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Hi! In today’s edition:
• 🔥 Ethereum devs call out Foundation for mismanagement
• 💰 Coinbase drops $400M on Cobie’s NFT + startup Echo
• 🚀 Ethena doubles down with new hires and fresh product lines
Insiders Speak Out Against Ethereum Foundation
Internal disputes and allegations highlight deep divisions over the Ethereum Foundation’s (EF) leadership and evolving role in the network it helped create.
Earlier this week, Péter Szilágyi, the lead developer of Ethereum’s primary execution client, Geth, shared a letter he had sent to the EF leadership team more than a year ago.
In that letter, Szilágyi said the Foundation had a history of underpaying its employees, which forced its most trusted staff to seek compensation elsewhere. He disclosed that over his six-year tenure as Geth lead, he received a total of about $625,000 — a figure that sparked widespread commentary on X, where many users expressed disbelief at how low the compensation was given his critical role in maintaining Ethereum’s core infrastructure.
Szilágyi also suggested that the success of Ethereum-based projects boiled down to their relationship with founder Vitalik Buterin.
“Do I find Ethereum fixable? No, not really. I don't see how any of this can be reversed. I feel the Foundation blew allegiance to it beyond reversal,” he said.
Polygon co-founder and CEO Sandeep Nailwal said Szilágyi’s letter made him realize it was time to speak up.
“NGL, I’ve started questioning my loyalty toward Ethereum,” said Nailwal.
Among the issues he laid out was the Ethereum community’s failure to consider Polygon a layer 2 network, despite the fact that Polygon PoS is “effectively hinged” on Ethereum.
“When Polymarket wins big, it’s “Ethereum,” but Polygon itself is not Ethereum. Mind-boggling,” said Nailwal.
Coinbase Buys Cobie’s ‘Up Only’ NFT and Echo for $400 Million
Coinbase has bought the Up Only NFT from crypto investor Jordan Fish, better known to the crypto community as “Cobie,” for $25 million in USDC.
The purchase sets the stage for a potential revival of the cult-favorite crypto talk show UpOnlyTV.
The Up Only NFT is not a typical collectible; it acts as a contractual mechanism requiring Cobie and his co-host Brian Krogsgard or “Ledger Status,” to produce eight new episodes after the NFT is activated or “burned.”
“Just burnt the NFT. Your move,” said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on X, sharing details of the transaction.
“It has been 3 years since up only ended. I was in my 20s when it started, now I have grey hair. We will rename it Unc Only and I will spend $25m on cosmetic surgery. See ya soon,” said Cobie.
In related news, Coinbase also acquired Echo, a platform for community-based crypto fundraising, in a $375 million deal that signals the exchange’s deeper push into onchain capital markets beyond trading and custody.
Echo, founded by Cobie, has enabled over $200 million in funding across 300 projects and offers tools for both private and public token sales, including its self-hosted Sonar product.
Coinbase said the acquisition would help simplify fundraising for startups while expanding early access to deals for individual investors—though it’s starting with token sales, the company hinted at future plans to support tokenized securities and real-world assets.
The move follows Coinbase’s recent purchase of Liquifi and continues a trend of building out infrastructure aimed at controlling more of the crypto project lifecycle.
🏦 Crypto neobanks are hot rn 🔥
LIVE on Unchained today at 12pm ET, Laura unpacks the madness with Itamar Lesuisse, cofounder of Ready, and Mike Silagadze, founder of EtherFi and Top Hat. 📺️ Tune in on YouTube, X, PumpFun, or Twitch!
Ethena Labs Expands to Support Two New Products
Ethena Labs, the issuer of the synthetic stablecoin USDe, is expanding its team for the first time since launch.
Ethena co-founder Guy Young shared plans to hire around 10 new members primarily in engineering and product development.
The expansion will be focused on supporting two new business lines and products that Ethena Labs aims to launch within the next three months, according to Young.
Ethena's new products include iUSDe, designed as a TradFi token targeted at regulated financial institutions. iUSDe will act as a "simple wrapper contract" tokenizing USDe, allowing institutions to access stablecoin yield without onchain transfers.
Ethena's ecosystem has seen its total value locked (TVL) surge from $4.7 billion in mid-2025 to over $11 billion currently.
🏙️ Blockchain.com is holding talks to go public in the U.S. through a SPAC deal and brought on Cohen & Company Capital Markets as adviser, following a trend of crypto firms pursuing listings after big valuation swings over the past few years.
💰 Solana Company (formerly Helius) advanced the unlock date of its $500 million private investment round, triggering a wave of early share sales that pushed its stock down about 60% in three days to $6.50, below its September issue price.
🔓 A coalition of U.S. crypto, fintech, and retail groups urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to block big banks from charging for consumer data access, warning that such fees would weaken open banking and could cut stablecoins and crypto wallets off from the U.S. financial
🚫 British Columbia announced plans to permanently ban new crypto mining projects and limit electricity use by AI data centers, saying it will prioritize power for industries like mining and natural gas that create more local jobs and revenue.
⚡ New York Democrats introduced a state assembly bill that would make proof‑of‑work crypto miners pay up to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour depending on their energy use, funneling the proceeds into programs that help low‑income households with utility bills.
