Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial Inc. is facing an investor revolt led by billionaire Tron founder Justin Sun, one of the project’s earliest and largest backers. The controversy arose after WLFI took out a $75 million loan backed by three billion of its own WLFI governance tokens, shortly before a large block of tokens is due to be unlocked for sale on the open market — something that usually drives a token’s price down as holders are finally allowed to sell. WLFI issues the USD1 stablecoin, which has a market cap of just over $4 billion. The problem with the loan, critics say, is that it could let…
-
-
Stanley Druckenmiller Bigs Up Stablecoins
Money maven praises crypto – again
Those of us around from the early days of crypto will recall how incredibly validating it felt when one of the giants of establishment finance would say something encouraging. In 2020, for example, Modern Consensus ran a story headlined “Bitcoin stabilizes above $15K after Stanley Druckenmiller says he owns BTC.” To have an eminence grise like Druckenmiller give his imprimatur felt like the velvet ropes were starting to crack open. Yesterday, that same voice invited crypto fully into the club. “I assume our whole payment systems will be stablecoins in 10 or 15 years,” Druckenmiller remarked in an interview with Iliana Bouzali (about the 3:40 mark). The interview was taped…
-
Morgan Stanley launches ETP to track bitcoin performance
A blue chip bank’s tardy endorsement of crypto
Modern Consensus is coining a new phrase: ETF Slop.™ And Morgan Stanley is the latest to add its thumb to the scale. This morning, the giant bank announced the launch of Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, an exchange-traded product that seeks to track bitcoin performance. It’s doing so through its subsidiary Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the first U.S. bank-affiliated asset manager that offers cryptocurrency what they’re calling ETP for exchange-traded product. While there’s hardly a shortage of instruments to track bitcoin, this kind of endorsement from the bluest of blue chip banks only adds to the sense that bitcoin has matured into an asset for grown-ups. “ETPs remain a powerful way…
-
G’Day, Coinbase!
Goliath exchange gets Aussie permission; closer to “everything exchange” by expanding offerings and geography
Coinbase must be cranking AC/DC, the Little River Band and Rick Springfield in the halls of its SF headquarters. Securing an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) is a significant step toward expanding its global footprint, positioning itself ahead of new regulatory requirements that will soon apply to digital asset platforms in the land down under. The move effectively transitions Coinbase from a long-standing market participant into a fully regulated financial services provider within Australia. “The AFSL – granted ahead of incoming legislation that will require digital asset exchanges to hold one – provides us with the regulatory foundation to bring the Everything Exchange to Australia,” the company said in a…
