Crypto Weekly 9/10/2023
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
Crypto weekly is co-authored by @serdave
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($25,717): -1% / +55%
- ETH ($1,611): -1% / +35%
- SOL ($18.12): -9% / +86%
- UNI ($4.20): -5% / -19%
- MATIC ($0.52): -5% / -31%
MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.04T): 0% / +31%
- BTC Dominance: 49%
- ETH Dominance: 19%
- Tether ($83B): 0% / +25%
- USDC ($26B): 0% / -41%
NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- A new FASB rule reportedly will allow companies to mark some digital assets at fair value on their balance sheet. Digital assets were previously accounted for as intangible assets, meaning companies had to decrease holding value if prices fell, but couldn’t record gains if prices increased. The new rules apply to fungible tokens but not NFTs. Link. Link. Link. Draft Rules (PDF).
- Apple reportedly paid author Michael Lewis $5 million for the rights to his book Going Infinite about Sam Bankman-Fried, former FTX CEO. Lewis had been shadowing SBF when the exchange collapsed. Link.
- Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin co-authored a research paper exploring a regulatory compliant fork of Tornado Cash. Privacy Pools would operate similar to Tornado Cash by mixing user transactions to obscure their origins, but users would be able to generate a zero-knowledge proof to verify the origins of funds to ensure compliance with AML regulations. Link. Link. Paper.
- Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky’s assets were frozen this week. Mashinksky was arrested in July for securities fraud and manipulation of the company’s CEL token. Link.
- JPMorgan Chase, the largest US bank by assets, hinted at a blockchain-based “deposit token” to enable instant settlement and cheaper fees. JPM said it had the infrastructure in place, but wouldn’t create the token without regulatory approval. Link. Link.
- A new report from Henley & Partners estimates that 425 million people globally hold cryptocurrencies of some kind. Link. Report.
- Solana’s daily active addresses fell to a two year low this week. Link.
- Bitcoin miners who had moved operations to Texas for its low-cost energy and friendly regulations are shutting down amidst a state power crisis. Link.
- Binance’s NFT marketplace is ending support for Polygon NFTs at the end of the month. Link.
- Visa’s stablecoin program is now available to global merchant acquirers Worldpay and Nuvei and their customers. The program uses USDC to improve cross-border settlement speeds and is available on both the Ethereum and Solana blockchains. Link. Link. Press Release.
- Former FTX executive Ryan Salame will pay a $6 million cash fine after pleading guilty to criminal charges related to the exchange’s collapse. The guilty plea carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. Link. Link. Link.
- The top 8 crypto exchanges account for 90% of all volumes. Link.
- The CFTC fined 3 DeFi protocols for allowing US customers to trade crypto derivatives without registering. Opyn, 0x, and Deridex paid fines of under $250,000. The dissenting opinion claimed the agency should focus efforts on providing clear rules for DeFi, especially when dealing with platforms that haven’t committed fraud or harmed users. Link. Link. Press Release. Dissent.
- Faruk Ozer, founder of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, was sentenced to 11,196 years in prison for crimes related to the exchange’s implosion in 2021. The indictment claims the exchange lost $13 million, though Chainalysis estimated Thodex lost roughly $2.6 billion. Link. Link. Link.
- Crypto spot trading on centralized exchanges fell to a four year low this week despite Grayscale’s court victory against the SEC. Link.
- Blockchain payments company Ripple announced it was acquiring crypto wallet and infrastructure provider Fortress Trust for a mix of cash and equity. Link. Link.
- Metamask added a “sell” feature to convert crypto to fiat and deposit into a bank account. Link.
- Several more Binance executives have resigned over the past two weeks, including executives overseeing the company’s Russian market. Binance has been sued by the SEC for compliance issues and is under investigation by the DOJ over money laundering controls. Link.
- Nouns DAO is heading towards a treasury split. 25% of Nouns NFT holders have voted to have their share of the treasury removed, exceeding the DAOs 20% voting threshold. Link.
- The Grayscale Ethereum Trust discount to net asset value decreased to 27%, its lowest in a year, amid speculation that Grayscale may apply to convert the trust into an ETF. Link.
- LBRY announced they are appealing a court decision favoring the SEC’s claim that they violated securities laws when they launched their token. Link.
- Coinbase is planning to acquire licenses in jurisdictions that are “enacting clear rules” for the crypto industry including the EU, U.K., Canada, Brazil, Singapore and Australia. Link. Link.
- Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis filed a suit against Digital Currency Group and Digital Currency Group International for repayment of $600 million in unpaid loans. Link.
- Socket, a cross-chain communication protocol, announced it raised $5 million from Coinbase Ventures and Framework Ventures. Link.
- Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm pleaded not guilty to money laundering and sanctions evasion charges. Link.
- Justin Bieber turned his hit single “Company” into an NFT, where holders get a 1% royalty share in the streams of the song. Link.
- Founders of cricket NFT startup Rario are leaving amidst investors exerting control over restructuring the company. Rario raised $120 million last year. Link.
- Hong Kong is testing cross-bank payments and cross-border payments using China’s CBDC, the digital yuan. Link.
- Starting September 15, NFT games can use Google ad services as long as the game does not have a gambling component. Link.
- Story Protocol raised $54 million in funding in a round led by a16z crypto to build an open system for developing and monetizing intellectual property. Link. Link.
- Coinbase’s Layer-2 blockchain Base experienced a stall in block production earlier this week. Link.