The Weekly Wrap – Square - Spiral - Block?, Grayscale vs SEC, new EIP?, US running out of funding
Dec 3, 2021 - 3 min read
1. Square, Spiral, Block and Jack Dorsey
The Facts:
- Jack Dorsey announced his departure from Twitter as CEO and Chairman. This is the second time he leaves the company after being forced out as CEO in 2008.
- Shortly after, Square was rebranded to Block and has integrated Spiral BTC as its vehicle to boost the Bitcoin ecosystem.
- Now fully dedicating his time to the roughly $100 billion company (Twitter: $37.8 billion), Dorsey apparently aims to launch the tbDEX, move into Bitcoin mining and continues funding crypto projects.
Why it’s important:
- Not many in the industry are surprised by his departure, based on his history with the company. Nevertheless, making the move from social media to crypto as a builder and innovator is a strong statement for the industry.
- With Zuckerberg maneuvering his ship into the metaverse, traditional social media giants are starting to move, before being moved by the industry.
not sure anyone has heard but,
I resigned from Twitter pic.twitter.com/G5tUkSSxkl
— jack⚡️ (@jack) November 29, 2021
2. Grayscale lashing out on SEC
The Facts:
- After the VanEck proposal for a spot ETF was rejected earlier this month, Grayscale sent a letter to the SEC spotlighting the potential violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by approving a futures-based product, but not a spot-based one.
- Grayscale is looking to convert its Bitcoin trust (GBTC) into an ETF.
- Meanwhile up North, Fidelity launched a spot Bitcoin ETF in Canada, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Why it’s important:
- Fidelity is the 3rd largest global asset manager with more than $3 trillion assets under management, making it by far the largest player to enter the Bitcoin ETF game.
- This example demonstrates how jurisdictions that are not ready or willing to adapt and collaborate on new crypto products could be left behind for those who are.
It’s probably a good time to retire that word (transitory) and try to explain more clearly what we mean
3. Vitalik Buterin puts forward another EIP to reduce gas fees
The Facts:
- At times of high network congestion, gas fees tend to spike due to the limited processing power of roughly 15 tps.
- The new proposal is called EIP-4488 and is supposed to “Decrease transaction calldata gas cost, and add a limit of how much total transaction calldata can be in a block.”
- The proposal is considered to be a short-term remedy for Ethereum’s sky-high gas fees.
Why it’s important:
- With transactions and general activity on the network growing, as well as the rise of NFTs, gas fees in the hundreds produce a bottleneck for DeFi. The risk is that developers and projects move to cheaper platforms.
- EIP-1559 reportedly saved users nearly $1 billion in overpaid transaction fees. Nevertheless, the community is still waiting for the expected general reduction in gas fees.
Number of the week
US national debt
4. The US are faced with a potential government shutdown
The Facts:
- Remember when Congress raised the debt ceiling in October by $480 billion?
- Democrats and Republicans agree on a deal to prevent the expected government shutdown on December 4th by extending government funding through February 18th.
- The House reached a short-term deal on Thursday. Both chambers of Congress need to approve the spending bill by Friday to prevent the collapse in funding.
Why it’s important:
- The US are hitting new all-time highs in debt on a regular basis.
- How “transitory” can inflation be in an environment of ever-increasing debt levels?
In other news
- Meta loses top crypto executive David Marcus. (via techcrunch)
- Badger DAO loses funds under attack. (via cryptonews)
- IOTA announced new “feeless” smart contract network. (via cointelegraph)
- Facebook adjusts crypto ad ban. (via CNBC)
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