Scenius Sync (Issue #106)

Mt. Gox To Distribute $9B, SEC Drops Consensys Probe and Closes ETH 2.0 Investigation, Winklevoss Twins Donate $2M In BTC To Trump, & Fairshake PAC Has Raised $169M

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.

If you find this newsletter valuable, please subscribe and share The Scenius Sync with your network 💪

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Essential News 🗞

1. Mt. Gox to distribute $9 billion of bitcoin, bitcoin cash repayments from beginning of July

   • Mt. Gox is set to begin distributing bitcoin and bitcoin cash repayments from July, according to the Rehabilitation Trustee. Bitcoin fell around 3% to $60,500 following the announcement.

2. SEC Ends Probe Into Consensys, Won't Sue Over Ethereum

   • The price of ether rose after Consensys received letters from the U.S. SEC saying the regulator had ended its investigation into the technology incubator company and was not going to recommend an enforcement action against it. The SEC told Consensys, whose products include the MetaMask wallet, it was not bringing any enforcement actions in a pair of letters sent to its law firms on Tuesday. In a blog post, Consensys said the SEC was "closing its investigation into Ethereum 2.0."

   • In related news, Consensys still plans to pursue lawsuit against US SEC

3. Louisiana Passes Bill To Defend Bitcoin Rights And Ban CBDCs

   • Bitcoin rights have become law in a second state as Louisiana passes a landmark pro-bitcoin bill to protect access to bitcoin and curb Central Bank Digital Currencies. Governor Jeff Landry signed House Bill 488 into law after it received bi-partisan approval from both the House and Senate. This legislation, led by Representative Mark Wright and supported by Senator Jean-Paul Coussan, ensures continued access to bitcoin while placing restrictions on CBDCs.

4. SEC concerns over USDC may complicate Circle’s IPO plans

   • The US SEC has raised concerns over the status of Circle’s stablecoin, USDC, as the company seeks to go public in a multi-billion dollar initial public offering, Barron’s reported on June 18, citing regulatory documents.

     The SEC’s concerns are primarily related to the risks associated with USDC and other stablecoins potentially being classified as securities under US law. The watchdog expressed similar concerns in 2021 when Circle tried to go public via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

5. Kraken recovers $3 million from CertiK, ending bug bounty saga

   • Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken has recovered missing funds following a high-profile bug bounty exploit fiasco.  Kraken confirmed the return of the stolen digital assets worth nearly $3 million, putting an end to the Kraken-CertiK saga that started on June 9.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Trump scores bitcoin donations worth $2 million from Winklevoss twins

   • Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have donated a total of $2 million worth of bitcoin to former U.S. President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in the upcoming presidential election. The Winklevoss twins announced their donations with posts to X. "I just donated $1 million in bitcoin (15.47 BTC) to [Donald Trump] and will be voting for him in November," Tyler Winklevoss said in his post.

2. Crypto Super PAC raises $169M following $10M donation from Jump Crypto

   • Fairshake, a political action committee (PAC) that has been backing attack ads against different United States lawmakers, announced that it had raised $169 million ahead of many primaries in the country. In a June 19 notice to Cointelegraph, a Fairshake spokesperson said Jump Crypto, the digital asset arm of Jump Trading, had donated $10 million to the Super PAC, making its total donations roughly $169 million since its launch. The group has received millions in contributions from crypto firms, including Coinbase and Ripple, an earlier $5 million donation from Jump Crypto, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz of Andreessen Horowitz, and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss of crypto exchange Gemini.

3. BNB Chain activates hard fork, reduces fees

   • BNB Chain activated its Haber hard fork which introduces BNB Evolution Proposal (BEP)-336 to optimize data storage and processing on the network. 

     On June 20, the blockchain network announced that it successfully activated the hard fork, claiming a 90% reduction in blockchain fees. BEP 336, which takes inspiration from the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)-4844, enables blob-carrying transactions, which is a concept that streamlines the verification process.

4. McKinsey Sees Just $2T of Tokenized RWAs by 2030 in Base Case, With Broad Adoption 'Still Far Away'

   • The market of tokenized assets might be just $4 trillion even in an optimistic scenario by 2030 as financial institutions embrace blockchain technology for traditional financial instruments at a slower pace and limited range of assets than more optimistic reports predicted, global consulting firm McKinsey & Company said in a Thursday report.

5. Pudgy Penguins and OverpassIP unveil parent firm Igloo

   • Popular NFT project and merchandise brand Pudgy Penguins and NFT licensing platform OverpassIP said they have established their parent company, Igloo Inc. “Igloo was formed to create an end-to-end ecosystem for new people to come into crypto, non-dilutively,” the company wrote in its X post. Igloo said its main aim is not based on the price of a cryptocurrency but rather providing an end-to-end user experience for mass adoption of crypto.