gm 13/08

Summary
gm, ETH ETFs recorded an unprecedented $1 billion in daily inflows while Ethereum surged past $4,500, reaching its highest level since 2021. Circle announced plans to launch its own layer-1 blockchain called Arc with USDC as the native gas token, while payment giant Stripe was reported to be developing a payments-focused blockchain named Tempo, signaling a growing trend of major companies creating proprietary blockchain infrastructure. Meanwhile, Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, changed his plea to guilty on two counts of fraud related to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, potentially facing up to 12 years in prison. In the corporate sphere, BitMine and other Ethereum treasury companies continued aggressive ETH acquisition strategies, with BitMine planning to raise $24.5 billion to further increase its holdings.

News Headlines
🚀 Social Network Zora Surges 43% Amid Token Creation Boom

• Zora's token has skyrocketed 43% to $0.1372 in 24 hours and an impressive 1,566% over the past month, driven by significant platform adoption following its integration into the Base App.
• The surge coincides with remarkable on-chain activity, with 47,000 new tokens minted by over 21,000 creators in just one day, highlighting strong community engagement despite no major announcements from the Zora team.

💰 Bullish Raises IPO Target to $990M as Institutional Crypto Interest Grows

• Bullish, a digital asset exchange operator, has increased its IPO target valuation by nearly 60% to approximately $990 million, offering 30 million shares priced between $32 and $33 each.
• The IPO, led by major financial institutions including JPMorgan, Jefferies, and Citigroup, could result in a market capitalization of around $4.8 billion, up from a previously set target of $4.2 billion.

🎨 Animoca Brands Takes Majority Stake in Cool Cats NFT Collection

• Animoca Brands has acquired a majority stake in the Cool Cats NFT collection, triggering a 400% surge in trading volume though the collection's market cap remains around $22 million.
• The investment aligns with Animoca's vision for Mocaverse, aiming to create a crypto-powered identity system interlinked with games and experiences across the Web3 ecosystem.

💼 Michael Saylor's Strategy Makes Smallest Bitcoin Purchase in Months

• Michael Saylor's Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) acquired just 155 BTC for $18 million, marking its smallest purchase since March despite a history of multi-billion dollar acquisitions.
• The company now holds 628,946 BTC valued at over $75.5 billion and reports a yearly yield of 25% on its holdings, with Saylor emphasizing continued commitment to increasing Bitcoin assets through debt financing.

💲 Treasury for Trump-Backed World Liberty to Raise $1.5B for WLFI Buys

• ALT5 Sigma Corporation is raising $1.5 billion by offering 100 million shares at $7.50 each to establish a treasury for World Liberty Financial (WLFI), with the sale closing on August 12.
• The proceeds will be used to purchase WLFI tokens, settle litigation, pay debts, and fund operations, following a recent community vote to trade WLFI tokens that have been locked since their pre-sale raised $590 million.

Market Metrics

Fundraising & VC
1. 1Kosmos (Series B, $57M) - Cybersecurity platform offering identity-first authentication solutions
2. Transak (Strategic, $16M) - Web3 payments infrastructure provider
3. Riva Money (Pre-seed, $3M) - Cross-border payments platform
4. PublicAI (Public Token Sale, $2M) - Web3 AI data infrastructure

Regulatory
🏦 Paxos Applies for National Banking License

• Stablecoin issuer Paxos has applied for a national trust charter with the OCC, following similar moves by competitors Circle and Ripple.
• The national charter would allow Paxos to expand beyond its current New York state license, offering enhanced regulatory oversight and broader services nationwide.

💰 US Banking Groups Push to Close Stablecoin Yield Loophole

• Led by the Bank Policy Institute, U.S. banking groups are urging Congress to address a loophole in the GENIUS Act that could allow stablecoin issuers to offer yields through affiliated companies.
• Banks warn that without closing this gap, up to $6.6 trillion could shift from traditional banking to stablecoins, potentially disrupting credit availability.

🕵️ T3 Crime Unit Expands with Binance, Reports $250M in Seizures

• The T3 Financial Crime Unit, a collaboration between Tron, Tether, and TRM Labs, has frozen over $250 million in illicit crypto assets since its launch in September 2024.
• The unit has expanded with the T3+ program, inviting exchanges and financial institutions to enhance anti-crime efforts, with Binance being the first partner.

👨‍⚖️ DEV Detained in Turkey Donates $500K to Roman Storm's Defense

• Ethereum developer Federico Carrone pledged $500,000 to Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm's legal defense fund after experiencing his own 24-hour detention in Turkey.
• Storm was recently found guilty on one charge related to operating an unlicensed money transmitter but faces a potential retrial on deadlocked charges.

🧹 US Authorities Seize $1M from BlackSuit Ransomware Group

• U.S. and international law enforcement have dismantled the BlackSuit ransomware group, seizing approximately $1 million in cryptocurrency assets.
• The operation also included taking control of servers and domain names used by the group, which had extorted over $370 million from more than 450 victims since 2023.

Technical Analysis
Bitcoin - Bitcoin shows strong development within a rising trend channel in the short term. Rising trends indicate that the currency experiences positive development and that buy interest among investors is increasing. The currency has given a positive signal from the rectangle formation by a break up through the resistance at 118077. Further rise to 122416 or more is signaled. The currency is approaching resistance at 121000 points, which may give a negative reaction. However, a break upwards through 121000 points will be a positive signal. Volume tops and volume bottoms correspond badly with tops and bottoms in the price. Volume balance is also negative, which weakens the rising trend and could be an early signal of a coming trend break. The RSI curve shows a rising trend, which supports the positive trend. The currency is overall assessed as technically neutral for the short term.

Ethereum - Ethereum is in a rising trend channel in the short term. This signals increasing optimism among investors and indicates continued rise. There is no resistance in the price chart and further rise is indicated. In case of a negative reaction, the currency has support at approximately 3860 points. The short term momentum of the currency is strongly positive, with RSI above 70. This indicates increasing optimism among investors and further price increase for Ethereum. However, particularly for big stocks, high RSI may be a sign that the stock is overbought and that there is a chance of a reaction downwards. The currency is overall assessed as technically positive for the short term.