⚖️ After ETFs, SEC May Persist Against ETH
In today’s edition: 🌟 Celebs flock to Solana tokens, 🐸 Trump memecoins rally ahead of 2024, 🏆 Ondo Finance leads RWA sector, 🤔 Saylor shifts view on ETH, and more!
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Why Many Democrats, Including the White House, Have Come Around on Crypto
Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, joins Unchained to explore the dramatic shift by Democrats in the last few weeks on crypto. She explains why she believes the overturning of SAB 121 and the House vote for the FIT21 bill were both instrumental to the White House’s changing view on crypto and may have played a role in the SEC’s surprising approval of spot ETH ETFs.
Having worked for years on passing crypto legislation and as a lifelong Democrat, Sheila describes what kinds of arguments were persuasive to Democratic members of Congress, addresses some criticisms of the FIT21 bill, and gives her perspective on the debate about single-issue voters.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
What’s Poppin’?
by Laura Shin, Sage Young, Juan Aranovich, Kari McMahon and Sam Sriram
Ethereum ETFs Likely Protect Ether From the SEC. But What About Staked ETH?
The SEC’s approval for Ethereum spot ETFs may help clarify ether’s commodity status, but it still leaves room open for the agency to put staked ether, and staking, in its crosshairs.
Why the SEC May Not Be Done in Its Legal Battles Over Ethereum
The SEC’s approval for Ethereum spot ETFs may weaken its case in its ongoing legal battles with crypto companies, but the agency may not succumb easily.
Solana Attracts Attention From Mainstream Celebrities Caitlyn Jenner, Davido, Iggy Azalea, Rich The Kid, and Trippie Redd
To launch their tokens, Davido, Rich The Kid, and Caitlyn Jenner used Pump.Fun which has generated $14.12 million in fees over the past 30 days, which is ahead of Binance Smart Chain, Ethena, Uniswap Labs, and Base, according to data from DefiLlama.
Trump-Inspired Memecoins Rally as Prediction Markets Favor the Former President for the 2024 Election
Memecoins inspired by Donald Trump have posted substantial gains this month, notably after the former U.S. president began a consistent appeal to crypto enthusiasts to vote for him.
Real-World Asset Sector Led by Ondo Finance Is Best-Performing Month-to-Date
Even though memecoins have captured crypto mindshare, protocols focused on real-world assets and tokenization, such as Ondo Finance, have seen the largest increase in their fully-diluted market capitalizations, according to Artemis data.
Has Michael Saylor, Bitcoin Maximalist-In-Chief, Pivoted?
It seems the ultimate Bitcoin bull, Michael Saylor, is starting to see the merits in Ethereum.
‘No Immediate Selling Pressure for Bitcoin’ From Mt. Gox Transfers: CryptoQuant
Mt. Gox moved $9.6 billion bitcoin to a new wallet earlier this week, but onchain analysts aren’t concerned about these coins flooding the market anytime soon.
Gemini Earn Users Receive $2.18 Billion in Crypto
Gemini Earn users received a billion dollars more than the value of their assets at the time that Genesis halted withdrawals, representing a 232% recovery.
Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍️
🔗 The Biden re-election campaign started reaching out to the crypto industry, marking a notable shift in their approach toward digital assets and policy. This outreach aims to understand the crypto community better and comes after backlash against the administration's stance on crypto legislation.
📑 BlackRock filed an amended S-1 registration statement for its proposed Ethereum ETF, revealing details about its seed capital investor.
💰 Vitalik Buterin donated 30 ETH ($111,000) to a legal defense fund for Tornado Cash developers Alexey Pertsev and Roman Storm, raising a total of 591 ETH ($2.2 million). The fund aims to support the developers facing money laundering charges, with Pertsev recently sentenced to 64 months in prison.
💳 Stablecoin PayPal USD is now available on the Solana blockchain. This rollout follows nearly a year after PayPal USD was first introduced on the Ethereum network.
🛡️ Coinbase, Circle, and Kraken joined forces with other major crypto firms to form the Crypto Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), a new initiative aimed at improving cybersecurity in the cryptocurrency industry, following the launch of SEAL-ISAC last month.
🎰 ZKasino, an onchain casino, which received $33 million in deposits last month, reopened its ether bridge, after users waited over a month to access it. Users have a 72-hour window to withdraw their ether at a 1:1 ratio, although they will forfeit any reward allocations if they do so.
💸 Ripple donated $25 million to the crypto-focused PAC Fairshake, adding to its previous $20 million contribution in December 2023. CEO Brad Garlinghouse said these donations aim to educate voters about crypto's importance and counter anti-crypto sentiments in Washington.
⚖️ David Kagel, an 85-year-old disbarred attorney, pleaded guilty to his role in a $9.5 million crypto Ponzi scheme. Previously disbarred for mismanaging funds, Kagel used his legal background to deceive investors with false promises of high returns.
🔄 Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol will complete their token merger on June 13. The three tokens will merge into one under Fetch.ai’s FET token, which will then be renamed Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI). This consolidation aims to create a decentralized AI infrastructure to counter tech giants' dominance in the sector.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
📈 The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) plans to list bitcoin options based on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX), marking another significant move by traditional finance into the crypto market, with the XBX currently serving as the benchmark for $20 billion in ETF assets.
🌍 Mastercard launched the Mastercard Crypto Credential, a peer-to-peer network for digital asset transactions in Europe and Latin America. Currently in pilot mode, it facilitates cross-border payments on exchanges such as Bit2Me and Mercado Bitcoin.
🇧🇷 Circle launched its USDC stablecoin in Brazil, partnering with major financial institutions such as BTG Pactual. The move aims to expand access to USDC as Brazil anticipates new crypto regulations by the end of the year.
The $$$ Corner…
💡 Fortunafi, a tokenization platform for real-world assets, raised $9.51 million and unveiled a new stablecoin protocol, Reservoir. The funding round, valuing Fortunafi at over $48 million, included investors such as Shima Capital and Ari Litan of LayerZero Labs.
🎮 Web3 AI gaming firm PlayAI closed $4.3 million in seed funding, valuing the company at $70 million.
💸 Coinflow Labs, a Web3 payments firm, secured $2.25 million in seed funding led by CMT Digital, with participation from Reciprocal Ventures, Jump Crypto, Draper Dragon, and Digital Currency Group.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up .1%, trading at $67,919
ETH is down 1.9%, trading at $3,740
BTC dominance: 50.23%
Crypto market cap: $2.66T
*All data as of today, 06:50 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
Recommended Reads
CoinDesk: The U.S. Response to Binance Exec Tigran Gambaryan's Detention Is Shameful
Blockworks: Why more US spot crypto ETF approvals may be unlikely in the near term
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