Morning Minute is a daily newsletter authored by Tyler Warner. The views and analyses presented are his own and do not necessarily represent those of Decrypt. Also, check out our new daily news show that covers the top stories in just 5 minutes, available on Apple Pod and Spotify.

Good morning!

Here are the main highlights:

  • Major cryptocurrencies are experiencing slight declines, with Solana up; BTC priced at $58.5k
  • 140 companies collaborate to introduce Open USD, targeting Circle and Tether
  • CRCL stock plunges 17% following the Open USD announcement
  • Trump's financial disclosure reveals $1.2 billion in crypto profits; over $50 million in BTC holdings
  • Citi lowers its 12-month Bitcoin price forecast from $112k to $82k, citing ETF inflows, sluggish regulatory advances, and DAT worries

💵 Open USD Unveiled With Backing From Over 140 Companies, Challenging Tether and Circle

Open Standard, spearheaded by Zach Abrams, has introduced Open USD as a stablecoin aimed at facilitating global financial transactions, set to launch later this year.

This initiative boasts support from prominent players across finance, payments, and commerce, with over 140 businesses on board, including Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, BlackRock, BNY, Google, Shopify, and DoorDash, along with significant crypto entities like Coinbase, Solana, Ripple, OKX, and Aave.

The launch directly targets Circle and Tether by:

  • Allowing businesses to mint and redeem without costs or volume limitations
  • Returning all earnings from reserves to partners, minus a minor management fee
  • Being overseen by a board made up of partner representatives rather than a single corporation.

This strategy undermines the incumbents’ most lucrative feature, as the primary revenue for stablecoins comes from the yield on the Treasury securities backing them, which Circle and Tether typically retain almost entirely. The president of Stripe claimed that Open USD is poised to become the go-to stablecoin for businesses using its platform.

The market's reaction was swift, with CRCL shares dropping 18% on the announcement. The rationale is clear: a significant portion of Circle's growth in the stablecoin market relied on business and institutional adoption. Now, these clients will have strong incentives to prefer OUSD over USDC. While the bullish narrative for Circle hinges on a “rising tide,” that outlook seems precarious at the moment. Expect OUSD to emerge as a significant player in the stablecoin arena once operational.

🇺🇸 Trump Reports Over $1.2 Billion in Cryptocurrency Profits

President Trump’s annual financial disclosure, made public on Tuesday by the Office of Government Ethics, indicates over $1.2 billion in earnings from his crypto activities in 2025. The extensive report spans more than 900 pages, with crypto profits highlighted as one of the largest entries.

The majority of the $1.2 billion earnings stemmed from two primary sources. Trump made slightly over $635 million from his memecoin, largely through royalties linked to a licensing deal with Celebration Coins. The TRUMP token was launched on Solana just days before he assumed office in January 2025, skyrocketing to $75 and achieving a $75 billion market cap within three days before its decline. Currently, it trades around $1.66, representing a nearly 98% drop from its peak.

The second significant revenue source was over $588 million in net proceeds from token sales managed by World Liberty Financial, the family's DeFi and stablecoin venture. He also disclosed holdings exceeding $50 million in Bitcoin and between $5 million and $25 million in Ethereum, along with various other digital assets.

This disclosure brings back to the forefront conflict-of-interest concerns regarding the administration. The president is actively shaping U.S. crypto policy while his family benefits financially from the industry subject to those regulations. This situation complicates the CLARITY Act discussions, where Democrats are advocating for prohibiting the president and his family from engaging in crypto businesses as a condition for the bill's passage. The latest revelations are likely to strengthen the Democrats' stance, and the likelihood of the bill's approval fell by 10% to 39% following this news.

We may not have fully grasped the ramifications of those $1.2 billion in crypto earnings yet. Further consequences are anticipated.

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

  • Crypto markets show slight declines; BTC down 1% at $58.5k; ETH down 1% at $1,570; SOL up 2% at $75; HYPE down 5% at $62.60
  • JUP (+16%), WBT (+14%), and  XLM (+12%) emerged as top gainers
  • Oil fell 1% to $69; Gold steady at $4,040
  • Stock futures  are slightly down following the strongest first half in five years; DOW down 0.2%, Nasdaq down 0.4%
  • Binance and CZ faced a lawsuit for nearly $200 million from British investors  as reported by Reuters, linked to claims involving the FCA
  • Citi revised its 12-month price targets  for Bitcoin from $112k to $82k and for ETH from $3,175 to $2,240, indicating outflows, slow regulatory progress, and DAT concerns
  • TD Cowen reduced Strategy’s price target by 35%, citing a new framework that could lead to Bitcoin sales
  • The SEC initiated a 60-day comment period on novel ETFs, posing 27 questions regarding the handling of funds based on crypto assets, event contracts, and other unconventional holdings, after halting approximately two dozen prediction-market ETF applications
  • New York Life Investment Management partnered with Centrifuge for a tokenized bond fund, advancing one of America’s largest asset managers into on-chain real-world assets
  • CRCL was excluded  from several Russell Growth Indexes during the annual reconstitution in June

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

📈 Market Insights of the Day

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Updates

🚚 NFT Market Update

  • NFT leaders mostly showed stable performance; Punks down 1% at 31 ETH, BAYC up 1% at 8.82 ETH, Pudgy down 1% at 4.45 ETH; Hypurr down 3% at 217 HYPE
  • Racerz (+47%) and MetaWinners (+20%) topped the movers
  • The strong sales week for Punk NFTs continued with several above-floor purchases in the last day, including a 100 ETH Cowboy sale

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