Olivia Capozzalo & Squiffs _
October 30, 2025

gm, Defiers!

Today’s big story:

“Real-time” Ethereum L2 MegaETH just closed its ICO deposit campaign with more than $1.3B committed, making it nearly 28x oversubscribed.

In other news:

Morpho reports $775M in Stable pre-deposits
Ex-FTX US exec launches perp exchange
HBAR rallies on ETF launch
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📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours

TICKER	VALUE	24H
Bitcoin	$107,357	-3.68 %
Ethereum	$3,742.27	-6.30 %
BNB	$1,067.73	-3.76 %
XRP	$2.43	-8.04 %
Solana	$182.35	-7.25 %

Today’s Big Story

MegaETH’s $1.4B ICO Shows Traders Want to Give L2 Tokens Yet Another Chance

Most DeFi users have been quick to criticize aspects of the Ethereum Layer 2 trend, lamenting knock-on effects such as liquidity fragmentation, and poor L2 token performance.

However, investors are chomping at the bit to try again after committing almost $1.4 billion to MegaETH’s ICO this week.

MegaETH’s ICO marks the L2’s third community-led raise, following an Echo round in 2024 and an NFT mint in Q1, with $50 million worth of MEGA up for grabs at a $999 million valuation.

The $50 million cap filled almost instantly, and another $450 million poured in over the next 24 hours. After the sale concluded today, $1.39 billion was committed to compete for the allocation - a 27.8x oversubscription.

While the demand is clearly massive, some users likely committed more money than they actually want to buy MEGA with, considering most participants will only get allocated a fraction of their total commitment.

$27.8 Billion FDV

MEGA pre-perps are trading at a $4 billion valuation. However, MegaETH’s sale page is keen to let users know that MEGA’s hypothetical FDV if all the commits were to go through would be a whopping $27.8 billion.

While that valuation is so extreme that even the MegaETH team likely finds it humorous, it gives token holders a meme-able target price to rally behind.

Presale participants will find out their official allocations in the first week of November, and throughout the rest of the month users can choose to forfeit their allocations and withdraw funds if they so choose.

New Farming Season

While the details are scarce right now, it appears that a MegaETH mainnet farming season will be conducted throughout the month of December for those who took part in any of MegaETH’s community raises.

A short farming season that is gated to those who have actually put money on the line to support MEGA would be a new and interesting approach, especially for those who have vested tokens and want to farm their way to having some instant liquidity.

At this point L2 token holders are gluttons for pain, and the MEGA ICO’s success shows that they’re ready to be hurt again; but unlike L2 tokens that launched in 2022 and 2023, MegaETH at least so far appears to be working hard at doing things differently, and putting its community first while driving actual value to the MEGA token.

Happy farming,

Squiffs, The Defiant staff reporter

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🎬WATCH

Why Yat Siu Believes Altcoins Will Surpass Bitcoin

In the latest episode of The Defiant Podcast, Cami sat down with Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu. He reveals his vision for a trust layer built on zero-knowledge proofs, as well as plans for a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, plus unpacks the Mocaverse ecosystem where staking power and airdrops build a verifiable, cross-chain identity.

Their conversation also explores the future of web3 gaming, the coming meta shift from GTA 6, and a bold thesis: why the entire altcoin market may one day eclipse Bitcoin.

Top News in the Past 24 Hours

Morpho Gets $775 Million of Pre-Deposits from Stable DeFi’s 2nd-largest lending protocol, Morpho, has received $775 million in pre-deposits from Stable, the Bitfinex-backed, USDT-powered blockchain. Why it matters: Stable is part of a recent stablechain trend, while DeFi protocols like Morpho offer stablecoin holders competitive on-chain yield.
Hedera Rallies on Canary Capital ETF LaunchAsset manager Canary Capital launched the first U.S. spot exchange-traded products for Hedera (HBAR) and Litecoin (LTC) this week, but the assets’ spot prices reacted very differently to the news.
Why it matters: A staked Solana ETF also launched the same day, seeing over 6x more trading volume on day one than the HBAR and LTC products combined.
Former FTX US President Brett Harrison to Launch Perpetuals Exchange Brett Harrison, the former president of the United States branch of infamous crypto exchange FTX, has announced the launch of Architect, a perpetual derivatives exchange. Why it matters: While perpetuals have always been a crypto-focused product, the sector has exploded in 2025.
FEATURE: GENIUS Has Yet to Take Effect, Despite Some Firms Claiming to Be ‘Regulated’ and ‘Compliant’ Just over three months since it was signed into law, GENIUS has yet to go into effect, even as established and new players position themselves to comply with the upcoming rules. Why it matters: Some stablecoin companies are already claiming to be regulated under and compliant with GENIUS — statements experts say risk misleading investors.