Crypto’s Phantom Money Machine | Coinbase Wins Court Round Against SEC

COINBASE SEES FLURRY OF ACTIVITY

It’s been a busy week for the only publicly listed cryptocurrency company in the United States. Along with the opening of a new international branch in Bermuda, a federal appeals court in Texas ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide an answer to Coinbase’s petition to the agency to clarify rules for digital assets and cryptocurrencies. The victory is a minor one, however, as the SEC is unlikely to give in without a fight.

On Thursday, the exchange reported first-quarter earnings that beat revenue expectations, coming in at $772.5 million, and posted a narrower-than-expected loss of $79 million, far milder than analysts’ expectations of $330 million.

Source: Forbes Digital Assets. Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on May 5, 2023.

DORSEY DONATES $10 MILLION TO BOOST BITCOIN, NOSTR

Twitter and Block cofounder Jack Dorsey has again proved just how serious he is about bitcoin and the future of social networks with a $10 million donation to the non-profit OpenSats, which says it will use 100% of the funds for both purposes, without taking a cut for itself.

Dorsey announced the donation—$5 million of which is set aside to fund development of a social protocol called Nostr—on Nostr itself. After being quietly developed by a creator known only as @Fiatjaf, the network has exploded to 16 million users, thanks in part to a new ability for software developers to integrate bitcoin payments into their applications.

Meanwhile, Dorsey’s money-transfer company Block beat analysts’ estimates for first-quarter results on Thursday as its Cash App digital wallet contributed to a 26% revenue increase to $4.99 billion. The company has made investments to expand outside of its core payments business, particularly in bitcoin. Last month, Block purchased what it described as “a large volume” of semiconductors from Intel, which it will use to accelerate a program to make bitcoin mining equipment aimed at encouraging new entrants into that business. The company is also working to produce its own chips.

ELSEWHERE

Voyager Could Distribute Cash And Crypto To Creditors In ‘Next Few Weeks’ [The Block]

New York Attorney General Seeks New Crypto Powers For State Regulators [CoinDesk]

Israel Seized Binance Crypto Accounts To ‘Thwart’ Islamic State, Document Shows [Reuters]

Nina Bambysheva
Reporter
Forbes Money & Markets

Steven Ehrlich
Editor 
Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor

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