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Business intelligence company MicroStrategy—one of the largest institutional holders of Bitcoin in the U.S.—reported a $24.1 million impairment charge on its crypto holdings today but nonetheless returned to profitability this quarter. MicroStrategy said in its Q2 2023 earnings report that it bought even more Bitcoin in July. The largest publicly traded company with Bitcoin on its balance sheet now says it holds 152,800 coins—worth about $4.4 billion. In July, MicroStrategy acquired an additional 467 BTC for $14.4 million and now holds 152,800 BTC. MicroStrategy stock—MSTR on the Nasdaq—is up 197% since the first Bitcoin buy. The price of the biggest cryptocurrency by market cap has risen 156% since then, too, from $11,398 per coin to $29,238 today. Source: Bitcoin Magazine, Decrypt

The SEC reportedly asked Coinbase to temporarily halt trading in all crypto assets, excluding bitcoin, prior to initiating a legal suit alleging violation of securities laws.Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the SEC told the company it believes all assets, except for bitcoin, were considered securities, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

When Armstrong asserted that Coinbase held a different interpretation of the law, the SEC declined to elaborate on the reasoning behind its conclusion, according to the report. Instead, the regulatory body insisted that “you need to delist every asset other than bitcoin.” The SEC filed a lawsuit against Coinbase on June 6, claiming that the company was operating as an unregistered exchange. In the suit, the agency classified 13 cryptoassets as securities, including SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, AXS, CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH and NEXO.

Source: blocworks

Source: Michela Silvestr

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Binance has withdrawn from multiple European countries due to registration difficulties.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

Société Générale subsidiary becomes the first fully-licensed crypto provider in France. Forge will have a right to custody digital assets, to purchase and sell them for legal tender, and to trade them against each other. Forge, a subsidiary of Société Générale — the third-largest bank in France — became the first company to obtain the highest access license for providing crypto services in the country — a prerequisite for numerous service activities (PSAN). The provider will have a right to custody digital assets, to purchase and sell them for legal tender, and trade them against each other. So far, around 90 companies have already been on the AMF list of licensed providers. For example, the subsidiary of Société Générale’s powerful competitor, Crédit Agricole, got approval for digital custody in June 2023. However, Forge became the first to receive the highest approval for numerous services from the regulator. As the French radio station Business FM stated, such stringent requirements for this level of approval give an obvious advantage to large traditional banks over smaller crypto companies. Source: cointelegraph