10/13/23: All Eyes Are On Gary ⏰🦘🎙️

Author

Valko
October 13, 2023

Top News

  • ⏰ SEC’s deadline to appeal Grayscale spot BTC ETF decision is today

  • 🦘 Australia completes successful CBDC pilot with Mastercard

  • 🎙️ Caroline Ellison faces cross-examination, secret recording exposed

What happens if SEC doesn’t appeal Grayscale spot Bitcoin ETF ruling?

Oct. 13 is the deadline for the SEC to appeal the win handed to Grayscale Investments in an Appeals Court, where it will either have to approve the firm’s bid for a spot Bitcoin ETF or find another way to delay or reject the application.

⌐◪-◪ → All eyes are on Gary Gensler today, as the crypto community prays for a big win. If the SEC doesn’t appeal, it will have to approve Grayscale’s ETF, which likely means the approval of all other pending ETFs. I’m sure you’re wondering whether or not this is priced in, but we won’t talk about that here, because Specs doesn’t talk about price.

Mastercard successfully wraps up CBDC pilot with Reserve Bank of Australia

Payments firm Mastercard completed a CBDC project with the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre.

⌐◪-◪ → This recent pilot tested how authorized parties (KYC’d) could hold, use, and redeem CBDCs. Additionally, the project tested how holders could purchase NFTs by locking their CBDC in exchange for wrapped Ethereum. While it’s certainly exciting to see big banks and payment processors experiment with blockchain, we have to be cautious of the privacy concerns surrounding CBDCs - which many have voiced concern about in the Netherlands, China, and the US.

Inside the meeting where Caroline Ellison came clean to Alameda staff, per a secret recording from an employee who started 3 days earlier

“I’m sure this wasn’t a YOLO thing, right?” Christian Drappi, another Alameda employee, asked the crypto hedge fund's former CEO.

⌐◪-◪ → SBF’s jury was presented a secret recording from a meeting Caroline Ellison held with Alameda staffers days before FTX’s collapse. In this recording Caroline admits: 1) how Alameda’s bad investments caused the FTX crisis 2) that FTX planned to raise funds to compensate users 3) that Alameda always had access to FTX customers’ funds. Bonus: Caroline had some serious nervous laughter in the recording.

Peripheral Vision

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

  • Tether appoints Paolo Ardoino as CEO, prev. CEO becomes advisor

  • THORswap resumes with new terms excluding sanctioned countries

  • Tornado Cash usage dropped 90% since US sanctions in Aug 2022

  • GMX to receive largest share of Arbitrum’s $40M grant

  • Flare Networks to burn 2.1B FLT tokens to support ecosystem

  • Frax Finance staking vault lets users access higher US interest rates

  • Uniswap releases Android crypto wallet ahead of iOS debut

  • FTX hacker swaps $120M of $477M hack from ETH to BTC

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

  • Citadel is suspected of being involved in UST’s depeg

  • Genesis crypto broker halts withdrawals

  • Initia, layer 1 project, emerges from stealth with backing from Binance

  • Coinlist launches mult-chain staking fund for US accredited investors

  • Crypto gaming secured $600M of Q3 investments amid bear market

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

  • DOJ charges executive with commodities fraud, facing up to 5 years

  • McLennan County, TX settles lawsuit with BTC ATM operator

  • Former Voyage CEO sued by CFTC for breaking derivatives rules

  • Coinbase VP of Tax says IRS’s new tax rules put crypto in a chokehold

  • Senators urge US tax officials to report client transactions sooner

  • Coinbase tells IRS it has “serious concerns” about proposed tax rules

🌎 Rest of the World

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

Spectacular Shoutout

Hey guys, Valko here 👋

Wishing everybody a happy Friday (the 13th) and relaxing weekend.

Today’s shoutout comes from one of our top readers, Mingito! TYSM!

To get featured here → give us a shoutout on 𝕏!