TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK
Apple’s outside payments ban ruled as unlawful in likely win for NFTs and crypto
A California court ruled Apple violated state competition laws by barring app developers from using alternative in-app payment methods apart from its own that included a 30% commission. The April 24 ruling was made by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the case of Apple vs Epic Games — the creator of the video game Fortnite. The court upheld the decision of a lower court from 2021 and said that Apple’s anti-steering provision harmed Epic. The anti-steering provision is an Apple policy stating that iOS developers cannot communicate out-of-app payment methods through certain mechanisms such as in-app links. If Apple doesn’t appeal the ruling, it could set a case law precedent benefiting creators of crypto and NFT apps by enabling increased iOS functionality without being subject to Apple’s 30% “tax.”
Genesis creditors reject previously agreed bankruptcy restructuring plan, DCG says
A group of Genesis creditors reneged on the restructuring deal previously agreed to in February, throwing the crypto lenders months-long bankruptcy process into turmoil, according to parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG). Details are still sparse as to the reason creditors backed away from the deal. New reports just released in the last hour indicate Genesis and a key group of creditors have agreed to a 30-day mediation process in an attempt to salvage a deal.
Coinbase Issues Warning to SEC: Prepared to Fight Back If Sued
Coinbase files court action to compel SEC’s response to rulemaking petition
Coinbase has filed an action in a United States federal court seeking to compel the SEC to provide a “yes or no” response to a petition the exchange has had pending since July 2022. The petition requested the SEC propose and adopt clearer regulatory guidelines for the cryptocurrency industry in the U.S. In the petition, the exchange asked the SEC to answer a total of 50 specific questions concerning the regulatory treatment of certain digital assets. The questions are broad in scope and range, including asking the SEC to provide clarification about how it goes about classifying tokens as securities. With the Administrative Procedures Act requiring an SEC response to the exchange's initial rulemaking petition "within a reasonable time," Coinbase seeks to compel a response now that nine months have passed. Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer said, “It seems like the SEC has already made up its mind to deny our petition. But they haven’t told the public yet. So the action Coinbase filed today simply asks the court to ask the SEC to share its decision.”
Binance Abandons $1 Billion Voyager Deal, Blames Challenging US Regulations
Binance.US has pulled out of the $1.3b deal to buy bankrupt crypto exchange/lender Voyager Digital, citing a "hostile" regulatory climate in the United States. In a Tuesday tweet, the US arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance revealed that it has exercised its right to terminate the asset purchase agreement with Voyager. It added: "While our hope throughout this process was to help Voyager's customers access their crypto in kind, the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate in the United States has introduced an unpredictable operating environment." Voyager noted that while the development is disappointing, its "Chapter 11 plan allows for direct distribution of cash and crypto to customers via the Voyager platform."
BITCOIN
Bitcoin Volatility Hits Longs and Shorts as $175M Liquidated, $1B in Open Interest Wiped
BTC price gains 6% as First Republic Bank drama delights Bitcoin bulls
Bitcoin white paper quietly removed by Apple from latest MacOS beta: Report
A Crypto Mining Firm May Have Moved $150M in Bitcoin, CryptoQuant Says
Bitcoin Whales Spook Crypto Twitter With Sudden Wallet Movements
Satoshi-Era Bitcoin Whale Moves $11 Million After Sleeping for 12 Years
Bitcoin Ordinals extension UniSat Wallet hit by ‘large number’ of double-spend attacks
ETHEREUM
Regulatory forced Kraken exits make up the majority of ETH principal withdrawals
Recursive looks to connect rollups with Eigen Layer-based Omni Network
Third round of ETH withdrawals sees roughly equal amounts of deposits: Data
Ethereum after Shapella: Developers make progress on Cancun-Deneb upgrade
ALTCOINS
Blur token whales split after Binance announces perpetual contracts
Decentralized file-storage pricing differentials persist despite market growth: Report
Dymension and Evmos are testing an EVM rollup for the Cosmos ecosystem
PancakeSwap's DAO Voting for 'Aggressive Reduction' of CAKE Token Inflation
Cross-Chain Bridge Stargate's Volume Soars as Airdrop Hunters Set Sights on LayerZero Token
MeWe social network with 20M users to integrate with Polkadot parachain
SushiSwap to Propose Tokenomics Changes to Promote Uniswap v3 Adoption
Helium's IOT Token Surges 370% Following Solana Migration
Avalanche core team implements Cortina upgrade on mainnet
Solana Labs’ ChatGPT plugin allows AI to fetch blockchain data
Arbitrum initiates token distribution to ecosystem DAOs
Memecoin 'Frenzy' Cools As Dogecoin, PEPE Slip
Aptos Introduces Delegated Staking to Increase Participation in Staking on Network
OP Erigon released as new client software for Optimism on testnet
STABLECOINS
Circle’s Fed payment rail goal could be crushed by NY Fed’s policy change
Stablecoin payments: Visa shares plans for ‘ambitious’ crypto product
CRYPTO ECOSYSTEM
Polygon partners with Google Cloud as Filecoin breaks into cloud market
GCEX Offers Crypto Staking with Komainu Partnership Expansion
Arkham denies buggy Mt. Gox alerts to blame for 7% Bitcoin price crash
CoinLoan halts all withdrawals, user services
Majority of creditors want Hodlnaut liquidated
Genesis Files for Mediator Assistance Over Amount of DCG Contribution to Reorganization
OPNX CEO scolds claimed backers after some deny investing in the firm
DRW Denies Investing in OPNX, Distancing Itself From 3AC Founders’ Bankruptcy Claims Exchange
Polygon research lead quits to join its spin-off blockchain project Avail
NFTS / GAMING / METAVERSE
NFT Games After Axie Infinity's Fall Will Be Made for Gamers, Not Degens: Aqua CEO
NFT Collective Proof Is Building a 3D World for Its Moonbirds Community
NFT markets are out of balance, with sellers dominating: Data
SBF-linked video game to close servers by May 1
DJs Steve Aoki, 3LAU Reveal First Single as ‘Punx’ NFT Duo
‘Napoleon Dynamite’ Star Jon Heder to Lead NFT Animated Series ‘Space Junk’
Polygon, Cardano and Solana NFT Sales Rise as Ethereum NFT Sales Slump
Bored Apes, CryptoPunks Fall Below $100K as NFT Momentum Stalls
Judge Rules Bored Ape Yacht Club Ripoff NFTs Violated Yuga Trademarks
MINING
Bit Digital, Inc. Announces Expansion of Mining Capacity
Lumerin Launches Public Testnet for Decentralized Bitcoin Mining Hashpower Marketplace
Beleaguered Bitcoin Miner Greenidge Inks Deal with Core Scientific
EXCHANGES
Robinhood Connect to allow access from external crypto wallets
FTX confirms plans to restart its Japanese exchange
Bitrue says technical glitch impacted XRP orders on its system – causing mass liquidations
Binance’s 650% manpower increase aimed at rehabilitating rule-breaker image amid US crackdown
Kraken Pro Adds Crypto Futures
Binance US to offer branded web3 domain names on Polygon
FTX Sells LedgerX for $50 Million
Coinbase CEO Backs 'Stand with Crypto' NFT Campaign
Decentralized exchange GMX votes to use Chainlink low-latency oracles
Bybit to introduce mandatory KYC requirements starting May 8
Gemini intros new platform for users abroad amid US regulatory headache
CAPITAL RAISES
Crypto Storage Provider Zodia Custody Raises $36M From SBI Holdings, Standard Chartered
DeFi Protocol iZUMi Finance Raises $22M
Animoca unit TinyTap raises funds at $100 million valuation for web3 education
VC funding into Web3 startups down 82% year-over-year: Crunchbase
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
WisdomTree CEO Says Crypto Is 'Natural Evolution' of ETF Products
A $1.4T Financial Giant Expands Its Money Market Fund on Polygon
Third time’s the charm? ARK and 21Shares again file with SEC for Bitcoin ETF
Ethereum’s Shanghai and Capella updates drive $17M inflows: CoinShares
Tiger Global’s $13 billion venture fund discloses 20% loss after crypto startup writedowns
TRADFI / TECH
US Officials in Urgent Talks to Rescue First Republic Bank
Neobank introduces soulbound NFTs for wallet holders’ KYC information
Tokenization Is 'Killer App' for TradFi: JPMorgan
Metaverse division’s $4B loss drags on positive first quarter for Meta
OpenAI Boosts Privacy With Ability to Delete Chat History
Apple's 30% Tax Mandate on iOS Is Illegal, Judge Affirms—And That Could Be Good for Crypto, NFTs
Google Cloud broadens Web3 startup program with 11 blockchain firms
Elon Musk’s blue checks have divided Crypto Twitter into the haves and the have nots
Reddit, Stack Overflow to charge AI developers for data harvesting
What Is Bluesky? The Twitter Alternative With Promising Networking Technology
CBDC
Zimbabwe's Central Bank Plans Gold-Backed Digital Currency to Stabilize Local Economy
More Chinese Government Employees Will Be Paid in Digital Yuan: Report
REGULATORY / COUNTRIES
UK Treasury seeks input on taxing DeFi staking and lending
Hong Kong's Crypto Licensing Regime Expected to Launch Next Month
Grayscale CEO Expects Decision on Attempt to Overturn SEC's ETF Rejection by End of 3Q
South Korea’s sweeping crypto bill passes first regulatory hurdles
Bahamas Seeks to Tighten Its Crypto Laws Following FTX Collapse
CFTC commissioner says there is no ‘immediate path forward” with Binance
OpenSea ‘insider trading’ trial kicked off in New York district court
Draft bill suggests separating legislation on payment stablecoins and digital asset markets
Do Kwon Seeks To Dismiss SEC Charges as South Korea Rules LUNA Is Not a Security
Terra Classic Isn’t a Security, Says South Korean Court
Texas House of Representatives Passes Bill Mandating Proof of Reserves for Crypto Exchanges
Ava Labs CEO Calls for Crypto Regulators Who Can Read and Audit Code
Yellen wants to tighten Trump-era rules after Silicon Valley Bank bust
With MiCA Past the Finish Line, UK's Crypto Industry Calls for Rules of Its Own
SEC Warns Advisers to Apply 'Heightened Scrutiny' When Recommending Crypto Assets
ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, GOVERNANCE
Cambridge Will Start Tracking Ethereum Energy Data Along With Bitcoin
Fine Art Photographers Join Forces to Launch NFTs to Battle Climate Change
WEF’s promo video shows Bitcoin mining, but leaves out the B-word
Solana’s Annual Carbon Footprint Equals 8 Flights From London to New York
SURVEYS, HACKS, MISC
'Rogue Developers' Drain Merlin DEX of $1.82 Million
Former FTX exec Ryan Salame’s home searched by FBI: Report
Vigilante hacker burns hundreds of BTC held in wallets used by Russian intelligence
Google Ads data: $4M stolen through crypto phishing URLs
One crypto wallet launched 114 dodgy memecoins in two months
Bitcoin correlation with gold surges amidst First Republic Bank news
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong to Gensler’s previous crypto comments: ‘Wow’
Cybersecurity Network Forta Anticipated $200M Euler Finance Hack Using AI
Terra Co-Founder Daniel Shin Indicted in South Korea: Bloomberg
US DOJ charges North Korean bank official charged in 2 crypto laundering conspiracies
OFAC Sanctions Target Supporters of North Korean-Linked Lazarus Group
Judge approves alternate monitoring software on SBF parents’ phones
Trust Wallet Issues Alert After Suffering Exploit, Says Reimbursement Plans Now in Order
Spanish police dismantled a crypto scam organization that bagged over $110M
KuCoin’s Twitter account hacked – exchange says it will reimburse victims
SafeMoon hacker agrees to return 80% of stolen funds: Finance Redefined
This material is provided by GSR (the “Firm”) solely for informational purposes, is intended only for sophisticated, institutional investors and does not constitute an offer or commitment, a solicitation of an offer or commitment, or any advice or recommendation, to enter into or conclude any transaction (whether on the terms shown or otherwise), or to provide investment services in any state or country where such an offer or solicitation or provision would be illegal. The Firm is not and does not act as an advisor or fiduciary in providing this material.
This material is not a research report, and not subject to any of the independence and disclosure standards applicable to research reports prepared pursuant to FINRA or CFTC research rules. This material is not independent of the Firm’s proprietary interests, which may conflict with the interests of any counterparty of the Firm. The Firm trades instruments discussed in this material for its own account, may trade contrary to the views expressed in this material, and may have positions in other related instruments.
Information contained herein is based on sources considered to be reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. Any opinions or estimates expressed herein reflect a judgment made by the author(s) as of the date of publication, and are subject to change without notice. Trading and investing in digital assets involves significant risks including price volatility and illiquidity and may not be suitable for all investors. The Firm is not liable whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this material. Copyright of this material belongs to GSR. Neither this material nor any copy thereof may be taken, reproduced or redistributed, directly or indirectly, without prior written permission of GSR.
