Minerva Weekly Newsletter Week 22 2024
Covers 5/26/24-6/1/24
Web 3 News
Former FTX executive Ryan Salame was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, per Bloomberg
Previously, U.S. prosecutors said Salame should be sentenced to 5-7 years in prison
Salame's lawyers argued that the prison term should not exceed 18 months
It was reported that Salame did not cooperate well with the investigation
This is the first senior deputy in SBF's inner circle to be punished
Binance’s founder Changpeng Zhao has reported to a low-security federal prison in Lompoc, California, per CNBC
Gemini announced that Earn users received $2.18 billion of their digital assets in kind
They reached a settlement in principle with Genesis and other creditors in the Genesis Bankruptcy, which will result in all Earn users receiving 100% of their digital assets back in kind
97% was paid out this week, and the remaining 3% will be sometime over the next year or so
Gemini contributed $50 million to the Earn users’ recovery
Hong Kong may allow spot Ethereum ETFs to offer staking, setting it apart from the U.S. offerings, per Bloomberg
U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Brian Nelson said the Treasury Department does not intend to ban cryptocurrency mixing services, per CoinDesk
It aims to promote transparency rather than banning mixing services
The Judge in the DEBT Box case ordered the SEC to pay $1.8 million in damages for abusing its power against the crypto company
David Bailey, CEO of Bitcoin Magazine and a cryptocurrency aide of the Trump campaign, revealed that Trump asked if Bitcoin could be leveraged to solve the U.S. national debt problem
The Bitcoin Magazine team is advising Trump on developing a policy that is friendly to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies
Oklahoma’s State Senate passes House Bill 1600 that gives tax exemption to Bitcoin and all crypto miners, and will head to the Governor’s desk to be vetoed or signed into law
MicroStrategy MSTR 0.00%↑ is set to be added to the Russell 1000 on June 28th
Healthcare product manufacturer Semler Scientific SMLR 0.00%↑purchases 581 Bitcoin for $40 million
Unchained and the University of Austin are launching the first (for a U.S. University) long-term endowment fund held in Bitcoin
Riot RIOT 0.00%↑ has Proposed acquiring Bitfarms BITF 0.00%↑ for $2.30 per share to create the World’s largest publicly listed Bitcoin miner
OCEAN mining pool is opening an international hub of business in San Salvador, El Salvador
Stablecoin issuer Tether ($USDT) has acquired a $100 million stake in the U.S.-listed Bitcoin miner Bitdeer $BTDR owned by Chinese billionaire Jihan Wu, per Bloomberg
Former President Trump last weekend: "I will ensure that the future of crypto and Bitcoin will be made in the USA…I will support the right to self-custody to the nations 50 million crypto holders"
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has acquired three Bitcoin mining machines that began operation today in Texas
U.S. President Biden has vetoed a bill that would have allowed financial firms to custody Bitcoin and crypto
Ethereum Name Service has proposed migration to Ethereum’s Layer 2, per The Block
Terraform Labs and Do Kwon have tentatively agreed to settle their SEC fraud case, per Reuters
The State of Wyoming is minting their own stable coin, $WYST, that will be backed by U.S. Treasuries
PayPal PYPL 0.00%↑, the first large financial company to roll out a stablecoin, is adding its PayPal USD token to the Solana blockchain, per Bloomberg
Mastercard MA 0.00%↑ announced the launch of the first P2P pilot transaction of Mastercard Crypto Credential
Crypto exchange users will be able to send and receive crypto using their Mastercard Crypto Credential aliases
Users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and Uruguay will be able to send cross-border and domestic transfers across multiple currencies and blockchains
1/5 of likely voters own crypto, per Grayscale
Macroeconomic News
China has created the country’s largest-ever chip investment fund with $47.5 billion, per Bloomberg
Chinese Apple AAPL 0.00%↑ iPhone shipments increased 52% in April, per Bloomberg
Japan confirmed that they spent $62 billion intervening in the foreign exchange market to support the yen over the past month, per YF
Thousands of North Koreans stole Americans’ identities and took remote-work tech jobs at Fortune 500 companies, per the DOJ
U.S. GDP grew 1.3% in Q1 2024 as consumer spending slowed
April PCE inflation was 2.7%, in-line with expectations of 2.7%, previous 2.7%
Core PCE inflation was 2.8%, in-line with expectations of 2.8%, previous 2.8%
Municipal Bonds had their worst weekly performance since early 2020 last week, per Bloomberg
Unrealized losses in the U.S. Banking System increased to $517 billion in Q1, per FDIC
The Semiconductor Index $SOX relative to the S&P 500 VOO 0.00%↑ has once again exceeded dotcom bubble levels, per Bloomberg
T-Mobile TMUS 0.00%↑ to acquire most of U.S. Cellular in $4.4 billion deal, per CNBC
Walgreens WBA 0.00%↑ closed at the lowest price since 1997, per Barchart
CVS is CVS 0.00%↑ trading at lowest price since Covid, per Barchart
The FAA granted Amazon AMZN 0.00%↑ permission to operate its delivery drones "beyond visual line of sight"
Amazon announced they now offer a free subscription to Grubhub as a part of its $139 Prime Membership
New car inventory is up 51% in the United States vs. last year, the highest since 2020
The Census Bureau has revised away 25% of the Pandemic-era price spike of new single-family homes, per Wolf Street
~58% of outstanding U.S. home loans had interest rates below 4% at the end of last year, per the Federal Housing Finance Agency
The U.S. housing market is short at least ~760,000 for-sale housing units and ~760,000 for-rent housing units, per Freddie Mac
Federal Reserve research suggests "over half of the rise in interstate migration since 2019 can be accounted for by the rise in the work from home share"
U.S. office workers are spending 300% more time in meetings today compared to 2020, per Microsoft
Disclosures:
I am not a financial advisor, and whatever I post should not be taken as financial advice. It is for education and entertainment purposes only. Anything I post does not constitute an offer to sell or trade, a solicitation to buy, or recommendation for any security, cryptocurrency, digital asset, or related product, nor does it constitute an offer to provide investment advice or other related services by myself or Minerva Digital Asset Education, LLC. I and/or Minerva Digital Asset Education, LLC may have a financial investment with the cryptocurrencies/digital assets discussed. In preparing the content created, no individual financial or investment needs of the viewer have been considered nor is any financial or investment advice being offered. Any views expressed in the posted content were prepared based upon the information available at the time such views were written. Changed, new, and/or additional information could cause such views to change.