Happy Sunday!
The CEO of nonprofit Better Markets asked the SEC to deny applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs, Bitcoin’s Genesis wallet received a mysterious $1.2 million deposit, and Marathon reported record Bitcoin mining production. Read on!
Better Markets CEO opposes Bitcoin ETFs
Dennis Kelleher, CEO of nonprofit Better Markets, implored the US Securities and Exchange Commission in an 11-page letter to reject a spot Bitcoin ETF because approval “would be a grave if not historic mistake almost certainly leading to massive investor harm.”
He added: “The massive and unrelenting fraud and manipulation in the Bitcoin market means that approving these products would expose those investors to the very harms that the SEC exists to prevent.”
Still, there was widespread disagreement with Kelleher’s letter across the crypto spectrum, including from Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, who posted on X that it “Would be an absolutely criminal move for this to happen considering the time effort and energy from all these issuers AND from the SEC staff over the last few months.”
Several prospective issuers told Reuters they anticipate approval of their filings by late Tuesday or Wednesday.
Bitcoin Genesis wallet gets $1.2m deposit
An anonymous transaction deposited 26.9 Bitcoin valued at about $1.2 million into the first wallet created on the Bitcoin network by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin who disappeared in 2010, Crypto.News reported.
The mysterious deposit in the Genesis wallet was made on January 5, two days after Bitcoin’s 15th anniversary, and was probably impossible to retrieve, the report said.
Crypto exchanges introduce UK knowledge tests
Coinbase, Crypto.com, Gemini and other exchanges are asking their UK users to fill out questionnaires testing their knowledge of finance and risk, ahead of the implementation of strict regulations on advertising digital asset products, CNBC reported.
If a user fails the evaluation, they will not be allowed to trade on their crypto account, the report said.
Mango Markets seeks help with US regulators
DAO Mango Markets allocated $250,000 worth of USDC to hire Poland-based Cyberbyte to guide it through increased scrutiny by US regulators, Crypto.News reported.
The decision comes more than a year after Mango Markets was hacked for $116 million in assets, and as its parent company is engaged in a lawsuit to recover the funds from the perpetrator, who was arrested in December 2022.
Marathon’s Bitcoin mining production surges
Marathon Digital Holdings said it mined a record 1,853 Bitcoin in December, an increase of 56% from November and up 290% year-on-year.
The company said that in 2023 it mined 12,852 Bitcoin worth more than $563.4 million, surpassing the 4,144 mined in 2022 by more than three times.
What we’re reading around the web
BlackRock layoffs coming as firm matures, ESG pullback and Bitcoin ETF approval — Fox Business
New crypto projects are rewarding Celestia stakers with airdrops. Here’s why — DL News
