Greetings, crypto lovers! Welcome to the newest issue of the Datawallet newsletter, where we curate the best news from the energetic crypto market. Among the news below you’ll find something for everyone, regardless of your knowledge level, so we’re certain you’ll enjoy it. 

Here is what we have lined up for today:

• Uniswap Community wants no Fee Switch 
• Ehtereum Protocol Fellowship’s fourth cohort program now open
• Circle brings USDC natively to Arbitrum
• Hong Kong is getting a new stablecoin
• Coinbase to offer BTC/ETH futures for institutions

Uniswap Community says no to Fee Switch 

The Uniswap community recently held a poll regarding potential adjustments to the protocol fee structure. A majority of the community members (45%) voted against implementing any fees, but a significant portion of votes were cast in favor of enabling some form of pool fees. The total votes cast amounted to more than 40 million UNI tokens. The poll was spurred by a proposal from GFX Labs, a delegate and service provider for Uniswap.

However, the voting results sparked suspicion as some "no fee" votes were cast from wallets that were newly created and showed negligible transaction history. GFX Labs' proposal aimed to initially test the new fee structure on Uniswap V3's Polygon deployment, if it had passed. Although the proposition didn't succeed, GFX Labs still holds an optimistic view about the potential for generating significant revenue for Uniswap through protocol fees.

Nevertheless, the proposal stirred ongoing concerns about possible tax and legal implications. These concerns mirrored issues raised during earlier fee switch proposals. Porter Smith from the a16z crypto team, which holds a substantial amount of UNI tokens, emphasized the importance of a legal entity structure to manage any tax obligations arising from the potential fee switch.

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Ehtereum Protocol Fellowship’s fourth cohort program now open

The Fourth cohort of Ethereum Protocol Fellowship (EPF) has been announced. In a Twitter thread posted ealier today, protocol supporter Josh Davis announced the program is now open for applications until June 16.

EPF is described as a program that supports the development of Ethereum's core protocol. By providing the much-needed experience, it opens the doors for developers and researchers to make a greater contribution to the protocol.

The fellowship lasts for four months, and includes things like client implementation, testing, specifications, and more. The program's owners have invited everyone to participate, saying the program is permissionless. 

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Circle brings USDC natively to Arbitrum

Circle, a company best known for launching the USDC stablecoin, announced issuing the token natively on Arbitrum. In a blog post published earlier today, the company said this will be the “official version” of USDC, recognized within the Arbitrum ecosystem. Its goal is to eliminate the need for the bridged version coming in from the Ethereum network. 

The native USDC will be fully reserved and always redeemable for US dollars at a 1:1 peg, and will enable institutional on-ramp and off-ramp, the company stated. It also announced upcoming support by CCTP to eliminate bridge withdrawal delays, as well as upgradable smart contracts. 

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Hong Kong is getting a new stablecoin

Hong Kong is getting a new stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. In a press release published by the company earlier today, it was announced that a Hong Kong-licensed trust company called First Digital has launched a stablecoin on the BNB Smart Chain.

The stablecoin is called First Digital USD, and will have the FDUSD ticker. The token will be issued by FD121 Limited, a subsidiary of First Digital.

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Coinbase to offer BTC/ETH futures for institutions

Coinbase's CFTC-regulated futures exchange, called Coinbase Derivatives Exchange, is launching BTC and ETH futures contracts for institutions. In a short thread posted on the company's official Twitter account, it was said that the futures contracts will go live on June 5, and will be sized at 1 BTC and 10 ETH.

This will allow businesses to manage exposrure "with unparalleled accuracy," the company says, adding that it will offer "significantly lower fees". No numbers were shared just yet. 

The contracts will have a monthly expiry, USD settlement, and will be accessible through major institutional FCMs and brokers, the company concluded. 

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Other breaking news

• Tron live on the Ethereum blockchain
• Taurus integrates Polygon
• Automated Market Maker Network live on XRPL
• Crypto users lost $54m to scams in May
• StepStone VC raises $97M

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Wrapping up

And there you have it, another edition of the Datawallet newsletter done. We keep getting positive news from Hong Kong, following the unbanning of Bitcoin, and with Circle, stablecoins have never been stronger. Through Coinbase we see an increase in institutional interest, which is always positive, while Uniswap’s community said what it thought of more fees. Finally, the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship’s fourth cohort is now live and accepting applications.

We hope you enjoyed the news of the day and we’ll touch base tomorrow.