ETH Slides 3% as Oil Spike Drags Risk Assets Lower

Ethereum fell 3.16% to $2,314.69 on Thursday, caught in a broader risk-asset selloff triggered by surging oil prices. Trading volume hit $19.9 billion as ETH, along with Bitcoin, Solana, and most major tokens, gave back gains from earlier in the week. Bitcoin touched $79,388 on Wednesday evening before retreating to $77,794 by Thursday morning, unable to hold the psychologically significant $80,000 level.

100+ Crypto Firms Push Senate on Market Structure

More than 100 crypto companies and trade groups sent a coordinated letter to the Senate Banking Committee urging it to hold a markup on market structure legislation. The letter called the current regulatory ambiguity untenable, with firms arguing that "timely action is critical" as the U.S. falls behind other jurisdictions in providing legal clarity for digital assets.

The priorities are specific: define clear jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and CFTC, protect non-custodial software developers from registration requirements, simplify disclosure rules, and prevent a fragmented patchwork of state-level regulation. The effort represents one of the largest coordinated lobbying pushes the industry has mounted on Capitol Hill this year.

MetaMask Co-Founder Departs Consensys

Dan Finlay, who co-founded MetaMask and helped build one of Ethereum's most widely used tools, announced his departure from Consensys. Finlay highlighted MetaMask's Advanced Permissions feature, which allows dApps to execute multiple transactions on behalf of users, as a capstone achievement before stepping away.

The departure follows a turbulent period for Consensys, which has navigated layoffs, an SEC Wells notice related to MetaMask's swap and staking features, and intensifying competition from wallets built by exchanges and L2 teams. MetaMask remains the dominant Ethereum browser wallet, but losing a founding voice raises questions about the product's direction.

Blockchain Capital Hunts $700M for New Funds

Blockchain Capital, an early Coinbase backer, is raising $700 million across two new funds: a seventh early-stage vehicle and a second growth fund. The San Francisco firm expects to close both within five to six months. The fundraise signals continued institutional appetite for crypto venture despite a choppy market, and it positions Blockchain Capital among the larger dedicated crypto fund managers heading into 2026's second half.

The $3 Billion FTX Missed

FTX's bankruptcy estate sold its stake in AI coding startup Cursor for $200,000 in 2023. SpaceX's agreement to acquire Cursor at a $60 billion valuation now pegs that stake at roughly $3 billion, making it one of the largest missed recoveries in crypto bankruptcy history. The sale was routine at the time, part of the estate's effort to liquidate non-core holdings quickly. In hindsight, it stands as a stark reminder of how venture portfolios can harbor asymmetric upside that fire sales systematically destroy.

Kalshi Fines Candidates for Betting on Themselves

Prediction market Kalshi penalized three U.S. congressional candidates for wagering on their own election outcomes. Mark Moran, a Virginia Senate candidate who previously described self-bets as "free advertising," was among those sanctioned, alongside Matt Klein and Ezekiel Enriquez. Kalshi's regulatory disclosures detailed the violations, which test the boundaries of how prediction markets handle conflicts of interest as they gain mainstream political relevance.

SBF Withdraws New Trial Motion

Sam Bankman-Fried withdrew his motion for a new trial, telling Judge Lewis Kaplan in a letter that he did not believe he would receive a "fair hearing." The move pauses, but does not end, SBF's post-conviction legal maneuvering. Whether he refiles under different circumstances or shifts to appellate strategy remains unclear.

World Liberty Fires Back at Justin Sun

World Liberty Financial accused Tron founder Justin Sun of "misconduct" in response to Sun's defamation claims against the project. Co-founder Eric Trump escalated the rhetoric, saying the only thing more "ridiculous" than Sun's lawsuit is a $6 million banana duct-taped to a wall. The exchange adds another chapter to an increasingly public feud between one of crypto's most polarizing figures and a project with direct ties to the Trump family.

U.S. Military Runs a Bitcoin Node

The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific confirmed that the U.S. government operates a Bitcoin node, though not for mining. The military is investigating Bitcoin's potential to "secure and protect networks," a vague description that could encompass anything from timestamping classified communications to exploring blockchain-based supply chain verification. Running a node is trivial from a technical standpoint, but a U.S. admiral publicly discussing it is not.

Quick Hits

Uzbekistan launched a dedicated crypto mining zone offering a 10-year tax holiday, aiming to attract foreign investment and promote renewable energy use in mining operations.

Cardano's core engineering organization, Intersect, submitted nine funding proposals totaling $46.8 million for the 2026 governance cycle, down sharply from $97.5 million requested last year.

OpenAI continues raiding Coinbase's marketing bench. Six senior marketing executives, including the former CMO, have moved to OpenAI over the past 18 months.

SocialFi app Believe founder Ben Pasternak was arrested on strangulation charges, compounding legal trouble that already includes a class-action lawsuit alleging a rug pull of the platform's native token.

Magic City Update

The coordinated push by 100+ crypto firms for Senate market structure legislation has direct implications for Miami's growing concentration of digital asset companies. Several Miami-based firms, including those operating in real estate tokenization and stablecoin infrastructure, stand to benefit from the proposed clarity around SEC and CFTC jurisdictional lines. Companies like Homebase, which tokenizes real estate investments on Ethereum, currently operate in a regulatory gray zone that federal legislation could resolve. Clearer rules around what constitutes a security versus a commodity would reduce compliance costs for Miami startups and potentially unlock institutional capital that has been waiting on the sidelines.

The broader signal: Miami's crypto sector matured past the 2022 conference-circuit hype cycle into something more operational. Firms headquartered here are now directly involved in lobbying efforts that will shape the industry's legal framework for years. Zero Hash, which provides stablecoin infrastructure from its Miami operations, is among the companies that benefit most from standardized federal regulation over a 50-state compliance maze.