Stay in the loop with our weekly crypto digest as we get you up to speed on the hottest trends and events in the crypto space.
Here’s what happened in crypto this week:
Andrew Tate Announces $DADDY Meme Coin ‘European Tour’ After Being Cleared To Travel
Andrew Tate is now allowed to leave Romania while he awaits trial for charges of alleged rape and human trafficking. The controversial influencer then announced a world tour for $DADDY, the Solana-based token he’s been promoting recently.
Despite having to remain within the EU, Tate quickly started fantasizing about a “global” tour to promote the meme coin.
Tangem Partners With Visa To Launch Innovative Self-Hosted Payment Solution
Tangem AG, the leading global provider of secure hardware wallet solutions, recently partnered with Visa, a world leader in digital payments, to enable an innovative self-custodial payment solution for hardware wallets.
Unlike traditional custodial solutions, Tangem’s card embeds a private key within the chip, ensuring users maintain exclusive control over their assets, as the physical card is required for every transaction. Founded in 2017, Tangem offers a cold wallet that supports over 6,000 digital assets and has produced over a million secure cards in more than 160 countries.
Solana Spot ETF Applications Are On The Rise
Investment giants VanEck and 21Shares recently filed 19b-4 forms with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch Solana (SOL) spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and more companies like Blackrock, Franklin Templeton, and Ark Invest are likely going to follow suit.
These ETFs are designed to give investors direct exposure to Solana by tracking its spot price without engaging in staking activities, a likely decision due to the current regulatory uncertainties around crypto staking.
BlackRock’s BUIDL Fund Becomes First $500M Tokenized Fund
The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock’s BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), has reached a $500 million market cap and has held $502.8 million in tokenized treasuries since its launch less than four months ago, as per Etherscan. The fund’s rapid growth was boosted by a recent purchase from real-world asset tokenization firm Ondo Finance (ONDO), which uses BUIDL as a backing asset for its OUSG token.
BUIDL maintains a stable price pegged 1:1 with the US dollar and distributes daily accrued dividends directly to investors on a monthly basis through its partnership with the real-world asset tokenization platform Securitize.
Australia’s Largest Stock Exchange Approves Its Second Spot Bitcoin ETF
Perth-based crypto fund manager DigitalX recently announced that it has received regulatory approval to begin listing its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund on the country’s largest stock exchange as early as this week.
Once approved for quotation, the DigitalX spot Bitcoin ETF, or BTXX, will officially be listed on the ASX, enabling public trading to commence on the specified starting date.
This ETF represents the second product of this type to be approved on the ASX, closely following the VanEck ETF approved last month.
Ethereum Spot ETF Applicants Have Now Filed Their Updated S-1s
Asset managers VanEck, Grayscale, Fidelity, BlackRock, 21Shares, Franklin Templeton, and Bitwise have all filed their amended spot ETH ETF S-1 registration statements with the SEC following the regulator’s July 8th deadline for issuers to return their amended drafts.
Several top analysts expect the SEC to approve the drafts within the next two weeks as issuers have already completed most of the heavy lifting.
The SEC approved issuers’ spot ETH ETF 19b-4 applications on May 23rd, but the agency also needs to greenlight their S-1s before they can begin trading.
Goldman Sachs To Launch Three New Tokenization Products This Year
Goldman Sachs is reportedly making moves into crypto. The 150-year-old bank plans to launch three tokenization projects by the end of the year.
However, the details of the funds were scant, but reportedly, one will target the US fund sector while another will focus on European debt markets. The firm is also planning to create marketplaces for tokenized assets.
Trump To Speak At Bitcoin 2024 In Nashville
Donald Trump has been officially announced as a speaker at Bitcoin 2024, the world’s largest Bitcoin conference, in Nashville, Tennessee, on July 25-27.
With two US Presidential candidates, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump, both slated to speak, the conference is poised to be a pivotal event, potentially shaping the future of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency policy in the US.
BitMEX Pleads Guilty To Violating The Bank Secrecy Act
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act from 2015 to 2020.
A US Attorney said in a notice that BitMEX failed to establish, implement, and maintain an adequate anti-money laundering (AML) program. The charges stemmed from testimony during the 2022 criminal proceedings against the exchange’s founders and employees.
CFTC Chair Reiterates Bitcoin And Ethereum Are Commodities In Testimony
In a recent Senate Committee hearing on Appropriations, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Rostin Behnam said 70%–80% of cryptocurrencies are non-securities. This contrasts sharply with SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s position that most cryptocurrencies are securities, highlighting a growing regulatory divide between the two agencies.
Specifically, he referenced a District Court Ruling in Illinois earlier this week and stated that the summary judgment “reaffirmed that both Bitcoin and Ethereum are commodities under the Commodities Exchange Act.” Due to the risks that the unregulated market poses to US investors, Behnam claimed to advocate for new legislative authority for the CFTC and urged Congress to act swiftly.
US Inflation Fell To 3.0% In June, Lower Than Expected
Data: 3.0% YoY, -0.1% MoM
Forecasted: 3.1% YoY, 0.1% MoM
Previous: 3.3% YoY, 0.0% MoM
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, June’s consumer-price index (CPI) rose 3% from a year ago, less than the 3.1% increase economists expected. Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, rose 3.3%. Economists forecasted that the figure would hold steady at 3.4%.
Investors remain optimistic about a Fed interest rate cut in September, but the market positioning suggests they are not fully convinced yet. Therefore, a smaller-than-forecast increase in the monthly core CPI, a reading of 0.1% or smaller, could confirm a policy pivot in September.
Final Thoughts
So that’s it for this week!
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Have a fantastic week ahead!
