Ether (ETH) could surge to retest the $5,000 price mark it fell short of in 2021 if three long-term indicators continue flashing, says one crypto trader.

“The dominance chart suggests we’re entering an ‘ETH Season’ where Ethereum is likely to outperform other cryptocurrencies,” pseudonymous crypto trader Blockchain Mane told Cointelegraph.

It follows the Securities and Exchange Commission’s May 23 initial approval of eight spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

TradingView data shows ETH’s dominance — its share of the crypto market — jumped 19.56% over the past seven days after reports surfaced the SEC was pivoting from its hard stance on ETF approvals.

Ethereum's dominance is up 18.45% over the past seven days. Source: Trading View

Blockchain Mane noted another key long-term indicator the Fibonacci Retracement, was showing “strong support.” The indicator predicts possible price levels where Ether might bounce back based on mathematical patterns calculated from the Fibonacci sequence.

ETH is showing “resistance targets at $5080.60 and $6231.83,” Blockchain Mane said. A price it hasn’t traded near since its November 2021 all-time high of $4,878, according to CoinMarketCap.

At the time of publication, Ether is trading at $3,802.

The Parabolic Curve and Fibonacci Retracement Indicators. Source: Blockchain Mane

The third indicator Blockchain Mane noted was the Parabolic Curve — which spots potential trend changes by placing dots above or below Ether’s price movements.

Mane said ETH is following a “bullish trend” along the curve, which has three marked phases: Base 1, Base 2, and Base 3.

“The parabolic curve indicates continued upward movement, especially after the falling wedge breakout,” they said.

Related: Ethereum rally stalls at $3.8K — Is SEC ETH ETF decision already priced in?

Other crypto traders have been focusing on the shorter-term price action amid the spot Ether ETF nods.

“ETH is up more this week than the S&P 500 typically gives you in a year,” crypto commentator Benjamin Cowen said in a May 23 X post.

Crypto trader Matthew Hyland believes it’s critical for Ether to now “hold” support around $3,800 “for a continuation.”

Source: Matthew Hyland

The price of Ether barely moved following ETF approvals, likely due to it already being priced in — and because ETF trading hasn’t started.

Magazine: Godzilla vs. Kong: SEC faces fierce battle against crypto’s legal firepower

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The foundation behind layer-1 blockchain Algorand has attracted mixed feelings over a new ad that takes a big swipe at rival networks Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana — suggesting they are not suitable for payments. 

On May 23, the Algorand Foundation released a new advertisement on YouTube titled “When blockchains meet the real world, only one delivers.”

The ad features a supermarket checkout with shoppers attempting to pay in three different crypto assets, Bitcoin (BTC), Ether(ETH), and Solana (SOL).

During the ad, the guy trying to pay with Bitcoin is told by the cashier that he would have to wait because the transaction would take 27 minutes.

The Ethereum payer is told that the transaction would cost $112 in fees, and the shopper who chose Solana couldn’t pay because the transaction kept failing.

The camera then panned to the next checkout queue processing customers instantly using Algorand with the captions “Instant finality. Low Fees. Designed for the speed of life.”

Political consultant and entrepreneur Anthony Scaramucci also appears in a cameo at the end, asking how to join the Algorand checkout line. Some commentators on X later pointed out hypocrisy after Scaramucci posted on X that a “$SOL ETF” was next — just hours after the ad went live.

The ad, which had more than 700,000 views on X at the time of writing, caused quite a stir on crypto social media, with one commenter stating “Algorand runs 21 TPS, can’t fund its main explorer but drops $100k+ on an ad. This is not the way guys.”

The user was referring to the Algorand Foundation announcing it was shutting down its block explorer AlgoExplorer in January.

Chainlink community liaison Zach Rynes said “This kind of marketing makes no sense to me.”

“Non-crypto people will just walk away with a negative impression (“yeah crypto sucks”), not even knowing it’s an ad *for* crypto,”

Meanwhile, trader ‘Fiskantes’ told his 90,000 followers on X that “Negative ad campaigns about your competitors this early in the adoption cycle are very low move.”

“It shows zero sum mindset and lack of original ideas,” he said before adding “Any high TPS ghostchain can claim what Algorand claims, until shit hits the fan and people actually start using it.”

Not all responses were critical, however. Kernel Edge co-founder Hilmar Ingimundarson said team Algorand was “spot on” with their marketing while XRP cafe co-founder “Vet” said even though the ad went hard on other chains it was “definitely funny.”

Related: Algorand shaves block times by 20% after Dynamic Lambda upgrade

According to DefiLlama, the total value locked on the Algorand network is just $96 million. This is a fraction of the TVL on Ethereum, which is $65 billion, and Solana, which is $4.8 billion.

Algorand’s native token, ALGO, fell 2% on the day to $0.183 and remains 95% down from its 2019 all-time high, according to CoinGecko.

Magazine: Godzilla vs. Kong: SEC faces fierce battle against crypto’s legal firepower

Polymarket users who lost money by betting against the approval of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are crying foul toward the decentralized betting platform, arguing the bet is still on. 

One betting market on the blockchain platform saw over $13.2 million worth of bets placed on whether an Ether ETF would be approved by May 31 — but it didn’t exactly detail what “approved” meant.

The market closed at a “Yes” result on May 23, after the Securities and Exchange Commission greenlit the 19b-4 filings for multiple Ether ETFs. Polymarket's logs show the result was briefly disputed but ultimately resolved with the same “Yes" outcome.

But “No” voters argue the call is incorrect, saying a United States ETF needs an approved 19b-4 filing and Form S-1 to start trading on an exchange, and without the S-1 filing, there can’t be a “Yes” result.

Analysts say it could be months before the SEC approves the S-1s, which some “No” voters may have banked their money on.

Prominent “No” bidder “JustKen” — who changed their name to “RevengeTour19B4” after the saga — pointed to VanEck digital assets research head Matthew Sigel’s X post that said “ETFs are not considered ‘approved’” until both the S-1 and “19b-4 filing have been signed off on by the SEC.”

Source: Matthew Sigel

The unhappy punters also pointed to Bitwise investment chief Matt Hougan telling the Unchained podcast that ETFs are a “nuclear key scenario” where an issuer has “to turn” the 19b-4 and S-1 for approval.

Meanwhile, some in the winning “Yes” camp claimed that the market specified “approval,” not that the ETFs had to start trading by May 31.

Related: SEC’s ETF decision means ETH and ’a lot’ of other tokens are not securities

Others argue the SEC’s 19b-4 approvals are counted as final approval, claiming that Form S-1 approvals typically always follow.

Source: James Seyffart

Risk Labs, the company behind UMA, a blockchain oracle platform that provides a forum for handling information disputes on Polymarket, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the situation.

Polymarket’s development firm, Adventure One QSS Inc., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Magazine: Cryptocurrency trading addiction — What to look out for and how it is treated

A Democratic political consultant has been indicted over his role in launching artificial intelligence-generated robocalls imitating United States President Joe Biden.

According to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, on May 23, New Orleans political consultant Steven Kramer, who was working for rival candidate Dean Phillips, was indicted for impersonating a candidate during New Hampshire’s Democratic primary election.

He allegedly used AI to generate and send thousands of robocalls to New Hampshire residents imitating President Biden’s voice, asking people not to vote.

Steve Kramer. Source: Alex Seitz-Wald/NBC

The spoofed calls relayed a message asking people to “save [their] vote for the November election” adding, “Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”

Attorney General John Formella brought 13 felony voter suppression charges and 13 misdemeanor impersonation charges against the 54-year-old.

The Federal Communications Commission proposed fining Kramer $6 million, saying that the deepfake robocalls violated caller ID rules.

The phone company that was found to have transmitted the calls, Lingo Telecom, is now facing a proposed FCC fine of $2 million for “incorrectly labeling [the calls] with the highest level of caller ID attestation and making it less likely that other providers could detect the calls as potentially spoofed.”

“I hope that our respective enforcement actions send a strong deterrent signal to anyone who might consider interfering with elections, whether through the use of artificial intelligence or otherwise,” said Attorney General Formella.

FCC Notice of Apparent Liability. Source: FCC

Kramer defended his actions, according to an NBC news report in February. In it, he claimed to have planned the fake robocalls from the start as an act of civil disobedience to call attention to the dangers of AI in politics.

“This is a way for me to make a difference, and I have,” he said in the interview at the time before adding, “For $500, I got about $5 million worth of action, whether that be media attention or regulatory action.”

Related: President Biden’s campaign team is hiring a master of memes

There have been growing concerns about the potential for AI-generated content to mislead voters ahead of the 2024 elections.

The Biden campaign said it has prepared for threats like malicious AI-generated deepfakes and has “assembled an interdepartmental team to prepare for the potential effects of AI this election,” according to Reuters.

In March, Cointelegraph reported on the increase in AI-generated deepfakes this election season stating that it will be crucial for voters to spot them.

In February, twenty of the largest AI tech companies pledged to prevent their software from influencing elections.

Magazine: ‘Sic AIs on each other’ to prevent AI apocalypse: David Brin, sci-fi author

The newly-approved spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds could launch as early as mid-June — if the United States securities regulator follows a similar timeline to its spot Bitcoin ETF process.

Spot Ether ETFs got the green light for their 19b-4 filings today, allowing the funds to be listed on their respective exchanges. However, applicants will first need approved S-1 registration statements to begin trading.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart has been saying S-1 approvals could come in a “couple of weeks,” but also noted that they “could take longer” as the process typically takes up to five months.

However, fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas responded that “mid June is certainly poss[ible].”

Balchunas expects there will only be one round of comments to the S-1 amendments, similar to how the SEC provided feedback for spot Bitcoin ETF applicants.

He noted that the process took around two weeks, which is how he arrived at his mid-June estimate.

“Just a guess tho. We will see,” Balchunas stressed.

Source: Eric Balchunas

VanEck filed its amended S-1 shortly after having its 19b-4 approved, while other applicants are expected to follow suit imminently.

However, Delphi Labs general counsel Gabriel Shapiro noted the SEC’s approval was made by its Division of Trading and Markets unit on a “delegated authority” — claiming that one of the five SEC Commissioners could challenge the decision within the next 10 days.

Digital asset lawyer Joe Carlasare told Cointelegraph that such a challenge could theoretically happen — “but it won’t.”

“They wouldn’t have passed it through trading and markets without knowing that no Commissioner opposed it.”

Seyffart appears to disagree with this view, noting that making decisions with delegated authority "is the norm” as requiring an official vote for every decision and every document "would be insane." He added that asking for a review likely "wouldn't change anything" about the approvals.  

Source: James Seyffart

Related: SEC’s ETF decision means ETH and ’a lot’ of other tokens are not securities

Should the S-1s be signed off, Seyffart expects the spot Ether ETFs will see 20% of the flows that spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen, while Balchunas made a smaller estimate in the 10-15% range.

According to Farside Investors, spot Bitcoin ETFs have tallied $13.3 billion in net inflow since the products launched roughly four and a half months ago.

Capturing 20% of that would still see spot Ether ETFs tally a combined $2.66 billion over the same timeframe.

Some worry that the spot Ether ETF market could see considerable outflows from the converted Grayscale Ethereum Trust into spot ETF form, similar to outflows seen with the firm’s converted Bitcoin investment product.

There is more than $11.3 billion locked in the Grayscale Ethereum Trust, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.

VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Bitwise and Invesco Galaxy were the eight applicants that received regulatory approval on May 23.

Hashdex was the only ETF issuer that didn’t receive regulatory approval on the day.

Magazine: Godzilla vs. Kong: SEC faces fierce battle against crypto’s legal firepower

There could be two main reasons why Ether (ETH) has barely moved in price despite the landmark approval of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the United States. 

On May 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission approved eight spot Ether ETFs to be listed on their respective exchanges. Ether fell 3.4% just before the news, recovering by around 5% shortly after, and is currently trading at $3,806.

Crypto commentator Zach Rynes argues that the lack of movement reflects the notion that “everyone who wanted to buy the approval already did.”

Ether had already surged 29% over the past week after reports suggested the SEC may have pivoted its stance toward ETF approvals.

Rynes and many others also note that while the ETFs have been approved, they still haven’t been cleared for launch, as that will also require an approved S-1 filing — a comprehensive document including details on the firm’s financials and risk profile, as well as the securities they intend to offer.

VanEck has just sent its amended S-1 filing to the SEC and analysts have been saying could take weeks to months for the re S-1 approvals.

Source: Gabriel Shapir0

Rynes believes the next major price force for Ether will be ETF inflows once they begin trading.

“ETFs haven’t actually launched yet, so net new capital inflow is still to come,” Rynes wrote, with crypto research firm Second Mountain echoing a similar sentiment.

“Expect a massive capital inflow in the first week, potentially reaching billions,” Second Mountain stated in a May 23 X post just before the SEC approved the ETFs.

However, some say it might not immediately lead to an upward trend.

Bitcoin’s price dropped 15% after spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved for trading on Jan. 10. According to CoinMarketCap data, it took 30 days for the price to spike 30% to $51,870.

Related: Ether surges 18% amid new hope for spot Ether ETF approvals

There are also lingering concerns that Grayscale’s announcement of its plans to convert its Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) into a spot Ether ETF could result in significant outflows — similar to Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) after the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January.

“Grayscale also re-filed the ETHE registration they'd withdrawn. Remember GBTC outflows? Now it's $11B+ ETH that’s been trapped for 7 years,” pseudonymous crypto trader Rho Rider warned in a May 23 X post.

Since spot Bitcoin ETFs started trading on Jan. 11, GBTC has shed a total of $17.6 billion in assets, per Farside data.

Relax, Ether is undervalued, say maxis 

“ETH is stupidly undervalued,” added independent Ethereum educator Sassal, arguing that the market has had only three days to “price in the ETF approval.”

Ether is up 17.51% over the past 30 days. Source: CoinMarketCap

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) stumbled slightly by 1.2% to $67,362 following the announcement but has since recovered to $67,706 at the time of writing.

Around the same time, PEPE (PEPE) hit another new all-time high, reaching $0.00001531, a 5% increase within the hour following the approval news.

Magazine: The $2,500 doco about FTX collapse on Amazon Prime… with help from mom

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The approval of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds could be “implicit recognition” from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that Ether and other similar tokens are not securities.

"These are commodities-based trust shares, so the SEC, by approving these, is explicitly saying they’re not going to go after Ether as a security,” noted Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart in a discussion with Ryan Sean Adams on the Bankless podcast.

Digital asset lawyer Justin Browder believes if Ether ETFs get S-1 approval—the final piece needed for them to begin trading—then the “debate is over: ETH is not a security.”

Source: TuongVy Le

Adam Cochran, partner at venture capital firm Cinneamhain Ventures, went one step further, arguing the line of thinking could extend to other projects’ tokens.

“ETH is a commodity, even with its current attributes. That means we can extrapolate to *A LOT* of other projects what elements matter in security. Today a lot of things probably clearly became commodities, even if they don’t know it yet.”

Source: Paul Grewal

However, Seyffart and others believe the SEC could continue to pursue actors involved with staking Ether:

“[I think they will] try thread this needle and say ETH itself, they're not going to call a security but staked ETH might be a security [...] and I don't believe they're going to give that up any time soon."

Digital asset lawyer Joe Carlasare agrees with Seyffart’s view.

“The SEC could pursue individual actors and staking as a service even with the ETF launched. I think other actions are less likely,” Carlasare told Cointelegraph.

In April, Ethereum infrastructure firm Consensys received a Wells notice from the SEC, which was primarily focused on Metamask’s trading and staking services.

Source: James Murphy

Finance lawyer Scott Johnsson also noted the SEC didn’t confirm Ether’s non-security status in its approval order, saying it “completely sidestepped” the issue.

However, the SEC and some of its Commissioners are expected to make an official statement in due course.

Related: 2025 to be ’a good year for crypto policy,’ industry experts say

The SEC officially approved 19b-4 applications from VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise to issue spot Ether ETFs on May 23.

Source: Tim Khoury

Hashdex was the only ETF issuer that didn’t receive regulatory approval on the day.

However, the eight approved ETF issuers will need to wait until the SEC signs off on their S-1 registration statements before launching.

Magazine: Godzilla vs. Kong: SEC faces fierce battle against crypto’s legal firepower

Asset manager VanEck was quick to celebrate its newly-approved spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) with an arty 37-second advertisement coaxing viewers to “Enter the ether.”

VanEck posted its ad spot to X on May 23, roughly 30 minutes after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved its 19b-4 filing for a spot Ether ETF alongside BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise.

The SEC still needs to greenlight each ETF’s S-1 filing to begin trading, which analysts say could take as long as a few months.

“Could it be the fuel to a less centralized and open-source economy?” VanEck’s ad queries. “What could Ethereum be? That’s up to you and me.”

enter the ether pic.twitter.com/YXgKQFP5Nr

— VanEck (@vaneck_us) May 23, 2024

The ad had over 1,000 reposts on X and was viewed 170,000 times at the time of writing.

The online reaction to the ad was largely positive. Yield Guild Games operating chief Colin Goltra said the “commercial actually goes hard af [as fuck].”

Related: Resolution overturning SEC crypto rule is on Biden’s desk — Now what?

“Today boomers discover smart contracts for the first time [and] realize crypto can be more than digital gold,” wrote the anonymous co-founder of DeGods private club X+ “Mav”

Jito Foundation contributor Andrew Thurman, meanwhile, wrote that Ether ETF’s advertises “to your bar buddy who took too many mushrooms and lived in a yurt for a year.”

VanEck released a similar string of ads in late September for its Ethereum Strategy ETF — tickered EFUT — an Ethereum futures ETF which launched a few days later on Oct. 2.

Currently, other asset managers who received 19b-4 approvals have not released ads, with only Grayscale and Bitwise acknowledging the approvals in X posts.

Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs make Coinbase a ‘honeypot’ for hackers and governments — Trezor CEO

A former professional poker player for 15 years, Roy Bhasin known as Zeneca in crypto grew a huge following on X as the spreadsheet guy who tracked daily floor prices of NFTs during the 2021 mania. 

Zeneca saw his NFT portfolio skyrocket to eight figures at one point, but then plunge back to earth. He then transformed himself into an NFT creator in November 2021 with the launch of ZenAcademy and The 333 Club.

Zeneca, aka Roy Bhasin.

After enduring the brutal NFT bear market, Zeneca has more recently been all in on Fantasy Top. The new game, built on the Ethereum L2 network Blast, is similar to a fantasy sports league but with Crypto Twitter personalities replacing the athletes and X engagement metrics replacing the sports scoreboard. While it may sound cringe-worthy to some, its taken the timeline by storm, and Zeneca has brought back his patented spreadsheet. 

My mojo is definitely back. Im jumping out of bed in the morning because I want to go check prices and check if my team has tweeted, he says. I feel so many others doing the same, and its just sort of created this energy, which, to me, I havent felt since 2021. Its really giving me a lot of 2021 vibes.

Pro poker player to NFT degen

Zeneca, an Australian living in Dubai, began playing professional poker around 2005. He says the skills he learned helped him navigate the chaotic waters of crypto and NFTs, as he developed a healthy disassociation from money and the ability to focus for long periods.

Zeneca Fantasy Top Card.

Although he played the majority of his poker online, he also has plenty of experience on the tables at casino tournaments. It wasnt unusual for him to spend 14 to 16 hours per day fully immersed in online poker, which mirrors the life of many professional crypto degens glued to screens. 

As a professional poker player, you sort of learn to have a healthy disassociation to money, where you cant care too much about money because then youre sitting at a poker table, and youre looking at a pot, or a bet, or a bluff, and you’re thinking, thats a week’s rent, thats a car, thats a holiday, thats a new iPhone or whatever.  

If you think like that, youll just never make logical and rational decisions. But on the other hand, if you dont care enough, then you just start spewing chips away. You dont care about the consequences. So, either end of the extreme is no good either. You must thread that needle and have a healthy dissociation to money.

Zeneca Bored Ape PFP with Ecumenopolis background. Round-tripping crypto portfolio and selling NFTs 

Zeneca was at one point up $20 million on paper from just a $50,000 cost basis in 2021, but as is the rite of passage for so many people in crypto, he rode his portfolio back down 80%90%. 2021 was the actually second time the Aussie had ridden his bags down. 

In 2017, when he first entered crypto, he was a little more passive nothing on-chain, rather buys and sells on exchanges. 

In 2017, I probably put in $5,000 to $10,000. I think at my peak, it was worth around $200,000 buying ETH and then buying Ripple, and just buying random coins on BTC Markets, he says. I did take profits along the way, similar to 2021/2022, but nowhere near as much as I probably should have. Percentagewise, riding down was pretty similar across both cycles.

The mental anguish and pain of round-tripping can leave crypto degens prioritizing how they think about selling, and Zeneca feels like he could write an entire book on the subject. 

At a high level, I still have not gotten great at selling. Ive gotten a lot better, but I still struggle. I think the number-one reason is portfolio fatigue, just having too many tokens across too many chains, too many wallets, and not being able to track it all and keep it all front of mind.

Over the past 12 months, hes been trying to streamline his profile down from thousands of NFTs, but he says its a mammoth task.

I think theres such a thing as overdiversification, and less is more in so many instances, so my goal is to just get to a portfolio thats manageable with maybe […] 10 to 20 things that I can just keep an eye on. I can have a better idea of when I might want to sell. Its not so overwhelming that Im making mistakes by bag-holding to zero.

Ive been full time crypto for 3 years and had crypto exposure for 7 yearsTurned $50k into $20m (on paper) before round tripping 80-90% of itAngel invested in close to 100 companiesLaunched 2 NFT projects/communities/companiesEmployed 2 dozen+ people in various capacities

— Zeneca (@Zeneca) May 8, 2024

Crypto and poker are similar

Zeneca draws similarities between his two worlds of poker and crypto, highlighting the competitive nature of both bankroll management and the often overlooked psychological side of both endeavors as giving the edge.

You dont want to sit down with all the money you have at one table, the same way you dont want to just put all the money you have in one random memecoin. You need to allocate your bankroll appropriately and take sort of calculated risks, calculated bets with a reasonable percentage of your bankroll at each one, says Zeneca.

Read also Features

South Koreas unique and amazing crypto universe

Asia Express

Hong Kong crypto frenzy, DeFi token surges 550%, NBA China NFTs Asia Express

He says crypto and poker are also jobs where you can work for a month and still lose money. Despite the parallels, the 36-year-old thinks crypto might have the edge on craziness.

Crypto is sort of just another level. Its a global playing field. Youre playing against millions of people instead of a poker tournament, which is thousands, or a poker table, which is 10. Crypto is crazier.

Making money in crypto, to NFTs, to true believer

Known for deep-dive blogs and insightful X threads, Zeneca has been very open about how he is approaching this current bull market, acknowledging that most peoples motive is simply to make money, but he now has other motivations, too.

I think I sort of came full circle. Most people come into the space to make money. I came in 2020 and 2017 to make money.

In 2021, I also fell in love with NFTs. I became an art collector, and thats genuine. I still love art. We recently got an apartment and hung up some NFTs as art, and it brings a lot of joy to life. I am very grateful and appreciative of crypto and NFTs for bringing that out in me and allowing me to experience that in life.

The Great Color Study by ACK, owned by Zeneca.

He says he fell in love with digital collecting, the idea of games and online communities, and then DeFi and the potential of blockchain technology.

It was like I came for the money, then fell in love with a lot of the positive, genuinely groundbreaking and revolutionary things that the space is doing.

Zeneca is still passionate about NFTs and Web3, but his new persona arc is that its okay to lean into accepting that much of crypto is an online casino, where the winners are those best able to shift and adapt to new narratives.

Crypto and NFT projects rarely succeed

Having seen what life is like behind the curtains of a project founder via ZenAcademy, and being privy to hundreds of pitch calls for crypto startups as an angel investor, Zeneca says that despite many incredible projects, most ideas are stillborn.

Most of these projects and ideas just fall flat. They struggle at marketing, or theyve built this cool thing, but nobody actually wants to use it. It is just the realization that its not enough to build something interesting.

But if you want users, if you want to build a big successful company or app, project or whatever, you need to understand your market, you need to understand marketing, customer acquisition, all of these things.

Read also Features

Real AI use cases in crypto, No. 2: AIs can run DAOs

Features Shanghai Special: Crypto crackdown fallout and what happens next

I sort of view it on two levels now, where you have the macro zoomed-out view of where crypto is. Were miles ahead of where we were in 2021, which was miles ahead of where we were in 2017. Gas costs have come down. We have all these layer 2s and alternative layer 1s. Wallets have gotten so much better. You can create wallets with an email address in a minute now.

Whereas on the day-to-day time scale, its really about making money. Thats what most people are turning up to do, he says, adding that the casino gambling side of things is not for everyone.I can see it being a downside as well because it paints the whole crypto space in a negative light to a lot of people. Vitalik had an article a while back on how we have to make crypto cypherpunk again, and I think theres a lot of truth to that.

I think I just try not to take anything too seriously and have fun in the spaceI have infinite belief in crypto and blockchain technology long termI also know that 99% of the space is a gambling ponzi casinoI mostly have fun and try to make money while were in this place

— Zeneca (@Zeneca) May 8, 2024

NFT business vs. NFT community

Throughout the mania of 2021 and the insane NFT period of JanuaryApril 2022, it was widespread practice for project founders to promise the world (or the metaverse) to holders and deliver very little as prices continued to soar, resetting expectations in an infinite upward trend.

But ZenAcademy and The 333 Club tapered expectations from the get-go, so the difficult decision to wind back his projects in 2023 amid the bear market wasnt accompanied by the backlash many other founders grappled with.

Fidenza #291 by Tyler Hobbs, owned by Zeneca.

We tried a lot of things over the couple of years, and basically, the realization I had in late 2023 was I didnt want to run a company. I wanted to run a community, and so many NFT projects struggle with trying to build a profitable business while also keeping the community happy, Zeneca says.

Its almost as if every decision is going to be at the expense of one or the other. If youre trying to do something for profits, the community is generally not going to be that thrilled. If youre trying to make the community happy, generally its going to cost money.

I didnt enjoy the difficulty and the grind. Theres so many elements of running a business, like the paperwork, the admin, the stuff that Im really not good at.

But I love the community aspect. I love hanging out in the Discord, talking with people. I love sharing my thoughts and alpha. I love that every week, we have a couple of calls with the community, and Im still doing all of that. The realization late last year helped me accept that the business was not going to succeed.

Rapid-fire Q&A with NFT Collector Zeneca

Favorite NFT in your wallet? 

Meridan #536 by Matt DesLauriers, owned by Zeneca.

I would say either my Fidenza or one of the Meridians I own. We got a big print of this Meridian and hung it up on the wall in our new apartment, and it brings a lot of joy.

Favorite one-of-one art piece?

Theres a Hackatao piece that I won in a raffle for minting the first-ever PUNKS Comic. I love their art style. Ive been in love with it for a very long time. Most of my collecting is like generative art, one-of-one of a certain collection or editions. My Meridian, too, theres a lot of Art Blocks that I love.

Are Ethereum NFTs coming back?

Yes and no. 99.9% are not coming back, but theres a small fraction that are going to blow everyones minds. Youve got your Autoglyphs, your Squiggles, your Punks. There are a bunch of other ones, but most are not going to come back. Maybe Pudgy Penguins will blow everyone out of the water again because theyre sort of killing it. But were not going to see an early 2022 ever again.

Who are your top three favorite follows on X for NFTs?

B-Cheque: He is a really good one and a top favorite.

OSFand Sam, aka NFT Stats: I almost group OSF and NFT Stats together. I like them a lot because theyre active, they tweet a lot, theyre in the trenches. They have a really good pulse on the market, and I feel like they can be pretty up to date about whats going on across NFTs and memecoins, and even macro. You can group Mando into that category as well, basically the FOMO hour crew.

Subscribe The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a week.

Email address

SUBSCRIBE

Many House of Representatives lawmakers praised this week’s passage of two pro-crypto bills, but President Joe Biden may still veto one piece of legislation lauded by industry advocates.

According to congressional records, on May 23, the House presented to the U.S. President a joint resolution calling for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to strike down a rule affecting financial institutions doing business with crypto firms. The bill, H.J.Res.109, would strike down the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) No. 121, which requires banks to keep customers’ crypto on its balance sheets, with capital maintained against them.

Before the House and Senate passed the resolution, President Biden on May 8 said he intended to veto it. He claimed the legislation would “inappropriately constrain the SEC’s ability to ensure appropriate guardrails and address future issues related to crypto-assets” and limit regulatory guidelines for digital assets.

Related: Biden may rethink SAB 121 vote veto due to political support for crypto

However, within roughly two weeks, the political landscape had shifted slightly. It was unclear whether President Biden would factor in recent events coming from Congress to veto the resolution or sign it into law.

On May 8, 21 Democrats in the House sided with Republicans to pass H.J.Res.109. A similar bipartisan result followed in the Senate on May 16, as the resolution passed with a 60 to 38 vote.

Before the House voted on the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act, the White House released a statement saying President Biden opposed the bill — but did not explicitly threaten to veto it. More than 70 Democrats joined with a majority of Republicans to pass the legislation, which is set to go to the Senate soon.

“HJ 109 and its bipartisan support are a clear rebuke of the SEC’s vision for crypto oversight,” Moe Vela, a former Director of Administration for then-Vice President Biden, told Cointelegraph. “I highly encourage the Biden Administration to collaborate with the crypto industry in the development of consumer-friendly AND industry-supportive regulations and policies.”

Vela added:

“I cannot predict whether the President will veto HJ 109, but I highly encourage him not to do so.”

Crypto proponents will know President Biden’s course of action within ten days, excluding Sundays — the maximum allowable time to sign or veto a bill. The legislation came to his desk the same day the SEC approved spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds for listing and trading on U.S. exchanges for the first time.

Magazine: Godzilla vs. Kong: SEC faces fierce battle against crypto’s legal firepower

The Fantom Foundation, the organization behind the Fantom decentralized network, recently announced the creation of a new foundation for facilitating the launch of their new, upcoming Sonic chain.

On May, 23, Fantom Foundation CEO Michael Kong announced the new foundation on the blockchain network’s blog. Kong wrote:

“Our team is steadfast in exploring how the Sonic chain can impact and elevate a number of different DeFi and real-world use cases. Industries and applications such as real-world assets, perpetual DEXs, payments, trading, and high-transaction-based games, can be transformed by the speed and high throughput of Sonic.”

Fantom’s Sonic Foundation will be tasked with overseeing Sonic’s governance, managing the network treasury, orchestrating partnerships, and developing the DApp ecosystem.

According to Kong and the Fantom development team, Sonic will consist of a new layer-1 solution and a built-in layer 2 that bridges the EVM-compatible network directly to the Ethereum network.

Through the Sonic Chain’s architecture, users of the upcoming Sonic network will reportedly be able to tap into Ethereum’s vast ecosystem of decentralized applications, liquidity providers, and community.

Originally launched in 2019, Fantom offers a unique consensus model called Lachesis that deviates from traditional blockchain networks through the use of directed acyclic graphs and asynchronous Byzantine fault tolerance (aBFT).

A visual demonstrating the difference between a traditional blockchain and a directed acyclic graph. Source: Central Blockchain Council of America and Fantom Foundation.

Related: Fantom bets on ‘safer memecoins’ with launch of $6.5M dev fund

Validators on the Fantom network need not work on the most current block, like in Bitcoin or Ethereum, but instead work on independently validating transactions and blocks on their own, which are known as “event blocks.”

These event blocks are then broadcast to other nodes in a non-linear fashion to achieve consensus that does not rely on blocks being ordered and validated sequentially.

Once a majority of the nodes agree on the contents of the event block, it is added to Fantom’s main chain as a root event block. Fantom’s main chain is an actual blockchain, while the consensus mechanism between nodes is a directed acyclic graph that facilitates constant asynchronous communication between all the validator nodes.

The Fantom Foundation explained that this use of asynchronous messaging between the nodes is what allows Fantom to have a finality time of 1-2 seconds per block.

In a second landmark decision this year, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given the regulatory green light to spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds in the United States. 

Ina May 23 filing, the SEC approved the 19b-4 filings from VanEck, BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, and Bitwise — approving the rule changes allowing spot Ether exchange-traded funds to be listed and traded on their respective exchanges. The landmark decision came despite speculation that the securities regulator has been investigating whether to label Ether as a security.

While the 19b-4s have been approved, ETF issuers still need the SEC to sign off on their respective S-1 registration statements for the spot Ether ETFs to officially begin trading. Industry analysts say this could take days, weeks, or even months. The SEC reportedly instructed applicants to accelerate their 19b-4 filings on May 20. The removal of staking is the most notable amendment seen across several filings. 

The SEC approval comes a day after the United States House of Representatives members voted in favor of legislation many believe will provide more regulatory clarity to the cryptocurrency industry. The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century bill will clarify the roles of the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, but it still needs to be passed by the Senate and signed into law.

The spot Ether ETF approval comes four and a half months after the SEC approved several spot Bitcoin ETF applications on Jan. 10, which marked an industry first.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Bitcoin (BTC) price is down by 2.5% today, surprising traders who were certain that new all-time highs were in the cards after the cryptocurrency’s early week rally to $72,000. 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed that leveraged long traders were caught off guard as BTC price suddenly dropped from a high of $71,980 on May 21 to an intra-day low of $67,550 on May 23.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

“Bitcoin is still following a similar path to 2016-2017,” said independent analyst Jelle, reacting to what has become a familiar pattern for BTC in previous cycles.

Jelle said that Bitcoin will enter a parabolic uptrend once it breaks the 2021 all-time highs, projecting a Bitcoin price of $100,000.

Trader and analyst Mags explained that the current BTC correction could be a “fake out,” a pattern it has displayed since bottoming out at $15,500.

“Price consolidates inside a range for a few weeks or months, then it breaks down below the range, trapping all the bears, followed by a quick reclaim and another leg up.”

Source: Mags

Jelle also noted that BTC’s recent recovery above $65,000 saw it break “all key resistance levels,” including the 50-day exponential moving average (EMA), which is currently at $64,665.

Source: Jelle

Jelle further explained that this has resulted in “hidden bullish divergence,” further supporting Bitcoin’s upside.

Fellow analyst Matthew Hyland noted that BTC price was close to retesting the demand zone between $64,000 and $67,000, representing the neckline of an inverse head-and-shoulders pattern.

“Bitcoin broke out above the H&S and closed a daily candle above it. A rest of the breakout at $67K is always possible. So, if it were to happen, do not be alarmed. The overall structure is bullish on a higher timeframe. Bitcoin tested the last resistance before all-time highs.”

BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Matthew Hyland

Popular analyst Wolf Of All Streets shared the following chart, saying bulls would want to see the $67,000 support area (center of range) hold as support. This indicates that the price will now range between $67,000 and an all-time high of $73,835.

The analysts explained that this range provides a technically high risk-to-reward buy.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Wolf Of All Streets

However, those betting on BTC’s recovery from the current levels lost big on May 23, as the downturn liquidated $159.3 million in long positions worth amid a 24-hour total wipeout of $227.51 million, according to data from Coinglass.

Total crypto liquidations. Source: Coinglass

With the latest drawdown, $46.75 million in BTC leveraged positions have been liquidated over the last hour alone, with $39.6 million of these being longs.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried is no longer incarcerated in New York or California, where his parents own a home — according to prison records, he’s in Oklahoma.

As of May 23, inmate records for the Federal Bureau of Prisons showed that Bankman-Fried was being held at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City. According to the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice, the facility confines inmates on a “short-term basis” for transfers within the prison system.

SBF’s relocation to Oklahoma, coupled with reports from May 22, suggested that authorities may transfer the former FTX CEO from the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn to the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Mendota. The transfer appeared to have happened despite Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recommending SBF stay at MDC Brooklyn.

Bankman-Fried had been housed in New York since a judge revoked his bail in August 2023 and, following his March 2024 sentencing hearing, requested to remain at MDC Brooklyn to “facilitate access to his appellate counsel.” A jury convicted the former FTX CEO of seven felony counts in November 2023, and Judge Kaplan later sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

Related: SBF maintains his innocence as he trades rice in jail

In a letter with the court filed on May 22, Judge Kaplan requested that Bankman-Fried remain in New York “until his appeal has been fully briefed to facilitate access to appellate counsel.”

Source: Courtlistener

At the time of publication, it was unclear how long Bankman-Fried would be confined to the Oklahoma facility. If transferred to FCI Mendota, the former FTX CEO would stay close to his parents’ San Francisco Bay Area home. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website, the Oklahoma facility near the Will Rogers World Airport houses 1,414 inmates.

Bankman-Fried was the only individual connected to the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research to plead not guilty and be convicted for his role in defrauding customers. Former FTX and Alameda executives Ryan Salame, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh all pleaded guilty and accepted deals with authorities. Salame’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 28.

Magazine: ‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame

The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act passed the United States House of Representatives on a largely partisan vote on May 23. The bill, which must still face a vote in the Senate, amends the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to prohibit Federal Reserve banks “from offering certain products or services directly to an individual, to prohibit the use of central bank digital currency for monetary policy, and for other purposes.”

The Republican-backed bill’s debate was sparsely attended. Republican supporters spoke about the potential for the abuse of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), while Democrats concentrated on innovation, the dollar’s international competitiveness and the bill’s poor drafting.

French Hill, the Chairman of the Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Inclusion, said:

“We live in a world where the government can abuse the tools it has.”

Representative Mike Flood reused his rhetorical device urging the audience to “imagine the politician you despise the most” with control over a CBDC.

Financial Services Committee member Warren Davidson called the New York Fed’s Project Hamilton “the same creepy surveillance tool” as China’s digital yuan. He said the pilot project “could be developed to something further.” The Fed was not responding to dialog, so it must respond to law, he said.

The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act. Source: congress.gov

That idea was echoed by Rep. Alexander Mooney, author of an amendment to the bill that restricted CBDC research, who said a CBDC should not be “available at a moment’s notice.”

Related: New York Fed collaborates with Singapore MAS to explore CBDCs

Frequent references were made to the digital yuan and the blockage of bank accounts in Canada during a trucker drivers' demonstration against COVID-19 vaccination. Warren also mentioned George Orwell—author of the novel 1984—the New Testament Book of Revelations and the Deathstar—a device in the Star Wars film franchise—in his arguments. Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke about the “deep state” and the “Democrat regime.”

The exact implications of the bill were also disputed. Brad Sherman called the bill a “word salad” that favored “crypto bros.” He added that no one would be required to use a CBDC.

While Republican arguments focused on a retail CBDC, Financial Services Committee ranking member Maxine Waters claimed the bill could be construed to ban a wholesale CBDC as well. Waters argued that the bill would “risk undermining the primacy of the U.S. dollar” globally.

The bill could also be interpreted to ban Federal Reserve holdings of bank reserves, which is necessary to administer payment systems, Waters said:

“[The bill] blocks the American economy as it operates today and has for decades."

Waters also mentioned zero-knowledge proof technology that could guarantee user privacy. Dollar-pegged stablecoins could lose their value in a run, while a CBDC could not, she added.

Source: XRP Drops

Financial Services Committee member Jake Auchincloss said that his proposed bill, "Power of the Mint Act,” would accomplish similar goals without the drawbacks of the bill under consideration, but it had been blocked by Republicans.

The CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act was introduced into the House by Rep. Tom Emmer in February 2023. It passed by a vote of 216-192.

Magazine: How the digital yuan could change the world… for better or worse

It's a little-known fact that women are behind two of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges. 

In a blog post published on May 21, Gracy Chen, formerly the managing director of crypto exchange Bitget, who now serves as the firm’s CEO, detailed her journey in leading an exchange that currently facilitates $4 billion in trading volume: 

“Raised by a single mom, I was expected simply to grow up happily. Like many Asian parents, she hoped that I would not be overly aggressive and that my greatest future task would be to find a life partner. However, from an early age, I was drawn to the idea of leading. Starting from primary school, I actively sought out every chance to be a leader. My desire to lead wasn’t about managing or commanding others, it was about creating more values."

Chen described how at 18, she received a scholarship to study Applied Mathematics in Singapore and became a television host for a Chinese finance and technology program upon graduation, where she learned about Bitcoin (BTC), back then at $300, from her interviewees in 2015:

"I began by reading the Bitcoin white paper and was instantly hooked. As a mathematician, I loved the mathematical beauty of it. I was excited by how democratic the system was. Mostly, I was drawn to the way it established a new decentralized ledger that complements the traditional centralized financial industry." 

Soon after, Chen left her TV work and co-founded two startups in fintech and virtual reality, while also simultaneously enrolling in an MBA at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: “What do you call an entrepreneur who fails? Serial entrepreneur. And that’s me!”

In the spring of 2022, Chen joined Bitget after seeing an opening role for a managing director. As its current CEO, she manages over 1,500 staff. 

Gracy Chen with her son. Source: Bitget

Another such figure is He Yi, co-founder of iconic crypto exchange Binance. 

In 1986, Yi He was born into a family of teachers in the remote countryside of Sichuan Province in mainland China. Despite a simple upbringing and a relatively isolated childhood, Yi He quickly demonstrated an innate knack for learning, finishing top place in all of her school exams and using her spare time to read.

In her early adult years, Yi He left her birthplace to pursue a career in psychology in Beijing but quickly found that there were few prospects, as she recounted that, unlike now, people weren’t "interested in mental health” at the time. However, she developed the skills needed for communication and interactions, which became the cornerstone of her breakthrough in 2012 when she auditioned for a Chinese tourism TV program and landed the role. 

After traveling across the country as a TV host, in 2013, when Bitcoin was still trading at $1,100, Yi He met Star Xu, founder of Okcoin, now known as the OKX exchange, who was looking for a well-known influencer to promote the OKX brand. Having made a small fortune from the Chinese stock bull market of 2006 to 2008, Yi He became interested in the crypto space and, coupling it with her TV host experience, accepted an offer to become the vice president of OKcoin. 

Under Yi He’s leadership, OKX quickly became a leading exchange in mainland China. It was also during this time that Yi He introduced her future spouse, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, who was a friend at the time, to fulfill the role of chief technology officer at Okcoin. 

Binance co-founder Yi He: Source: Twitter

Unfortunately, CZ reportedly had a tumulous relationship with Okcoin’s Star Xu, and by 2015, he had resigned from the firm. Yi He did not appear to have enjoyed being caught in the crossfire and, too, resigned the same year. For two years, Yi He remained in and out of the tech industry, when, by 2017, she had developed ambitions not just to operate a business within China but one with global influence. 

At about the same time, CZ had published his white paper envisioning a global crypto exchange, Binance, which he showed to Yi He. Having realized that CZ was the only person in her network who had the expertise and character to build an international exchange, Yi He quickly signed up for the challenging, co-founding Binance in June 2017. 

Fast-forward to today and Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange, with $36.5 billion in daily volume and $134.6 billion in total assets. Although CZ is no longer involved in Binance’s decision-making or operations, Yi He and its current CEO, Richard Teng, have since taken the reins, frequently sharing their outlook on the future of the crypto industry. 

A 23-year-old crypto user has presented an orange flag with the Bitcoin (BTC) logo for observers to see at an elevation of 8,849 meters — the summit of Mount Everest.

In a May 23 X post, Dadvan Yousuf announced he had climbed the highest mountain in the world, reaching the summit on May 20. Surrounded by sherpas and fellow climbers, he used his time at the summit to show off two flags: for Kurdistan and the BTC logo.

“Funnily enough, other climbers asked about the memecoin pepe and where the best place to buy it was on the highest place on earth,” A spokesperson for Yousuf told Cointelegraph. “The sherpas were enthusiastic about the principle of Bitcoin and were visibly happy.”

At the top of Mount Everest on May 20. Source: Dadvan Yousuf

Yousuf said the expedition was intended to highlight the “global disparity in access to financial education.” Born in Iraq and with a business now based in Dubai, the Bitcoiner’s reported net worth was more than $300 million as of January 2022.

Overtourism has become an increasing problem on Everest in the last twenty years. With the summit being featured on social media for the first time, many first-timers or inexperienced climbers come unprepared for the harsh conditions.

Yousuf reported it took roughly 50 days to reach the summit, giving the Bitcoiner time to acclimate to the thinner air. Though more than 7,000 climbers have scaled the summit since Sir Edmund Hillary first did in 1953, more than 300 have been reported dead in the attempt.

“I fell down the Hillary step twice and almost died several times,” Yousuf told Cointelegraph. “During the expedition I almost lost my fingers due to frostbite. I owe a lot to my sherpas who helped me.”

Related: Bitcoin price at $150K in 2024 is ‘base case’ — Tom Lee

Though crypto users have not always attempted anything as high as Everest, some have promoted digital assets during climbs. In 2023, a climber financed his trip to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania partly with Bitcoin as part of efforts to raise awareness for financial literacy. In 2018, three individuals placed a Ledger wallet at the summit of Everest — the wallet was not visible in the videos Yousuf provided to Cointelegraph.

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price of Bitcoin was $67,879 at the time of publication. The cryptocurrency reached an all-time high price of $73,738 on March 14.

Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

After a wave of regulatory pushbacks against crypto within the last couple of years, industry experts are anticipating a much friendlier 2025, thanks in part to positive regulatory developments. 

“2025 could be a good year for crypto policy,” wrote senior Bloomberg policy analyst Nathan Dean on May 23. “While I try to be neutral on #cryptoregulations, it feels like this week may be the turning point. #Bitcoin ETF approval, likely soon #Ethereum ETF approval and 71 House Democrats joining in on the FIT Act (not too mention SAB 121).”

Dean further explained that aside from crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) approvals, stablecoin frameworks could also come to fruition by the end of next year. However, the analyst warned that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission still had the power to regulate projects that seek to classify their tokens as commodities instead of securities, though they are rather “nice to have” problems as the industry obtains further clarity under the law. 

Another Bloomberg analyst, Eric Balchunas, also agrees.

“A bipartisan group of House lawmakers has sent Gary Gensler a letter urging the SEC to approve spot Ether ETFs,” Balchunas said, citing a Congressional letter. This "offers investors crypto access in a regulated, transparent, safe format.” The analyst then expressed his awe: "It's pretty surreal and fascinating to see ETFs get sucked into mainstream politics and an election year narrative."

It's not just in the U.S. where lawmakers have turned to regulation as opposed to plain enforcement. 

On May 22, the first Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products (ETPs) debuted on the London Stock Exchange following approval by the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority. Although the ETPs are only available to professional investors for the time being, a spokesperson for CryptoUK, the self-regulatory trade association for the U.K. crypto-asset industry, said that the approval was a “step in the right direction” and adds to “the government's aspiration to secure Britain as a global crypto-asset hub."

The following day, Cointelegraph reported that Hong Kong’s Securities & Futures Commission is currently considering allowing its spot Ether ETF issuers to stake custodied Ether, earning yields of 3.6% per annum for validating transactions on the blockchain and delivering them to shareholders. However, no concrete plans have materialized for a decision. 

A spot Ethereum ETF decision by U.S. regulators is anticipated the same day, with the price of major currencies rallying in anticipation of a

Related: SEC Ethereum ETF discussions underway, S-1 approval expected in hours

The crypto industry has evolved dramatically, driven by innovations in decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain technology. Amid this transformation, Waves founder Sasha Ivanov has introduced Units Network. Designed as a foundational layer, Units Network connects ecosystem chains in a fully interoperable and trustless manner, featuring the restaking of any assets and secured by real-world assets (RWA).

In this interview, Ivanov discusses the strategies and innovations behind Units Network, its role within the Waves ecosystem and the broader implications for blockchain technology. He also reflects on past challenges, including the depegging of Neutrino USD and the impact of the FTX collapse, offering valuable insights into the future of decentralized finance.

Cointelegraph: What do you have in store for the next bull cycle?

Sasha Ivanov: We’re launching a new project, Units Network, based on the Waves ecosystem. The goal is to significantly grow the ecosystem and bring in new community members. This project enables the launch of your own layer-1 (L1) blockchain based on Waves (WAVES) staking. The network is fully compatible with Ethereum and aims to simplify launching your own blockchain network.

Also, networks within the ecosystem interact through the Waves network, which becomes more than just an L1 blockchain but a layer 0 (L0) foundational level of the ecosystem. We believe that the ease of launching blockchain networks and their effective connection to existing networks are key to the mass adoption of blockchain technology.

#Waves is going to become a chain which supports dozens of chains built on top of it, with $waves miners profiting from mining native tokens of all those chains.This setup is unique, Waves mining rewards (which are not too bad now either) will increase many times over.

— Sasha.waves (@sasha35625) April 13, 2024

CT: How did you handle the challenges related to Waves, what were the results, and what lessons did you learn from this situation?

SI: The past two years have been very challenging for all of us, and Waves has faced many unpleasant issues as well, but of course, they pale in comparison to what’s happening in the world.

On a positive note, we can highlight the following: The detachment of USDN and similar stablecoin issues have shown that a model based solely on market mechanisms to maintain the stability of such assets is not stable enough and is vulnerable to attacks (these mechanisms may work in 99% of situations, but an unforeseen 1% can undermine the entire model).

Furthermore, through the example of Waves, we have demonstrated that decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) models can function in crisis situations. After the situation with USDN and liquidity stuck in the loan protocol on Waves and Waves Exchange gateways, the possibility of centralized financing for developing core ecosystem products disappeared. The Waves ecosystem has become fully decentralized, with all funding being conducted through the Waves DAO, allowing Waves to continue its development.

CT: How did the conflict with Alameda Research affect Waves? What are your thoughts on the collapse of the FTX exchange?

SI: “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” My attitude toward the crypto market and my vision of what I aim to achieve within it has changed significantly. The collapse of FTX was a big surprise for me and opened my eyes to the risks within the Western financial system, which I had been inclined to underestimate.

CT: How do you assess Ethereum’s current development and scalability approach?

SI: Units Network aims to do what Ethereum will likely do in the coming years — connect layer-2 (L2) networks and the base Ethereum layer into one ecosystem based on Ether (ETH) staking. In this case, L2 networks essentially become “shards” of Ethereum, and sharding will receive new life within the future Ethereum ecosystem.

I believe this is the end game for the current development of crypto technologies — an ecosystem based on the economic mechanisms of a powerful L1 network with L2 networks using these mechanisms for decentralization and consensus internally. In this scenario, the L1 network essentially becomes L0, the base level providing consensus and linking all networks into one ecosystem.

CT: Could you give us an overview of the Units Network and its role within the blockchain ecosystem?

SI: Units aims to grow the Waves ecosystem by providing the ability to launch Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) networks quickly and efficiently. This bypasses the need to deploy individual validators and allows networks to connect with others both within and beyond the ecosystem. Hundreds of interconnected EVM networks are anticipated within the ecosystem, with the first Unit0 network being pivotal. Its Unit0 token governs the Units DAO within the ecosystem.

We are launching the Units testnet campaign, which lets users get acquainted with the product and earn rewards for testnet activities. This will be followed by a staking campaign, where users can earn Units tokens for providing liquidity. The launch of Units is anticipated in June-July of this year.

🧱What if cubes were used to lay the foundation for infrastructure aimed at addressing the blockchain issues we've previously discussed? Units can do more! But first, let's shed some light on some background.In the blockchain industry, there's much talk about Layer 1 and Layer… pic.twitter.com/0oqKcs2DqZ

— Units.Network (@UnitsNetwork) March 21, 2024

CT: Could you walk us through some of the specific tools and solutions offered by Units Network?

SI: Units Network’s goal is to enable a very straightforward process for launching your own blockchains. A blockchain originator makes a DAO governance proposal, offering certain rewards to network validators. If the proposal is approved, their blockchain is launched within a few days. You do not need to maintain your own nodes. The new blockchain is supported by the existing validator community and is seamlessly and fully interoperably connected to all other chains within the ecosystem. On top of that, external bridges provide connectivity to other ecosystems.

CT: How does the Hybrid RWA stablecoin system work, and what are its benefits compared to traditional stablecoins?

SI: The RWA narrative is very important for the future applications of blockchain technology since it promises the transfer of a substantial part of the world’s financial infrastructure to blockchain tech and can provide an almost unlimited flow of new projects for years to come. On the other hand, the RWA narrative requires lowering the entry barriers for projects, especially when launching their blockchains.

Units will facilitate the launch of several RWA projects in the ecosystem, aiming to showcase the network’s advantages in terms of launch simplicity and external ecosystem connectivity. One of the projects that will be launched is a hybrid RWA stablecoin that combines crypto collateral with less liquid RWA collateral in such a way that the RWA part provides for stablecoin annual percentage yield (APY), and the crypto part secures the stablecoin peg.

CT: From a user perspective, what are the tangible advantages of utilizing Units Network over traditional blockchain platforms?

SI: We are focusing on the simplicity of launching your own chain, embedded into the existing ecosystem with useful features such as trustees’ internal bridges, external bridges with native staking of any assets and an ecosystem DAO that can help bootstrap your own chain. The goal is to create a Swiss army knife-type solution for launching and maintaining your own blockspace for all types of projects that require it and make it really accessible.

CT: Looking ahead, what are the future plans of Units Network?

SI: Currently, we’re starting testnet and liquidity campaigns that are meant to showcase Unit network features. Mainnet launch of the first ecosystem blockchain, Unit0, is planned for this summer. The next significant milestone for Units is launching the ecosystem DAO based on the Unit0 token. It will help bootstrap further ecosystem chains and DApps launching on the Unit0 chain. In parallel, zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs will be integrated into the ecosystem, allowing for different approaches to L0-L1 interoperability. 

Learn more about Units Network

Disclaimer. Cointelegraph does not endorse any content or product on this page. While we aim at providing you with all important information that we could obtain in this sponsored article, readers should do their own research before taking any actions related to the company and carry full responsibility for their decisions, nor can this article be considered as investment advice.

The Government of Montenegro reported that Justice Minister Andrej Milović had discussed the investigation into Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon with officials from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

In a May 22 notice, Montenegro’s government said Milović had met with SEC personnel, including Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal. According to the government, the Justice Minister discussed the SEC’s case against Kwon, in which he and Terraform were found liable for fraud in April.

At the time of publication, Kwon was in Montenegro as the country’s courts considered requests for extradition from the U.S. and South Korea. He was arrested in March 2023 for using falsified travel documents and sentenced to four months in prison.

Though free to travel within Montenegro after his release, Kwon’s lawyers have filed several appeals that have delayed extradition proceedings. Depending on the court rulings, Milović may ultimately decide whether the Terraform co-founder is sent to the U.S. or South Korea.

Related: Terra was a ‘house of cards’ — SEC in opening statements for civil trial

In the United States, a judge will consider remedies from Terraform and Kwon at a May 29 hearing after a jury found them liable for fraud. The SEC proposed that the co-founder and Terraform pay roughly $5.3 billion in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties.

Terraform collapsed in 2022 following the instability of its algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST). In January, the firm filed for bankruptcy in the U.S., reporting up to $500 million in estimated liabilities and assets.

Magazine: Godzilla vs. Kong: SEC faces fierce battle against crypto’s legal firepower