🏛️Gary Gensler Grilled by Congress

GM Defiers!

Gary Gensler, the chair of the SEC, faced scrutiny from the U.S. House Financial Services Committee over his maligned approach to regulating the crypto industry. The hearing came as the SEC reached a settlement with TrueCoin and TrustToken over falsely claiming the TUSD stablecoin was fully backed by U.S. dollars since 2022.

Solana’s dominance is falling as the recent PumpFun-fuelled memecoin frenzy on the network loses steam. PumpFun’s daily revenue is down more than 90% from its all-time high.

Markets dipped on Wednesday, with BTC and ETH dropping 1% and 3%, respectively. SOL and DOT gained 2%, while SEI and SUI posted double-digit percentage gains.

EtherFi launched a liquid restaking token for Ethena’s USDe stablecoin. Rival restaking protocols have recently hosted outflows as ETH stakers flock to Binance.

Plus, Arbitrum will allocate $145 million for partnership funding, Babylon teams up with Asphere on Bitcoin L2 infrastructure, and Ordinals outperform NFTs.

✍️ In today’s newsletter:

Congressional hearing grills Gary Gensler
SEC says TUSD is 99% backed by a speculative fund
Solana’s dominance drops as PumpFun activity falls
Markets dip as SEC delays decision on ETH ETF options
EtherFi ships USDe LRT
Binance dominates September’s ETH staking flows
Arbitrum to earmark 250M ARB for strategic partnerships
Babylon expands into Bitcoin L2 infrastructure
Ordinals bounce back after taking backseat to Runes

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📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:

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Check out our podcast with Paul Frambot, the co-founder and CEO of Morpho Labs, to learn about the protocol’s journey to $1 billion in deposits.

Catch up on our interview with Eric Turner, the new CEO of the web3 data platform, Messari, to get up to speed on Turner’s background and his vision for the company.

Watch our interview with Kendall Cole, the co-founder of Proximity Labs, a research team focused on Near Protocol, for the latest news on Near’s AI pivot.

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Goat Network is the first BTC L2 to offer sustainable BTC yield

DIA launches ‘Lumina’ – a brand-new trustless oracle network. Its modular, rollup-based design enables the verifiable sourcing and delivery of any data to any blockchain. Fully decentralized and permissionless.

🔥 ‘Kudos To You For Answering a Different Question,’ Says U.S. Senator Grilling Gary Gensler

Gary Gensler faced fierce interrogation from the U.S. House Financial Services Committee over the SEC’s treatment of cryptocurrency. Senator Patrick McHenry said Gensler is pursuing a “reckless agenda” and turning the SEC into a “rogue agency,” while SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said the SEC is failing its regulatory duties regarding cryptocurrency.

👀 SEC Alleges TUSD Hasn't Been Backed By USD Since 2022

TrueCoin and TrustToken, the companies behind the TUSD and TrueFi, settled charges with the SEC. The regulator said TrueFi offered unlicensed securities while both firms misled investors about TUSD’s backing — with 99% of TUSD’s collateral comprising shares in a “speculative fund,” rather than U.S. dollars.

📉 Solana Dominance Drops as PumpFun Mania Wanes

Solana’s fee revenue, market cap dominance, and the SOL/BTC ratio are all receding as the network’s recently booming memecoin sector cools off. A decline in activity on PumpFun, the top memecoin launchpad, is among the major forces driving the pullback, with PumpFun’s daily revenue down 90% in less than six weeks.

📉Ethereum Dips 3% as SEC Pushes ETF Options Decision to November

The SEC said it would extend the review period for approving options trading on spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to Nov. 11. Meanwhile, after a 14% rally in Ether over the past week, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has entered a consolidation phase.

🆕 EtherFi Launches USDe LRT and Season 4 Points Campaign

EtherFi launched a liquid restaking token for Ethena’s USDe stablecoin, which EigenLayer onboarded as a restakable asset three weeks ago. The move coincides with EtherFi unveiling its fourth points season and AVS rewards token, LRT2.

🥩 Binance Users Added the Most ETH Out of All Ethereum Stakers in September

Binance’s ETH staking service grew by roughly 303,300 ETH or 24% in September, beating out OKX with an inflow of just 28,704. The trend came as the sector’s leaders are losing market share, with 123,552 ETH exiting Coinbase and almost 44,000 ETH leaving Lido.

💰 Arbitrum DAO Set to Allocate $145 Million to Partnerships

Arbitrum’s DAO is poised to allocate 250 million ARB tokens worth $125 million to fund its strategic partnership program. The proposal will close in less than 24 hours and has garnered 98.8% support so far.

🤝 Babylon Teams Up With Asphere On Bitcoin L2 Infrastructure

Babylon, the hyped Bitcoin staking protocol, is teaming up with Asphere to launch infrastructure allowing developers to launch Bitcoin-based Layer 2 networks. Chains leveraging the solution will be secured by Babylon’s Bitcoin staking layer.

🚀 Ordinals Defy The NFT Market And Enjoy Best Day in Months

Ordinals collections enjoyed double-digit gains after months of being overshadowed by Runes. The rebound came as NFTs on Ethereum and Solana posted a muted performance.

🌍 ELSEWHERE

Strange Cellmates in a Brooklyn Jail: Sean Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried (New York Times)
Visa to Help Banks Issue Fiat-Backed Tokens on Ethereum Via New Tokenized Asset Platform (CoinDesk)
Banana Gun promises to refund $3 million stolen from impacted users (The Block)
BNY Clears Path With SEC to Custody Bitcoin and Ether for Exchange-Traded Products (Unchained)