Venture Smart Financial Holdings Ltd. (VSFG), a Hong Kong-based financial services firm, is preparing to apply for a spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) in anticipation of potentially launching its spot bitcoin ETF in the first quarter. In a Friday interview with The Block, VSFG Chairman Lawrence Chu said that the firm is in the final
Published 1 minute earlier on Ethereum’s latest major upgrade Dencun went live on the Sepolia test network on Tuesday, leaving just one more testnet before its anticipated “proto-danksharding” feature comes to fruition. Dencun deployment on Sepolia commenced at 22:51 UTC Tuesday and was finalized soon after. “Blobs are now flowing in Sepolia,” Parithosh Jayanthi, DevOps
Published 1 minute earlier on Episode 1 of Season 6 of The Scoop was recorded with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Scott Fletcher, co-founder of Intersection Growth Partners. Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Youtube, Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please send feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblock.co. Scott Fletcher
New York District Judge Katherine Polk Failla probed Coinbase in court on Wednesday about whether tokens listed on its exchange were securities Coinbase was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in June for allegedly operating as an unregistered exchange, broker and clearing agency. Coinbase has pushed back on those claims, arguing for the case
For anyone craving a return to last week’s exciting spot bitcoin ETF horse race, I have unfortunate news: tomorrow marks the federal holiday of Martin Luther King Jr. day, so the stock market will be closed. However, the blockchains will continue on validating, and several important events are scheduled for later in the week, including
Published 1 minute earlier on GameStop has announced the closure of its NFT marketplace. In a statement posted to the site, the company cites “the continuing regulatory uncertainty of the crypto space” as the reason behind the closure. The marketplace officially launched on Halloween of 2022, focusing on gaming assets in partnership with ImmutableX, an
The European aviation regulators have followed orders by the Federal Aviation Administration for the temporary grounding of many Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft, after a MAX 9 operated by Alaska Air lost a section of its fuselage in midair on Friday. The damaged plane was able to return to the Portland, Ore., airport, where the
Stock exchanges rushed to file fresh, amended 19b-4 forms for bids from asset managers including BlackRock and Fidelity for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, marking the latest move as issuers try and barrel toward the finish line to get the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval. As Friday came to a close, new filings also came in for
While 2023 might be remembered for the sheer number of crypto bankruptcy cases, the biggest one that’s seen FTX creditors seek to recover over $8 billion could go on for years due to the sheer number of people and companies fighting over what’s left. Alan R. Rosenberg, a partner at Markowitz Ringel Trusty & Hartog,
Published 1 minute earlier on The Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria ended criminal proceedings against the crypto lender Nexo and has found no evidence of money laundering, tax crimes, computer fraud or other criminal activity. The main reasoning behind the decision was that crypto assets are not considered financial instruments in the country