Crypto
Price Of Bitcoin Reaches New High, As Inflation Rises At Level Not Seen In 30 Years
A bitcoin ATM (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Sora aims to buy $1 billion in bitcoin in the next six months

Japanese company Metaplanet already holds over $2 billion in bitcoin.

Sora Ventures announced the launch of what it says will be “Asia’s first $1 billion bitcoin treasury fund,” and aims to acquire all that bitcoin within the next six months. Sora differentiated itself from other Asian treasury companies like Japanese company Metaplanet, which is currently the largest publicly listed bitcoin holder in Asia, holding 20,000 bitcoin it acquired for $2.06 billion. Sora said in a press release:

While those companies hold bitcoin directly on their own balance sheets, the Sora Ventures treasury fund will act as a central pool of institutional capital designed to both support these existing firms and fuel the creation of similar treasuries globally.

Meanwhile, Metaplanet shareholders approved three resolutions on Monday, including increasing the total number of authorized shares to 2.5 billion and new provisions for perpetual preferred shares. This will enable Metaplanet to raise up to 555 billion yen ($3.7 billion) in preferred shares and use the proceeds to acquire more bitcoin.

In other bitcoin mining and treasury news:

  • Strategy and bitcoin fans are getting excited about the possibility that the S&P 500 could announce the company’s inclusion later today. Bloomberg reported that “a $14 billion unrealized gain last quarter delivered the profitability required for index eligibility, at least in theory, under current rules.”

  • Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings announced it produced 705 bitcoin in August, compared to 703 in July. MARA, the second-largest corporate bitcoin holder, said it took advantage of bitcoin’s price decline and bought the dip. It now holds 52,477 bitcoin and “opted not to sell any BTC in August.”

  • Publicly traded bitcoin mining company Cipher Mining announced it produced 241 bitcoin in August, compared to 214 bitcoin in July. It also said it acquired more bitcoin and now holds 1,414 tokens, up from 1,219.

  • Public company Figma, which just released its first earnings since its IPO, added 177 bitcoin and now holds 767 bitcoin.

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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.

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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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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