Donald Trump Vows to Support Crypto

Trump to Support Crypto, Free Silk Road Founder, and Stop CBDCs

Former U.S. President and current candidate, Donald Trump, emphasized the need for the United States to lead the cryptocurrency industry in a May 25 post on Truth Social, expressing strong support for crypto companies and criticizing President Joe Biden ahead of the 2024 election. Speaking at the Libertarian Party’s National Convention, Trump pledged to pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who has already served 11 years. These pro-crypto promises, however, have sparked debates on social media, with users reminded about Trump's skeptical stance against crypto during the previous elections.

The Republican candidate also vowed to ensure that the future of crypto and Bitcoin remains in the U.S., promising to protect self-custody rights, prevent the development of a CBDC, and keep regulatory pressures from figures like Elizabeth Warren at bay. His remarks have raised expectations within the crypto industry about his potential election victory, with Web3 event-betting platform Polymarket giving Trump a 56% chance of winning compared to Biden's 39%.

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Polymarket Users Are Disputing After Losing Ether ETF Bets

Speaking of Polymarket, users who lost money betting against the approval of spot Ether ETFs are disputing the platform's decision to close the market with a "Yes" result on May 23, arguing that "approval" requires both a 19b-4 filing and a Form S-1 for ETFs to begin trading. Despite over $13.2 million in bets and Polymarket's logs showing the result was briefly disputed before being resolved, "No" voters claim the call is incorrect since the SEC has not approved the S-1 filings.

Prominent dissenters, including "JustKen" (now "RevengeTour19B4") and analysts like Matthew Sigel and Matt Hougan, argue that true approval involves both filings, whereas some "Yes" voters contend that the market only specified "approval" by May 31, not trading commencement. Polymarket’s developers and Risk Labs, which handles dispute resolutions, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Uniswap Discloses Assets Before Fee Mechanism Vote

The Uniswap Foundation reported holding $41.41 million in fiat and stablecoins and 730,000 UNI tokens at the end of Q1, with $4.34 million committed to new grants and $2.79 million disbursed from previous commitments. These funds support grant-making and operations, while UNI tokens are reserved for employee awards. The Foundation plans an on-chain vote by May 31 to establish a new fee mechanism in Uniswap v3 pools, marking a governance milestone by transferring control to a V3FactoryOwner contract, although fee activation will follow in a future proposal.

Despite facing an SEC Wells notice alleging unregistered securities exchange operations, Uniswap Labs argued the SEC's lack of jurisdiction, while a pending U.S. bill might redefine crypto regulation. The proposal aims to share protocol fees with UNI token holders who stake or delegate tokens, incentivizing engagement and contributions within the ecosystem, and enhancing governance participation and decision-making.

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Normie Memecoin Crashed Almost 100% Following Exploit

Normie, a meme token on the BASE blockchain, crashed 99.80% to $0.00001563 following an exploit targeting its tax mechanism, which led to a flash loan attack that devalued the token and collapsed its market cap from $40 million to below $150,000, later recovering to around $1.3 million.

The Normie team, addressing the issue on social media, reported the exploiter offered to return 90% of the stolen Ethereum if the remaining funds were used to launch a new token to fairly compensate current holders, with a potential relaunch and airdrop under consideration.

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Data of the day

The number of distinct addresses on Ethereum layer 2 blockchain networks reached an all-time high, indicating, over 7 million addresses interacting with at least one L2 network between May 13 and May 19, more than doubling since late 2023.

Arbitrum led with 3.7 million addresses, comprising 52% of the total, followed by Base with nearly 815,000 addresses. Other notable L2s included zkSync (525k), Optimism (365k), and Linea (256k).

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More breaking news

• ‍Friend.tech's, FRIEND token, plummeted by 20% after co-founder Racer announced plans to leave the Base network due to a strained relationship and offered a $200K bounty for a migration solution, prompting a diplomatic response from Base's head of protocols, Jesse Pollak.‍
• OKX has withdrawn its VASP license application in Hong Kong, citing "careful consideration" of its business strategy, and will cease centralized crypto exchange services for Hong Kong residents by May 31, while ensuring funds remain safe and withdrawal options available until August 31.‍
• Marathon Digital Holdings is partnering with Kenya's Ministry of Energy and Petroleum to develop bitcoin-based renewable energy projects, establishing a committee to oversee their implementation across Kenya.‍
• Korean regulators face increasing pressure to approve cryptocurrency ETFs following the U.S. SEC's recent approval of spot Ethereum ETFs, highlighting a potential need to reconsider their cautious stance on digital assets to prevent investors from shifting funds to more accommodating markets.‍
• Following Venmo’s transaction fee hike, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero suggested a stablecoin payments app for U.S.-based freelancers, prompting a discussion on social media about stablecoins as a solution for high transaction fees, with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong highlighting USD Coin (USDC) on Base as a potential option.

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