Axios

Crypto is increasingly throwing its weight behind industry-friendly candidates.

The big picture: Crypto super political action committees, commonly known as PACs, have raised more than $100 million for 2024 congressional elections, according to a recent report by Public Citizen.

Meme stocks roared on Monday, as speculation grew that Keith Gill, aka "Roaring Kitty" and "DeepF---kingValue" of WallStreetBets fame, was getting back in the game.

Why it matters: Gill helped fuel the meme-stock craze of 2021 by rallying an army of retail traders, who sent shares of battered companies soaring.

It hasn't been a full year since Circle's USDC stablecoin became natively available on Coinbase's layer-2 network, Base, but circulating supply recently jumped on that venue, surpassing Solana.

What's happening: Transaction volume has surged on Base following the mid-March Ethereum upgrade, Coinbase has said.

• Franklin Templeton Digital Assets highlighted that activity in a recent report saying, "It's Base Season."

A couple of possible signals recently flashed on the spot ether ETF approval radar, sparking excitement among those waiting on the SEC decision expected this month.

Why it matters: The crypto industry is looking for parallels between this application process and the previous one for spot bitcoin ETFs in an attempt to divine, and perhaps frontrun, another possible approval.

Between the lines: ARK Investment Management and 21 Shares on Friday updated their joint application for an ether ETF, dropping sections mentioning staking features from its previous application.

• Plus, Grayscale Investments chief Michael Sonnenshein expressed optimism that the "SEC will do the right thing by investors" shortly after its application for an ether futures ETF was withdrawn. (Folks speculated: Maybe a lawsuit wouldn't be necessary this time.)

Don't look now, but inflation expectations are picking up — both in the corporate C-suite and at Americans' kitchen tables.

Why it matters: When people expect higher inflation, it can be self-fulfilling — and if this reversal of progress in inflationary psychology continues, it will make Federal Reserve leaders warier of cutting interest rates.

Freddie Mac has a new revenue stream in its sights, thanks to the record $17 trillion of home equity sitting untapped in U.S. houses.

The big picture: An estimated $850 billion of that home equity is found in homes with first mortgages that were purchased by Freddie Mac — a so-called government-sponsored enterprise, or GSE. Freddie wants to start buying second mortgages written on those homes.

All-cash home purchases are on the rise, according to new data from Redfin.

Why it matters: Rich people can adapt to this pricey market more easily than typical buyers needing a loan.

More than one third of 18 to 24 year olds reported no income through wages or a salary in 2022, according to a recent report out of the St. Louis Fed. That figure is up from about 22% in 1990.

Why it matters: A new generation of workers are dropping out of the workforce before they even begin, despite a resilient labor market, while also struggling with mental health.

It wasn't that long ago that experts were worrying that women, especially moms, would never recover from the shock of 2020. But when it comes to the job market, they turned out to be wrong.

The big picture: More mothers are working now than before the pandemic began.