| Hey Insider! The week is closing with a quiet Friday for the crypto industry when considering the current stormy environment in the market. Today’s issue covers U.K.’s newly-passed bill recognizing crypto as a regulated activity, OKX’s sponsorship deal expansion with Manchester City, Vodafone’s plans to launch an NFT collection on Cardano, and more. I hope you enjoy your reading and have a great weekend! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | A U.S. court has ordered the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to present its response to crypto exchange Coinbase's first legal defense on July 13. The hearing has been set at an earlier date than expected. More: - Coinbase filed its first response to the SEC's charges 40 days before the Aug. 7 deadline.
- In its motion, the exchange argued that the agency did not classify any tokens listed on the exchange as securities when it approved the platform going public in 2021.
- The company also underlined that it underwent an extensive review process for several months before going public and involved in-depth discussions with the SEC.
- Also, the firm cited SEC Chair Gary Gensler's testimony from 2021 when he said only Congress had the power to regulate the crypto industry, adding that even if all the allegations in the lawsuit are true, they are beyond the SEC's legal authority.
- On July 13, Judge Katherine Polk Failla will decide if Coinbase may move forward with this motion.
Zoom Out: - Coinbase entered a legal battle with the SEC earlier in June after the agency filed a lawsuit against the exchange over alleged U.S. securities law violations.
- In its charges, the regulator labeled 12 tokens listed on Coinbase as unregistered securities.
- One day before Coinbase, Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, was also sued by the SEC through a 136-page complaint.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: The total number of Cardano (ADA) wallets reached 4.17 million in June, up from 4.11 million at the beginning of the month. Throughout the period, Cardano has added 63,252 new wallets to its network, showing a steady surge in adoption. The number of newly-added ADA wallets peaked on June 10, with 3,979. The steady surge came despite the increased crackdown from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which labeled several tokens, including ADA, as unregistered securities in the consecutive lawsuits against Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, and Coinbase, the largest U.S. crypto exchange, within June. Relevance: The rising adoption of ADA has paved the way for the Cardano network to enter into partnerships with several major mainstream brands, including Samsung and Dish Network. Most recently, the telecommunication giant Vodafone's German arm, Vodafone Germany, has also confirmed its plans to launch an NFT collection on the Cardano blockchain. The collaboration between the two firms was hinted at through a screenshot from Vodafone's Discord channel. A company representative said they chose Cardano due to its community, sustainability, and cross-chain possibilities. The representative also underlined that the project is still in the early stages, so users should not click any airdrop links, which would be fraudulent. Brands that should care: On the other hand, Vodafone is currently the seventh-largest telecommunication company by user base, with 353 million users worldwide, after China Mobile, Singtel, Airtel, Reliance Jio, China Unicom, and China Telecom. Vodafone Germany accounts for 30.81 million of the firm's total user base. In the top 10, the company is respectively followed by America Movil, Telefonica, and MTN Group. | | | |
| 3 | | King Charles III has officially approved the U.K.'s Financial Services and Markets Bill (FSMB), recognizing crypto as a regulated activity by granting royal assent. The move made the bill an act that will be mandatorily implemented across the country. More: - The royal assent came nearly a week after the 340-page bill was passed by the U.K. Parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords, in a vote.
- The FSMB, first introduced in July 2022, brings cryptocurrencies and stablecoins under the same rules applied to traditional financial assets.
- The act will give the Treasury, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Bank of England (BoE), and Payments Systems Regulator the authority to introduce and enforce regulations regarding the crypto industry.
- The Treasury has defined the bill as a rocket boost for the U.K. economy.
- The country's Financial Services Minister, Andrew Griffith, also said the regulations related to the crypto assets would support their safe adoption in the country.
Zoom Out: - U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has shown efforts to make the country a global crypto hub since his finance ministry.
- The FSMB is expected to help the U.K., which withdrew from the European Union (EU) in 2020, catch up with the bloc in regulating crypto space.
- Earlier in June, the EU officially signed its most comprehensive, region-wide crypto regulations, the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), into law, after three years of development.
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| 4 | | Canadian lawmakers at the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology have urged the government to form a national blockchain strategy that would clarify the country's regulatory approach and demonstrate its support for the industry. In its report, the committee said governments must collaborate with the blockchain industry to better understand the rapidly evolving sector and implement policies protecting consumers without hindering innovation. More: - The 16-count policy recommendations followed a blockchain study demanded by the government.
- The lawmakers proposed that the government should recognize long-term economic and job creation opportunities in the blockchain industry.
- The report also recommended that the potential digital asset policy should protect citizens' right to self-custody.
- In addition, the lawmaker committee asked the government to form a separate national regulatory framework for stablecoins, distinguishing them from other crypto assets.
- The recommendations also include establishing rules for crypto custody platforms, measures to enable blockchain companies to use banking services, and ensuring that crypto mining operations are fairly taxed in the country.
Zoom Out: - On the other hand, Canada hit the headlines earlier this year with its tightened regulatory framework for crypto exchanges.
- In February, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published a notice requiring crypto exchanges to sign legally-binding commitments while waiting to be registered with the regulatory body.
- Due to the new strict regulatory guidelines, many crypto exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Deribit, Bybit, Blockchain.com, dYdX, and Paxos, had to withdraw from the Canadian market.
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| 5 | | The U.K.-based neobank and financial technology (FinTech) company Revolut has announced that it would delist Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), and Solana (SOL) tokens in the U.S. The move came shortly after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) labeled over a dozen tokens, including the ones delisted by Revolut, as unregistered securities in its consecutive complaints against major crypto exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. More: - While explaining the decision, Revolut cited changing laws and regulations in the U.S. without specifying the SEC's increased crackdown on the crypto industry.
- Following the move, users in the U.S. became unable to buy ADA, MATIC, and SOL through Revolut's app.
- However, U.S. customers will be able to continue to hold and sell these tokens until Sept. 18.
- Revolut will automatically sell the remaining tokens after this date at the market price of the time, and each user will get the equivalent amount in cash.
- On the other hand, the decision has affected a small portion of tokens listed by Revolut, which currently supports more than 80 tokens.
Zoom Out: - Several other trading platforms, such as Robinhood and eToro, also responded to the SEC's move by delisting some tokens labeled as unregistered securities in the lawsuits.
- Crypto and stock trading app Robinhood recently delisted SOL, MATIC, and ADA, just like Revolut.
- Israeli social investing and trading platform eToro also recently announced that it would delist Algorand (ALGO), Decentraland (MANA), Dash (DASH), and MATIC for U.S. customers as of July 12.
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| 6 | | Seychelles-based crypto exchange OKX has expanded its sponsorship deal with the popular English football club Manchester City. As part of the expansion, Manchester City will place the OKX logo on the sleeves of the team's shirts, which are worn by the players on the field during the matches, as of next season. More: - The sponsorship already paved the way for the company's logo to be displayed on the players' training kit.
- The expansion will also see OKX paying Manchester City $70M over the three-year course of the deal.
- The pair first entered into a partnership in March 2022 with a $12M agreement.
- Crypto firms' sponsorship deals were significantly harmed, especially after the collapse of the previously third-largest crypto exchange FTX, which also had collaborations with popular sports teams.
- OKX's chief marketing officer (CMO), Haider Rafique, said the collapses of the high-profile crypto firms last year caused their partners to have a beady eye on OKX's situation.
- Rafique added that they present their proof-of-reserves (PoR) reports to their partners instead of answering the questions individually.
Zoom Out: - PoR refers to the reports prepared by a third-party auditor to confirm that a crypto company has sufficient reserves to cover all of its depositors' funds and all the customer funds are safe.
- Following FTX's bankruptcy in November 2022, many crypto exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase, and Kraken, have started publishing their PoR reports to maintain customer confidence.
- OKX also previously signed sponsorship deals with the Formula 1 team McLaren Racing, The Tribeca Festival, Australian snowboarder Scotty James, and Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo.
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Term of the Day Cross-selling: Cross-selling refers to recommending similar or supplementary products to the ones a customer just purchased, or is about to purchase. Question of the Week What's your stance on employees discussing their salaries with each other? Join the conversation |
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 | 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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