PLUS: Coinbase Buys $2.9B Deribit

May 8, 2025

The biggest crypto news and ideas of the day 

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Welcome to The Node! This is Ben Schiller to take you through the latest crypto news. 

 

Here are the top stories from CoinDesk's reporters today:
Bitcoin Tops $100K for First Time in 3 Months; Are Upside Targets Too Low?
In $2.9B Deal, Coinbase Buys Deribit to Expand in U.S. Crypto Options Market

98% of Tokens on Pump.Fun Have Been Rug Pulls or an Act of Fraud, New Report Says
Sei Wants to Cut Cosmos Compatibility and Go All-In on Ethereum

In Depth: Senate Stablecoin Measure Hits a Snag
Last-minute Democrat objections led to a failed vote to move into debate on a top crypto industry legislative priority to regulate dollar-based tokens.
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Bitcoin Hits $100K 

Stephen Alpher reports:

  • Bitcoin is back above $100,000 after dropping just under $75,000 following President Trump's early April tariff announcements.
  • Traditional markets have joined crypto in rallying following the initial panic over the tariff news.
  • Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick says flows are the key dynamic in this latest move.
 

Coinbase Buys Deribit for $2.9B

Helene Braun reports:

  • Coinbase has agreed to acquire crypto options exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion in cash and stock, marking a major move into U.S. crypto derivatives.
  • The deal follows a months-long bidding contest with Kraken, which opted instead to buy NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion.
  • Deribit processed $1.2 trillion in trading volume last year, making it a dominant player in the crypto options market.
 

98% of Pump.Fun Rugged — Solidus

Oliver Knight reports: 

  • 98.6% of tokens launched on Pump.fun were rug pulls or pump and dump schemes, according to a report by Solidus Labs.
  • Just 97,000 of the seven million launched on pump.fun have maintained at least $1,000 in liquidity.
  • 93% of liquidity pools on Raydium also exhibited soft rug pull characteristics.
 

SEI Dumps Cosmos For EVM

Tim Craig reports:

  • A Sei Network developer has proposed ending Cosmos support to simplify the blockchain and align more closely with Ethereum.
  • The proposal aims to reduce complexity and infrastructure overhead, potentially boosting Sei's adoption and developer experience.
 

Democrats Delay Stablecoin Measure

By Jesse Hamilton 

The U.S. legislation that would establish stablecoin regulation failed to take a huge step closer to reality on Thursday as a rush of Democratic resistance kept the bill from moving into a debate phase, which would have been the path toward an eventual vote on passage.

 

The crypto industry has been closely watching the Senate, where the fate of its long-fought legislative battle hangs in the balance this year. The first of two major digital assets bills — this one to regulate stablecoins such as Circle's USDC and Tether's USDT — ran into a congressional roadblock, despite having easily won bipartisan approval in a previous Senate Banking Committee vote.

 

A technical but vital vote to advance the legislation into days of floor debate next week, failed 48-49. Under Senate rules, 60 votes were needed to advance debate. Senators Josh Hawley and Rand Paul broke ranks with their fellow Republicans to vote against advancing the legislation. Senate Majority Leader John Thune flipped his vote to no as well at the end of the vote series in a procedural move to bring the legislation back at a future date.

 

Some Democrats who had previously spoken in favor of the effort turned against it in recent days, saying the stablecoin regime needed more safeguards against illicit behavior, most notably singling out the crypto business ties of President Donald Trump as a potential conflict of interest that was flagged by many of them as corruption.

 

Senator Ruben Gallego, who received $10 million in backing from the crypto industry's political action committees during the 2024 election, was among them, and he said on the Senate floor before the vote, "I believe there is a pathway for us to actually get this done, get good language, have a bipartisan win for this country."But he said the hard work and "good faith" that's gone into the bill so far should be paused.

 

"The reason you're hearing some hesitancy: The legislation of this scope and importance really cannot be rushed, and we need time," he said, adding that he's not seeking to shut the process down. "We want to bring this economy and this innovation to the United States."

 

Gallego asked for Republicans to agree to hold off on the vote until at least Monday to give lawmakers time to "educate" the bill's opponents on the legislative text — which hadn't been finalized at the time the vote began.

 

Senator Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, echoed that he hopes debate can still happen as early as next week, noting that "stablecoins are undeniably a part of the future of finance," but he argued the "text isn't yet finished" and needs to provide Americans more protections.

 

Republicans, including Majority Leader John Thune, had encouraged the Senate to press forward to an open debate, where changes could still be made.

"We must grab the reins and ensure that all Americans are able to take charge of their financial future," said Senator Cynthia Lummis, the Wyoming Republican who leads a crypto subcommittee in the Senate. She said before the vote that senators' staffs have "been working for days recently — days — to bring this bill to the floor" and have already taken many amendments from Democrats. 

"This is a bipartisan bill and had bipartisan process from the very beginning," Thune said in remarks after the vote in which he said Democrats refused to begin the debate the Senate has been building toward. "Democrats have been accommodated every step of the way," he added, noting this is now the sixth version of the legislation.

"I just don't get it," he said. The plan now is to "bring this legislation up again if and when Democrats are ready to get serious. Clearly today they are not."

Senator Bill Hagerty, who introduced the bill in the first place, went further, saying lawmakers voting against opening debate were actually voting to "kill the crypto industry here in America."

 

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Links, Links, Links

 

Exclusive: Meta in talks to deploy stablecoins three years after giving up on landmark crypto project – Fortune

From Trump whisperer to West Wing pariah: How lobbyist Brian Ballard angered Trump – Politico

Trump Got So Greedy He Might Mess Up Crypto’s Plan in Congress – Intelligencer

 

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