The Defiant

gm, Defiers!

Today’s big story:

Ethereum, created by Vitalik Buterin in 2013, marks the 10th anniversary of its launch and genesis block today

In other news:

JPMorgan and Coinbase have partnered to let Chase credit card users redeem their rewards for USDC, among other integrations
The SEC will let “authorized participants” exchange spot crypto ETFs for the underlying asset, instead of cash
Bittensor treasury xTAO has upped its holdings, solidifying its position as the largest TAO treasury firm
The first token minted on Zora by an autonomous AI artist generated $3 million in trading volume in 24 hours
A quiet pivot is underway in Beijing, as blockchain startups pilot yuan-backed stablecoins after the country’s long struggle with a CBDC [FEATURE]
Getting started with Flare and XRP DeFi SPONSORED]
Shinkai Protocol empowers users with open source agentic system [SPONSORED]

Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.

DIA launches $DIA Staking and Oracle Grants with 20 chains, including Arbitrum, BNB Chain, and Avalanche. Power your dApp with trustless oracles, cost-free.

The Road to 5000 TPS: Scaling Stellar in 2025

In 2025, one of the Stellar Development Foundation’s (SDF) primary goals is to increase Stellar Core’s theoretical throughput to 5000 transactions per second (TPS). As adoption of Soroban — the Stellar smart contracts platform — accelerates and new use cases emerge, scalability is essential to ensuring that Stellar remains fast, affordable, and developer-friendly.

This post provides a high-level overview of our comprehensive scalability efforts, categorized into five key themes. Consider this a brief introduction to our major projects; we will delve deeper into each optimization area in upcoming posts.

📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs

TICKER	VALUE	24H
Bitcoin	$117,778	-0.05 %
Ethereum	$3,796.13	0.77 %
XRP	$3.14	0.36 %
BNB	$790.13	-2.51 %
Solana	$178.6	-1.26 %

MessariPortals	MINDSHARE Rank	MINDSHARE % Change (7d)
		-11.61%
		-12.90%
		15.31%
Powered by Messari Portals

Today’s Big Story

Ethereum Marks 10 Years Right in the Middle of a Massive Rebound

For its 10th birthday, Ethereum is taking back its control of the Layer 1 scene, with Ethereum ETFs and general ETH adoption rapidly accelerating.

ETH ETFs buyers have outpaced BTC buyers over the last couple weeks, spearheaded by ETH treasury companies such as SharpLink Gaming, while other institutions are racing to make sure they have ETH exposure in addition to the BTC they’ve acquired over the last year and a half.

The crypto race is picking up on both the investment side and the infrastructure side, as financial services giant JPMorgan Chase is partnering with Coinbase to let JPM customers fund crypto accounts via credit and Chase points.

World renowned auction house Christie’s is also stepping up its crypto offerings, with the firm’s international real estate arm now facilitating semi-anonymous buying and selling of real estate transactions via cryptocurrency, while PayPal unveiled its new “Pay with Crypto” feature, allowing users to spend over 100+ crypto currencies, including memes like Fartcoin, at global ecommerce merchants.

Degen liquidity is also flooding back to Ethereum and its Layer 2s, led by the success of the Zora creator ecosystem, and a strong pump in Ethereum NFTs. Zora’s hot streak has seen Base dethrone Solana as the go-to memecoin launch ecosystem, with Base overtaking Solana in daily token launches for the first time in over two years.

Looking onchain, Ethereum remains the Layer 1 with he highest TVL and the highest stablecoin market cap, even as it’s feeling the heat from Solana and others in terms of DEX volume, daily active addresses and daily transactions.

The stage is set for the blockchain and its underlying assets to continue their trending strength, perhaps sparking a return to Ethereum-alignment and DeFi, which is experiencing a quiet but powerful resurgence.

The new class of DeFi token, such as EUL, SYRUP, and ENA are leading the pack, and have been some of the strongest altcoins in the market, with their respective protocols backing up the speculation.

After two years of ridicule and capitulation, ETH, its holders, and its ecosystem is gearing up for an explosive return to power.

Hope you’re celebrating degens,

Squiffs, staff reporter at The Defiant

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🎬WATCH

Stablecoins Redefined: How the Genius Act Impacts Cryptocurrency Exchanges

In the latest episode of The Defiant Podcast, Vinny sat down with the team at Biconomy, a centralized crypto exchange that serves customers globally, to discuss the implications of the GENIUS Act — the landmark U.S. stablecoin legislation that was signed into law less than two weeks ago. They explore how this new legislation is reshaping the industry in the U.S. and globally, the opportunities it unlocks, and what it means for the future of digital assets.

Confidentiality in Blockchain: Rand Hindi on Zama's Vision and the Future of Onchain Transactions [SPONSORED]

Rand Hindi, CEO and co-founder of Zama, explores the importance of confidentiality in blockchain technology. Learn how Zama's innovative protocol uses fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) to enable secure, confidential transactions on public blockchains—without altering existing protocols.

Discover real-world applications like stablecoin payments and DeFi, and get a glimpse of Zama's ambitious roadmap to make confidentiality a cornerstone of digital finance.

Top News in the Past 24 Hours

JPMorgan, Coinbase Partnership ‘Removes the Need for the Middleman’ The multi-front strategic partnership between banking and crypto exchange giants JPMorgan Chase and Coinbase has three parts: a direct link for Chase bank accounts, bypassing aggregators, the ability to use Chase credit cards to buy crypto on Coinbase, and the option to convert Chase credit card points into USDC.
SEC Approves Redemption of Bitcoin, Ether ETFs for Underlying Crypto The move lets authorized participants — meaning large banks and trading firms — to exchange spot Ethereum and Bitcoin ETF shares directly for the underlying cryptocurrency, rather than cash. Aligning crypto funds with long-standing commodity exchange-traded product practices, the change is expected to lower costs, tighten bid-ask spreads and deepen liquidity.
Mill City Ventures to Buy $450M of SUI Tokens in Blockchain Pivot Publicly traded U.S.-based specialty finance company Mill City announced on Monday a $450 million private investment deal to accumulate SUI, making it the first public treasury firm for the altcoin. Mill City said it plans to buy SUI on both the open market and through private transactions, including direct purchases from the Sui Foundation. Sui is a Layer 1 blockchain that supports smart contracts written in programming language Move. SUI is currently ranked #15 among cryptocurrencies by market cap.
xTAO Becomes Largest Publicly Traded Holder of Bittensor Token Bittensor treasury company xTAO revealed that it has added over 10,000 TAO to its treasury for a current total of 41,538 TAO, worth nearly $16 million. The addition to the firm’s initial 30,000 TAO acquisition last week solidifies its position as the largest publicly traded holder of the token, though it’s not the only. xTAO is also contributing to the ecosystem by staking its holdings on the Bittensor root network.
FEATURE: China Turns to Yuan-Pegged Stablecoins to Take On Dollar after Long CBDC Struggle For years, the world has been watching China's efforts to establish the digital yuan as a major player on the global stage. However, despite high-profile trials and substantial government support, a Chinese CBDC hasn’t yet caught on internationally as Beijing likely expected.