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If you’ve been dreaming about bitcoin spot ETFs, it’s time to speak to somebody exterior of the crypto world. This is coming from somebody who actually had a dream about them this week. Pray for me.
There had been cheers all through the crypto group this week as Grayscale received its lawsuit against the SEC with regard to its bitcoin spot ETF software. While there’s nonetheless a 45-day assessment interval, many imagine it is a step in the proper course.
Although this was a win for the digital asset agency, the SEC was additionally making headlines individually for its go well with against an NFT challenge, which was fined $6 million.
Meanwhile, in decentralized social media land, the Friend.tech hype — which I coated and highlighted group skepticism about — has fallen as each day transactions plummeted. Details beneath.
This week in web3
- As appeals court docket guidelines in favor of Grayscale, a bitcoin spot ETF might be on the horizon
- Grayscale’s authorized head says bitcoin spot ETF approval is a ‘matter of when, not if’
- SEC settles first NFT enforcement case, fines LA media firm $6M
- Friend.tech will get unfriended: Daily transactions drop 95% as hyped decentralized social app loses steam
- MoonPay launches enterprise arm to spend money on web3 infra, gaming and fintech
- Bitcoin startups stay undercapitalized as funding drought drags on
The newest pod
For this week’s new episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Craig Salm, chief authorized officer at Grayscale Investments.
Grayscale is a digital asset funding agency that goals to supply merchandise and providers, like its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), to institutional and particular person traders. The firm was based in 2014 and is one in every of the world’s largest digital asset forex managers. It at present owns 3.4% of excellent bitcoin, “worth tens of billions of dollars,” based on a current authorized submitting.
As talked about above, the agency was making headlines this week after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dominated in favor of Grayscale in a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the matter of a bitcoin ETF. This ruling is in response to the SEC denying Grayscale’s software to transform its GBTC product right into a bitcoin spot ETF in June 2022.
We mentioned why the ruling issues for Grayscale and its GBTC funding car; in addition to what it might imply for the crypto ecosystem and different companies like BlackRock, Citadel and Fidelity that additionally filed purposes for bitcoin spot ETFs.
We additionally talked about the SEC’s argued distinction between bitcoin futures ETFs, which have been authorized by the agency, and bitcoin spot ETFs, which haven’t been authorized by the agency.
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Follow the cash
- NFT-focused startup FirstMate raised $3.75 million in a spherical led by Dragonfly Capital
- Web3 engagement platform Raleon raised $3.8 million in a seed spherical
- Coral Finance obtained $500,000 in capital from Momentum Capital
- Web3 infrastructure startup Ironmill raised $2.6 million in funding
- Builder DAO raised $2 million in a spherical led by Sequoia China and Seven X Ventures
This listing was compiled with data from Messari in addition to Ztoog’s personal reporting.
What else we’re writing
Want to department out from the world of web3? Here are some articles on Ztoog that caught our consideration this week.
- This venture-backed startup has quietly purchased greater than 80 mom-and-pop retailers
- Will the energy of information in the AI period go away startups at an obstacle?
- Tesla traders may get payout from SEC settlement
- The mugshot that launched a thousand memes
- Five takeaways from Instacart’s S-1 submitting
Follow me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto information, memes and extra.