Weekly Recap: Milei Disavows $LIBRA After Memecoin Plummets 90%

Happy weekend Defiers!

Crypto markets remained rangebound last week as traders mulled the impact of President Trump’s trade tariffs along with hotter-than-expected inflation data.

Argentine president Javier Milei is attempting to distance himself from the $LIBRA memecoin after earlier promoting it on X. The token skyrocketed to a $4 billion valuation before plunging 95%.

Earlier in the week, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao sparked a memecoin frenzy on BNB Chain after revealing the name of his dog, Broccoli.

Plus, XRP surged after the SEC acknowledged an ETF application, the Ethereum Foundation deployed $100M into DeFi, and MegaETH raised $13M from its NFT mint.

Also, don’t forget to check out our interview with Alon Muroch, founder of SSV Labs, and podcast with Kain Warwick, founder of Infinex and Synthetix.

Enjoy!

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PODCAST & INTERVIEWS

Kain Warwick on Infinex, Synthetix, and the Future of DeFi UX and Stability

Kain Warwick, founder of Synthetix and Infinex, discusses the evolution of DeFi and the trade-offs required to improve user experience while maintaining decentralization.

He explains how Infinex aims to offer a more accessible, centralized exchange-like interface while remaining non-custodial, addressing long-standing UX challenges in DeFi. Warwick also reflects on Synthetix’s recent governance restructuring, competition from Hyperliquid, and the potential shift back to a stablecoin-focused model.

Looking ahead, he highlights the importance of regulatory clarity, improved infrastructure, and greater accessibility in driving the next phase of DeFi growth.

Expanding Ethereum Staking: Alon Muroch on SSV Network and Validator Innovation

Alon Muroch, founder of SSV Labs, explains SSV Network’s approach to Ethereum staking. He describes how SSV uses Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) to structure staking operations, decentralize validator responsibilities, and manage over 2 million ETH.

Murdoch also outlines SSV 2.0, which expands validator functions beyond staking to securing other protocols, and discusses ongoing conversations about Ethereum’s governance.

Friday

LIBRA Token Soars to $4B Market Cap Minutes After Milei X Post Argentine President Javier Milei's X account promoted the token and the project behind it.
Vitalik Buterin Argues for 10x Gas Limit Hike on Ethereum The call for scaling the Ethereum mainnet comes less than two weeks after validators raised the gas limit by 20%.
Crypto Market Rebounds as Tariff Clarity Eases Investor Fears Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and XRP gain as markets react to Trump's tariff update.
BNB Chain Beats Solana in Daily Transaction Fees Binance’s former CEO revealed his dog, leading to a spike in memecoin activity on the BNB Chain.
Liquity Protocol Suffers $30 Million of Outflows After Disclosing V2 Bug The platform has advised users to exit their Earn positions on Liquity V2.
XRP Surges as SEC Acknowledges Grayscale’s XRP ETF Application The SEC’s move fueled investor optimism, pushing the token past $2.75.
Akash Network Founder Unveils Plan to Scale GPU Supply The decentralized computing marketplace plans to scale its GPU supply by targeting 11,000 professional data centers.
Polymarket Volume Drops in February, But Active Users Remain Healthy It appears that the Presidential election wasn’t the only cause of the prediction market’s spectacular growth, as sports betting draws more users to the platform.

Thursday

Ethereum Foundation Transfers over $100 Million Worth of ETH into DeFi Lending Protocols The EF allocated nearly 45,000 ETH to DeFi after calls for it show greater support to the chain’s dapps.
Bitcoin ETFs Post Three Consecutive Days of Outflows, Totaling Nearly $500M Investor sentiment weakens as macroeconomic concerns weigh on Bitcoin ETFs and price action.
BNB Rallies 23% in a Week, Outshines Bitcoin Amid Rising Activity Experts say the surge is driven by BNB Chain growth and the unexpected popularity of the TST memecoin.
Bitcoin Blocks Are Going Out Half Full as Layer 2s Take Off Transaction fees also plunged, with some bringing in just one satoshi.
Doodles Set to Launch Official Token $DOOD on Solana Doodles will launch $DOOD memecoin, with 68% of the token supply to be allocated to the community.
Lens Chain Adopts Aave’s GHO Stablecoin For Gas Fee Payments GHO is a top 30 stablecoin by market cap and enables lending/borrowing on Aave.
Crypto Market Dips as Hot PPI Data Stokes Inflation Concerns Bitcoin and Ethereum dip as stronger-than-expected wholesale inflation data raises doubts over Fed rate cuts.
Solana is Ready For Real World Assets, its Head of Institutions Said Franklin Tempelton’s Benji money fund just launched on Solana.
Binance Founder CZ ‘Doxxes’ His Dog and Sparks Memecoin Frenzy Changpeng “CZ” Zhao posted a picture of Broccoli, his Belgian Malinois, and said BNB Chain would “likely” support top memecoins on the network.
OpenSea Expands Into Crypto Trading, Foundation Announces SEA Token Airdrop NFT marketplace launches OS2 platform to the public, integrating token swaps and cross-chain purchasing.
Solana Proposal to Pay Full Priority Fees to Validators Goes Live Solana Validators will now receive 100% of priority fees under the new model rather than 50%.
CFTC Commissioner Says Election Prediction Markets ‘Are Here to Stay’ Commissioner Summer Mersinger said in a policy seminar that the CFTC must take a more “pro-innovator’ approach.
Sky Mavis Makes Ronin Gaming Blockchain Permissionless The team behind Axie Infinity is relinquishing control to increase ecosystem growth.

Wednesday

ETH Jumps on Cboe and 21Shares’ Ether ETF Staking Filing Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said he thought the SEC would at least start the clock on the change.
Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma Take the Lead in Strategic Bitcoin Reserves Legislation The movement to integrate BTC into state financial strategies gains momentum.
MegaETH Raises Over $13 Million From Fluffle NFT Mint The end of the second-day mint marks the conclusion of the first installment of MegaETH’s token sale.
Ethereum’s Pectra Network Upgrade: What To Expect Pectra is the third hard fork of the Ethereum network since the merge in 2022.
Crypto Market Recovers After CPI Report Rattles Investors Higher-than-expected US inflation figures sparked a brief sell-off in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and broader crypto markets.
Dogecoin ETF More Likely Than Solana or XRP: Bloomberg Analysts Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart call a Litecoin ETF a near-certainty.

Tuesday

Crypto Market Slips as Macro Fears Dampen Investor Sentiment Bitcoin and Ether declined 2% amid trade war concerns.
WazirX To Issue New Cryptocurrency To Compensate Users After $230 Million Breach WazirX’s founder said they would list the new crypto if users were interested.
Rocket Pool Extends Price Rally Amid Saturn Devnet Launch The Ethereum liquid staking protocol’s RPL token has surged by over 50% in the last three days.
Uniswap Labs Launches DeFi-Focused Ethereum Layer 2 Unichain Designed with cheap transactions and block times of a second or less, Unichain is built on the Optimism Superchain.
Lido Unveils V3 Upgrade, Enhancing Ethereum Staking for Institutions New stVaults feature introduces modular and customizable staking solutions.
Proton Mail Launches Self-Custodial Bitcoin Wallet Privacy firm Proton has released a Bitcoin wallet that complements its popular end-to-end encrypted email service.
CZ Says Binance’s Token Listing Process is ‘Broken’ Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao shared his thoughts after inadvertently pumping the $TST memecoin.

Monday

Ethereum Outpaces Bitcoin as Digital Asset Fund Inflows Hit $1.3 Billion ETH investment products lead weekly inflows, surpassing BTC as total crypto fund investments climb despite market uncertainty.
Blockchain Sleuths Say Base is Sending All L2 Fees to Coinbase Base employee defended moving sequencer fees to Coinbase Custody and said Coinbase and Base are likely the largest holders of ETH among all public companies.
Dave Portnoy’s Endorsement Sends JAILSTOOL Memecoin Soaring JAILSTOOL’s market cap briefly surged above $200 million after Portnoy posted about it on X.
Central African Republic Memecoin Briefly Rockets to $900 Million, But Red Flags Remain Did one of the poorest countries on earth really launch a memecoin to support economic development?
Berachain Backlash Sparks Debate Over Low Float, High FDV Token Model Traders express frustration as BERA token plunges 63% following initial surge.
Crypto Market Stalls as Investors Weigh Macroeconomic Uncertainty Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana post slight gains, but overall market capitalization dips.
Pump.fun Co-Founder Denies Wu Blockchain Reports About Token Launch A report said a token launch is coming soon and preparations are being made with centralized exchanges.
Balancer V3 Launches on Arbitrum with Aave Integration Balancer V3 uses 100% boosted liquidity pools, deploying idle capital on yield-generating platforms like Aave