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Citizen Daily Brief

Coinbase Wars On ($)

Weekly Recap: Coinbase's strategic setback, SBF's curtain call
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Mar 30, 20246 min read
Coinbase Wars On
Published on Mar 30, 2024
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Sponsor: Consensus 2024 – 10 Years of Decentralizing the Future: Discovery, Dialogue and Dealmaking

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THIS WEEK IN MARKETS
Bitcoin's Record Month

📊 March's new heights. Barring an unlikely 10%+ collapse today, Bitcoin will close March at its highest level ever! BTC captivated traders in March, but which asset fell to the wayside?

Prices as of 10am ET 24hr 7d
Crypto $2.66T ↘ 0.3% ↗ 6.8%
BTC $70,171 ↘ 0.4% ↗ 7.4%
ETH $3,542 ↘ 0.3% ↗ 4.0%
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WEEKLY RECAP
Coinbase Wars On

1️⃣ Coinbase and SEC battle continues

Despite Crypto's hopes and expectations that the SEC's case would get tossed, Coinbase's legal battle with the SEC will instead continue following a court decision that allowed most claims to proceed while dismissing those against Coinbase Wallet — a big win for self-custodial wallets. Ever the optimists, the exchange sees this as a way to gain insights into the SEC's stance on crypto regulation. Their Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, stated they stand ready to continue the proceedings while emphasizing the importance of developing clear digital asset legislation in the US. 

2️⃣ SBF sentenced to 25 years

The story of Sam Bankman-Fried's rise and fall ended this week with a final sentence of 25 years in prison. Despite Bankman-Fried's apology and appeals, Judge Lewis Kaplan saw no remorse for the $8B misappropriated from FTX customers and emphasized the severity of SBF’s crimes against the industry and its investors. With the sentencing over, the only question that remains: where will he serve his time?

3️⃣ April showers bring airdrop flowers

April looks like it will be a monumental month for degens, with several significant airdrops poised to inject billions into the market over the month. Hitting the ground running next week, Ethena will airdrop 5% of its total supply (~$600M in ENA) to participants of its first campaign on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wormhole will then distribute 17% of its supply ($3B based on current pre-market prices) to its users the following day, April 3rd.

Then, later in the month, airdrops from Solana protocols Parcl and Kamino will drop over another $200m in the ecosystem overall. With April historically being a strong month for Bitcoin, this additional stimulus may have us in for quite a ride.

4️⃣ Kucoin founders charged

Last Tuesday, the Department of Justice charged offshore exchange KuCoin’s founders with violating anti-money laundering laws and concealing that they had many US customers. For years, KuCoin operated without KYC requirements, adopting them only after coming under federal investigation. After the DOJ announcement, KuCoin users experienced substantial delays in withdrawing from the exchange — an inconvenience KuCoin decided to compensate users for with an airdrop announcement the next day for those who had delays. Amid this news, an interesting easter egg came from the complaint document, which defined Ethereum as a commodity in their suit — potentially weakening the SEC’s case.

5️⃣ ETF filings and Fink comments

More updates for ETH ETFs this week, with new filings from Bitwise and Fidelity (a $4.5T asset manager) and comments by Blackrock CEO Larry Fink, who said the ETF is still possible even if ETH is a security. Both ETFs also included staking, following the trend of ETFs being updated to include this feature. Currently, Polymarket's prediction market gives the approval of these ETFs by May 31st only a 21% chance, indicating that approval would indeed be an unexpected development.


FRIEND & SPONSOR: CONSENSUS 2024

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Get ready for 400+ speakers, 17K attendees, 100+ countries, 950 investors with $3 trillion AUM, presentations from 20+ key protocols including ETH & BTC Day, and summits dedicated to regulation, digital assets’ impact on culture and business, on-chain innovation and more. Prices increase 4/11 at 4 p.m. ET.

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WEEKLY ROLLUP
25 Years for SBF

Sam didn't get away with it.

Despite all of of the political donations and favors, efforts to win over the media, and attempts to tug on the judge's heartstrings, SBF still got a hefty prison sentence. But what did crypto think of the ruling? David and Ryan dig in and gauge popular opinion.

Hear their thoughts 👇

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METAVERSAL
Metaversal is Leveling Up
Bankless Author: William M. Peaster

Over the next couple of months, we’ll be leveling up the Metaversal experience.   

It’ll be the same great Metaversal you know and love, just bigger and better, so be on the lookout for the start of the evolution next Thursday. In the meantime, let’s get you caught up on the past week in NFTs per usual!

Let's dive in 👇

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GET CAUGHT UP
What We Published

📰 Articles:

Berachain’s Higher Aspirations on Bankless
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Why BlackRock’s BUIDL Bet is Bullish on Bankless
The TradFi Titan’s first tokenized fund is a bigger deal than people think.
5 Projects to Watch on Aptos on Bankless
With APT at all-time highs, eyes are shifting to the Aptos DeFi ecosystem.
Why This Bitcoin Halving Cycle Could Be Different on Bankless
Is BTC sticking to the plan? Or are its cycles shifting?
Making Sense of Crypto Airdrop Taxes on Bankless
From farming to filing without the fuss.

📺 Shows:

Can Crypto’s Broken Moral Compass Be Fixed? | RSA+DH on Bankless
Has crypto lost the plot?
When Ethereum ETF? | Matt Hougan & Ryan Rasmussen of Bitwise on Bankless
The expert’s predictions are in
Morpho & The Modular Application Thesis | Dan Elitzer & Paul Frambot on Bankless
Morpho Modular Lending Protocol

Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.

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