Data Source: CryptoRank

 

Following the conclusion of investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the CFTC, the world's largest online prediction market, Polymarket, recently acquired the compliant derivatives exchange QCX for $112M. Through this acquisition, Polymarket has officially secured a CFTC-approved Designated Contract Market (DCM) license. This move addresses a long-standing compliance gap and enables its legal return to the U.S. market.

Despite being restricted from U.S. users since the 2022 CFTC investigation, Polymarket has seen rapid growth in overseas markets, with trading volume reaching ~$6B in H1 2024 alone. Its core offering involves event-driven contracts, allowing users to speculate on real-world events across politics, finance, and sports.

The regulatory clearance not only provides institutional legitimacy for its core product in the U.S. but also removes major obstacles for a potential token launch, product commercialization, and expansion to institutional clients. Prediction markets are increasingly viewed as an efficient form of "collective intelligence" and an alternative data source, potentially becoming a significant supplement to event-driven trading in U.S. financial markets.

On July 23, Poseidon announced a $15M seed round led by a16z Crypto. Incubated by the Story Protocol team, the project aims to build a decentralized platform for IP-compliant AI training data.

 

Poseidon leverages the Story Protocol for on-chain data registration, licensing, attribution, and provenance, addressing the core industry challenge of sourcing high-quality, legally compliant training data. The platform plans to offer developers licensed access to real-world datasets and automated settlement mechanisms through on-chain structured management, lowering the barriers to data compliance and acquisition for AI model training.

 

This financing is a key strategic move for a16z to bolster the Story Protocol—an IP management Layer 1—and lays the groundwork for decentralized AI model training and on-chain distribution, potentially expanding the frontiers of AI infrastructure.

 

 

Nasdaq-listed MEI Pharma (MEIP) just raised $100M via private placement to build a Litecoin treasury strategy, selling 29,239,767 shares at $3.42 each. Litecoin founder Charlie Lee and crypto market maker GSR led the investment, joined by the Litecoin Foundation, ParaFi, and Primitive. Charlie Lee’s also snagging a board seat. This makes MEI Pharma the first U.S. public company to hold LTC as a treasury reserve. MEIP’s stock has nearly doubled since the placement.

 

MEI Pharma, a biotech focused on cancer drugs, has posted negative earnings for six straight quarters—prime target for crypto capital to swoop in. For LTC, it’s a desperate bid for relevance. Among OG large-cap tokens, Litecoin’s been fading, lacking hype or narrative, and needs a 3-4x pump to hit its 2021 peak (over $400).

 

Post-BTC treasury success, scooping up a low-market-cap, money-losing company as a shell has become a go-to for token rescue missions. MEI’s investor lineup screams this playbook: Litecoin Foundation/founder buys into a public company, company buys LTC—classic engineered institutional demand. MEI, a biotech with zero crypto asset management chops, dumped 100% of the raise into LTC, leaning on GSR for risk management. It’s basically a token-holding conduit.

 

Short-term, this coin-stock linkage pumps both MEIP and LTC prices. Long-term, it’s a high-risk capital game. MEI’s core cancer drug biz is sidelined, now a vehicle for LTC price volatility. The coin-stock manipulation draws in retail chasing gains, but sustained buying power isn’t guaranteed. For alts pulling this move, the stock’s just a shell—value hinges on the underlying token. If LTC lacks long-term fundamentals and relies on project-controlled pumps and dumps, it’s a shaky bet. Plus, it’s diluted by other projects playing the same shell-acquisition game.

 

 

As public companies like Bitmine and SharpLink stack ETH in their treasury strategies, ETH’s price has ripped, boosting blue-chip DeFi protocols built on its backbone. Most DeFi protocols are essentially ETH whales, and they’re cashing in. Spark, a standout with its token price multiplying this week, is a prime example. Spark’s products—SparkLend (lending module) and Spark Liquidity Layer (stablecoin liquidity)—boast a total TVL of $82.02B, with WSTETH making up 40% ($33.33B). Solid fundamentals set the stage for token hype and buying pressure, and Spark’s SPK token, with dirt-cheap MC/FDV (0.11) and MC/TVL (0.01) ratios, screams undervaluation to funds hunting for a pump. Even after the first hype wave, SPK’s market cap is ~$100M. Still, as a Sky Protocol sub-project, SPK’s market cap is unlikely to surpass SKY’s. Estimating SPK at 10-20% of SKY’s market cap puts it in the $200-400M range, but SPK already hit near $200M and quickly got slashed in half.

 

As the first yap project from Cookie Fun, Spark’s been simmering for months. The spark (pun intended) likely came from USDS and Pendle. USDS, formerly DAI, rebranded under MakerDAO’s shift to Sky Protocol, with Spark as Sky’s inaugural Sky Star. Spark taps Sky Protocol’s stablecoin reserves for liquidity in its lending and savings products. Over the past week, USDS supply surged by over $800M, up 10%. Instead of flowing into sUSDS savings, most of that went to SPK Farm and Pendle. SPK Farm, a Sky Protocol-backed SPK farming product, saw TVL jump from $770M to $1.32B in a week, with APY peaking at 17% before cooling to 8%—sucking up most USDS inflows. Meanwhile, Pendle’s USDS pool exploded to over $500M in TVL, with $120M+ net inflows on July 25 alone. Most Pendle USDS funds are chasing PTs to lock in current yields until the points program ends on August 12.