Trump’s Token Drop

1️⃣ WLFI Public Sale Starts Oct 15

Donald Trump-linked DeFi project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) announced its public sale will kick off Tuesday, aiming to raise $300M at a $1.5B valuation.

The sale features 20% of the total token supply, with plans for additional future sales. These tokens will be non-transferable for 12 months, but can be used immediately for governance. Phase one includes launching a lending platform on Scroll, modeled after Aave, with 7% of the token supply allocated to the Aave DAO for governance participation and liquidity provision. Future ambitions include integrating real-world assets and launching a stablecoin-focused credit card.

2️⃣ Permissionless III Wraps

The Permissionless III conference ran from Wednesday to Friday this week, featuring panels and keynotes on Crypto x AI, regulation, Ethereum’s future, and consumer apps. Memecoins were front and center to many of these conversations, with many divisively split on whether they hold lessons for how to bootstrap users and build products specifically tailored to distinct communities, or if they have just devolved crypto into one big casino. 

Meanwhile, our very own David Hoffman ended the conference with a bang defeating Kain Warwick in a highly-entertaining upset win.

3️⃣ Market Makers Face Fraud Charges

U.S. prosecutors charged Gotbit, ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade with market manipulation and wash trading. The sting started with the FBI launching a fake token on Ethereum, which they then had the funds market make and trade for. Over $25M in crypto has been seized, and four defendants have agreed to plead guilty.

In related news, market marker Cumberland DRW was sued by the SEC for operating as an unregistered dealer. Cumberland responded by stating that it's been in continuous communication with the SEC over the past five years, and it acquired a registered broker-dealer in 2019 to meet its requirements. They believe they are in the right and will not change their business, despite the suit, as a result.

4️⃣ Uniswap Announces Unichain

On Thursday, Uniswap Labs introduced the long-anticipated Unichain, an upcoming L2 built with the OP Stack. Aimed at significantly lowering transaction costs and providing near-instant block times, Unichain intends to ramp up DeFi scalability and address issues of liquidity fragmentation. Further, when the chain launches, UNI will be used to validate the network, with stakers earning revenue in return. Fee switch at long last!

Announcing Unichain | DeFi’s Next Frontier? on Bankless

Unichain Is Here

Bankless

5️⃣ Memecoin Debate Heats Up

Memecoin drama reached a fever pitch as ZachXBT published memecoin investor Murad Mahmudov's 11 secret wallets. ZachXBT argued this transparency was essential to prevent Mahmudov from dumping on his followers, while critics said it exposed him to unnecessary risk.

The controversy mirrors earlier debates around influencers like Ansem, who has been criticized for promoting low-cap tokens, most of which have fallen greatly in the weeks and months after his support. Both cases have sparked renewed discussions about the ethics of using large platforms to promote volatile, low-liquidity assets, with some arguing memecoin promotion is akin to pump-and-dump schemes, while others see it as part of the broader crypto culture.