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The House has made it clear that passing a stablecoin bill is a top priority. Regulators – like the SEC – shouldn’t get ahead of the legislative process, say Bain Capital’s Tuongvy Le and Khurram Dara.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked Grayscale to withdraw its application to launch a Filecoin Trust product, the company revealed Wednesday.

Securities and Exchange Commission staff believe Filecoin “meets the definition of a security under the federal securities laws,” the commission told Grayscale Investments in a comment letter.

“Grayscale received a comment letter from the SEC staff stating its view that the trust’s underlying asset, FIL, meets the definition of a security under the federal securities laws,” Grayscale said in a statement. 

SEC staff also requested Grayscale seek the withdrawal of its registration statement for Filecoin Trust.

Grayscale pushed back on the characterization. SEC staff opinions do not reflect the official stance of the commission. Commissioners vote on enforcement actions based on recommendations provided by staff. 

“Grayscale does not believe that FIL is a security under the federal securities laws and intends to respond promptly to the SEC staff with an explanation of the legal basis for Grayscale’s position,” Grayscale said. “Grayscale cannot predict whether the SEC staff will be persuaded that Grayscale’s position is correct.”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Circle’s reserve fund has ditched Treasury bills that mature beyond May 31, rotating assets to cash and overnight repurchase agreements instead, a company spokesperson said.

High-frequency trading can be lucrative in newer markets like crypto, but HFT is not without its unique risks.

The loss in finality meant that blocks could have been tampered with, and while it isn’t supposed to affect end-user experiences, it did lead to some inconveniences for some applications.

Three influential contributors to Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange, have initiated discussions to explore a potential deployment on Coinbase’s Layer 2 blockchain Base.

The proposed integration, which was brought forward today on Uniswap’s governance forum by she256, Michigan Blockchain, and GFX Labs, would extend user access to Uniswap’s decentralized exchange via Base’s Layer 2 network, contingent upon the approval of an on-chain governance vote.

The groups behind the proposal form part of Uniswap’s decentralized autonomous organization. GFX Labs, among the trio, will shoulder the responsibility for the technical implementation of the contracts on Base, subject to the proposal’s approval.

Should the proposal go through, it would be a boon for the fledgling Coinbase project. Aimed at offering developers a more accessible, cost-effective platform for building decentralized apps on-chain, the exchange first introduced a testnet version of Base in February ahead of an expected mainnet launch later this year. Uniswap v3 is one of the most widely used decentralized finance applications. Within the last 24 hours, the decentralized exchange protocol that facilitates token swaps handled about half a billion dollars in trading volume solely on the Ethereum mainnet.

Uniswap V3 availability 

Currently, v3 is available on several EVM-compatible chains, such as Ethereum, Celo, BNB Chain, and additional Layer 2 networks like Arbitrum. Now, the contributors are setting their sights on Base as the next potential launch network.

Shortly after Base’s testnet launch, the Uniswap Foundation had hinted that the governance process to deploy Uniswap’s version 3 on Base would commence, despite Base being in the test phase. Uniswap founder Hayden James voiced his expectations of deploying the DEX on the network via the native canonical bridge operated by Base’s core developers.

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Citadel Securities is suing high-frequency crypto trading firm Portofino, alleging two former executives stole trade secrets as they tried to raise money and launch their startup.

Leonard Lancia and Alex Casimo, co-founders of Portofino Technologies, allegedly accessed Citadel’s proprietary information during the development of their firm. Citadel wants to put them on trial to determine monetary damages and potential restitution, according to a complaint filed in New York.

The suit alleges the pair “engaged in a brazen scheme to steal Citadel Securities’ trade secrets, lie to their Citadel Securities colleagues, and raid the ranks of Citadel Securities’ employees.” 

Lancia and Casimo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Big money

In September, Portofino Technologies announced it had raised $50 million with backers including Valar Ventures, Global Founders Capital and Coatue. The valuation was not disclosed.

Founded in April last year, the startup said it built high-frequency trading technology for digital assets and claimed to have already traded billions of dollars across both centralized and decentralized cryptocurrency exchanges and over the counter. Customers include institutions and web3 projects that require access to liquidity in the digital asset market.

Citadel’s suit alleges that Lancia and Casimo “were already deep into their efforts to build and raise capital for their new company” nearly six months before notifying Citdael of their intent to resign and that Portofino’s founders “left no doubt” about how they were using Citadel Securities’ trade secrets.

In a pitch deck, Citadel said it found that “the founders boasted that Portofino’s objective was to ‘[r]eplicate the most successful trading business model in traditional financial markets in crypto-currency markets.’”

“In other words,” the suit said, “Portofino intended to use Citadel Securities’ trade secrets to ‘replicate’ Citadel Securities’ business.”

© 2023 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

The assets include a loan portfolio, mining rigs and infrastrsucture and cryptocurrency worth as much as $2 billion.