Alpaca Finance Institutional Newsletter #21
Crypto markets recently trended higher from 2022 lows, shrugging off some negative news such as the bankruptcy filing of Genesis, a major US crypto trading and lending firm. With that, the elephant in the room has become the health of DCG, parent company to Genesis, with questions rightly asked if the behemoth Greyscale BTC and ETH trusts will fall next. If the trusts, which hold sizable chunks of 3%+ of BTC and 2.5% of ETH supplies, would be required to unwind, it would likely slap down any short-term efforts on a continued rally.
Under the surface, governments and large institutions continue to set the landscape for how crypto and blockchain will touch TradFi. BIS has proposed formal research on how DeFi can support and safely integrate with traditional finance, citing the net benefit of less friction in the financial system. Meanwhile, the National Bank of Australia joins others in the “Big 4” in issuing a stablecoin to streamline cross-border remittances and trading of carbon credits. Finally, the EU saw a further delay to its final vote on the generally welcomed MiCA rules which will surely set back real-world adoption and innovation as market actors wait for a recognized regulatory framework amongst member countries.
News
- Genesis’ Crypto Lending Businesses File for Bankruptcy Protection
- EU postpones final vote on MiCA for the second time in two months
- FTX CEO says he is exploring rebooting the exchange
- BIS proposes research model to study DeFi’s integration with TradFi
Regulation
- Bithumb ordered to pay outage damages to investors by South Korean court
- EU finance ministers’ group releases statement on political aspects of digital euro
- CFTC commissioner calls for global industry standards in crypto regulation
- Nexo sues Cayman Islands financial regulator over VASP license
Products
- Bank of Thailand to allow first virtual banks by 2025
- Binance to let institutions store crypto with cold custody
- 1inch launches proprietary hardware wallet as self-custody trend grows
- Aussie ‘Big 4’ bank mints stablecoin for carbon trading and remittances
Funding
- 3AC, Coinflex founders collaborating to raise $25M for new claims trading exchange
- Hong Kong investment fund raises $500M to push mass adoption in Web3
- Deal Box launches $125M blockchain and Web3 venture fund
- SSV launches $50M ecosystem fund to support ETH staking tech
