Morning Minute | Coinbase Sues The SEC
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TylerD's Market Summary
The crypto wars continue, and this time it's Coinbase launching the offensive. Here's what you need to know. Plus, catch up on the hyped Grant Yun mint coming this week.
👩⚖️Coinbase Comes for the SEC
Brian Armstrong and Coinbase are tired of the SEC playing games.
And now, they're taking them to court.
Last night we got the bombshell news that Coinbase has officially sued the SEC.
The reason for the lawsuit?
To force the SEC to respond to Coinbase's prior request for clarity on crypto regulatory guidance, stemming from July 2022.
The Details
The TLDR from Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer for Coinbase:
"Coinbase has filed a narrow action in federal court to compel the SEC to do one simple thing: respond yes or no to Coinbase’s pending rulemaking petition that asks the SEC to provide overdue guidance for the crypto industry."
For some additional detail:
- The petition asks the SEC to use its formal rulemaking process to provide clarity to the crypto industry.
- The Administrative Procedure Act requires the SEC to respond to Coinbase's rulemaking petition within a reasonable time.
- Coinbase is not asking the court to instruct the agency on how to respond, but to order the SEC to respond at all, which they are legally obligated to do.
- More than 1,700 entities and individuals have submitted comments to Coinbase's petition echoing the request for clarity.
So Coinbase is certainly not alone in this request, and the SEC is obligated to respond by law.
Why It Matters
The crypto industry, especially in the U.S., has been in flux since the FTX disaster.
Crypto companies have been effectively de-banked, there's been talks of just about every major crypto token being a security, and the levels of broad uncertainty have been rising.
The lack of clarity and politicization of crypto has even forced Coinbase to consider moving offshore, having already begun the process of spinning up a Bermuda-based offshore exchange.
Some basic guidance from U.S. regulators would go a long way in calming fears and taming uncertainty, and if nothing else, provide a framework for crypto companies to operate with.
One would expect providing regulatory clarity for the crypto industry to be a somewhat basic request for a body like the SEC, but given how political crypto has become in the U.S., no request seems to be basic.
But it looks like the SEC might finally be forced to reveal their hand, something the entire industry will welcome.
We will be watching closely.
🖼 Grant Yun Paves the Way for "The Road Ahead"
Arguably the most anticipated drop of the week is from star artist/med student/breakdancer Grant Yun and his "The Road Ahead."
We knew the piece was part 2 of the "Life In Japan" series and that it was coming this Thursday, but that was it.
Now we know more, and it comes with a twist.
The Details:
- Date/Time: April 27th at 6:30pm ET*
- Where: Nifty Gateway
- Size: 1,299
- Price: $299
- Limit: 1/collector
*Life of Japan 1 holders get early access (6:30-6:40), with public starting at 6:41 FCFS
The twist?
There's a burn mechanism.
Holders of both Life In Japan pieces (“School and Apartments” and “The Road Ahead”) will have the chance to burn them both to create a "unified" edition of the two pieces side-by-side.
This will reduce the size of both editions and provides a fun option for holders to choose to keep their pieces separate or combine.
Market Reaction
Grant's "School and Apartments" edition has one of the highest floors of any notable artist (outside of XCOPY).
The 374-count edition holds a 3.1 ETH floor.
Assuming a similar marketcap for "The Road Ahead," the expected price is around 0.8 ETH (~$1,490).
It likely won't open that high, but expectations are high that this will be a profitable mint.
Given the supply is 1,299 and there are only 374 possible mints in the pre-access window, this is definitely going to the public mint on Thursday.
But it likely won't last there long (perhaps mere seconds).
Set your reminders.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
- Trading volume was at 12.1k ETH on Monday, the lowest recorded since January; OS Pro captured 6.6% share, with Blur holding 56%
- NFTs were down slightly on the low-volume day, with most down 1%-3%
- Nike x RTFKT's forging event began on Monday, with holders of the limited edition digital Air Force 1 sneakers able to redeem for physicals
- NFTfi hints at a potential airdrop coming today, in a teaser video that says "Summer starts tomorrow" (no airdrop has been confirmed, this is speculation)
- Killabears launched their Cubryo Incubator, allowing Killacubs holders the chance to evolve and customize their Cubs through 8 incubation stages
- Adidas ALTs Universal Key holders were able to initiate the trait selection process by selecting a room, starting yesterday
- The NBA Top Shot Redemption window opened on Monday, with Nets and 76er players' Moments from Embiid, Harden, Maxey, Bridges, Claxton, and Cam Johnson able to be redeemed for Playoff Moments
- Kanpai Pandas partnered with Karate Combat for a year-long competition with 1B $KARATE tokens up as a prize
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
- The crypto market fell a bit more on Monday; BTC even at $27,400; ETH -1% at $1,820; ETH has officially given back all gains from the Shanghai rally
- The Dogecoin Twitter account seemingly chirped at $PEPE and other memecoins on Monday, though $PEPE fell 9% to $105M MC
- The Floor App is adding Solana NFTs to its wallet tracking platform, launching on May 8; an app invite was extended to top Solana NFT collection holders
🚀 NFT Total Volume
- MAYC (1,617 ETH, 11.1 ETH Floor)
- Azuki (1,390 ETH; 14.85 ETH)
- Wrapped CryptoPunks (725 ETH, 48.2 ETH)
- BAYC (722 ETH, 50.6 ETH)
- Milady (450 ETH, 2.4 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
- NFT Worlds (16%, 1.9 ETH Floor)
- rektguy (15%, 0.59 ETH)
- Killabits (11%, 1.04 ETH)
- Clone X (10%, 2.94 ETH)
- Oddities (9%, 0.32 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is set to be one of the slowest in recent memory.
The main set of mints on the calendar is from Zeeverse, a monster-tamer MMORPG.
The other main drop is from Nicolas Sassoon for DRAUP. The collection is the first long-form generative digital fashion collection to be released by DRAUP, though it won't be cheap, priced in the 0.4 to 0.6 ETH range for the 648 NFTs.
Other than that, expect another day of low volume unless we see some unexpected surprises.
- Zeeverse Soul Shards (TBD); 0.047 ETH
- Zeeverse Genesis Loot Pods (6:30 p.m. ET); 0.017
- DRAUP x Nicolas Sassoon: SEEN ON SCREEN (4:00 p.m. ET); 0.4-0.6 ETH
- NBA Top Shot Redemptions - LIVE
Enjoy this write-up? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
For all volume and floor price data, see Lucky Trader's Project Rankings page.
For all upcoming mints, see Lucky Trader's Project Schedule page.
