🔥 Bitcoin's Historical Pattern: June Drop, July Pop?
In today’s edition: 💥 $90M BLAST to Blur, 💡 New cross-validation proposal for Ethereum, 💸 VanEck waives ETH ETF fee, and more!
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The SEC Ends Its Ethereum 2.0 Investigation, but Staking Isn’t in the Clear
Last week, Consensys revealed that the SEC had concluded an investigation into Ethereum 2.0, referring to when Ethereum transitioned from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake one.
In this episode, Laura Brookover, senior counsel & head of litigation and investigations at Consensys, and Sam Enzer, partner at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, explore the implications of this decision on Ether’s status as a commodity versus a security, and why the SEC dropped the pursuit, including whether the shifting political winds played a role. For instance, how much of the decision was influenced by the ETH ETF approvals, Democrats crossing party lines to vote for FIT21 and the repeal of SAB 121, and/or SEC crypto enforcement chief David Hirsch’s resignation?
In this discussion, they also explained why the closure doesn’t necessarily mean that staking, or restaking, is safe from the SEC. Plus, what’s the impact of this closure on the other big crypto cases, such as Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap, and Ripple?
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
What’s Poppin’?
by Sage Young and Sam Sriram
Historically, a Falling Bitcoin Price in June Means Double-Digit Gains in July
The largest cryptocurrency by market cap has dropped nearly 9% from around $67,700 at the start of June to roughly $61,700 at press time.
Blast Foundation Allocates 3% of Total BLAST Supply to Blur Foundation
Ahead of Blast’s scheduled airdrop on Wednesday, the layer 2 protocol’s nonprofit foundation allocated 3% of Blast’s total token supply, worth around $90 million at current valuations, to the Blur Foundation. Both protocols were founded by Tieshun ‘Pacman’ Roquerre.
Ethereum Core Developer Floats Proposal for Execution Layer Cross-Validation
The solution to Ethereum’s validators slashing penalties could lie in cross-validation, according to a proposal from core developer Péter Szilágyi.
VanEck to Waive Initial Fee on Spot Ethereum ETFs, Plans to ‘Make It Up’ on DeFi Volume
More onchain activity means more ether gas spent and a higher asset price, says VanEck’s head of digital assets research Matthew Sigel.
Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍️
⚖️ Lawyers for FTX and creditors debated a disclosure statement during a bankruptcy hearing, as FTX prepares for creditors to vote on its reorganization plan.
📉 US bitcoin ETFs experienced seven consecutive days of outflows, totaling approximately $1.1 billion since June 13, amidst a more than 10% drop in bitcoin prices over the past month.
🔄 Ethereum entered its longest inflationary period since the Merge, with its circulating supply increasing steadily for nearly 72 days.
🚨 Michael Kane, former CEO of Hydrogen Technology, was sentenced to over three years in prison for securities fraud involving market manipulation of Hydro tokens.
📰 Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, reached a plea deal with the U.S. Department of Justice, resulting in his release after serving time in the U.K., and now heads to the Northern Mariana Islands.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
🔗 The Solana Foundation introduced tools that enable any website or app to initiate crypto transactions, aiming to enhance blockchain accessibility and adoption.
The $$$ Corner…
💰 Solana-focused accelerator Colosseum raised $60 million for its first fund to invest in projects emerging from Solana hackathons.
💸 Conduit closed $37 million in a funding round co-led by Paradigm and Haun Ventures, aiming to develop customizable and reliable layer 2 solutions for blockchain technology.
💼 Crossover Markets, an ultra-low-latency crypto trading platform, secured $12 million in a Series A round led by Illuminate Financial and DRW Venture Capital to enhance its execution-only services.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 0.1%, trading at $61,246
ETH is up 0.1%, trading at $3,370
BTC dominance: 50.67%
Crypto market cap: $2.38T
*All data as of today, 06:35 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
Recommended Reads
DeFi applied research firm Gauntlet on Inside the Restaking Ecosystem: A Snapshot of Leading Protocols and Projects
Paradigm’s Brendan Malone on Paradigm’s comment letter in response to a consultation by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
DL News: Why Lido’s LDO rallied after Jump Crypto president Kanav Kariya resigned
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