SOL’s SIMD-228 Rejected, Inflation Unchanged

WLFI’s $550M Sale | Bitcoin ETFs Erase 2025 Gains

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
March 17, 2025

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Good Morning.

The fact that the most topical news item is a HLP whale that’s being hunted down by other traders show what state of the market we’re currently in — that and also Strategy announced they’re buying an additional $10.7M worth of BTC (why even bother announcing lmao). Let’s have a good start to the week

In Today's Email:

What Matters: Solana’s SIMD-228 Fails, Token Emissions Unchanged 🛑
Product: Noble’s $USDN 💵
Charts: Bitcoin ETFs Erase 2025 Gains, WLFI’s $550M in Public Token Sale 👀

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Narratives: BNB has been soaring, perhaps CZ’s focus on the chain is starting to bear fruit.

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

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WHAT MATTERS

Solana’s SIMD-228 Fails, Token Emissions Unchanged

Solana SIMD 228 Voter Turnout

State of play: Solana’s governance proposal SIMD-228, aimed at reducing SOL token inflation through a dynamic emissions model, failed to secure the required 66.67% approval, despite a record voter turnout of 74%.

The proposal sought to adjust SOL issuance based on staking participation, potentially lowering inflation below 1%/year at the current staking rate of 65%.
However, it only garnered 61.4% support, with 43.6% voting "yes" and 27.4% voting "no", keeping the current fixed 4.6% inflation schedule in place.
The largest crypto governance vote ever, SIMD-228 faced opposition from smaller validators and stakers concerned about profitability.

Meanwhile, SIMD-123, which introduces on-chain validator revenue-sharing with stakers, successfully passed with 75% approval, enhancing staking incentives and transparency.

Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko noted the mixed results, suggesting opposition to SIMD-228 wasn't solely driven by self-interest.

What’s next: With SIMD-228 failing to pass, Solana's tokenomics will remain on its current fixed inflation schedule, gradually decreasing from 4.6% annually to 1.5% over time.

For builders and investors: Governance does matter.

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 👇

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

Noble’s $USDN

Noble’s USDN is a stablecoin backed by US Treasury Bills (103%), built using M^0’s infrastructure. It automatically distributes yield to holders every 30 seconds and is fully customizable, allowing developers to adjust branding and tokenomics to fit their needs.

Users can choose between two vaults:

Points Vault: Earns loyalty points but does not collect yield.
Boosted Yield Vault: Earns the base 4.15% yield plus extra yield from the points vault.

USDN is multichain-compatible, available on Keplr Wallet, and can be purchased with bank transfers or credit cards via KadoMoney.

It offers a new approach to stablecoins, combining flexibility, rewards, and ownership across different blockchain ecosystems.

Other cool products:

FxDAO, a decentralized borrowing protocol.
LiquidsFi, a multichain stablecoin bridge protocol.
ROME, a Swarm Protocol of the Rivalz World Abstraction Layer.
Golden Finance, a decentralized derivatives & social trading platform.
The Innovation Game, a collaborative ecosystem for algorithmic research.

CHARTS OF THE WEEK

WLFI’s $550M in Public Token Sale

ICO Drops

State of play: World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a Trump-backed DeFi project, raised $550M in its latest public token sale, bringing total fundraising to $590M.

The sale covered 25% of WLFI's 100B supply, with 63% planned for public distribution.
WLFI launched in September 2024, focusing on DeFi and USD-backed stablecoins.
Tron’s Justin Sun invested $30M and became an advisor, while Web3Port added $10M.
WLFI grants governance rights, but tokens are locked for 12 months.
Despite Trump's name on the project, its white paper states he and his family do not own or run WLFI.

Our take: Crime szn innit.

Bitcoin ETFs Erase 2025 Gains as Inflows Drop

The Block

State of play: US spot Bitcoin ETFs have erased most of their year-to-date gains, with cumulative inflows dropping to just $35.2B, barely above the $35B recorded on January 2.

After logging net outflows in February and March, the fund's total value is down 25% from its January peak, despite a recent 10% BTC price rebound.
Analysts suggest that early investors are fully allocated, and fresh demand or a market catalyst is needed to drive new inflows.
Meanwhile, asset managers are shifting focus to altcoin ETFs, with proposals for Polkadot, AVAX, Solana, Dogecoin, and XRP gaining traction.

Our Take: It all depends on macro now.

QUICK BITES

Aave founder confirms new token will not be created.
21Shares to liquidate wwo Bitcoin and Ether Futures ETFs.
South Korea cuts out Bitcoin strategic reserve considerations.
US Bitcoin ETFs erase year-to-date gains as cumulative inflows drop.
Only 10% of Americans support increasing federal funding for crypto.
OKX suspends DEX aggregator following Lazarus 'misuse' and EU scrutiny.
Crypto whale shorts $445M in Bitcoin while taking bullish bet on MELANIA.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

thiccy’s read on Jordi Alexander’s interview transcript.
Archimed Capital’s read on the distribution imperative.
Jameson Lopp’s read on against allowing quantum recovery of BTC.

If you asked me 3 years ago what I thought the 2 most important technologies would be in the next decade I would have said AGI and restaking. Pretty much nailed that one.
— Gwart (@GwartyGwart)
2:41 PM • Mar 15, 2025

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