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  • 10/30/24: One ETF To Rule Them All 🗿💰💸

10/30/24: One ETF To Rule Them All 🗿💰💸

Top News

  1. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF hits $30B AUM in record time

  2. Optimism Foundation grants $42M to Kraken to build new L2

  3. Coinbase and Visa partner for real-time crypto funding

Specs’ Insights

1. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF hits $30B AUM in record time

⌐◪-◪ → Greatest ETF of all time. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF just surpassed $30M in assets since its launch in January, making it the fastest-growing ETF of all time.

This comes after a massive $868M in daily inflows — one of the largest since the launch. Given the hype and Bitcoin inching towards new all-time highs, we might see a new record for daily inflows soon.

To put it in perspective, Gold’s ETF took 1,790 days to reach $30B. BlackRock did it 6x faster in just 299 days.

If you’re still fading crypto, I don’t know what to tell you. Everybody gets Bitcoin at the price they deserve.

2. Optimism Foundation grants $42M to Kraken to build new L2

⌐◪-◪ → Here we go, another L2. Kraken just received a $42M grant from the Optimism Foundation to build their own L2 called INK.

The L2 will be built on the OP Stack alongside networks like Base, Mantle, Zora, Worldcoin, and more.

To be honest, I’m getting a bit tired of the seemingly infinite new L2s. It feels like a land grab driven by greed rather than an exploration of new frontiers in crypto, NFTs, or DeFi — but maybe I’m wrong.

I just hate seeing players burn millions to build the same thing over and over with no end in sight. What do you think, chat? LMK in Specs.Chat.

3. Coinbase and Visa partner for real-time crypto funding

⌐◪-◪ → TradFi and DeFi are merging. Coinbase just partnered with Visa to reduce friction for crypto purchases.

This partnership lets Visa debit card users instantly fund their Coinbase accounts via Visa Direct — a real-time payment system.

The move comes after Crypto.com overtook Coinbase in July as the top centralized exchange by monthly USD trading volume.

The lines between TradFi and DeFi are more blurred than ever, with debit cards that let you onramp into Coinbase instantly and smart wallets that make it easy to spend Coinbase CEX funds onchain.

It’s still a lot of steps for the average user, but access to crypto is getting easier every day. Shoutout to Cuy Sheffield for leading the charge at VISA and setting a new bar for the entire FinTech industry.

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

  • U.S. Treasury omits crypto from new inclusion strategy

  • Crypto Council for Innovation boosts staking advocacy with new partnerships

  • Republican sweep could pave way for U.S. crypto bills, say analysts

  • Biden thanks Nigerian President for Binance exec release

  • Paxos CEO warns U.S. risks losing crypto leadership without regs

  • Florida CFO urges State pension funds to consider crypto

  • Crypto ghosted in U.S. Treasury’s financial inclusion strategy

  • Bitmain denies ties to Huawei supply chain investigation

🌎 Rest of the World

  • Bolivia launches crypto custody service using Tether

  • Gemini gets MPI license approval in Singapore

  • Swell moves to OP Stack, drops Polygon CDK plan

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

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