A handful of the most interesting and current stories in the blockchain/web3 world not published on Decential this past week in case you missed them

Hello and welcome back to the Web3 Rewind! Per usual with the industry, lots has happened this past week so without further adieu, let’s dive into this week’s news.

The Latest

We're on quite a run here at Decential on remembering why we fell for the promise of crypto so hard. It's like the anti-Soylent Green. It's people! 

We ran a story this week about IranDAO, a spin off of UkraineDAO, which came together last year and raised $7 million to help the Ukrainian war effort after Russia's invasion. IranDAO is helping protesters who are demanding change from the current Islamic regime in Tehran after Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for not covering her hair properly in public, died in police custody. In both countries, the groups are also chronicling and recording potential war crimes using blockchain to secure the provenance of the information. 

So yeah, is ether a security? Fine, that's one area of debate (see below) but there's so much more going on in crypto, so much more that's profound and that can only be done because of crypto. Ukraine provided a textbook demonstration of this. Patreon, a centralized giving platform, suspended the largest charity supporting the Ukrainian army, and the banks in the country were cut off. So crypto came to the rescue and allowed for hundreds of millions of dollars to still flow into the country to help not just the war effort but also humanitarian concerns. That's why I'm so bullish on this innovation, why we here at Decential will never stop celebrating the amazing human beings who are making it possible, and why we should all keep these inspirational stories close to our hearts. — Matthew Leising, editor in chief, Decential Media

 Taking my ball and going home dept.

Coinbase Could Move Away From U.S. if No Regulatory Clarity: CEO Brian Armstrong

There comes a time for every powerful, job-creating corporation in the U.S. to throw its toys out of the crib and threaten to leave if the guvmint raises it taxes, doesn't stop harassing it or tries to regulate it out of existence. For many years I covered the CME Group, the world's largest futures exchange that every so often would get threatened with a Chicago or Illinois tax on its trading volume. The big boys in the C-suite at CME never had time for that and would throw out the "We'll move to London, damn you!" card in very short order. 

Now it's Coinbase's turn. Granted, the largest U.S. crypto market that is the onboarding route for American degens isn't only being threatened with a fee hike like the CME. It's plausible that there are politicians in Washington right now who'd like to see Coinbase destroyed. The exchange, which was based in San Francisco before moving to a remote-only company, has been warned by the SEC that it will likely be sued for violating various securities laws. It's facing a U.S. regulator that pretends to want to help crypto firms and then rugs them. 🙁

So it should be no surprise when Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says on stage in London that "anything is on the table, including relocating or whatever is necessary" because "right now we are not seeing that regulatory clarity that we need." He continued, "In a number of years if we don't see that regulatory clarity emerge in the U.S. we may have to consider investing more elsewhere in the world." It may be an empty threat or it may be a first acknowledgment that the U.S. regulatory approach to crypto is pushing the industry to the brink. -- ML 

Quick Bits

Crypto Dealmaking Reaches All-Time High as VC Funding Remains Scarce

• Crypto firms are lifting a page from the playbook of Goldman Sachs and buying assets in the current downturn when bargain prices can be found. There were 54 mergers and acquisition transactions in the first quarter, a 10 percent increase from a year earlier, Bloomberg reported citing a report by Architect Partners, an M&A advisory firm. 👀

• The deals are being done by selling equity to preserve cash and crypto startups are seeing a huge downturn in venture capital funding, per Architect. While a year ago $12 billion was raised in private crypto funding, that measure tumbled to $3 billion in the first quarter of 2023, Architect reported. 

Uniswap V3 To Launch On Polygon zkEVM 

• Uniswap is wasting no time launching its newest version on Polygon's Layer-2 zero-knowledge rollup. Uniswap, which The Defiant notes is the largest decentralized exchange by trade volume, was also quick to deploy on Polygon's proof-of-stake blockchain, which has grown into its third-largest market with $98 million in total value locked. By comparison, Uniswap's launch on Polygon's zkEVM had $4.6 million in TVL as of April 19, according to L2beat. 

• Despite the recent activity, the $UNI token hasn't seen much price action even amid a more widespread market upturn. Maybe they need a frog PFP (see below).

'Pepe the Frog' Meme Coins Rocket as Crypto Twitter Moves Over Dogecoin Obsession

• The rug is in mid-pull, have you bought your Pepe Coin? 🐸 While the price of Pepe has too many zeros before it to use in polite company, CoinMarketCap shows its total market value at $132 million as of April 19, up from $33 million two days prior, according to an April 17 story in Coindesk. $PEPE has taken the shitcoin crown from such illustrious projects as $DOGE and $SHIB, Coindesk helpfully noted. 

• With Pepe's circulating supply of 420 trillion — meant to make your buddies laugh out a bong hit in your dorm room — what could possibly go wrong? But let's not leave it on such a cynical note. Maybe this latest round of memecoin speculation signals an overall rising confidence in the crypto market. I mean, you're not going to get 21,000 percent returns with your grandpa's Bitcoin, are you? 👴🏼

All You Could Ever Want to Know About Ether Staking Post-Shanghai

• Martin Lee, who goes by the Twitter handle @themlpx, has a fascinating deep dive into how staking works now that Ethereum has allowed for withdrawals on its proof-of-stake blockchain. The data journalist at blockchain data and research firm Nansen walks readers through how to make sure stakers are receiving periodic partial withdrawals of the Ether they've earned by pledging their crypto to secure the network. Remember, there's more than two years' worth of Ether to distribute to the early stakers.

• Very interesting: those rewards amassed by early stakers since December 2020 accounted for the majority of withdrawn Ether in the first few days after Shanghai, not the need for Kraken to take its crypto back after being sued by the SEC. Check it out for so much more. 📖

And last but not least

SEC Chairman Gensler's Congressional Testimony Makes His Cowardice Clear

"Bueller? Bueller?"

I'm just going to leave this here for your viewing pleasure. After strongly implying in the recent past that Ether is a security, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler wouldn't make the same declaration this week when testifying before Congress. 🤦‍♂️ It takes a certain type of cowardice to not back up your previous public comments, adds to the confusion surrounding crypto regulation and is a perfect illustration of why industry leaders are so frustrated with Gensler's approach. — ML

Out of the Ether: Special NFT Edition

Have you read the definitive history of Ethereum? No? Well then get your special edition of Out of the Ether while you can. There are only 1,000 that were printed and each copy is an NFT that can be registered on the Lukso blockchain’s Universal Profile protocol.