Blockworks

DAS attendees seemed doggedly bullish on the reality of institutional crypto adoption — but somewhat vague on the particulars. Crypto can be imprecise when it refers to institutions. Even if they’re not so malevolent, institutional crypto plays can feel more like marketing than real business. Read more from the Lightspeed newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ehf7M4_d

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency yesterday said it will remove “reputational risks” from its examination manual for supervisors. The move means, in theory, that banks could not reject clients engaged in unpopular activities (including, potentially, crypto). Read more from the Forward Guidance newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e-ihCTSg

On the last day of DAS, industry experts weighed in on where crypto futures are headed. The insights came as Volatility Shares launched two solana futures ETFs. BlackRock's Robbie Mitchnik emphasized client demand as “the number one guiding thing" for crypto futures. Read more from the Forward Guidance newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eK3aa6yr

Here's an excerpt from today's Supply Shock newsletter — “Bitcoin has multiple personalities, equal parts money, freedom, resistance and hope. MicroStrategy chairman Michael Saylor sits below all of them as Bitcoin’s id — its rawest instincts, personified” Don’t miss the next issue by signing up here — https://lnkd.in/eYXW9DeU

New decentralized platform Walrus, from Sui developer Mysten Labs, will offer programmable file storage with a focus on gaming, file assets, NFTs and more. It has 833.33 TB in total storage, and just raised $140 million in a funding round. The mainnet will launch next week on March 27, and the team has released their tokenomics for a WAL token. Read more from the Drop newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e4FSgcMY

Bitcoin hovers around its 200-day moving average, with ETF flows stabilizing after a record outflow-driven correction. ETH’s price action is increasingly tied to sentiment, while macro forces dominate risk appetite. Meanwhile, TradFi’s appetite for digital assets is surging, as shown by data presented by Meltem Demirors at DAS. Read more from the 0xResearch newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eHSEN9q2

Michael Saylor has built a career on cornering digital scarcity, and has recovered from both dotcom-bubble and bitcoin losses. In the ‘90s, Saylor's company MicroStrategy bought up “premium” web domains like Alarm[dot]com, Angel[dot]com and Voice[dot]com, the last of which sold in 2019 for $30 million. Today, MicroStrategy (now Strategy) holds 499,096 BTC — 2.5% of the circulating supply — and a market value of $80 billion. Read more from the Supply Shock newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eVk6aXMf

At DAS, panelists had strong takeaways about the current state of venture capital in crypto. Skale’s Jack O’Holleran said with that huge funding rounds, you “paint yourself into a corner.” Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi pointed out that VC can help startups avoid becoming beholden to number-go-up demands: VC investors "understand what you're building." Read more from the Empire newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ekUzC4Sz

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Lightspeed exclusive: Titan’s so-called meta DEX aggregator has moved to private mainnet. The platform lets users swap by choosing among quotes from multiple Solana DEX aggregators, including Titan’s own. Titan Exchange CEO and co-founder Chris Chung says Titan bests Solana’s incumbent DEX aggregator Jupiter on price 80% of the time. Read more from the Lightspeed newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eqzcvjE4