💔 Move fast, break things

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Gm.

Before we get into it, I wanted to take a second to reflect on transparency in crypto. It’s something the space prides itself on, and yet crypto is one of the most challenging industries I’ve ever reported on. 

The people who are actually pushing crypto forward while trying to set an example for other industries should be commended. Honesty is going to become more critical as crypto matures. 

With all of that being said, my DMs, Telegram and Signal are always available. I’m happy to chat about potential tips, scoops or just get your takes on what needs to be covered. 

Anyway:

• Bitcoin’s down nearly 2% to $84,000 to start the day.

• CME traders remain on the sidelines, per K33, with open interest mostly flat around 134,730 bitcoin.

• DeFi’s TVL is down slightly over the past 24 hours to $89 billion.

🐒 Move it, move it

This morning, do I have a scoop for you. Jack Kubinec and I broke the news yesterday, but I decided to include a detail we previously hadn’t reported just for y’all at Empire. 

Movement Labs and Movement Network are conducting an investigation following last month’s market maker issues, when Binance removed an unnamed market maker after “misconduct” around MOVE’s token.

A Movement Labs spokesperson confirmed a third-party review when reached by Blockworks.

In internal Slack messages seen by Blockworks, a profile belonging to Movement co-founder Cooper Scanlon said the investigation into “recent events” has “various routes […] [that] are still being explored,” and “nothing is definitive yet.” The third party involved in the investigation was not named. 

In a message to Blockworks, a Movement Labs spokesperson said:

"Movement Network Foundation is conducting a third-party review following recent market maker abnormalities — a standard best practice to ensure full transparency and accountability. It would be inappropriate to speculate on the outcome of the review or any actions that may or may not result. Operations continue normally as the review is conducted.” 

Additionally, Movement Labs co-founder Rushi Manche took a temporary leave from the company for an undetermined amount of time, multiple sources told Blockworks.

One source said Scanlon announced Manche’s “temporary leave of absence” during a company all-hands on Monday. The company held an onsite in San Francisco last week, which Manche did not attend, according to people familiar.

On X, Manche posted that he missed the company “offsite” because he was in Asia for Web3Festival, which is verifiable by photos and pictures taken of his fireside chat. 

Fair enough, right? What I want to point out here is that, prior to publication, I asked Manche a number of questions, including why he missed the onsite. 

His response to me was the following: “Hey! I'm still at Movement Labs and business is on as usual - still in Slack and have been doing ecosystem calls all week. Also still have custodial access and nothing has changed.”

He didn’t respond to follow-up questions regarding Slack and his role as an executive at the company. Neither he nor Movement Labs specifically responded to a question asking to confirm if he'd been on leave.

A spokesperson told us that operations “are continuing as normal” at the firm. 

The reason or length of Manche’s leave was not immediately made clear. Employees had noticed Manche’s profile was no longer in the company Slack on Friday and Monday, according to multiple sources. However, Blockworks was told by a source that Manche’s Slack account was reactivated by the end of the day on Monday. 

On Monday afternoon — the same day Manche’s leave was announced internally — he took to X to advertise “weekly ecosystem syncs” with developers alongside his co-founder, Cooper Scanlon.

The investigation comes a few weeks after Binance disclosed that it had investigated the MOVE token for market-making irregularities. Last month, Binance announced that it offboarded an entity behind “misconduct” around MOVE, Movement’s native token. 

Binance didn’t return multiple requests for comment regarding the market maker.  

Movement declined to name the market maker at the time — as some of you may remember from my reporting then — though crypto sleuth ZachXBT had been told the project was linked to Web3Port. An examination by Blockworks revealed that Web3Port had engaged with Movement Labs’ social media posts in the past few months.

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Arkham’s main product is the exchange, where users can express their trade ideas against the market.

• The Mantra token slightly rebounded after co-founder JP Mullin promised a full post-mortem. 

• Standard Chartered thinks that the stablecoin market could surpass $2 trillion by the end of 2028. 

• CyberKongz announced that the SEC ended its probe into the project, marking the end of yet another SEC investigation.

💰 Big spenders

ICYMI: I also broke the news about Securitize’s newest acquisition yesterday.

The firm is acquiring MG Stover’s Fund Administration Business, which will make Securitize Fund Services (SFS) the “largest” digital asset fund administrator in the world.

Securitize declined to disclose the terms of the deal when I asked.

“Institutional interest in tokenization continues to grow, but the supporting infrastructure must match the moment. We are combining proven teams, robust governance, and compliant technology to give asset managers and investors the confidence they need to scale in this market,” CEO Carlos Domingo told me.

“This acquisition positions us as the largest and most complete digital asset fund administrator,” he noted.

According to a press release, the deal will help expand SFS’s abilities to offer fund administration, compliance and reporting solutions to asset managers and institutional investors while integrating with other Securitize offerings.

“Fund administration is where everything connects. If you don’t get that piece right, you can’t unlock the full utility of tokenization,” Domingo said. “Most traditional providers were never built to support real-time NAVs, stablecoins, or on-chain settlement. MG Stover has spent over a decade serving crypto-native funds, and by combining their expertise with Securitize’s regulated infrastructure, we’re solving one of the biggest operational gaps in digital asset management.”

SFS will now service $38 billion in assets across 715 funds, the release added.

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On my minds: Crypto capitals

Katherine:

This morning, OKX CMO Haider Rafique asked his X followers where the crypto capital is. 

Presumably, he’s curious now that the cat’s outta the bag about OKX relaunching in the US — in San Jose, California, to be exact. 

But the post had me thinking: Where is the crypto capital now? Does the industry even have one? 

And the answer is… I don’t think so? One could argue it’s a toss-up between New York and DC as regulators open their doors for crypto firms, but I’m not sold. I still think the beauty of crypto is that it’s not tied down to a single place. 

I’m not denying that New York and DC are prime crypto locations, (and probably where you’ll find many executives and VCs), but I think the majority of folks in crypto are spread out across the world.

And that’s how it should be. It’s a very global industry, and trying to pin it down to one place doesn’t do it justice.