Welcome to the Beluga Brief, where we deliver data-driven insights to your inbox every week, spending our time in the crypto trenches and combing through thousands of crypto news feeds so you don’t have to.

As the Beluga Brief grows we’ll try out new content sections and schedules to find what is best for our readers — if you have other suggestions for things you’d like us to cover, feel free to leave a reply on our Twitter!

What happened today?

Fallout from the Milei memecoin disaster continues to happen, with more details coming out every day further implicating Hayden Davis as well as Javier Milei in some very serious things. Newer allegations include Davis claiming to bribe the Argentinian president by paying his sister, which if true would likely cause Milei’s impeachment. Honestly, if you had told me a year ago that this would happen I probably wouldn’t have believed it… top 3 craziest moments in crypto for me so far and definitely not in a good way.

Interestingly, while you might have thought these recent events would cast the space in a bad light to regulators, earlier today the SEC voluntarily withdrew its appeal which would have granted them more oversight power over the industry. Another headline from only minutes ago is a statement from Trump stating he “ended Biden’s war against Bitcoin and crypto,” showing his continued support of lighter regulation in the industry. While I think this is a net positive, I also think we need a real regulatory framework for crypto to achieve its full potential in the long run and the events of the last few weeks further prove this. I’m hopeful that’s something we’ll see in the next 4 years but we definitely have a ways to go.

Trading Talk

Well it feels like forever since we first started talking about the Sonic ecosystem, but it seems it’s once again catching some attention. Not only has its TVL (total value locked) rapidly risen, but Sonic itself is one of the best performers of the day sitting up over 20% in the last 24 hours. The recent events with Solana memecoins have pushed many traders to look for other ecosystems or at least something other than memecoins, and Sonic is a great alternative. Even though the chain is new, it’s really just an upgrade from the previous Fantom chain which has one of the richest DeFi histories of any ecosystem out there. With DeFi veteran Andre Cronje as CTO of Sonic, it’s no surprise Sonic is starting to catch a bid.

Outside of Sonic, Coinbase’s listing of Bitensor (TAO) today to me is a sign the AI narrative trade is not over. It remains a hot sector outside of the crypto world and with memecoin interest waning rapidly, I could see attention coming back to AI coins. TAO is the leader of the AI sector however other ones to watch are Render (RENDER), FET, and of course the Virtual Protocol.

Tweet of the Day

Good take from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

Biggest Headlines

The Beluga intern has been hard at work gathering all the most important crypto news stories so you have them in one place!

The Majors

• SEC acknowledges 21Shares’ proposal to permit staking on Ethereum ETF

Alt Coins and Stocks

• Aptos price surges as traders fuel ‘Community Takeover’ with memes

Regulatory

• Nigeria sues crypto exchange Binance for $81.5 billion following hostage rescue crisis

• Defunct crypto exchange FTX begins to repay customers — but they’ll only get back a fraction of their crypto holdings

Memecoins

• Pump.fun activity cools as President Milei’s Solana meme coin fiasco unfolds

• More Than Luck: how the $100 million Trump meme coin whale got the inside scoop

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Recent Beluga Content

The content on this site is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. While Beluga strives to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information, there may be discrepancies when comparing our data to that of financial institutions, service providers, or specific product websites. Always consult with a professional before making any financial decisions.

Will McKinnon is the Head of Content for Beluga and has spent every day for many years trading coins. For that reason there are too many to name, however his largest holdings by a significant margin are Ethereum and Bitcoin. NFA DYOR