Crypto weekly is authored by maaria and david blumenfeld

PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($4.14T): +6% / +22%
- BTC ($115,826): +4% / +24%
- ETH ($4,614): +8% / +38%
- SOL ($242): +18% / +28%
- UNI ($9.43): +1% / -29%
- OP ($0.79): +10% / -55%
- COIN ($323): +8% / +30%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($170.3B): +1% / +23%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($73.2B): +1% / +67%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 56% / 13%

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Major cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ethereum, Dogecoin, and Solana all surged on the back of potential Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Link. 

- Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by the Winklevoss twins, went public on Nasdaq with shares jumping 32% on debut, valuing the company at $4.4 billion. Link. Link. 

- Crypto startup Figure, which offers blockchain-backed HELOCs, went public on Nasdaq with shares jumping 28% on debut, valuing the company at $6.8 billion. Link. 

- The S&P 500 index decided to reject Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) from being included in the index, despite the company technically meeting eligibility criteria. Link. 

- Bitcoin's hash rate and mining difficulty reached all-time highs. Link. 

- BlackRock is exploring tokenizing its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) using blockchain technology following the success of its Bitcoin ETF and tokenized money-market fund. Link. 

- Polymarket will use Chainlink oracles for automatically resolving price-based prediction markets on-chain. Link. Link. 

- Kazakhstan plans to build a strategic crypto reserve and establish a smart city called Alatau City where citizens can pay for goods and services with crypto. Link. 

- Decentralized prediction marketplace Polymarket is reportedly raising a funding round valuing the company at $9-10 billion. Link. 

- SEC Chair Paul Atkins wants to modernize securities regulations to allow markets to move on-chain. Link. 

- A massive cryptocurrency exploit that compromised JavaScript packages and was described as the "largest npm compromise in history" only managed to steal $1,043 despite affecting 10% of cloud environments. Link. 

- The SEC delayed decisions on staking for ethereum ETFs, and XRP and Solana ETFs. Over 90 crypto ETFs are awaiting regulatory approval. Link. 

- The Ethereum Foundation released a roadmap focused on building comprehensive end-to-end privacy through private writes, private reads, and private proving. Link. 

- The House has proposed a bill to fund a 90-day Treasury Department study on the feasibility of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, with detailed plans for custody, cybersecurity, and governance of government-held digital assets. Link. 

- CFTC Chair nominee Brian Quintenz accused Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss of lobbying President Trump to block his confirmation after he refused to take a stronger stance on Gemini's legal disputes with the CFTC, sharing private messages as evidence. Link. 

- Binance US has cut trading fees to near zero on over 20 cryptocurrency pairs including Ethereum and Solana in an attempt to regain market share. Link. 

- Polygon implemented a hard fork to fix a consensus bug that was causing 10-15 minute delays in transaction finality on its Polygon PoS network. Link. 

- Former FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is appealing his 25-year prison sentence on the grounds of trial error and judicial bias. Link. 

- Tether announced the launch of USAT, a new US-regulated stablecoin led by former White House crypto official Bo Hines and issued by Anchorage Digital. Link. 

- The FTX and Alameda bankruptcy estate redeemed $45 million worth of Solana (192,000 SOL) from staking, continuing their monthly liquidation schedule with roughly $977 million worth of staked SOL remaining. Link. 

- Hong Kong's central bank has proposed easing capital requirements for banks holding certain cryptocurrency assets built on permissionless blockchains. Link.