🇺🇸 FIT21 Bill Heads to Senate: Excitement or Caution?
In today’s edition: 🚀 Pendle’s TVL tops $5.78B, 💰 $100M USDe growth in 3 days, 📉 AI tokens drop post-Nvidia earnings, and more!
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With ETH spot ETFs now more likely than ever, Bits + Bips hosts James Seyffart, Alex Kruger, and Joe McCann delve into the reasons behind this shift, surmising that the reversal may have come from powers above the SEC—perhaps in the Biden administration.
The three hosts surmise that ETH will likely reach all-time highs, discuss how this changes their election trading strategy and ponder where there is enough institutional demand for ether ETFs. They also look at whether the potential approval could sway the US elections.
Plus, they share insights into stablecoins and how they strengthen the US’s political power globally, dive into the debate on low float/high FDV coins, and also take a peek at what they think could be the potential next crypto spot ETF.
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.
Just when everyone thought that spot Ether ETFs were going to be denied on Thursday, news broke Monday that they are now likely to be approved, with Bloomberg analysts tripling their odds to a 75% chance of approval.
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise Asset Management, say this reversal definitely has to do with politics, citing the fight of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121, a rule that was unfriendly to financial institutions wanting to engage with crypto.
Plus, they delve into the reasons why Michael Sonnenshein stepped down as CEO of Grayscale after 10 years (hint: it has to do with GBTC), what the 13F filings revealed about who’s been buying the spot bitcoin ETFs since the beginning of the year, and what Vanguard’s incoming CEO, Salim Ramji, who was instrumental to getting BlackRock to launch its Bitcoin ETF, could mean for crypto’s future at the asset management firm.
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 Sam Sriram, and Sage Young
FIT21 Bill Heads to The Senate: Should We Really Be Excited?
The US House has passed the FIT21 bill, which many regard as the first step in establishing a clear regulatory framework for digital assets.
DeFi Protocol Pendle Reaches All-Time High as Total Value Locked Tops $5.78 Billion
Pendle’s smart contracts are among the largest holders of Ethena’s synthetic dollar USDe, as well as several liquid restaking tokens such as wrapped eETH and ezETH.
Ethereum ETF Hype Drives $100 Million Growth in Ethena’s USDe in Past Three Days
Increased odds of the SEC approving spot ether ETFs have led to a jump in Ethereum open interest and perpetual funding rates across the market, helping push the staking yield of USDe to 37.2%.
Largest AI Tokens by Market Cap in Red After Nvidia’s Q1 Earnings Report
Nvidia’s Q1 2024 revenue exceeded analysts’ estimates, while the price of the largest artificial intelligence tokens dropped.
Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍️
🚔 Sam Bankman-Fried, former FTX CEO, is reportedly being transferred from New York to a federal correctional facility in Mendota, California, despite his request to remain in Brooklyn to assist with his appeal preparations. Read more about what life could be like for him there.
📝 The SEC has started discussions with potential Ethereum ETF issuers regarding S-1 registration statements, with sources indicating the Division of Investment Management may have been surprised by the recent shift in approach.
📄 Nasdaq submitted an updated 19b-4 form for BlackRock's spot Ethereum ETF, as other exchanges, including Cboe BZX, also filed amended forms following the SEC's request for revisions.
🔗 MetaMask, the leading Ethereum wallet, plans to integrate native Bitcoin support, potentially arriving within the next month, marking a significant cross-chain development.
🎁 Taiko, an Ethereum Layer 2 rollup project, announced a "genesis airdrop" distributing 5% of its 1 billion tokens ahead of its mainnet launch, targeting testnet participants, block proposers, GitHub contributors, and Ethereum ICO participants.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
💹 The London Stock Exchange will list crypto exchange-traded products for the first time on May 28, following the Financial Conduct Authority's approval of products from WisdomTree and 21Shares.
The $$$ Corner…
🌐 Kelp DAO, an Ethereum liquid restaking platform built on EigenLayer, raised $9 million in a private token sale, valuing the company at $90 million, with investments from SCB Limited, Laser Digital, and other venture firms.
🌩️ WeatherXM, a startup focused on decentralized weather data collection, secured $7.7 million in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Faction, with participation from several other notable investors.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down 0.5%, trading at $69,682
ETH is up 2.1%, trading at $3,819
BTC dominance: 50.3%
Crypto market cap: $2.73T
*All data as of today, 06:30 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
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