Ethereum Soars to $3600 as ETFs Approval Odds Rise by 200%

The possibility of partial approval for Ethereum ETFs later this week just increased to 75%. Bloomberg ETF analysts James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas have increased their odds of spot ether ETF approval from 25% to 75%, suggesting a potential shift in the U.S. SEC’s stance. Seyffart noted a positive turn in spot Ethereum ETF approvals this week. As a result, Ethereum's price jumped to $3600.

The SEC’s review process for the public availability of ETFs involves two key filings: 19b-4s, requests from exchanges to modify rules or add new products, and S-1s, providing detailed information about a company. According to analyst Nate Geraci, technically the SEC could just approve 19b-4s before slowly introducing S-1s. The same five commissioners who approved the Bitcoin ETF earlier in January are scheduled to vote on VanEck’s spot Ether ETF on May 23, and ARK 21Shares on the 26th.

Update: SEC asks exchanges to update 19B-4 filings on an accelerated basis for Spot Ethereum ETFs.

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Grayscale CEO Steps Down, Goldman Exec Takes His Place

Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale, has stepped down to “pursue other interests,” with the firm witnessing more than half of its assets under management exit the trust since its conversion to an ETF. Peter Mintzberg, a former Goldman Sachs executive with extensive experience in asset and wealth management, will succeed Sonnenshein as CEO from August 15 and join Grayscale’s board of directors.

Barry Silbert, CEO of Grayscale’s parent firm Digital Currency Group, expressed enthusiasm about Mintzberg’s appointment and gratitude towards Sonnenshein for his decade-long contribution to the firm. Grayscale has been in the news in recent months primarily for the continued ETF outflows from their spot Bitcoin GBTC fund. They recently began repurchasing Bitcoin.

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Crypto Firm Genesis To Pay $2 Billion To Fraud Victims

The US courts have given the green light to Genesis’ bankruptcy plan, allowing the defunct crypto lender to return $2 billion in cash and assets to its debtors, despite opposition from its parent company, Digital Currency Group. One of the major beneficiaries is the crypto exchange Gemini, whose customers can expect to start receiving their owed assets starting from June 2024.

Interestingly, around 97% of the debts owed to customers of Gemini’s Earn program will be repaid in kind, meaning users will receive the same type of assets they deposited, rather than their converted value in US dollars. This approach distinguishes Gemini from FTX, whose response has led to creditor frustration due to the significant increase in the value of their owed assets since the exchange’s collapse.

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Binance Prioritizes Smaller-Cap Projects After High FDV Trend

Binance, the world’s top cryptocurrency exchange, is changing its token listing strategy to prioritize small and medium-sized projects, with a focus on community allocations and sustainable market practices. This decision comes after concerns about the trend of low float and high fully diluted valuations (FDVs) projects negatively affecting investors, with over 80% of these tokens declining in value since listing.

Binance’s new strategy includes supporting projects through Direct Listing, Launchpools, and Megadrops. The new listing criteria emphasize sector inclusivity, reasonable valuations, and significant token allocation for community users. Binance believes this approach will mitigate the risk of overvaluation and subsequent depreciation, fostering a more diverse and resilient market environment.

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Data of the day

While everyone is excited about the rally in Ethereum and Bitcoin, Layer 2 chains are setting new records. Arbitrum, the leading Ethereum L2, achieved its second-highest daily transaction count on the network yesterday, with 3.4 million total transactions. There were also 293k new addresses, which exceeds the current daily average for new BTC wallets. Altcoin adoption has already begun.

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More breaking news

• NVIDIA earnings result this week could influence the price of Artificial Intelligence and DePIN tokens in crypto with ICP, FET, RNDR, GRT, FIL, and others in the spotlight.
• The number of new Bitcoin wallets fell by 56% in the last six months, reaching levels lower than in 2018. According to The Block, 275k new wallets were added on a daily basis last week.
• Ripple published a warning by a math professor that all classical public-key cryptosystems should be replaced with counterparts secure against quantum attacks on blockchain networks.
• Craig Wright, the self-proclaimed creator of Bitcoin, was found guilty on Monday by a London High Court judge of lying "extensively and repeatedly" and forging documents "on a grand scale".
• Prometheum, a digital asset firm, has soft-launched ether custody services treating cryptocurrency as a security under SEC supervision, with full a launch planned by June and trading services to follow.
• Just now: Gala Games appears to have been hacked, with hackers minting $200 million worth of tokens, according to onchain analysis Zoomer on X.

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