Crypto news

This week's focus is on Sam Bankman-Fried's ambitious plans, Tether's strategy to circumvent MiCA rules, and the ban on the digital dollar in the US. Additionally, we analyze the burst meme coin bubble, traditional exchanges' legal battles for monopoly, and the global trend of states destroying communication privacy.

Sam Bankman-Fried's Ambitions

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, serving a 25-year sentence for one of the largest financial frauds, is building ambitious plans for life after release. He told his cellmate that to "make serious money," he would need $50 million to $100 million in startup capital, and mentioned a cryptocurrency project that "everyone will flock to." Simultaneously, he appealed to Donald Trump for a presidential pardon, and his parents hired lobbyists.

The community once again recalled FTX's venture investments (stakes in SpaceX, Anthropic, and Solana totaling $114 billion), which bankruptcy administrators sold for a fraction of that amount. Still, most commentators agree: while SBF may be a genius investor, he committed completely unacceptable acts by illegally using customer funds. Therefore, even if he wasn't joking about the future crypto project, it's hard to imagine him regaining trust.

Tether's Strategy in Europe

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that by July 1, all cryptocurrency platforms must obtain a license under the new MiCA regulation, or they must completely cease servicing EU clients. Tether's management deliberately refused to obtain a license, deeming the requirement to hold 60% of reserves in European banks risky for financial stability. However, the company chose a strategy to bypass direct restrictions and is now investing in partners who already have legal status. Fully legitimate stablecoins will be issued through them, allowing Tether to indirectly maintain its presence in the EU market without direct subordination to local regulators.

Meanwhile, the forced delisting of USDT in Europe will hit professional market participants: market makers will have to split liquidity pools, cross-exchange arbitrage will become more complicated, and spreads will widen.

Digital Dollar Ban in the US

The US is moving toward a legislative ban on the digital dollar until at least the end of 2030. A provision prohibiting the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC is embedded in an affordable housing bill—this packaging allowed it to overcome resistance that had stalled a separate anti-CBDC document. American lawmakers fear specific things: total real-time surveillance of every transaction, control over spending (programmable money with the ability to freeze without a court order, as in the digital yuan), and the displacement of commercial banks.

Private stablecoins are clearly exempt from the ban. For the global CBDC race, this means the world's largest economy is officially exiting it, with stablecoins designated as an alternative the state is willing to tolerate.

Aftermath of the Meme Coin Hype

Revenue from the Pump.fun platform has plummeted by over 70%. The platform allowed anyone to issue their own token for a few dollars, leading to an explosive increase in new coins, but ultimately nearly 96% of all traders either lost money or earned no more than $500. To prevent a price drop, developers announced the burning of tokens worth about $370 million (36% of the supply). The situation reflects a massive capital redistribution process: investors are broadly locking in losses, withdrawing liquidity from unregulated instruments that 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 digital assets with real practical applications, making the market safer.

CME Group Defends Its Monopoly

Chicago Mercantile Exchange operator CME Group will sue regulator CFTC over allowing the Kalshi platform to launch perpetual futures. CME CEO Terrence Duffy formally appeals to investor protection (comparing high leverage to the 2008 mortgage crisis) and the Dodd-Frank Act. Meanwhile, CME holds exclusive licenses for all major benchmarks on which futures contracts are built. Duffy combined investor concern with monopoly protection in the lawsuit. The logic goes something like this: we control the benchmarks, so new instruments on these indices must trade with us. A similar pattern is observed with ICE, demanding "equal rules" due to the growth of the Hyperliquid platform.

Destruction of Communication Privacy

The UK government is preparing a law that will completely ban the use of social media (Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube) for citizens under 16, while in France and the EU, an initiative is advancing to mass-scan personal messages on smartphones before they are sent. A global trend is emerging: under the pretext of fighting terrorism or protecting children, governments are forcing citizens to give up the basic right to privacy. As Pavel Durov noted, a forced abandonment of end-to-end encryption technology (embedding backdoors) will not stop real criminals, as they can easily write their own closed applications. Ultimately, ordinary law-abiding citizens will be affected.

Furthermore, weakening encryption systems makes corporate networks of banks and funds vulnerable to hacker attacks and data theft, and users will have to switch to decentralized services to maintain privacy.

My analysis: The market is experiencing a key moment—from meme speculation to real utility, and regulators are trying to balance control and innovation. Tether's strategy is a masterclass in surviving tightening rules, but it highlights the fragility of the current financial system.