Hey all, Liam here!

Excitement surrounding a slew of exchange-traded funds for various cryptocurrencies beyond the big two intensified this week. 

The latest indicator? 

“Shockingly solid” investor interest in ETF products for the memecoin Dogecoin and XRP. 

On opening day, REX-Osprey’s XRP fund whipped up more than $24 million in trading volume, while its Dogecoin equivalent generated $6 million in the first hour.

“That is way more than I would have thought,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas on Thursday, referring to the XRP ETF. “For context, that’s five times more than any of the XRP futures ETFs did on day one, and it’s only been 90 minutes.”

Not long after US President Donald Trump took office and ushered in a pro-industry agenda, a flood of various ETF applications poured into the Securities and Exchange Commission’s office. 

There were filings for Trump’s own memecoin as well as his wife’s, Melania Trump. 

At the time, analysts told us that these were mere bets on a friendly administration, and there was doubt about meaningful investor interest in these kinds of products.

Now, it looks like those bets are paying off in a big way. And other analysts say this is just the beginning. 

On Tuesday, the SEC announced that it was developing “generic listing standards” for even more listings. This means that if a filing meets these standards, the fund will automatically be allowed to launch. 

It’s a significant step. 

Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer for Bitwise, pointed to the quiet regulatory shift as a “coming of age” moment for the industry. 

He added that the “SEC is getting ready to blow the market wide open.” 

But what exactly are the standards? It’s unclear as of now, Hougan said.

Questions linger over Hyperliquid stablecoin contest as critics allege unfair advantage

While Native Markets won with more than 68% of the vote, those who saw the process unfold point to several circumstances that suggest the team had an unfair advantage, Tim Craig reports.

Stablecoin startups raise record amounts as total supply seen to hit $1tn

Investors poured more than $537 million into a slew of stablecoin startups this year, representing a roughly five-fold increase from the previous year. Lance Datskolou unveils what’s driving enthusiasm.

Crypto exchange Kraken taps Legion to open token sales to over 15m users

Initial coin offerings are back with a facelift. Legion’s token fundraising platform, which boasts a few more guardrails than the boom times of 2017, is now bringing coin sales to a much larger audience, Liam Kelly explains.

Post of the Week

Euler CEO Michael Bentley recalls his favourite piece of crypto lore.

DL News is an independent news organisation that provides original, in-depth reporting on the largely misunderstood world of cryptocurrency and decentralised finance. From original stories to investigations, our journalism is accurate, honest and responsible.