto executives who attended the first-ever White House Crypto Summit earlier this month.

USD1’s reserves will be safeguarded by crypto custodian BitGo and audited regularly by an unspecified third-party accounting firm, World Liberty said. BitGo’s prime brokerage business also agreed to facilitate clients’ USD1 trades.

Mike Belshe, chief executive of BitGo, said he began working with World Liberty on the stablecoin initiative late last year. He said the USD1 stablecoin will become immediately available to BitGo’s 2,500 institutional customers once his company enables the function.

“There is so much excitement about this new stablecoin that pretty much everybody wants to be a part of it,” Belshe said.

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CBDC plumbing going in on the sly, thanks to Trump -


>>> US regulator clears path for banks to engage in some crypto activities


Reuters

by Pete Schroeder

March 7, 2025


https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-bank-regulator-reaffirms-banks-can-engage-some-crypto-activities-2025-03-07/


WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. regulator overseeing national banks clarified Friday that banks can engage in some crypto activities, and removed expectations firms should receive advance permission from regulators before doing so.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in a statement that national banks are permitted to engage in some crypto activities, such as crypto-asset custody, some stablecoin activities, and participation in distributed ledger networks.

The OCC also rescinded prior guidance telling banks they should clear crypto activities with regulators beforehand, including showing they have adequate controls in place for that business.

Rodney Hood, acting comptroller, said in a statement that the new guidance makes clear banks must have risk management in place regardless of technology. The announcement came on the same day the White House hosted a crypto summit, and hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a strategic reserve for bitcoin and a handful of other cryptocurrencies. “Today’s action will reduce the burden on banks to engage in crypto-related activities and ensure that these bank activities are treated consistently by the OCC, regardless of the underlying technology," Hood said in a statement.

Specifically, the OCC on Friday rescinded guidance for banks issued under former President Joe Biden's administration, which effectively set additional guardrails for banks seeking to engage in some crypto activities. The rescinded letters told banks they should brief their supervisors on crypto activities beforehand, show how they would handle risks, and ensure the supervisor had no objection.

The OCC also withdrew from joint statements previously issued by U.S. regulators effectively cautioning banks against engaging with crypto. One such statement, issued in 2023, did not prohibit banks from doing crypto business, but warned the sector is prone to "significant volatility" and said any bank activities would be closely scrutinized.

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Well there it is --> US Strategic Crypto Reserve. While the BRICS currency offers gold backing, the fiat US dollar will now have Bitcoin / crypto backing, lol.

But the real goal here is to get the infrastructure / plumbing in place for the CBDC. As payback, the finance oligarchy allows Trump to remain in office, and also to line his own pockets via his Trump meme coins, and recently announced crypto ETF. As the Donald said in a recent press conference --> 'I'm a businessman'.




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>>> Trump announces strategic crypto reserve including bitcoin, Solana, XRP and more


Mar 2 2025

by Tanaya Macheel


https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/02/trump-announces-strategic-crypto-reserve-including-bitcoin-solana-xrp-and-more.html


Key Points

President Donald Trump announced the creation of a “strategic crypto reserve” that will include bitcoin, ether, XRP, Solana’s SOL token and Cardano’s ADA, in a post on Truth Social.

This is the first time Trump has specified his support for a crypto “reserve” versus a “stockpile.”

Bitcoin had been in consolidation since the executive order on crypto issued in late January. It just closed its worst month since 2022.

In this article

BTC.CM=
+8,341.70 (+9.76%)

XRP.CM=
+0.72 (+33.43%)

SOL.CM=
+34.75 (+24.77%)

ADA.CM=
+0.40 (+62.55%)

ETH.CM=
+301.24 (+13.56%)

Cryptocurrencies rallied on Sunday after President Donald Trump announced the creation of a strategic crypto reserve for the United States that will include bitcoin, and ether, as well as XRP, Solana’s SOL token and Cardano’s ADA.

“A U.S. Crypto Reserve will elevate this critical industry after years of corrupt attacks by the Biden Administration, which is why my Executive Order on Digital Assets directed the Presidential Working Group to move forward on a Crypto Strategic Reserve that includes XRP, SOL, and ADA,” he said in a post on Truth Social. “I will make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World.”

“And, obviously, BTC and ETH, as other valuable Cryptocurrencies, will be at the heart of the Reserve,” he said in a follow-up post. “I also love Bitcoin and Ethereum!”

XRP surged 33% after the announcement while the token tied to Solana jumped 22%. Cardano’s coin soared more than 60%.

Bitcoin rose 10% to $94,425.29, after dipping to a three-month low under $80,000 on Friday. Ether, which has suffered some of the biggest losses in crypto year-to-date, gained 12%.

Trump is hosting the first White House Crypto Summit on Friday, and investors will be watching closely for more clues about the direction of the reserve plans.

This is the first time Trump has specified his support for a crypto “reserve” versus a “stockpile.” While the former assumes actively buying crypto in regular installments, a stockpile would simply not sell any of the crypto currently held by the U.S. government.

Bitcoin jumps on Trump’s announcement of a strategic crypto reserve

Trump first introduced the idea of a bitcoin stockpile, which would “keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future” last summer at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, one of the industry’s largest conferences, where he began courting the crypto vote. At the same event, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced her proposal for a national strategic bitcoin reserve.

After his re-election in November, the drumbeat for a strategic bitcoin reserve grew louder, helping send the price of the flagship cryptocurrency to new all-time highs. That momentum seemed to come to a halt after Trump issued his executive order on crypto in late January. It called for the President’s Working Group on crypto to evaluate the “potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts,” among other things.

The industry had a lukewarm response to the language, in part because investors expected a focus on bitcoin, whereas the term “digital assets” suggested the stockpile could include other cryptocurrencies without giving specifics.

“The launch of a U.S. crypto strategic reserve marks a pivotal moment for digital assets, reflecting a major step in the government’s engagement with the crypto industry,” said Federico Brokate, head of the U.S. business at 21Shares. “This initiative not only reinforces bitcoin’s role as a maturing store of value but also highlights the importance of blockchain networks like Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Cardano in financial infrastructure, payments, and decentralized finance.”

Bitcoin, absent a crypto specific catalyst, had been in consolidation since the executive order. It just closed out its worst month since 2022.

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>>> Stablecoin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stablecoin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency where the value of the digital asset is supposed to be pegged to a reference asset, which is either fiat money, exchange-traded commodities (such as precious metals or industrial metals), or another cryptocurrency.[1]

In theory, 1:1 backing by a reference asset could make a stablecoin value track the value of the peg and not be subject to the radical changes in value common in the market for many digital assets.[2] In practice, however, stablecoin issuers have yet to be proven to maintain adequate reserves to support a stable value[neutrality is disputed] and there have been a number of failures with investors losing the entirety of the (fiat currency) value of their holdings.

Background

Stablecoins have several purported purposes. They can be used for payments and are more likely to retain value than highly volatile cryptocurrencies. In practice, many stablecoins have failed to retain their "stable" value.[citation needed]

Stablecoins are typically non-interest bearing and therefore do not provide interest returns to the holder.[citation needed]

Reserve-backed stablecoins

Reserve-backed stablecoins are digital assets that are stabilized by other assets.[2] Furthermore, such coins, assuming they are managed in good faith and have a mechanism for redeeming the asset(s) backing them, are unlikely to drop below the value of the underlying physical asset, due to arbitrage. However, in practice, few, if any, stablecoins meet these assumptions.[citation needed]

Backed stablecoins are subject to the same volatility and risk associated with the backing asset. If the backed stablecoin is backed in a decentralized manner, they are relatively safe from predation, but if there is a central vault, it may be robbed or suffer loss of confidence.

Fiat-backed

The value of stablecoins of this type is based on the value of the backing currency, which is held by a third party–regulated financial entity. Fiat-backed stablecoins can be traded on exchanges and are redeemable from the issuer. The stability of the stablecoin is equivalent to the cost of maintaining the backing reserve and the cost of legal compliance, licenses, auditors, and the business infrastructure required by the regulator.

In this setting, the trust in the custodian of the backing asset is crucial for the stability of the stablecoin's price. If the issuer of the stablecoin lacks the fiat necessary to make exchanges, the stablecoin can quickly lose value and become worthless.

The most popular stablecoin, Tether, initially claimed to be fully backed by fiat currency; this was proven to be untrue, and Tether was fined $41 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for deceiving consumers.[3] Instead, Tether only had enough fiat reserve to guarantee 27.6% of their stablecoin. Nevertheless, Tether still remains widely used.

Cryptocurrencies backed by fiat currency are the most common and were the first type of stablecoins on the market.[citation needed] Their characteristics are:

Their value is pegged to one or more currencies (most commonly the US dollar, the euro, and the Swiss franc) in a fixed ratio;

The value connection is realized off-chain through banks or other types of regulated financial institutions which serve as depositaries of the currency used to back the stablecoin;

The amount of the currency used to back the stablecoin should reflect the circulating supply of the stablecoin.

Examples: TrueUSD (TUSD),[4] USD Tether (USDT),[5] USD Coin,[citation needed] Monerium EURe.[6]

In January 2023, National Australia Bank (not Australia's central bank) announced that it would create by mid-2023 an Australian Dollar fiat-backed stablecoin called the AUDN, for streamlining cross-border banking transactions and trading carbon credits.[7]

Commodity-backed

The main characteristics of commodity-backed stablecoins are:

Their value is fixed to one or more commodities and redeemable for such (more or less) on demand;

There is an implied or explicit promise to redeem by unregulated individuals, agorist firms, or even regulated financial institutions;

The amount of commodity used to back the stablecoin should reflect the circulating supply of the stablecoin.

Holders of commodity-backed stablecoins can redeem their stablecoins at the conversion rate to take possession of the backing assets under whatever rules as to timing and amount are in place at the time of redemption. Maintaining the stability of the stablecoin is the cost of storing and protecting the commodity backing.[citation needed]

Cryptocurrency-backed

Cryptocurrency-backed stablecoins are issued with cryptocurrencies as collateral, conceptually similar to fiat-backed stablecoins. However, the significant difference between the two designs is that while fiat collateralization typically happens off the blockchain, the cryptocurrency or crypto asset used to back this type of stablecoins is done on the blockchain, using smart contracts in a more decentralized fashion. In many cases, these allow users to take out a loan against a smart contract via locking up collateral, making it more worthwhile to pay off their debt should the stablecoin ever decrease in value. In addition, to prevent sudden crashes, a user who takes out a loan may be liquidated by the smart contract should their collateral decrease too close to the value of their withdrawal.

Significant features of crypto backed stablecoins are:

The value of the stablecoin is collateralized by another cryptocurrency or a cryptocurrency portfolio;
The peg is executed on-chain via smart contracts;

The supply of the stablecoins is regulated on-chain, using smart contracts;

price stability is achieved by introducing supplementary instruments and incentives, not just the collateral.

The technical implementation of this type of stablecoins is more complex and varied than that of the fiat-collateralized kind, which introduces a greater risk of exploits due to bugs in the smart contract code. With the tethering done on-chain, it is not subject to third-party regulation creating a decentralized solution. The potentially problematic aspect of this type of stablecoins is the change in the value of the collateral and the reliance on supplementary instruments. The complexity and non-direct backing of the stablecoin may deter usage, as it may take time to comprehend how the price is ensured. Due to the highly volatile and convergent cryptocurrency market, substantial collateral must also be maintained to ensure stability.

Live stablecoins projects of this type are Havven (the pair: nUSD – stablecoin and HAV – the collateral-backed nUSD),[8] DAI (pair: CDP – Collateralized Debt Position and MKR – governance token used to control the supply)[9] and others. There is also Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), see BitGo.

Seigniorage-style/algorithmic stablecoins (not backed)

Seigniorage-style coins, also known as algorithmic stablecoins, utilize algorithms to control the stablecoin's money supply, similar to a central bank's approach to printing and destroying currency. Seigniorage-based stablecoins are a less popular form of stablecoin.[10]

Algorithmic stablecoins are a type of stablecoin intended to hold a stable value over the long term because of particular computer algorithms and game theory rather than a peg to a reserve asset.[11] In practice, some algorithmic stablecoins have yet to maintain price stability. For example, the "UST" asset on the Terra blockchain was theoretically supported by a reserve asset called "Luna", and plummeted in value in May 2022. Wired magazine said, "The Ponzinomics were just too obvious: When you pay money for nothing, and stash your nothing in a protocol with the expectation that it will give you a 20 percent yield—all you end up with is 20 percent of nothing."[11]

Significant features of seigniorage-style stablecoins are:[10]

Adjustments are made on-chain,
No collateral is needed to mint coins,
Value is controlled by supply and demand through algorithms, stabilizing the price.
Basis was one example of a seigniorage-style coin.[10]

TerraUSD (UST), created by Do Kwon, was meant to maintain a 1:1 peg with the United States dollar.[12] Instead of being backed by dollars, UST was designed to keep its peg through a complex system connected with another Terra network token, Terra (LUNA).[13] In May 2022 UST broke its peg with its price plunging to 10 cents,[14] while LUNA fell to "virtually zero", down from an all-time high of $119.51.[15] The collapse wiped out almost $45 billion of market capitalization over the course of a week.[16]

On 13 June 2022, Tron's algorithmic stablecoin, USDD, lost its peg to the US Dollar.[17]

Possible advantages

The Bank of International Settlements lists the possible merits of the subject as enhancement of anti-money laundering efforts, operational resilience, customer data protection, financial inclusion, tax compliance, and cybersecurity.[18]

Risks and criticisms

Limitations on regulation

Nellie Liang, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance reported to the Senate banking committee that the rapid growth of the stablecoin market capitalization and its potential for financial services innovation require urgent Congressional regulation.[19]

Although US legislation is progressing in May 2024 to provide increased regulatory clarity for many digital assets, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act in its current form excludes certain stablecoins from regulation by the SEC, "except for fraud and certain activities by registered firms", and is specifically excluded from regulation by the CFTC.[20]

Lack of transparency

Tether is currently the world's largest market capitalization stablecoin. It has been accused of failing to produce audits for reserves used to collateralize the quantity of minted USDT stablecoin.[21] Tether has since issued assurance reports on USDT backing, although some speculation persists.[22]

De-pegging

Many projects can advance a product and call it a stablecoin. Thus, despite the name, many stablecoins have historically needed more stability because digital assets can be built to many different standards. Stablecoins such as TerraUSD and others have been crashed to zero[why?] in the past.[citation needed]

Other concerns

Griffin and Shams' research attributed the creation of unbacked USDT to the rise in Bitcoin's price in 2017.[23] Following that, research indicated little to no evidence that Tether USD minting events influenced Bitcoin values unless they were publicized to the public by Whale Alert.[24][25][26]

Defunct stablecoins

A number of stablecoins have crashed or lost their peg. For example:

The stablecoin project Basis, which had received over $100 million in venture capital funding, shut down in December 2018, citing concerns about US regulation.[27]

On 11 May 2022, Terra's stablecoin UST fell from $1 to 26 cents.[28][29] The subsequent failure of Terraform Labs resulted in the loss of nearly $40B invested in the Terra and Luna coins.[30] Both the United States and Korea are seeking extradition of its founder Do Kwon following his arrest in Montenegro on an Interpol notice.[31][32]

Diem (formerly Libra) was abandoned by Facebook/Meta and later purchased by Silvergate Capital.

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[gfp927z]

>>> Stablecoin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stablecoin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency where the value of the digital asset is supposed to be pegged to a reference asset, which is either fiat money, exchange-traded commodities (such as precious metals or industrial metals), or another cryptocurrency.[1]

In theory, 1:1 backing by a reference asset could make a stablecoin value track the value of the peg and not be subject to the radical changes in value common in the market for many digital assets.[2] In practice, however, stablecoin issuers have yet to be proven to maintain adequate reserves to support a stable value[neutrality is disputed] and there have been a number of failures with investors losing the entirety of the (fiat currency) value of their holdings.

Background

Stablecoins have several purported purposes. They can be used for payments and are more likely to retain value than highly volatile cryptocurrencies. In practice, many stablecoins have failed to retain their "stable" value.[citation needed]

Stablecoins are typically non-interest bearing and therefore do not provide interest returns to the holder.[citation needed]

Reserve-backed stablecoins

Reserve-backed stablecoins are digital assets that are stabilized by other assets.[2] Furthermore, such coins, assuming they are managed in good faith and have a mechanism for redeeming the asset(s) backing them, are unlikely to drop below the value of the underlying physical asset, due to arbitrage. However, in practice, few, if any, stablecoins meet these assumptions.[citation needed]

Backed stablecoins are subject to the same volatility and risk associated with the backing asset. If the backed stablecoin is backed in a decentralized manner, they are relatively safe from predation, but if there is a central vault, it may be robbed or suffer loss of confidence.

Fiat-backed

The value of stablecoins of this type is based on the value of the backing currency, which is held by a third party–regulated financial entity. Fiat-backed stablecoins can be traded on exchanges and are redeemable from the issuer. The stability of the stablecoin is equivalent to the cost of maintaining the backing reserve and the cost of legal compliance, licenses, auditors, and the business infrastructure required by the regulator.

In this setting, the trust in the custodian of the backing asset is crucial for the stability of the stablecoin's price. If the issuer of the stablecoin lacks the fiat necessary to make exchanges, the stablecoin can quickly lose value and become worthless.

The most popular stablecoin, Tether, initially claimed to be fully backed by fiat currency; this was proven to be untrue, and Tether was fined $41 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for deceiving consumers.[3] Instead, Tether only had enough fiat reserve to guarantee 27.6% of their stablecoin. Nevertheless, Tether still remains widely used.

Cryptocurrencies backed by fiat currency are the most common and were the first type of stablecoins on the market.[citation needed] Their characteristics are:

Their value is pegged to one or more currencies (most commonly the US dollar, the euro, and the Swiss franc) in a fixed ratio;

The value connection is realized off-chain through banks or other types of regulated financial institutions which serve as depositaries of the currency used to back the stablecoin;

The amount of the currency used to back the stablecoin should reflect the circulating supply of the stablecoin.

Examples: TrueUSD (TUSD),[4] USD Tether (USDT),[5] USD Coin,[citation needed] Monerium EURe.[6]

In January 2023, National Australia Bank (not Australia's central bank) announced that it would create by mid-2023 an Australian Dollar fiat-backed stablecoin called the AUDN, for streamlining cross-border banking transactions and trading carbon credits.[7]

Commodity-backed

The main characteristics of commodity-backed stablecoins are:

Their value is fixed to one or more commodities and redeemable for such (more or less) on demand;

There is an implied or explicit promise to redeem by unregulated individuals, agorist firms, or even regulated financial institutions;

The amount of commodity used to back the stablecoin should reflect the circulating supply of the stablecoin.

Holders of commodity-backed stablecoins can redeem their stablecoins at the conversion rate to take possession of the backing assets under whatever rules as to timing and amount are in place at the time of redemption. Maintaining the stability of the stablecoin is the cost of storing and protecting the commodity backing.[citation needed]

Cryptocurrency-backed

Cryptocurrency-backed stablecoins are issued with cryptocurrencies as collateral, conceptually similar to fiat-backed stablecoins. However, the significant difference between the two designs is that while fiat collateralization typically happens off the blockchain, the cryptocurrency or crypto asset used to back this type of stablecoins is done on the blockchain, using smart contracts in a more decentralized fashion. In many cases, these allow users to take out a loan against a smart contract via locking up collateral, making it more worthwhile to pay off their debt should the stablecoin ever decrease in value. In addition, to prevent sudden crashes, a user who takes out a loan may be liquidated by the smart contract should their collateral decrease too close to the value of their withdrawal.

Significant features of crypto backed stablecoins are:

The value of the stablecoin is collateralized by another cryptocurrency or a cryptocurrency portfolio;
The peg is executed on-chain via smart contracts;

The supply of the stablecoins is regulated on-chain, using smart contracts;

price stability is achieved by introducing supplementary instruments and incentives, not just the collateral.

The technical implementation of this type of stablecoins is more complex and varied than that of the fiat-collateralized kind, which introduces a greater risk of exploits due to bugs in the smart contract code. With the tethering done on-chain, it is not subject to third-party regulation creating a decentralized solution. The potentially problematic aspect of this type of stablecoins is the change in the value of the collateral and the reliance on supplementary instruments. The complexity and non-direct backing of the stablecoin may deter usage, as it may take time to comprehend how the price is ensured. Due to the highly volatile and convergent cryptocurrency market, substantial collateral must also be maintained to ensure stability.

Live stablecoins projects of this type are Havven (the pair: nUSD – stablecoin and HAV – the collateral-backed nUSD),[8] DAI (pair: CDP – Collateralized Debt Position and MKR – governance token used to control the supply)[9] and others. There is also Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), see BitGo.

Seigniorage-style/algorithmic stablecoins (not backed)

Seigniorage-style coins, also known as algorithmic stablecoins, utilize algorithms to control the stablecoin's money supply, similar to a central bank's approach to printing and destroying currency. Seigniorage-based stablecoins are a less popular form of stablecoin.[10]

Algorithmic stablecoins are a type of stablecoin intended to hold a stable value over the long term because of particular computer algorithms and game theory rather than a peg to a reserve asset.[11] In practice, some algorithmic stablecoins have yet to maintain price stability. For example, the "UST" asset on the Terra blockchain was theoretically supported by a reserve asset called "Luna", and plummeted in value in May 2022. Wired magazine said, "The Ponzinomics were just too obvious: When you pay money for nothing, and stash your nothing in a protocol with the expectation that it will give you a 20 percent yield—all you end up with is 20 percent of nothing."[11]

Significant features of seigniorage-style stablecoins are:[10]

Adjustments are made on-chain,
No collateral is needed to mint coins,
Value is controlled by supply and demand through algorithms, stabilizing the price.
Basis was one example of a seigniorage-style coin.[10]

TerraUSD (UST), created by Do Kwon, was meant to maintain a 1:1 peg with the United States dollar.[12] Instead of being backed by dollars, UST was designed to keep its peg through a complex system connected with another Terra network token, Terra (LUNA).[13] In May 2022 UST broke its peg with its price plunging to 10 cents,[14] while LUNA fell to "virtually zero", down from an all-time high of $119.51.[15] The collapse wiped out almost $45 billion of market capitalization over the course of a week.[16]

On 13 June 2022, Tron's algorithmic stablecoin, USDD, lost its peg to the US Dollar.[17]

Possible advantages

The Bank of International Settlements lists the possible merits of the subject as enhancement of anti-money laundering efforts, operational resilience, customer data protection, financial inclusion, tax compliance, and cybersecurity.[18]

Risks and criticisms

Limitations on regulation

Nellie Liang, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance reported to the Senate banking committee that the rapid growth of the stablecoin market capitalization and its potential for financial services innovation require urgent Congressional regulation.[19]

Although US legislation is progressing in May 2024 to provide increased regulatory clarity for many digital assets, the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act in its current form excludes certain stablecoins from regulation by the SEC, "except for fraud and certain activities by registered firms", and is specifically excluded from regulation by the CFTC.[20]

Lack of transparency

Tether is currently the world's largest market capitalization stablecoin. It has been accused of failing to produce audits for reserves used to collateralize the quantity of minted USDT stablecoin.[21] Tether has since issued assurance reports on USDT backing, although some speculation persists.[22]

De-pegging

Many projects can advance a product and call it a stablecoin. Thus, despite the name, many stablecoins have historically needed more stability because digital assets can be built to many different standards. Stablecoins such as TerraUSD and others have been crashed to zero[why?] in the past.[citation needed]

Other concerns

Griffin and Shams' research attributed the creation of unbacked USDT to the rise in Bitcoin's price in 2017.[23] Following that, research indicated little to no evidence that Tether USD minting events influenced Bitcoin values unless they were publicized to the public by Whale Alert.[24][25][26]

Defunct stablecoins

A number of stablecoins have crashed or lost their peg. For example:

The stablecoin project Basis, which had received over $100 million in venture capital funding, shut down in December 2018, citing concerns about US regulation.[27]

On 11 May 2022, Terra's stablecoin UST fell from $1 to 26 cents.[28][29] The subsequent failure of Terraform Labs resulted in the loss of nearly $40B invested in the Terra and Luna coins.[30] Both the United States and Korea are seeking extradition of its founder Do Kwon following his arrest in Montenegro on an Interpol notice.[31][32]

Diem (formerly Libra) was abandoned by Facebook/Meta and later purchased by Silvergate Capital.

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>>> Bitcoin ETFs are hit by a record $1 billion outflow in one day


Bloomberg

by Isabelle Lee

February 26, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin-etfs-hit-record-1-181318701.html


(Bloomberg) — Investors yanked more than $1 billion from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds Tuesday, marking the biggest one-day outflow since the cohort’s debut last January.

Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (ticker FBTC) posted the steepest outflows among these funds, followed by the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s as Bitcoin’s price has been faltering, with investors shunning riskier assets in the face of uncertainty. As a group, the Bitcoin funds shed roughly $2.1 billion over six consecutive days — the longest stretch of outflows since last June.

The world’s largest digital asset has come under pressure this week, with its price sinking to its lowest level since mid-November after hitting an all-time high earlier this year. Other cryptocurrencies also slid, with an index tracking top digital tokens on pace for its largest four-day drop since early August.

While Bitcoin funds are seeing an exodus, investors took advantage of a recent stock selloff to add nearly $7 billion combined in one session to the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY).

“Digital assets are still very retail-flow driven, despite institutional flows over the past 12 months,” said Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered. “This sets them apart from equities and fixed income. In my opinion, this means the average hand is weaker or has less deep pockets to ride losses. Hence more pain is likely.”

Kendrick predicts Bitcoin will trade even lower — at around the $80,000 range — at which point he will “buy the dip.”

To Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital-asset research, the record outflows likely stem from hedge funds unwinding a popular trading strategy called the basis trade, which exploits differences in prices between spot and futures markets. Some have used the ETFs to profit from the cryptocurrency’s volatility or offset a short position in derivatives.

“This strategy involves buying Bitcoin spot (often through ETFs) while simultaneously shorting Bitcoin futures to lock in a low-risk return,” Sigel said. “However, the profits from this trade have recently collapsed, making it far less attractive. As a result, hedge funds that were using ETFs for this strategy have likely closed their positions, leading to significant redemptions.”

It’s also possible that investors newer to the crypto arena, who are generally considered more likely to panic, have driven the outflows, according to Stephane Ouellette, chief executive officer and co-founder of FRNT Financial Inc.

“Those investors are less indoctrinated into the space, simply due to the fact that they do not have their own infrastructure to hold physical BTC,” he said. “I think it’s too strong to characterize ETF outflows as investors ‘not buying the dip’ in BTC.”

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>>> Coinbase says SEC has agreed to dismiss case against it, pending commission approval


AP

by MICHELLE CHAPMAN

2-21-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/coinbase-says-sec-has-agreed-to-dismiss-case-against-it-pending-commission-approval/ar-AA1zwwvD?ocid=TobArticle


Coinbase says the Securities and Exchange Commission has dismissed its case against the cryptocurrency platform, pending commission approval.

Shares rose 3% at the opening bell Friday, though the decision, not confirmed by the SEC, would not be unexpected. The Trump administration has projected a much more lenient stance on cryptocurrency markets.

The SEC declined to comment Friday.

The crypto industry spent heavily to help elect Trump and other crypto-friendly lawmakers and is eager to cement its influence in politics and mainstream financial systems.

In June 2023 Coinbase was targeted by U.S. regulators in a lawsuit that alleged it was operating as an unregistered securities platform and brokerage service.

In its complaint, the SEC said Coinbase made billions acting as the middle man for cryptocurrency buyers and sellers but did not give investors lawful protections while acting as a broker.

The commission had been seeking injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest, penalties, and other equitable relief.

On Friday Coinbase posted on the social media platform X, claiming the case was dismissed pending approval from the commission.

“But this isn’t the end. It’s the beginning,” the post said. “And if there were ever a time to build—that time is now. Thank you to everyone who stood with us, and stood with crypto.”

Crypto Industry Rebukes Debanking Efforts in “Chokepoint 2.0” Hearings

The crypto industry has scored some early wins since Trump took office, including the repeal of an accounting rule by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and an executive order by the president directing a working group to study and propose changes to crypto regulations as well as the possible formation of a strategic government reserve of cryptocurrencies within 180 days.

The SEC did recently asked a federal court to pause ongoing litigation against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, because leadership is now rethinking previous enforcement actions.

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CME Group (CME) - Here's a conservative way to participate in the orchestrated crypto boom (see below). CME Group (CME) has been a great LT stock without the crypto aspect, but being well established and fully regulated by the CFTC, I figure it could become the 'go to' place for all US crypto trading, as the Fed / SEC manuever crypto trading onto regulated exchanges in preparation for the eventual transition into the CBDC. Just a guess, but it seems logical, and CME is already a great LT investment on its own anyway, regardless of the crypto aspects -


>>> CME Group Inc. (CME), together with its subsidiaries, operates contract markets for the trading of futures and options on futures contracts worldwide. It offers futures and options products based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals, as well as fixed income and foreign currency trading services. The company also provides clearing house services, including clearing, settling, and guaranteeing futures and options contracts, and cleared swaps products traded through its exchanges; and trade processing and risk mitigation services. In addition, the company offers a range of market data services, including real-time and historical data services. It serves professional traders, financial institutions, institutional and individual investors, corporations, manufacturers, producers, governments, and central banks. The company was formerly known as Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and changed its name to CME Group Inc. in July 2007. The company was founded in 1898 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. <<<


https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CME/

___________________________________


>>> The World’s Most Trustworthy Crypto Exchanges

Forbes
Feb 4, 2025

...But all crypto exchanges and marketplaces are not created equal. There are significant differences between the types and number of licenses they hold and how they safeguard your digital assets. Anyone who was burned by the collapse of FTX in 2022 knows how important that can be. Additionally, not every exchange provides the same trading opportunities or charges the same amount. The top firm on Forbes’ third annual Best Crypto Exchange ranking, which analyzed more than 200 firms, is $85 billion Chicago-based CME Group. While this giant futures exchange, founded in 1898 to trade butter and eggs, is not suitable for most retail investors, we gave it high scores because in the wild and wooly world of crypto, safety is paramount and the CME Group is highly regulated by the CFTC. While crypto is still a tiny part of what is traded at CME, during 2024 it traded $1.4 trillion in futures contracts for digital assets such as bitcoin or ether. CME Group offers such things as Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures and options, with minimums of $300 for the smallest of futures contracts, that customers can gain access to via traditional brokerage firms like Charles Schwab and Fidelity. <<<

CME GROUP

...While not retail focused, CME is the largest regulated bitcoin futures exchange in the world. Its strong 2024 performance caused its crypto trading volume to rise by 135% and its bitcoin open interest - which is the total value of capital tied up in futures contracts - by 83% to more than $20 billion.

https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=175818194

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Slimy Don - >>> Coins, watches and more: A look at Trump's crypto-related ventures, by the numbers


AP

by ALAN SUDERMAN

February 17, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coins-watches-more-look-trumps-135406020.html


Donald Trump has leaned into his unofficial role as the “ crypto president ” in ways that can both help the crypto industry and enrich himself and his family.

Once a skeptic of cryptocurrencies, Trump has made a complete reversal and embraced digital currencies in a way no other elected official has done. He’s promised to enact crypto-friendly policies and make the U.S. “the world capital” of digital assets.

He’s also attached the Trump name to a crypto token and other crypto-themed products. The cryptocurrency industry, which spent heavily to help Trump win last year’s election, has expressed mixed feelings about some of his crypto ventures.

Critics have said the ventures are ripe for abuse by people seeking Trump’s influence. Trump put his investments and assets in a trust managed by his children and has pledged not to play any role in managing his companies while president. (lol)

Here’s a by-the-numbers look at Trump’s crypto ties:

$100,000

That’s how much a watch company is charging for a new “Crypto President Tourbillon” watch from the Trump-themed online watch store, which pays a licensing fee for using the Trump name. Trump has a long history of melding his political and business interests. He first promoted Trump watches in September of last year. The online store has recently started selling crypto-themed watches at various price levels.

The gettrumpwatches.com website says only 10 “Crypto President Tourbillon” watches will be made, and payments are only accepted in bitcoin. For their $100,000, buyers receive a watch with 229 “bitcoin orange sapphires” and a signed letter of authenticity from Trump.

“The Crypto President Tourbillon isn’t just a watch—it’s a declaration. Of wealth. Of power. Of vision,” the website says.

$11 billion

That’s roughly how much market cap, or overall value, of the president's meme coin has been erased since it peaked at about $15 billion on Jan. 19, two days after it was launched and a day before Trump took office.

Some in the crypto industry hailed the launch of Trump’s meme coin, which was quickly followed by the launch of First Lady Melania Trump’s meme coin, as a sign of his enthusiasm and commitment to digital assets.

Critics said it reflected poorly on the crypto industry’s reputation at a time when it is hoping to become more mainstream. Meme coins are a strange and highly volatile corner of the crypto industry that often start as a joke with no real value but can surge in price if enough people are willing to buy them.

$299

That’s the price for a new pair of crypto-themed sneakers sold by another website that pays a licensing fee to sell Trump-themed products, which the president has promoted. The low-top orange shoes are set to start shipping in April, with a planned limited run of just 400 pairs.

$75 million

That’s how much Chinese crypto mogul Justin Sun has said his company has invested in World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance cryptocurrency platform that Trump and his sons helped launch last year. Sun founded the decentralized blockchain platform TRON and is also known for his recent purchase of a banana for $6.2 million.

Sun and his companies were sued by the SEC in 2023 for allegedly artificially inflating the price of TRON, and the U.S. has also accused his company of facilitating transfers tied to groups designated as terrorist organizations. World Liberty Financial announced it had bought $4.7 million of TRON’s token, TRX, on Inauguration Day.

$250 million

That’s how much the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social has said it will spend on new investment products and decentralized finance services that could include buying bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Truth Social just applied to trademark “Truth.fi Bitcoin Plus ETF” and “Truth.fi Bitcoin Plus SMA,” a sign they plan to launch crypto exchange traded funds and separately managed accounts.

Despite modest revenues and significant losses, Trump’s supporters have helped boost Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock price and raise funds since it went public last year. The parent company announced late last month that the possible move into crypto was an effort to diversify its $700 million cash reserves.

TMTG says Trump has no decision-making role at the company (lol). He is its largest shareholder, with a 53% stake, according to the company's most recent quarterly report. That's currently worth more than $3 billion.


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>>> Trump Media Files to Trademark New ETF, SMA Suite


The media company plans to unveil six ETF and SMA products focusing on American manufacturing, energy, and crypto investments.


ETF.com

by DJ Shaw

Feb 06, 2025


https://www.etf.com/sections/news/trump-media-files-trademark-new-etf-sma-suite


Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (DJT) applied for trademarks for three exchange-traded funds and three separately managed account products under its new Truth.Fi brand. The filing comes just days after the company announced plans to venture into the ETF space.

The move represents TMTG's first concrete step into the investment product space and positions the company to compete in the growing market for politically focused funds, marking what Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas called "the first-ever POTUS ETF issuer. What a country."

TMTG's planned product lineup includes the Truth.Fi Made in America ETF and SMA, Truth.Fi U.S. Energy Independence ETF and SMA, and Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF and SMA, according to the company's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW), the fifth-largest U.S. ETF issuer, will custody up to $250 million in investments for the new products, according to the filing. This comes on top of TMTG's cash and cash-equivalent reserves of over $700 million as of year's end.

"We aim to give investors a means to invest in American energy, manufacturing, and other firms that provide a competitive alternative to the woke funds and debanking problems that you find throughout the market," TMTG CEO and former congressman Devin Nunes said in the announcement.

However, Balchunas cautioned that despite Trump's high-profile brand, these funds "will likely be microscopic in asset gathering compared to IBIT, FBTC et al." He added that the launch still "adds to the mainstreamification narrative, which matters."

Trends in Political ETFs

Existing politically conservative ETFs have had mixed results in gathering assets. Bill Flaig, co-founder and CEO of American Conservative Values ETF (ACVF), told etf.com that while there's demand for these products, success largely depends on marketing reach.

"I think most of the startups in the space … have had success gathering assets to the extent that we are getting the message out there," Flaig said. "For the smaller startup ones, it's essentially a function of successful marketing."

These marketing challenges come on top of product construction complexities.

The funds “are going to have to find a durable trend and get in at a reasonable price, and then also make sure that you're expressing that theme accurately," said Bryan Armour, director of passive strategies research at Morningstar. "You need all three of those things to work, and it's obviously an uphill battle for most investors."

DJT shares rose nearly 5.6% in afternoon trading following the announcement.

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>>> Crypto-Focused ETF Applications Surge as SEC Lightens Up


The SEC acknowledged applications for Solana and Litecoin ETFs while the Cboe pushed for XRP products, marking a shift in crypto fund oversight.


ETF.com

by DJ Shaw

Feb 07, 2025


https://www.etf.com/sections/etf-watch/crypto-focused-etf-applications-surge-sec-lightens


Investors may soon have a wider array of crypto-focused investment products from which to choose after the Securities and Exchange Commission acknowledged Grayscale applications for funds based on the spot price of Solana and Litecoin and the Cboe submitted filings for funds based on XRP.

The separate events on Thursday, and a filing by BlackRock to amend its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) fund, underscore issuers' growing confidence in the more favorable crypto regulatory environment under the new Trump administration, and their efforts to meet skyrocketing demand for crypto products.

The SEC must still approve the applications. Last year, the regulator approved applications for funds based on the performance of bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies. Solana, Litecoin and XRP have smaller market capitalizations and are lesser known.

Under acting Chair Mark Uyeda, the agency appears more receptive to crypto products than it was under former Chair Gary Gensler, who was considered more hostile toward the industry. Gensler's SEC frequently raised concerns over market manipulation, investor protections, and regulatory clarity.

This leadership change comes as issuers widen their crypto investment offerings to meet soaring demand for these products by consumers and institutional investors.

Evolving Crypto ETF Landscape

According to the filings, the SEC acknowledged Grayscale's applications for both Solana and Litecoin ETFs on Thursday, expanding on its recent review of Canary Capital's Litecoin ETF filing and signaling a broader openness to crypto investment products.

"This is actually newsworthy because the SEC had refused to do this in recent filing attempts for SOL," Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart wrote on X.

The change follows a slew of separate filings Thursday by the Cboe BZX Exchange to list and trade XRP ETFs from four issuers: Bitwise, WisdomTree, Canary Capital, and 21Shares.

Separately, BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the world's largest asset manager, is seeking to modify its existing bitcoin ETF structure. According to an SEC filing, the firm requested permission to allow in-kind redemptions for its IBIT, potentially streamlining the funds operations.

The flurry of activity comes as the industry tests the boundaries under new SEC leadership. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote in an X post called the developments "notable," suggesting they were "seemingly the direct result of leadership change" at the SEC.

These developments follow Trump Media & Technology Group's (DJT) announcement of plans to launch its own crypto-focused ETF, the TruthFi Bitcoin Plus ETF, further expanding the growing field of digital asset investment products.

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>>> The World’s Most Trustworthy Crypto Exchanges


Forbes

Feb 4, 2025.

By Javier Paz


https://www.forbes.com/sites/javierpaz/2025/01/28/the-worlds-most-trustworthy-crypto-exchanges/


Crypto is riding high once again, but investors still need to be careful about which firm they are using to trade digital assets

Christmas came early for bitcoin this year. On the back of record-breaking launches of ETFs backed by the likes of BlackRock and Fidelity, which have accumulated $112 billion in bitcoin, and president Donald Trump’s reelection in November, the digital asset crossed $100,000. Enthusiasts are expecting 2025 to be more bullish as a pro-crypto congress is coming in power with promises to finally pass regulation that will move the industry out of the proverbial penalty box.

Hype cycles like this create unbridled optimism, and a healthy dose of FOMO, but investors should proceed with caution. And this does not mean which tokens one chooses to speculate in. There are hundreds of crypto exchanges in the world - essentially retail brokerage firms - with fancy websites, attractive features, and yield propositions and promises to keep your money safe.

But all crypto exchanges and marketplaces are not created equal. There are significant differences between the types and number of licenses they hold and how they safeguard your digital assets. Anyone who was burned by the collapse of FTX in 2022 knows how important that can be. Additionally, not every exchange provides the same trading opportunities or charges the same amount. The top firm on Forbes’ third annual Best Crypto Exchange ranking, which analyzed more than 200 firms, is $85 billion Chicago-based CME Group. While this giant futures exchange, founded in 1898 to trade butter and eggs, is not suitable for most retail investors, we gave it high scores because in the wild and wooly world of crypto, safety is paramount and the CME Group is highly regulated by the CFTC. While crypto is still a tiny part of what is traded at CME, during 2024 it traded $1.4 trillion in futures contracts for digital assets such as bitcoin or ether. CME Group offers such things as Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures and options, with minimums of $300 for the smallest of futures contracts, that customers can gain access to via traditional brokerage firms like Charles Schwab and Fidelity.

When it comes to retail oriented exchanges $70 billion (market cap) Coinbase earned the #2 spot in the rankings. Coinbase is the only major publicly-traded cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S. and its customers pay more for this perceived safety in fees and transaction costs. Thanks to some 8 million active accounts, it is the largest custodian of bitcoin in the world, holding 2.4 million worth a staggering $245 billion at current price levels. Asset safety is the most important feature exchange customers demand according to our survey of retail crypto trade.

UK-based Bitstamp, a global exchange with a significant presence in Europe, came in third, with Binance (the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume) coming in fourth and Menlo Park-headquartered Robinhood, which is predominantly oriented toward stocks and options, taking fifth place. Robinhood, long criticized for gamifying investing to attract a youthful audience, has become something of a meme headquarters holding $15 billion worth of DOGE coin for clients (Shiba Inu inspired token) and added “dogwifhat” to a list that includes Shiba Inu, PEPE, and BONK. Besides meme coins, Robinhood acquired Luxembourg-based cryptoexchange Bitstamp last July for approximately $200 million, with the firms continuing to operate separately pending the necessary board approvals in the coming months. This acquisition may be the start of a consolidation trend for this highly fragmented industry as the most successful firms attempt to break out from their regional focus.

Binance, absent during last year’s rankings due to legal wranglings, continues to be a dominant firm. It claims to have 245 million registered users and its average daily spot trading volume of around $14 billion represents almost a quarter of the $62 billion. The next biggest exchange, Dubai-based Bybit, only has $8.2 billion. Coinbase has an average daily crypto trading volume of $5.3 billion. Binance’s new management team promises to focus more on compliance, which would be a boon for the crypto compliance sector. The remaining firms in the ranking include some of the most prominent worldwide. In the U.S., leading firms include Kraken, Gemini, Crypto.com, and Fidelity. In South Korea, the two major firms are Upbit and Bithumb, while in Japan, they are Bitbank, bitFlyer, and Coincheck, and in Europe, we recognize Revolut, bitpanda, and Bitvavo.

Together, these firms hold an estimated $1.2 trillion in client assets, and, according to the web analytics firm Similarweb, their websites were frequented by a combined 438 million users in November.

Below, please find the 2025 rankings.

The Top 25

CME GROUP

While not retail focused, CME is the largest regulated bitcoin futures exchange in the world. Its strong 2024 performance caused its crypto trading volume to rise by 135% and its bitcoin open interest - which is the total value of capital tied up in futures contracts - by 83% to more than $20 billion.

COINBASE

Publicly-traded Coinbase custodies more than 12% of all bitcoin in existence. In fact, its Coinbase Custody now holds more than $300 billion of digital assets such as bitcoin, ethereum, and solana. It's not the cheapest place to buy or sell crypto, but its long-standing reputation for safety and security allows the company to charge a premium. Late last year it also registered in Bermuda so that it can compete with the likes of Deribit in the off-shore crypto derivatives business.

BITSTAMP

Luxembourg-based Bitstamp has global operations, but it is particularly strong in Europe. The firm exemplifies many of the criteria valued in the ranking methodology: large asset base, ownership clarity, a credible audit history, and a robust crypto product offering. The firm has agreed to be purchased by Robinhood and approvals by the board are expected in the coming months.

BINANCE

The corrective steps that Binance has taken to address past compliance shortcomings have earned enough credit to return to the Forbes rankings in 2025, and achieve a top-5 placement. The firm is the second largest by assets. While it may not be active in the U.S., it remains the largest by trading volume and is a market leader in BRICS countries and Europe. The firm has a U.S. franchise (Binance.US), which has negligible volume and is unranked. Binance would not disclose ownership details, though founder Changpeng Zhao, who was recently released from prison, likely remains the controlling shareholder. Forbes estimates that CZ is the richest person in crypto with a net worth of $65 billion. The company has also yet to produce an audit, but it does produce regular on-chain snapshots of assets under custody and is working to undergo a formal audit for the first time.

ROBINHOOD

Menlo Park-headquartered Robinhood.com was a huge beneficiary of the November elections. It experienced a 780% trading volume rise compared to a year earlier. What gives? The firm made it easy to bet on election outcomes through novel prediction markets and offers free trading across asset classes. Robinhood is the main global marketplace for memecoins like dogecoin, with these assets growing from $6 billion in October to $15 billion after the election.

BITBANK - One of Japan's top three exchanges, Bitbank (bitbank.cc) features a photo of star Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on its homepage. Among the three firms from the East Asian nation in the rankings, Bitbank offers low trading costs on popular altcoins. Its steady high ranking also comes from its transparency, audited finances, and crypto holdings.

UPBIT

Upbit is one of two largest South Korean crypto exchanges, serving almost 10 million clients. It is one of the top 10 largest holders of bitcoin. Owned by Song Chi-hyung, one of Korea's wealthiest investors, the exchange focuses on the trading of payment tokens XRP and XLM even over bitcoin. Korean regulators are currently investigating the firm's know-your-customer practices after identifying a large number of documentation irregularities as part of Upbit's license renewal application. Upbit responded to Forbes that all domestic exchanges are being reviewed, no decisions have been made, and that the alleged large number of irregularities have not been verified.

BITGET

In what was a marketing stroke of genius, Bitget launched a partnership with soccer legend Lionel Messi in October 2022 before he captained the Argentina squad to win the World Cup that year and the Copa America in 2024. The result of that multi-year campaign brought tens of millions of accounts to the exchange. Though the exchange is legally based in the Seychelles, most employees are based in the Singapore region according to LinkedIn. The exchange was also the first to popularize the practice of copy trading in a crypto setting, where customers can automatically execute trades that mimic the best performers.This activity now brings in 20% of all of its volume.

DERIBIT

Dubai-based Deribit is a giant in the offshore derivatives space, where much like the CME traders can bet on the future price of assets with leverage. The firm specializes in options, which gives the purchasers the right, buy or sell tokens at specified prices over a set period of time. In particular, options are the instrument of choice to hedge exposure to volatile instruments and execute simple alpha generating strategies like a carry trade. Deribit holds notional crypto open interest - the capital tied up in derivatives contracts - worth more than $30 billion. Moreover, in 2024 its volume grew 95% to $1.2 trillion. Its foray into spot, futures, and perpetual trading broadened to create something of a one-stop shop for its institutional clients. Also, it secured its spot and derivatives licenses in Dubai, a credible derivatives regulator. The firm is said to be entertaining offers from suitors, including Kraken, but told Forbes that it's not trying to sell itself.

GEMINI

The bitcoin-led run has lifted Gemini's holdings by 34% in the past six months to $19 billion. The firm, owned by billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, has obtained licenses in France and Singapore, boosting its international footprint in 2024. Despite these changes, the exchange trimmed 10% of its workforce late 2024 to remain lean.

KRAKEN

U.S.-based Kraken holds more than $30 billion for clients and has an ample product line and lower cost offering than exchanges like Coinbase. The company has been looking for strategic acquisitions with a major focus on launching an offshore derivatives business..

REVOLUT

UK-based Revolut is a private digital bank valued at $45 billion that has raised multiple rounds from the likes of DST Global, TCV, Tiger Global, and SoftBank. It holds client assets of more than $22 billion for 50+ million clients across a variety of services, including payments, savings, investing, and crypto. It aims to be the JPMorgan Chase of a new generation, supporting a mobile-first approach to an umbrella of financial services. Crypto trading is available via an ultra-low cost web platform or the much more expensive app version. Most clients continue to use the latter but since late 2024 have started to migrate to the less costly Revolut X platform, where they can also trade more than 200 tokens.

CRYPTO.COM

Owned by its founders Kris Marszalek, Rafael Melo, Bobby Bao, and Gary Or, Crypto.com boasts one of the most recognizable names in cryptoland. It dropped $700 million for 20-year naming rights to the arena home of the Los Angeles Lakers and renewed a 9-figure Champions League partnership in Europe in 2024. Fee pricing information is not visible on its U.S. website nor was it provided to Forbes, but CoinGecko measures its spreads alone at 52 basis points - more than 2x wider than Coinbase’s. CoinGecko also considers its reported volume highly inflated, and discounts it by 80% to 90%. More importantly, Arkham data shows that the firm’s holdings of bitcoin, ethereum, and stablecoins stood at $5.7 billion in mid January, down from $10 billion on Christmas day, which the company says reflects the move of U.S. and Canadian funds to its U.S. Trust company.

FIDELITY

What a year it has been for financial services giant Fidelity ($15 trillion in client assets) and its Fidelity Crypto offering. Fidelity Investments’ spot bitcoin ETP FBTC reached its 1-year anniversary with $20 billion in AUM, while Fidelity Digital Assets holds $35 billion worth of crypto (primarily bitcoin) according to Arkham. While Fidelity does not consider itself to be a cryptocurrency exchange like Coinbase, Fidelity Crypto offers clients trading in bitcoin, ether, and litecoin with a spread of 1% (100 basis points) per trade. Fidelity Crypto and Fidelity Investments operate under separate regulatory requirements and users require separate accounts should they want to buy its ETF FBTC alongside direct holdings in bitcoin or ethereum.

HASHKEY EXCHANGE

A division of Hong Kong-based HashKey Digital Asset Group Limited, Hashkey Exchange is one of only two crypto exchanges licensed under Hong Kong’s novel digital assets regime. The parent group is a conglomerate of firms with a regulatory-first approach to operating in crypto assets and Web3 investing. While still small - there are less than 150 employees at HashKey Exchange and sister entity HashKey Global – the exchanges report having a combined 145,000 retail customers and nearly 300 institutional ones. There are marked differences in pricing, however, with HashKey Exchange charging a 29bp trading fee and 16bp average spread, compared to 12bp fee and 206bp in average spread at HashKey Global, which serves customers outside of Hong Kong under separate licenses.

OKX

OKX, which was originally Ok Coin, did not participate in the Forbes survey but its recent pivot to become a much more regulated entity and considerable size compelled us to include it in our rankings. It gained regulatory licenses in France, Turkey, Dubai, Singapore, and Australia, and it signed up for a sponsorship of the McLaren Formula 1 team. It holds at least $15 billion worth of bitcoin and ethereum, and its website attracted more than 22 million unique visitors in November – with a quarter of them coming from the United States, Italy, the Russian Federation, and Egypt. The firm’s product offering is large while its fee structure is very attractive, with a 10bp fee and average spreads of 21bp - the third lowest trading costs out there among regulated entities.

BYBIT

Dubai-based Bybit is another major crypto provider, frequently among the ones reporting the highest trading volume, that has pivoted to become more regulated. Bybit has obtained licenses in the Netherlands, Turkey, and Canada, but at least a third of its considerable 26 million visitors come from the Russian-Ukraine war zone, a region subject to US sanctions. While the pursuit of regulatory licenses has started in earnest, the firm’s prior approach of doing business before securing the needed licensing resulted in it being blacklisted in France, banned in Hong Kong, and temporarily suspended in India. A big part of Bybit’s appeal with end users has been its low fees, which are on par with those of Binance and OKX.

HTX

Formerly Huobi Global, HTX is an exchange with China roots that founder Leon Li sold to About Capital Management, a Hong Kong investment firm in 2022. About Capital is owned by Tron founder Justin Sun. HTX secured licenses in Australia, Dubai, and Lithuania in 2022 and participated on the Forbes survey for the first time, signaling its desire for greater transparency. Even so, the firm has yet to disclose the beneficial owners of its parent company, get additional licenses, and go through credible financial audits to rise in the rankings.

BITFLYER

The Tokyo-based exchange custodies the most crypto assets in its home market ($4 billion) and touts 0% to 0.1% trading fees. BitFlyer is regulated in Japan, the U.S, and Europe. It was founded with backing from Japanese insurance, banking, and brokerage giants like Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, SBI Investment, and Dai-ichi Life Insurance. The company re-appointed co-founder Yuzo Kano as CEO after an ownership and management spat was resolved in March 2023, and he stated plans to take the exchange public.

SWISSBORG

As its name suggests, privately owned Swissborg got its origins in Switzerland thanks to a $52 million cash infusion from the exchange’s own initial coin offering (BORG) and in which 23,000 retail investors participated. What makes this smaller Western European exchange stand out is its pursuit of credible crypto regulation (France’s AMF, the SEC counterpart) and its adaptation of thematic investing to crypto - think investors using $500 to buy a collection of the larger coins in defi, memes, gaming, and real world assets without having to select them by themselves. Its fees are relatively high, however.

COINCHECK

One of the top three Japanese exchanges. It holds more than $5 billion in client assets today. Its current offering is limited to eight crypto assets traded against the yen, and fees are low/free depending on the pair but its 181 spread is very wide. In December 2024, its CNCK shares went public on Nasdaq with a $1.2 billion valuation.

BITFINEX

Launched in 2012, Bitfinex shares the same leadership of Tether, the company behind the $138 billion stablecoin that dominates the crypto trading industry. Though the firm lists the British Virgin Islands as its headquarters, LinkedIn shows that most of its employees are based in the United States and United Kingdom. The firm has licenses from smaller countries like El Salvador and Kazakhstan, but two thirds of Bitfinex web traffic comes from jurisdictions where the firm is not regulated: Europe, the US, South Korea and Japan. Still, Bitfinex Securities has secured a tokenization partnership with illustrious Lazard Group, the Swiss asset manager with 175-years in operation and $245 billion under management.

BITVAVO

Bitvavo is a Netherlands-based crypto exchange that primarily serves its home country, Belgium, Germany, and Thailand. It claims to have 1.5 million active customers and Arkham indicates it holds more than $2 billion worth of bitcoin and ethereum for clients. Its considerable $545 million daily spot volume - which is higher than more prominent exchanges like Gemini and Bitfinex - is supported by a low fee and average spread totalling approximately 40 bp.

BITHUMB

Originally launched as btckorea more than 10 years ago, Bithumb has grown to be the largest Korean by web traffic and is gearing up for a possible IPO either in the U.S. on Nasdaq or Korea's Kosdaq exchange in late 2025. The exchange offers trading in 348 coins and is particularly active these days in meme coin DOGE and Korea's local stablecoin pair USDT/KRW. Its standard fee of 25bp and average daily spread of 50bp put it in the middle of the pack of ranked peers.

BITPANDA

Vienna-based Bitpanda is regulated as a payments firm, e-money provider and virtual-asset provider in Austria and France, allowing it to offer its services to all of continental Europe. It combines crypto services with traditional brokerage of stocks, ETFs, indexes, precious metals and other commodities. It charges a stiff 1.5% in commissions or fees plus spread, but it has developed partnerships with major German banks like Deutsche Bank and Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg to let its users convert crypto to fiat and vice versa via the German IBAN rails.

Crypto Trading Fees & Spreads

Many investors prioritize low fees when deciding where to trade crypto. Most exchanges post their prices for sellers or purchasers online, respectively known as “maker” and “taker” fees; but they do not tell the whole story. Traders also need to be aware of a term called spread, which is the difference between a quoted buying and selling prices in an orderbook. The size of the spread varies by exchange and trading pair, but a general rule of thumb is that platforms with high volume have lower spreads. And vice versa.

Our research revealed that the weighted cost of execution in the crypto market among ranked firms today, and inclusive of spread, is 80 basis points. To do this analysis we used the cost of trading reported by crypto providers to us or via their website, plus average spread information from CoinGecko. The specific test looked at what it would cost to purchase $25,000 of crypto without any volume discounts or other promotions.

While trading fees can be relatively easily controlled, spread is a function of a provider’s overall liquidity. Among ranked firms, the average spread was 64 basis points (bp), with Upbit, Coincheck, and Bitstamp averaging 241bp, 181bp, and 143bp, respectively, as the costliest firms.[ One hundred basis points is the equivalent of one percentage point.] Coinbase’s 19bp spread was among the lowest and slightly bested Binance’s 21bp. There is a lot of variance among firm, if a trader wants to know the cheapest place to buy or sell crypto, it is important to evaluate both the posted fees and spread together.

The chart above shows both fees and spreads and demonstrates that the biggest exchanges by market share tend to have the lowest trading cost, with the exception of Coinbase. Robinhood, which caters to retail traders, has a zero-fee trading model but the numbers above fail to incorporate the spreads,which in Robinhood’s case are a core part of their business model since they sell order flow.

U.S. exchanges with more than a decade of crypto service such as Coinbase and Kraken continue to enjoy high demand despite higher trading costs. Eventually fee compression from competition from firms like Robinhood could drive fees down.

There are several firms that have both expensive and cheap alternatives for heavy users, and Coinbase and Revolut are perfect examples. Coinbase retail clients averaged fees of 126 basis points. But in an effort to retain low-volume but high fee-paying clients the company created a monthly subscription service called Coinbase One that would eliminate fees. Prices range between $30-$300/month depending on volume. A majority of Revolut clients trade using their traditional app and pay 249bp on average, but the firm launched a web platform called Revolut X in select countries late last year that is priced at 10 basis points per trade and is gaining heavy traction.

Crypto Geography

By Forbes measurement, there were no less than half a billion crypto users globally at the end of 2024.

We enlisted the help of web analytics firm SimilarWeb, to help us determine where the most crypto traders were. The map below gives an estimation of the geographic dispersion of crypto investors.

The largest concentration of traders is in the Asia-Pacific region, which has 160 million visitors. Europe was next with 134 million. The US and Canada added another 56 million. Latin America and the Caribbean had 40 million traders, and Africa was the lowest at 18 million.

Traffic to crypto providers is highly concentrated, with 12 ranked firms and 3 unranked firms each having 10+ million unique visitors. Firms like Binance, Crypto.com, and Bitget prominently display the number of “users” on their website in the tens or hundreds of millions, without defining the term. These firms, along with many others surveyed for this study, did not provide up to date figures on active accounts. However, monthly SimilarWeb data provides a clearer picture and approximate number of users that is consistent across all exchanges.

This analysis reveals that Binance, for example, had 75 million unique users (17% of the total) compared to Coinbase’s 56 million (13%). Robinhood was fourth at 37 million.

But aside from these major global exchanges, there are some providers that focus on just one or two domiciles. The 49 million traders in South Korea are primarily serviced by two major institutions, Bithumb and Upbit, who received a combined total of 70% of all crypto exchange visitors. Much of the remainder went to larger offshore exchanges like Binance, ByBit, and Bitget. While these exchanges are ranked, none are actually licensed to operate in South Korea. The top three firms servicing Japan's 16 million visitors are Bitflyer, Coincheck, and Bitbank, while Germany’s 15 million go to Austria-based Bitpanda along with Bitget, and Binance. In India, Binance is the biggest exchange, accounting for essentially all of the of the country’s 6 million monthly visitors. The biggest local exchange operating in the south-Asian country is CoinDCX, which received 1.1 million visitors. Turning to Latin America, Brazil’s 14 million visitors primarily went to Binance, Singapore-based Gate.io (which has a sponsorship deal with soccer star Lionel Messi), and Coinbase. Finally, because Russia continues to be under US sanctions, American exchanges like Coinbase, Robinhood, and Kraken do not have a presence in those countries. Given its 18 million monthly users, Russia remains a major crypto trading hub. The biggest destinations are ByBit (6.7 million), HTX (3.5 million), and Binance (2.4 million).

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>>> SEC requests a pause in legal battle with Binance as the agency adapts a crypto-friendly stance


AP

2-11-25

by ALAN SUDERMAN


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/sec-requests-a-pause-in-legal-battle-with-binance-as-the-agency-adapts-a-crypto-friendly-stance/ar-AA1yQDgu?ocid=TobArticle


The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking to pause its high-profile lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange Binance as the regulator tries to present itself as more crypto-friendly under a new administration.

Binance and the SEC filed a joint motion Monday asking for a 60-day stay in a lawsuit the regulator filed with significant fanfare two years ago under its previous chairman, Gary Gensler.

Monday’s filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the SEC approached Binance asking for the pause. The regulator said the work of a new crypto task force launched by Acting Chairman Mark Uyeda that's supposed to improve ties to the crypto industry “may impact and facilitate the potential resolution of this case.”

The filing is the first “tangible action in existing enforcement actions that recognizes a change in direction of the agency,” said Carol Goforth, a distinguished professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange – a digital marketplace where customers can buy, sell and store different types of crypto -- and the SEC’s lawsuit drew considerable attention when first filed.

Gensler said in a statement at the time that Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, had engaged in an extensive “web of deception” while the SEC’s X account posted a graphic highlighting a key piece of evidence of alleged wrongdoing: a quote from Binance’s chief compliance officer saying to another employee in 2018, “We are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange in the USA bro.”

Related video: Trump’s AI and Crypto Czar Backs Stablecoin Bill, Pushing for Clear Digital Asset Rules (Benzinga (Video))

In a separate case, Binance later agreed to pay a roughly $4 billion settlement and Zhao pleaded guilty to a felony related to his failure to prevent money laundering on the platform.

A key issue facing the cryptocurrency industry is whether certain digital assets should be regulated as securities – a position that the SEC under Gensler supported while many in the crypto industry are opposed.

Cryptocurrencies are a kind of electronic cash that have moved from the financial fringes to the mainstream in rapid fits and starts, despite being marred by scandals and market meltdowns.

The SEC has targeted crypto exchanges like Binance, Coinbase and others for allegedly operating unregistered securities exchanges. That scrutiny came after the high-profile meltdown of FTX, the exchange founded by disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried.

The industry said it was unfairly treated by the Biden administration, and Gensler in particular, and spent heavily to help Trump and Republicans in the last election. Trump and GOP lawmakers have signaled their eagerness to help the crypto industry with friendly legislation and light-touch regulations.

Uyeda launched the new crypto task force last month, saying the agency needed a reset in its approach to crypto.

“To date, the SEC has relied primarily on enforcement actions to regulate crypto retroactively and reactively, often adopting novel and untested legal interpretations along the way,” the agency said in announcing the task force. “Clarity regarding who must register, and practical solutions for those seeking to register, have been elusive.”

Legal experts said the pause in the Binance case could indicate similar changes in the SEC’s ongoing legal action against other crypto exchanges.

“I would expect that all of these cases will be either dismissed outright or settled on very favorable terms to the defendants,” said James Murphy, a securities law expert.

That's bad news, said Corey Frayer, a former SEC official who recently left the agency.

“The SEC delaying what appears to be a slam dunk case in Binance while welcoming crypto’s return to its pre-FTX days is a bad omen for any other ongoing crypto litigation,” he said.

In a statement, Binance said the SEC’s case “has always been without merit” and praised Uyeda for “his thoughtful approach to ensuring digital assets receive the appropriate legislative and regulatory focus in this new, golden era of blockchain in the U.S. and around the world.”

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>>> U.S. endowments add crypto holdings to diversify investments: FT


Seeking Alpha

2-9-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/u-s-endowments-add-crypto-holdings-to-diversify-investments-ft/ar-AA1yHb0J?apiversion=v2&noservercache=1&domshim=1&renderwebcomponents=1&wcseo=1&batchservertelemetry=1&noservertelemetry=1


Charitable organizations and university endowments in the United States are increasing their holdings of cryptocurrencies amid a rush into digital assets after President Donald Trump pledged to turn the country into a “bitcoin superpower,” the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The University of Austin, founded last year in the Texas capital, is raising $5 million for the country’s first-ever bitcoin fund, part of its $200 million endowment. Georgia’s Emory University in October became the first college whose endowment disclosed holdings of bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

They’re among the colleges that have sought to diversify their investment portfolios with cryptocurrencies, which as an asset class have outperformed others amid significant price swings. An index compiled by Bitwise Asset Management that tracks the 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies gained 64% a year in the past five years, beating the 14.5% for U.S. stocks, the FT reported.

Yale University’s endowment in 2018 invested in two cryptocurrency venture funds, when bitcoin prices were less than a tenth of today’s level.

The Rockefeller Foundation, which oversees $4.8 billion and focuses on funding medical research and the arts, is weighing whether to increase its cryptocurrency holdings after investing two crypto venture funds two years ago.

Fear of missing out on an asset class that has potential to become more valuable is one reason to increase exposure to crypto, with Chun Lai, the foundation’s chief investment officer, telling the newspaper: “We don’t want to be left behind when their potential materializes dramatically.”

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Installing the CBDC plumbing under the guise of crytpo, while 'sellout Don' lines his pockets. And the media is fine with it -


>>> Trump is melding the worlds of upstart crypto and old-school finance


Yahoo Finance

by David Hollerith

February 2, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-is-melding-the-worlds-of-upstart-crypto-and-old-school-finance-143007299.html


Old-school finance and the upstart world of crypto are coming closer together as President Donald Trump encourages more favorable regulation of digital assets while also participating financially in their rising popularity.

The latest example of this confluence came this past week when the president’s namesake Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) announced plans to expand into financial services by launching a company called Truth.Fi.

Trump Media will allocate up to $250 million of Truth.Fi’s cash into cryptocurrencies and other investments. The company keeping custody of those funds will be one of America’s best-known financial giants: Charles Schwab (SCHW).

Some other big names on Wall Street may soon be looking to hold crypto assets for their clients as a result of a change put in place by Trump’s administration during his first week in office.

The Securities and Exchange Commission decided to eliminate a piece of accounting guidance known as Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121) that called for financial institutions to hold crypto on their balance sheet as a liability.

The old guidance made it too costly for most regulated banks to offer crypto custody. It also called for heightened public disclosures from non-bank financial firms such as Coinbase Global (COIN), a major cryptocurrency exchange.

"Bye, bye SAB 121! It's not been fun," SEC commissioner Hester Peirce said in an X post celebrating the change.

Kevin Fromer, CEO of bank advocacy group Financial Services Forum, called the SEC rule change "a step in the right direction."

'Crypto will become a more common investment'

The thinking within crypto circles is that this one step is part of a directional shift that will ultimately encourage more banking giants to deal with digital assets. Such a shift would bring wider acceptance of the industry.

Letting more US financial institutions hold digital assets will lead to "a greater level of integration of crypto in mainstream financial channels," said Jeffrey Neuburger, head of the blockchain group at law firm Proskauer.

What's more, "crypto is likely to become a more common investment asset like securities, gold, or other precious metals," Neuburger added.

Banks are still waiting for new guidance on crypto assets from the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

The current regulatory guidance from those agencies — released weeks after a 2022 crypto meltdown that followed the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX — cautions banks about the risk of engaging in crypto activities or even providing the industry with banking services.

The Trump administration has yet to nominate new heads for the FDIC and OCC, and the Federal Reserve must also name a new top banking regulator following Michael Barr’s decision to step down as vice chair for supervision by the end of February.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell, when asked this past week about cryptocurrencies, said, "We're not against innovation and we certainly don't want to take actions that would cause banks to terminate customers who are perfectly legal."

But he also cautioned that "if you're making a choice to conduct that activity inside a bank, which is inside the federal safety net with deposit insurance, then you want to be pretty sure that that is a safe and sound activity."

Trump has made it clear that he wants his administration to support the expansion of the crypto industry. One of the first moves was to assemble a digital assets working group within the executive branch led by artificial intelligence and crypto czar David Sacks.

Its goal is to “support the responsible growth and use of digital assets, blockchain technology, and related technologies across all sectors of the economy.”

The SEC also formed a "crypto task force" to help the US regulator "draw clear regulatory lines, provide realistic paths to registration, craft sensible disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously.”

The president is also participating in the cryptocurrency industry. Just before his inauguration, Trump’s team launched an official meme coin for the 47th president (TRUMP) along with one for first lady Melania Trump (MELANIA) on the Solana (SOL) blockchain.

'We're going to have to up our game'

There is a lot more US banks might be able to do with crypto, so long as their Washington overseers allow it.

Those options could range from offering customers crypto or related exchange-traded funds to issuing stablecoins for payments, trading crypto for clients, and even managing deposits on blockchain platforms.

"I'm not sure that every bank out there has been dying to hold crypto assets," Ian Katz, a financial regulation analyst for Capital Alpha Partners, told Yahoo Finance. But lenders "would rather trust their own risk management and their own decision making than have it be decided by regulators."

Bosses of the some of the biggest banks are certainly giving the topic more consideration.

"For us, the equation is really around whether we, as a highly regulated financial institution, can act as transactors," Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO Ted Pick told CNBC during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"We'll be working with Treasury and the other regulators to figure out how we can offer that in a safe way," Pick added.

Bank of America (BAC) CEO Brian Moynihan told CNBC at that same event that “if the rules come in and make it a real thing that you can actually do business with, you’ll find that the banking system will come in hard on the transactional side of it.”

Phil Green, chief executive of Cullen/Frost Bankers (CFR), told Yahoo Finance that “it makes sense to me that the banking industry would have a role in custody. I think that makes sense for us to consider. But it's really more about what the clients want."

"If President Trump is advocating for it, and you're seeing more stuff happen, no doubt, it will be more top of mind with people so I expect that we're going to have to up our game," Green added.

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>>> Coinbase seen benefiting from possible medium-term jump in Bitcoin price - Mizuho


Investing.com

January 29, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coinbase-seen-benefiting-possible-medium-133801360.html


Investing.com - Crypto exchange Coinbase could benefit from possible growth in the price of Bitcoin grow over the medium-term fueled by rising adoption of the world's most popular cryptocurrency, according to analysts at Mizuho (NYSE:MFG).

In a note to clients, the analysts led by Dan Dolev argued that global enthusiasm surrounding the finite number of Bitcoins in existence as well as a more favorable regulatory environment under new U.S. President Donald Trump "are likely sufficient catalysts for price appreciation". Assuming adoption growth continues "on a similar trajectory", the analysts estimated that the annual price increase of Bitcoin by 2027 could be between 25% to 30%.

The trend may bode well for Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), which the analysts said has a strong correlation with the cost of Bitcoin. They subsequently raised their rating of the stock to "neutral" from "underperform".

Bitcoin slipped slightly on Wednesday as bargain buying after a recent rout provided only limited support and focus shifted to an impending Federal Reserve interest rate decision. By 07:52 ET (12:52 GMT), Bitcoin had fallen 0.2% to $102,393.2.

Market sentiment remained somewhat fragile after investor concerns over the implications a low-cost artificial intelligence model from Chinese start-up DeepSeek battered global financial markets on Monday. A jump in popularity of the model called into question the necessity of massive AI spending plans put forward by tech industry giants.

Nasdaq 100 futures on Wednesday pointed to an extension in the tech-heavy index's rebound from the sharp sell-off earlier in the week. Equities on Wall Street stabilized on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq Composite gaining 392 points or 2.0%.

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Fed's Bill Dudley joins Coinbase - >>> Coinbase adds Trump campaign manager, ex-senator to advisory council

U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington


Reuters

by Manya Saini

January 29, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-campaign-manager-ex-senator-133049421.html


(Reuters) -Crypto exchange Coinbase on Wednesday added four high-profile members to its global advisory council, including former U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Chris LaCivita, co-campaign manager for President Donald Trump's re-election.

Drafting a framework for the growth of the crypto sector has been a top priority for the Trump administration after years of enforcement actions that the industry has criticized as regulatory overreach.

The crypto industry donated millions of dollars to support Trump's return to the White House and expectations of a more favorable regulatory setup powered bitcoin to record highs in 2024, surpassing $100,000 for the first time.

"Crypto is now firmly on the radar of corporates, banks and institutions, weaving itself into the very fabric of our financial systems," analysts at Bernstein said, adding that bitcoin remains on its path to $200,000.

The new additions at Coinbase include Bill Dudley, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Luis Alberto Moreno, a global development and international finance expert.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new leadership created a task force to develop a regulatory framework for crypto assets.

Trump has also named former PayPal executive David Sacks as his "White House A.I. & Crypto Czar." The administration is expected to reshape U.S. policy on digital currency.

Support from Wall Street institutions and corporate titans such as Elon Musk as well as the approval of U.S. exchange-traded crypto funds have boosted the sector's mainstream appeal even as a lack of regulatory clarity remains a persistent drag.

Coinbase shares are likely to benefit from a further upside in bitcoin over the medium term, analysts at Mizuho wrote in a note. "Rising tide lifts all moats," the brokerage said.

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>>> Trump executive order delivers on 2 promises he made to crypto world


Yahoo Finance

by David Hollerith

January 23, 2025


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-executive-order-delivers-on-2-promises-he-made-to-crypto-world-223600819.html


President Donald Trump signed an executive action Thursday that satisfies two promises he made to the cryptocurrency world.

The order created a presidential group to coordinate the establishment of clear regulation for the digital assets industry and prohibited the creation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

What it didn't authorize was the immediate creation of a "strategic national bitcoin stockpile," as Trump also promised during the 2024 campaign.

Instead, it directed the new working group to evaluate "the potential creation and maintenance of a national digital asset stockpile," as well as proposing "criteria for establishing such a stockpile, potentially derived from cryptocurrencies lawfully seized by the Federal Government through its law enforcement efforts."

That potentially widens the scope of what crypto the government may hold in this stockpile beyond just bitcoin (BTC-USD).

Trump also revoked a March 2022 executive order from President Joe Biden that called for various government agencies to study crypto assets and encouraged all agencies to "take strong steps to reduce the risks that digital assets could pose."

Bitcoin rose slightly after Trump signed the executive action and then fell. It was marginally higher for the last 24 hours after hitting an all-time high early Monday ahead of Trump's inauguration.

Some in the crypto market may have been hoping for more, according to Sean Farrell, head of digital assets for Fundstrat.

"What was issued today, I guess, was priced in," Farrell told Yahoo Finance.

Still, he added, the president's pro-crypto stance is "huge" for the industry's future.

Last year, Trump pledged to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet." Last Friday, Trump’s team launched an official meme coin for the incoming 47th president (TRUMP), along with one for first lady Melania Trump (MELANIA) on the Solana (SOL) blockchain. They began trading on Sunday.

On Thursday, he reiterated his support for the industry during a virtual speech at the World Economic Forum, saying he planned to make the US “the world capital of artificial intelligence and crypto."

The presidential working group will work to develop a federal regulatory framework for crypto markets. The group will be chaired by White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks and include the Treasury secretary, SEC chair, and other various financial regulatory heads.

That working group will include the identification of all regulations, guidance documents, and orders that affect crypto within 30 days by various government agencies and recommendations with respect to each of those items within 60 days.

Additionally, within 180 days, the working group will submit a report to the president with regulatory and legislative proposals and recommendations.

"The administration is making a significant first step toward writing clear, consistent rules of the road," Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley wrote in emailed comments.

"We look forward to engaging with the president’s working group as Washington works to get it right on crypto," McCauley added.

Other regulatory developments for the crypto world are already materializing due to the Trump administration's stance on the industry. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission rescinded a piece of accounting guidance known as SAB 121 that posed a significant roadblock for banks and broker-dealers seeking to hold crypto in custody for clients.

Earlier this week, Coinbase Global (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong told Yahoo Finance Trump should create a strategic bitcoin reserve given that it already has a gold reserve.

"The world is moving to a bitcoin standard for money. Any government who holds gold should also hold bitcoin as a reserve," Armstrong said.

Trump can likely order the US government to cease selling the cryptocurrency it has lawfully claimed through seizures and forfeitures that proponents have argued could help stabilize the US economy, strengthen the US dollar, and even eventually help pay down some of the $35 trillion in national debt.

But further steps actually calling for the government to purchase more crypto — as proposed by Senator Cynthia Lummis — may likely need congressional approval.

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>>> Anchorage Digital is a regulated crypto platform that provides institutions with integrated financial services and infrastructure solutions. With the only federally chartered crypto bank in the US, as well as Anchorage Digital Singapore, which offers equivalent security and service standards, Anchorage Digital provides institutions an unparalleled combination of secure custody, regulatory compliance, product breadth, and client service.

Founded in 2017, Anchorage Digital is valued at over $3 billion with funding from leading institutions including Andreessen Horowitz, GIC—Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, Goldman Sachs, KKR, and Visa. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Anchorage Digital is remote-friendly with offices in New York, New York; Porto, Portugal; Singapore; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/anchorage?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=profile_cta&utm_campaign=yahoo_finance

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From grifting Joe to grifting Don -


>>> Trump Takes Office as a Newly Minted Crypto Billionaire

The Trump family’s new crypto tokens, which went on sale over the weekend, have soared in value — along with crypto markets in general.


The New York Times

By Bernhard Warner


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/business/trump-memcoins-crypto.html


The Trump family’s new crypto tokens are worth well over $10 billion on paper, after a frenzied rally pushed up the value of the digital assets in the days before the inauguration.

The so-called memecoins got another boost on Monday when Robinhood, the trading platform that made a big donation to Mr. Trump’s inauguration fund, began letting its customers trade the $TRUMP coin. Memecoins, a type of cryptocurrency tied to an online joke or a celebrity mascot, are not often available to trade on major platforms.

Mr. Trump announced the launch of the new token, known as $Trump, on Friday night. Another token, $Melania, went on sale late on Sunday. Trump affiliates appear to control a majority of the tokens, which will be released gradually over the coming years.

Before the tokens started trading, Forbes had listed Mr. Trump’s net worth as $6.7 billion, most of that coming from Trump Media and Technology Group, which runs the social media platform Truth Social.

Ethics watchdogs have warned of deepening conflicts of interest as Mr. Trump returns to the White House, with the tokens creating new opportunities for executives, crypto traders and companies inside and outside the United States to curry favor with the Trump administration.

A onetime crypto skeptic, Mr. Trump embraced the digital currency industry last year, promising to turn the United States into the “crypto capital of the planet.” In September, he and his sons helped start a crypto business, World Liberty Financial. He has also tapped advocates for looser regulation of crypto to key regulatory and advisory positions in his administration.

Crypto markets have risen sharply since Mr. Trump’s election victory. The price of Bitcoin hit a fresh record high on Monday, jumping above $109,000.

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Slimeball Don - >>> Donald Trump Launches $TRUMP Meme Coin—Token Hits $9 Billion Market Cap


by Ty Roush

Forbes

Jan 19, 2025


https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/01/19/donald-trump-launches-trump-meme-coin-token-exceeds-12-billion-market-cap/


Topline A new meme coin launched by President-elect Donald Trump on Friday has a market capitalization of about $9 billion—after hitting a peak of over $15 billion early Sunday—marking Trump’s latest venture into cryptocurrency and merchandise sales in the lead-up to his inauguration.

Key Facts

Trump announced the launch of his meme coin, $TRUMP, in a Truth Social post late Friday, saying the cryptocurrency is celebrating “WINNING” the presidential election and his upcoming inauguration.

Shortly after launching, the price of $TRUMP rapidly rose by more than 300% by Saturday morning, and it kept rallying Saturday night and early Sunday morning—before paring back some of its gains later Sunday.

The digital asset hovered at just over $46 as of 5:25 p.m. EST Sunday, with a market cap of $9.36 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

The asset—hosted on the Solana blockchain—briefly surpassed $75 early Sunday morning, bringing the total market cap of all tokens in circulation to a peak of $15 billion.

The meme coin’s developers have limited the supply of $TRUMP to 200 million coins at launch before expanding the overall supply to 1 billion over the next three years, according to the coin’s website.

The remaining 80% of tokens that have yet to be publicly released are owned by the Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, a company formed in Delaware on Jan. 7, according to state filings, and both companies will receive an undisclosed amount of revenue derived from trading activity.

The token’s website includes a disclaimer noting $TRUMP is “not intended to be, or the subject of” an investment opportunity nor a security of any type, and is “not political and has nothing to do with” any political campaign, political office or government agency.

Big Number

$36.15 billion. That’s the trading volume of $TRUMP in the 24 hours ending Sunday at 5:25 p.m.

Is Melania Coin Related?

Incoming First Lady Melania Trump also launched a crypto asset called $MELANIA on Sunday, and the president-elect retweeted her announcement. The meme coin is also based on the Solana blockchain.

Key Background

Trump, whose campaign was backed by several billionaires with ties to the cryptocurrency industry, has claimed he wanted the U.S. to become the “crypto capital of the planet.” His election victory sent bitcoin to several new record highs, eclipsing $100,000 within a month of Election Day. Roughly $1.8 trillion was added to the global crypto market’s aggregate market value in 2024, including $1 trillion since Election Day, according to CoinGecko.

What Crypto Policies Has Trump Proposed?

Trump has said he would use his executive powers to reduce regulatory burdens facing crypto firms, including the formation of a new crypto advisory council. The president-elect has reportedly planned to unveil an executive order declaring cryptocurrency a policy priority while advising government agencies to work with the industry. That order would also establish a bitcoin reserve, allowing the federal government to buy and sell the crypto. News of Trump’s plans for the crypto industry sent the price of bitcoin over $105,000 on Friday, the coin’s highest price in nearly a month.

Tangent

Trump’s meme coin is his latest merchandise push in recent years, adding to a line of perfumes and colognes and “Trump Watches” celebrating his election win. He launched a series of “Trump Watches” valued up to $100,000 in September, following the debut of $100 silver coins and 1,000 pairs of limited edition sneakers, $60 Trump-branded bibles and NFT cards. Most of the revenue Trump has received from his merchandise came from his NFTs, which reportedly earned him about $7.2 million in licensing fees. Trump’s latest line of signed and unsigned guitars sold out at $11,500 and $1,500 each, respectively, generating a combined $4.6 million in sales.

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>>> Trump promotes meme coin, raising ethics issues as value soars


The Washington Post

by Tony Romm

1-19-25


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-promotes-meme-coin-raising-ethics-issues-as-value-soars/ar-AA1xtHO8?cvid=ac5ccc526e85490ec27341770881673c&ei=34


Ahead of his inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump launched and promoted a new cryptocurrency venture, raising fresh ethical questions about his attempts to monetize the incoming administration’s deepening political ties to the industry.

Throughout the weekend, the project soared in value as Trump and his aides prepared to reenter the White House. As soon as Monday, Trump is expected to issue new policy directives that could loosen crypto regulation and send the price of bitcoin and other assets skyrocketing.

Trump’s new project is known as a meme coin, a highly volatile sort of token that crypto enthusiasts can buy and sell tied to an online trend or personality. In this case, it’s an image of Trump pumping his fist inspired by the assassination attempt in July. Dubbed $TRUMP, the incoming president fashioned the new offering as a way for his supporters to “celebrate everything we stand for.”

On paper, it may have generated potentially billions of dollars in wealth for the Trump business, just hours before he is set to begin a term in which he has promised to turn the United States into the “crypto capital of the planet,” as he told industry supporters at a major conference last year.

Buyers are receiving what essentially amounts to a digital playing card, the purchase of which is supposed to symbolize a show of support, not an investment opportunity or political donation, according to lengthy disclosures posted online.

But a digital firm affiliated with the Trump organization owns 80 percent of the supply, the project disclosed, and appears to collect a fee on sales. Trump has also promoted the project to his roughly 97 million followers on the social media site X, and on Sunday, he steered followers to a similar meme coin tied to incoming first lady Melania Trump.

By Sunday evening, the total value of the $TRUMP project had reached more than $67 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, which tracks crypto prices and computed the figure by estimating the total market capitalization if every coin were in circulation.

Two of the president-elect’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., described the project this weekend as the “hottest digital meme on earth,” and they promised the Trump family’s separate crypto project — a new token and platform called World Liberty Financial — would be the “future of finance.”

Jordan Libowitz, a senior vice president at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington who studies crypto, said the coin reflected the extent to which Trump could seize on “every government lever in his reach to make money for himself.”

Norman Eisen, a former White House ethics adviser during the Obama administration, said that, out of all of Trump’s conflicts as a businessman turned president, this “may be the most profound.”

“He’s launching a major, new multibillion-dollar venture in the burgeoning crypto industry, where he has the most profound conflict of interest between [what] he’s seeking to gain and his duties to regulate that industry — which now includes himself,” Eisen said. “This may represent the single worst conflict of interest in the modern history of the presidency.”

Eisen also noted that foreign governments could buy into the meme coin, raising its value and enriching Trump’s wealth, thereby violating the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution.

“Cryptocurrency should thrive but should also be appropriately regulated, and when it is not, [it] could be abused as a conduit for money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing,” Eisen warned.

A spokesman for the Trump transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization also did not immediately respond.

The venture underscored Trump’s sharp turn from crypto skeptic to supporter as he looks to court the industry’s generous political donations and continued favor entering his second stint in the White House.

Years after decrying crypto as a “scam,” Trump has tried to fashion himself as the first crypto president, and he has turned to aides who boast deep ties to the highly volatile industry.

Those advisers include David Sacks, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist set to guide Trump on crypto policy in the White House, and Paul Atkins, a former consultant to crypto companies whom the president has nominated to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, a powerful financial watchdog. Some of Trump’s advisers during the transition process, meanwhile, are closely tied to Marc Andreessen and his venture firm, which has extensive investments in crypto.

Andreessen and other crypto magnates — including Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the founders of the trading platform Gemini — donated generously to Trump and affiliated groups during the 2024 campaign as they looked to arrest years of withering scrutiny under outgoing President Joe Biden.

But the fruits of their labor could become apparent soon after Trump enters office: He is expected to create a new council — consisting in part of crypto executives — to guide his administration, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe his plans.

Trump has also explored executive orders that would streamline federal crypto regulation, such as by tasking agencies to study and remove legal barriers to the industry or clarifying the exact oversight roles of two federal financial regulators, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the people said. And the president’s team has spoken with lawmakers and experts about his controversial idea to maintain a federal stockpile of bitcoin, The Washington Post previously reported.

Trump and his family have lent their names and support to World Liberty Financial, which aims to offer crypto lending, though they do not appear to be officers at the company.

But the projects have only resurfaced familiar questions about Trump’s commingling of government and business, and the extent to which political actors might seek to curry favor by investing in his growing real estate and tech enterprises. The stakes became apparent only weeks after the election, when Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased $30 million in tokens from World Liberty Financial. Sun is under investigation by the SEC.

The president-elect has also sold NFTs — non-fungible tokens — featuring amateurish images of him playing golf, posing as an astronaut or surrounded by bars of gold.

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>>> Powell says Fed cannot hold bitcoin, not seeking to change that


Reuters

by Michael S. Derby and Ann Saphir

December 19, 2024


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-cant-hold-bitcoin-not-211628096.html


NEW YORK (Reuters) -Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the U.S. central bank has no desire to be involved in any government effort to stockpile large amounts of bitcoin.

"We're not allowed to own bitcoin," Powell said at a press conference following the Fed's latest two-day policy meeting, in which policymakers cut rates as expected while signaling a less certain path for monetary policy in the months ahead.

In terms of the legal issues around holding bitcoin, "that's the kind of thing for Congress to consider, but we are not looking for a law change at the Fed," Powell said.

The Fed chief was addressing the prospect of central bank involvement in the idea of the government building a so-called Strategic Bitcoin Reserve once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Powell's comments on Wednesday dented the value of bitcoin, which has rallied sharply along with other crypto assets since Trump's victory in the Nov. 5 election on the prospect of a more hands-off government approach to a class of assets that rarely functions as actual money, but is instead largely used as a vehicle for speculation.

Trump has suggested he will create a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve - a concept that has also been widely rejected in Europe.

The incoming president has not provided details on what such a reserve would entail, beyond saying its initial holdings could include bitcoin seized from criminals, a stockpile of about 200,000 tokens worth about $21 billion at current prices.

Bitcoin has more than doubled this year to more than $100,000 on optimism over Trump's pro-crypto stance. The asset has proven volatile in its 15 years of existence, which analysts say reduces its utility as a store of value or a unit of exchange, key attributes of a reserve currency.

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has introduced a bill to create such a reserve, under which the U.S. Treasury would buy 200,000 bitcoins annually until the stockpile reaches one million tokens. The purchases would be funded by Fed bank deposits and gold holdings.

Funding a strategic bitcoin reserve would likely require the approval of Congress and the issuance of new Treasury debt, according to an analysis published this week by Barclays. Given the likely ways such a reserve could be created, "we suspect such a plan would face stiff resistance from the Fed," Barclays analysts said.

EUROPE AGAINST BITCOIN RESERVES

More broadly, Fed officials have been skeptical of securities such as bitcoin as they have also backed away from their own efforts to create a fully digital dollar in favor of allowing the private sector to innovate payments technologies.

The Fed's main role regarding cryptocurrencies appears to center on how those assets might affect consumer and banking sector safety.

"We regulate and supervise banks and we would want the interaction between the crypto business and the banks ... not to threaten the health and well-being of the banks," Powell said on Dec. 4. But he also noted at that time that when it comes to crypto assets, "we don't regulate it directly."

The European Central Bank’s chief bank supervisor, Claudia Buch, on Tuesday also flagged up risks in the crypto market, including "excessive leverage, intransparency (and) conflict of interest", adding she was keeping a close eye on banks' exposure to that type of assets.

Trump plans to appoint former PayPal executive David Sacks to the newly-created position of White House AI and Crypto Czar, and pro-crypto consultant Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In Europe, a series of central bankers this week dismissed any suggestion of bitcoin becoming a reserve asset.

Belgium’s central bank governor Pierre Wunsch saw little "appetite for having reserves in bitcoins" in an interview on Wednesday. Outside the euro zone, Hungary’s governor-designate Mihaly Varga said on Monday cryptocurrencies were just too volatile.

"We are following the discussion, especially in the U.S. post-elections, closely," ECB policymaker Olli Rehn said on Tuesday. "But our view has not changed. Cryptos are assets, but they are not currency," the Finnish central bank governor added.

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>>> Bitcoin is 'the right asset' to combat the US deficit: Sen. Lummis


by Madison Mills and Seana Smith

December 19, 2024


https://finance.yahoo.com/video/td-cowen-upgrades-blackberry-buy-225541053.html


With President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House quickly approaching, investors weigh the prospect of a strategic bitcoin reserve. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), who introduced the bipartisan Lummis-Gillibrand Responsible Financial Innovation Act focused on regulating crypto, joins Catalysts Co-Hosts Seana Smith and Madison Mills to talk about her stance on the Federal Reserve holding bitcoin.

"I want our federal government to have a strategic bitcoin reserve that can help back the US dollar as the world's reserve currency and then serve as a long-term savings account, thereby offsetting our national debt, which is over $36 trillion now," Lummis tells Yahoo Finance.

The republican senator says, "My proposal would have the US purchase, through other assets that already owns, 200,000 bitcoin a year for five years, for a total of a million, hold it for at least 20 years, and at the numbers that we project, that would accrue a fund that's worth about $16 trillion."

Lummis adds the reason why the federal government has not already pursued bitcoin as a solution to the national deficit is because, as indicated by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Fed's December meeting, it doesn't believe the central bank has the legal authority to own bitcoin. "We need to give that to them," she says.

Check out Yahoo Finance's full interview with Senator Lummis here. Also catch Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) discuss crypto regulation and Trump's pick for Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with Yahoo Finance.

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>>> Trump nominates crypto-friendly Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary


The Street

by Sabrina Toppa

November 24, 2024


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-nominates-crypto-friendly-scott-175152629.html


Quick Summary

President-Elect Donald Trump has nominated Scott Bessent, a pro-crypto hedge fund manager, as his Treasury Secretary. Bessent has supported Trump's call for a strategic bitcoin reserve and has been a major donor to his campaign. As Treasury Secretary, Bessent's responsibilities will include tax policy, managing growing debt, and potentially crypto policy. He has also outlined a

On Friday, President-Elect Donald Trump picked pro-crypto hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as his administration’s new Treasury Secretary, pending a Senate confirmation. The 62-year-old has supported Trump’s call for the creation of a strategic bitcoin reserve, as well as his broader overtures to the crypto industry.

"I have been excited about the [Trump’s] embrace of crypto, and I think it fits very well with the Republican Party, Bessent told media this summer. “Crypto is about freedom.. The crypto economy is here to stay, the Democrats are running from it because they are trying to wash off the stench of Sam Bankman-Fried and his family donations to the Democratic party.”

Bessent’s ambit will include tax policy, managing growing debt, and may grow to include crypto policy, market analysts believe.

Bessent has also been a major donor to Trump, extending $1 million to the Republican candidate for his 2016 inauguration. In the past, Trump has labeled Bessent as “one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street.”

In terms of his economic viewpoints, Bessent espouses a "3-3-3" strategy, where he is advising Trump to deploy deregulation to achieve 3% annual growth to the GDP, trim the budget deficit by making it just 3% of the GDP in the next four years, and increase daily oil production by 3 million barrels a day, according to the New York Times.

Moreover, Bessent has tried to clarify Trump’s controversial economic policies, particularly his proposal to levy protectionist tariffs. While even some Republicans criticized the tariffs for inflating costs and burdening businesses and consumers, Bessent claims that Trump deploys them as strategic leverage to pressure other nations into meeting his demands.

Others in Musk’s camp, like Tesla CEO and billionaire Elon Musk, hoped for a different Treasury Secretary in the form of Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald.

“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” Trump said in his announcement. “We will ensure that no Americans will be left behind in the next and Greatest Economic Boom, and Scott will lead that effort for me, and the Great People of the United States of America.”

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