Sam, You Can't Have That ❌
In today's edition: 🎙️ The Chopping Block on Bitcoin ETFs, a win for Coinbase, a $4 million short, and more!
What’s Poppin’?
Bitcoin Hits 1-Year High Amid ETF Optimism
The market leading digital asset surged to a high of $31,300 on Friday, gaining 20% over a seven-day period.
Court Blocks SBF’s Attempt to Subpoena Former Law Firm
A U.S. Judge ruled that the FTX founder cannot subpoena Fenwick & West for documents to use in his criminal defense.
U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Coinbase in User Lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to route a customer's complaints against the crypto exchange into arbitration.
Trader Opens $4 Million Short on TUSD Using Aave V2
An Ethereum user is betting big against the TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin after the issuer was forced to pause mints and redemptions through Prime Trust.
On the Pod…
With BTC topping $30,000, the gang tackles the apparent surge in institutional bitcoin interest, with BlackRock’s spot ETF application spawning a bumper crop of similar bids. Why did all these TradFi players act at the same time? That, plus a look at the drama surrounding SEC-friendly Prometheum’s Congressional testimony and what Haseeb and Robert see as the trading platform’s many “red flags.”
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
🏦 Circle, the issuer of USDC stablecoin, was the primary depositor benefiting from the government-backed guarantee of Silicon Valley Bank, according to unredacted FDIC documents reported by Bloomberg.
🚫 Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority demanded that Binance immediately discontinue all crypto services in the country.
🇯🇵 Japan's National Tax Agency specified that crypto issuers will not be subject to capital gains taxes on unrealized earnings, furthering the government's efforts to retain startups in the country.
🎨 Elena, a popular NFT artist and researcher previously linked with Azuki, delayed her Atomic Ordinals NFT launch amid allegations of plagiarizing other pixel art designs.
📈 The Volatility Shares 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF, the first leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF, is set to begin trading on Tuesday after receiving no objections from the U.S. SEC.
🔴 The Ethereum Layer 2 network Optimism rebranded to OP Mainnet, aiming to represent its vision of a 'superchain' network of multiple Layer 2 blockchains.
📉 Amid rising regulatory pressure, Coinbase's stake in the Ether (ETH) staking market has fallen to 9.7%, despite increasing demand for ETH staking.
🏛️ Joseph O'Connor, the British individual behind the 2020 Twitter hack and a separate crypto-related SIM-swapping scheme, was sentenced to 5 years in prison for his actions that netted around $900,000.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
💱 HSBC Hong Kong, the region's biggest bank, enabled customers to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
🇧🇷 Brazil's central bank approved crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin, alongside partners including Mastercard, to participate in a pilot for the country's central bank digital currency, the digital real.
☁️ The NEAR Foundation and Alibaba Cloud are collaborating to bolster Web3 development in Asia and the Middle East, offering easy access to the NEAR protocol for developers and facilitating multi-chain indexing.
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📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down 1.2%, trading at $30,263
ETH is down 2%, trading at $1,876
BTC dominance: 48.13%
Crypto market cap: $1.22 trillion
*All data as of today, 7:20 am ET
Recommended Reads
CoinDesk: SEC Sought Freeze Order Despite ‘No Evidence’ That Binance Was Moving U.S. Customer Funds
Smartecio on the Zkysnc’s Credo
Wassielawyer on tokenized financial instruments
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