● Grayscale wins lawsuit against SEC
Grayscale Investments won its lawsuit against the SEC, according to court documents, ChainCatcher reported.
As previously reported, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Grayscale's application to transform its Bitcoin Trust GBTC into a Bitcoin spot ETF on the grounds that it "cannot protect investors from fraud and market manipulation."
Grayscale Chief Legal Officer Craig Salm said there is “no difference in the context of Bitcoin” between spot ETFs and futures ETFs because “CME Bitcoin futures are inherently priced at a discount to the spot Bitcoin market.”
Grayscale said the SEC failed to demonstrate why there were disparate treatments, thereby violating the most basic requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.
● Bloomberg analyst: SEC can file an appeal for a full hearing within 45 days
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said on X (original Twitter) that the SEC can file an appeal for a full hearing within 45 days. This means that the case will be heard by all the judges on the court (17 in this case), rather than by a panel of only 3 judges as in this initial ruling.
● Grayscale CEO: Thank you for the court’s decision, the team is confirming the court’s opinion
Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said on X (formerly Twitter) that he was grateful for the DC Circuit Court's ruling in favor of Grayscale and thanked investors for their support and encouragement. In addition, the Grayscale legal team is confirming the court's opinion.
● SEC spokesperson: The SEC is carefully reviewing the court's ruling on the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF issue to determine the next steps
According to Jinshi.com, a spokesperson for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that the SEC is carefully reviewing the court's ruling on the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF issue to determine the next steps.
● The US SEC may respond to multiple Bitcoin ETF application documents before the end of this week
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to respond to Bitcoin ETF application filings submitted by Bitwise, BlackRock, VanEck, WisdomTree and Invesco by the end of the week, according to Bloomberg. Regulators can reject, approve or postpone. Bitwise's application will be reviewed by Friday and the other applications will be reviewed the next day, so the SEC may weigh in before the weekend.
The SEC has delayed the spot bitcoin applications of 21Shares and ARK Investment Management in early August, and has previously rejected numerous applications over the past decade. Roxanna Islam, deputy director of research and head of sector and industry research at VettaFi, said that we can expect the SEC to delay more applications, especially after they had already delayed the decision on the ARK spot bitcoin ETF application earlier this month. It is expected that the SEC's decision on the Grayscale lawsuit will be followed by progress on the Bitcoin ETF.
● Hester Peirce and other SEC commissioners objected to the agency’s enforcement actions against NFTs
According to the Daily Planet, U.S. SEC Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda objected to the SEC's enforcement action that NFT sales are securities, in part because they disagreed with the application of the Howey test. Specifically, the SEC does not have sufficient basis to bring this under its jurisdiction. Several company and buyer statements cited in the order do not constitute promises that constitute investment contracts. Even if NFT sales fully comply with Howey's provisions, this series of facts is not enough to warrant enforcement action. Since this is the first enforcement action against NFTs, it raises many difficult questions. The SEC should have addressed these issues long ago and provided guidance when NFTs began to develop rapidly. Discussing NFTs now can help the SEC deal with this issue wisely, such as: NFTs are not a single-use-case asset class, different NFTs have multiple use cases, and whether the SEC has an effective way to classify NFTs to think about whether and how securities laws apply to offers and sales.
Earlier news, the SEC accused Impact Theory, a Los Angeles-based media and entertainment company, of conducting an unregistered issuance of crypto asset securities in the form of NFTs, raising approximately US$30 million from hundreds of investors, including investors across the United States.
● X (formerly Twitter) gets permission to add cryptocurrency payments
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has obtained the license required to conduct cryptocurrency payments and transactions in the United States, The Crypto Times reported.
● Fed swaps will bring forward rate cut pricing from July next year to June
According to Jinshi.com, the Federal Reserve swap will bring forward the pricing of interest rate cuts from July next year to June.
● Binance FZE Executive Director: The UAE is expected to become the first choice for cryptocurrency companies seeking good and transparent regulations
“The UAE has excelled in the field of virtual asset regulation, and Binance is committed to working with regulators and policymakers in the MENA region to ensure safe operations and practices in the virtual asset industry, user protection, and market integrity,” Alex Chehade, executive director and general manager of Binance FZE, told Finance Magnates.
According to Chehade, the UAE is expected to become a top choice for cryptocurrency businesses seeking good and transparent regulations, and Binance has noted that senior UAE leaders want to position the region as a key player in the Web3 industry.
● Binance launches new service Send Cash in Latin America
Binance announced that it is launching Send Cash in Latin America, a new product that allows users to transfer cryptocurrencies from nine countries in Latin America through Binance Pay, allowing family and friends to deposit funds directly into their bank accounts with the services of a licensed transfer processing provider.
According to reports, the service will first be launched in Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Argentina, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Dominican Republic, Panama and Mexico. In the first phase of the launch, users in these nine countries can send funds to bank accounts in Colombia and Argentina.
