Live from DAS New York — and the energy’s wild.

• Big financial institutions are gearing up to enter the space and 83% of institutions intend to boost their crypto investments in 2025, says Coinbase & EY.

• Builders are shipping. Everyone’s racing to lay the rails for on-chain finance.

• Companies are rushing back to the US.

🚨 Coinbase is buying Deribit. The #1 BTC & ETH options exchange ($1.2T in 2023 volume).

It’s a monster move. If it goes through, Coinbase won’t just be leading in spot — they’ll be king of crypto derivatives too. Expect consolidation.

Meanwhile, CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives marketplace, has officially launched Solana (SOL) futures. And, a16z proposes a "control-based decentralization framework" to SEC before Crypto Task Force Roundtables.

This week’s question:

📚 Our Top Reads This Week

• ARK Investment Opportunity report. Link

• 2025 Institutional Digital Asset Survey. Coinbase & EY. Link

• A16Z Crypto’s Letter to SEC. Link

• The Future of Ticketing. 51 Insights. Link

• ElizaOS’s Rebranding. 51x. Link

• Crypto Task Force Roundtables [Live- March 21]. SEC. Link

• The Death of Crypto and the Beginning of Onchain Finance. Simon Taylor. Link

We just published our big flagship report on The Future of Ticketing.

Blockchain for Institutional-Grade DeFi

Ethena Labs and Securitize have announced Converge, a new blockchain designed for DeFi and tokenized assets. [Announcement]