Month: October 2023

Former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows cooperates in Trump prosecution. New Speaker nominee. Unrelenting blasts in Gaza. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.

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The SEC decided not to appeal its court loss against Grayscale, which means GBTC’s conversion to a spot BTC ETF is likely on its way. Also, multiple spot Bitcoin ETF applications appear to be inching closer to approval.

James Seyffart, market analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, feel quite certain a spot Bitcoin ETF will launch in the next few months. 

First, the SEC decided not to appeal a court’s rejection of Grayscale’s application to convert its Bitcoin trust to a spot ETF. Second, there’s been a change in the way the SEC has been treating the many other spot Bitcoin ETF applications—requesting minuscule tweaks in disclosure language. And even though other legal hiccups are occurring—the NY Attorney General’s lawsuit against Grayscale parent company, DCG, the SEC’s potentially renewed vigor in the Ripple case, and Cointelegraph’s incorrect tweet about a bitcoin ETF—the SEC needs a PR win right now. According to them, this means good things not just for spot Bitcoin ETFs but also, shortly thereafter, Ethereum ETFs. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Show highlights|

• Why the SEC did not appeal a decision in the Grayscale case
• Whether the NYAG lawsuit against DGC, the parent company of Grayscale, will affect the prospects for GBTC being converted into an ETF
• How likely it is that GBTC will be converted into an ETF and what needs to happen for that to occur
• Why the SEC probably wants Grayscale to "completely refile," according to James
• Why the recent changes in the ETF applications are "relatively modest," according to Matt
• Whether the incorrect Cointelegraph tweet about a spot bitcoin ETF will be used by the SEC to bolster its market manipulation argument
• An overview of the deadlines of the different applications
• What happened at the launch of Ethereum futures ETFs and how it was different from the launch of Bitcoin futures ETFs
• Whether the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF will pave the way for a spot ether ETF
• What the impact is of all the negative PR for the SEC and Chair Gary Gensler after losing many cases
• What the differences between the various ETFs are and how they will compete in the market
• Lightning round questions: volumes after launch, inflows in the first year, projections for BTC price

Thank you to our sponsors! | Crypto.com | LayerZero | Popcorn Network

Guests| 

James Seyffart, Research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence

Previous appearance on Unchained: Why It Looks Like BlackRock Could Win America’s First Spot Bitcoin ETF

Matthew Hougan, CIO of Bitwise

Previous appearances on Unchained: 

The 2 Types of Investors Driving Interest in Crypto

Bitwise’s Latest Plans to Get a Bitcoin ETF Approved

Links| 

ETFs:

Previous coverage of Unchained on ETFs:

Does Grayscale’s Win Against the SEC Mean a Spot Bitcoin ETF Will Be Approved?

Grayscale v. SEC: Who Won This Week’s Hearing?

Why Grayscale Is Suing the SEC Over Its Denial of a Bitcoin ETF

$5 Billion in AUM: Why Growth at Grayscale Exploded in the Last Quarter

Bitwise’s Latest Plans to Get a Bitcoin ETF Approved

DCG’s Dilemma: Should It Sell Its GBTC Holdings to Repay Gemini?

Unchained: 

Bitcoin Surges to $30K After False Spot ETF Approval Tweet

Ethereum Futures ETFs See ‘Average’ First-Day Trading Volumes

Cointelegraph:

 Clarification on sharing false spot Bitcoin ETF news

Redeem GBTC 🌽 Campaign

Ripple:

SEC Drops Charges Against Ripple CEO and Chairman - Unchained Crypto

Market manipulation

CNET: 23-year-old arrested in Emulex hoax

SEC Charges Avraham Eisenberg with Manipulating Mango Markets’ “Governance Token” to Steal $116 Million of Crypto Assets

NYAG lawsuit:

NY Attorney General Sues Crypto Firms Gemini, Genesis, and DCG for Over $1 Billion Fraud

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Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz. 

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A network of captives’ families has sprung up to accomplish what Israel’s government has so far failed to do—and may yet emerge as a political force. Protecting rhinoceroses from poachers is an expensive business; we look at what has become a bear market for rhinos (12:37). And why a coin toss is not the even-odds proposition you might think it is (20:30).

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Alabama

• A Fire Alert is issued for all 67 counties by the Alabama Forestry commission
• Congressman Palmer pulls name from consideration in House  Speaker race
• Congressman Carl weighs in on recent direct payments from Jim to Joe Biden
• 2 state lawmakers to offer bill increasing penalties for false reports to police
• AL is ranked 39th in the nation for business tax climate by The Tax Foundation
• Daphne residents watching "Police State" documentary sing National anthem

National

• Israel Prime Minister delays an invasion of Gaza due to hostage situation
• SCOTUS agrees to take Missouri v Biden case that takes on Big Tech/Big Gov
• Donald Trump puts the kibosh on Tom Emmer becoming House Speaker
• GA Supreme Court rules in favor of fetal heartbeat law being implemented
• Microsoft skedaddles out of office building in San Fran due to growing blight
• TX governor sues Biden admin for agents at border aiding illegal crossings
• 3rd part of discussion on ideological subversion by KGB defector