October 2024 Highlights

BTC 11%

  • Prominent Scam Crypto Market Maker DWF Labs’ Founder Caught Date R**ping Woman on Camera 

  • Jailbroken AI LLM “Terminal of Truths” Receives Donation of GOAT Memecoin, Becomes First AI Agent Millionaire, Dozens of Copycat Projects Immediately Emerge

  • MSTR Announces Plan to Issue $21bn of Equity and $21bn of Fixed Income Over Next Three Years to Buy Bitcoin 

  • BTC ETFs See $5.4bn Inflows 

  • Stripe Acquires Stablecoin Platform “Bridge” for $1.1bn 

  • Harris Vows to Support Crypto Regulatory Framework in Plan to Support Black Men

  • Judge Approves FTX Bankruptcy Plan, Clears Path to Repayments 

  • Crypto.com Sues SEC After Receiving Wells Notice 

  • SEC Charges DRW Cumberland with Operating as Unregistered Securities Dealer

  • SEC Director of Enforcement Division Gurbir Grewal Resigns 

  • SEC Charges Thor Founder Matthew Moravec with Unregistered Sale of Crypto Securities 

  • Kraken Lays Off 15% of Employees 

  • Consensys Lays Off 20% of Employees 

  • DYDX Lays Off 35% of Employees 

  • UAE Exempts Crypto Transactions from Value Added Tax 

  • Uniswap Launches Unichain L2 

  • FBI Arrests Founder of MyTrade for Wash Trading and Pump and Dump Crypto Schemes 

  • Blockstream Raises $210mm Convertible Note Led by Fulgur Ventures

September 2024 Highlights

BTC 7%

  • SEC Approves Options on IBIT, Still Waiting on CFTC and OCC

  • BTC ETF Inflows Rebound, Totaling $1.3bn in September

  • Trump and His Sons Officially Announce DeFi Platform “World Liberty Financial”, To Sell WLFI Token

  • MSTR Purchases 18,300 BTC for $1.1bn at ~$60,408

  • MSTR Purchases 7,420 BTC for $458mm at $61,750

  • BlackRock Amends Custody Agreement with Coinbase, Now Requiring Processing Withdrawals to Public Address

  • Harris Makes Single Supportive Statement for “AI and Digital Assets” at Fundraiser

  • BNY Mellon First Bank to Receive SEC Exemption from SAB 121

  • Friend.Tech Team Renounces Control of Project, No Longer Working on It

  • Crypto Securities Exchange tZero Receives Second Crypto License from SEC and FINRA

  • Telegram App Changes Terms of Service, No Longer Protecting Chats from Government Inquiry

  • SEC Charges DeFi Platform Rari Capital with Misleading Investors and Acting as Unregistered Brokers

  • SEC Charges Exploited DeFi Platform Mango Markets for Offering Unregistered Securities

  • SEC Settles Charges with TrueUSD for $670,000 for Improper Custody

  • SEC Settles Charges with eToro, eToro to Cease Trading Nearly All Crypto Assets

  • SEC Settles Charges with Galois Capital for $225,000 for Minor Rules Infractions

  • SEC Delays Approval of ETH ETF Options

  • Jump Launches Frankendancer on Solana Mainnet, Firedancer on Testnet

  • Coinbase Launches Wrapped BTC cbBTC on Ethereum and Base

  • Tron, Tether and TRM Labs Start Financial Crime Fighting Force

  • DeFi Platform Penpie Exploited for $27mm

  • Polygon Project Transitions MATIC Token to POL

  • Grayscale to Launch XRP Trust

  • Caroline Ellison Sentenced to Two Years in Prison for FTX Fraud

  • Changpeng Zhao Released from Custody

August 2024 Highlights

BTC -9%

  • RFK Jr, Vocal Proponent of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Holder, Drops Out of Presidential Race to Support Trump, Pledged a Cabinet Position in Trump Admin

  • Pavel Durov, Founder of Telegram and TON Blockchain, Arrested in France on Numerous Criminal Charges, Released on Bail but Remains in France, TON Blockchain Experiences Downtime

  • Q2-24 BTC ETF 13F Filings Released, 60% of Largest 25 Hedge Funds Hold BTC ETFs

  • US Government Moves 10,000 BTC Worth $600mm Seized From Silk Road to Coinbase, Presumably to Be Sold

  • Jump Trading Sells Hundreds of $mm of ETH

  • Mt Gox Estate Finishes Distributing BTC to Creditors

  • Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Begins Offering BTC ETFs to Clients

  • Marathon Digital Raises $300mm in Convertible Senior Notes, Buys $249mm of BTC

  • OpenSea Receives Wells Notice From SEC, Says It Will Fight

  • Ripple Settles with SEC for $125mm, Ending Multiyear Saga

  • BitGo Announces wBTC Partnership with Justin Sun, Ecosystem Vehemently Opposes, Deal Revised, Coinbase Immediately Announced cbBTC Project in Response

  • Trump Launches NFT Project

  • Trump Campaign Teases Support for Upcoming DeFi Project

  • Federal Reserve Charges Customers Bank for Digital Asset Activities

  • DRW Venture Capital Discloses $150mm of ETH ETF Holdings

  • CBOE Withdraws SEC Application for Options on BTC ETFs

  • FTX Bankruptcy Receives Creditor Support for Plan of Reorganization

  • Genesis Bankruptcy Begins Distributing Assets to Creditors

July 2024 Highlights

BTC 3%

  • Trump Keynotes Bitcoin Conference, Says He Will Fire Gensler, End Operation Chokepoint, Not Sell Government’s Seized BTC, Create A Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, Clarify Crypto Rules, Embrace Stablecoins and Block A CBDC

  • Spot ETH ETFs Launch, Seeing $484mm of Total Net Outflows in Seven Days ($1.5bn Inflows, $2bn Outflows from Grayscale)

  • Spot BTC ETFs See $3.2bn of Total Net Inflows

  • German Government Aggressively Sells 50k Seized BTC

  • Mt Gox Estate Moves ~62k BTC to Kraken, Bitstamp, BitGo, Distributions to Creditors Underway

  • Trump Names JD Vance, Bitcoin Holder and Crypto Proponent, As Running Mate

  • Senator Lummis Announces Legislation to Establish A “Bitcoin Purchase Program” of Up To 200,000 BTC Per Year for Five Years

  • RFK Jr Announces If Elected He Will Buy 550 Bitcoin Every Day Until the US Owns 4mm BTC

  • Crypto Super PAC Fairshake Is Now the Largest Super PAC in the US, Raising >$200mm

  • Trump Raises $25mm in Donations at Bitcoin Conference

  • US Government Moves $2bn Seized Silk Road BTC to New Wallet, Rumored to Be Custody-Related and Not Sold

  • SEC Retracts Request for Court to Classify Solana, Cardano, et al As Securities in Case Against Binance

  • Circle Receives First Stablecoin License Under EU’s New MiCA Crypto Rules

  • Galaxy Digital Raises $113mm Crypto Venture Fund

  • Cantor Fitzgerald Announces Bitcoin-Based Lending Business

  • Ryan Selkis Steps Down as CEO of Messari

  • Founder of BitClout Charged with Fraud and Offering Unregistered Securities by DOJ/SEC

  • BlockFi to Begin Repaying US-Based Creditors

  • BitMEX Pleads Guilty to Bank Secrecy Act Offense

  • SEC Sues Defunct Silvergate Bank for Securities Fraud

June 2024 Highlights

BTC -7%

  • Gensler Tells Congress ETH ETFs Will Be Approved This Summer

  • ETH ETF Issuers Receive Round of Light Comments from SEC, ETH ETFs Likely to Start Trading in July

  • US Government Moves ~4k BTC Seized from Silk Road to Coinbase

  • German Government Moves ~6,500 Seized BTC, Presumably to Sell, Out of ~50,000 Total

  • Mt Gox To Begin Distributing BTC in July

  • BTC Spot ETFs See $667m Inflows

  • MSTR Issues $800mm Convertible Senior Notes, Purchases $786mm BTC at $65,883

  • Trump Continues Public Support of Crypto, Hosts Crypto Fundraising Dinner, Says He Wants All the Bitcoin to Be Mined in America

  • Paradigm Raises $850mm Venture Fund

  • SEC Sues Consensys for MetaMask, Alleges Lido and RocketPool Are Securities, ETH Not Mentioned as Security

  • Coinbase Sues SEC, FDIC Over FOIA Requests

  • Multiple Spot Solana ETFs Are Filed

  • IRS Favorably Finalizes Tax Reporting Rules for Crypto, Punts on DeFi Treatment

  • SEC Head of Crypto and Cyber Unit Leaves After Nine Years

  • Publicly Traded Semler Scientific Buys $17mm BTC After Previously Purchasing $40mm, Announces a $150mm Capital Raise to Buy More

  • RobinHood Acquires Bitstamp for $200mm

  • Head of Jump Crypto Kanav Kariya Resigns

  • Gemini Settles with NYAG for $50mm in Fraud Case

  • Abra Settles with US Regulators, To Refund $82mm of Customer Funds

  • Judge Dismisses Part of SEC Case Against Binance, Secondary Sales of BNB Not Securities

  • Binance Resumes Mastercard Payments for Crypto

  • Terraform Labs Agrees to Pay $4.5bn in SEC Case, Will Dissolve

  • Paxos Launches Lift Dollar (USDL), First Regulated Stablecoin Offering Daily In-Wallet Yield

  • Federal Reserve Issues Enforcement Action Against Evolve Bancorp

  • FTX Estate Settles $24bn Claim with IRS for $200mm

May 2024 Highlights

BTC 11%

  • Congress Votes to Repeal SEC’s SAB 121, Garnering 21 out of 213 Democrat Votes

  • Trump Says He’s Supportive of Crypto, Says If You Like Crypto, You Better Vote for Him; Allows Donations to Be Made in Crypto; Makes Additional Strongly Supportive Statements; Pledges to Pardon Ross Ulbricht If Elected  

  • Biden White House Issues Press Release Saying He Will Veto SAB 121 If It Passes Both Houses

  • Senate Votes to Repeal SAB 121, Garnering 12 out of 46 Democrat Votes

  • Biden Vetoes SAB 121 Repeal

  • FDIC Chair, Leader in Operation Chokepoint 2.0, Steps Down

  • Out of Nowhere, Domain Experts Begin Circulating Rumors ETH ETFs Will Be Approved on May 23rd, After Assigning Little Chance of Approval

  • Three Republicans and Two Democrats Write Letter to Gensler Urging Approval of ETH ETFs

  • SEC Requests Accelerated Updates to 19b-4 Filings for ETH ETFs, Staking Removed

  • SEC Approves 19b-4 Applications for Nine ETH ETFs, S-1 Approval and Trading Expected in Coming Weeks

  • Gensler Writes Letter in Strong Opposition of FIT 21

  • Congress Passes Landmark Crypto Regulatory Bill FIT 21, Garnering 71 out of 213 Democrat Votes

  • Congress Passes Bill to Ban Fed from Issuing a CBDC, Garnering 3 Democrat Votes

  • Biden Campaign Said to Reach Out to Key Crypto Industry Leaders for Guidance

  • Treasury Secretary Nelson States They Will Not Ban Crypto Mixers, Wants to Enhance Privacy Without Enabling Terrorist Financing

  • SEC Tells Spot ETH ETF Issuers to Get First Round of Draft S-1’s in by May 31st

  • BTC ETFs Have $2.1bn of Net Inflows

  • BTC ETFs File 13Fs – 563 Professional Firms Hold $3.5bn, Shattering Prior Record for ETF Launches; Retail Owns >90%

  • 9th Largest US Pension Fund State of Wisconsin Owns $99mm BTC ETF; Millenium Owns $2bn, Susquehanna Owns >$1bn

  • $200mm Market Cap, Publicly Traded Tech Company Semler Scientific Purchases $40m of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

  • Mt Gox Transfers $9.4bn of BTC, Presumably in Advance of Partial Distribution to Creditors

  • SEC Issues Wells Notice to RobinHood Regarding Crypto Business

  • DOJ Arrests Two Brothers for Maliciously Attacking the Ethereum Blockchain and Taking $25mm, in first ever case

  • Michael Sonnenshein Steps Down as Grayscale CEO, Replaced by Former Blackrock Executive Peter Mintzberg

  • NYSE Partners with CoinDesk to Launch Cash-Settled Index Options on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index

  • Judge Orders SEC to Pay $1.8mm in Legal Fees in DebtBox Case

  • Crypto Social Media Platform Farcaster Raises $150mm from Paradigm, A16Z, et al

  • Bitcoin Staking Protocol Babylon Raises $70mm from Paradigm, Bullish, Polychain, et al

  • Binance Fired Its Head of Compliance for Flagging DWF’s Suspected Market Manipulation

  • DOJ Chooses FRA Over Sullivan & Cromwell for Binance Monitor

  • Vanguard Hires New CEO Salim Ramji, Who Appears to Favor BTC ETFs

  • FTX Estate to Repay 100% of Claims at Petition Date Pricing Plus Interest, Some Creditors Unhappy, Pushing for More

  • Japanese Crypto Exchange DMM Bitcoin Hacked for $305mm

  • Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame Receives 7.5 Year Sentence

  • FalconX Settles with CFTC for $1.8mm for Providing Access to Crypto Derivatives for US Firms

April 2024 Highlights

BTC -15%

  • Bitcoin Blockchain Undergoes Fourth Halving, 6.25% of Bitcoin Yet to Be Mined

  • Consensys Sues SEC After Being Threatened with Wells Notice for ETH Being Security and MetaMask Operating as an Unlicensed Broker/Dealer

  • Changpeng Zhao Sentenced to Four Months in Prison

  • EigenLayer Announces Highly Anticipated Airdrop

  • Binance Converts All SAFU Fund Assets to USDC

  • Hong Kong Launches Multiple Spot BTC and ETH ETFs, First Day Volumes and Flows Weak

  • SEC Holds Comment Period on ETH ETFs

  • Solana Blockchain Experiences Significant Congestion, Solutions Expected in Coming Months

  • Stripe to Resume Crypto Payments This Summer

  • Uniswap Receives Wells Notice From SEC, Plans to Fight SEC

  • Monad Raises $225mm, Led by Paradigm

  • Two Founders of Mixer Samourai Wallet and Whirlpool Arrested, Charged with Money Laundering

  • US Government Moves $139mm of BTC from Silk Road Seizure to Coinbase, Presumably Sold

  • Two SEC Lawyers Resign After Agency Censure in DebtBox Case

  • Roger Ver Arrested in Spain, Charged with Mail Fraud, Tax Evasion

  • Do Kwon and Terraform Labs Found Liable for Fraud, SEC Asking for $5.3bn Fine

  • Blockchain Association and Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas Sue SEC Over New Dealer Rule

  • Citadel, Goldman, UBS and Citi Added as Authorized Participants for IBIT

  • Binance Receives Dubai Crypto Permit After CZ Resigns

  • Philippines Orders Removal of Binance from Google and Apple App Stores

  • Genesis Bankruptcy Estate Sells GBTC Shares to Buy 32k BTC for Creditors

March 2024 Highlights

BTC 17%

  • Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

  • BTC ETFs See $3.6bn of Net inflows

  • MSTR Raises $800mm in Convertible Senior Notes, Buys $822mm of BTC

  • MSTR Raises $604mm on Convertible Senior Notes, Buys $623mm of BTC

  • BlackRock Partners with Securitize, Launches “BUIDL” – BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund to Tokenize Treasuries, Raises $275mm in First Week

  • Lots of Chatter, Rumors and Back and Forth About ETH ETFs

  • Fidelity Joins Other Filers in Adding Staking to Spot ETH ETF Application

  • ETH Completes Dencun Upgrade, Lowering Fees on L2s

  • KuCoin and Founders Charged by DOJ with Crimes, Laundering >$9bn, ETH Named Commodity in Charges

  • SEC Meets with Grayscale and Coinbase on spot ETH ETFs, Discuss Correlation Analysis

  • FET, OCEAN and AGIX Cryptos Propose Token Merger into Newly Formed ASI

  • Trump Says "there has been a lot of use of Bitcoin, not sure would want to take away"

  • BlackRock Files to Purchase IBIT in Its $24bn AUM Strategic Income Opportunities Fund

  • Arizona State Senate Considering Adding BTC ETFs to State Retirement Portfolios

  • SEC Postpones Decision on BTC ETF Options Proposals

  • Tether Creates Bridge to Burn Tether on One Chain and Mint On Another “in case of disruption”

  • FTX Estate Sells 41mm Locked SOL to Various Investors at $50-$80/SOL

  • Court Rules Against Wahi Brothers in Coinbase Insider Trading Suit, Says Secondary Market Sales Are Securities Transactions

  • Coinbase Issues $1.1bn Convertible Senior Notes to Repay Existing Notes, General Corporate Purposes

  • Court Sanctions SEC in Debt Box Court Decision for Bad Faith Conduct

  • Crypto Super PAC Fairshake Runs Successful $10mm Campaign Against Katie Porter’s Primary Run for California Senate

  • Nigeria Demands $10bn from Binance, Detains Two Binance Executives Sent to Negotiate Over Charges and Fines, One of the Execs Escapes Nigerian Jail

  • Philippines Moves to Block Access to Binance

  • Commex, Which Purchased Binance’s Russia Business Last Year, Halts Deposits, to Close

  • Binance Spins Out $10bn Venture Fund

  • WisdomTree Receives NY BitLicense

  • OKX Delists USDT in EU

  • OKX to Shut Down in India

  • Figure Raises $61mm Series A Led by Jump, Faction, Pantera and Others

  • Drake Posts Video to Instagram of Saylor CNBC Interview Saying Bitcoin Will Eat Gold

  • SEC vs Terraform Labs Trial Commences, Former Jump Trader Testifies as Whistleblower

  • Two Democratic Senators Write Letter to Gensler Urging SEC to Block Future Crypto ETFs

  • EIA Drops Emergency Survey of BTC Miners in Response to Lawsuit Filed

  • BlackRock Launches Spot BTC ETF in Brazil

February 2024 Highlights

BTC 44%

  • Spot BTC ETFs See Massive $6 billion in Net Inflows, Driving BTC +44%

  • Coinbase App Store Ranking Climbs from #430 to #150 in Four Days

  • Uniswap Proposes Large-Scale Upgrade to Governance Incentives, Introduces Fees as Rewards, Price Spikes 70%

  • Gemini Earn Reaches Settlement in Genesis Bankruptcy to Return 97% of Assets In-Kind

  • NYAG Expands Civil Fraud Case Against DCG, Triples Estimate of Fraud Size to >$3bn

  • Merrill and Wells Fargo Begin Offering BTC ETF Access to Some Wealth Management Clients

  • Franklin Templeton Files for Spot ETH ETF

  • Several ETF Providers Refile Spot ETH ETF Applications, Include Staking Capabilities

  • MSTR Buys $155mm of BTC at $51,813

  • Ethereum Restaking Protocol EigenLayer Raises $100mm Led by A16Z

  • Solana Blockchain Experiences 5-Hour Downtime

  • Circle Discontinues USDC on Tron, Sparking Rumors of Trouble with Justin Sun

  • Nigeria Blocks Access to Binance, Coinbase and Kraken

  • Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas and Legit Exchange Sue SEC for Lack of Clarity

  • RobinHood Partners with MetaMask, Allowing Trading and Transfers Between Products

  • RobinHood Partners with L-2 Arbitrum, Allowing RH Wallet Users Access to Swaps

  • Genesis Estates Receives Approval to Sell >$1.5bn of GBTC

  • Fidelity Canada Recommending 1-3% BTC Allocation in All Portfolios

  • Changpeng Zhao Sentencing Date Postponed Until April 30th

  • SEC Adopts Rule for Stricter Oversight Over Dealers, Including Crypto and DeFi

  • Farcaster Launches New Frames Feature, Sees Spike to 57k MAU

  • Binance Delists Privacy Token Monero

  • Reddit States in S-1 They Have Invested Excess Cash into BTC and ETH

  • DOJ Charges Three People in SIM-Swapping Case of Stealing $400mm of Crypto from FTX

  • FTX Debtors Sullivan & Cromwell Rumored to Be Appointed as Binance Monitor

  • Su Zhu and Kyle Davies’ OPNX Ceases Operations and Shuts Down

  • VanEck Launches NFT Marketplace and Digital Assets Platform SegMint

  • Starknet Runs Unethical Airdrop/Unlock Scheme, Market Revolts, Starknet Changes Airdrop/Unlock Mechanism

  • FTX Estate to Sell 8% Position in Anthropic AI

  • IRS Hires Former Binance US Exec to Beef Up Crypto Expertise

January 2024 Highlights

BTC 1%

  • Ten Spot BTC ETFs Approved and GBTC Conversion to Spot ETF Approved

  • Spot BTC ETFs Trade $4.6bn of Volume Day 1, $28.4bn of Volume in First 14 Trading Days

  • GBTC Sees Outflows of $5.6bn, Ten ETFs See Inflows of $7.1bn, Net Inflows Total $1.5bn

  • SEC Twitter Account Hacked by Not Activating 2FA, Account Tweets ETF Approval Day Early

  • SEC v Coinbase Has Major Hearing, Judge Appears to Favor Coinbase

  • Tether Purchases $380mm BTC in Q4, Now 11th Largest Holder at ~66k Total BTC

  • Vanguard and Merrill Lynch Refuse Spot BTC ETF Access to Clients

  • SEC Opens Comment Period on Options for Spot BTC ETFs

  • SEC Delays Multiple Spot ETH ETFs Until March

  • Grayscale Files for Covered Call BTC ETF

  • Justin Sun’s Stablecoin TUSD Experiences Sustained 1-2c Depeg, Market Cap Declines 30% In January

  • FTX Estate Decides Not to Restart Exchange

  • FTX Expects to Repay Creditors in Full at Petition Date Prices

  • FTX Creditors File Complaints Against Debtors Plan, Want Higher Valuation of Crypto

  • FTX Bankruptcy Receives Independent Examiner Appointment on Appeal, After Debtors Fight Against It

  • FTX Estate Sells All GBTC, Totaling ~$1bn

  • Helium Launches Partnership with Major Telecom Provider Telefonica to Provide Wifi in Mexico

  • SEC v Binance Has Initial Hearing, Judge Favors Aspects of Both Sides’ Arguments

  • Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Says Tether Has Its Stated Reserves

  • Uncorrelated Ventures Raises $315mm Crypto and Software Venture Fund

  • DCG Repays $700mm Loan to Bankrupt Subsidiary Genesis

  • Solana Announces V2 of Saga Mobile Phone, 30,000 Preorders in 30 Hours

  • US Government Files Notice to Sell $130mm of BTC Seized in Silk Road

  • Hong Kong Exchange HaskKey Raises $100mm at >$1bn Valuation, Led by OKX

  • CoinShares Acquires Valkyrie Funds

  • Bitcoin Mining Hashrate Falls by 25% As Miners Curtail Electricity Usage During Texas Cold

December 2023 Highlights

BTC 12%

  • Ikigai Sells FTX Bankruptcy Claim, Will Continue Operating

  • Multiple Rounds of Meetings with SEC and S-1 Revisions from Spot BTC ETF Providers, Second Week of January Estimated Approval

  • MSTR Buys $616mm Bitcoin at $42,110 Average Price

  • Tether Further Acquiesces to US Regulators, Begins Freezing Wallets on Secondary Markets

  • Barry Silbert Resigns From Board of Grayscale in Attempt to Allow Regulators to Let GBTC Convert to ETF

  • FTX Estate Files Plan of Reorganization, Creditors Not Supportive

  • Judge Rules in Favor of SEC Against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon

  • Binance Withdraws Application for Abu Dhabi Crypto License

  • NYDFS Allows Paxos to Launch Stablecoin on Solana

  • KuCoin Settles with NYAG for $22mm, to Exit NY Market

  • Multiple DApps Using Ledger Connector Library Are Hacked

  • BVI Courts Freeze $1bn in Three Arrows Capital Founders’ Assets

  • Nigeria Central Bank Lifts Ban on Crypto Trading

  • MtGox Begins Repaying Some Creditors Via PayPal

  • US Prosecutors Drop Second Trial Against SBF for Campaign Finance Fraud

November 2023 Highlights

BTC 9%

  • Binance Pleads Guilty to Violating Anti-Money Laundering Laws, Settles with DOJ, Treasury and CFTC for $4.3bn, Agrees to Full Monitorship by US Government for Five Years

  • Changpeng Zhao Pleads Guilty to Felony, Steps Down as CEO, Faces Potential Jail Time, Sentencing in February, Unable to Leave the US, Retains Majority Ownership

  • Richard Teng Appointed CEO of Binance

  • Sam Bankman-Fried Found Guilty of All Seven Charges After <5 Hours of Deliberation, Sentencing Scheduled for March

  • SEC Sues Kraken for Not Registering as A Securities Exchange

  • SEC Holds Closed-Door Discussions with Numerous ETF Filers, Public Filings Updated, Several Spot ETFs Are Delayed

  • BlackRock Files for Spot ETH ETF

  • MSTR Purchases 16,130 BTC for $593mm at Average Price of $36,785

  • Treasury Asks Congress for Greatly Increased Powers to Regulate Crypto

  • Genesis Sues Gemini to Recover $689mm in Preferential Transfers

  • DCG and Genesis Agree to New Repayment Deal, Settling $620mm Suit

  • CME Bitcoin Open Interest Surpasses Binance for the First Time57 Congressmen Write Letter to White House Highlighting Binance’s Involvement with Hamas

  • Jennifer Hicks, Senior Counter-Terrorism Officer, Quits Binance

  • Philippines SEC Kicks Binance Out

  • Binance Ends Partnership with Advcash That Facilitated Sanctions Evasions in Russia

  • Tether Freezes $225mm in DOJ Investigation of International Crime Syndicate

  • SafeMoon Founders Arrested in US for Fraud

  • FTX Estate Sells Hundreds of Millions of Dollars of Crypto

  • FTX Estate Approved to Sell $744mm of Grayscale Assets

  • FTX Estate Narrows Down FTX 2.0 Bidders to Bullish, Figure and Proof Group, Winner to Be Picked in December

  • FTX Estate Sues Bybit to Recover $953mm of Assets

  • Crypto VC Fund Faction Ventures Raises $285mm Inaugural Fund

  • Wormhole Raises $225mm at $2.5bn Valuation from Brevan, Coinbase, Multicoin, et al

  • Blockchain.com Raises $110mm Series E Led by Kingsway Capital

  • Foresight Ventures Acquires Controlling Stake in The Block at $70mm Valuation

  • Crypto Exchange Bullish Acquires 100% of CoinDesk

  • Copper Acquires Securrency

  • Bitcoin Ordinals Startup Taproot Wizards Raises $7.5mm Seed Round

  • NYDFS Introduces Stricter Guidelines for Asset Listings, De-listings

  • CoinShares Receives Option to Acquire Valkyrie ETFs

  • Celsius Cleared to Exit Bankruptcy, Could Begin Repaying Customers in January

  • Mt Gox Announces Redemption of $47mm of Bankruptcy Estate Assets

  • Bittrex Global to Wind Down Operations

  • Wormhole Spins Off from Jump Trading

October 2023 Highlights

BTC 29%

  • BlackRock Updates Spot BTC ETF Filing with CUSIP and Language Around Potentially “Seeding” The ETF, Price Spikes

  • BlackRock Spot BTC ETF Ticker Reportedly Added to DTCC Website, Price Spikes; Ticker Removed from Website for Several Hours, then Re-added; Later Uncovered Ticker Was on Website Since August

  • CoinTelegraph Mistakenly Reports SEC Approves Blackrock Spot BTC ETF, Price Spikes and Partially Retraces

  • SEC Elects to Not Appeal Grayscale GBTC Ruling, Grayscale Refiles for GBTC Conversion

  • Numerous Spot BTC ETFs Update Specific Language in Filings, Potentially in Advance of Approval

  • Sam Bankman-Fried Criminal Trial Almost Completed; Highly Likely to Be Found Guilty and Sentenced to Decades in Prison

  • Numerous Spot ETH ETFs Filed; Grayscale Files to Convert ETHE to Spot ETH ETF

  • NYAG Files Civil Fraud Complaint Against Gemini, Genesis, DCG, Michael Moro and Barry Silbert

  • Judge Rejects SEC’s Motion to Appeal Against Ripple Ruling

  • Senate Committee Holds Hearing on Hamas Financing, Crypto Accused and Defended

  • Senator Lummis and Congressman Hill Write Letter to Attorney General Demanding Criminal Charges Against Binance and Tether

  • Jonathan Farnell, Former Head of Binance UK and Current CEO of Binance Payments Processor Bifinity, Quits

  • Head of Binance France Quits

  • Binance Ceases Accepting New Customer in the UK

  • Brazil Congressional Committee Recommends Filing Fraud Charges Against CZ and Binance

  • WSJ Article Claims $130mm in Crypto Sent to Hamas, Underlying Blockchain Data Found to Be Flawed, WSJ Forced to Issue Correction

  • BinanceUS Suspends USD Withdrawals, Announces USD Deposits No Longer FDIC Insured

  • Class Action Suit Filed Against BinanceUS and CZ in California for Market Manipulation by Harming FTX

  • FTX Estate Offers 15% Settlement for Customer Clawbacks on Withdrawals >$250k Within 9 Days of Bankruptcy Filing; Implies 85c Recovery for Customers

  • FTX Estate Announces Three Bidders in Ongoing FTX 2.0 Auction, Winner Picked by January 24th

  • Google Invests $500mm into AnthropicAI, Potentially Up to $2bn

  • Coinbase International Receives Full License in Singapore

  • GAO Rules the SEC Did Not Comply with Regulations in Issuing SAB 121, Which Was Illogical for Crypto Custodians

  • Gemini Sues Genesis Over $1.6bn of GBTC Shares

  • Tether Freezes 32 Addresses Associated with Illicit Activity in Israel and Ukraine

  • Kraken Forced to Share Customer Data with IRS Following Court Ruling

  • CFTC Sues Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich for Misleading Customers

  • SEC Dismisses Charges Against Ripple’s Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen

  • Tether Appoints Long-time CTO Paolo Ardoino as CEO

September 2023 Highlights

BTC 4%

  • SEC Delays 7+ Spot BTC ETF Applications Due in October and November, All Eyes on SEC’s Response in Grayscale Ruling

  • Su Zhu Arrested at Airport in Singapore, Sentenced to Four Months in Jail for Contempt of Court, Kyle Davies Is A Fugitive

  • SDNY Judge Drops Class Action Lawsuit Against Uniswap in Significant Win for DeFi Protocols

  • Visa Begins Settling Transactions with Stablecoins on Solana

  • SEC to Allow ETH Futures ETFs

  • Accounting Oversight Board FASB Rules for Fair Value Accounting of Bitcoin

  • Binance’s Head of Product Quits

  • Binance’s Head of Russia Quits

  • Large Payment Processor PaySafe Deplatforms Binance for EUR Deposits

  • BinanceUS CEO, Head of Legal and Chief Risk Officer All Abruptly Quit

  • BinanceUS Fires 1/3 of Employees

  • Binance Announces Sale of Russian Operations to CommEX, Which Appears to Be Run by Binance

  • Binance Warns They May Delist All Stablecoins in Europe by June 2024

  • Binance Allowed to Resume Services in Belgium

  • Binance Begins Delisting Privacy Tokens in Europe

  • Huobi Appears to Have Significant Hole in Customer Deposits Based on Wallet Data

  • Chase UK to Block All Crypto Payments

  • MSTR Purchases 5,445 BTC for $147.3mm at Average Price of $27,053

  • Mt Gox Bitcoin Distributions Appear to Be Mostly Delayed Into 2024

  • Bybit Suspends Services in UK Due to Regulatory Changes

  • Two Republican and Two Democrat Congressmen Write Letter Demanding SEC Approve Spot BTC ETF

  • SEC Files Objection to Use of Coinbase as Brokerage and Trading Services in Celsius Bankruptcy Restructuring

  • Coinbase International Receives Regulatory Approval to Offer Perpetual Futures to Offshore Retail Customers

  • Ark Files for Spot ETH ETF

  • Bankrupt Genesis Sues DCG for $620mm of Unpaid Loans

  • DCG Under Criminal Investigation for Role in Genesis Collapse

  • Ripple Announces the Acquisition of Collapsing Custodian Fortress Trust, Then Backs Out of Deal

  • Mixin Hacked for $200mm

  • Crypto Casino “Stake” Hacked for >$40mm

  • Coinex Hacked for $28mm

  • Huobi Hacked for $8mm

  • Blockchain Capital Raises $580mm in Two New VC Funds

  • Story Protocol Raises $54mm Round Led by A16Z

  • CFTC Settles Charges Against DeFi Protocols Opyn, 0x and Deridex

  • Coinbase to Implement Bitcoin Lightning Transfers

  • FTX Estate Set to Claw Back Customer Withdrawals in 15-Day Window Before Collapse, Details Remain Unclear

  • FTX Estate Hires Galaxy and Receives Court Approval to Sell, Stake and Hedge Some Crypto Assets

  • Ryan Salame Pleads Guilty to Criminal Charges in FTX Collapse

  • FTX Estate Sues Sam’s Parents for Millions in Claw Backs, Evidence Appears Damning

  • Stanford Announces the Repayment of Entire $5.5mm of Sam’s Donations Back to FTX Estate

  • AWS Invests Up to $4bn in Anthropic AI, Partially Owned by FTX Estate

  • FTX Estate Sues Multiple Former Employees for $157mm

  • RobinHood to Repurchase FTX Estate’s HOOD Shares for $606mm

  • FTX Auditor Prager Metis Sued by SEC for Independence Violations

  • Alex Machinsky’s Assets Frozen in DOJ Case

August 2023 Highlights

BTC -11%

  • Court Rules In Favor of Grayscale vs SEC, Orders Grayscale’s Petition for Review Be Granted, SEC Has Until October 14th to Respond

  • BlackRock, Bitwise, VanEck, Wisdomtree, Invesco, Fidelity and Valkyrie Spot BTC ETF Approval Delayed by SEC Until October

  • PayPal Launches PYUSD Stablecoin, Receives Little Initial Interest

  • US Federal Reserve Launches “Novel Activities Supervision Program”, Granting Special Oversight Powers for Crypto

  • Sam Bankman-Fried’s Bail Revoked, Sent to Jail Until October Trial for Leaking Caroline Ellison’s Personal Diaries to the NYT

  • Prime Trust Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Top 50 Creditors Owed $145mm

  • Two Tornado Cash Developers Charged by DOJ with Money Laundering and Sanctions Violations, One Arrested

  • SEC Files 37 Submissions “Under Seal” in Case vs Binance, Concealing the Submissions from Public Record

  • Binance Shuts Down Crypto Payments Business

  • Mastercard Ends Card Partnership with Binance

  • Binance’s Credit Card Processor Checkout.com Ends Services with Binance Due to AML Compliance Concerns

  • WSJ Claims Binance Is Committing Massive US Sanctions Violations with Russian Banks

  • Binance Head of APAC Quits

  • Coinbase and Circle End USDC Consortium, Coinbase Buys Stake in Circle

  • Revolut Shutting Down US Crypto Business Due to Regulatory Uncertainty

  • SEC Delays Ark Spot Bitcoin ETF Filing, Solicits 21-Day Comment Period

  • Coinbase Canada Suspends USDT Trading

  • Coinbase Files Motion to Dismiss Case From SEC

  • The CFTC Approves Coinbase as a Registered Commission Merchant, Allowing for Futures Contracts on BTC and ETH to Eligible US Customers

  • FTX Bankruptcy Hires Galaxy to Sell, Stake and Hedge Liquid Crypto Assets

  • FTX Administrator Experiences Data Breach, Leaks Thousands of Customers’ Information

  • DOJ Files Campaign Finance Fraud Charges Against Sam Bankman-Fried

  • RobinHood and Jump Trading End Crypto Partnership

  • Israeli Police Accuse Moshe Hogeg of $290mm Crypto Scam

  • Dubai Fines Su Zhu and Kyle Davies’ New Trading Platform OPNX $2.7mm for Failure to Pay a Prior Fine

  • Six Securities Law Professors Write Amicus Brief in Support of Coinbase vs SEC

  • NFT Platform Impact Theory Settles with SEC on Unregistered Offering of NFTs as Securities

  • Genesis and DCG Reach In-Principle Agreement with Creditors

  • CoinDesk Lays Off 45% of Editorial Staff

  • IRS Rules Crypto Staking Rewards as Taxable Income

  • L1 Digital Raises $152mm Crypto Venture Fund

  • BitGo Raises $100mm Series C at $1.75bn Valuation

  • SEC Files Appeal in Ripple Ruling

  • Ripple vs SEC Jury Trial Scheduled for Q2-24

  • Crypto Ecosystem Experiences Rampant SIM-Swap Hacks, Including Blockchain Capital Founder Bart Stephens for $6.3mm

July 2023 Highlights

BTC -4%

  • Judge Rules That Ripple’s Sales of XRP Do Not Constitute an Offer of Investment Contracts; Institutional Sales of XRP Were Securities; Sales to Public May Not Be Securities; Lawsuit Over Whether XRP Is a Security Will Go to Trial

  • SEC Hints at Potential Appeal of XRP Ruling

  • Coinbase Reinstates Trading of XRP

  • BlackRock and Five Other Spot Bitcoin ETFs Enter “Surveillance Sharing Agreements” with Coinbase

  • Transcript of Pre-motion Conference Filed in SEC vs Coinbase, Judge Appears to Align with Coinbase

  • Binance General Counsel, Chief Strategy Officer and SVP of Compliance All Quit in Response to Changpeng Zhao’s Interactions with US Regulators

  • Binance Withdraws License Application in Germany After It Was Set to Be Rejected Due to Changpeng Zhao

  • Binance Lays Off >1,000 Employees

  • Binance Cuts Employee Benefits, Citing a Decline in Profits

  • Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky Arrested

  • SEC, DOJ, CFTC and FTC File Lawsuits Against Celsius and Mashinsky

  • Gemini Sues DCG and Barry Silbert, Claiming Fraud

  • Polychain Raises New $200mm Fund

  • CoinFund Raises New $158mm Fund

  • FTX Estate Files Summary Plan of Reorganization, Creditors Immediately Push Back

  • Sam Bankman-Fried Leaks Diary of Caroline Ellison to New York Times, DOJ Pleads with Court to Imprison Him for It

  • DOJ Drops Campaign Finance Criminal Charges Against Sam Bankman-Fried

  • FTX and Genesis Set to Resolve Bankruptcy Dispute

  • Powerhouse Lawyers Boies and Moskowitz Awarded Co-lead Counsel on Consolidated FTX Class Action Lawsuits

  • FTX Estate Sues Bankman-Fried and Other Executives for >$1bn

  • FTX Bankruptcy Estate Postpones Sale of FTX Japan

  • Richard Heart Sued by SEC For Securities Fraud

  • Crypto Bridge Multichain Hacked for $130mm, Loses Access to Remaining $220mm After CEO and His Sister Are Arrested in China

  • DeFi Protocol Curve Exploited for >$70mm, Threatens to Destabilize Entire DeFi Ecosystem

  • US Secret Service Seizes $58mm From Deltec Bank Tied to Crypto Frauds

  • Sequoia Cuts Crypto Fund from $585mm to $200mm, Cuts Ecosystem Fund in Half

  • US Stablecoin Bill Negotiations Stall, As White House Signals Disapproval

  • Nasdaq Halts Plan for Crypto Custody Due to U.S. Regulatory Conditions

  • KuCoin Lays Off 30% of Employees

  • Singapore Monetary Authority to Require Crypto Platforms to Hold Client Funds in Trusts, to Ban Lending and Staking by Retail Investors

  • DOJ Announces First-ever Criminal Case Involving an Attack on a Smart Contract Operated by a DEX

  • DeFi Protocol BarnBridge Says DAO Is Under SEC Investigation

June 2023 Highlights

BTC 12%

  • BlackRock Files for Spot Bitcoin ETF, WisdomTree, Invesco, Valkyrie, Bitwise and Fidelity Follow in Kind; SEC Responds Saying the Filings Do Not Contain Sufficient Details

  • SEC Sues Coinbase for Offering Unregistered Securities, Coinbase Responds

  • SEC Sues Binance and Changpeng on 13 Charges with Incredibly Damning Evidence

  • Bloomberg Claims Changpeng May Step Down and Be Replaced by Richard Teng

  • SEC Seeks Restraining Order to Freeze Binance US Assets; Judge Denies Restraining Order and Forces SEC and Binance US to Compromise on Securing Customer Assets

  • Binance Under Investigation in France for Aggravated Money Laundering

  • Binance Forced to Cease Operating in Netherlands

  • Binance Forced to Cease Operating in Belgium

  • Binance Attorneys Allege Gary Gensler Offered to Be an Advisor to Binance in 2019

  • Binance and Changpeng Hire George Canellos, Former Chief of SEC Major Crimes Unit, As Criminal Defense Attorney

  • Prime Trust Receives Cease and Desist from Nevada Regulators, Halts All Operations After BitGo Rescue Acquisition Falls Apart, Likely Committed Fraud

  • Abra Accused of Fraud and Insolvency in Emergency Cease and Desist Order by State Regulators

  • MSTR Purchases 12,333 BTC for $347mm at $28,136

  • Citadel, Schwab and Fidelity-Backed Crypto Exchange EDX Launches with BTC, ETH, LTC and BCH Spot Trading

  • 21shares/Ark Modify Their Existing ETF Application to Include a Surveillance Sharing Agreement with CBOE, Similar to BlackRock’s; If Approved, Ark ETF Would Be Before BlackRock

  • UK Passes Bill Recognizing Crypto as Regulated Financial Activity  

  • HSBC Begins Trading of BTC and ETH ETFs Listed on the Hong Kong Exchange

  • “Hinman Emails” Released in Ripple vs SEC Case, May Provide Legal Protection for ETH

  • CFTC Wins Landmark Case Against Ooki DAO

  • SEC Approves Levered Futures BTC ETF

  • RobinHood Delists Cardano, Solana and Polygon in Response to SEC Case Against Coinbase

  • Celsius Bankruptcy Estate to Sell Altcoins into BTC and ETH

  • FTX Estate Sues to Clawback $800mm from K5 Global

  • FTX Estate Pauses Sale Process of Anthropic AI

  • US Prosecution Drops Four Criminal Charges Against Sam Bankman-Fried

  • Crypto.com Suspends US Institutional Exchange Service

  • USDC Receives Digital Token License in Singapore

  • CME to Launch ETH/BTC Ratio Futures on July 31

May 2023 Highlights

BTC -7%

  • Tether Buys $1.5bn of Bitcoin in Q1, Commits to Deploying Up To 15% of Quarterly Realized Profits into Bitcoin

  • Hong Kong Finalizes New Crypto Regulatory Framework, Goes into Effect June 1

  • Lots of Back and Forth Between SEC and Coinbase

  • US Chamber of Commerce Files Brief in Coinbase vs SEC Case, Claiming SEC Acting Unlawfully

  • Ishan Wahi, Former Coinbase Employee Found Guilty of First Ever Crypto Insider Trading Case, Sentenced to Two Years in Prison

  • Coinbase Launches Offshore Derivatives Exchange

  • Gemini Launches Offshore Derivatives Exchange

  • Jane Street and Jump Reported to Be Meaningfully Pulling Back from Crypto Amid Regulatory Pressure

  • SEC Claims Jump Made $1bn in Profits in “Secret Deal” to Prop Up Terra Luna Prior to Its Collapse

  • Binance Withdraws from Canada Entirely

  • Reuters Claims Binance Comingled Customer Funds and Company Revenues in 2020 and 2021

  • DoJ Investigating Whether Binance Violated US Sanctions Against Russia

  • Binance Temporarily Halts BTC Withdrawals, Falsely Blaming Mempool Congestion

  • Binance US Withdraws All Assets from Staking Pools, Prices Heavily Deviate from Other Exchanges as Exchange Liquidity Falters

  • Binance Has Started Layoffs, Rumored to Be 20%

  • Bittrex Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

  • Genesis Parent DCG Misses $630mm Payment to Genesis, Continues Discussions with Creditors

  • FTX Bankruptcy Estate Sues Genesis For $3.9bn Clawback, Including $1.8bn of Exchange Withdrawals

  • IRS Files $44bn Claim Against FTX Bankruptcy Estate, Mass Confusion as To That Amount Ensues

  • BlockFi Bankruptcy Judge Allows for $300mm Repayment of Custodial Accounts, $375mm Held in Interest-Bearing Accounts Ruled as Property of the Estate

  • Voyager Digital Winds Down Business, Plans to Return 36% of Assets After Binance Acquisition Falls Through

  • Michael Arrington-Led Fahrenheit Chosen as Winning Bidder in Celsius Chapter 11

  • Nexo Winding Down UK Operations

  • Mysten Labs’ SUI Blockchain Launches Mainnet, Hiccups Immediately Ensue

  • Gala Games Burns $600mm of Treasury Holdings

  • Sam Altman-Led Worldcoin Raises $115mm Series C from Blockchain Capital, A16Z, Bain, Distributed Global, et al

  • Wallet Provider Magic Raises $52mm Led by PayPal Ventures

  • Paradigm Buys $50mm of Coinbase Shares

  • River Financial Raises $35mm Series B From Kingsway Capital, Peter Thiel, et al

  • Cormint Raises $30mm Series A and 400 BTC in Bitcoin Debt to Scale West Texas Bitcoin Mine

  • Story Protocol Raises $29.3mm Seed Round, Led by A16Z

  • Blockworks Raises $12mm at $135mm Valuation, Led by 10T, Framework

  • Paradigm Shifts Focus from Crypto-only to Including AI

  • Ethereum Foundation Moves 15,000 ETH, Presumably to Sell

  • Public Critiques of the Shortcomings of Lightning Network Grow Louder

  • Nansen Lays Off 30% of Employees

April 2023 Highlights

BTC 3%

  • Gensler Testifies to Congress, Gets Praised by Democrats and Hammered by Republicans, Calls Most Crypto Companies Non-compliant, Refuses to Outright Call ETH a Security

  • Ethereum Completes Shanghai Upgrade

  • Cross River Bank Receives Cease-and-Desist From FDIC Over Lending Practices

  • Coinbase Receives Digital Asset License in Bermuda, To Launch Offshore Exchange in Weeks

  • Coinbase Sues SEC to Demand Answer for Rulemaking

  • Coinbase Responds to SEC’s Wells Notice from Last Month

  • EU Parliament Approve Crypto Licensing and Fund Transfer Rules in Landmark MiCA Regulation

  • LayerZero Raises $120mm Series B at $3bn Valuation Led by A16Z, Christie’s, Sequoia

  • Unchained Capital Raises $60mm Funding from Valor Equity Partners, NYDIG, et al

  • Delphi Labs Raises $13.5mm for Crypto Startup Incubator Led by Jump, P2P

  • FTX Bankruptcy Fee Statements Show Significant Consideration for Exchange Restart Plan, Including Recovery Rights Token

  • FTX Bankruptcy Has Recovered $7.3bn in Assets

  • FTX Bankruptcy Receives Unsolicited $250mm Bid from Tribe Capital to Restart Exchange

  • FTX Bankruptcy Prepares to Clawback $2.1bn Payment from Binance

  • The Bitcoin Whitepaper is Discovered to be Hidden in Every Recent MacOS Version, Apple to Remove in Next Update

  • MicroStrategy Purchases 1,045 BTC for $29.3mm

  • London Stock Exchange to Start Clearing Bitcoin Futures and Options Trades

  • House Financial Services Committee Introduces 73-page Draft Stablecoin Bill

  • OFAC and FinCEN Fine Bittrex $53mm for AML/Violations

  • Binance US Allowed by US Government to Continue with Acquisition of Voyager Digital, Then Backs Out of Acquisition

  • Peer-to-Peer Crypto Platform Paxful Shuts Down Operations Under Regulatory Pressure

  • Genesis Creditors Reject Previously Accepted Bankruptcy Restructuring Plan

  • Kraken Pushes Back Against IRS Demands for User Data

  • Binance Declines Offer to Buy Justin Sun’s Stake in Huobi

  • DYDX Disallows Access to Platform in Canada

  • FBI Raids Home of Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame, Said to Have Been Cooperating with Authorities

  • Former Genesis CEO Michael Moro Joins Crypto Derivatives Exchange Startup Ankex

March 2023 Highlights

BTC 23%

  • Binance and Changpeng Sued by CFTC Under Scathing Allegations

  • Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank Are Liquidated; Fed Steps In to Ensure Depositors Are Made Whole; The Crypto Ecosystem Scrambles for Banks

  • US Government Seems to Have Intentionally Pushed Silvergate and Signature Into Liquidation, While Saving All Other Banks

  • SEC Sues Justin Sun for Selling Unregistered Securities

  • Coinbase Receives Wells Notice From SEC, Coinbase Defiantly Commits to Fighting SEC

  • Do Kwon Arrested in Montenegro

  • USDC Redemption Is Temporarily Halted and Price Depegs Over the Weekend After SVB Collapses

  • NYAG Sues Kucoin for Unregistered Securities Exchange, Alleges ETH is a Security

  • US Government Sells 9,800 BTC from Silk Road Seizure on March 14th, To Sell 41,500 More In Four Batches By YE

  • Bittrex Winding Down US Operations

  • Bybit Suspends USD Withdrawals

  • MicroStrategy Prepays Loan from Silvergate at 22% Discount to Par

  • Congressman Emmer Sends Letter to FDIC Chairman Claiming Attacks on Crypto

  • White House Releases Scathing Report on the Risks of Digital Assets

  • SEC Chair Gensler Claims Staking Is a Securities Transaction

  • SEC Objects to Binance US’ Acquisition of Voyager Digital in Bankruptcy; Judge Denies SEC Objection; DoJ Appeals the Objection; Judge Then Halts Acquisition After Binance CFTC Filing

  • Federal Reserve Announces FedNow Launch for July

  • ETH L2 Arbitrum Conducts Airdrop of New Token

  • State Street Cuts Ties with Copper Custody

  • Fireblocks Uncovers Vulnerability in BitGo’s Custody Protocol

  • Hong Kong Receives Tacit Approval from Shanghai to Support Crypto Companies

  • Law Firm That Litigated the Original Operation Chokepoint Publishes White Paper Explaining How Banking Regulators Are Doing the same Thing Now

  • FTX Estate Sues Grayscale for Recoveries

  • FTX Estate Considering Restarting FTX

  • FTX Estate Continues Selling and Clawing Back Various Assets

  • FTX Estate Send Out Creditor IDs to All Customers

  • Congressional Financial Services Committee Holds Hearing Entitled: “Coincidence or Coordinated? The Administration’s Attack on the Digital Asset Ecosystem”

  • PCAOB Advises Investors to Exercise Caution in Trusting Proof of Reserves Reports

  • Euler Finance Hacked for $193mm, Hacker Returns $101mm

  • Instagram Winding Down NFT Business

  • DeFi Protocol Sushi Served with SEC Subpoena

  • Telegram Integrates USDT Into App

February 2023 Highlights

BTC 0%

  • US Regulators and Enforcement Agencies Execute “Operation Chokepoint 2.0”, Pushing to De-bank The Crypto Industry in the US

  • Kraken Charged by SEC For Selling Unregistered Securities Via Staking Service, Forced to Shut Down Staking for US Retail and Pay $30mm Fine

  • SEC Files Securities Fraud Lawsuit Against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon

  • NYDFS Investigating Paxos Over BUSD Stablecoin

  • SEC Plans to Sue Paxos Over BUSD Stablecoin, Ordered to Stop Issuing BUSD

  • CZ Announces an Orderly Wind Down of BUSD Trading Over Time

  • Coinbase to Suspend BUSD Trading March 13th

  • Binance Australia Closes Derivatives Trading on Some Accounts

  • Binance US Found with Unexplained $400mm Transfer to CZ-controlled Entity

  • Binance Loses Banking Partner, Suspends USD Bank Transfers

  • Binance Instructs Indian Crypto Exchange Partner WazirX to Withdraw Customer Assets

  • PayPal Suspends Stablecoin Development Amid Regulatory Scrutiny

  • SEC and NYDFS Object to Binance US’ $1bn Acquisition of Bankrupt Voyager Digital

  • Caitlin Long’s Banking Startup Custodia Denied Oversight by Federal Reserve, Citing Crypto Risks

  • DoJ Indicts Founders of $340mm DeFi Ponzi Scheme “Forsage”

  • LocalBitcoins To Shut Down Operations

  • Dapper Labs Denied Motion to Dismiss Against SEC, Judge Says Selling NBA Topshots Could Be a Securities Offering

  • Self-hosted Wallet Ban Avoided in New Draft of EU’s Anti-money Laundering Bill

  • Hester Peirce Authors Dissenting Opinion on Kraken Staking Enforcement Action

  • Coinbase To Launch Ethereum L2 Chain Called “Base”, No Token to Be Issued

  • Hong Kong Shifts Stance to Be More Friendly Towards Crypto, with Support from China

  • Bitcoin Blockchain Sees Spike in Activity Around “Ordinals” and “Inscription” NFT Minting

  • Genesis and DCG Reach Initial Agreement with Main Creditors on Bankruptcy Process

  • LBRY Settles with SEC, Establishes Selling of LBC Tokens on Secondary Market Not a Security

  • Silvergate Faces DoJ Probe Over FTX and Alameda Dealings

  • Galois Capital to Wind Down After Half of Fund Assets Are Stuck on FTX

  • Co-CIO Joey Krug Steps Down from Pantera

  • RobinHood Board Approves Plan to Buy Back $578mm of RH Stock Purchased by SBF and Gary Wang

  • FTX Negotiates Return of $400mm from Modulo Capital

  • Bankruptcy Court Approves Sale of Certain FTX Investments, Tokens and Equity Shares

  • SBF Charges with Conspiracy to Make Unlawful Political Contributions and Defraud the Federal Elections Commission

  • Judge Denies Request for Independent Examiner in FTX Bankruptcy

  • FTX Japan Resumes Withdrawals

  • Alameda Insider Nashad Singh Reportedly Cooperating with Authorities Against SBF

  • CFTC and SEC Cases Against SBF Delayed Until After Criminal Case

  • Jump Crypto Counter Exploits the Wormhole Hacker, Recovers $140mm of Stolen Funds

January 2023 Highlights

BTC 40%

  • Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss Get in Pissing Contest on Twitter with Barry Silbert Over Liabilities Between Gemini and Genesis/DCG; Nothing Meaningful Accomplished

  • SEC Charge Gemini and Genesis with Unregistered Securities Offering

  • Genesis Files for “Pre-packaged” Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, Said to Exit Bankruptcy in May 2023

  • Sullivan & Cromwell Release Slide Deck with New Information on FTX Bankruptcy, Claims to Have Possession of $5bn in Liquid Crypto, Alludes to Clawbacks of Historical Transactions, Reports Alameda Having a $65bn “Backdoor” on FTX

  • NYT Reports FTX Employees Discovered Alameda Using Hundreds of $mm of Customer Funds in 2020

  • New FTX CEO John J. Ray III Says He’s Considering Restarting FTX Exchange

  • FTX Bankruptcy Sues Voyager Digital to Claw Back $446mm Payment Made During Preferential 90-day Period

  • Sam Pleads Not Guilty to All Criminal Charges, Trial Set for October 2nd

  • FTX Bankruptcy Judges Orders Seizure of $93mm in Cash Held in FTX Account at Silvergate

  • Former FTX General Counsel Daniel Friedberg Cooperates with US Authorities on FTX Collapse

  • 196 Congressmen Took Direct Contributions from Sam and Other FTX Executives

  • DoJ Seizing Robinhood Shares Held by Sam

  • DoJ Takes Enforcement Action Against Russian Crypto Exchange Bitzlato Over Money Laundering

  • Coinbase Reaches $100mm Settlement with NYDFS for AML/KYC Violations

  • Nexo Reaches $45mm Settlement with SEC Over Sale of Unregistered Securities

  • SEC Charges Avraham Eisenberg with Market Manipulation of DeFi Protocol Mango Markets

  • Ex-Coinbase Manager’s Brother Sentenced to 10 Months in First Ever Crypto Insider Trading Case

  • Alex Mashinsky Sued by NY AG for Making False Statement to Investors

  • Date For Oral Arguments in Grayscale’s Appeal of SEC’s Bitcoin ETF Set on March 7th

  • Binance Admits Stablecoin Pegged-BUSD Had >$1bn Collateral Hole, Claims It Is Now Fixed

  • 3AC Founders Partner with Coinflex Founders to Attempt Launch of “GTX” Exchange Using Bankruptcy Claims from Celsius, Voyager and FTX as Collateral for Trading

  • Ethereum Sets Shanghai Upgrade Date for March

  • AWS Announces Node Services for Avalanche

  • USDC Announces Pending Launch of Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol, Allowing for Seamless Bridging Between Blockchains

  • Wyre Apparently on the Verge of Shutting Down, Receives Last Minute Rescue Financing from Unnamed Strategic Investors

  • Coinbase Lays Off 1,000 Employees, Reduces Operating Expenses 25% Q/Q

  • Blockchain.com lays Off 28% of Employees

  • Crypto.com Lays Off 20% of Employees

  • Huobi Lays Off 20% of Employees, Rumors Swirl of Solvency Issues

  • Mt Gox Repayment Deadline Pushed Back to September

  • Blackrock Reports 7.2% Stake in Silvergate

  • Prop Trading Firm “Group One” Reports 12.5% Stake in MSTR

  • Crypto.com Delisting Tether in Canada Due to Regulators

  • Voyager Digital Bankruptcy Receives Preliminary Court Approval For $1bn Sale to Binance, Subject to OFAC Approval

  • Leading Asian Crypto Fund HashKey Raises $500mm Fund III

  • Injective Launches $150mm Ecosystem Fund with Pantera, Jump, Kraken, Delphi, et al

  • Blockstream Raises $125mm for Bitcoin Mining

December 2022 Highlights

BTC -4%

  • Sam Arrested by Bahamian Authorities at Request of US Govt; Charged with Wire Fraud, Securities Fraud, Money Laundering, etc.

  • Sam Held In Bahamian prison for 10 Days; Extradited to US; Released to His Parents on $250mm Bail, with Only His Parents’ $4mm House Posted for Bond

  • Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison Flips on Sam in Exchange for Plea Deal, Testifying to Large Scale Fraud Led and Perpetrated by Sam; Ellison in FBI Custody

  • Alameda Co-Founder Gary Wang Flips on Sam in Exchange for Plea Deal, Testifying to Large Scale Fraud Led and Perpetrated by Sam; Wang in FBI Custody

  • FTX CEO Ryan Salame Flips on Sam Two Days Before Bankruptcy Filing, Testifies to Fraud by Alameda

  • Binance Experiences >$10bn of Net Withdrawals; Temporarily Suspends spot BNB Borrow; Temporarily Halts Withdrawals of ERC USDC; Is Said to Be on the Verge of Being Charged by DoJ

  • Binance Proof of Reserves Auditor Mazar’s Pauses All Crypto Work, Removes Binance Attestation

  • BinanceUS Temporarily Halts Withdrawals of USDT and USDC

  • The Block Was Secretly Funded with Millions Funneled by SBF in Hidden Deal with Block CEO Mike McCaffrey; McCaffrey Resigns

  • The Future of DCG in Limbo as Portfolio Company Genesis Teeters on the Verge of Bankruptcy

  • FTX CEO John Ray III Testifies Before Congress for >3 Hours

  • Sam Invited to Testify Before Congress, Confirms and Then Backs Out; Congress Stops Short of Subpoenaing Sam

  • Canada to Prohibit Leverage Trading in Crypto, Require Segregated Custody for Canadian Assets

  • Well Known Crypto Trader Avi Eisenberg Arrested by DoJ, Charged with Market Manipulation

  • TP ICAP, the Largest Inter-dealer Broker, Receives FCA Approval to Offer Crypto Services

  • 3AC Liquidators Begin Taking Control of Fund Assets

  • Publicly-Traded Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific Files for Chapter 11

  • Nexo to Phase Out US Offerings in Coming Months Due to Regulatory Pressure

  • Orthogonal Trading Liquidates Due to Insolvency from FTX Collapse

  • Amber Group Raises $300mm Led by Fenbushi to Shore Up Balance Sheet After Large-scale Losses and Rumors of Bankruptcy

  • Fir Tree Sues Grayscale Over GBTC

  • Silvergate and CEO Alan Lane Sued in Class Action Suit for Their Role in Transferring Customer Deposits to Alameda

  • Signature Bank Announces Caps on Crypto Exposure

  • Donald Trump Launches NFT Collection, May Have Stolen Stock Images

  • Document from September 2022 Written by Sam Emerges Where He Contemplates Shutting Down Alameda

  • Voyager Digital Announces Agreement for BinanceUS to Acquire Its Assets

  • Bybit Introduces More Stringent KYC Requirements

November 2022 Highlights

BTC -16%

  • Sam Bankman-Fried Is Discovered to Be a Criminal and an Absolute Sociopath

  • FTX/Alameda Collapse in Massive Madoff-style Fraud, Stealing Many Billions of Customer Funds

  • CZ Instigates the FTX Collapse, Likely with Knowledge of Underlying Fraud, Steps in At The 11th Hour to Rescue FTX from Bankruptcy, Then Walks Away Shortly Thereafter

  • FTX.com, FTX US and Alameda Research File for Chapter 11

  • FTX.com Experiences Hack the Day After Bankruptcy for Potentially Hundreds of Millions, Potentially by an Insider

  • SBF Largely Shirks Responsibility for Enormous Fraud and Deceit, Both Publicly and in Private Messages

  • Mainstream Media Is Overwhelmingly, Creepily Soft on SBF in Their Coverage

  • BlockFi Halts Withdrawals and Files for Chapter 11

  • Genesis Halts Withdrawals After Publicly Stating They Were Fine and is Rumored to be on the Verge of Bankruptcy

  • Gemini Earn Halts Withdrawals Due to Genesis Exposure, May File for Bankruptcy

  • DCG Is Attempting to Raise Rescue Financing

  • A “Backdoor” in FTX.com’s Internal Accounting System is Discovered, Allowing Alameda Team Members Including SBF to Steal from Customer Accounts Without Alerting Auditors

  • FTX Processes Millions of Withdrawals to Bahamian Customers After Freezing Withdrawals for All Other Customers

  • SBF, SBF’s Parents and FTX Bought ~$121mm of Real Estate in Bahamas

  • Class Action Lawsuits Filed Against Tom Brady, Larry David, Steph Curry, et al Over FTX Promotion

  • DoJ, Bahamas, Preparing Criminal Charges Against SBF and FTX

  • Congress Set to Hold FTX hearing on December 13th, SBF to Be Questioned

  • Tiger Global Hired Bain & Co to Perform Due Diligence on FTX Before Investing $38mm

  • Tether Freezes FTX USDT at Request of Law Enforcement

  • Block One Reports 7.5% Stake in Silvergate

  • Kraken Lays Off 30% of Workforce

  • Fidelity to Open Commission-Free BTC and ETH Trading for Retail Customers

  • Instagram Integrating Polygon and Solana NFTs

  • Instagram Utilizing Arweave to Store NFTs

  • Google Cloud Begins Operating a Solana Validator and Will Accept Crypto Payments

  • US Attorney Announces $3.4bn Crypto Seizure in Connection with Silk Road

October 2022 Highlights

BTC 5%

  • BNY Mellon Begins Crypto Custody for Select Customers

  • Fidelity Enables Ethereum Trading for Institutional Clients

  • Twitter To Allow Buying and Selling of NFTs Through Tweets

  • CashApp Adds Support for Bitcoin Lightning Network

  • Binance/CZ Invests $500mm with Elon to Buy Twitter

  • Google to Allow Some Customers to Pay for Cloud Services with Crypto via Coinbase in Early 2023

  • Google Cloud Announces Blockchain Node Service Starting with Ethereum

  • Apple Issues New App Store Rules for Crypto and NFT Payments

  • Accounting Standards Board FASB Allows for Fair Value Treatment of Crypto Assets, Ending Crypto Impairment Charges

  • Facebook’s Libra Spinout Aptos Launches Blockchain, Token Begins Trading, Receives Significant Criticism from Crypto Community

  • Uniswap Labs Raises $165mm Series B Led by Polychain

  • Celestia Labs Raises $55mm at $1bn Valuation Led by Bain Capital and Polychain

  • Blockchain Developer Platform Tatum Raises $41.5mm Led by Evolution Equity Partners

  • Blockchain Indexer Nxyz Raises $40mm Series A Led by Paradigm

  • Blockchain Gaming Startup Horizon Raises $40mm Led by Brevan Howard, Morgan Creek

  • Blockchain.com Raises Undisclosed Amount of Capital at Undisclosed Valuation Led by Kingsway Capital

  • Binance Launches $500mm Fund to Provide Loans to Bitcoin Miners

  • Blocktower Launches $150mm Venture Fund Backed by BPI France and Mass Mutual

  • DeFi Protocol MakerDAO Invests $500mm Into US Treasuries

  • Tether Launches Access to 24,000 ATMs in Brazil

  • Coin Center Files Federal Suit Against OFAC, Challenging Its Authority to Sanction Tornado Cash

  • DeFi Protocol Mango Markets Exploited for $114mm, Exploiter Comes Forward Publicly, Claims What He Did Was Not Illegal, Agrees to Return $67mm

  • Binance Smart Chain Hacked for $100mm, Chain Temporarily Frozen to Prevent Further Exploit

  • NEAR Foundation Establishes $40mm Fund to Bail Out USN Investors in Case of Collapse

  • PayPal Institutes $2,500 Fine for Users Promoting Misinformation

  • Huobi Founder Leon Li to Sell His Entire Stake in Huobi to About Capital Management

  • Crypto Community Pushes Back Against SBF for His Regulatory Proposals on DeFi, Debate Ensues

  • NYDIG CEO Robert Gutmann Resigns, NYDIG Lays Off One-Third of Staff

  • Public Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific Says It May Seek Bankruptcy

  • Bored Ape Creator Faces SEC Probe Over Unregistered Offerings

  • Bittrex Pays $30mm Fine for Sanctions Violations

  • SEC Settles Probe Against Kim Kardashian for $1.26mm for Publicly Shilling EthereumMax

  • Polkadot Co-Founder Gavin Wood Steps Down

  • Genesis Chief Risk Officer Leaves After 3 Months

September 2022 Highlights

BTC -3%

  • Ethereum Merge Successfully Completed

  • ETH PoW Hard Fork Occurs, Trades From $32 to $6 and Back to $12

  • FTX Acquires Voyager Digital for $111mm

  • Modular Execution Layer Fuel Labs Raises $80mm Led by Blockchain Capital

  • Facebook’s Libra Project Spinout Sui Raises $300mm at >$2bn Led by FTX, a16z, Jump, Binance, Coinbase, Circle and Lightspeed

  • Lightning Network Startup Strike Raises $80mm from Ten31, Washington University of St Louis and University of Wyoming

  • Reddit Founder Alex Ohanion Leads $54mm Raise into Doodles NFTs

  • Fraud Protection Startup Sardine Raises $51mm Series B Led by a16z

  • Game Developer Theorycraft Raises $50mm Series B Led by Makers Fund

  • African Exchange Yellow Card Financial Raises $40mm Series B Led by Polychain

  • Trading Platform 3Commas Raises $37mm Series B Led by Target Global, Alameda Research and Jump Capital

  • Messari Raises $35mm at $300mm Valuation Led by Brevan Howard Digital

  • Deribit Raises $40mm at $400mm Valuation from Existing Investors

  • FTX Ventures Acquires 30% of Skybridge Capital

  • London Asset Manager Fasanara Capital Launches $350mm Web3 VC Fund

  • NEAR Partners with Caerus Ventures on $100mm Ecosystem Fund

  • MSTR Initiates $500mm Common Stock Offering, Purchases $6mm of Bitcoin

  • Kraken CEO Jesse Powell Resigns

  • Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky Resigns

  • FTX US President Brett Harrison Resigns

  • South Korea Issues Arrest Warrant for Do Kwon

  • SEC Charges Ian Balina for Promoting Unregisted ICO’s

  • Crypto Market Maker Wintermute Hacked for $160mm

  • Major Bitcoin Mining Pool Poolin Suspends Withdrawals from Wallet Service

  • Abra Launches “Abra Bank” and “Abra Boost” Staking and Yield Products

  • CME Launches ETH Options

  • NASDAQ Planning to Offer Crypto Custody and Other Services

  • Helium Network Signs 5-year Agreement with T-Mobile

  • CFTC Charges Ooki DAO with Multiple Violations

  • California and New York Issue Order for Nexo to Cease Offering of Yield Products

August 2022 Highlights

BTC -14%

  • US Treasury Sanctions Tornado Cash Smart Contract; USDC Blacklists Every Sanctioned ETH Address; Infura and Alchemy Block Access to Tornado Cash; Anonymous Tornado Cash Users Send Tornado Cash ETH to Many Famous Doxxed ETH Addresses; Developer of Tornado Cash Arrested

  • Ethereum Core Devs Set September 15 Date for Merge

  • Blackrock Partners with Coinbase to Provide Crypto Access on Aladdin Platform

  • Blackrock Launches Private Trust for Direct Spot Bitcoin Access

  • Poloniex Announces Trading Support for Impending ETHPoW Fork

  • BitMEX Launches Derivatives for Impending ETHPoW Fork

  • CoinFund Raises $300mm Fund

  • Shima Capital Raises $200mm Fund

  • Gabe Leydon Raises $200mm Led by Paradigm for New Blockchain Game

  • Metaverse Avatar Platform Ready Player Me Raises $56mm Led by A16Z

  • NFT Collective PROOF Raises $50mm Led by A16Z

  • AAA Game Studio Gunzilla Games Raises $46mm Led by Republic Capital

  • DeFi-focused L1 Injective Raises $40mm from Jump Crypto, BH Digital

  • Blockchain Gaming Platform Xterio Raises $40mm Led by FunPlus, FTX Ventures

  • Senators Introduce Bill Establishing CFTC Regime for Crypto Exchanges

  • House Committee on Oversight and Reform Asks Five Crypto Exchanges for Info of Fraud Protection

  • Crypto VC Dragonfly Acquires Crypto Fund MetaStable Capital

  • FTX and Alameda Research Merge Venture Investing Operations

  • Genesis CEO Mike Moro Steps Down, Genesis Cuts 20% of Headcount

  • Sam Trabucco Steps Down as Co-CEO of Alameda Research

  • Crypto Bridge Nomad Hacked for $190mm

  • Robinhood Crypto Fined $30mm by NYDFS for AML/KYC Violations

  • Michael Saylor Steps Down as CEO of MicroStrategy, Assumes Executive Chair

  • Washington DC Attorney General Sues Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy for Tax Fraud

  • Facebook Launches NFT Integrations with Coinbase Wallet, Dapper and Flow Blockchain

  • Galaxy Digital Terminates Proposal to Acquire Custodian BitGo; BitGo Sues

  • Voyager Customers Granted Access to $270mm in Bankruptcy Hearing

  • India Regulatory Agency Freezes $8mm in Assets on Exchange WazirX

  • Reddit Integrates with FTX to Allow Users to Pay Gas Fees Using Fiat

July 2022 Highlights

BTC 18%

  • Tesla Sells ~75% of Bitcoin Holdings for $936mm, Records $106mm Loss

  • SEC Charges Former Coinbase Employee in First Ever Crypto Insider Trading Scheme, Alleges Coinbase Has Listed Securities

  • Three Arrows Capital Files for Bankruptcy, Founders Go into Hiding

  • Celsius Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

  • India-based Crypto Lender Vauld Blows Up, Files for Bankruptcy, Owes $400mm

  • Voyager Digital Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, FTX/Alameda Propose Bailout for Voyager Customers, Voyager Doesn’t Like Bailout Terms

  • Jason Stone, Former DeFi Trader for Celsius, Sues Celsius, Claims CEL Token Market Manipulation, Infers Criminal Activity

  • Lending Firm Genesis Loses Hundreds $mm’s in 3AC Debacle

  • Crypto Exchange Blockchain.com Loses $270mm in 3AC Debacle

  • Auction House Christie’s Announces Web3 Venture Fund

  • Crypto VC Variant Raises $450mm in Two Venture Funds

  • Multicoin Capital Announces $430mm Venture Fund

  • Facebook’s Libra Spinout Aptos Raises $150mm, Led by FTX Ventures, Jump, Multicoin

  • Discussion Swirls About Potential ETH Fork Leading Up to ETH 2.0 Merge Date

  • Tether Announces it Holds Zero Chinese Commercial Paper and Will Hold Zero Commercial Paper by November 2022

  • Crypto Miner Core Scientific Reports Selling 7,202 BTC in Jun

  • BlockFi Announces It Will Not Accept GBTC as Collateral

  • Pomp’s Crypto Recruiting Firm Raises $12.6mm, Acquires Proof of Talent

  • Russia Announces Ban on Crypto Payment

  • “Into the Metaverse” on the Cover of TIME Magazine

  • Minecraft Announces Ban on NFTs

June 2022 Highlights

BTC -38%

  • Three Arrows Capital Blows Up Madoff-Style, Likely Committed Crimes, Knock-On Effects Severely Damage Many Large Crypto Companies, Many Billions Lost

  • Celsius Halts Withdrawals on June 13th, Engages with Restructuring Legal and Financing Teams, Likely Heading to Bankruptcy, Customer Assets Likely Stuck and Impaired

  • BlockFi Loses Hundreds of Millions on Bad Loans to 3AC and Others, Receives Emergency $250mm Loan from FTX, FTX Likely Acquiring Entire Company For $275mm Assumption of Debt

  • Publicly Traded Crypto Platform Voyager Digital Nearly Blows Up on 3AC Contagion, Receives Emergency $500mm Loan from Alameda Research, Alameda Likely Acquiring Controlling Stake

  • Babel Finance Blows Up From 3AC Contagion, Loses A Billion or More

  • SEC Rejects Grayscale Spot Bitcoin ETF, Grayscale Files Suit Against SEC the Same Day

  • Crypto Exchange CoinFlex Loses $47mm on Bad Loan to Roger Ver, Issues Token with Claim to Future Recovery

  • CEO and CFO of Compass Mining Resign

  • Solana Announces Plan for Smartphone

  • MicroStrategy Buys $10mm of Bitcoin

  • Ronaldo Partners with Binance for NFT Collection

  • PayPal Enables Transfer of BTC, ETH, BCH and LTC to External Wallets

  • Binance VC Arm Binance Labs Raises $500mm Venture Fund

  • London VC Firm Felix Capital Raises $600mm Web3 Fund

  • NFT Marketplace Magic Eden Raises $130mm at $1.6bn Valuation

  • FalconX Raises $150mm at $8bn Valuation

  • PrimeTrust Raises $105mm Series B

  • US Prosecutors Charge OpenSea's Nathaniel Chastain with Insider Trading

  • CFTC Claims Gemini Lied to Regulators About Giving Market Maker Rebates

  • DOJ Publishes Response to Biden Executive Order on Digital Assets

  • Senators Lummis and Gillibrand Announce 69-page Responsible Financial Innovation Act, a Bill Creating Thorough Regulatory Framework for Digital Assets

  • Coinbase Cuts 18% of Employees

  • ProShares Launches Short Bitcoin ETF

  • NYDFS Issues Stablecoin Guidance

  • DeFi Protocols Generally Perform Well During Market Stress

  • Coinbase Introduces Increased KYC For Outgoing Transactions in Some Jurisdictions

  • Nexo Offers to Acquire Qualifying Assets from Celsius

  • Citadel Partnering with Virtu to Build Crypto Trading Marketplace

May 2022 Highlights

BTC -16%

  • Ikigai Enters Web3 VC - Raises $30mm Venture Fund from Existing Investors

  • Algorithmic Stablecoin Project Terra Luna Implodes in Spectacular Fashion, Vaporizing Billions of Dollars

  • Vitalik Buterin Says ETH Merge Will Happen August - October

  • A16Z Raises $4.5bn Crypto Fund

  • A16Z Raises $600mm Gaming Fund

  • Standard Crypto Raises $500mm VC Fund

  • Chainalysis Raises $170mm Series F at $8.6bn Valuation, Led by Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund

  • NFT Blockchain Flow Launches $725mm Ecosystem Fund

  • KuCoin Announces $150mm Series B at $10bn Valuation

  • StarkWare Raises $100mm Series D at $8bn Valuation

  • Elliptic Raises $60mm Series C Led by JPMorgan

  • Facebook (Meta) Partners with Polygon on NFTs

  • Instagram to Support NFTs on Ethereum, Polygon, Solana and Flow

  • 32 Central Banks and 12 Financial Authorities Meet in El Salvador to Discuss Financial Inclusion and Bitcoin

  • El Salvador Buys 500 BTC at $30,744

  • Federal Reserve Survey Finds 12% of US Adults Hold Crypto

  • Cloudflare To Begin Staking on Ethereum

  • FTX Expands into Stock Trading

  • FTX Proposes New Crypto Regulatory Framework for CFTC, Testifies Before Congress

  • Sam Bankman-Fried Buys 7.6% Stake in RobinHood

  • David Marcus, Former Head of Facebook’s Libra, Launches New Company Lightspark to Build Out Payment Functionality on Bitcoin

  • Coinbase Adds Bankruptcy Disclosure to 10Q, Spooking Customers

  • BitMEX Founders Fined $30mm, Avoid Jail Time

  • China Crypto Mining Reemerges Despite Government “Ban”

  • Terra Luna Founder Do Kwon Faces Inquiry, Prosecution Over Project Collapse

April 2022 Highlights

BTC -17%

  • Central African Republic Passes Bill to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender

  • Fidelity to Allow 401(k) Accounts to Hold Bitcoin

  • Blockchain.com Raises Undisclosed Series D at $14bn Valuation Led by Lightspeed and Baillie Gifford

  • Bolt Acquires Crypto Payments Startup Wyre for $1.5bn

  • Circle Raises $400mm Led by Blackrock, Fidelity

  • Near Protocol Raises $350mm Led by Tiger Global

  • MicroStrategy Purchases $195mm of Bitcoin at ~$45,716

  • Sky Mavis Raises $150mm Led by Binance to Repay Ronin Bridge Hack

  • Indian Crypto Exchange Raises $135mm Series D at $2.15bn Valuation

  • Bored Ape Yacht Club Sells >$100mm of Digital Real Estate in <45 Minutes in New Metaverse Project Otherside

  • Lightning Labs Raises $70mm Series B Led by Valor Equity Partners

  • Pantera Closes New $1.3bn Venture Fund

  • Dragonfly Raises $650mm Venture Fund Led by Multiple Ivy Leagues, KKR

  • Framework Ventures Launches $400mm Fund Focused on Blockchain Gaming

  • Fabric VC Set to Close Two Web 3.0 Venture Funds Totaling $245mm

  • Bitcoin Payment Processor BitPay Announces Support for Lightning Payments

  • Robinhood to Integrate Lightning Network

  • Lightning Network Payments Company Strike Launches Shopify Integration

  • Tesla, Block and Blockstream to Launch Solar Powered Bitcoin Mining in Texas

  • Facebook to Introduce Virtual Tokens and Crypto to Its Family of Apps

  • Sony and Lego Invest $2bn Into Epic Games to Build Metaverse for Kids

  • ESPN Signs First Ever NFT Deal with Autograph

  • UFC to Pay Bonuses to Fighters in Crypto

  • Goldman Sachs Offers Its First Bitcoin-backed Loan Product

  • Crypto Lender Celsius to Cease Paying Interest on New Deposits in US

  • UK Government Announces Move Towards Embracing Crypto

  • US Treasury Sanctions Russian Crypto Miners in First Ever Mining Sanction

  • Stripe to Enable USDC Payments on Twitter

  • Fort Worth Begins Mining Bitcoin in City Hall

  • Apollo Hires Former JPMorgan Crypto Exec Christine Moy to Lead Crypto Investing

March 2022 Highlights

BTC 5%

  • Apple Rumored to Be Partnering with Strike for Bitcoin Lightning Payments

  • Luna Foundation Buys 28,000 Bitcoin Worth ~$1.3bn as Treasury Reserve for Terra Stablecoin, To Buy Least $3bn Total and As Much as $10bn Bitcoin

  • MicroStrategy Takes Out $205mm Loan from Silvergate Collateralized by Bitcoin to Buy More Bitcoin

  • ConsenSys Raises $450mm Series D at $7bn Valuation from Temasek, SoftBank, Microsoft, ParaFi, et al

  • Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs Raises $450mm Seed Round at $4bn Valuation from A16Z, Animoca Brands, FTX, et al

  • Helium Raises $200mm Series D from Tiger Global, A16Z, Pantera, et al

  • Immutable Raises $200mm Series C at $2.5bn Valuation from Temasek, Tencent, Alameda Research, Parafi, et al

  • Former Facebook Libra Employees Raise $200mm from A16Z, Tiger Global, Multicoin, et al to Fulfill Original Vision of Stablecoin Project

  • ETH Scaling Solution Optimism Raises $150mm Series B at $1.65bn Valuation Led by A16Z and Paradigm

  • Cross-chain Operability Platform LayerZero Raises $135mm from Sequoia, A16Z, FTX, et al

  • Zero Knowledge Smart Contract Platform Mina Protocol Raises $92mm from FTX, Three Arrows

  • A16Z Invests $70mm in Ethereum Staking Provider Lido Finance

  • Solana-based NFT Marketplace Raises $27mm Series A from Sequoia, et al

  • Former A16Z Partner Katie Huan Launches $1.5bn Huan Ventures

  • Electric Capital Raises $1bn Crypto Venture Fund

  • Bain Capital Launches $560mm Crypto Venture Fund

  • Spartan Group Raises $200mm Metaverse Venture Fund

  • Spartan Group Raises $100mm Web3 Studio

  • Former Polychain Partner Tekin Salimi Launches $125mm Crypto Venture Fund

  • Bored Ape Creator Yuga Labs Acquires CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs

  • Axie Infinity Sidechain Ronin Bridge Hacked for $620mm of ETH

  • Ukraine Receives Nearly $100mm in Total Crypto Donations

  • FinCEN States They Have Not Seen Widespread Evasion of Sanctions Via Crypto

  • US Intelligence Chief Says It Would Be Challenging for Russia to Completely Undermine Sanctions Using Crypto

  • EU Includes Crypto in Russian Sanctions

  • EU Votes to Limit Anonymous Crypto Transactions and Enforce KYC on Unhosted Wallets

  • Coinbase Blocks >250k Russian Addresses

  • Binance CEO Says Blocking All Russian Addresses Would Be Unethical

  • ApeCoin Is Launched and Airdropped to Yuga Labs, VC Investors and Bored Ape Holders

  • Instagram to Launch NFTs

  • Stripe Partners with FTX to Launch New Products Supporting Crypto Businesses

  • eBay Teases Digital Wallet Product Launch

  • State Street Partners with Crypto Custodian Copper

  • Citadel Securities to Begin Crypto Market Making

  • Bridgewater Said to Be Investing in Crypto Fund

  • White House Releases Executive Order on Digital Assets Calling for More Focused Research Across Multiple Agencies

  • Florida to Accept Bitcoin for Tax Payments

  • Mixing Services CoinJoin Begins Blacklisting Certain Bitcoin Addresses

  • UK Declares Bitcoin ATMs Illegal

  • Former Chief Digital Currency Advisor to FinCEN Joins A16Z as Head of Regulatory

February 2022 Highlights

BTC 12%

  • Russia Moves to Legalize and License Crypto Exchanges

  • Biden Administration Asking Crypto Exchanges to Help Ensure Targeted Russians Follow Sanctions

  • Crypto Donations to Ukraine Reach $20mm+ in Three Days

  • State Street to Provide Crypto Custody

  • BNY Mellon to Provide Crypto Custody

  • Husband and Wife Arrested After DoJ Seizes $3.6bn in Crypto from 2016 Bitfinex Hack

  • Congress Rejects Treasury’s Proposed Stablecoin Regulatory Regime

  • Treasury Tells Senators They Will Leave Out Crypto Miners, Stakers, Developers and Hardware Providers from Upcoming Broker Reporting Rules

  • IRS Rules to Not Tax Unsold Staked Crypto as Income

  • BlockFi Settles with SEC for $100mm

  • BlackRock Is Establishing a Crypto Trading Business

  • USDC Provider Circle to Go Public Via SPAC at $9bn Valuation

  • KPMG Canada Adds Bitcoin and Ethereum to Corporate Balance Sheet

  • Canada Sanctions 34 Crypto Wallets Tied to ‘Freedom Convoy’ Trucker Protest

  • New iPhone Feature Will Enable Bitcoin “Tap to Pay” Transactions

  • Twitter Adds Ethereum Tipping Capability

  • MicroStrategy Buys $25mm Bitcoin at $37,865

  • Solana DeFi Bridge “Wormhole” Experiences $320mm Hack, Jump Trading Fills Entire Gap in 24 Hours

  • Luna Foundation Raises $1bn to Create Reserve for UST Stablecoin

  • Polygon Raises $450mm in Token Sale to Sequoia, SoftBank, Tiger Global, et al

  • Helium Raises $200mm Series D at $1.2bn Valuation from Tiger Global, FTX Ventures, et al

  • Alchemy Raises $200mm at $10.2bn Valuation from Lightspeed, Silver Lake

  • Binance Takes $200mm Stake in Forbes

  • Metaverse Land Investor Everyrealm Raises $60mm Led by A16Z

  • MLB’s Washington Nationals Partner with Terra on First Ever Deal Between a DAO and Sports Franchise

  • GameStop Partners with ImmutableX on $100mm Gaming Fund

  • 1Password Partners with Phantom to Secure Solana Private Keys

  • Arthur Hayes Found Guilty of Bank Secrecy Act Violations, Awaits Sentence

  • ConocoPhillips Is Operating a Bakken Shale Bitcoin Mining Project

  • Digital Identity Platform Verite Receives Support from Circle, Block, Coinbase, Metamask, Phantom, Solana, Compound and Others

January 2022 Highlights

BTC -17%

  • Bill Miller Holds 50% of His Net Worth in Bitcoin

  • FTX Raises $2bn Venture Fund

  • FTX Raises $400mm Series C at $32bn Valuation from Temasek, Ontario Teachers, et al

  • FTX US Raises $400mm at $8bn Valuation from Softbank, et al

  • Blockdaemon Raises $207mm at $3.25bn Valuation from Tiger Global, et al

  • NFT Platform Autograph Raises $170mm Series B from a16z, et al

  • Smart Contract Platform Near Raises $150mm Ecosystem Fund

  • Swiss Digital Asset Banking Platform SEBA Raises $119mm Series C

  • Solana Wallet Phantom Raises $109mm Series B at $1.2bn Valuation

  • CoinTracker Raises $100mm Series A from Accel Partners, et al

  • Serum Raises $100mm from Tiger Global, et al

  • The Graph Protocol Raises $50mm from Tiger Global, et al

  • Solana NFT Platform Metaplex Raises $46mm

  • Paradigm and Sequoia Invest $1.15bn in Citadel Securities at $22bn Valuation

  • Apple CEO Tim Cook “Sees a Lot of Potential in Metaverse, Investing Accordingly”

  • Nike Hiring Director of Metaverse

  • Cash App Begins Offering Lightning Network Access to Users

  • Google Hires Former PayPal Executive to Run Payments Division, Push into Crypto

  • Twitter Blue Launches Feature for Users to Display NFTs

  • Facebook and Instagram Preparing Feature to Allow Users to Display NFTs

  • Robinhood Begins Testing Crypto Wallet

  • Crypto Execs from CMS Holdings, Framework Ventures, FTX, Skybridge, et al Launch $20mm PAC to Deploy Towards Crypto Lobbying in 2022

  • Presidents Working Group Plans Executive Order on Crypto for February

  • SEC Proposes Rule with Wide-ranging Language That Could Be Adversely Applied to Numerous Crypto Projects

  • Fed, Treasury Warm to Private Stablecoins While Still Open to Digital Dollar

  • US Representative Tom Emmer Introduces Bill Prohibiting Fed from Issuing CBDC Directly to Individuals

  • Gary Gensler Appoints Senate Aide Corey Frayer as Senior Advisor on Crypto

  • CFTC Fines Polymarket $1.4mm for Unregistered Swaps

  • Russia Calls for Full-scale Ban on Crypto Trading, Mining and Payments, Then Walks Back Statement

  • China Plans to Legalize NFTs and Prepares Separate Laws from Crypto

  • Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo Joins Coinfund Board of Directors

  • Mayor of Rio De Janeiro Moves 1% of City Treasury into Bitcoin

  • Facebook Stablecoin Project Diem Winds Down, Prepares for Asset Sale

  • Crypto.com Has 400 Accounts Hacked for $19mm

  • Crypto Trading Firm Tantra Labs Goes Bankrupt After GBTC Discount Widens

  • American Express Considering Allowing Points to Be Redeemed for Crypto

December 2021 Highlights

BTC -19%

  • NYDIG Raises $1bn at $7bn Valuation

  • Square Rebrands to Block

  • WhatsApp To Allow Crypto Payments in Novi Wallets in US

  • Executives of Coinbase, FTX, Circle, Paxos, Bitfury and Stellar Testify to Congress

  • Fidelity to Accept Bitcoin Collateral on Cash Loans for Institutions

  • Ubisoft Becomes First Major Gaming Company to Launch In-game NFTs

  • Kickstarter to Move to Blockchain Funding on Celo in 2022

  • MicroStrategy Buys $82mm BTC at $57.5k

  • Anchorage Raises $350mm Series D From KKR, Goldman Sachs, et al

  • Crypto Derivatives Platform Paradigm Raises $400mm

  • Polygon Acquires ZK-rollups Startup Mir Protocol for $400mm

  • DeFi Protocol 1inch Network Raises $175mm Series B

  • Polygon and Reddit Co-founder Launch $200mm Web3 Fund

  • Staking Provider Figment Raises $110mm Series C at $1.4bn Valuation From Thoma Bravo, et al

  • On-chain Analytics Company Nansen Raises $75mm From Accel, Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund, et al

  • DeFi Wallet Tracker DeBank Raises $25mm at $200mm Valuation From Sequoia China, Dragonfly, et al

  • Dan Tapiero’s 10T Holdings to Raise $500mm Crypto Growth Equity Fund

  • ParaFi Capital Raises $30mm Venture Fund, Taking Total AUM >$1bn

  • Brevan Howard Launches Multi-Strategy Crypto Fund

  • “NFT” Search Volume Overtakes “Crypto”

  • Nike Acquires NFT Design Studio RTFKT

  • Metaverse Company InfintiteWorld to Go Public Via $700mm SPAC, Ticker JPG

  • Former Tinder, Stripe and Instagram Execs Announce $50mm Crypto Fund Focused on Design

  • FTX Becomes Official Crypto and NFT Platform for Golden State Warriors

  • Life Insurance Company Lemonade Buys $1mm Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

  • Ledn Announces Bitcoin-Backed Mortgage Product, Raises $70mm Series B at $540mm Valuation

  • Kevin Durant Signs Promotional Deal with Coinbase

  • Michael Jordan Announces Launch of HEIR, a Fan Engagement Platform on Solana

  • IMF Releases Guidelines for A Uniform Global Crypto Regulation Framework

  • Bitwise Launches Blue-Chip NFT Index Fund, Holding 10 Most Valuable NFT Collections

  • Huobi Fully Offboards All Mainland China Users

  • BitMEX Announces Exchange Token “BMEX” Airdrop

  • BadgerDAO Hacked for $130mm, Celsius Loses Significant Capital

  • PwC Buys Land in the Sandbox Metaverse

November 2021 Highlights

BTC -7%

  • Paradigm Raises $2.5bn Venture Fund

  • Pantera Raises $600mm Venture Fund

  • Crypto.com Signs 20-year $700mm Deal to Rename Staples Center

  • ConsenSys Raises $200mm on $3.2bn Valuation

  • Commonwealth Bank Leads $400mm Fundraise in Gemini at $7bn+ Valuation

  • Blockchain Gaming Company Forte Raises $725mm Series B

  • FTX, Lightspeed Ventures & Solana Ventures partner on $100mm Web3 Gaming Fund

  • Reddit Co-Founder to Invest $100mm in Social Media on Solana

  • A16z Leads $150mm Fundraise for NFT Game Platform Mythical Games at $1.25bn Valuation

  • FTX Leads $150mm Fundraise in African Payments Firm Chipper Cash at $2bn Valuation

  • Kucoin Labs Launches $100mm Metaverse/P2E/Gaming Fund

  • StarkWare Raises $50mm at $2bn+ Valuation

  • Hxro Raises $34mm From SIG and Jump to Build Derivatives Infrastructure on Solana

  • Pokemon GO Developer Niantic Raises $300mm at $9bn Valuation to Build Metaverse

  • Alan Howard, Chris Dixon and Winklevoss Twins Back $100mm Metaverse Fund

  • Music Rights NFT Platform Royal Raises $55mm Led by A116Z

  • Neon Labs, Developer of EVM on Solana, Raises $40mm

  • Arca Launches $30mm NFT Fund

  • Bitcoin ETF Provider Valkyrie Launching $100m On-chain DeFi Hedge Fund

  • MicroStrategy Purchases 7,002 BTC For $414mm at Average Price of $59,187

  • Marathon Digital Raises $650mm Convertible Debt at 1% Interest to Buy Bitcoin and Mining Equipment

  • Bitcoin Activates Taproot Upgrade

  • DCG Raises $600mm Credit Facility

  • Citigroup Alum Matt Zhang Launching $1.5bn Crypto Fund

  • Microsoft to Debut Metaverse Apps and Games Next Year

  • Coinbase Users Can Borrow Up to $1mm Using Bitcoin as Collateral

  • New York Mayor Will Take His First Three Paychecks in Bitcoin

  • FTX, Lightspeed Lead $21mm Fundraise in Gaming Studio Faraway

  • Paradigm Co-Founder Matt Huang Joins Board of Stripe

  • Former Ikigai Researcher Phil Bonello to Launch Crypto Hedge Fund

  • Brave Partners with Solana to Integrate into Browser and Make Default for DApp Support

  • Tim Cook Personally Owns Crypto But Apple Has No Plans to Accept Crypto Payments

  • Decentralized Identity Platform Spruce Raises $7.5mm from Electric Capital

  • UAE-Based Phoenix Technology Consultants Places Order for $650mm of Mining Rigs

  • ConstitutionDAO Raises $40mm to Buy Physical Copy of Constitution, Gets Outbid by Ken Griffin, Returns Part of the Money

  • El Salvador Plans Bitcoin City, Funded by Bitcoin Bonds

  • Comprehensive Bipartisan Bill Is Introduced in House to Fix Current Infrastructure Bill's Crypto Tax Provision

  • Senate Banking Committee Sends Letters to Stablecoin Issuers Coinbase, Gemini, Circle, Paxos, TrustToken, Centre, and Binance US About General Business Practices and Safeguards

  • US Treasury Releases Stablecoin Risk Report

  • “NFT” Named Collins Dictionary's Word of the Year

October 2021 Highlights

BTC 40%

  • BTC CME Futures ETF “BITO” Launches, Reaches $1bn AUM in Two Days, Fastest ETF to Reach $1bn Ever

  • Pimco Announces It Is Investing in Crypto

  • Facebook Changes Name to Meta

  • FTX Raises $420,690,000 From 69 Investors at $25bn Valuation

  • Axie Infinity Developer Sky Mavis Raises $150mm at $3bn Valuation Led by A16Z

  • “Crypto AWS” Company Alchemy Raises $250mm at $3.5bn Valuation Led by A16Z

  • ConsenSys Plans Raise at $3bn Valuation

  • MoonPay Raises $400mm at $3.4bn Valuation from Tiger Global, Coatue

  • Celsius Raises $400mm at $3bn Valuation from WestCap, CDPQ

  • CoinList Announces $100mm Series A at $1.5bn Valuation

  • Elliptic Raises $60mm From Softbank, Wells Fargo

  • Animoca Brands Raises $65mm at $2.2bn Valuation

  • Publicly-traded Crypto Trading Platform Voyager Receives $75mm Strategic Investment from Alameda Research

  • NYDIG Acquires Bottlepay for $300mm

  • Venture Fund NFX Raises $450mm Venture Fund with Crypto Focus

  • China-based Crypto VC Fund Sino Global Launches $200mm Fund with Backing From FTX

  • Variant Fund Raises $100mm Early-stage Venture Fund

  • Arca Raises $30mm Early-Stage Venture Fund

  • CBOE Acquires ErisX

  • Republican Leader Patrick McHenry Introduces the Clarity for Digital Tokens Act

  • US Senator Lummis Buys More Bitcoin, Sees BTC as “Excellent Store of Value”

  • Houston Firefighter’s Pension Makes $25mm Direct Investment in Bitcoin, Ether

  • Binance Launches $1bn Growth Fund for Binance Smartchain

  • NEAR Protocol Launches $350mm Grants DAO to Fund Ecosystem Growth

  • DCG Authorizes Additional $750mm Share Buyback

  • Huobi Ceases Offering Services in China, Delists CNY Trading

  • Binance Ceases Offering Services in China, Delists CNY Trading

  • Mesh 5G WiFi Provider Helium Announces Partnership with Dish Network

  • FTX.US Launches Collectibles Arm on Solana

  • Bank of America Releases 141-page Research Report: “Digital Assets Primer: Only the first inning”

  • Stripe Creates New Crypto-Focused Team

  • A16Z Launches Major Crypto Policy Campaign

  • Tether and Bitfinex Settle with CFTC for $42.5mm

  • NYAG Orders Celsius and Nexo to Cease Services

  • Facebook Chooses Coinbase as Custodian for Novi Project Pilot

  • Coinbase Becomes Exclusive Crypto Partner of NBA

  • Bloomberg Releases FUD article “Anyone Seen Tether’s Billions?”

  • FATF Releases Relatively Benign Guidance on “Virtual Assets”

  • Biden Administration Continues to “Weight Wide-Ranging Push for Crypto Oversight”

  • DeFi Fund Manager MNGR Experiences Hack

September 2021 Highlights

BTC -7%

  • Twitter Releases “Tip Jar” Feature to Allow In-App Tipping of Bitcoin with Lightning Network

  • Interactive Brokers Introduces Crypto Trading Through Paxos

  • MicroStrategy Purchases $243mm Bitcoin at $48k Average Price

  • Chinese Government Declares All Crypto-Related Transactions Illegal, Takes Incremental Steps to Discourage Crypto Usage in China

  • Huobi and Binance Suspend Registration of All New Users in China

  • Multiple ETH Mining Pools Cease Services in Mainland China

  • Gensler Hosts Discussion with Financial Times and Reiterates Prior Hawkish Comments on Crypto Unregistered Securities, While Favoring Bitcoin

  • AngelList Enables USDC Funding

  • Kraken Pays $1.25mm Fine in Settlement with CFTC

  • Ripple Announces $250mm Fund for NFTs on XRP

  • Paul Tudor Jones to Launch Digital Disruption Hedge Fund

  • Algorand Launches $330mm Ecosystem Fund

  • Polychain and Three Arrows Lead $230mm Token Sale in Avalanche

  • Jump Capital Launches $350mm Crypto-Focused Fund

  • Sorare Receives $680mm Investment Led by SoftBank

  • Dapper Labs Raises Another $250mm

  • Crypto Growth Equity Fund 10T Holdings Announces $750mm Raise

  • MasterCard Acquires Crypto Analytics Firm CypherTrace

  • Amberdata Raises $15mm Series A Led By Citi

  • Crypto Fintech Company Zero Hash Raises $35mm Series C Led by Point72 Ventures

  • Coinbase Launches $1.5bn Debt Deal, Upsizes to $2bn at ~3.5% Rate

  • Coinbase Files with the NFA to register as a Futures Commission Merchant

  • Audius Receives Investment from Katy Perry, Nas, Steve Aoki, Chainsmokers and Other

  • FTX Signs Ambassador Partnership with Steph Curry

  • FTX Signs Partnership with F1 Team Mercedes-AMG Petronas and Driver Lewis Hamilton

  • FTX Moves Headquarters to Bahamas

  • Texas Files Cease and Desist Against Celsius

  • SEC Probing Uniswap and Crypto Lending Platforms

  • US Treasury Sanctions Russia OTC Desk for Money Laundering

  • Binance.US Hires Former Ant and Uber China Exec as President

  • Robinhood Begins Early Testing on Crypto Wallets

  • Dutch Football Team PSV Hold Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

August 2021 Highlights

BTC 13%

  • SEC Chair Gensler Makes First Extensive Public Comments on Crypto Regulation, Stating DeFi Regulation Is Coming and Signaling an ETF Holding BTC CME Futures Through “40 Act” Structure Could Get Approval

  • Invesco and ProShares Immediately File For 40 Act ETFs Holding BTC CME Futures, Other Companies Follow

  • $1tn US Infrastructure Bill Held Up for a Week Because of Fierce Pushback from Crypto Industry on Crypto Broker Definition and Requirements

  • Coinbase Receives Approval to Purchase >$500mm of Crypto on Balance Sheet and Invest 10% of Profits in Crypto Going Forward

  • FTX US Acquires Regulated Crypto Derivatives Exchange LedgerX

  • FTX Partners with PR and Media Powerhouse Dolphin Entertainment to Launch NFT Platform

  • FTX Becomes First Derivatives Exchange to Pass a GAAP Audit

  • FTX Signs 7 Year Endorsement Deal with League of Legends     

  • FTX Purchases Naming Rights to University of California’s Stadium

  • Microstrategy Purchases $177mm of Bitcoin at $45,294 Average Price from July 1st to August 23rd

  • Matrixport Raises $100mm Series C at >$1bn Valuation

  • Messari Raises $21mm Series A Led By Point72 Ventures, Its First Crypto Investment

  • FalconX Raises $210mm Series C at $3.75bn Valuation

  • Helium Raises $111mm in Token Sale Led by A16Z, Ribbit, Alameda, Multicoin and Others

  • TaxBit Raises $130mm Series B at $1.33bn Valuation, Led by Tiger Global and Paradigm

  • Polygon Acquires Hermez Network For $250mm in MATIC Tokens in First Ever Merger of Blockchain Networks

  • Blockstream Raises $210mm at $3.2bn Valuation Baillie Gifford and Bitfinex

  • MobileCoin Raises $66mm Series B Led by Alameda and Coinbase Ventures

  • TikTok Chooses Ethereum App Audius as Platform for New Sounds Library

  • Tiger Global Reports 2.6mn Shares of COIN

  • BlackRock Takes 7% Ownership Stakes in Public Bitcoin Miners Marathon Digital and Riot Blockchain

  • Morgan Stanley Reports Owning >1mm Shares of GBTC Across Multiple Funds

  • Bill Miller Reports Owning 1.5mm GBTC Shares

  • SEC Makes First DeFi Related Charges Against Fraudulent Company “DeFi Money Market”

  • BitMEX Reaches $100mm Settlement with CFTC and FinCEN

  • Binance Hires Former US Government Cybercrime Investigator to Lead Money Laundering Reporting

  • Former Head of OCC Brian Brooks Resigns as CEO of Binance US

  • Binance Implements Significantly Stronger KYC Requirements

  • Binance Singapore Hires Former SGX Chief Regulatory Officer as CEO

  • Walmart Hiring For “Cryptocurrency Lead” Position

  • Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton Joins Fireblocks Advisory Board

  • State Street to Offer Fund Administration Services to Crypto Funds

  • Coinbase Announces Explosive Q2 Quarterly Results

  • Substack Adds Bitcoin Lightning Payments

  • Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Partner with NYDIG to Launch Bitcoin Funds

  • VanEck and ProShares Withdraw Ether Futures ETF Proposals

  • Second Largest US Mortgage Lender United Wholesale Mortgage to Accept Crypto Payments This Year

  • USDC Decides to Hold All Reserves in Cash and Short-Dated Treasuries

July 2021 Highlights

BTC 19%

  • Elon Musk Has Live Discussion with Jack Dorsey and Cathie Wood, Supports Bitcoin, Owns Some ETH and DOGE, Says TSLA Will Likely Reinstate Tesla Purchases with BTC

  • FTX Raises Record $900mm on $18bn Valuation from Sequoia, Softbank, Lightspeed, Paul Tudor Jones and Others

  • Fireblocks Raises $310mm on $2bn Valuation

  • Paxos Raises $300mm From Bank of America and Others

  • Crypto Has Record Q2 for Private Funding – 497 VC Deals Totaling $6.2bn

  • USDC Provider Circle to Go Public at $4.5bn Valuation Via SPAC

  • NFT Platform Sorare Raises $532mm on $3.8bn Valuation

  • NFT Platform OpenSea Raises $100mm on $1.5bn Valuation

  • $2.3tn AUM Capital International Group Takes 12.3% Stake in MicroStrategy

  • ProFunds Launches First Ever Publicly Available BTC Mutual Fund

  • $41bn AUM GoldenTree Has Begun Purchasing Bitcoin

  • Galaxy Digital Launches Crypto Fund of Funds Backed by Franklin Templeton

  • Grayscale Launches DeFi Fund

  • JPM and Wells Fargo Private Wealth Management Both Begin Offering Crypto

  • Fidelity to Add 100 Employees to Crypto Business

  • Grayscale Enters into Agreement with BNY Mellon to Provide Asset Servicing and ETF Services for GBTC

  • Chinese Bitcoin Miner BIT Mining Raises $50mm to Move Overseas

  • Energy Harbor Corp Partners with Standard Power to Provide Nuclear-powered Bitcoin Mining in Ohio

  • Black Rock Petroleum Announces Large Bitcoin Mining Agreement to Move Mining Equipment from China to Alberta

  • Visa Says Crypto-linked Card Usage Topped $1bn in 1H-21

  • Swiss Bank Sygnum Becomes First Bank to Offer ETH 2.0 Staking

  • ECB Launches Official Investigation into Creating a CBDC

  • Square Is Building Decentralized Finance Business on Bitcoin

  • Reddit to Use Layer 2 Solution Arbitrum for Scaling Community Points Platform

  • Goldman Family Office Survey Finds Half of Investors Plan to Buy Crypto

June 2021 Highlights

BTC -6%

  • El Salvador Votes to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender, to Facilitate Transactions with Lightning Network

  • A16Z Raises $2.2bn Crypto Venture Fund

  • Solana Raises $314mm in Treasury Token Raise Led by A16Z and Polychain

  • Microstrategy Raises $500mm Senior Secured Notes to Buy Bitcoin

  • Microstrategy Purchases 13,005 Bitcoin at $37,617

  • World’s Largest Interdealer Broker, TP ICAP to Launch Crypto Trading with Fidelity and Standard Charter

  • NYDIG Partners with Q2 Software, Bringing Bitcoin Trading To 18.3mm Users

  • State Street Launches New Division Dedicated to Digital Finance

  • PayPal and Visa Invest in Blockchain Capital’s $300mm Venture Fund

  • Elon Continues Giving Confusing Mixed Signals on Twitter

  • FTX Signs Sponsorship Deal with MLB, First Ever Company Logo on Umpire Uniforms

  • FTX Buys Stake in Stocktwits

  • FTX Receives Investment and Endorsement from Tom Brady and Giselle Bundchen

  • Soros Fund Management Begins Trading Bitcoin

  • IRS Chief Asks Congress for Authority to Regulate Crypto

  • IMF Pushes Back on El Salvador’s Move to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender

  • Several LatAm Country Politicians Show Support for Bitcoin on Twitter, But None with Explicit Strong Steps Like El Salvador

  • Interactive Brokers to Offer Crypto Trading by End of Summer

  • CFTC Commissioner Criticizes DeFi

  • US House Financial Services Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Crypto with Mixed Stances

  • House Democrats Form Working Group Focused on Crypto

  • Elizabeth Warren Makes Multiple Outspoken Negative Comments About Bitcoin

  • Ontario Securities Commission Alleges Securities Law Violation by Bybit

  • Texas Department of Banking to Allow Chartered Banks to Custody Crypto

  • New York Unions Block Bill to Instate Moratorium on Crypto Mining

  • Michael Saylor Hosts Twitter Space with Bitcoin Mining Council

  • Microstrategy Launches “At-The-Market” Securities Offering to Selling $1bn of Common Stock Over Time

  • DeFi Exchange dYdX Raises $65mm From Paradigm, Three Arrows Capital and DeFiance Capital

  • Bitwise Raises $70mm Series B from Elad Gill, Electric Capital and Numerous Institutional Investors

  • Unchained Capital Raises $25mm Series A Led by NYDIG

  • Square to Construct Solar-powered Bitcoin Mining Facility with Blockstream

  • Market Maker Amber Group Raises $100mm Series B at $1bn Valuation

  • Citigroup Launches Crypto/Blockchain Unit Within Wealth Management Business

  • Google Ads to Let Crypto Exchanges and Wallets Target U.S. Users

  • German Exchange Deutsche Borse Group Acquires Majority Stake in Swiss Crypto Firm Crypto Finance

  • Coinbase Begins Offering Credit Card with 4% Back in Crypto Rewards

  • Coinbase to Offer 4% Interest Product on USDC Lending

May 2021 Highlights

BTC -35%

  • Ray Dalio – “I Own Some Bitcoin”

  • Carl Icahn “Wants to Get into Crypto In A Big Way”

  • Elon Meets with Newly Formed North American Bitcoin Mining Council to Promote Energy Usage Transparency and Sustainability

  • Point72, Millennium and Matrix Said to Be Entering Crypto Market

  • Galaxy Digital Acquires Crypto Custodian BitGo for $1.2bn

  • NYDIG Partners with FIS to Enable Banks to Offer Buying and Selling of Bitcoin Directly in Traditional Bank Accounts

  • Citibank To Launch Crypto Services

  • $8.7bn Market Cap Globant Purchases $500k of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

  • Bridgewater CFO Leaves to Become CFO of NYDIG

  • Coinbase Announces DeFi Wallet Extension

  • One River Asset Management Files for Carbon Neutral Bitcoin ETF

  • FTX.US Hires Citadel Securities Executive as President

  • Justin Sun Purchases $153mm of Bitcoin at $36,868

  • Justin Sun Purchases $136mm of Ethereum at $2509

  • MicroStrategy Purchases $15mm of Bitcoin at $55,387

  • MicroStrategy Purchases $10mm of Bitcoin at $43,663

  • ARK Investment Purchases 639,069 Shares of Grayscale Ethereum Trust

  • Framework Ventures Raises $100mm Crypto Venture Fund

  • Tether Reveals Breakdown of Reserves

  • MoneyGram To Allow Bitcoin Purchases as 12,000 US Retail Locations

  • Facebook’s Diem to Launch US Stablecoin

  • eBay To Begin Offering NFT Markets

  • Tom Brady Publicly Endorses Bitcoin, Changes Twitter Profile to “Laser Eyes”

  • PayPal and Venmo to Allow Crypto Withdrawals

  • Palantir Accepts Bitcoin as Payment, May Invest in Bitcoin

  • Sony Files Patent for Service to Accept In-game Bitcoin Purchases

  • Grayscale Becomes Official Partner of the New York Giants

April 2021 Highlights

BTC -2%

  • Public Japanese Gaming Giant Nexon Purchases $100mm of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

  • 2nd Oldest U.S. Bank State Street with $3.2tn AUM to Start Trading Crypto

  • Former OCC Head Brian Brooks Named CEO of Binance US

  • Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo Joins BlockFi’s Board of Directors

  • Venmo Launches Crypto Purchases

  • Goldman Prepares to Offer Crypto to Private Wealth Management Clients

  • Morgan Stanley Files to Add Bitcoin Exposure to a Dozen Institutional Funds

  • JPMorgan To Launch First Bitcoin Fund This Summer

  • $230bn AUM CI Global Asset Management Launches CI Bitcoin Fund

  • US Bank to Launch Crypto Custody

  • Wealthfront To Enable Crypto Purchases Later This Year

  • MicroStrategy Purchases $15mm BTC at $59,339, Total BTC Purchases 91,579 at $24,311 Average Price

  • TSLA Sells $272mm of Bitcoin

  • FinCEN Appoints Former Chainalysis CTO Michael Mosier As Director

  • Former Acting Director of CIA Michael Morell Publishes Independent Paper Strongly Supportive of Crypto

  • #1 NFL Draft Pick Trevor Lawrence Signs Deal with Blockfolio To Receive Bonus in BTC, ETH and SOL

  • Paxos Receives Federal Bank Charter From OCC

  • Paxos Raises $300mm at $2.4bn Valuation

  • NYDIG Raises $100mm (After Raising $200mm Last Month) From Liberty Mutual Insurance, Starr Insurance and Others

  • Consensys Raises $65mm From JPMorgan, Mastercard, UBS, Others

  • $445bn AUM Baillie Gifford Leads $100mm Investment in Blockchain.com

  • Rothschild Capital Management Takes Stake in Kraken

  • Alchemy Raises $80mm Series B Led by Coatue to Be AWS for Blockchain

  • RobinHood Announces 9.5mm Users Traded Crypto in Q1-21, Up From 1.7mm in Q4-20

  • Revolut Expands Crypto Offering By 11 Names, Now Totaling 21 Cryptos

  • Canada Launches Three ETH ETFs

  • European Investment Bank Sells EU100m Bonds on Ethereum Network

  • Ray Dalio Says of Bitcoin, “I like the diversification of this kind of asset. It should be party of any portfolio. It’s got merit.”

  • Goldman CEO States Bitcoin Is on Inevitable Path to a Higher Market Cap Than Gold

  • Gary Gensler Confirmed as SEC Chair

  • Brevin Howard Main Hedge Fund to Begin Buying Crypto

  • Dan Loeb’s Third Point Files as a Coinbase Custody Customer

  • Biden Administration Said to Be in The Early Stages of Developing Crypto Regulatory Framework

  • Congress Passes “the Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act” to Establish SEC/CFTC Working Group on Digital Assets

  • Coinbase To Devote 10% of Resources to Innovation Bets

  • Gemini Now Supports Apple Pay and Google Pay

  • Tether Trading Pairs to Launch on Coinbase

  • Binance Launches Zero-Commission Tokenized Stock Trading

  • Coinbase Executes Direct Listing on NASDAQ, Trades Poorly

  • Turkey’s Central Bank Bans Citizens from Using Crypto for Purchases

  • 62 Arrested In $2bn Fraud at Major Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex

March 2021 Highlights

BTC +31%

  • $4tn AUM Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management to Offer NYDIG and Galaxy BTC Funds to Clients

  • NYDIG Raises $200mm From Morgan Stanley, New York Life, MassMutual, Soros

  • Visa to Enable Bitcoin Purchases at 70mm Merchants

  • One River Adds Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton as Advisor

  • Fireblocks Raises $133mm Series C from Coatue, Ribbit, BNY Mellon

  • MicroStrategy Purchases $15mm BTC at $45,710, $10mm BTC at $48,888 and $15mm BTC at $57,146

  • Hong Kong-listed Software Company Meitu Purchases $50mm ETH and $39mm BTC on Balance Sheet

  • Beeple Sells NFT for $69mm, Third Highest Sale from Living Artist Ever

  • Norwegian Oil Billionaire Kjell Rokke Buys $58mm BTC, Launches Bitcoin Business

  • Tether Produces Reserves Attestation from Moore Cayman

  • FTX Purchases Naming Rights to Miami Heat Stadium for $135mm

  • Visa Launches Pilot with Crypto.com to Settle USDC on Visa Network

  • BlockFi Raises $350mm Series D at $3bn Valuation

  • Goldman Restarts Crypto Desk, To Offer New Crypto Products

  • CBOE Files to List VanEck ETF, Starts Clock for SEC to Respond

  • State Street Named Fund Administrator and Transfer Agent for VanEck ETF

  • Fidelity, Goldman, SkyBridge, NYDIG, VanEck, Valkyrie, WisdomTree and Bitwise All Have Current Bitcoin ETF Applications Pending

  • PayPal Acquires Crypto Custodian Curve, Launches “Checkout with Crypto”

  • Crypto Tax Company TaxBit Raises $100mm Series A from Paradigm and Tiger Global

  • Dapper Labs Raises $305mm Led by Coatue

  • Grayscale Parent Digital Currency Group Announces $250mm GBTC Buyback Program

  • Binance Adds Former US Senator and Ambassador to China Max Baucus as Advisor

  • Coinshares IPOs on Swedish Stock Exchange

  • Jerome Powell Says Bitcoin Is More Like Gold Than the Dollar

  • Howard Marks Changes His Mind About Bitcoin

  • China Said to Clamp Down on Inner Mongolia Bitcoin Mining Activities

  • CFTC Fines Coinbase $6.5mm for 2015-2018 False Reporting and Wash Trading

  • FATF Release Draft 2021 Crypto Guidance

February 2021 Highlights

BTC +36%

  • TSLA Buys $1.5bn of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

  • Microstrategy Raises $1.05bn Convert to Buy Bitcoin; Purchases 19,452 Bitcoin at $52,765

  • Square Buys $170mm of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

  • Tether Settles Longstanding Case with NYAG for $18.5mm; Does Not Admit Wrongdoing; Agrees to Future Quarterly Audits of Reserves

  • BNY Melon to Custody Crypto

  • MasterCard to Enable Crypto Purchases for All Merchants

  • Canadian Bitcoin ETF BTCC Begins Trading, Sees Strong Inflows

  • Bitcoiner Cynthia Lummis Named to Senate Banking Committee

  • Former TD Ameritrade Head of Digital Assets Named Fed’s Chief Innovation Officer

  • BlackRock Begins Buying Bitcoin

  • Microstrategy Buys $10mm Bitcoin at $33,810

  • Coinbase Files S-1

  • Bitcoin Company Casa Raises $4mm Seed Round Led by Fidelity’s Avon Ventures

  • Deutsche Bank to Offer Crypto Custody and Prime Brokerage

  • BlockFi Raises Series D at $2.85bn Valuation

  • Dapper Labs Raises $250mm at $2bn Valuation

  • Jack Dorsey and Jay-Z Allocate $23.5mm in Bitcoin to Fund Development

  • Miami Mayor Activates Bitcoin Across the City, Including Treasury, Employees, Taxes & Fees

  • BitPay Card Adds Support for Apple Pay

  • Bitfinex Repays $550mm Outstanding Loan from Tether

  • Ruffer Sells $750mm of Bitcoin After Original $740mm Position Doubles in Two Months

January 2021 Highlights

BTC +14%

  • Elon Musk Changes Twitter Bio To “#Bitcoin”, Tweets “In retrospect, it was inevitable” and Discusses Bitcoin on Clubhouse App

  • $7.8tn AUM BlackRock Files to Invest in Bitcoin Futures for Two Funds

  • MicroStrategy Buys $10mm Bitcoin at $31,808

  • Ray Dalio Writes Article About His Bitcoin Stance

  • Highly Crypto-Experienced Gary Gensler Named Chairman of the SEC

  • ECB President Lagarde Calls for Increased Global Regulation of Bitcoin

  • Janet Yellen During Confirmation Hearing Calls for Increased Scrutiny of Crypto for Illicit Uses

  • Crypto Custodian Anchorage Given First-Ever Federal Bank Charter

  • OCC Releases Guidance Allowing US Banks to Use Public Blockchains As Settlement Infrastructure

  • Publicly-Traded Marathon Patent Group Purchases $150mm of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

  • BlockFolio Launches Zero-Fee Crypto Trading & Tokenized Stocks for US Investors

  • SkyBridge Launches Bitcoin Fund With $310mm AUM.

  • Bitcoin Exchange Bakkt to Be Acquired by SPAC for $2.1bn

  • Osprey Funds Launches Trading on GBTC Competitor BTC Fund

  • Coinbase Proposes Direct Listing

  • OneRiver CIO Declares Bitcoin Will Be Worth More Than Gold

  • FinCEN Extends Comment Period for Crypto Regulation into Biden Term

  • Travel App “Maps.Me” Raises $50mm Funding Led by Alameda Research to Implement In-App Crypto Wallet

  • Coinbase Acquires Bison Trails, Rumored At >$100mm

  • Global Soccer Star David Barral Becomes First Player Traded with Bitcoin

  • Dogecoin Gets Wrapped Up in WallStreetBets, Hits 10x In One Day

  • Guggenheim CIO, After Calling For $400k Bitcoin in December, States Bitcoin Price Is Too High AT $35k, Calls for Decline To $20k

  • Japan Top Securities Regulator Says XRP Is Not A Security

December 2020 Highlights

BTC +48%

  • MicroStrategy Announces $400mm Convert to Buy Bitcoin; Upsizes to $550mm; Closes $650mm

  • MicroStrategy Buys $650mm Bitcoin at $21,925

  • MassMutual Buys $100mm of Bitcoin and Minority Stake in NYDIG

  • $27bn AUM Hedge Fund Ruffer Announces $740mm Bitcoin Position

  • One River Asset Management Announces $600mm Bitcoin Purchase, Commitment to $1bn

  • MicroStrategy Buys $50mm of Bitcoin at $19,427 Average Price

  • JPMorgan Estimates A 1% Allocation to BTC From Pensions and Insurance Companies Would Require $600bn of Buying

  • Guggenheim CIO Scott Miners Says Bitcoin Fundamental Value Is $400,000

  • NFL Player Russell Okung To Receive Half of $13mm Salary in Bitcoin

  • Coinbase Files S-1

  • CME Announces Ethereum Futures Product to Launch February 2021

  • Bitwise 10 Becomes First Publicly Traded Crypto Index

  • JPMorgan Says Gold Will Suffer for Years Because of Bitcoin

  • Fidelity Digital to Hold Bitcoin as Collateral for Cash Loans

  • Jefferies Head of Global Equity Strategy Cuts Gold Exposure for Bitcoin

  • SkyBridge Capital Registers Fund to Buy Bitcoin and Buys $182mm

  • Standard Chartered bank to Launch Crypto Trading

  • BBVA To Launch Crypto Services

  • Visa Partners with USDC and Adds 60 Million Merchants

  • S&P Dow Jones To Launch Crypto Indexes in 2021

  • Spotify Hiring for Crypto Payments Project Leader

  • SBI Financial Services Acquires Crypto Trading Firm B2C2

  • American Express Ventures Invests in Crypto Trading Platform FalconX

  • Bitso Raises $62mm to Expand Crypto Footprint in Brazil

  • Tether Surpasses $20bn Market Cap

  • Bitcoin Chart Tops 3.4mm Views on TradingView in November, +80% Since October

  • Warren Davidson and Three Other Congressmen Write Public Letter to Mnuchin in Protest of Heavy-Handed Legislation

  • FinCEN Releases More Stringent KYC Regulation for Crypto Exchanges

  • SEC Files Suit Against Ripple for Sale of Unregistered Securities

  • Coinbase, Bitstamp, Binance US and Other Exchanges Announce XRP De-listing

  • Ledger Hacked; Exposes Email Addresses and Mailing Addresses

November 2020 Highlights

BTC +43%

  • Stanley Druckenmiller Announces Bitcoin Position

  • Bill Miller Strongly Recommends Bitcoin

  • Citigroup Research Publishes YE 2021 BTC Price Target as High as $318k

  • Blackrock Fixed Income CIO Rick Rieder Says Bitcoin Could Replace Gold

  • Guggenheim Files to Buy Up to 10% GBTC Position in $5.3bn Macro Fund

  • BTIG Research Publishes YE 2021 BTC Price Target of $50k

  • AllianceBernstein Recommends Allocation to Crypto

  • Skybridge Files SEC Amendment to Invest in Bitcoin with $3.6bn Fund

  • Ray Dalio Says He “Might Be Missing Something” With Bitcoin

  • Niall Ferguson Writes Bloomberg Opinion “Bitcoin Is Winning the Covid-19 Monetary Revolution”

  • Square Reports Q3 Bitcoin Revenue and Gross Profit +11x & 15x YoY

  • Wyoming Elects Bitcoin Bull Cynthia Lummis As US Senator

  • Jay Clayton Steps Down as SEC Chairman

  • Alameda Research & FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Donates $5mm To Biden Campaign

  • OCC’s Brian Brooks Testifies to Senate on Importance of Crypto

  • China Construction Bank to Issue $3bn in Bonds on a Blockchain, Tradeable for Bitcoin and Dollars

  • OKex Exchange Resumes Withdrawals After More Than A Month Frozen

October 2020 Highlights

BTC +28%

  • PayPal & Venmo Introduce Cryptocurrency Buying, Selling & Shopping

  • Public Company Square Buys $50mm of Bitcoin on Balance Sheet

  • Singapore’s Largest Bank DBS Announces Crypto Exchange & Custody

  • PayPal Rumored To Be Acquiring Leading Custodian BitGo

  • JPMorgan Launches Digital Asset Business Unit, Rumored to Buy Custodian

  • Franklin Templeton Invests in Series A Round of Crypto Custodian Curv

  • Stone Ridge’s NYDIG Raises $50mm, Announces 10,000 BTC in Custody

  • Chairman Powell Says CBDC Could Improve US Payments

  • CFTC Chairman Makes Highly Positive Public Remarks About Ethereum

  • US Attorney General Releases Cryptocurrency Enforcement Framework

  • US National Security Council Names DLT As One of Twenty Focus Areas

  • FCA Bans Sale of Crypto Derivatives to UK Retail Customers

  • OKex Founder Arrested by Chinese Government, Withdrawals Suspended

  • BitMEX Implements Strict KYC Regulations After CFTC & DoJ Charges

  • FinCEN Fines Bitcoin Mixing Operator Helix $60mm

  • Iran Government to Use Iranian-Mined Bitcoin For Payments

  • 2017 $257mm ICO Filecoin Launches

September 2020 Highlights

BTC -8%

  • BitMEX Charged by CFTC and DoJ For Illegal Trading Operations and AML Violations

  • MicroStrategy Buys $175mm More Bitcoin, Brings Total to $425mm 

  • Bermuda Stock Exchange Approves Listing of World’s First Bitcoin ETF

  • US State Bank Regulators Agree to Blanket Set of Rules for Money Transmitter Licenses

  • Kraken Wins Bank Charter in Wyoming, First Ever for Crypto Company

  • OCC Allows Federally Chartered Banks to Custody Stablecoin Reserve Accounts

  • Gemini Announces Support for Shielded Zcash Withdrawals

  • BitMEX and Binance Both Update Trading Operations To Prevent Spoofing

  • Asian Crypto Exchange KuCoin Hacked for $150mm in Crypto

  • Libra Co-Founder Morgan Beller Leaves Libra to Join VC Fund

August 2020 Highlights

BTC +3%

  • MicroStrategy Buys $250mm of Bitcoin, First Public Company to Do So 

  • SEC Confirms “Crypto Mom” Hester Peirce As Commissioner Through 2025

  • FTX Acquires Blockfolio for $150mm

  • Square Reports Record $858mm of BTC Purchased in Q2 Via Cash App

  • Grayscale Reports Record $751mm of Inflows into GBTC in Q2

  • Coinbase Begins the Process of A Direct Listing IPO

  • Digital Currency Group Commits $100mm for North America Bitcoin Mining

  • IRS Releases Memo Saying Crypto Payments for Microtasking Is Taxable

  • Tether Daily Value Transfer Tops Paypal

  • Coinbase to Offer Bitcoin-Backed Loans to US Customers

  • Fed Partners with MIT to Develop “Hypothetical Digital Currency”

  • Goldman Hires New Head of Digital Assets, Contemplates Stablecoin Plans

  • USPS Files Patent for Blockchain-Based Secure Voting System

July 2020 Highlights

BTC +24%

  • Office of the Comptroller of the Currency Allowing Banks to Custody Crypto

  • Bitcoin Deemed Money in Federal Court Under Money Transmitters Act

  • Mastercard Expands Program to Allow More Crypto Firms to Issue Cards

  • VISA Unveils Roadmap to Further Integration with Bitcoin and Other Crypto

  • Paypal Chooses Paxos Exchange For Crypto Trading Business

  • Chinese Police Arrest 27 Alleged Masterminds Behind Plus Token Scam

  • Massive Twitter Back-end Hack Utilizes Simplistic Bitcoin Scam

June 2020 Highlights

BTC -3%

  • PayPal, Venmo to Roll Out Crypto Buying and Selling

  • NYDFS Proposes New Rules Making BitLicenses Easier to Apply For

  • SEC Commissioner Hester Pierce Is Nominated for Second Term

  • Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Calls For $20,000 in 2020

  • Former CFTC Chair Testifies to Congress on Digital Dollar

  • Three Arrows Capital Files 13G – Owns >6% of GBTC  

  • Bitcoin Bank River Financial Raises $5.7mm

May 2020 Highlights

BTC +9%

  • Paul Tudor Jones Takes Significant Bitcoin Position, Publishes Thesis

  • JPMorgan Extends Banking Services to Coinbase and Gemini Trust

  • Square’s Cash App Bitcoin Q/Q Volume Grows To $306mm from $178mm

  • Genesis Acquires Custodian To Launch Prime Brokerage Business

  • Genesis Loan Book Increases $2bn in Q1

  • BitGo Launches Prime Brokerage Business

  • Coinbase Acquires Tagomi for $70-$100mm

  • Coinbase Custody Begins Accepting Tether

  • ErisX Launches First CFTC Regulated ETH Future

  • FTX Launches US Exchange

  • Facebook Rebrands Libra Wallet from Calibra To Novi

  • Telegram ICO Cancels Project & Returns Funds to Investors

April 2020 Highlights

BTC +34%

  • A16Z Crypto Raises $515mm Second Fund

  • Renaissance Technologies Begins Trading CME Bitcoin Futures

  • China Rolls Out Testing of DCEP App

  • Facebook Further Redefines Libra, Releasing New Whitepaper

  • Congress Introduces 32 Bills Relating to Cryptocurrency & Blockchain

  • Binance Acquires CoinMarketCap for $300-$400mm

March 2020 Highlights

BTC -25%

  • Facebook Revamps Libra, Conceding to Regulators

  • India’s Top Court Strikes Down Laws That Outlawed Cryptocurrencies

  • South Korea Parliament Votes to Enact New Crypto Regulation

  • Bitmex Experiences “Black Thursday”, Nearly Collapsing

  • U.S. Comptroller Names Former Coinbase Exec As COO

  • Fiscal Stimulus Bill Includes and Then Removes Digital Dollar Language

  • SEC Calls Telegram A Likely Security Issuance, Halts Token Issuance

February 2020 Highlights

BTC -8%

  • Bitcoin Price Has “Golden Cross”

  • Fed Chair Powell Testifies to Congress About CBDCs and Libra

  • Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Testifies to Senate That FinCEN Is Rolling Out Crypto Regulations Soon

  • Swedish Central Bank Begins Tests Blockchain-based Digital Currency

  • Shopify Joins Libra Project

  • SEC Commissioner Peirce Proposes 3-Year Safe Harbor for Token Sales

  • Bitcoin Lender BlockFi Raises $30m Series B

  • Coronavirus Delays Launch of China’s Digital Currency DCEP

  • JPMorgan in Talks to Merge Blockchain Business with Consensys

January 2020 Highlights

BTC +30%

  • CME Launches Regulated Bitcoin Options

  • Former CFTC Chair Creates Nonprofit to Promote Digital Dollar Creation

  • World Economic Forum Announces Mission to Focus on Innovation & Governance of Stablecoins

  • Genesis Capital Announces $3.1bn In Crypto Loans in 2019

  • WisdomTree Leads $18m Series A for Security Token Platform Securrency

  • WisdomTree Announces Plans to Launch Regulated US Stablecoin

  • SEC Highlights Crypto Priorities For 2020

  • Libra Forms Five Member Technical Committee to Oversee Development

  • Square Awarded Patent For Fiat-To-Crypto Payments Network

  • Telegram Refuses to Show Bank Records in Case Against SEC

  • Qatar Bans Crypto Trading