Fun

Crypto Biz: ARK drops bid for spot Ether ETF, miners adapt after halving, and more

News Feed - 2024-06-08 06:06:00

Ana Paula PereiraJun 07, 2024Crypto Biz: ARK drops bid for spot Ether ETF, miners adapt after halving, and moreThis week’s Crypto Biz explores ARK Invest’s partnership with 21Shares, Galaxy Digital’s tokenized loan for Animoca Brands, Avail’s fundraising, the Toposware acquisition, and Bitcoin miners’ first reports since the halving.5786 Total views22 Total sharesListen to article 0:00NewsletterOwn this piece of crypto historyCollect this article as NFTJoin us on social networksIn a sudden decision, investment firm 21Shares submitted a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission in the late afternoon of Friday, May 31, to rename its proposed spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) and to remove ARK Invest from the application.


A spokesperson for ARK Invest later confirmed the firm decided not to move forward with the crypto product, citing a need to reassess its investment strategy. The move raised concerns among the crypto community concerning the short-term viability of the newly approved ETFs.


During an interview on June 5, United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler suggested a delay in final approvals for asset managers. ETFs will “take some time,” said Gensler. The SEC has yet to sign off on S-1 registration statements from applicants.


ARK Invest and 21Shares will remain partners on their spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF, launched in January.


This week’s Crypto Biz also explores Galaxy Digital’s tokenized loan for Animoca Brands, Avail’s fundraising, the Toposware acquisition, and Bitcoin miners’ first reports since the halving.Galaxy Digital uses historic violin NFT to secure loan


Michael Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital and Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu have tokenized a Stradivarius violin from 1708 to use as collateral for a multimillion-dollar loan. On June 4, Galaxy reportedly lent an undisclosed amount of funds to Siu, who used the 316-year-old violin he owned as collateral. The digital assets firm turned the violin into a nonfungible token (NFT) and will hold the NFT and the physical version until Siu settles the loan. The violin once belonged to the Russian Empress Catherine the Great.Antique violin called Empress Caterina. Source: TarisioPolygon Labs acquires Toposware, pushing total ZK investment to $1 billion


Polygon Labs has acquired the blockchain research and engineering company Toposware, its third zero-knowledge (ZK) startup investment in three years. Toposware has been working with Polygon on the Type 1 Prover, enabling Ethereum-compatible blockchains to use zero-knowledge proofs with minimal modifications. The acquisition adds 11 Toposware engineers to Polygon’s ZK teams and increases Polygon’s total investment in ZK technology to over $1 billion, following their $650 million acquisition of Mir and Hermez in 2021.Bitcoin halving impacts miner Riot’s revenue by 43% despite new facility


Bitcoin miner Riot Platforms produced 215 BTC in May, a 43% decrease from last month despite expanding its fleet. The decrease is a direct impact of the Bitcoin halving on the mining industry, which halved the mining rewards to 3.125 BTC. Riot preplanned an infrastructure upgrade to retain production post-halving with a new facility in Corsicana, Texas, which added 3.1 exahashes per second to its total self-mining so far — a 17% increase from the previous month. Also, after adjusting its operations after the halving event, Marathon Digital sold 63% of its BTC production in May.Avail secures $43 million in Series A for Web3 unification


Avail, a modular blockchain base layer, has recently completed an oversubscribed $43 million Series A round. The Series A funding saw participation from multiple venture capital firms and angel investors, including Altos Ventures, Alliance DAO, Hashkey, Elixir Capital, Spark Digital Capital and RW3 Ventures, among others. In total, the company has raised $75 million across various funding rounds. Avail is headed by Arjun, a co-founder of Polygon, who aims to address three major challenges within the Web3 ecosystem: blockchain fragmentation, insufficient data availability and limited scalability.


Before you go:Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson believes we are still in the early days of the Bitcoin investment cycle and that big institutional money has not yet been fully deployed into the asset class.


Crypto Biz is your weekly pulse on the business behind blockchain and crypto, delivered directly to your inbox every Thursday.# Business# Startups# Bitcoin Mining# PolygonAdd reaction

News Feed

Dogecoin To $1 Is ‘Absolutely’ On The Table This Cycle, Says Analyst
Reason to trust Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed The highest standards in reporting and pu
Bored Ape floor price sinks, NASA training astronauts in the metaverse: Nifty Newsletter
Prashant Jha5 hours agoBored Ape floor price sinks, NASA training astronauts in the metaverse: Nifty NewsletterNASA has turned to Web3 tech, such as the metaverse, as well as virtual reality, to train astronauts to live
Bitcoin $59K price may swing 'drastically’ amid election year parallels
Ciaran Lyons3 hours agoBitcoin $59K price may swing "drastically’ amid election year parallelsIf Bitcoin follows the same pattern as previous election years, August will be "nothing crazy," but a breakout may
3 Members of Terraform Labs’ In-House Legal Team Abruptly Leave Amid LUNA, and UST Fallout
3 Members of Terraform Labs" In-House Legal Team Abruptly Leave Amid LUNA, and UST Fallout Three members of Terraform Labs’ legal team have left the company, according to th
Wyoming mayoral candidate wants to run capital city with AI bot
Turner Wright4 hours agoWyoming mayoral candidate wants to run capital city with AI botVictor Miller entered the race and now uses a nickname to distinguish himself from the “Virtual Integrated Citizen, The Official Ro
BlockFi confirms July start for interim crypto distributions
Amaka Nwaokocha1 hour agoBlockFi confirms July start for interim crypto distributionsBlockFi clients are to note that client communications will exclusively occur via official email channels.304 Total views2 Total shares
You Can Now Get a Master’s in Blockchain From a School in (Where Else?) Malta
Malta, the “Blockchain Island” in the Mediterranean, has a government authority to certify distributed ledger platforms, regulations to manage smart contracts and a framework for launching ICOs.
CME Group to Launch Ethereum Futures in February Pending Regulatory Approval
CME Group to Launch Ethereum Futures in February Pending Regulatory Approval On December 16, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) announced that CME Group is ex
Crypto Exchange Okx Blocked by Russia’s Telecom Watchdog
Crypto Exchange Okx Blocked by Russia’s Telecom Watchdog Russian media and communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, has restricted access to the website of a major cryptocurrency
Helen Partz1 hour agoCoinbase crypto exchange obtains payment license in SingaporeThe new MPI license comes one year after Coinbase’s initial in-principle approval in Singapore, enabling it to expand digital payment to
UNI Flashes Strength After Breaking Past Key Resistance Levels, What’s Next?
Reason to trust Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed The highest standards in reporting and pu
Hungary’s Prime Minister Says ‘Europe Has Run out of Energy’ Amid Russia’s Gas Standoff
Hungary’s Prime Minister Says ‘Europe Has Run out of Energy’ Amid Russia’s Gas Standoff Europe is suffering and struggling to contain an energy crisis according to various