The Protocol: Solana’s Seeker Mobile Begins to Ship

In this issue:

Solana’s Seeker Phone Fixes Saga’s Flaws With Usability Upgrade
Base Says Sequencer Failure Caused Block Production Halt of 33 Minutes
Solana’s Jito Proposes Routing 100% of Block Engine Fees to DAO Treasury
Cardano Community Approves $70M Core Dev Budget, Boosting ADA Prospects

Network news

In Other News

Big banks are making it harder and more expensive for consumers to use fintech and crypto apps, which amounts to what could be seen as “Operation Chokepoint 3.0.” That’s according to Alex Rampell, general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). In the firm’s latest fintech newsletter, Rampell pointed to traditional financial institutions charging high fees to access account data or move money, particularly to services like Coinbase or Robinhood, as a move to strangle the competition. “Under the Biden administration, Operation Chokepoint 2.0 tried to debank and deplatform crypto,” Rampell said. “That era has ended, but now the banks are aiming to implement their own Chokepoint 3.0 — charging insanely high fees to access data or move money to crypto and fintech apps — and, more concerningly, blocking crypto and fintech apps they don’t like.” — Francisco Rodrigues Read more.
When Celestia airdropped its TIA token to 580,000 users in 2023 it was the plat du jour among traders and investors, with the project saying the release aligned with a new “modular era.” However, despite rallying to a dizzying $20 price point in September 2024, it has since slumped to less than $1.65 in a desperate plight spurred by a series of massive cliffs in the token’s vesting schedule. Data from Tokenomist shows that core contributors and early backers, notably a slew of venture capitalists, could sell tokens purchased relatively cheaply in early fundraising rounds onto the open market. This coincided with TIA’s precipitous move to the downside, although it’s worth noting that the token’s market cap, currently at $1.2 billion, actually increased by 50% despite the token losing 90% of its value due to the sheer scale of supply increase. — Oliver Knight Read more.

Regulatory and Policy

The White House is preparing an executive order that would penalize banks for cutting off customers over their beliefs. The order, reported by the Wall Street Journal, is expected to be signed by President Donald Trump as early as this week. It would direct banking regulators to investigate whether financial firms violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act or other consumer protection laws when closing accounts. While the order could still be altered, it would bring further stability to the crypto sector. During the Biden administration, a coordinated effort from the federal government was launched to de-bank crypto firms, an effort known as Operation Chokepoint 2.0. The draft order does not name specific banks, but reportedly references an incident involving Bank of America and a Christian nonprofit in Uganda. The bank said it closed the accounts because it does not serve small businesses operating abroad.— Francisco Rodrigues Read more.
A group of French lawmakers is preparing a draft law that would enable the use of surplus electricity from nuclear power plants to mine bitcoin, according to recent public statements. The proposal would install mining hardware at facilities owned by state utility, Électricité de France (EDF), according to Le Monde. The process would take advantage of surplus energy generated by these nuclear power plants. France is the largest producer of nuclear power in the European Union, according to 2023 data from Eurostat. It accounted for 338,202 gigawatt hours, or more than half the 27-nation bloc’s total output. The heat produced by nuclear fission is used to produce electricity, but more than two-thirds of it is lost, the statistics agency said. — Francesco Rodrigues Read more.