SEC - Page 279

Investment veteran Cathie Wood, known for her pro-Bitcoin stance, has decided to take some profits from ARK Invest’s significant Coinbase holdings.

ARK sold 135,152 Coinbase shares, amounting to $12 million, from its ARK Innovation ETF.

This sale represented 0.14% of the fund’s total holdings.

The move comes as the price of Coinbase stock experienced a sharp increase, briefly surpassing $90 on July 11 before closing at $89.

This is the second time this year that Wood has taken profits from Coinbase shares. In March, ARK sold 160,887 shares for $13.5 million.

However, prior to these profit-taking moves, Wood’s firm had been actively accumulating Coinbase stock in various ARK funds. In June alone, ARK purchased about $40 million worth of shares.

In previous months, they had bought around $33 million in April and May, as well as $117 million in March.

Coinbase executives have also been selling their shares amid the price rally. CEO Brian Armstrong and other senior executives sold a combined total of 88,058 shares worth $6.9 million on July 6. In June, Coinbase’s chief accounting officer, Jennifer Jones, sold 74,375 shares, netting $5.2 million.

Despite facing a securities violation lawsuit from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Coinbase’s stock has been performing well.

The growth can be attributed to the anticipation surrounding the BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF filing, where Coinbase was named a “surveillance-sharing” partner.

Overall, Wood’s decision to take profits from Coinbase shares reflects a calculated move to lock in gains.

While the cryptocurrency exchange continues to face legal challenges, its stock price has surged over the past month, increasing by more than 60%.

Wood’s active participation in accumulating Coinbase shares earlier this year indicates her belief in the long-term potential of the company.

As the cryptocurrency market and related investments evolve, market participants will continue to closely monitor the developments surrounding Coinbase and its role in the growing crypto ecosystem.

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China’s President Xi Jinping addressed the 2023 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, and Xinhua News Agency published the transcript of his speech. President Xi welcomed Iran as a full member of the organization and praised Belarus for joining.

He also emphasized the significance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and proposed expanding the use of local currency settlements among SCO countries, promoting sovereign digital currency cooperation, and establishing SCO development banks.

The People’s Bank of China reported in January that there were 13.61 billion digital yuan CBDCs in circulation, although it represented only a small fraction of the monetary supply.

Despite continuous promotion, the digital yuan has faced challenges in gaining widespread adoption.

READ MORE: President Xi Jinping Advocates for CBDC Expansion

In other news, a SIM card linked to the digital yuan CBDC will soon be available to Chinese consumers, according to a report by East Money.

The embedded digital wallet will allow individuals to make payments for phone bills even when their phones have no power.

Hong Kong’s crypto licensing costs have surged to HK$100 million ($12.77 million) since the license’s inception on June 1, as reported by Tencent News.

Obtaining a regulatory license is necessary for crypto exchanges to continue operations in Hong Kong.

Some teams have relocated to Malaysia, citing cost advantages and favorable conditions for crypto projects in Southeast Asia.

Multichain, a Chinese cross-chain bridge protocol, experienced a security breach resulting in the loss of over $126 million in funds.

The protocol’s private keys were compromised, and the stolen assets were transferred to another wallet address.

This incident follows a previous hack in July 2021, and the CEO of Multichain, Zhao Jun, has been missing for nearly two months, with rumors suggesting his arrest by Chinese authorities.

Singapore’s Monetary Authority will require Digital Payment Token (DPT) providers to place clients’ assets in a statutory trust by the end of the year.

Retail investors will be prohibited from accessing crypto lending and staking services, although these services will still be available to institutional and accredited investors.

The MAS aims to enhance investor protection and market integrity in DPT services.

Thai cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub has sold a 9.22% equity stake worth $17.1 million to Asphere Innovations PLC.

Bitkub holds significant assets and customer deposits, along with liabilities, and reported a gross profit in the first quarter of 2023.

It is the largest crypto exchange in Thailand, but its total assets decreased by 64% between December 2021 and December 2022.

South Korean NFT firm Line Next signed an agreement with Japanese video game giant Sega to remake one of Sega’s classic games on its Web3 gaming platform, Game Dosi.

The platform currently offers six titles, allowing players to buy and sell NFT heroes and compete against others.

Sega, known for its iconic franchise Sonic the Hedgehog, is a prominent player in the Japanese video game industry.

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The recent criticism faced by Arkham, the startup behind the blockchain intelligence platform, revolves around its new platform called “Intel Exchange.”

The platform rewards users with its ARKM token for identifying anonymous blockchain addresses, with the goal of unmasking scammers and hackers in the cryptocurrency space.

However, it has been branded as a “snitch-to-earn” system by critics on Crypto Twitter.

READ MORE: Arkham Introduces World’s First On-Chain Intelligence Exchange Amidst Huge Controversy

In response to the backlash, Miguel Morel, the CEO of Arkham, defended the platform during a Twitter Space session held on July 11.

Morel clarified that the platform is not intended to be a completely unrestricted marketplace and emphasized that there are restrictions and guidelines in place.

He highlighted the inadequacy of publicly available blockchains in maintaining the confidentiality of private information, emphasizing that Arkham would retain control of the data.

According to Morel, the primary aim of Arkham’s Intel Exchange is to reveal the identities of trading firms, market makers, large institutions, and exchanges.

He argued that these entities often benefit from having knowledge of who is buying and selling large positions of specific tokens.

To address concerns about potential abuse and false accusations, Morel assured listeners that the platform would be carefully regulated.

He stated that every bounty would need to be approved, making it more regulated than social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

However, TV host Ran Neuner expressed reservations, particularly regarding Arkham’s management of user data.

This concern comes in the wake of a recent controversy involving Arkham’s weblink referrals program, which inadvertently exposed user emails through identifiable strings of characters in referral links, revealing the referring email address.

This incident has raised further questions about the company’s data management practices and data security.

Overall, Arkham’s CEO Miguel Morel has dismissed the accusations of the Intel Exchange platform being a “snitch-to-earn” system, emphasizing its purpose of unmasking scammers and providing transparency in the cryptocurrency space.

Nevertheless, concerns regarding data management and security have added to the criticism and scrutiny faced by the startup.

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The European Commission has predicted that “extended reality” (XR) technology, which allows users to engage with virtual worlds, could generate up to 860,000 jobs in Europe by 2025.

XR encompasses virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, and is considered a key facilitator of virtual worlds, according to the Commission’s statement on July 11.

The Commission emphasized the significant impact on employment that XR is expected to have, with an additional 1.2 million to 2.4 million jobs created either directly or indirectly in various sectors by 2025.

However, it also noted that the majority of innovation in the metaverse is currently concentrated in the United States, China, and South Korea.

READ MORE: President Xi Jinping Advocates for CBDC Expansion

Unlike these countries, the EU lacks tech giants that can spearhead investments in virtual world development in the coming decade.

Although Europe’s AR/VR market primarily focuses on gaming, media, and entertainment, there is ample potential for its expansion into other areas such as retail, healthcare, military and defense, and manufacturing.

The Commission further highlighted that XR-powered virtual worlds represent a fundamental component of the “next generation” of the internet, known as Web 4.0.

In this evolution, physical and digital objects converge in real-time within virtual environments.

The potential of virtual worlds to revolutionize people’s daily lives and create diverse opportunities across business and industrial ecosystems is a key driver behind the transition to Web 4.0.

Several examples were provided to illustrate the breadth of possibilities offered by virtual worlds, including training surgeons for complex procedures, preserving cultural heritage buildings using “digital twins,” and utilizing 3D models to address global warming.

In a working document presented to the European Parliament, the Commission outlined its plan to position itself as a global leader in Web 4.0 and the metaverse.

Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, expressed Europe’s ambition to become a frontrunner in these domains.

The Commission proposed ten actions to achieve this objective, including attracting specialized talent in virtual world development, establishing regulatory sandboxes for testing innovative ideas, and formulating global standards for interoperable metaverses.

Europe possesses the necessary elements to lead this technological transition, including innovative start-ups, a wealth of creative content and industrial applications, a strong role in setting global standards, and an innovation-friendly and predictable legal framework, Breton added.

In conclusion, the European Commission is actively positioning Europe to capitalize on the potential of XR and virtual worlds, aiming to foster job creation, drive technological advancements, and establish itself as a world leader in Web 4.0.

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