Ethereum ETFs Approved & RIP DOGE Kabosu

$150M Farcaster Raise | Dmitry & Dino of Fluent

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
May 24, 2024

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Good Morning.

The dog behind the DOGE meme, named Kabosu, has passed away at the age of 18. RIP king.

Onto the market. ETH is selling down a bit now that the rumor has become a reality. Eight spot Ethereum ETFs were approved, much to the shock of most traders until a few days ago.

The political headwinds in the US are shifting, and it’s one that we need to watch closely.

In Today's Email:

What Matters: Ethereum ETFs approval ✅
Founders Highlight: Dmitry & Dino of Fluent 🖥️
Deal Flows: Farcaster’s $150M deal 💰

You read and share. We listen and improve. Send us feedback at marco@launchy.app.

Narratives: Meme continues.

For daily market updates and airdrop alphas, check out our telegram!

WHAT MATTERS

SEC Approves 8 Ethereum ETFs' 19b-4 Forms

Wired

State of play: The SEC has approved 8 spot Ethereum ETFs’ 19b-4 forms in an omnibus order. However, the ETF issuers still need to have their S-1 registration statements go effective before trading can begin.

The SEC approved 19b-4 forms for ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton.
For ETF launches, the SEC must approve both 19b-4s (exchange rule changes) and S-1s (registration statements).
Events unfolded as Nate Geraci predicted, with the SEC approving 19b-4s but delaying S-1s.
It's unclear how long the process will take, but James Seyffart says it could be weeks or even months, citing historical examples where it took three months or longer.
Prior to the approval, Gensler affirmed his contention that most cryptocurrencies are securities.

Why it Matters: The upcoming election has reshaped the US crypto regulations landscape.

Before the Ethereum ETFs approvals, bipartisan House lawmakers urged the SEC to approve the ETFs.
On Wednesday, the US House passed FIT21, a bill establishing a robust legal framework for digital assets.
U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming stated plans to form a "pro-crypto army" in Congress, echoing former President Donald Trump's declaration of building a "crypto army" for the 2024 election.

For builders and investors: The staking component of spot Ethereum ETFs was removed by the applicants. This could considerably hurt the attractiveness of these ETFs

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas estimates Ethereum ETFs could receive only 10 to 15% of the assets that Bitcoin ETFs did.

BUILDER-INVESTOR HIGHLIGHT

Dmitry & Dino of Fluent

Intro: Dmitry Savonin and Dino are the co-founders of Fluent, a general-purpose zkWasm L2 that brings web2’s favorite execution environment onto web3’s most permissionless blockchain.

Dmitry is the CTO of Fluent. He is an active GitHub contributor.
Dino is the CEO of Fluent. He posted his writings on blockchain on his blog.

Previous background: No information is publicly available regarding the previous background of the Co-Founders of Fluent.

The big idea: Dmitry and Dino, through Fluent, are on a mission to enable developers to build applications in any language on Ethereum.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

INSIGHTS

The Hyperliquid Thesis

The scope of Hyperliquid has 10xed twice since inception
First time was the realization that the only way to build a scalable perps DEX was to build an L1 from scratch
Second time is now. With a critical mass of users and liquidity, there's a path to expand the infrastructure… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— jeff.hl (@chameleon_jeff)
2:36 PM • Apr 28, 2024

Credits to HFA Research Newsletter for the original report.

State of play: A recent post of HFA Research highlights the emerging dynamics within the decentralized derivatives exchange market, focusing particularly on Hyperliquid's robust performance relative to its competitors

Here are the key takeaways from the report:

Hyperliquid, originally an appchain, is transitioning to an L1, which expands its use cases and potentially enhances its market valuation.
In contrast, dYdX appears complacent, with issues like a complex corporate structure and a CEO change.
$PURR, a token airdropped to Hyperliquid points holders, is now playing a central role as Hyperliquid's native token.
Despite being part of an experiment, $PURR maintains a significant valuation, partly because it's speculated to be linked to future Hyperliquid rewards or functionalities.
Hyperliquid's aggressive development and strategic moves, coupled with the speculative potential of $PURR, present a compelling bull case for Hyperliquid.

DEAL FLOWS

Farcaster $150M Fundraise

Excited to share the news about our recent fundraise!
— Dan Romero (@dwr)
4:00 PM • May 21, 2024

Deal flows soared this week, we saw $240M+ in deals 💼

Farcaster, a blockchain-based social protocol founded by two Coinbase alumni, closed a $150M fundraise on Tuesday.

The round was led by Paradigm with participation from a16z crypto, Haun, USV, Variant, Standard Crypto, and others.
According to Warpcast’s data, the platform has reached a peak of 80,000 DAUs and 350,000 signups.
For comparison, Bluesky and Mastodon have about 5.6M and 8.6M signups, respectively.

Deal flows in the past week:

Blockless, $8M Pre-Seed and Seed Round
Focus Tree, $2M Seed Round
Plume Network, $10M Seed Round
WeatherXM, $7.7M Series A Round
Aevo, Undisclosed $ Private Round
Kelp DAO, $9M Private Round
Stripchain, $10.1M Private Round
Mantra, Undisclosed $ Strategic Round
ELFI Protocol, $5M Strategic Round
Fantom, $10M Strategic Round
Dora Factory, $10M Strategic Round
peaq, $20M CoinList Sale
Farcaster, $150M Unknown Round

QUICK BITES

SEC approves 8 Ethereum ETFs.
DOGE icon Kabosu passes away at 18.
Phantom beats PayPal in Google Play store.
House passes CBDC anti-surveillance state act.
Speculators bet $10M on Ethereum ETF approval.
Court sides with SEC in the case against Ian Balina.
FTX Group paid $25M to settle whistleblowers' claims.
Fantom Foundation creates Sonic Foundation and Labs.
Spot bitcoin ETFs record net inflows for nine straight days.

NOTEWORTHY READS

0xArnav’s read on crypto’s killer use case.
Polygon Labs’ read on L3 vs aggregated L2s.
Lilyjjo’s read on EVM native sequencing rules.

RIP Kabosu, the best of the good girl we ever have.
— Arthur (@Arthur_0x)
8:24 AM • May 24, 2024

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.