Who's the Wall Street Darling? 🏦
Financial giants are investing in Bitcoin ETFs. Frank of DeGods regrets? An ex-employee hacks Pump.fun. Senate shakes up crypto rules. VC funds are back?
Hello, y'all. Friday reminds you to keep your feet on the ground and enjoy the journey.
Cause you get lighter the more it gets dark | I'm going to give you my heart… 🎶
Do try the Music Quiz Game 👉 Asset - Music Nerd
This is The Token Dispatch 🙌 find all about us here 🤟
Everyone wants a piece of Bitcoin.
How do we know?
The big names in spot Bitcoin ETF buyers.
Over 600 investment firms have revealed billions invested in them.
That's a combined $4 billion.
Financial giants like Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo are all dipping their toes into the Bitcoin ETF pool. Hedge funds like Millennium Management and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors are also making significant bets.
Millennium Management takes the crown as the biggest Bitcoin ETF investor with $1.9 billion spread across several funds.
Other notable investors
This represents a significant chunk of the total Bitcoin held in US Bitcoin ETFs ($59 billion).
Currently, retail investors are the main drivers of Bitcoin ETFs.
Professional investors are clearly catching up, Bitwise’s Matt Hougan suspect we may “end up with 700+ professional firms and total AUM approaching $5 billion.”
Read this: Who’s Buying Bitcoin ETFs (According to 13F Filings)
BlackRock is the Favorite?
Millennium holds $844.2 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Schonfeld Strategic Advisors $248 million, Morgan Stanley $163.4 million, Wisconsin, Boothbay Fund Management $149.8 million, $100 million, plus, most of the other firms’ major Bitcoin ETF holdings.
IBIT, grew from zero to a whopping $17.3 billion in assets under management (AUM) in just a few months.
A Look Ahead
New Hampshire is exploring Bitcoin ETFs as an investment option. New Hampshire State Representative Keith Ammon points out that New Hampshire could have seen a massive windfall if they had invested in Bitcoin earlier. He estimates that a 5% investment in Bitcoin's rainy day fund back in 2016 would have translated to 10,000% return today.
CME Group, a major Wall Street player, is planning to offer spot Bitcoin trading. CME is the largest futures exchange globally and a financial powerhouse. If CME starts offering spot bitcoin trading, crypto exchanges might be in trouble.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin is doing just fine at $66K
What’s the fuel? Lower inflation numbers and a sluggish retail sales report calmed investor fears of an aggressive Federal Reserve.
US jobless claims for the week came in at 222,000, lower than the predicted 220,000.
Bitcoin broke free from a downtrend and could target $84,000 next, according to Swissblock analysts.
Also👇🏻
JPMorgan Ups Bitcoin Production Cost Estimate
JPMorgan is revising its guess on how much it costs to mine a Bitcoin: It's around $45,000, up from their earlier estimate of $42,000.
Previously: They thought a lot of miners would shut down after the recent Bitcoin halving (when the reward for mining is cut in half). This would have made mining easier and cheaper.
Actually: It seems some inefficient miners are leaving, but it's taking longer than expected. The hashrate is still relatively high.
The $45,000 production cost is well below the current price of around $65,000. This might help support the price.
Block That Quote 🎙️
Founder Rohun Vora (Frank)
“I've been a pus$y in the past”
DeGods, once a top Solana NFT project, has had a bumpy ride. Now, the founder is taking responsibility for some of the stumbles, particularly the controversial switch to Ethereum.
Frank admits bowing to community pressure in the past, like the back-and-forth art changes for DeGods NFTs.
The biggest shocker? Bridging DeGods and y00ts away from Solana in a panic move after FTX's collapse.
Frank says he felt pressured to move to Ethereum, "the big leagues" of NFTs, during the Solana price crash.
“I said I want to allow our community to come back home and I meant it. I still do. Today, I am saying that I believe that art upgrades and changing nft art as a rallying mechanism is stupid. I mean it. I believe that antifragility is the answer. That's my conviction. Not just building the best community, but the strongest one.”
He's offering the community a choice: a new bridge back to Solana, with no pressure to switch.
Crypto VCs Pour Money Back In?
Big money moves
Aquarius, a crypto VC firm, launched a whopping $600 million fund to support blockchain projects and liquidity.
Overall crypto VC funding has topped $1 billion for two months straight, a trend not seen since late 2022.
Digital securities platform Securitise snagged $47 million in a funding round led by BlackRock.
What's Driving the Change? Bitcoin is up over 300% since its November lows, thanks to factors like ETF approvals and FTX creditor repayments.
For the second month in a row, funding has topped $1 billion, according to RootData.
In the Numbers 🔢
$2 million
That’s how much the Solana memecoin launcher Pump.fun lost in a hack.
They identified the culprit: a disgruntled former employee.
How it Went Down
The ex-employee used their admin access to exploit Pump.fun's system.
They took out flash loans (borrowed funds repaid within the same transaction) to buy out memecoins on the platform.
This manipulated the bonding curves, allowing them to siphon off funds before repaying the loans.
An anonymous user, "Stacc," claiming to be the culprit, took to Twitter to vent about their "horrible bosses" at Pump.fun. They even launched a memecoin called "Flash Stacc Attack" (FSA) to commemorate the exploit.
US Senate passes resolution overturning SEC crypto rule on banks
The US Senate recently passed a joint resolution that could significantly impact how banks handle digital assets.
Here's what you need to know
Resolution Details: The resolution, H.J.Res. 109, targets the SEC’s Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, which mandates that banks include customers' digital assets on their balance sheets and maintain adequate capital against them.
Senate Vote: The resolution passed with a notable bipartisan majority of 60 to 38 votes on May 16. This reflects a strong bipartisan effort despite the current 51-49 Democrat majority in the Senate.
Presidential Veto: President Joe Biden has expressed intentions to veto this resolution. He argues that the SEC rule is crucial for protecting investors and the broader financial system. If vetoed, the resolution would require a two-thirds majority in Congress to override.
The Surfer 🏄
Big banks team up with DTCC and Chainlink to test Blockchain for fund data. The goal is to streamline how fund data is shared. Major US banks like JPMorgan and BNY Mellon participated in a pilot program called "Smart NAV." The pilot tested using Chainlink's tech to bring fund data onto blockchains in a standardised way.
Sam Trabucco, ex-CEO of Alameda Research, defended his "best friend" Ryan Salame (former FTX CEO) in a character reference. Trabucco acknowledged Salame's wrongdoing but argued for a "fair" punishment, proportionate to his crimes.
Hong Kong residents can now use digital yuan (e-CNY) wallets for payments with mainland China. This collaboration with China's central bank allows easy top-ups using local banks and focuses on cross-border transactions.
If you like us, if you don't like us .. either ways do tell us✌️
If you dig what we do, show us love on Twitter and Instagram🤞
So long. OKAY? ✋
big funds are going to pour in, and as an alternative asset there will be a considerable flow of funds.