Today’s edition of the weekly recap covers a shakeup at Polygon, World Liberty Financial’s response to collaboration allegations, and the Trump administration’s exclusive dinner with top memecoin holders.
Coin holders chow down with Trump
- President Donald Trump held an exclusive dinner Thursday night at Trump National Golf Club in Washington for the top 220 holders of his Trump (TRUMP) meme coin.
- The gathering has sparked criticism from both parties as a broad attempt to monetize the presidency, violating federal bribery laws. The White House maintains the dinner followed ethical guidelines but has declined to reveal the identities of the guests.
Polygon co-founder Bjelic announces departure
- Mihailo Bjelic, one of four co-founders of the Polygon (POL) network, revealed his decision to step down from the Polygon Foundation board and reduce his day-to-day involvement with Polygon Labs.
- Co-founder Sandeep Nailwal acknowledged Bjelic’s contributions to the network and offered his support for Bjelic’s future endeavors.
World Liberty Financial disputes Binance collaboration report
- World Liberty Financial co-founder Zak Folkman denied a Wall Street Journal report suggesting Binance founder Changpeng Zhao helped in foreign introductions for the Trump-associated DeFi platform.
- Folkman characterized claims that Zhao acted as a “facilitator” or “fixer” for Folkman’s fellow WLFI co-founder, Zach Witkoff, as “not only false, it’s laughable.”
Semler Scientific adds $50 million in Bitcoin
- The medical equipment company acquired 455 Bitcoin (BTC) for $50 million. Through its at-the-market equity offering program, the purchase was made for an average of $109,801 per Bitcoin.
- Semler Scientific posted a 22.2% year-to-date Bitcoin yield in the first quarter of this year.
Major US banks explore joint stablecoin venture
- Leading financial firms including JPMorgan, Bank of America, CitiGroup, and Wells Fargo are discussing a potential collaborative stablecoin project, according to Wall Street Journal reporting.
Strategy announces $2.1 billion preferred stock offering
- The company, formerly known as MicroStrategy, filed with the SEC on Thursday to raise $2.1 billion through additional preferred stock issuance.
- The Perpetual Strife Preferred Stock (STRF) offers institutional investors a 10% annual cash dividend with an escalation mechanism that increases payouts if Strategy misses payments.
- The firm also acquired an additional 7,390 BTC for approximately $764.9 million between May 12-18.
Cetus Protocol suffers $223 million hack
- The largest decentralized exchange and liquidity provider on the Sui (SUI) network reported a major security breach resulting in $223 million worth of stolen tokens.
- According to Cetus Protocol’s X announcement, $162 million of the stolen funds have been “paused.” The team is also working alongside the Sui Foundation to recover remaining assets.
FIFA partners with Avalanche for blockchain initiative
- Football’s global governing body announced plans to use Avalanche’s (AVAX) network infrastructure to power its dedicated layer-1 blockchain.
- The FIFA Blockchain will function as an Avalanche L1
Bitcoin reaches a new all-time high
- Bitcoin rallied past its previous all-time high in the USD and USDT markets on Wednesday and extended gains on Thursday, climbing to a peak of $111,880. Bitcoin’s breakout failed to usher euphoria among traders and the reaction on derivatives traders was muted, relative to previous BTC price rallies.
SafeMoon CEO convicted on fraud charges
- A federal jury found SafeMoon CEO Braden John Karony guilty on three counts of fraud related to a cryptocurrency scheme that allegedly defrauded investors of millions.
- Karony faces up to 45 years in prison on charges including conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
World raises $135 million in token sale
- Sam Altman’s blockchain project World completed a $135 million private token sale of its World (WLD) token to venture capital firms a16z and Bain Capital Crypto.
SEC sues Unicoin
- The SEC filed a lawsuit against Unicoin and its executives based on violations of securities laws in their $100 million token raise.
- The SEC alleges the team made “false and misleading statements and material omissions” across various public forums during their fundraising activities.
India’s Supreme Court questions crypto policy delays
- The Supreme Court has questioned why India’s central government cannot formulate a “clear cut” cryptocurrency regulation policy, according to an Economic Times report.
- Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh noted concerns about a “parallel under-market” for cryptocurrency that could negatively impact the economy.
Genesis committee files new DCG recovery lawsuits
- The Genesis Litigation Oversight Committee initiated fresh legal action against parent company Digital Currency Group, CEO Barry Silbert, and other executives to recover billions allegedly misappropriated in 2022.
GENIUS Act gains momentum
- The stablecoin legislation regained political traction by passing a key procedural vote Monday evening and set the bill on track for potential passage within days.
- This is a major turnaround after the GENIUS Act failed the same procedural cloture vote less than two weeks ago.
