Wall Street Makes a Play for Bitcoin

Dear Investors,

Wall Street made a play for Bitcoin this week as the world realized what many of us knew all along - Bitcoin is on a path to becoming a universal store of value.

Let’s do a quick recap of the headlines:

• Earlier this week, EDX Markets launched its digital asset platform, the firm shared on Tuesday. But what has made this launch catch a lot of attention? Its founding investors, which include major traditional firms like Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets and Sequoia Capital, alongside Paradigm and Virtu Financial.

• The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the first leveraged Bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund (ETF), Volatility Shares 2X Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX). It is scheduled to launch on the Chicago Board Options BZX Exchange on 27 June, 2023.

• Amidst a surge of activity within the ETF space, Valkyrie Investments has made significant moves to establish its presence once again. A Delaware-based subsidiary of Valkyrie Investments Inc. has filed an updated spot ETF proposal, altering the intended exchange to Nasdaq and changing the ticker to $BRRR.

• Two more U.S.-based asset managers moved to file for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the wake of the investment giant BlackRock making a similar application last week.

As the famous quote by Lenin states - "There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen."

If you are underexposed, this is your chance to correct that. #NotFinancial Advice.

---

What I’m Reading This Week 📚 

Exclusive: Tiger Global opens full portfolio to individual bids in search of liquidity

Tiger Global has told select secondary investors they can bid on any private company in its portfolio after a lead buyer didn't emerge for a portfolio of assets packaged in a strip sale, according to several people with direct knowledge of the sale. 

The pivot underscores the challenges asset managers are facing in finding buyers for their venture portfolios.

Full Story here.

---

This Week By the Numbers 📈

Bitcoin was the clear winner in the markets this week, while FED Chair Jerome Powell testified that "crypto appears to have staying power as an asset class," and the FED views “stablecoins as a form of money.”

---

Top Stories 🗞️

Credit Agricole's CACEIS registers in France as crypto custody services provider

CACEIS, the asset servicing business owned by Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA) and Santander (SAN.MC), has registered with France's markets regulator AMF to provide custody services for digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies. The company registered as a digital asset service provider (DASP) on June 20, according AMF's website, adding a major traditional financial services group to the growing number of crypto companies registered by the French watchdog. CACEIS had 4.1 trillion euros ($4.51 trillion) in assets under custody at end of last year, according to its website. Credit Agricole SA is its majority owner with a 69.5% stake, while Santander holds a 30.5% of the group.

Deutsche Bank reportedly applies for digital asset custody license from BaFin

Germany’s largest banking institution, Deutsche Bank, has reportedly applied for a digital asset custody license to the country’s financial regulator, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or BaFin, in a bid to expand its revenue streams. This comes after a similar shift from the bank’s investment arm, DWS Group, and aims to expand on digital asset custody services, including cryptocurrencies. DWS Group had previously indicated an interest in investing in two German crypto firms. Companies negotiating with DWS Group included Deutsche Digital Assets, a crypto exchange-traded products provider, and market maker Tradias. The banking giant’s corporate bank division first revealed plans to offer digital asset-related services in 2020 but hadn’t announced a timeline for introducing the services.

Pentagon accounting error provides extra $6.2 billion for Ukraine military aid

The Pentagon said Tuesday that it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion over the past two years — about double early estimates — resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said a detailed review of the accounting error found that the military services used replacement costs rather than the book value of equipment that was pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine. She said final calculations show there was an error of $3.6 billion in the current fiscal year and $2.6 billion in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last Sept. 30. As a result, the department now has additional money in its coffers to use to support Ukraine as it pursues its counteroffensive against Russia. And it come as the fiscal year is wrapping up and congressional funding was beginning to dwindle.

Wagner chief Prigozhin to leave for Belarus, Russian state media says, as rebellion ends

Less than 24 hours after Wagner Group mercenaries took control of the strategic southern city of Rostov and began an armed convoy march towards Moscow, Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin abruptly announced late Saturday that his violent, attempted insurrection was over. “The moment has come when blood may spill. That’s why, understanding the responsibility for spilling Russian blood on one of the sides, we are turning back our convoys and going back to field camps according to the plan,” Prigozhin said on an official Telegram channel. Within a few hours of the statement, Wagner mercenaries in Rostov were filmed climbing into their trucks and departing the city. As they did, civilians took selfies with the Wagner troops and cheered for them. The apparent end of Wagner’s march on Moscow came as the result of a deal reached between Prigozhin and the Kremlin, brokered by an unlikely intermediary: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. In exchange for his turning back, the criminal case against Prigozhin had been dropped, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian reporters, according to the state controlled outlet TASS.

Binance Ordered to Halt Offering Crypto Services in Belgium by Markets Regulator

The crypto exchange is accused of serving Belgian customers from countries outside the European Economic Area in violation of the law, the Financial Services and Markets Authority said. Belgium's top markets regulator is ordering embattled crypto exchange Binance to immediately cease serving local customers, according to a Friday notice. The Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) said Binance is "offering and providing exchange services in Belgium between virtual currencies and legal currencies, as well as custody wallet services, from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area," which the regulator says is in violation of a prohibition. "The FSMA has therefore ordered Binance to cease, with immediate effect, offering or providing any and all such services in Belgium," the notice said.

---

Thank you for reading this week’s edition of the Myth of Money.🚀

Until next week,

Tatiana Koffman

---

About the Author: Tatiana Koffman

Hi there and thanks for reading! If you stumble upon my newsletter, you will notice that I write about money, economics, and technology. I hold a JD/MBA and spent my career in Capital Markets working across Mergers & Acquisitions, Derivatives, Venture Capital, and Cryptocurrencies. I write to make financial topics more accessible and create equal opportunity for the next generation of investors. I have personally invested in 20+ companies and funds (👉 my portfolio).