• FTX won the auction for the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager’s Digital, paying $1.4 billion. The price includes $1.3 billion fair market value for the assets plus $111 million of additional consideration. FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried has played an outsized role as an acquirer and lender of last resort during this recent downturn, which Alex discusses in this opinion piece for Fortune Magazine.
• Last week, crypto data analytics firm Messari hosted its annual Mainnet event in New York. At the event, Messari announced the closing of a $35 million financing led by Brevan Howard Digital. In an interview at the event with Decrypt, Mainnet’s media partner, Alex shared his thoughts on the state of the market and the big trends for 2023. Also see Alex’s section below.
• The IMF has called on the Financial Stability Board, a global watchdog for banks, to oversee regulation of stablecoin and other cryptoassets. In two reports, The IMF says the FSB is “well placed to take the lead in coordinating and establishing global standards to support national regulation of crypto assets.” The reports suggest the IMF now acknowledges the systemic importance of cryptoassets.

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill which would have required a ‘crypto license’ to operate in the state, similar to New York’s much maligned BitLicense, which many in the crypto industry accuse of duplicating existing regulatory requirements, burdening start-ups with added legal and compliance costs, and thus limiting innovation and entrepreneurship in the state. The veto was viewed as a positive for the industry and the state’s much celebrated innovation economy.