USDT Maker Tether Pushes Into AI 🤖

Published by Coinstack Partners

Coinstack Partners helps crypto/web3 companies raise funding from crypto venture capital firms and family offices for Series Seed/A/B/C rounds of $1M to $50M. The firm has relationships and access to all of the top 300 crypto venture capital firms across North America, Asia, and Europe. To discuss fundraising services for your company, please review our deck and schedule a free consultation.

Thanks to Our 2024 Coinstack Sponsors…

Amphibian Capital is a market/delta neutral fund of the world's leading crypto funds, returning approximately 14.43% net for '23, 195%+ net (pro-forma) since '19 and aim to deeply mitigate downside. Amphibian offers BTC, ETH and USD share classes. Deck here: www.amphibiancapital.com

Gryphon Digital Mining (NASDAQ: GRYP) is the industry leader in green Bitcoin mining. They use 100% renewable energy and were one of the first to receive the Sustainable Bitcoin Certificate. Gryphon is also a leader in Bitcoin Efficiency, posting 68 BTC/EH, and is headed by a team of former executives of the industry’s top public bitcoin miners. To learn more about Gryphon Digital Mining visit www.gryphondigitalmining.com or follow @GryphonMining.

Dimitra is enhancing agricultural productivity for smallholder farmers worldwide, setting the Agtech standard with cutting-edge AI, blockchain, and real-world application technologies that ensure transparency and optimized yields. Visit their website at dimitra.io or follow them on X for more information @dimitratech. 

💵 Weekly Crypto Fundraises & Deals

Here are all the crypto fundraises we heard about this week, ranked by size…

1. Succinct, Prover Network & SP1 make general-purpose ZK performant and easily deployable w/o complex infra, has  raised $55M led by Paradigm 

2. Sablier Labs,  leading on-chain token distribution and money-streaming solution for five years, has raised a $4.5M seed round led by A Capital

3. GAM3S.GG, Home of Web3 Gaming, has raised $2M in an investment round, led by Merit Circle

4. BottoDAO, stewards of @bottoproject has raised $1.67M raise through treasury OTC transactions, led by 1kxnetwork

5. StakeStone, a staking protocol for connecting omnichain liquidity, has raised an undisclosed amount, led by Binance Labs Fund

🗞️ Crypto News Recap: The Top 5 Stories

Welcome back to This Week in Crypto… everything you need to know in one scannable format. Here are the top 5 stories of the week… 

1. 🤖 USDT Maker Tether Pushes Into AI, Prioritizing Transparency and Privacy: The team behind the largest stablecoin throws its hat into artificial intelligence, leaning into the open-source approach.

   

2. 👋 SEC plans to ask judge for $2 billion in fines and penalties from Ripple Labs: The Securities and Exchange Commission has requested a New York judge impose $2 billion in fines and penalties on Ripple Labs Inc., according to the company's chief legal officer.

   

3. ⚖️ DeFi Education Fund and Texas apparel company Beba take SEC to court over 'regulating by enforcement' stance: The DeFi Education Fund and apparel company Beba are suing the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking a Texas district court to declare that their $BEBA token airdrop is not a security and to enforce the Administrative Procedure Act on the SEC's rule-making process.

   

4. ⚖️ No, the EU is not banning self-custodial crypto transactions or wallets:The crypto community erupted into panic over the weekend amid incorrect reports that the EU was banning anonymous crypto wallets and self-custodial payments.

   

5. 💸Binance to discontinue USDC support on the Tron blockchain: Binance will discontinue support for USDC — a prominent dollar-pegged stablecoin — deposits and withdrawals on the Tron blockchain on April 5.

   

Coinstack Daily

We’re launching a new daily edition Coinstack that covers all the day’s news and funding announcements. If you’d like to join our daily edition, subscribe here.

💬 Tweet of the Week

📊 Key Stats of the Week

Here are the most important and interesting stats in crypto this week...

1. Since Jan 2020, Bitcoin has returned 20x more value to investors vs Gold

2. Prior to Ethereum's Dencun upgrade, sending $ETH on Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, or StarkNet could cost upwards of $0.39 while performing swaps could be more than $1. Now you can do both for less than $0.02.

3. Over the past 7 days, Solana has handled over $348B of stablecoin volume on the network. To put this into perspective, this is more than double the amount on Ethereum, which handled $159B of stablecoin volume during this same time period and was the second most overall. 

4. Prior to Dencun going live on March 13th, about 1.23M daily transactions were settled on Ethereum with $28.7M in gas fees ($23.33/tx). Fast-forward two weeks later and we're still seeing 1.23M daily transactions being settled on the network, but with just $7.71M in gas fees being paid ($6.27/tx). This represents a 73% reduction in gas fees that users are paying to use the network.

5. In the past 24 hours Base users paid ~494 ETH in fees ~420 ETH ($1.5M) to Coinbase ~74 ETH ($265k) to Optimism ~.25 ETH ($1k) to Ethereum

6. Top Moving Coins From the Top 100

📝 Highlights from the Top Crypto Reports

Here are the top highlights from the best crypto research reports this week…

Blackrock deposits $100 million on Ethereum - Reflexivity Research

About the Author: Reflexivity Research, is on a mission is to bridge traditional finance into digital assets through our crypto native research. This is an excerpt from the full article, which you can find here.

Key Takeaways:

• Bitcoin ETF products saw net outflows of $887.6 million last week

• MicroStrategy purchased an additional 9,245 Bitcoin for $623 million

• BlackRock launched a digital asset fund and deposited $100 million in USDC on the Ethereum network

• Fidelity has amended their Ethereum ETF application to include staking capabilities

• Vitalik Buterin announced the introduction of a novel staking model named "Rainbow Staking."

• Google is incorporating Ethereum Name Service (ENS) data into its search results via Etherscan integration

• Coinbase Derivatives LLC has submitted certifications to the CFTC to list U.S. regulated futures for Dogecoin, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash

• Fully permissionless proposals and withdrawals have been activated on Optimism Sepolia

• Sui revealed Pilotfish, an innovative auto scaling technology developed by Mysten Labs

• Frax unveiled Part 1 of the Singularity Roadmap

• The Avalanche Foundation is launching Phase 1 of the Memecoin Rush

• Canto announced their parallel execution EVM “Cyclone Stack”

• DYDX will undergo a $110.33 million unlock on April 1st, 2024

Bitcoin ETF products saw net outflows of $887.6 million last week

Last week, Bitcoin ETF products saw a significant net outflow of $887.6 million, with Grayscale's outflows surpassing $2 billion. In a noteworthy move, Michael Saylor acquired an additional 9,245 Bitcoin for $623 million, increasing Microstrategy's stake to over 1% of Bitcoin's total supply.

Blackrock Launches Tokenized Asset Fund

Ethereum also saw several major updates last week, the largest of which is highlighted by BlackRock's launch of their tokenized asset fund, "BUIDL." The tokenization of the Fund through BUIDL offers investors several benefits, including the facilitation of blockchain-based issuance and trading of ownership. This initiative not only broadens investor access to on-chain offerings but also guarantees instant and transparent settlements and supports cross-platform transfers. BNY Mellon's involvement is key to bridging digital and traditional markets, ensuring seamless interoperability for the Fund.

BUIDL is designed to keep a stable token value of $1, with daily accrued dividends paid out as new tokens directly to investors' wallets each month. By investing 100% of its assets in cash, U.S. Treasury bills and repurchase agreements, the Fund allows investors to earn yields on the blockchain. Moreover, it provides 24/7 transferability to other pre-approved investors and offers flexible custody options, empowering investors with the choice of how to manage their tokens.

Stablecoin supplies have now risen more than over $20 billion in aggregate from their lows.

🎧 Top Crypto Podcasts of The Week

Here are the crypto podcasts that are worth listening to this week...

1. Bankless - L2 Tokens: Bullish or Bearish?

2. The Defiant - Trade Solana Memecoins Like A Pro (3 DEGEN TIERS)

3. Coin Bureau - When Will ALTCOIN Season Start?! Watch These Cryptos!

4. Nathaniel Whittemore: Blackrock Pushes the Tokenization Trend

5. Glassnode: Taking Profits - The Week On-chain 13, 2024 (Bitcoin On-chain Analysis)

Additional Coinstack Sponsors

Hive Digital is a leader in providing SEO and PPC services for blockchain, DeFi, Web3, and crypto companies. If you want to expand your organic presence and paid leads from Google and Facebook, get a proposal from Hive Digital at www.hivedigital.com.

💬 Join The Coinstack Telegram Community

Join our Telegram Channel here to chat with our community, ask questions, and learn more about the future of money as we move to a decentralized internet and the creation of a new open global monetary system that works for everyone.

💬 The People We’re Following Closely on Twitter

1. Vitalik Buterin

2. Justin Drake

3. Hayden Adams

4. Hasu

5. Ryan Adams

6. Vance Spencer

7. Camila Russo

8. Ryan Selkis

9. Anthony Sassano

10. Lyn Alden

11. Gavin Wood

12. Cathy Wood

13. Beniamin Mincu

14. Barry Silbert

15. David Hoffman

16. Preston Pysh

17. Willy Woo

18. Ultra Sound Money List

19. Polkadot Ecosystem List

📚 How To Get Started With Crypto Learning

1. Crypto: Explain It Like I’m 5 (Article)

2. The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo (Book) 

3. Crypto Theses for 2021 by Messari (PDF)

4. Bankless - The DeFi community (Substack + Podcast + Discord)

5. Understanding Polkadot - The Next Generation Blockchain Tech (Website)

6. The Ethereum 2.0 Report from Messari (PDF)

7. Blockgeeks Video Tutorials (Video)

8. The Coinstack Website (Website)

9. 2008 Bitcoin Whitepaper (PDF)

10. 2013 Ethereum Whitepaper (PDF)

📰 The Coinstack Newsletter:

Tracking the most important blockchain stories of the 2020s, including a decentralized internet and the creation of a new open global monetary system that works for everyone. As always, published for informational purposes only. Please do your own research. Just our opinions. Not intended as financial advice as we are not financial advisors. We may own some of the digital assets we write about as we believe strongly in the sector. Please do your own research. Published and written weekly by Ryan Allis and Mike Gavela. 

Coinstack is a news and analysis newsletter for the digital asset industry. None of the information here is a recommendation to invest in any securities or other types of investments. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns, expected returns, or probability projections may not reflect actual future performance. All investments involve risk and may result in loss.

Comments and thoughts are welcome on our Telegram channel:

• Website at Coinstack.co

• Substack at Coinstack.substack.com

• Twitter at twitter.com/coinstackcrypto

• Telegram channel at t.me/thecoinstack

• Sponsors: See our Coinstack sponsor deck

Please share with your friends and colleagues.