Investment Education

According to Foresight News, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government has issued a notice on the implementation plan for Shanghai to implement the overall plan for a high-level system of openness in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone. The notice highlights the orderly promotion of the digital yuan pilot and the expansion of its application scenarios. The aim is to create a more convenient, inclusive, and user-friendly digital yuan acceptance environment. This will further deepen the pilot application of the digital yuan in areas such as trade settlement, chain supermarkets, tourism catering, and e-commerce platform payments, gradually building a digital yuan ecosystem. The notice also encourages financial institutions to apply technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain to deepen international cooperation in financial technology and create demonstration scenarios for fintech applications.

On January 4, 2024, VanEck Bitcoin Trust filed Form 8-A12B for the registration of its securities under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 12(b). The trust's business and mailing address are located at 666 Third Avenue, 9th Floor, New York, NY, 10017. The accepted document accompanying the company's filing (c107594_8a12b.htm) can be found in the SEC's EDGAR System with Accession Number 0000930413-24-000030.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has issued an analysis of Grayscale's recently submitted prospectus. The document explicitly confirms Grayscale's cash-only acceptance for its fund, a stipulation met with no surprise given the firm's market position. Nevertheless, Balchunas noted the absence of any named authorized participants (AP) in the prospectus, a section that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) typically expects to be completed. He expressed uncertainty over this omission, especially as Grayscale has previously appeared confident about this aspect of their fund. In addition, he highlighted another possible area of concern - the document's apparent lack of information regarding fees, another significant element that hasn’t been thoroughly addressed as per his observation. These details, or the lack thereof, leave open questions about the true structure and operation of Grayscale's proposed fund.

James Seyffart, a Bloomberg ETF analyst, informed via the X platform that Grayscale had submitted a third revised version of their S-3 registration statement. The update notably includes added material connected to the trust's third-party relationships. Seyffart commented that, at first glance, the amendment seemed to primarily add proofs related to these relations without too many other specifics. Earlier, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) had submitted a registration statement, including a prospectus, to the U.S. Securities and Exchange under U.S. Securities Law 163/433. Subsequently, they proceeded to file an amended S-3 registration document again. Seyffart noted this latest document as Amendment #3 to their ongoing efforts to convert $GBTC into a Bitcoin ETF.

According to Cointelegraph: The financial turbulence surrounding embattled Singapore-based cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) continues. A court in the British Virgin Islands has recently frozen over $1.14 billion of assets owned by 3AC co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, marking another significant development in the firm's bankruptcy chronicles. This leading-edge legal action bars the 3AC co-founders from transferring or selling their assets and has also implicated assets owned by Davies' wife, Kelly Chen, according to Teneo, the firm's liquidator, and as reported by Bloomberg on December 21. Teneo, in its capacity as the appointed liquidator, placed the total debt owed to 3AC creditors at approximately $3.3 billion, following the fund’s disastrous 2022 collapse. The global freezing injunction coincides with allegations that the co-founders should bear responsibility for causing "3AC’s position to deteriorate by an amount equivalent to the value of the freezing orders sought." The liquidator further pointed out that Zhu and Davies are also subjects of a domestic asset freeze ordered by the Singapore Court. Established in 2012, 3AC was once counted among the largest global crypto hedge funds before it found itself unable to meet margin calls from its lenders and had to file for bankruptcy in the midst of the 2022 crypto bear market. Zhu was detained in Singapore in September 2023 for reportedly trying to depart the country following a local court sentencing him to a four-month prison term. Davies who, like Zhu, had also received an imprisonment order, is reportedly still at large. The Singaporean central bank has banned both co-founders from conducting regulated activities for the next nine years. The Chapter 15 bankruptcy filing of 3AC occurred in July last year after the downfall of stablecoin issuer Terra led to irreversible damages. Teneo is pursuing $1.3 billion, extending the freeze order to Ms. Kelly Chen as well, in a bid to maximize returns to creditors whose claims surpass $3 billion. Teneo indicated the order's objective is to prevent the founders and Chen from disposing of or dealing with their assets in a way that might hinder eventual enforcement by the liquidators.

As reported by BlockBeats on December 13, the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai has conferred a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license to CoinMENA, a cryptocurrency asset service provider. CoinMENA is a subsidiary of CoinMENA BSC (c), a Bahrain-based entity that has already secured a license as a crypto asset service provider from the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). This development marks a significant stride in CoinMENA's expansion and regulatory compliance within the Middle East's digital assets market.

In an unexpected move, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accelerated the decision-making process involving Franklin, a decision that was initially slated for January 1st. This unusual occurrence was pointed out by Scott Johnson, who also highlighted that Franklin stands out as the lone issuer who hasn't submitted an updated S-1 form yet. This anomaly raised speculation among industry enthusiasts, including Johnson, who couldn't help but wonder whether Franklin's delay in submitting an updated S-1 form might have influenced the SEC's premature decision. As the crypto-industry eagerly awaits further developments, it will be interesting to see how this accelerated decision-making process unfolds, and what impact it may have on Franklin's future.

According to Cointelegraph: The legal dispute between crypto lender Genesis Global Capital and Gemini Trust, the cryptocurrency exchange, continues to escalate as Genesis files a lawsuit to recover more than $689 million in what it calls "preferential transfers." The lawsuit alleges that Gemini took advantaged of its position to the detriment of other creditors by making transfers of approximately $689,302,000 from Genesis. Genesis is now asking the court to rectify this perceived injustice. This lawsuit is the latest episode in a public and legal feud between Genesis and Gemini that started with the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Genesis filed for bankruptcy in January amid allegations of selling unregistered securities, as asserted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. More trouble followed when, last month, the New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Genesis, Gemini, and Genesis's parent company, the Digital Currency Group (DCG), alleging a massive fraud scheme. Unprecedented withdrawals from Gemini preceding the bankruptcy filing, coupled with the turbulent market conditions surrounding the collapse of Terraform Labs and Three Arrows Capital, contributed to a severe run on the bank at Genesis. This is what Genesis's claim is based on. While Genesis and DCG have faced legal action from both Genesis and the Winklevoss twins, co-founders of Gemini, Gemini has thus far not responded to the latest allegations. This lawsuit further complicates an already tangled legal web spun by the struggles of these major crypto entities.

According to a Bloomberg report on November 21, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intends to announce significant cryptocurrency enforcement actions at 09:00 PM (GMT) on November 21. Key officials involved in the announcement include Attorney General Merrick Garland, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and the Chairman of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Rostin Behnam. As previously reported by BlockBeats, a recent investigation by the DOJ resulted in Tether, the issuer of USDT, actively and voluntarily freezing approximately $225 million in USDT tokens held in external self-hosted wallets. The wallets in question were connected to an international human trafficking group based in Southeast Asia, believed to be involved in a scam known as the "pig-killing plate" that has impacted people globally.  

BlackRock, the global investment management corporation, has submitted an S-1 application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its proposed Ethereum spot ETF. The submission took place on November 15th, marking a significant step towards listing the ETF. An S-1 filing is a registration statement submitted to the SEC by a company seeking to bring a security to the public market. It details the company's operations and planned use for the capital raised. In this instance, it's a key step in BlackRock's process of launching their Ethereum spot ETF. Previously, Nasdaq had forwarded BlackRock’s proposed Ethereum spot ETF application to the SEC. The current action escalates it further, suggesting progress in BlackRock's journey to potentially offer a direct Ethereum investment instrument to its clients