122: Crypto Gets Real
Ripple enters Wall Street with $1.25B acquisition. Kraken & Mastercard launch debit cards in Europe. Largest seed round in history. Google launches AI-coding studio. Facebook released Llama 4 & more.
👋 Hey, it’s Marc.
BCG and Ripple published a great report on tokenization this week.
Big week for US crypto regulation:
Paul Atkins — yes, the one with FTX baggage — is now running the SEC. It’s a sharp pivot under Trump and a clear message: the US is getting ready to play offense on crypto.
SEC issues new guidance on crypto offerings & securities. Pretty important. See Hester Peirce’s statement here.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) disbanded their crypto task force.
Big week for AI: Google released Firebase Studio, a direct competitor to AI-coding posterchild Cursor. And Mira Murati’s (ex OpenAI) Thinking Machines Lab is now raising $2B at a $10B valuation in the largest seed round in history.
This week’s question:
📚 Our Top Reads This Week
Stablecoins: Payments without intermediaries. a16z crypto. Link
Social currencies are the future of memecoins. Luca Schnetzler. Link
Consumer Crypto M&A Themes. TPan. Link
MicroStrategy's $35 Billion circular Bitcoin Bet. Laurence Smith. Link
AI's biggest VC quarter. 51x. Link
Market & vendor intelligence as-a-service, hyper-focused on crypto & AI.
Think Gartner-style market maps, maturity scores, and side-by-side vendor benchmarks — but built for the pace of crypto and AI.
Kraken x Mastercard
Kraken partners with Mastercard to enable crypto payments for customers in the United Kingdom and Europe.
The goal? Enabling users to spend crypto assets at 150M+ merchants.
What you should know:
Kraken plans to launch physical and digital debit cards in the coming weeks.
In March, the SEC dropped its lawsuit against Kraken.
Stepping back: Kraken launched Kraken Pay in January, which supports instant, borderless payments across more than 300 cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.
By the data: Over 200,000 Kraken customers are already using Kraken Pay.
Why it matters: By enabling card-based crypto spending, the partnership pushes digital assets into everyday commerce, pressuring more institutions to follow and cementing crypto’s role in the global payments stack. Moreover, with credit cards dominating payments in the US and UK, Kraken is meeting users where they already spend.
What they’re saying:
“Our customers want to be able to easily pay for real-world goods and services with their cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Our partnership with Mastercard is a major step in realizing this vision. Together, we will unlock the full potential of crypto assets in everyday life, ensuring their long-term relevance and utility.”
— David Ripley, Kraken CEO
Our take: For corporates, the Mastercard-Kraken partnership opens access to crypto-spending customers, adds modern payment options, and ensures compliance.
Ripple Buys Prime Broker for $1.25B
Ripple is acquiring crypto prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25B, making it one of the largest deals in the crypto space.
Why it matters: Ripple becomes the first crypto company to own a global, multi-asset prime broker. This is one of the biggest power moves in the industry.
What you should know: Hidden Road will use Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin as collateral and explore using the XRP Ledger to improve settlement efficiency.
It has over 300 institutional clients.
They clear $3T annually and move $10B a day across 𝟱𝟬𝗠 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, with settlements taking up to 24 hours.
Why it matters: Ripple’s $1.25B acquisition of Hidden Road puts it in direct play for a $20T market. With prime brokerage, Ripple now offers a full-stack institutional service—from custody to collateral—while boosting XRP Ledger’s role in settlement. After years of regulatory battles, it’s going full TradFi to lead the next wave of institutional crypto adoption.
Be smart: The deal comes as U.S. regulations ease and institutions like Fidelity, BNY Mellon, and GameStop double down on crypto.
Our take: Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road is a bold, strategic play. It gives Ripple institutional-grade capabilities overnight—trading, custody, and capital markets depth—while reinforcing its ecosystem with RLUSD and XRPL. This move fast-tracks crypto’s maturation and positions Ripple to lead the next wave of institutional adoption.
For corporates, Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road means easier access to institutional-grade crypto services—trading, custody, and liquidity—all in one place.
🚨 News Flash
SEC drops suit against Helium for alleged securities violations. Link
Nasdaq filed to launch Vaneck’s AVAX ETF. Link
Google released Firebase Studio, a direct competitor to AI-coding start-up Cursor. Link
Facebook released its new flagship model Llama 4. Link
Bulgari launches an immersive experience designed for Apple Vision Pro. Link
BMW partners with Alibaba to bring AI-powered features. Link
👉 Keep up with all our signals for Web3 execs on our Telegram channel.
💰 Money Moves
Blackbird: Loyalty and payments app raised $50M in a Series B led by Spark Capital. Link
Meanwhile: Life insurance startup raised $40M Series A led by Framework Ventures and Fulgur Ventures. Link
Codex: Stablecoin startup raised $15.8M seed, led by Dragonfly Capital. Link
CAP: Stablecoin company raised $11M, led by Franklin Templeton. Link
That’s all for now, folks.
Talk soon,
– Marc & Team
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