Issue #55

Market Overview

As of the time of writing (Monday 5pm), the total market cap of the crypto asset market is $US1.09T, down (10.7%) from last week.

Below is the weekly performance of the top crypto assets. 

News Headline Highlights

• The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly set to allow the first Ether futures ETF to launch imminently. Nearly a dozen companies, including Volatility Shares, Bitwise, Roundhill and ProShares, have filed to launch the ETFs.
• The National Futures Association, a CFTC designated SRO, approved Coinbase Financial Markets as a registered Futures Commission Merchant. With this approval, Coinbase can offer Bitcoin and Ethereum futures contracts in the US.
• Ledger, a crypto hardware wallet provider, partnered with PayPal to allow users to buy crypto in its Ledger Live app through their PayPal account. 
• Jacobi Asset Management (Jacobi) listed Europe’s first spot Bitcoin ETF on Euronext Amsterdam. The ETF, regulated by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC), trades under the ticker BCOIN. Custodial services are provided by Fidelity Digital Assets.
• The US Securities and Exchange Commission has a September 1 decision deadline on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, where they can reject, approve or delay a decision. Decisions for applications from BlackRock, VanEck, WisdomTree and Invesco are due just a day later. Magnet Quick Take: We fully expect the SEC to delay their decisions. The only thing that could change that is if the courts announce Grayscale’s successful lawsuit against the SEC for unjust denial of Bitcoin ETFs.
• Sichuan, a previously world leading bitcoin mining region in southwestern China, plans to grow the nascent metaverse industry to reach a market size of 250 billion yuan ($34.4 billion) by 2025.

 Crypto Asset Project Updates

• ThorChain launched a lending product, where users can deposit bitcoin or ether and receive a no-interest, no-liquidation loan against their collateral. In doing so, there are risks introduced to the protocol, which is the counterparty to the loans. 
• Average daily transactions on Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 network incubated by Coinbase, jumped past Arbitrum and Optimism, the dominant Ethereum layer 2 networks, last week. Base's seven-day moving average daily transaction count reached 610k, compared to Optimism’s 597k and Arbitrum's 576k.
• OpenSea announced that it will soon stop enforcing creator royalty fees on secondary sales of NFTs. This development will impact artists and teams who receive passive income when their work trades hands following the initial sale. Beginning August 31, artists who list new projects on OpenSea will not be able to require buyers to pay a creator fee.
  • In light of this decision, Yuga Labs intends to sever ties with OpenSea over the NFT platform's shift to a royalty-optional model.

Regulation Station

• Ripple Labs, the issuer of the XRP crypto asset, has filed a response to the SEC’s anticipated interlocutory appeal (claiming the original ruling that the sale of XRP was declared not a security is incorrect).  Ripple opposes the appeal on the grounds that: No controlling question of law is involved, the SEC cannot show a substantial ground for difference of opinion and an immediate appeal will not advance the termination of the litigation.
• Financial Service Committee Chairman, Patrick McHenry, and other Republicans on the Financial Services Committee, wrote letters to FINRA and the SEC regarding the suspicious approval of Prometheum, the only Special Purpose Broker-Dealer for digital assets.
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) released a report highlighting the novel and complex risks that crypto could introduce to financial stability. The organisation dedicated 2 of 90 pages to crypto in its annually-published report titled Risk Review.

The Weekly Deal Room

• BitGo, a US based crypto custodian, raised $100m at a $1.75 billion valuation from undisclosed investors.
• Zetachain, an interoperable layer one blockchain protocol, raised $27m in a funding round from Blockchain.com, Human Capital, VY Capital, Sky9 Capital, Jane Street Capital, GSR and others.
• Jada AI, a blockchain based artificial intelligence project, raised $25m from alternative investment group LDA Capital.
• ZTX, a metaverse platform built on Arbitrum (Ethereum layer 2), raised $13m in a Seed Round led by Jump Crypto.
• Dinari, a decentralised stock trading platform, raised $7.5m in a Seed Round from Susquehanna, 500 Global and Balaji Srinivasan.
• Linera, a layer one blockchain leveraging microchains to scale, raised $6m in a second Seed Round led by Borderless Capital.
• Ellipsis Labs, a limit orderbook decentralised exchange, raised $3.3m in a Seed Round led by Electric Capital.