Second time's the charm? Solana's new phone

GM citronauts. Hope you brought your appetite for crypto news. We've whipped up a blockchain smoothie that'll knock your socks off.

🇸🇬 Token2049: a new Solana smartphone is underway, Binance CEO says they're working hard to free Tigran Gambaryan, and Iggy Azalea talks memecoins.

🍊 News drops: Donald Trump buys burgers with Bitcoin, Revolut may be launching its own stablecoin, Decentraland's X account was hacked + more

🍍 Market flavour today

Find out more about the Fear & Greed Index here.

Name	Price	24H %	7D %
Crypto Market Cap $2.27 Trillion 4.0% (24H)
Bitcoin BTC	$62,986.97	5.94%	9.37%
Ethereum ETH	$2,424.57	5.59%	3.74%
BNB BNB	$563.82	4.32%	3.67%
Solana SOL	$140.28	9.04%	4.45%

Prices as of 10:25 AM EST. Click here to see live data.

The crypto market's on fire today - it's a sea of green across the board! Everyone's buzzing as the Fear and Greed Index jumps to 49, edging closer to that sweet spot of greed. What's fueling all this hype? Well, the Fed just dropped interest rates by a whopping 0.5% - the first cut in four years!

But hold your horses – Fed chair Jerome Powell's saying future cuts might not be as juicy. Some market watchers are raising eyebrows, speculating that this move might be more about election politics than economics. There's talk that this might just be "the calm before the storm," and it could lead to higher inflation down the road.

Where are we headed? Well, that's the million-dollar question (or should we say, the 100,000-dollar Bitcoin question?). Some are dreaming big, others are bracing for a dip. Keep an eye out on the Bank of Japan's upcoming Friday meeting - their moves could shake things up even more 🌋

🇸🇬 More from the Token2049 front

Building on what we covered yesterday, we've got some fresh updates squeezed straight out of the annual Token2049 event in Singapore. Btw, we were right—Vitalik Buterin singing on stage remains the most important highlight. Still, today's juice is juicing. Have a sip:

1/ Kiss me thru that Solana phone

You know what they say: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Solana Mobile should put that on their bio.

Back in 2023, they launched the Solana Saga, a smartphone that integrates blockchain… and it was lowkey a flop. While the phone did sell out, it was only 'cause it came with an airdrop that was worth more than the actual device.

Anyways, fast forward to now, seems like Solana Mobile is ready to start a new chapter, as they announced the launch of a new Solana smartphone, the Seeker.

And apparently, it's a big upgrade from the Saga. This one's lighter, has a longer-lasting battery, and comes with a better camera. Besides, it's got a built-in crypto wallet that links to the device's Seed Vault, making self-custody smoother than ever.

They've also leveled up their dApp store. Devs can now launch crypto apps without the fees you'd find in the Apple App Store or Google Play. Plus, the store will be more user-friendly, with better app discoverability and easier tracking for token rewards.

Sorry, what did you say? Couldn't hear you; I was talking on my Solana phone.💅

2/ Free Tigran

A few weeks ago, we dove into the story of Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance exec who's been stuck in Nigeria after getting detained over some accusations against Binance. Since then, he's been locked up in Kuje Prison, a place infamous for being pretty brutal.

Well, Binance CEO Richard Teng made it clear that Gambaryan's not alone in this fight—Binance is working tirelessly to get him out.

Teng said they've been pushing the Nigerian government to let Gambaryan go so he can get the medical care he desperately needs, as his health is seriously declining in custody (he's been hit with pneumonia, malaria, severe aches; you name it).

The team at Binance is looking into every possible solution, whether it's legal, political, or humanitarian. They're even asking the US government to declare Gambaryan unlawfully detained in hopes of speeding up the process.

3/ Mother knows best

Iggy Azalea was fashionably late to her panel (IDK, 20 minutes don't count in my book), but when she finally arrived, she dropped some gems about memecoins and branding in Web3.

Btw, if you told me back in the day that the woman who made Fancy would be into crypto, I'd call you a liar. But here we are—her MOTHER memecoin hit a $194M market cap in its first week.

A key takeaway from the panel is that Iggy's big on integrating token functionality now that crypto's becoming a legit payment system.

She says that what's in your crypto wallet isn't just assets—it's part of your personal brand. And without a strong brand identity, there's no consumer identity, so memecoins should aim for depth if they wanna stick around. She compared it to Rihanna's Fenty, which is more than just a name—it's a whole vibe and retail formula.

In Iggy's world, that's where we should be headin' at—an era where memecoins, branding, and crypto utility all mix together.

Not to brag or anything… but BitDegree is also participating in Token2049! We're bringing our good energy, meeting the brightest in the industry, making good connections, soaking up valuable insights, and sharing some of our own. Exciting things ahead! 🚀

Second time's the charm? Solana's new phone

📰 News drops

🍔 Donald Trump treated his fans to burgers at a bar and paid with Bitcoin. "Who wants a burger?" he asked as he entered.

🤫 Rumor has it that Revolut is launching its own stablecoin. Four insiders confirmed that the project's in progress, and two of them even said that it's already in an advanced stage.

🥸 The official X account of Decentraland was hacked, according to PeckShield. The hackers shared phishing links, pretending to offer a MANA token airdrop.

🧑‍⚖️ The US SEC charged entities and individuals tied to relationship investment scams involving two fake crypto exchanges, NanoBit and CoinW6. That's when scammers build trust with their targets, convince them to invest, and then disappear with their money.

💰 Borderless Capital is launching a new $100M fund to boost Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN). The DePIN Fund III has backing from big names like peaq, Solana Foundation, and Jump Crypto, among others.

📊 BlackRock released a nine-page whitepaper describing Bitcoin as a "unique diversifier" against traditional risks. The paper discusses Bitcoin's minimal impact from macro factors, its outperformance of all major asset classes in 7 of the last 10 years, and includes a section on "Bitcoin's path to $1 trillion market cap".