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Nasdaq files application for BlackRock spot Ethereum ETF with SEC
Nasdaq has filed an application with the U.S. SEC for BlackRock’s proposed spot Ethereum ETF, the “iShares Ethereum Trust,” which would have Coinbase Custody Trust Company as its custodian and use the CME CF Ether-Dollar reference rate.
Additionally, other asset managers such as Grayscale, Ark Invest, ProShares and Valkyrie have also filed for spot Ethereum ETFs. It’s worth noting that any approval could take months, and the SEC has delayed existing applications for proposed Bitcoin spot ETFs multiple times.
Gary Gensler: Restarting FTX is possible “within the law”
U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said during Fintech Week in Washington, D.C., that a reboot of FTX would be possible “within the bounds of the law” if its new leadership has a clear understanding of the law.
Gensler said: If Tom (former New York Stock Exchange President) or anyone else wanted to get into this space, I would say, Act within the law. Build investor trust in what you are doing and make sure You make appropriate disclosures — and you don’t mix all these functions together and become counterparties to your clients or use their crypto assets for your own purposes.” (CNBC)
It was reported yesterday that a company run by former New York Stock Exchange chief Tom Farley is one of three companies bidding for FTXs remaining assets, and that FTXs auction has entered the final stage.
Industry news
BlackRock registers Ethereum trust in Delaware
According to information relayed by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, BlackRock registered an Ethereum trust in Delaware. Disclosure document information shows that the registered entity is called ISHARES ETHEREUM TRUST.
The European Parliament has approved a data bill requiring smart contracts to have termination designs, a provision that could make most smart contracts illegal. The legislation now needs formal approval from the European Council, the body made up of the heads of state of the 27 member states. According to a CoinDesk review, the bill has a provision that would require automated data sharing agreements to be safely terminated, including smart contracts. Blockchain-related organizations such as Stellar, Polygon, NEAR and Cardano expressed their concerns in an open letter.
Cryptocurrency lending company Celsius’ plan to repay creditors gets judge approval
Celsius is emerging from bankruptcy after a New York judge approved its plan to use mining companies to pay off creditors.
The plan is confirmed under Section 1129 of the Bankruptcy Code, Judge Martin Glenn said in Thursdays order.
Creditors voted in September in favor of a plan that would distribute roughly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum to creditors. Under the plan, a new company will build its mining and staking operations and be managed by the Fahrenheit Group, which successfully acquired Celsius assets in a bid in May.
JPMorgan analyst: Cryptocurrency rally appears overdone, cautious about its outlook
JPMorgan analysts said: The cryptocurrency rally appears to be overdone. They are cautious about the future of the crypto market.
Analysts point to two main factors that appear to have contributed to the cryptocurrency’s rise over the past month. The first major factor is the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S., which could bring new money into the cryptocurrency market, and such approval has the potential to be seen as a win for the crypto industry and a defeat for the SEC. The second major factor is the SEC’s failure in the Ripple and Grayscale legal cases, which it is thought could lead to a more lenient approach by the SEC in the future.
But JPMorgan analysts said it remains uncertain whether cryptocurrency regulations will be relaxed in the future. Analysts said: “Given the extent to which the cryptocurrency industry is unregulated, it is unclear whether the degree of regulatory tightening in the industry will be significantly reduced. U.S. cryptocurrency industry regulations are still pending, and we do not believe that U.S. legislators will do so due to the above two cases. legal cases, especially with the FTX fraud still fresh in our minds.
SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered, and Japanese financial group SBI Holdings have partnered to set up a $100 million cryptocurrency fund in the United Arab Emirates.
The two companies said on Thursday that the fund, which will be set up as a joint venture, plans to invest in crypto startups in areas such as decentralized finance, tokenization, infrastructure, payments and the Metaverse, with the goal of doing so globally. Investment, covering companies from seed round to Series C financing stage.
Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings will start operating a fund to invest in startups such as Web3, AI, and Yuanverse within this year. The amount of each investment is expected to be between several hundred million and more than one billion yen, with a total of 150 to 200 investing companies. The maximum size of the fund is expected to be 100 billion yen (approximately $663 million). Large domestic banks and regional banks will also provide financial support to Japanese startups.
In addition, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank, Nippon Life Insurance Company and Daiwa Securities Group have decided to inject more than 50 billion yen into the fund.
U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday introduced a bill that would ban federal officials from doing business with Chinese blockchain companies.
The bill also explicitly prohibits U.S. government officials from dealing with iFinex, the parent company of Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin USDT.
The Creating Legal Accountability for Rogue Innovators and Technologies (CLARITY) Act, co-led by U.S. Reps. Zach Nunn and Abigail Spanberger, would ban government officials from dealing with Chinese crypto companies, in addition to cutting off government employees. Access to China’s blockchain, or the network that powers crypto trading platforms.
Project News
According to Arkham monitoring, the 1inch team wallet address sold $3 million worth of stETH again at an average price of $2,010 after removing $3 million of liquidity from Uniswap.
The address still holds approximately $64 million in stablecoins and $14.3 million in stETH.
According to Whale Alert monitoring, Tether issued an additional 1 billion USDT on the Ethereum network 5 hours ago.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that the 1 billion USDT is a supplement to the Ethereum network inventory and is an authorized but unissued transaction, which means that this additional issuance will be used for the next issuance request and chain exchange. in stock.
Stablecoin issuer Circle has launched v2.2 upgraded versions of USDC and EURC.
According to a company statement, new features for both stablecoins include reduced gas fees, better support for account abstraction, and increased security for transactions on the EVM blockchain. Circle added that the last upgrade to USDC was in early 2021.
Circle wrote in a press statement: “There will be six new changes to the USDC and EURC smart contracts that will be implemented on every supported EVM blockchain through a single v2.2 upgrade. The upgrade is fully backwards compatible and will not Any breaking changes to existing integrations will be introduced and no action will be required from developers or users.
Lightspeed Faction launches $285M crypto fund
Blockchain-focused venture capital firm Lightspeed Faction has launched a $285 million early-stage crypto fund that will focus on early-stage blockchain projects in seed or Series A rounds. Prior to the public offering, the fund has invested approximately 20% of its capital in a small number of projects with a deployment period of approximately three years, although this may vary depending on the investment environment.
The fund initially planned to raise $250 million, but ended up exceeding its target by 14%. The average investment size ranges from approximately $50,000 to $10 million.
Polygon launches $90M ecosystem development fund Polygon Village
Polygon developer Polygon Labs has relaunched its Polygon Village program, offering a new grant program of over 110 million MATICs worth approximately $91.3 million to help project growth within the Polygon ecosystem. Projects can receive grants, mentorship, and ecosystem support from Polygon to help develop their DApps.
The more than $90 million in available funding includes direct grants of up to 2 million MATICs ($1.7 million) from the Polygon Foundation for late-stage projects, as well as separate secondary funding grants for early-stage teams.
Character*Voice
Fed Harker reiterates preference to keep interest rates steady
Fed Harker reiterated his view that policymakers should keep interest rates on hold because aggressive rate hikes are taking a toll on the economy.
Harker said in his speech: There is always a lag in monetary policy, and keeping interest rates stable will give these lagging factors time to catch up. Stabilizing the base interest rate in the range of 5.25% -5.5% will enable us to do things in the future and make more prudent and informed decisions. I must add that these decisions could have two outcomes, depending on the data.
Harker also said he sees a slow but steady slowdown in inflation and expects inflation to fall below 3% in 2024 and hit the 2% target thereafter. The Fed will keep interest rates higher for longer.
