Fed Ends Crypto Bank Oversight Program

OKX Burns $26B in OKB | SharpLink Stock Falls on $103M Loss

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
August 18, 2025

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Good Morning,

Regulators are easing off and treasury-heavy firms are wrestling with accounting hits. The market feels more like a recalibration than a crackdown.

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In Today's Email:

What Matters: Fed Ends Crypto Bank Oversight Program 👀
Product of the Week: Deribit’s USDC BTC, ETH Options 🚀
Charts: OKX Burns $26B in OKB 🔥 , SharpLink Stock Falls on $103M Loss 📉

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Narratives: Treasury volatility

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WHAT MATTERS

Fed Ends Crypto Bank Oversight Program

Source: The Federal Reserve

State of play: The Federal Reserve has shut down its “Novel Activities Supervision Program,” a 2023 initiative that closely monitored banks’ involvement with crypto, distributed ledger technology, and fintech partnerships.

The Fed said it has gained sufficient understanding of these activities and will now fold supervision back into its standard process.

The move follows a broader regulatory pullback under the Trump administration.

Earlier this year, the Fed withdrew guidance discouraging banks from crypto and stablecoin activities.
Meanwhile, the FDIC removed notification requirements for banks engaging in crypto.
The SEC has also launched “Project Crypto” to update digital asset rules, signaling a coordinated regulatory reset.

Why it matters: The Fed’s move signals a clear regulatory reset, shifting away from restrictive oversight of banks working with crypto.

Our take: This shows regulators are normalizing crypto within traditional banking, but consistency across agencies will be key.

For builders and investors: Expect easier bank–crypto partnerships and clearer pathways for custody and payments integration.

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

Deribit Rolls Out USDC BTC, ETH Options

Deribit will launch USDC-settled linear Bitcoin and Ether options on August 19, alongside USDC-settled dated futures.

The move expands on last year’s introduction of stablecoin-settled altcoin options and reflects growing demand from both institutional and retail traders.
Unlike inverse contracts, linear options settle directly in USDC, improving accessibility, flexibility, and capital efficiency.
Deribit remains the largest crypto options exchange, recently hitting a record $185B in monthly volume.

Other cool products:

HunnySwap, a DEX on Avalanche.
UneMeta, an IP-centric community layer.
AiXBT, an AI Agent for crypto market intelligence.
ArtRun, a platform for creating and trading artcoins.

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CHARTS OF THE WEEK

OKX Burns $26B in OKB

Source: Etherscan

State of play: OKX has permanently burned nearly 279M OKB tokens, worth over $26B, slashing the total supply from 300M to 21M as part of a major tokenomics overhaul.

The update also removes minting and manual burns while discontinuing OKTChain by 2026.
OKB briefly spiked above $120 on the news before settling near $96.
Analysts noting markets may still overestimate token float.

Our take: OKX’s drastic supply cut makes OKB scarcer on paper, but long-term value will depend on whether real utility and demand catch up to the token’s new structure.

SharpLink Stock Falls on $103M Loss

Source: The Block

State of play: Ethereum treasury firm SharpLink Gaming (SBET) reported a $103M Q2 loss, with $87.8M tied to GAAP impairment on its staked ETH holdings, which had to be marked at the quarter’s low of $2,300.

Despite ETH now trading above $4,500 and SharpLink’s 728,804 ETH stash worth over $3.3B, shares dropped 10% to $21.15.
Nearly all of its ETH is staked, generating about $6M in rewards, as the firm positions itself as a leading public Ethereum treasury.
Chairman Joseph Lubin highlighted the firm’s strategy of aggressive ETH accumulation and staking as a way to compound long-term value.

Our take: SharpLink’s deep ETH exposure makes it a high-beta bet on Ethereum itself. Staking rewards help, but GAAP write-downs show how accounting rules can overshadow fundamentals in the short term.

QUICK BITES

Gemini targets Nasdaq as GEMI, reveals dip in revenue.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund boosted BTC exposure by 83% in Q2.
Metaplanet buys additional 775 BTC, lifting total holdings to 18,888 BTC.
Ethereum ICO wallet moves $1.5M in ETH, originally purchased for $104.
Japan to approve its first yen-denominated stablecoin as early as this fall.
US spot ETH, BTC ETFs log modest outflows following record volume week.
BTC slides to $115,500 as macro data continues to dampen market sentiment.
Story Protocol Co-Founder Jason Zhao steps back to pursue new AI venture.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

Delphi Digital’s read on How Zora's flywheel captures value.
Coinmetrics’s thread on Weekly State of the Market Report.
Yaki’s read on What Happen with Finn Baggs on Mr Beast Stream.

— Bold (@boldleonidas)
12:11 PM • Aug 16, 2025

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