Boosted by a bullish NFT market, Solana's unprecedented growth in seemingly the blink of an eye continued to dominate conversations across the crypto universe last week.

The asset went from trading at around $35 a month ago to tapping $150 over the weekend and surpassing Dogecoin as the seventh largest crypto by market cap. With a $42bn market cap, Solana still has a way to go to eclipse XRP’s $61bn valuation. However, as retail investors continue to dive headfirst into the NFT space and the industry continues to grow as a cultural mainstay, all signs are pointing to 'Solana Summer' bleeding into 'Solana September'.

Throughout September, Copper will be hosting and attending a number of in-person and online events. We've listed the events happening this week near the bottom of this e-mail under the 'From Copper' section.

Finally, a huge thank you to everybody who has voted for us as 'Best Digital Assets Custodian' at the Hedgeweek Americas Awards 2021. If you haven’t as of yet, voting closes today, so please support us by casting your vote here:

Below is our weekly roundup of industry news. If you’d like to get in touch with us about any of our products or services, we look forward to hearing from you. Just send us a note.

Last week's top stories

US SEC investigates crypto exchange developer Uniswap Labs

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Uniswap Labs, the main developer behind one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Uniswap, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. Enforcement attorneys are looking for more information on how investors use Uniswap and the manner in which it is marketed, the report said. Read More

FTX.US wades into derivatives with deal for LedgerX

FTX.US announced last week that it will acquire LedgerX, a US-licensed crypto derivatives exchange. If the deal goes through, it will pave the way for FTX.US to expand its offer and allow its American retail investors to access more derivatives products. Read More

Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Group reportedly working on digital disruption fund

Reports from Bloomberg said that Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Group is working on a digital disruption fund that likely has a crypto angle. Despite the Tudor Group declining invitations to speak on the subject to the media at this stage, Blockworks said its sources at the group confirmed the fund but could not share details on the record. Read more

In case you missed it

⚡️SEC chair Gensler reaches out to European Parliament on crypto regulation.

⚡️Cream Finance loses $25m in ETH and AMP in another flash loan attack.

⚡️Beleaguered DeFi project xToken suffers second major exploit since May.

⚡️SBI reportedly looks to launch crypto fund in Japan by December.

⚡️Anti Bitcoin protests fill the streets of El Salvador.

⚡️Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa launch joint CBDC pilot.

⚡️Nigeria's securities regulator establishes fintech unit to study crypto.

⚡️Slovenia financial agency proposes new 10% crypto tax.

⚡️Twitter appears to be adding the ability to tip using Bitcoin.

⚡️SEC files charges against BitConnect, its founder, and top US promoter.

⚡️Binance US targets IPO in the next three years, says Changpeng Zhao.

⚡️Crypto exchange OKEx launches challenger NFT marketplace.

⚡️Russian pyramid scheme netted over $1.5bn in bitcoin throughout Eastern Europe, says Chainalysis.

⚡️Cryptocurrencies now recognised under commercial law in Texas.

⚡️Ethereum scaling solution Arbitrum launches on mainnet and raises $120m in new funding.

From Copper

New ACT webinar series: digital assets 2021

We are delighted to announce the launch of a brand new educational webinar series in partnership with the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) and Acra. The series strives to take corporate treasurers from a basic understanding of the crypto market through to what they would need to do if they wanted to actually participate. It consists of four webinars starting this Wednesday 8 September through to November. Register your free place here.

Upcoming event: the CryptoBrunch Breakfast Briefing

In-person events are finally happening again and we couldn’t be more thrilled. This Thursday 9 September, we’re proud to support the return of AYU’s CryptoBrunch, where our Chief Product Officer, Alex Ryvkin, will be speaking. Join us at 12 Hay Hill, Mayfair over a seated networking breakfast with hedge funds, family offices and institutional investor guests, to discuss crypto market structure, barriers to institutional adoption, the growth of DeFi and more. Full details here.

Upcoming webinar: custody in the digital economy

Our Head of Strategy, Asen Kostadinov, will be leading a one-hour Parallel-Live event exploring institutional custody solutions for digital assets. Join him this Thursday 9 September at 12pm EDT to discuss the sweeping innovation in custodial services, regulatory considerations for the future, and the importance of custody to the overall health of our industry. Register here to attend.

Press release: Copper.co supports EGLD token and Elrond blockchain assets

EGLD, the native token of Elrond Network, is the latest digital asset supported by our custody application. Copper will foster a robust and compliant bridge between institutional players and Elrond's high throughput, lost-cost, carbon-negative blockchain technology. Full details here.

August Regulator Roundup

The month of August is typically all about winding down and soaking up the sun. But this is crypto, and regulatory action remained rampant throughout vacation season. The inclusion of competing crypto amendments sandwiched in the U.S. infrastructure bill causes a huge stir, Iran announced plans to bring back cryptocurrency mining, Cuba endorsed crypto for payments and revealed regulation plans, while Jamaica, Nigeria and Singapore doubled down on their respective CBDC efforts. Read our August Regulator Roundup here.