Gensler's Ghosts: When Past Lectures Spook Your Crypto Crusade

Green across the board, and take note of the leaders today – big-name assets in the DeFi and DEX spaces. 🟢

The massive transfers in money from CEXs to DEXs might be one reason $COIN decided to go on the offensive against the SEC – but that’s a topic for another day.

In today’s Litepaper, we’re covering Cathie Woods’ third attempt at a $BTC ETF, Binance.US’s abrupt termination of the Voyager acquisition, and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s 2018 lecture coming back to challenge his current crypto stance.

Additionally, the Technically Speaking article today looks at $XLM, $ATOM, and the Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap chart.

Here’s how the market looked at the end of the trading day:

Cardano (ADA)	$0.414	8.63%
Bitcoin (BTC)	$29,773.10	8.44%
Polygon (MATIC)	$1.04	8.37%
Solana (SOL)	$22.71	8.14%
Internet Computer (ICP)	$5.70	7.96%
Ethereum (ETH)	$1,951.23	6.92%
Polkadot (DOT)	$6.18	6.27%
Filecoin (FIL)	$5.52	6.13%
Avalanche (AVAX)	$18.01	5.77%
Uniswap (UNI)	$5.58	5.63%
Altcoin Market Cap	$615 Billion	4.22%
Total Market Cap	$1.192 Trillion	4.35%

Crypto

But, Gary, You Said This In 2018

“Everything you’ve ever said or done on the Internet is there forever” – what someone once said about the interwebz

It’s no secret that SEC Chairman Gary Gensler is regarded as crypto enemy #1 by the crypto community.

His vehement onslaught against the crypto sector and insistence that most cryptocurrencies qualify as securities now face a fresh hurdle: his own words. 🗣️

Maybe you’ve seen this 2018 video on Stocktwits or Twitter of Professor Gensler:

The below clip is from a Fall 2018 Graduate MIT course called "Blockchain and Money"

Gary Gensler – the current President of the SEC, was the professor.

The Hypocrisy speaks for itself 🐀

"So we already know in the US and in many other jurisdictions that 3/4 of the market… pic.twitter.com/rjRWeq5P8X

— zk-🦈 (@ZK_shark) April 25, 2023

The lecture in question features former Professor Gensler at MIT in 2018 as he explores secondary markets and crypto exchanges in his study on blockchain and money.

Alternatively, you can view it at around 26:30 in MIT’s library.

The bit of the 2018 lecture that’s getting the attention is when Gensler says:

“… three-quarters of the market are not ICOs or not what would be called securities even in the U.S., Canada, and Taiwan, the three jurisdictions that follow something similar to the Howey test…”

Adding more to this fiasco is SEC Gensler’s own words haunting him as he describes $XRP as a bridge currency:

@WarrenDavidson @GaryGensler @PatrickMcHenry https://t.co/XGlnn6zMLN

— David C (@dcwilm23) April 26, 2023

As thousands of crypto enthusiasts sift through the lectures for further similar remarks made by the SEC Chairman, we will provide you with any relevant updates as they emerge. 👀

Crypto

21Shares And Ark’s Third Bitcoin ETF Attempt

Ah, Springtime. It brings forth blooming daffodils, pesky allergies, and the rejuvenated efforts of 21Shares and Cathie Wood’s $ARKK Investment to launch a spot $BTC ETF for the third time. 🍀

With the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF filing back in play, as revealed in a Bloomberg News interview with 21Shares CEO Hany Rashwan, the timing aligns with Bitcoin’s recent surge past $30,000 and a 67% YTD increase.

However, the journey has been far from smooth, as two prior attempts by 21Shares and Ark to register a spot Bitcoin ETF, along with numerous other applications, have been rejected by the SEC – who have made it clear crypto is the devil in their eyes.

Despite these setbacks, Rashwan remains optimistic, emphasizing that their proposed fund seeks to offer a safety net for US investors keen on exploring crypto products. 👍

Crypto

Binance.US Nixes $1B Voyager Acquisition

Binance.US has slammed the brakes on its $1 billion asset acquisition of Voyager ($VYGVQ), a deal that was primed and ready just days ago. Voyager, now bankrupt, expressed its disappointment in a Twitter announcement yesterday:

1/ Today we received a letter from https://t.co/yG7Airmib5 terminating the asset purchase agreement. While this development is disappointing, our chapter 11 plan allows for direct distribution of cash and crypto to customers (a “toggle option”) via the Voyager platform.

— Voyager (@investvoyager) April 25, 2023

Binance.US confirmed Voyager’s tweet with their own:

https://t.co/AZwoBOgsqS has made the difficult decision to exercise its right to terminate the asset purchase agreement with Voyager.

While our hope throughout this process was to help Voyager's customers access their crypto in kind, the hostile and uncertain regulatory climate…

— Binance.US 🇺🇸 (@BinanceUS) April 25, 2023

Users on Stocktwits monitoring the $BNB, $VGX, and $VYGVQ streams have expressed their doubts about why Binance.US announced its withdrawal from Voyager after acquiring all of its customers’ information, such as address and SSN. 🤬

On a positive note, Voyager’s Chapter 11 plan enables direct cash and crypto distribution to customers through the Voyager platform.

Binance’s acquisition efforts date back to December, with a $1 billion bid agreed upon by both parties. However, the Department of Justice threw a wrench into the works in March, attempting to block the purchase.

As this story unfolds, we will inform you of any updates. 📰

Crypto

Technically Speaking – April 26, 2023

Let’s have a quick look at what some cryptocurrencies currently look like on their charts.

Cosmos

We last looked at $ATOM back on April 21, highlighting a support zone between the bottom of the bearish pennant and the VPOC:

ATOMUSD Weekly Chart April 21, 2023 – Click to enlarge.

Fast forward to today, and it looks like ATOM is looking for a bounce.

ATOMUSD Weekly Chart – Click to enlarge.

But take a look at the Composite Index – it’s at an angle that suggests it will likely cross above its slow and fast-moving averages. That could signal some bullish momentum ahead.

However, the bearish pennant is a bearish continuation pattern, and ATOM is just barely hanging on to its final support zone before the bears come in and pounce on it. 🐻

Stellar

In our Technically Speaking article from April 21, 2023, we examined $XLM. We focused on the last support zone in the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo system on the weekly chart, which was positioned at $0.093:

Bulls were able to close last week’s candle above the Tenkan-Sen and Kijun-Sen, but just barely.

Like ATOM’s weekly chart, Stellar’s weekly chart is in a bearish continuation pattern (bear flag) and is at risk of some deep dives south if support fails. 🔻

Total Cryptocurrency Market Cap Chart

We last looked at this chart in the Saturday Litepaper:

BTCUSD 3-Day Char, April 21, 2023 – Click to enlarge.

“On the 3-Day chart above, you might notice the wicks missing from the candlesticks. I did this because it makes the flag the market is stuck in a little easier to see.

The gray-shaded area represents a very thin zone between $1.278T and $1.675T in the Volume Profile – an area to watch closely if the market finds a bounce. ” – Technically Speaking April 21, 2023

Doing the same thing (removing the wicks) and looking at today, this is what the current 3-day chart looks like:

Total Market Cap 3-Day Chart – Click to enlarge.

If you’re a bull and felt a little panic after the chart closed below the bull flag for the second time in a row, you had a good reason to.

Currently, bulls have pushed the market back into the bull flag, which begs a couple of questions:

Is this a retest of the breakout? If so, bears need to close this 3-day candle below the bull flag to get sellers back in.
Is this a shallow, false breakout south that turns into a broader bullish continuation? If it is, bears and bulls will need to watch what happens near the 1.278 trillion value area. Fireworks could happen.

Bullets

Bullets From The Day:

🤔 Are memecoins and NFTs bad for crypto? Some argue that these digital assets distract from blockchain’s transformative potential and pose risks to the broader crypto market, others see them as innovative experiments that foster community engagement and drive adoption. As regulators grapple with governing these assets, striking the right balance between innovation and protection is crucial. But I think we can all agree that memecoins like PEPE and GENSLER don’t really give the space the credibility it needs.

🐂 $ETH bulls ain’t scurred. Despite a 13% drop in price after reaching a ten-month high of $2,137 earlier this month, post-Shanghai staking continues to grow. Since the upgrade, 1,668,384 ETH, valued at over $3 billion, has been withdrawn, primarily by centralized exchanges like Kraken and $COIN. In contrast, staking pools have seen an increase in inflows, with the top five institutional staking providers collectively staking 224,000 ETH in the past 30 days.

🚓 Terraform Labs’ co-founder, Daniel Shin, now faces indictment alongside nine others on charges of capital market law violation, illegal trading, and breach of trust. These allegations are rooted in last year’s catastrophic $LUNC and $UST collapse, which not only devastated the crypto market but also triggered a tidal wave of strict regulations. Shin’s lawyer argues that his client had already left Terra two years prior to the Luna crash and has been cooperating with investigations for over ten months. Meanwhile, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, currently wanted in the US, remains detained in Montenegro after being arrested last month on similar charges.

💵 Circle Internet Financial CEO Jeremy Allaire claimed that the $USDC stablecoin has emerged stronger and safer following March’s banking crisis. Despite losing its dollar peg due to the temporary failure of Silicon Valley Bank, which held some of Circle’s USDC reserves, the stablecoin quickly recovered. Speaking at CoinDesk’s Consensus conference, Allaire compared USDC favorably to other less transparent alternatives, such as Tether ($USDT). USDC’s market cap dropped from $39 billion to $29 billion since March, while Tether has gained market share by pulling a U.S. Federal Reserve and letting the USDT money printing machine go brrrrrrrr.