Bitcoin Price: US$ 69,880.01 (+3.97%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 3,590.42 (+3.92%)
Grayscale remains optimistic about the approval of spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in May, despite concerns over the U.S. securities regulator’s purported “lack of engagement” with applicants, expressing confidence in the strength of the case, particularly in light of the recent approval of Ether Futures ETFs. ETF issuers, including Ark 21Shares, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton, are looking to incorporate staking into their spot Ether ETFs, with Bloomberg ETF analysts reducing the odds of approval to 25% due to perceived regulatory hesitancy. Meanwhile, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) reports successful results from the second phase of sandbox testing for its central bank digital currency (CBDC) interlinking solution, exploring various use cases and demonstrating interoperability among different blockchain platforms, with plans to further develop the beta version of its connector. In a separate development, the civil trial against Terraform Labs commenced, with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) presenting allegations of fraudulent activity, claiming that Terra was a “house of cards” that collapsed for investors in 2022, with the trial highlighting ongoing legal scrutiny in the crypto space, including upcoming sentencing hearings for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is poised to introduce cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes (ETNs) tracking the performance of Bitcoin and Ether on May 28. This follows an announcement detailing the application process and requirements, with successful funds expected to be listed the following month. However, access will be limited to professional investors due to regulatory constraints. Meanwhile, Meta’s Instagram and Threads have joined the Fediverse, embracing decentralisation and privacy. This move potentially counters a decline in user activity on Elon Musk’s centralised X platform, which has faced polarisation concerns since Musk’s acquisition in 2022, leading to a surge in decentralised offerings like Mastodon. In another development, TrueFi introduces the Trinity protocol, aiming to enhance capital efficiency for on-chain real-world assets (RWA) through a dollar-based TRI token backed by collateral assets. This offers users leverage and risk hedging opportunities, with plans for a conservative rollout on Coinbase’s layer-2 Base network.
A collaboration between Avalanche and Chainlink, facilitated by the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), showcased successful on-chain asset settlement solutions. Leveraging Chainlink’s cross-chain interoperability protocol (CCIP), the collaboration connected the Avalanche and Ethereum blockchain networks for seamless tokenised asset settlement across different currencies, aiming to modernise traditional Delivery vs. Payment (DvP) processes. Meanwhile, ParaSwap, a decentralised finance (DeFi) aggregator, began returning crypto assets to users following the resolution of a critical smart contract vulnerability in its AugustusV6 contract. Collaborating with white hat hackers and blockchain analytics firms to recover stolen funds, ParaSwap aims to enhance security measures. Additionally, Goldman Sachs’ hedge fund clients are reportedly reentering the crypto market, driven by renewed interest in Bitcoin and Ether following the approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, signalling a resurgence of institutional interest in cryptocurrency investments.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com
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