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Pump.fun Debuts Mobile App for Launching and Trading Solana Meme Coins
Popular Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun is now available on iOS and Android, letting users create and trade tokens from anywhere.
Solana-based token launchpad Pump.fun unveiled its mobile app on Friday offering users the ability to trade meme coins and create new tokens for free via their mobile devices.
The app, which is available in the Android and iOS app stores, operates similarly to the Pump.fun website. Users can create a profile with an email address or login via Google, which automatically creates a Solana wallet utilizing wallet infrastructure from Privy.
Why an app? “Our users asked for it, we gave it to them,” a Pump.fun representative told Decrypt, further signaling that success will be found in users “downloading our app, finding value in the mobile experience, and continuing to actively use it as an alternative to our web UX.”
After creating an account in the app, users can create a token at no cost, or fund their wallets to buy and sell meme coins on the platform. Pump.fun takes a fee on every meme coin trade on the platform, which its app disclaimer cites is used to “cover platform costs.” Read More
Leveraged ETFs explained: How do they work?
Leveraged ETFs are a special type of exchange-traded fund that uses borrowed money or financial instruments (like options, futures or swaps) to amplify the daily performance of an underlying index.
Unlike traditional ETFs that track an index passively, leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) use derivatives, swaps and futures contracts to magnify gains or losses.
For example, consider a 2x leveraged ETF tracking the S&P 500. If the S&P 500 goes up by 1% on a given day, this ETF is designed to increase by roughly 2%. Conversely, if the index falls by 1%, the ETF typically drops by about 2%.
Additionally, the direction of movement of inversely leveraged ETFs differs from that of their underlying index. They are valuable for traders who want to profit from market drops because a -2x or -3x inverse leveraged ETF seeks to provide two or three times the inverse return of the index.
However, because these funds reset their leverage daily, their performance over longer periods can differ significantly from simply doubling the index’s return. The compounding effect during volatile periods can lead to outcomes that are much better or worse than expected. This makes leveraged ETFs suitable mainly for short-term trading rather than long-term investing.
This feature makes leveraged ETFs different from traditional ETFs, which track the performance of an underlying asset without amplification. Read More
Intent-based solutions can fix DeFi liquidity
Intent-based solutions offer a promising approach to tackle DeFi’s liquidity fragmentation, simplifying crosschain interactions and enhancing user experience.
Opinion by: Dmitry Zhelezov, co-founder and CEO of SQD Network
The decentralized finance (DeFi) industry is held back by a mess of its own making. Problems around liquidity fragmentation add to its complexity and intimidate users. Blockchain-based “intents” might be the solution, but only if the DeFi industry can find a way to ease concerns around centralization.
Intent-based architectures focus on the user’s intent or desired outcome. They’re a new paradigm in blockchain that’s gaining substantial traction, providing an original and simplified approach to managing and executing transactions with smart contracts.
Intents can resolve much of DeFi’s complexity, making it easier to move funds across networks and fix the problems with liquidity fragmentation.
Many DeFi protocols struggle with limited liquidity. Although there are billions of dollars locked up in DeFi, this capital is spread across multiple blockchains that cannot interact with one another, leading to slow transactions, high fees and substantial price slippage.
Liquidity fragmentation is one of the most significant obstacles for developers launching new DeFi applications. Developers can get around the problem using crosschain bridges to facilitate the flow of more funds from other networks, but doing this increases the complexity for users. Read More
Bitcoin, crypto firms move to El Salvador, but success rides on banking access
Crypto businesses in El Salvador are hopeful that a Donald Trump presidency will soften banking resistance to the industry, making it easier to operate as the world’s largest economy moves toward greater crypto adoption. This would mark a stark shift from recent years, when stricter policies left many firms struggling to maintain access to traditional banking services.
Most traditional US banks have mostly steered clear of digital asset firms in recent years, citing a lack of regulatory clarity. Companies in the crypto space have repeatedly denounced a deliberate effort from regulators in the country to choke them off the traditional financial system, a claim policymakers deny.
Yet even in El Salvador—the world’s Bitcoin trailblazer, which passed its Bitcoin Law in 2021 and has been steadily adding BTC (BTC) to its national reserves—crypto firms claim they are still struggling to access traditional banking services, facing many of the same hurdles seen in other countries despite the government’s pro-crypto stance.
“The big problem with the crypto world is bank (access),” said Eloísa Cardenas, Chief Innovation Officer at Monetae, an El Salvador-based exchange, in an interview with Cointelegraph.
“In El Salvador, there is a law, right? You say, 'Oh, it’s super pro-crypto,' but the banks won’t open an account for you. I’m telling you, even when you’re fully regulated and based in El Salvador, the local bank won’t give you access out of fear for its relationship with (US) correspondent banks. It’s ridiculous.” Read More
NFT market OpenSea teases token launch
Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea is preparing to launch a project token, SEA, according to a Feb. 13 announcement from the OpenSea Foundation.
The foundation did not specify the timing of the token launch but said SEA would be available to users in countries including the US. It added that “historical OpenSea usage, not just recent activity, will be an important ingredient” in token allocations.
OpenSea’s plans highlight the stark changes in the US regulatory environment for cryptocurrency firms following US President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. Trump said he wants to make America “the world’s crypto capital” and has nominated industry-friendly leaders to head key regulators.
In 2024, OpenSea faced lawsuits and regulatory inquiries alleging the NFTs traded on the platform qualified as unregistered securities. Fungible tokens — like SEA will be — faced even greater scrutiny. The probe remains unresolved, but Trump’s regulatory picks plan to scale back enforcement against crypto. Read More
A New Crypto Category Has Emerged. What Impact Will it Have…Will It Evolve Into A Significant Narrative?
US-based cryptocurrency initiatives have historically been reticent about their origins. However, during Gary Gensler's tenure, they became vulnerable to aggressive scrutiny from the SEC, and numerous projects found themselves in the regulatory crossfire. Being a US-based project has often been a liability rather than a benefit in recent years.
The cryptocurrency industry has been electrified by the outcome of the U.S. Presidential election, with Donald J. Trump's victory sparking widespread anticipation. The regulatory shifts expected under Trump's leadership are poised to grant the crypto sector unprecedented freedom in the United States.
A new cryptocurrency category has surfaced amid this enthusiasm: "Made in the USA." This category includes cryptocurrencies that are closely linked to the United States, whether through headquarters located in the US or ties to notable American personalities. With Trump backing crypto, this category could see substantial growth, likely surpassing many others.
This has the potential to evolve into a significant narrative; thus, this article explicitly addresses cryptocurrencies based in the United States, the reasons this narrative could gain prominence, and the cryptocurrencies that may benefit from a Trump administration. To commemorate President Trump's inauguration, a newly established cryptocurrency category titled 'Made in USA' has been incorporated into price tracking platforms, including CoinMarketCap and CoinGecko. Read More
How do scammers use fake transaction simulation sites to steal crypto?
Fake transaction simulation is yet another wallet-draining threat to unsuspecting crypto users. Also known as transaction simulation spoofing, scammers create the illusion of a successful cryptocurrency transaction without carrying out actual blockchain transfers.
Scammers use fake transaction simulators to deceive victims by presenting fake transactions that never reach the blockchain. To make a fraudulent act appear real, simulators modify wallet interfaces and generate deceptive notifications and fabricated transaction histories. Simulators can be in the shape of websites, malicious browser extensions, bots, mobile apps or smart contracts.
Victims of fake transaction simulators believe they have received funds, while there is no actual transfer of funds. As reported by ScamSniffer on Jan. 10, 2025, a transaction spoofing simulation was spotted with the scammer(s) successfully stealing 143.45 Ether, worth about $460,000.
As scammers exploit fake websites and platforms to simulate cryptocurrency transactions, phishing attacks have become increasingly prevalent. Wallet drainer phishing attacks surged in 2024, with losses skyrocketing to $494 million, according to the Crypto Phishing Report 2024 — a 67% increase from the previous year. The number of victims also grew, with 332,000 affected addresses, marking a 3.7% rise from 2023. These alarming figures underscore the growing sophistication of crypto phishing tactics. Read More
Ethereum devs agree to stop forking around and accelerate the roadmap
Ethereum core devs and ecosystem leaders were in favor of deploying future Ethereum protocol upgrades at a faster cadence during an “All Core Devs” meeting on Feb. 13.
The call included at least 25 participants, including Ethereum Foundation researcher Tim Beiko, who discussed the Pectra upgrade and the Fusaka upgrade.
“Pretty strong consensus from the Pectra Retrospective post that the people want faster fork cadences,” Nixo Rokish, a member of the EF’s protocol support team, said in a Feb. 13 X post
“That’s going to mean less dilly-dallying about scope and more aggressively presented opinions.”
The Pectra upgrade — which will aim to bring more functionality to crypto wallets and improve user experience (UX) — is scheduled for April.
The upgrade could be the largest in Ethereum’s history with up to 20 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), which, in addition to improving UX, will include scaling proposals that double the blob count for data availability from three to six. Read More
20 US States Push Bitcoin Reserve Bills, Potentially Igniting a $23 Billion BTC Buying Frenzy
Lawmakers across 20 U.S. states have introduced bills aimed at establishing bitcoin and digital asset reserves, potentially resulting in significant state-level investment. Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at asset management firm Vaneck, shared on social media platform X on Feb. 12:
We analyzed 20 state-level bitcoin reserve bills. If enacted, they could drive $23 billion in buying, or 247K BTC. This sum is independent of any pension fund allocations, likely to rise if legislators move forward.
These bills in Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Wyoming, Ohio, Texas, Utah, North Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, New Mexico, South Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, and Pennsylvania propose various levels of bitcoin allocations from general funds, stabilization reserves, and state treasurers’ accounts.
Some states are considering significant investments, with Arizona proposing an estimate of up to $8.7 billion and Florida planning a $3 billion allocation. Missouri has also introduced a bill that could allocate over $1.7 billion to bitcoin. However, not all states have disclosed specific funding amounts, making it difficult to gauge the total market impact, Sigel explained. For instance, North Dakota has an unspecified proposal, while other states like Pennsylvania have already seen their bills fail, he added. Read More
Story Protocol Debuts Mainnet to Bypass IP’s 'Rent-Seeking Intermediaries'
The network aims to reduce legal friction for IP owners, in the hopes of tapping into a multi-trillion-dollar industry.
The public mainnet for Story Protocol, a layer-1 network for licensing and maintaining intellectual property, is now up and running following a nearly six-month testnet phase.
Developed by PIP Labs, the project seeks to reduce legal friction for creatives and academics by hosting a platform for registering IP and leveraging it in commercial settings.
Allowing IP owners to set programmable terms for how their content is used, Story’s whitepaper says that “any two willing individuals can trade, extend, and monetize their ideas directly on Story without interference from rent-seeking intermediaries.”
Story's testnet phase began on August 27 last year, with the launch of the “Iliad” testnet.
Its mainnet kickoff comes after PIP Labs raised $140 million in total funding, backed by venture capitalists including a16z and Samsung Next. With Story out in the wild, the public may get a better sense of what drove PIP Labs’ reportedly $2.25 billion valuation in its Series B round.
Alongside the debut of Story’s public mainnet, a PIP Labs spokesperson told Decrypt a native token called IP is launching with an initial supply of 1 billion. Read More
Fed’s Waller says banks, non-banks should be allowed to issue stablecoins
United States Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said that stablecoins could expand the reach of the US dollar while calling for a regulatory framework that would allow banks to issue dollar-pegged digital currencies.
Stablecoins are an “important innovation for the crypto ecosystem with the potential to improve retail and cross-border payments,” Waller said at a conference in San Francisco on Feb. 12.
He added that the stablecoin market had matured and “would benefit from a US regulatory and supervisory framework that addresses stablecoin risks directly, fully and narrowly,” adding that both non-banks and banks should be able to issue stablecoins.
“This framework should allow both non-banks and banks to issue regulated stablecoins and should consider the effects of regulation on the payments landscape, including competing payment instruments.”
He also expressed confidence in the private sector to build stablecoin solutions for businesses and consumers while calling for clear regulations.
“I believe in the power of the private sector to develop solutions that benefit businesses and consumers, with the job of the public sector to create a fair set of rules for market participants to operate within,” he said. Read More
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
Featured Image Source: Pixabay
