Crypto News Headlines (29-March-2022)

Investment firm WisdomTree launched another tranche of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the European market.

New ETPs covering Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) listed on Swiss stock exchange SIX and Börse Xetra on Tuesday, according to a press release. Euronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam will add them at the end of the month.

Crypto ETPs are mainstream investment vehicles that offer easy exposure to cryptos. They’re prevalent in Europe where regulators have moved faster on crypto products. WisdomTree and other issuers like VanEck and 21Shares all have launched crypInvestment firm WisdomTree launched another tranche of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the European market.

New ETPs covering Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) listed on Swiss stock exchange SIX and Börse Xetra on Tuesday, according to a press release. Euronext exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam will add them at the end of the month.

Crypto ETPs are mainstream investment vehicles that offer easy exposure to cryptos. They’re prevalent in Europe where regulators have moved faster on crypto products. WisdomTree and other issuers like VanEck and 21Shares all have launched crypto ETPs in Europe well beyond plain-vanilla offerings in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH).

Meanwhile in the U.S., crypto asset managers are still fighting for the first bitcoin spot vehicle to clear the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC allowed two cash-settled bitcoin futures ETFs last October.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/03/29/wisdomtree-launches-crypto-etps-for-solana-cardano-polkadot-in-europe/

One of the largest derivatives trading platforms has indeed proceeded with releasing options on Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures, as promised earlier this month. The company outlined the growing investor demand for such products as the main reason behind the launch.

CryptoPotato reported earlier in March CME Group’s intentions to launch options on Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures. These products offer a tenth of the exposure of the underlying asset, making them more suitable alternatives for individual investors.

Futures contracts require investors to sell them on a specific date, while options provide them the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell at a particular price at any time.

CME Group announced on March 28 that these products have officially gone live; thus, the firm expanded its “suite of cryptocurrency derivatives offerings.” The firm’s Global Head of Equity and FX Products – Tim McCourt – commented:

“The launch of these micro-sized options builds on the significant growth and liquidity we have seen in our Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures. These contracts will offer a wide range of market participants – from institutions to sophisticated, active, individual traders – greater flexibility and precision to manage their exposure to the top two cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.”

https://cryptopotato.com/cme-group-launched-micro-sized-bitcoin-and-ethereum-options/

Mark Karpeles is once again returning to the crypto industry, as he’s announced the launch of an NFT collection tied to the Mt Gox bankruptcy. “You can claim your Mt Gox NFT on [mtgoxnft.net] if you were a Mt Gox customer between 2010 and 2014. The NFT is airdropped for free, and available no matter if you had a balance or filed a claim with the bankruptcy,” Karpeles tweeted on March 28.

Karpeles explained that the NFTs don’t feature artwork, and also said the project would “not be using ethereum, because of the fees” and he mentioned that Polygon “looks like a much better choice at this point.” The Mt Gox NFTs also have a website that explains that each NFT is numbered (uint256), and they match each Mt Gox customer account number. The website details that each NFT owner can leverage the NFTs for a members-only area, future airdrops, and a DAO governance system.

“Of course, ownership of a Mt Gox crypto token is also proof of someone being an early bitcoin adopter,” the website details. “But [its] also proof of having lived and survived one of the most covered bitcoin-related disasters. Owning a Mt Gox NFT proves you’re OG. You were there in the early days of Bitcoin, and now you can prove it on the blockchain.”

https://news.bitcoin.com/former-exchange-ceo-mark-karpeles-plans-airdrop-nfts-mt-gox-customers/

The WWE, known for its roster of wrestling stars and personalities, has signed a deal with sports platform Fanatics to design and release trading card NFTs through Candy Digital, Fanatics’ digital collectibles company.

The NFT trading cards, according to a joint statement, will feature some of the WWE’s biggest celebrities and depict some of its most-talked-about moments. NFTs are unique tokens that exist on a blockchain like Ethereum or Solana and signify ownership over an asset, like a digital trading card.

While this might sound like a great opportunity for die-hard wrestling fans to get their hands on some digital merch, they’ll have to be patient. The WWE has existing licensing deals for trading cards, which will expire “over the next few years.” At that point, Fanatics and Candy Digital will become the exclusive provider of WWE trading cards.

It appears the WWE will start making NFTs later this year. Candy Digital will be a “primary partner” for WWE NFT projects and will spearhead the creative process and technical execution. Trading cards will feature the Topps logo, a card brand Fanatics also owns.

https://decrypt.co/96261/wwe-launch-nfts-fanatics-candy-digital

Digital asset management firm Grayscale may consider filing a lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) if it rejects its bitcoin ETF application. The SEC is expected to make a decision on the application by Jul. 6. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein revealed that it could happen in an interview with Bloomberg News on March 28.

Grayscale runs a $30 billion bitcoin trust that has been very successful. The firm itself is one of the largest of its kind on the market, with over $40 billion in assets under management. It filed the bitcoin ETF application in October 2021, and the SEC delayed the ruling to February 2022.

Sonnenshein said that “all options are on the table.” One of the arguments posited was that investors who do not have spot products would turn to futures-based products, which are by nature riskier. He was optimistic on the whole, however, saying that it was a matter of when, not if, a spot bitcoin ETF would be approved.

Grayscale has also filed for an ETF that would track fintech firms. This has not received approval yet, but it is far more likely to receive approval than an ETF tracking bitcoin directly.

https://beincrypto.com/grayscale-mulls-lawsuit-sec-bitcoin-spot-etf-rejected/

Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have bounced back strongly at the start of this new week as long-term holders continue to make strong accumulation. On the other hand, Terra continues with its strong Bitcoin accumulation as part of its strategy to back the UST stablecoin.

On Monday, March 28, the Terra Foundation added another $135 million worth of BTC taking their total Bitcoin purchase for the year 2022 to more than $1 billion. Terra has pledged to have $10 billion worth of Bitcoin in its reserves.

Speaking to Bloomberg News, Do Kwon, the founder of Tera blockchain confirmed the same. Data shows that the address belonging to the Terra Foundation purchased a total of 27,784.96954740 Bitcoins.

Last week, Kwon said that Terra has $3 billion in funds ready for BTC purchases in order to back the UST stablecoin. As per the Bitcoin addresses of the Luna Foundation Guard, it started buying Bitcoin on January 26.

As per Kwon, a Bitcoin reserve will help improve the UST’s ability to keep its dollar peg. This will be particularly helpful whenever Terra faces any short-term demand in UST redemption. Kwon said:

“The reason why we are particularly interested in Bitcoin is because we believe that is the strongest digital reserve asset. UST is going to be the first internet native currency that implements the Bitcoin standard as part of its monetary policy.”

https://www.binance.com/en/news/top/7081165

A former employee of crypto exchange Liquid Global has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the company’s Singapore subsidiary, Quoine Pte Ltd, in Singapore’s High Court.

Marisa McKnight, Liquid Global’s former head of product and marketing in Japan, where the company is based, claims that she “was simply being used as a scapegoat for the hack” of the exchange disclosed on Aug. 19, 2021. The company claimed hackers stole around S$97 million (about US$71 million) worth of digital currency, the filing says.

The size of the hack was later reported to be $90 million, and Liquid later obtained a $120 million loan from crypto derivatives powerhouse FTX, which eventually agreed to acquire Liquid outright for an undisclosed price. That deal was expected to close this month.

McKnight’s statement of claim says:

Quoine did not inform McKnight internally about the hack despite the fact that she was in charge of communicating relevant social media posts from the Japan office.

She felt increasingly excluded and isolated; she resigned via email on Sept. 15, 2021.

In her exit interview, Chi Tran, Liquid Global’s chief marketing officer, and Graeme Doherty, the chief information officer, informed her that investigative bodies were waiting to investigate her in the United States and Japan, and that evidence pointed to her work laptop being involved in the hack. McKnight “strenuously denied any involvement in the [h]ack” during that conversation, the filing says.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/03/29/ex-employee-claims-liquid-global-exchange-scapegoated-her-for-90m-hack/

According to a report note released by Deutsche Bank on Sunday, cited by Coindesk, the deployment of NFT technology on Instagram has the potential to energize the entire market and make it mainstream.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and Founder of Meta, confirmed that the company will bring NFTs into Instagram in the next several months to let users mint such assets directly on the platform.

The note indicated that Meta-owned Instagram will simplify the process of buying and selling NFTs, further reducing the barriers to accessing this form of digital assets. With its notable brand effect, the note said, Instagram can legitimize NFTs, facilitating a greater level of public adoption.

The German bank also predicted that Instagram building an NFT Marketplace can bring roughly eight billion net transactions per year. Besides Instagram, major internet companies like Twitter and Snap will, to some degree, bring NFTs into their platforms.

https://cryptopotato.com/instagram-integrating-nfts-incentivizes-mainstream-adoption-deutsche-bank/

Ethereum NFT collection World of Women has been on an upward swing since the start of the year, surging in price as celebrities buy in and the project charts Hollywood ambitions. On Saturday, the project launched a secondary NFT collection called World of Women Galaxy—and quickly blew through the available supply.

According to the team behind the project, World of Women Galaxy generated some $79 million worth of sales within the first 24 hours of availability. That includes $34 million worth of primary sales from the initial mint, as well as $45 million in secondary market trading per data from CryptoSlam.

Since the Saturday launch, secondary trading has now topped $60 million in total. As a result, World of Women Galaxy has done more trading volume in the last two days than other notable NFT profile picture (PFP) projects have done over the last week, including Azuki ($49.5M), the Bored Ape Yacht Club ($45M), and the Mutant Ape Yacht Club ($42.3M).

https://decrypt.co/96244/world-of-women-galaxy-ethereum-nft-drop-79m

The decision was made in the court of Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The case was brought to court by a subsidiary of the Italian company Bitminer Factory, which calls itself the first and largest mining farm in Italy.

The company further said that the account closures had gotten in the way of its ICO “in relation to a startup project in the cryptocurrency mining sector with renewable energy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

The bank had said that it does not enter into relationships or partnerships with digital currency suppliers and exchange platforms. This is a position many banks around the world are taking, including in India, though the status quo is changing. The court said that the bank did not show any written rules that prevented it from interacting with clients in the cryptocurrency space.

https://beincrypto.com/italian-bank-fined-144m-closing-crypto-miners-account/

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