GM! This week: SBF’s trial finally begins, Ethereum futures ETFs get off to a lackluster start on Wall Street, and our Onchain Scavenger Hunt built on Base concludes this Friday with a chance for YOU to WIN 5 ETH!
Here’s your weekly roundup of the biggest stories in crypto. You can listen to some of these themes being discussed with Coinage host Zack Guzman, Ikigai Asset Management founder Travis Kling, and Waitroom CEO Vinny Lingham on our usual Monday X Space.
In Crypto Markets…
Bitcoin touched a six-week high before paring gains after the long-awaited Ethereum Futures ETFs began trading on Monday. Volumes were a little soft relative to the Bitcoin futures ETFs that came nearly two years before them. However, the more exciting update is that there appears to be new confidence among ETF issuers for a Bitcoin Spot ETF.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan told CNBC Monday that he expects SEC approval before year’s end. That could be throwing fuel on the bullishness that historically hits this time of year. The last time Bitcoin fell in the month of October was during the 2018 bear market.
In SBF News…
Author Michael Lewis got dragged on crypto Twitter Monday after his 60 Minutes interview finally aired. Though, to be fair to Lewis, much of what he was saying seems in-line with what we first uncovered in our preview of SBF’s upcoming defense. That is, that even Bernie Madoff’s prosecutor says FTX wasn’t a Ponzi scheme.
That said, SBF’s already slim odds of acquittal now look even slimmer. The last few motions from his defense team have all been shot down. One last attempt was filed late Monday to prevent the government from calling remote FTX victims as witnesses. We’ll see how Judge Kaplan rules as jury selection gets kicked off on Tuesday.
In NFT Land…
This week brings good news and bad news. Which would you like first? The bad? Alright.
One of the most popular NFT projects in 2023 is off 40% after the projects founders have become locked in a legal battle. As DL News reports:
Charlotte Fang, the pseudonymous face of the project, stepped down last year due to accusations on crypto Twitter that he was involved in white nationalist circles and a so-called “suicide cult.” (He called his involvement an elaborate troll.)
But he never really left.
In his lawsuit, filed on September 10 in the US District Court for the District of Nevada, Charlotte Fang outed himself as Nevada resident Krishna Okhandiar.
Okhandiar said he had appointed three independent contractors — Maxwell Roux, John Duff, and Henry Smith — to management positions at Milady’s parent company, Remilia Corporation.
The trio then hatched a scheme to seize Remilia’s intellectual property, money, and social media accounts in order to extort Okhandiar for equity in the company, his lawsuit alleges.
Wild stuff!
As for the good news, Coinage NFTs continue to rise as people notice we aren’t a suicide cult (yet!) and realize there is utility behind the fastest-growing media brand in Web3. Coinage Subscribers should hurry and upgrade to our co-ownership tiers to unlock membership in Coinage’s DAO/Coop while they still can at a discount ahead of the public.
If you haven’t yet — you should be playing Coinage’s Onchain Scavenger Hunt. Yesterday 1 ETH ($1,700) was shared among the first 5 minters to unlock the Day 8 clue. It was our hardest clue yet — but a number of sleuths working together in our Discord were able to drain the prize in the wallet in just under 30 minutes!
Missed the clue? Fret not, you’re still in the running for Friday’s 5 ETH drawing if you collect all 12 free NFTs! It’s also not too late for your friends to catch up, either! So forward this newsletter to them!
Here are the answers for the first 6 days:
Day 1: own_the_narrative Day 2: WHZ7YtJUfJNqyBo6qwV! Day 3: Financialize_Everything Day 4: Buen_Ayre Day 5: airdrop Day 6: PtC8mMhGZXz6A9y!cwUs
Good luck!