Web3 Operators Weekly Update (April 18–25)

In a week that felt like someone hit “reset” on half the crypto industry, power changed hands at the SEC, Congress actually agreed on something, and DAOs somehow convinced people to give them more money.

From shifting DeFi regulations to dramatic platform exits and white-hat saves, the Web3 world is riding a fresh wave of cautious optimism and a bit of necessary chaos.

Marketing got a compliance makeover, ops teams earned their overtime, and Tally made DAOs look like grownups.

C-LEVEL STRATEGY

SEC Leadership Shift Sparks Industry Optimism 

Paul S. Atkins was sworn in as SEC Chair on April 21, replacing Gary Gensler. The agency began unwinding its adversarial approach to crypto, including clarifying that mining and fiat-backed stablecoins may fall outside securities laws.

Congress Overturns DeFi Reporting Mandate 

A bipartisan vote this week blocked the IRS’s expanded broker rule, sparing DEXs from unworkable tax-reporting obligations. This closes a major compliance concern for DeFi platforms.

DAO Governance Startup Tally Raises $8M 

Announced this week, Tally’s Series A will be used to scale on-chain governance tools and voter participation incentives, reflecting growing institutional interest in DAOs.

MARKETING & GROWTH

Phaver Shuts Down, Farcaster Leans In 

Phaver, Lens Protocol’s social app, formally shut down after a 99% token drop. In contrast, Farcaster launched Snapchain this week, a high-throughput chain for social activity, and rebranded Frames to Mini Apps for devs.

OpenSea Adds Solana in Beta 

During this week’s beta rollout, OpenSea 2.0 added support for Solana NFTs and meme tokens, aiming to capture liquidity from rival platforms.

XRP Wallets Surge After Futures News 

Active XRP wallets jumped 67% (from ~27K to ~40K) following Coinbase’s CFTC-approved futures announcement. A clear signal of latent demand.

Google Begins Enforcing MiCA for Ads 

Starting April 23, crypto advertisers targeting the EU must comply with MiCA rules and Google certification, raising the bar for compliant marketing campaigns.

FINANCE & COMPLIANCE

zkKYC Enters Pilot Phase 

Projects like zkMe and others introduced pilot implementations of zero-knowledge KYC systems this week. These allow users to prove identity attributes (e.g. age, residency) without disclosing personal info.

DAO Treasury Fund Launches with $400M 

Securitize and Mantle unveiled a tokenized index fund seeded by $400M from Mantle DAO. The crypto-native product will track assets like BTC, ETH, and SOL, with on-chain rebalancing.

HR & TALENT

Web3 Compliance Hiring Up 40% 

As of Q1 2025, hiring for crypto compliance officers jumped 40%, driven by new regulatory clarity. Reported by recruiting firms this week.

OPERATIONS & INFRASTRUCTURE

KiloEx to Fully Compensate Hack Victims 

On April 24, KiloEx announced full refunds to users after a $7.5M exploit, and a 10% APY bonus to LPs as a goodwill gesture.

Aurora Exploit Averted with Record Bounty 

Also confirmed this week: a white-hat hacker prevented a $200M exploit on Aurora and earned a $6M bug bounty, one of the largest in DeFi history.

Bybit Shuts Down Multiple Web3 Products 

Bybit announced the sunset of its DEX, NFT marketplace, and launchpad, effective May 31, following internal restructuring after prior security incidents.

Worldcoin Pulls Out of EU Markets 

Faced with mounting privacy pressure, Worldcoin ceased biometric onboarding in multiple EU jurisdictions this week, reinforcing the urgency of privacy-compliant identity systems.

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