Lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are pushing back against Coinbase’s requests for “essentially all documents that in any way relate to crypto,” calling the subpoena requests “breathtakingly broad.”

Europe’s fourth-largest hedge fund Capula Management, which oversees more than $30 billion in assets, has invested nearly $500 million in spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) according to recent public disclosures.

Gibraltar-based cryptocurrency custodian Xapo Bank has become the first UK bank to offer interest-bearing Bitcoin and fiat currency accounts, after successfully passporting its banking license.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• SEC Lawyers Push Back on Coinbase’s ‘Breathtakingly Broad’ Crypto Document Subpoena
• Europe’s Fourth Largest Hedge Fund Invests Nearly $500 Million in Spot Bitcoin ETFs
• Xapo Becomes First UK Bank to Offer Interest-Bearing Bitcoin Accounts

SEC Lawyers Push Back on Coinbase’s ‘Breathtakingly Broad’ Crypto Document Subpoena

Lawyers for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are pushing back against Coinbase’s requests for “essentially all documents that in any way relate to crypto,” calling the subpoena requests “breathtakingly broad.”

The escalating legal feud between the crypto exchange and the regulatory agency has intensified as Coinbase attempts to subpoena the SEC, including its chair, Gary Gensler, for communications and records that could bolster its defense in the SEC’s lawsuit accusing the company of operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.

Coinbase’s initial subpoena, served in April, sought a vast array of documents from the SEC, and the company later expanded its demands to include Gensler’s personal communications related to crypto, dating back four years before his appointment as SEC chair.

While Coinbase has since narrowed this request, the SEC has steadfastly opposed it, labeling it a “blatant impropriety.” District Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York, overseeing the case, has expressed frustration with Coinbase’s tactics.

In a July hearing, she described the company’s arguments as “bordering on the fatuous” and ordered Coinbase to file a motion to compel as a starting point for the parties to work through the discovery dispute.

Europe’s Fourth Largest Hedge Fund Invests Nearly $500 Million in Spot Bitcoin ETFs

Europe’s fourth-largest hedge fund Capula Management, which oversees more than $30 billion in assets, has invested nearly $500 million in spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) according to recent public disclosures.

The disclosure reveals that Capula holds shares in both Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust in a move that comes amid a broader trend of traditional financial institutions adopting Bitcoin.

Other hedge funds, including Millennium Management, have also reported significant investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs, which offer investors exposure to the cryptocurrency’s performance without the complexities of direct ownership.

Since their launch in January, spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen over $50 billion in net investor inflows, with BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC emerging as blue chips among these funds.

Xapo Becomes First UK Bank to Offer Interest-Bearing Bitcoin Accounts

Gibraltar-based cryptocurrency custodian Xapo Bank has become the first UK bank to offer interest-bearing Bitcoin and fiat currency accounts, after successfully passporting its banking license.

The passporting scheme is a framework allowing firms with existing licenses in Gibraltar to extend their services to the U.K. market with approval from relevant authorities, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and the Bank of England.

Xapo boasts a 1% interest rate on Bitcoin holdings, without requiring users to stake, lend, or lock up their assets. Details regarding the source of this yield weren’t disclosed.

The platform’s users can spend their Bitcoin via their Xapo debit card, send direct GBP payments to UK bank accounts, invest in the S&P 500, access stablecoin payments rails with USD bank accounts, and acquire cryptocurrency.

Securing a U.K. banking license has proven challenging for many fintech companies in recent years. However, Xapo’s accomplishment follows the recent licensing approval for popular cryptocurrency-friendly financial app Revolut.

While Xapo has been regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission since 2021 and could offer certain services in the UK, this new status allows them to operate as a fully-fledged UK bank.

Bitcoin Briefly Plunged to $48,200 on Liquidation Cascade

itcoin’s monumental price drop yesterday was a result of a liquidation cascade driven by unfavorable economic news, as the Bank of Japan raised interest rates in a move that ended the JPY-USD carry trade, where traders borrowed yen for next to nothing to gain yield on other currencies.

On top of that, large players in the cryptocurrency space started liquidating funds, while geopolitical tensions in the Middle East rose to threaten the beginning of a regional conflict.

That confluence of factors saw Bitcoin plunge to a $48,200 low, but as of this morning aggregate open interest dropped by -17.35% in 24 hours, from ~$85bn to $70.2 billion.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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