The Ripple Felt around the World

Good morning. Today we've got YouTube entering the NFT game, an update on the Ripple v SEC fight, a mining-SPAC, and more!

Bonus Content Coming: I'm targeting early next week the end of the month to have my notes out from Messari's Crypto Theses for 2022. I'll include a link to my notes in this newsletter, however, the full report is definitely worth a read. The report is now in podcast form and can be found here.

Market Update (as of 8:15am ET):

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Top 5:

1. Drop bitcoin as legal tender, IMF urges El Salvador
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)  is pushing for El Salvador to drop bitcoin as legal tender before providing the country with a $1.3 billion loan. As part of that push the IMF pointed to risks associated with bitcoin's volatility including, "financial stability, financial integrity, and consumer protection, as well as the associated fiscal contingent liabilities." El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, has ignored these recommendations in favor of purchasing more bitcoin and continuing with plans to launch a $1 billion "Bitcoin Bond". It appears unlikely El Salvador will receive the IMF loan under its current pro-bitcoin policies.

SSS (sat-sized summary): El Salvador is being denied a $1.3 billion loan from the IMF because of their laws allowing bitcoin as legal tender. The country has pushed forward with pro-bitcoin policies and is planning to launch a "Bitcoin Bond" in the near future. President Bukele is making a large bet on bitcoin with his future and the country's at stake.

2. Bitmain-Backed Crypto Mining Company Reaches $1.5 Billion SPAC Merger To Go Public
Cryptocurrency mining services company BitFuFu, announced on Tuesday that the company will go public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company backed by Bitmain, a bitcoin mining-rig maker. BitFuFu is a Singapore based company that offers "cloud-mining, self-mining, and miner hosting" services which allows users to invest in crypto mining without investing capital to operate the facilities required to run mining equipment. The deal values BitFuFu at $1.5 billion and the company will begin trading on the Nasdaq in Q3 under the ticker FUFU.

SSS: Crypto mining services company BitFuFu is going public via a SPAC deal with a Bitmain backed company. The deal highlights the massive amount of growth bitcoin mining has received recently and the desire to participate in mining without allocating large amounts of capital to purchase and manage a mining facility.

3. FTX US Attains $8B Valuation in $400M Fundraise
The US arm of cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, has raised $400 million in a Series A round of funding that values the company at $8 billion. The funding round saw investments from major players in crypto, including: Paradigm, Temasek, Multicoin Capital, SoftBank, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Since entering US markets in May of 2020 the company has scaled rapidly and now has a 24-hour trading volume of $255.5 million. The funds will be used to expand the company's user base, strengthen its derivatives efforts, launch new business lines, and make strategic acquisitions and investments.

SSS: FTX US raised $400 million in a Series A funding round. The company will use the funds to expand its user base and grow the business.

4. SEC wins time to resist crucial document handover to Ripple in XRP lawsuit
The XRP battle between the SEC and Ripple rages on as a federal judge has now granted the SEC until Feb. 17th to argue against her previous order that the SEC turn over certain documents to the company. These documents include: notes of private SEC meetings discussing Ethereum and a draft of a controversial 2018 speech by former SEC director William Hinman that stated Bitcoin and Ether were not securities. The SEC is currently suing Ripple and its top executives for the initial sale of XRP tokens calling it an "unregistered securities offering." Ripple argues that the company was not given fair notice that XRP would be treated differently than Bitcoin or Ethereum.

SSS: A federal judge will give the SEC another month to argue its case against her order to turn over documents that could exonerate Ripple, who is currently being sued by the commission for an unregistered securities offering. This longstanding battle will have implications for future initial coin offerings and protocols that are trying to raise funding and is being watched closely in the industry.

5. YouTube’s CEO Says the Company Will Explore NFT Features for Video Creators
YouTube wants to get into the NFT game (along with Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram). CEO Susan Wojcickihe, said the company is exploring adding NFT features to the platform for its creators. This news comes shortly after parent company, Alphabet Inc., announced that Google will be launching a blockchain division. Wojcicki also stated, “we’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalize on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs," and that the company was using web3 as further inspiration.

SSS: YouTube CEO, Susan Wojcickihe, said the company is looking for ways to deploy NFT features to allows its creators to capitalize on the new technology. The announcement follows similar moves from Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Top Sharers of the Crypto Top 5:
1. Donna Y. - Nashville, TN
2. Jake Y. - Greenville, SC
3. Forrest H. - Evansville, IN

External Resources:
1. Cryptopedia from Gemini - if you see a word, acronym, or phrase in this newsletter that you don't understand, there's a good chance you can find an explanation here
2. Crypto Explainer+ - intro level courses on Bitcoin, Ethereum, decentralized finance, NFTs, and more

Disclaimer: The information contained in this newsletter shall not be understood or construed as financial advice. I am not an attorney, accountant or financial advisor, nor am I holding myself out to be, and the information provided is not a substitute for financial advice from a professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation.