Quick take
- Grayscale’s newest fund for accredited investors tracks MakerDAO’s MKR token.
- Coinbase to Offer Cryptocurrency Services in Hawaii
- Bitfarms Co-Founder Nicolas Bonta Steps Down From Board
- The following is an excerpt from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, published weekday afternoons.
Happy Tuesday! In today’s Daily, we look at Grayscale’s MKR fund, Coinbase’s re-entry into Hawaii, Bitfarms co-founder resigns from the board, and more.
Let’s get started.
Grayscale Launches MKR Fund
- This new trust will allow qualified investors and institutions to gain exposure to MakerDAO’s governance token, MKR.
- Decentralized exchange MakerDAO issues DAI stablecoin, the third-largest stablecoin with a market cap of over $5 billion.
- MakerDAO is currently undergoing a transformation under its “endgame” plan, with the goal of expanding into on-chain credit and real-world asset markets through new products and services managed by “subDAOs.”
- Grayscale’s two largest products, the Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, both started out as closed-end trusts, which means they don’t allow direct withdrawals, which can lead to price differences with the underlying assets.
- Grayscale offers at least 17 private single-asset funds for various protocol tokens.
Coinbase Offers Cryptocurrency Services in Hawaii
- The move follows regulatory changes from the Hawaii Department of Commerce and the Department of Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection that clarify the rules for cryptocurrency companies.
- Coinbase withdrew from Hawaii in 2017 due to strict regulations requiring 1:1 cash reserves for Bitcoin holdings.
- The Hawaii Digital Currency Innovation Lab, which allowed cryptocurrency companies to operate without state licenses, ended on June 30, but companies can still do business in Hawaii under federal regulations.
Bitfarms Co-Founder Resigns from Board of Directors
- Bonta played a key role in the founding, development and international expansion of Bitfarms, particularly in Latin America.
- Riot Platforms, a US company that attempted to acquire Bitfarms earlier this year, has become the largest shareholder and is pushing for a board restructuring.
- Bitfarms reported a net loss of $27 million in its latest earnings report, with revenue falling 16% as block rewards fell following Bitcoin’s April halving.
$2 Billion Worth of Mt. Gox Bitcoin Could Be Moved from BitGo Wallet
- Arkham speculated that the wallet may belong to cryptocurrency exchange BitGo, suggesting that the Mt. Gox saga is nearing its final stages of repaying creditors.
- The bc1q26 wallet, believed to belong to BitGo, transferred $2 billion worth of bitcoin to other wallets within hours of starting test transactions.
- The movement of funds suggests that the process of repaying Mt. Gox creditors, which has been underway since July, is nearing completion.
Essential Secures $11 Million in Series A Funding
- This round was participated by IOSG Ventures, Spartan Group, Mirana Ventures, and other notable investors.
- Essential plans to launch a testnet in 2024 along with tokens and a mainnet in 2025, while expanding its team.
within the next 24 hours
The United States releases its monthly Producer Price Index (PPI).
The Blockchain Futurology Conference in Toronto and Blockchain Week 2024 in Istanbul have reached their second and final day.
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About the Author
MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020, joining just before Bitcoin first broke $20,000. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering all aspects of crypto news but with a penchant for NFTs, metaverse, web3 games, fundraising, crime, hacking, and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from the Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program (SHERP) at New York University and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.