Syz the moment

Grayscale Investments wants the US Securities and Exchange Commission to know that the latest wave of prospective spot bitcoin ETF issuers should not have an upper hand over the crypto-focused asset manager. Approving certain proposals before others would give the first funds an “unfairly discriminatory and prejudicial first-mover advantage,” a lawyer representing Grayscale wrote in a Thursday letter to the SEC. The company sued the US securities regulator last year after the SEC denied its attempt to convert the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to an ETF.

Source: Blockworks

Binance has withdrawn from multiple European countries due to registration difficulties. The most recent country in question is Germany. Circumstances, both in the global market and regulatory landscape, led to the decision. “Binance confirms that it has proactively withdrawn its BaFin application,” a spokesperson told Blockworks. Last month, the country’s financial regulator BaFin declined to grant a license to Binance, adding to the regulatory challenges the company is facing in the region, per Finance Forward.

Jonas Jünger, the managing director of Binance in Germany, reportedly said his primary focus was to successfully establish a branch of the company in the country. He also mentioned that the regulatory prerequisites for accomplishing this goal were quite stringent.

Source: blockworks

Bitcoin ended its fourth week of narrow trading Sunday, sending volatility readings to levels not seen since the year began. The 30-day estimate for the world’s largest digital asset has fallen to just 0.74%, bitcoin’s lowest realized reading since Jan. 16 (71%), data from 99Bitcoins shows.

Bitcoin’s volatility details the measurement of how much its price shifts in a single day. The investment is riskier if the reading is significant, leading to harder-to-predict price swings. T3I’s BitVol Index, used to judge 30-day implied volatility for bitcoin options contracts, has also dipped to its lowest implied reading since its inception more than four years ago, data shows. CVI’s Crypto Volatility Index, designed to mimic similar functionality to that of the S&P 500’s VIX, has also dipped to its lowest recorded levels. The index takes into account both bitcoin and ether’s (ETH) implied volatility over a 30-day period.

Source: Blockworks

Kuwait’s capital markets regulator banned bitcoin mining this week as they reiterated prohibitions on crypto activities. The prohibition came down via an official circular released on Tuesday. Kuwaiti authorities had previously only expressed disapproval of crypto payments. Kuwait is now reinforcing restrictions on institutions and other payment services touching crypto, but so far it seems to have stopped short of outright criminalizing interactions with crypto for individuals. Still, regulators stated the use of crypto as a form of payment is strictly prohibited, and residents are advised against engaging in any transactions involving cryptocurrency. But until now, the regulatory status of crypto mining had been ambiguous. The recent circular changes that.

Source: Blockworks

Venture capital firm Coinfund is digging in with new crypto start-ups with a fresh fundraising round at a time when many investors are pulling back from the industry. Coinfund, a New York-based VC firm that boasts 105 companies in its portfolio, announced today that it pulled in $152 million in its latest round. "In the post-FTX era, we've seen a lot of developers resolve to finish the roadmap to a decentralized application developer stack," Felix told Decrypt. "Now you're seeing a big, renewed focus on scalability, interoperability, and user experience to really bring that roadmap to decentralization to completion." Source: Decrypt

Crypto exchange Binance enabled deposits and withdrawals on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network on Monday. Lightning is now alongside other options including Bitcoin mainnet, BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum. Lightning serves as a layer-2 scaling solution for Bitcoin. The network is intended to speed up transactions and reduce fees, reminiscent of Ethereum layer-2 protocols like Optimism.

Source: Blocworks

More major exchanges have reintroduced XRP to their platforms, following a U.S. court ruling on Thursday morning. The rush to make XRP available again to U.S. users comes in the wake of a partial ruling in the Securities and Exchange Commission's case against Ripple Lab. Federal district judge Analisa Torres ruled that the XRP token “is not necessarily a security on its face,” except when sold to raise funds from institutions. Although the case did not concern secondary sales of XRP, the decision to proclaim that it is not a security has boosted the confidence of crypto exchanges to offer the token.

Source: Decrypt

The total value of staked ether (ETH) continues apace, reflecting positive signs of growth and stability for the world’s second-largest digital asset. Following Ethereum’s critical PoS upgrade in April, the amount of ETH that has been deposited to the ETH 2.0 contract now stands above 25.6 million. Yield on staked ether is currently around 4.5%, paid in ETH. Participants continue to bank on the value of the Ethereum network, with those holding the underlying becoming more hesitant to relinquish their assets as they anticipate future demand.

Source: Blockworks