Weekly Crypto Recap: US gets serious about crypto regulation and clarity
Welcome back to this week’s news wrap. As always, the goal is to keep you updated on the most important developments within the industry, as well as the key areas for Haven1. Please let us know what you think and share the update with fellow degens who will find it valuable.
Jan 24, 2025
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TGIF and happy Friday to our community and Web3 frens!
Here’s what we have this week:
- Market overview
- Regulation and compliance
- DeFi 2.0
- Blockchain infrastructure
- RWAs
- Security
- The Haven1 take
Market overview
It took no time for Trump to take crypto by storm: the weekend before his inauguration he launched his first official memecoin, which raced up to an FDV of $15 billion before settling between $6 billion to $7 billion this week.
President Trump didn’t mention Bitcoin or crypto during his inauguration speech, but it has been a big focus of his early policies. He issued executive orders to create a cryptocurrency working group and explore the potential for a national cryptocurrency stockpile, as promised during his campaign.
It isn’t certain that all the policies and plans will come to fruition, but simply by being on the table, the President is adding considerable validation to the crypto industry and other nations may follow his lead.
Regulation and compliance
SEC promises regulatory clarity on crypto
The SEC launched a ‘Crypto 2.0’ task force that will develop a regulatory framework for managing digital assets in the US. Previously Chairman Gary Gensler took an aggressive approach to government crypto assets primarily using existing frameworks and regulation through enforcement.
The task force is led by two ‘crypto friendly’ commissioners. While we can’t expect a regulatory utopia and it will take time, clarity will be widely welcomed.
Trump proposes new digital asset regulation
President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing a cryptocurrency working group to propose new digital asset regulations and explore the creation of a national cryptocurrency stockpile. The order also mandates the protection of banking services for crypto companies and prohibits the development of a U.S. central bank digital currency.
We’re excited that the US’s new approach could be adopted in other markets and help bring a new found maturity to regulation. Haven1 strives to be regulatory compliant, with our focus on KYC one major factor.
DeFi 2.0
The Ethereum Foundation doubles down on DeFi
DeFi is such a natural way to put digital assets to use that it makes sense for any company with a treasury to seek ways to find a reliable and safe yield. Enter the Ethereum Foundation, which this week moved over $165 million in ETH into a new wallet as it looks to increase its participation in DeFi and grow its treasury.
This is exactly why we are building a safe DeFi environment, to allow organizations with tokenized treasuries to find yield in a safe and secure manner.
Blockchain Infrastructure
Vitalik Buterin argues L2s are essential for Ethereum
The co-creator of Ethereum explained his goals for Layer-2 blockchains this year. He advocates for accelerating the implementation of "blobs" to increase data availability on L1s, while also improving the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and moderately increasing the gas limit to handle ongoing activities. For L2s, Buterin stresses the need to bolster security, standardize interoperability, reduce deposit and withdrawal times, and embrace heterogeneity to ensure a cohesive and efficient ecosystem.
RWAs
RWA tipped to reach $50B this year
The tokenization of RWAs is seeing rapid growth, with the market projected to reach $50 billion in value by the end of 2025, according to a report from Ozean. This shift is driven by increased institutional adoption, advancements in blockchain infrastructure, and greater interest in fractionalizing traditionally illiquid assets.
Security
Phemex loses $70M due to hack
Singapore-based exchange Phemex was breached this week, with an estimated $70 million stolen from hackers who are believed to be linked to the North Korean regime. The exchange still holds nearly $2 billion in assets, but any hack is unwanted and at considerable business expense.
Crypto wallet Noones hacked for $8M
A significant security breach targeted Noones, a crypto wallet service, resulting in a $7.9 million loss. Noones announced it was undergoing maintenance around the time of the hack but it hasn’t yet provided details of what happened. Meanwhile the hackers used Tornado Cash to move the money out of sight for on-chain analysts.
The Haven1 take
As Web3 continues to evolve at a rapid pace, we’re reminded of both the opportunities as well as the challenges that come with innovation. Each week brings new and exciting developments, from advancements in DeFi to growing interest in tokenized RWAs, highlighting the potential of blockchain technology.
At Haven1, we’re working to bridge these opportunities with secure and scalable solutions. With our mainnet launch on the horizon, we’re not just keeping up with the latest news and the accelerating market, we’re building the infrastructure needed to shape its future.
We’ll be back with more next Friday!