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| Hey Insider! Happy Monday! The week started with the news of lawsuits and conflicts between several crypto-related firms and U.S. regulators. Today's Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter covers Polygon Labs' new CEO, Gemini's lawsuit against the bankrupt crypto lender Genesis' parent company, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) legal response to Coinbase, and more. Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | The U.S.-based crypto exchange Gemini has recently filed a lawsuit against the bankrupt crypto lender Genesis' parent company, Digital Currency Group (DCG), and its CEO, Barry Silbert. The firm accused the U.S.-based crypto conglomerate and its executive of fraud and deception. More: - The two sides formerly offered a service dubbed Earn, allowing Gemini users to lend their coins to generate a yield through Genesis' infrastructure.
- However, Genesis Global filed for bankruptcy in January after freezing withdrawals in November 2022, mainly due to its exposure to the collapses of the crypto exchange FTX and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC).
- The bankruptcy also caused Gemini's Earn product to be halted in January, making some customer funds stuck.
- In May, Gemini submitted a claim to reimburse 232,000 Earn customers with more than $1.1B in assets as a major creditor in Genesis' bankruptcy process.
- In the recent lawsuit, Gemini said it was seeking to recover damages and losses incurred directly from DCG's and Silbert's false, misleading, and incomplete representations.
- The lawsuit also pointed out that Silbert contacted one of the Gemini founders in October and persuaded Gemini that the troubles they faced would last a short time.
- The exchange claimed that Silbert was, in fact, aware of Genesis' problems being far deeper than just a timing issue.
Zoom Out: - The lawsuit came shortly after Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss published an open letter, presenting a final offer for DCG's restructuring with a deadline and a warning for a potential legal motion if the offer is not accepted.
- Genesis has yet to reach an agreement on a restructuring plan with creditors, who are owed more than $3B, though it initially planned to do that by May.
- Genesis and Gemini were also sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January over the allegation that the Earn product offered unregistered securities.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: A recent report from the Web3 data platform DappRadar has shown that blockchain gaming continued to dominate the decentralized application (dApp) ecosystem in terms of user interest in Q2 2023. The industry received a 36% share of the cake and was followed by decentralized finance (DeFi), social, and NFT categories, respectively. However, the games in the dApp ecosystem saw a decline from its 44% market share within the previous quarter, while DeFi increased its portion. Relevance: The decrease in user interest in blockchain gaming has caused several traditional gaming companies to move away from the industry. Most recently, Sega, the Japanese video game giant behind popular games like Sonic The Hedgehog, announced it partly abandoned its plans to develop blockchain-based games. The firm also decided not to share its biggest franchises with third-party blockchain projects to avoid devaluing its content. The company was previously regarded as one of the most loyal advocates of blockchain gaming when the category was on the rise. Brands that should care: Over the past few months, several other gaming companies, including France-headquartered video game publisher Ubisoft, also pulled back their investments in Web3-based games, citing low demand. | | | |
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| 3 | | The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a legal response to the largest U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase's motion seeking dismissal of the charges against it. In its response, the regulator claimed that Coinbase was aware of violating U.S. securities laws before the agency filed a lawsuit against the exchange. More: - The SEC said Coinbase knew U.S. securities laws could apply to its operations.
- The agency added that the exchange openly informed its shareholders that the assets listed on Coinbase could be classified as securities, violating federal laws.
- The letter, sent to a district judge, came nearly two weeks after Coinbase filed its first legal response, asking the court to dismiss the SEC's charges against it.
- In the filing, the firm argued that the SEC approved the exchange going public in 2021 without requiring it to register with the agency or classifying any tokens listed on the platform as securities.
- The exchange also cited the SEC Chair Gary Gensler's testimony from 2021 when he said only Congress had the power to regulate the crypto industry.
- Thus, the company added that even if all the allegations in the lawsuit are true, they are beyond the SEC's legal authority.
Zoom Out: - In early June, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Coinbase over alleged U.S. securities law violations, labeling 12 tokens listed on the exchange as unregistered securities.
- One day before Coinbase, Binance was also sued by the SEC through a 136-page complaint over U.S. law violations.
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| 4 | | Polygon Labs, the organization behind the popular Polygon blockchain network, has appointed chief legal officer Marc Boiron to the newly-created CEO role. The move came nearly a month after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) labeled 18 tokens, including Polygon's native token MATIC, as unregistered securities in consecutive lawsuits against two major crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. More: - Boiron will report directly to Polygon's founders, including Sandeep Nailwal, Jaynti Kanani, and Mihailo Bjelic.
- Rebecca Rettig will replace Boiron as the new chief legal officer, continuing to carry out her position as chief policy officer.
- Polygon president Ryan Wyatt will also leave his role at the end of July and remain an adviser to the company.
- Meanwhile, Nailwal will similarly take on a new role as executive chairman at Polygon Labs.
- Following the SEC's complaints against Binance and Coinbase, MATIC was delisted in the U.S. by several trading apps, including Robinhood, eToro, and Revolut.
Zoom Out: - Earlier in 2023, Polygon also took another step to restructure its business, reducing its workforce by 20%, or around 100 employees.
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| 5 | | U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) has turned out to be a Bitcoin (BTC) investor with $100,001 to $250,000 of holdings as of June. During the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami in May, the politician claimed that he was not an investor in the leading cryptocurrency and did not aim to give any investment advice. More: - Kennedy's campaign manager, Dennis Kucinich, stated that the investment was made after RFK Jr.'s speech at the conference.
- However, the documents do not specify when the Bitcoin holdings were bought.
- According to the records, the assets have returned less than $201 since they were purchased.
- Over the past months, RFK Jr. hit the headlines several times with his support for Bitcoin.
- During his appearance at the Bitcoin 2023 conference, the crypto-friendly Democratic candidate praised Bitcoin as an exercise in democracy and freedom.
- Kennedy Jr. also became the first politician in U.S. history to accept campaign donations in Bitcoin.
- He previously criticized U.S. President Joe Biden's administration for its practices that hobble the crypto industry and drive innovation elsewhere with a strict regulatory approach.
Zoom Out: - RFK Jr. is the nephew of the 35th President of the U.S., John F. Kennedy.
- In a recent interview, the U.S. presidential candidate also said he would ensure there will be policies supporting Bitcoin and the freedom to transact when elected.
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| 6 | | U.K.-based banking giant Standard Chartered's analysts have forecasted that Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, would reach $50,000 by the end of the year. One of the bank's top analysts, Geoff Kendrick, said the new Bitcoins created daily by miners worldwide would eventually need to be sold less to meet the costs, triggering a price increase. More: - Kendrick added that miners started selling 100% of their new coins, but if the price hits $50,000, they would probably only sell 20% to 30%, causing a reduction in net Bitcoin supply.
- In April, Kendrick also declared that the crypto winter, which began in 2022, is officially over and predicted that Bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of 2024.
- The bank analyst increased the forecast for late 2024 to $120,000, with a 20% surge.
- Bitcoin price jumped by over 80% since the beginning of the year.
- However, the leading cryptocurrency is still more than 55% below its all-time high in November 2021.
- Due to an internal supply and issuance process, the total amount of Bitcoins that can be mined daily will also be decreased by half in April or May 2024, which is a halving event expected to increase Bitcoin price.
Zoom Out: - Predictions of sky-high valuations for Bitcoin have gained massive popularity in recent years, though they mostly do not come to fruition.
- In November 2020, a Citibank analyst estimated that Bitcoin could reach $318,000 by the end of 2022, and the leading cryptocurrency closed last year at $16,500.
- Robert Kiyosaki, the famous author of the best-selling personal finance book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," also recently shared his predictions that the BTC price could see the $100,000 level.
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- The U.S.-based crypto mining company Marathon Digital has announced that it mined 21% less Bitcoin (BTC) in June compared to the previous month due to the extremely hot weather in Texas and the increase in transaction fees.
- A South Korean court has held the first hearing for Daniel Shin, the co-founder of the collapsed Terra ecosystem.
- A recent survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an international financial institution owned by central banks, revealed that 24 banks would have a central bank digital currency (CBDC) by 2030.
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INSIDE CRYPTOCURRENCY LEADERBOARD (30 DAYS) |
 | Staff Writer | | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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