SEC cracks down on NFTs. Crypto volatility and volume spikes with Ukraine/Russia war. New Wallstreet billionaire enters crypto. Crypto to avoid Russia sanctions?
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Markets
Bitcoin
$43,441.70
-1.08%
Ethereum
$2,904.91
-1.48%
Nasdaq
$13,752.02
+1.62%
* Prices as of 11:28 PM EST
War between Russia and Ukraine spikes crypto grading volume, particularly in Bitcoin.
Crypto market cap cracked $2T, but was short lived
NASDAQ continues to remain volatile amidst maintained rate hikes, Russia-Ukraine war
SEC: Should certain NFTs be considered securities subject to regulation?
Let’s face it…it was just a matter of time before the SEC starting poking their nose around the NFT market. And it’s no surprise, the growth and volume of monetary transactions in NFTs are far outpacing that of the traditional art markets. Money is flying around. According to a recent Bloomberg report which dropped yesterday, the focus of probe is “on whether certain nonfungible tokens, digital assets that can be used to denote ownership of things like a painting or sports memorabilia, are being utilized to raise money like traditional securities”.
Gary Gensler, the Chairperson of the SEC is leading this effort
The SEC is looking into “Fractional NFTs” (breaking down NFTs into smaller units so they can more easily be bought and sold
~$44 billion of crypto was traded on Ethereum in 2021, up from just $106M in the year before
The SEC uses the “Howey test” to determine if something is a security
Citadel, Largest Market Maker for US Options Trading, Will Dabble in Cryptocurrencies
Wall Street Legend and Billionaire, Ken Griffin, teases crypto market making future for Citadel
Why this matters: Remember that old Wall Street guy that snagged the highest bid at the last second and bested the Consitution DAO? Yeah, that was Ken Griffin. He’s the founder of Citadel Securities, which is the largest market maker for US options trading and one of the largest market makers in the world. He recently was quoted saying Citadel will likely engage in market making for cryptocurrencies. This is a big U-Turn for another Wall Street billionaire who admits to being a crypto naysayer, until now.
In a Forbes article yesterday, Griffen said: “…the crypto market today has a market capitalization of about $2 trillion in round numbers, which tells you that I haven’t been right on this call,” and “over the months to come, you will see us engage in making markets in cryptocurrencies.”
Ken joins the growing group of Wall Street billionaires who have flipped their outlooks on cryptocurrencies.
“On-chain data shows the Bitcoin market observed its largest daily trading volume since 2021 last week following the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
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Russia and Putin will look for ways around harsh economic sanctions: There are three main workarounds which Russia can use to avoid sanctions: Crypto, Gold, Energy
Energy: Relying on energy sales (massive source of revenue for Russia, and even the US has not sanctioned Russian oil)
Crypto: Biden’s administration is working on a specific tactical strategy to ensure Moscow doesn’t use cryptocurrency as a means of avoiding sanctions. This is easier said than done.
US Treasury has historically sanctioned SUEX and 25 affiliated cryptocurrency businesses and blacklisted the exchange from the USD financial system, as hackers were using the exchange to launder funds
Former Treasury advisor, Ari Redbord, said they’ve identified 340+ businesses in Russia that could be used as on and off ramps for crypto
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