Consensys Splits MetaMask From Infrastructure Business

Consensys Software is separating into two independent companies, dividing its consumer wallet from its institutional and infrastructure operations. The existing entity rebrands as MetaMask with Joe Lubin serving as chairman and chief executive.

The renamed company targets self-custodial consumer finance, pushing past wallet software into payments, savings, and investing. MetaMask counts more than 100 million downloads across roughly 190 countries and has facilitated trillions of dollars in cumulative transaction volume.

The Protocols Group becomes a newly formed Consensys focused on Ethereum and institutional blockchain plumbing, spanning the Linea network alongside the Besu and Teku clients. Mike Kriak takes the chief executive role with David Cunningham as president and Lubin as executive chairman.

Rising institutional appetite for tokenization and stablecoins drove the decision, with firms including Citi, DTC, and BNY Mellon already running Besu. The separation completes by year end, though the company stayed quiet on any public listing or the MASK token Lubin flagged last year.

Hackers Breach Trezor Email Provider to Push Phishing

Trezor warned that attackers compromised its third-party email provider and used it to distribute a message titled "Critical Security Alert: STM32 Entropy Vulnerability." The fake advisory claimed a hardware defect affected one in four devices, leaving recovery phrases with insufficient randomness.

Users reported the email hours before the company responded, and it arrived from what appeared to be a legitimate address. Casa's Nick Neuman and Jameson Lopp said BitBox customers received near-identical messages, suggesting a shared marketing provider fell rather than Trezor itself.

Hunter Biden's LAPTOP Memecoin Crashes 99% on Debut

LAPTOP peaked at $190.81 two minutes after launching on Base, implying a fully diluted valuation near $144 billion against a liquidity pool holding just $48,000, according to Arkham. It traded near $4.77 within the hour.

One wallet pulled $249,800 from Binance pre-launch and flipped 9,124 tokens for roughly $1.18 million, while another spent $200,000 near $218 and watched it fall under $3,000. The arc mirrors TRUMP, down about 97% from its own peak.

Uniswap Ships StablePair Hook for Stablecoin Trading Pairs

Uniswap Labs launched StablePair Hook, a dynamic-fee tool for pairs like USDC/USDT and USDC/USDG. Stablecoin swaps on the protocol reached $43.4 billion last quarter, exceeding the next three onchain venues combined.

Fees adjust with distance from a reference price, waived entirely for trades pushing further out while a Dutch auction prices those restoring parity. The first upgradeable v4 hook launches on Ethereum, following DualPool and Permissioned Pools.

Data of the Day

Solana minted more than 263,000 new tokens in a single day, an all-time high, according to Solscan. That dwarfs the 40,000 to 50,000 daily issuance recorded during the memecoin cycle peak in December 2024.

Launchpads accounted for 40,360 of them, with PumpFun minting 34,184 per Blockworks. The platform leads Solana-native protocols by daily revenue at $1.8 million, having contributed $124 million of the network's $342 million first-quarter total.

More Breaking News

• Bybit won an Austrian e-money licence and expects MiFID approval in two months, letting Bybit offer IBANs, derivatives, and Apple or Tesla shares across Europe.
• The Hyperliquid Policy Center urged a court to dismiss CME's lawsuit against the CFTC, arguing incumbents cannot claim injury whenever regulators approve perpetual futures they declined to list.
• Germany drafted a flat 25% tax on crypto gains from January 2027, scrapping the twelve-month exemption for new purchases while German holdings bought earlier keep current treatment.
• ESMA said Polymarket and Kalshi lack EU authorization, questioning why every member state sits outside their restricted jurisdictions and whether either can enforce VPN bans.
• Block applied to charter Builders Bank & Trust, an uninsured national trust consolidating bitcoin custody it runs under more than 50 state money transmitter licences.
• Two industry groups sought an injunction against Illinois over its 0.2% digital asset transaction tax, arguing it discriminates against electronic commerce ahead of January enforcement.
• Nasdaq invested $100 million in Payward at a $21 billion valuation, with Kraken set to offer tokenized versions of Nasdaq-listed stocks on its platform.
• India's FIU issued non-compliance notices to 15 crypto platforms including Weex and Blofin, seeking app takedowns for operating without Indian anti-money laundering registration.
• OKX launched European pre-IPO perpetuals on OpenAI and Anthropic at 10x leverage, alongside 100 tokenized stocks including Nvidia and Palantir.
• Malone Lam pleaded guilty to racketeering over a $245 million theft, having spent proceeds on $500,000 nightclub evenings and cars worth up to $3.8 million.