In today's Daily, cryptocurrency isn't mentioned in the Democrats' party platform before the start of the national convention, Bitwise acquires crypto ETP issuer ETC Group, Shaquille O'Neal's NFT legal case sees a partial dismissal and more.

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Crypto missing from Democrats party platform amid national convention

The Democrats' newly released party platform does not mention cryptocurrency, which may disappoint left-leaning voters seeking a renewed vision for the government's handling of crypto.

• This omission contrasts sharply with the Republican platform, which promises to end the "unlawful and unAmerican Crypto crackdown" and defend the right to mine Bitcoin.
• Republican nominee Donald Trump has actively positioned himself as the pro-crypto candidate, speaking at the Bitcoin Conference and revealing substantial Ethereum holdings.
• The Democrats' platform, approved in July before Joe Biden dropped out of the race, will be voted on by convention delegates as a formality.
• Following Biden's withdrawal, efforts have been made to strengthen ties between Kamala Harris and the crypto industry, including a town hall by Crypto4Harris.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed his intention to pass crypto regulation legislation by the end of the year, aiming to balance innovation with common-sense regulations.

Bitwise acquires ETC Group

Bitwise has acquired ETC Group, expanding its assets under management to over $4.5 billion and adding nine European-listed digital asset ETPs to its offerings.

• The acquisition strengthens Bitwise's expansion into Europe and allows the company to offer European investors new innovative ETPs.
• Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley highlighted the acquisition's role in serving European investors and expanding their product suite with innovative ETPs.
• Bitwise's spot bitcoin ETF BITB on Friday recorded $54.07 million in trading volume, while its spot ether ETF ETHW brought in $4.12 million in daily volume.

Shaquille O’Neal NFT case partially dismissed

A Miami court ruled that Shaquille O’Neal was involved as a "seller" in the Solana NFT project Astrals but dismissed claims that he was a "control person" in the unregistered securities class action lawsuit.

• The court found that O’Neal promoted Astrals across multiple online platforms, but the project’s value plummeted after his departure following the FTX collapse.
• The judge rejected O’Neal's motion to dismiss the claim that Astrals NFTs and Galaxy tokens are financial securities, though he did dismiss the "control person" allegation.
• O’Neal’s legal team contends that he neither controlled the project nor that Astrals NFTs and Galaxy tokens qualify as securities, with a deadline of Sept. 12 to respond to the allegations.

Pump.Fun revenue nears $100 million

Pump.Fun, a memecoin generator on Solana, is approaching $100 million in cumulative revenue, with current revenue at $94.5 million according to DeFiLlama data.

• Since its launch in January 2024, the platform has facilitated the creation of over 1.8 million memecoins, capitalizing on Solana’s low transaction fees.
• The platform uses a bonding curve model; when coin prices increase with demand and reach a market cap of $69,000, liquidity is transferred to Raydium and burned.
• Recent changes have boosted token generation, but some users have raised concerns about the quality and long-term value of the projects.

Fabric Cryptography raises $33 million

Fabric Cryptography raised $33 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx.

• The funding will support the development of Verifiable Processing Unit (VPU), a cryptography-specific chip designed to improve the speed and cost of cryptographic workloads.
• Fabric Cryptography has already secured tens of millions of dollars in pre-orders for the VPU and is developing a software stack and cloud infrastructure to support growing demand.

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Source : The Block - Aug 20, 2024