| Hey Insider! Welcome back to the Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter! Today’s issue is again full of some of the biggest stories from the crypto market, including the Republican-led crypto bill approved by the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, U.S. prosecutors’ request to imprison the former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Binance’s new AI-powered NFT generator, and more. Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | The U.S. House Financial Services Committee has approved a Republican-led bill establishing a clear regulatory framework for the crypto industry in a 35 to 15 vote. The approval comes amid a time when U.S. regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), increased their crackdown on the digital asset market. More: - The bill authorizes the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to oversee the crypto assets.
- The legislation also determines rules for when crypto firms must register with the SEC or the CFTC.
- The regulation requires two agencies to jointly work on rulemaking and mandate studies on crypto-related issues, such as NFTs and decentralized finance (DeFi).
- Besides, the bill declares that a digital asset does not necessarily have to be classified as security because it is sold as part of an investment contract.
- However, several Democrat lawmakers on the committee argued that the bill would allow crypto companies to bypass protections in existing securities laws.
- The committee will also consider separate legislation for stablecoins soon.
Zoom Out: - Over the last several years, many crypto-related companies, including Coinbase and Ripple, have repeatedly urged U.S. lawmakers to establish a clear regulatory framework for the market.
- Meanwhile, SEC Chair Gary Gensler stated several times that existing rules are clear, and crypto firms reject complying with them, so there is no need for new crypto-specific regulations.
- Many jurisdictions worldwide, including the European Union (EU) and the U.K., have recently passed their regulations to oversee the crypto market, which makes the approval of the crypto bill a major step for the U.S.
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| 2 | |  What the numbers say: A recent report from the crypto data website CoinGecko has revealed the top ten most profitable NFT projects by their royalty earnings from March 2021 to date. The study has shown that Yuga Labs, the firm behind the famous CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs, is leading the list, generating $178.78M in royalties. The figure is 2.13 times higher than the royalties earned by the closest rival of Yuga Labs, RFTK. In the top five, Yuga Labs and RFTK were followed by Chiru Labs, Proof Collective, and Doodles, respectively.
What it means: NFT royalties refer to the payments made to the original creator of an NFT for every secondary sale of the digital collectible. It usually accounts for a certain percentage of the sales amount. Relevance: NFT royalty payments have become a source of tension between marketplaces and creators over the last months, causing a decline in earnings. The data analytics firm Nansen's report recently showed that weekly NFT royalty payments retreated to the lowest level in two years last month. The figure peaked in April 2022 with nearly $76M, as opposed to June's peak of about $3.8M. Brands that should care: The sharp decline in royalty payments was mainly triggered by the policies of the leading NFT marketplaces, such as OpenSea and Blur, which made higher creator payouts optional for the collectors. As part of those policies, collectors can increase their contributions to the royalties, though the data shows that it is not a common practice. | | | |
| 3 | | Federal prosecutors in New York have asked a U.S. judge to imprison the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), and revoke his bail since he violated his bail terms. During a recent hearing, prosecutor Danielle Sassoon said no set of release conditions can ensure the community's safety. More: - The request came nearly a week after SBF gave a reporter personal writings of his former colleague Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of FTX's sister company Alameda Research.
- Ellison pleaded guilty to multiple charges last year following the FTX's bankruptcy.
- Sassoon stated that SBF tried to intimidate Ellison and made 100 calls to the reporter for the article, with some lasting more than 20 minutes.
- After the former FTX CEO spoke to the media about the writings of Ellison, the court issued a gag order against SBF, restricting him from disclosing any information about the lawsuit to the public before his trial in October.
- Following the order, SBF's lawyers also asked the court to issue a gag order for other witnesses in his case, including the U.S. government, former FTX employees, FTX's current CEO John J. Ray III, FTX's debtor entities, and Alameda Research.
- SBF is currently under house arrest pending trial.
Zoom Out: - FTX, previously the third-largest crypto exchange, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022, with all the 130 entities under the roof of FTX Group.
- The downfall followed the claims that SBF used customer funds in FTX to compensate for losses at the sister company Alameda Research.
- SBF will appear in court in October to defend himself against eight charges, including money laundering and misappropriation of customer funds, to which he pleaded not guilty.
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| 4 | | Speaking in a recent Twitter Spaces interview with crypto investor and podcaster Scott Melker, U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) confirmed that he bought 14 Bitcoin (BTC) in May. The famous politician said he decided to be a crypto investor after the media outlets criticized him for promoting Bitcoin when he did not own any. More: - During the interview, RFK Jr. stated that he purchased two Bitcoins for each of his seven children right after his appearance at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami in May.
- Before RFK Jr.'s confirmation, a recent report also uncovered that the politician is a Bitcoin investor with $100,001 to $250,000 holdings.
- However, at the Bitcoin 2023 conference, RFK Jr. claimed that he was not an investor in the leading cryptocurrency and did not aim to give any investment advice.
- At the time of his appearance at the conference, Bitcoin's price stood at $27,000.
Zoom Out: - RFK Jr., the nephew of the 35th U.S. President John F. Kennedy, hit the headlines several times with his support for Bitcoin over the past months.
- During 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.
- Besides, in another interview in June, the U.S. presidential candidate said he would ensure policies supporting Bitcoin and the freedom to transact when elected.
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| 5 | | Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has launched a new NFT generator dubbed Bixel that allows users to create unique digital artworks in the form of an NFT by utilizing AI. The platform requires creators to complete its Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification process to use the new generator. More: - Those wishing to use Bixel to mint NFTs also need to pay a minting fee of 0.008 Binance Coin (BNB).
- Binance said the fee aims to ensure the NFT creation process is adequately maintained on its blockchain network, BNB Smart Chain.
- Each user can have up to 10 chances daily to produce NFT for free.
- Binance released the beta version of its AI-powered NFT generator under the name of Bicasso in March to allow users to design and generate NFT profile pictures using AI.
- The beta version reached its predetermined minting limit of 10,000 NFTs within two and a half hours.
- Following the launch, the platform was accused of stealing the idea in an AI-powered NFT generator project dubbed Chatcasso from the winners of the BNB Chain hackathon in 2022.
- At the time, the company denied the allegations, claiming that Bicasso was developed independently two weeks before the hackathon.
Zoom Out: - KYC is a standard regulatory process generally implemented by financial services providers, including banks and crypto exchanges, to identify and verify their customers by asking for some essential personal information and documents.
- The process aims to improve trust in the industry, help service providers to assess the risks, and combat money laundering and terrorism financing.
- Some crypto exchanges, including Binance, KuCoin, and Bybit, require customers to make KYC verification to use all the services.
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| 6 | | The U.S.-based e-commerce giant Amazon's cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS), has announced that it expanded the availability of two functions of its Amazon Managed Blockchain (AMB) service. The announcement was made at the two-day AWS Web3/Blockchain Summit in New York City. More: - The AMB services allow users to build applications faster using blockchain infrastructure.
- The Access function will expand AMB's node offerings to provide serverless, scalable access to blockchains, starting with the Bitcoin network.
- The Query function will enable developers to access blockchain data across multiple networks through application programming interfaces (APIs).
- Query will initially only support Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.
- Amazon said the potential use cases of these functions include custodial applications, digital wallet applications, and Web3-based consumer engagement campaigns involving NFTs.
Zoom Out: - Over the last several years, AWS has ramped up its efforts to consolidate its position in the Web3 space and entered partnerships with many Web3-related firms, including Cronos, Ava Labs, Chainlink, and VeChainThor.
- Amazon also published new job postings for Web3 staffers earlier in 2023.
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- Canada's financial regulator, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), has proposed new guidelines involving amended capital and liquidity requirements for the crypto-asset exposure of banks and insurance companies.
- The largest stablecoin, Tether (USDT), has reached its all-time high in market capitalization, with $83.76B.
- A new NFT platform, Highlight, has launched on the Ethereum blockchain, allowing users to create, test, and mint generative art as an NFT.
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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 Christopher Hachey | |
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