Crypto news

This week, the crypto industry once again demonstrates its unique ability to combine absurdity and strategy. While FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried plans a $100 million venture from his prison cell, Tether finds a loophole in the European MiCA regulation, and the US prepares to legislatively bury the digital dollar until 2030. We break down the key events reshaping the market map.

Sam Bankman-Fried's Ambitions: From 25 Years to a Presidential Pardon

Sam Bankman-Fried, serving a 25-year sentence for the largest financial fraud, is not wasting time. According to fellow inmates, he is already discussing launching a crypto project after his release, requiring startup capital of $50–$100 million. Simultaneously, SBF has appealed to Donald Trump for a pardon, and his parents have hired lobbyists. The topic of FTX's venture investments has resurfaced in the community: stakes in SpaceX, Anthropic, and Solana, currently valued at $114 billion, were liquidated by bankruptcy administrators for pennies. However, despite his potential genius as an investor, most analysts agree that trust in SBF is irrevocably lost. The illegal use of client funds is a trait the market does not forgive.

Tether vs. MiCA: A Strategy of Evasion or Playing with Fire?

The European authority ESMA has issued an ultimatum: by July 1, all crypto platforms must obtain a license under the MiCA regulation, or face a complete exit from the EU. Tether, however, has chosen a path of resistance. The company declined the license, deeming the requirement to hold 60% of reserves in European banks as risky for financial stability. Instead, Tether is investing in partners who already have legal status, through whom fully legitimate stablecoins will be issued. This indirect presence in the EU market without direct subordination to local officials is a clever move, but it carries consequences. Forced delisting of USDT will hit market makers: splitting liquidity pools, complicating cross-exchange arbitrage, and widening spreads—this is what awaits professional market participants.

US Exits the CBDC Race: Stablecoins as an Alternative

The US is moving toward a legislative ban on the digital dollar, at least until the end of 2030. A provision prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC is embedded in a bill on affordable housing—such packaging allowed it to bypass the resistance that had stalled a separate anti-CBDC document. American lawmakers fear total surveillance, control over spending (as in the digital yuan), and the displacement of commercial banks. Private stablecoins, however, are exempt from the ban. For the global CBDC race, this means the world's largest economy is officially exiting it, and stablecoins are becoming a tolerated alternative.

The Meme Coin Bubble Bursts: Pump.fun Loses 70% of Revenue

Revenue for the Pump.fun platform has plummeted by over 70%. The platform, which allowed anyone to issue a token for a few dollars, led to an explosive increase in the number of new coins, but nearly 96% of traders either lost money or earned no more than $500. Developers announced the burning of tokens worth about $370 million (36% of the supply) to prevent a collapse. The situation reflects a massive redistribution of capital: investors are withdrawing liquidity from unregulated instruments, which major players view as gambling, and returning funds to TradFi. The practice of buying assets without fundamental value has stopped working—traders must return to basic rules and seek assets with real-world applications.

CME Group vs. Kalshi: Monopoly Under Threat

The operator of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group, is suing the regulator CFTC over its permission for the Kalshi platform to launch perpetual futures. CME head Terrence Duffy formally appeals to investor protection, comparing high leverage to the 2008 mortgage crisis, but in reality, it is about protecting a monopoly. CME holds exclusive licenses for all major benchmarks, and Duffy's logic is simple: new instruments on these indices must be traded with us. A similar pattern is observed with ICE, which demands "equal rules" due to the growth of the Hyperliquid platform.

Global Trend Toward Destroying Communication Privacy

The UK government is preparing a law that would completely ban the use of social media for citizens under 16, while in France and the EU, an initiative to mass-scan personal messages before sending is being promoted. Under the pretext of fighting terrorism, governments are forcing citizens to give up the basic right to privacy. As Pavel Durov noted, a forced abandonment of end-to-end encryption will not stop real criminals—they can easily write their own closed applications. Ultimately, ordinary law-abiding citizens will be affected. Weakening encryption makes corporate networks of banks and funds vulnerable to hacker attacks, and users will have to switch to decentralized services to maintain privacy.

Expert opinion: The market is undergoing a fundamental shift. Regulators are trying to force cryptocurrencies into the Procrustean bed of traditional finance, but projects like Tether find loopholes, and SBF demonstrates that even behind bars, ambitious plans can be made. However, the key takeaway from this week is that investors are increasingly favoring assets with real value, rejecting speculative bubbles. This makes the market more mature, but also more unpredictable.