Weekly Update: 10th of April
What happened between the 3rd and 10th of April?
The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called for comments from the public on three spot Ether exchange-traded funds of asset managers Fidelity, Grayscale, and Bitwise. Read more
BlackRock adds ABN AMRO, Citadel Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs, and UBS Securities as authorized participants to its Bitcoin spot ETF. Read more
Terraform Labs and co-founder Do Kwon were found liable for fraud in its civil case with the SEC. Read more
The average staking reward is 450% higher than the average S&P 500 dividends. Read more
The Sec calls for comments on Fidelity, Grayscale, and Bitwise spot Ether ETFs
On the 2nd of April, the SEC announced that the agency is soliciting comments from the public regarding the listing and trading of the spot Ether ETFs of asset managers Fidelity, Grayscale, and Bitwise. The request for comments is a standard procedure which doesn’t imply this is a positive development for the ETFs. On the 23rd of May, the SEC will provide its definitive answer on the Ether ETF. Still, the chances of approval have dropped significantly as market observers see a 25% approval in May.
BlackRock has added ABN AMRO, Citadel Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs, and UBS Securities as authorized participants to its IBIT Bitcoin ETF. Authorized participants are a crucial component of an ETF as they are allowed to create and redeem shares of the ETF. According to market participants, this move indicates that bigger institutions want a slice of the pie and find it okay to be publicly associated with it. Furthermore, this move could potentially lead these firms to offer BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF to their clients. This brings the total of authorized participants to nine as Jane Street Capital, JPMorgan, Macquarie, and Virtu Americas joined at the launch, representing a total asset under management of over $7T.
Terraform Labs and Do Kwon liable for fraud
After a two-week civil trial, on the 5th of April, a jury found Do Kwon and its company, Terraform liable for securities fraud and defrauding investors. The case stems from May 2022, when the developed stablecoin of Terraform Labs, TerraUSD, and the corresponding cryptocurrency, Luna, crashed. This crash wiped out over 40 billion dollars and sent the digital assets markets to new lows. According to the verdict, Do Kwon and Terraform are liable for six charges, including making false or misleading statements about the aforementioned cryptocurrencies. Do Kwon wasn’t attending the case as he is currently awaiting extradition in Montenegro.
Crypto staking rewards 450% higher than S&P 500 dividends
In 2024, the average dividend yield rate of the S&P 500, the index that tracks the 500-largest public companies in the United States, has dropped to 1,35%, its lowest point since Q4 2021, only 0,23% from its all-time low in Q1 2000. In contrast, the current annual benchmark reward rate for cryptocurrency staking is ~6%. This is an exciting development as we may witness staking enter US traditional markets. US asset managers Grayscale, Fidelity, and Ark Invest have all applied for an Ether spot ETF, each including a staking component in their applications. If the current yield persists and the Ether ETFs are approved, we may see increased interest among institutional investors in staking.
In other digital assets news
Layer 2 network Base reaches $4 billion in total value locked as monthly transactions outstrip Ethereum and Arbitrum
Ethena Labs has amassed over $2,2 billion of total value locked and 125,000 users with its new synthetic dollar, offering a yield of 37.1%.
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