SoftBank Goes Big

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1️⃣ SoftBank’s BTC Bet

Japanese tech-focused investment conglomerate SoftBank is expected to make a $462M investment in Twenty One, an up-and-coming Strategy competitor that is backed by stablecoin issuer Tether, crypto exchange Bitfinex, and financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald.

Jack Mallers – who previously founded a BTC payments application called Strike in 2017 – will serve as CEO for Twenty One, a company which advertises itself as a “singular vehicle for Bitcoin exposure” that will conduct “pro-Bitcoin advocacy” and "explore future expansion into Bitcoin-native financial products.”

Twenty One is expected to go public via SPAC merger with Nasdaq-listed acquisition vehicle Cantor Equity Partners (CEP). Although some are calling it a landmark moment for corporate Bitcoin adoption, others remain highly skeptical about the venture and point to a checkered history for SPAC stock debuts.

Click the link below to read more about Twenty One in Bankless.

Breaking Down the $4B Bitcoin Behemoth ‘Twenty One’ on Bankless

Tether, SoftBank, and Cantor Fitzgerald are joining hands on a new firm that bills itself as taking the Strategy playbook one step further.

BanklessJack Inabinet Apr 25, 2025 • 5 min read

2️⃣ TRUMP Token Holder Dinner

In a first for any world leader, Donald Trump will host an exclusive dinner for 220 TRUMP holders, a memecoin in which he and his family own a significant financial stake that began unlocking vested tokens for insiders just last week.

While the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance recently indicated that it believed memecoins are exempt from federal securities laws, the decision came with the caveat that such tokens must have “limited or no use or functionality.”

By offering real-world TRUMP utility in the form of a private dinner, President Trump appears to be blurring the line between meme and security, which could cause problems with his SEC further down the line.

3️⃣ Zora Launches Memecoin

Fresh off last week’s news cycle dominated by content coin drama, Zora – the protocol at the center of it all – decided to launch its own memecoin this week.

Zora, a minting marketplace for digital collectibles which last raised $60M at a $600M valuation from top-tier crypto venture funds including Coinbase and Haun Ventures in 2022, airdropped 10% of the ZORA supply to platform users, prioritizing more recent interactions and shafting legacy participants in the process.

The ZORA token is “for fun only and does not entitle its holders to any governance rights or a claim on any equity ownership in Zora or its products,” and Zora insiders retained 45% of the total token supply, subject to a six-month lock followed by 36 months of vesting.

4️⃣ Atkins Sworn In

Paul Atkins was sworn into office as the 34th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, April 21.

Widely regarded to be a pro-crypto pick by President Trump, Atkins is a career regulator who began service at the SEC in 1990 and worked in various federal government roles until 2017, after which he founded a consulting firm to advise both traditional and crypto companies on financial regulatory compliance.

During his first appearance at the SEC’s Crypto Task Force Roundtable, Atkins chastised his predecessor for stifling innovation while promoting regulatory uncertainty, stating that he looks forward to providing digital asset and distributed ledger clarity, a sector which he expects will provide “huge benefits” for markets in terms of efficiency, cost-reduction, transparency, and risk-mitigation.

5️⃣ Vitalik's Virtual Machine Proposal

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wants to increase transaction speeds and lower costs on the Ethereum L1 by replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, thereby changing the virtual machine language used to write smart contracts.

Although a total redesign of Ethereum’s smart contract logic is no doubt radical, according to Buterin’s blog post in the Ethereum Magicians forum, these changes would address existing L1 scalability issues by eliminating unnecessary computation, all while retaining backwards compatibility with legacy EVM programs.

The EVM has served Ethereum dutifully since the network’s inception, but it has become a cumbersome bottleneck to recent scaling ambitions. Before the L1 can be future-proofed with zero-knowledge proofs, the implementation of a ZK-ready RISC-V backend may be necessary.

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This week, the one, the only, Ryan Sean Adams makes his return to the Weekly Rollup and crypto, after a 90-day crypto detox to find a radically changed landscape.

Ryan and David break down crypto’s shifting cycle, what Ryan missed, and Bitcoin’s dramatic decoupling from equities as it earns a strategic reserve in the U.S. Treasury. Meanwhile, Ethereum faces an existential pivot as it tries to reclaim lost ground against Bitcoin and Solana.

It’s a jam-packed Weekly Rollup you don’t want to miss 👇

📰 Articles:

Vitalik’s Virtual Machine Proposal on Bankless

Vitalik Buterin’s ‘long-term’ proposal to abandon the EVM has stoked excitement and concern in the Ethereum community.

BanklessJack Inabinet Apr 21, 2025 • 3 min read

Where to Chase DeFi Yields Right Now on Bankless

The top crypto apps for outsized yield opportunities.

BanklessJack Inabinet Apr 24, 2025 • 5 min read

To Coin or Not to Coin: The Zora Question on Bankless

Content coins are sparking serious debate. Here’s a breakdown of the arguments for and against Zora’s new model.

BanklessWilliam M. Peaster Apr 23, 2025 • 5 min read

Breaking Down the $4B Bitcoin Behemoth ‘Twenty One’ on Bankless

Tether, SoftBank, and Cantor Fitzgerald are joining hands on a new firm that bills itself as taking the Strategy playbook one step further.

BanklessJack Inabinet Apr 25, 2025 • 5 min read

📺 Shows:

Ethereum’s Strategic Pivot: The Plan to Restore Dominance | Ansgar, Dankrad & Mike Ippolito on Bankless

The Plan Ethereum Needs to Win!

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Ethereum at the Crossroads: Why Layer 1 is Back in Focus on Bankless

How Ethereum’s strategic pivot toward Layer 1 scalability might reshape its future and redefine its competitive edge.

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66% of Wall Street is Already in DeFi | Paradigm’s 2025 Survey with Dan Robinson & Justin Slaughter on Bankless

Defi is Inevitable: Institutions are All In

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EARLY ACCESS: Can Story Protocol Tokenize the $70 Trillion IP Market? | Jason Zhao on Bankless

Can crypto disrupt the IP Market?

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🧑‍💻 Lucas Matney, Bankless Editor