Howdy!

Hope you’re staying locked in — rather than dilly dallying — on this fine Tuesday. But if you must dilly dally, let reading Lightspeed be your side activity of choice.

Today we have a media startup for US crypto leadership, validator APR, and the community response to pump.fun’s streaming snafu.

Ex-Solana Foundation employee starts US-focused media company

Allmight founder Kevin Ricoy knew he wanted to create a media company after realizing that policy and social change are downstream from culture — and culture that is funny or entertaining is most effective of all.

“What affected culture more? Was it CNN or MTV News? It was MTV News,” Ricoy opined on a call this week.

Ricoy is the founder of Allmight, a new media startup focused on furthering the United States’ leadership in crypto. The initiative caught a nice boost from the recent US presidential election and a growing sense that a friendlier regulatory environment could drive crypto business back to the world’s biggest economy.

Allmight’s first product is “This Week in Crypto,” a late night talk-style show that summarizes crypto news with a punchy, irreverent bent. A couple of these videos have garnered hundreds of thousands of views on X. He plans to expand Allmight’s content offerings, creating what he calls next-gen Americana — “low noise, high signal, and actually entertaining.” When I asked if Ricoy wants to become a sort of crypto version of Jon Stewart, he responded: “I would love that.”

On top of monetizing content with ads and sponsorships, Allmight plans to host events and help in job placement for US-based candidates. It also hopes to boost awareness of policymakers' efforts to legislate on crypto. Further down the road, it might even explore something like crowdfunded investment, Ricoy said.

This was all in the works in the lead up to the US presidential election, but in the aftermath of a Trump win and presumably more crypto-friendly regulatory environment, Ricoy said he’s seen a “500% increase in interest and optimism” surrounding his project.

With crypto prices at record highs and crypto’s fear of US regulators seeming to abate, America’s crypto scene seems to be having a moment.

“I’m in the right place at the right time, and it’s pretty cool,” Ricoy said.

Years ago, Ricoy was running a construction labor company when he decided to found a crypto app. With the help of some developers, he launched an app to promote SoundCloud music with Kin, the cryptocurrency debuted by the messaging app Kik during crypto’s 2017 initial coin offering (ICO) boom. Kik liked the app and extended Ricoy an offer to become its head of communications. 

Kin would spark a knock-down-drag-out fight with the SEC, and Kik messenger eventually shut down amid the legal battle. After some time working for Kin’s foundation, Ricoy joined the Solana Foundation as community relations manager, where he drove the launch of Solana’s community grants program. After a little over a year, Ricoy resigned to pursue Allmight.

Allmight received a grant from the Solana Foundation, but Ricoy said he was clear that his mandate is to grow crypto outside of just Solana, and the foundation was supportive. I asked later in a text how Ricoy plans to grow a blockchain-agnostic crypto community in the US given all the sectarian fighting that seems to happen constantly between crypto ecosystems.

Ricoy said a rising tide can lift all boats, and noted how the Solana Foundation and Polygon Labs have worked together on policy in Washington, DC. 

“[W]ho knows, maybe efforts like these can even help bridge communities and put a dent in the tribalism overall,” Ricoy wrote.

— Jack Kubinec

That’s a whole lot of staking APR:

Solana validators’ seven-day moving average APR topped 12% on Sunday and is 11.59% today, according to a Dune dashboard. US Treasurys currently yield between 4-5% for context.

Most of that yield gets passed on to stakers, so everyone in Solanaland can take part in the yield bump.

— Jack Kubinec

Since they first went live, pump.fun's live streams have faced backlash for the unhinged antics of a subset of users, which many participants felt pushed the boundaries of shock marketing and community tolerance. Reported incidents have included threats of animal abuse, torture, kidnapping, self-mutilation, mass murder, and more — all in a desperate bid to drive token hype. The memecoin platform finally pulled the plug on the feature yesterday, following mounting criticism over its increasingly chaotic and harmful content.

In a community notice, pump.fun acknowledged the backlash and outlined efforts to moderate content but admitted their systems couldn’t keep pace with the platform’s explosive growth. The platform announced an indefinite suspension of the feature to ensure user safety. In the day that followed, the community has had no shortage of opinions concerning the suspension, with reactions ranging from relief to regret.

“This definitely saved someone’s life,” wrote @MemoryReboot_, while @AshleyDCan called out the disturbing behavior that prompted the shutdown: “Disgusting things happening on there. Some of you really need to find god (or a mental hospital).” @macsfunnywalk bluntly stated, “Def the correct decision. It was gonna give crypto an even worse name when someone kills themself on stream.” “As usual, a few idiots ruin it for everyone,” wrote @leondenn969, while @ragzyart lamented, “This is why we can’t have nice things.”

“Pump.fun is the cancer of crypto,” said @crygraph, while @PhuckingEth added, “We are supposed to weed these things out, not embrace them. It’s sad.” Others like @NatalieSmedley4 questioned why moderation failures keep recurring, asking, “Why is moderation so hard for platforms these days? Basic stuff.” “Still can’t believe the shit that I saw. RIP gone but forgotten,” wrote @whoisadriann, while @skeleton_k3y added, “Thank God for that… there was some seriously messed up stuff going on.”

@gianinaskarlett offered a more optimistic take, hoping for an eventual return, suggesting, “I think with [the] right moderation [it] can be good.” Whether pump.fun can turn this chaos into a chance for improvement remains to be seen, but as @v4jug62184 put it: “Streaming pause is smart. Fix first, launch later. Accountability matters.”

— Jeffrey Albus

A message from Kevin Ricoy, founder of Allmight: