The biggest crypto acquisition ever... or just gossip

🤔 The biggest crypto acquisition ever... or just gossip?

Plus: Jaypeg's memecoin scandal - dog ate his tokens?

GM. Let's add some zest to your day with our latest crypto cocktail - fresh insights stirred with a dash of market buzz.

💰 Stripe bought Bridge for $1.1B.

😬 A crypto influencer caught lying about not getting his Uptober tokens.

🍊 News drops: the US SEC still claims that unregistered Solana sales break the law, changes on X are pushing people towards decentralized social networks + more

🍍 Market flavor today

Find out more about the Fear & Greed Index here.

Name	Price	24H %	7D %
Crypto Market Cap $2.41 Trillion 0.64% (24H)
Bitcoin BTC	$68,165.64	0.40%	5.12%
Ethereum ETH	$2,698.55	2.29%	5.91%
BNB BNB	$606.84	2.44%	4.33%
Solana SOL	$166.07	5.35%	8.88%

Prices as of 08:45 AM EST. Click here to see live data.

It's getting hot in here! 🔥 The Fear and Greed Index is cranked up to 72, and FOMO is the name of the game.

Bitcoin's been eyeing that $70K like it's the last slice of pizza. It briefly hopped over $69.2K in the past day and has been chilling above $68K since. Yet, while the hype is real, it's mostly among those already in the game. We might need a bigger spark to get the masses on board, and some think that breaking past $70K could be just the trigger.

Now, what's fueling this rocket? The usual suspects: macroeconomics, politics, and that good ol' seasonal cheer. QCP Capital pointed out that climbing US stock markets and a weakening Japanese yen could push risk assets higher and support the Uptober narrative.

In other news that's making the crypto world spin, the SEC gave the thumbs-up to the NYSE and Cboe Global Markets to list and trade options on spot Bitcoin ETFs. And speaking of, BTC ETFs had a killer week, attracting over $2B in inflows. Nate Geraci from ETF Store called it "simply ridiculous" and said this isn't just retail money - it's big institutional players continuing to slowly adopt.

So, grab your popcorn and HODL tight - the rocket shows no signs of slowing down! 🚀

📖 Stripe + Bridge = poetry

Stripe /straɪp/ - a line that's a different color from the surrounding surface.

Bridge /brɪdʒ/ - a structure that gets you from point A to point B over some obstacle.

You /juː/ - questioning wtf happened to the Daily Squeeze and why we're suddenly discussing linguistics. Yeah, I get it. Let's reframe these definitions, business style:

- Stripe - one of the biggest payment gateways out there, providing services to millions of companies around the world.

- Bridge - a stablecoin-focused network created by ex-Coinbase execs that lets businesses manage, send, and accept stablecoins.

… ok? 😀 Still, why are we talkin' about them? Well, four days ago, it was just a rumor, and today… it's still rumor-ish, but Stripe bought Bridge for a whopping $1.1 billion!

The founder of TechCrunch, Michael Arrington, spilled this tea, but it's in the rumor zone 'cause neither of the companies have publicly addressed it. If true, it's not just big for Stripe - making it their largest deal ever - but it would also be the biggest acquisition in crypto history.

With all that in mind, those word definitions suddenly make sense. With this purchase, Stripe is making itself stand out from the surrounding companies by stepping into digital assets, which builds a stronger bridge between traditional and decentralized finance. Wow… beautifully poetic.

And for you? That's bullish - it's one more push toward mainstream adoption!

🖼 Let's just stick to PNG

So far, we've talked about some great things that had happened in crypto. Aaand back to scams. Aaand, of course, memecoins are involved (it's a love-hate relationship with 'em).

A memecoin called Uptober was launched recently. Like many of these projects, the team behind it decided to get someone with a following to hype it up - so they contacted a crypto influencer named Jaypeg.

They made a deal through Telegram, and it was: Jaypeg gets 2% of the total supply (worth about $2.2K) → he promotes the memecoin.

The Uptober team did their part, and then… Jaypeg straight-up dumped his tokens. Oh, and then he claimed he never got anything, saying he accidentally sent the wrong wallet address that wasn't even his. He explained that this was why he later deleted the message with the address. I'd bet my entire net worth that he's used the "my dog ate my homework" excuse at least once before.

Much to Jaypeg's misfortune, ZachXBT stepped in (translation: run). He did some digging into the wallet address, and found that this was the address that received a Solana Saga airdrop shortly after Jaypeg promoted it on social media. Coincidence? I think not.

To clear up his name, Jaypeg announced that even though he didn't get the Uptober tokens, he'd donate $2.2K to charity just to prove he didn't care about the money.

… 🙄 Is it a nice thing to do? Yes. Does it magically undo the fact that he just lied to everyone? I'll let you decide on that one.

📰 News drops

💊 The Pump.fun team has announced a new trading terminal called "Pump Advance." It comes loaded with mini-charts, insights on top holders, and social trend indicators to keep you in the loop.

⚖️ In an updated complaint against Binance, the SEC ditched the term "crypto asset securities" when talking about tokens. But they doubled down on claims that exchanges broke the law by letting users trade SOL.

🚩 Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's co-founder, raised a red flag about how economies of scale in staking are pushing small pools to join forces with larger ones. He warned that this centralization could lead to increased censorship risks and other serious issues for the network.

🦋 Elon Musk's X is making decisions like letting third-party AI devs use user data, which is pushing more people towards decentralized social networks. Bluesky, for instance, just hit over 12 million users.

🦧 ApeCoin (APE), the crypto linked to the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), saw its value double over the weekend. The surge kicked off after their team launched the ApeChain blockchain network.