SEC Approves First Hybrid Bitcoin-Ethereum ETFs (Decrypt)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) combining Bitcoin and Ethereum (weighted by free-float market capitalization). The agency has authorized Nasdaq to list the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF and the CBOE BZX Exchange to list the Franklin Crypto Index ETF. The Hashdex ETF will track the two crypto-assets based on the market capitalizations and prices posted within the Nasdaq Crypto Index. The Franklin ETF will use the will directly use the CF Institutional Digital Asset Index as its valuation source. One of the main factors that the SEC considered for this filing is on surveillance-sharing, an agreement between exchanges to share trading data and essential market information to help detect and prevent fraud and manipulation across connected markets. [Read the filing at the SEC]

Germany passes legislation for full crypto MiCAR implementation (Ledger Insights)

The German Bundestag passed the Finanzmarktdigitalisierungsgesetz of FinmadiG just in time for the December 30, 2024 coming into force of the European Union (EU) Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR). The German legislation was required to designate Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) as the regulator, without which it could not award licenses. That would have allowed EU firms with crypto licenses from other countries to operate in Germany, but German firms would not have been able to operate in the EU. [Read more at Ledger Insights]

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