Blockworks

In 2024, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink included the word “bitcoin” once in his letter to investors. Fink’s 2025 letter, published today, included seven “bitcoin” references, and called DeFi "an extraordinary innovation." “If the US doesn’t get its debt under control, if deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing [its] position to digital assets like bitcoin,” Fink explained. Read more from the Forward Guidance newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ekjetWKB

In an end to a rocky first quarter, US stocks fell back into correction territory today. The S&P 500 was around 4.8% in the red since the start of 2025; Bitcoin is slated to close out its worst Q1 since 2018. Tariffs are set to remain a dominant market narrative in Q2, with Donald Trump set to announce his tariff plans on “Liberation Day” Wednesday. Read more from the Forward Guidance newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eSiAqPWh

Gunzilla Games has launched GUN token, at $0.09 this morning with a market cap of roughly $60 million. The token can be used in Gunzilla's Off The Grid game and Avalanche subnet Gunz. “We've spent five years now building everything first and testing it in testnet for over a year,” said Director of Web3 Theodore Agranat. Read more from The Drop newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e-TDDCs6

Credora has launched risk ratings for Morpho vaults, part of a larger trend of pushing risk transparency forward. Bluechip[dot]org and Serenity Research are also providing curated risk profiles and risk-adjusted yield rankings, respectively. Read more from the 0x Research newsletter: https://lnkd.in/egYGX4Si

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Thirteen years ago, Skrillex was huge, and Brian Armstrong posted a "hail mary" call for a co-founder. Armstrong had a prototype, “PayPal for bitcoin,” for an open-source wallet called Bitbank. Bitbank became Coinbase, which is today a $48-billion stock trading on the Nasdaq. Read more from the Supply Shock newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e7tgZ4fx

The rise of stablecoins could expand the talent pool of crypto by drawing FinTech participants, said Paradigm’s Charlie Noyes. Noyes and Mesh’s Bam Azizi discussed stablecoins on today's episode of Empire, including larger-scale adoption, increased competition, and global applications. Read more from the Empire newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ehVp2irZ

Federico Brokate, head of US business at 21Shares, observed that “fantastic flows” for crypto ETFs gives reason to be optimistic despite a rough Q1. While crypto is being affected by volatility from the macro sphere, new investors are entering at lower price points. News that could benefit crypto performance, depending on how it goes: actual regulation, word from the SEC on the slew of crypto ETF filings, and further clarity. Read more from the Empire newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eEGKraKe

In 2023 and 2024, a number of Solana startups generated native tokens to reward users and let investors and early contributors book returns. Now with a friendlier regulatory outlook and the airdrop flow being stemmed, some are looking to how new native tokens can become valuable assets. Multicoin’s forward-looking base case priced JTO at $6.80, roughly three times its current price. Read more from the Lightspeed newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dzeAK3Th

The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge ticked higher in February, while consumer spending continued to disappoint. PCE exceeded predictions, while consumer spending came in below expectations, even as personal income increased. Stocks did not take the inflation news well; the S&P 500 is poised to have its worst quarterly performance since 2023. Read more from the Forward Guidance newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gbw73478