David Canellis

This is a segment from the Supply Shock newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/supplyshock" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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It’s nice to imagine a world where the price of bitcoin didn’t matter. Sadly, it can never be so.



Perhaps in a vacuum, maybe, in an alternate dimension where human brains are hardwired — like an ASIC miner — to only ever transact in bitcoin and nothing else. Not with <a href="https://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/rob/Courses/InformationInSpeech/CDROM/Literature/LOTwinterschool2006/szabo.best.vwh.net/shell.html">shells</a>, gold or livestock. Only bitcoin and barter, forever.



<a href="https://hyperbitcoinization.com/">Hyperbitcoinization</a> or bust.



In boring reality, bitcoin needs reference points. The ones we currently have may well be trending to zero, but Bitcoin could never fulfill its true calling — payments and storing value — without knowing exactly how much it’s worth relative to something else at any given moment.



Tracking exchange rates quickly turns into an obsession, and for good reason: That’s how fortunes are made.&nbsp;



Few know that better than Mark Cuban, my muse for today’s retrospective.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Money Is Speech</h2>



It’s been eight years exactly since <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/06/mark-cuban-calls-bitcoin-a-bubble-price-falls.html">this banger tweet</a> about Bitcoin from the former majority Mavs owner Cuban:



“I think it’s in a bubble. I just don’t know when or how much it corrects. When everyone is bragging about how easy they are making $=bubble.”



It was June 2017, and bitcoin had been rallying for about six months straight to cap off a 10x run over two years — from $250 to $2,800 around the time of Cuban’s post.



Bitcoin would push 600% higher over the next six months until the cycle’s peak in December, before retracing by more than 80% across the following year.



Was that a bubble? It really depends on how loose your definition is, but for what it’s worth, bitcoin never returned to $2,800 again after Cuban’s post.



So, anyone who bought bitcoin as he sent that tweet would have never lost money, and would today be up by 3,600%.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Look at Bitcoin. As long as everyone stays in their comfort zone , btc is never more than a SOV driven by supply and demand. Unless everyone drops fiat, no one drops fiat&mdash; Mark Cuban (@mcuban) <a href="https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1268663448847765515?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Nods in Jack Nicholson: “Unless everyone drops fiat, no one drops fiat.”</figcaption></figure>



Cuban’s opinion about bitcoin and crypto has indeed evolved over time — the same guy who <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/04/mark-cuban-on-the-value-of-bitcoin.html">said</a> “I’d rather have bananas than bitcoin” in October 2019 (when bitcoin was at $8,000) has more recently <a href="https://x.com/mcuban/status/1908344893862269417">said</a> “btc is probably a better buy right now” over stocks, even amid the buyback craze and with bitcoin at $84,000.



It’s not totally fair to surmise Cuban’s personal views from just his tweets and media spots. But I’ll do it anyway.



Cuban’s tendency is to consume Bitcoin through the very narrow lens of prices and profits, and he has certainly agreed with bitcoin’s potential as a store of value, even if it’s really a euphemism for “number go up.”



His most telling <a href="https://x.com/mcuban/status/1426920428237434888">tweet</a> is this, from August 2021, peak bull market: “BTC is a great SOV. Far better than gold. I own a bunch. But it is what it is. It doesn’t have all the special powers Maxis try to assign to it.”



Calling it now: If Bitcoinization is anything like the Apocalypse — 15 signs and all — then let the moment Cuban finally sees the magic of Bitcoin, beyond its price, be undeniable.



— David



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A Historian’s View</h2>



To pull a quote from Harry Suddock, when it comes to Bitcoin —&nbsp;“price is the product,” but I’ll add my own twist. It’s also the marketing. Since David has regaled us with a tale of just how late Mark Cuban has been to Bitcoin, I thought it would be nice to provide a reminder that we’re still early.



Take this quote from Zooko Wilcox, written 14 years ago:



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc0FiUG4XAVIQ8SZCpf8nc3AA0gdYt7HN-uRl_wMZq91hwFgqD4YRpYarV_nAiY6BLTELV01MSbrZ47kF9NE4nIoQH8ApyvLM_HI5gAcNMtE7GtgrrpvwUp-O8ZV-9jiYuAoE4n1w?key=2bRz0-TRqtndVWoTllE4yw" alt="" style="width:528px;height:auto"/></figure>



An off-the-cuff remark from a renowned cypherpunk (with his own fascinating crypto story), it’s a 14-year-old observation that rings true today.



It makes you wonder how high the price will be when the number of economists supporting BTC is over 10%.



— Rizzo



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Bitcoin

What Mark Cuban still misses about Bitcoin

Jack Kubinec

The social media protocol Farcaster generated a lot of buzz this week, driven by the success of its X-like client, Warpcaster.&nbsp;



The standard version of the story goes something like this: In late January, Farcaster released Frames, a feature that lets external sources be natively displayed within the Warpcast feed. This bit of technology allows developers to build cool things, such as in-app Girl Scout cookies order flows. As a result, users have flocked to what might become crypto’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/farcaster-just-might-be-the-new-crypto-twitter">new public square</a>.



This is all true, but the app also comes out of crypto, where the potential for profit is often a driver of user interest. Much of the Farcaster coverage this week showed this graph of Farcaster’s parabolic usage growth:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1192" height="916" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-79918" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=1192 1192w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=334 334w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=340 340w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=285 285w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-1.33.52-AM.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1192px) 100vw, 1192px" /></figure>



Data from the same Dune Analytics <a href="https://dune.com/pixelhack/farcaster">dashboard</a> shows that each of the 10 most popular posts (casts) this week used Frames to promote NFTs and other assets. Many of the posts required users to like and recast in exchange for a free mint.&nbsp;



Some Warpcasters have taken notice. A host of the /replyguys channel <a href="https://warpcast.com/tervo/0xb69a610f">complained</a> they saw “channels be inundated with [altcoin references] over [the] past two days.”



In an interview with Blockworks this week, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero said he wasn’t overly concerned about financialization on Warpcast and other Farcaster clients.



“Distribution is distribution. I think in the case of crypto, obviously, if you have a wallet, there’s naturally going to be probably a bit more financialization for some of the use cases,” Romero said.



“But I want to emphasize this: I think some of the most creative Frames aren’t overly financialized,” Romero continued.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/social-media-farcaster-interview">Q&amp;A: Dan Romero and Jesse Pollak think this may be Farcaster’s ‘inflection point’</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">NBA sued over Mark Cuban’s Voyager deal</h2>



The NBA was “grossly negligent” in not blocking a promotional deal between now-bankrupt crypto firm Voyager Digital and the Dallas Mavericks, a class action suit filed in a Miami district court <a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68229938/1/karnas-v-mccarter-english-llp/">argues</a>.



The suit alleges the NBA had a responsibility to review all marketing campaigns pertaining to the league, including Voyager’s with the Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban.&nbsp;



The Mavericks announced a five-year exclusive <a href="https://www.mavs.com/mavsvoyager/">partnership</a> with Voyager in 2021, offering fans $100 in crypto for signing up to the platform. Cuban and Voyager CEO Stephen Erlich <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/mavericks/2021/10/27/mark-cuban-mavs-partner-with-voyager-cryptocurrency-platform-in-teams-first-international-deal/">promoted</a> the deal at a press conference with several Mavericks players. Cuban <a href="https://brownrudnick.com/news_post/firm-defends-mark-cuban-and-mavs-in-voyager-digital-lawsuit/">faces</a> a class action suit of his own for his Voyager promotion.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/voyager-files-for-bankruptcy-days-after-freezing-withdrawals">Voyager filed for bankruptcy</a> in mid-2022 during the fallout from the collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mark-cuban-to-be-deposed-next-month-in-voyager-ponzi-suit">Mark Cuban To Be Deposed Next Month in Voyager ‘Ponzi’ Suit</a>



Voyager’s law firm, McCarter &amp; English, is also named in the suit. It’s the latest in a series of lawsuits athletes, sports teams, and now leagues have faced over ties to crypto firms.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/golden-state-warriors-lawsuit-ftx">Golden State Warriors, Steph Curry face class-action lawsuit from FTX investors</a>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">One interesting stat:</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>NFT collection Nobody, which <a href="https://nobody.xyz/">uses</a> generative AI to let owners chat with their NFT characters, <a href="https://defillama.com/nfts">saw</a> 11,208 ether in sales volume this week, according to DeFiLlama. The next-most traded collection did under 3,000 ether in volume.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Also of note:</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Mastercard <a href="https://www.mastercard.com/news/europe/en/newsroom/press-releases/en/2024/mastercard-launches-its-web3-uefa-champions-league-trivia-competition/">announced</a> a “Web3 powered trivia competition” where users can compete for UEFA Champions League match tickets in trivia contests unlocked with an NFT pass.&nbsp;</li>



<li>The NEAR Foundation and D3 Global are applying to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/near-foundation-top-level-domain">create a .near top-level domain (TLD).</a></li>



<li>The Avalanche-built first-person shooter game Shrapnel launched early access for some users on the Epic Games <a href="https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/shrapnel-e59542">store</a>.</li>
</ul>



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Farcaster

Web3 Watch: Farcaster’s most popular posts are NFT and altcoin promos

Shalini Nagarajan

Macauley Peterson

“Shark Tank” billionaire Mark Cuban re-engaged in the crypto space over the weekend after months of inactivity, only to fall victim to a hack.



One of the tech mogul&#8217;s crypto wallets saw losses of about $870,000 across various cryptocurrencies.&nbsp;



However, he was alerted after on-chain sleuths noticed his wallet was being unusually drained, thus preventing further losses.



An X user identified as WazzCrypto was the first to draw attention to the transfer, <a href="https://twitter.com/WazzCrypto/status/1702820716343624168">raising concerns</a> about its suspicious nature late on Friday.



After Cuban became aware of the purported attack, he transferred $2 million worth of USDC to Coinbase.



He <a href="https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/mark-cuban-loses-870k-to-a-crypto-scam/">confirmed</a> the hack in response to DL News, stating “someone one got me for 5 ETH.”



Cuban believed someone must have been tracking his activity, explaining that he came to use MetaMask for the first time in months.



He suspected that he downloaded a counterfeit version of the widely-used browser extension MetaMask cryptocurrency wallet.



He was reportedly looking up stablecoin provider Circle, then mistakenly downloaded what he thought was MetaMask.



Cuban mentioned that the hack took place while he was attempting to clean up his account using his phone.



“MetaMask crashed a couple times. I just stopped. Then you emailed me. So I locked my NFTs on OpenSea. Transferred all my Polygon in the account,” Cuban reportedly told the outlet.



He clarified that only the account that was hacked had any losses, and his other accounts remained unaffected.



Blockworks has reached out to Cuban for comment.



Cuban has earlier expressed keen interest in cryptocurrencies and blockchain tech, showcasing a blend of enthusiasm and caution.&nbsp;



In 2019, he announced that his NBA team would accept bitcoin as payment for tickets and merchandise, marking a significant toward integrating crypto into the mainstream.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">News analysis by Macauley Peterson</h2>



Proper self-custody of crypto assets is a responsibility. When downloading any browser extension — whether or not it is a wallet — one should check that the publisher information is accurate. Typically, a legitimate extension will have many thousands or millions of downloads.&nbsp;



In the case of MetaMask, <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/metamask/nkbihfbeogaeaoehlefnkodbefgpgknn">the real extension</a> is published by metamask.io and has over 10 million downloads.



For Cuban to have been victimized in this way, he would have had to import a seed phrase into the fake extension, thus revealing his private key to scammers.



It is paramount to take care when entering a seed phrase to import a wallet. Only do so when required and if you are sure the application is legitimate.



Using a hardware wallet compatible with MetaMask would have protected Cuban from this risk, since there is no seed phrase to import. If requested by an extension, that would be a clear sign that it was counterfeit.



Correction Sept. 18, 2023 at 12:33 pm ET: Clarified the headline that the exploit was effectuated by a fake MetaMask, not the actual wallet software.



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exploit

Mark Cuban loses nearly $900k on MetaMask fake

Katherine Ross

Lawyers representing a class-action lawsuit alleging that Mark Cuban promoted Voyager – and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lawsuit-likens-voyager-to-ponzi-sues-mark-cuban-for-promotion">likened it to a Ponzi scheme</a> – were “objectively reckless,” according to Cuban.



In a filing asking the court to pursue sanctions against the counsel of the plaintiffs in the suit, Cuban and his attorneys have <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mark-Cuban-Sanctions.pdf">asked</a> the court to pursue Section 1927 sanctions against the counsel. 



Section 1927 <a href="https://www.gibbonslawalert.com/2020/11/12/federal-court-sanctions-defense-attorney-under-%C2%A7-1927-for-unreasonably-vexatious-conduct-during-discovery/#:~:text=Under%20%C2%A7%201927%2C%20a%20court,1927%3A%20%E2%80%9Cfair%20notice%20and%20an">sanctions</a> can be imposed when attorney conduct “viewed objectively, manifests either intentional or reckless disregard of the attorney’s duties to the court.”



According to the document, attorneys did not correct deficiencies or “false assertions” in the lawsuit against Cuban, which included one plaintiff – Pierce Robinson – allegedly creating a Voyager account five months prior to the Mavericks and Voyager announcing their sponsorship agreement.&nbsp;



Another plaintiff, Rachel Gold, did not open a Voyager account in her name, and the counsel “submitted multiple false statements in filings with the Court and continued their frivolous pursuit of Ms. Fold’s claims long after they knew she was never a Voyager account holder.”&nbsp;



In return, Cuban’s counsel argues “only purchasers may bring unregistered securities claims.”



Prior to the filing of the sanctions motion, Cuban’s team had served unfiled Rule 11 motions against “misstatements and the futility of [Florida plaintiffs’] claims.”



According to <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_11#rule_11_b">Cornell</a> Law School, Rule 11 provides “for the striking of pleadings and the imposition of disciplinary sanctions to check abuses in the signing of pleadings.”



If the judge grants the 1927 motion, then Cuban could be awarded “reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.”



Cuban&#8217;s lawyers argued that, “at a minimum,” they’re entitled to the costs “incurred after the fatal flaws of the Florida Plaintiffs&#8217; claims became objectively apparent.” <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mark-cuban-accuses-plaintiffs-suing-him-of-forum-shopping-and-gamesmanship">Cuban previously claimed</a> that the plaintiffs engaged in “transparent forum shopping and gamesmanship.”



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lawsuit

Lawyers in Voyager Case Engaged in ‘Reckless Conduct,’ Mark Cuban Says

“Shark Tank” investor <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/mark-cuban">Mark Cuban</a> filed a motion arguing the Voyager class-action lawsuit in which he was accused of promoting a “Ponzi scheme” should be moved from Florida to Texas.



The transfer of venue declarations were made by Sigmund Wissner-Gross, a partner at Brown Rudnick and counsel to Cuban and his team, along with Mavericks employee Ryan Mackey.



A <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.618110/gov.uscourts.flsd.618110.89.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">court filing</a> released Tuesday doesn’t include the full details regarding their intent to move the case, as Cuban and the Mavericks have asked the court to file their motion under seal, a procedure allowing the defendants to keep contents hidden so that the information in them doesn’t become public record.



Confidential information, such as the plaintiffs’ Voyager account information, their addresses and the last four digits of their social security numbers, were redacted in the filings.



Wissner-Gross’ declaration also included excerpts from Voyager’s agreement with Dallas Basketball, which they want to be kept private because of a confidentiality clause that prohibits its public distribution.



Voyager investors put forward <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lawsuit-likens-voyager-to-ponzi-sues-mark-cuban-for-promotion">allegations against Cuban</a> and CEO Steve Ehrlich last year, saying they personally reached out to potential customers to convince them into putting money into the “deceptive platform.” His NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks, was also named as a defendant in the suit. 



They “went to great lengths to use their experience as investors to dupe millions of Americans into investing,” the complaint said.



Cuban has now said that the investor plaintiffs engaged in “transparent forum shopping and gamesmanship,” according to <a href="https://www.law360.com/cybersecurity-privacy/articles/1571285" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Law360</a>.



Blockworks has reached out to Cuban and attorney Wissner-Gross for comment.



Cuban is scheduled to be deposed as part of the lawsuit on Feb. 2 in Dallas, Texas. Mackey and Kyle Tapply, team executives for corporate partnerships at the Mavericks, are also set to be deposed before Feb. 23.



Voyager <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/voyager-files-for-bankruptcy-days-after-freezing-withdrawals">filed for bankruptcy</a> in July after suffering massive losses from its exposure to crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, with Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research listed as its biggest creditor.



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bankruptcy

Mark Cuban Accuses Plaintiffs Suing Him of ‘Forum Shopping and Gamesmanship’

“Shark Tank” billionaire Mark Cuban is set to be deposed as part of a class-action lawsuit over his role in promoting failed crypto lender Voyager to millions of Americans.



A number of Voyager users filed the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/lawsuit-likens-voyager-to-ponzi-sues-mark-cuban-for-promotion" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lawsuit</a> in August, claiming both Cuban and Voyager CEO Steve Ehrlich encouraged them to invest with the alleged “deceptive” platform, which plaintiffs claim was a “massive Ponzi scheme.”



A deposition refers to the testimony of an individual conducted outside of court as part of the discovery process conducted prior to a trial.&nbsp;



Cuban had requested a US judge to split the deposition process into two sessions. But a <a href="https://assets.law360news.com/1563000/1563561/https-ecf-flsd-uscourts-gov-doc1-051125442809.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">court filing</a> dated Jan. 9 showed US magistrate judge Lisette Reid ordered him to do it in one sitting. He is now scheduled to be deposed in Dallas, Texas on Feb. 2.



The judge also ordered Pierce Robertson, Rachel Gold and Sanford Gold, three plaintiffs who brought the suit forward, to be deposed between Jan. 9 and Jan. 24.



Cuban’s professional basketball team the Dallas Mavericks was also named in the suit. Two team execs for corporate partnerships, Ryan Mackey and Kyle Tapply, will also be deposed before Feb. 23.



“Cuban and Ehrlich, as will be explained, went to great lengths to use their experience as investors to dupe millions of Americans into investing — in many cases, their life savings — into the Deceptive Voyager Platform,” the lawsuit read.



“As a result, over 3.5 million Americans have now all but lost over $5 billion in cryptocurrency assets.”



The suit further alleged that public support of Voyager by the Dallas Mavericks and Cuban showed they were targeting amateur investors with misleading promises of making large profits.



Cuban and Voyager didn’t return Blockworks’ requests for comment by press time. Voyager filed for bankruptcy in July after <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/voyager-files-for-bankruptcy-days-after-freezing-withdrawals" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">crumpling under exposure</a> to now-defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.



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dallas mavericks

Mark Cuban To Be Deposed Next Month in Voyager ‘Ponzi’ Suit

<div id="highlights-block_62f4d6b143ff4" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>A team of Voyager investors allege Mark Cuban helped dupe millions of Americans into investing in a “massive Ponzi scheme&#8221;</li>
 <li>Voyager targeted amateur investors through youth-forward marketing, according to the lawsuit</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Recent court documents have detailed allegations against billionaire “Shark Tank” investor Mark Cuban over his relationship with bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital.&nbsp;



Investors claim Cuban and Voyager CEO <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-ceo-dumped-31m-stock-as-shares-hit-record-highs-cnbc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Steve Ehrlich</a> were key players who personally reached out to potential Voyager customers and convinced them to put money into the “deceptive” platform. 



Cuban’s NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks, was also been named as a defendant in the lawsuit, a securities class-action <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/robertson-cuban-complaint-usdc-florida.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">complaint</a> filed on Wednesday showed.



The pair “went to great lengths to use their experience as investors to dupe millions of Americans into investing,” the 92-page-long complaint reads. 



Moskowitz Law Firm <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/voyager-digital-sued-in-miami-federal-court-301545574.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lodged</a> a similar class-action in December, which was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/updated-lawsuit-alleges-voyager-digital-sold-unregistered-crypto-securities/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">updated</a> with additional allegations in April. That complaint has since been stayed as a result of Voyager&#8217;s bankruptcy, leading to a fresh filing.



The claimants have attempted to document both Cuban&#8217;s endorsements of Voyager Digital alongside his million-dollar losses associated with failed stablecoin project <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/algorithmic-stablecoin-developer-sam-kazemian-calls-for-caution-on-regulation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Iron Finance</a>, which he publicly endorsed just before it crashed entirely.



Voyager <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-files-for-bankruptcy-days-after-freezing-withdrawals/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filed for bankruptcy</a> in New York on July 5, days after freezing withdrawals on its platform over liquidity issues. 



The Toronto Stock Exchange suspended Voyager shares the next day and now face total delisting, but they&#8217;re still available on US-based OTC Markets. 



Voyager&#8217;s share price — which has oddly tripled in the last five days — has collapsed 97% over the past six months, while its native token VGX has tanked more than 80%.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Not just Cuban: Voyager pushed sports marketing at crypto peak</h3>



In October last year, as bitcoin hovered around all-time highs, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/voyager-digital-partners-with-dallas-mavericks/">Dallas Mavericks partnered with Voyager</a> to boost brand awareness and drive crypto adoption when enthusiasm around digital assets was already high. 



Voyager was on a sports marketing kick at the time, as were many <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-inks-135m-sponsorship-deal-for-miami-heat-arena/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">other</a> crypto firms. Voyager had struck a <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/voyager-digital-partners-with-football-star-rob-gronkowski-to-expand-crypto-platform--support-gronk-nation-301370901.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">promotional</a> deal with NFL star Rob Gronkowski one month earlier, which would see the four-time Superbowl champion &#8220;become a brand ambassador, Voyager shareholder and holder&#8221; of Voyager&#8217;s token VGX.



Another advertising <a href="http://prnewswire.com/news-releases/voyager-digital-extends-crypto-based-partnership-with-nascar-driver-landon-cassill-in-collaboration-with-kaulig-racing-301440789.html(opens in a new tab)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">agreement</a> with NASCAR driver Landon Cassill, from December, was pegged to pay out in various cryptocurrencies, including VGX.



Claimants in the class-action describe Voyager as a “massive Ponzi scheme” that relied on support from Cuban and Dallas Mavericks.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="506" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png" alt="" class="wp-image-26358" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=50 50w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-11-at-12.53.23-1024x506.png?w=1666 1666w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>Investors cite a Reddit thread in which Erlich &#8220;played up&#8221; Cuban&#8217;s relationship with Voyager Digital.</figcaption></figure>



Voyager is estimated to owe $5.7 billion to over 100,000 parties.



“The very public support from the Dallas Mavericks and their owner, Mark Cuban, including their recent massive investment in the Deceptive Voyager Platform, gives a great illustration of how the Voyager Defendants are targeting unsophisticated investors with false and misleading promises of reaping large profits in the cryptocurrency market,” they wrote.



The plaintiffs also allege that Voyager targeted young, inexperienced investors through youth-forward marketing, promises of interest payments on crypto holdings and assurances that customers would receive the best price on trades.



Cuban and a representative for Ehrlich didn’t return Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.



This article was updated at 7:46 am ET with additional context.



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cryptocurrency

Lawsuit Likens Voyager to Ponzi, Sues Mark Cuban For Promotion

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_617a6a2ad200b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has recently touted bitcoin and Ethereum, and his team began accepting dogecoin as a payment for merchandise earlier this year</li>
 <li>Voyager, which now has more than 2 million verified users, looking to expand to Europe in 2022</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Voyager Digital has partnered with the Dallas Mavericks as crypto firms continue to infiltrate the sports realm to bolster brand awareness and drive cryptocurrency adoption.



As part of the five-year agreement, the two organizations will seek to make cryptocurrency more accessible through educational and community programs, as well as fan engagement promotions.&nbsp;



“There’s a lot of hype, there’s a lot of discussion, but most people don’t really understand the fundamentals behind it, and we’re really going to try to bring that level of education to our fans and to our joint customers,” Mavericks owner <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=mark+cuban" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mark Cuban</a> said during a press conference Wednesday.



He added during the event that he transferred a portion of his own Polygon (MATIC) tokens to the platform because Voyager paid a higher return rate than Aave, the application he was using before.



The partnership also includes naming rights to the Mavs Gaming Hub, the official gaming and event venue for the Mavs NBA 2K League team, which will be announced at a later date. There will also be on-rotation, digital, and in-arena signage during games.



“Blockchain, cryptocurrency, bitcoin have all been around for 10-plus years, but in the end people are just starting to learn about it,” said Steve Ehrlich, Voyager’s CEO and co-founder.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“In the last nine months, we’ve seen an explosion of people having interest in cryptocurrency.”</blockquote>



Voyager Digital is a publicly traded cryptocurrency platform with more than 2 million verified users that allows investors to trade more than 60 currencies.&nbsp;



The company has partnered with the Mavericks because of the team’s leadership role in the NBA, established equity and recognition in crypto, as well as their fans&#8217; understanding and adoption of crypto, Ehrlich explained.&nbsp;



He noted that he wants to engage more with the Dallas community, and Texas overall, which he said has become a crypto hub. Ehrlich added that though Voyager is currently US-centric, the company is looking to expand its presence to Europe by the end of March 2022, starting with France.



The Mavericks began accepting dogecoin (DOGE) as a payment for merchandise in March, and also offered special pricing for those paying with the crypto asset during the organization’s summer sale. Despite dogecoin being created as a joke, Cuban previously told CNBC that “the community for DOGE is the strongest when it comes to using it as a medium of exchange.”&nbsp;



Cuban is bullish on bitcoin and ether. He posted on Twitter earlier this week that bitcoin’s huge advantage is that it has “zero competition” as a store of value. He also recently told CNBC that ether likely “has the most upside” as an investment.



Cuban argues that though coins like SHIB and DOGE are not investments, their low cost make them a potential good way to enter the crypto space and learn more about it.



The partnership is the latest example of Voyager, as well as other firms, gravitating toward partnerships with sports leagues and athletes to expand their presence.



Voyager announced an agreement in June with NASCAR driver Landon Cassill to pay him in a portfolio of cryptocurrency, including Litecoin and the Voyager Token. Last month, the company named NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski as a Voyager brand ambassador and shareholder.



FTX has also made sports partnerships a priority, becoming the first cryptocurrency exchange to sponsor a professional sports league with its five-year partnership with Major League Baseball.&nbsp;



It has tapped high-profile athletes such as Tom Brady, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-names-stephen-curry-a-global-ambassador/">Steph Curry</a> and, most recently, <a href="https://twitter.com/davidortiz/status/1453158138018947072">David Ortiz</a> to be brand ambassadors.



FTX also sponsored the Miami Heat’s sports arena as part of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-inks-135m-sponsorship-deal-for-miami-heat-arena/">a $135 million deal</a> in March.&nbsp;



“What FTX did with the Heat was great, and they’re also trying to push their retail software application,” Cuban said. “But at the same time, I think we’re trying to make this driven more towards education and exposing more people in an educated manner to crypto through Voyager.”

Mark Cuban

Voyager Digital Partners with Dallas Mavericks

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_60c9fc7f1690b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Osprey Funds registered a Solana (SOL) fund with the SEC, potentially making it the first private Solana investment offering in the US</li>
 <li>Citigroup may give clients crypto exposure, potentially allowing them to trade bitcoin futures contracts on the CME</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



 



Bitcoin is steady with little gains ahead of Friday when roughly 25% of the asset&#8217;s options open interest is set to expire.



Bitcoin is trading at $48,766.67, up 0.9% on-day. This comes two days after BTC benchmarked a three-month high, touching above $50,000 on Monday. 



Investment manager Osprey Funds registered a Solana (SOL) fund with the Security Exchange Commission on Tuesday, making it the first private Solana investment offering in the US, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/osprey-funds-looking-to-offer-solana-trust/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported.</a> Currently, Osprey offers clients three trusts: Osprey Bitcoin, along with investment offerings to access Polkadot and Algorand networks. Solana’s native token was little changed on the news, trading at $70.94 as of press time. Solana is the tenth largest crypto by market capitalization at $20.57 billion, according to Messari.&nbsp;



Alternative cryptos like Cardano’s ADA token shed 1.71% in losses after making its trading debut on Japanese exchange Bitpoint early Wednesday morning. This was the first time ADA traded in the country. ADA, the third largest crypto by market cap, traded at&nbsp;$2.73, as of press time.



Finally, Facebook is “definitely looking” into ways of adding non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in their digital wallet Novi, according to the company’s Financial Head David Marcus. Marcus said the financial product could be used to store NFTs, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/facebooks-novi-digital-wallet-could-support-nfts-in-future-exec-says/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported.</a>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">DeFi</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Uniswap is trading at $26.96 with a total value locked of $4,776,030,042 declining -0.4% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.&nbsp;</li><li>Terra (LUNA) is trading at $29.71, shedding -5.7% with trading volume at $1,202,060,061 in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.</li><li>DeFi:ETH is 33.2% at 4:00 pm ET. </li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Crypto</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list" id="block-1209f037-00c3-4876-ad37-a29ab610c717"><li>Bitcoin is trading around $48,766.67, up 0.9% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.</li><li>Ether is trading around $3,223.96, advancing 0.07% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.</li><li>ETH:BTC is at 0.066, down -0.7% at 4:00 pm ET.</li><li>VIX is down -3.77% to 17.16 at 4:00 pm ET.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Insight</h3>



&#8220;This cycle is very similar to the in 2017. A month ago this enabled a prediction that Bitcoin would cross $50k soon, which it has now done,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cryptohopper.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cryptohopper</a> CEO Ruud Feltkamp said in a note. &#8220;If this pattern continues, I think the price will go sideways in the next month or so before the fun will start and it&#8217;ll be up all the way.&#8221;



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-2.png" alt="" class="wp-image-6972" width="849" height="484" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-2.png?w=512 512w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-2.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-2.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-2.png?w=458 458w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-2.png?w=384 384w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/image-2.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 849px) 100vw, 849px" /></figure></div>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Equities</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The Dow was up 0.11% to 35,405.</li><li>S&amp;P 500 advanced 0.22% to 4,496.</li><li>Nasdaq was up 0.15% to 15,041.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Currencies</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The US dollar fell -0.07%, according to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Commodities</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list" id="block-d64d70c9-7052-4f1a-8167-3d370fe08354"><li>Brent crude jumped to $72.15 per barrel, up 1.58%.</li><li>Gold declined -0.9% to $1,792.30.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Fixed Income</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>US 10-year treasury yields 1.342% as of 4:00 pm ET.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">We are looking out for</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The now-virtual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium begins on Thursday.</li><li>US personal income and spending data will be released on Friday.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In other news&#8230;</h3>



Citigroup may give institutional clients access to cryptocurrency exposure, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/citi-considering-trading-bitcoin-futures/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. The global bank is considering trading bitcoin futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange after other financial institutions like <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/jpmorgan-reportedly-to-allow-clients-to-access-crypto-funds/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JPMorgan reportedly</a> became the first bank to allow its financial advisors to give their wealthiest clients access to crypto funds.  



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Insight</h3>



“I expect that traditional Wall Street will try to get creative on how to benefit from crypto without diving in head-first,” David Tawil, president of ProChain Capital, previously told Blockworks. “It’s more likely that they will be forced [rather] than take the initiative.”



That&#8217;s it for today&#8217;s markets wrap. I&#8217;ll see you back here tomorrow.



Want more investor-focused content on digital assets?&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a>&nbsp;September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.

Bitcoin Steady Before Options Expiry: Markets Wrap

<div id="highlights-block_60c9fc7f1690b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>MicroStrategy Inc. bought 3,907 more bitcoins as their total investment nears $3 billion</li>
 <li>Mark Cuban-backed firm Alethea AI raised $16 million in a private token sale</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Bitcoin&#8217;s brief $50,000 high yesterday slid into the rear-view mirror today.



Around 25% of bitcoin options open interest is set to expire on Friday, leaving the popular digital asset to shed 2% on-day. Overall, bitcoin has made gains of 7.34% in the past seven days. 



MicroStrategy Inc. bought 3,907 more bitcoins as their total investment nears $3 billion, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/microstrategy-hodls-more-bitcoins-than-any-other-public-company/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. The company spent about $177 million in cash on its new digital assets, according to SEC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.microstrategy.com/content/dam/website-assets/collateral/financial-documents/financial-document-archive/form-8-k_08-24-2021.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a>.&nbsp;Co-founder Michael Saylor said he sees bitcoin as a digital property that is “the most compelling technical opportunity of the decade,” Blockworks previously&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/michael-saylor-bitcoin-is-a-trillion-dollar-opportunity-for-tech-giants/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.&nbsp;



Ethereum fell 3% on Tuesday, despite the increased cash flow into non-fungible token (NFT) market. Mark Cuban-backed firm <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/alethea-ai-fetch-ai-embed-ai-into-booming-nft-market/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alethea AI</a> raised $16 million in a private token sale, led by Crypto.com and Metapurse. Following Visa’s CryptoPunk purchase news, sales volumes of the NFT collection were above $86 million, according to <a href="https://cryptoslam.io/cryptopunks" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CryptoSlam.</a> Visa became the first payment processor to start a NFT collection on Monday after it announced its purchase of <a href="https://www.larvalabs.com/cryptopunks/details/7610" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CryptoPunk #7610</a> for $150,000 in ethereum.



In an interview with CNBC, FTX&#8217;s Sam Bankman-Fried <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/08/24/non-fungible-tokens-are-going-completely-mainstream-says-ftx-ceo.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">described</a> the digital collectibles as going “going mainstream&#8221; and that &#8220;everyone is currently getting into the NFT game in one way or another.” 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">DeFi</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Uniswap is trading at $27.09 with a total value locked of $4,754,390,342 declining -5.5% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.&nbsp;</li><li>Chainlink is trading at $26.42, shedding -6.9% with trading volume at $1,464,211,593 in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.</li><li>DeFi:ETH is 33.2% at 4:00 pm ET. </li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Crypto</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list" id="block-1209f037-00c3-4876-ad37-a29ab610c717"><li>Bitcoin is trading around $48,018.52, shedding -2.12% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.</li><li>Ether is trading around $3,180.22, declining -3.92% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.</li><li>ETH:BTC is at 0.066, down -1.41% at 4:00 pm ET.</li><li>VIX is up 0.01% to 17.16 at 4:00 pm ET.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Insight</h3>



&#8220;Watching bitcoin over the past week has been something akin to penalty shootouts. Just when it seems it&#8217;s made it clean past the $50,000 mark, all of a sudden it&#8217;s behind again. This is obviously a key resistance level for bitcoin, although perhaps more important would be its all-time high of $64,804,” <a href="https://www.yield.app/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YIELD</a> founder Tim Frost wrote in a note. “If the cryptocurrency manages to get past this in a bullish moment, we should see it hurtle towards $100,000 in short shrift.”



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66859150-1DC9-4445-826B-E6424D704510.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-6929" width="815" height="486" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66859150-1DC9-4445-826B-E6424D704510.jpeg?w=815 815w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66859150-1DC9-4445-826B-E6424D704510.jpeg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66859150-1DC9-4445-826B-E6424D704510.jpeg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66859150-1DC9-4445-826B-E6424D704510.jpeg?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66859150-1DC9-4445-826B-E6424D704510.jpeg?w=438 438w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66859150-1DC9-4445-826B-E6424D704510.jpeg?w=367 367w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/66859150-1DC9-4445-826B-E6424D704510.jpeg?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 815px) 100vw, 815px" /><figcaption>Source: Chainalysis Global DeFi Adoption Index; August 24, 2021</figcaption></figure>



Wall Street Indices make modest gains as investors prepare for tapering signals from the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium starting on Thursday. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Equities</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The Dow was up 0.09% to 35,366.</li><li>S&amp;P 500 advanced 0.15% to 4,486.</li><li>Nasdaq was up 0.52% to 15,019.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Currencies</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The US dollar fell -0.09%, according to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Commodities</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list" id="block-d64d70c9-7052-4f1a-8167-3d370fe08354"><li>Brent crude jumped to $71.18 per barrel, up 3.53%.</li><li>Gold declined -0.01% to $1,806.10.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Fixed Income</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>US 10-year treasury yields 1.297% as of 4:00 pm ET.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">We are looking out for</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The now-virtual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium will begin on Thursday.</li><li>US personal income and spending data will be released on Friday.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In other news&#8230;</h3>



The US is leading the world in decentralized finance (DeFi) adoption, according to a new <a href="https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2021-global-defi-adoption-index" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">index</a> by Chainalysis. 



The index, which was released on Tuesday, ranks 154 countries based on whose citizens execute the largest amount of DeFi transactions, overall. According to the announcement, each country’s score is based on three components including: the on-chain crypto value received by DeFi platforms weighted by PPP per capita, total retail value received by DeFi platforms and individual deposits to DeFi platform. The US ranks first followed by Vietnam, Thailand, China and the UK.



That&#8217;s it for today&#8217;s markets wrap. I&#8217;ll see you back here tomorrow.



Want more investor-focused content on digital assets?&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a>&nbsp;September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.

Mark Cuban

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