SBF builds a crypto empire from prison, Tether rebels against MiCA, and the US bans CBDC until 2030
This week, the crypto industry once again demonstrates its unpredictability. While FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) plans to launch a new token from his prison cell, Tether is crafting a clever strategy to circumvent the European MiCA regulation, and U.S. lawmakers are imposing a de facto moratorium on the digital dollar. Let's break down the key events shaping the new market landscape.
Sam Bankman-Fried's Ambitions: A Startup Behind Bars
Serving a 25-year sentence for the largest financial fraud, SBF is not wasting time. According to sources close to him, he is already making plans for life after release, estimating the necessary startup capital at $50–100 million. He mentioned a crypto project to his cellmate, which he claims "everyone will flock to." Simultaneously, he has appealed to Donald Trump for a presidential pardon, and his parents have hired lobbyists.
Of particular interest is the fact that FTX's venture investments—stakes in SpaceX, Anthropic, and Solana, currently worth about $114 billion—were sold by bankruptcy administrators for a fraction of that amount. This only fuels debates about how brilliant an investor SBF actually was. However, most experts agree: even if his new project proves successful, regaining trust after outright theft of client funds will be nearly impossible.
Tether vs. MiCA: A Circumvention Maneuver
The European authority ESMA has set an ultimatum: by July 1, all crypto platforms must obtain a license under the MiCA regulation. However, Tether, the largest stablecoin issuer, deliberately refused this requirement, deeming the condition of holding 60% of reserves in European banks too risky. Instead, the company chose a strategy of indirect presence: it invests in partners who already have legal status and will issue fully legitimate, MiCA-compliant stablecoins.
This move allows Tether to maintain influence in the European market without directly submitting to local regulators. However, for professional market participants, the forced delisting of USDT will cause serious problems: market makers will have to split liquidity pools, cross-exchange arbitrage will become more complicated, and spreads will widen. This will create additional volatility and increase costs for all players.
U.S. Bans CBDC: A Victory for Stablecoins
American lawmakers have embedded a provision prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital dollar (CBDC) until at least 2030 into an affordable housing bill. This "packaging" allowed them to bypass the resistance that had stalled a separate anti-CBDC document. Congressmen's main concerns involve total transaction surveillance, control over spending (similar to the digital yuan), and the displacement of commercial banks.
Notably, private stablecoins like USDT and USDC are exempt from the ban. This means the world's largest economy is officially exiting the global CBDC race, recognizing stablecoins as an acceptable alternative. For the market, this is a signal: the state is willing to tolerate decentralized money, but under strict control.
The Meme Coin Crash: Bubble Burst
Revenue for the popular platform Pump.fun, which allowed anyone to issue their own token for a few dollars, has plummeted by over 70%. It turned out that nearly 96% of traders either lost money or earned no more than $500. In an attempt to salvage the situation, developers announced the burning of tokens worth $370 million (36% of the supply).
This collapse reflects a massive redistribution of capital: investors are widely locking in losses and withdrawing liquidity from unregulated instruments, which major players view as gambling. The practice of buying assets with no fundamental value has stopped working. The market is returning to basic rules: traders are seeking digital assets with real practical applications, making the ecosystem more mature and secure.
CME Group Defends Its Monopoly
The operator of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group, is suing the regulator CFTC over permission granted to the platform Kalshi to launch perpetual futures. Formally, CME CEO Terrence Duffy appeals to investor protection, comparing high leverage to the 2008 mortgage crisis. However, the real reason is protecting its monopoly: CME holds exclusive licenses for all major benchmarks, and new instruments on these indices, according to the company's logic, must trade only with them. A similar pattern is observed with ICE, which demands "equal rules" due to the growth of the Hyperliquid platform.
Global Trend: Destruction of Communication Privacy
The UK government is preparing a law that completely bans the use of social networks (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) for citizens under 16. In France and the EU, an initiative is being pushed for mass scanning of personal messages on smartphones before they are sent. Under the pretext of fighting terrorism and protecting children, governments are forcing citizens to give up the basic right to privacy.
As Pavel Durov rightly noted, the forced abandonment of end-to-end encryption (embedding backdoors) will not stop real criminals—they can easily write their own closed applications. Ordinary law-abiding citizens will be the ones affected. Moreover, weakening encryption systems makes corporate networks of banks and funds vulnerable to hacker attacks, and users will have to switch to decentralized services to maintain privacy.
My expert opinion: We are witnessing a classic dilemma—regulators are trying to control something that, by its nature, defies centralized management. SBF, Tether, and even the U.S. and EU governments all operate on the same principle: seeking loopholes and workarounds. For investors, this means the market will remain volatile, and the key battle will not be between cryptocurrencies and fiat, but between decentralization and state control. The winner will be the one who can offer a balance between freedom and security.