gm friends —

Crypto is down bad… again 😔. Prices are down, and the SEC is going after more crypto companies. Check out the headlines below for details.

But on the bright side, Internet Capital released an exclusive interview with ZeroLend’s founder and CEO this week - check it out in the bonus section!

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News Stories

Markets & Macro

• Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Plummet, Over $170 Million in Longs Liquidated [Decrypt] Bitcoin dropped below $59,000 and Ethereum fell under $2,500, leading to over $170 million in long-position liquidations within an hour. The sudden decline follows recent gains fueled by Fed rate cut signals, with analysts now warning of potential heightened volatility and a "seasonally weak" period ahead.

• Crypto Market Has Struggled Since Spot Ether ETFs Started Trading: Citi [CoinDesk] Citi reports that the crypto market has weakened since the launch of spot Ether ETFs in July, with both Bitcoin and Ether ETFs experiencing net outflows over the past month. The decline in demand is reflected in lower search interest, subdued network activity, and briefly negative futures funding rates. While most digital assets have struggled, stablecoins have remained resilient, with their market caps continuing to grow despite the broader market downturn.

Institutions, Regulation, & Politics

• Nasdaq Announces SEC Filing to Start Trading Bitcoin Options [WatcherGuru] Nasdaq has filed with the SEC to launch Bitcoin options, marking it as the second major stock exchange to offer such a product after the New York Stock Exchange. The Nasdaq Bitcoin Index Options will allow investors to trade options linked to BTC's price, further integrating crypto into traditional finance.

• OpenSea Gets ‘Wells Notice’ From SEC, Which Calls NFTs Sold on Platform ‘Securities’ [CoinDesk] OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace, received a Wells notice from the SEC, signaling potential enforcement action over the sale of NFTs, which the regulator considers securities. OpenSea's CEO, Devin Finzer, expressed shock at the move, vowing to fight the charges and pledging $5 million to support NFT creators facing similar legal challenges.

• Celsius distributes $2.5B to 251,000 creditors amid bankruptcy proceedings [CoinTelegraph] As part of its bankruptcy proceedings, defunct crypto lending company Celsius has repaid $2.53 billion to 251,000 creditors, covering 84% of the $3 billion owed to over 375,000 creditors. The bankruptcy process mirrors the long-delayed Mt. Gox case, where creditors are finally beginning to recover their funds. Meanwhile, Celsius' former CEO, Alex Mashinsky, faces trial for financial fraud charges in September.

• SEC’s Case Against Kraken Will Proceed to trial, California Judge Rules [CoinTelegraph] A California judge has ruled that the SEC's lawsuit against crypto exchange Kraken will move forward to trial, rejecting the exchange's motion to dismiss. The SEC alleges that Kraken violated securities laws by failing to register as a broker, exchange, or clearinghouse. While the judge agreed that the cryptocurrencies traded on Kraken are not securities themselves, he maintained that transactions involving them could still constitute investment contracts. This ruling is part of a broader legal challenge the SEC is waging against major crypto exchanges like Binance and Coinbase.

Crypto Products & Onchain Events

• Trump Releases Fourth Drop of His NFT Trading Cards [CoinDesk] Former President Donald Trump has released his fourth NFT trading card collection, offering buyers exclusive perks like a piece of his debate suit, Trump-branded sneakers, and dinner at his golf club. Priced at $24,750, these NFTs are part of Trump's broader push into the crypto space, where he has positioned himself as a champion of the industry. Despite previously criticizing Bitcoin, Trump's NFT ventures have netted him over a million dollars, separate from his political campaign funds.

• TON blockchain was down amid a six-hour outage [The Block] The Open Network (TON) experienced a significant six-hour outage, halting all transactions due to an abnormal load on the network. The disruption, linked to a surge in transactions from the DOGS memecoin airdrop, forced validators to restart their nodes. Toncoin's price dropped by 2.14% in the aftermath. The incident follows heightened tensions within the TON community after Telegram founder Pavel Durov's recent arrest.

• Maker DeFi lending protocol rebrands to Sky ahead of USDS stablecoin launch [CoinTelegraph] Maker Protocol, a pioneer in DeFi lending, has rebranded to Sky and launched its upgraded stablecoin, USDS, alongside the new governance token, SKY. The rebranding aims to make DeFi more accessible and user-friendly, with innovations like Sky Token Rewards and Sky Savings Rate.

This is all for today’s Mid-Week Crypto Updates news stories! Let me know in the above poll what you’d like to see in the future!

Bonus: ZeroLend Founder Deadshot Ryker Interview

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