DOJ Wants to Retry Roman Storm
gm, Defiers!
TL;DR:
- The U.S. wants to retry Roman Storm
- Circle tests gas-free payments for AI agents
- Jito Foundation acquires SolanaFloor
- Sahara AI’s Vision for the Agentic Era [SPONSORED]
- 7 Altcoins That Outgrew Bitcoin in 2025 — And What They Have in Common [MEDIA PARTNER]
Let’s dive in.
Markets saw a slight uptick today, with BTC and ETH both gaining between 1-2% to trade on the upper end of their recent ranges. Total market cap is just under $2.5 trillion. Markets remain under pressure amid geopolitical uncertainty as the U.S.-Israeli military intervention in Iran continues into its second week.
On the regulatory side, U.S. prosecutors have requested a retrial for Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm, after his trial this summer, which was highly-watched in the crypto industry, resulted in a hung jury on two of the three charges brought against him.
Meanwhile, Circle announced it has launched Nanopayments — ultra-small, gas-free USDC transactions — on testnet. The product is designed to serve the emerging agentic AI economy.
Finally, in what appears to be a rare move for a DeFi protocol, the foundation behind Solana liquid staking platform Jito announced it’s acquiring SolanaFloor, a media outlet that focuses on the Solana ecosystem.
Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.
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📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours
| TICKER | VALUE | 24H | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Bitcoin | $70,570 | 0.60 % |
 | Ethereum | $2,071.27 | 1.30 % |
 | BNB | $651.52 | 1.46 % |
 | XRP | $1.4 | 0.49 % |
 | Solana | $87.42 | 1.19 % |
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🎬WATCH
Optimism Is Done With “Ethereum Alignment” — Users Come First
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Cami sits down with Jing Wang to discuss how Optimism is evolving and why the debate over what counts as a “real” Ethereum L2 might be missing the point.
Watch the full interview:
Top News in the Past 24 Hours
Tornado Cash Dev Roman Storm Could Face Retrial
A United States federal prosecutor has requested to retry Roman Storm, the co-founder of decentralized cryptocurrency mixer protocol Tornado Cash.
Why it matters: In a trial that was widely seen as setting a precedent for DeFi, the jury was unable to come to a verdict on two of the three charges brought against Storm.
Circle Launches Nanopayments on Testnet
Circle has launched Nanopayments on testnet, offering developers a new infrastructure layer for ultra-small, gas-free USDC transactions.
Why it matters: The product is designed to serve the emerging agentic economy, where AI agents need to be able to make rapid, sub-cent payments for services.
Jito Foundation Acquires Solana News Outlet SolanaFloor
The foundation behind Solana liquid staking protocol Jito acquired SolanaFloor just two weeks after the media outlet announced it was shutting down.
Why it matters: SolanaFloor and Jito Foundation emphasized that the media company will retain editorial independence.
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