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Nomura Securities, Laser Digital, and GMO to collaborate on stablecoin issuance in Japan
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Nomura Securities, a major player in the Japanese banking industry, and its digital asset division, Laser Digital, have partnered with GMO Internet Group, headquartered in Japan, to explore stablecoin issuance in Japan. They plan to explore the issuance, exchange, and circulation of stablecoins denominated in Japanese yen and US dollars. The partnership also plans to offer “Stablecoin-as-a-Service” products to assist companies in issuing stablecoins. According to their announcement, such products may cover regulatory compliance management, blockchain integration, and backend transaction management. Through this collaboration, Nomura Securities and Laser Digital will focus more on cryptocurrency trading, asset management, and venture capital, while GMO plans to make more contributions in terms of technology. Previously, GMO’s US subsidiary, GMO-Z.com Trust, has issued stablecoins such as GYEN and ZUSD on multiple chains.
The market value of stablecoins increased by nearly $600 million in the past two weeks, with FDUSD supply decreasing by 29% in the past 30 days
According to Odaily Star Planet, since May 11, 2024, the market value of stablecoins has increased from $160.86 billion to $161.45 billion, an increase of $590 million in the past two weeks. USDT has a market value of approximately $111.95 billion, accounting for 69.34% of the entire stablecoin market. In the past 30 days, the supply of USDT has grown by 1.3%, while the supply of USDC has declined by 1.9%. As of May 26, 2024 (Sunday), its market value is $32.72 billion. DAI currently has a market value of approximately $5.29 billion, an increase of 1.8% in the past month. FDUSD has experienced the largest decrease in supply within 30 days, redeeming 29% of its supply, and its market value stands at $3.13 billion as of the time of writing. In contrast, Ethena’s USDe has seen a 17.5% increase in supply during the same period, with a market value of approximately $2.78 billion as of Sunday (Bitcoin.com).
TVL of Ethereum liquidity re-collateralization protocol exceeds $13.2 billion, with most protocols experiencing over 20% growth in TVL in the past 7 days
According to DeFiLlama data, the TVL (Total Value Locked) of Ethereum liquidity re-collateralization protocols currently stands at $1.3234 billion, with the top five protocols ranked as follows: -ether.fi Stake TVL is $579.6 million, with a 7-day increase of 29.56%; -Renzo (Ethereum chain) TVL is $286.4 million, with a 7-day increase of 24.48%; -Puffer Finance TVL is $181.7 million, with a 7-day increase of 27.21%; -Eigenpie TVL is $101.9 million, with a 7-day increase of 25%; -Kelp DAO TVL is $97.112 million, with a 7-day increase of 24.34%.
Tornado Cash co-founder seeks to dismiss lawsuit, claiming prosecutorial overreach
The defense team of Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm has submitted a series of new documents seeking to dismiss the case against Storm before the trial begins, alleging prosecutorial overreach in their final pretrial motion. Following the government’s response to Storm’s motion to dismiss the trial, his defense team filed a reply last Friday arguing that the case against him should be dismissed on the grounds that the government has not taken sufficient steps to prove Storm’s active participation in the alleged crimes outlined in the indictment. “In fact, as the government admits, it is immutable and accessible to anyone with an internet connection, as soon as criminals start abusing the Tornado Cash protocol,” the motion states. Most of the filings question the government’s characterization of Tornado Cash as a “money transmitting business,” a claim that has even caught the attention of Senators Ron Wyden and Cynthia Lummis, who wrote a letter opposing the government’s interpretation of the term, which is included in Storm’s motion. Storm’s lawyers argue that classifying Tornado Cash as a money transmitting institution “…violates principles of due process, lenity, and opposition to innovation structures.” In other motions, the lawyers argue that government prosecutors should be compelled to provide certain communications with Dutch authorities and that the seizure of his cryptocurrency hardware wallet violates the Fourth Amendment (The Block). In April, the US Department of Justice rejected Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s motion to dismiss the criminal charges against him, stating that the defendant’s filings raised factual disputes that should be weighed by the jury.
EU draft considers MEV as market abuse, proposes strict regulatory standards
In the technical standards draft of the proposed Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), maximum extractable value (MEV) is defined as a clear example of illegal market abuse. Patrick Hansen noted that almost all European Union-regulated crypto businesses, including exchanges and brokers, would be required to detect and report instances of MEV through comprehensive “Suspicious Transaction or Order Reports” (STORs). The new standards raise concerns about the feasibility of managing reports for each individual instance. ESMA also suggests that authorities both within and outside the EU should cooperate in sanctioning market abuse, with actors involved in MEV potentially facing investigations and enforcement actions from international regulatory bodies. The deadline for consultation feedback set by ESMA is June 25, and the final standards are expected to have a significant impact on the EU’s crypto regulatory environment.
Libertarian Party nominates Chase Oliver as presidential candidate, stance on cryptocurrencies remains unclear
Chase Oliver, 38, was nominated as the presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party in the 2024 US presidential election. This third-party candidate will be up against Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican candidate Donald Trump. After Oliver’s nomination, there has been speculation about his stance on cryptocurrencies. While the Libertarian Party supports the use of any mutually agreed-upon commodity or item as currency, Oliver has not made his specific views on digital assets clear. Oliver’s proposed running mate, Mike ter Maat, strongly opposes central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and supports minimal regulation of cryptocurrencies. Additionally, Trump has become more positive on cryptocurrencies, announcing acceptance of digital asset donations and expressing an open attitude towards the technology. Biden, on the other hand, is expected to sign three cryptocurrency-related bills into law before November, which could influence voter choices. The Libertarian Party received only about 3% of the votes in the 2016 presidential election, but third-party candidates could potentially impact the outcome in the 2024 election through vote splitting.
Friend.tech co-founder hints at intent to move away from Base due to unstable relationship, causing FRIEND to drop over 32%
Racer, the co-founder of the Web3 social network friend.tech protocol, posted a hint about the intention to move the protocol away from Base, resulting in a significant drop in the native token FRIEND. According to data from CoinGecko, FRIEND is currently trading at $1.01, with a 24-hour decrease of 32.2%. Racer wrote on X: “System Design Bounty: If you can find a way to move friend.tech off of Base without causing major issues to users and it works well enough, we’ll decide to use it and pay you $200,000.” In another post, Racer explained that the friend.tech team has had an unstable relationship with Base, stating, “Farcaster’s investors were spreading crazy FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about us when we launched because they misunderstood what we were doing. They put a lot of pressure on the team and users, and since then, our relationship with the ‘Base community’ has been strained.” It should be noted that at some point on Sunday, Racer’s posts became inaccessible, and it is unclear whether they deleted their account after the post was made. In response, Jesse Pollak, the head of Coinbase’s Base, acknowledged that the friend.tech team felt isolated and disconnected from Base and parts of the Ethereum ecosystem. Pollak wrote, “If the team decides to leave Base, I’d be sad, but I’d also respect and support any path — that’s the beauty of decentralization and on-chain economies” (The Block).
Taiko deploys protocol on Ethereum mainnet and plans to launch DAO later this year
Taiko, an Ethereum Layer 2 network based on zkRollup, announced on X that its protocol has been deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. After the mainnet launch, Taiko plans to launch a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) later this year, gradually transferring protocol control to its community. This transition will be phased, reducing the “training wheels” over time until the community achieves full governance (The Block).
TON TVL surpasses $300 million, increasing over 10 times since early March
According to DeFiLlama data, the TVL (Total Value Locked) of TON (The Open Network) has surpassed $300 million, currently standing at $316.82 million, marking a new all-time high and growing over 10 times since early March ($23 million). The rapid growth of the protocol’s TVL is mainly driven by DEXs such as Ston.fi and Dedust, as well as liquidity collateralization protocols like Tonstakers and bemo (The Block).
Morgan Stanley expresses doubt over SEC approval of Solana and other cryptocurrency ETFs
Morgan Stanley expects that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will not approve additional cryptocurrency ETFs following the Ethereum spot ETF. According to Morgan Stanley analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, unless US policymakers legislate to declare most cryptocurrencies as non-securities, the SEC is skeptical about approving such funds. Given the SEC’s view that most cryptocurrencies are securities, the investment bank doubts whether the SEC will approve such funds (The Block).
Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht expresses gratitude for Trump’s promise of clemency
Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht expressed his gratitude to former US President Donald Trump in a post on X, stating, “Last night, Donald Trump promised to commute my sentence on day one if he is elected again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It’s hard to express how I feel right now after 11 years in prison. This second chance would not have been possible without your unwavering support.” Trump made the promise to commute Ross Ulbricht’s sentence at the Libertarian National Convention in Washington, D.C., stating that Ulbricht has served 11 years, and “we’re gonna let him out.” Many in the audience held up signs saying “Free Ross” and cheered Trump’s commitment.
