Weekly Update: 02 May 2024
1) Hong Kong Bitcoin and Ether ETFs have soft debut [CoinDesk]
– The volume of ether exchange-traded funds came in at over $13 million, while bitcoin ETFs came in at $7.5 million.
2) U.S. Bitcoin ETFs bleed record $563M even as Fed’s Powell rules out rate hike [CoinDesk]
– Fidelity’s FBTC, not GBTC, led outflows on Wednesday in what may be an alarming development for the bulls.
3) Indonesia’s election results may be good for Crypto, industry watchers say [CoinDesk]
– Indonesia’s presidential election in February initially ended in controversy when the winning duo claimed victory before official results were released.
4) Is the SEC weighing a lawsuit against Consensys? [Blockworks]
– Last year, the SEC served Coinbase with a Wells Notice just months before filing a lawsuit. Is the same about to happen to Consensys?
5) MicroStrategy to launch Bitcoin-based decentralized ID solution [Cointelegraph]
– MicroStrategy has already built an application on “MicroStrategy Orange” — Orange For Outlook — which integrates digital signatures into emails to verify the identity of the sender.
6) RWA tokenization firm Securitize raises $47M led by fund partner BlackRock [CoinDesk]
– BlackRock and Securitize last month teamed up to create the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, which may prove to be geared toward RWA tokenization.
7) Republic First Bank closure: First US bank failure of 2024 [Blockchain News]
– US regulators have closed Philadelphia-based Republic First Bank, marking the first banking failure of 2024. The closure has sparked debate among the crypto community, with Bitcoin and Ether trading down.
8) Tokenized asset issuer Backed raises $9.5M as Crypto’s RWA race heats up [CoinDesk]
– The fundraising will help accelerate Backed’s private tokenization offering and onboard asset managers to blockchains, the company said.
