Here’s what you’ll find in today’s edition:

• A deeper look at the latest M&A deal bridging crypto and TradFi.

• Confused about higher US Treasury yields? We have some theories. 

• Another crypto firm appears nearly set to make its public debut in the US.

Crypto-TradFi intersections proliferate   

Crypto is becoming more entwined with TradFi as acquisitions and partnerships continue.  

We noted the record amount of crypto M&A in Q1 — featuring Kraken’s unprecedented $1.5 billion acquisition of NinjaTrader. 

In another 10-digit deal, Ripple said Tuesday it has agreed to buy Hidden Road for $1.25 billion. It gives the blockchain infrastructure provider access to a firm with clearing, prime brokerage and financing capabilities across FX, digital assets, derivatives, swaps and fixed income.

The theory is that aside from trading services, Hidden Road brings a level of credibility to digital assets that’s expected in legacy finance. 

A prime broker clearing $3 trillion annually for more than 300 institutional customers, Hidden Road is the intermediary for hedge funds, market makers, OTC desks and quant traders. It is now set to migrate post-trade activity across XRP Ledger.

Architect Partners founder Eric Risley told me last week that “bridge transactions” — M&A between crypto and non-crypto companies — would remain a theme in 2025.

Michael Klena, a partner at the advisory firm, noted this morning that these so-called bridge deals signal healthy interest in the crypto ecosystem and “[move] blockchain forward to fully assimilate into the larger financial world.”

As for why Ripple did this, the potential for broader stablecoin adoption appears to be at the heart of it. An acquisition could be the only way for the crypto firm’s RLUSD stablecoin to compete with those of Tether and Circle, Klena explained.   

“By having Hidden Road captive and using RLUSD as its primary settlement and payment option, it puts RLUSD into the crypto ecosystem with a key avenue,” he told me. “The upside is that RLUSD has a chance to become entrenched in TradFi usage.”

Klena noted that headline deals (like this, Kraken-NinjaTrader and last year’s Stripe-Bridge transaction) force participants to review their strategy and the inorganic M&A channel — whether as a buyer or seller.

“Activity begets activity, so we expect increasing deals over the next several quarters,” he added.

The deal’s timing is not surprising — coming a few weeks after Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said on the Digital Asset Summit stage that the SEC planned to drop its appeal against Ripple. 

The executive noted in a Tuesday statement that we sit at “an inflection point” for the next phase of crypto adoption now that such a regulatory overhang is gone. 

As we see more examples of TradFi-crypto intersections, asset management giant BlackRock also extended its relationship with crypto bank Anchorage Digital. 

This link-up comes “as demand for digital asset products increases, and as our footprint in the ecosystem grows,” BlackRock’s Robbie Mitchnick noted in a statement.

Anchorage started custodying BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, in December. The bank is now listed as a custodian of BlackRock’s spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, filings show. 

The relationship lays the groundwork for “deeper collaboration” between the firms, Anchorage said. A spokesperson declined to comment on specifics for now, meaning we’ll just have to keep an eye out.

— Ben Strack

Nothing Changes Without Builders

The Fed won’t onboard the next billion users. Rates won’t fix UX. Monetary policy won’t push your code to prod.

The thing that moves crypto forward? Builders.

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Not an event. A checkpoint. For the ones writing the next cycle into existence.

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📅 June 22–26 | Brooklyn, NY

The tariff on Chinese imports to the US — effective at midnight — should China not back down from its 34% retaliatory tariffs against the US. 

President Trump announced the new rate Tuesday. The latest levy comes after Trump yesterday threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports.

Stocks appeared to be on a tentative path to recovery midway through Tuesday’s session, but US Treasurys were still on the rise. It’s hard to say exactly why, but we have some theories. 

Given the broader market selloff and increased fears of a recession, investors could be pulling out of bonds in favor of cash — either to hold or reinvest into equities. (Remember, Treasury prices and yields have an inverse relationship). 

We don’t know how much (or even if) foreign bond holders are selling. But it’s possible they’re pulling out of the market, potentially as retaliation against tariffs. In an escalating trade war, offloading bonds is a powerful weapon. 

The Treasury reports the data on a monthly basis with a roughly six-week lag, so we won’t get February’s figures until later this month. 

Japan has been the longtime top foreign holder of US Treasurys. As of January, the country had $1.08 billion in government bonds. China and the UK are the next largest holders, with holdings amounting to $761 billion and $740 billion, respectively, at the start of the year. 

The 10-year yield has been above 4% since Monday, hovering around 4.2% Tuesday afternoon. The one-year yield briefly hit 4% earlier in Tuesday’s session, but quickly fell back to around 3.9%.

— Casey Wagner

Galaxy's possible US listing in the coming weeks would end a years-long process and keep the momentum around more crypto firms going public.

The SEC has “declared effective” the company’s registration statement to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, Galaxy said yesterday. 

The company’s shareholders are set to vote on Galaxy’s reorganization (becoming a new Delaware holding company) on May 9. Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz said in a statement that, if approved, the listing could be completed by the end of Q2.

Galaxy, listed in Canada since 2018, has tried to gain a US listing for years. The company will keep trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, it said Monday.

Executives noted on Galaxy’s March 28 earnings call that they had recently submitted an amended S-4 responding to the SEC’s ninth round of comments. Geez Louise.

There’s little doubt this step forward is a result of Gary Gensler no longer leading the agency. The SEC has clearly cut out its animosity toward crypto segment players in recent months.  

Shares of crypto wallet provider Exodus became available on the NYSE American stock exchange in December. That company also had its troubles getting a green light from the previous SEC administration.

Other companies appear to see the new SEC as an opportunity to do the same, with Circle and eToro publicly filing for IPOs in recent weeks. 

And so, it appears there could soon be more avenues for investors to gain crypto exposure. As 10T Holdings founder Dan Tapiero said at DAS last month: “American investors love owning equity.”

— Ben Strack

• Venture capital firm a16z is reportedly looking to raise $20 billion for a fund investing in AI. 

• The DOJ on Monday issued a memo disbanding its crypto enforcement team, citing President Trump’s commitment to ending “regulatory weaponization against digital assets.” 

• Markets are increasingly expecting a rate cut from the Federal Reserve in May, with odds now sitting at 47%, per CME Group data. That’s up from 19% a week ago.