The Securities and Exchange Comission punted again on allowing a passive Bitcoin ETF to enter the market. It failed to approve the VanEck SolidX Bitcoin Trust, instead opting to open a commentary period to address several questions around Bitcoin price formation and the health of the exchanges. A similar outcome faces the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF. You can tell I am not a fan of this waffling, and there are two core reasons: (1) the years-long delay and uncertainty is responsible for financial damage to both traditional and crypto investors, and (2) the premise of the objections misunderstand the environment of the Internet and the way our world is shaping up in the 21st century.
Coinbase now supports bitcoin cash and is looking into whether employees took advantage of the launch; employees may have been able to profit as they knew it was about to be added on Coinbase. Source
The news this week was dominated by the crypto crash as we heard about layoffs at Coinbase, problems at Celsius and a continued downturn in crypto prices. There was plenty of BNPL news as well.
Last quarter, fintech funding rose to $30 billion, the highest on record. $14 billion of SPAC capital is waiting to take these companies public. Robinhood and Circle are about to float on the public markets, via SPAC and IPO. In this analysis, we explore the fundamentals of both companies, as well as the unifying thesis that explains their growth.
Coinbase and affiliates have taken the lead on introducing a legal framework for blockchain tokens as a security; on Wednesday they released a 27-page framework for regulation and best practices for blockchain tokens; paper provides a risk score measurement, best practices for token sales and a detailed securities law analysis. Source
Coinbase is going to go public.
The news hit Reuters, then Coindesk, and then the rest of the world. It feels like big news! The crypto broker is beating Robinhood, Acorns, Stash, Revolut, Betterment, and Wealthfront to the public markets. It's even beating SoFi, which is trying to get a national bank license (and who doesn't want to own a bank!).
In a blog on the company’s website David Farmer, Director of Communications, explained the ability for customers to instantly purchase digital currency using a US bank account; customers can now buy up to $25,000 and receive access to their digital currency immediately. Source.
Business Insider sat with Coinbase’s Dan Romero who recently took on the role of general manager and vice president of the company in January; the interview covered the company’s plans for growth on the engineering and product sides; he said the company is looking to become for cryptocurrency what Google has become for search; the interview also talks through the recent SegWit upgrade, where Coinbase is headed in the next few years and how they compare to their biggest competitors. Source.
Coinbase was ordered to hand over information on customers who made transactions over $20,000 between 2013 and 2015; the IRS believes people have not been correctly reporting income made from trades; the information required by the IRS was significantly less than they originally tried to get back when the IRS initially summoned records a year ago; Coinbase might still challenge the order. Source.
According to Bloomberg, Ripple attempted to provide financial incentives to exchanges Gemini and Coinbase for its XRP cryptocurrency to be listed; Some believe that the exchanges are reluctant to include XRP because the token could be deemed securities because it is controlled by one single company; the article by Bloomberg shares that a Ripple executive offered a $1 million cash payment to Gemini which was followed by other incentive offerings; Ripple also offered lending Coinbase $100 million of XRP to let users trade the asset. Source




