Crypto lender Nexo is resuming operations in the United States, two years after settling a $45 million fine with the SEC. Cryptocurrency lending firm Nexo is re-entering operations in the United States, nearly two years after settling a $45 million…

Crypto lender Nexo returns to US two years after $45m settlement with SEC

When Donald Trump was running for president, he pledged to build 10 new US 
cities, dubbed &#8220;freedom cities,&#8221; from scratch, designed to improve the quality 
of life for Americans.
These new high-tech communities were to be created on public land, and they 
were going to be free of the &#8220;nightmare of red tape,&#8221; including lengthy 
environmental reviews, that had hampered the development of affordable housing 
in many parts of the US.
Freedom cities aren&#8217;t really a new idea. They are a rebranding of charter 
cities, which have been around since the late 1800s. Still, Trump&#8217;s proposal 
won the gung-ho support of many of Silicon Valley&#8217;s tech bros, whose backing 
helped tilt the last US presidential election in his direction, and many of 
whom &#8212; e.g., the PayPal mafia consisting of Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc 
Andreessen and Balaji Srinivasan &#8212; were also enthusiastic early supporters of 
cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
In mid-March, the new administration made some tentative moves to make freedom 
cities a reality. Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Housing and 
Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced a Joint Task Force on using 
underutilized federal land suitable for housing.
&#8220;America needs more affordable housing, and the federal government can make it 
happen by making federal land available to build affordable housing stock,&#8221; 
they wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
How serious is one to take this idea of new, free-floating cities to be built 
on federally owned land? The administration says freedom cities are needed to 
help quell the national housing crisis.
But others suggest that building new communities free from many state and 
federal laws and rules, like the Clean Water Act or the Endangered Species 
Act, is to create places that are, in effect, outside of the law &#8212; &#8220;where the 
rules are suspended and don&#8217;t apply anymore to certain people.&#8221; And if so, 
what does that mean for the rest of the country?
## &#8220;These are not normal times&#8221;
&#8220;In normal times, I might say the idea that the US federal government would 
spearhead a program to build any number of master-planned cities is rather 
preposterous,&#8221; Max Woodworth, an associate professor in the geography 
department at Ohio State University, told Cointelegraph, adding:
&gt; &#8220;But these are not normal times, and the current administration seems open 
&gt; to things that might previously have been dismissed, fairly or unfairly, as 
&gt; impossible or misguided.&#8221;
Freedom cities have their critics. They have been called a &#8220;devious scam,&#8221; 
aimed at bringing back &#8220;the bad old &#8216;company towns&#8217; of yesteryear with a fresh 
coat of modern cryptofascist varnish.&#8221;
Indeed, company &#8220;scrip&#8221; was the medium of exchange in towns like Pullman, 
Illinois, built by George Pullman, owner of the Pullman Palace Car Company, in 
the late 19th century, whereas today &#8220;cryptocurrency is a key component of 
freedom cities,&#8221; the New Republic reported.
The history of chartered cities is checkered at best, commented Woodworth, and 
looking ahead much will depend on how they are designed and managed. &#8220;Over the 
years, there have been &#8216;new city&#8217; plans intended to manifest fascist, 
communist, social-democratic, libertarian and post-colonial political agendas. 
For better and worse, urban space is very commonly used as a laboratory for 
different overt political projects.&#8221;
But maybe these are mischaracterizations. &#8220;Anyone who thinks Freedom Cities 
would be lawless should read fewer comic books and more copies of The Wall 
Street Journal,&#8221; Tom Bell, a professor at Chapman University&#8217;s Fowler School 
of Law, told Cointelegraph. &#8220;Building cities takes money, and investors don&#8217;t 
like lawlessness.&#8221; He added:
&gt; &#8220;That is not to say that all the usual regulations would apply in Freedom 
&gt; Cities; investors don&#8217;t like red tape, either. The goal is not getting rid 
&gt; of all regulation but rather finding new and better ways to guide 
&gt; investment, construction and business.&#8221;
Bell, who has been working with others to develop a Freedom Cities Act, would 
require a city&#8217;s board to favor developers&#8217; applications that achieve the same 
outcomes as applicable current federal regulations, &#8220;but through alternative 
and more efficient enforcement regimes.&#8221;
_Part of the Freedom Cities Act, outlining self-governance. Source: Tom Bell_
Jeffrey Mason, head of policy at the Charter Cities Institute, also supports 
enabling federal legislation for freedom cities. &#8220;We&#8217;ve proposed that a 
process be created by which freedom cities could propose the waiving or other 
modification of highly burdensome regulations in sectors of strategic 
importance or in frontier technologies, much like the regulatory sandboxes 
adopted by various states in recent years,&#8221; he told Cointelegraph.
Others see a model along the lines of New York&#8217;s Brooklyn Navy Yard, the 
former military installation that was later transformed into an industrial 
park. It now houses more than 300 businesses and has become a model for other 
such projects in the US, writes Mark Lutter and Nick Allen. &#8220;The second Trump 
administration has opened the door to Freedom Cities. They can play an 
important role in American revitalization.&#8221;
_**Related:**__**Is Elon Musk plotting the mother of all blockchains?**_
Indeed, the recent joint announcement by the Departments of the Interior and 
of Housing and Urban Development &#8220;suggests that the administration is actively 
thinking about how a very small share of federal land could be used to build 
more housing, and possibly entirely new cities,&#8221; added Mason.
## It&#8217;s in the details
But more clarity may still be needed. &#8220;At this point the idea of freedom 
cities being bandied about is so vague that it&#8217;s impossible to have clear 
conceptions or misconceptions of them in the first place,&#8221; said Woodworth.
The devil could be in the details. &#8220;There seems to be some excitement around 
freedom cities among libertarian-leaning intellectuals and investors whose 
ideal freedom city would be places that are very business-friendly,&#8221; said 
Woodworth.
Again, this does not mean that &#8220;anything goes.&#8221; But it&#8217;s not hard to imagine a 
tax and regulatory regime at work in the jurisdiction of the freedom city that 
is favorable to corporate interests, said Woodworth. &#8220;Indeed, the impetus for 
freedom cities seems to be precisely to create exceptional conditions that 
make an end run around the regulatory thicket that frustrates a lot of people, 
including in the crypto business.&#8221;
## Why do crypto bros like freedom cities?
How does one, in fact, explain the strong interest in freedom cities among 
some of the cryptocurrency community&#8217;s high-profile partisans?
&#8220;The crypto community has been interested in new cities, charter cities and 
other innovative governance mechanisms for a long time,&#8221; Mason told 
Cointelegraph.
&gt; &#8220;I think the common interest in decentralization drives a large part of 
&gt; this, but I also think the crypto community is passionate about innovation 
&gt; and building new things, so there&#8217;s natural alignment.&#8221;
New vistas of innovation may tantalize both groups, &#8220;and they sense that 
existing institutional structures rooted in a 20th-century world hamper its 
potential,&#8221; opined Woodworth. &#8220;New cities, theoretically at least, might offer 
the prospect of designing a setting that can unleash the sector to discover 
where it can go in terms of innovation and new applications.&#8221;
Bell added, &#8220;The crypto community doubtless sees in freedom cities the promise 
of a regulatory regime that at least is not overtly hostile to fintech 
innovation and that perhaps even welcomes it. There are lots of bold new ideas 
floating around the crypto space. Freedom Cities might offer a chance to put 
the best of them to work.&#8221;
Bell would like to see quicker progress, though. He noted that Trump proposed 
the creation of 10 freedom cities in March 2023 while running for office, but 
&#8220;since then, so far as outward signs go, the administration has not followed 
up on the president&#8217;s promise.&#8221;
Various parties eager to see freedom cities created have been urging 
Congressional members to enact the necessary legislation, he added. So far, 
&#8220;that effort has yet to bear fruit.&#8221;
## Two case studies: California Forever and Prospera
In any event, the challenges of building a 21st-century city from scratch in 
the United States shouldn&#8217;t be underestimated, as those Silicon Valley 
billionaires who invested in the troubled California Forever real estate 
enterprise could probably attest.
California Forever intended to develop new industries, novel sources of clean 
energy and safe, walkable neighborhoods with affordable homes in an 
underpopulated part of California, 60 miles north of San Francisco.
Designed as an eco-friendly, walk-only community that would house up to 
400,000 souls on previous farmland, it&#8217;s instead become a cautionary tale 
illustrating &#8220;the cultural and regulatory barriers to building today,&#8221; write 
Mark Lutter, founder and executive director of the Charter Cities Institute, 
and Nick Allen, president of the Frontier Foundation.
The project has been &#8220;on hold&#8221; for two years pending an environmental study of 
its plan. 
_California Forever hoped to build a city in Solano County. 
Source:__California Forever_
The project&#8217;s backers made some missteps, to be sure. They purchased $900 
million of farmland in sparsely populated Solano County without revealing 
anything about the identities of the enterprise&#8217;s backers or plans for a new 
city.
When details finally did emerge, community relations soured. They frayed 
further when the project&#8217;s backers filed a $500-million antitrust lawsuit 
saying that farmers who had refused to sell their land to them were colluding 
to raise prices, The New York Times reported.
_**Related:**__**US gov &#8216;t actions give clue about upcoming crypto 
regulation**_
On the positive side, the project underscored that San Francisco is not 
building enough housing units, which has caused a huge spike in rents there 
and is driving away local residents. Something similar, if less extreme, is 
happening in other US cities today, a key reason why the Trump 
administration&#8217;s freedom cities initiative is gaining attention.
### Prospera&#8217;s island &#8220;paradise&#8221;
By comparison, the overseas-based Prospera chartered-city project avoided many 
of those same regulatory and zoning problems that vexed California Forever 
thanks to a welcoming Honduras government &#8212; at least initially.
The owners of Prospera, a Delaware Registered Company, persuaded Honduras to 
give them a 50-year lease and permission to build a startup city on the the 
island of Roatan with a regulatory system designed for entrepreneurs &#8220;to build 
better, cheaper, and faster than anywhere else in the world,&#8221; according to the 
for-profit company&#8217;s website.
Prospera has raised $120 million in investments since its founding in 2017, 
including from venture-capital funds backed by tech billionaires Peter Thiel, 
Sam Altman and Marc Andreessen, among others.
It operates in a special economic development zone within Honduras, but it has 
its own government, is modestly taxed, and has a flexible regulatory structure 
largely of its own devising. Disputes are settled by the Prospera arbitration 
center. Indeed, the new city&#8217;s court system reportedly makes use of retired 
Arizona judges who operate totally online. 
_The island of Pr ospera. Source: __Pr ospera_
Prospera has been able to persuade Western-based companies to set up new 
businesses within its zone, including experimental medical facilities, &#8220;which 
run clinical trials unburdened by F.D.A. standards,&#8221; according to The New York 
Times.
To say that the Honduras-based startup city is crypto-aligned might be an 
understatement. In January 2025, Prospera received a strategic investment from 
Coinbase Ventures &#8220;to expand economic freedom globally.&#8221;
In February, it hosted a &#8220;crypto cities summit.&#8221; The island has a Bitcoin 
Center, which instructs visitors in crypto&#8217;s whys and wherefores. Indeed, 
Prospera calls itself &#8220;one of the most Bitcoin-friendly jurisdictions in the 
world,&#8221; and it invites visitors to &#8220;connect with fellow Bitcoiners, tour 
Prospera, and relax in paradise.&#8221;
Recently, however, the charter city may have lost its way. Prospera has a 
$11-billion claim against the State of Honduras that still awaits a ruling 
from an international arbitration tribunal, and some of its one-time 
supporters have become disenchanted. &#8220;It&#8217;s like a gated community. They&#8217;re 
just trying to isolate themselves and do what&#8217;s best for them,&#8221; Paul Romer, a 
Nobel-winning economist and former supporter, told Bloomberg recently.
In short, developing a charter city isn&#8217;t always a breeze &#8212; not even in 
paradise.
_**Magazine:**__**Memecoin degeneracy is funding groundbreaking anti-aging 
research**_

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Michael Saylor&#8217;s Strategy added to its massive Bitcoin stash last week as the 
cryptocurrency surged above $90,000.
In an April 28 announcement, Strategy reported acquiring 15,355 Bitcoin (BTC) 
between April 21 and 27.
The latest purchases cost Strategy $1.42 billion at an average price of 
$92,737 per BTC, increasing the company&#8217;s aggregate BTC holdings by roughly 3% 
to a total of 535,555 BTC worth more than $50 billion.
_An excerpt from Strategy &#8216;s Form 8-K filing with the United States Securities 
and Exchange Commission. Source: Strategy_
Strategy&#8217;s latest buy is its largest since late March, when the firm bagged 
22,048 Bitcoin for $1.92 billion at an average price of $86,969 per BTC.
## Strategy&#8217;s Bitcoin yield is at 13.7%
Announcing the purchase on X, Strategy co-founder Saylor said the firm has 
achieved the BTC yield of 13.7% year-to-date.
&#8220;As of April 27, we hodl 553,555 BTC acquired for approximately $37.90 billion 
at $68,459 per Bitcoin,&#8221; Saylor noted.
_Source:__Michael Saylor_
Strategy&#8217;s BTC yield &#8212; an indicator representing the percentage change of the 
ratio between its BTC holdings and assumed diluted shares &#8212; amounted to 74% 
in 2024.
The company expects to reach a BTC yield target of 15% in 2025.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it 
becomes available.
_**Magazine:**__**Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF &#8216;s mysterious prison move: 
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Strategy bags 15,355 Bitcoin for $1.42B as price surged above $90K

## sUSD depeg, explained: Why Synthetix&#8217;s stablecoin fell below $0.70
_In a significant and concerning event in the cryptocurrency space, sUSD, the 
native stablecoin of the Synthetix protocol, saw its value plummet to $0.68 on 
April 18, 2025. _
This drop represents a dramatic 31% deviation from its intended peg of 1:1 
with the US dollar, a threshold that is fundamental to the concept of 
stablecoins. As the name implies, stablecoins are designed to maintain a 
stable price, which is crucial for their role as a reliable store of value 
within decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
For stablecoins like sUSD, maintaining this price stability is essential for 
ensuring confidence in their usage. However, the steep drop in sUSD&#8217;s value 
sent shockwaves through the crypto community, creating an atmosphere of 
uncertainty.
The question arises: How did this once-stable digital asset fall below its 
peg, and why does this matter to the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem?
SUSD depeg was triggered by a protocol shift (SIP-420) that lowered 
collateralization and disrupted peg-stabilizing incentives. Combined with 
Synthetix&#8217;s (SNX) price drops and liquidity outflows, confidence in sUSD 
weakened.
### Understanding SIP-420 and its impact
SIP-420 introduces a protocol-owned debt pool in Synthetix, allowing SNX 
stakers to delegate their debt positions to a shared pool with a lower 
issuance ratio. This shift boosts capital efficiency, simplifies staking, and 
enhances yield opportunities while discouraging solo staking by raising its 
collateralization ratio to 1,000%.
Before SIP-420, users who minted sUSD had to over-collateralize with SNX 
tokens, maintaining a 750% collateral ratio. This high requirement ensured 
stability but limited efficiency.
SIP-420 aimed to improve capital efficiency by reducing the collateral ratio 
to 200% and introducing a shared debt pool. This meant that instead of 
individual users being responsible for their own debt, the risk was 
distributed across the protocol.
While this change made it easier to mint sUSD, it also removed the personal 
incentive for users to buy back sUSD when its price dropped below $1. 
Previously, users would repurchase sUSD at a discount to repay their debts, 
helping to restore its value. With the shared debt model, this self-correcting 
mechanism weakened.
### Consequences of the change
The combination of increased sUSD supply and reduced individual incentives led 
to a surplus of sUSD in the market. At times, sUSD comprised over 75% of major 
liquidity pools, indicating that many users were offloading it at a loss. This 
oversupply, coupled with declining SNX prices, further destabilized sUSD&#8217;s 
value. ​
But this is not the first time Synthetix has experienced volatility. The 
protocol, known for its decentralized synthetic asset platform, has seen 
fluctuations during past market cycles, but this recent depeg is one of the 
most severe in the history of the crypto industry.
For instance, Synthetix has faced volatility before &#8212; during the 2020 market 
crash, mid-2021 DeFi corrections, and post-UST collapse in 2022 &#8212; each time 
exposing vulnerabilities in liquidity and oracle systems. A 2019 oracle 
exploit also highlighted structural fragility.
The significance of sUSD&#8217;s depeg extends beyond this individual asset and 
reveals broader issues in the mechanisms supporting crypto-collateralized 
stablecoins.
## What is sUSD, and how does it work?
_sUSD is a crypto-collateralized stablecoin that operates on theEthereum 
blockchain, designed to offer stability in a highly volatile crypto market. _
Unlike fiat-backed stablecoins such as USDC (USDC) or Tether&#8217;s USDt (USDT), 
which are pegged to the US dollar through reserves held in banks, sUSD is 
backed by a cryptocurrency &#8212; specifically, SNX, the native token of the 
Synthetix protocol.
Minting sUSD:
 * The process for minting sUSD involves staking SNX tokens into the protocol. 
 * In return, users receive sUSD tokens, which can be used within the Synthetix ecosystem or traded on the open market. 
 * To ensure that the sUSD token maintains its value, it is over-collateralized, meaning users must stake more SNX than the value of the sUSD minted. 
Historical collateralization ratio (C-Ratio):
 * Historically, the collateralization ratio has been set around 750%, meaning that for every $1 of sUSD minted, users need to stake $7.50 worth of SNX tokens. 
 * The high collateralization ratio ensures a buffer against the price volatility of SNX, which is critical for the system&#8217;s stability. 
In an effort to improve capital efficiency, Synthetix introduced SIP-420, 
which brought significant changes:
 * The required C-Ratio was lowered from 750% to 200%, allowing users to mint more sUSD with less SNX. 
 * Previously, each user was responsible for their own debt. 
 * With SIP-420, debt is now shared across a collective pool, meaning individual users are less directly impacted by their own actions.
As a result of these changes, combined with market factors like declining SNX 
prices, sUSD has struggled to maintain its $1 peg, trading as low as $0.66 in 
April 2025. The Synthetix team is actively working on solutions to stabilize 
sUSD, including introducing new incentive mechanisms and exploring ways to 
enhance liquidity.
_**Did you know?** Synthetix uses a dynamic C-Ratio to manage system 
stability. Your active debt shifts with trader performance; profits increase 
debt, and losses reduce it. Through delta-neutral mechanisms in perpetual 
futures, liquidity providers absorb imbalances until opposing trades restore 
balance. It&#8217;s a system of shared, fluctuating risk._
## Is sUSD an algorithmic stablecoin?
_One of the common misconceptions surrounding sUSD is its classification as 
analgorithmic stablecoin. To clarify, sUSD is not algorithmic &#8212; it is crypto- 
collateralized. _
The key distinction is important because algorithmic stablecoins, such as the 
now-infamous TerraUSD (UST), rely on algorithms and smart contracts to manage 
supply and demand in an attempt to maintain their peg, often without actual 
collateral backing. In contrast, sUSD relies on the value of the underlying 
collateral (SNX tokens) to maintain its price.
The sUSD peg is not fixed in the same way that fiat-backed stablecoins like 
USDC are. The Synthetix system allows for some natural fluctuation in the peg. 
While sUSD aims to stay close to $1, it&#8217;s not fixed &#8212; instead, the protocol 
relies on smart, built-in mechanisms to help restore the peg over time when it 
drifts.
Here are the key mechanisms post-SIP-420:​
 * **Lower collateralization ratio (200%):** As mentioned, the required backing for minting sUSD was reduced, allowing more sUSD to enter circulation with less SNX. This increases capital efficiency but also heightens the risk of depegging. 
 * **Shared debt pool:** Instead of individual debt responsibility, all stakers now share a collective debt pool, weakening natural peg-restoring behavior. 
 * sUSD lockup incentives (420 Pool): To reduce circulating sUSD and help restore the peg, users are incentivized to lock their sUSD for 12 months in exchange for a share of protocol rewards (e.g., 5 million SNX). 
 * **Liquidity incentives:** The protocol offers high-yield incentives to liquidity providers who support sUSD trading pairs, helping absorb excess supply and improve price stability. 
 * **External yield strategies:** The protocol plans to use minted sUSD in external protocols (e.g., Ethena) to generate yield, which can help offset systemic risk and reinforce stability mechanisms.
These restoration mechanisms primarily function through incentives. For 
example, if sUSD is trading below $1, users who have staked SNX may be 
incentivized to buy discounted sUSD to pay off their debts at a reduced cost. 
This type of system relies heavily on market dynamics and the incentives of 
participants to help stabilize the peg.
_**Did you know?** The C-Ratio is calculated using the formula: C-Ratio (%) = 
(Total SNX value in USD / active debt in USD) × 100\. It changes as the price 
of SNX or your debt share fluctuates &#8212; crucial for minting synths and 
avoiding penalties._
## Synthetix&#8217;s recovery plan: How it aims to restabilize sUSD
_Synthetix has formulated a comprehensive three-phase recovery plan aimed at 
restoring the stablecoin &#8216;s peg to the US dollar and ensuring its long-term 
stability. _
Synthetix founder Kain Warwick recently published a post on Mirror proposing a 
solution to fix the sUSD stablecoin. His plan outlines how the community can 
work together to restore the peg and strengthen the system.
### 1\. Bring back good incentives (the &#8220;carrot&#8221;)
 * Users who lock up sUSD will earn SNX rewards, helping reduce the amount of sUSD in the market. 
 * Two new yield-earning pools (one for sUSD and one for USDC) will let anyone supply stablecoins and earn interest &#8212; no SNX required.
### 2\. Add gentle pressure (the &#8220;stick&#8221;)
 * SNX stakers now have to hold a small percentage of their debt in sUSD to keep earning benefits. 
 * If the sUSD peg drops more, the required sUSD holding goes up &#8212; more pressure to help fix the peg.
According to Warwick, this plan restores the natural loop: When sUSD is cheap, 
people are motivated to buy it and close their debt, pushing the price back 
up. Kain estimates it might take less than $5 million in buying pressure to 
restore the peg &#8212; totally doable if enough people participate.
Once incentives are realigned and sUSD regains its peg, Synthetix will roll 
out major upgrades: retiring legacy systems, launching Perps v4 on Ethereum 
with faster trading and multi-collateral support, introducing snaxChain for 
high-speed synthetic markets, and minting 170 million SNX to fuel ecosystem 
growth through new liquidity and trading incentives.
## The sUSD shake-up: Key risks crypto investors can&#8217;t ignore
_The recent sUSD depeg is a stark reminder of the inherent risks that come 
with crypto-collateralized stablecoins. While stablecoins are designed to 
offer price stability, their reliance on external factors, such as market 
conditions and the underlying collateral, means that they are not immune to 
volatility. _
Crypto-collateralized stablecoins like sUSD face heightened risk due to their 
reliance on volatile assets like SNX. Market sentiment, external events, and 
major protocol changes can quickly disrupt stability, making depegging more 
likely &#8212; especially in the fast-moving, ever-evolving world of DeFi.
Here are some of the critical risks that crypto investors should be aware of:
 * **Dependence on collateral value:** The stability of sUSD is directly tied to the price of SNX. If SNX falls in value, sUSD becomes vulnerable to under-collateralization, threatening its peg and causing it to lose value. 
 * **Protocol design risks:** Changes in the protocol, such as the introduction of SIP-420, can have unintended consequences. Misalignments in incentives or poorly executed upgrades can disrupt the balance that keeps the system stable. 
 * **Market sentiment:** Stablecoins operate on trust, and if users lose confidence in a stablecoin&#8217;s ability to maintain its peg, its value can rapidly drop, even if the protocol is sound in design. 
 * **Incentive misalignment:** The removal of individual incentives, such as those seen with the 420 Pool, can weaken the protocol&#8217;s ability to keep the peg intact, as it reduces the motivation for users to stabilize the system. 
 * **Lack of redundancy:** Stablecoins should have robust fallback strategies to mitigate risks from single points of failure. A failure in one mechanism, like a protocol upgrade or design flaw, can quickly spiral into a full-blown crisis.
To protect themselves, users should diversify their stablecoin exposure, 
closely monitor protocol changes, and avoid over-reliance on crypto- 
collateralized assets like sUSD. Staying informed about governance updates and 
market sentiment is key, as sudden shifts can trigger depegging.
Users can also reduce risk by using stablecoins with stronger collateral 
backing or built-in redundancies and by regularly reviewing DeFi positions for 
signs of under-collateralization or systemic instability.