Crypto
MoneyConf 2018 - Day One
Anthony Pompliano (Harry Murphy/Getty Images)

Anthony Pompliano announces $1 billion SPAC deal to jumpstart ProCap Financial, a new bitcoin treasury firm

Sequans Communications also disclosed a $384 million investment to roll out its bitcoin treasury initiative today.

Sage D. Young

Entrepreneur Anthony Pompliano announced today a $1-billion deal with a special purpose acquisition company (that is, a SPAC) to establish ProCap Financial Inc. as a publicly-traded, bitcoin-native financial services company. 

Pompliano said on X, “The company will be a publicly traded entity on Nasdaq at the conclusion of the proposed business combination between my private company ProCap BTC, LLC and Columbus Circle Capital Corp I, a publicly traded SPAC.” 

According to the press release, the two entities raised $516.5 million in equity and $235 million in convertible notes to create the new firm, “the largest initial fundraise in history for a public bitcoin treasury company.”

Sequans Communications, a supplier of 5G semiconductors, also announced a bitcoin treasury initiative Monday. The firm is issuing and selling $195 million in equity securities and $189 million in a principal amount of convertible secured debentures, and will partner with US-based company Swan Bitcoin to help with its treasury strategy operations. 

The announcements of ProCap Financial and Sequans Communications come as more corporate firms initiate digital asset treasuries, such as Trump Media and GameStop.

Even though Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the pioneer in bitcoin treasuries, has seen extraordinary gains in the price of its shares, the pivot to bitcoin may be losing its luster.

“I don’t think it’s set to lose its appeal anytime soon. It’s still another risk asset which, if you believe price predictions, will benefit your balance sheet in the long-term,” Nicolai Søndergaard, a research analyst at blockchain analytics firm Nansen, told Sherwood News. 

However, Maksim Tkachuk, an analyst at on-chain data platform Santiment, expressed a cautionary skepticism. “There’s only so many failed companies and mattress salesmen that bitcoin can accommodate without toppling,” he told Sherwood.

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Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, puts plans for IPO on hold

Payward, crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company, has paused its plans for an initial public offering until market conditions improve, according to a report from CoinDesk that cited two people with knowledge of the matter. 

Since the firm announced in November its preparation for an IPO of its common stock, the total market capitalization of the crypto industry has shed around $652.2 billion, from $3.2 trillion to $2.5 trillion as of Wednesday, data from CoinGecko shows. 

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

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Sage D. Young

SEC and CFTC issue new guidance on how securities laws apply to crypto assets

On Tuesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, issued an interpretation clarifying how federal securities law applies to crypto assets, a first step toward developing a clearer regulatory framework. 

The interpretive guidance introduces a token taxonomy for different types of cryptocurrencies, with SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins adding that “most crypto assets are not themselves securities.”

Examples of a digital commodity, “a crypto asset that is intrinsically linked to and derives its value from the programmatic operation of a crypto system that is ‘functional,’” include:

The guidance also includes definitions of digital collectibles (such as NFTs), stablecoins, digital tools, and digital securities (such as tokenized real-world assets and stocks).

This is a monumental step in the mainstream adoption of the industry and clears a hurdle in how crypto can operate going forward, according to David Pakman, head of venture investments at CoinFund. “This will allow new token designs with the confidence that their existence does not require registration with the SEC, etc.,” Pakman told Sherwood News.

Despite the clarification efforts from the two organizations, the market capitalization of the crypto industry has dropped about 2% in the last 24 hours as each of the tokens mentioned in the guidance are trading lower in the period, data from CoinGecko shows.

The joint agency action also complements congressional efforts to turn a crypto market structure framework into law. With the goal of providing regulations on the offer and sale of digital commodities, the CLARITY Act passed the House of Representatives last year and is now sitting in the Senate.

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Citi analysts cut 12-month bitcoin projection to $112,000 from $143,000

The analysts’ bear-case scenario is $57,537, based on “recessionary macro-factors, especially weak equity markets,” which could cause ETF flows to stall.

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