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July 16, 2025

Bitcoin Stalls as Traders Book Profits Amid Jerome Powell Succession Talks – Decrypt

In brief

Bitcoin dropped 4.5% from its all-time high to $117,250 as traders locked in profits and exchange inflows surged.
Sticky inflation and Fed uncertainty added pressure, with June CPI rising to 2.7%, dimming hopes of rate cuts.
Powell’s potential replacement is becoming a political flashpoint, with Treasury Secretary Bessent confirming a formal succession process is underway.

Bitcoin’s dip on Tuesday has put the digital asset’s upward trajectory on hold, at least for now.

The move came as traders sought to book profits amid mixed monetary signals and divisive language surrounding the potential replacement of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

While on-chain data suggests that profit-taking is the primary driver, sticky inflation remains a significant point of contention.

The world’s largest crypto is trading at $117,250, down 4.5% from its Monday all-time high following Monday’s losses, according to CoinGecko data.

Bitcoin’s drop coincides with a 14,000 BTC spike in exchange inflows on Tuesday, according to CryptoQuant’s head of research, Julio Moreno.

That’s generally a telltale sign that traders are locking in profits after a significant rise in an asset’s price, as they look to sell excess amounts to exchanges, or so the thinking goes.

“Bitcoin exchange inflows spiked as prices hit the most recent all-time high yesterday,” Moreno said on X. “Higher exchange inflows typically precede price volatility.”

The dip also came amid the release of June’s U.S. Consumer Price Index figures. While the reading was in line with analyst expectations, the data shows a jump of 0.3 percentage points from 2.4% in June last year to Tuesday’s 2.7%.

Higher inflation reduces the likelihood of a near-term rate cut, keeping borrowing costs high and pressuring risk-on assets, such as the S&P 500 index or crypto.

An uptick in inflation further reinforces Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s stance of keeping rates higher for longer, a point of contention among Republicans and U.S. President Donald Trump.

“There’s a formal process that’s already starting,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday in relation to Powell’s tenure. Powell’s current term as Federal Reserve Chair is set to expire in May 2026.

While the short-term outlook shows traders are skittish, Moreno told Decrypt, “I don’t think that was the top.” He believes a more dovish Fed chair could emerge, which would likely push for rate cuts.

That decision would be a “positive” boon for crypto, Moreno added.

Short-term holders, meanwhile, are sitting at an average profit of around 10%, according to on-chain data analytics platform Santiment.

Based on the platform’s research, a 10% to 20% range is termed the “danger zone” and has historically preceded price corrections as traders seek to lock in further gains rather than risk the downside.

Bitcoin dropped more than 8% from $109,000 after the 30-day Market Value to Realized Value repeatedly spiked above 10% in the last week of May.

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JP Morgan Dives Deeper into Stablecoins Despite Jamie Dimon Doubts – Decrypt

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July 15, 2025

JP Morgan Dives Deeper into Stablecoins Despite Jamie Dimon Doubts – Decrypt

In brief

JPMorgan will develop stablecoins, despite CEO Jamie Dimon’s doubts as it aims to stay competitive with fintech companies.
Major banks are exploring stablecoin projects as U.S. lawmakers push crypto legislation during “Crypto Week.”
Standard Chartered says a $750 billion stablecoin market could reshape U.S. Treasury demand and debt issuance.

JPMorgan Chase is expanding its stablecoin development, although CEO Jamie Dimon’s expressed skepticism about their usefulness in the banking giant’s second quarter earnings call on Tuesday.

“We’re going to be involved in both JPMorgan deposit coin and stablecoins to understand it, to be good at it,” Dimon said. “I think they’re real, but I don’t know why you’d want to use a stablecoin as opposed to just payment.”

The move reflects the growing interest of traditional financial institutions in adapting to digital assets, as policymakers in the United States work to pass stablecoin and other crypto-related bills during the so-called “Crypto Week.”

Other traditional finance institutions eyeing stablecoin products include Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo, which, along with JP Morgan, are exploring a shared stablecoin project. In June, JP Morgan announced that it would introduce a stablecoin product for use exclusively among its institutional clients.

“The biggest competitive edge big banks have is their ability to collaborate with one another,” Amberdata Director of Derivatives Greg Magadini, told Decrypt. “They worked together to coordinate payment processing through Zelle, and they may attempt something similar with tokenized deposits, then eventually with traditional stablecoins.”

Magadini said that fintech companies like Circle are moving aggressively to stay ahead of the competition, expanding beyond traditional stablecoins and real-world assets, similar to what Robinhood is doing with tokenized stocks.

“The initial interest from big banks like JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup will come in the form of tokenized deposits and some exploratory developments around true stablecoins, Magadini said. “For the most part, I expect the big banks to remain cautious and only slowly move into the space.”

Standard Chartered’s head of digital asset research, Geoff Kendrick, said in a note Tuesday that stablecoins could begin reshaping the U.S. Treasury market once their combined value reaches $750 billion, according to reports. That threshold, he wrote, would likely increase demand for short-term Treasury bills—commonly used to back stablecoins—and pressure the federal government to adjust its debt issuance strategies.

“In the U.S., once the stablecoin market gets to a certain size, the amount of T-bills required to back stablecoins will likely require a shift in planned issuance across the curve towards more T-bill issuance, less longer-tenor issuance,” Kendrick wrote. “This potentially has implications for the shape of the U.S. Treasury yield curve and demand for USD assets.”

The stablecoin market currently stands at approximately $263 billion, according to data provider CoinGecko. Kendrick projects that it could more than triple by the end of 2026, driven partly by regulatory clarity and passage of the stablecoin-focused GENIUS Act.

While Dimon did not comment on whether JPMorgan would consider collaborating with other banks on a joint stablecoin initiative, Magadini emphasized that banks tend to be more cautious than investors.

“Banks will likely take a slow approach to stablecoins—much like how the spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) only launched in 2024, sixteen years after the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper,” Magadini said. “Dimon’s comments seem more like a response to the growing presence of stablecoins than a full embrace. Right now, the risks for banks seem to outweigh the opportunities.”

While Dimon remains publicly unconvinced about consumer demand for stablecoins, he acknowledged that fintech firms are making strategic moves to break into core banking functions.

“They’re trying to figure out a way to create bank accounts, to get into payment systems and rewards programs, and we have to be cognizant of that, and the way to be cognizant is to be involved,” he said.

JP Morgan did not respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

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Spheron x FlowAI: Powering the Next Wave of Web3 AI Agents

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July 15, 2025

Spheron x FlowAI: Powering the Next Wave of Web3 AI Agents

AI is changing how the internet works, and now it’s starting to change Web3 too. FlowAI.xyz is one of the frontrunners in this transformation. It offers a fully managed platform for AI agents, built specifically for Web3 protocols and blockchain ecosystems. These agents help projects manage knowledge, make smarter decisions, and improve onboarding experiences across entire communities.

But building, deploying, and scaling AI agents across decentralized networks isn’t easy. It demands high-performance compute infrastructure, and that’s where Spheron Network comes in.

The Challenge: Bringing AI to the Blockchain World

Web3 teams are often overloaded with scattered documentation, multiple dashboards, and siloed data. Non-technical users struggle to find answers, and developers waste time context-switching. At scale, this slows down entire ecosystems.

FlowAI set out to fix this. They created a platform where any Web3 team—technical or non-technical—can deploy powerful AI agents that index, unify, and retrieve information on demand. Their AI agents can answer questions, summarize documents, monitor activity, and even communicate with other agents to share insights.

But these capabilities require heavy GPU workloads. AI agents need to learn from massive datasets, run real-time inference, and interact across protocols. Traditional cloud solutions are costly, limited, and prone to vendor lock-in.

FlowAI’s Vision Meets Decentralized Compute

FlowAI empowers teams to scale AI-native infrastructure for community growth, ecosystem expansion, and operational intelligence. Their marketplace of AI agents makes it easy for Web3 projects to build, deploy, and even trade custom AI tools. They believe the future of AI in crypto is collaborative, decentralized, and open.

Spheron Network shares that belief. We’re building the decentralized compute layer that supports these types of workloads at scale. With thousands of nodes across the world, Spheron provides high-performance, censorship-resistant, and cost-efficient GPU infrastructure built for AI-native Web3 projects.

Why FlowAI Chose Spheron

FlowAI needed an infrastructure partner that could match their vision of scalable, resilient AI deployment for decentralized ecosystems. By choosing Spheron, they get access to:

Reliable GPU compute across a globally distributed network

Permissionless scaling without vendor lock-in

Cost-effective compute for training and inference

Seamless integration for Web3-native applications

Spheron enables FlowAI to focus on what they do best: helping Web3 teams build smarter, faster ecosystems with AI.

The Partnership in Action

Through this partnership, FlowAI will use Spheron to power its AI agent infrastructure across the FlowAI Marketplace. This includes compute support for live inference, training custom agent behavior, and scaling AI experiences across multiple chains and protocols.

Whether it’s a DeFi protocol looking to deploy an onboarding agent, a DAO needing real-time reporting tools, or an NFT platform managing user data—FlowAI agents will now run on decentralized compute from Spheron.

This isn’t just about compute. It’s about building trustless AI infrastructure that can evolve as fast as the communities it supports.

What Comes Next

Spheron and FlowAI are working together to create the foundation for scalable, AI-native infrastructure in Web3. As FlowAI expands its ecosystem and partners with more protocols, Spheron will continue to provide the GPU muscle required to grow its mission.

Both teams are committed to making advanced AI tools available to every Web3 builder, regardless of size or experience. This partnership marks a step toward a future where agents aren’t just smart—they’re unstoppable.

Stay tuned. The AI x Web3 revolution is only getting started.

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Pudgy Penguins’ PENGU Token Doubles in a Week Amid ETF Hype – Decrypt

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July 15, 2025

Pudgy Penguins’ PENGU Token Doubles in a Week Amid ETF Hype – Decrypt

In brief

PENGU, the Pudgy Penguins-themed meme coin, jumped nearly 95% this week after Coinbase changed its X profile to a Penguin NFT and ETF filings gained attention.
Investment firm Canary Capital filed for a PENGU ETF in March; the SEC is now reviewing it along with over two dozen other altcoin ETF proposals.
Analysts remain skeptical, warning that PENGU lacks real utility or fundamentals and may struggle to hold gains once the ETF hype fades.

The Pudgy Penguins-themed meme coin, PENGU, has surged over 100% in the past week, fueled by ETF chatter and a push on social media—but analysts are questioning whether the rally is built to last.

PENGU is currently trading at just under $0.031, up 9.7% in the last 24 hours and 101% on the week, according to CoinGecko data.

The rally comes just weeks after the U.S. SEC added new filings to its docket, including a 19b-4 application from Cboe to allow trading of the Canary PENGU ETF.

Canary Capital first filed for the product in March as the SEC weighs over two dozen altcoin ETF proposals, including for Solana (SOL), XRP, and Dogecoin (DOGE).

Despite its impressive gains, experts remain divided on whether PENGU can maintain its momentum.

Min Jung, an analyst at algorithmic trading firm Presto Research, said that even though fundamentals remain thin, PENGU’s price action hasn’t been entirely erratic.

Jung told Decrypt that PENGU’s gain is “likely fueled by potential ETF approval hype and major crypto players like OpenSea and Coinbase changing their profile pictures to Pengu NFTs.”

PENGU received an extra boost last Friday when major crypto exchange Coinbase changed its X profile picture to a Pudgy Penguins NFT, triggering bullish sentiment.

The profile change came during a brief account takeover by Alex A., who previously spent four years leading social media and community at Binance and now serves as Coinbase’s Crypto Twitter Lead, tasked with strengthening public messaging and community engagement.

Alex took over our account for an hour. Now we’re taking him over forever.

Welcome to Coinbase, @AlexOnchain.

(Legally we’re required to point out that Alex has not technically joined forever and has a very normal employment contract with the company.) https://t.co/DmkNn2wwfd

— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase) July 11, 2025

“The rise in Pengu has been relatively steady rather than a sudden spike on news,” Jung said, suggesting the rally extends beyond mere ETF speculation.

However, the analyst remained cautious about long-term sustainability, saying the meme coin “appears well-positioned to ride the current wave as long as Bitcoin and the broader crypto market maintain their bullish momentum.”

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC), which broke past $123,000 on Monday, has dipped 4% in the last 24 hours to $117,000, per CoinGecko data.

Yet institutional flows remain strong, with spot Bitcoin ETFs logging $2.7 billion in inflows last week, per Farside Investors data.

Will a PENGU ETF happen?

Arjun Vijay, founder of crypto exchange Giottus, questioned the fundamental value proposition behind the proposed PENGU ETF.

“I see limited practical use for an ETF in this context, as ETFs typically cater to large institutional investors,” Vijay told Decrypt. “Given that even established cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin lack an ETF, the case for a PENGU ETF seems tenuous.”

On prediction markets platform Myriad, developed by Decrypt’s parent company DASTAN, users don’t expect a PENGU ETF to be approved before October, with 58.5% voting against it, while 41.5% believe it will pass in time.

“I don’t think so,” said Vijay, when asked whether the PENGU coin can maintain its trajectory.

“The coin lacks fundamentals or use case,” he said. “It is just another meme coin which is creating narratives. Narratives are temporary in nature.”

Still, he cautioned, trading on hype alone doesn’t always lead to collapse, with “zombie coins like Ethereum Classic, LTC, BCH still at billion-dollar valuations.”

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‘Artificial Gooning Intelligence’: Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Waifu Companions for Grok – Decrypt

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July 14, 2025

‘Artificial Gooning Intelligence’: Elon Musk’s xAI Launches Waifu Companions for Grok – Decrypt

In brief

Grok has added a series of interactive AI companions for subscribers who pay at least $30 per month.
The launch comes just days after Grok’s antisemitic meltdown, in which it called itself “MechaHitler.”
There’s a booming market for AI companions, and X has quickly become the most visible player in the space.

xAI rolled out 3D animated AI companions for Grok on Monday, introducing users to Ani, a goth anime girl who greets subscribers with “Hey babe!” and wants to discuss everything from Samsung phones to philosophical theories—all while hearts float around her animated form.

The Companions feature, exclusive to SuperGrok subscribers paying $30 monthly—and only on iOS at this point—launched with three characters. Ani, a blonde anime waifu with a goth and alt-fashion style, wears a tight black corset dress with thigh-high fishnets.

Users apparently can unlock NSFW content after reaching level 3 in their relationship with her. (And, of course, there is already a meme coin in its honor.)

The roster also includes Rudy, a red panda in a pink hoodie designed for wholesome conversations. And no, there is no level 3 that unlocks NSFW content.

It goes without saying that Musk fanboys are loving these new characters.

It also goes without saying that there were critics aplenty. “WTF is this crap?” tweeted one. Another advised followers to “protect [their kids] at all costs,” while still others raised concerns about the anime character appearing underage—with one user asking why it had an “Epstein vibe.”

Why in an image of underaged girl?

— 🇺🇸 Jae 🇺🇸 (@JaeCoolGirl) July 14, 2025

The system allows switching between characters mid-conversation, with personality options including “Storyteller” and “Unhinged” modes.

Some users argued that animated AI companions would make them “even more single” by setting unrealistic standards for real relationships. They echoed recent studies that show some people preferring AI relationships over real-life ones, due to the models being more empathetic, among other things.

The timing of this release is a real chef’s kiss from Musk’s AI firm. Just six days earlier, during what xAI later called an “isolated failure,” Grok started identifying as MechaHitler and went bananas on X posting antisemitic content.

But that hasn’t stopped the company from making all kinds of moves since, including announcing a $200 million contract from the Department of Defense earlier Monday.

xAI’s AI companions have arrived in a rapidly expanding market. The AI girlfriend sector reached $2.8 billion in 2024 and could hit $24.5 billion by 2030, according to studies. By some estimates, the broader AI companion market is estimated to reach nearly $175 billion by 2030.

Competition includes established players like Character.AI and Replika, which gather tens of millions of monthly visits. The average AI companion user sends 76 messages daily, with 55% interacting every day. Premium users typically spend $47 monthly across platforms, according to a market research.

That’s a pretty attractive market, all things considered.

The technology stack powering Grok’s companions includes natural language processing, emotion recognition algorithms, and memory systems that retain information across conversations. The 3D animations react in real-time, with Ani’s dress swirling and hearts appearing during flirtatious exchanges.

In other words, with some 245 million users and the tools to make the most powerful AI waifu currently on the market, X could easily become too powerful for any other app to match without significant investment.

Two additional characters remain in development: Chad, a male anime character, and an unnamed female companion. The MechaHitler character has not made the official roster. Yet.

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Spheron x Fraction AI: Powering the Evolution of User-Owned Intelligen

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July 14, 2025

Spheron x Fraction AI: Powering the Evolution of User-Owned Intelligen

The future of AI is no longer limited to labs, centralized datasets, or corporate control. It’s becoming open, competitive, and owned by the people. Today, we’re proud to announce our partnership with Fraction AI, a decentralized auto-training platform where users build, train, and evolve their own AI agents, not in isolation, but through competition.

At Spheron, we’ve always believed compute should be accessible, decentralized, and designed for permissionless innovation. That’s why we’re supporting Fraction AI with the compute infrastructure it needs to scale its revolutionary vision.

What’s Broken in AI Today

AI has made incredible progress over the last decade, but the way it’s developed hasn’t changed much. Most training happens behind closed doors, inside huge data centers, controlled by a few companies. These models are trained on static datasets, labeled by armies of humans, and fine-tuned in environments that don’t reflect real-world complexity.

Worse, users have little to no ownership over the AI systems they interact with. Models are centralized, internal teams control updates, and innovation is bottlenecked by access to compute. This creates a system where AI gets better, but not faster, not cheaper, and definitely not more open.

Fraction AI is Changing the Game

Fraction AI is building a decentralized, no-code platform for training AI agents. Instead of relying on static data, these agents evolve through competition, collaboration, and adaptation in decentralized environments.

Each user owns their agent, defines how it behaves, and watches it grow over time. Whether you’re building a trading bot, a customer support agent, or an in-game AI companion, you can now train it directly by testing it against others.

This isn’t AI-as-a-service. It’s AI as a competitive sport, and everyone gets to play.

By turning fine-tuning into an open game, Fraction AI unlocks faster improvement, better specialization, and deeper personalization. Every win teaches the agent something new. Every loss is an opportunity to adapt. And over time, each agent becomes a unique reflection of its owner’s strategy, use case, and goals.

Why Spheron Is the Right Fit

Training AI models at scale requires serious compute power, and traditional cloud platforms are expensive, centralized, and built for enterprises, not communities.

That’s where Spheron comes in.

Spheron is building the world’s largest community-powered compute network. We aggregate underutilized GPUs from data centers, consumer devices, and mining rigs, and turn them into a permissionless, affordable, and scalable cloud for AI, Web3, and DePIN applications.

For projects like Fraction AI, this means:

Access to decentralized GPU infrastructure at up to 4x lower cost

Permissionless scaling for training thousands of agents in parallel

A reliable, censorship-resistant backend that keeps evolving agents online and learning

We’re not just providing infrastructure. We’re aligning with the vision: a future where compute is borderless, intelligence is user-owned, and progress comes from open competition.

Inside the Partnership

Through this partnership, Spheron will power Fraction AI’s decentralized training layer with dedicated GPU and compute infrastructure. As thousands of AI agents train and compete, Spheron ensures the backend remains fast, scalable, and cost-effective.

Fraction AI users will benefit from:

Efficient auto-training cycles supported by Spheron’s global GPU fleet

Seamless scaling as more agents enter competitive environments

Cost-optimized compute access without relying on centralized clouds

We’re also exploring deeper integrations where agent training incentives can align with Spheron’s node uptime, reward mechanisms, and ecosystem tools. The goal is to turn the training process into something not just smart, but sustainable and scalable.

What’s Next

This partnership marks a major step forward in building the future of decentralized AI. With Fraction AI focused on competitive, user-driven intelligence, and Spheron providing the decentralized compute stack to support it, we’re laying the foundation for a smarter, more open web.

In the coming months, we’ll be working closely with the Fraction AI team to help scale training environments, onboard new agent creators, and connect compute demand with supply in real time.

We believe the next generation of AI won’t come from behind closed doors. It will come from the crowd — from users who train, own, and evolve their own agents. And to power that vision, compute must be as open and decentralized as the ideas it supports.

At Spheron, we’re building that compute layer.

We’re proud to support Fraction AI in this mission. The future is not just intelligent. It’s owned.

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Crypto ETF Investors Want ‘Ethereum Over Bitcoin’ Amid Surging Demand: CoinShares – Decrypt

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July 14, 2025

Crypto ETF Investors Want ‘Ethereum Over Bitcoin’ Amid Surging Demand: CoinShares – Decrypt

In brief

Ethereum-linked funds pulled in $990 million during a 12th straight week of inflows.
Ethereum-linked funds have grown at a faster pace than their Bitcoin counterparts over the past three months.
Ethereum has yet to surpass a pandemic-era high of $4,900.

Funds offering exposure to Ethereum have been growing at a faster rate than Bitcoin counterparts, underscoring newfound demand for the asset, according to CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill.

Over the past 12 weeks, Ethereum-linked funds’ assets under management have grown 19.5% to $19.6 billion, he wrote in a report on Monday. The AUM of Bitcoin-linked funds’ has meanwhile increased 9.8% to $176 billion over the same period, he added.

“People are preferring Ethereum over Bitcoin,” Butterfill told Decrypt. “Although the number is lower [for Ethereum] than Bitcoin, proportionally, it’s much more significant.”

Renewed interest in Ethereum comes amid the asset’s climb above the $3,000 mark for the first time in five months. Although the asset’s price has yet to eclipse its pandemic-era high of $4,900, Ethereum’s price has surged 85% over the past three months.

At the same time, Bitcoin’s price has soared to new heights, hitting $122,800 early Monday before retreating, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko.

Bitcoin had a blockbuster debut on Wall Street last year through exchanged-traded funds that now manage more than $148 billion in assets, according to crypto data provider CoinGlass. The introduction of Ethereum ETFs in the U.S. was more muted, partly due to Ethereum’s narratives being less established, analysts say. Those funds have $12.7 billion in AUM.

As chair of Ethereum treasury firm BitMine, however, Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee is among the new faces pitching Ethereum as an investment.

Last week, Ethereum-linked funds generated $990 million in inflows, while Bitcoin-linked funds pulled in $2.7 billion. Butterfill described it as “record-breaking momentum,” representing the second best week for crypto funds, overall, on record.

Still, Bitcoin and Ethereum were relative outliers.

Solana-linked funds generated $92 million worth of inflows last week, pushing year-to-date- inflows to $206 million. Its price has risen 10% to 168% over the past week.

Although XRP’s price has jumped over 31% to $3 in the past week, representing a fresh, seven-year high, investors pulled $104 million from funds for the Ripple-linked asset. That dropped year-to-date inflows to $231 million.

Butterfill highlighted the WisdomTree Physical XRP exchange-traded note, which had $115 million in outflows last week. Because the activity was limited to one fund, he suggested that it’s not a trend or “something particularly ominous.”

Still, crypto asset manager 3iQ Digital touted the adoption of its XRP-linked ETF in Canada on Monday. The firm’s XRP ETF, which debuted less than a month ago, has so far taken in $50 million worth of assets, a “significant milestone,” President and CEO Pascal St-Jean said on X.

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Judge Tosses NFT Lawsuit Against Dolce & Gabbana USA – Decrypt

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July 14, 2025

Judge Tosses NFT Lawsuit Against Dolce & Gabbana USA – Decrypt

In brief

A federal judge has ruled that Dolce & Gabbana USA is not liable for its parent company’s allegedly failed DGFamily NFT project, which raised over $25 million with promises of luxury goods and exclusive access.
The court found no evidence that the U.S. arm operated as an “alter ego” of the Italian entity behind the NFTs, rejecting claims of shared control and group misconduct.
With D&G USA out and foreign defendants still unserved, the case faces major setbacks as investors allege the project was quietly abandoned.

A federal judge has dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Dolce & Gabbana USA, ruling the luxury fashion company’s American arm was not responsible for an allegedly failed NFT project that raised over $25 million from investors who were promised exclusive digital and physical merchandise.

US District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald sided with Dolce & Gabbana USA Inc. on Friday, dismissing the lawsuit because the company wasn’t an “alter ego” of its Italy-based parent company, Dolce & Gabbana SRL, which actually operated the “DGFamily” NFT project.

“Although Plaintiff has alleged facts to suggest some overlap between the operations of [the Italian company] and [D&G USA], this overlap is not unusual and Plaintiff’s allegations do not rise to the level that indicates the kind of complete domination and control that is required,” Buchwald wrote, citing established precedent.

The ruling deals a crushing blow to hundreds of NFT buyers who claimed they were victims of what the lawsuit called a “rug pull” scheme.

As NFT markets have cooled from their 2021-2022 peak, numerous projects have faced similar allegations of abandonment or fraud, but proving liability across complex international corporate structures remains difficult.

The lawsuit, originally filed in May 2024 and updated with an amended complaint in September, alleged that the defendants marketed the products with “false claims” that buyers would receive “digital rewards, physical products, and exclusive access to events” in exchange for their cryptocurrency investments in eight quarterly “drops” over two years.

“Once the purchasers’ funds are used to purchase the NFTs, the developers abruptly abandon the project and fail to deliver the promised benefits all while fraudulently retaining the purchasers’ funds,” Plaintiff Luke Brown, a Culver City resident who lost $5,800 on the investment, alleged.

What was DGFamily?

The DGFamily project sold 5,000 NFT “boxes” for between 1.224 and 40 ETH, worth approximately $3,600 to $120,000 at launch, as per the lawsuit.

The lawsuit detailed a pattern of delays and failures, such as the first drop was “13 days after they had originally promised to release it.”

Even then, the digital outfits “were not even usable in DecentraLand until 11 days later” because the defendants “had failed to get approval from DecentraLand’s management before releasing said drops,” the filing said.

The lawsuit claimed the companies “are effectively the same company” because they shared key executives, office space, and business operations.

Judge Buchwald was particularly critical of the lawsuit’s “group pleading” approach.

“The operative pleading refers to both D&G USA and D&G S.R.L. as ‘Dolce & Gabbana’ and attributes all misconduct to this shared moniker, without differentiating what each entity did,” she wrote.

The judge also rejected Brown’s attempt to amend the complaint again, noting that Brown had already been given one opportunity to fix the deficiencies after the defendants outlined their objections in pre-motion letters.

Regarding the alter ego claims, Buchwald wrote that the plaintiff “must allege facts to support its conclusions” rather than simply “parrot the factors enumerated in the veil-piercing case law.”

What’s next?

While Dolce & Gabbana USA was the only US-based defendant that could be easily served, the original lawsuit also named Dubai-based UNXD Inc. and Italy-based Bluebear Italia SRL as defendants.

However, the court noted these entities “were not served with the complaint.”

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SharpLink Buys $48M in Ethereum, Lifts Stock Higher in Overnight Trade – Decrypt

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July 14, 2025

In brief

SharpLink bought $48.85 million in Ethereum on Sunday.
The move follows a $63.7 million Ethereum purchase on Friday from the Ethereum Foundation.
Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin became chairman of SharpLink earlier this year.

Nasdaq-listed SharpLink Gaming (SBET) acquired another 16,374 ETH on Sunday, worth around $48.85 million, according to blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence.

The Ethereum was transferred to SharpLink’s wallet from a wallet tied to Galaxy Digital’s over-the-counter trading desk. SharpLink has not publicly confirmed the transaction. On Friday, the company also bought 21,487 ETH for $63.7 million.

SharpLink shares have rallied on the back of these buys, closing Friday at $21.65, up 17.5% on the day and 71% over the past week, per Yahoo Finance.

Sunday trading on Blue ATS showed shares moving higher again, up 7.16% at $23.20. Ethereum is also up 3% over the past 24 hours, trading at $3,052.

Founded in Minneapolis as an affiliate marketing firm for gambling and sports betting sites, SharpLink is one of a series of companies previously not linked to crypto that have reimagined themselves as reserves.

It pivoted in late May to an aggressive Ethereum treasury strategy following a $425 million private placement led by Consensys. That deal brought Ethereum co-founder and Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin on board as chairman of SharpLink.

Under Lubin’s direction, SharpLink now positions itself as both a treasury investor in Ethereum and a steward of its ecosystem.

“This isn’t a trade—it is a commitment to our long-term vision. SharpLink is acquiring, staking, and restaking Ethereum as responsible industry stewards, removing supply from circulation and reinforcing the health of the Ethereum ecosystem,” Lubin said in a statement Friday.

“Moreover, we see this as the start of something bigger—a model for how mission-driven organizations can work to advance our ecosystem’s shared goals of decentralization, economic empowerment, and protocol-native finance.”

The company’s Ethereum reserves are now second only to the Ethereum Foundation itself, according to Strategic Ethereum Reserve, which records that SharpLink holds 216,000ETH worth some $648 million.

Other top holders include PulseChain Sac, Coinbase, Golem Foundation, and Bit Digital. However, ETH has not become a popular choice of crypto reserve compared to Bitcoin.

While Ethereum prices have recently reclaimed the $3,000 mark—their highest level in five months—the asset has lagged behind Bitcoin this year.

Meanwhile, large OTC sales like those by SharpLink have drawn scrutiny.

“Guess that’s one way to fix [Ethereum Foundation] dumping,” said Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik on X last Friday.

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This Week in Crypto Games: ‘Off the Grid’ Token Hits Solana, More Games Shut Down – Decrypt

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July 13, 2025

This Week in Crypto Games: ‘Off the Grid’ Token Hits Solana, More Games Shut Down – Decrypt

It’s tough to keep tabs on the ever-changing crypto gaming space, thanks to the constant flow of news: everything from big game launches and fun degen experiments to token price swings and occasional project collapses. It’s a lot to follow.

Luckily, we’re plugged in at Decrypt’s GG. We cover the biggest happenings throughout the week, and then this weekly roundup provides a quick way to catch up, as well as find a bunch of other little bits of news from throughout the week.

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