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?

Crypto once again makes political headlines today as reports state that Rep. Maxine Waters along with other democrats intend to walk out of tomorrows Digital Assets hearing. The democrat party’s hostility towards our industry is nothing new, but the hope was a pro-crypto administration could help turn this into a bipartisan issue. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen any time soon, and the divide may in fact be growing. Whereas prior to this administration we’d see democrats prosecute our industry purely out of principle, now they have a reason: President Trump’s crypto activities. In fact, the group intending to walk out of the hearing tomorrow has explicitly stated it is due to Trump’s business activities in the space, which is honestly probably fair.

We really are in unprecedented times with a President who doesn’t seem to care about the whole “prohibited from receiving any profit or gain outside of salary” thing, and so it makes sense regulators are skittish to pass any kind of law that may further enable those activities. The good news on the regulatory front is I believe the proverbial Pandora’s box is open for crypto, and it has already become too deeply ingrained to be ignored. Proper regulation takes time, but at least it’s actually being worked on now — off the back of years of regulation by enforcement, we can’t complain too much.

Tweet of the Day

Insane plot-twist today as it came out that a core team member of one of the top protocols on Coinbase’s Base is the infamous Gabagool, who was responsible for hijacking hundreds of thousands from Velodrome a few years ago.

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

• Corporate treasuries will add $330 billion in Bitcoin by 2029: Bernstein

• Ethereum preps for biggest code change since the merge with Pectra upgrade

Alt Coins and Stocks

• SEC punts on Canary Capital Litecoin ETF approval

• Riot Platforms sells mined bitcoin for first time since January 2024, nets $38.8 million

Regulatory

• Leading House Dem will block crypto market structure bill hearing

Random

• ‘It’s not fun’: Binance founder CZ recounts prison experience

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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

*Polyester is a marketing partner of Beluga, and Beluga’s CEO is an investor in the company.