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This is your go-to newsletter, dedicated to the latest happenings in Web3 investment, ranging from acquisitions, partnerships, capital-raising activities, and real estate. We cover everyone from the most prominent players to the rising stars in the field, delivering insights right to your inbox Monday to Thursday. And yes, we sprinkle in a bit of legal commentary for good measure.

Let’s get it.

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🟨 Law News

Difference between Binance and Coinbase SEC lawsuit.

The SEC has recently taken legal action against Binance and Coinbase, leveling serious allegations against both companies. But both lawsuits differ. In simple terms, the SEC is accusing Binance of commingling and manipulating customer funds, while Coinbase is being accused of operating as an unregistered securities exchange. According to legal experts, “Binance may be in bigger trouble, because a company may never recover from fraud or similar claims.”

Read the SEC v. Coinbase Complaint; Read the SEC v. Binance Complaint

Former Twitter CEO claims ETH is a Security.

🟨 Investing — Cathie Wood increases her investment in Coinbase as the SEC crackdown intensifies.

Amid the SEC lawsuit against Coinbase and its notable share drop of 21% on June 6, Ark Investment acquired a 419,324 shares of Coinbase (as reported by Bloomberg data.) While Ark Innovation ETF, Wood's flagship fund, has achieved a solid 37% gain this year, outperforming the Nasdaq 100 Index (up 33%) and the S&P 500 (up 12%), it experienced a significant decline of 67% last year.

As of March 31, Ark Investment held a significant stake of over 11.7 million Coinbase shares, representing 6.3% of the total shares outstanding. Wood has expressed her optimistic outlook on Bitcoin, predicting it could reach $1 million, despite its current trading price hovering around $27,000.

🟨 Real Estate

Unlocking the World's Coveted Real Estate Markets Using Blockchain Technology

With a market value of $320 trillion, the real estate market remains largely inaccessible to many potential investors. To address these hurdles and provide a solution, Parcl, a web3 real estate investing platform, brings the world's most desirable real-world assets (RWAs) onto its platform, allowing users to gain exposure to entire cities through an index.

Parcl's RWA index represents the price of tangible assets existing in the physical world. Users can invest in an innovative vehicle that tracks the price movements of residential real estate markets in different cities. Parcl focuses on high-demand markets like New York and Los Angeles.

Hong Kong plans to trial its digital dollar in the $229 billion mortgage market.

Hong Kong's central bank plans to test its digital currency, e-HK dollar (e-HKD), in the mortgage market by aiming to cut the loan approval process by half. This move comes as banks fiercely compete for mortgage customers in the city's expensive housing market.

The pilot participants, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) and Ripple, will examine the feasibility of using e-HKD loans stored in an e-wallet, both online and offline. The project aims to digitize property title deeds on the blockchain, streamlining the loan approval process and eliminating the need for checks and reconciliation across separate systems. The use of e-HKD is expected to reduce the time required for loan approval.

The pilot participants will present their findings to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) by September, and the official launch date for e-HKD has yet to be decided.

🟨  Funds

WorldCoin raises $115m in Series C round: Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI (firm behind ChatGPT), has raised $115m for Worldcoin. The Series C funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Capital, and Distributed Global.

WOW EARN secures $30m in Series A round: Wow EARN, provider of crypto mining, earning, and trading services, has raised $30m from Pinnacle Innovations Capital, Blue Horizon Ventures, Ascendant Growth Partners, Nexus Pioneers Capital, and Quantum Leap Ventures.

Informal Systems raises $5.3 million in first funding round: Informal Systems, a Toronto startup has raised $5.3m led by CMCC with Nascent, Maven11, and others to fund its Cosmos ecosystem.

Bitcoin Startup Lab raises $1.5m. Bitcoin Startup Lab, a SF-based BTC pre-accelerator firm, has raised $1.5m led by Sora Ventures.

🟨 Lunch-Break Read

Binance and Coinbase SEC Lawsuits Deal Heavy Blow to Crypto

Louis Vuitton soul-bound ‘VIA Treasure Trunk' NFTs to sell for $41k apiece

Robinhood May Delist These Crypto Assets After SEC Crackdown

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.