Serving Up the Securities Enforcement Scraps on July 5

Stark v. Cuban on CBDCs, Crypto Regulation

The creation of a CBDC is perhaps the most absurd financial idea in the history of monetary policy. Learn why by reading today’s long-form Tweet (Teaser: Mark Cuban replies to my Tweet with a lengthy diatribe and I respond in turn with an even lengthier one)…

Crypto Exchange Gemini’s Cameron Winklevoss Tweets $1.5B ‘Final Offer’ in Debt Talks for Bankrupt Genesis

Winklevoss tweeted a document titled “Best and Final Offer – July 3, 2023,” with the outlines of a plan that calls for $1.465 billion of payments and loans denominated in dollars, bitcoin and ether. The deadline to agree to the deal is 4 p.m. on July 6, according to the letter.

“I write to inform you that your games are over,” Winklevoss wrote in the letter. “In addition to dragging out a resolution, they have ballooned professional fees to over $100 million, all of which have gone to lawyers and advisors at the expense of creditors and Earn users.”

Securities Suit Filings Up Slightly in Year’s First Half | The D&O Diary

The number of securities class action lawsuit filings in the year’s first half was up slightly compared to the number of filings in the first half of 2022, though roughly in line with the long-term average number of half-year securities suit filings. As discussed below, several factors contributed to the number of filings in the first six months of 2023, including the number of crypto and digital currency-related filings and the number of filings related to macroeconomic factors (such as interest rates, labor supply, and inflation). Concerns that drove securities suit filings in recent periods, including COVID-related suits and SPAC-related suits, were less of a factor in the year’s first half.

There were 113 securities class action lawsuits filed in the first half of 2023, compared to 110 in the first six months of 2022. The number of first half filings in 2023 is in line with the 1997-2021 average number of half year filings of 114. The number of first half 2023 filings implies a projected full-year number of filings by year-end 2023 of 226 securities suit filings, which would represent an increase compared to the full-year 2022 total number of filings of 197. Were 2023 to finish the year with a total of 226 securities suit filings, that would represent the highest annual number of securities suit filings since 2020 (when 318 securities suits were filed).

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Collection Sees Floor Price Sink Below 30 ETH

Bored Ape Yacht Club has experienced a decline in the average price of its NFTs, according to OpenSea, reflecting a broader cooldown in the NFT market and an extended crypto winter that has impacted the price of Ethereum, which powers many NFT collections. Other top NFT collections, including MoonBirds, Azuki and Doodles have also experienced dips in recent months.

According to data analytics platform CoinGecko, BAYC’s floor price dropped to a low of 27.4 ETH, or about $53,000 on Sunday evening before rebounding slightly. The last time BAYC’s floor price dropped below 30 ETH was in October 2021, shortly before its floor price skyrocketed to new highs during the NFT boom. According to CoinGecko, BAYC once reached a floor price of 153.7 ETH, or about $430,000, in April 2022.