Coinbase Buys Stake In USDC Issuer Circle

Coinbase is deepening its ties with Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, through a stake purchase, indicating a stronger partnership between these crypto giants. However, the two companies have also decided to dissolve the Centre Consortium, a private organization governing the USDC stablecoin, citing improved “regulatory clarity” on stablecoins.

Circle, a major player in the stablecoin market valued at $124.1 billion, introduced its own US dollar-pegged stablecoin in 2018. However, their plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company Concord Acquisition Corp. (NYSE:CND) were shelved in December.

ZeroNox Expands Into Industrial and Construction Markets with IndiCon Platform & Pape Material Handling Partnership

Zero Nox Inc., a leading provider of sustainable, off-highway vehicle electrification, today announced a major milestone towards its expansion strategy into the industrial and construction markets with the launch of its IndiCon platform. Focused to support large and specialized dealer and distributor partners in the industrial and construction markets, IndiCon is a new platform created by ZeroNox to expand its product distribution footprint in these strategic growth markets while increasing its service partnerships and potential sales.

As previously announced, ZeroNox signed a definitive business combination agreement with The Growth for Good Acquisition Corporation (Nasdaq: GFGD) (“Growth for Good”).

As Better.com readies for its public debut, CEO Vishal Garg says he went through ‘a lot of leadership training’

After merging with SPAC Aurora Acquisition Corp., the combined entity is called Better Home & Finance Holding Company. The deal unlocks about $565 million of fresh capital for Better.com, including a $528 million convertible note from affiliates of SoftBank and additional common equity from funds affiliated with NaMa Capital (formerly Novator Capital) — an investment firm that sponsors Aurora.

In an interview with Better.com’s CEO Vishal Garg, he stated that in order to rebuild trust within the company, he has gone through “a lot of leadership training” and has “learned now that in order for customers to be delighted, teammates also have to feel delight.”

After SPAC values cut in half, Chamath Palihapitiya responds to critics

Palihapitiya was dubbed the SPAC king, for the voluminous deals the high-profile media personality brought to market. He did quite well, personally — roughly doubling the $750 million he put in, according to New York Times calculations. And his seed money, for Virgin Galactic (SPCE) and Clover Health (CLOV), was in part borrowed from the fallen Credit Suisse, the Financial Times reported, citing public filing.

Investors in his SPACs did not do so well.

None of this is new, but somehow in response to one of his comments about the markets there was a discussion of his performance. Here’s a good recap, the highlights being him telling investors to “stop being a victim” and saying, “I’m in the arena trying stuff.”

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SEC Plans to Finalize 30 Proposed Rules in Near Term

When the SEC’s semiannual update to its rulemaking agenda was unveiled in mid-June 2023, there were 37 proposed rules to be finalized in the near-term. These are rules that the commission expects to vote on over the course of about a year. The agenda reflects the priorities of Chair Gary Gensler.

Since then, the SEC has been chipping away at its heavy rulemaking load and have a couple of proposals that will be adopted on Aug. 23, 2023.

After Aug. 23, the SEC will have the remaining 30 rulemakings slated for final on its short-term agenda.

Among those, the SEC intends to finalize Release No. 33-11048, SPACs, Shell Companies, and Projections, which would require additional disclosures about sponsors, conflicts of interest and sources of dilution. The proposal also would require more information about business combination transactions, including disclosures related to the fairness of the transactions.