Issue #61

Market Overview

As of the time of writing (Monday 5pm), the total market cap of the crypto asset market is $US1.15T, up (6.9%) from last week.

Below is the weekly performance of the top crypto assets. 

News Headline Highlights

• VanEck received approval to launch the VanEck Ethereum Strategy ETF (EFUT), the first ETF with exposure to ether’s (ETH) price. EFUT does not invest in ETH, rather it invests in standardised, cash-settled ETH futures contracts traded on the Chicago Merchantile Exchange (CME).
• Microstrategy, the software company turned bitcoin (BTC) accumulator,  acquired another $150m of BTC between Aug.1 and Sept.24, it said in a Monday regulatory filing. "MicroStrategy, together with its subsidiaries, acquired approximately 5,445 bitcoins for approximately $147.3 million in cash, at an average price of approximately $27,053 per bitcoin" the company said in the filing.
• Coinbase International Exchange received regulatory approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) to allow eligible non-US retail customers to trade perpetual futures.
• The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed making a decision on all active spot BTC ETF filings. The next date at which the SEC must either approve/deny or delay the decision again is early January 2024.
• Global payments platform MoneyGram announced the launch of a non-custodial wallet to help its users move funds between fiat currency and USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.

 Crypto Asset Project Updates

• The DAO that governs Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum passed a vote to invest 50 million ARB ($41m) into active projects within the Arbitrum ecosystem. 65% of participating ARB token holders voted in favour, with the other 35% voting to allocate only 25 million ARB.
• Risk analysis platform Chaos Labs initiated a dYdX community proposal to allocate $20m $DYDX tokens as incentives to early users of dYdX version 4.
• Celestia, a modular consensus and data network, plans to allocate 6% of its native token, TIA, to ecosystem participants and developers in a token airdrop. Celestia is a blockchain network aiming to create a scalable data availability layer.

Regulation Station

• Last week the US House Financial Services Committee held an SEC oversight hearing with Chairman Gensler. Notable items during the Committee meeting included:
  • A bipartisan group of Representatives penned a letter urging Chairman Gensler to approve a Bitcoin Spot ETF immediately.
  • Chairman Patrick McHenry kicked off the session with stern words to Gensler, “your efforts to choke out the digital asset ecosystem, which has created real harm for consumers and our markets, is clear to all. Chair Gensler, you have also said your goal is consumer protection, yet your actions have pushed legitimate digital asset firms outside regulated financial institutions where consumers are best protected".
  • Representative Andy Barr comically called Gensler the "Tonya Harding of securities regulation because you're kneecapping the U.S. capital markets".
  • House Whip Tom Emmer continued the barrage on Gensler, stating, "I'm convinced you're not an impartial regulator. Instead, it's clear that you working to consolidate your own power even though it means crushing opportunities for everyday Americans".
  • Democratic Representative Richie Torres called Gensler out for his overreach, referencing his lack of case law used to support his stance on cryptocurrency regulation. 
  • Representative Mike Flood took highlighted the impracticality of SEC actioned Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121, a policy that prevents even the most legitimate institutions such as BNY Mellon from offering digital asset custody. 
• U.S. Congressman Mike Flood (R-NE), Congressmen Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Congressman French Hill (R-AR), and Congressman Wiley Nickel (D-NC) introduced a bipartisan bill, the Uniform Treatment of Custodial Assets Act. The bill would, in effect, rescind a rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121), that prevents banks from providing custodial services to digital assets investors by requiring them to keep those assets on the balance sheet.
• Christina Choi, an official of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, said the regulator is working on detailed guidance on the tokenization of authorised investment products, such as equities “in the near term”.

The Weekly Deal Room

• IYK, a platform for connecting physical objects to digital blockchain goods, raised $16.8m in a seed round led by a16z.
• Rated Labs, an Ethereum staking infrastructure company, raised $12.888m in a Series A led by Archetype.
• Fhenix, an Ethereum layer-2 dedicated to bringing fully homomorphic encryption to smart contracts, raised $7m in a seed round co-led by Multicoin Capital and Collider Ventures.
• Avantis Labs, an on-chain leverage trading platform, raised $4m in a seed round led by Pantera Capital.
• Pimlico, an Ethereum infrastructure company, raised $1.6m in a pre-seed round led by 1Confirmation.