Hello! Ben Weiss here.

Caitlin Long won’t quit.

For almost two years, the CEO of crypto bank Custodia has battled the Kansas City Federal Reserve in courts. 

She said she believes the Fed has stopped Custodia from accessing key financial infrastructure because her bank caters to crypto companies.

The dispute gets at an existential question for crypto: Will the industry be able to fully integrate itself into the US’s financial system?

TradFi to crypto

For decades, Long worked in traditional finance for Salomon Brothers, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley. 

In 2013, she discovered Bitcoin, and, in 2020, she obtained a Wyoming banking licence for Custodia, which offers dollar banking, money market accounts, and Bitcoin custody to its customers.

Those who deal in crypto have historically found it difficult to open bank accounts. Long wanted Custodia to change that.

So, she applied in 2020 for a master account, or a way for her bank to get access to the Federal Reserve’s payments, clearing, and settlement network.

Without it, Custodia has to pay extra fees to banks that do have access.

‘Skewering the best actor’

But the Fed has stymied her at every turn, she alleges.

“They’ve sent a message to the rest of the industry by skewering the best actor,” the Custodia CEO told DL News.

Long, though, continues to fight back, and her lawsuit against the Fed is ongoing.

“We have been hamstrung,” she told DL News, “by what the Fed did to us.”

Eclipse’s CEO strives to overcome predecessor’s scandal with more product and less drama

I explore how Vijay Chetty, the new CEO of Eclipse Labs, has tried to refocus his company after Chetty’s predecessor resigned in May.

Solana protocol offers way to short $53b memecoin market — and it’s teasing an airdrop

Memecoins are booming, but many go belly up. Osato Avan-Nomayo reports on a new project that lets you short “the shitcoins destined for zero.”

Maker aims for $100bn stablecoin despite AI delay

Aleks Gilbert details a grand plan to turn around Maker as its flagship stablecoin loses ground against incumbents and new arrivals.

Post of the week

Did Justin Sun really have a birthday party? While the TRON founder maintains that he did, the twitterati suggested that the below photo — look at his hands! — may have been created by an AI.