Author: Frank Chaparro

Block appoints Neha Narula to board of directors

https://www.theblock.co/post/241938/block-appoints-neha-narula-to-board-of-directors

Neha Narula, who has served as director of MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative since 2017, joined the board of payments company Block.

Narula was previously a software engineer at Google, the company said in an 8-K filing on Thursday. She also serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Innovation Advisory Council. 

“I’ve long admired Block’s focus on building simple, cohesive products that empower people and communities to participate in the financial system,” Narula said in a statement. “We share core values around the power of open source software and the ability for open protocols to transform the way people move money. I’m honored and excited to join Block’s board of directors and contribute to the company’s purpose of economic empowerment.”

Narula joins Block founder Jack Dorsey as well as Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter on the payments company’s board. 

‘Scaled systems to move money’

“Neha’s passion for building intuitive, scaled systems to move money across the Internet efficiently fits into our company’s purpose, and we’re excited to have her join our team,” Dorsey said.

Block enjoyed an earnings beat in May, posting a rise in first quarter revenue with its retail payments application Cash App driving growth. 

The firm’s stock has picked up 17.2% since the beginning of the year. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. 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.

Crypto spot trading markets are ‘increasingly concentrated’, says Kaiko

https://www.theblock.co/post/241905/crypto-spot-trading-markets-are-increasingly-concentrated-says-kaiko?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

Crypto’s spot market is becoming increasingly concentrated, according to data from Kaiko. 

The top two largest exchanges accounted for more than 50% of the total market this year, which is a slight increase from 2020. In 2020, Binance — the largest exchange by trading volumes — accounted for just 24% of the spot market. That figure currently stands above 50%. 

“This trend could continue amid a wider downturn in market activity, which puts pressure on smaller exchanges,” Kaiko said. 

Still, Binance’s spot trading volumes have been declining over the last year, according to The Block’s data dashboard. The exchange’s spot market share is on track to hit its lowest level since last July, with its share of the total market standing at 47.15%. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. 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.

Compound’s outstanding debt on Ethereum hits $1 billion

https://www.theblock.co/post/240159/compounds-outstanding-debt-on-ethereum-hits-1-billion

Decentralized lending protocol Compound’s outstanding debt on Ethereum surpassed $1 billion– the highest it has been in a year, according to The Block’s data dashboard. 

The increase in outstanding debt represents a shift in the crypto market, which was hammered by a credit crisis in 2022. Across the board lenders from BlockFi to Celsius declared bankruptcy, resulting in a gap in crypto’s market structure. On July 14, outstanding debt stood at $1.07 billion. 

Compound is a money market protocol where users can borrow and lend assets. Interest rates are determined algorithmically. COMP token holders govern the Compound protocol. 

 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. 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.

Coinbase staking pause in four states illustrates regulatory risk: Berenberg

https://www.theblock.co/post/240149/coinbase-staking-pause-in-four-states-illustrates-regulatory-risk-berenberg

Equity analysts at Berenberg Capital Markets say that Coinbase’s suspension of staking in four states illustrates the stock’s regulatory risk and could open the door to scrutiny over its so-called Earn product, the firm said in a note Monday. 

Coinbase said retail clients in four states will no longer to be able to add new assets to its staking product while numerous legal proceedings carry on. 

Ten states — including Alabama, California, and New Jersey — filed actions against the exchange to halt its staking program within their jurisdictions on the heels of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against the firm in June.

Berenberg said this news reflects the regulatory risk around Coinbase’s stock that may have been forgotten after a federal judge issued a split decision in the SEC’s case against Ripple Labs last week.

“We believe this news served as a reminder to investors who may have viewed COIN’s risk profile as significantly improved after last week’s court ruling on Ripple Labs and the XRP cryptocurrency that the company’s challenges on the U.S. regulatory front remain significant while appearing far from being resolved,” analysts at the firm said. 

“We believe Coinbase Earn, the securitized product through which COIN offers staking rewards to retail customers, appears particularly vulnerable to being defined as a security within the context of the judge’s ruling.” the firm added. 

Coinbase rallied more than 20% on Thursday alongside the broader crypto market after a judge ruled that Ripple Lab’s sales of XRP on exchanges did not violate securities laws. 

Private investment firm WedBush said in a report last week that it increased its price target on the company to $110.

“We are specifically encouraged by the suggestion that XRP sale on the public exchanges did not involve securities,” the firm wrote.

Needbush also increased its price target to $120 from $70 following the decision.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. 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.

New Bitcoin addresses hits yearly high

https://www.theblock.co/post/240146/new-bitcoin-addresses-hits-yearly-high

The number of unique addresses on the Bitcoin network hit a high for the year, according to The Block’s data dashboard. 

The seven-day moving average for new addresses topped 500,000 for the first time this year, surpassing the previous high of 499,000 on April 8.

On July 12, the metric reached 501,440. That’s the highest level since May 2021.

The increase in new addresses has been underpinned by an appreciation in the price of the largest cryptocurrency, which has soared 43% this year. Trading on Monday was mostly muted, with the world’s largest crypto currency by market capitalization declining 0.3% to $30,212, according to CoinGecko.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. 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.

GBTC volumes surge to yearly high

https://www.theblock.co/post/239824/gbtc-volumes-surge-to-yearly-high?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss

Daily volume for Grayscale’s GBTC has been on a tear in the wake of a flurry of new spot exchange traded fund filings, hitting the highest level of the year on July 13.

As per The Block’s data dashboard, daily volumes for Grayscale’s largest fund product topped $183 million on July 13. On June 20, it topped $170 million. 

Grayscale, which is in the process of suing the Securities and Exchange Commission to upgrade GBTC into a proper spot bitcoin ETF, has seen the product’s discount to net-asset-value shrink since BlackRock’s surprise announcement that it would file for a spot bitcoin ETF on June 15. Across the crypto asset management space, issuers are racing to bring a product to market, kicking off a broader increase in inflows across existing products. 

The Block’s data dashboard shows the discount has tightened from -44% on June 13 to -28% on July 10. 

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. 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.

Katie Haun: Appeal of recent XRP court decision seems ‘unlikely’

https://www.theblock.co/post/239817/katie-haun-appeal-of-recent-xrp-court-decision-seems-unlikely

Crypto venture investor and former Department of Justice prosecutor Katie Haun weighed in on a recent court decision in Ripple’s three year long legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

In a tweet, Haun said that the court’s decision, which found that sales of XRP across public exchanges have not constituted the sale of unregistered securities, was “a good outcome for the industry.”

“The consensus is that the court drew a reasonable line—distinguishing between XRP itself (not an investment contract and thus not a security) and certain XRP transactions in which institutional investors paid money to Ripple directly and Ripple made contractual commitments in exchange, creating an investment contract under Howey,” Haun said in a tweet. 

Haun previously worked with Chris Dixon, running a16z’s crypto funds. She launched Haun Ventures, which reportedly raised more than $1 billioin in assets, in 2022. 

Haun said that an appeal of US District Judge Analisa Torres’s decision is “possible,” but added that an “immediate appeal seems unlikely both because the agency would have to ask the court to split this decision from the portion going to trial and because I am skeptical the SEC actually wants legal clarity.”

To be clear, Ripple’s battle with the SEC is far from over. Furthermore, Judge Torres also ruled that Ripple violated securities laws when it offloaded XRP to sophisticated institutional investors. 

Still, a number of market participants noted the development could bode well for other crypto firms in their own ongoing legal proceedings, with investment banking giant JPMorgan noting it could benefit Coinbase. 

“The ruling appears on the surface to be a win for Coinbase in its recent lawsuit by the SEC,” JPMorgan equity analysts led by Kenneth Worthington wrote in a report on Friday. “We see Coinbase in the best position to benefit from the improved confidence and regulatory clarity given Coinbase’s market-leading position and respected reputation in the industry.”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. 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.

Crypto volumes increase post Ripple ruling

https://www.theblock.co/post/239808/crypto-volumes-increase-post-ripple-ruling

Crypto trading volumes across spot exchanges increased following a judge ruling that Ripple’s sales of XRP on public trading venues did not constitute the sale of securities. Data from The Block data dashboard shows the seven day moving average for spot trading volumes increased from $12.74bn on July 12 to $16.56bn.

While the future of the case — which could now go to trial or be appealed — is not clear, the market has rallied on the news with crypto equities like Coinbase and XRP surging in the wake of the ruling from a judge in New York’s Southern District.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. 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.