The Breakdown First Five - Thursday, May 23, 2024

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. Pizza Day Food Fight

Coinbase held a Pizza party to celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day, but they forgot about the Bitcoin. The exchange was selling slices for $1 in USDC, with no ability to trade sats for pizza like Lazlo in 2010. A group supported by BTCpay and Pubkey set up across the street handing out free slices. Rumors of violence were vastly overstated, it seems like it was all in good fun. The demonstration still asked the question of whether internet money should need KYC. 

4. Bybit Denies Insolvency

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has denounced rumors that the Bybit is insolvent. A new proof of reserves has been released showing $11B in assets, supported by Nansen data. Zhou claimed “None of the rumors that I have see so far have any real facts supporting it.” It appears the rumors were traced to a bug on Arkham Intelligence which suggested wallets were being drained. 

3. VanEck: Me First

With ETH ETF approvals expected this afternoon, some asset managers are getting antsy. Thursday’s decision only applies to the application from VanEck, and the firm believes they should be allowed to launch first as they were the first to apply. The Bitcoin ETF launch was synchronized across all applicants, presumably to level the playing field. Instead it essentially handed the market to Blackrock and Fidelity, making it difficult for smaller products to compete. 

2. Whitehouse Constructive on Crypto

Leading into today’s vote, the Whitehouse released a statement opposing the FIT 21 bill. Unlike the previous crypto statement on SAB 121, this one softened the position significantly. There was no threat to veto the bill. The Whitehouse even acknowledged the need for crypto regulation for the first time and said it would work with Congress to “ensure a comprehensive and balanced regulatory framework for digital assets.”

1. FIT21 Passes

A landslide victory for crypto regulation with an astonishing 71 Democrats voting in favor of FIT21. Nancy Pelosi and several other Democrat leaders appeared to be signaling the end of the anti-crypto army. The vote achieved a two thirds majority, simply unheard of on major policy. Although the bill seems unlikely to make it through the Senate, this vote cemented crypto as a major political issue that everyone in Washington is now paying attention to.