Issue #77

Market Overview

As of the time of writing (Monday 5pm), the total market cap of the crypto asset market is $US1.70T, down (-3.7%) from last week.

Below is the weekly performance of the top crypto assets. 

News Headline Highlights

 Crypto Asset Project Updates

• Ethereum core developers deployed the Dencun upgrade on the Goerli test network - serving as a precursor to its anticipated launch on the mainnet. The central feature of this Dencun deployment (on Goerli) is the introduction of EIP-4844, a novel transaction mechanism known as ephemeral blobs or proto-danksharding. This is expected to substantially lower transaction costs for Ethereum Layer 2 rollup chains.
• Bitcoin's hash rate hit an all time high 500 exahashes/s. Magnet quick take: Bitcoin is backed by the largest computer network in the world. In 15 years, Bitcoin has amassed a network orders of magnitude larger than the combined size of the clouds that Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have built.

Regulation Station

• New York District Judge Katherine Polk Failla heard opening comments in the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case against Coinbase, alleging that Coinbase was operating as an unregistered exchange, broker and clearing agency. Judge Failla grilled the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), requesting what constitutes a security, staking, and how the major questions doctrine applies to the case. Coinbase has pushed back on those claims, arguing for the case to be dismissed and accusing the regulator of taking a "regulation by enforcement approach". 
• The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) amended a recent regulation so that businesses won't have to report digital assets in the same way they do cash until new regulations are issued. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which came into force on Jan. 1, required businesses to report crypto transactions worth more than $10,000 as if it were cash. The provision is a matter of a lawsuit brought against the IRS by the crypto lobbying group CoinCenter. The rule "will impose a mass surveillance regime on ordinary Americans," CoinCenter argued.
• In Singapore, the newly proposed Financial Institutions (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2024 proposes to “expand MAS’ powers to issue directions to capital markets services licence holders (‘CMSL holders’) that conduct unregulated business”. If passed, the changes could significantly impact crypto firms.

The Weekly Deal Room

• Hashkey, a centralised crypto exchange, raised $100m at a $1.3B valuation in a Series A led by OKX Ventures.
• Kiln, an Ethereum staking platform, raised $17m in a Series A+ led by 1kx.
• Root Protocol, an web3 operating system that includes digital identity, social network, and more, raised $10m at a $100m valuation in a Seed Round led by Animoca Brands.
• DIMO, a decentralised car data protocol, raised $11.5m in a Series A led by Coin Fund.
• 0xScope, a Web3 analytics and investigation tool platform, raised $5m in a Series A led by HashKey Capital.
• Renzo, a liquid restaking hub, raised $3.2m at a $25m valuation in a Seed Round led by Maven 11.
• Canza Finance, a Web3 Innovation company focused on enabling decentralised finance in Africa, raised $3.2m in a Strategic Round led by Polychain.
• AOFVerse, a web3 mobile gaming company, raised $3m in a Private Round from Animoca Ventures.