RaaS #476: Tether Hires Bo Hines!

Circle Acquires Malachite, Maple Goes Brrrrr, and Moar!

Bullish received $1.15B in stablecoins as part of its U.S. IPO, marking the first time a public offering of this scale has been settled onchain. This milestone sets a precedent for crypto-native treasuries in traditional capital markets and could reshape how future listings handle capital formation, custody, and deployment.

Maple now leads with $3B+ in onchain AUM. Users deposit USDC/USDT, earn via syrupUSDC, and Maple lends to institutions. Pools >90% utilized, monthly revenue >$1M, and ARR tripled in Q1. In a sea of emissions, Maple quietly builds sustainable yield.

ERC-8004 adds trust layers to Ethereum’s agent-to-agent protocol, letting autonomous agents verify identity, reputation, and actions onchain. In a future of machines negotiating tasks, Ethereum becomes the neutral, tamper-proof ground they anchor to.

Tether appoints Bo Hines, ex-White House Crypto Council lead, as Strategic Advisor for U.S. digital asset strategy. Backed by Trump-era policy work, Hines will lead Tether’s U.S. market push and regulatory engagement as the firm expands its $5B+ domestic investment footprint.

Early contributions won’t shield you from present irrelevance.

Chamath’s new “American Exceptionalism” SPAC targets four verticals: energy, AI, DeFi, and defense. He argues the U.S. must control the tech stack of the future, clean energy, LLMs, decentralized finance, and military AI, to remain a superpower.

At under $6K in daily revenue, most “emerging” chains are functionally subsidized testnets with limited real usage. The L1/L2 glut reflects an over-index on narratives vs. economic sustainability. Until demand-side traction is proven, new infra adds surface area, not value.

Cap Money separates yield from risk using DeFi-native underwriting. Operators borrow stablecoins backed by staker-posted collateral. Built on Symbiotic, users earn a fixed yield, while slashing stakers if operators underperform, aligning incentives through onchain guarantees.

Wyoming just became the first U.S. public entity to issue a blockchain-based stablecoin. The Frontier (FRNT) token is live on 7 chains, including Arbitrum, Ethereum, and Solana. Backed by institutional partners, this move marks a major step in nation-state onchain adoption.

The top has been in for me for the last three months (portfolio is only red).

Covalent just launched a $200K creator campaign with Wallchain. Top 80 “Quackers” earn monthly CXT rewards based on quality without vesting or cliffs. Share real insights using Covalent data; mindshare matters more than memes.

DeFi protocols now have financial statements on DefiLlama. Real earnings, strong revenue, and P/E-style metrics are starting to matter. Feels like we’re entering the fundamentals era of DeFi, protocols are getting valued like businesses, and only the profitable will survive.

Circle has acquired Malachite, a Tendermint-based consensus engine from Informal Systems, to power its new stablecoin-centric blockchain, Arc. Nine Informal team members will join Circle, while Malachite remains open source under Apache 2.0.

Validator exit queue tops 910K ETH ($3.9B), driven by stETH depeg, July unwind overhang, and LST duration risk. ETH borrow rates remain stable, suggesting exits aren’t mass sell-offs. The queue is bearish for LSTs/LRTs due to increased illiquidity risk, but neutral for ETH/USD as most redemptions settle in ETH.

Top Gainers: WKC, AIOT, API3, LIGHT, RSS3.

Hong Kong’s stablecoin law only applies to HK-issued or HKD-pegged tokens; USDT /USDC remain unregulated. OTC remains legal (for now). KYC isn’t mandatory, but anonymous use won’t get licensed. Institutional interest is rising, but real traction hinges on tighter regulatory clarity.

Circle’s Arc chain is now live on Fireblocks Network, bridging stablecoin finance with institutional rails. With 2,400+ institutions, deep liquidity, and cross-chain support, Fireblocks strengthens Arc’s mission to move compliant stablecoin value across 120+ networks.

DEXTools just burned 8M DEXT ($3.87M), its largest to date. This triggered a 42% post-burn rally and reflects a model tied to real platform revenue: all aggregator and social fees are used to buy and burn DEXT, reinforcing long-term holder value.

That’s all for today!