Nvidia logo and sign on headquarters building - Santa Clara, California, USA - 2021
NVIDIA has once again proven its market leadership with an impressive earnings report for the second quarter ending July 28, 2024. The tech giant reported a staggering $30 billion in revenue, marking a 122% increase from the same period last year. This financial triumph underscores NVIDIA’s dominance in the rapidly expanding AI chip market, solidifying its position as a key player in the tech sector.
The second-quarter earnings report revealed not only soaring revenues but also a remarkable 168% year-over-year increase in earnings per share, which reached $0.68. These figures surpassed analysts’ projections, which anticipated $28.72 billion in revenue and $0.64 earnings per share. NVIDIA’s robust financial performance is largely attributed to the soaring demand for its AI products and services, driven by a global surge in AI adoption across various industries.
The company’s outlook remains optimistic, with a forecasted third-quarter revenue of $32.5 billion, once again exceeding market expectations. Much of this optimism is fueled by the anticipated launch of the Blackwell chips later this year, which are expected to further strengthen NVIDIA’s leadership in the AI chip market. These results suggest a strong trajectory for the firm, making it a critical indicator of AI-driven growth in the tech sector.
Market Response and Future Outlook
Despite the strong numbers, NVIDIA’s shares experienced a slight dip, falling by 2.10% to $125.61 during regular trading hours and dropping further to $116.88 in after-hours trading. This decline could be attributed to profit-taking or concerns about the highly competitive nature of the AI chip market, where NVIDIA faces increasing challenges from both established tech giants and innovative startups.
NVIDIA’s dominance in the AI chip market is not without challenges. Startups like Cerebras, d-Matrix, and Groq are rapidly gaining traction, attracting significant investments to enhance their AI hardware offerings. Additionally, major tech companies such as Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, and OpenAI, which currently rely on NVIDIA’s forthcoming Blackwell processors, are developing their own AI chips, further intensifying competition.
Adding to these challenges is an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into potential anti-competitive practices by NVIDIA. The inquiry is centered on whether the company has unfairly leveraged its market dominance, a development that could have significant legal and regulatory implications. Investors are closely watching this investigation, as any adverse findings could impact NVIDIA’s market position and future strategies.
Implications for AI-Related Cryptocurrencies
NVIDIA’s impressive earnings report has also sparked interest in the potential impact on AI-related cryptocurrencies. The strong demand for AI chips and technologies could fuel interest in AI-focused blockchain projects, potentially leading to a rally in AI coins. Already, several AI-related cryptocurrencies, such as Render and Fetch AI, have shown signs of upward momentum.
As the AI chip market continues to evolve, NVIDIA’s performance and strategic moves will be closely monitored, not just by investors but also by those in the crypto space, looking to capitalize on the growing intersection of AI and blockchain technologies.
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ private spaceflight company, will now accept payments in Bitcoin and other leading cryptoassets. Eligible tokens include ETH, SOL, USDT, and USDC.
Justin Sun, founder of Tron, used one of the company’s flights to space earlier this month. Blue Origin is making inroads with the crypto industry, potentially capturing imaginations worldwide.
Today, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is deepening these worlds’ intersection by allowing Bitcoin payments for spaceflights:
“Starting today and powered by Shift4’s seamless payments technology, consumers can pay with popular cryptocurrencies and stablecoins like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, USDT and USDC for trips to space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard. Customers will also have the option to connect popular wallets like Coinbase and MetaMask,” Blue Origin claimed.
Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, has already had a few notable intersections with the crypto industry. Earlier this month, Tron founder Justin Sun completed a trip beyond the Kármán line after securing passage in 2021.
The last crypto executive to fly to space used SpaceX’s rockets, so this event increased Bezos’ firm’s notoriety.
With its support, international travelers can immediately book spaceflights on any day or time.
Ultimately, this does seem more like a gimmick than a true use case. Blue Origin flights cost around $28 million, and TradFI institutions have plenty of ways to make transactions as convenient as possible.
Blockchain-based payment solutions won’t necessarily add significant ease of use for travelers.
However, even assessed as a publicity stunt, it’s a pretty noteworthy one. The crypto industry has long promised technological solutions to seemingly intractable human problems, and space travel naturally shares this vision.
Thanks to Blue Origin, Bitcoin and other cryptoassets might get a chance to emphasize that connection.
Binance Alpha announced an airdrop for Redacted’s new RDAC token, making it the first platform to host the asset. RDAC fell more than 40% after the token first launched, but it has slowly recovered throughout the day.
RDAC powers Redacted’s startup accelerator ecosystem, enabling users to access a wide variety of Web3-oriented platforms. It already has staking capabilities to let holders passively reap additional rewards.
As with other recent projects, Binance Alpha attracted a lot of notoriety when it announced an airdrop for Redacted’s new RDAC token.
Binance is the first platform to feature Redacted (RDAC), with trading beginning on May 13, 2025, at 10:00 UTC.
Eligible Binance users with at least 205 Alpha points can claim an airdrop of 482 RDAC tokens on the Alpha Event page starting at 10:00 UTC on May 13, 2025.… https://t.co/7xOXmKrcBe
Redacted, a platform designed to accelerate startups across various Web3 sectors, was founded in 2021. It first launched RDAC in a closed sale this March, surpassing the firm’s $3 million funding target.
RDAC powers Redacted’s broader blockchain ecosystem, from various infrastructure platforms to staking rewards and more. These platforms offer features like cross-chain bridging, a DePIN GameFi project, marketplaces, NFT minting, etc.
Revenue from these platforms gets funneled back into the ecosystem, which attempts to maintain RDAC’s long-term sustainability.
Binance’s airdrop announcement attracted a lot of community interest, as this was the average retailer’s first opportunity to acquire RDAC.
Users can earn the asset by completing tasks within the Redacted ecosystem, like interacting with community channels. They can then stake RDAC to unlock additional benefits and rewards in addition to simply selling the token.
Crypto airdrops can frequently cause immense selling pressure, and RDAC’s Binance debut was no exception. Speculative investors quickly dumped the token, causing its value to plummet more than 50% in the first three hours.
However, it has steadily regained this ground throughout the day, displaying community interest in buying it and engaging with Redacted’s ecosystem.
Hopefully, RDAC’s quiet gains after the Binance airdrop are an encouraging sign for the ecosystem’s viability. Redacted has been constructing its startup accelerator for several years, and it has ambitious plans for the future.
A high-profile introduction like this can help set RDAC up for long-term success.
BeInCrypto sat down with members of the LBank team to analyze the possible resurgence of the meme coin market as a leading crypto narrative and what their fusion with artificial intelligence (AI) can have on their reach.
LBank also discussed the impact of the four-month-old Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation on its operations across Europe. They described a fundamental change in investor confidence in light of greater regulatory clarity and simplified accessibility.
Have Meme Coin Highs Given Way to Devastating Lows?
In recent years, the meme coin market has largely been characterized by overwhelming highs and devastating lows. The first few months of 2025 have further confirmed the volatile nature of these tokens, to the point that a vocal part of the crypto community believes that their recent lows have marked the end of the meme coin lifecycle.
These claims are not unfounded, especially now that the US President has become a meme coin player. When Trump launched his meme coin in mid-January, TRUMP reached a market capitalization of nearly $8.8 billion, a number never before seen by a meme coin launch.
When insider traders capitalized on the surge to sell off their holdings and retain millions of dollars in gains, retail investors bore the brunt of the massive sell-off, suffering hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
“The decline in meme coin market cap since January can be attributed to a combination of market dynamics and sentiment shifts. A key driver was the rapid rise and subsequent crash of the TRUMP token, which drew significant market capital due to its viral appeal but collapsed sharply, eroding investor confidence and triggering a broader risk-off sentiment,” Eric He, Community Angel Officer and Risk Control Adviser at LBank told BeInCrypto.
After similar experiences with the MELANIA token and the LIBRA launch, some of these retail investors realized that meme coins —as unregulated and unpredictable as they are— may not be the best investments.
Is the Meme Coin Frenzy Coming to a Halt?
Given the devastating effects that these episodes have had on the meme coin market, trading has reduced significantly. The crypto community seems to have become saturated with news of pump-and-dump schemes and rug pulls, likely contributing to a halt in the meme coin frenzy.
The total meme coin market capitalization has been free-falling since January’s peak following the presidential token launches. Now, its levels resemble those of September 2024. The greater economic downturn that traditional and crypto markets experienced over the past several weeks has only worsened prospects.
Yet, despite this downward pressure, the market still experiences a high level of activity. It has a $14.5 billion trading volume and a $57 billion market capitalization.
Total meme coin market capitalization. Source: CoinGecko.
According to the LBank team, the meme coin industry is due for a revival.
LBank’s Belief in the Revival of the Meme Coin Market
Though the decline in meme coin performance has been significant, the LBank team expressed that these circumstances are far from unexpected. Meme coins are inherently tied to community support and social momentum.
The sustained trading volumes and large market capitalization serve as tangible indicators that, even in a downturn, the market is seeing active community engagement and liquidity. Investors still see value in the tokens’ cultural and speculative appeal.
“We see it as a healthy market correction rather than a fundamental shift. Meme coins have always been volatile, but the fact that trading volumes remain high shows continued interest. What’s happening now is not the end of the trend—it’s just a recalibration before the next wave,” Mario Iemma, Head of Spanish Markets at LBank, told BeInCrypto.
In fact, Iemma believes that meme coins will not be dying out anytime soon.
AI agents represented the first significant shift in the evolution of the cryptocurrency industry. These autonomous systems proved that they could make decisions and perform tasks independently. This technology enhances intelligence, adaptability, and fairness in financial mechanisms.
Now, developers have unlocked artificial intelligence’s potential on tokens. Systems like Grok have already made news by using AI to automatically and independently design and launch tokens.
However, with a nascent technology like AI, the LBank team emphasized the need for responsible and thorough deployment for the long-lasting success of AI-generated tokens. This success hinges on two particular factors: accessibility and security.
Security and Accessibility Challenges for AI-Generated Tokens
The concept of security is frequently associated with any emerging technology. Artificial intelligence is no exception, especially in a particularly unregulated industry like crypto.
According to He, AI-generated token projects’ degree of security and transparency will determine their success.
Iemma agreed, adding that if AI-generative tokens become widely accessible, this development will also require additional layers of oversight.
“That same accessibility demands better filters, vetting, and AI-based security audits—areas where exchanges like LBank are already investing resources,” he said.
While reflecting on the security risks associated with artificial intelligence and the breaches in consumer trust that meme coins have had on the crypto community, the LBank team also emphasized the need for greater regulation in the industry.
The development of cryptocurrency regulations varies significantly across the globe. Notably, the European Union implemented comprehensive rules almost five months ago, while key markets such as the United States are still establishing adequate frameworks.
MiCA’s Effect on the European Crypto Market
Last December, with the implementation of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, the European Union became the first jurisdiction to establish a comprehensive and unified regulatory framework for crypto-assets across all its member states, marking a significant milestone.
According to the LBank team, MiCA gives users and institutions a trustworthy framework. This development has proven critical for industry growth across the region.
“MiCA has forced firms to become more transparent and compliant, which is a good thing for long-term trust. We’ve seen exchanges accelerate their legal and operational upgrades. For users, it creates a safer, more predictable environment,” Iemma said, adding, “With clearer rules, banks and investment firms are more willing to explore crypto partnerships, custody solutions, and even tokenized assets. Regulation reduces reputational risk, and MiCA is helping bridge that gap.”
However, this experience can be largely attributed to established firms in the industry and investors with access to substantial resources. Other players, however, have struggled to gather the requirements to apply for a MiCA license.
Future Accommodation for Smaller Crypto Businesses
In discussing the impact of MiCA since its enactment last December, He highlighted how different industry players have responded to the landmark regulation. He noted that startups struggle the most to obtain an operational license.
When evaluating the cost-effectiveness of an operational license, He’s conclusions make sense.
MiCA is an expensive regulation. It mandates minimum capital requirements based on the crypto services offered. These requirements range from €50,000 for advisory and order-related services to €125,000 for exchange and trading platforms and up to €150,000 for custody services. Businesses must maintain this capital as a financial safeguard.
Beyond minimum capital requirements, companies must factor in government and legal fees, local presence costs, bank setups, and ongoing operational costs. But for prominent exchanges like LBank, the benefits outweigh the costs.
Future MiCA updates could address the high compliance costs for smaller businesses. Meanwhile, other regions developing their crypto regulations should consider this aspect to avoid creating similar barriers.
