Trump Picks VP ✅
Crypto-friendly J.D. Vance becomes Trump's 2024 running mate. Is it good for crypto? Spot Ethereum ETFs likely to launch July 23. BlackRock surpasses $10.6T AUM. DEX digging into crypto trading pie.
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Former president Donald Trump has picked a running mate for 2024 US Presidential elections.
Right then, who is that? Senator J.D. Vance from Ohio.
Why? Vance was the strongest blockchain advocate on Trump's shortlist. He also, views crypto as the asset that can shake up big tech and finance.
Trump’s decision to pick Vance comes two days after the former president survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Read: Donald Trump 🧨
Vance was competing for the position against North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, Florida senator Marco Rubio, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Polymarket traders had predicted a 60% chance that Trump would pick Vance as his running mate for the 2024 elections.
Read: Crypto Rides Black Swan Event 🕊️
What more do we know about Vance?
Vance became a US senator for Ohio in 2023, defeating former US representative Tim Ryan.
He disapproves of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler's leadership.
A fierce critic of the SEC's regulatory crackdown on crypto markets and companies.
Called out regulator's actions against Debt Box, an enforcement case that led the agency shut down its Salt Lake City office, the one that had run the inquiry.
Critiqued the agency, in a letter co-signed by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), for allowing its social media to be compromised ahead Bitcoin ETF approval
As a senator, Vance has circulated draft legislation to overhaul the way the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission police the crypto markets, according to Politico.
Going further than the crypto-friendly bill that was passed by the House in June.
Vance also criticised the Canadian government’s decision to freeze the bank accounts of people associated with the 2022 trucker protests in Ottawa.
Washington whale: Senate financial disclosures also show that Vance owned between $100,001 and $250,000 in Bitcoin on Coinbase in 2022.
This election year has been - Trump's love affair with crypto.
So then this is the pair made for each other?
No, wait … they have not always been brothers in arm.
Vance said he feared Trump could be "America’s Hitler” in a 2016 message to a friend.
Check out: J.D. Vance’s Old Criticisms Of Donald Trump
He called Trump "unfit for our nation’s highest office" in a 2016 NYT column.
Crypto industry donates millions to Pro-Trump Super PAC
Prominent crypto industry figures have emerged as backers of a new pro-Trump super PAC called America PAC
Winklevoss twins (Gemini co-founders) - $250,000 each
Elon Musk - reportedly planning to commit $45 million per month
Joe Lonsdale (Palantir co-founder) - $1 million
Douglas Leone and Shaun Maguire (Sequoia Capital partners) - $1 million and $500,000 respectively
Kenneth Howery (Founders Fund co-founder) - $1 million
The PAC has raised $8.75 million in donations as of June 30, to support Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and pro-crypto candidates
Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey will hold a $15 million fundraiser for his re-election campaign “later this month” - Washington Post report.
Spot Ethereum To Start Trading July 23?
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has directed asset managers to submit finalised registration statements for a July 23 launch - Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
Ether to outperform Bitcoin after ETF debut
According to a new Kaiko report, Ethereum could outperform Bitcoin following the launch of spot Ether ETFs.
The price of Ether compared to Bitcoin has risen to about 0.05 from 0.045 after the initial approval stage for Ether ETFs by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Record ETF inflows, ETH to new highs
Tom Dunleavy, a managing partner at crypto investment firm MV Global, told Cointelegraph.
“We saw $15 billion in flows for Bitcoin. I think we’re probably going to see $5 billion to $10 billion for Ethereum .. I expect a very positive price impact sending us to new all-time highs by early Q4.”
Dunleavy reckons that compared to BTC, ETH is less available on exchanges, mean[ing] thinner order books and less to purchase,” and hence ETH’s spot price will be more responsive to buying demand from ETFs than BTC’s.
Block That Quote 🎙️
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink
“It is a legitimate financial instrument … I believe it is an instrument you invest in when you’re more frightened, though.”
Fink said during an appearance on CNBC Monday morning.
Fink did not reference the Trump shooting on July 13, but he explained that for him Bitcoin investment is for those with a negative view of where the world is headed.
“If you want to hedge hope, Bitcoin is not an instrument for hope .. I look at it as a vehicle in which you’re expressing… [that] you’re more frightened of the world, you’re more frightened [for] your existence.”
In a strange coincidence, Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old suspect fatally shot by Secret Service agents after attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, briefly appeared in a BlackRock ad in 2022.
In The Numbers 🔢
$10.6 trillion
BlackRock worth of assets under management (AUM) for Q2 2024.
$1.2 trillion year-over-year growth.
It saw $51 billion net flow in Q2, as billions poured into its spot Bitcoin ETF in H1 2024.
BlackRock is the issuer of the world’s largest spot Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT).
BlackRock’s BUIDL fund of tokenised US treasuries crossed $500M in market cap.
DEX Digging Into Crypto Trading Pie
Decentralised exchanges (DEXs) are capturing a growing share of the crypto trading market, as per The Block’s Data and Insights.
DEX spot trade volume ratio to centralised exchanges (CEXs)
Hit a new all-time high of 13.76% in July 2024.
Previous record of 13.7% set in May 2023.
Peak month for crypto exchange trading volume was March 2024 with CEX at $2.48 trillion and DEX $203 billion.
The June volume figure was $1.11 trillion for CEX and DEX at $123 billion
Uniswap dominates at 40% of DEX volume, while Raydium has more than doubled its market share to 19% since the start of 2024.
Binance leads the CEX market accounting for 40-50% of the volume month on month basis.
The Surfer 🏄
Stripe has expanded its cryptocurrency integration into the European Union, allowing users to buy Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and other cryptocurrencies using their credit or debit cards.
Richard Kim, the founder of Zero Edge, a crypto casino backed by Galaxy Digital, has apologised for gambling away at least $3.67 million of investor funds. Kim reported himself to the SEC and was reported to authorities by Galaxy Digital after he lost most of the company's funds in bad crypto trades.
Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has purchased an additional 21.877 Bitcoins ~ $1.2 million (200 million Japanese Yen), announced on July 16, 2024. This brings Metaplanet's total Bitcoin holdings to 225.611 BTC, with an average purchase price of 9,972,933 yen per BTC.
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