2024-08-13 15:47

The Fairshake super PAC and its affiliates are reserving broadcast time in Ohio, Arizona and Michigan for their Senate races in the November general election. The crypto industry's leading political action committee, Fairshake, announced three U.S. Senate races it intends to spend major amounts to influence in Ohio, Arizona and Michigan. The Ohio race pits a crypto ally, Bernie Moreno, against the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who has been reluctant to allow crypto legislation to advance in his committee. Crypto interests are planning to go after Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in their biggest-ever single campaign, setting aside $12 million to support the Republican candidate seeking to snatch the Senate seat from the current chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who has been highly critical of the digital assets sector and reluctant to embrace crypto legislation. The organizers of the Fairshake political action committee (PAC) and its affiliates said Tuesday that they're reserving TV advertising time in Ohio and two other key states – Arizona and Michigan. They're targeting $12 million in Ohio airtime to push for Republican candidate Bernie Moreno, a blockchain businessman, and they're devoting about $3 million each to advocate for U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) in the Arizona Senate race and Rep. Elisa Slotkin (D-Mich.) in her Senate race in Michigan. "Our mission is clear – support candidates who embrace innovation, want to protect American jobs and are committed to working across the aisle to get things done and oppose those who do not," Fairshake spokesman Josh Vlasto said in a statement. The group is aiming for a "sustainable bipartisan coalition and a consensus that there is an urgent need to pass responsible crypto and blockchain-focused regulation." Read More: Crypto PAC Fairshake Claims Another Win Against Elizabeth Warren Ally With Bush Loss This opening round of general-election Senate support follows a recent announcement from Fairshake that it would be backing 18 members of the House of Representatives in the November elections. All were incumbents, so far, and had records of supporting crypto in office. The group's ads during its involvement with dozens of races in the primaries – with few exceptions – haven't mentioned the crypto positions of the candidates being supported or opposed. Fairshake and its related PACs – the Democrat-oriented Protect Progress and the Republican-focused Defend American Jobs – will also devote resources to digital ads that specifically target crypto users, the group said. The crypto industry's PACs are among the biggest by dollar amount in the 2024 elections, rivaling other major U.S. industries and the parties' own inside funding. Fairshake has focused so far on congressional races and steered clear of the presidential contest, and it's carefully divided its support across party lines. The $10 million it spent toward derailing the Senate bid of Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) marked the most it's previously channeled into a single race. Read More: Crypto Fan Won Ohio Senate Primary That Could Alter the Industry's U.S. Destiny https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/08/13/crypto-industry-committing-12m-to-dethrone-sen-brown-in-ohio-pac-says/

2024-08-13 14:27

Some users in the Mt. Gox creditors channel on Reddit reported receiving funds on their BitGo accounts. Wallet that received $2 billion from Mt. Gox initiated a test transaction on Tuesday. Arkham analysts said the wallet likely belongs to crypto custody platform BitGo. Users on Reddit are making unverified claims about receiving BTC and BCH balances on BitGo. A crypto wallet that recently received $2 billion of bitcoin (BTC) from defunct exchange Mt. Gox's trustee initiated a test transaction on Tuesday, perhaps to prepare distributing funds to creditors, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence noted. Arkham analysts said the wallet that initiated the transfer likely belongs to crypto custody platform BitGo, one of the five service providers that distribute tokens to creditors. BitGo is the last remaining distribution partners, they added. The test transaction followed a 33,100 BTC transfer two weeks ago, worth $2.2 billion at the time, from a Mt. Gox cold wallet holding creditors' funds. Arkham explained the process of tagging the wallet as likely BitGo in a Telegram message to CoinDesk. "The address was clustered with a large input cluster which we were able to identify as BitGo due to custody structure and wallet types used," an Arkham analyst said. "We’ve also been able to identify the other fur exchange partners used for Mt. Gox distributions, so there’s also a process of elimination." Meanwhile, some users in a reddit channel dedicated to Mt. Gox creditors reported that they received funds to their BitGo accounts. CoinDesk hasn't verified the claims. BitGo didn't return a request by CoinDesk to confirm the transaction as of press time. Japan-based Mt. Gox was at one point the largest bitcoin exchange before imploding in 2014 due to a hack. The distribution of over 140,000 BTC and similar amount of bitcoin cash (BCH) has been a major source of concern for investors, worried about creditors selling assets to realize profits after ten years of waiting. The trustee managing Mt. Gox assets started distributing tokens in early July, sending BTC prices plunging below $54,000 on the news. The exchanges approved by the trustee for creditor repayments include Bitbank, BitGo, Bistamp, Kraken and SBI VC Trade. Mt. Gox addresses currently hold 46,000 BTC, down from 141,000 on July 1, Arkham data shows. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/08/13/crypto-wallet-holding-2b-mt-gox-bitcoin-sends-test-transaction-as-distribution-continues-arkham/

2024-08-13 12:00

Just as the sector began bonding with Donald Trump, the election arrival of Vice President Kamala Harris has caused some crypto eyes to wander, but Harris hasn't yet returned their love. While U.S. crypto insiders continue to pound away at a noncommittal Biden administration, a more urgent mission is developing to find out the digital assets views of Vice President Kamala Harris, though her dual life as vice president and presidential candidate may interfere with taking a strong stance. Industry insiders have been conducting meetings with officials connected to the White House, and though one of those meetings last week included a senior adviser from Harris' own office, the sessions have been predominantly one-sided and had nothing to do with her campaign. Meanwhile, some crypto executives and investors are pursuing a few emerging efforts to support Harris as the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, even without a direct indication of how she'll approach the sector. Read More: Bitcoin and Crypto Go Unmentioned During Trump-Musk X Space This week, the fledgling "crypto4harris" effort kicks off Wednesday with an online forum at which prominent industry figures are expected to gather under the vice president's banner. Such initiatives don't yet have formal ties to the Harris campaign. Amanda Wick, a former federal prosecutor who now consults in crypto and has been helping organize industry support for Harris, said the objective at this point is to get Harris to publicly acknowledge "an openness and a willingness to have a reset" with the sector. "It's a really important industry; it's a really important voting block; it's a really important source of fundraising," said Veronica McGregor, the chief legal officer for crypto wallet provider Exodus who is also helping organize the Harris events, in an interview. "And most crypto people I know intend to put their money where their mouth is and support candidates who are not trying to kill the industry." McGregor said that multiple people working on the crypto4harris project are in contact with the vice president's campaign, even if it's not at a formal level. Wick declined to delve into details on the Harris campaign's interactions with crypto supporters, but she said, “We have seen indicators from the campaign team that they’re open to having a conversation.” With just a few months left before the November election, crypto players continue knocking on all the political doors to chase their main U.S. goal: A clear set of rules for using and trading cryptocurrency. That included a meeting two weeks ago between crypto business leaders and Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo in San Francisco, according to a person familiar with the discussion. Adeyemo has been staying in touch with crypto leaders to discuss policy initiatives he's been working on, the person said. Vice presidential limitations While those in the digital assets sector remain frustrated that Harris isn't yet rolling out her own pro-crypto message, some cite the constraints of a vice president whose job description requires supporting the current administration. "I don't think you can expect a sitting vice president to say, 'Oh, well, my boss was completely wrong on this. Let me tell you what we're going to do,'" McGregor said. "I just don't think you can expect that. That's asking a lot." Former President Donald Trump doesn't face such constraints. Though his own administration didn't embrace the emerging technology when he first had the chance, he's become a digital assets cheerleader in recent weeks. As a result, some prominent industry leaders have given him their support and their money with the hope that a second Trump administration will reverse the enforcement pursuits and compliance clashes of the Biden administration. "His pandering is now finding fans in people who have been in the desert and are happy to head towards an oasis, even if it's a mirage," Wick said in an interview. Harris said over the weekend that she'll roll out her economic policy views in the coming days, though there's no indication yet that it'll include mention of digital tokens. Her campaign didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on crypto4harris. Industry insiders have balked this week at some of the news of Harris' campaign hires, because the officials -- including President Joe Biden's former director of his National Economic Council, Brian Deese, and Bharat Ramamurti, who was the council's deputy director -- have been associated with past actions against crypto. She's also tapped Brian Nelson, a former senior Treasury Department who spent some of his tenure scrutinizing the role of digital assets in terrorism and illicit finance, but she also brought on David Plouffe, a high-profile Democratic political mind who has more recently advised crypto companies. Because Harris hasn't announced her position, these hiring decisions have been read as a proxy. The vice president may not be in a position to match Trump's enthusiasm, but the sudden emergence of her campaign has sparked excitement among crypto Democrats and those who weren't eager to support Trump. "There's a lot of energy in this campaign, more than we've seen since, I think, maybe [President Barack] Obama," McGregor said. "There's a lot of people trying to jump in, 'What can I do?' I see that a lot." A poll fielded by crypto investment firm Paradigm may indicate that Harris has a chance to change the minds of some Democratic token enthusiasts who've resented the Biden administration's actions, according to the results released by the company on Monday. White House meetings Even as the candidates battle for the future White House, the industry is still trying to deal with the administration of President Biden. Digital assets leaders have been conducting highly publicized meetings with current federal officials, including the one last week, where Coinbase (COIN) Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal – for one – advocated support for federal legislation. "Any conversation on moving beyond this administration's unproductive record on crypto is positive," Grewal said in a statement. "It isn't too late, but time is running short. The White House should publicly back the Senate's efforts to pass a bipartisan market structure bill much as the House has done and sign it into law." So far, the administration has been only vaguely supportive of doing something about cryptocurrency. The two well-publicized recent roundtables with White House officials and the Adeyemo meeting with a few crypto firms haven't yet produced concrete results. The Harris supporters say one of their chief aims is to insist that cryptocurrency not drift into partisan territory in the U.S., which had been indicated by the industry's increasing lean toward Trump and Republicans. The Republican Party formally adopted a pro-crypto position in its official platform. The Democrats, who will attend their national convention next week in Chicago, have already released a draft of their own platform, which doesn't embrace crypto despite the efforts of some lawmakers to get it included. Read More: Democratic Crypto Supporters Call for Crypto-Friendly Party Platform "When other countries are picking up speed, when we have a debt crisis, when the dollar is progressively weakening, the ramifications of getting this wrong should scare everybody, regardless of party, and there are Dems that see that and who are trying to raise their voices," Wick said. https://www.coindesk.com/news-analysis/2024/08/13/crypto-insiders-courting-vice-president-harris-chase-whispers-of-her-openness/

2024-08-13 10:41

The wildly popular Telegram game has apparently amassed millions of users since its April release. Hamster Kombat, a viral play-to-earn crypto game, criticized venture capital funding as an "exit liquidity" activity and turned down all investment offers. Developers said they hope to "return to the fundamentals of the web3 space," by focusing on creating innovative projects that generate real value and revenue rather than using their audience for funding. Hamster Kombat has gained significant popularity with a claimed 200 million users as of July and 53 million subscribers on its Telegram channel Viral play-to-earn crypto game Hamster Kombat criticized crypto venture capital funding as an “exit liquidity” activity in a Tuesday broadcast to community members – stating it has turned down every offer. “Since our explosive growth began, we’ve received numerous investment offers from some of the biggest venture capital firms in the Web3 space,” the game’s admins said in its official Telegram group. “We’ve turned down every single one.” “Too many Web3 projects have built audiences only to use them as exit liquidity for their venture capital backers. This has, unfortunately, become the norm in the industry,” they said. “We stand against this practice. We want the web3 space to return to its fundamentals.” “Instead of creating innovative projects that generate real value and revenue, companies often focus on making a convincing pitch to secure funding, spend it on marketing, conduct an airdrop or even a public ICO, and then walk away—leaving users holding the bag.” Hamster Kombat allows its gamers to become the virtual hamster CEO of a crypto exchange of their choice, such as Binance, OKX, and others, on its platform. Players tap the hamster on the screen to start earning some points that can be used to acquire upgrades for their in-game exchange. The game uses the TON blockchain and claims to have 200 million users as of July. Players can convert their in-game coins into HMSTR tokens which are tradable on cryptocurrency exchanges. The game has gained significant popularity since its April release – with 53 million subscribers on its Telegram channel. The only way to obtain the future HMSTR token is by playing the game. Some 60% of the total supply is reserved for the players, with the rest reserved for providing market liquidity, future ecosystem partnerships and grants, rewarding squads, and other items. Why is VC funding getting a bad rep? In recent months, crypto venture firms have been criticized by parts of the crypto industry, with a specific focus on investing in projects whose tokens eventually have a higher valuation than the venture firm’s initial investments. This tends to create downward pressure after exchange listings and leaves public investors with losses. As CoinDesk previously reported, newer tokens such as Aptos’ APT and Sui Network’s SUI have fallen as much as 70% since their 2023 peaks, while bitcoin (BTC) kept rising and made new highs in 2024. "Venture capital funds invested $13 billion in Q1 2022, while the market turned into a steep bear market," Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, said in a June report. "Those funds are now under pressure from their investors to return capital as artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hotter theme." Crypto funding took a hit in 2023 but has recorded growth past three quarters, as per a PitchBook report on August 9. Deal value hit $2.7 billion in Q2, marking a 2.5% increase in total invested capital but a 12.5% decline in the number of deals compared to Q1. As for Hamster Kombat’s future HMSTR token, developers say venture funds will access the token in the same way that users would: by buying it on exchanges after it is eventually issued and listed. CORRECTION (Aug. 13, 17:25 UTC): Corrects the spelling of Hamster Kombat throughout. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/08/13/hamster-combat-says-it-skipped-vc-fund-offers-bashes-exit-liquidity-behaviour/

2024-08-13 08:50

The dwindling metric points to declining selling pressure in the bitcoin market. Dwindling "exchange stablecoins ratio" points to declining selling pressure in the BTC market, CryptoQuant said. Supply of the top two stablecoins, USDT and USDC, continues to rise. Bitcoin (BTC) has quickly recovered to nearly $60,000 after a debacle last week that saw prices drop below $50,000 at one point. The recovery may have legs, as the "exchange stablecoins ratio," which measures the number of BTC held in wallets tied to centralized exchanges relative to stablecoins, suggests reduced selling pressure. The ratio has dropped to its lowest since February 2023, extending a prolonged downtrend that began in June last year, according to data tracked by blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant. "This could indicate reduced selling pressure on bitcoin as fewer traders are converting their BTC into stablecoins," CryptoQuant told CoinDesk in a Telegram chat. "Additionally, this could suggest a bullish market sentiment, where traders seem to be holding BTC in anticipation of future price increases," CryptoQuant added. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies with values pegged to an external reference such as the U.S. dollar. These digital assets help investors bypass price volatility associated with other tokens and are widely used to fund spot crypto purchases and derivatives trading. According to charting platform TradingView, the combined supply of the top two stablecoins by market value, tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), has increased by roughly $2 billion to $150.15 billion since the Aug. 5 market crash. On a year-to-year basis, the combined supply of USDT and USDC has increased by almost 30%. It shows continued fiat inflow into the market, possibly from bargain hunters looking to snap up BTC at cheaper valuations. The development is consistent with the constructive outlook offered by some analysts. "Spot ETFs saw positive net flows on Monday. BTC (+$28M) and ETH(+$5M) saw institutional support after the weekend dip. This shows a certain resilience during times of fear, potentially helping Bitcoin’s volatility to decrease over the long term. Yesterday, the $58,500 level we mentioned held strongly and Bitcoin pushed above $60,500 before coming back to $59,500," Valentin Fournier, analyst at digital assets research firm BRN, told CoinDeks in an email. The momentum is low but remains positive, as we predicted. We see Bitcoin getting closer to the upper trend of its range ($67,000-$69,000) in the coming weeks," Fournier added. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/08/13/bitcoins-prospects-strengthen-as-key-stablecoin-metric-slides-to-lowest-level-in-18-months/

2024-08-13 07:06

Earlier, in June 2023, the liquidators sought $1.3 billion from the founders of 3AC, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies. The liquidators for Three Arrows Capital (3AC) have sued Terraform Labs for $1.3 billion. They allege TerraForm induced 3AC to purchase Luna and TerraUSD by manipulating the market for these tokens. Defunct cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital's (3AC) liquidators have sued Terraform Labs for $1.3 billion, for losses the fund suffered after the 2022 crash, Bloomberg reported on Monday. In June 2023, the liquidators sought $1.3 billion from the founders of 3AC, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies. The saga started unfolding in May 2022, when the Terra network saw its algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD (UST) and its companion token, LUNA, suffer a $40 billion collapse despite assurances from co-founder Do Kwon. By July, 3AC filed for bankruptcy stating that Terra's collapse caused irrecoverable losses. This case alleges that TerraForm induced 3AC to purchase Luna and TerraUSD by manipulating the market for these tokens “in a manner that artificially inflated the price for the assets” before they were wiped-out, the liquidators said in court papers, as per Bloomberg. Terraform filed for bankruptcy in Delaware, U.S. in January 2024. Do Kwon was found guilty by a Manhattan jury on civil fraud charges brought the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in April 2024. Do Kwon remains in Montenegro where he has been since his arrest in March 2023 for attempting to use fake travel documents. He awaits a final decision from Montenegro's authorities on where he is to be extradited. Both South Korean and U.S. authorities have been seeking his extradition. Read More: 3AC Co-Founder Kyle Davies Says He Won’t Apologize for Crypto Hedge Fund Going 'Bankrupt' https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2024/08/13/three-arrows-capital-liquidators-now-sue-terraform-labs-for-13b-bloomberg/