Fidelity leads way refiling for Bitcoin ETFs and South Korea passes protective crypto bill

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If at first you don’t succeed, try again, and again? Fidelity led five firms in filing revised applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs after the US SEC said their previous paperwork was inadequate. The addition of crypto market surveillance measures may help them overcome SEC objections. Meanwhile, a judge ordered crypto exchange Kraken to provide the IRS with user information and South Korea passed a protective crypto bill more than a year after Do Kwon’s Terra collapse.

These are some stories we’re looking at right now.

Fidelity leads Bitcoin ETF refilings

Fidelity led five firms that filed new applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs after the US Securities and Exchange Commission said the initial filings were inadequate, Bloomberg reported.

Those that refiled Friday afternoon said Coinbase Global would provide surveillance to help prevent crypto market manipulation, which wasn’t included in their initial paperwork and may help them gain SEC approval. The other companies were Invesco, VanEck, 21Shares and WisdomTree.

South Korea passes protective crypto bill

More than a year after Do Kwon’s Terra crash, South Korea passed the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, aimed at protecting investors from such market disasters.

The act empowers the Financial Services Commission to supervise crypto operators and custodians, mandating insurance coverage, reserve funds and record keeping. Kwon is currently jailed in Montenegro.

Kraken must provide IRS information

A federal court ordered crypto exchange Kraken to provide information about its users to the IRS to help determine if any of them underreported their taxes. The ruling comes amid a US crackdown on cryptocurrency.

Users who transacted more than $20,000 a year, their names and possible pseudonyms, birth dates, taxpayer ID numbers, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses among other details must be handed over, a judge ruled.

CME plans Ethereum-to-Bitcoin futures

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group said it plans to launch Ethereum-to-Bitcoin ratio futures on July 31, pending regulatory approval.

The futures will “allow traders to efficiently express a view on the relative value of the two cryptocurrencies without a directional bias on the overall cryptocurrency market,” according to the CME Group.

Binance reports positive crypto sentiment

A Binance report on institutional crypto sentiment showed that 63.5% of respondents had a positive outlook for the next 12 months and 88% for the next decade.

Institutional investors think more real-world use and increased regulatory clarity will help drive crypto adoption, according to the survey. It was based on responses from 208 of Binance’s institutional clients and taken from March 31 to May 15.

What we’re reading from around the web

Celsius to Potentially Sell More Than $170M in ADA, MATIC, SOL and Altcoins for BTC, ETH — CoinDesk

Dior is latest luxury brand to embrace tokenized fashion — but won’t say ‘NFT’ — Decrypt

DeFi girds for onerous smart contract rules as EU data bill moves forward — DL News