The U.S. SEC officially approved spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) this month (from The Wall Street Journal)…

The first U.S. ETFs that hold bitcoin were cleared Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission. They were hailed by the crypto industry as a game changer that would allow mainstream investors to buy and sell bitcoin as easily as stocks and mutual funds. Investors responded enthusiastically. More than $4.6 billion of shares across 10

Why Bitcoin ETFs matter (from Timothy Peterson, CFA CAIA via X)…

This post explains the rationale for Bitcoin ETFs over self-custodied Bitcoin. (Speaking from experience, but not necessarily an endorsement of such ETFs): ETFs fill a need and are designed to permit exposure to Bitcoin for professional, registered investment advisors in the US and others in the traditional investment system. Money managers in particular have unique

Bitcoin ETFs represent a “spiritual reversal” of the U.S. government’s confiscation of gold (from balajis.com)…

History is running in reverse. Ninety years ago, FDR and his fellow travelers rode the 20th century arc of centralization. The chokepoints of then-new technologies for mass media and mass production allowed them to gain control over the population, recruit top talent for their “Brain Trust”, and seize the gold after a series of epic

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven counts of fraud. Here’s an inside look at the trial (from Flesh/Markets)…

The Sam Bankman-Fried trial finished up yesterday, and boy are my arms tired. Literally. I filled eight notebooks over the four weeks of the trial. I’ve also been getting to the SDNY courthouse as early as 2 am some mornings to line up for one of the coveted seats inside the courtroom itself. I’m still

Trading on OpenSea – the biggest non-fungible token (“NFT”) marketplace – has collapsed (from chartr)…

Not Fully Thriving OpenSea, the self-proclaimed “first and largest” marketplace for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), is reportedly laying off 50% of its current staff, as the platform looks to cut costs and reorganize amidst the continued fall of the digital tokens. The days of tweets selling as NFTs, “crypto punks,” and celebrities going on Jimmy Fallon