👨⚖️Crypto Exchange Regulations - The WAGMI Journal #66
SEC's Gary continues to double down on crypto regulations in the US
In today’s issue:
The crypto market is flat with the global market cap sitting at ~$1.9-2 trillion. Cosmos (ATOM) led the top 100 crypto assets by market cap performance in the past 24h. Global markets are mixed as sovereign-bond selloff paused.
In other news, the SEC will continue to scrutinize crypto exchanges, GBTC hits a record discount of 26.53%, and a16z is seeking $4.5B for new crypto funds.
We’re continually improving our content, please reach out if you have ideas or would like us to recap another segment of the market.
- Curated by Marco Manoppo (@manoppomarco)
📰Market News
⎆Gensler: Crypto Exchanges Will Face More Scrutiny From SEC
In his latest remarks, SEC’s Chair Gensler has made it clear that crypto exchanges will be the primary focus of the agency’s crackdown on crypto assets in 2022. While it is not a surprise that crypto assets in the US require more regulatory clarity, Gensler’s antagonistic attitude has made market participants, investors, and founders in the space consider leaving the US to pursue innovation. It will be interesting to see the outcome of Gensler vs vested interests and capital, and whether he can truly make the changes he wants while keeping the US competitive for crypto founders.
⎆Grayscale BTC Trust Hits Record Discount
Ever since more institutional products are available for investors, the flagship Grayscale Bitcoin Trust which has always been one of the largest crypto products by AUM (ranging from $40-60 billion), has suffered significant discounts due to the nature of the product and emerging competitors in the space. If Grayscale can’t convert their GBTC to an ETF quickly, expect to see more discounts as investors have more access to other crypto products while having a risk-off mindset (due to the macro environment) as well as decreasing Bitcoin dominance.
⎆Andreessen Horowitz Seeks $4.5B for New Crypto Funds
The old guard of the legacy tech industry and one of the most prominent VC firms in the world continues its stride in the crypto space by seeking $4.5 billion for new funds. This is legitimately both exciting and crazy as a monopoly is never a good thing. It has only been six months since a16z raised $2.2 billion for their third crypto fund. Not many details regarding the new funds are available yet.
👨🏻💻Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Cosmos Connects to Ethereum Via the Osmosis DEX
New Entrants Follow Compound’s Lead to Offer Fiat Savers Juicier Yields
EIP-1559 Upgrades Are Going Live on Polygon Mainnet
KAVA Mainnet has Launched Successfully
Beta Finance is now Live on AVAX
THORChain Brings DeFi Yields and Swaps to DOGE
🏛Governance - Active Proposals
Compound - Dynamic Risk Parameters - Quarterly Update
Babylon Finance - BIP-9: Development Fund
Ethereum Naming Services - Execute EP5
Fei - FIP-68: REPT-B Redemption and RGT Migration Future Expiry
Gitcoin - DeveloperDAO Partnership
Gitcoin - Public Goods Funding Workstream Budget Q1 2022
🦮NFT & Metaverse
Axie Infinity Launches Axie Infinity Builders Program
Solana NFT Total SalesVolume Crosses $1 Biillion
JPMorgan Says Ethereum Is Losing NFT Market Share to Solana
Gem is now Live!
WAX to Give Out 10 Million Free NFTs in Largest-Ever NFT Drop
Top Sales (Last 24-h); Source: https://dappradar.com/nft
It was suspected that these trades were wash trading on the LooksRare marketplace.
📈Deal Flow & Capital Raise
Mercury Fund - $40M Unknown Round
POAP - $10M Seed Round
Ancient8 - $4M Seed Round
Carry1st - $20M Series A
Shakepay - $35M Series A
BlockFills - $37M Series A
iTrustCapital - $125M Series A
Autograph - $170M Series B
Secret Network - $400M Ecosystem Funding
Omniex - Undisclosed $ of Acquisition by Gemini
⚖️Regulatory Update
Former ConsenSys AG Investment Head Accuses Firm of Mistreatment
SEC Advisory Committee Member Calls Agency to Open for Public Comment on Crypto Regulation
Bank of Russia Calls for Full Ban on Crypto
📚Noteworthy Reads
Lily Francus, Tarun Chitra, David Hamilton, Matt Dobel’s Read on Block by Block: Assessing Risk in Decentralized Finance
Bartek’s Thread on Differences Between Optimism and StarkNet
0xRusowsky’s Read on Olympus DAO Situation Update
Feel free to reach out to manoppomarco@gmail.com — feedbacks and constructive criticisms are much appreciated.