Crypto & DeFi | COO of Celsion Finance AG | All opinions are my own
Zürich, Schweiz
Joined May 2008
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Thomas Mueller retweeted
Excited to moderate "Buying vs. Building: Crafting a Long-Term Digital Asset Strategy for Banks" at the web3 Banking Symposium 2025, organized by @thecryptovalley in @luganomycity on March 27.
Joining me:
- @EmiMoonsoon / @talostrading
- Fritz Jost / @sygnumofficial
- @thmueller / @celsionofficial
- Massimo Butti / YouChainSwiss
We'll dive into the strategic choices banks face in integrating digital assets, whether to develop in-house solutions or leverage external platforms. Expect insights on risk, innovation, and long-term positioning in this evolving landscape.
📌 Full agenda: cryptovalley.swiss/2025-web3…
🎟️ Tickets (50% off for CVA members): lu.ma/web3-banking-symposium…
Thomas Mueller retweeted
1/ Chefs 👨🍳 are cooking
Chef @SebVentures just published "Cryptodollars and the Hierarchy of Money" 📜 on SSRN
At @SteakhouseFi , innovating in the stablecoin space is our DNA
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Great article by Amir Hussein from @celsionofficial
on technical analysis tools for crypto traders. See link for full article. Essential for making informed decisions in crypto trading by evaluating past market data.
celsion-finance.com/post/top…
#DigitalAssets #Crypto
Thomas Mueller retweeted
1.1% of euro-denominated crypto transactions are done using EUR-stablecoins. The same number is 90% for USD-stablecoins.
It sounds funny, but the 1.1% is actually an all-time high.
It was basically zero a few years ago. If you ask me, it will only continue to grow from here, and MiCA's entry into application will contribute to creating more attractive EUR-stablecoin liquidity and volumes.
Let's check again in 6-12 months 👀
Thomas Mueller retweeted
🌟 Welcome to Celsion Finance: A New Era in Digital Asset Banking 🌟
🚀 #CelsionFinanceLaunch
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Real question for Bitcoiners:
Why is everyone celebrating Trump saying that all the Bitcoins should be made in the USA?
Doesn’t that create jurisdictional risk and make #Bitcoin less decentralized and vulnerable to attack?
Why are you applauding that? I don’t get it 🤔
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Quick update on the DLT pilot regime (the pilot regime without pilot projects highlighted below):
EU Commissioner for financial services McGuinness shared a public letter in response to ESMA, highlighting that the DLT pilot regime will not be terminated after its initial period of 3 years, and therefore last at least another 5 years (6 in total).
Let's see whether the extended timeline changes the business case for entities considering to launch under the regime.
Public letter: esma.europa.eu/sites/default…
A pilot regime without pilot projects? 1 year after its entry into application, it is clear that the much-anticipated EU DLT Pilot Regime is not working and needs to be upgraded 🇪🇺👇
The aim of the regime was to allow on-chain trading and settlement of tokenized financial instruments (shares, bonds, UCITS funds) on a trial basis up to a certain threshold in order to identify and better understand the market needs and regulatory barriers that could later justify an amendment to the EU financial services regulation and a permanent introduction of the pilot regime.
Early this month, ESMA published a (concerning) update letter to EU institutions highlighting the complete lack of uptake and significant obstacles:
• While the Pilot was established for an initial period of 3 years (can be extended by another 3), no single entity has been authorized to start using and benefiting from exemptions under the regime. Currently, after a third of its initial phase, it is a pilot regime without pilots.
• Only 4 applications have been received by the NCAs (national regulators). ESMA anticipates that approx. 8 more applications could be submitted in 2024. Clearly, there is a lack of interest in the market right now. Why?
Obstacles identified by ESMA:
1) Lack of a tokenized cash leg. The Pilot allows entities to settle in e-money tokens, but according to ESMA only if they are issued by banks (non-existent product as of today).
2) Lack of clarity with respect to self-custody wallets and their use to hold/transfer tokenized financial instruments.
3) Interoperability issues - trading platforms need onchain settlement system or central securities settlement system on the same tech.
4) Lack of clarity with respect to the exact scope of financial instruments that can be traded/settled in these DLT pilots.
5) Lastly, and in my opinion clearly most importantly, the question of competitiveness and attractiveness of the current regime:
- the limited duration of the pilot (only 2 to maximum 5 years left). Who invests a ton of resources into something that might need to be phased out in 2 years?
- the low thresholds for financial instruments that can be traded/settled (shares < €500 million, bonds < €1 billion, UCITS funds < €500m). What's the business case for pilot participants under these low thresholds?
What needs to happen (asap) to change the slow uptake of the pilot?
• ESMA acknowledges that extending both the duration and the market cap tresholds would likely attract new participants. Agreed.
• ESMA/EU Commission need to provide regulatory clarity on open items fast.
• EMTs issued by non-bank payment institutions should be allowed to be used in these pilot regims.
All of this needs to happen fast or else the next DLT pilot regime status update in a year will only look marginally different, which would call into question the entire regime. We urgently need more pilots for the pilot!
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Robinhood is doubling down on crypto; acquires @Bitstamp
What you should know 👇
Even amid an SEC onslaught, Robinhood is committing to crypto
@RobinhoodApp is set to acquire Bitstamp in a potential $200 million deal designed to better position the crypto and stock trading platform for expansion outside the U.S
What’s the scoop?
- Global Expansion: Expected to close in the first half of 2025, this acquisition aims to expand Robinhood’s presence globally, incorporating Bitstamp’s retail and institutional customers in the EU, UK, U.S., and Asia.
- Veteran Exchange: Founded in 2011, Bitstamp is the oldest crypto exchange with over 50 global licenses. Its reach will enhance Robinhood’s offerings. Bitstamp currently supports over 85 tradable assets, including staking and lending, that can be integrated into Robinhood’s platform.
Bankless Take:
Robinhood's acquisition of Bitstamp represents a significant move in its crypto division. Doubling down on crypto to this degree, especially while still embroiled in legal hot water with the SEC, signals Robinhood has and anticipates further high demand for crypto — evident in its Q1 revenue.
While this acquisition will increase its retail offerings, it will also allow Robinhood to tap into institutional markets for the first time, signaling an understanding that funds will be a huge growth driver.
Overall, Robinhood’s purchase of Bitstamp brings another major American company onto the right side of history, demonstrating their understanding that “crypto will fundamentally reorganize the financial system” worldwide.
Thomas Mueller retweeted
everyone knows that SAB121 = bad but it's worth digging into why exactly its bad as Austin does here
there's really no reason to try and force the best and largest custodians to not custody crypto, unless you want to deliberately fragilize the industry and make it prone to collapses
that's what the dems are doing here – trying to create a timebomb that will create new FTXes. it's a shockingly cynical policy and a terrible way to approach an asset class that 50 million americans participate in
It’s nice to see that the Biden Administration still somehow supports FTX and the offshoring of the financial industry.
Why do I say that?
As a reminder, SAB-121, the guidance illegally adopted by the SEC without going through rulemaking procedures or conferring with our banking regulators adequately, does the following:
1 - Unlike custody for every other asset, custodians must consolidate customer assets onto their own balance sheet, meaning that there may be legitimate questions about assets being bankruptcy remote that do not extend to normal custodial relationships (e.g. somehow, insanely, the SEC appears to believe @FTX_Official had the right idea).
2 - Unlike custody for every other asset, custodians then must hold capital against customer assets they do not own, control, or receive the returns from, meaning they have costs but no offsetting revenue.
This serves as a de-facto blocker for regulated US firms to do custody, meaning that all crypto custodians are “unregulated” (which the SEC caused), and forces people wanting custody offshore to entities with far less clear rules and practices (like FTX) or, in the case of institutional players in sane jurisdictions, means the SEC intends to protect investors and promote capital formation in the United States by handing a monopoly on custody to Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore.
Put differently, if I were a foreign jurisdiction bribing SEC leadership so they would cripple America and empower me, I would have had them write something exactly like SAB-121. Rarely had a more counterproductive and consumer destructive rule existed.
For the Admin to now veto a bipartisan repeal of this shows the truth: if you are in favor of fairness and sane regulation of financial markets, you cannot vote for Biden.
Thomas Mueller retweeted
BREAKING🚨
Das US-Repräsentantenhaus hat für einen #Krypto-freundlichen Gesetzentwurf gestimmt👀
Durch #FIT21 soll die CFTC anstelle der SEC "dezentrale" Kryptowährungen regulieren.
Biden äußerte sich bereits kritisch zu dem Gesetzentwurf.
👇👇👇
blocktrainer.de/blog/fit21-u…
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Ok listen up, there's something cool and novel and interesting happening in crypto that you should know about. Namely:
1. There's a new vertical developing, called SocialFi,
2. The best examples of this vertical are on Avalanche
3. There is a new application that you just have to see that I will link below.
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Today @Uniswap responded to the SEC's Wells notice
We believe the SEC should embrace open source technology that makes markets cheaper, faster, and more safe
Tokens are a file format, like a pdf. And the Uniswap Protocol is a general purpose internet protocol that anyone can use and integrate, like TCP/IP
With their theories, the SEC is seeking to dramatically expand their jurisdiction to cover all digital value, open source code, and general purpose internet communications protocols
This is not their job - they are meant to be a securities regulator that enforces disclosures related to the sale and trading of securities - not the world internet police
This SEC’s reckless approach to crypto has not protected consumers and has caused immeasurable harm in the US - to individuals, businesses, and the state itself. We should lead on internet innovation, not stifle it
We are proud of our work and have nothing to hide. We’re ready to fight for Uniswap and DeFi in court. And we’re ready to win 🦄
Read a summary and the full 40 page statement here:
blog.uniswap.org/the-fight-f…
Today, @Uniswap has submitted our response to the SEC Wells notice we received in April.
The Uniswap protocol represents an innovation in commerce that solves long-standing problems– with near-instant, intermediary-free, secure trading of any assets. It is the first widely used automated market maker and solves persistent liquidity and pricing problems for long-tail assets. It represents a step-change in how people can buy & sell things from each other.
One day, years from now, the protocol (and those like it) may be how people buy and sell everything, everywhere.
The Uniswap protocol is also in full compliance with US law. An SEC action would primarily affect activity clearly beyond their authority.
To begin, the SEC is targeting assets and people in nations well beyond its authority. The protocol is used overwhelmingly to trade obvious commodities–ETH, WBTC, and stablecoins alone are about 65% of the trading. An estimated 75% of usage is outside the US. The math on these two means over 90% of volume is obviously beyond SEC jurisdiction. So the SEC would be bringing a case to target at best a very small percentage of volume on a general-purpose technology–the tail wagging the dog.
Congress tried to do something like this once with the internet.
Back in the mid-90s, Congress decided that the internet was for porn, just as the SEC has decided blockchain is for securities. So Congress passed a law treating most normal websites like porn, requiring ID or credit-card proof that website users were 18. But that was unbelievably stupid. You don’t remember it because the courts threw it out immediately–and in a decision that constrained Congress’s power over the internet to this day. The same thing would happen here–if the SEC brought a case, it would lose, and lose in ways that undermine any future authority over DeFi, crypto, and future tech.
The legal arguments against Uniswap are weak and wrong.
The SEC arguments rest on the false assumption that just about “all” tokens are securities (which the SEC then refuses to register). But a token is merely a file format–like a PDF or JPEG. Tokens can represent any value, and overwhelmingly represent commodities (btc, eth, stables) & memes & access for useful networks. PDFs are not inherently stock certificates, and tokens are not inherently securities.
Even if securities were involved, the Uniswap protocol (and web app, and wallet) don't fall under definitions of the “securities exchange” or “broker.”
Under law, the Uniswap protocol would have to be specifically designed “for” “securities” –and it is not. It is for general purposes, mainly used for commodities. It also must be operated by a “group.” But it is autonomous software–just as Satoshi Nakomoto doesn’t operate or control the Bitcoin Protocol, nobody operates or controls the Uniswap Protocol.
Our case is so strong that the SEC is trying to change the law to fight us.
The SEC has a pending rulemaking proposing to rewrite its own definition of “exchange”–and to redefine “group” and several other words beyond what they actually mean. Changing what words mean in order to sue us under the new made-up law just isn’t going to work in court.
The SEC also knows their wallet and interface arguments are weak. A court just rejected similar arguments against Coinbase, determining that even if tokens traded were securities, self-custody wallets do not meet the test for being a “broker.”
We have provided our views and will litigate if we have to.
Our outside counsel has already defeated the SEC in the Ripple case (Andrew Ceresney) and in the Grayscale case (Don Verilli). 2-0 so far. And we have a very strong case. If forced to litigate, we will win.
The SEC is a repeat offender against crypto – in the ongoing cases with Coinbase, Grayscale, Ripple, Robinhood, DebtBox, and others, the SEC has been ruled as committing "gross abuse of power" and not acting "out of a faithful allegiance to the law."
An SEC acting in good faith would not bring a case here.
The Uniswap protocol actually embodies the SEC’s own mission statement: "to protect consumers, to maintain orderly markets, and to facilitate capital formation." Disappointing that they refuse to learn from and embrace it.
Read the blog on our response: blog.uniswap.org/the-fight-f…
Full PDF response is available here: blog.uniswap.org/wells-notic…
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Narrative matters in crypto, and we all love to track narratives.
Before we dive into the juicy bits, here’s a short of recap of @_kaitoai's narrative mindshare methodology. To put it simply, our narrative mindshare indicator measures the social dominance of narrative relative (%) to the overall market. The denominator consists of folks in the CT circle from our proprietary search engine + social graph data, and the numerator is the social mentions of every narrative. This offers the most quantifiable and hollistic view of the narratives at any point of the market cycle.
Let’s take a look at some of the narrative mindshare changes since the start of the year:
⁃ AI narrative still remains as one of the strongest narratives in Q1-Q2 of 2024. In 2023, AI was also a clear dominant narrative taking up 30-50% of mindshare most of 2023. This is a signal that the AI vertical is here to stay, given the parabolic growth of the entire AI space (both within and outside of just the crypto bubble)
⁃ SocialFi had the biggest + change in mindshare since Jan 24', spurred by the revival of Friendtech, introduction of Fantasytop, and other notable projects
⁃ Memes (evidently) took the lead as one of the strongest narratives in Q1-Q2 of 2024
⁃ BRC20 experienced the largest drawdown in mindshare, likely due to narrative exhaustion post-Bitcoin halving, lack of recent interest in Ordinals/ Runes. Worth noting that BRC20s as a vertical took up a significant portion of total mindshare exiting 2023
⁃ DeSoc is also positioned to be a strong contender in terms of mindshare dominance - with Farcaster, Friendtech, DeSo, and others, making waves
⁃ GameFi had a fall-out in narrative mindshare compared to the start of the year - lots of chatter about how it takes one game to revive the entire GameFi sector, we have yet to see any big gaming launches year-to-date
⁃ The LSD + LRT narrative both took a bit of a hit compared to earlier in the year, post EIGEN token announcement, and majority of the bigger LRT protocols like Renzo, Etherfi, and co having ended their points program/ S1-S2 campaigns
Given how the current narratives unfolded this year, what’s in the horizon?
⁃ AI + memes have consistently been a dominant narrative since the start of the year. Question is whether mindshare continues to hold up for both of these sectors. For AI, the thesis is quite clear as there are plenty of external factors like OpenAI’s iterative rollouts of their Chatgpt models, talks of AGI, NVIDA, and other factors that could be bullish for the AI vertical throughout the year. Memes also generally have no ceiling as it is completely subjected to market trends and culture
⁃ DePIN as a vertical has also been growing steadily this year, quite similar to AI where we are continuing to see interesting experiments in this sector
⁃ Talks of ETFs will pick up again as Ethereum ETFs continue to be the talk of the town
⁃ ZK is also another under the radar narrative that hasn’t truly picked up in adoption yet, but might be poised for a comeback with zkSync’s TGE (hopefully soon)
Narrative Mindshare now vs the start of the year:
Thomas Mueller retweeted
.@Europarl_EN has approved a broad package of anti-money laundering laws targeting various financial services and entities, including crypto. @iamsandali reports
trib.al/qKLWGnS
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Aragon is yet another reminder that absolutely nothing novel or exceptionally valuable has ever come from a DAO*. In fact, it’s incredibly embarrassing that a DAO designed to aid in the development of other DAOs cannot even figure out how to properly structure itself as a DAO.
Thomas Mueller retweeted
Europe already has the most crypto-friendly banks in the world, by far.
With the MiCA regulation coming into force, this global lead could increase even further.
Facilitating access to banking services for crypto-asset service providers is explicitly stated as one of its goals.
Thomas Mueller retweeted
.@BankofAmerica says that despite last year's digital asset market correction and bankruptcies, the crypto ecosystem continues to develop, with traditional finance companies like @NasdaqExchange offering more services in the space. @willcanny99 reports.
trib.al/j6ZXF4o