💰 Tether Is About to Become More Valuable Than OpenAI

Remember when Tether was just "that stablecoin company" everyone loved to hate? Well, plot twist: they're now in talks to raise $20 billion at a $500 billion valuation.

Let that sink in. That would make Tether worth $100 billion MORE than OpenAI.

The El Salvador-based company is looking to sell roughly 3% of itself for $15-20 billion to high-profile key investors, according to CEO Paolo Ardoino. And honestly? The math kind of makes sense when you think about it.

USDT has a market cap of $173 billion and is basically the oil that keeps the entire crypto machine running. So many trades, DeFi protocols, and offshore exchanges run on Tether. It's not sexy, but it's incredibly profitable.

The revenue streams are wild: they're earning interest on $173 billion in backing assets (mostly U.S. Treasuries), charging fees for minting and burning, and basically acting as the central bank of crypto.

Is a $500B valuation crazy? Maybe. But in a world where tech companies trade at 30x revenue, a profitable stablecoin monopoly might actually be undervalued. 🤷‍♂️

🥇 Bitcoin Plays Hard to Get While Gold Parties

Gold just smashed through to new all-time highs, stocks are mooning, and Bitcoin is... sitting there like that friend who shows up fashionably late to every party.

What gives?

According to CryptoQuant research, crypto is just doing what it always does: sitting at the "end of the liquidity pipeline." Here's the flow:

1. Fed cuts rates

2. Institutions move into high-liquidity assets first (stocks, gold)

3. Risk appetite gradually expands

4. Finally, liquidity rotates into crypto

"Crypto—especially altcoins—sits at the end of the liquidity pipeline, benefiting only when risk appetite broadens," notes XWIN Research Japan.

The pattern is playing out exactly like 2024: front-run rally after rate cuts, correction when liquidity doesn't fully rotate, then explosive outperformance once traditional assets cool off.

Plus, stablecoin reserves hit $308 billion this month, but more coins are leaving exchanges than entering. Translation: smart money is parking liquidity, waiting for the right moment to deploy.

History says Bitcoin has a "lag, then leap" pattern. Following equity all-time highs, BTC has historically gained +12% in 30 days and +35% in 90 days.

XWIN says the setup is there. Patience, grasshopper.

📈 The Revenue Meta Is Here (And These Apps Are Crushing It)

Forget speculation. We're entering the era of crypto apps that actually make money. Real money. Daily.

Here are the top 3 holder-revenue-generating apps right now (courtesy of DefiLlama):

1. Hyperliquid: $2.98M/day The perp trading monster that's eating everyone's lunch

2. Pump.fun: $1.2M/day Meme coin casino printing money from degeneracy + streams

3. Jupiter: $790K/day Solana's DEX aggregator dominating swaps

As crypto trader Ansem perfectly put it: "We have seen the peak of crypto price action driven purely on speculation about future growth, and also... we are entering the most bullish period for businesses augmented by blockchain rails."

According to him, revenue in crypto comes from two sources:

• Users paying high fees because they're trying to hit home runs

• Blockchain rails being legitimately more efficient than traditional systems

Ansem thinks we’re near the peak of the first and just getting started with the second. That's why Solana, which dominates both verticals, is still "valued way too low" in his opinion.

The "revenue meta" isn't just a meme—it's the future. Apps with real product-market fit and sustainable cash flows are going to separate from the pack.

⚔️ Perp DEX Wars: Everyone Wants to Be Hyperliquid

CZ called it: "Whoa, now everyone wants to be Perp Dex."

Hyperliquid proved that you can build a better perpetuals exchange than centralized platforms. Now everyone's trying to copy the homework:

• Aster (ASTER): The new kid making waves with backing from major players

• Avantis (AVNT): Building their own take on decentralized perps

• Lighter: Another contender in the space

Competition breeds innovation, and users win when platforms have to fight for their business with better features, lower fees, and higher performance.

We think the perp DEX era is one of the best proofs EVER that decentralized infrastructure can outcompete centralized alternatives. That's a narrative worth watching.

🍟 Extra Crispy Crypto Links

• Pokémon cards meet DeFi: Tokenized Pokémon cards are having a moment, but collectors remain skeptical about using their NFTs as DeFi collateral.

• Vietnam cracks down hard: A Vietnamese court jailed 43 people for running a $3.8 billion crypto gambling operation.

• You can actually spend crypto now: From Starbucks to Microsoft to airlines, these mainstream businesses are quietly accepting Bitcoin, ETH, and XRP.

• Ethereum treasury companies multiply: Here are the 7 publicly traded firms that control over 4% of the entire ETH supply.

• South Korea gets serious about stablecoins: The government launched a Digital Asset Task Force after $40.6B in digital assets fled the country in Q1.

• Scaramucci backs AVAX: Anthony Scaramucci is leading the advisory board for AgriFORCE's pivot to "AVAX One," aiming to raise $550M to accumulate over $700 million in AVAX tokens.

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⏳ Wrapping Up

We're living through a fascinating transition in crypto. On one hand, you have Tether potentially becoming worth half a trillion dollars. On the other, you have meme coin casinos generating millions in daily revenue. Meanwhile BTC is trending downward.

The common thread? Actual utility and real cash flows matter more than ever. Whether it's Tether's stablecoin infrastructure, Hyperliquid's trading platform, or Avalanche's tokenization rails, the projects winning are the ones solving real problems for real users.

The speculation will probably always be there to some degree, but the businesses built on blockchain rails are just getting started.

Same time next week? Sounds good.

Until next time,
- The Chain Team

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