🎧 Latest Pod: BlackRock's 2025 The mega-firm has big crypto plans.
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⚖️ SEC Crypto 2.0 Task Force Launched. Today, Acting Chair Mark Udeya announced that Commissioner Hester Peirce, known as “Crypto Mom,” will lead a task force aimed at providing clarity and practical solutions for crypto firms.
📈 MSTR Votes to Expand Bitcoin Purchases. MicroStrategy shareholders approved amendments to increase authorized stock, bolstering the firepower for the company's aggressive Bitcoin acquisition strategy. In lockstep with this announcement, Saylor also shared that the company had acquired 11K BTC for $1.1B.
🌐 Ethereum Foundation Faces Leadership Shake-Up. “We are indeed currently in the process of large changes to EF leadership structure, which has been ongoing for close to a year,” Vitalik Buterin said on Twitter. “Some of this has already been executed on and made public, and some is still in progress.”
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Daily Market Snapshot: Bitcoin soared to $107K today, nearing its all-time high. The surge comes amidst the Trump Administration’s pro-tech and pro-crypto announcements. Speculation is also mounting over a potential Executive Order establishing a Bitcoin strategic reserve, with rumors of Cynthia Lummis meeting with Eric Trump regarding the initiative yesterday.
AI agents have recently taken center stage in tech, not just crypto, as companies race to invest in software that can observe, reason, and act on its own. These systems, sometimes called autonomous agents, promise to transform day-to-day life – one day, they might plan our schedules, shop online for us, or even build software without our direct help.
A key spark came with ChatGPT, which turned advanced AI from a futuristic idea into a widely used tool, demonstrating that these models could learn and adapt in real-time. As developers recognized that AI could do more than answer text prompts — such as handling tasks like managing calendars or coding — AI agents moved into the spotlight.
Though still in the early stages, the potential of these systems continues to be recognized. That being said, AI agents can be tricky to grasp initially. In this article, we’ll clearly define them and how agents differ from regular “bots” or “workflows,” before outlining the synergies they have with blockchains. Let’s begin!👇
The Fraxtal ecosystem is expanding at lightning speed—this month’s biggest highlight is IQAI.com, the newest Agent Tokenization platform from IQ and Frax. IQ is building autonomous, intelligent, tokenized agents launching on Fraxtal in Q1. Empower on-chain agents with built-in wallets, tokenized ownership, and decentralized governance—all within a fast-growing Fraxtal ecosystem.
In this episode of Bankless, Samara Cohen, BlackRock's Chief Investment Officer of ETFs and Index Investments, discusses how ETFs and blockchain are revolutionizing finance.
We explore Bitcoin and Ether ETFs as bridges between crypto and TradFi, blockchain's role in market modernization, and how ETFs enhance transparency and diversification. Cohen also shares insights on upcoming regulations and the importance of education in driving crypto adoption.
Not financial or tax advice. Bankless content is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time to time, we may add links in this newsletter to products we use. We may receive a commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless team holds crypto assets.
