Alpaca Finance Institutional Newsletter #56
Highlights
- U.S. Congress members urgently push for immediate approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs
- SEC delays decisions on Ether and Bitcoin ETFs
- New US bill to require reporting of off-chain crypto transactions
Four U.S. Congress members wrote to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, urging swift approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). They claim the SEC is unfairly discriminating against these products and cite Grayscale Investments’ ETF approval as precedent. They believe spot Bitcoin ETFs would enhance investor protection and transparency, urging Gensler for quick approval.
The SEC postponed its decisions on spot Ether and Bitcoin ETFs from ARK 21Shares and VanEck. New deadlines are December 25 and 26 due to the SEC needing more time for review. Other ETH ETF proposals were filed on various exchanges. Additionally, the SEC extended the review period for spot Bitcoin ETFs from ARK 21Shares and Global X, delaying ARK 21Shares’ ETF decision to January.
A new U.S. bill, the “Off-Chain Digital Commodity Transaction Reporting Act,” seeks to require crypto service providers to report blockchain transactions to a government repository. This aims to protect investors from fraud and manipulation in off-chain transactions. Crypto providers would report off-chain transactions to a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-registered repository within 24 hours, aligning with existing rules for securities and swap transactions.
News
- Bitcoin gains legal recognition as digital currency in Shanghai, China
- Google Cloud is now a validator on the Polygon network
- US lawmakers call on SEC chair to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs ‘immediately’
- NASA plans to prove its next Moon landing is real using blockchain
Products
- Digital yuan app adds prepaid Mastercard, Visa top-ups for tourists
- Circle launches native euro stablecoin on Stellar
- Buenos Aires to issue blockchain-based digital ID
- Bitwise announces Ethereum ETF launch on Oct. 2
Regulation
- Hong Kong to tighten crypto regulation & Thailand to tax crypto overseas
- Taiwan bans unregistered foreign crypto exchanges from operating
- SEC pushes deadlines for ARK 21Shares, VanEck spot Ether ETF applications
- New US bill to require firms to report off-chain transactions to CFTC
Funding
- Uniswap Foundation targets $62M in additional funding
- Google and Goldman Sachs-backed AI firm AlphaSense raises $150M at $2.5B valuation
- A16z gets ‘digi-physical’ with $17M funding for IYK
- Arbitrum DAO looking to bet $40M on network protocols
