Today Bitcoin prices pop is Wisdom Tree And Invesco get in on the Bitcoin ETF Rush we break down the price tag on the FTX bankruptcy fees so far and Zach Townsend the CEO of meanwhile weighs in On institutions moving forward with Crypto projects despite the SEC Crackdown [Music] Welcome to cnbc's crypto world I'm Tanaya McKeel the price of Bitcoin has Surged today as financial institutions From BlackRock to Wisdom Tree continue To give their Bitcoin Blessings by Newton Eastern today Bitcoin traded Close to thirty thousand dollars either Treated above the 1800 level and Solana Rose by nearly six percent sentiment has Been high in crypto since late last week When BlackRock filed an application for What would be the first ever spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S Sticking with the push into crypto from Financial incumbents for our top story Two more institutions are now getting Into the mix Wisdom Tree and Invesco Yesterday Wisdom Tree filed for the Wisdom Tree Bitcoin trust requesting That the agency allow it to list its Fund on the CBOE bzx exchange the firm's Head of digital assets told us in a Statement today that it is a quote firm Continuation of our stance from the Initial filing based on wisdom tree's
Extensive experience in ETFs and our Belief in the power of transparency and Putting up products that need High Regulatory Compliance and security Frameworks that lead to success for Investors wisdomtree had previously Filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF but when Rejected by the SEC it's now been 10 Years since the first ever attempt to Get one through that came from Gemini's Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and the SEC Still has yet to let one move forward we Also reached out to Invesco about their ETF plans they said they're working with CBOE to get a Bitcoin ETF listed on the Exchange these moves come on the heels Of surprise news from BlackRock last Week which filed its own Bitcoin ETF Application just about a week after the SEC sued two of the biggest crypto Exchanges finance and coinbase that's Left many investors wondering about the Timing of their application next Canada Is warning that some crypto websites are Claiming to be authorized by fake Regulatory organizations The Canadian Securities administrators Or CSA issued this alert yesterday Noting that in an effort to appear Legitimate the purported trading service Providers claim they are certified by a Fictitious Authority or that they are Members of a dispute resolution Organization the alert added that the
Websites of some of those trading Services include links to these fake Organizations which have their own Websites CSA encourages investors to Independently confirm the organization Exists and check with its list of Registered trading platforms before Investing in crypto finally ftx's Bankruptcy fees have already topped 200 Million dollars that's according to this Court filing from yesterday which noted That lawyers and other professionals Already racked up nearly 35 000 billable Hours by the end of January the Documents reveal that 46 of the Attorneys assigned to the case charged Over two thousand dollars an hour we Told you last week that prosecutors Agreed to withdraw five of the 13 Charges against Sam bankman freed Including bribery for now however Prosecutors asked the judge overseeing The case to schedule a second trial Early next year on those five counts and Of course another trial would mean the Price tag gets even higher All right back to Big financial Institutions push into digital assets For our main story crypto world's Jordan Smith spoke with Zach Townsend the CEO Of meanwhile the first life insurance Provider operating entirely in Bitcoin Townsend gives his take on institutions Moving forward with crypto projects amid
A heightened Crackdown on exchanges in The U.S by the SEC take a listen All right so with everything going on in The background I feel like I have to Start with the current state of the Crypto industry I mean you have the Sec's Crackdown on crypto exchanges you Have renewed scrutiny around whether Certain tokens are securities but Despite that you have BlackRock saying That they're going to push ahead with This proposal for spot Bitcoins you have Something that hasn't been successful in The past what do you make of that Decision from them what does it sort of Say about the environment for Institutions right now I think it's a Huge milestone for the space and I think It's showing that not only is there Retail interest in crypto but there is Serious institutional interest Um BlackRock obviously the largest asset Manager in the world they have I think a 575 to one record of having their ETFs Approved Um so I think it's very likely not only It's not that they know anything that we Don't know I think they've looked at the Past applications for spot ETFs they've Seen what's worked and what hasn't Worked with the sec's response has been And they've taken steps like setting up A surveillance agreement with NASDAQ Which basically is a way to see all the
Trades the order books to make sure that There's no Market manipulation so I Think they're taking the steps to really Address the sec's past subjections to Spot ETFs and it's very likely you know That they believe they can be approved And Um you know whether they're approved or Not I think it's a really good sign for The space At the same time you're seeing Um you know edx which is backed by Fidelity and Citadel come in and Actually really directly try to address The sec's concerns you know they're only Trading uh Bitcoin ethereum Litecoin and Bitcoin cash which I think Is what they've analyzed to say like Those are the absolute not Securities uh Crypto tokens Um so I think that's also an interesting And bullish development Um And obviously we'll see if the sec's Case against coinbase in particular is Successful I think coinbase is obviously Uh over the last week done everything They can to publicly Um go out there and say that they don't Think the SEC case has Merit um so I Think it's a an exciting time in the Crypto space Yeah you mentioned edx we We've talked about it on crypto World Um and to your point is it is
Interesting that they picked specific Tokens or cryptocurrencies that don't Seem to be facing any scrutiny from the SEC and I'm wondering do you think other Exchanges that are wary of what's Happening from the SEC are wary of Potential legal ramifications from Listing other tokens might follow suit Do you see a situation where they might Pare down the listings on their Exchanges and say you know we're going To focus on the ones that we know our Commodities are are less worried about That scrutiny around securities Yeah I think that that is a pretty Interesting and likely development you Know I think the SEC is saying two Things uh they're going after coinbase And binance and others and saying like Hey you're unregistered Securities Exchanges Um and what would it take to become a Securities Exchange well what it takes Is sort of what edx is doing right so Only trade things that you either think You know are registered Securities or Art Securities and then also what edx is Doing is really separating out like the Custody piece from the trading piece Um and they say they're going to launch A Clearinghouse later this year Um so there's this notion of Securities Law that you like have clearinghouses You have custodians you have exchanges
You have broker dealers these things are All separate Um But look I think that coinbase's case uh Is still going to have a lot of Merit Which is that Um you know the these tokens that you're Saying are securities maybe they were Securities when they got issued but They're no longer Securities because They're you know more decentralized and Trading in different ways I think the Sec's case is quite Extreme with my perspective Um in how far they're going and how many Things they're willing to say are Securities so although edx is taking the Most conservative approach I think what We'll see is that you know in the future Truth will lie somewhere in between it's Probably more than four tokens that you Can trade Um but less than you know four thousand So meanwhile your company is the first Life insurance operator that uses solely Bitcoin and I just want to sort of start With asking why Bitcoin for your Business whether rather than some of the Traditional Holdings that someone would Expect from a life insurance policy Yeah well why Bitcoin Um is you know we believe and I think a Lot of our users believe that you know When you look out 10 20 30 40 years that
There's going to be a really robust Economy in Bitcoin and um that will mean There's like real economic activity Um you know it's not just trading for Dollars but there there are like things That will be happening inside the Bitcoin economy and um that what will Come with that is that Bitcoin will be Worth a lot more money Um relative to the dollar Um or the Euro or the end and um if You're a person who like sees that Future and believes in it we think They'll be or we're building the life Insurance company for that economy if You look at every economy in the world Um of any Serve maturity there you know is a life Insurance company and life insurance Companies do these really fundamental Things of Um you know protecting you if you die Young helping you with annuities if you Live longer than you expect Um you know allowing you to have you Know a tax advantaged investments in Most jurisdictions I mean those and and Also ultimately hold a lot of assets Right so what insurance companies do in Addition to protecting their users is They also Um Buy and Hold uh sort of permanent Capital and I think that's a critical uh Service that we hope to provide to the
Bitcoin economy too is to make long-term Investments Um and like help develop the space we Started this conversation by talking About sort of the institutional space in Crypto right now and I want to I want to Wrap it up with that you just raised 19 Million dollars in seed funding uh how Hard of a pitch was that to build a Business around Bitcoin right now this Is a question I always ask companies That are building in the so-called Crypto winter what did those kind of Conversations look like Yeah well I want to say that we started From a place of believing that the value In the Bitcoin economy the crypto Economy more generally over the next 10 20 30 years is going to be in people who Can end companies who can straddle that Space between like what I'll call Bitcoin land or crypto land and like Regulation land right so I think what a Lot of our pitch Um came down to is we have done a lot of Work a lot of research Um in how to set this company up and we You know chose Bermuda because it's the Insurance capital of the world they're Very well respected as a regulator and That came with a lot of scrutiny right So I have to we have an independent Board we have an Enterprise risk Management uh policy we have all sorts
Of governance checks and So when we were talking to investors What we talked about is both that we Look out and see a giant Global crypto And Bitcoin economy and do you agree in That future Um We point into the fact that every Economy in the world has a life Insurance every mature economy has a Life insurance company that's about two Percent of GDP is life insurance Premiums in most country it's a big Opportunity if you think Um that there's going to be a big Bitcoin economy and then at the same Time that we're doing things the right Way we're getting regulated we're going Through governance and with those that Combination of like this potential and Um the careful regulatory work Um you know I wouldn't say we had the Hardest most difficult conversation I Mean like we raised one round and it was Like crypto summer you know about half The money Um and then obviously FTX happened and We entered crypto winter and we raise The other half of the money Um and between those things we obviously Proved a lot of uh We hit a lot of Milestones around our Regulatory work so we were able to like Shift our valuation from one point to
Another Um but you know some of the Conversations obviously for this the Second seed round some people just Written crypto off Um they've said like this is no longer For me but I think for a lot of the most Serious interested investors Um you know light gradient Um Like Sam like others Um that uh you know the the ups and Downs of the crypto Market haven't Changed their perspective on the long Term Okay that's all for crypto world today But we'll be back again tomorrow so We'll see you then [Music] Foreign
