The Breakdown First Five - Tuesday July 25 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. Banks Object to Stablecoins

Banks aren’t happy about the stablecoin bill. The House Financial Services committee is marking up Crypto bills today but the banking lobby has registered a last minute complaint on stablecoins. Backing concerns expressed by Democrats, the banks don’t want to see state based regulation of stablecoins as an option, insisting that the Federal Reserve maintain oversight in order to maintain financial stability.

4. FDUSD

Binance have listed a new stablecoin from little-known Hong Kong custodian First Digital. Concerns have been swirling for weeks about the safety of TUSD, so adding one more questionable stablecoin to the mix can’t be that much of an issue, right? It’s unclear who is able to mint and redeem, with a cryptic post from CZ only adding further questions.

3. Flashbots Hits Unicorn Status

MEV and Ethereum infrastructure firm Flashbots has closed a $60M raise at a valuation of $1B. The round was led by Paradigm and will be used to develop a privacy and fee-optimization platform. The fundraising was held as a reverse pitch, indicating there’s still plenty of interest in funding blue-chip Crypto firms. Cross-investment is also alive and well, with Layer 2 networks participating in the fundraising round.

2. Too Much Mashinsky Evidence

Prosecutors have asked the court for extra time to process the volumes of evidence against Mashinsky. They said they would need six to eight weeks to work through more than 1,200 videos of Celsius AMAs. The Judge allowed until October 3 for the DOJ to put together a brief of evidence to support their lengthy indictment.

1. Fed Day

With the FOMC all but locked in for another rate hike, attention turns to the 3 remaining meetings for the year. Inflation is cooling but the labor market remains robust. Stocks are reaching all time highs but recession warnings remain. Powell has signaled a slow and steady approach with one additional rate hike before the end of the year, but will it be enough to bury inflation for good?

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Thanks for reading -NLW