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Asia Morning Briefing: Vitalik’s Plan Can Bring ETH to $3,000 and Crypto ‘More Popular’ Than Stocks in Korea

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Good Morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the markets:

Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas.

Macro Events and Vitalik’s Bold Plan to 10x Ethereum Layer 1 Could Propel ETH Past $3000: OKX’s Lennix Lai

ETH traders are eying $2600 as Asia begins its business day, but OKX’s Chief Commercial Officer Lennix Lai sees an easy path for the token to hit $3000 if Vitalik Buterin can get rid of Ethereum’s reliance on Layer-2s.

Layer 1 refers to the main blockchain infrastructure, such as Ethereum itself, while Layer 2 solutions are secondary systems built on top of Layer 1 to enhance scalability and speed up transactions.

«Vitalik’s pivot to scale Ethereum Layer 1 by 10x will be a game-changer, shifting focus away from heavy reliance on Layer 2 solutions like sharding,» Lai said in a note to CoinDesk, referring to recent comments Buterin made at ETHGlobal Prauge.

«On our platform, ETH perpetual futures made up 44.2% of trading volume over the past 7 days, showing us that sophisticated investors are closely tracking this evolution,» he continued.

Lai points to this week’s key macro events, like the ECB’s rate decision and U.S. jobs data, as factors that could significantly impact risk-on appetite, potentially pushing ETH past $3,000 short-term, though Ethereum’s long-term success hinges on Vitalik’s ambitious roadmap.

Elsewhere, CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model bot highlights Ethereum’s resilience above critical support at $2,600, driven by institutional inflows nearing $1.2 billion and significant whale buying, positioning ETH for a possible altcoin rally.

(CoinDesk)

Hashed CEO Simon Kim Says Korea Election Boosts Crypto, Stablecoins, and AI

Simon Kim, the CEO of Korea’s largest crypto fund Hashed, believes crypto has become a critical force in South Korean politics, and it’s going to be business as usual for the industry under the country’s new left-leaning President Lee Jae-myung.

«Officially, crypto is more popular than the stock market in Korea,» Kim said in a recent interview with CoinDesk.

He pointed to data showing 16.29 million daily active crypto traders compared to 14.24 million active equity traders, noting that political parties now see supporting crypto as essential to winning elections.

South Korea’s crypto policies also continue to be closely tied to U.S. regulatory developments, according to Kim.

«All the Korean politicians are following the U.S.,» he explained, noting how American institutions and regulators are guiding global standards. Kim added that Korea’s previously set crypto capital gains tax policy, scheduled to begin in early 2027, remains unchanged.

Kim expects Lee’s administration to develop stablecoin policy, as they currently account for about one-tenth of Korea’s crypto trading volume.

Issuing a stablecoin in Korea might be complicated because the Korean won is a tightly controlled onshore currency with strict capital restrictions, making it challenging to integrate into borderless crypto markets.

Kim said that in his conversations with some policymakers, they say there is «no kind of benefit to adopting stablecoin won in the Korean market,» given its advanced payments ecosystem.

But stablecoins are here to stay, as Kim says they already account for one-tenth of trading volume in the country, and there’s a growing recognition that they need to be safely integrated into the economy, where they can be taxed.

«Stablecoins are not just a payment network,» he said. «It’s building a unique digital platform enabling smart contracts and making an autonomous economy.»

Beyond crypto, Kim expects Lee’s administration to pursue substantial investment in artificial intelligence.

Yet Kim expressed skepticism about plans to create a sovereign generalized AI platform comparable to U.S. giants like OpenAI.

Instead, he argued Korea’s strength is in «physical AI», building specialized solutions tailored to sectors where Korea excels, including semiconductors, electronics, and advanced manufacturing.

“I believe the new administration has some sense that we have unfair advantages in the physical AI ecosystem. That’s the point I’m very excited about,” he said.

News Roundup

Circle Prices IPO at $31 Per Share

Circle priced its IPO at $31 per share, surpassing the anticipated range of $24 to $26, raising approximately $1.1 billion and valuing the stablecoin issuer at around $6.9 billion, CoinDesk previously reported. The offering included about 34 million shares, significantly more than the initially planned 24 million, indicating strong market demand.

Trading under the ticker «CRCL,» Circle will debut Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, marking a major milestone after a previous failed SPAC attempt in 2021. As issuer of the USDC stablecoin, Circle’s listing arrives amid renewed legislative interest in digital assets and potential regulatory clarity, potentially strengthening investor confidence amid recent crypto volatility.

Trump’s Crypto Connections Under Scrutiny as US Congress Debates Crypto Regulation Bill

U.S. House Republicans are advancing legislation to regulate crypto markets through the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, CoinDesk previously reported, holding two hearings Wednesday in preparation for a potential committee markup next week.

Republicans argue the bill urgently addresses the crypto industry’s demand for clear regulatory frameworks to prevent innovations from moving offshore, highlighting the risk of the U.S. falling behind Europe and Asia in crypto oversight.

Democrats, however, criticize the legislation as rushed, complex, and lacking sufficient consumer protection, particularly citing unresolved conflict-of-interest concerns related to President Donald Trump’s personal cryptocurrency business activities. Democrats insist the bill needs stringent safeguards and transparency measures, as Representative Jim Himes emphasized, to secure bipartisan support, while Republicans largely dismiss these allegations as politically motivated distractions.

Market Movements:

  • BTC: Bitcoin saw notable volatility, swinging 1.67% amid significant institutional withdrawals, struggling to hold support above $105,000 as trade disputes heightened market uncertainty.
  • ETH: Ethereum surged 4%, rebounding from a strong support near $2,590 driven by institutional buying and whale accumulation, forming a potential base for an upward breakout.
  • Gold: Gold rallied over 0.80% to $3,382, recovering from a $3,343 low after weaker U.S. economic data and escalating US-China trade tensions boosted safe-haven demand
  • Nikkei 225: Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.39% at the open amid mixed Asia-Pacific trading, driven by concerns over a cooling U.S. job market
  • S&P 500: The S&P 500 closed modestly higher at 5,970.81 Wednesday, supported by tech shares despite concerns over weak hiring data and escalating trade tensions.

Elsewhere in Crypto:

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First Solana ETF to Hit the Market This Week; SOL Price Jumps 5%

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Solana SOL jumped about 5% Monday morning amid rumors that a SOL Staking exchange-trade fund (ETF) by Rex Shares and Osprey Funds could start trading on the market as soon as Wednesday.

The token later fell back slightly, now trading up about 2.3% over the past 24 hours at $157 at press time.

A spokesperson for Osprey confirmed to CoinDesk that the «fund will launch Wednesday,» following a post on X by the automated headline account «Unfolded.»

Just last week, Rex filed a letter with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asking whether comments had been resolved for their filing. Later that day, the asset manager posted on X that the ETF was “coming soon,” suggesting that the SEC had no further comments.

The REX-Osprey SOL+Staking ETF would be the first of its kind in the U.S. Several issuers are still awaiting approval for a spot SOL ETF which would likely also include staking capabilities.

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Katana Mainnet Goes Live as Pre-Deposits Hit $232M

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Self described ‘DeFi-first’ layer-2 blockchain Katana has launched its mainnet after receiving $232 million in pre-deposits.

Deposits flooded in after Katana was revealed to the public less than a month ago. DefiLlama data shows that deposited jumped from $75M to $2320M between June 1 and June 30.

Depositors will receive randomized reward NFTs called Krates, as well as a share of 70 million KAT tokens, Katana’s native token. Upon launch, yield farmers will be able earn more KAT by staking on platforms like Morpho and Sushi.

The blockchain aims to solve one of DeFi’s largest problems: Liquidity.

A lack of liquidity can lead to a multitude of issues including slippage, inefficient pricing and unsustainable yields.

Some of the mechanisms Katana will use to solve that the issues is VaultBridge, which is a product that enables yield generation on deposited assets on Ethereum, as well as chain-owned liquidity (CoL), which allows Katana to retain 100% of net sequencer fees and convert them into liquidity reserves.

«Katana represents the endgame for how blockchains create value in DeFi,» Marc Boiron, co-contributor of Katana said in a press release.

The launch coincides with yield farming incentives including token rewards for liquidity providers on Morpho and Sushi.

Despite being based on Ethereum, Katana is blockchain agnostic so users can generate a yield on blockchains like Solana through Katana’s collaboration with Jito, a liquid staking protocol.

UPDATE (June 30, 2025, 17:46 UTC): Updates to reflect new numbers in pre-deposits.

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Why Are There No Big DApps on Ethereum?

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On July 30, 2025, we will be celebrating a decade since Ethereum launched on mainnet. Inarguably, one of the biggest milestones in this industry’s short life.

When it launched as the world’s first smart contract platform, this was obviously something entirely new and a completely new way of thinking about software. Instead of renting access to someone else’s platform that could change the rules or lock you out at any moment, one could – in theory – now participate in systems that belonged to everyone and no one, where the rules were written in code and couldn’t be arbitrarily changed by a CEO’s whim. Users would own their date, and software would be maintained and managed by a network rather than a boardroom. The consequences seemed pretty utopian.

However, nearly ten years on from Ethereum’s launch and the dreams of a Web3 version of Amazon, eBay, Facebook or TikTok haven’t arrived, and are nowhere on the horizon.

Gavin Wood, Ethereum co-founder, and his vision of “Web3” envisaged exactly that. Joe Lubin, the renowned founder of Consensys, said that “Ethereum will have that same pervasive influence on our communications and our entire information infrastructure.»

The libertarian journalist Jim Epstein predicted a year after Ethereum’s launch that “the same types of services offered by companies like Facebook, Google, eBay, and Amazon will be provided instead by computers distributed around the globe.”

Vitalik Buterin himself envisaged Ethereum “law, cloud storage, prediction markets, trading decentralized hosting, [hosting] your own currency,” in his 2014 Bitcoin Miami speech, where he announced Ethereum to the world. “Perhaps even Skynet,” the fictional artificial neural network from the Terminator films. He has described the platform he created as both a threat and an opportunity to platforms like Facebook and Twitter back in 2021.

The Scale Problem

The barrier to achieving this vision is scale. The most successful consumer applications today serve hundreds of millions of users. Instagram processes more than 1 billion photo uploads daily. eBay handles roughly 17 billion dollars in transactions each quarter. Facebook’s messaging platforms process trillions of messages annually.

Ethereum processes about 14 transactions per second, and Solana can handle over 1000. Instagram handles over 1 billion photo uploads daily. eBay processes 17 billion dollars in transactions quarterly. The math doesn’t work.

Let’s entertain the decentralized eBay example for a moment. A truly decentralized eBay would demand far more than simple payments. Every listing creation or update would require onchain transactions for item metadata, pricing, and condition details. Auctions would need automatic bidding resolution with time-locked smart contracts. Escrow systems would have to hold funds until delivery confirmation, with DAO arbitration for disputes.

User reputation systems would require immutable rating storage tied to wallet addresses. Inventory management would need real-time stock tracking, possibly through tokenized goods. Shipping confirmations would demand oracle integration for delivery proofs. Marketplace fees and tax royalties would need smart contract enforcement. Optional identity verification systems would require decentralized credential management. Each interaction would multiply the transaction load exponentially beyond what current infrastructure could support.

It goes without saying that this would require a blockchain of unprecedented speed and throughput. Frankly, a decade after Ethereum, the infrastructure just hasn’t been there to support it.

The Economics Don’t Work

The business model hasn’t always made sense either. Modern applications need massive scale to generate revenue that covers development costs. Furthermore, layer 2 solutions fragment users across platforms, where (for example) Arbitrum users can’t directly interact with Polygon applications. This defeats the purpose of building unified global computing.

This isn’t theoretical. OpenSea struggled with profitability despite dominating NFT trading with high-value transactions & fee-tolerant users. If you can’t profit from selling digital art to crypto enthusiasts paying hundreds in fees, how do you build a marketplace for used goods? The economics are even worse for lower-value transactions that define mainstream commerce. A decentralized social network charging $5 per post would be dead on arrival.

Gaming applications that require a few dollars in transaction fees for every item trade won’t attract players who expect the same for free elsewhere. So far, the only viable on-chain businesses have been those that can extract massive value from relatively few users – essentially high-stakes financial applications and speculative trading.

The Calvary Is Coming

The industry accepted a false tradeoff: security and decentralization, or functionality and scale, but not both. But transaction throughput has steadily increased (and will continue to) across networks as the technology matures. We can now achieve massive scale even with proof of work chains, maintaining the security and decentralization that made blockchain revolutionary in the first place (rather than the premature embrace of proof of stake that compromised these principles).

Zero-knowledge proofs allow users to prove transaction validity locally, submitting only small cryptographic proofs that are aggregated recursively and in parallel by a network of provers. Networks can process millions of transactions without every node verifying each one individually. When users prove their own transactions, the marginal cost of adding an additional transaction approaches zero, and blockchains can finally support the economics that mainstream applications require.

But ten years on, it’s clear that the vision once laid out by the futurists of Web3 has moved at a disappointing pace. Let’s hope the next decade moves a little faster – and, fingers crossed – our blockchains too.

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