Crypto Weekly 5/27/2024
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.7T): +9% / +56%
- BTC ($70,063): +5% / +65%
- ETH ($3,930): +28% / +72%
- SOL ($171): 0% / +68%
- UNI ($11.12): +44% / +52%
- MATIC ($0.75): +9% / -23%
- Tether Mkt Cap ($111B): 0% / +22%
- USDC Mkt Cap ($33B): -3% / +33%
- BTC / ETH Dominance: 50% / 17%
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- The House voted 279-136 to pass FIT-21, a bill to establish regulations for digital assets markets. Biden has said he opposes the bill in its current form, but will not veto if the bill passes the Senate. Link. Link. FIT-21 PDF.
- The SEC green-lit the listing of eight spot ethereum ETFs from BlackRock, VanEck, Fidelity, Grayscale and others. Trading of the ETFs will begin after the SEC approves S-1 registration statements, which could take months. The agency, which had long suggested that all tokens outside of bitcoin were securities, said it would not comment on the order though there is speculation the decision was a political, top-down order influenced by the upcoming election. Link. Link. Link. Link.
- RIP to Kabuso, the 18-year-old Shiba Inu whose meme inspired the creation of dogecoin (DOGE) in 2013. Link. Tweet.
- The number of distinct addresses on ethereum layer-2 blockchains has more than doubled YTD to an all-time high of over 7 million. Link.
- Donald Trump’s presidential campaign now accepts donations in cryptocurrency. Link.
- Decentralized social protocol Farcaster raised $150 million in a round led by Paradigm. Link. Link. Blog Post.
- The House voted 216-192 to pass the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, a bill that would block the Fed from issuing a CBDC. 3 Democrats voted for the bill. Link. Press Release.
- Coinbase is launching oil and gold futures for retail investors. Link. Blog Post.
- The Fed reports the percent of US adults using crypto fell to 7% last year, compared to 10% in 2022 and 12% in 2021. Most people reported using crypto as an investment, while only 2% reported using crypto to make a purchase or send money. Link. Link. Report.
- The SEC green-lit ethereum ETF applications that removed staking from their offering. Link.
- Coinbase used FIT-21 in its interlocutory appeal in its case with the SEC, claiming the bill shows bipartisan support of less SEC jurisdiction over digital assets. Link. Appeal.
- The Chairman of the FDIC resigned in the wake of a scandal over a culture of toxicity and sexual harassment at the agency. Link.
- Grayscale Investments added two new investment trusts, Stacks and Near Protocol. Link.
- Presidential candidate Donald Trump called to commute the life sentence of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road. Link.
- 25 new crypto-focused venture capital and hedge funds launched in Q1 of this year, the most since Q2 of 2021. Link.
- Decentralized exchange Uniswap Labs likened crypto tokens to PDFs in its response to the SEC’s charges it operated as an unregistered exchange and broker dealer. Link.
- Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX paid over $25 million to 6 unnamed whistleblowers. Link.
- The Hong Kong government ordered Worldcoin to cease operations over privacy concerns. Link.
- NEAR Protocol announced a new research and development lab focused on decentralized AI, as well as an incubator and investment arm supporting projects built on the NEAR ecosystem. Link.