Happy Memorial Day Readers!

But today isn’t just a national holiday, a day off work, and a chance to have a cookout.

It’s a time to remember the brave sacrifices of the men and women of the U.S. military who gave their lives in our many, many wars.

And what better way to honor their memory than writing about the closest thing our nation has to a monarchy.

More on America’s royal family in today’s deep dive.

Espresso Shots

☕️ Gemini Seeking Dismissal of SEC Case ♊ ⚖

Crypto exchange Gemini intends to have the current unregistered securities charges brought against them by the SEC dismissed on the grounds that they were never selling securities.

The SEC case, as some may remember, is based around the Gemini Earn program which the SEC alleges raised billions in capital by promising investors high interest rates on unregistered securities.

Gemini, on the other hand, is rightfully arguing that Gemini Earn never traded in securities as the loan agreements were never traded on secondary markets or transferred to assets, and would not qualify as securities.

"Accordingly, there was no requirement that any party register it with the SEC," read the filing.

Though ultimately, the SEC probably won’t be willing to drop the suit until they can get one Winklevoss twin to give up the other.

☕️ Grand Theft Crypto? 🚗 🚓

Both the gaming and crypto communities have been abuzz with rumors that Rockstar’s upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 will feature crypto.

There have been suggestions that the next iteration in the series would include the jump to Web3 with NFT rewards and a play-to-earn model.

Since its release in 2015, Grand Theft Auto V sold 180 million units worldwide making it one of the most successful videogames of all time. It doesn’t seem likely that Rockstar will want to jeopardize that success with a pivot to P2E and Web3.

And despite the rumors and excitement, it seems even more unlikely considering the fact that Rockstar banned all NFT usage on their Grand Theft Auto servers in 2022.

But if the next Grand Theft Auto were to feature Web3 functionality, you better believe that driving on the sidewalk would be incentivized with tokens.

☕️ Musk on AI Babysitting 🤖 👶

Recently self-deposed Twitter CEO and space cadet, Elon Musk, has reflected on the future of AI and believes it will be less like Terminator and more like a robotic Mary Poppins.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Musk theorized that in the future, AI will function as humanity’s “uber nanny” and rather than destroy humanity, “will be ushering in an age of abundance.”

How? By taking control of all of humanity’s weapon systems and nuclear capabilities to protect mankind from themselves.

“I don’t think the AI is going to try to destroy all humanity,” said Musk. “But it might put us under strict controls.”

But in the not so distant future, Musk warned that AI may be a dangerous factor in the distortion and manipulation of facts in social media and coming elections.

Personally, we don’t mind AI as a babysitter, but we don’t like when it sends us to bed early so its boyfriend Steve can come over to “watch scary movies”.

Spilling the Beans

The New Kennedy Loves Crypto 🇺🇸 😳

America fought really hard to not have a monarchy.

We developed guerilla tactics that redefined colonial warfare.

We convinced the strongest army in the world that we weren’t worth the headache and we won our first war without even designing our own, cohesive uniforms.

We defeated the King just to develop a monarchy of our own.

And you might be saying “Hey, I’m pretty sure America is a democracy. I remember voting at least once.”

Then explain the Kennedy family.

If they’re not American royalty, then how does this family keep coming to power?

Since JFK entered congress in 1947, there was a Kennedy in an American federally elected position every year until 2011.

Which is somehow both insane and weirdly comforting. America is a country that likes her brand recognition.

We’ve been absent a Kennedy for quite a few years now. But it seems that America’s bluest blooded family is once again ready to step into the political arena in the form of lawyer, Robert F. Kennedy.

Robert F. Kennedy or as he’s more commonly referred to, “RFK,” (once again, brand recognition!) has some decidedly wonky views, but chief among them, he’s bullish on crypto.

RFK has said that the freeze on the banking accounts of Canadian truckers protesting vaccine mandates opened his eyes to the importance of decentralized finance.

He’s also making history as the first presidential candidate to accept political donations in Bitcoin.

Kennedy has explicitly stated that he feels that cryptocurrency is directly tied to the ideals of American democracy.

Speaking at the 2023 Bitcoin conference, Kennedy stated that, “everyone in this room is aware of the link between Bitcoin and democracy and freedom. [...] They’re passionate because of the deep representation of a deep need that we have for liberty and democracy and the promise that this innovation has to guarantee those virtues."

And we agree with this take. Some of Kennedy’s others… not so much.

See, RFK made his bones as an environmental advocate and green hero, but those views have radicalized over the years into beliefs in the dangers of cell towers, conspiracy theories, and anti-vaccine rhetoric.

Former New York Assemblyman Steve Englebright, who once chaired the Environmental Conservation Committee, was once a close friend and colleague of Kennedy’s and remarked on his fall from grace.

“I don’t see that man anymore. From what I see, he’s eccentric at best and maybe disturbed,” said Englebright. “He has lost his way in a direction away from science and the other word for science is facts.”

Yes, RFK may be unhinged. But he’s certainly an interesting presidential candidate even if he probably won’t ever make it to a debate stage. He’ll be a fun one to watch.

But hey, we’ve been wrong before and equally unhinged candidates have certainly fared better than expected in presidential races.

Who knows, maybe one day we’ll all be saying, “President Kennedy,” again.

Meme of the Day

Not our first pick, but we’ll will take all the crypto support we can get in politics!

Crypto 101

Secondary Markets: In crypto terms, secondary markets are platforms or exchanges where individuals trade or exchange cryptocurrencies after their initial issuance or sale.

These markets enable buying, selling, and speculating on digital assets, providing liquidity and facilitating the conversion of cryptocurrencies into other assets or currencies.

The Last Sip

As we’ve already mentioned, it’s impossible to talk about the Kennedy family without mentioning the Kennedy curse. So, we’re going to save you your own spiral on the “Family Incidents” section of the Kennedy Wikipedia page and compile our own brief list of tragedy, right here.

• 1 famous drunk-driving incident that resulted in an accidental drowning off the Chappaquiddick Bridge.

• 2 assassinations by gunmen.

• 5 plane crashes, multiple fatalities.

• 1 fatal skiing accident.

• 1 nonconsensual lobotomy.

• 2 heart attacks.

• 2 drug overdoses.

• 2 more accidental drownings.

With stats like these it would seem that the Kennedys have supplanted the Baudelaire orphans as the most unfortunate family of all time.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.