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  • 10/3/24: Election Bets Are On 🗳️⚖️💸

10/3/24: Election Bets Are On 🗳️⚖️💸

Top News

  1. Kalshi cleared to resume election betting markets

  2. SEC appeals Ripple case, cites Supreme Court precedent

  3. Visa and BBVA to launch their own stablecoin in 2025

Specs’ Insights

1. Kalshi cleared to resume election betting markets

⌐◪-◪ → Election betting is officially legal. Kalshi, one of the leading prediction markets, just got the green light to re-launch their betting markets on the U.S. presidential election, available now to U.S. citizens.

For context, betting markets have been illegal in the U.S. for about a century, so this marks a significant shift. Gone are the days of using a VPN to pretend you live in another country just to bet $100 on whether Trump will say "tampon" or not — the universe is healing haha.

While this is certainly exciting, not everyone shares the enthusiasm — and I’m not just talking about the CFTC. Many are concerned that these markets could be manipulated by a single large buyer, perhaps even a foreign adversary, to influence outcomes like the election. Personally, I think natural market forces make that impractical, and I always lean towards freedom over more rules, but it’s worth considering.

Markets are slowly becoming the ultimate source of truth.

2. SEC appeals Ripple case, cites Supreme Court precedent

⌐◪-◪ → The SEC is not done with Ripple. Just 24 hours after Bitwise filed for an XRP ETF, the SEC filed an appeal on the Ripple case, citing Supreme Court precedent.

The decision is not surprising, but it’s definitely frustrating. This means the case will now drag on for months, if not years, adding more uncertainty and frustration to the space. As a reminder, the court has already rejected the SEC’s claim that Ripple acted recklessly, and there were no allegations of fraud or victim losses.

This is really just more of the same — the SEC litigating through enforcement, which even Kamala Harris' campaign has criticized. Meanwhile, the SEC’s Enforcement Director, who has been leading the charge against crypto, just resigned a few hours before the appeal. Coincidence? I think not.

Anyway, the real question is, will this appeal affect the SEC's decision to approve or reject Bitwise's XRP ETF? Let me know in Specs.Chat!

3. Visa and BBVA to launch their own stablecoin in 2025

⌐◪-◪ → Mass adoption is imminent. BBVA, a top 50 global bank, is partnering with Visa to launch a stablecoin next year.

The effort will utilize Visa’s Tokenized Asset Platform, a product designed to help bring banks onchain. The stablecoin wars are really starting to heat up — we now have Visa, PayPal, Robinhood, Revolut, Tether, and Circle all racing to become the dominant global digital dollar.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how the stablecoin leaderboard changes over the next 1, 5, and 10 years. Who will scramble their way into the top 5?

Who do you think will secure the #3 spot after Tether and Circle? Let me know in Specs.Chat!

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

  • Aerodrome surpasses $1B in deposits, now 50% of Base’s total TVL

  • Edward Snowden roasts Solana for being centralized

  • Telegram founder says app was built to protect against corrupt governments

  • EigenLayer responds to criticism on staking and circulating supply

  • PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin is now available for purchase on MoonPay

  • Rug Radio to release full interview with Mark Cuban today

  • Bybit launches indices trading for China A50, Dow Jones, NAS100, and more

  • Andre Cronje calls out Aerodrome for commercializing his open-source code

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

  • Trump doubles down on promise to free Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht

  • Trump tweets at Milady account, asks for votes in North Carolina

  • Republican Senate candidate blasts Fairshake PAC over backing opponent

  • Half of US voters think crypto is an “important” isssue

  • SEC’s crypto enforcer Grubir Grewal to step down on Oct. 11

  • FTX estate wants to sell $38M locked Worldcoin at a discount

🌎 Rest Of The World

  • Metaplanet makes $1.4M selling Bitcoin puts, uses it to buy more Bitcoin

  • Taiwan regulator drafts new crypto AML rules with heavy penalties

  • Swiss-based Taurus partners with Chainlink to drive tokenized asset adoption

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

  • Violetta Zironi auctioning inscribed song, top bid at 0.5 BTC bid

  • Seedphrase to auction set of 7 Autoglyphs at Sotheby’s

  • XCOPY to launch new collection on Shape L2, more details to come

  • Christie’s to offer blockchain-based certificates for photography collection

  • “Shardbound” strategy game to launch open beta on Epic Store next week

  • Chiliz CEO says fan tokens have a much larger market than NFTs

  • Lamborghini partners with Animoca Brand to build web3 racing game

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