SEC Pursuing "Energetic" Campaign to Deem ETH a Security, Blackrock Unveils Tokenized Fund on Ethereum
Market Update
- U.S. equities rose following yesterday’s FOMC meeting, where Chair Powell struck a dovish tone and the committee'sdot-plot showed no meaningful revisions to rate cut expectations this year. The SPY (+0.33%) and QQQ (+0.44%) closed at record highs, surpassing $520.48 and $445.61, respectively. Crypto assets displayed a strong bounce following Powell’s comments yesterday but have since pared some gains. BTC (-4.08%) is trading at approximately $65.1k and ETH (-2.27%) is hovering near $3,250. Despite negative headlines surrounding Ethereum (more below), ETHBTC has gained 3.49% in the last two days, bouncing off the 0.05 mark. RWA-related tokens are outperforming over the last 24 hours, gaining 33% as Blackrock’s first tokenization fund on Ethereum has sparked a positive buzz about the sector's future.
- According to a Fortune report, the SEC is allegedly going on an “energetic legal campaign” to declare Ethereum as a security. The SEC has not verified the claims, but it would align with their lack of engagement with ETF issuers surrounding pending applications. The SEC has been investigating the Ethereum Foundation surrounding Ethereum’s shift to a proof-of-stake network in 2022, which enabled users to stake ETH tokens in return for rewards and governance rights, potentially classifying it as a security. If the SEC wants to deem ETH a security, the decision would be somewhat contradictory given the agency’s prior actions. The CFTC approved Ether Futures contracts, implying that Ether is a commodity. Then, the SEC approved the futures-based Ether ETFs, implicitly acknowledging the declaration of ETH as a commodity. The futures-based ETFs were also approved in October 2023, over a year following Ethereum’s shift to PoS. ETH briefly fell following the headlines before rallying over 10% to over $3,500 in Wednesday’s trading.
- Blackrock has unveiled its first tokenized fund on the Ethereum Network. The fund will trade under the ticker BUIDL, short for "Blackrock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund." BUIDL will provide qualified investors with an opportunity to earn USD yields on-chain. BUIDL plans to invest all assets into cash, U.S. Treasuries, repurchase agreements, and pay monthly dividends to investors’ wallets as new tokens. BUIDL tokens will be traded 24/7 and be transferrable to other qualified investors. Securitize will act as the transfer agent and tokenization platform, managing the tokenized shares and reporting on subscriptions, redemptions, and distributions. BNY Mellon will help ensure interoperability between traditional and on-chain markets, while Coinbase was also cited as a key infrastructure provider for the fund. Initial investors include industry veterans Anchorage Digital, BitGo, Coinbase, and Fireblocks, all of whom are industry veterans. Given Blackrock’s prestige, the offering serves as a significant milestone for Ethereum and overall tokenization.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
Conflux's gains have finally recaptured the prior all-time highs achieved back in March 2023, one year ago. Given that price has just pushed up above early March highs on a daily close likely can lead to a test of $0.488 which looks to be the first real area of importance at a nearly perfect one-year anniversary of prior highs. While this could have minor importance, any consolidation would represent a chance to buy dips given the strong intermediate-term momentum. Movement back over 0.50 would be thought to be very bullish technically, leading up to $0.60-$65 before some larger selling pressure into May. At present, CFX looks quite bullish, but stretched and nearing important resistance. Thus, some degree of attention need to be focused on prior peaks in the days to come to have some conviction on whether $0.488 will hold right away, or give way to a period of further acceleration. At present, the near-term technicals suggest an initial period of resistance could materialize into next week.
Daily Important Metrics
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All metrics as of March 21, 2024 10:51 AM
All Funding rates are in bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $1.29T | $65,374 | ↓ -2.81% | ↑ 55% | |
 ETH | $417B | $3,476 | ↑ 0.11% | ↑ 53% | ↓ -2.02% |
 SOL | $80B | $180 | ↓ -3.26% | ↑ 77% | ↑ 22% |
 ADA | $23B | $0.6362 | ↓ -0.48% | ↑ 7.33% | ↓ -47% |
 DOGE | $22B | $0.1522 | ↑ 1.69% | ↑ 71% | ↑ 16% |
 DOT | $13B | $9.25 | ↓ -2.46% | ↑ 14% | ↓ -41% |
 LINK | $11B | $18.74 | ↑ 2.23% | ↑ 25% | ↓ -30% |
 MATIC | $9.8B | $0.9913 | ↓ -1.42% | ↑ 3.24% | ↓ -52% |
 NEAR | $6.9B | $6.58 | ↓ -4.63% | ↑ 83% | ↑ 28% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| BITW | ↓ -32% | $35.16 | ↓ -1.79% | ↑ 51% | ↓ -3.89% |
| ETHE | ↓ -20% | $26.79 | ↑ 0.79% | ↑ 38% | ↓ -17% |
News
QUICK BITS
CryptoSlate BlackRock unveils Coinbase as key partner in $100 million Ethereum token fund Asset management firm BlackRock selected Coinbase as the key infrastructure provider for its tokenized investment fund, BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liqu... |
MARKET DATA
The Block Daily volume on Base network sees 51% surge to $356 million The daily trading volume on Base surged to hit its new high of $356 million on Tuesday, after Dencun upgrade lowered fees for users. |
REGULATION
The Block FTX customers, Alameda Research lenders, administrative expenses and non-governmental creditor claims remain the priority distributions. |
The Block Stablecoin bill’s 2024 passage looks bleak as talks stall and time dwindles A stablecoin bill, considered low-hanging fruit among other crypto bills, has hit a roadblock, with time running out to get it to a vote. |
FUNDRAISING AND M&A
CoinDesk Web 3 Startup Tensorplex Labs Raises $3M Seed Funding to Decentralize AI Tensorplex said decentralization is an antidote to the risk of tech giants monopolizing artificial intelligence, making them prone to biases or censorship. |
The Block Decentralized Social Trading Protocol Bi.social Raises $3 Million in Funding Bit islands, the developer behind the decentralized social trading protocol Bi.social, recently announced a successful $3 million funding round. This round saw ... |
PRODUCT UPDATES AND PARTNERSHIPS
The Block Coinbase to launch futures trading for dogecoin, litecoin, and bitcoin cash on April 1 Coinbase Derivatives plans to kick off futures trading for dogecoin, alongside litecoin and bitcoin cash. |
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