The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission has given the green light for the first spot Solana ETF, a milestone managed by QR and Vortx, with a launch anticipated within the next 90 days.

Overseeing The ETF

QR, a firm experienced in managing Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, will play a key role in overseeing the ETF and all corresponding operations, in partnership with Vortx. The collaboration is crucial as it will enable both parties to mutually benefit while simultaneously ensuring that the ETF functions smoothly.

Although the ETF is in its nascent stages and still requires further regulatory approval by B3, the financial exchange in Brazil, the expectation is for it to become available to investors within the upcoming three months.

Reliability And Transparency

Currently, investors can trade Solana ETPs on the SIX Swiss Exchange, where the 21Shares Solana ETP is listed under the ticker ASO, and on Deutsche Börse Xetra in Germany, where the CoinShares Physical Solana and the ETC Group Physical Solana are available.

At any rate, the newly approved Solana ETF will utilize the CME CF Solana Dollar Reference Rate F as its benchmark price, ensuring a reliable and transparent representation of Solana and its value in USD.

Judge Analysa Torres has ordered Ripple to pay $125 million in civil penalties and cease any further violations of securities laws, concluding a nearly four-year legal struggle with the U.S. Securities And Exchange Commission (SEC). This penalty is favorable for Ripple, given that the SEC had originally sought a $2 billion fine.

The War Is Over

As per the official verdict, the SEC motioning for remedies and the entry of final judgment is granted in part and denied in part. The Court shall issue a final judgment restraining Ripple in terms of facing additional securities law violations and imposing a civil penalty of $125,035,150.

As of the latest update, XRP is priced at $0.6, experiencing a surge of over 17% in a day, with a 24-hour trading volume around $1.68 billion. The market capitalization of the altcoin is currently $29.5 billion.

Identifying Key Triggers For Recovery

According to TradingView and their 1-day technical analysis, the outlook for XRP appears bearish despite the aforementioned verdict. The summary and moving averages indicate a sell recommendation with 11 and 10 signals respectively, while oscillators remain neutral with a reading of 8.

This recent court ruling marks a crucial development for Ripple, and investors are optimistic that the favorable resolution could lead to a significant increase in the price of XRP. In any case, the crypto community can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the multi-year war between the SEC and Ripple finally comes to a close.

Diego Olivia, the CEO for The Starknet Foundation (SNF), will officially be leaving the company after leading it since its launch in March 2023. Under Diego, The Starknet Foundation grew rapidly, expanding to thirty full-time professionals in a year.

A Successful Journey

The SNF successfully launched Seed Grants and DeFi Spring projects, collaborated with over 100 organizations, and created developer support programs. Diego Olivia was appointed as CEO in 2023 due to his strong background and experience.

Under his guidance, the SNF undertook several ecosystem projects, including Catalyst and Propulsion programs, and expanded initiatives like Hacker Hose and Basecamp.

Time For A Change

Now that the team and structure are in place, leadership is transitioning to James Strudwick, who joined the SNF in January 2024. Strudwick, with his Web3 expertise and successful project history, will continue the values of strong work ethic that the SNF has tried to uphold since its inception.

Eli Ben-Sasson of StarkWare Ltd. praised Olivia for his contributions and welcomed Strudwick as the new Executive Director, expressing satisfaction with the transition. As of right now, it remains unclear as to which direction Diego will take his career going forward.

In an interview with CNBC on August 5th, Tezos Co-Founder Kathleen Breitman pointed out how Bitcoin recently fell below $50,000, attributing it to broader market worries. She mentioned concerns about a potential global recession and a notable sell-off in Japanese stocks as major factors exacerbating the decline.

Drawing Parallels

Breitman also connected the drop to ongoing geopolitical tensions and recent adjustments in Federal Reserve interest rates. She highlighted rumors of significant liquidations by Jump Trading, which have further pressured the value of Bitcoin.

She further critiqued Bitcoin and its alleged effectiveness as a store of value, labeling it as Internet pretend money due to its speculative nature. She drew parallels between the current market reaction and the early disruptions caused by COVID-19, where economic uncertainty led to a swift sell-off of speculative assets.

Still A Crucial Asset

Despite the volatility of Bitcoin, Breitman still views it as a crucial asset in the cryptocurrency realm. She argues that Bitcoin is important in terms of its value and utility as it goes beyond the traditional store-of-value perspective, even amid ongoing market fluctuations.

Breitman is just one of many people who have been critical of both Bitcoin and the wider crypto industry while also acknowledging its mainstream popularity and influence. Although the market is currently facing a recession, many believe that crypto will be able to bounce back stronger than ever.

The proposal passed with an impressive 95% of votes in favor. Over the next six months, 3 billion $JUP tokens, valued at more than $2.37 billion, will be burned.

Tackling Supply Issues

The initiative to burn $JUP team tokens is designed to tackle supply issues and increase the value of the remaining tokens. By eliminating these tokens regarding the circulation, the intention is to reduce supply and potentially enhance the value of the remaining ones. With fewer $JUP tokens available, Jupiter Exchange aims to increase the scarcity of the token and thereby its value.

The $JUP team tokens, initially allocated to the team, will now be systematically burned. This action demonstrates the dedication by the project toward aligning its tokenomics with the interests of the wider community. This decision, influenced by feedback by $JUP holders, reflects a broader trend within the cryptocurrency sector and aims to improve transparency and accountability.

Key Details

The gradual nature of the burn will allow the market to adjust to the reduced supply smoothly, minimizing potential disruptions. Throughout this period, the Jupiter Exchange team will provide regular updates on the progress.

The success of the proposal, supported by 95% of the votes, highlights strong community backing for the token burn strategy and reflects the trust given by the community in Jupiter Exchange and its overall commitment to enhancing the value of $JUP.

A new bipartisan bill, the Combating Money Laundering in Cybercrime Act of 2024, seeks to expand the authority of the United States Secret Service in terms of investigating and prosecuting digital asset crimes.

Preventing Crimes

Introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Chuck Grassley, and Catherine Cortez Masto, this legislation aims to address the growing threat of illegal activities involving cryptocurrencies by enhancing the role of the Secret Service in combating financial crimes.

The bill proposes that the Secret Service gain more power to tackle issues such as financial fraud and unlicensed money transmission related to digital assets. It also requires a Government Accountability Report to evaluate the effectiveness of the law enforcement in detecting and preventing money laundering.

Collaboration Is Key

The rise of cryptocurrencies has created new challenges for law enforcement, prompting this bill to strengthen regulatory measures. It acknowledges the need for better threat assessments and collaboration between agencies to address digital currency crimes effectively.

With bipartisan support, the bill represents a key step in improving the U.S. response to digital asset-related crimes and enhancing national security. It also highlights the importance of ongoing collaboration between government agencies and lawmakers to tackle issues in the digital currency market.

Senator Cynthia Lummis has proposed a bill to make Bitcoin a U.S. strategic reserve asset, which has attracted bipartisan interest and significant public support. Announced at a Bitcoin conference in July, the bill directs the U.S. Treasury to acquire one million BTC, valued around $60 billion, over five years.

Strengthening The Dollar

Lummis equates this initiative to the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, suggesting it could strengthen the dollar and help manage the national debt, which exceeds $35 trillion. In the past three days, 2,200 letters urging support for the bill have been sent to senators, with the majority going to Democrats.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for review. If approved, it will be debated and possibly amended by the Senate before proceeding to the House of Representatives and, if passed there, to the President.

A Key Issue

Despite recent market declines and volatility in the cryptocurrency sector, the bill highlights the growing influence of digital assets in U.S. politics. If successful, it could reshape the approach to digital currencies in the U.S. and set a precedent for global financial systems.

Cryptocurrency is a significant political issue for American youth because it represents financial innovation and independence, offering new opportunities for wealth-building and economic participation. Many young people are drawn to the potential of digital assets for their transparency, decentralization, and potential for high returns.

Additionally, as digital natives, they are more attuned to the technological advancements and future potential of cryptocurrencies, making it a key topic in discussions about financial reform and policy.

According to a recent report by on-chain analyst EmberCN, a sharp decline in Ethereum (ETH) prices triggered a wave of liquidations among leveraged ETH whales.

A Broader Downturn

Several whale addresses were compelled to sell their ETH to cover loans, including an address starting with 0x1111, which liquidated 6,559 ETH to repay a 277.9 WBTC loan, and an address starting with 0x4196, which sold 2,965 ETH to settle a 7.2 million USDT loan. Another address, beginning with 0x790c, offloaded 2,771 ETH to address a 6.06 million USDC loan, while an address starting with 0x5de6 sold 2,358 ETH to cover a 5.17 million USDC loan.

These liquidations happened amid a broader market downturn over the past 24 hours. Crypto Briefing reported that Bitcoin (BTC) fell 12% to $53,000, while ETH experienced a drop of over 20%, wiping out the gains that Etreheum had obtained for the year. The correction, which started on Friday, seems to have been influenced by disappointing employment data and rising geopolitical tensions.

Heightened Liquidation Pressures

By Saturday, Bitcoin had fallen below $60,000 due to increasing recession fears. With bearish conditions dominating, ETH and other altcoins also suffered considerable losses. ETH, for example, plunged to $2,300 in the past week, reflecting a decline of over 30%, according to CoinGecko.

Contributing to the downturn were heightened liquidation pressures and rumors about significant ETH sales by Jump Trading. The cascading effect of these events led to an extraordinary $100 million in liquidations within a single hour, with the total for the day exceeding $445 million.

Chateau raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Seed funding with help by Hack VC. Chateau is a protocol that brings private equity and fund investments on-chain, providing DeFi participants access to private market opportunities.

Signum Capital helped Pichi Finance secure $2.5M. Pichi Finance is a trustless points protocol, allowing users to trade points from leading protocols pre-TGE. 

Morpho Labs raised $50M in Strategic funding with support by Ribbit Capital. Morpho is a decentralized P2P lending protocol on Ethereum and Base L2.

Icebreaker Labs secured $5M in Seed funding with support by CoinFund. Icebreaker is a Web3 professional network for proving qualifications and making verifiable recommendations.

Layer2 Financial raised $10.70M in Series A funding with help by Galaxy. Layer2 Financial is designed to provide fintech companies and their customers with fully compliant payments, banking, and digital asset wallets for multiple currencies. With just one API, users can access all these services seamlessly and easily.

Mask Network helped jokerace successfully raise $3M. Jokerace is a governance platform that allows projects to create on-chain allowlists.

Lukka raised an undisclosed amount in Strategic Funding with help by Animoca Brands. Lukka is a technology company serving businesses that regularly interact with crypto assets with institutional-grade data and software solutions.

Raad Labs secured $2.25M in Seed funding with support by CoinFund. Raad Labs is a project focused on modernizing data management and collection for weather intelligence.

Hyperbolic raised $7M in Seed funding with help by Polychain Capital. Hyperbolic is an Open-Access AI Cloud where users are given accessible and affordable computing resources.

Mintify Inc obtained $3.4M with support by Amber Group. Mintify is an NFT multi-chain aggregator, analytics platform and trading terminal.

The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has dipped to $2.3 trillion for the first time in several weeks. Recent economic uncertainty in the US has caused Bitcoin (BTC) to tumble, with its price dropping to $60,500, a level not seen in almost three weeks. Meanwhile, altcoins are struggling even more. In the past day, SOL, TON, and UNI have each fallen by over 5%, and ETH has slipped below $3,000.

BTC Hits 3 Week Low

The week started off with a surprise. On Monday, Bitcoin soared to $70,000, buoyed by Donald Trump and his high-profile appearance at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville. However, this peak was short-lived, as Bitcoin quickly fell nearly $4,000. After a brief period of stability on Tuesday and Wednesday, bearish trends took hold again on Thursday and Friday, driving the price of BTC down to $60,500.

This is the lowest Bitcoin has been since July 14th. The decline is largely due to economic uncertainties in the United States, highlighted by a recent disappointing job report, which revealed the highest unemployment rate since October 2021 at 4.3%.

Market Impact

The drop triggered a wave of investor withdrawals concerning Bitcoin ETFs, and Wall Street also took a hit. Bitcoin has since partially recovered to around $62,000, with its market cap falling below $1.220 trillion and its dominance over altcoins at about 53%.

Altcoins have experienced even steeper declines than Bitcoin. Ethereum has lost 5% in a day and is now trading below $3,000. BNB has seen a similar daily drop, falling under $550. Solana, Toncoin, and Uniswap have dropped 5%, 6%, and 5.5%, respectively. Other significant losses include FLOW (-12%), MKR (-9.5%), WIF (-9%), JUP (-9%), and ONDO (-9%).

Other Markets

Donald Trump is actively campaigning in Pennsylvania, making headlines as he stumps across the state. Meanwhile, investors are on edge, bracing for a tumultuous end to 2024 due to expected Federal Reserve rate cuts and increasing concentration in big tech.

Elsewhere, Japanese markets are experiencing turbulence due to recent rate hikes, prompting investors to adopt long-term strategies to weather the storm. In China, the economy continues to advance with limited momentum, while Libya faces a partial shutdown of its largest oil field amid ongoing conflict. On the other side of the globe, Mexico has resumed avocado exports to the U.S. following a brief suspension.

In financial news, Apax-backed crate supplier Tosca is negotiating with lenders for critical funding, and the impact of a year of high Federal Reserve rates on the U.S. economy is under scrutiny. Credit traders are rushing to hedge against uncertainties in the U.S. economy, and a U.S. LNG exporter is seeking legal recourse against Kiewit over pollution disputes.

Multiple crypto executives are anticipated to have several key discussions with White House representatives and Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to express their concerns and explore possible policy adjustments regarding digital assets.

Harris Could Support Crypto

Following a roundtable discussion in July, crypto leaders are set for a second meeting with officials in the Biden administration. Though the names of the executives have not been disclosed, they are expected to engage with outgoing senior White House advisor Anita Dunn, National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard, and Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed.

This development follows a virtual session led by Cleve Mesidor, a former Obama administration official and executive director of the Blockchain Foundation. During the meeting, there was optimism about a potential Kamala Harris presidency taking a favorable approach to crypto and Web3 technologies.

Patience Is Key

Given the array of priorities and the various groups that have aligned with her in just a short period, Kamala is not going to declare crypto as her top priority, Mesidor stated. Cryptocurrency has emerged as a significant campaign issue, with former President Donald Trump supporting the digital asset sector.

Recently, Trump predicted that Bitcoin would surge like never before if he wins the election, and vowed to replace the current SEC chair, Gary Gensler, who is perceived as adversarial towards cryptocurrencies. Trump declared at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville that he will appoint a new SEC chairman who believes America should build the future and not block it.

The Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), an independent financial think tank, has suggested that Harris adopt a crypto-friendly stance to counter Trump. However, not everyone agrees with pro-crypto promises. Esteemed economist Paul Krugman criticized Trump and his Bitcoin advocacy, labeling it as a government bailout of a scandal-ridden industry.

On Thursday, Bybit announced it will be exiting the French market due to regulatory developments as various new cryptocurrency legislation changes in Europe continue to impact the landscape for digital assets.

MiCA In Full Effect

Starting August 13th, French users can only withdraw existing funds, with the platform switching to a close-only mode, restricting new positions or purchases. Bybit has faced plenty of controversy in France, with the AMF previously warning that it was operating outside national regulations and had been blacklisted for non-compliance. The AMF emphasized that exchanges must register as digital asset service providers (DASP), which Bybit had not done.

The exit aligns with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, introduced by the European Commission in September 2020 and ratified in April 2023. MiCA, which enforces rules for crypto providers and stablecoin issuers, began affecting stablecoins in June and will extend to other cryptocurrencies and services starting December 30, 2024.

The Controversy Continues

Bybit has faced challenges globally, exiting Canadian and U.K. markets in 2023 due to stricter regulations. The exchange no longer serves the U.S., the U.K., China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, and other restricted regions. Despite these restrictions, Bybit remains the second-largest exchange by trading volume, with $5.5 billion traded on Thursday, behind Binance which has $11.4 billion.

Also in France, the controversy surrounding the Paris 2024 Olympics centers on issues such as the high costs, potential environmental impact, and concerns over security and the displacement of local communities. Critics argue that the event could exacerbate social inequalities and cause significant disruptions, and that the focus should be on solving these issues rather than alienating international companies like ByBit.