August 2, 2023

As many as six asset managers have filed applications with the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) for ether (ETH) futures-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs). First off the block on July 28 was the Volatility Shares Ether Strategy ETF. That filing was quickly followed by five other applications: the Bitwise Ethereum Strategy ETF, VanEck Ethereum Strategy ETF, Roundhill Ether Strategy ETF, ProShares Short Ether Strategy ETF, and Grayscale Ethereum Futures ETF all were submitted to the SEC by August 1. Grayscale currently operates the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) with just more than $3 billion in assets under management. It’s suffered from a long period of trading at a substantial discount to net asset value – 41.5% as of yesterday. 

(CoinDesk)

MicroStrategy (MSTR), the software developer that’s amassed a giant bitcoin stash in recent years, filed to raise up to $750 million in share sales, with plans to use the proceeds to in part buy more bitcoin. The news came just after the company announced its second quarter results late Tuesday afternoon. Including some small bitcoin purchases made last month, MicroStrategy’s holdings as of July 31 amounted to 152,800 tokens worth about $4.5 billion at current prices. The news seemingly gave a lift to bitcoin, which quickly rose about 3% and briefly breached $30,000. The price has since pulled back to the current $29,500.

Binance counts China as its largest market, followed by South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, and the British Virgin Islands, according to documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The Journal reports that despite the ban on crypto within China, teams from Binance regularly collaborate with Chinese law enforcement to detect potential criminal activity. It also has 900,000 active users in-country, according to the report. A spokesperson for the exchange did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's request for comment. Data from the Journal shows that China is a $80.6 billion futures market and a $9.4 billion spot market for Binance. Second place South Korea provides $56.9 billion in futures volume and $1.39 billion in spot volume, and fifth place British Virgin Islands is responsible for $12.82 billion in spot volume and $5 billion in futures volume. 

MakerDAO’s MKR was the leading gainer among the constituents of the Coindesk Market Index (CMI) in July, advancing 47%. The native token of Ripple Labs, XRP was just behind, adding 46.6% during the month as a U.S. judge ruled the sale of XRP tokens on exchanges as not constituting investment contracts.

The two leading cryptocurrencies by market cap, bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) each lost 4% last month.

Much of MKR’s surge to a near a one-year high price came on July 21 following the introduction of a token buyback program.

Ripple at one point during the month had nearly doubled, climbing to as high as 93.8 cents on July 13 immediately after a federal judge said the sale of XRP on digital asset exchanges did not amount to investment contracts. XRP has since pulled back to the $0.70 level, but still sported that big gain for July.

- Omkar Godbole

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