Changpeng Zhao Is Free

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Good Morning.

CZ was freed on Friday. Macro markets liquidity seems to be heading up and to the right for risk-on assets with the recent move from the Fed and the PBOC. The counterargument against a bullish market is the uncertainty around US elections and the geopolitical situation in the Middle East right now.

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: CZ is a free man 🗽 

• Product: Coinshift Personal 🔑

• Charts: $7.4B Spot ETH ETFs, DEX Volume Doubles YoY 📈

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WHAT MATTERS

Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao Is a Free Man

State of play: Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao was released two days earlier than scheduled after serving a four-month sentence for violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement an adequate KYC program at Binance.

• Zhao – formerly known as Inmate #88087-510 – served three months in a low-security prison, Lompoc II, on California’s central coast.

• In August, he was moved to a halfway house in San Pedro, California.

• Zhao is believed to be the richest person to ever go to prison in the US.

What’s next: CZ shared a personal update after his recent release and updated his plans to focus on Giggle Academy, long-term investments in blockchain, AI, biotech, and increased involvement in charity and education.

• CZ also mentioned his ongoing work on a book, which is about two-thirds complete.

• He noted that Binance is thriving without his direct involvement, which is the ideal scenario for a founder.

• He also hinted at future appearances at industry conferences.

For builders and investors: Good moment to pause and pay respect to one of the most influential individuals in our space.

• I have a lot of thoughts for folks who consistently argue that CZ is all bad, but I won’t be able to convey it better then Austin Campbell.

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PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

Coinshift Personal

Coinshift just announced the launch of Coinshift Personal, a smart contract-based account solution built on Safe, aimed to make interacting with DeFi and RWAs easier, more secure, and user-friendly.

Coinshift Personal offers features such as:

• Gasless onboarding (no need to pay gas fees initially).

• Passkey signing for secure authentication.

• The ability to pay gas fees in any ERC-20 token removes the need for traditional wallets or browser extensions.

Coinshift Personal aims to simplify everyday crypto tasks like paying collaborators, managing DeFi strategies, and staking while ensuring security and compliance.

• It provides multi-layered protection, exceptional user experience (UX), and exclusive rewards for early users.

Other cool products:

• Belo, a wallet to use pesos & cryptocurrencies.

• Inheriti, a digital inheritance and data protection platform.

• PRISM, an AI agent & machine learning for Solana businesses.

• BlockSurvey, a decentralized way to create and collect surveys and polls.

• Eonian DAO, a decentralized savings account with free insurance from hacks.

CHARTS OF THE WEEK

Spot ETH ETFs See Highest Weekly Inflows

State of play: US-based spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw their highest weekly inflows since early August, reversing six consecutive weeks of outflows.

• Data from SoSoValue shows that these ETFs logged $58.7M in inflows on Friday, bringing the total weekly inflows to $84.5M.

• Fidelity's FETH led the day with $42.5M, while BlackRock's ETHA fund reached over $1B in net asset value.

• The funds now collectively hold $7.4B in net asset value, the highest since August 26, fueled by positive sentiment and increased blockchain activity.

Our take: This aligns with global macro liquidity.

DEX Volume Doubles YoY, Reaching $17B Weekly

State of play: DEX volumes have surged 100% year-over-year, maintaining $20-$25B in weekly trading. Solana and Base saw notable growth, with Solana's volume skyrocketing from $170M to $4B.

• Ethereum's trading share dropped 20%, now accounting for 29% of DEX volume, down from 60% a year ago.

• Base holds over 12% of the market share.

• Uniswap's dominance fell from 53% to 33%, as platforms like Solana-based Orca and new exchanges like Aerodrome gained popularity.

Our take: This trend is unique in particular because a lot of frontend trading apps (especially mobile ones) require KYCs via Apple ID but are integrated with DEX on the backend. So DEXs can tap into multiple frontend unlike CEXs.

QUICK BITES

• FTX to set aside ~$230M for shareholders.

• US spot Bitcoin ETFs log highest inflow day since June.

• Matrixport acquires Crypto Finance to expand in Europe.

• Sorare charged in the UK for unlicensed gambling facilities.

• Mango Markets to destroy MNGO tokens following SEC settlement.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

• Kairos Research’s read on EIGEN launch numbers.

• 1impal’s read on bearish single web3 game tokens.

• Alex Gedevani’s read on social media being the new spots.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.