Today in crypto, the SEC during Paul Atkins initial year on the job has made a break with the past, Michael Saylor’s Strategy bought 34,164 Bitcoin for $2.54 billion last week, marking its third-largest BTC purchase on record, and total value locked on Aave dropped by $8 billion after the Kelp hack.
One year under Paul Atkins, SEC's crypto stance shows break with past
Since Paul Atkins was sworn in as chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 21, 2025, the agency has significantly changed its position on regulation and enforcement related to digital assets, marking a shift from the leadership of former chair Gary Gensler during the Biden administration.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made removing Gensler one of his promises to the crypto industry, along with creating a national Bitcoin (BTC) stockpile and opposing the issuance of a US central bank digital currency.
His November 2024 election win led to Gensler’s resignation in January 2025 and the appointment of SEC commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair of the financial regulator until the Senate could confirm Atkins as Trump’s pick to lead the agency.
The first 12 months of Atkins’ chairmanship has seen the SEC push policies and approaches to regulation widely viewed as favorable to the crypto and blockchain industry.
Strategy buys 34,164 Bitcoin, holdings top 800,000 BTC
Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest public Bitcoin (BTC) holder, has blasted past 800,000 BTC in total holdings after announcing its latest purchases.
Strategy acquired 34,164 Bitcoin for $2.54 billion between April 13 and 19, according to an 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
The buy ranks as Strategy’s third-largest Bitcoin acquisition on record by coin count, behind purchases of 55,500 BTC and 51,780 BTC in November 2024.
Holding around 780,897 BTC after a $1 billion purchase just a week ago, the company now holds 815,061 BTC, purchased for $61.56 billion.
The new acquisition was made at an average price of $74,395 per coin, slightly below the company’s average acquisition price of $75,527.
Saylor had teased the purchase on Sunday, signaling another large Bitcoin acquisition ahead of the announcement. The company also disclosed on Friday plans to pay Stretch (STRC) dividends twice monthly. STRC is the company’s perpetual preferred security.
Aave’s TVL drops by $8 billion after Kelp hack
The total value locked on Aave dropped by nearly $8 billion over the weekend after hackers behind the $293 million Kelp DAO exploit borrowed funds on the decentralized lending protocol, leaving roughly $195 million in “bad debt” and triggering withdrawals.
Aave’s TVL fell from about $26.4 billion to $18.6 billion by Sunday, losing it the top spot as the largest decentralized finance protocol as the risk from the Kelp exploit rapidly spreads through the interconnected crypto lending market.
Hackers stole 116,500 Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (rsETH) tokens worth about $293 million from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge on Saturday and used them as collateral on Aave to borrow wrapped Ether (wETH).
Crypto analytics platform Lookonchain said that it created about $195 million in “bad debt” on Aave and contributed to a rapid decline in the Aave (AAVE) token.
