Crypto Roundup by DJKupo
BlackRock Launches Its First Crypto-Exposed ETF With Sizable Coinbase Allocation (Decrypt)
“BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, has listed its iShares exchange-traded fund (ETF) to allow investors to gain exposure to the blockchain and cryptocurrency market without directly investing in crypto. An application for the iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF (IBLC) ETF was filed to the SEC in January and seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. and non-U.S. companies that are involved in the development, innovation, and utilization of blockchain and crypto technologies.”
As It Weighs FTX Proposal, CFTC Announces A Roundtable On Disintermediation (The Block)
“The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will hold a public discussion on disintermediation next month, with a proposal from crypto exchange FTX looming large. The CFTC announced the May 25 roundtable on Wednesday.”
Central African Republic Adopts Bitcoin As An Official Currency (Reuters)
“Central African Republic has adopted bitcoin as an official currency, the presidency said on Wednesday, becoming the first country in Africa and only the second in the world to do so.”
Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund Co-leads $20 Million Series A for Ondo Finance (The Block)
“Ondo Finance, a crypto startup that provides structured products built on top of decentralized exchanges, has raised $20 million in Series A funding as it looks to build a decentralized investment bank. Peter Thiel’s iconic VC firm Founders Fund and Pantera Capital co-led the round. This is the first time Founders Fund has led an investment in a token-based project, Ondo’s founder and CEO, Nathan Allman, told The Block. Founders Fund has previously participated in a token round for Parallel Finance.”
Edward Snowden Played Key Role in Zcash Privacy Coin’s Creation (CoinDesk)
“Edward Snowden, the former U.S. defense contractor whose leaks ignited a worldwide debate about internet surveillance, played a secret role in the creation of the privacy-enhancing cryptocurrency zcash (ZEC).
The whistleblower, who was granted asylum in Russia and has lived there since 2013 after the U.S. charged him with espionage, was one of the six participants in the “ceremony” that established zcash’s so-called trusted setup.”
Fidelity to Allow Retirement Savers to Put Bitcoin in 401(k) Accounts (WSJ)
“Fidelity Investments plans to allow investors to put a bitcoin account in their 401(k)s, the first major retirement-plan provider to do so. Employees won’t be able to start adding cryptocurrencies to their nest eggs right away, but later this year, the 23,000 companies that use Fidelity to administer their retirement plans will have the option to put bitcoin on the menu. The endorsement of the nation’s largest retirement-plan provider suggests crypto investing is moving further into the mainstream, but it remains to be seen whether employers will embrace it for their workers.”
Founders From a16z, Solana and More Back New Billion-Dollar Crypto Fund (The Block)
“A new investment firm founded by Joe McCann is targeting to raise $1 billion in capital, joining the likes of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Paradigm and Katie Haun’s new set of funds in unveiling new billion dollar plus raises over the last year. McCann — whose career has spanned systematic trading at John Burbank’s Passport Capital to strategy at Microsoft — has named the crypto market’s latest investment firm Asymmetric.”
Fireblocks Adds Support for Terra as It Sees ‘Record Breaking’ Institutional Demand (The Block)
“Crypto services provider Fireblocks has added support for the Terra blockchain on its platform as institutional demand for decentralized finance (DeFi) grows. The company said it’s the first to provide Terra access to institutional customers, meaning its clients can now access Terra-based DeFi apps such as lending protocol Anchor and liquid staking protocol Lido.”
0x Labs Raises $70M in Series B Round Led by Greylock (Decrypt)
“0x Labs, the company behind 0x, an open-source decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol, revealed this morning that it’s raised $70 million in a Series B funding round. The news comes on the heels of last week’s announcement that America’s largest crypto exchange, Coinbase, had chosen 0x to power its just-debuted social NFT marketplace. Coinbase participated in 0x’s Series B, which was led by Greylock. Other participants included Pantera Capital, OpenSea, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and actor Jared Leto.”
Ethereum Scaling Startup Optimism Confirms Governance Token as Part of Broader Shift (The Block)
“Optimism, the Ethereum scaling startup, said Tuesday that it will shift to a new governance structure powered in part by a dedicated token. The details were included in an announcement thread shared on Twitter. At the heart of the effort is what has been dubbed the Optimism Collective, which is itself comprised of two parts: a ‘Token House’ and a ‘Citizens House.’”
Sam Bankman-Fried Described Yield Farming and Left Matt Levine Stunned (Bloomberg)
“It’s no secret that the world of cryptocurrency has split into two very different visions, with one group of fundamentalists seeing some coins (especially Bitcoin) as unchanging static lines of code that can act as stores of value, and another group experimenting at an increasingly frenetic pace with new ways to make money in the world of decentralized finance. Within Defi, some of the most creative money-making seems to take place in ‘yield-farming,’ where some cryptocurrency traders are making double, or even triple-digit yields just by lending or borrowing various coins. The source of this money has long been questioned, with plenty of Internet commentators calling it the equivalent of shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic, or worse.”
Decentralized Twitter Project Bluesky Says It’s Unaffected by Elon Musk Purchase (Decrypt)
“Back in late 2019, when Jack Dorsey was still CEO of Twitter, he set in motion a plan to ‘develop an open and decentralized standard for social media’ that would explore elements of crypto and Web3. That effort, which came to be called ‘bluesky,’ gained steam in 2021 with a January ‘ecosystem review’ of decentralized social apps and the August appointment of Zcash veteran developer Jay Graber as its lead.”
Crypto.Com Made a Major Move Into Federal Lobbying at the Start of the Year (The Block)
“Major crypto exchange and service provider Crypto.com launched a major lobbying operation at the beginning of 2022. According to lobbying disclosure documents reviewed by The Block, Crypto.com spent $300,000 on lobbying in Q1 of 2022, immediately making it one of the largest players in the crypto lobbying space. It was the first time that the company had reported any lobbying disclosures at all.”
New York Lawmakers Advance Mining Moratorium Bill to Full Assembly (CoinDesk)
“New York lawmakers have advanced a controversial bill that aims to put a two-year moratorium on select proof-of-work crypto mining operations in the Empire State. Members of the New York Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee considered the bill at a meeting on Monday afternoon, ultimately voting to send the bill to the floor for a vote by the full Assembly.”
Meta is Opening a Metaverse-Inspired Brick-and-Mortar Store (The Block)
“Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is opening its first real-life store to sell VR and AR devices. The store, which opens on May 9, will be located on Meta Burlingame campus. It’s also where Reality Labs, a division of the company focusing on the metaverse, is located.”
OpenSea Acquires NFT Aggregator Gem (The Block)
“OpenSea has acquired NFT aggregator service Gem, The Block has learned. News of the deal was revealed in an email sent to Gem investors and seen by The Block. Gem lets you buy and sell NFTs across multiple marketplaces and makes it easier to sweep the floor of an NFT collection (that is buy a range of the lower end of the collection). Following the acquisition, Gem will continue to operate as a standalone brand.”
ECB Board Member Calls for Tougher, Coordinated Global Regulation for Crypto (The Block)
“A board member of the European Central Bank is advocating crypto regulation be aligned across the world to mitigate a potentially massive collapse. Executive Board Member Fabio Panetta addressed Columbia University today about ‘the Wild West of crypto finance.’ In his remarks, he said crypto requires a heavier regulatory burden since it has yet to deliver on its promised philosophy of truly decentralized, trustworthy money.”
Grayscale Renews Push With SEC for Bitcoin Spot ETF (Decrypt)
“Grayscale has renewed a months-long push to persuade the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve converting the crypto investment firm’s $40 billion Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF). ETFs bundle securities like stocks or commodities, and allow investors to buy shares of these bundles without owning the assets directly. There are two main types of Bitcoin ETFs: Bitcoin futures (derivative contracts that speculate on the price of the cryptocurrency), and Bitcoin spots (which operate on Bitcoin’s current price).”
Coinbase Stock Slides to All-Time Low Amid NFT Marketplace Beta Rollout (The Block)
“Two days after the beta launch of its new NFT marketplace, Coinbase’s stock fell to an all-time low during Friday’s trading session. The company announced plans to enter the NFT space back in October of last year and over 1.5 million people signed up for the waitlist. The beta launch kicked off on April 20.”
Crypto.com Backs Cryptocurrency Research Program With MIT (The Block)
“Crypto.com, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, said on Friday that it has made a four-year grant to the Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. The grant, of an unspecified amount, aims to support DCI’s research into the security of bitcoin and open-source development of protocols that underlie the network.”
Crypto Lender Celsius Says Its CEL Token Faces ‘Regulatory Risks’ (CoinDesk)
“Crypto rewards token CEL ‘is susceptible’ to ‘regulatory risks,’ issuer Celsius Network, LLC warned customers for the first time this month.
The crypto lending company sharpened its ‘Risk Disclosures’ messaging in recent days, carving out a section for the high-yield Celsius Earn Program, saying that it ‘may be considered a risky investment’ and highlighting ‘regulatory’ among the risks to CEL.”
Last Week’s Most Read Articles
Ethereum-Based Stablecoin Protocol Beanstalk Loses About $182 Million to Exploit (The Block)
Republican Lawmakers Accuse SEC of Restricting Crypto Exchanges in Recent Rulemakings (The Block)
Terra’s Stablecoin UST Becomes Crypto’s Third-Largest (Decrypt)
IMF Calls for Coordinated Effort, Capital Controls for Crypto (The Block)
Nexo Offers Payment Card Allowing Users to Retain Their Crypto (The Block)
