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Billionaire Investor Calls No-Interest Stablecoins ‘Outrageous’ as Key US Bill Advances

by admin June 13, 2025

Billionaire investor Philippe Laffont on Thursday called the idea of a non-yielding stablecoin “outrageous,” as U.S. lawmakers advanced a bill that would bar issuers from offering interest-bearing dollar-pegged tokens.

“How in the world is a stablecoin not bearing interest?” Laffont said at Coinbase’s State of Crypto event in New York. “That is outrageous, and that needs to be solved.”

Laffont, founder of hedge fund Coatue Management, which oversees about $60 billion in assets, argued that stablecoins should deliver passive income through “simple contracts” paying users the spot rate.

The approval of yield-bearing stablecoins has become a flashpoint between crypto lobbyists, banks, and regulators in recent months. Draft legislation, including the GENIUS Act, is being heavily lobbied by the industry to allow such tokens.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly appealed to U.S. lawmakers in March to include yield-bearing provisions.

“Why is it that when you put money in the stablecoin, you get rewards? Just make it a simple contract,” Laffont said Thursday, adding that stablecoins offer “so many use cases,” including flexible yield products.

Crypto firms have pushed for months to win approval for interest-generating stablecoins.

But financial regulators argue they could encourage consumers to pull funds from tightly regulated institutions and place them with riskier crypto platforms.

The debate escalated this spring as lawmakers advanced the GENIUS Act, which aims to establish a stablecoin regulatory framework.

By late spring, a clause banning yield-bearing tokens had gained momentum, casting uncertainty over the industry’s efforts.

Stablecoin adoption has surged over the past year. Market capitalization now stands at $251 billion, up 55% year-on-year, according to DefiLlama.

South Korea-based CryptoQuant attributes the rise to growing trading activity, increased usage for payments and transfers, and clearer U.S. policy signals, particularly since the start of the Trump administration.

Amid rising demand, several firms, including BitGo and BitGet, have launched dollar-pegged tokens.

Circle, the largest U.S. stablecoin issuer, has seen its stock price rise nearly 250% since its IPO earlier this month.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair and James Rubin

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June 13, 2025 0 comments

Esports

SAG-AFTRA formally calls off industrial action after almost a year of strikes

by admin June 12, 2025

SAG-AFTRA – the union that represents 160,000 actors, voiceover artists, and other media professionals – has formally called off its industrial action after 11 months of strikes.

The union voted to strike at the end of July 2024 after it failed to reach an agreement with the convenience bargaining group over rights and protection concerns raised by the industry’s exploration of AI technologies. In March, it said it remained “frustratingly far apart” from video game publishers after two Zenless Zone Zero voice actors claimed they had been replaced for participating in the SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Now, however, after announcing yesterday that it had reached a “tentative agreement” with a bargaining group, national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland officially suspended the strike against the companies signatory to the Interactive Media Agreement, effective from noon PT today, June 11.

All SAG-AFTRA members have now been instructed to return to work on productions under the interactive media agreement (IMA), including work promoting or publicizing projects produced under the IMA, as the board meets in a special session tomorrow, June 10, to consider the tentative agreement.

“If approved, it will be sent out for ratification by the union’s membership in accordance with established policy. Details of the agreement will be released at that time,” the union said.

SAG-AFTRA recently filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Llama Productions and Epic Games for using AI to portray Darth Vader in Fortnite.

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June 12, 2025 0 comments

The eyes of a Dune: Awakening player looking afraid

Gaming Gear

I can’t stop watching these Dune: Awakening videos of players having butt-puckeringly close calls with angry sandworms

by admin June 7, 2025

Dune: Awakening’s sandworms aren’t just scary, they’re the most brutally punishing feature of Funcom’s new survival MMO. When you get eaten by a sandworm, you permanently lose all your stuff. Weapons, armor, tools, gear, your entire inventory gets swallowed up when Shai-Hulud sucks you down, and you can’t go back and recover it. Even your vehicle is gone forever.

That’s why crossing the desert gaps between regions is so harrowing: the worm is always out there patrolling and your movements will bring it stampeding toward you, leading to lots of tense moments. Linger too long in the dunes and the sandworm will charge, its mouth the size of a train tunnel, gobbling down everything in front of it.

So my new hobby is jumping onto the Dune subreddit every day to see some white-knuckle, butt-puckeringly close calls with sandworms. Knowing what’s at stake, seeing a player flooring it across the desert with a worm barreling toward them, and jussssssst escaping to safety is utterly thrilling.

Here’s a few of my favorite sandworm close-calls.

From HunwutP:

Barely made it from r/duneawakening

Soooooo close. I love this video. You know you’re in real trouble when the camera starts zooming out to show the full size of the worm that’s eating you.

The ridiculous airtime of that long bike jump as the worm jusssssssst misses its target is beautiful.

From Lunchable-Toast:

“It’s just about being not the slowest” from r/duneawakening

Just as with a bear, shark, or Jason Vorhees, you don’t really need to be fast to escape a sandworm, you just need to be faster than one other person.

From Sekhen:

Shai-Hulud eating some one else. from r/duneawakening

If you see the worm going after another player, that doesn’t mean you’re safe. Anything that gets in Shai-Hulud’s way gets swallowed, including the unfortunate random player in the clip above. Shai-Hulud almost got a two-fer!

From XirtCS:

Almost shit myself with this worm encounter from r/duneawakening

Tarry a bit too long while scrapping a crashed ship in the dunes, and Shai-Hulud will be along to swallow you and the wreck both. Luckily, the silly worm chose a poor spot to start its charge from and bonked its face against the rocks. Maybe next time!

From Sekhen (again!):

As close as you can get and tell about it. from r/duneawakening

Talk about a rough night. First this player gets targeted by Sardaukar assassins, then downed—twice—while fighting them. Midway through the skirmish a sandworm breaches in the background, but the player is close enough to the rocks to not be in danger, and the worm vanishes.

Surprise! It’s suddenly back again, presumably to swallow the dead soldiers, missing the recovering player by maybe a foot or two. It’s so close they’re actually buried in the sand from the worm’s breach. Yikes.

Threw in my own encounter above, though I didn’t escape through speed, I escaped by cleverly dying of other causes before the worm had a chance to eat me. After getting stuck in Dune: Awakening’s quicksand, my bike sank for a while as I fruitlessly and stupidly tried to gun the engine. Just as the worm appeared and headed my way, my bike exploded, killing me.

I know it doesn’t sound like a happy ending, but I only lost my bike and a couple resources from my backpack. If the worm had gotten me, I’d have lost everything. Thanks, explosions!

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June 7, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Trump Deepfake Calls for Velociraptors on Border Patrol, Racks Up 1.2M Views

by admin June 4, 2025

In brief

A deepfake video of Donald Trump proposing dinosaur border patrols went viral, fooling many viewers.
The clip, labeled as a deepfake, featured Trump endorsing velociraptors for border security.
The viral clip was viewed by over 1.2 million times on X and received 20,000 likes.

Perhaps it’s a sign of the times when nothing is too weird to be discounted.

A deepfake video of U.S. President Donald Trump calling for the return of Velociraptors and Pterodactyls to patrol the border with Mexico went viral on Tuesday, racking up more than 1.2 million views and 20,000 likes.

The clip, clearly labeled at the end as a deepfake and uploaded to X Monday, features a convincingly rendered Trump in the White House Oval Office, suggesting that the Department of Homeland Security could one day unleash the prehistoric creatures on the southern border.

“My administration and I have been taking careful note of the work of Colossal Labs, the biotech company that resurrected the dire wolf,” the Trump deepfake said. “But picture this, folks: Velociraptor mounted Border Patrol agents. They’ll rip your head clear off. Pterodactyls patrolling the skies, velociraptors on the ground.”

“To prevent the immigration apocalypse, we may have to counter with a dinopocalypse.”

In April, Texas-based genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences claimed to have”de-extincted” the dire wolf. The announcement and reveal of the genetically engineered wolves sparked speculation of what other extinct species, including dinosaurs, could be brought back.

If it sounds absurd, that’s because it is. But for many viewers, it was just believable enough to look real. Many turned to Grok, the native AI assistant on X, which tentatively concluded the clip was “almost certainly AI-generated,” but stopped short of calling it definitively fake.

“The video you mentioned, showing someone resembling Donald Trump discussing dinosaurs for border enforcement, is almost certainly AI-generated,” Grok responded. “No credible sources, official records, or news outlets confirm such a statement from Trump, whose actual border policies focus on walls and enforcement, not fantastical scenarios.”

Thanks to advances in AI video clip generators like Google Veo 3, OpenAI’s Sora, and Kling AI, distinguishing between synthetic and real content is becoming increasingly difficult.

Despite the clip being AI-generated, some users noted that the idea of Trump suggesting the use of dinosaurs to patrol the border wasn’t entirely out of character.

“Obviously this is AI…but the fact that it seems like something he’d say is perturbing,” one X user said.

“It’s sad that I had to verify that this is satire,” another said.

As AI-generated content becomes more sophisticated, even the most outlandish clips can slip through the cracks.

Maverick Alexander, host of the storytelling comedy podcast DarbyCast, took credit for the viral video clip.

“Many people are trying to make Trump deepfakes now, but I haven’t seen any land the plane on his voice and word choice,” Maverick said in a later post. “As a result thereof, I should probably keep making these, no?”

Welcome to 2025, where reality is negotiable, and a U.S. raptor-enabled Border Patrol sounds plausible.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

Generally Intelligent Newsletter

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June 4, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Chair Paul Atkins Says It’s a ‘New Day’ for the SEC, Calls for ‘Rational’ Crypto Regulation

by admin June 4, 2025

In brief

SEC Chair Paul Atkins said Tuesday the agency will prioritize “clear rules of the road” for crypto.
He testified that investor protection and innovation require regulatory clarity.
But some lawmakers are pushing for the CLARITY Act to shift oversight away from the SEC.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins is continuing on his crusade to bring a “new day” to the SEC and shift the agency’s stance toward digital assets.

Testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on Tuesday, Atkins vowed to pursue a “rational regulatory framework” for crypto assets, prioritizing rulemaking and transparency over enforcement actions.

“Clear rules of the road are necessary for investor protection against fraud—not the least to help them identify scams that do not comport with the law,” he said.

“Policymaking will be done through notice and comment rulemaking, not through regulation-by-enforcement,” Atkins added.

Atkins, a veteran of the SEC, was confirmed in April after a lengthy and partisan nomination process.

His return marks a stark departure from the approach taken by his predecessor, Gary Gensler, whose tenure was marked by enforcement actions against crypto firms and a broad interpretation of securities laws that made him unpopular with the crypto industry.

Since Gensler’s exit, the SEC has dropped several high-profile lawsuits, first under interim chair Mark Uyeda and then under Atkins, and has issued guidance for multiple categories of crypto, including exempting certain staking activities from securities regulation.

The agency’s evolving posture comes amid growing momentum in Congress to strip the SEC of its authority over crypto altogether.

Last week, lawmakers introduced the CLARITY Act, which would amend securities laws to exempt most crypto assets from SEC jurisdiction and establish a new legal framework.

“Our bill secures American dominance, democratizes digital assets, unleashes innovation, and protects consumers from fraud,”Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI), chair of the House’s Financial Services Subcommittee, said at the time.

Democratic staffers on the House Financial Services Committee have criticized the SEC for withholding an impact analysis of the bill, raising concerns that the proposal could create loopholes for traditional finance under the guise of blockchain adoption.

Atkins acknowledged the shifting legislative landscape but emphasized the role of the SEC’s new Crypto Task Force and upcoming DeFi roundtable in supporting innovation.

“I anticipate benefits from this market innovation for efficiency, cost reduction, transparency, and risk mitigation,” he said.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

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June 4, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Elon Musk calls Trump’s budget bill a ‘disgusting abomination’

by admin June 4, 2025

Last week, Elon Musk’s media tour included telling CBS Sunday Morning he was “disappointed” by the Republican domestic policy bill backed by President Trump. Now, the former White House employee is calling it a “disgusting abomination” and claiming that Congress is making America bankrupt in posts on X on Tuesday.

Elon’s problem isn’t the provisions we noted that would strip state legislatures of AI oversight and scale back consumer protection and climate initiatives, while funding increased border surveillance. Instead, he claims, “It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden American citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.” The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has reported that the bill’s tax provisions would increase the deficit by $3.8 trillion over the next decade.

Despite Musk continuing and threatening that “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,” the White House and other Republican political leaders have not shown much regard for his statements. In a briefing Tuesday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters, “…look, the president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn’t change the president’s opinion; this is one big beautiful bill, and he’s sticking to it.”

Democrats had a different response, as ABC News reports that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer held up a printout of Musk’s tweets during his press conference following a policy luncheon. Schumer told reporters, “Trump’s buddy says the bill is bad — you can imagine how bad this bill is,” while his counterpart in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, said, “…breaking news: Elon Musk and I agree with each other.”

Politico reports that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told reporters he spoke to Musk on Monday for about 20 minutes regarding the bill, and said, “With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the one big, beautiful bill.” In the Senate, Republican Majority Leader John Thune told reporters, “On this particular issue, we have a difference of opinion,” and that he believes Musk is using outdated data.

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June 4, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

BitMEX Blocks Lazarus Phishing Attempt, Calls Tactics ‘Unsophisticated’

by admin June 2, 2025

BitMEX said it has thwarted an attempted phishing attack by the Lazarus Group, describing the attempt as using “unsophisticated” phishing methods by the notorious North Korea-linked group.

In a blog post published on May 30, the crypto exchange detailed how an employee was approached via LinkedIn under the guise of a Web3 NFT collaboration.

The attacker tried to lure the target into running a GitHub project containing malicious code on their computer, a tactic the firm says has become a hallmark of Lazarus’ operations.

“The interaction is pretty much known if you are familiar with Lazarus’ tactics,” BitMEX wrote, adding that the security team quickly identified the obfuscated JavaScript payload and traced it to infrastructure previously linked to the group.

A likely failure in operational security also revealed that one of the IP addresses linked to North Korean operations was located in the city of Jiaxing, China, approximately 100 km from Shanghai.

“A common pattern in their major operations is the use of relatively unsophisticated methods, often starting with phishing, to gain a foothold in their target’s systems,” BitMEX wrote.

Examining other attacks, it was noted that North Korea’s hacking efforts were likely divided into multiple subgroups with varying levels of technical sophistication.

“This can be observed through the many documented examples of bad practices coming from these ‘frontline’ groups that execute social engineering attacks when compared to the more sophisticated post-exploitation techniques applied in some of these known hacks,” it said.

The Lazarus Group is an umbrella term used by cybersecurity firms and Western intelligence agencies to describe several hacker teams operating under the direction of the North Korean regime.

In 2024, Chainalysis attributed $1.34 billion in stolen crypto to North Korean actors, accounting for 61% of all thefts that year across 47 incidents, a record high and a 102% increase over 2023’s total of $660 million stolen.

Still a threat

But as founder and CEO of Nominis, Snir Levi warns, growing knowledge of the Lazarus Group’s tactics doesn’t necessarily make them any less of a threat.

“The Lazarus Group uses multiple techniques to steal cryptocurrencies,” he told Decrypt. “Based on the complaints we collect from individuals, we can assume that they are trying to defraud people on a daily basis.”

The size of some of their hauls has been shocking.

In February, hackers drained over $1.4 billion from Bybit, made possible by the group tricking an employee at Safe Wallet into running malicious code on their computer.

“Even the Bybit hack started with social engineering,” Levi said.

Other campaigns include Radiant Capital, where a contractor was compromised via a malicious PDF file that installed a backdoor.

The attack methods range from basic phishing and fake job offers to advanced post-access tactics like smart contract tampering and cloud infrastructure manipulation.

The BitMEX disclosure adds to a growing body of evidence documenting Lazarus Group’s multi-layered strategies. It follows another report in May from Kraken, in which the company described an attempt by a North Korean to get hired.

U.S. and international officials have said North Korea uses crypto theft to fund its weapons programs, with some reports estimating it may supply up to half of the regime’s missile development budget.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair

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June 2, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Crypto Analyst Calls Massive Bitcoin Crash To $50,000

by admin May 31, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Crypto analyst Altcoin Sherpa recently raised the possibility of a Bitcoin price crash to $50,000. He also commented on the current price action and revealed the price level at which he expects a bounce, with BTC already witnessing a significant decline from its current all-time high (ATH).

Analyst Predicts Bitcoin Price Crash To $50,000

In an X post, Altcoin Sherpa indicated that the Bitcoin price could still crash to as low as $50,000 by year-end. His accompanying chart showed that BTC will touch the $105,900 resistance level again and then begin its massive decline from there. In another X post, he revealed that his $50,000 prediction was just a joke and that he doesn’t think that will happen.

However, the analyst is cautious about the current market conditions, stating that he is not rushing into any positions. He alluded to how the Bitcoin price had crashed following Donald Trump’s recent post, although he believes that a bounce should happen “relatively soon.” His accompanying chart showed that a bounce should happen between the $102,000 and $104,000 range.

Source: Altcoin Sherpa on X

In a Truth Social post, Donald Trump stated that China had violated the trade agreement with the US, a statement that sparked concerns that the trade war between the countries could escalate again. Since Trump’s statement, the Bitcoin price has dropped from around $106,000 to as low as $103,100.

Following this Bitcoin price crash, Altcoin Sherpa highlighted the point of control for BTC, which is around $104,000. He remarked that a bounce should happen from here. However, tensions between the US and China threaten to lead to lower prices. According to a Reuters report, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned about an imminent threat from China and declared that they are ready to fight back.

BTC Could Still Drop To As Low As $102,700

In an X post, crypto analyst Titan of Crypto suggested that the Bitcoin price could drop to as low as $102,700. He revealed that BTC is pulling back toward the daily Kijun at around $102,700, an area which had previously held and one which the analyst claimed could act as a solid base for the next move.

In an earlier analysis, the crypto analyst had stated that the Bitcoin price could be on its way to retest previous resistance, which had turned support before it pushes higher. Amid this restest, Titan of Crypto warned that BTC cannot witness a reintegration below the current market structure as this could lead to lower prices.

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is trading at around $103,700, down over 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

BTC trading at $103,701 on the 1D chart | Source: XRPUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com

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May 31, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Strive CEO Calls Zuckerberg Over Meta’s Treasury

by admin May 29, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

The question of when a Fortune 500 technology giant will move Bitcoin onto its balance sheet took center stage at Bitcoin 2025 after Strive Asset Management chief executive Matt Cole, standing before thousands in Las Vegas, dialed Meta Platforms chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and—when the call went unanswered—left a voice message urging him to convert a slice of Meta’s $61 billion cash hoard into Bitcoin.

Strive CEO Calls Zuckerberg Over Bitcoin

Speaking to thousands of attendees in Las Vegas, Cole argued that the social-media and AI powerhouse is exposing shareholders to avoidable monetary debasement by keeping tens of billions of dollars parked in cash and short-term US Treasuries. “The case for putting Bitcoin on your corporate balance sheet has never been stronger,” he said, noting that Bitcoin’s market capitalization has surpassed two trillion dollars.

“Right now we have a global fiat debt crisis. M2 is rising almost every single day, and as M2 rises the purchasing power of dollars, or dollars that are put in short-term US Treasuries, continues to decrease.” Cole insisted that inflation gauges understate the erosion of real returns because “you also have to look at the rise of asset prices, like stocks and homes. The reality is that a corporate balance sheet in cash and short-term reserves is losing its ability to generate value for shareholders almost every single day.”

Cole linked the monetary argument to accelerating advances in artificial intelligence, warning that the technology threatens to reshuffle the S&P 500 as thoroughly as the internet did two decades ago. “Over a period of 30 years there was a 50 percent turnover in the S&P 500,” he reminded the audience.

“Our belief is that there will be a similar turnover because of AI disruption in the next 10 years. While I do not believe Meta will fall out of the S&P 500, my belief is that Meta has the opportunity to actually be the largest, or maybe the second-largest, corporation in America, if you get this right. Lean into AI innovation, but also look at the balance-sheet side of the equation.”

He closed the call by referencing Zuckerberg’s much-publicized pet goat: “You’ve already taken step one. You’ve named your goat Bitcoin. My ask is that you take step two and adopt a bold corporate Bitcoin treasury approach and vote yes on proposal number 13.”

Zuck took the first step by naming his goat Bitcoin. It’s time for Meta to put the G.O.A.T. asset, Bitcoin, on its balance sheet and maximize long run shareholder value. https://t.co/58huypeOOL

— Matt Cole (@ColeMacro) May 28, 2025

Will Meta Break The Ice?

Cole’s public appeal drew instant commentary from market-structure analysts and entrepreneurs. Bloomberg ETF specialist Eric Balchunas observed on X that “it feels like it’s inevitable that a Big Boy US company adds btc to balance sheet. Could def see Meta being the one to break the ice.”

In a follow-up post he argued that a Meta or Microsoft allocation would carry far greater symbolic weight than earlier moves by smaller firms: “If a Meta or Microsoft adds btc to balance sheet it will arguably have bigger impact than all the smaller cos doing it, kinda like when Tom Hanks got COVID, everyone was like ‘oh sht Tom Hanks got it.’”

When a user replied that Tesla “already broke the ice, 4 years ago,” Balchunas conceded the point but added, “yes but kinda doesn’t count as of now, hard to explain but you know what I’m saying.”

Skeptics pushed back just as quickly. Larry Tabb, head of market-structure research at Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote: “What? Why? They don’t pay folks in BTC, they don’t buy stuff w/BTC, it doesn’t earn a return, they can’t use it to do anything. Only reason for a corporate to buy BTC would be for investment.” Tabb compared the idea to purchasing an S&P 500 ETF with no dividend capture, concluding that management should either pursue a formal investment mandate or return idle capital to shareholders.

Balchunas countered that the motive would indeed be “shareholder value,” leaving the market to judge whether the trade-off is worthwhile: “Time will tell.”

Zuckerberg ‘Appreciates’ Bitcoin

Outside the analyst community, founders in the Bitcoin ecosystem speculated about Zuckerberg’s personal inclinations. Lyle Pratt, chief executive of decentralized communications platform Vida Global, called Meta “the dark horse of the corporate Bitcoin acquisition game,” citing Zuckerberg’s dual-class voting control, his failed attempt to launch the Libra (later Diem) stablecoin, and his goat named “Bitcoin.”

Pratt jokingly added that Zuckerberg “doesn’t want Cameron and Tyler to have more Bitcoin,” a jab at Meta’s long-standing rivalry with the Winklevoss twins. Former Meta executive and current Lightspark chief executive David Marcus, who once led the Libra initiative, has previously said that Zuckerberg “appreciates Bitcoin,” lending anecdotal support to Balchunas’ and Pratt’s thesis.

Strive’s shareholder proposal will come to a vote at Meta’s upcoming annual meeting. Cole’s gambit was designed to raise the political cost of inaction for Meta’s board. Notably, Meta’s board has recommended against it and has not commented publicly on Cole’s Las Vegas broadside.

At press time, BTC traded at $107,948.

BTC continues to consolidate below the previous ATH, 1-day chart | Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

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May 29, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Polygon co-founder Mihailo Bjelic steps down, community calls it a ‘Big L’

by admin May 24, 2025

Mihailo Bjelic, co-founder of Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Polygon, has stepped down from his role at Polygon but suggests he will stay active in the crypto industry in some capacity.

His resignation drew reactions across Polygon and the wider crypto community, with several seeing it as a significant loss for Polygon, which has been tied to several major developments in recent months.

Bjelic winds down ‘day-to-day involvement’

“After much thought and reflection, I’ve decided to step down from the board of the Polygon Foundation and wind down my day-to-day involvement with Polygon Labs,” Bjelic said in a May 23 X post.

“I’ll always be cheering from the sidelines and supporting however and whenever I can,” Bjelic added.

Fellow Polygon co-founder, Sandeep Nailwal, commended Bjelic’s contributions over the years, adding that Bjelic has always been “a force behind so much of what makes Polygon what it is today.”

Source: Sandeep Nailwal

Bjelic said that he remains “as passionate as ever” about crypto, and suggested he will stay active in the crypto industry.

“You will likely still see me around,” Bjelic said.

Aave-chan Initiative founder Marc Zella said it was a “Big L for Polygon.” Polygon’s head of marketing Leon Stern said the company is going to miss Bjelic. “Thanks for everything you’ve done for Polygon, and best of luck,” Stern said. Meanwhile, Skale Network CEO Jack O’Holleran said Bjelic should “be very proud” of all he has accomplished at Polygon and is excited to see what he does next.

Source: Maggie Love

Over the past two years, two of Polygon Labs’ early founders, Jaynti Kanani and Anurag Arjun, also stepped away from the company.

Arjun’s departure coincided with the Polygon spin-off Avail, a Web3 data availability and consensus layer, becoming an independent entity, with Arjun taking the lead.

Bjelic has yet to reveal his next plans.

Related: Crypto market cycle permanently shifted — Polygon founder

Bjelic’s resignation follows several major announcements tied to Polygon this year.

On March 25, Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform DigiShares announced it would bring tokenized real estate trading to Polygon with the launch of RealEstate.Exchange, also known as REX.

Just two months before, on Jan. 16, Jio Platforms, an Indian mobile network operator owned by Asia’s richest person, Mukesh Ambani, partnered with Polygon Labs to upgrade some of its existing offerings with Web3 and blockchain capabilities.

Magazine: AI cures blindness, ‘good’ propaganda bots, OpenAI doomsday bunker: AI Eye

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May 24, 2025 0 comments