📉😬 From $1 billion to $20 million in 2 years
In today’s edition: 💼 Saylor's strategy may boost MicroStrategy, 🚫 zkSNACKs restricts US access to Wasabi Wallet, 🛠️ Optimism patches vulnerabilities, and more!
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Union is the first sovereign interoperability layer pioneering trustless bridging between appchains, L1s, and L2s without depending on trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC. Looking to future-proof blockchain bridging, it is the only protocol that fully addresses the sovereign bridging trilemma, unlocking a horizontally-scaled future.
On Thursday, Consensys sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a Texas federal court, seeking to prevent an impending SEC action against its MetaMask wallet and to clarify that ether is not a security.
The complaint calls out the agency for what Consensys describes as “regulatory overreach,” challenges its notion that ether is a security, and says the SEC has violated the Constitutional requirement of fair notice under the due process clause. It notes that for years, the SEC and its sister agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, took the position that ether is not a security.
The lawsuit also challenges the SEC’s recent focus on Ethereum’s switch to proof of stake in 2022 as a basis for increased scrutiny, a stance Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin deemed “preposterous.”
Laura Brookover, senior counsel and head of litigation and investigations at Consensys, joined Unchained to unpack the lawsuit and what it means for the future of Ethereum and overall crypto in the US.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
What’s Poppin’?
by Sam Sriram, Sage Young, Frederick Munawa, and Michael Bodley
How OpenSea’s Weekly NFT Volumes Plummeted From $1 Billion to $20 Million in Just 2 Years
Magic Eden recently surpassed OpenSea in weekly trading volume for the first time, highlighting how the competitive landscape among NFT marketplaces is continuing to shift.
Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin Strategy May Be on the Verge of Paying Even More Dividends for MicroStrategy
A new corporate accounting rule for crypto holdings could make MicroStrategy eligible for inclusion in the S&P 500.
zkSNACKs Blocks US Users From Wasabi Wallet
The company behind Bitcoin privacy wallet Wasabi has blocked US-based users from accessing its products, citing recent announcements from US authorities.
Optimism Patches Issues With Testnet Fraud Proofs After Alert From Offchain Labs
OP Labs fixed two “serious security vulnerabilities” on its testnet after Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs disclosed the issues to the team.
New Bitcoin Exchange Traded Product Launches in Germany, Chasing 24/7 Trading
The latest bitcoin ETP from issuer ETC Group calculates the fund’s net asset value three times a day instead of just once.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
🏛 The DOJ challenged Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm's motion to dismiss charges, affirming the service's role in money laundering and unlicensed money transmission.
🇦🇺 The Australian Securities Exchange is expected to approve its first spot-Bitcoin ETFs by the end of 2024, with applications from DigitalX Ltd., VanEck, and BetaShares underway.
🕵️♂️ North Korea's Lazarus Group is impersonating a Fenbushi Capital executive to target DeFi projects, using fake profiles to engage victims and deploy phishing attacks, according to security firm SlowMist.
🔍 U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to the DOJ highlighting the role of cryptocurrencies in child sexual exploitation, asking for enhanced federal tools to combat this issue.
🏦 Custodia Bank appealed after a Wyoming judge ruled it's not entitled to a Federal Reserve master account, continuing its multi-year quest for direct access to US payment systems.
🔄 Yuga Labs announced company restructuring, cutting roles to focus on a smaller, more agile crypto-native team, according to CEO Greg Solano.
📜 John Deaton, who is opposing Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the Massachusetts Senate race, supported Coinbase in its legal challenge against the SEC over token securities classification.
🚫 Russian Duma explores a crypto exchange ban as clients of Beribit demand funds, receiving only promises and chocolate instead.
The $$$ Corner…
💼 Hinkal, a ZK protocol enabling private onchain trading between institutions, raised $1.4 million at a $70 million valuation in a round led by SALT Fund, which is an investment fund headed by Anthony Scaramucci's son AJ.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
Grayscale research: Public Blockchains and the Tokenization Revolution
Venture capitalist Mike Dudas on 25 thoughts on the state of crypto
Memecoins & PFPs Are the Same Thing by Rob Hadick, general partner at investment firm Dragonfly.
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down 1.6%, trading at $62,524
ETH is down 3.4%, trading at $3,186
BTC dominance: 50.47%
Crypto market cap: $2.44T
*All data as of today, 06:39 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
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