Weekly Crypto Recap: The SEC readies itself for a new era—and Haven1 mainnet launch preparation heats up

TGIF and happy Friday Havenauts and Web3 frens! 

Here’s what we have this week:

• Countdown to mainnet
• Regulation and compliance
• DeFi 2.0
• Blockchain infrastructure
• The Haven1 take

Countdown to mainnet

The countdown to liftoff continues! With our TGE and Mainnet launch set for April 22nd, we’re gearing up to launch something truly special. This isn’t just a milestone for Haven1—it’s a major leap forward for DeFi 2.0. A secure, vibrant home for DeFi is no longer a dream… it’s almost here.

It’s been a busy week, and we’ve been involved in a number of vibrant discussions on X:

• Web3 Security Is Broken, Can We Fix It? Things got spicy on our Twitter Space with Freename, Billions, Nuon, and Kereberus—you can listen here
• A deep dive into market trends and narratives emerging from recent news with XYRO, Wolfswap, GoPlus Security and Re—you can listen here

We announced our partnership with Ormi, a unified Web3 data infrastructure that will help us build, build, build:

By leveraging Ormi’s infrastructure, Haven1 developers can build faster, more reliable dApps with guaranteed performance and availability. Whether it's real-time DeFi dashboards or intricate compliance analytics, Ormi’s solutions offer the tools necessary to scale confidently and securely.

The combination of Haven1’s robust, permissioned ecosystem with Ormi’s data infrastructure provides a comprehensive, enterprise-ready solution for developers and institutions alike.

As Haven1 continues to expand and attract innovative projects, having partners like Ormi ensures that our ecosystem remains at the forefront of performance, reliability, and scalability. 

We kicked off a new series on our blog—’Haven1 In Action’ showcases some of the incredible products, services and applications that are being built on our network.

First up: ‘Why Haven1 is the Ideal Home for RWAs’

Finally, before we get to the news: if you want to get involved before mainnet launches, you can take part in our Zealy sprint—full details here

Regulation and compliance

1. US government encouraged to regulate crypto

We’ve seen the SEC ease off on legal action taken against crypto companies during the Biden Presidency, but now the government is being encouraged to introduce regulation for the industry. That’s according to a letter from the New York attorney general, who is keen for companies to register in the US and comply with regulation.

This is the inevitable next step for the US government, which is in the process of passing its first stablecoin regulation and is sure to introduce a framework for the industry once that’s completed. Investment and uncertainty don’t go together, so the crypto industry will benefit from regulatory clarity in the US.

2. Paul Atkins close to becoming new SEC chairman

In related news, President Trump’s pick for the new head of the SEC—Paul Atkins—inched closer to taking the job after he won the support of Congress. A former SEC commissioner, Atkins is expected to take a ‘friendlier’ approach to crypto and he’ll be integral to defining the new regulatory framework that the SEC has promised for crypto and digital assets.

DeFi 2.0

1. Ripple is buying prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion

We talk about DeFi 2.0 being the convergence of traditional finance and digital assets and it continues to gather momentum—case in point, Ripple is paying $1.25 billion to buy prime brokerage firm Hidden Road. Ripple said it wants to build the largest nonbank prime broker globally and deliver digital assets to institutional customers at scale, bridging traditional finance and decentralized finance.

2. Binance doubles down on payments and on-ramping

Binance is making it easier for users to buy crypto after it announced two pieces of news. It partnered with Worldpay—the payment processor that’s also one of the founding validators of the Haven1 network—to enable crypto to be bought from its services using Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Binance also won a payment service provider license in Bahrain which will allow it to provide fiat services to Binance customers globally, including fiat top ups and withdrawals, custody and other payment services.

3. Pakistan goes after Bitcoin mining

We’ve seen nation states make a play for crypto, and especially Bitcoin, and now Pakistan is joining their numbers after it announced plans to allocate part of its surplus electricity to Bitcoin mining and AI data centres. Bhutan is said to own over 13,000 Bitcoin—worth an estimated $1 billion, or one-third of national GDP. It began mining the cryptocurrency in 2019.

Nation states adopting, mining and owning Bitcoin is a key step to making digital assets and DeFi a mainstream industry worldwide.

Blockchain infrastructure

‍1. Ethereum applications generated $1 billion in fees in Q1 2025

Data from Token Terminal shows that Ethereum is the most active chain for applications based on fee generation. 

Binance’s BNB chain and Coinbase’s Chain were second. Binance was the only major chain to see an increase in fees between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025, according to the Token Terminal data.

The figures reflect a drop in the market during 2025 so far, but they also emphasize the revenue generation that’s possible from a major network. That’s the outline for why we have built so many services into the Haven1 network natively, as we’ve explained in previous blog posts.

2. Social media-specific Lens Chain launches mainnet

The company behind Aave launched Lens Chain mainnet, an Ethereum-based blockchain that’s designed to help develop decentralized social media applications. Aave is already a major name in DeFi, and its founders see potential to link it to ‘socialfi’—the phenomenon of decentralized social media which has seen some promising apps but hasn’t fully taken off yet.

The Haven1 take

President Trump’s global tariffs have seeded havoc among public markets and crypto prices were impacted, too. The charts may be hard to look at right now, but the industry continues to move at a rapid pace with government and institutional adoption of digital assets only increasing, and more payment options than ever before arriving for crypto holders and traders.

The big focus is on the SEC. The arrival of Paul Atkins will mark a new era that sees the commission develop a framework to effectively regulate the crypto market. 

That’ll take some time to arrive, but it is sure to have an impact on governments across the world. Knowing the boundaries without worrying about grey areas will give our industry the clarity it has been sorely lacking.