The Weekly Wrap - 18 June 2021

1. MicroStrategy buys more Bitcoin

The Facts:

• MicroStrategy completed its $500 million offering of senior secured notes and plans to purchase Bitcoin with the proceeds.
• Additionally, MicroStrategy is offering to sell $1 billion worth of its stock, with the intention to at least partially invest it in Bitcoin instead.
• MicroStrategy already owns more than 90’000 BTC.

Why it’s important:

• MicroStrategy is going all-in on Bitcoin. MicroStrategy’s stock seems to slowly become a “Bitcoin ETF”.
• The market has reacted to the announcement of MicroStrategy’s purchase, and is up 24% since the early June lows (at the time of writing).

2. El Salvador receives support

The Facts:

• After officially making Bitcoin legal tender, El Salvador will receive assistance for the implementation by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.
• The World Bank, however, declined a request for help on the implementation.
• Other countries might follow El Salvador – a crypto bill will be presented in Panama in July.

Why it’s important:

• El Salvador’s move to make Bitcoin legal tender has certainly made waves both in and outside crypto. It represents a significant step forward for the adoption of Bitcoin.
• El Salvador also plans to take up Bitcoin mining powered by clean geothermal energy from volcanos. It will also establish a Bitcoin fund to give citizens and businesses the liberty to seamlessly switch between USD and BTC.

3. SEC delays BTC ETF

The Facts:

• The SEC delayed its decision on the VanEck Bitcoin ETF.
• The Commission seeks further comments before taking a decision, especially on questions surrounding the ETF’s resistance to price manipulation.
• Comments should be made within the next 21 days, and rebuttals within 35 days.

Why it’s important:

• The SEC has repeatedly delayed or denied all Bitcoin ETF applications. Other countries, such as Canada, have already approved Bitcoin ETFs.
• The concerns that the SEC cites remained similar throughout the years and the SEC holds Bitcoin ETF applications to a exceedingly high standard. However, nowadays there exist liquid BTC spot and futures markets in the U.S. that might be able to meet the SEC’s requirements for regulatory oversight.

4. Alchemix pauses alETH

The Facts:

• Alchemix, a yield tokenization protocol, experienced a bug in their alETH (the protocol’s version of ETH) contract.
• The bug allowed users to withdraw more than they should have been able to, which left alETH undercollateralized.
• Alchemix has published a full analysis of the incident.

Why it’s important:

• Bugs and exploits still happen regularly in DeFi, particularly in the newer, innovative protocols.
• However, many of the more established protocols have run for months without any issues despite high total value locked.

5. Chinese exchanges restrict leverage

The Facts:

• Crypto exchange Huobi has reportedly restricted leverage to 5x, down from 125x previously.
• This comes amidst the increasingregulatory pressure on cryptocurrencies in China.
• In South Korea, crypto exchanges also have to expect more regulatory oversight and stricter policies for crypto trading.

Why it’s important:

• Restricting the high end of the leverage spectrum might reduce the overall liquidations seen in the crypto markets, which often appear to be market movers both on shorter and longer timeframes.
• It also signifies that the Chinese intervention in private crypto businesses might be more severe this time compared to their previous bans.

In other news

• DAO lawsuit? Proposal for Curve to protect its IP (via The Block)
• Federal Reserve officials project rate increase in 2023 (via The New York Times)
• DeFi exchange dYdX raises $65M (via The Block)