Digital assets: Ribbon Finance executes first Ether autocall

DeFi-focused digital assets manager MEV Capital and London-based financial services provider Marex have executed their first autocallable product tied to Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency, Ether.

With the transparency of smart contracts, anyone can check if the barriers have been hit, coupons have been paid etc - Jeremy Obadia, Ribbon Finance

The transaction used a smart contract developed by Ribbon Finance, the decentralised derivatives platform built on Ethereum which has rebranded to Aevo.

Jeremy Obadia (pictured), head of structured derivatives at Ribbon Finance highlighted the benefits of faster settlement and 24/7 access among on-chain autocalls.

“With the transparency of smart contracts, anyone can check if the barriers have been hit, coupons have been paid etc,” he told SRP.

The payments don’t come with issuer risk as the market maker deposits the sum of all possible coupons ahead in a smart contract and the coupon will still be paid if a default event occurs according to Obadia.

MEV Capital bought a two-week Ether autocall denominated in USD Coin(USDC), which has a knock-in barrier at 85% and autocall trigger level at 100%, and a fixed coupon of 26% pa, while Marex was the hedge provider.

Ribbon Finance launched Aevo as a decentralised options exchange last September, which allows Ether investors to trade options on-chain. In May, the bourse began offering options tied to altcoins.

DWS to launch crypto ETPs by Q4

Germany asset manager DWS expects to go live with its first cryptocurrency exchange-traded-product (ETP) by Q4 2023, Stefan Hoops (right), CEO of DWS, said during the Q2 2023 earnings call on 26 July.

‘We want to grow in the digital asset space, as we expect significant parts of the financial economy to be tokenised in the future,’ he said.

In April, DWS and Galaxy Digital Holdings have partnered to ‘developing a comprehensive suite of ETPs on certain digital assets in Europe’. DWS is Galaxy’s exclusive partner for cryptocurrency ETPs in Europe.

DWS is also working on education and thought leadership initiatives such as a DWS Digital Assets Academy, with the goal to ‘lay the foundation for the next phase of our digital asset strategy to issue a euro stablecoin, Hoops added.

Grayscale urges fair rules for Bitcoin ETFs

Grayscale Investments has submitted a comment letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing all spot Bitcoin ETF applications should be approved simultaneously if it approves any, with the objective of granting equal treatment to all applicants, according to the firm’s statement on 27 July.

‘As a disclosure-based regulator, the SEC should not pick winners and losers; instead, the SEC should continue to provide issuers with feedback or guidance consistently and equitably,’ said Craig Salm, chief legal officer of Grayscale.

The SEC is in a legal battle with Grayscale over whether the firm's Grayscale Bitcoin Trust can be converted into an ETF.

A wave of bitcoin spot ETF applications was raised in the crypto industry in June, with filings from asset manager giants like BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. The regulatory agency has yet to approve any spot Bitcoin ETF so far.

Binance obtains operational licence in Dubai in a first

Binance’s Dubai subsidiary, Binance FZE, has secured an operational minimum viable product (MVP) licence from Dubai’s virtual assets regulatory authority (VARA), according to the firm’s statement on 31 July.

The licence allows Binance to operate virtual asset exchange services and virtual asset broker-dealer services under VARA’s investor protection and market assurance standards, limited to institutional and qualified retail investors in Dubai, read the statement.

'The last few years have cemented Dubai as a global virtual asset hub and we are excited to be a witness to that growth as we build on our operations here, with continued commitment to market and investor security,' said Alexander Chehade, general manager of Biance Dubai.

In March, Binance obtained a provisional MVP licence.

Solv Protocol raises US$6m backed by Nomura, UOB

Solv Protocol, a Singapore-based on-chain fund protocol, has raised US$6m from a group of 10 investors including Laser Digital, a subsidiary of Nomura Securities, and UOB Venture Management.

The proceeds will be used to ‘expand the team and continue to work on the development of the platform’s technology,’ according to the protocols’ statement on 1 August.

In March, Solv launched Solv V3, a platform that supports the creation, distribution, management and settlement of on-chain funds. So far the platform has served over 25,000 users and facilitated over US$100m trading volume.

‘New DeFi narratives like real-world assets (RWA) and liquid staking derivatives (LSD) are driving a new DeFi summer,’ said Ryan Chow (right), CEO of Solv Protocol. ‘Solv V3 will focus on the RWA track, and is committed to introducing billions of dollars’ worth of income-generating assets for the industry through our fund platform, in preparation for the next phase of DeFi mass adoption.’

Other investors in the round are Mirana Ventures, Emirates Consortium, Matrix Partners, Bing Ventures, Apollo Capital, HashCIB, Geek Cartel and Bytetrade Labs.