Good morning. As the crypto market continues to evolve, interesting developments are taking place. Despite ongoing discussions about the U.S. debt ceiling, bitcoin and ether prices hold steady, seemingly unfazed by the potential implications of these negotiations. Stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle are diversifying their reserves in response to possible dollar risks, with Tether announcing plans to use approximately 15% of its profits to buy Bitcoin for its stablecoin reserves, and Circle diversifying its $30 billion USD Coin (USDC) reserves, including $8.7 billion in overnight repurchase agreements managed by BlackRock.
Despite these moves, bitcoin appears unresponsive to the news. As the deadline for the debt ceiling negotiations approaches, it remains to be seen if any of these events will have significant effects on the crypto market.
In other exciting news, a federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cannot seal documents related to former official William Hinman’s 2018 speech on crypto and securities during its lawsuit against Ripple. In his speech at the Yahoo Markets Summit, Hinman declared that ether is not considered a security. The industry has long sought answers regarding the reasoning behind this conclusion, and with the judge’s ruling, those answers may finally be revealed. CoinDesk previously requested Hinman’s emails via a Freedom of Information Act request, but the SEC withheld them, citing privacy and litigation concerns. Now, the industry may have a chance to understand the thought process that led to Hinman’s statement.
If SEC officials could collaborate and offer guidance on Hinman’s speech, why can’t they extend the same courtesy to the entire industry? With access to these emails, the sector could gain valuable insight into the SEC’s approach towards crypto regulations.
In case you missed it, Bitcoin continues to drift downward, slipping just below $27,000. Investors are closely monitoring the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations in Washington. Meanwhile, Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz recently discussed the NFT brand’s latest $9 million funding round. New York University Professor Emeritus Gary Marcus shared his thoughts on artificial intelligence guidelines, following a Senate hearing with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman among those testifying.
In other news, Tether plans to buy bitcoin for its stablecoin reserves using realized profits. Ripple has acquired crypto custody firm Metaco for $250 million, and Axie Infinity’s token experienced a 12% jump after the firm listed its game on Apple’s App Store. Dogecoin’s daily transaction volumes surpassed those of Litecoin and Bitcoin after the introduction of ‘DRC-20’ tokens. Additionally, fleeing U.S. crypto firms are ‘welcome,’ according to the French Financial Markets Authority, as the newly-agreed MiCA EU crypto legislation is set to take effect.
Source: Coindesk
