Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave and @maaria
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.3T): -1% / +30%
- BTC ($62,979): -1% / +48%
- ETH ($2,475): -1% / +8%
- SOL ($148): -1% / +45%
- UNI ($7.71): +5% / +51%
- POL ($0.37): -6% / -62%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($120B): 0% / +31%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($35.0B): -1% / +43%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 54% / 13%
- Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher is emerging as a leading contender to head the SEC should Donald Trump win the 2024 presidential election. Link.
- A new Ethereum Improvement Proposal, EIP-7781, aims to increase network throughput 50% by reducing block times from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. Link. Proposal.
- The FTX bankruptcy estate received approval to repay $12.6 billion to FTX customers who had their crypto locked when the exchange imploded in 2022. Link. Link.
- Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange on ethereum, announced it is launching a dedicated Layer-2 called Unichain built on Optimism’s tech stack. No details yet of how Uniswap’s governance token UNI will be integrated. Link. Blog Post.
- Fidelity filed paperwork with the SEC to launch a tokenized money market fund that uses blockchain for transaction efficiency. Link.
- Stripe merchants can now accept USDC payments that settle as fiat in their merchant accounts. Link. Announcement.
- An HBO documentary called “Money Electric” makes the case that early Bitcoin developer Peter Todd is Satoshi Nakamoto, a claim Todd categorically denies. Link. Link.
- Almost half of hedge funds have exposure to digital assets and cryptocurrencies, up from 29% in 2023 and 37% in 2022. Link.
- The FBI created a fake cryptocurrency company, NexFundAI, in a sting operation that resulted in fraud charges against 18 individuals and three trading firms for engaging in wash trading and market manipulation. Link. Link. Link.
- Crypto.com is suing the SEC, claiming they are overstepping their jurisdiction by claiming virtually any exchange of crypto assets is a securities transaction, after receiving a Wells Notice from the regulator. Link. Blog Post. Filing.
- Crypto exchange Binance saw its overall market share drop to 36%, it’s lowest since 2020. Link.
- South Korea’s top financial watchdog said it would reevaluate its 2021 ban on spot crypto ETFs and institutional trading on crypto exchanges. Link.
- Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager is taking a temporary personal leave of absence from the company. Link.
- US prosecutors recommended an 18 month sentence for Razzlekhan, who is accused of helping her husband hide almost 120,000 BTC stolen from the Bitfinex exchange in 2016. Link.
- Crypto transactions in the UAE will be exempt from paying a 5% value-added tax (VAT). The change applies retroactively to transactions as far back as 2018. Link.
- World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project associated with Donald Trump, will launch its governance token next week, aiming to raise $300 million at a $1.5 billion valuation from accredited investors. The first phase of the project involves deploying a fork of the Aave lending protocol on Ethereum Layer-2 Scroll. Link.
- Former FTX executive Ryan Salame discussed his time at FTX and his trial in an interview with Tucker Carlson. He was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for campaign finance and money transmitter violations, a ruling he is currently appealing. Link. Interview.
- Asset manager VanEck is launching a $30 million venture capital fund to invest in digital assets, fintech, and AI startups. VanEck was one of the first institutions to file for Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs. Link.
- Canary Capital filed paperwork with the SEC for an XRP ETF, just a week after Bitwise Asset Management. The SEC is appealing a 2023 legal ruling that the secondary trading of XRP did not constitute a securities offering. Link.
