Prediction markets now overwhelmingly favor Native Markets, but questions about credibility linger as the vote approaches. Ethena, the team behind the USDe synthetic dollar protocol, withdrew its bid to issue Hyperliquid’s USDH stablecoin, conceding to concerns raised in direct discussions with community members and validators. In a X statement Thursday, the Ethena team acknowledged pushback over not being a Hyperliquid-native project and said it would step aside, congratulating rival Native Markets, now viewed as the frontrunner in the race. “While some are complaining about their [Native Markets] lack of credibility I think their success here perfectly embodies everything which is so special about Hyperliquid and their community,” wrote Ethena Labs founder Guy Young, adding: Read more
Romania’s national commission for prognosis and statistics revised downwards its projection for the country’s economic growth for 2025 to 0.6% from 1.4% in its spring forecast, following the magnitude of tax correction shocks and soaring electricity prices.
Mega Matrix is betting big on Ethena, positioning itself as the first public proxy for the ecosystem as stablecoin regulation heats up. Public holding company Mega Matrix (MPU) has made the Ethena stablecoin ecosystem the centerpiece of its digital asset strategy, betting that the synthetic dollar project can capture market share from incumbents like Circle. The company’s push comes on the heels of the US GENIUS Act, a comprehensive stablecoin bill that establishes federal oversight of issuers, sets capital and liquidity requirements and creates a framework for banks and fintechs to issue dollar-pegged tokens under regulatory supervision. However, Circle is currently the only publicly traded option to capitalize on the enormous growth of stablecoins, Colin Butler, Mega Matrix’s executive vice president and global head of markets, told Cointelegraph. Read more
United States investigators said on Thursday they had found the bolt-action rifle they believed was used to kill influential conservative activist Charlie Kirk as he gave a talk at a university in Utah, but were still searching for the shooter. Kirk, an influential ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot on Wednesday while speaking at Utah University, sparking a manhunt for a lone sniper who the governor said had carried out a political assassination. Authorities said they still had no suspect in custody as of Wednesday night, some eight hours after the midday shooting at Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah, during an event attended by 3,000 people. Cellphone video clips of the killing posted online showed Kirk addressing a large outdoor crowd on the campus, about 64 kilometres south of Salt Lake City, around 12:20pm MT (18:20 GMT or 23:20 PKT), when a gunshot rang out. Kirk, a staunch defender of gun rights, was answering an audience question about mass shootings when the bullet struck his n...