Chain News by Thebittimes.Com

Mike Novogratz expects SEC to approve a Spot Bitcoin ETF this year. Barclays analyst does not expect that to be a huge benefit for Coinbase. Coinbase stock is currently down over 30% versus its year-to-date high. Mike Novogratz – the Chief Executive of Galaxy Investment Partners expects the Securities & Exchange Commission to approve a Spot Bitcoin ETF by the end of this year. Here’s what Mike Novogratz said today on CNBC Last week, the U.S. regulator refrained from appealing a court’s ruling that said it did not have sufficient reason to block Grayscale from converting its flagship trust to an exchange-traded fund. Note that Galaxy itself has filed for a Spot Bitcoin ETF in collaboration with Invesco. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, Novogratz said today: Dialogue with SEC is heading in right direction. It is no longer talking how Bitcoin works. It’s just a recognised macro asset and that’s a huge psychologica...

Hong Kong warns crypto firms against using the word “bank” The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) says only licensed banks can take “deposits.” Using terms such as digital bank, crypto bank and crypto asset bank contravenes the Banking Ordinance. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has warned crypto firms that it’s against the law for any unauthorised company or platform to refer themselves as a “bank”, or deposit-taking businesses.  Hong Kong regulation prohibits this, HKMA noted. Only licenced banks can take deposits HKMA’s warning noted that firms taking such an approach to their marketing to the public are contravening the Banking Ordinance. The regulator notified the public to be aware of this fact, while crypto firms were reminded that only HKMA-licensed providers can use the term bank or take deposits from the public. “ Under the Banking Ordinance, only licensed banks , restricted licen...

Source: AdobeStock / blicsejo   Play-to-earn game Stepn , which lets users buy non-fungible token (NFT) running shoes and earn native crypto GMT through jogging, reportedly started a major layoff of its contract workers amid a market downturn – but the team behind the app denies firing staff. The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that Find Satoshi Labs , Stepn’s parent company , has terminated the contracts of more than 100 community moderators of its social media channels, as well as its “ambassadors” who promote the “move-to -earn&rdquo ; fitness app. It cited the crypto news outlet Wu Blockchain and “people familiar with the matter.” “It began to focus on promoting its parent company Find Satoshi Lab, and mainly focused on new projects to be released such as the NFT exchange market,” Wu Blockchain reported. “In addition, the large amount of GMT's investor saft will be unlocked in March next ...