âYou're gonna be the one that saves meâ⌠Oasis, arguably the Synthetix of the Britpop movement of the 90s, bootstrapping network via catchy product-market fit with this, their flagship launch, âWonderwallâ. The digital asset community didnât exactly sing this about G. Gensler earlier in the week, but itâs definitely been more âYayâ than âOh Noâ as we kick off October. With (1) non-negative comments coming out of the SEC, (2) institutional adoption cranking up and, (3) NFT sales volumes hitting $10.7 billion in 3Q 2021, we have some hopeful headlines to unwrap⌠all in time for #Token2049 and the fourth quarter of 2021. Wonderwall.
P.S. this is our 7th edition releasing on the 7th!!! Delivering news to You for 7 weeks straight - who wouldâve thought?
1. Iâm not gonna ban it [but my mates might]
G. Gensler may have adjusted his position in the public sentiment index earlier this week when he said the SEC had âno plans to follow Chinaâs lead in banning cryptocurrency in favour of a central bank digital currency [CBDC]â. However, he did remark that the decision would be up to Congress.
We have seen much SEC posturing - recently that it was so nice to have a week where there wasnât news of someone being investigated etc. Oh, wait. Incorrect.
Circle disclosed (for a second time; the market wasnât paying attention when they first disclosed) it is being investigated by the SEC following a subpoena issued back in July. This is par for the course when preparing to go public and Circleâs subpoena did come shortly after onboarding clients into their high-interest yield product but it still presents concern⌠As we now understand from the recent tussle between Coinbase and the SEC, yields on crypto are a bit of a no-go. The tug of war continues but the market seems to think BTC et al are safe to proceed.
2. Ask not what you can do for your institutionsâŚ
Thereâs been a swathe of institutional DA newsflow this week, from MetaMask adding more support for Institutional DeFi through onboarding three new custodians [BitGo, Qredo, & Cactus Custody], to Bank of America launching research coverage of digital assets citing âgrowing institutional interestâ, to Soros makinâ movez, to large institutions dominating Indiaâs DeFi activity.
Perhaps the biggest news event of the week, however, was SocGenâs move to submit an application to MakerDAO [via their governance forum] to accept on-chain bond tokens issued by the bank as collateral for a stablecoin DAI loan. It is a complex legal structure but does represent a significant move in a collaboration of CeFi and DeFi, and is arguably a milestone [pilot use case] in institutional adoption. Some would say the institutional adoption is already here although, with a current market cap of $2+ trillion vs equity markets of $100+ trillion, this space is still very early, as Jeremy and Johann both explained at a well-attended Circle event in London.
3. NFTs are still mad-hawt
With celebrities stepping in to take âjpeg sznâ even more mainstream, NFT price floors, hype and sales volumes are flying. Firstly, total (off-chain and on-chain) Q3 2021 sales of NFTs reached $10.7bn, up from $1.3bn and $1.2bn respectively in the first and second quarters. This week Sky Mavis, creator of the NFT game âAxie Infinityâ (an entire ecosystem enabling people to earn a living playing a game), raised $152 million in Series B funding led by a16z, putting the companyâs valuation at around $3 billion. These are big numbers and thereâs a lot at stake.
In the Crypto A.M. summit, there were multiple discussions about the importance of gamification for the adoption of digital assets and indeed NFTs.
âIdentity could become a permanent feature of valuation models for cryptoâ â Mike Novogratz at Token2049
It feels like that is truly underway with projects and communities appearing every day. Have a watch of Arianna Simpsonâs interview with Bankless for a deeper [fascinating] dive into NFTs and the ecosystem that is unfolding.
And now for something regulatory!
The ânecessity for regulationâ conversation is seemingly becoming more of a dominant force in the crypto conversation; it certainly feels like the views of the mainstream are making their way in to the debate. See different perspectives coming from Grayscale, CNBC x JPMorgan, and Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful:
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