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⌐◪-◪ → The world eagerly awaits the verdict on SBF’s prison sentence in New York City. The same courthouse where the Do Kwon and Terra case is currently underway on Day 4.

The Tweet above points to a live stream of the courthouse, and might be worth putting on in the background if you’re bored. I find the sounds of a crowd awaiting justice rather soothing to be quite honest.

FWIW: We were supposed to know by 9:30 AM ET, but of course the courts are slower than expected.

While we wait to hear whether or not Sam gets the full 50 years, lets dig into some lesser-known facts about his past:

• In Jan ‘22 SBF sold $75M stETH, triggering a massive depeg event that set off the Celsius bank run and ultimately led to the blow-up of 3AC

• SBF used Alameda + FTX funds to purchase $10M NFTs including $18k of Pebble (a fractionalized NFT of a picture of a rock)

• SBF engaged in tens of thousands of dollars in wash-trading to boost the visibility of his holdings

• Created an NFT and most likely bought it for $270k using customer funds

• Sold $RAY tokens that were supposed to be locked for 1+ years (according to the whitepaper) and netted a few mil

The list goes on and on. Check it out for yourself here, courtesy of @jconorgrogan.

Anyway, I’m off to work. Enjoy the livestream and take solace in the fact that the SBF saga will be over soon.

⌐◪-◪ → BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF is the fastest growing ETF in history, achieving $17.7B AUM just 11 weeks after its Jan 11 launch.

BlackRock CEO says he was surprised by the incredible retail demand for Bitcoin and is bullish on the long-term viability of Bitcoin.

To put this retail demand in context, net inflows for all Bitcoin ETFs currently outpace new Bitcoin supply by 7x, which could quickly become a 14x demand/supply ratio post-halving in 23 days.

Meanwhile, there are still people who think Bitcoin is going to zero.

Lastly, if BlackRock wasn’t already killing it enough — their new on-chain $BUIDL fund just attracted $245M in 1 week, including $95M from Ondo Finance which wants exposure to T-Bills.

⌐◪-◪ → BlackRock’s CEO Larry FInk just said a spot Ether ETF is still possible even if the SEC deems it a security.

This isn’t the first time we’ve heard this narrative either…

Back in January, SEC Commissioner Pierce said the same thing, it doesn’t matter whether an ETF’s underlying asset is a security or not — asserting that ETFs can hold a variety of assets.

Despite Larry Fink’s and Commissioner Pierce’s stance, crypto market maker GSR lowered their estimate of a spot Ether ETF approval in May to 20%. This is a drop from GSR’s January estimate of a 75% chance of May spot Ether ETF approval.

While a May approval might be off the table at this point, it’s starting to feel like a spot Ether ETF is no longer an “if” and more of a “when”.

The real question is — will the SEC designate ETH as a security? Remember: the Ethereum Foundation is currently under investigation for undisclosed reasons by a 'State Authority'.

Let me know what you think in Specs Chat!

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