🤷‍♂️ 1 big thing: Venture investors undeterred 

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📉 2. Coinbase crumbles

Top coins

🏄‍♂️ 3. Catch up quick 

⏳ 4. Culture hash: Can't stop, won't stop

Hello. Pete steering the ship again today, with Brady back at the wheel tomorrow.

🚨 Situational awareness: Yesterday we covered TerraUSD, the algorithmic stablecoin, breaking from its $1 peg and sinking as low as $0.69. Things got worse today, seeing it briefly below $0.24.

This newsletter was edited by Pete Gannon. It is 1,025 words, a 4-minute read.

National

green

Follow how cryptocurrency and blockchain are upending markets and the regulatory shifts. With Brady Dale.

Axios Crypto

1 big thing: Companies face abortion test

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2. Bonus Chart: States with abortion bans

3. What's happening

4. Worker exodus continues

5. Love for teachers

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6. What they're saying

🙏🏻 Welcome back! It's National Teacher Appreciation Day, so each of us here at Closer wants to reflect on the educators who helped shape our lives. But first, we look at how the future of abortion rights may pressure all companies to respond. 

Today's newsletter, edited by Pete Gannon, is 693 words, a 2½-minute read.

🔔 The dashboard: The S&P 500 closed up 0.5%.

Biggest gainer? Western Digital (+14.5%), after an activist investor publicly pushed the company to split off its flash-memory business.

Biggest decliner? Rockwell Automation (-14.5%), after missing expectations in the second quarter and cutting its earnings outlook.

Thanks to Sheryl Miller for copy editing today's (and every day's) newsletter.

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Catch up on the day's biggest business stories and look ahead to important trends. Led by Hope King and Nathan Bomey.

Axios Closer

😡 1 big thing: Multiplying risks

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💰 2. Charted: Driving the NFT market 

👋 3. He's back

🚴 4. Catch up quick

Top Coins

🧐 5. Culture hash

☕️ Good morning! It's Pete here. Brady is catching his breath until Thursday. But don't worry, we're all over this. Today we're talking fraud schemes, what's driving the NFT market, and the return of a name you know.

This newsletter was edited by Pete Gannon. It is 1,100 words, a 4-minute read.

🤭 1 big thing: Crypto's slide may get even uglier

An illustration of digital coins in an arrow pointing down.

📉 2. TerraUSD's hangover

🤝 3. Regulated crypto swaps

Illustration of a hundred dollar bill in the shape of a Rubik's cube

🏃‍♂️4. Catch up quick

🤣 5. Culture Hash: LOL 

🤭 Yesterday was not fun for investors. It's Pete again, and today we get into what is going on in markets, and, specifically, how crypto is getting caught in a broad flight from risk.

Brady will be back with you Thursday. But keep the emails coming: crypto@axios.com.

This newsletter was edited by Pete Gannon. It is 980 words, a 3.5-minute read.

A full-scale battle has erupted between an upstart Saudi-funded golf series and the PGA Tour, potentially throwing the future business of golf into question.

Why it matters: Major broadcast networks have invested over $6 billion for the rights to air PGA Tour events through 2030, with additional commitments coming from corporate sponsors for players, the tour and its individual events. 

But the newly formed LIV Golf series is luring top players with massive appearance fees and weekly purses, forcing the PGA Tour to fight to retain talent — and putting players, sponsors and fans in conflict given the Saudi kingdom's poor human rights record.

While tension has been brewing for months, the PGA Tour today suspended 17 golfers who participated in LIV Golf's inaugural event this morning in the U.K., citing their failure to secure required conflicting-event and media rights releases.

The suspensions include some of the world's top players and those drawing the kind of fan interest that fuels the money pouring into the PGA Tour itself.

Details: Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood top the list of golfers "suspended or otherwise no longer eligible to participate in PGA TOUR tournament play," the PGA Tour wrote today in a memo to its members.

The organization was vague on whether and when they could return.

Yes, but: The names of players who have not left the PGA Tour are, at this point, equally notable. They include Tiger Woods, still the game's biggest draw, who's popularity changed the economics of golf immeasurably over the last two decades.

What's happening: Money. The average purse (prize money) for a weekly PGA Tour event is about $9.1 million, distributed among roughly 70 players.

The LIV series is promising $4 million to the champion alone — almost double that of a regular PGA Tour event winner — as part of a $25 million purse for each of the 7 events it has scheduled.

Any golfer in a LIV Golf event this year will make more money than they would finishing in an equivalent place in a PGA Tour event.

By the numbers: CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN signed a nine-year rights deal with the PGA Tour in 2020, valued at around $680 million per year.

Corporations also pay to be title sponsors of the weekly tournaments, while others pay to be marketing partners of the tour itself.

LIV Golf, by contrast, is currently funded primarily through a $2 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

State of play: At the moment the LIV Golf series is toxic for sponsors given the Saudi connection.

And many corporate sponsors have long-standing relationships with the PGA Tour and its events.

Royal Bank of Canada dropped its sponsorship of Dustin Johnson after his decision to play in the LIV Golf series opener, citing its partnership with the tour and sponsorship of the RBC Heritage and the RBC Canadian Open events.

The intrigue: YouTube and Facebook are streaming the LIV Golf event this week, but it remains to be seen whether any traditional broadcasters will look to secure rights deals in the future.

What we're watching: Whether the LIV Golf series continues to bleed talent away from the PGA Tour, and expands its schedule to compete more directly with its calendar.

If it does, the PGA Tour and its members could be looking at a very different market when it negotiates its next media rights deal at the end of the decade.

Go deeper: Everything you need to know about the Saudi-backed LIV Golf series

PGA Tour facing threat that could upend the business of golf

A full-scale battle has erupted between an upstart Saudi Arabia-funded golf series and The PGA Tour, potentially throwing the future business of golf into question.

PGA Tour member Tiger Woods celebrates a putt in front of a PGA Tour sign.

Golf

A full-scale battle has erupted between an upstart Saudi-funded golf series and the PGA Tour, potentially throwing the future business of golf into question.Why it matters: Major broadcast networks have invested over $6 billion for the rights to air PGA Tour events through 2030, with additional commitments coming from corporate sponsors for players, the tour and its individual events.

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

It's June and your grass is growing fast — just not nearly as fast as your landscaping bill.

Driving the news: Lawn-mowing services cost an average 22.4% more this year, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing home-services company Angi.

It's the latest chapter in the inflation story — summer edition — featuring all the usual characters.

Soaring gas prices, escalating labor costs and equipment shortages.

On one side are landscaping business owners, where cost inputs are squeezing margins.

On the other is anyone responsible for a patch of grass, where skyrocketing prices are forcing them to think about firing up that old mower themselves.

Of note: Both Home Depot and Lowe's said consumers were spending more on lawn equipment.

Many have been trading up to pricier battery-powered mowers, popular for saving on gas and helping the environment — not to mention the increasing crackdowns by local governments on gas-powered machines.

The bottom line: All of this is bad news for landscapers and homeowners. But it's good news for companies like John Deere, Honda and The Toro Company.

Rising landscaping bills have Americans reaching for mowers

Lawn-mowing services cost an average 22.4% more this year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Home Depot

It&#x27;s June and your grass is growing fast — just not nearly as fast as your landscaping bill.Driving the news: Lawn-mowing services cost an average 22.4% more this year, the Wall Street Journal <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="reported" data-vars-click-url="https://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-hits-lawn-care-so-americans-get-their-mowers-out-11654645342?mod=markets_lead_pos5" data-vars-content-id="7bddf316-d705-4873-9ef6-a53421e0f91c" data-vars-headline="Rising landscaping bills have Americans reaching for mowers" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-hits-lawn-care-so-americans-get-their-mowers-out-11654645342?mod=markets_lead_pos5" target="_blank">reported</a>, citing home-services company Angi.

Jackpot, a soon-to-be-launched app for buying lottery tickets, announced last week that it raised $35 million in its first funding round, backed by a slew of high profile professional athletes and sports ownership groups.

Why it matters: The gamification of gambling, in all its forms, has become increasingly big business fueled by governments, professional sports and venture capital — all eager to usher in a newer, younger group of bettors.

Driving the news: Jackpot, which delivers the convenience of buying a lottery ticket from your phone, is looking to grow states' $100 billion in annual ticket sales. 

Its goal is to grow the lottery by making it a "form of entertainment" and attracting younger people.

Its competitor, Jackpocket, has been been doing exactly that since 2013. Its annual sales have grown by more 400% in both the last two years, with more than 7 in 10 of its millions of users under 45, the average age of a lottery player, according to Forbes.

Meanwhile: Mobile betting is also upending sports gambling, long shunned by professional leagues out of fear that it would compromise the integrity of their games.

But attitudes have spun a full 180 in recent years, particularly as in-game prop betting — facilitated by the sleek intuitive mobile platforms — has shown to amplify audience engagement.

Advertisements for sportsbooks are now commonplace during professional games in all the major leagues — MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL — both on TV and in arenas.

Professional athletes now regularly sponsor, and even invest in, platforms that facilitate betting.

The result: The market for legal sports betting in the U.S. doubled last year, to more than $52.7 billion wagered.

State of play: All of this continues to draw in younger customers. Just like the trends seen in the online lottery, more than 6 in 10 sports gamblers are 40 or younger.

1 in 5 respondents to a Morning Consult poll in December said they bet on sports at least once a month, an 80% increase in participants over the previous January.

The bottom line: Gambling is big business. The massive revenues for governments and businesses are hard to resist. And so is gambling, especially when it's made so easy.

The gamification of gambling

Governments, professional sports and venture capital are all eager to usher in a newer, younger group of bettors.

Illustration of a hand of high cards in five separate mobile phones. 

Mobile apps

Jackpot, a soon-to-be-launched app for buying lottery tickets, announced last week that it raised $35 million in its first funding round, backed by a slew of <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="high profile professional athletes" data-vars-click-url="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2022/06/22/Finance/Jackpot-gets-millions-in-Series-A-funding.aspx" data-vars-content-id="85dc9cbb-00d1-42ee-ad2c-be122b453728" data-vars-headline="The gamification of gambling" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2022/06/22/Finance/Jackpot-gets-millions-in-Series-A-funding.aspx" target="_blank">high profile professional athletes</a> and sports ownership groups.Why it matters: The gamification of gambling, in all its forms, has become increasingly big business fueled by governments, professional sports and venture capital — all eager to usher in a newer, younger group of bettors.

Narratives have driven the cryptocurrency news cycle for years, and today's overriding theme is not in dispute — things are bad in crypto. Real bad.

Driving the news: But with a crash comes inevitable headlines of doom. And according to fresh data on the industry from a Morning Consult survey released today, crypto investors may be the least likely to agree with them.

Why it matters: The vast majority of people have never invested in crypto (83% of U.S. households). 

Those that have long predicted its demise are now taking a victory lap, but a deeper analysis of those that are invested in crypto may yield some surprises.

Quick take: Crypto users are actually quite optimistic.

Overall consumer confidence is higher among crypto owners than the general population, according to Morning Consult’s Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS).

Even now, the ICS for cryptocurrency owners is 15 percentage points higher than it is for all U.S. adults.

Meanwhile, the recent crypto crash shouldn't be hailed as a victory for traditional finance.

Crypto owners, in fact, use more financial services providers than the general population, Morning Consult found.

"I do not trust the government and prefer unregulated payment methods," was actually the second least popular answer given by users when asked why they own it.

The most popular answer: I want to make money.

Yes, but: It is true that Black, Hispanic and Asian people constitute a higher share of crypto investors than they do the total U.S. population. Yet the vast majority of crypto investors still tend to be wealthier, younger, white and male.

Those are the same characteristics that correlate with higher consumer sentiment more generally, Morning Consult noted.

The bottom line: While things in crypto are undoubtedly bad, those in it seem to be among the least likely to predict its demise.

Beware the crypto narratives

A Morning Consult poll has yielded some surprises about crypto sentiment.

Illustration of a neon sign that reads News Market.

Cryptocurrencies

Narratives have driven the cryptocurrency news cycle for years, and today&#x27;s overriding theme is not in dispute — things are bad in crypto. Real bad.Driving the news: But with a crash comes inevitable headlines of doom. And according to fresh data on the industry from a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Morning Consult survey" data-vars-click-url="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUfu5Tt-2Bs5w5-2FNFSMMjsyuCYEkrSytrg5Q1W9ofexvEIhxjzqN4Mef15AODRyexkLWfBVbWso7RKP4C7X4e8dGVfFpHAtp2AWFseFa4gNIW1J5RdUHs5e8wwWJEeY6dfRtA-3D-3DI1KB_CecbaZXF2uAQ2mbcTA7iiWfNcrASuCVvNIlSfK9vWGyAkz-2BEjjaGKOMuvvorO6HLHJ7O5Wpb8nK5YVXwdySBaqg81jJ2TXR0IJgdU2Lceg56H-2BP4iWdeJR2lLugMSYi5SYqJ5mPKWCibVKxDz-2FapSeTdy0L74PkR72nSe8Yr9vQ9OA4vyAoCfcjjKKh2Rw0N-2FfdQZMs-2FYqqFXj2VUsdN3Wloli1E8C3IJu5Ttk5VL4w1HEYtBCyjLXM6boN-2FgrW-2FWJZdIpuHSWsDdoMaxy92Jq9Bc-2Fxyxs8B3QaXKeEyhnb55sy2SdbY5-2Fsbt1ggIzQWh8ks3jRsy-2F5-2B-2BmrJ3hWmls11HQX12bnY3HPXoRUMtG8-3D" data-vars-content-id="ca42ea9d-84f1-4d6c-b12b-c8e8791d88d6" data-vars-headline="Beware the crypto narratives" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUfu5Tt-2Bs5w5-2FNFSMMjsyuCYEkrSytrg5Q1W9ofexvEIhxjzqN4Mef15AODRyexkLWfBVbWso7RKP4C7X4e8dGVfFpHAtp2AWFseFa4gNIW1J5RdUHs5e8wwWJEeY6dfRtA-3D-3DI1KB_CecbaZXF2uAQ2mbcTA7iiWfNcrASuCVvNIlSfK9vWGyAkz-2BEjjaGKOMuvvorO6HLHJ7O5Wpb8nK5YVXwdySBaqg81jJ2TXR0IJgdU2Lceg56H-2BP4iWdeJR2lLugMSYi5SYqJ5mPKWCibVKxDz-2FapSeTdy0L74PkR72nSe8Yr9vQ9OA4vyAoCfcjjKKh2Rw0N-2FfdQZMs-2FYqqFXj2VUsdN3Wloli1E8C3IJu5Ttk5VL4w1HEYtBCyjLXM6boN-2FgrW-2FWJZdIpuHSWsDdoMaxy92Jq9Bc-2Fxyxs8B3QaXKeEyhnb55sy2SdbY5-2Fsbt1ggIzQWh8ks3jRsy-2F5-2B-2BmrJ3hWmls11HQX12bnY3HPXoRUMtG8-3D" target="_blank">Morning Consult survey</a> released today, crypto investors may be the least likely to agree with them.

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

Robinhood Markets' stock jumped 14% Monday on a Bloomberg report that crypto exchange FTX is considering an acquisition offer for the stock and crypto-trading app.

What to know: FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tells Axios that "there are no active conversations with Robinhood," although that statement obviously doesn't preclude FTX from beginning talks at any moment.

Bankman-Fried, who last month disclosed a 7.6% personal ownership stake in Robinhood, adds: "We are excited about Robinhood's business prospects and potential ways we could partner with them, and I have always been impressed by the business that [CEO Vladimir Tenev] and his team have built."

Catch up fast: Robinhood shares have plunged 87% since Aug. 4, closing trading Monday at $9.12.

FTX CEO says "no active conversations" with Robinhood

Sam Bankman-Fried last month disclosed a 7.6% personal ownership stake in the stock-trading app.

Photo illustration of Sam Bankman-Fried with a Robinhood logo tucked behind his ear.

Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios. Photo: Lam Yik/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Robinhood

Robinhood Markets&#x27; stock jumped 14% Monday on a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Bloomberg report" data-vars-click-url="https://link.axios.com/click/28196790.25173/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmxvb21iZXJnLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FydGljbGVzLzIwMjItMDYtMjcvc2FtLWJhbmttYW4tZnJpZWQtcy1mdHgtc2Vla2luZy10by1idXktcm9iaW5ob29kLWhvb2Q_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3NjbG9zZXImc3RyZWFtPXRvcA/584972a1ade9c26e668b4588B231eba73" data-vars-content-id="f28c564c-0c36-4b27-b211-87b22c730f11" data-vars-headline="FTX CEO says &quot;no active conversations&quot; with Robinhood" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://link.axios.com/click/28196790.25173/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmxvb21iZXJnLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FydGljbGVzLzIwMjItMDYtMjcvc2FtLWJhbmttYW4tZnJpZWQtcy1mdHgtc2Vla2luZy10by1idXktcm9iaW5ob29kLWhvb2Q_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3NjbG9zZXImc3RyZWFtPXRvcA/584972a1ade9c26e668b4588B231eba73" target="_blank">Bloomberg report</a> that crypto exchange FTX is considering an acquisition offer for the stock and crypto-trading app.What to know: FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried tells Axios that &quot;there are no active conversations with Robinhood,&quot; although that statement obviously doesn&#x27;t preclude FTX from beginning talks at any moment.

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Stories

Beware the crypto narratives

The gamification of gambling

FTX CEO says "no active conversations" with Robinhood

PGA Tour facing threat that could upend the business of golf

Rising landscaping bills have Americans reaching for mowers

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