Today Bitcoin drops to the $60,000 level To start the week defunct Bitcoin Exchange Mount gaw says it plans to Start Distributing assets stolen from Clients beginning in July and hen arod Of solidus labs weighs in on what the Sec's decision to end the investigation Into ethereum and consensus means for The crypto Industry welcome to cnbc's crypto world I'm Brandon Gomez crypto prices in the Red to kick off the week with Bitcoin Falling below 61 ,000 as of noon Eastern Ether dropped more than 5.5% to under $3,300 and salana fell 4% to $126 speaking on CNBC squawkbox this Morning pomp Investments founder Anthony Pompano weighed in on why Bitcoin is Trading in the low 60s compared to Around $70,000 earlier this month Bitcoin's up 40% year to date it's up 100% over the last year so in terms of Volatility uh this is pretty expected What we've seen in previous bull markets Is that there's four five six different Draw Downs of 30% or more we're down About 15% or so so this is right within Kind of the band that you would expect I Think that what occurs is when an asset Goes up a lot people start to take Profit and so what we've seen is this Explosive rally to start the year people Naturally take some of that profit we're Also seeing a lot of uh people doing the
Basis trade where they're basically Going long the spot uh market and They're shorting Futures and so what's That is doing is it's dampening some of The volatility which allows for leakage And some selling and then lastly I think Is we get to the summertime right you See this a lot of people in the public Markets will say you know invest till May and then go away and so you starting To see some of that as well here where People are seeing these really explosive Moves at the beginning of the year and Then also Q4 tends to be a big uh kind Of quarter for crypto as well and so Q2 Into Q3 tends to go kind of sideways I Think that's just what we're Seeing okay let's talk about the top Stories for today the winlos twins Combined $2 million donation to the Trump campaign was partially returned After their Bitcoin contributions Exceeded the max allowed under federal Law a source within the Trump campaign Told us that the portion the twins Donated above the limit was refunded to Them that limit is $844,000 $600 the development was first reported By Bloomberg now we reached out to the Trump campaign and Senior adviser Brian Hughes said the campaign is quote proud To have renowned Tech leaders support Trump and that he is ready to encourage American leadership in crypto and other
Emerging Technologies now on Friday we Told you that the founders of crypto Company Gemini said on X that they each Donated one $ million in Bitcoin to Support the presumptive Republican Nominee Tyler winkl Voss wrote that Trump was Pro Bitcoin Pro crypto and pro Business the move came as the crypto Industry has been increasingly trying to Influence the upcoming elections with Millions in donations to crypto Focus Super packs next after years of Postponed deadlines Mount gaw said that Next month it plans to start Distributing assets stolen from clients In a hack the defunct Bitcoin exchange Made the announcement in this statement Today adding that the repayments will be Made in Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash a Statement said that the repayments will Be made from the beginning of July 2024 Noting that time has been allotted to Ensure safe and reliable repayments to Creditors including technical remedies For safe payments compliance with Financial regulations in each country And discussion of repayment arrangements With the crypto exchanges amount goau Which was once the world's largest Bitcoin trading exchange went bankrupt Back in 2014 after a massive hack which Led to hundreds of thousand thousand of Stolen Bitcoin now creditors of the Japan-based exchange are still waiting
To get repaid billions of dollars worth Of bitcoin the repayment deadline is now October 31st of 2024 last Bitcoin miner Riot is looking to shake up the board of Directors at bit Farms after the Rival Rejected riots take over bid Riot Announced in a press release on Monday That it was convening a special meeting As bit Farm's largest shareholder in Hopes to remove the company's chairman And interim CEO along with Aur director Of the company Riot wants to fill those Positions and a currently empty board Seat in order to fix what it claims are Poor corporate governance this attempt From Riot to overhaul bit Farm's board Comes after the company rejected a $950 Million buyout from Riot back in May bit Farms also adopted a poison pill at the Beginning of this month allowing it to Issue more shares to prevent any one Entity from holding too large a stake in The company in the press released today Riot said that it had attempted to Engage constructively with bit farms for More than a year but that good faith Negotiation simply will not be possible Until there is real change in the bit Farms boardroom we reached out to bit Farms about this latest development but Haven't heard back yet however in a Statement earlier this month bit Farm Said a special committee determined Riot's proposal undervalues the company
And its growth prospects adding that Riot continued to take action in an Attempt to thwart the interest of other Third parties all right let's focus on The ethereum network for our main story Today after consensus announced that the SEC was dropping its investigation into The firm and the ethereum network crypto World's Jordan Smith spoke with hen Arad Of solidus labs they discussed what that Decision from the agency means for the Adoption of the ethereum Network so we heard from consensus this Week that the SEC is apparently dropping Its investigation into that firm but Also ethereum broadly and that seems Like a big deal for the network can you Just talk about what this means now that We've heard this it was uh big news a Couple of days ago when consensus uh Shared on a blog post that they received A letter from the SEC and letting them Know that they that an investigation Against uh their uh use of ethereum has Been dropped important to say that there Isn't that much official information out There beyond the blog post but you know In terms of what the investigation was Why was it dropped but you know Considering the SEC is a Securities Regulator uh you know it's pretty clear That the investigation had to do with Whether whether ethereum is a security Or not and therefore whether uh you know
Dealing with it without being a properly Regulated security dealer you know would Be a an offense ER the fact that it was Dropped is you know largely perceived by The industry has great news you know Again while the SEC did emphasize based On various reports in its letters that It does not uh exclude the possibility Of Investigations or actions in the Future uh you know uh the this was was Perceived as a signal that it's less Likely that ethereum would be deemed a Security which you know resulted in a Lot of optimism prices going up uh and You know the industry uh feeling Confident that ethereum can continue Growing as a technology without the risk Of uh you know these sort of Investigations it's important to say I Wouldn't call that you know perfect Regulatory Clarity far from it but the Way I see it and I think the way a lot Of in the industry see it it's a another Drip a of some clarity so yeah that Brings up a good point I mean a lot of People are hopeful that we will see more Clarity but this doesn't really answer The question about what this means for Ethereum and and when we were doing our Reporting on uh this decision from the SEC we reached out to them and they said To us that you know we don't comment on Investigations existent or non-existent So we didn't really get any Clarity for
Them um but for you and for solidus in Particular I'm I'm curious how you guys Are taking this news and and how what it Means for your business because you Announced uh that you're partnering with Figment which is a blockchain Infrastructure staking provider so I'm Sure this hits close to home for your Business as well how are you guys taking This news you know staking guard which Is a uh compliant institutional staking Solution that we as you mentioned Announced this week and that we Partnered with figment on is ultimately A response to the fact that Institutions you know globally are Interested in becoming more involved in Staking more ethereum a you know a There's various uh there's various data Out there uh figment released uh some Information some data earlier this year That uh the amount of institution Institutionally staked funds that is you Know that is with them as group 5x Between q1 2023 and q1 2024 uh staking Is an exciting product for a lot of way For a lot of reasons it's a great way to Make your ethereum work for you uh and You know generate rewards while also Contributing to the growth and security Of ethereum the foundation of web 3 but There are still hurdles uh in terms of Uh getting this uh growth uh you know Exponential and really making
Institutions feel uh more confident in Participating it and they have to do With risk and compliance you know if I Really and that's really what staking Guard is about uh and and and you're Seeing the industry and we're very proud To be a part of it introducing more and More solutions and Technologies uh that Allow to enable the potential of Decentralization and the sort of Products while mitigating the risks Essentially If you're an institution you're usually A heavily regulated entity and uh when It comes to offering new Services it's Very hard you know they can't really Take the approach of asking for Forgiveness rather than permission do You feel as though it'll be a slow Trickle to get institutions involved you Talked about how big the adoption the Uptake was for figment um but in the Grand scheme of things do you think that This will still be a slow March even With this decision from the SEC I Actually believe that uh for various Reasons we're going to start seeing this Accelerating and uh you know one of them Of course is the demand institutions Want to do it we're seeing strong signs Of that across the board another one is The fact that uh regulatory Clarity is Coming Regulators around the world just Like they did with centralized crypto
Trading tokens Etc over the past five Years are now turning their attention to Staking it means that obviously the Industry needs to provide uh Solutions And and explain how how we can do this In a safe regulated and secure way but Uh it also means that that you know Clarity would uh allow confidence There's been a lot of interesting Regulatory developments um you know if Uh you know if ETFs for example were Approved which is a step you know which Is a step in the direction of ethereum You know more more regulatory Clarity And ethereum being more recognized as a As a clear asset class um we've seen uh You know the Department of Justice in The US announcing its first enforcement Action around pre- chain ER activity Pre- chain meaning uh the part of the Blockchain process before the blocks are Added to the chain uh you know uh European Regulators recently raised some Questions around whether uh me maximum Ex extractable value processes that are Also an important part of block building Uh might be uh Market manipulation There's a lot those questions should be Perceived as an opportunity to engage With Regulators show how we address These risks uh and uh and and ultimately Uh lead regulatory Clarity that Clarity ER you know ultimately Allows the kind of growth that you're
Asking about that is you know ultimately That becomes gradually exponential and Grows fast so again I don't think all of This is going to happen tomorrow uh but It's gonna happen faster and faster Again because of the demand because of Increased Clarity and because the Industry is working to show how this can Be done securely and safely H and we're Very uh proud to uh have a part in that Effort final question while I have you Um obviously you have your finger on the Pulse when it comes to network security Around all things hacks and malicious Activity just give me an overview of What the state of malicious activity in Crypto is like this year hacks fell in 2023 but are they coming back as you see Them I think uh A good rule of thumb is That uh you know when they're more when There's more volume and there's more Activity when there's growth when prices Are higher you'll see more scams uh you Know uh Buzz fomo and just a larger Usership you know are attractive to Manipulators to scammers uh and they try Try to take advantage of uh you know the Activity in order to essentially steal From users we have seen uh you know uh In in various sides of the industry Growth in scams and hacks this year and Again it usually comes together with Just uh increased price and attention You know uh one one element of uh a you
Know concern that we are very focused on Is uh smart contract scams specifically Ragp scams I can tell you that uh you Know on on on some of the most popular Uh uh you know blockchains we've been Seeing a constant increase on average You know on on any given day from what We see around 25% of new tokens on some Of the largest uh ethereum based uh Chains Are scams but you know I also emphasize That again this is an opportunity to for The industry to provide Solutions those Are you know smart contract scams are Automatically detectable with the right Tools uh and regulars are also taking Notice of it and and uh enforcing more So you know scams unfortunately are in The grand scheme of schemes Always On The Rise but also the ability to prevent Them and uh you know when uh Financial Activities on the blockchain there's a Lot of opportunity to use the Transparency and immutability Uh for automated detection and Ultimately cleaner Markets okay that's all we have for Crypto World we'll be back again Tomorrow and we'll see you then [Music]
