RT Watson / The Block: Distinct Possibility, a gaming studio launched by EverQuest co-creator to build a web3 shooter on Etherlink, a Layer 2 network built on Tezos, raised $30.5M — - Bitkfraft Ventures and Brevan Howard Digital co-led a $30.5 million funding round in Distinct Possibility Studios, the new gaming firm from EverQuest co-creator John Smedley.
Jason Shubnell / The Block: Eric Trump says the TRUMP memecoin team and Magic Eden have canceled the $TRUMP Wallet; Trump's World Liberty Financial reportedly sent them a cease-and-desist — - Earlier this week, Magic Eden and the $TRUMP token project announced a forthcoming “official” wallet and trading app.
Naga Avan-Nomayo / The Block: Filing: GameStop acquires 4,710 bitcoin for its corporate treasury, but does not disclose the total purchase amount, after announcing a bitcoin plan in March — - The video game retailer announced a 4,710 bitcoin purchase on May 28. — GameStop previously announced plans to adopt Bitcoin …
Daniel Kuhn / The Block: Polygon cofounder Mihailo Bjelic steps down from the project's development studio, Polygon Labs, and from the foundation board, marking the third founder exit — - Mihailo Bjelic is stepping back from his active role developing Polygon and from the foundation's board, according to an announcement on Friday.
Danny Park / The Block: The US OCC says banks can buy and sell customers' crypto assets on their behalf and can outsource crypto custody and trade execution services to third parties — - The OCC clarified that national banks are permitted to execute cryptocurrency buy and sell orders on behalf of their customers.
Zack Abrams / The Block: Several pro-crypto Senate Democrats, key to passing a landmark stablecoin bill, withdraw support for the bill “as it currently stands”, citing “numerous issues” — - The future of the U.S. Senate's stablecoin bill has been thrown into jeopardy after nine pro-crypto Democrats …
Yogita Khatri / The Block: Symbiotic, which is building a “universal staking” platform after starting as a restaking protocol on Ethereum, raised a $29M Series A led by Pantera Capital — - Symbiotic has raised $29 million to expand from restaking into a broader “universal staking” platform.
The Block: Sources: BOA, principally lobbying through trade associations, is pushing US lawmakers for rules favoring banks over tech companies in stablecoin issuance — - Bank of America is lobbying for rules favoring banks over tech firms in stablecoin issuance. — Circle is positioning itself …
Yogita Khatri / The Block: Tether acquired 8,888 bitcoin worth $735M in Q1 2025, taking its total holdings to $7.8B and making it the sixth-largest bitcoin holder in a single wallet — - Tether acquired 8,888 BTC (worth about $735 million) in Q1 2025, following its reserve strategy.
Zack Abrams / The Block: PumpSwap, a new DEX launched by Pump.fun's creators, processed $2.43B in cumulative trading volume after just 10 days, shaking up the Solana DEX ecosystem — - PumpSwap, the DEX recently launched by memecoin platform Pump.fun, has processed $2.43 billion in cumulative trading volume after just 10 days …
Sarah Wynn / The Block: Crypto.com says the US SEC won't pursue enforcement action; Crypto.com sued the SEC in October after receiving a Wells notice signaling potential charges — - Crypto.com said that the SEC will not file an enforcement action against the company. — Crypto.com sued the SEC in October …
Danny Park / The Block: Binance suspends an employee for allegedly using insider information to sell tokens for significant profits; X users suggest the project was the memecoin UUU — - Binance Wallet announced that it has suspended an employee for allegedly using insider information to sell tokens for significant profits …
Zack Abrams / The Block: The daily amount of ether burned on Ethereum due to transaction fees hit an all-time low on March 22, amid dips in other network metrics like active addresses — - The daily amount of ETH burned on Ethereum as a result of transaction fees hit an all-time low on Saturday, indicating low demand for the network's blockspace.
MK Manoylov / The Block: Halliday, which helps developers delegate workflows to autonomous systems when creating smart contracts, raised a $20M Series A led by a16z Crypto — - The web3 workflow protocol developer Halliday raised $20 million in Series A funding led by a16z crypto.
Timmy Shen / The Block: Solana deleted a social media ad for its conference in May 2025 after the crypto community criticized it for insensitivity towards gender issues — - Solana posted a video ad on social media on Monday to promote its upcoming conference, but it was removed hours later.
Danny Park / The Block: A US bankruptcy court lets 3AC raise its claim against FTX from $120M to $1.53B, despite FTX's objection that it was too late; 3AC originally filed in June 2023 — - A U.S. bankruptcy court allowed 3AC to expand its claims against FTX from $120 million to $1.53 billion.
Yogita Khatri / The Block: French crypto trading company Flowdesk raised ~$92M in equity and $10.2M in debt led by HV Capital, after a $50M Series B at a $250M valuation in January 2024 — - Flowdesk has raised $52 million in new funding, with 80% as equity and around 20% as debt, co-founder and global CEO Guilhem Chaumont told The Block.
Zack Abrams / The Block: A trader used $6M to open a 50x leveraged long position on both BTC and ETH before Trump's crypto reserve announcement and closed their position for a $7M gain — - A trader who used $6 million to open a 50x leveraged long position on both BTC and ETH made $7 million in 24 hours …
Daniel Kuhn / The Block: MetaMask Head of Security Taylor Monahan says the Bybit hackers have moved at least 209,384 ETH, of ~400,000 stolen, onto Bitcoin, largely using THORChain swaps — - Bybit hackers have moved at least 209,384 ETH (~$480 million) onto Bitcoin, the majority of which was sent using ThorChain …
RT Watson / The Block: Nansen: 86% of traders lost $251M in total on the Solana memecoin Libra that Argentine President Milei promoted, while the remaining traders profited $180M — - Citing onchain data, Nansen Research said that through Tuesday, 86% of traders lost a total of $251 million on the LIBRA token …
James Hunt / The Block: Nikkei: Japan's financial regulator asks Apple and Google to remove apps from Bybit, MEXC Global, LBank Exchange, KuCoin, and Bitget; Apple has removed the apps — - Japan's Financial Services Agency has reportedly requested Apple and Google to block five unregistered overseas crypto exchange apps in the country.
MK Manoylov / The Block: Web3 domain infrastructure firm D3 Global raised a $25M Series A led by Paradigm, and plans to launch a decentralized network called Doma Protocol — - D3 Global is building tools for domain-based lending, fractional ownership, digital identity and other financial use cases.
Daniel Kuhn / The Block: Coinbase acquires Spindl, the on-chain advertising platform founded by Antonio Garcia-Martinez, an ex-Facebook staffer and the author of the book Chaos Monkeys — - Coinbase has acquired Spindl, the onchain advertising platform founded by famous tech commentator Antonio Garcia-Martinez.
Danny Park / The Block: A Texas District Court rules against Tornado Cash sanctions, ordering a previous decision to be reversed; the US sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022 — - A U.S. District Court has ordered the sanctions on Tornado Cash to be reversed. — The price of TORN jumped over 140% following the news.
The Block: The GMCI Meme index, which tracks leading memecoins by market cap, delivered 320% returns in 2024, outpacing AI at 91% and the top 30 cryptocurrencies at 88% — - The GMCI Meme index represents broader market trends rather than specific token performance. — The following is an excerpt …
Zack Abrams / The Block: Three industry groups sue the IRS, challenging a rule that would require some DeFi brokers to report users' personal information to the agency starting in 2027 — - The Blockchain Association and two other groups sued the IRS to challenge a recently-finalized rule that would require DeFi front-ends …
Zack Abrams / The Block: Memecoin MIRA, created to fund research into a brain tumor affecting tech CEO Siqi Chen's daughter, hit an $80M market cap before falling as Chen began selling — - After his young daughter, Mira, was diagnosed with a type of rare brain tumor, tech CEO Siqi Chen turned to X with a heartfelt plea …
The Block: Analysis: Coinbase International saw its total trading volume grow 124% week-over-week to $119B+ this past week, up from $2.5B per day average in November 2024 — - The weekly total is 124% higher than the previous week's total. — The following is an excerpt from The Block's Data and Insights newsletter.
MK Manoylov / The Block: Data shows open interest on Polymarket fell 64% from $510.95M on November 5 to $184.16M by November 8, highlighting the platform's reliance on political betting — - Open interest on Polymarket soared to $510.95 million by Nov. 5 and subsequently fell to $184.16 million by Nov. 8, The Block's data shows.
MK Manoylov / The Block: Filing: Microsoft puts an “assessment of investing in bitcoin” as a voting item for its December 10 shareholder meeting; its board recommends voting against it — - Microsoft placed an “assessment in investing in bitcoin” on the voting ballot ahead of its 2024 annual shareholder meeting in early December.
Vishal Chawla / The Block: DefiLlama: Coinbase's L2 Ethereum network Base stands at $2.08B in total value locked, up from $430M at the start of 2024, marking a 370% growth year-to-date — - Base has surpassed a total value locked of $2 billion for the first time — a 370% increase year-to-date.
Vishal Chawla / The Block: Singapore-based crypto exchange BingX suffered a security hack on its hot wallet, resulting in a “minor” loss; PeckShield: the loss was $43M in cryptocurrencies — - BingX suffered an apparent security exploit on its hot wallet. — Security analysts at PeckShield estimated …
Jason Shubnell / The Block: Trump launches World Liberty Financial, a DeFi lending project on Ethereum underpinned by the WLFI governance token; up to 63% of WLFI to be sold to the public — - Donald Trump helped unveil a few details of his highly anticipated cryptocurrency project, World Liberty Financial, on Monday night.
Zack Abrams / The Block: Dune Analytics: Pump.fun has generated over $100M in cumulative revenue from more than 1M memecoins created on the platform since its launch in January 2024 — - Popular memecoin launchpad Pump.fun has made $100 million in cumulative revenue from more than one million memecoins since it launched in January of this year.
Zack Abrams / The Block: Celsius sued Tether on Friday in an attempt to claw back ~40K bitcoins, now worth ~$2.4B, that Celsius claims Tether sold improperly at the bottom of the market — - Celsius filed a lawsuit against Tether on Friday in an attempt to claw back Bitcoin worth $2.4 billion that the company …
Adam James / The Block: Indian crypto exchange WazirX plans to undo all trades that occurred following its withdrawal freeze on July 18 “over the next few days”, after a $230M+ hack — - WazirX announced plans to undo all trades following its withdrawal freeze on July 18.
Sarah Wynn / The Block: Court filing: FTX and the CFTC agree a $12.7B settlement after months of negotiations, pending a judge's approval; FTX will return up to $12.7B to creditors — - The two have been negotiating over the past few months, according to a court document filed on July 12 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Sarah Wynn / The Block: Coinbase files two lawsuits against the US SEC and the FDIC for not complying with FOIA requests; one of the FOIA requests is about how the SEC views ether — - Coinbase, which retained consultant firm History Associates Inc. to file the FOIA requests, took aim at the SEC and FDIC …
James Hunt / The Block: As the EU's MiCA crypto regulation takes effect on June 30, the industry remains uncertain about the ramifications; some stablecoin rules arrive in late 2024 — - A key MiCA deadline in the European Union is approaching on June 30, impacting the regulation of the cryptocurrency and digital asset market across member states.
Zack Abrams / The Block: FTX sells its remaining 15M Anthropic shares, netting $450M+ and taking its total haul to $1.3B from its original $500M investment, as legal costs pass $500M — - The FTX estate has sold its remaining shares in Anthropic, a valuable AI startup, as the total cost of the bankruptcy surpasses $500 million …
Sarah Wynn / The Block: President Biden vetoes a bill overturning SAB 121, a controversial SEC bulletin that establishes accounting standards for companies that custody crypto — - U.S. President Joe Biden vetoed a bill to overturn a controversial Securities and Exchange Commission bulletin, SAB 121 …
Sarah Wynn / The Block: Crypto exchange Gemini says Gemini Earn users will get $2.18B in crypto back in kind, after the lending program folded in November 2022 — - Those funds will be distributed in kind, meaning Gemini Earn customers who lent one bitcoin will receive one bitcoin back.
Timmy Shen / The Block: Chinese police in the Sichuan province dismantle an underground bank that used USDT for foreign currency exchanges worth $1.9B+, mainly to smuggle medicine — - Police in China have busted an underground bank that conducted foreign currency exchanges using USDT.
RT Watson / The Block: Immutable Games launches Guild of Guardians, its flagship mobile fantasy RPG that let players win GOG tokens, NFTs, and more; Immutable raised $200M in 2022 — “Guild of Guardians” is launching worldwide on both Apple and Android devices. — Immutable Games is offering up to $1 million in prizes.
James Hunt / The Block: Bitcoin's fourth halving is now complete, lowering miners' block subsidy rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC; the third halving was in May 2020 — - Bitcoin's fourth halving event has completed, ushering in a new epoch for the network. — Bitcoin's block subsidy reward for miners has dropped from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
MK Manoylov / The Block: NYC-based Web3 infrastructure company Xion raised $25M, reportedly a Series A, from Animoca Brands, Laser Digital, Multicoin, Arrington Capital, and others — - The web3 infrastructure firm Xion raised $25 million in funding. — Animoca Brands, Laser Digital, Multicoin, Arrington Capital …
Timmy Shen / The Block: The US OFAC sanctions 13 entities, including Netex24, and two individuals for aiding Russian nationals' potential sanctions evasion by building crypto services — - The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 13 entities and two individuals for helping sanctioned entities to evade sanctions in Russia.
RT Watson / The Block: Worldcoin announces Personal Custody, which saves biometric data captured by the Orb on users' personal devices, and plans to open source the Orb's software — - With “Personal Custody” people signing up for a World ID will no longer be given the option to have their biometric data stored and encrypted.
Timmy Shen / The Block: A study by the US Copyright Office and USPTO concludes that existing laws are sufficient to address NFT copyright concerns and there's no need to change IP laws — - The intellectual property authorities in the U.S. noted in an NFT study that the current laws are sufficient to address infringement concerns.
Sarah Wynn / The Block: Filing: the US DOE settles with bitcoin miner Riot Platforms and an industry group, and agrees to cancel its mandatory survey of energy use by crypto miners — - The Department of Energy was sued in a Texas court after the Energy Information Administration said in February that it would begin surveying crypto mining firms.