BNB $2,775 Price Prediction & ETF Filed

Ripple Social Value | Pendle Tokens on Aave

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
May 07, 2025

📢Sponsor | 💡Telegram | 📰Past Editions

Good Morning.

The market is getting somewhat interesting again with certain altcoins such as HYPE, VIRTUAL, and WLD showing strengths. Flow wise, we haven’t seen anything systemic that will change the appetite for risk-on assets - all eyes are on the Fed and tariffs development for that.

In Today's Email:

What Matters: BNB Price Prediction Soars & ETF Filed 📈
Case Study: Ripple & Social Value 🫂
Governance & Features: Pendle’s PT Tokens Go Live on Aave 🚀

You read and share. We listen and improve. Send us feedback at marco@launchy.app.

Narratives:

For daily market updates and airdrop alphas, check out our telegram!

TOGETHER WITH

Launch Your Brand with Pro-Grade Video, Without Breaking the Bank

We just launched something new in Launchy - a full-service video production agency designed specifically for your brand growth!

We specialize in:

🚀 Brand launch videos that highlight your products.
📱 Vertical & horizontal videos optimized for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, IG Reels, and more.
🎙️ Complete podcast production (video + audio), plus expert content repurposing.
✂️ Premium video editing for events and in-person moments.

We've already worked with over 20 clients and offer something rare in this space: pricing that's friendlier than any comparable offer you'll find.

If you have an upcoming video needs or just want to learn more, we’d love to talk.

WHAT MATTERS

BNB Price Prediction Soars & ETF Filed

State of play: Standard Chartered forecasts BNB could hit $2,775 by 2028, a 360% gain from current levels, citing its close tracking of BTC and ETH performance, its deflationary model, and Binance exchange integration.

Despite BNB Chain's centralized structure and low developer activity, recent upgrades may reignite ecosystem growth.
The recent upgrade is the Pascal hard fork, already live, with the Maxwell upgrade coming in June 2025.
Both aim to boost performance and attract more developers to BNB Chain.

Meanwhile, Binance founder CZ predicts Bitcoin could reach $500,000 to $1M this cycle, with the total crypto market cap potentially hitting $5T this year.

CZ emphasized real potential in AI and DeSci, and expects decentralized exchanges to eventually surpass centralized ones.

Lastly, VanEck filed to launch the first US BNB ETF, which includes staking rewards. a notable shift, possibly enabled by new SEC chair Paul Atkins. A final decision is pending SEC review.

Why it matters: With a big price target, a possible US ETF, and new upgrades, BNB is getting fresh attention from investors, showing it’s still in the game as the crypto market heats up again.

Our take: TradFi asset managers who are relatively smaller in comparison to their giant counterparts (e.g. VanEck) are taking more and more risks to embrace crypto assets other than BTC.

For builders and investors: Institutional strategies is now a must — no matter if you’re an L1 or a DeFi protocol looking for TVL and flows.

CASE STUDY

Ripple & Social Value

Credits to Katherine Ross & Blockworks for the original article.

On a recent Empire podcast episode, Jeff Dorman of Arca broke down the three core pillars of value in crypto: financial (cash flows), utility (usefulness), and social (community, reputation, legacy).

He argued that Ripple stands out in the social value category due to its long history, name recognition, and loyal following.
Despite its heavy reliance on social capital, Ripple is actively working to strengthen its financial profile.
The company recently acquired Hidden Road, gaining access to a US broker-dealer license, a step that could open up more institutional services.

Additionally, Bloomberg reported that Ripple attempted to acquire Circle for $4 to $5B, a move that would have expanded its product suite significantly and positioned it for broader stablecoin market play.

These moves suggest Ripple is trying to turn its reputational advantage into real business growth.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

INSIGHTS

Syrup: A Rising DeFi Lending Protocols

Syrup’s Revenue

Credits to Poopman for the original tweet.

Binance has listed $Syrup, a rising DeFi lending token built by Maple Finance and designed for institutional use.

Its main product, $syrupUSDC, offers 10% average yields backed by 170% overcollateralization, 87% in BTC and the rest in major altcoins.
Since launch, Syrup has attracted $650M in assets and grown its TVL to $1.2B, up nearly 10x since January 2024.
Revenues come from platform loan interest (1.0–2.5%), totaling around $4M to date and growing month over month.
Syrup also uses 20% of Q1 2025 revenue to buy back tokens for staker rewards.
With a capped supply of 1.23B tokens by 2026 and modest 5% annual emissions, Syrup now ranks just behind Euler in the lending category by FDV.

FEATURES & GOVERNANCE UPDATE

Pendle’s PT Tokens Go Live on Aave

Big debut for @pendle_fi PT tokens on Aave.
Over $455M supplied since last week 👀
— Aave (@aave)
3:35 PM • May 5, 2025

Pendle's Principal Tokens (PTs) are now live on Aave for the first time, marking a major milestone for fixed-yield DeFi. With over $485M in deposits in just 8 days, the launch introduces maturity-based tokens with real liquidity into Aave’s ecosystem.

These PTs are powered by Chaos Labs’ new dynamic risk oracle.
These PTs evolve over time, gradually transitioning from high-volatility assets to low-risk, cash-like instruments as they near maturity.
Traditional static oracles can’t capture this shift, often leading to inefficient collateral settings, Chaos Oracles stream real-time data, allowing Aave to adjust collateral parameters dynamically.
This improves capital efficiency without sacrificing safety, giving lenders higher returns and borrowers more flexibility.

Other notable feature updates:

Jupiter launched Ultra v2.
1inch has officially launched on Solana.
Ethereum R1 has launched as a fully public.
Balancer has introduced the MEV-Cap Hook.
Base has officially entered Stage 1 Decentralization.
Lido has launched its V3 Testnet on Hoodi Ethereum.
Mastercard announced new end-to-end capabilities to support stablecoin.

QUICK BITES

Kalshi says CFTC moved to dismiss appeal.
DeFi Development Corp buys $11.2M more SOL.
eToro targets $4B valuation and $500M raise from US IPO.
WLFI opens vote for proposed USD1 airdrop to WLFI holders.
Standard Chartered says BNB price could hit $2,775 by 2028.
Senate Democrat probes Trump's crypto ties in letter to WLFI.
Trump's crypto dinners raise potential for conflicts of interest.
Movement Labs terminates Rushi Manche after MOVE token deals.
Binance founder CZ says BTC could hit $500,000 to $1M this cycle.
SEC filings hit record high in April (with crypto and stablecoins mention).
South Korea presidential front-runner pledges to approve Bitcoin ETFs.
New Hampshire is the first US state to pass a 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve' bill.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

Kathysats’ read on Binance Alpha model.
WuBlockchain’s read on April 2025 VC report.
Coinmetrics’ read on whether BTC is decoupling.

in the spirit of decentralization, censorship-resistance, and neutrality, i am sure flashbots and scp will publicly disclose the nature of their deal
— venture anthropologist (@0xBalloonLover)
2:31 PM • May 6, 2025

If you enjoy reading this issue, please consider subscribing. It takes 1 minute of your time, but it would mean the world to us 🙇

Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.