It’s Friday! In today’s Daily, we look at Morgan Stanley’s plans to allow asset management advisors to pitch Bitcoin ETFs soon, Bybit says goodbye to France, Q2 results from three crypto companies, and more.
Let’s begin.
Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Advisor Proposes Bitcoin ETF
- According to a source familiar with the investment bank’s internal policy decisions, the initiative is intended to address growing customer demand for cryptocurrency-related products.
- Morgan Stanley will initially allow financial advisors to recommend qualified clients buy shares of two spot Bitcoin ETFs: BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.
- However, clients must have a net worth of at least $1.5 million and have a high risk tolerance and interest in speculative investments.
- Investing in Bitcoin ETFs is also limited to taxable brokerage accounts and cannot be used in retirement accounts.
- The bank plans to closely monitor its customers’ cryptocurrency holdings to avoid overexposure to one asset class, and is watching the progress of a spot Ethereum ETF, although there is no commitment to providing access.
Hello, Bybit
- Starting from 4:00 AM ET on August 2, French users will not be able to purchase cryptocurrencies, open new positions, or add to existing positions on the platform. All Bybit services, including Bybit Earn and spot products, will be subject to the restriction.
- All open positions will be automatically liquidated at 4:00 AM EST on August 13th, after which only withdrawals will be allowed.
- Bybit’s withdrawal from France follows stricter licensing regulations imposed by the country in August 2023 in preparation for the European Union’s Markets in Cryptocurrency Accounts (MiCA) regulatory framework, which comes into full effect in December.
- This is not the first time Bybit has left a European country. Last September, it withdrew from the UK market due to new cryptocurrency marketing regulations.
Cryptocurrency company reports Q2 financial results
- Coinbase reported second-quarter revenue of $1.45 billion, down 11% from the first quarter, partly due to a decline in consumer transactions amid the cryptocurrency market correction.
- MicroStrategy reported a quarterly loss of $5.74 per share on revenue of $111.4 million, down 7% year over year. It also announced that it acquired 12,222 BTC for $805.2 million, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to 226,500 BTC ($14.2 billion), and that it would file for a new $2 billion market-rate public offering.
- MARA reported a net loss of $199.7 million in Q2, compared to $9 million in the same period last year. The miner produced 2,058 BTC during the quarter, down 30% from the same period in 2023.
Polymarket, cumulative transaction volume exceeds $1 billion
- From June to the end of July, Polymarket’s cumulative trading volume jumped by around 58%, from $663 million to $1.05 billion, as users traded stocks using the USDC stablecoin on Polygon, betting on the likelihood of future events.
- The surge in volume comes as interest in political events in the United States grows ahead of the November elections, with volume reaching a record high of over $380 million in July alone.
- The platform’s user base has also grown significantly, with monthly traders jumping from around 4,000 in January to more than 44,000.
- Polymarket’s largest market, betting on the next US President, has seen over $474 million in trading volume, accounting for more than 45% of the platform’s total trading volume to date.
MakeNowMeme’s X account was briefly suspended, but is now back online.
- The outage brings to an end a service that allowed users to launch their own Solana-based Memecoins by posting a tweet of a specific format on the platform.
- Just like Memecoin launched on the Pump.fun platform, when enough users purchase new MakeNowMeme tokens, the liquidity of those tokens will be posted on the decentralized exchange Raydium before being burned.
For the next week
The economic calendar is quiet.
U.S. FOMC members Mary Daley and Thomas Barkin are scheduled to speak on Monday and Thursday, respectively.
Asia Blockchain Summit 2024 will be held in Taipei, Taiwan.
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