Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. Subscribe to the Morning Minute on Substack.

Today’s top news:

  • Crypto majors dip after Monday’s rally; BTC at $114,300
  • SEC gives green light to liquid staking, says not securities
  • SBET adds 83,561 ETH in past week, now holds $1.9B
  • Pump Fun re-flips LetsBonk in volume, market share; Pump coins jump
  • Ape CryptoPunk sells for 720 ETH ($2.58M)

SEC Gives Crypto Staking the Green Light

The SEC is now on offense when it comes to crypto—and it’s good news.

What Happened

The SEC has officially confirmed that certain Ethereum and Solana staking protocols are not considered securities. That includes self-custodial and non-custodial staking providers that issue liquid staking tokens.

Under this decision, decentralized staking services such as HashStaking and GeekStake are aligned with regulatory expectations. These platforms provide staking services where users retain full asset control, while earning passive income through liquid or native staking processes.

The SEC’s statement builds on a prior exemption that covered self-staking and custodial staking. This latest decision formally extends the exemption to include issuing staking tokens and distributing financial rewards to users—something that was previously in a legal gray area.

The news comes after months of speculation about whether liquid staking providers would face enforcement actions, especially following lawsuits targeting centralized staking services.

This also removes one of the last barriers to allowing staking within Ethereum and Solana ETF structures.

What They’re Saying

“SEC says certain liquid staking tokens are NOT securities… Think last hurdle in order for SEC to approve staking in spot eth ETFs. The reason? Liquid staking tokens will be used to help manage liquidity w/in spot eth ETFs, something that was a concern for SEC.” – Nate Geraci, on X

“The SEC continues to provide clarity—today, it’s liquid staking. In a detailed statement, they carefully demonstrate why ordinary liquid staking activities should not be regulated under securities laws. Huge win.” – Miles Jennings, on X

Why It Matters

This is a major shift for Ethereum, Solana, and the entire decentralized finance landscape.

Staking has long operated in a regulatory gray zone. Now, that uncertainty is being cleared up.

For Ethereum: Platforms like HashStaking, which support ETH staking without custodial control, are now better positioned to grow with legal confidence. This protects a substantial portion of Ethereum’s ecosystem and encourages broader adoption.

For Solana: With the green light from the SEC, providers like GeekStake can more confidently support staking growth on the Solana network, especially in MEV and infrastructure-related applications.

For DeFi: This decision may be a signal of broader acceptance for decentralized staking models—including advanced systems like restaking, liquid restaking, and cross-chain derivatives.

For ETFs: With legal clarity, staking is now one step closer to being integrated directly into spot Ethereum and Solana ETFs.

Most importantly, this shows that the SEC is serious about delivering on its promises through Project Crypto. The guidance isn’t just words—it’s being implemented, and fast.

Expect more clarity to follow.

Despite the bullish policy shift, ETH still dropped 1% on the day.

Macro Crypto and Memes

A few Web3 and crypto headlines that stood out:

  • Crypto majors slightly dipped after Monday’s rally: BTC -0.3% at $114,300, ETH -1% at $3,630, XRP -4% at $2.95, SOL -4% at $164
  • Top movers included PUMP (+6%), MNT (+3%), TRON (+1%)
  • ETH ETFs saw $73.3M in inflows after two days of outflows; BTC ETFs remain on a four-day outflow streak
  • Stablecoin usage reached an all-time high of $1.5T in July
  • Coinbase launched an Embedded Wallets SDK allowing direct wallet integration in apps without seed phrases
  • Coinbase also announced a $2B convertible note offering
  • Solana rolled out its second-generation Seeker smartphones

In Corporate Treasuries

  • SharpLink Gaming added 83,561 ETH last week, now holding over 521,939 ETH (~$1.9B)
  • Strategy and Trump Media acquired the majority of Galaxy Digital’s 80,000 BTC ($9B) sale
  • Upexi confirmed it holds over 2M SOL ($335M), now trading at 1.6x mNAV
  • CEA Industries raised $500M for BNB holdings; MEI Pharma bought $100M of LTC

In Memes

  • Memecoins were mostly down: DOGE -3%, Shiba -2%, PEPE -3%, BONK -7%, PENGU -7%, TRUMP -2%, SPX -2%, FARTCOIN -7%
  • Pump Fun overtook LetsBonk in volume and market share, hitting 55% dominance
  • TROLL surged another 60% to $190M and a new ATH; HOUSE (+70%), SPARK (+450%), BUCKY (+30%), CHILLHOUSE (+20%) also rose

Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here’s what’s moving in token launches and airdrops:

  • Succinct Labs launched PROVE token with a $237M debut market cap ($1.2B FDV)
  • Towns Protocol airdropped TOWNS token, debuting at $86M cap ($630M FDV)
  • MoonPay introduced Virtual Accounts in partnership with Axal, offering automatic yield (6–10% APY on stables)
  • Base halted block production for 29 minutes on Tuesday
  • Hyperliquid accounted for 35% of all blockchain fee revenue in July

AI x Crypto

Key movements in the AI sector:

  • Overall market cap dropped 2% to $10.35B
  • Leaders mostly down: FARTCOIN (-7%), VIRTUAL (-4%), ALCH (-5%)
  • Top gainers: GAMBLE (+200%), DARK (+70%), TETSUO (+16%)

NFTs

A snapshot of the NFT world:

  • Ethereum NFT leaders were flat: CryptoPunks at 51.5 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 14, BAYC +1% at 12 ETH
  • Notable movers: Mooncats (+30%), Otherdeeds (+20%)
  • Bitcoin NFTs mostly neutral
  • Abstract NFT winners: Noah’s Ark (+160%), Klara (+27%)
  • Ape CryptoPunk sold for 720 ETH ($2.58M), marking one of the biggest Punk sales in months
  • XCOPY’s “hello admin dm me” sold for 65 ETH ($232,700)
  • A Skeleton Meebit fetched 23.8 ETH ($85,811)