TRUMP, DOGE, BONK likely to approve ETF, but Cathy Wood won’t invest: Finance Redefined
The first memecoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are growing under new leadership from US securities regulators, industry watchers told Cointelegraph.
Despite rising ETF opportunities linked to the massive rally following the launch of President Donald Trump's official TRUMP memecoin, ARK Invest's Kathy Wood says she's not keeping her focus on the three biggest cryptocurrencies.
TRUMP, DOGE, BONK ETF Approvals ‘More Likely' Under New SEC Leadership
First, memecoin-based ETFs are seeing a resurgence, in part due to new leadership at the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Following the Trump family's launch of memecoins, the crypto industry saw a surge in memecoin ETF filings, which attracted significant retail attention.
The SEC has first approved ETFs for TRUMP, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Bonk (BONK), Cointelegraph reported on January 21.
According to Dmitry Radin, founder of Zekret and chief technology officer of Fedium, a crypto regulatory and infrastructure firm, the approval of memecoin-based ETFs comes from new SEC Acting Chairman Mark Yuda.
“Approval of TRUMP, BONK and DOGE ETFs now more likely with Trump's new crypto-friendly SEC picks,” said Cointelegraph. “This is a bold move, which could lead to greater liquidity and mainstream acceptance for memecoins.”
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Cathy Wood Won't Invest in Trump Coins, Sticks to ‘Big Three'
Wood, CEO and CEO of ARK Investments, Trump is bringing the next phase of the crypto revolution.
In a Jan. 22 interview with Bloomberg, Wood discussed Trump's impersonation, which began shortly before his inauguration as America's 47th president:
“[TRUMP] It will have no utility […] There is an assumption that […] As one of the perks of owning this coin, you can meet President Trump. I don't know if this is the case or not, but so far we don't know if there is much use for this coin other than President Trump's own memecoin.
She compared the current memecoin wave to the 2017 initial coin offering movement.
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The Trump family can build “huge businesses” on Ethereum – Lubin
The Trump family may expand its involvement in the cryptocurrency industry by launching an Ethereum-based business.
This speculation follows the release of several memecoins bearing Trump's name and the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States on January 20.
Ethereum founder and Consensus founder Joseph Lubin hinted at this development in a January 21 post on X.
“Based on what I know, the Trump family will build one or more huge businesses on Ethereum,” Lubin wrote. “The Trump administration will do what's best for America, and that includes ETH.”
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US court overturns Tornado Cash ban in crypto landmark case
A US court overturns sanctions on the TornadoCash cryptocurrency mixing protocol, potentially leading to a radical shift in innovation-friendly privacy protection technologies.
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) first sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022 for allegedly facilitating money laundering by North Korea's Lazar Group. The group recorded more than $455 million worth of stolen digital assets through the protocol.
It was Persev who initiated the arrest of Tornado Cash developer Alexey Persev, who was found guilty of money laundering by a Dutch jury on May 14, 2024 at the s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal. $1.2 billion in illegal assets through the platform.
In a significant development, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas reversed OFAC's sanctions, according to a January 21 court filing. The court said:
“It is ordered and ordered that the judgment of the circuit court be reversed and the cause remanded to the district court for further proceedings in accordance with the opinion of this court.”
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Amidst $29 million in “suspicious” spending flows, Pemex stopped spending
The Pemex crypto exchange suspended its shutdown after being alerted to a suspicious flow of around $30 million that raised alarms among blockchain security firms.
It has seen more than $29 million worth of crypto transactions across multiple blockchains, including BNB (BNB), Polygon (MATIC), Arbitrum (ARB) and Base (Base), according to onchain security firm Syverse.
The leaks indicated “suspicious transactions” involving Pemex's hot wallets, Syvers said in a Jan. 23 X post:
“More than $29 million worth of digital assets have been transferred to suspicious addresses. These addresses have started exchanging assets for $ETH.”
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Overview of the DeFi market
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green.
Out of the top 100, the official TRUMP (TRUMP) token made the biggest weekly gain of over 429%, followed by the Radium (REI) token, which gained over 38% on the weekly chart.
Total value is locked in DeFi. Source: Defillama
Thanks for reading this week's roundup of the most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and lessons about this dynamic and evolving space.
