Crypto weekly is authored by maaria and david blumenfeld

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($3.1T): +1% / -10%
- BTC ($95,662): +2% / +2%
- ETH ($1,833): +2% / -45%
- SOL ($146): -3% / -23%
- UNI ($5.09): -9% / -61%
- OP ($0.66): -15% / -62%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($149B): +1% / +8%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($62B): -1% / +40%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 62% / 7%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- USDC stablecoin issuer Circle rejected a takeover bid from Ripple for $4 to $5 billion. Link. 

- Morgan Stanley will allow customers of its subsidiary ETrade to buy and sell crypto starting next year. Link. 

- Brown University reported it holds nearly $5 million in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, making it the third US university to announce Bitcoin ETF holdings. Link. 

- BlackRock submitted paperwork to the SEC to create a blockchain-based share class – labeled DLT for distributed ledger technology – for its $150 billion money market fund called BLF Treasury Trust Fund. Link. 

- Apple made changes to iOS app developer guidelines that now allow app developers to freely offer external payment methods including NFT purchases on secondary marketplaces. Link. Link. 

- Ethereum is finalizing two new standards to improve cross-chain UX. ERC-7930 standardizes wallet addresses across chains to make them interoperable, while ERC-7828 creates human-readable addresses. Link. ERC-7930. ERC-7828. 

- USDT stablecoin issuer Tether plans to launch a US-focused stablecoin later this year or early 2026 depending on upcoming stablecoin legislation. USDT is catered towards users in emerging markets with limited access to US dollars, while the new offering would compete with apps like PayPal and Cash App. Link. 

- Mastercard is partnering with stablecoin issuers Circle and Paxos to allow its merchants to receive stablecoin payments. Link. Press Release.  

- Sam Altman-backed Worldcoin is now available in the US. It had previously banned US residents due to regulatory concerns under the previous administration. Link. 

- USDT stablecoin issuer Tether reported $1 billion in operating profit in Q1. Link. Report. 

- Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said the company would be diversifying away from crypto in its Q1 earnings call. Crypto-related revenue fell 30% from $358 million in Q4 to $252 million (27% of revenue). Link. 

- Bitcoin’s dominance reached its highest level since January 2021. Link. 

- Three major Abu Dhabi financial institutions, including a sovereign wealth fund, plan to launch a dirham-backed stablecoin fully regulated by the UAE central bank. Link. 

- Coinbase Asset Management is launching a new fund that aims to deliver a 4-8% annualized net return on Bitcoin holdings via basis trades. Link. 

- Defunct app MoviePass beta launched Mogul, a daily fantasy entertainment platform designed for the Hollywood industry that is built on Layer 1 Sui. Link. 

- Layer-1 Movement Labs suspended its co-founder Rushi Manche following reports that a contracted market maker inflated the MOVE price to a $5 billion valuation before dumping it. Link. 

- The Ethereum Foundation has formalized its new leadership structure with Co-Executive Directors Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz K. Stańczak (the latter from blockchain infrastructure firm Nethermind), replacing former lead Aya Miyaguchi who is now serving as president. Link. 

- FIFA plans to migrate its fan-focused NFTs to its own FIFA blockchain, replacing Algorand and Polygon where the NFTs currently exist. Link.