The Daily: Polymarket considers token launch, Celestia Foundation raises $100 million, Waters calls for 'grand bargain on stablecoins' and more

Happy Tuesday! In today's Daily, Polymarket considers launching a token, the Celestia Foundation raises $100 million, Rep. Maxine Waters calls for a "grand bargain on stablecoins" and more.

Meanwhile, analysts see bitcoin poised for a breakout in Q4 as institutional demand and innovation fuel a crypto surge.

Let's get started.

Polymarket considers token launch to raise $50 million

Polymarket is considering a token launch to raise over $50 million for its Polygon-based decentralized predictions platform, The Information reported, citing anonymous sources.

• Investors in the round will receive token warrants, granting them the right to buy tokens if Polymarket proceeds with the launch at a later date, according to the sources.
• "The prediction site could use the tokens as a way for users to validate the outcome of real-world events," one of the people said.
• "Polymarket has not made a decision regarding tokens and there's no guarantee of a launch," they added.
• Polymarket raised $45 million in a Series B round in May, led by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, 1confirmation and ParaFi, with participation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Dragonfly and Eventbrite co-founder Kevin Hartz.
• The platform has attracted nearly $1 billion in wagers for the U.S. presidential election market, with Kamala Harris currently favored with an estimated 51% chance of winning compared to Donald Trump's 48%.

Celestia Foundation raises $100 million

The Celestia Foundation, the organization behind the modular blockchain network, has raised $100 million in a funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto.

• Syncracy Capital, 1kx, Robot Ventures and Placeholder also participated in the round, among others, bringing its total financing to $155 million.
• Launched in October 2023, Celestia is designed to help other blockchains scale more efficiently by offloading their data requirements, with around two dozen rollups deployed on the layer.
• Its "data availability sampling" technology enables users to verify large blocks without having to download the entire dataset.

Rep. Maxine Waters calls for 'grand bargain on stablecoins'

Top Democrat of the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters said she wants to reach a " grand bargain on stablecoins " by the end of 2024, hoping to conclude two years of legislative negotiations.

• Waters and Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry have been working on a bill to create a stablecoin regulatory framework since 2022, though it has struggled to gain traction.
• In a Tuesday committee hearing, Waters said she believes lawmakers could still reach a deal on a bill that "prioritizes strong protections" for consumers and has "strong federal oversight."
• McHenry said he was hopeful about passing stablecoin legislation before his retirement in January but also wanted "clarity when it comes to digital assets generally."

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest offloads another $2.8 million worth of its own spot Bitcoin ETF

Ark Invest offloaded 44,609 of its own ARKB spot Bitcoin ETF shares on Monday, worth $2.8 million, as the investment firm rebalanced the weightings of its Next Generation Internet (ARKW) fund.

• The Cathie Wood-led investment firm has now sold $17.5 million worth of the spot Bitcoin BTC +0.30% ETF, having also offloaded $6.9 million of ARKB in August and $7.8 million in July.
• However, ARKB remains Ark Invest's second-largest holding within its ARKW fund, with a weighting of 9.93%, worth $139.7 million — equivalent to nearly 5% of the spot Bitcoin ETF's total $2.9 billion assets under management.
• U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced modest net inflows of $4.5 million on Monday. Meanwhile, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $79.3 million in total net outflows — the largest since July 29.

Bitwise CIO says 'the most powerful people in finance' are now allocating to crypto

Reflecting on the Barron's Advisor 100 Summit in Palm Beach, Florida, last week, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan noted that more top financial advisors are allocating to crypto in their personal portfolios , with about 70% owning bitcoin compared to 10% to 20% in previous years.

• Very few had allocations to bitcoin in client accounts — unsurprising given many of the advisors work for broker-dealers that are not allowed to buy the spot Bitcoin ETFs yet.
• However, Hougan explained that in his experience, advisors almost always allocate to their personal accounts first, with client allocations typically following six to 12 months later.
• "When it spreads from them to their clients, things could get interesting quickly," he said.

In the next 24 hours

• U.S. mortgage data are due at 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday. The Bank of Japan's monetary policy meeting minutes are released at 7:50 p.m.
• U.S. FOMC member Adriana Kugler will speak at 4 p.m.
• The European Blockchain Convention kicks off in Barcelona.

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