What do Tron and the Smurfs have in common?

Hi,

A short newsletter this week because I’m en route to Las Vegas, a city I love even though I don’t partake in most of what it offers. I just appreciate that Las Vegas isn’t trying to be anything other than Las Vegas, you know? We need more of that.

I’m headed there because Crypto.com very generously invited me to cover the launch of their Crypto.com Visa Signature® Credit Card during UFC international fight week. This is also my first business trip with my kids in tow, so say a prayer for me and watch me post through it here.

Love,

The Boys

Writer: Deana

Tron Inc. The crypto treasury prophecy, as foretold here and elsewhere, is unfolding in real time.

Last week, Tron announced its going public in the U.S. via a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed SRM Entertainment, to be rebranded as Tron Inc. What on earth is “SRM Entertainment,” you might be asking?

“An award winning innovation company” that sells Smurf sippy cups.

Of course, the only thing that really matters about SRM Entertainment is its public stock listing. Tron is using the company as a wrapper to bring its token treasury onto public markets, with $TRX backing the balance sheet and Justin Sun advising from the wings.

Axios is calling it a test of the public market’s appetite for “edgier crypto.” 

It’s a Microstrategy play, but louder. Sun is reportedly working with Eric and Don Jr.'s investment firm, so it’s doubtful that any of Justin Sun’s SEC and fraud issues will flare up here, at least for now.

And…oop here’s another!

Guys, I love to get creative with money too, albeit on a different scale, but I’m a little concerned about a house of cards situation here. Because this is all I see.

But maybe it’s not 2022 all over again. Maybe Tron Inc. is the opening act of something different than we’ve seen before. After all, the tides seem to be shifting considerably.

For those of us who’ve been here through hype cycles, regulatory uncertainty and existential Ls, we want to believe! We want this next chapter to be a win for crypto, not just a spectacle. So I remain hopeful, but braced.

Quick Hits.

• ZachXBT brings receipts on a Coinbase impersonator with a bad Bitcoin tattoo who stole $4M and lost most of it gambling.

• “This might be the dumbest thing anyone has said to the FBI.” 

• Venice locals are protesting Bezos’ wedding.

• Fiber collabs are hitting the timeline.