FTX Approved to Dump 📉
In today’s edition: 💡 Pando joins ETF race, ⛓️ Lazarus group crackdown, 💼 Retail's VC-like shot, 🔍 Celo picks Layer 2, and more!
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What’s Poppin’?
by James Rubin, Kollen Post, Sage Young, and Samyuktha Sriram
FTX Receives Court Consent to Sell $744M in Assets From Grayscale, Bitwise Trusts
FTX and affiliated debtors intend on selling $691 million from five Grayscale trusts and $53 million from one Bitwise trust.
US Treasury Sanctions Crypto Mixer Sinbad Following Lazarus Group Laundering
The Treasury continues targeting the favorite crypto mixers of North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group.
Republic Tries to Bring the Security Token Back, Giving Retail a Chance to Invest Like VCs
Investment platform Republic will list a token on INX that allows retail investors to access the upside of its venture portfolio.
Crypto Asset Manager Pando Files Application for Spot Bitcoin ETF
The Swiss company joins a dozen other financial services firms in seeking approval that would track the ongoing price of bitcoin.
Celo Releases Framework for Selecting Layer 2 Stack
The Celo blockchain has proposed a framework for its transition to an Ethereum Layer 2 network, with Optimism, Polygon and Matter Labs all competing to provide the underlying infrastructure.
The IRS sparked a storm of controversy when it released proposed new rules for crypto transaction reporting earlier this year. The new rules seek to define who is considered a broker, what types of transactions need to get reported, and the kinds of digital assets that need to be included, but many in the industry consider them overly broad and ultimately unworkable.
Lawrence Zlatkin, VP of Tax at Coinbase, and Shehan Chandrasekera, Head of Tax Strategy at tax software firm CoinTracker, discuss the crypto industry’s specific objections to the proposed new rules, and what might be a better way forward. They also delve into how the regulations would apply to stablecoins and NFTs, potential blockchain-based solutions for the reporting requirements, and what the likely outlook and timeline for the proposals to come into effect are.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
🪙 Binance announced it will end support for the BUSD stablecoin in December following regulatory actions against Paxos.
🏦 Grayscale is updating the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) agreement to prepare for a potential conversion to a spot bitcoin ETF, aiming for operational efficiencies and competitive parity.
🔄 AntPool agreed to refund the record $3 million Bitcoin transaction fee, asking the owner to verify their identity before December 10.
🚨 Tomya, a Turkish crypto exchange and sponsor of Hull City, is embroiled in a fraud scandal, with its owner among 25 people detained in Turkey.
🔓 Celsius is allowing partial withdrawals for certain account holders as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, with a deadline set for February 2024.
⚽ Cristiano Ronaldo faces a lawsuit for allegedly promoting unregistered securities on Binance, involving deceptive advertising claims.
💰 ProShares' Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) achieved a record $1.47 billion in assets, signaling rising institutional interest in Bitcoin.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
🌍 Paxos expanded into Abu Dhabi with two in-principle approvals for issuing stablecoins and offering crypto brokerage and custody services.
💰 Crypto custody firm Copper launched a new institutional trading platform for tokenized securities in the UAE.
💡 The Hong Kong Securities & Futures Professionals Association proposed creating an initial coin offering (ICO) portal, aiming to revive Hong Kong's status as a hub for ICOs.
The $$$ Corner…
🌉 Cross-chain protocol Wormhole closed a $225 million funding round, reaching a valuation of $2.5 billion, and launched Wormhole Labs as a core contributor.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
Unchained: What Is the Blockchain Trilemma?
Fortune: Gary Gensler has remade the SEC into a crypto nemesis and climate warrior. Now a backlash is brewing
The Independent: Bitcoin mining could supercharge transition to renewables, study claims
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down .5%, trading at $37,868
ETH is down .1%, trading at $2,048
BTC dominance: 49.67%
Crypto market cap: $1.49T
*All data as of today, 07:17 am ET
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