Forbes - Next Crypto King? | DCG’s Silver Lining

Former NYSE boss is mulling FTX acquisition.

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Nina Bambysheva Senior Reporter, Forbes Money & Markets
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Steven Ehrlich Director, Forbes Digital Assets
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TOM FARLEY’S SECOND ACT

What do you do for an encore after running the New York Stock Exchange for five years? For Tom Farley, the answer is move headlong into crypto.

He left the NYSE for SPAC riches, then pivoted to crypto just before the market peaked. Now Farley is running Bullish, the crypto exchange his special-purpose acquisition company failed to buy, and scooping up distressed digital assets.

Last month, Bullish acquired CoinDesk, the leading crypto news website, for an undisclosed sum. Its next target may be FTX. Read more.

DCG IS UNDER SIEGE BUT TIME IS ON ITS SIDE

The domino effect that followed the collapse of the terra cryptocurrency in May 2022 caused most of its casualties quickly. Within a year of the failure of the algorithmic stablecoin, bankruptcy filings from Celsius Network, BlockFi, Voyager Digital and FTX had been filed and once-charismatic crypto CEOs were in court or in jail. Now, with bitcoin breaching $40,000 the crypto sector finally seems to be rising from its December 2022 nadir.

For Barry Silbert and his Digital Currency Group, however, the repercussions of terra’s collapse have been like quicksand. His Genesis Global Capital lending unit filed for bankruptcy protection in January. DCG itself is mired in lawsuits and faces a potential ban in New York State. But rising crypto markets could be its salvation. Read more.

COINBASE V. SEC

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase plans to return to court to try to force the Securities and Exchange Commission to create rules that would allow it to carry on its business. On Friday, the regulator denied the request, filed 18 months ago, and followed that with a suit against the company for engaging in unauthorized securities activities.

Coinbase initially won backing in May from the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which ordered the SEC to rule on the exchange’s petition. The agency objected, but eventually obeyed the court order and made its ruling this week after suing Coinbase in June.

CURRENT PRICE OF TOP 5 COINS (7-Day % Change)

Coin

Price

Percent Change

Bitcoin (BTC)

$41,997

4.4%

Ether (ETH)

$2,242

5.2%

Tether (USDT)

$1

0%

Binance Coin (BNB)

$247

4.6%

XRP (XRP)

$0.62

6.7%

Source: Forbes Digital Assets. Prices as of 1:45 p.m. on December 15, 2023.

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SOFTBANK-NAVER VENTURE’S NFT UNIT RAISES $140 MILLION

Line Next, the South Korea-based NFT unit of a joint venture between SoftBank and Naver, has secured $140 million from a consortium led by Crescendo Equity Partners, a Peter Thiel-backed private equity firm, even as the hype over digital collectibles has faded.

The deal is Asia’s biggest blockchain-related investment this year, according to the company, which plans to use the capital to expand its global business and develop new offerings, which include a global NFT marketplace, a virtual-avatar social app and games.

SOL AND STEADY

Sol, the native token of the Solana blockchain, is the runaway winner of this quarter. It is up a staggering 647% this year, and nearly 80% of this surge occurred in just the past two months.

However, “there is no world where this type of growth is sustainable,” cautions Steven Ehrlich, Forbes Digital Assets director of research. Daily sol transactions between different wallets, which indicate economic activity on the network, are moving up but only by about 50% since the beginning of the rally. For actionable insights, subscribe to Forbes CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor.

ELSEWHERE

Solana Rally Sees FTX's Holdings Grow To $4.2B, Setting Claims Market On Fire

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