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Markets won’t slow down, and neither will the headlines. From Tether going full TradFi to Gemini storming Nasdaq, BNB breaking records, and Do Kwon finally folding - this week had everything: regulation, redemption, and wreckage. Here’s your Magnet Weekly Digest.
Tether just dropped news of USAT, a dollar-backed stablecoin made specifically for the U.S. market. Issued through Anchorage Digital Bank, backed by Cantor Fitzgerald, and run by ex-White House crypto advisor Bo Hines, this one’s built to tick every box under the new GENIUS Act. Reuters and CryptoNinjas call it “full compliance,” meaning regular audits, liquid reserves, and a structure designed for institutions that never touched USDT because it felt “too wild west.” The goal is simple: give U.S. businesses and investors a stablecoin they can actually use without sweating over regulators. If USAT works, it could set a new benchmark and force the rest of the market USDT, USDC, and beyond - to tighten up. But adoption won’t be automatic. The real question is whether exchanges, DeFi apps, and institutions plug it in fast enough to make it a serious player, or if it just ends up as another niche product on paper.
Gemini, the exchange run by the Winklevoss twins, has officially gone public on Nasdaq. The IPO pulled in $425 million, selling 15.2 million shares at $28 — above the expected $24–26 range. Shares popped on day one, jumping as much as 30 percent before settling, giving Gemini a market cap somewhere between $3.3 and $4.4 billion. The Block also reported they quietly sold another $50 million worth of stock directly to Nasdaq, a move that screams “big TradFi confidence.”
For the industry, it’s proof that crypto companies can still pull off successful IPOs when they have clean infrastructure and a compliance-first setup. It’s also a reminder for other projects: if you’re eyeing the public markets, hype won’t cut it. Wall Street wants transparency, audited books, and a business model that survives past bull cycles. Gemini’s debut shows the door is open — but not for everyone.
BNB smashed past its previous all-time high, hitting $900–$929 after Binance announced a new partnership with Franklin Templeton. The asset management giant is teaming up with Binance to build tokenized products and digital asset infrastructure for institutional clients. Basically, it’s TradFi and Web3 holding hands again, and the market went full bullish mode. The partnership is a huge signal. Franklin Templeton isn’t just another player - they’re one of the biggest names in finance. Having them on board means more liquidity, more confidence, and probably a whole new wave of tokenization products hitting the market. But it also raises the stakes. With institutions this big involved, the expectations around compliance, transparency, and delivery skyrocket. Binance has to prove it can run at TradFi standards, not just crypto speed.
Do Kwon, the man behind Terraform Labs and the LUNA/UST collapse, has finally pled guilty in the U.S. to fraud charges tied to commodities, securities, and wire fraud. Prosecutors said he straight-up misled investors about how the algorithmic stablecoin was supposed to work. The 2022 crash wiped out tens of billions, and now Kwon has agreed to forfeit $19 million in gains linked to the scheme. His sentencing is set for December 2025, where he’ll find out how long he’s spending behind bars. It’s one of the biggest legal reckonings crypto has seen, and it proves regulators are done letting founders hide behind buzzwords like “decentralized” or “algorithmic.” For builders, the takeaway is blunt: if you ship hype without proof, the fallout can get very real. And for the industry, this is a reminder that accountability is no longer optional, it’s the new baseline.
TON Strategy Company (formerly Verb Technology) is trying to reinvent itself as a Toncoin treasury giant, but the market’s not impressed. Since announcing its pivot, the stock is down over 21 percent, and it slid another 7.5 percent right after the firm revealed a $250M buyback program. They picked up 250,000 shares at $8.32 each, even though the “treasury value” was marked higher at $12.18. The move comes just weeks after they unveiled a massive $713M Toncoin reserve, making them the first publicly traded company to run a Toncoin treasury. The company says the buyback proves its long-term conviction in TON, but investors clearly aren’t rushing to agree. TON itself hasn’t helped the case — the token’s down more than 40 percent year-to-date, sitting around $3.22 and ranked No. 22 by market cap. To sweeten the story, CEO Veronika Kapustina announced they’re starting staking operations with the treasury, aiming for recurring income streams instead of just sitting on coins. TON staking currently offers around 4.8 percent annual rewards across 340 validators, according to Staking Rewards. It’s a step toward cash flow, but also a reminder: TON treasury companies are entering a crowded “player vs player” stage, as even Coinbase and NYDIG warned. With premiums narrowing and investors getting pickier, TON Strategy’s gamble could either prove visionary — or just another expensive experiment in the treasury wars.
Every headline this week points to the same thing: crypto’s no longer the sideshow, it’s the main stage. What looks like chaos now is laying the rails for the next run. Stay sharp, stay early, and keep building where others just scroll.
