"Weekly Editor's Picks" is a "functional" column of Odaily Planet Daily. Based on the extensive coverage of real-time information each week, the Planet Daily also publishes many high-quality in-depth analysis articles, but they may be hidden among the information flow and trending news, passing you by.
Therefore, our editorial team will select some quality articles worth spending time reading and saving from the content published in the past seven days every Saturday, providing you with new insights from the perspectives of data analysis, industry judgment, and opinion output, as you navigate the crypto world.
Now, let's read together:
Investment and Entrepreneurship
Bitcoin's market share remains high; do altcoins still have explosive opportunities?
DeFi is accelerating the integration of AMM and money markets, achieving dual utilization of assets and enhancing capital efficiency. Cross-chain liquidity layers are becoming flatter, providing a smoother user experience. The competition for stablecoin yields is fierce, with institutional demand for returns increasing. Meanwhile, points and identity verification airdrops have become new means of user growth. The NFT market is sluggish, with more funds flowing into practical and reward-mechanism-based Memes, as the ecological landscape gradually evolves.
a16z calls on the industry: It's time to abandon the foundation model
The obstacles created by the foundation model today far outweigh the decentralization conveniences it brings. With the U.S. Congress proposing a new regulatory framework, the cryptocurrency industry has a rare opportunity to discard the foundation and its hindrances—this is a chance to build with better consistency, accountability, and scalability.
In the new regulatory environment, ordinary development companies (the builders from conception to network realization) are a better vehicle for the continuous construction and maintenance of networks. Compared to foundations, enterprises can efficiently allocate capital, attract top talent through a "token + equity" combination, and adjust strategies promptly based on market feedback. The corporate structure inherently pursues growth and influence without relying on charitable funding or vague missions.
Two emerging solutions—Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Associations (DUNA) and Cybernetic Organizational Tools (BORG)—offer lightweight implementation paths.
Also recommended: 《The Myth of Crypto Infrastructure: Why "Build It and They Will Come" Doesn't Work?》《In the Era of Narrative Dominance, How to Use Scoring Models to Find the Next Hundredfold Narrative?》。
Policy and Stablecoins
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has officially released a regulatory response document for Digital Token Service Providers (DTSP), marking that the new regulations will come into full effect on June 30. This policy not only has no transition period but also sets "extremely limited licensing standards" and "criminal liability" as the bottom line, almost overnight ending what was once seen as a crypto haven—the "Singapore model."
Four major changes in the global cryptocurrency market after the South Korean presidential election
South Korea as a core Web3 hub: With a daily trading volume of $5.4 billion and 9.7 million active users, South Korea has become the third-largest cryptocurrency market globally, after the U.S. and China. It is a key benchmark for global projects entering Asia.
Tax acceleration may lead to a decline in trading volume: Although the implementation of cryptocurrency taxes has been postponed to 2027, the new government is likely to push it forward. Drawing on international precedents, trading volume may decline by more than 20%.
High likelihood of ETF approval, other reforms may face delays: All major candidates support the introduction of a Bitcoin spot ETF, increasing its chances of early passage. In contrast, regulatory reforms surrounding the Korean won stablecoin and the "one exchange, one bank" policy are expected to be longer-term agenda items.
New crypto landscape in South Korea: New President Lee Jae-myung and his three major crypto policies
Lee Jae-myung's commitment to the "Korean secret industry" includes:
- Promoting the legalization of virtual asset spot ETFs;
- Guiding the massive Korean National Pension Fund (approximately $884 billion) to allocate crypto assets;
- Building a stablecoin system pegged to the Korean won as a strategic tool to prevent capital outflow and strengthen the financial sovereignty of the local currency.
The South Korean government is committed to incorporating crypto assets into the national financial governance system, transitioning the market from laissez-faire to a "nationalized" institutional embedding. This is the vision that Lee Jae-myung has outlined—a digital asset market guided by the government, secured by rules, and driven by innovation.
The long-cycle slow bull structure of Bitcoin is not linear and does not rise every day; rather, it is composed of several policy switches, geopolitical conflicts, technological changes, and market sentiment forming a wave path. However, as long as the "asset property evolution" path of Bitcoin remains clear, it has the potential to become the most certain participant in this wave of global capital reassessment.
Artemis: Where is the $240 billion stablecoin supply going?
To expand the market, issuers are willing to pay high fees to distributors; for instance, Circle paid $900 million to distributors like Coinbase in 2023, accounting for more than half of its revenue, to attract users to use USDC.
The $3.1 trillion annual trading volume is highly misleading, with 31% coming from MEV bots contributing through thousands of daily circular operations, repeatedly using the same funds, while the actual trading volume involving human participation is far lower than the scale suggested by surface data.
Currently, there are 150 million stablecoin wallets, but 99% of wallet balances are below $10,000, while only 20,000 mysterious wallets control $76 billion, accounting for 32% of the total supply. These wallets are neither exchanges nor DeFi protocols and are reported to fall into the "gray area," with their underlying implications still unclear.
The real explosive growth of stablecoins has occurred in the past six months.
The criteria we use to measure the success of stablecoins are fundamentally misplaced; a decline in total locked value (TVL) may not indicate a decrease in usage but rather a reflection of technological progress and efficiency improvements. Meanwhile, an increase in trading volume may only signify a rise in bot activity, and all the indicators we use to track adoption have fundamental issues.
While people are still debating the market shares of USDC and USDT, real change is quietly happening at the distribution level. This could lead to a complete reshaping of the entire stablecoin ecological value chain.
Peeling off the stablecoin and tokenization facade, accelerating the flow of dollars is the essence
Stablecoins can be seen as a modern version of "Eurodollars," characterized by having a publicly transparent blockchain explorer. Unlike the traditional model of storing dollars in London vaults, dollars are now "tokenized" and circulated through blockchain technology. This innovation has brought significant scale effects. Over time, the demand for stablecoins continues to grow. Investors seek to convert returns into stable assets to avoid cyclical market fluctuations.
Unlike the extreme volatility of the cryptocurrency market, the use cases for stablecoins are continually expanding, indicating that their function is no longer limited to simple trading tools but is gradually becoming an important financial infrastructure. Although the timelines for different asset classes may vary, the direction of development is clear. Each new batch of stable dollars will push the Token economy forward by a stage.
Cypherpunks view "stable dollars" as a regression, implying a return to traditional models of bank custody and permissioned whitelists. Meanwhile, regulators are uneasy about permissionless blockchain systems, as these systems can transfer billions of dollars within a block. In fact, the popularization of blockchain occurs precisely at the intersection of these two extreme discomforts.
Accelerating the velocity of currency circulation is the core application of cryptocurrencies, and putting real-world assets (RWA) on-chain aligns perfectly with this trend. The faster the value settlement, the higher the frequency of capital reinvestment, thus further expanding the overall economic scale. When dollars, debts, and data can circulate at network speed, business models will no longer rely on charging for the "liquidity" process but will create new revenue sources through "momentum" effects.
Circle IPO: The "ChatGPT" moment for stablecoins and on-chain finance
Circle's advantages and barriers: 1) Compliance first-mover and legitimacy: Benefiting from compliance dividends, it is expected to serve as a "systemic stablecoin" carrying the on-chain dollar expansion strategy; 2) Open infrastructure and ecological network: USDC supports multi-chain, cross-chain protocols, deeply integrated with various exchanges and DeFi, and collaborates with payment institutions to become the hub for cross-border payments and on-chain settlements; 3) Institutional-level trust and mainstream capital access: Asset security and transparency, regular audit reports, currently the only product widely accepted as "institutional-level stablecoin."
Circle's risks and challenges: 1) Revenue structure highly dependent on U.S. Treasury yields, sensitive to interest rates and cyclical, with income growth under pressure during the dollar's rate-cutting cycle; 2) High channel dependency, with about 60% of current revenue shared with channels like Coinbase and Binance. Whether it can expand other revenue sources (such as trading commissions) and enhance channel bargaining power will be key to its growth.
Competitive comparison: The competition between USDT and USDC is essentially a competition between black and white dollars in different markets and scenarios. Tether is a "printing machine," while Circle is a "narrow bank." USDT relies on exchange liquidity pillars, OTC off-exchange conversions, and gray payments, while USDC focuses on compliant cross-border payments, corporate settlements, DeFi, and RWA asset underlying currency. The two form a parallel symbiotic relationship in different scenarios.
Investment analysis: As the first compliant stablecoin leader to go public after the stablecoin bill was introduced, Circle's IPO benefits from high market sentiment. However, compared to its projected $1.7 billion revenue and $160 million net profit in 2024, the current market's nearly 50 times PE valuation has already priced in a relatively optimistic outlook, necessitating caution against profit-taking under high valuations. In the long run, the potential growth space in the stablecoin sector is enormous, and Circle, with its compliance first-mover advantage, ecological network construction, and mainstream institutional capital access, is expected to further consolidate its leading position.
"The Founder of the 'First Stablecoin Stock': How I Went All In on Stablecoins 7 Years Ago"
Circle's IPO has revealed a new narrative in cryptocurrency—stablecoins are a form of peer-to-peer electronic cash system.
Airdrop Opportunities and Interaction Guide
This Week's Featured Interactive Projects: VOYA Games Mini Games, Irys Testnet, Nebulai Head Mining
Complete Guide to the "Three Giants of Mouth-Grab": Kaito, Cookie, Galxe
OpenSea Finally Launches Token: NFTs May Be Cold, But Airdrops Are Not
Ethereum and Scalability
Where Does ETH's Value Come From? A Comprehensive Analysis from Asset Logic to Business Strategy
The article systematically outlines Ethereum's development trajectory, protocol evolution, scalability paths, and its positioning in the Rollup era.
From a developer community experimental platform to the infrastructure of DeFi, and now to long-term allocations in corporate finance, Ethereum's role is undergoing profound changes.
The path of ETH value return: from "maximizing fees" to "maximizing value carrying."
Restructuring the R&D Team: Can EF Organizational Change Become an ETH Price Booster?
Maintaining the original judgment: ETH price surges still need to wait 1-2 years.
CeFi & DeFi
Author Jacob King transforms into a staunch Bitcoin bear in the article, pointing out that the Bitcoin market is manipulated by "insiders" like Tether and Bitfinex, maintaining a price illusion through false demand, circular buying, and unlimited money printing. The so-called "government and institutional entry" is a manufactured narrative, essentially a Ponzi scheme; once liquidity crises arise, the market will face collapse.
"Please be vigilant: this is not 'the hard currency of the future,' but a ticking financial bomb."
DeFi derivatives products have long been trapped in the identity of "CEX imitators": replicating the contract logic and leverage mechanisms of centralized platforms, yet bearing higher risk exposure and lower user experience. There are still significant gaps in key dimensions such as liquidation mechanisms, matching efficiency, and trading depth compared to CEX, until the emergence of Hyperliquid, which reconstructs product forms and user value based on on-chain characteristics, preserving the possibility for further evolution in this track.
When long-tail tokens held in user wallets can directly become trading tools without relying on CEX, and when transaction fees and ecological value are distributed to ecological contributors through DAO, on-chain derivatives finally show the form that DeFi should have—not just a trading venue, but a value redistribution network.
Perhaps the ultimate goal of decentralized derivatives is not to replicate CEX but to create new demand using the native advantages of the chain (open, composable, permissionless), and the market has taken a crucial step forward.
Which On-chain Perpetual Platform is Strongest? A Review of 6 Emerging Projects
The article introduces Ethereal, StandX, Aster, Levana Protocol, DeriW, Ostium.
Also recommended: 《Lazy Investment Guide｜Ripple's Generous RLUSD Incentives; Electric Leads New Mining Launch with Annualized 22%+ (June 4)》。
SocialFi
From Attention to Monetization: How InfoFi is Changing the Business of KOLs in the Crypto Space?
In the era of attention economy, attention itself has value, but its value depends on retention, consensus, content quality, and other factors. Kaito transforms attention into users, capital, and markets through products like Yaps, Earn, and Capital Launchpad.
The value of attention is layered; it depends on: retention, consensus; the content or product it is attached to; content quality.
The world is developing in a clear direction; influencers who control attention will control monetization capabilities; tech platforms that control screen time will control distribution rights and user data.
Web3 actually has the ability to establish a new network structure that is fairer and empowers more people.
Web3 & AI
Crypto AI Heat Rises Again: What is the Market Recently Speculating About?
The article briefly introduces Axelrod, Arbusai, AVO, BasisOS, Meet48.
Security
Hackers Steal Money, So Can Sui Take Advantage?
On May 22, Cetus, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) in the Sui public chain ecosystem, was hacked, leading to a sudden drop in liquidity and the collapse of prices for various trading pairs, with losses exceeding $220 million.
Following the incident, two official operations emerged: "Freeze" vs "Recover," divided into two phases: the freeze phase relies on Deny List + node consensus; the recovery phase requires on-chain protocol upgrades + community voting + designated transaction execution to bypass the blacklist.
The Sui chain itself has a special Deny List mechanism that enabled the freezing of the hacker's funds. Moreover, Sui's token standard also includes a "regulated token" model with a built-in freezing function. More astonishingly, Sui not only froze the hacker's assets but also plans to "transfer and recover" the stolen funds through on-chain upgrades.
No hacker signature is needed, marking a repair method that has never existed in the blockchain industry. This model will not be forgotten because it subverts the industry's foundation and breaks the traditional consensus of immutability under the same ledger in blockchain. In blockchain design, contracts are the law, and code is the judge. But in this incident, the code failed, governance intervened, and power prevailed, forming a model of "voting behavior adjudicating code results."
Historically, "fork-style rollbacks" are user-chosen beliefs; Sui's "protocol-based correction" is the chain making decisions for you. The future of a chain is not determined by its technical architecture but by the belief system it chooses to protect.
Weekly Hotspot Recap
In the past week, Trump and Musk publicly fell out, causing market collapse, Medvedev: Ready to assist Trump and Musk in reaching a peace agreement; the Trump family denies any connection with the Trump Wallet project and will launch a crypto wallet with WLFI, Magic Eden responds to Trump’s eldest son’s doubts, stating that the TRUMP wallet uses official branding and IP (Event Review); Trump's social platform Truth Social submits Bitcoin ETF application; Trump's economic advisor reveals holding at least $1 million in Coinbase shares; WLFI advisor responds to shorting TRUMP: the two project entities are independent and will hedge if necessary; CLARITY Act deliberation is stalled, Trump's involvement in secret coin activities has sparked controversy in the House;
Circle's stock price surged 168% on its first day of trading, closing at $87.71 after hours, with a trading volume exceeding $47 million (Beneficiaries Analysis); pump.fun plans to conduct a token sale of $1 billion with a $4 billion FDV (Interpretation);
(James Wynn's Special Zone: Operation Summary; Multiple CEX Accounts Unjustly Banned, vowing to fight back against centralized control; decided to suspend perpetual contract trading; on X tagged Wintermute with the caption: "I'm back"; after turning losses into profits, deleted tweets related to "begging" funds](https://www.odaily.news/newsflash/433118); BlackRock's purchase of Ethereum is a "standard start" before Bitcoin's explosion; fearing ridicule for "not being able to keep 100 million," ultimately became a gambler due to greed; cannot return empty-handed, will scrape old wallet assets to make a comeback.)
In addition, regarding policies and the macro market, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book: Tariffs are putting upward pressure on costs and prices, wages continue to grow at a moderate pace; SEC questions REX-Osprey on launching Ethereum and Solana staking ETFs; SEC officially accepts Nasdaq 21Shares' SUI ETF listing application; X will launch XChat, introducing a Bitcoin-like crypto architecture (Crypto Architecture Interpretation); the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission is considering introducing virtual asset derivatives trading for professional investors;
In terms of opinions and voices, Bitcoin advocate Max Keiser questions the new BTC financial company's resilience, claiming it has not undergone a bear market test; CryptoQuant: Bitcoin is at a critical support level, with the market waiting for an entry opportunity after a pullback; opinion: Circle's NYSE IPO can be seen as a "low liquidity + high complete valuation" token launch, performance is worth looking forward to; CZ: now might be a good time to launch an on-chain dark pool perpetual DEX; Hyperliquid co-founder: transparent trading is not a disadvantage, but the end of efficiency; Salus founder: Chinese law enforcement has solved 3 money laundering cases using Hyperliquid, strategy structure is highly similar to James Wynn's path; a16z partner clarifies that they have not released the token A16ZE, which saw its market cap drop from tens of millions to hundreds of thousands overnight;
Regarding institutions, large companies, and leading projects, South Korea's first institution sells crypto assets after the ban is lifted; JPMorgan plans to offer crypto ETF financing services, considering accepting crypto assets as loan collateral; Strategy announces plans to issue 2.5 million shares of STRD preferred stock for purchasing Bitcoin and operations; Tether launches full-chain gold stablecoin "XAUt0" on the TON blockchain; SharpLink Gaming completes $425 million in private financing, led by Consensys; Ripple denies intentions to acquire Circle, stating that related reports are false; the Ethereum Foundation announces restructuring its R&D team and layoffs, focusing on network expansion and user experience; the Ethereum Foundation releases latest fiscal policy, emphasizing the "Defipunk" concept and privacy protection; Sky (formerly Maker) introduces stablecoin incentives for SKY staking; WLFI airdrops 47 USD1 to subscribers; LOUD token sale ends, with participating users expected to receive 225,000 LOUD and 56,250 LOUD in two phases, followed by the launch of LOUD token and opening for claims, Believe: the newly released token will increase the creator fee share to 70%;
In terms of data, Binance CEO: Binance holds nearly 59% of centralized exchange stablecoin reserves;
Regarding security, Aptos Move Security Library Co-construction Initiative: building trusted infrastructure standards for developers; MegaETH's official X account was hacked, reminding users not to click on recent links; TON: issues arose in on-chain block creation, which were later resolved…… Well, it has been another eventful week.
Attached is the Weekly Editor's Picks series portal.
See you next time~
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