Morning Minute is a daily newsletter authored by Tyler Warner. The insights and views expressed herein are his and do not necessarily align with those of Decrypt. Be sure to check out our daily news show 'FOMO HOUR' for a roundup of the latest stories and market movements.
Good morning!
Here are today’s major updates:
- Major cryptocurrencies see a rebound of 1-2% as both oil prices and yields decline; Bitcoin is currently priced at $84.4k.
- Citi has teamed up with Coinbase to facilitate stablecoin payments for its business clients.
- A strategy has been implemented to purchase $147 million worth of Bitcoin, fully replacing the BTC it sold at lower prices.
- NEAR Intents reported rejecting $50 million in funds associated with the Bitget hack.
- Coinbase has hinted at a new gacha product, resulting in a 25% surge in CARDS amidst speculation about integration.
🏦 Citi and Coinbase Revolutionize Stablecoin Payments
Businesses banking with Citi can now process customer payments in stablecoins without ever needing to hold tokens, create crypto accounts, or access wallet addresses. Coinbase seamlessly converts stablecoins into dollars behind the scenes, allowing Citi to handle the funds like standard payments.
This product emphasizes the absence of a direct crypto component for businesses, making it easy for them to adopt without needing to understand cryptocurrency.
The system works reciprocally. Companies using Coinbase can establish accounts that function similarly to traditional bank accounts, utilizing Citi’s banking technology. Incoming dollars are automatically converted into stablecoins.
Citi’s clients receive payments in stablecoins but get credited in dollars, while Coinbase’s clients get paid in dollars and receive stablecoins. Regardless of which bank a client uses, the funds arrive in the familiar format, with conversions happening unnoticed.
This illustrates how technology excels when it operates behind the scenes. There’s no need for users to buy coins or download wallets; a business simply adds a payment method, and stablecoins can be transferred instantly, bypassing lengthy wire transfers. Coinbase claims that over 150 million people globally hold stablecoins, and this approach allows businesses to accept funds from all users without having to engage directly with cryptocurrency. This number is expected to grow into the billions soon…
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets
- Leading cryptocurrencies are showing positive movements, up 1-3%; BTC is up 2% to $84.4k; ETH is up 3% to $2,730; SOL is up 1% to $120; HYPE is down 1% to $88.70; ZEC is down 8% to $1,450.
- Notable altcoin movements include CRV (+20%), AAVE (+16%), ETHFI (+11%) and LINK (+9%).
- Oil prices have dropped 4% to $92; Gold remains steady at $4,185.
- Stock futures are showing slight gains; DOW is up 0.15%, Nasdaq is up 0.3%.
- Goldman Sachs has made a $100 billion Treasury fund available to crypto companies via the Lynq settlement network without converting it into tokens.
- NEAR Intents reported rejecting over $50 million in transactions associated with the Bitget hack, freezing approximately $503,000 during a swap and waiving its 10% share of Bitget's recovery bounty.
- Chainlink has launched CCIP 2.0, allowing companies to implement their own security measures for transfers across blockchains, five months after a competitor's system lost $292 million due to a reliance on a single security check.
- Senate Democrats labeled Tether as a “significant financial lifeline” for Iran in a report led by Richard Blumenthal, noting that 84% of 846 sanctioned wallets utilized USDT; Tether claims to have assisted in freezing nearly $550 million in Iran-related tokens this year.
- Apollo’s Torsten Slok cautioned that AI agents could deplete bank deposits by automatically transferring household funds from low-interest checking accounts to higher-yield options.
Corporate Treasuries & ETFs
- Bitcoin ETFs experienced $31 million in net inflows on Monday; ETH ETFs saw $17 million in inflows and Solana had $8 million.
- Strategy purchased 1,665 Bitcoin for $142.7 million at an average price of $85,681, bringing its total to a record 847,666 BTC and fully replenishing its previous sales; it also spent $151.7 million repurchasing STRC.
- Strive added 1,107 Bitcoin for $94.5 million, increasing its holdings to over 27,000 coins, now totaling 27,462, valued at approximately $2.3 billion.
- Bitmine acquired 17,362 ETH for around $47 million, raising its stake to 4.9% of the total Ethereum supply.
Meme Coin Tracker
- Meme coin leaders were mostly in the green; DOGE +3%, SHIB +3%, PEPE +2%, PENGU +3%, TRUMP +2%, SPX -1%, BONK +6%.
- Robinhood chain leaders were largely down ahead of today’s RH Summit; Pons fell 1% to $364M; AI dropped 7% to $208M; Cashcat decreased 8% to $175M; however, BUN surged 65% and Shroom rose 26%.
- Solana had notable movers including Parasite (+24x), Sapijiju (+20x), and Hooked (+20x); Ansem fell 7% to $160M, while Cards increased by 23%.
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
- Coinbase has teased a new gacha product set to launch soon on its app.
- Pump.fun reported earning $13.64 million in fees last week, marking a 25% increase and its second-best week since June, with Saturday achieving a single-day volume record of $846 million.
- Pump led on-chain protocols in revenue again on Monday with $2.53 million, followed by Hyperliquid at $1.92 million and Collector Crypt at $609,000.
🚚 What is happening in NFTs?
- NFT leaders saw slight declines; Punks remained steady at 33.69 ETH, BAYC decreased by 1% to 6.2 ETH, and Pudgy fell by 2% to 3.2 ETH.
- Identity MD (+23%) and Credits (+10%) were among the top movers.