The Daily: Crypto meets the White House, Cboe re-files for spot Bitcoin ETF options, Trump Jr. talks memecoins and more

Crypto execs meet White House officials

• Government officials, such as U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed and Vice President Kamala Harris' Director of Legislative Affairs Kristine Lucius, attended the virtual meeting, according to a source.
• Rep. Ro Khanna organized the event, which also included Ripple executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen, Uniswap CEO Hayden Adams, Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, Mark Cuban, Coinbase's Paul Grewal, Anthony Scaramucci and others.
• There was a bit of "airing of grievances," but the crypto industry attendees also spoke about use cases and policy outcomes, including what regulators should be looking for, as well as a focus on jobs and economic impact, the source said.
• The meeting was much smaller than when President Biden's Senior Adviser Anita Dunn, lawmakers and crypto leaders met last month in Washington D.C., the source added, but the big difference this time was who attended because Brainard and Adeyemo were there — "the most senior level representatives overseeing crypto policy in the Biden administration in terms of non-regulators," they said.
• "That is very much seen as moving the ball forward," both Brainard and Adeyemo were "very inquisitive," they added.
• Crypto has played a significant role in this upcoming election season as millions of dollars from the industry have flooded into super political action committees.
• The Republican Party and its candidate, Donald Trump, have already pledged to support the crypto industry in the 2024 elections, while Democratic Party candidate Kamala Harris' team has begun engaging with the space more recently.

Solana developers patch critical vulnerability

• The Solana Foundation initiated the patch process discreetly on Wednesday by contacting network operators through private channels to avoid the vulnerability being exploited, according to Solana validator Laine.
• The patch enabled operators to independently verify and apply the changes, and by Thursday, detailed instructions for implementing the patch were distributed to various stakeholders, resulting in 66.6% of the network's stake being secured.
• The vulnerability was then publicly disclosed after 70% of the network had implemented the patch, with Solana Labs issuing an announcement urging remaining operators to update their systems.

Cboe re-files for spot Bitcoin ETF options in sign SEC may be engaging

• James Seyffart highlighted that the new filing proposes a rule change "to allow the exchange to list and trade options on units that represent interests" of the Fidelity, Ark Invest/21Shares, Invesco, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, WisdomTree, Grayscale, Bitwise, BlackRock and Valkyrie spot Bitcoin ETFs, not specified in the original January filing.
• "To me it means that the SEC likely gave some sort of feedback? Which looks like it was related to position limits and market manipulation concerns," Seyffart noted.
• "Just as 'comments from the SEC' was a good sign in our ETF approval odds, we think this is a good sign here too," fellow Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas added. "Because if they were just gonna deny outright why bother engaging at all?"

Tether set to double workforce by mid-2025

• The company, which issues the largest stablecoin, USDT, with a market cap of over $115 billion, has historically operated a streamlined team, currently consisting of just over 100 employees in 50 countries.
• However, amid substantial growth that saw Tether generate a record $5.2 billion profit in the first half of 2024, Ardoino said the company recognized the need for strategic expansion.
• "By mid-next year, we plan to double our workforce to around 200 employees, with a substantial focus on enhancing our development, investment and compliance teams," Ardoino said. Bloomberg first reported the news.

Donald Trump Jr. says he loves memecoins, but new project is something 'much bigger'

• He clarified that the RTR memecoin, which faced a "pump and dump" controversy this week amid rumors of being associated with his father, is not connected to the project he and his brother Eric Trump are building.
• "I think what we want to do is sort of, take on a lot of the banking world," Donald Trump Jr. said. "This notion of decentralized finance is obviously very appealing to guys like me who've been de-banked or haven't been able to get insurance or what not."
• The Block found earlier this week that the project may be called "World Liberty," as indicated by trademark applications filed in July.

Looking ahead to next week