Crypto Roundup by DJKupo
California Governor Signs Executive Order to Create a Crypto Framework (The Block)
“Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday to begin the implementation of a crypto framework in the US state of California. The executive order builds on the recent order from Biden administration, which called on regulators to work together to mitigate risks and promote innovation. ‘California will begin the process of creating a regulatory approach to spur responsible innovation while protecting California consumers, assess how to deploy blockchain technology for state and public institutions, and build research and workforce development pathways to prepare Californians for success in this industry,’ said an announcement from the governor’s office.”
Elon Musk Changes Twitter Profile Picture to Bored Ape Collage (The Block)
“Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO in the process of buying Twitter, appeared to change his profile picture on the social network to a composite image featuring multiple Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Wednesday. As of Wednesday morning, Musk’s Twitter avatar featured a picture of dozens of Bored Apes, with Ape 5809 in the centre.”
Coinbase Opens NFT Marketplace to All (CoinDesk)
“Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) said Wednesday it has opened the beta version of its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace to the public. The exchange unveiled the marketplace to a small group of invited users at the end of April, nearly seven months after announcing its launch in October 2021. The marketplace saw just 900 transactions and 73 ETH (around $210,000) of sales volume in the debut week of its beta, though Coinbase did not say how many users had been granted access to the platform.”
Crypto Wunderkinds Secure $85 Million to Start Own Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
“A couple of up-and-coming crypto market participants are starting a hedge fund that will focus on a ‘long-only’ strategy after receiving $85 million in funding from some of the sector’s most prominent proponents. Ryan Watkins, a 25-year-old former analyst at Messari Inc., and 26-year-old Daniel Cheung, who worked at Jennison Associates LLC, said they’ve formed Pangea Fund Management. They said they’re being backed by investors that include Bain Capital and ParaFi. Other participants in the funding round include Brad Burnham, co-founder of Union Square Ventures, Apollo Global Management co-founder Josh Harris, as well as ‘crypto natives’ such as Do Kwon from Terraform Labs, Alameda Research and Multicoin Capital’s Kyle Samani.”
France Approves Binance to Operate Digital Asset Trading Services (The Block)
“French financial regulators afforded Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, a digital asset service provider license on Wednesday. Binance can now operate its digital asset trading platform in France, meaning it can facilitate digital asset custody, let users buy and sell crypto and help to exchange digital assets for each other, according to the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), a French financial market regulator.”
Kraken Opens Waitlist for Forthcoming NFT Platform (The Block)
“Crypto exchange Kraken has opened the waitlist for its non-fungible token platform. Rumblings of a Kraken NFT platform first began in December of last year, when a spokesperson told The Block that Kraken would begin offering NFT services in the very near future. Today, the firm announced some of those services in a blog post today, saying Kraken NFT will be a “complete solution for exploring, curating and securing your NFT collection.”
Jane Street Makes Defi Play With Planned $25 Million USDC Loan (The Block)
“Jane Street Capital, one of the world’s biggest market makers, is pushing into decentralized finance (DeFi) as it plans to borrow up to $25 million in the stablecoin USDC. According to a statement on Tuesday, the funds will be borrowed from BlockTower Capital through Clearpool, which launched in March. Clearpool is a decentralized capital markets ecosystem which provides uncollateralized liquidity from a group of lenders.”
SEC Crypto Team Getting 20 More Officials in Bid to Crack Down (Bloomberg)
“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is adding 20 more officials to a team dedicated to policing crypto markets, the latest move by Wall Street’s main regulator to crack down on digital tokens that may run afoul of its rules. The additions will bring the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit to 50 people, the agency said Tuesday in a statement. The focus of the expanded enforcement group will include virtual-currency offerings, decentralized finance and trading platforms, as well as stablecoins, according to the regulator.”
Gemini Launches Web3 Design Studio Superlunar (Decrypt)
MicroStrategy Reports $170M Impairment Charge on Bitcoin Holdings in Q1 (CoinDesk)
VanEck Releases First NFTs, Promising Early Access to Research (CoinDesk)
“Asset management and crypto-based product firm VanEck has launched its first collection of non-fungible tokens (NFT) to showcase the tokens’ real-world utility and build community. The VanEck Community NFT is a collection of 1,000 tokens divided into several levels of rarity that each confer access to benefits such as early access to the company’s digital asset research, and invitations to in-person and virtual events.”
Bitcoin Mining Council Rebuts House Democrats In Letter To EPA (The Block)
“Over 50 of bitcoin mining’s biggest advocates have put their names to a letter addressed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pushing back on recent claims made by a group of US House Democrats.”
Privacy Startup Nym Brings In Outside Backers For $300 Million Developer Fund (The Block)
“Nym Technologies, a Swiss privacy startup that shields online activity from surveillance using a mixnet, today unveiled a new $300 million fund to entice developers to its ecosystem. The Nym Innovation Fund has secured $300 million in commitments from a range of venture capital investors, according to an announcement shared exclusively with The Block.”
Argentina’s Largest Private Bank Launches Crypto Trading Feature (CoinDesk)
“Banco Galicia, the largest Argentinian private bank by market value, has added the option to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on its platform, the company confirmed Monday. The bank added a feature in the investment section of its app for users to acquire bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), USDC and XRP, telling its customers that it is a new tool.”
Otherside NFT Mint Burned More Than $157M in Ethereum (Decrypt)
“The weekend’s Otherside NFT minting frenzy resulted in the Ethereum network destroying more ETH than it issued. The mad rush to buy Otherdeed NFTs over the weekend spiked gas fees on the number two crypto network, and burned 55,843 Ethereum in the process, worth approximately $157 million, making it the sixth-largest source of burned ETH ever.”
Bored Ape Metaverse Frenzy Raises Millions, Crashes Ethereum (Bloomberg)
“Yuga Labs, the creator of the popular Bored Apes Yacht Club collection of NFTs, launched a sale Saturday of virtual land related to its highly anticipated metaverse project, raising about $320 million worth of cryptocurrency in the largest offering of its kind. Demand was so strong that activity related to the event caused ripple effects across the entire Ethereum blockchain, disrupting activity and sending transaction fees soaring.”
Labor Department Criticizes Fidelity’s Plan to Put Bitcoin on 401(k) Menu (WSJ)
“Labor Department officials believe Fidelity Investments’s plan to allow investors to put bitcoin in their 401(k) accounts risks the retirement security of Americans, a senior administrator said. ‘We have grave concerns with what Fidelity has done,’ Ali Khawar, acting assistant secretary of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.”
Solana Suffers Seven-Hour Outage As NFT Demand Spills Over (Bloomberg)
“The Solana blockchain is recovering after going dark in a seven-hour outage, caused by a significant rush of bots trying to mint nonfungible tokens on the crypto network. An NFT minting program for Solana called Candy Machine struggled under a tsunami of traffic from bots seeking to push through transactions late Saturday, which caused Solana’s mainnet to fall out of consensus and crash as nodes belonging to validators collapsed under the weight.”
Banks Don’t Need Extra Crypto Protections Yet, EU Regulator Says (CoinDesk)
“Banks’ exposures to crypto aren’t yet big enough to warrant extra protections designed to limit risks to the overall economy, the European Banking Authority said. Crypto markets are too small and their regulation too immature to move ahead, the Paris-based watchdog said, after being asked by the European Commission whether to expand an existing regulatory toolkit for macroprudential risks to areas like cyber security, climate change and crypto.”
Swiss National Bank Owns No Bitcoin, but Could Buy in the Future, Chairman Says (CoinDesk)
“The Swiss National Bank (SNB) isn’t currently interested in holding bitcoin (BTC), but could move quickly to do so at some point, said Chairman Thomas Jordan. ‘Buying bitcoin is not a problem for us, we can do that either directly or can buy investment products which are based on bitcoin,’ Jordan said in response to a question at the SNB’s annual meeting. ‘We can arrange the technical and operative conditions relatively quickly, when we are convinced we must have bitcoin in our balance sheet.’ However, he added, ‘We do not believe bitcoin meets the requirements of currency reserves.’”
