Crypto Weekly 11/12/2023
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($37,161): +7% / +125%
- ETH ($2,057): +10% / +72%
- SOL ($57.16): +41% / +486%
- UNI ($5.46): +15% / +6%
- MATIC ($0.91): +33% / +21%
MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.5T): +8% / +77%
- BTC Dominance: 49%
- ETH Dominance: 17%
- Tether ($87B): +2% / +31%
- USDC ($24B): -1% / -46%
NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Thursday opened an 8-day window for the SEC to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF. Even if approvals don’t come in November, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts believe there is a 90% chance of approval for a by January. Link. Link.
- The price of ETH rose above $2,000 for the first time since July, following news of BlackRock filing to launch an Ethereum spot ETF. Link. Link. Link. Link.
- JPMorgan added programmable features to its blockchain-powered payment system, allowing institutional clients to seamlessly move funds for banking services such as payments and margin calls. The system is powered by JPM Coin and runs on a permissioned blockchain. Link. Link.
- The SEC is reportedly investigating allegations that Jump Crypto was asked by Terra CEO Do Kwon to restore Terra’s UST peg to the US dollar by buying up large amounts of the stablecoin in May 2021. Link.
- USDC issuer Circle is reportedly considering an IPO for next year. Link.
- Daily NFT trading volume reached a three-month high of $19.1 million. Link.
- Bitcoin's largest public holder, software company MicroStrategy, is sitting on $1.1 billion of unrealized gains. The value of its BTC holdings makes up roughly 80% of its $7.1 billion market cap. Link.
- The number of blockchain addresses holding at least $1,000 worth of BTC hit an all-time high of 8 million. Link.
- Coatue reduced its holding value of NFT marketplace OpenSea by 90%, with an implied value of $1.4 billion down from a peak of $13.3 billion in 2022. Link. Link.
- Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius plans to emerge from bankruptcy in early 2024 and return $2 billion worth of bitcoin and ether to creditors. Fahrenheit Group will be building out Celsius’s mining and staking operations as part of the bankruptcy plan. Link. Link.
- The bankruptcy estate of FTX is suing crypto exchange Bybit for $1 billion, alleging it used its VIP status at FTX to pull hundreds of millions off the exchange during the collapse. Link.
- HSBC is launching a new custodian service in partnership with Ripple-owned Metaco to let institutional clients store digital assets such as tokenized securities. The bank has been embracing blockchain technology, and already uses digital tokens to represent ownership of physical gold held in its London vault. Link.
- Ritual, a startup focused on decentralizing cloud computing service for AI using blockchain tech, raised a $25 million seed round led by Archetype. Link.
- Faction Ventures announced its inaugural $285 million fund to invest in early seed and Series A stage blockchain startups. Link.
- The FTX bankruptcy estate is assessing 3 finalists for rebooting the exchange: Bullish, a crypto exchange led by former NYSE president Tom Farley; Figure, a fintech startup; and Proof Group, a private investment firm. Link. Link. Link.
- 48 countries committed to a tax-transparency standard starting in 2027, which will provide for the automatic exchange of information between jurisdictions to combat tax evasion. Link.
- Ethereum gas fees spiked to 270 gwei after news of BlackRock’s ETF filing came out, pushing up costs for trading to anywhere between $60 to $100. Link.
- Bitcoin mining revenue hit a yearly high, driven by higher BTC prices. BTC rose over rumors the SEC will soon approve the first bitcoin spot ETF. Link.
- Roblox CEO David Baszucki told CNBC he can envision eventually making the gaming platform interoperable, and allowing NFTs to move on and off the platform. Link.
- Crypto exchange Binance launched a self-custodied wallet that works in its native app. Link.
- FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) will face a second trial in March on charges including foreign bribery. SBF was recently found guilty on 7 charges and faces up to 110 years in prison. Link.
- New stablecoin project Midas plans to tokenize Treasuries to create a yield-bearing stablecoin. Link.
- Near and Polygon announced a partnership to build zkWASM, a zero-knowledge prover of WebAssembly blockchains, which will unlock interoperability and allow blockchains to use Ethereum’s liquidity. Link.
- Robinhood is launching brokerage operations in the UK in the coming weeks, and will include crypto trading in its offering. Link. Q3 Report.
- Crypto exchange Binance will stop accepting deposits in Russian rubles this month. Link.
- Crypto exchange Kraken plans to build its own layer 2 blockchain. Link. Link.
- $767 million has flowed to digital asset investment products in 2023, surpassing the $736 million of total inflows in 2022. Link.
- 293 new digital assets were created in Q3, the lowest new issuance since 2021. Link.