The Breakdown First Five - Friday June 16, 2023

Welcome back to The Breakdown First Five — the 5 most interesting and/or important stories in bitcoin, crypto, and markets to start your day.

5. ETF applications pile up

A rush of large Tradfi firms have joined the queue to register a spot Bitcoin ETF after Blackrock opened the floodgates last week. Ivesco, Wisdomtree and Bitwise have all reactivated their applications. Grayscale still has their court case pending and rumors are swirling that Fidelity are keen to acquire the firm. Experts say approvals could happen by the end of the year.

4. Flashbots shake-up

Flashbots top strategy researcher Alex Obadia has left the project, citing personal reasons but also “differing opinions within leadership.” Obadia was a founding member of the firm. Flashbots began with a goal of providing access to MEV as a public good. It’s now looking to take on investors at a $1B valuation. Obadia warned “As we’ve grown into an incumbent, we now also need to protect the system against ourselves, to avoid becoming the very Moloch we’re fighting against.”

3. Silk Road Spectre

A wallet associated with seized Silk Road funds has made a tiny Bitcoin transaction, driving another round of FUD of US government selling. The wallet was linked to funds already seized from hacker James Zhong and has been labeled as in control of the government with a low level of certainty. The wallet followed up with a massive transaction overnight, but not to any known exchange. The movement is still a mystery.

2. GBTC closing the Gap

The Grayscale Bitcoin trust saw a flurry of trading yesterday in speculation that the firm might prevail in court. Volumes were up 400% to reach their highest single day levels since last June. The Grayscale discount narrowed to around 33%, touching its lowest point since last September before reverting slightly.

1. Bitcoin Bolstered

With ETF fever in the air, Bitcoin shot up by more than 8% since yesterday morning. The orange coin cleared $28k and is showing no signs of slowing down. Coinbase is seeing massive volume in US trading hours, implying someone on the clock is loading bags. Meanwhile the books on Binance dislocated to the upside, hitting $140,000 briefly blowing out shorts.

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Thanks for reading -NLW