QCP Capital analysts have flagged rising implied volatility in the options market as the end-of-week expiration looms. With bitcoin’s spot price remaining relatively flat over the past 24 hours, the current put-call ratio has tilted in favor of put options — signaling a more cautious stance among traders.
"As we approach the first Federal Reserve rate cut of this cycle, market tensions are rising, amplifying the impact of any unexpected macro data, and the probability of a 50 basis points cut has jumped. This is mirrored in increasing volatility, with Friday implied volatility up 8 points for bitcoin and 20 points for ether," the analysts said.
This week's Bitfinex Alpha report also forecast an increase in cryptocurrency market volatility this week driven by investor expectations surrounding an anticipated Fed rate cut. "We see the potential for market volatility this week as quite high, driven by investor anticipation of the Fed rate cut decision. Currently, the market dynamics are poised for potential volatility, influenced significantly by investor expectations surrounding imminent rate cuts," Bitfinex analysts said.
The report added that market reaction could vary significantly depending on the magnitude of the rate cut. A 25 basis-point cut may sustain a moderate risk-on environment, while a larger 50 basis-point cut could trigger stronger buying or, conversely, profit-taking among cautious investors. "This volatility is likely to be reflected across spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds and perpetual markets, with increased fluctuations as traders adjust their positions," Bitfinex analysts noted.
Interest rate traders expect a 50 basis-point cut
Recent market data indicates a growing expectation of a 50 basis-point rate cut at the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting.  According to the CME FedWatch tool, the likelihood of a 50 basis-point cut has climbed to 65%, eclipsing the 35% probability for a 25 basis-point cut.
RELATED INDICES
BRN analyst Valentin Fournier said that concerns about persistent inflation and the risk of a recession could lead to a negative market reaction, even if the Federal Reserve delivers an expected 50 basis point rate cut. "Bitcoin BTC
+0.61%
's price has been volatile in recent weeks, and the upcoming Fed pivot is expected to amplify this volatility. Technical indicators suggest that the momentum behind bitcoin's recent rebound since the $52,500 dip on 6 Sep is weakening, raising the possibility of a trend reversal," Fournier told The Block.
Bitcoin posted a muted 1% increase in the past 24 hours and was trading at $59,181 at 6:41 a.m. ET, according to The Block’s Price Page. The price of ether has traded flat over the same period, now changing hands for around $BTC Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#ETH

BlackRock’s IBIT spot Bitcoin BTC
+0.90%
exchange-traded fund witnessed its first daily net inflows since Aug. 26 yesterday, totaling $15.8 million.
In its longest daily run without positive flows since the spot Bitcoin ETFs began trading in January, the three-week streak had produced 11 trading days of zero flows and two days of net outflows on Aug. 29 and Sept. 9 before Monday’s net inflows.
According to CoinGlass data, Fidelity’s FBTC, Franklin Templeton’s EZBC and VanEck’s HODL also witnessed net inflows of $5.1 million, $5 million and $4.9 million, respectively, on Monday.
Grayscale’s higher-fee, converted spot Bitcoin ETF, GBTC, returned to net outflows of $20.8 million following rare net inflows of $6.7 million on Friday. This was partially offset by $2.8 million worth of net inflows into its mini product, BTC.
Despite the recent inflow drought, BlackRock’s IBIT still dominates spot Bitcoin ETF flows, generating $20.9 billion in net inflows since January. Fidelity’s FBTC is second with $9.6 billion in net inflows, while Grayscale’s GBTC has seen over $20 billion in net outflows. The spot Bitcoin ETFs have generated a total net inflow of $17.3 billion combined, according to data compiled by The Block.

Monday’s $12.8 million in net inflows was significantly lower than the $263.2 million generated on Friday, however. Trading volume also fell to $1.1 billion from $1.8 billion, according to The Block’s data dashboard.

Spot Ethereum ETFs return to net daily outflows
Meanwhile, spot Ethereum ETH
+0.70%
ETFs returned to total net outflows of $9.4 million on Monday, following $1.5 million worth of net inflows on Friday.
BlackRock’s product again led the net inflows, with ETHA adding $4.2 million. Grayscale's mini Ethereum ETF was the only other fund to attract net inflows, bringing in $2.3 million. Meanwhile, Grayscale's main ETHE converted fund generated net outflows of $13.8 million, and Bitwise’s ETHW also saw $2.1 million exit the fund, per CoinGlass data.
RELATED INDICES
In contrast to the Bitcoin funds, spot Ethereum ETFs have generated $590.8 million worth of total net outflows since they began trading in July, dominated by $2.7 billion in net outflows from Grayscale’s converted ETHE product. All other spot Ethereum ETFs have generated net inflows of $2.1 billion combined.

According to The Block's data dashboard, trading volume for the spot Ethereum ETFs also fell on Monday, down to $128 million from $149 million on Friday.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs backing
Responding to recent conspiracy theories surrounding the backing of the spot Bitcoin ETFs, BlackRock’s in particular, and their dominant custodian, Coinbase, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas suggested that Bitcoiners were looking for a “scapegoat” to blame for recent selling pressure.
“[BlackRock] would flip out if [Coinbase] was screwing around with their bitcoin, plus it would violate the '33 Act,” Balchunas said on Monday. “People who invest in bitcoin are generally skeptical of government and institutions (which I get), [but] the same thing happened with gold bugs and GLD, which they called ‘paper gold,’ and said the vault was empty. It wasn't true. This is like deja vu all over again.”
Bitcoin is currently trading for $58,750, according to The Block's Bitcoin Price Page. The foremost cryptocurrency has traded flat over the past 24 hours and is down around 20% over the past six months but remains 39% up year-to-date.
“I get why these theories exist and people want to scapegoat the ETFs because it is too unthinkable that the native HODLers could be the sellers. But they are. The call is coming from inside the house,” Balchunas added. “All the ETFs and BlackRock have done is save bitcoin’s price from the abyss repeatedly.”
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#crypto2023A

WalletConnect, a web3 communications protocol that connects crypto wallets to decentralized applications, is set to launch its native Connect Token (WCT) on Optimism's OP
-0.30%
Mainnet, an Ethereum Layer 2 network. The token will also be airdropped to users.
"WCT marks a significant milestone in the WalletConnect Network's decentralization roadmap and will be the driving force behind the economic and governance structure of the Network," WalletConnect said Tuesday. "Registration for the WCT airdrop will open on September 24. The airdrop eligibility structure is based on use of the WalletConnect Network."
WalletConnect Inc. has rebranded to Reown, focusing on user experience, and will continue to be led by CEO Jess Houlgrave.
The WCT token will have an initial supply capped at 1 billion, with 18.5% — or 185 million tokens — allocated for airdrop season 1, Houlgrave told The Block. The airdrop will include WalletConnect end users, as well as wallets, apps, nodes, software development kits and communities that have contributed to WalletConnect's success, Houlgrave said.
To participate in the WCT airdrop, users must register by connecting their wallets, linking their GitHub accounts and providing an email address, Houlgrave said. Eligibility requires an Ethereum address, active WalletConnect engagement or contributions to open-source projects, with sanctioned wallets or IP addresses disqualified, Houlgrave added. The airdrop for season 1 will conclude on Oct. 11, at which point token distribution will occur, following an evaluation of historical engagement. Any unclaimed tokens will be reallocated to future airdrop seasons. Those not qualified for Season 1's airdrop may have opportunities to qualify in subsequent seasons, Houlgrave added.
Initially, WCT tokens will be non-transferable to ensure focus on network functionality, stability and ecosystem development, according to Houlgrave. Transferability might be enabled later through community governance. While tokens can be used for governance and staking, they cannot be transferred between wallets until full functionality is activated by 2025, Houlgrave added.
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WalletConnect Foundation's formation
With the launch of the WCT token, the WalletConnect Network will begin transitioning to a permissionless structure governed by the community. The newly formed WalletConnect Foundation will oversee the WalletConnect protocol and ensure the network's growth, security, decentralization and ecosystem expansion.
Consensys, Kiln, Ledger, Luga Nodes, 1kx, Figment, and Sensei Nodes are part of the initial third-party node operators, WalletConnect said.
Pedro Gomes, the founder of WalletConnect, will join the foundation as director, accompanied by Yessin Schiegg, who will serve as CFO of the WalletConnect Foundation. Schiegg was previously a board member at the Ethereum Foundation and most recently the CFO of the Near Foundation.
"Since WalletConnect's inception in 2018 the goal was always for it to become critical and decentralized infrastructure for the new internet, with the addition of WCT we are making that goal a reality," Gomes said in a statement. "The WalletConnect Network has experienced 240% growth in the past 12 months [and facilitated 150M connections since launch], WCT will incentivize even more growth and bring in even more partners."
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#opbnb

Bitwise Invest CIO Matt Hougan took to the social media platform X on Monday to counter a researcher's claim that investment advisors' adoption of spot bitcoin ETFs has been low.
"Investment advisors are adopting bitcoin ETFs faster than any new ETF in history," Hougan said in his post. BlackRock's spot BTC
+4.82%
fund "has attracted $1.5 billion in net flows from investment advisors. [Bianco] calls this 'small' because it's a fraction of the $46 billion that has flowed into bitcoin ETFs in total."
Hougan's comments were made in reply to a lengthy post from market research specialist Jim Bianco, who on Sunday took to X to say that both spot bitcoin ETFs have "not become a tool for tradfi or boomer adoption" and that financial advisors' adoption of the vehicles has been limited.
"Crypto-quant analysis suggests that most Spot BTC ETF inflows were from on-chain holders moving back to tradfi accounts, so very little 'new' money has entered the crypto space," said Bianco.

BlackRock's IBIT growing fast
Hougan has a different view when looking at the data.
RELATED INDICES
"If you excluded all other flows, and just looked at the $1.5 billion linked to investment advisors, IBIT would be the 2nd fastest-growing ETF launched this year (excluding other BTC ETFs)," he said, adding that more than 300 exchange-traded funds have launched this year.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas defended Hougan's view.
"Just IBIT's advisor allocations (which add up to $1.5 billion) [has] more organic inflows than any other ETF launched this year," he said on X.
Bitwise Invest's spot bitcoin ETF has about $2 billion in assets under management, according to The Block's Data Dashboard. BlackRock's IBIT fund is the market's largest with nearly $20 billion in AUM.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#SEC

Following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov by French authorities on August 24, 2024, activity within the TON
+6.64%
network has surged exponentially, with a sharp rise in network transactions and active addresses.
The 7-day moving average (7DMA) of daily transactions on the TON network has reached a new all-time high. The network saw an all-time high of 8.68 million transactions on Aug. 31, surpassing the previous record of 8.56 million from Jan. 17.
Throughout the past week, this figure has continued to increase, reaching upwards of 10 million transactions on Friday. This figure has now increased by over 160% since Durov was arrested.

The 7-day moving average (7DMA) of the daily number of active addresses on the TON network has also seen a record high. As of Friday, the TON network has seen about 701,800 active addresses. This represents a 6% increase compared to the previous Friday.
RELATED INDICES
However, unlike the network activity, the price of the TON token itself has not responded well to Pavel’s arrest. The TON token is down over 30% since the incident.
While poor general market conditions may have played a role in this downturn as well, the effects of the arrest cannot be discounted as TON fell by roughly 20% in the three hours following the news.
This is an excerpt from The Block's Data & Insights newsletter. Dig into the numbers making up the industry's most thought-provoking trends.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#ETH

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations recorded a 45% uptick last year in losses tied to crypto since 2022, according to a report released on Monday.
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center received over 69,000 crypto-related complaints which resulted in $5.6 billion in losses in 2023, the agency said in its annual report. Crypto accounted for 10% of total financial fraud complaints and about half of the total losses.
People over the age of 60 filed the most complaints in 2023, followed by consumers in their 30s and 40s. Investment scams were the most reported crime, according to the report.
"Over the years, cryptocurrency’s widespread promotion as an investment vehicle, combined with a mindset associated with the 'fear of missing out,' has led to opportunities for criminals to target consumers and retail investors — particularly those who seek to profit from investing but are unfamiliar with the technology and the attendant risks," the agency said in the report.
Federal agencies have issued warnings about fraud tied to the crypto industry. Earlier this year, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission released an alert about dating and messaging apps being used to conduct scams or give investment advice.
Other concerns
On Monday, the FBI warned U.S. citizens and people who live abroad to be vigilant of risks of false job advertisements that are linked to "labor trafficking at scam compounds overseas.”
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"These compounds hold workers against their will and use intimidation to force the workers to participate in scam operations," the FBI said.
Separately, the use of crypto kiosks to "perpetrate fraudulent activity" is rising, according to the agency's data.
"Typically, criminals give detailed instructions to individuals, to include how to withdraw cash from their bank, how to locate a kiosk, and how to deposit and send funds using the kiosk," the agency wrote, adding that QR codes and other payment innovations are facilitating financial scams.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#SEC

Japanese gaming blockchain Oasys has partnered with SK Planet, a subsidiary of South Korea telecommunications giant SK Telecom, to expand its presence in South Korea.
In a statement shared with The Block, Oasys said that the partnership is expected to onboard “millions of users” to the Oasys gaming ecosystem. The team explained that SK Planet’s OK Cashbag, a membership reward platform, has a large user base with 28 million members and 75,000 affiliated stores — and that the partnership potentially “opens access for Oasys to this significant Korean market.”
As part of the collaboration, SK Planet will become a validator for Oasys. “With SK Planet becoming Oasys’ new validator, users can soon stake OAS tokens directly to the SK Planet node directly from their wallets,” the team added. SK Planet’s digital wallet, UPTN Station, is also set to integrate Oasys Hub.
“[The partnership] will significantly enhance our protocol-level initiatives to boost blockchain gaming adoption and enable developers to leverage SK Planet’s vast user base through campaigns and promotions via UPTN Station,” said Daiki Moriyama, director of Oasys.
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The Japanese gaming blockchain has made moves to establish ties with Korean industry giants. In February, it announced a partnership with South Korean internet giant Kakao’s web3 gaming division, Metabora SG, to support the game publisher’s expansion into the Japanese market. Oasys also teamed up with Com2uS, another Korean game developer to onboard more games.
Oasys, which offers Layer 1 hub and Layer 2 networks for game development, counts gaming leaders — including Sega, Ubisoft and Yield Guild Games — as its validators.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#Binance

Five U.S. states have settled with GS Partners, the company that offered multiple crypto investments, to give back investors 100% of their funds, the Texas State Securities Board (TSSB) announced Monday.
The TSSB wrote in its announcement that after a multi-jurisdictional investigation, Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas and Georgia have reached a settlement agreement with GS Partners' owner, Josip Heit, and his companies.
This means that GS Partners will pay back investors’ money in full, in exchange for having all civil claims and investigations dropped against the company, with no monetary penalty. GS and Heit also agreed to a cease-and-desist from offering unregistered securities in those states.
The settlement comes after U.S. state regulators filed enforcement actions against GS Partners last November, accusing the company of defrauding investors through crypto asset investments by misrepresenting expected profits and risks of loss.
GS Partners, an umbrella name for over a dozen affiliated entities owned by Heit, operated a marketing service that sold several crypto-related investments, including tokenized shares in a Dubai skyscraper and the virtual real estate metaverse project “Lydian World.”
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The latter metaverse project sold fractional ownerships in a virtual skyscraper in the metaverse and reportedly guaranteed returns of up to 5% per week to investors. GS Partners’ failure to raise its goal of $175 million through token sales caused “significant losses” to its investors, the TSSB wrote in a previous statement in November.
“We welcome this settlement,” said Heit, in a press release. “We are committed to refunding all eligible customers through the claims process. Our customers always come first. Protecting the brand, our reputation, and our customers is our top priority.”
According to Heit’s legal representative, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, other states outside of the five states will be able to join the settlement on the same terms.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#BNB

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet Inc. announced today that it purchased an additional 38.464 bitcoin worth about 300 million yen ($2 million), as the company remains optimistic on the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
The Tokyo-listed firm disclosed in a statement that the latest purchase brought its total bitcoin holdings to 398.832 bitcoin, or about 3.75 billion yen ($26 million).
Bitcoin BTC
+3.37%
climbed 3.12% over the past 24 hours to trade at $56,732 at the time of writing after plunging to a low of around $52,700 earlier this week, according to The Block’s price page.
Metaplanet’s stock traded 4.42% higher on Tuesday in Japan, changing hands at around 1,086 yen after reaching a high of around 2,000 yen earlier today, according to Yahoo Finance. The stock is still trading in the afternoon session. The Nikkei 225 index remained nearly flat, edging up 0.02%.
Metaplanet has been on a bitcoin buying spree in recent months after announcing in May that it had started to adopt bitcoin as its strategic treasury reserve asset. “The move is a direct response to sustained economic pressures in Japan, notably high government debt levels, prolonged periods of negative real interest rates, and the consequently weak yen,” the firm said at the time.
RELATED INDICES
On Monday, Metaplanet announced that its management will exercise the 11th series of stock acquisition rights, with proceeds worth 299.7 million yen. “The funds received will be used to purchase bitcoins,” the company said.
Last week, Metaplanet also said that it has partnered with SBI VC Trade, the crypto arm of Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Group, for “access to a compliant corporate custody service that prioritizes tax efficiency and offers the potential to utilize bitcoin as collateral for financing.”
Meanwhile, Michael Saylor-led MicroStrategy remains the largest corporate bitcoin holder, owning 226,500 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries data. Marathon Digital follows this record with 25,000 BTC.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#Binance

Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. ended their eight-day streak of negative flows on Monday, reporting $28.72 million in net inflows.
Fidelity’s FBTC led the pack of inflows yesterday with $28.6 million, followed by Bitwise’s BITB, which saw inflows of $21.99 million, according to SoSoValue data.
Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB reported smaller inflows of $6.81 million, while Invesco’s BTCO saw $3.14 million flow into the fund.
Monday’s inflows were offset by $22.76 million in outflows from Grayscale’s GBTC. BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest spot bitcoin ETF by net assets, recorded $9.06 million in net outflows. IBIT has seen outflows or zero flows since Aug. 26.
The 12 bitcoin ETFs recorded $1.61 billion in total daily trading volume on Monday, down from $2.39 billion last Friday. They have accumulated $16.92 billion in net inflows since launching in January.
While spot bitcoin ETFs saw higher volumes and larger inflows during their peaks in March, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan recently said that “investment advisors are adopting bitcoin ETFs faster than any new ETF in history.” Hougan cited data showing BlackRock’s spot bitcoin fund has attracted $1.5 billion from investment advisors.
Ether ETFs continued to see outflows
Spot Ethereum ETH
+2.01%
ETFs in the U.S. saw another day of net outflows, totaling $5.20 million. Monday marked the fifth consecutive day of negative flows.
RELATED INDICES
Grayscale’s ETHE reported $22.64 million in net outflows, SoSoValue data showed. It was the only spot ether ETF to record outflows on Monday. The Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH), on the other hand, logged $7.97 million in inflows.
Fidelity’s FETH had $7.62 million in inflows, and Bitwise’s ETHW recorded $1.85 million in net inflows.
The total daily trading volume for the nine ETFs shrank to $124.51 million on Monday, compared to $210.43 million last Friday. Their cumulative net flows remained negative, with $573.49 million in net outflows.
Markets are now looking toward the first U.S. presidential election debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, set to take place on Tuesday, as cryptocurrency has become one of the major election topics.
Bitcoin BTC
+3.90%
traded up 3.54% over the past 24 hours at $56,856 at the time of writing, and ether climbed 2% to change hands at $2,344, according to The Block's price page.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#feedfeverchallenge

The North Carolina General Assembly has passed a bill that prohibits the state’s participation in Federal Reserve branch testing of a central bank digital currency.
On Monday, the Senate voted 27-17 in favor of the House Bill 690 to override Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto. The bill bans payments to the state using a CBDC and prohibits state participation in CBDC testing.
Cooper said in a July statement on his veto that the House Bill 690 was “premature, vague, and reactionary.” He said at the time that “efforts are being made at the federal level to ensure standards and safeguards are in place to protect consumers, investors and businesses that may want to make monetary transactions in digital assets and North Carolina should wait to see how they work before taking action."
Dan Spuller, head of industry affairs of Blockchain Association, wrote on X on Monday that the bill “should have never been vetoed,” and that Cooper “blew an opportunity to send a strong message to the Federal Reserve that [North Carolina] stands united against CBDCs.”
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The North Carolina’s anti-CBDC bill comes after the U.S. House in May passed the CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act, a Republican-led bill blocking a CBDC. The bill intends to block the Fed from issuing a CBDC to individuals.
The Federal Reserve has been exploring the possibility of CBDC issuance and has released a report examining its pros and cons. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said that the Fed would not issue a CBDC without congressional approval — and that, if the central bank was to adopt a CBDC, it would be done through the banking system.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#crypto2023A

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed a motion to pay $14 million to fund Emergent Fidelity Technologies, an Antigua-based investment firm co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, for its claims of Robinhood shares worth over $600 million.
According to a motion by CEO John Ray III filed last Friday, FTX plans to use the $14 million to pay for Emergent’s administrative expenses to avoid the cost and delay of litigation related to the investment firm’s claims in around 55 million seized Robinhood shares and cash worth over $600 million in total. The motion said the settlement would also solve Emergent’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in Antigua.
“Pursuant to the settlement, Emergent and the Joint Liquidators have agreed to assign to the FTX Debtors all of their rights (if any) with respect to the Robinhood Proceeds and Seized Cash held by the U.S. Department of Justice and otherwise cooperate to facilitate the release to the FTX Debtors of the Robinhood Proceeds and Seized Cash,” Ray said in a declaration filed Friday.
FTX called the settlement agreement “another valuable piece of the puzzle” in implementing its reorganization plan to maximize creditors' repayment value. The court hearing on this motion is expected to be held on Oct. 22.
Emergent initially purchased the Robinhood shares in May 2022. After FTX and sister trading firm Alameda Research collapsed in November 2022, multiple parties, including FTX, Bankman-Fried and BlockFi, asserted claims to the shares.
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The U.S. Department of Justice seized the $600 million in shares and cash and liquidated the Robinhood shares in September. Robinhood then repurchased the shares for around $606 million.
Last month, a U.S. judge approved a $12.7 billion settlement between FTX, Alameda and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In it, the CFTC agreed it would receive nothing as long as FTX related to its reorganization plan.
Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November 2023 of seven criminal counts, including two counts each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also charged Bankman-Fried with fraud.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
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#DYOR42711

In the past 24 hours alone, $45 million worth of bitcoin positions were liquidated, with shorts accounting for the majority at $36 million. The wider cryptocurrency market experienced over $126 million in liquidations during the same period. Of these combined crypto liquidations, the vast majority — around $93 million — were short positions, according to Coinglass data.
Following today's bitcoin price uptick, BRN analyst Valentin Fournier told The Block that if the digital asset surpasses last Tuesday's local high of $59,750, it could indicate the start of a sustained bullish trend. However, he added that this depends on two key factors: Donald Trump's performance in tonight's debate against Kamala Harris and Wednesday's Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading, which might offer clues about the scale of a potential rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve at next week's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting.
"Breaking above the $59,750 resistance level would be a strong signal of a potential bullish trend, and positive inflation-related news could further fuel this upward momentum," Fournier said. However, he noted that market volatility remains high, and further price declines are possible, especially as the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision approaches on September 18. "There is potential for a 'buy the rumor sell the news' dynamic around the inflation numbers and incoming interest rate cuts," he added.
Bitcoin's price movements reflect close correlation with the S&P 500
According to analysts, Bitcoin BTC
+3.47%
's price movements over the past week appear to be closely tied to the U.S. equities market, with the S&P 500 experiencing its sharpest weekly decline since March 2023.
RELATED INDICES
"We see the movement of bitcoin tied to the performance of U.S. equities," Bitfinex analysts told The Block. "Our view is that a major root cause of the bitcoin's downturn last week was caused by a downturn in the S&P 500; the equity index closed the week down 4.25%, the worst weekly performance for the index since March 2023."
Last week, the S&P 500, with a market capitalization of $45.8 trillion, fell by 4.25%, while bitcoin, with a far smaller market cap of $1.07 trillion, dropped 5.45%. This showed that crypto, although increasingly correlated to equities, was now less sensitive to them than in late July, when the S&P 500 slipped 2.06%, and bitcoin tumbled 14.9% during the same period.
"This reduced sensitivity to equities' downward movements could be indicative of seller exhaustion in the bitcoin market and supports the thesis that traditional finance investors tend to de-risk from perceived tail risk assets like cryptocurrencies before equities in response to market downturns," Bitfinex analysts said.
Bitcoin posted a 3% increase in the past 24 hours and was trading at $57,010 at 5:44 a.m. ET, according to The Block’s Price Page. The price of ether increased by a more muted 1.3% to $2,347 in the same period.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#BNB

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump helped officially unveil World Liberty Financial, his highly-anticipated cryptocurrency project, on Monday night.
"We're embracing the future with crypto and leaving the slow and outdated big banks behind," Trump said in a recent hype video.
In a live Spaces hosted by crypto personality Farokh on the social media platform X, Trump said his NFT projects are what started opening his eyes to the crypto world. The livestream ran for over two hours.
"Because so many people paid this way [with crypto], I was blown away," said Trump, who has earned more than $7 million from his NFT collections. "I wasn't overly interested [at first] to be honest... but I was surprised by the massive amount."
During the opening remarks, Trump said crypto is "big and yet it’s a fledgling compared to what it will be... I think my children opened my eyes."
DeFi and WLFI token
Donald Trump Jr. and father-son real estate investors Steve and Zach Witkoff spoke about the need for disruption in the lending market. "This is the start of a financial revolution," said Trump Jr.
Dough Finance co-founders Zachary Folkman and Chase Herro, along with Eric Trump, took over to further discuss the reasoning behind World Liberty Financial.
“Take the best of DeFi and bring it to the everyday person," Folkman said. He then confirmed that World Liberty Financial will sell a non-transferable governance token called WLFI. In light of regulatory uncertainty, WLFI plans to limit participation to accredited investors.
The WLFI token will be distributed as follows: 63% will be sold to the public, 17% for user rewards, and 20% for team compensation, Folkman said.
DeFi allows users worldwide to earn returns on stablecoins like USDC and USDT by supplying liquidity to decentralized lending platforms, among other applications.
"If the credit appetite of crypto traders rises, stablecoin DeFi yields could rise above 5%, beating those on offer by U.S. dollar money market funds," The Block's James Hunt wrote earlier Monday, citing Bernstein analysts. "That would further reignite crypto credit markets and add fuel to digital assets prices."

World Liberty Financial hype builds
The project was first teased on Aug. 7 by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who said announcements around crypto and DeFi would be forthcoming. "Decentralized finance is the future, don’t get left behind," they said at the time.
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The Block Research's Steven Zheng first noted in August the link between the Trump project, Herro and his connection to Dough Finance. In July, Dough Finance was hit with a $1.8 million flash loan attack.
On Sept. 3, CoinDesk reported on a whitepaper being workshopped that said the project will be built on the decentralized finance platform Aave on the Ethereum blockchain and center around a "credit account system.”
The project had said it is making security a top concern and wants to drive the adoption of stablecoins. Earlier this month, Lara and Tiffany Trump’s X accounts were hacked, posting about a token purportedly associated with World Liberty Financial.
TD Cowen Washington Research Group's Jaret Seiberg said earlier today that World Liberty Financial could be a "significant political problem for the crypto sector" if Trump wins the presidential election in November.
"Our concern is that the Trump family's launch of a crypto venture will derail the emerging bipartisan view of how crypto should be regulated, which may stymie efforts to establish a crypto regulatory regime," Seiberg wrote in a note ahead of Monday's launch.

Trump's crypto pivot
Trump's stance on cryptocurrency changed this year, beginning in May when his campaign started accepting crypto as a form of donation. He has since met with executives from bitcoin mining companies and has said he wants to make the United States "the crypto capital" of the world.
On Monday, Trump said there "should have certain safeguards too, can't be totally freewheeling."
Trump spoke at the Bitcoin 2024 conference earlier this summer, where he said he would fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler if elected president and would stop the U.S. from selling any of its bitcoin holdings. He has also endorsed clemency for Ross Ulbricht, who has served 11 years of a life sentence for creating the dark web marketplace Silk Road.
"If we don't win the election, those people that were under investigation and that are free as a bird right now," Trump said Monday night, "and people that weren't being looked at in the crypto world, they will be living in hell because it will start the day after the election if they win."
Crypto figures and corporations have given more than $190 million to candidates and PACs this election cycle, CNBC reports, up from $15 million in 2020.
The price of bitcoin was trading around $57,800 at publication time, down about 1% according to The Block's price page. Ether's price was around $2,280.Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#BNB

Blockchain analytics firm Nansen has acquired StakeWithUs, a staking service provider, as the onchain data platform aims to broaden its services for cryptocurrency investments.
In a statement shared with The Block, Nansen said it plans to integrate StakeWithUs into its platform, enabling users to stake their digital assets directly through Nansen. It intends to offer users access to more than 20 crypto assets, including Ethereum, Solana and Sui.
“This acquisition allows us to provide our users with a streamlined staking experience, further solidifying our commitment to offering unparalleled value and service to onchain investors,” Alex Svanevik, CEO of Nansen, said in the statement.
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“Over time, users will be equipped with the tools to both evaluate the performance of and stake a diverse selection of tokens supported by all these blockchains,” Nansen said. Nansen did not disclose the size of the acquisition deal.
In a bid to incentivize users to stake their assets, Nansen said that it’s developing an NSN Points program, set to launch in 2025. The program is designed to reward eligible stakers and subscribers with points, which can be redeemed for perks such as premium features or exclusive insights, according to Nansen.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#binancepizza

In an interview with analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein, Core Scientific CEO Adam Sullivan said the Bitcoin BTC
+3.97%
miner can grow “exponentially” over the next few years via its AI data center services.
However, that depends on whether or not the firm can demonstrate the ability to deliver gigawatt scale AI data centers beyond its initial client, CoreWeave. “Signing up another 500MW or 1GW of deals over the course of the next few years puts us in a position where we’re not a $2.5 billion company, we are potentially a $25 to $30 billion company,” Sullivan told Bernstein analysts.
Sullivan, a former investment banker, joined the company in April 2023, about four months into its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process following the collapse of bitcoin’s price in the 2022 bear market, which coincided with soaring energy prices. However, after successfully exiting bankruptcy in January this year, Core Scientific signed a 12-year deal with AI Hyperscaler CoreWeave, potentially worth up to $3.5 billion in total revenue.
Core Scientific previously worked with CoreWeave on Ethereum GPU mining before it switched to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, rekindling conversations with the firm at the end of 2023 about the potential for conversions, Sullivan said.
So far, Core Scientific has signed three contracts with CoreWeave, adding 70MW and 112MW deals to its first agreement for 200MW. These contracts are for conversions of existing Core Scientific Bitcoin mining facilities to deliver CoreWeave GPU-ready data centers throughout 2025 and 2026. Sullivan said that some Bitcoin mining rigs at converted sites may be sold, but most will be redirected to other Core Scientific sites.
While the Core Scientific CEO claimed no other data center company is delivering that size, and they have also attracted top talent from the data center industry amid the CoreWeave deal, the niche the firm has carved out for itself is its shorter timelines.
“When we talk about some of our competitors like Digital Reality, Equinix, Switch or Cyrus One, their timelines are like three to five years in terms of when they can deliver to you infrastructure. We kind of play in that sub-three year category. So that’s really the niche that we have carved out for us and now in the existing infrastructure and sites, it's all about being able to deliver on the timeline that’s faster than the other peer set in the data center world,” Sullivan said.
Other Bitcoin miners have yet to compete in AI services
Despite the diversification opportunities of high-performance computing (HPC) services like AI data centers, Core Scientific has not seen another Bitcoin miner in any of the deals it has competed on, according to Sullivan.
Sullivan said a few Bitcoin miners have specific sites that are interesting on the HPC side, sitting along major fiber lines and close enough to major metropolitan areas they could fit well into. However, their teams may lack traditional data center experience, so they would also need to absorb additional talent to be successful in diversifying.
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“I think there's still a lot of questions around whether this thesis is real, and having another mining company actually sign a contract is important,” Sullivan noted. “My biggest worry is that they aren't successful in terms of executing, and that hurts us. But I'm very hopeful that another Bitcoin mining company is able to sign a contract on the HPC side.”
Core Scientific's diversification plans are already in full swing. Just 500MW of the 1.2GW the firm has contracted now is only for Bitcoin mining, Sullivan explained, mainly because those are not convertible to HPC.
“Obviously, the revenue and gross margins are much higher on the HPC side, and the more contracts we can sign, the better the long term valuation of the business would be. So for the Bitcoin mining side of the business, we're just very focused on return on cash,” he said.
“We're not going to deploy a significant amount of capital into refreshes unless there is a very good opportunity and something very economical for us to do. That was the reason why we signed the Block deal for chips. Right now, between 20 to 25% of all revenue generated in the Bitcoin mining side goes to refresh or essentially maintain capex, that is just to maintain your portion of the network without really any growth,” he continued.
To stay competitive in the long term, the firm’s goal is to reduce this cost by shifting from replacing entire shoebox machines to just hashboard replacements, avoiding unnecessary chassis and PDU replacements. “Our goal is to be the best return on capital Bitcoin mining business you can possibly run,” Sullivan added.
Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani raised the point that Bitcoin mining is essentially a hash rate competition, where failing to invest at the pace of hash rate growth results in dilution. In response, Sullivan explained that their focus is on growing hash power through refreshes rather than building large amounts of new infrastructure. They are currently developing some new infrastructure, such as spending $13 million for an additional 100MW in Pecos, Texas, but overall, their strategy is to maximize the economic efficiency of existing sites. By focusing on profitable operations through the next two halvings and maintaining well-performing older machines, they aim to generate strong cash flows without heavy infrastructure investment.
Chhugani also pointed out that the company doesn't keep any bitcoin on its balance sheet, unlike some of its Bitcoin mining rivals. “For the next 12 months, we're an equity risk story until we begin to generate significant cash flows from the HPC business,” Sullivan explained. “So right now, we're focused on how we stabilize our cash flows, given we are at record low hash prices.”
Bernstein currently rates Core Scientific as “outperform,” with a price target of $17 — 70% above the stock’s $10 value at market close on Monday.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#bitcoin

Stablecoin issuer Paxos is set to launch its products on the Ethereum ETH
+2.41%
Layer 2 blockchain, Arbitrum ARB
+2.49%
One, as it expands its services.
While it is unclear which specific products Paxos will launch on Arbitrum, Luke Xiao, fintech partnership lead at Offchain Labs, the developer of Arbitrum, said in a statement on Tuesday that Paxos has decided to bring its stablecoin issuance and regulated tokenization platform to Arbitrum. "We're excited to see the transformative impact this will have on DeFi and the broader Arbitrum ecosystem," Xiao added.
Arbitrum One is one of the largest L2 networks, with over $2.5 billion in total value locked. "Arbitrum is known for its speed, security and scalability, which is critical to driving long-term adoption of digital assets across industries," Walter Hessert, head of strategy at Paxos, said in a statement. "In the next three years, the adoption of stablecoins by both retail and institutional user will explode and Paxos will drive that paradigm shift."
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Paxos' select stablecoins are currently available on Ethereum, the Polygon MATIC
+1.90%
proof-of-stake network, and Solana SOL
+6.18%
, according to its website.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#DYOR42711

Polygon Labs is collaborating with crypto hardware manufacturer Fabric Cryptography to bring its Verifiable Processing Units (VPUs) to the AggLayer ecosystem.
The AggLayer is an interoperability layer currently under development by Polygon Labs and other core contributors, designed to facilitate unified liquidity and security across a network of chains. It uses ZK proofs to ensure that if one chain experiences a failure, it does not impact the funds or operations on others.
ZK proofs allow one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing the underlying data, enhancing privacy and security in blockchain systems.
Polygon Labs co-founders Daniel Lubarov, Bobbin Threadbare, Jordi Baylina and its ZK team have been working with Fabric since the beginning of the year to co-design the Plonky2 and Plonky3 libraries, utilizing the VPU's cryptography-focused instruction set, according to a statement shared with The Block.
Plonky2 and Plonky3 are part of Polygon Labs’ suite of ZK-proof systems that allow for fast and cost-efficient proof generation, making blockchain transactions more secure and scalable. These systems are particularly known for their ability to generate recursive SNARKs, which are a critical advancement in the speed and efficiency of ZK proofs.
“Plonky2 and Plonky3 are among the most widely adopted ZK-proof systems in the world. It’s incredible to work together with Polygon Labs, a pioneer in open source ZK, to make the Plonky family the very first ZK-proof systems to be powered end-to-end by custom silicon,” Fabric co-founder and CSO said.
Fabric claims its VPU is the first custom chip designed exclusively for cryptography processing. Unlike general-purpose hardware like CPUs or GPUs, the VPU is highly programmable and can be repurposed when innovations in proof systems change the algorithms used for ZK.
“The VPU’s cryptography-native architecture delivers unprecedented performance for today’s proof systems, while our software stack provides exceptional programmability and expressiveness to ensure Polygon Labs’s proof system innovation and the AggLayer will be supported years into the future,” Fabric co-founder and CEO Michael Gao said.
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Cutting zero-knowledge-proof adoption timelines
ZK proofs have historically been computationally intensive, making them costly and slow to implement. By deploying Fabric’s technology, Polygon Labs aims to cut zero-knowledge-proof adoption timelines from years to months.
“Fabric’s VPUs can accelerate the timeline for wider adoption of zero-knowledge technology from 3-5 years to 6-12 months,” Polygon Labs co-founder Mihailo Bjelic said. “For Polygon Labs, implementing this tech will massively accelerate the development of the AggLayer, bringing real-time, affordable proofs that nobody thought would come for years, and much lower proving costs than previously thought possible in the medium-term. Our engineers are excited to develop on the VPU, where proof systems can get faster and faster without a redesign of the chip.”
Polygon Labs is set to acquire $5 million worth of VPU-based server systems to accelerate ZK-proof generation for ZK-powered projects on the AggLayer, including Polygon zkEVM, Polygon Miden and Polygon CDK.
Fabric said it has already generated “tens of millions” worth of customer pre-orders ahead of entering its mass production phase next year.
Last month, Fabric announced it had raised $33 million in Series A funding to develop its cryptography processing units to “drastically improve” the speed and cost of running cryptographic workloads. The round was co-led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx, with participation from Polygon Labs, among others.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#zachxbt

The 7-day moving average (7DMA) for daily staker revenue on Ethereum ETH
-3.54%
fell to $5.44 million on Thursday, Sept. 12. This represents a six-month low for this metric, recording its lowest figures since the middle of February.
Staker revenue on Ethereum refers to the rewards and earnings that participants in Ethereum's proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism receive to validate transactions and secure the network. This revenue is typically generated through block rewards and transaction fees, which are distributed among stakers proportionally based on the amount of ETH they have staked.

This metric falling means stakers are earning less from their participation in the network, which could be influenced by factors such as lower network activity, leading to fewer transaction fees being paid.
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This is further backed by the 7DMA of the number of transactions on the Ethereum network being close to February 2024 levels as well, with just 1.15 million transactions on Friday, Sept. 13. This is down around 13% from its yearly high in March. Meanwhile, the 7DMA of Ethereum’s on-chain volume has also been hovering around February’s levels as well, with just $2.83 billion, down about 60% from its yearly highs in March and roughly 56% from just over a month ago.
This is an excerpt from The Block's Data & Insights newsletter. Dig into the numbers making up the industry's most thought-provoking trends.
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#BNB

NFT project Flyfish Club, LLC has agreed to pay $750,000 as part of the settlement it reached with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
The SEC said Flyfish "conducted an unregistered offering of crypto asset securities," when it sold 1,600 NFTs to U.S. investors, making $14.8 million in the process. The purpose of those NFTs was to fund the construction of an exclusive restaurant and bar called the "Flyfish Club" in New York City, the SEC said in a court filing on Monday.
Owning a Flyfish NFT was a way of becoming a member of the club, which could then be sold, the SEC said. The restaurant is set to open this month, according to its website.
"Flyfish led investors to expect profits from the entrepreneurial and managerial expertise of Flyfish and its principals in building and running the restaurant," the SEC said. "Flyfish told investors they could potentially profit from reselling their NFTs at appreciated prices in the secondary market."
Flyfish did not admit or deny the agency's findings. The entity agreed to also destroy all Flyfish NFTs it has in its control in the next 10 days and not accept future royalties from the sales of NFTs, according to the SEC's order. FlyFish did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The SEC has brought a few cases against NFT projects over the past year. Its first NFT charges were lodged against podcast studio Impact Theory and later the the agency sued Stoner Cats 2 LLC for conducting an unregistered offering of NFTs that brought in $8 million from investors. More recently, NFT marketplace OpenSea said it has been given a Wells Notice by the SEC, which means the agency is planning to file an enforcement action against it.
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Republican Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda said the SEC's settlement "undermines trust" in the SEC. Both disagreed with the SEC's assessment that Flyfish's NFTs were securities and instead said they were "utility tokens."
"While a member potentially could earn a profit by leasing or selling her token, the NFT has a concrete use: you need it to eat at the Flyfish Club," they wrote in their dissent.
FlyFish NFTs were another way to sell memberships, Peirce and Uyeda said.
"Experiments like Flyfish Club are not a threat to the American investor. Creative people should be able to experiment with NFTs without having to consult a high-priced tea-leaf reader—ahem, lawyer," they said. "The Commission can change its menu to include a healthy serving of guidance to give non-securities NFT creators the freedom to experiment."
Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
#zachxbt