In the wake of the memecoin frenzy, over $25 million invested in pre-sold Solana memecoins has been left stranded, with more than half of the top projects abandoned within just one month.

ZachXBT’s investigation identified 12 Solana memecoin projects that have been deserted by their founders, leaving investors in the lurch. Solana Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko expressed skepticism towards the trend, stating, “Pre-selling a meme doesn’t make any sense to begin with.” Yakovenko previously cautioned against investing in memecoin pre-sales, highlighting the riskiness of such endeavors.

Of the 22 projects initially scrutinized, ZachXBT revealed that 12 have already been deserted within a month. Notable among these are LIKE, MOONKE, FROG, TEMPLE, and SORRY, which collectively raised over $2 million. Other projects, including those like @Jared_eth, raised substantial funds without even launching a token, with one account flagged as compromised by the web3 security platform Pocket Universe.

The memecoin frenzy has now shifted to the Coinbase-backed Base blockchain, indicating a lack of lessons learned from the Solana debacle, according to ZachXBT.

Meanwhile, the price of SOL, Solana’s native token, has witnessed a significant decline since the memecoin boom. Although SOL surged to over $200 during the peak of the frenzy, largely fueled by memecoin speculation, it has since plummeted to $154 as of the latest data. This represents a 23% decrease, despite SOL having already bounced back approximately 30% from its recent low of $117 on April 13.

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As scrutiny over the misuse of Tether’s USDT stablecoin intensifies, the company pledges to take decisive action against addresses linked to sanctions violations.

Tether, the issuer of the popular USDT stablecoin, has announced its commitment to freezing any addresses associated with sanctioned entities. This proactive stance follows reports indicating the exploitation of USDT tokens by certain state actors to evade US sanctions.

A spokesperson for Tether stated, “Tether respects the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) SDN list and is committed to working to ensure sanction addresses are frozen promptly.”

In the past year, Tether has actively frozen addresses holding substantial amounts of its digital assets involved in illicit activities. For example, the company froze 32 addresses containing $873,118.34 linked to unlawful activities in Israel and Ukraine.

Tether’s CEO, Paolo Ardoino, emphasized that these actions underscore the company’s dedication to establishing robust safety standards within the emerging cryptocurrency industry.

Despite Tether’s compliance efforts, recent reports have highlighted ongoing exploitation of the USDT stablecoin by terrorist groups and sanctioned nations seeking to bypass restrictions. Venezuela’s state-owned oil giant, PDVSA, reportedly utilized USDT for crude oil and fuel exports amid renewed US sanctions. Additionally, Russia has increasingly turned to alternative payment avenues, including Tether’s USDT stablecoin, to evade economic sanctions, according to US Treasury Deputy Secretary Adewale Adeyemo.

A United Nations report also revealed the prevalence of cryptocurrency-based money laundering, with Tether’s USDT on the TRON blockchain being a favored choice, particularly within illegal online gambling platforms.

In response to these developments, US Senator Elizabeth Warren has advocated for stringent regulatory measures, emphasizing the importance of including stablecoin issuers and other decentralized finance (DeFi) intermediaries under anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) requirements in any proposed stablecoin regulations. Excluding such entities, Warren argues, could enable bad actors to exploit the growing crypto trading activities facilitated by the legislation.

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Turnkey, a company specializing in building wallet infrastructure for blockchain developers, announced a successful $15 million Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Faction and Galaxy Ventures.

Founded by former Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) employees who contributed to the development of the U.S. crypto exchange’s custody service, Turnkey aims to assist application developers in constructing user-friendly blockchain wallets. The funding round, disclosed on Tuesday, saw participation from notable investors including Sequoia, Coinbase Ventures, Alchemy, Figment Capital, and Mirana Ventures. This round, finalized last October, follows a $7.5 million seed round in 2022.

CEO Bryce Ferguson explained, “At its simplest level, Turnkey provides secure, flexible, and scalable wallet infrastructure, offering developers a comprehensive toolkit for wallet-related tasks and cryptographic transactions.”

Ferguson highlighted the inspiration behind Turnkey’s inception, stemming from the realization at Coinbase that many crypto custodians treated cryptocurrency solely as a “buy-and-hold investment,” lacking the flexibility for users to actively utilize their assets. Turnkey’s objective is to empower custodians with tools enabling end-users to exercise greater control over their assets securely.

Released to the public in August, Turnkey’s product suite caters to various needs, serving as the backbone for applications requiring wallets and transaction signing, both for individual users and businesses. Notable clients include Alchemy, utilizing Turnkey to power its “wallet-as-a-service” offering, and enterprise-focused wallets like Mural, facilitating user-friendly invoicing and global payments.

Turnkey also caters to financial firms, with trading terminals embedding Turnkey’s wallets for transactional purposes. Additionally, individual users leverage Turnkey for broad transaction signing.

Ferguson emphasized Turnkey’s comprehensive approach, stating, “We built all of the wallet infrastructure from the ground up,” highlighting the platform’s ability to generate cryptographic key pairs and provide extensive tooling for accessing and managing these keys.

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Kenya is preparing to extradite Nadeem Anjarwalla, a Binance executive wanted by Nigerian authorities for alleged involvement in tax evasion and a dramatic escape from custody. Anjarwalla was apprehended in Kenya over the weekend in a joint operation involving several agencies, including the EFCC, Nigeria Police Force, Kenya Police Service, FBI, and INTERPOL, following weeks of search efforts. He is expected to be extradited to Nigeria within the week to face trial on tax evasion charges, with the possibility of additional charges related to illegal passport use and escape from custody.

Anjarwalla, Binance Africa’s regional manager, along with another executive, Tigran Gambrayan, encountered legal issues in Nigeria in February due to their association with the crypto exchange. Anjarwalla evaded custody in March using a Kenyan passport and had been evading authorities until his recent capture.

This development adds to the ongoing tension between Binance and Nigerian authorities. Gambrayan, who has been detained since February, is currently facing trial for alleged tax evasion. However, the proceedings have faced delays, with the court adjourning the case twice due to issues with formally serving charges to the exchange. Binance CEO Richard Teng has expressed willingness to cooperate with Nigerian authorities, but specific efforts to secure the release of the detained executives remain undisclosed.

Similarly, Gambrayan’Kenya to Extradite Binance Executive Linked to Tax Evasion to Nigeria attempts to secure bail have encountered obstacles, with a federal high court in Abuja postponing his bail application hearing. He is presently held at the Kuje Correctional Center pending further legal proceedings.

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Welcome to “Epoch V” of Bitcoin. The fourth successful halving of Bitcoin occurred on April 20, marking a programmed reduction in the amount of new bitcoin entering circulation through mining. As celebrations ensue worldwide, attention turns to what lies ahead.

Coinciding with the halving was the launch of Runes, a protocol facilitating the creation of meme coins on Bitcoin. This launch saw hundreds of tokens introduced, contributing over $80 million in fees to bitcoin miners. This surge in trading activity has driven transaction costs on Bitcoin to over $70 on average, a staggering 1,395.8% increase over the trailing 30-day average, according to TokenTerminal.

Some foresee “Epoch V,” leading up to the next halving in 2028, as the period when Bitcoin layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network will gain traction. Bitcoin fees hit an all-time high of $128 on April 20, prompting many to explore alternative solutions. Bitcoin Core developer Ava Chow stated, “High fee environments will prompt people to look into them,” referring to Lightning and other layer 2 options.

A recent Messari report emphasized the necessity of layer-2 solutions for Bitcoin amidst rising on-chain activity, signaling a shift from Bitcoin as merely “digital gold” to a platform for innovation.

The launch of the Ordinals protocol last year, enabling new data storage methods on Bitcoin’s smallest units (satoshis), has catalyzed this shift. BitVM allows off-chain computation, Babylon facilitates staking and earning yield on BTC, while layer 2s like Stacks and Merlin host decentralized apps and meme coins.

Post-halving, tokens associated with Bitcoin layer 2s have outperformed BTC. For instance, Elastos  rose 11%, SatoshiVM  climbed 5%, and Stacks  gained nearly 20% to $2.87, partly driven by the anticipated Nakamoto upgrade.

While market dynamics may drive action to Bitcoin’s secondary layers, challenges persist. Higher BTC fees may price out users with low balances from platforms like Lightning, necessitating workarounds such as custodial services. Concerns arise over the erosion of sovereignty and anonymity with custodial Lightning solutions.

This landscape reflects the legacy of the Blocksize Wars, where the decision to prioritize layer 2 scaling over block size increases set Bitcoin’s current trajectory.

As Chow remarks, the choice between block size and transaction size adjustments represents a fundamental divide in Bitcoin’s scaling debate, shaping its evolution to date.

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