Grayscale wins lawsuit against SEC, while the agency settles first NFT case and Friend.tech hype crashes

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When you’ve been dreaming about bitcoin spot ETFs, it’s time to speak to somebody outdoors of the crypto world. That is coming from somebody who actually had a dream about them this week. Pray for me.

There have been cheers all through the crypto neighborhood this week as Grayscale gained its lawsuit in opposition to the SEC with reference to its bitcoin spot ETF software. Whereas there’s nonetheless a 45-day assessment interval, many consider it is a step in the best path.

Though this was a win for the digital asset agency, the SEC was additionally making headlines individually for its go well with in opposition to an NFT challenge, which was fined $6 million.

In the meantime, in decentralized social media land, the Good friend.tech hype — which I covered and highlighted community skepticism about — has fallen as each day transactions plummeted. Particulars beneath.

This week in web3

1. As appeals court rules in favor of Grayscale, a bitcoin spot ETF could be on the horizon
2. Grayscale’s legal head says bitcoin spot ETF approval is a ‘matter of when, not if’
3. SEC settles first NFT enforcement case, fines LA media company $6M
4. Friend.tech gets unfriended: Daily transactions drop 95% as hyped decentralized social app loses steam
5. MoonPay launches venture arm to invest in web3 infra, gaming and fintech
6. Bitcoin startups remain undercapitalized as funding drought drags on

The newest pod

For this week’s new episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Craig Salm, chief authorized officer at Grayscale Investments.

Grayscale is a digital asset funding agency that goals to supply services, like its Grayscale Bitcoin Belief (GBTC), to institutional and particular person buyers. The corporate was based in 2014 and is without doubt one of the world’s largest digital asset foreign money managers. It presently owns 3.4% of excellent bitcoin, “value tens of billions of {dollars},” based on a latest authorized filing.

As talked about above, the agency was making headlines this week after the D.C. Circuit Court docket of Appeals dominated in favor of Grayscale in a lawsuit in opposition to the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) on the matter of a bitcoin ETF. This ruling is in response to the SEC denying Grayscale’s software to transform its GBTC product right into a bitcoin spot ETF in June 2022.

We mentioned why the ruling issues for Grayscale and its GBTC funding car; in addition to what it may imply for the crypto ecosystem and different companies like BlackRock, Citadel and Constancy that additionally filed functions for bitcoin spot ETFs.

We additionally talked concerning the SEC’s argued distinction between bitcoin futures ETFs, which have been authorised by the company, and bitcoin spot ETFs, which haven’t been authorised by the company.

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Comply with the cash

1. NFT-focused startup FirstMate raised $3.75 million in a spherical led by Dragonfly Capital
2. Web3 engagement platform Raleon raised $3.8 million in a seed spherical
3. Coral Finance obtained $500,000 in capital from Momentum Capital
4. Web3 infrastructure startup Ironmill raised $2.6 million in funding
5. Builder DAO raised $2 million in a spherical led by Sequoia China and Seven X Ventures

This listing was compiled with data from Messari in addition to TechCrunch’s personal reporting.

What else we’re writing

Need to department out from the world of web3? Listed here are some articles on TechCrunch that caught our consideration this week.

1. This venture-backed startup has quietly bought more than 80 mom-and-pop shops
2. Will the power of data in the AI era leave startups at a disadvantage?
3. Tesla investors might get payout from SEC settlement
4. The mugshot that launched a thousand memes
5. Five takeaways from Instacart’s S-1 filing

Comply with me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto information, memes and extra.