Syz the moment

The Securities and Exchange Commission said a recent wave of applications filed by asset managers to launch spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds are inadequate, according to people familiar with the matter. The agency informed exchanges Nasdaq and Cboe Global Markets, which filed the applications on behalf of asset managers including BlackRock and Fidelity Investments, that the filings aren't sufficiently clear and comprehensive, the people said.

Though the Swiss National Bank is set to pilot central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, amid a changing financial ecosystem, it doesn’t necessarily have plans to launch one. The pilot is meant to test a wholesale CBDC for “a limited time” to test transactions with market participants on the SIX Digital Exchange, a spokesperson told Blockworks. The central bank sees signs in Switzerland of the development of a new financial ecosystem where transactions take place with tokenized securities and tokenized money — an environment set to make financial markets more efficient. Source: Blockworks

Bitcoin’s price hit $29,000 amid a flurry of exchange traded fund (ETF) applications in the United States and newfound institutional interest in facilitating crypto trading. The launch of EDX markets on Tuesday, a crypto exchange backed by Fidelity, Charles Schwab and Citadel Securities also appears to have strengthen the bullish momentum. EDX currently supports four cryptocurrencies in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Source: Decrypt

The regulatory challenges facing crypto exchange Binance continue to mount, now from Europe. French newspaper Le Monde today reported that Binance is under investigation by the judicial finance investigation service under the direction of the specialized interregional jurisdiction of Paris (JIRS) for “illegal” acts relating to the function of service provider on digital assets, as well as "aggravated money laundering." Source: Decrypt

Speculation is mounting that Tether’s USDT, the largest stablecoin by market capitalization at around $83.4 billion, may be under pressure. Specific liquidity pools on the Uniswap and Curve protocols — the deepest pools in the DeFi ecosystem — currently seem to be flooded with USDT sellers. When sellers flood the market it can cause a rapid depeg, a situation noted during the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, when the well-regarded USDC stablecoin (issued by Circle and Coinbase) lost its peg and fell as low as $0.93 before regaining its dollar parity within a couple of days. Source Blockworks

Binance.US and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have agreed to work on an arrangement that will allow the exchange to avoid freezing all of its assets.On June 14, Bloomberg reported that U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson referred the two organizations to a magistrate judge to work toward a compromise arrangement to protect customer funds without having to shut down the exchange. “Shutting it down completely would create significant consequences not only for the company but for the digital asset markets in general,” Jackson said at a June 13 hearing. Source Cointelegrah

Ratings agency Moody’s slashed Coinbase’s outlook to “negative” from “stable” two days after the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the exchange operated as an unregistered broker and sold unregistered securities since 2019. A negative outlook suggests that the agency could downgrade Coinbase’s rating in the future. Moody’s decision to change the outlook stems from uncertainty about how much the SEC’s charges will affect Coinbase’s business model and cash flows, the agency said in a statement published Thursday. Source: Blockworks

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a judge to freeze assets held by Binance.US, according to an emergency motion filed by the agency on Tuesday. The freeze would impact two holding companies associated with Binance.US’s operations: BAM Management US Holdings and BAM Trading Services. Binance has claimed the SEC's lawsuit is "misguided" and "unreasonable," and the agency's regulatory posture is undermining America's role as a global financial hub. Source Decrypt