Crypto's Big Day in Court
Crypto's Big Day in Court
Today is a very important day for crypto in the United States. Find out why, plus catch up on 3 major token unlocks happening this week with impacts to the NFT market.
TylerD's Market Summary
GM!
Today's top news includes:
Crypto's major day in court
3 token unlocks to watch this week
The new PFP whale on the NFT scene
Bitcoin's recursive inscriptions debut
Walmart's web3 hub launches accelerator
👨⚖️ Crypto Goes to Court
"Not every federal court day is eventful in crypto, but tomorrow is. May God bless the US Courts."
That's a message shared by Paul Grewal (Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer) last night on Twitter, in advance of a major day today for crypto in the U.S.
The outcomes here may have major impacts on crypto's future in the U.S. along with short-term market impact.
What's Happening?
Here are the 3 major court events:
Release of Hinman docs in SDNY
Hearing on motion to seize Binance assets in DDC
SEC response to order on Coinbase's petition for clarity
Those are ranked in relative order of importance (imo), with Coinbase's petition the least impactful (at least today).
The event generating all of the chatter is the release of the Hinman documents.
For quick background, the Hinman documents refer to internal messages from then SEC Director William Hinman delivered in a 2018 speech. Hinman said in the speech that while BTC and ETH may start as securities, there is a path to them becoming more like commodities once sufficiently decentralized.
This event is immediately relevant for the legal status of the Ripple token $XRP, but of course will have wide-sweeping impact pending what's in the documents.
Ripple's CEO Brad Garinghouse has commented that the release is "well worth the wait," adding to the hype of today's event.
$XRP is up 7% on the day to $0.55, greatly out-pacing other tokens, in what is perhaps a sign of things to come (or pure hopium speculation).
Why It Matters
The question of what makes a crypto token a security is the biggest open question in the space right now, and any clarity derived from the Hinman document would go a long way in providing an answer and the start of a potential framework.
The bulk of the SEC lawsuit against Coinbase comes down to whether certain tokens are securities or not, so that case will be directly impacted by this case.
And the Binance hearing will set an important precedent on the freezing of crypto assets.
This all comes while the Republican Congress has raised a bill to fire Gary Gensler and create a more balanced 6-person oversight commission for the SEC in an effort to protect American investors.
But the U.S. better move fast, because the rest of the world is ready to capitalize on recent anti-crypto action.
🌍 The World Responds
Here is a sample of headlines from around the globe in the past weeks (h/t to Miles Deutscher):
Hong Kong has legalized retail crypto trading
Hong Kong invites Coinbase and other global exchanges to come operate
Chinese Bank BOCI issues its first tokenized security
Europe introduced a new MiCA framework
The UK and UAE are both pushing "Crypto Hub" narratives
A16z introduces a new London office
Coinbase + Gemini have expanded offshore into international platforms
Russia's Sberbank offers crypto trading
This has all materialized strikingly quickly.
Other countries clearly see the opportunity in crypto and are racing to establish their own programs, hubs and frameworks to attract U.S. talent.
If the U.S. keeps up this anti-crypto rhetoric and accompanying legal action, they (we) might just lose some resources in what could become a crypto talent drain.
Hopefully, the outcome of today's court hearings slows that down (or puts a stop to it entirely).
🔓 Major Token Unlocks This Week
Buried beneath all of these more important macro headlines - there are some major token unlocks happening in the NFT-adjacent crypto space this week.
Milk Road reported on this yesterday, calling out the $176M+ in unlocks coming up.
Here's the breakdown:
$BLUR unlocks 196M tokens (~$62.3M)
$BIT (BitDAO) unlocks 187M tokens (~$80.3M)
$APE unlocks 15M tokens (~$34M)
APE is unlocking 15M per month right now per its tokenomics, but still a large influx as the token approaches ATL.
The BLUR unlock is likely the most important for the NFT space. If the unlock plus larger macro volatility drives the Blur token much lower, some farmers may give up and pull liquidity.
It's eventually going to happen, whenever farming finally winds down, but this could accelerate it.
With CPI today and FOMC tomorrow, on top of the court cases, it's already set to be a volatile week in crypto. These unlocks just add an extra level of bumpiness this week.
Buckle up.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the n NFTs:
Trading volume jumped back over 13k ETH on Monday, though most NFTs saw red on the day
A new whale has entered the PFP market, spending over $7M going long BAYC and other PFPs, and staking $1.5M in APE
The Bitcoin NFT scene is getting an upgrade with recursive inscriptions, a new function that allows code to be stored in inscriptions (vs images or text), enabling inscription cross-referencing, cost-effective art, and more dynamicity
0n1 Force released its web3 ally program to bolster web3 by pooling resources, open to all, and aimed at media, gaming, IP development and NFT project support
Pudgy Penguins introduced a new soulbound MVP Token for outstanding community members, replacing their Penguin of the Week award
The Gucci KodaPendant physical claim is coming soon, with a snapshot taking place on June 21 at 10:00 a.m. ET
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
The crypto market saw slight green on Monday; BTC +0.5% to $26,110; ETH even at $1,750
Binance saw its new inflows turn back green on Monday, with Nansen reporting a new inflow of $470M across all chains
Walmart's web3 innovation hub Store Nº8 has partnered with Outlier Ventures to launch the dCommerce Base Camp accelerator, a program aimed at fostering web3 startups improving global retail and commerce experiences
gmoney will be repping 9dcc at Men's Paris Fashion Week starting on June 19th
🚀 NFT Total Volume
BAYC (7,536 ETH, 45.51 ETH Floor)
MAYC (1,236 ETH, 9.17 ETH)
Azuki (1,072 ETH, 16.84 ETH)
Wrapped Cryptopunks (601 ETH, 50.45 ETH)
DeGods (478 ETH; 9.15 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
Arkpia Pass (36%, 0.19 ETH Floor)
Sproto Gremlins (35%, 0.34 ETH)
DeepBlack (26%, 1.92 ETH)
Maschine (24%, 0.16 ETH)
Distortion Genesis (15%, 1.79 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today kickstarts a big week of digital art drops.
Two are on the radar today, including a free mint from Amber Vittoria "Building," and an Art Blocks drop from AB engineer ryley-o called "Flow." Expect more demand on Flow given its from an AB team member.
Otherwise, the main thing to watch today (besides those court cases) is the CPI data coming this morning.
If you want more, see the full list of today's drops from Swizzy's daily mint monitor.
U.S. CPI data (8:30 a.m. ET)
BTC Mechanics (11:00 a.m. ET); BTC
Art Blocks Presents: Flow by ryley-o (1:00 p.m. ET); Dutch auction
Amber Vittoria "Building" (12:00 p.m. ET); free
Enjoy this write-up? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.
For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's NFT Calendar page.