Quick take
- As the Democratic National Convention opens, cryptocurrencies have been removed from the party’s platform.
- Bitwise Acquires Physical Bitcoin ETP Issuer ETC Group Amid European Expansion
- Shaquille O’Neal’s Legal Battle Over Astrals NFT Case Partially Dismissed
- The following is an excerpt from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, published weekday afternoons.
Happy Monday! Today’s Daily features the Democratic Party’s platform missing crypto before the convention, Bitwise acquires crypto ETP issuer ETC Group, Shaquille O’Neal’s NFT lawsuit partially dismissed, and more.
Let’s get started.
Cryptocurrency disappears from Democratic platform at convention
The Democratic Party’s newly released platform does not mention cryptocurrencies, which could disappoint left-wing voters who are seeking a new government vision for crypto.
- The omission stands in stark contrast to Republican policies that pledged to end “illegal and un-American crackdowns on cryptocurrencies” and defend Bitcoin mining rights.
- Republican candidate Donald Trump has been a vocal pro-cryptocurrency candidate, speaking at Bitcoin conferences and revealing significant Ethereum holdings.
- The Democratic policy, approved in July before Joe Biden withdrew from the race, will be voted on by convention delegates in a formality.
- Since Biden’s resignation, efforts have been made to strengthen ties between Kamala Harris and the crypto industry, including a town hall meeting hosted by Crypto4Harris.
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has signaled his intent to pass cryptocurrency regulation legislation by the end of the year, aiming to strike a balance between innovation and common-sense regulation.
Bitwise Acquires ETC Group
Bitwise has acquired ETC Group, expanding its assets under management to over $4.5 billion and adding nine European-listed digital asset ETPs to its product offering.
- This acquisition further accelerates Bitwise’s expansion into the European market and enables the company to offer new, innovative ETPs to European investors.
- Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley highlighted the acquisition’s role in serving European investors and expanding its product line with innovative ETPs.
- Bitwise’s spot Bitcoin ETF, BITB, recorded $54.07 million in volume on Friday, while its spot Ether ETF, ETHW, recorded $4.12 million in daily volume.
Shaquille O’Neal NFT Case Partially Dismissed
A Miami court has ruled that Shaquille O’Neal was involved as a “seller” in Solana’s NFT project Astrals, but dismissed claims in an unregistered securities class action lawsuit that he was a “controller.”
- The court ruled that O’Neill had promoted Astrals on several online platforms, but the project’s value plummeted after he left following the FTX collapse.
- The judge denied O’Neill’s motion to dismiss the claim that the Astrals NFTs and Galaxy tokens were financial securities, but rejected the “controller” claim.
- O’Neill’s legal team claims he did not control the project and that the Astrals NFTs and Galaxy tokens are not securities, and the deadline to respond to these claims is September 12.
Pump.Fun Revenues Near $100 Million
- Since its launch in January 2024, the platform has facilitated the creation of over 1.8 million Mimecoins, leveraging Solana’s low transaction fees.
- The platform uses a bonding curve model: when the coin price rises in response to demand and reaches a market cap of $69,000, liquidity is transferred to Raydium and burned.
- While recent changes have increased token creation, some users have expressed concerns about the quality and long-term value of the project.
Fabric Cryptography Raises $33 Million
Fabric Cryptography has raised $33 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx.
- The funds will support the development of a Verifiable Processing Unit (VPU), a cryptographically-specific chip designed to improve the speed and cost of cryptographic operations.
- Fabric Cryptography has already secured tens of millions of dollars in pre-orders for its VPUs and is developing its software stack and cloud infrastructure to support growing demand.
within the next 24 hours
Eurozone Annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) Released
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© 2024 The Block. All rights reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not provided or intended to be legal, tax, investment, financial or other advice.
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.
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