SBF builds a $100 million prison startup, Tether challenges MiCA, and the US bans the digital dollar: weekly crypto-anarchy digest
This week, the crypto industry weathered a real storm: from the ambitions of a convicted mogul to a strategic maneuver by a stablecoin issuer and a legislative blow against CBDCs in the U.S. Let's break down the key events that will shape the market's trajectory for years to come.
SBF's Prison Startup: Genius or Madness?
Sam Bankman-Fried, serving a 25-year sentence for the FTX collapse, isn't wasting time. According to sources close to him, he is already planning life after release: launching a new crypto project would require between $50 and $100 million in startup capital. He has even appealed to Donald Trump for a presidential pardon, and his parents have hired lobbyists. Meanwhile, information has surfaced that FTX's venture investments — stakes in SpaceX, Anthropic, and Solana — are collectively valued at $114 billion, but bankruptcy administrators sold them off for a pittance. My assessment: even if SBF is a truly brilliant investor, his reputation is permanently destroyed. Regaining trust after the illegal use of client funds is a nearly impossible task.
Tether vs. MiCA: A Circumvention Maneuver
The European authority ESMA has issued an ultimatum: by July 1, all crypto platforms must obtain a license under the MiCA regulation or leave the EU market. Tether deliberately declined a license, deeming the requirement to hold 60% of reserves in European banks as risky for financial stability. Instead, the company chose a strategy of indirect presence: investing in partners that already have legal status. Fully legitimate stablecoins will be issued through them, allowing Tether to maintain influence in Europe without direct regulatory subordination. However, the forced delisting of USDT will hit market makers, complicating inter-exchange arbitrage and widening spreads. The market is bracing for turbulence.
U.S. Bans the Digital Dollar: A Victory for Stablecoins
American lawmakers embedded a ban on CBDCs into an affordable housing bill, bypassing opposition. The ban is in effect at least until 2030. Key concerns include total surveillance of transactions, control over spending (as seen with the digital yuan), and the displacement of commercial banks. Private stablecoins, however, are exempt from the ban. This means the world's largest economy is officially exiting the global CBDC race, and stablecoins become the de facto alternative that the state is willing to tolerate. In effect, the market gets a green light for further development.
Memecoins: The Bubble Has Burst
Revenues on the Pump.fun platform have plummeted by over 70%. The platform allowed anyone to issue a token for a few dollars, leading to an explosive increase in the number of coins, but nearly 96% of traders either lost money or earned no more than $500. Developers are trying to salvage the situation by burning $370 million worth of tokens. However, this is merely a symptom of a massive capital redistribution: investors are pulling liquidity from unregulated instruments viewed as gambling and returning to TradFi. The practice of buying assets with no fundamental value has stopped working — the market is becoming safer, but less fun.
CME Group Defends Its Monopoly
The operator of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group, is suing the CFTC over its permission for the Kalshi platform to launch perpetual futures. Formally, it's about investor protection (drawing comparisons to the 2008 mortgage crisis). In reality, it's about protecting a monopoly: CME holds exclusive licenses for all major benchmarks. The logic is simple: if you control the indices, new instruments based on them should trade with you. The pattern is familiar: ICE makes similar demands in response to Hyperliquid's growth. The battle for control over derivatives is just beginning.
The Destruction of Communication Privacy: A Global Trend
The UK is preparing a law to completely ban social media for citizens under 16, while France and the EU are pushing for mass scanning of personal messages 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 noted, forcing the abandonment of end-to-end encryption won't stop criminals — they will write their own closed applications. Ordinary citizens will be the ones affected, and weakening encryption will make corporate bank networks vulnerable to hackers. The only way out is decentralized services.
Expert Conclusion: This week showed that the crypto industry is entering a phase of maturity: regulators are tightening rules, but the market is finding workarounds. The main trend is the fight for privacy and decentralization, which will only intensify.