📸 __Flashy…__ Miami "bitcoin mayor" Francis X. Suarez [filed](https://fortune.com/2023/06/14/miami-mayor-francis-suarez-presidential-campaign-trump-indictment/) paperwork to run for US president. The pro-crypto Republican, who said that he takes his salary in BTC, made headlines promoting the now failed MiamiCoin. 

🤹‍♀️ __Quirky…__ Metaverse Beauty Week [kicked off](https://decrypt.co/144327/metaverse-beauty-week-aims-showcase-branding-potential-metaverse) with brands like Neutrogena dipping their blush brushes into “Decentraland,” an __[ethereum](https://robinhood.com/us/en/crypto/ETH/)__-based digi world. Despite waning hype, businesses continue to explore web3 ways to reach customers. 

🌶️ __Spicy…__ Famed VC __a16z__ said it’s [opening](https://www.wsj.com/articles/andreessen-to-open-london-office-for-crypto-startups-amid-scrutiny-in-u-s-ab802233) a crypto-focused office in London, touting what it says are the UK's friendlier regulations. The move adds to an industry-wide crypto exod-US as companies look abroad.

The Crypto Catch-Up…

Snacks

November may historically be the best month for US stocks, but you wouldn’t know it from the start o...

Toby Bochan

Managing Editor

Luke Kawa

Markets Editor

Markets

The lack of bear cups is almost too much to bear. A $30 ursine coffee cup offered by Starbucks seems...

A popular  game being developed for the big screen could test the limits of the recent success of vi...

Max Knoblauch

Culture

 is expanding its low-cost Amazon Haul experience to a new stand-alone app called Amazon Bazaar. Ama...

Rani Molla

Tech

Holiday cheer turned into chaos this week for  after the coffee giant’s new “Bearista” holiday cup s...

Nia Warfield

Business

This week,  announced plans for “Fastnet,” a new undersea transatlantic fiber-optic cable running fr...

Jon Keegan

Tech Reporter

Here’s one noteworthy feature of the recent market downturn that has the S&P 500 poised for its wors...

Target just rolled out a new rule for store employees: “smile, make eye contact, and greet or wave” ...

Hyunsoo Rim

Data Reporter

 more than reversed its 11% drop in the wake of its post-close earnings report Thursday, after brief...

Matt Phillips

Senior Markets Correspondent 

Your inbox is ready

Subscribe and thrive

 Report: US Army will buy 1 million drones

As  once again dipped under $100,000 Friday morning, down 20% from its October 6 all-time high, some...

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Contributing Reporter

Crypto

Air taxi maker  is deep in the red on Friday morning after reporting its third-quarter results after...

Nuclear power plant operator  reported Q3 earnings Friday before the start of trading in New York th...

Roughly half of new US startups make it to their fifth birthday — and the most recent ones have even...

Make hay while the sun is shining, or so the saying goes. And that’s exactly what America’s quantum ...

Claire Yubin Oh

Data Journalist

Shares of  leapt in early trading Friday after the travel platform posted a strong third quarter.  A...

Expedia Group headquarters in Seattle, Washington, USA

Over the past few months, the biggest catalyst for quantum computing stocks has been the prospect of...

Shares of  climbed 5% after the bell on Thursday, and held most of those gains into early trading on...

Millie Giles

 reported Q3 earnings that were not well received by the market, with shares cratering in after-hour...

 shareholder meetings are like no other. Where else does a man, just awarded a $1 trillion pay packa...

__150+ years and counting...__ Monday marks the second official celebration of Juneteenth in the US, after President Biden declared June 19 a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery. On that day, in 1865, troops [marched](https://sherwoodmedia.com/snacks/newsletters/46Su1ZofFXtCbYSCgWi2zw/articles/4d3nlP8TApWiNtYGFQbLTh/) into Texas to take control of the state and free the enslaved people. This year more than half of all states and a growing number of companies will recognize Juneteenth as a public holiday. 

- __Last year__ a third of private employers offered Juneteenth as a paid holiday, up from just 8% in 2020, and more said they plan to offer it this year.

- __Corporate titans__ [including](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/what-companies-are-closed-on-juneteenth-2022/429409) __[Nike](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/NKE/)__, __[Target](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/TGT/)__, __[Apple](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/AAPL/)__, and __[Best Buy](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/BBY/)__ have participated in setting the Juneteenth standard.

__Reparation nation…__ While lawmakers have talked about how to make amends for the financial effects of slavery, more attention is being paid to reparations — compensating descendants of Black American slaves for their labor, an idea that dates to the Civil War. In May, House lawmakers passed a historic bill that established a committee to develop reparations proposals. This month, committee leader California will release the extensive proposal, which calculates payouts for qualifying people in the state. (FYI: some reports say it could be as much $1.2M/person).

- __Up next:__ CA lawmakers will review the report and decide whether to adopt, amend, or dismiss the suggestions. From there, CA’s government would need to pass it.

- __FYI:__ Cities including Boston, Detroit, and St. Louis have approved their own programs or are considering proposals. Last week New York lawmakers passed a bill considering reparations for slavery.

A Juneteenth celebration in San Francisco (Tayfun Coskun/Getty Images)

Impact

__Mind the gap…__ White families, on average, have 8X the wealth of Black families, a gap perpetuated by the legacy of slavery. Progress is being made: during the pandemic, Black families’ net worth grew more than that of any other racial group, and Black homeownership also rose, but the gaps remain wide. Some reports suggest it would take $15T to eliminate the racial wealth gap.

As Juneteenth approaches, California’s set to release a groundbreaking reparations report

__Having a moment…__ __[bitcoin](https://robinhood.com/us/en/crypto/BTC/)__. While the OG crypto's current market cap of $487B+ represents a three-month low, bitcoin's *share* of the total cryptocurrency market has [climbed](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-15/bitcoin-tightens-its-grip-on-the-crypto-market-as-traders-avoid-smaller-tokens) to nearly 46%. That's the highest level in nearly two years, and suggests that traders are selling their altcoin bags (like: __[solana](https://robinhood.com/us/en/crypto/SOL/)__, __[cardano](https://robinhood.com/us/en/crypto/ADA/)__) more quickly than their BTC holdings. A changing regulatory landscape may be at play.

__Who's at faultcoins…__ After __FTX__'s blowup last year, the SEC has hit industry players like __[Coinbase](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/COIN/)__ and __Binance__ with [lawsuits](https://sherwoodmedia.com/snacks/the-sec-sues-the-2-biggest-crypto-exchanges-in-a-one-two-punch-for-the/). As part of the crackdown, the regulator identified 19 additional cryptocurrencies as securities, meaning they’d need to follow the SEC's rules. (FYI: the SEC has said that, in total, nearly 70 tokens are securities.) If the courts agree, those altcoins could become much harder to trade in the US. The suits could take years to resolve, but we may already be seeing the fallout:

- __This month eToro__ and __[Robinhood](https://robinhood.com/us/en/stocks/HOOD/)__ said customers would soon no longer be able to purchase some altcoins on their platforms. (Snacks is part of Sherwood Media, a subsidiary of Robinhood.)

- __Bitcoin__ has managed to stay mostly out of the fray because many regulators (even the SEC) agree it's a commodity. A possible reason: it's considered sufficiently decentralized.

BLOCKCHANGE

__Risk appetites aren't stable…__ The crypto market is fairly new, and investors and regulators are still dialing in their positions. When bitcoin launched over a decade ago, it was seen as a risky place to park $$. While bitcoin still has a volatile rep, the risk spectrum may be shifting as regulators spotlight altcoins, and US crypto cos look [overseas](https://sherwoodmedia.com/snacks/coinbase-and-gemini-expand-offshore-as-crypto-heads-for-the-us-exits-and/).

The Crypto Catch-Up…

Get Your News

Subscribe and thrive

Latest Stories