For the first time since 1918, Russia has defaulted on its external sovereign bonds as more sanctions pile up against the country, blocking payment routes. Some Taiwanese holders of Russian Eurobonds have failed to receive payment for interest due May 27, and its grace period of June 26. $100 million of coupon payments are due – and cannot be made in rubles. Moscow has said that it has the funds, and has attempted to make payment, but was blocked by Western sanctions to artificially create a default situation for Russia. A default puts Russia’s ratings and access to financing at risk. 

Crypto Hedge Fund Three Arrows Capital Defaults on $670 Million Loan

The latest organisation to be hit in the so-called “crypto winter” is Three Arrows Capital, a crypto hedge fund that’s facing insolvency issues, partly due to the Luna meltdown. Digital asset brokerage Voyager Digital has issued a notice stating that Three Arrows Capital has failed to repay a loan of $350 million in stablecoin USDC and 15,250 BTC, the latter of which is currently worth about $310 million. Voyager has maintained that it will continue operating and fulfilling customer orders and withdrawals. 

Natural Gas Posts Worst Month in 3 Years

A larger-than-expected increase in US natural gas reserves saw the price of natural gas drop by over 16% – below $6 per million BTU on Thursday. This comes after the US EIA reported that natural gas inventories increased by 82 billion cubic feet in the week of June 24. Natural gas prices are up 40% for 2022.

Grayscale Investments Sues SEC Over Bitcoin ETF

In the latest in what has been a long string of bearish news for crypto, Digital asset manager Grayscale Investments is suing the US Securities Exchange Commission after attempts to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to an Exchange-traded Fund (ETF) were blocked. While Bitcoin Futures ETFs have been made legal, the SEC has so far blocked all attempts at creating a spot Bitcoin ETF as it deems spot BTC to be volatile and vulnerable to manipulation. Now, Grayscale is gearing up to legally challenge the SEC, citing that it was acting “arbitrarily and capriciously” by “failing to apply consistent treatment to similar investment vehicles”.