Today Financial disclosures show Donald Trump owns more than $1 million in Crypto a new report shows the value of Crypto hacks surg so far this year Compared to the same time last year and Framework Ventures Vance Spencer breaks Down crypto VC Trends welcome to cnbc's crypto world I'm Brandon Gomez digital currencies are In the red as we head into the weekend By noon Eastern Bitcoin fell more than 2 1/2% to just above $58,000 ether dropped more than 3 1.2% To 2569 while salana sank 5 1.2% back down To 137 now if we zoom out and look at The week crypto is fairing worse than Wall Street Bitcoin has dropped nearly 4% in the past 7 days and ether dipped About 7/10 of 1% in that time salana has Slummed 10% while the S&P well it's up 3.8% so far this week and speaking of Wall Street a couple things you should Know the New York Stock exchange has Withdrawn a proposed rule change before The SEC that would have allowed the Trading of options for Bitcoin ETFs this Comes after the agency postponed Decision on that rule change just a few Weeks earlier meanwhile black Rock's Crypto ETF Holdings have overtaken Grayscales for the first time according To analytics firm Arkham black Rock's Onchain Holdings for its ibit Bitcoin
ETF and Etha ether ETF have overtaken Grayscales gbtc BTC mini eth e and eth Mini Holdings a Black Rock is now the Provider with the largest Collective Holdings according to Arkham okay let's talk about the top Stories for today Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump owns More than $1 million in crypto that's According to a personal financial Disclosure form released yesterday which Federal candidates and office holders Are required to file the former President's disclosure included details About a crypto wallet and virtual Ethereum key Holdings that Trump valued At 1 million to $5 million of course Trump's public position on crypto has Shifted since he first took office when He said digital currencies were scamed This election cycle he has embraced a Hands-off approach from the government With his campaign touting that he's Building a crypto Army the change in Stance came after lobbying from the Industry and signs that fostering the Growth of crypto was popular among a Segment of Trump's base in May Trump's Campaign started accepting crypto Donations and last month he was the Keynote speaker at bit coin 2024 in Nashville where he proposed a strategic National crypto stockpile next a new Report reveals the value of crypto hack
Soared to about $1.6 billion in the First half of this year as the prices of Digital assets jumped according to this Report published by chainalysis Yesterday while the value of funds Stolen surged so far this year the Number of hacks Rose only slightly to 149 up from 145 in the same period last Year a analysis notes that after a 50 % Draw down in crypto value stolen in 2023 Compared to 2022 this year has seen a Resurgence of hacking activity with the Average amount of crypto stolen per Heist increasing by almost 80% CH analysis attributes the increase Partly to the rise in the price of Bitcoin which accounted for 40% of the Total transaction volume associated with These heists crypto thieves also seem to Be targeting centralized exchanges Rather than prioritizing defi protocols Which are less popular vehicles for Bitcoin chainalysis says Advanced cyber Criminals including IT workers linked to North Korea are increasingly leveraging Offchain methods like social engineering To steal funds by infiltrating crypto Related Services the blockchain analysis Firm points out that aggregate elicit Activity on chain has dropped by almost 20% year-to dat which it says Demonstrates that legitimate activity is Growing quicker than elicit Activity all right for our main story
Crypto world's McKenzie sagalo sat down With Vance Spencer co-founder of venture Capital investment firm framework Ventures to discuss markets crypto Regulation and VC Trends in the digital Asset space so it seems like VC funding Has been ticking back up since those Bare Market lows broadly speaking and We'll talk about Frameworks portfolio in A minute but broadly speaking what are VC's most excited about in terms of uh Investments in the crypto space a big Focus is tokenization so this is kind of The bringing of real world assets on Chain you've seen black rocket into this You've seen the smaller startups get Into this but this is a consist consist Theme for VC funds you have gaming and Then people are just very excited about Bitcoin and eth like these things have Tons of ETF flows they're really Starting to scale and we've heard that They're going to be offered to Major Warehouses in probably the next two or Three months so that'll be a second wave Of these flows and we'll definitely talk About those ETF flows in just a minute But with respect to the Bitcoin Ecosystem in particular I feel like Earlier this year there was all this Excitement around uh L2 projects that Were building a lot of unprecedented Deal activity happening specifically Within Bitcoin I was talking to VCS
About this and part of that I imagine Had to do with the momentum of runes Coming after ordinals and just you know More functionality on top of the Blockchain has that momentum uh Maintained itself or have you seen is There is there less excitement Specifically in Bitcoin you know a lot About Bitcoin to throw those project Names out there but um I think the Momentum is sustaining all these Projects have yet to really launch and So we kind we're kind of in like a wait And see type scenario for the next six Months but I think these projects are Going to ra ride the wave of enthusiasm And flows from trafi into both Bitcoin And Ethan every cycle people say that Bitcoin is the the thing we're going to Do this cycle and nobody's going to go On of the other chains and we'll stay There forever I just don't see that Being the case the world is multi-chain Ethereum has a dominant L2 ecosystem and So we see more excitement on the eth Side than Bitcoin but you know those are Kind of the two main horses for this Cycle and specifically looking at your Book you do a lot of work in financial Services you've got um some of the defi Protocols that you've invested in a Chain linke Talk to me about those Investments and And also perhaps any like concern you
Have around the regulatory uncertainty As SEC has been coming after a lot of These defi platforms as of late I mean The bottom line with defi is that these Are better cheaper faster Financial Services they're available globally and You know most people in other countries Don't have access to US dollars they Don't have access to you know a borrow Lend facility they don't have access to The ability to swap one currency to the Other and so that's what defi is Providing and again it's it's all based On eth at the moment Um most of the stable coins most of the Financial services activity but on the Regulatory side we see this getting Better not worse I mean there has been Some you know lawsuits and you know Various projects are fighting the SEC in Court but I think having their day in Front of a judge and being able to Explain what they're doing is ultimately Going to be positive for these projects And you know you've seen the sec's track Record in court it's not great you know They they've kind of had as many a lot Of losses and so can they string Together a series of wins I'm not quite sure um but these D5 Projects they don't care about this and Not in the sense that they're breaking The law but these D5 Protocols are just Smart contracts they're a code that
Executes autonomously um and as long as There's one person running the ethereum Blockchain they will work and so that's The beauty of crypto it doesn't matter If The Regulators or you know if some Other party tries to stop it um as long As there's people using it and running The software you know it's guaranteed Financial access to financial services Are you keeping an eye on how those Cases go with you know Robin Hood's Crypto division Unis swap you also have Consensus that's fighting the SEC or is That really beside the point in terms of Your investment strategy and how you Think about next steps in that Financial Services corner of your book I mean Crypto has only ever existed in a Hostile regulatory environment basically From the jump they've been trying to Stop crypto and I honestly have lost Count of how many cases there are or who They're being fought by or for but it Doesn't really matter I think what's Coming down the pike is legislative Clarity things like the stable coin Act Like fit 21 and if we get even one of Those done it provides a legal pathway For defi to exist and it kind of you Know does a way with all the court cases And even things like the Chevron Doctrine being repealed you know that's Going to make it a lot tougher for the SEC and other regulatory bodies to
Really go after these D5 protocols but Um you know if there's fraud if there's Scams if there's people doing bad things We want those taken care of we just want A pathway for Innovation you mentioned Fit 21 that's one of the competing bills That's making its way through Congress Last night we heard heard from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and he Said that he was confident that we could Get one of these bills passed into law Now he didn't specify which one but uh To to have uh the Democratic lead kind Of throwing his weight behind that Certainly a lot of people enthusiastic That we might see some clarity finally From Capital Hill it's great that it's Bipartisan a little scanted on details From from Chuck from Senator Schumer um But I think you know people are coming Around with the idea that crypto is not Dying uh the government has tried to Kill it at various points it didn't work You know f TX happened still didn't die If it hasn't gone away by now it's Probably not going away in general and It's time for legislative Clarity and You mentioned those spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs that were recently approved And launched uh just this calendar year And that impacts your business you have What 1.5 billion dollars worth of spot Crypto exposure talk to me more about How those ETF flows have have rippled
Into your company I mean it is Remarkable for both eth and Bitcoin that They've become so large without access To any institutional Capital that's Literally the reverse of what usually Happens and you know bitcoin's a Trillion eth is a you know 300 billion 400 billion that's all retail and so What has happened now is the spigot for Traditional uh Finance inflows has Opened and you know what's happened you Know the Bitcoin ETF has been one of the Best ETF launches of all time it's got About half the AUM of the gold ETF the Eth ETF has followed hot on its heels And it's getting on some days this week More flows than the Bitcoin ETF and so The market is bifurcated into Ethan Bitcoin they're getting all the trafi And flows and then the rest of the Market are competing for these retail Inflows that are still in crypto and Those are huge flows on the day that EK Crashed the crypto exchanges traded more Volume than the stock market so it just Gives you an idea of both how large the Trad fine flows are but also how big the Crypto and dodgess Market is and it's a Global market it's accessible by far More people than are you know have Access to the stock market and that's Just a bullish Tailwind for the whole Industry so I was digging into all those 13f filings getting my quarterly look at
What uh you know the banks and hedge Funds have in terms of exposure to these New or to the spot Bitcoin ETFs ether Started trading in July so we're not Seeing that reflected in those filings Just yet but my you know I was actually Kind of surprised some of the players Who got in during q1 were pairing back Their positions in Q2 we saw Goldman Jump in to the tune of 400 or so million Dollars a lot of these Banks of course This is a reflection of what their Wealth management clients are asking for Um and then with the hedge funds I mean I'm not seeing huge positions here are We going to see the the damn break at Some point are we going to start to see More Blockbuster flows and and why do You think it is that for the most part Institutions have been relatively um Moderate in the positions that they're Taking in these new spot crypto funds so The big positions you see and I think Millennium had almost a billion of the Bitcoin ETF in its in its book down from Two billion in q1 though down from two Billion um but my assumption is that They're putting on what's called you Know the carry trade people have seen The Yen carry trade but there is a Similar thing where uh Bitcoin in the Future is more expensive than Bitcoin in Present day and so there's an ARB to be Had there if you can put on the trade
Correctly but you do see people like the Investment Board of the Wisconsin State Pension that is upu their Bitcoin Allocation and like this is just the Start of these flows and I don't expect The Pod shops to to put on a a big Bitcoin long it feels like that's a Pretty good way to lose your job if You're working at this that type of Place but the high networks that are at These large investment Banks Prime Brokerages you know those are probably Going to be coming online the next few Months um and then I think people are Going to generally look at Bitcoin and Then look look at eth and say you know Is this the same trade and can we just Do this again and I think more and more People are going to have a 50-50 Bitcoin Underneath allocation going forward I'd Be remiss not to ask you before you Leave uh about all-time highs price Moves are you seeing Bitcoin perhaps Surpassing that um that high that we saw It reach above $73,000 in March or or Where do you see prices heading for the The two top cryptocoins before the end Of the year before the end of the year It's it's hard to know um but you know Bitcoin is worth 5% of what gold is Worth and it's more popular with young People it's more popular with people Overseas and the the ETF has half the AUM with gold ETF and so like should it
Be worth 5% probably not it probably Should be worth 20 or 30% but that's Still multiples from here um and I think Eth and Bitcoin are just assets that Appeal to people who are emerging Investors in the stock market and it's Going to look a lot different than what You know the older Generations the Boomers you know want to invest in um And that's going to be a trend that Lasts for decad Okay that's all we have for this week But if you're looking for even more Crypto world's conos took a deep dive Into how scammers spend months Befriending their victims in an effort To steal their life savings through Highly convincing fake investment apps And how blockchain analytics firms like Chainalysis track the stolen funds down Be sure to head over to Youtube.com/ CNBC Sunday at Newt Eastern To check it out we'll be back here again On Monday see you then
