Scenius Sync (Issue #101)

Auspicious Developments For Ether ETF, Vitalik Addresses Threats To Decentralization, Senate Votes to Kill SAB 121, Grayscale’s CEO Transition, & Gemini Earn To Start Returning In Kind

Scenius: The intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. The communal form of the concept of genius.

Welcome to The Scenius Sync.

Our mission with this concise publication is twofold:

1. Share the essential stories driving the crypto industry and markets.

2. Highlight innovative applications and mainstream adoption of crypto and blockchain technology.

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Essential News 🗞

1. Ether ETFs Filing Process Sees Abrupt Progress, Though Approval Not Guaranteed

   • The U.S. SEC asked aspiring ether exchange-traded fund exchanges to update 19b-4 filings ahead of a key deadline this week. The SEC had previously been expected to reject the ether ETF filings, and while there's no guarantee of approval, the move suggests progress is being made.

   • In related news, the ETH ecosystem is mooning on the renewed belief that an ETF approval is near, and most cryptocurrencies are rising with it.

2. Grayscale Investments® Announces CEO Transition

   • Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest crypto asset manager announced the appointment of Peter Mintzberg as CEO, effective August 15, 2024, at which time Mintzberg will also join Grayscale’s Board of Directors. Mintzberg succeeds Michael Sonnenshein, who has stepped down from the position to pursue other interests. In the intervening period, Grayscale's Chief Financial Officer Edward McGee will assume the role of principal executive officer with responsibility for leading the firm.

3. New York AG announces $2 billion settlement with crypto lender Genesis

   • New York Attorney General Letitia James is settling with crypto lender Genesis for $2 billion to repay defrauded investors. The company, once a business at the heart of Digital Currency Group, was among the multiple casualties in the industry contagion set off by the collapse of FTX. The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2023. “This historic settlement is a major step toward ensuring the victims who invested in Genesis have a semblance of justice,” said James of the deal, which is the largest against a crypto firm in the state’s history.

4. Gemini Earn to begin returning customers' crypto by end of month as court approves Genesis bankruptcy

   • A U.S. bankruptcy court has approved failed crypto lender Genesis’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, which will likely see parent company DCG losing big.  Gemini, one of Genesis’ creditors, will begin returning the first 97% of owed assets in-kind to customers of its defunct Gemini Earn program by the end of the month, the company announced. 

5. U.S. Senate Votes to Kill SEC's Crypto Accounting Policy, Testing Biden's Veto Threat

   • The U.S. Senate joined the House of Representatives on Thursday in seeking to erase the controversial SEC crypto policy known as Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 121, though President Joe Biden has vowed to veto the resolution. The Senate voted 60-38 on the effort. A dozen Democrats voted alongside a majority of Republicans in favor of the resolution, easily giving it well over the simple majority of votes needed to pass. However, the resolution did not receive enough votes to make it veto-proof.

   • More coverage from Politico, here: ‘I wanted to send a message’: Democrats break with Warren, Biden on crypto

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Vitalik Buterin addresses threats to Ethereum's decentralization in new blog post

   • In a new blog post, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has shared his thoughts on three issues core to Ethereum’s decentralization: MEV, liquid staking, and the hardware requirements of nodes. In Buterin’s view, many of the concerns around Ethereum’s centralization can be addressed through smart protocol design and upgrades, some of which are already in progress.

   • Link to the blog here: The near and mid-term future of improving the Ethereum network's permissionlessness and decentralization

2. DePIN project Blockless raises $8 million in pre-seed and seed funding rounds

   • Blockless, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) project focused on providing computing power support, announced raising $8 million in pre-seed and seed funding rounds. NGC Ventures led the pre-seed round worth $3 million, and M31 Capital and Frachtis (a new fund formed by Xavier Meegan, chief investment officer of staking firm Chorus One) co-led the seed round worth $5 million, Blockless said Tuesday. Other investors in the two rounds included No Limit Holdings, MH Ventures, Interop Ventures and Plassa Capital, Blockless said.

3. Uniswaps Labs and Across Protocol introduce token standard ERC-7683 for better cross-chain interoperability

   • Uniswaps Labs and Across Protocol have introduced a new Ethereum token standard called ERC-7683 for better cross-chain interoperability. ERC-7683 aims to create a universal filler network for all cross-chain intents to follow in their order structure, tackling relayer fragmentation, Across Protocol explained on the social media platform X. Orders adhering to identical standards enable lower costs for fillers, a broader filler network for apps to use and lower costs passed onto users. 

4. Solana DEX Drift opens airdrop claims for 120 million tokens with bonus

   • Drift Foundation, an entity overseeing the Solana based decentralized exchange protocol for trading crypto perpetual futures, has launched its DRIFT token and opened airdrop claims. The airdrop consists of 120 million tokens, or 12% of DRIFT’s total supply of 1 billion, Drift Foundation said Thursday. This includes a 2% bonus, or 20 million tokens — more than what Drift initially allocated for an airdrop last month. Drift is "probably the first protocol" to include a bonus component in its airdrop, co-founder Cindy Leow told The Block. The aim is to "disincentivize early selling" and avoid network congestion on Solana, Leow said.

5. MakerDAO founder says fully decentralized 'PureDai' will launch in few years

   • MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen said a future token, PureDai, will serve as a fully decentralized alternative to its U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin. Known as PureDai, the stablecoin will operate exclusively on the Ethereum mainnet and use ether and Lido staked ether (stETH) as collateral backing — fully relying on decentralized oracles. It will also have a free-floating peg, meaning the decentralized stablecoin may not be pegged to the dollar.