BTC is currently trading around $26,000 and ETH around $1,850. Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are TOMI, OP, and LDO. The global crypto market cap is ~$1.15T, down ~3.4% over the last day. DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$45b and BTC dominance is around 47%.
Equity performance is muted this morning, while crypto markets have turned sharply lower behind a series of new regulatory actions from the SEC. Namely, the SEC sued Binance, its related entities, and its founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao on allegations of several violations, including offering unregistered securities (BNB, BUSD, staking services), failure to register as a clearing agency, broker, and exchange, commingling of customer funds, wash trading, and more. The allegations shocked crypto markets, and bitcoin quickly fell ~5% yesterday as nearly $300m of long crypto positions were liquidated, a daily record in 2023. Adding to the regulatory pressure in the US, the SEC sued Coinbase this morning, less than 24 hours after filing suit against Binance. The SEC alleged that Coinbase similarly failed to register as a clearing agency, broker, and exchange, further alleging that Coinbase’s staking program violated securities laws. While COIN shares are down ~16% this morning, crypto prices have held up relatively well following the Coinbase suit, likely in part due to leverage being flushed out yesterday.
Notable news includes: OKX integrated Komainu Connect so institutional users can use assets held in Komainu’s custody to trade on the OKX exchange; Coinbase began offering institutional-sized BTC and ETH futures contracts on its CFTC-regulated futures exchange; the CFTC approved CBOE Clear Digital to clear margined digital asset futures; DEX to CEX spot trading volume reached a record high of 22% in May; Curve token holders unanimously voted for its crvUSD stablecoin to integrate support for Lido’s stETH; Turbos introduced smart routing for stablecoins on Sui; Binance added Bitcoin NFTs to its marketplace; Zodia Custody will begin offering staking services to its institutional clients through Blockdaemon; a judge extended Genesis’s recovery plan deadline to August 2nd; Arca reportedly trimmed ~30% of its staff; Kraken fixed a gateway issue causing a brief withdrawal delay; Tether invested in El Salvador’s $1b renewable energy project; and, Apple unveiled its widely anticipated augmented reality headset dubbed the Apple Vision Pro.
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Authors:
Matt Kunke, Research Analyst | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
Brian Rudick, Senior Strategist | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
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