OVERVIEW

Green Candles Everywhere 🟩

Before we dive in, here’s today’s crypto market heatmap:

Source: Santiment

And here’s a look at crypto’s total market and altcoin market cap charts:

Source: TradingView

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS
Well, Hello There Bulls 🐂 

Let’s just take a look at how Bitcoin and Ethereum are doing today. 👀 

Bitcoin

BTCUSD Daily Chart – Click to enlarge.

BTCup +4.5% and back at $100k!

I’m interested to see what $BTC.X ( ▼ 2.28% ) does here due to its proximity to that trendline we just looked on Tuesday.

Ethereum

ETHUSD Daily Chart – Click to enlarge.

A couple things about Ethereum today:

1. ETH back at $2k, about damn time.

2. If it ends the day with that +17% gain, today will be the best performing day for Ethereum since May 29, 2017!

Let’s see if we get any follow through into tomorrow and the weekend. 📆 

NEWS
Mashinsky Gets 12 Years – But First, He’s Gotta Hit Up a Wedding 👰 

Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky just got slapped with a 12-year prison sentence for fraud and token manipulation. But hold the cell (pun 100% intended) – he’s not heading to prison just yet. 🤷 

Source: Bloomberg

Judge Koeltl approved his request to stay free until after his daughter’s wedding in Memphis, so he gets a summer vacation before locking in the jumpsuit.

Prosecutors wanted 20 years minimum. Mashinsky’s lawyers begged for one year and a pat on the back, calling anything over 15 years a “death sentence” for a 60-year-old veteran.

They also tried to downplay his fraud by saying it wasn’t as bad as OneCoin, which is the white-collar version of “but someone else cheated worse.” It didn’t work. He has to cough up $48 million and nine properties.

We can finally close the the book on one of 2020’s biggest villains. 📕 

POLICY
What the CFPB Thinks Wallets Do (and Why They’re Wrong) 👛 

Source: Consensys

Consensys – the find folks behind MetaMask, warn that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to redefine unhosted wallets like MetaMask as if they’re JPMorgan in disguise. Yes, really.

According to the prior administration’s (Biden) brainwave of a rule, any software that lets you touch your own crypto is apparently a “financial institution” now. Because obviously, a browser extension that doesn’t store your info, your keys, or your money is Wells Fargo. 🙄

In a letter to the current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the CFPB, Consensys explains that MetaMask isn’t holding your funds, issuing you an account, or sending your crypto off to the Caymans.

It’s literally a glorified key manager – more LastPass than Visa.

MetaMask doesn’t hold your money, it doesn’t move your money, and it couldn’t if it tried. Every transaction gets signed on your machine and sent straight to the chain.

No middleman. No backdoor. No way for Consensys to even reverse or monitor a transaction if they wanted to.

So… who exactly is supposed to be regulated? The dev? The user? The guy who cloned it into his Raspberry Pi? You can’t just slap a “regulated institution” sticker on open-source code and call it a day. 🤦 

TL;DR: Don’t Regulate Wallets Like They’re Banks 🏦 

• MetaMask is a tool, not a financial institution.

• It doesn’t store money, create accounts, or handle transactions—users do.

• The CFPB rule is legally flimsy, technically absurd, and impossible to enforce.

• Consensys can’t comply even if it tried (and it’s not trying).

• Wallet developers worldwide will either shut down or move offshore if this passes.

• Oh, and good luck explaining to Congress why open-source browser tools suddenly need to file suspicious activity reports.

If the goal here is “consumer protection,” maybe don’t start by crushing the thing that actually gives users control over their assets. Just a thought. 🧱

STORY PROTOCOL
The Problem With IP? No One Protects It… Until It’s Too Late 😠

This is one of the coolest things coming out of crypto lately. 🆒 

You ever create something halfway decent – an idea, a sketch, a tweet that makes sense and think, “Hey, maybe I should actually own that”? Congratulations, you’ve just stumbled into the mess known as intellectual property (IP).

Here’s the catch: without an actual license, your IP is just bait. The law technically protects you – if you’re into spending time and money suing people. That’s why giant companies use real, enforceable licensing frameworks to tell the world: “Touch this and you’ll hear from our lawyers.”

But most creators get stuck somewhere between a word doc and a vague hope that “someone sees this and pays me.”

Enter Story Protocol $IP.X ( ▼ 0.44% ) .

Story Protocol Registration Form – Click to enlarge.

They built a free, plug-and-play licensing system called the Programmable IP License (PIL). It’s Web3-native, backed by top law firms, and doesn’t require sacrificing a kidney to pay legal fees.

It’s also not a half-baked “creative commons” knockoff. It’s the real deal – with customizable permissions for where, how, and who gets to use your work.

The Fix: Web3 Contracts Meet Legal Paperwork, Minus the Headache 📜 

Every PIL license you set up gets recorded on-chain using smart contracts- Story’s version of “don’t even think about claiming this as yours.” That blockchain timestamp isn’t just for flexing in Discord. It’s legal ammo. If anyone messes around, you’ve got receipts. Literal, time-stamped receipts.

Even better? This system plugs into Story’s IP Portal, where you can register, license, and display your IP like it’s sitting in a digital vending machine—except instead of selling Skittles, you’re monetizing memes, AI training data, design work, or whatever else you cooked up.

Think NFT marketplace meets IP law firm – but for once, you’re not the one getting rugged.

Some of the highlights

• Smart contract-backed licenses (you pick the terms)

• Institutional-grade legal framework (but for broke geniuses too)

• On-chain discoverability and permissionless licensing

• Built-in monetization flow that doesn’t require DMing some Web2 brand and begging

This isn’t “paper IP” anymore. It’s Programmable IP – modular, remixable, monetizable, and actually enforceable. Just like $USDC.X ( ▼ 0.0% ) lets you drag USD onto the blockchain, Story lets you drag your IP out of your notebook and into the future. 💰

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Crypto News 📰

🔵 Coinbase to Acquire Options Giant Deribit

Coinbase is set to acquire Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange, for a paltry $2.9 billion deal combining cash and $COIN ( ▲ 3.86% ) stock. The acquisition puts Coinbase as the leading global derivatives platform, significantly expanding its offerings beyond spot, futures, and perpetual futures to include crypto options. The deal is expected to close by year-end. Coinbase.

🔷 Ripple’s RLUSD Grows Fast, Is XRP Being Replaced?

Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD is booming, recently listed on Gemini, and becoming the “gold standard” for institutional transactions, raising fears among the $XRP.X ( ▲ 6.77% ) community that XRP’s role could shrink to merely covering transaction fees. Despite concerns, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse insists XRP and RLUSD serve complementary purposes, with XRP remaining vital as a neutral, decentralized bridge currency. TheCryptoBasic.

🔴 Binance Founder CZ Applies for Presidential Pardon from Trump

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), former Binance CEO, confirmed he has formally applied for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, citing Trump’s earlier pardons of BitMEX founders as precedent. Since his release, CZ has advised crypto initiatives in Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan, signaling continued involvement in global crypto policy despite legal setbacks. Yahoo!Finance.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Metaverse, NFT, & Gaming News 🎮️

🔗 Mina Launches NFT Standard and Token Launchpad in Mainnet Beta

Mina ($MINA.X ( ▼ 3.17% )) ecosystem builder DFST has introduced two major infrastructure upgrades: a zero-knowledge-powered NFT Standard and MinaTokens, a no-code token launchpad. The NFT Standard simplifies creation and trading while enabling enhanced privacy and off-chain verification, backed by a security audit from Veridise. Mina Protocol.

🗣️ Mantle’s Yapperboard Challenge Phase 2 Drops

Mantle’s Yapperboard Phase 2 is back, enticing creators with 50,000 fresh $MNT.X ( ▼ 0.72% ) tokens up for grabs. Yappers compete by posting unique, high-quality content focused on Mantle Banking, MI4, and MantleX, climbing leaderboards for hefty rewards. A warning: lazy AI-generated content won’t cut it – Mantle wants originality, insight, and hustle. Mantle.

🎮 Pixels & Runiverse Collab Launches on Ronin, Dropping 5M $PIXEL Rewards

The Pixels Forgotten Runiverse event is now live, showering gamers with 5 million $PIXEL.X ( ▼ 0.86% ) tokens, fresh content, and novel gameplay mechanics – think mini-dungeons, supercharged buildings, and rewards-sharing on your land plots. Earn PIXEL by swapping in-game Quanta, snag limited-edition Pixels gear, and accelerate your journey with boosts available via credit card. Ronin Network.

LINKS
Links That Don’t Suck 🔗

🍿 Cardinal Robert Prevost elected first American-born pope, takes name Pope Leo XIV

🤣 Standard Chartered analyst apologizes for $120,000 bitcoin price call, says target ‘may be too low’

🎮️ Epic Games’ plans for Unreal Engine 6 are dividing developers

😱 Violent humanoid robot snaps — attacks factory workers in wild video: ‘Went full Terminator’

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Author Disclosure: The author of this newsletter holds positions in ADA, IMX, COPI, MIN, AGIX, ALGO, ZEC, XLM, and NEAR. 📋