Happy Thursday!
It's been a rather interesting few weeks. Earlier this week Bitcoin shed nearly a third of its value just in one hour time. 😱
Business-wise, Jack Dorsey stept down as CEO of the well-known social media platform Twitter, Meta ended the ban for crypto ads and the property market on Decentraland is heating up.🔥
On the regulatory side of things, EU ambassadors agreed to negotiate on extending the scope of rules for certain crypto-assets, and also this week we have some content from our very own kitchen. The the third edition of the Watsonlaw bi-weekly series about the MiCA Regulation is out now. 🚀
Enjoy! 🤩
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"I see Bitcoin as the world reserve asset, whereas I see the dollar as the world reserve currency, (...). You would rather spend the currency because it's losing value, and saves the asset as it's gaining value."
- Michael Saylor (CEO MicroStrategy)
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🆕 Twitter announced that CEO Jack Dorsey has decided to step down as Chief Executive Officer of the social media company, effective immediately. The Board of Directors has unanimously appointed Parag Agrawal as CEO and member of the board.
😵 Grayscale Investments has questioned the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) decision to block Bitcoin Spot ETFs. The asset manager argued that the commission has "no basis" to allow investing in the derivatives market and not "in the asset itself."
⚖️ Watsonlaw released its third edition of the bi-weekly series of articles about the draft Markets in Crypto-Asset (MiCA) Regulation. This weeks blog is all about the 'Choice of Legislative Instrument and Scope'.
😜 Digital payments company Square announced that it has changed its company name to Block. The rebrand will bring the payments firm together with Cash App, the decentralized Bitcoin (BTC) exchange project tbDEX, and music and video streaming platform Tidal.
✅ Meta (formerly Facebook) has announced a new policy for crypto ads on its platform, effectively ending the ban it once put into place for such ads. It cites market maturity and regulatory measures as the reasons behind the change. The number of licenses it now accepts is 27, as opposed to three. The ban was enacted when the company was still known as Facebook.
🤩 Bitcoin rewards (cashback) startup Fold is working with Niantic, the mobile games studio best known for developing augmented-reality game (AR) Pokémon Go, to create a meta verse that will allow users to earn Bitcoin by collecting satoshi as they play.
💡 Iota has announced the release of decentralized layer-one smart contract network "Assembly", and accompanying "ASMB" token, in a bid to accelerate the expansion of smart contracts across a multitude of sectors, including decentralized finance (DeFi) and non fungible tokens (NFTs).
🤔 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler said about Bitcoin that he doesn't support the "off-the-grid" approach to finance. According to Gensler Bitcoin is a competitor to the U.S. banking system and its worldwide consensus.
🏘️ Not only in real life, but also on the metaverse the property market is heating up with investors buying millions of dollars worth of virtual land. A recent transaction on Decentraland was worth about $2.5 million of cryptocurrency.
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✨ EU ambassadors agreed on a mandate to negotiate with the European Parliament on a proposal to update existing rules on information accompanying transfers of funds. The update aims to extend the scope of rules to certain crypto-assets. The purpose is to ensure traceability of crypto-asset transfers, so as to be able to better identify possible suspicious transactions and if necessary blocking them.
😎 The EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum has released its report on Demystifying NFTs. The report includes an overview of relevant definitions and the history of NFTs, explores the NFT market, dives into the technology behind NFTs, and presents valuable conclusions and policy recommendations.
🏦 The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published its quarterly review. It examines developments global non-bank financial intermediaries and offers policy perspectives. The review dedicated a special feature to discussing decentralized finance and its implications for financial stability in its quarterly review. According to the review Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has a centralization problem and policy makers should use it to regulate the sector.
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😱 Maven 11 Capital has closed its second venue capital fund with a total of $120 million raised.
💥 Crypto.com acquires two trading platforms from IG Group in $216 million deal.
🤑 Decentralized crypto exchange (DEX) aggregator 1Inch Network raises $175 million in a Series B financing round led by Amber Group.
💰 Sloika raises $2 million to fuel the growth of the Ethereum photo NFT market.
😏 Galaxy Digital raises $500 million in convertible debt to fund business expansion.
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Postscript
Thank you for reading the latest edition of the Watsonlaw newsletter. If you have any content-related recommendations or news you'd like us to share for next time, please don't hesitate to reach out to info@watsonlaw.nl or even better, directly connect with our team members Willem-Jan Smits and Jorie Corten. To stay up to date with all our updates and connect with our team, follow Watsonlaw on LinkedIn. Did we miss anything? Or perhaps something got you particularly intrigued? Do send us a message and let's talk! Ciao for now and see you again next time!
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Watsonlaw is a 's-Hertogenbosch-based law firm specializing in corporate and civil matters and the legal implications of new technologies in everyday life and business.
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