SEC to Form a New Office for Crypto Disclosures (The Block)
"The Securities and Exchange Commission will establish a new office for cryptocurrency filings. The office will be within the Division of Corporation Finance, which handles disclosures for publicly traded firms, said Cicely LaMothe, the associate director for disclosure operations within that division. LaMothe told the audience at a legal conference in Washington on Thursday that the SEC saw the new office as necessary to address ‘unique and evolving’ filings around crypto assets, the vast majority of which the SEC views as securities. Much of the crypto industry has pushed back against the definition or otherwise avoided registering new coins as securities, often resulting in enforcement actions or ongoing litigation."
Investment Management Giant Franklin Templeton to Offer Digital Asset Strategies to Wealth Managers (CoinDesk)
"Franklin Templeton, with more than $1.3 trillion in assets under management, in the fourth quarter will begin offering two digital asset separately managed account (SMA) strategies through Eaglebrook Advisors. The Franklin Templeton Digital Assets Core strategy is market-cap weighted, investing in 10-15 of the largest digital assets. As of June 30, the portfolio is weighted with bitcoin (BTC) at 69.25%, and ether (ETH) at 26.15%. Next up is Solana's SOL at 1.65%, with all other tokens weighted at less than 1%. The Franklin Templeton Digital Assets Core Capped has similar holdings, but with bitcoin and ether each capped at 25% of the portfolio. As of June 30, Solana's SOL makes up 9.83% of the portfolio and Polygon's MATIC 5.74%."
Coinbase Backs Lawsuit Aimed At Treasury’s Tornado Cash Sanctions (The Block)
"Several employees of leading crypto exchange Coinbase are filing suit to roll back last month's Tornado Cash sanctions. Coinbase itself is financially backing the suit. The lawsuit centers on a novel argument: Whether the U.S. government can target recurring code for national security purposes. The employees filed their suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. ‘People, or entities, or properties are fair game. Code is not,’ Paul Grewal, Coinbase‘s chief legal officer, told The Block."
Mysten Labs, Creator of the SUI Blockchain, Closes $300 Million Raise Led by FTX Ventures (The Block)
"Mysten Labs has closed a $300 million fundraise at a valuation that tops $2 billion, according to an announcement on Thursday. Mysten is the creator of Sui, a yet-to-launch proof-of-stake Layer 1 blockchain that is built to mount a challenge to the likes of Ethereum and Solana. The startup’s co-founder and CEO Evan Cheng, who was head of research and development at Meta’s crypto wallet Novi Financial until September last year, told The Block in an interview that Mysten aims ‘to bring about consumer adoption — mass adoption.’"
Powell: ‘We Need Legislation’ on Stablecoins (The Block)
"Stablecoins should be ‘appropriately regulated’ to play a role in the financial system, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday. ‘We need legislation on this,’ Powell said. ‘There isn't a regulatory framework that really gets after payment stable coins, you know, and so I think that's what's needed.’ Powell made the comments during a livestream appearance at a Cato Institute conference on Thursday, during which Cato President and CEO Peter Goettler interviewed the Fed chair."
Gensler Takes Aim At Crypto Industry Pushback on Enforcement (The Block)
"Gary Gensler, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is not changing his mind on crypto enforcement. Citing prepared remarks for a speech tomorrow, Barron's reports that Gensler is continuing to consider most crypto assets to be securities and crypto trading platforms to be securities exchanges. This would obligate both issuers and exchanges to register with the SEC, which the industry has been reluctant to do."
Binance Introduces Ether Staking in US as It Steps Up Competition With Rivals (CoinDesk)
"Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is introducing ether (ETH) staking in the U.S. ahead of the Ethereum ‘Merge.’ Binance will start offering a 6% annual percentage yield (APY) to its U.S. customers for as low as 0.001 ETH ($1.51) staked, the exchange announced Wednesday. Staking involves users locking up their digital assets to support the running of proof-of-stake (PoS) networks."
Fed Leader Pushes Congress for Legislation on Stablecoins (The Block)
"Congress must act on stablecoins, according to a leader at the Federal Reserve. ‘I believe Congress should work expeditiously to pass much-needed legislation to bring stablecoins, particularly those designed to serve as a means of payment, inside the prudential regulatory perimeter,’ said Michael Barr, the Fed's vice chair for supervision a speech at The Brookings Institute, a think tank. ‘I look forward to continued partnership with other regulatory agencies and Congress to address the risks of stablecoins.’"
GameStop Partners With Crypto Exchange FTX.US to Boost Digital Asset Adoption (CoinDesk)
"Video game firm GameStop (GME) is partnering with Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX.US to promote interaction between the gaming and crypto community. The deal unites GameStop, one of the key players in the meme-stock craze of a year and a half ago, with one of the leading crypto exchanges. The two companies will promote e-commerce and marketing initiatives, while certain GameStop retail stores will carry FTX gift cards, according to a statement Wednesday. GameStop is also being given the label of FTX’s “preferred” retail partner in the U.S."
Asset Manager Brevan Howard Reveals Details About Its Record-Setting $1B Crypto Hedge Fund (CoinDesk)
"Last month, media reports suggested that global asset management giant Brevan Howard had raised more than $1 billion from institutional investors to create the largest crypto-focused hedge fund to date. Now the structure of that fund has come into further focus with a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. Brevan Howard, which had $25 billion in total assets under management as of July, submitted a filing for the Digital Asset Multi-Strategy Fund Ltd hedge fund, which has raised $184.15 million since sales opened on April 1. The capital came from four investors, and there’s a $10 million minimum set for any outside investments. The firm indicated ‘Indefinite’ for total offering amount, essentially the fund’s target size."
Coinbase’s Stablecoin Proposal Expected to Earn MakerDAO $24M Annually (Decrypt)
Coinbase has a bold plan to help MakerDAO generate $24 million annually. The American crypto exchange recently proposed that the popular DeFi project deposit $1.6 billion in USDC on Coinbase instutional, the exchange's institutional arm, and earn 1.5%. The sum would be pulled from MakerDAO’s Peg Stability Module (PSM), a smart contract that, among other services, helps keep DAI pegged to $1.
Franklin Templeton Launches Metaverse ETF for European Investors (The Block)
"Franklin Templeton is launching a metaverse exchange-traded fund (ETF) for European investors. The fund, named the Franklin Metaverse UCITS ETF, will track Solactive Global Metaverse Innovation Net Total Return Index, which includes companies that have significant exposure to the metaverse, including blockchain applications, like payments firm Block, crypto investing firm Galaxy Digital and gaming company Electronic Arts, the company said Tuesday."
Russia’s Finance Ministry Is Working On Stablecoin Platforms to Avoid Cross-Border Dollar Settlement (The Block)
"Russia's finance ministry is looking to stablecoins to avoid international payment rails denominated in the U.S. dollar and euro, according to state media. The September 6 report from state-owned news outlet Tass cites Aleksey Moiseyev, Russia's deputy minister of finance, speaking at a conference in Vladivostok. 'We are working with a whole range of countries to create new two-sided platforms without using dollars or euros,' said Moiseyev. 'Stablecoins can be tied to some generally accepted instrument like, for example, gold, whose value is understood and appreciable for all parties.'"
Fuel Labs Raises $80 Million for Modular Execution Layer, Touting Superior Speed (The Block)
"Fuel Labs, a startup that aims to speed up crypto transactions, has announced an $80 million funding round from some of the sector’s biggest investors. Blockchain Capital and Stratos Technologies led the investment, according to an announcement on Tuesday, with Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research, CoinFund, Bain Capital Crypto, TRGC, Maven 11 Capital, Blockwall, Spartan, Dialectic and ZMT all participating. Ekram Ahmed, head of communications at blockchain developer Celestia Labs, is a strategic advisor."
Crypto Investment Slowdown Will Continue Rest of 2022, KPMG Predicts (CoinDesk)
"Global investments in cryptocurrency companies pulled back to $14.2 billion in the first half of 2022 from a record $32.1 billion last year, a slowdown that’s expected to continue, according to a new report from global audit and consulting firm KPMG. “Despite the crypto space collapsing significantly since midway through Q1 22 due to the unexpected Russia-Ukraine conflict, rising inflation and the challenges experienced by the Terra crypto ecosystem, investment at midyear remained well above all years prior to 2021,” KPMG noted in its report. “This highlights the growing maturity of the space and the breadth of technologies and solutions attracting investment.”"
Binance to End Support for USDC, Two Other Stablecoins in Favor of Its Own BUSD (The Block)
"Binance is moving to prioritize its own stablecoin, BUSD, over several others on its cryptocurrency exchange. The company announced Monday a 'BUSD Auto-Conversion' that will start on Sept. 29 to 'enhance liquidity and capital-efficiency for users.' Binance is introducing the conversion for users' existing balances and new deposits of USDC, USDP and TUSD stablecoins at a 1:1 ratio. USDC is the second-largest stablecoin by total supply, and the USDC/USDT pair saw the 11th highest volume on Binance in the last 24 hours."
Saudi Central Bank Hires Crypto Chief to Boost Digital Ambitions (Bloomberg)
"Saudi Arabia’s banking regulator recently appointed Mohsen AlZahrani to lead its virtual assets and central bank digital currency program in a sign of the Gulf state’s potential crypto ambitions. Saudi Arabia has until now taken a more cautious approach on virtual assets, with officials raising concerns about their speculative nature. Yet the emergence of the neighboring United Arab Emirates as a global crypto hub has created some urgency in Riyadh to draft more formal rules for the asset class, people familiar with the matter said."
Blackrock Taps Kraken’s CF Benchmarks to Power Its Bitcoin Offering (The Block)
"BlackRock will use Kraken's CF Benchmarks bitcoin index pricing product for its first crypto offering. The world’s largest asset manager's bitcoin product will be benchmarked by CF Benchmark's indexes, the latter company's CEO Sui Chung told The Block. Last month, BlackRock announced a deal with Coinbase to offer institutional investors access to crypto, and subsequently said it launched a private trust offering exposure to spot bitcoin to U.S.-based institutional clients."
Withdrawals Frozen at Crypto Mining Firm Poolin Amid ‘Liquidity Problems' (The Block)
"Poolin, one of the world's biggest crypto mining pools, is suspending bitcoin and ether withdrawals from its wallet service due to 'liquidity problems.' 'As you may have known, Poolin Wallet is currently facing some liquidity problems due to recent increasing demands on withdrawals. But please be assured, all user assets are safe and the company's net worth is positive,' the firm said in an announcement Monday."
Ethereum Classic Hits All-Time High Hash Rate Ahead of the Merge (The Block)
"Ethereum Classic has reached an all-time-high hash rate of 45 terahashes per second (TH/s), having grown more than 480% year to date. Hash rate represents the amount of computing power involved in creating new blocks on its network. Ethereum Classic's hash rate growth has likely resulted from increased miner activity on Ethereum Classic ahead of this month's Ethereum upgrade — known as The Merge — from a proof of work to a proof of stake consensus mechanism. The event, planned for mid-September, will remove the need for transactions to be verified by miners."