Scenius Sync (Issue #127)
Trump Meets Armstrong re Appointments, “DOGE” Efficiency Department Confirmed, 18 States Sue SEC, Soon Options On BTC ETFs, Memes Outperform & Pennsylvania Is First Mover Towards BTC Strategic Reserve
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Essential News 🗞
Exclusive: Trump to Meet Privately With Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong
President-elect Donald Trump is meeting with the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. The duo is expected to discuss personnel appointments for his second administration. The meeting between Trump and Brian Armstrong would mark the first time the two have met since Election Day and comes as Trump continues to fill out his cabinet and other senior posts. Trump, formerly a crypto skeptic, has turned into a vocal supporter of the industry.
In related news: Trump hints at pushing through SEC chair with recess appointment
And lastly: Trump mulls tapping crypto-friendly CFTC chair: Report
18 US states file lawsuit against SEC, Gary Gensler: Law Decoded
Eighteen US states have filed a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Chair Gary Gensler, accusing the financial regulator of “gross government overreach” against the nascent crypto industry. The plaintiffs include Nebraska, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia, Iowa, Texas, Mississippi, Ohio, Montana and others. The legal complaint reads: "The SEC has not respected this allocation of authority. Instead, without Congressional authorization, the SEC has sought to unilaterally wrest regulatory authority away from the States through an ongoing series of enforcement actions."
FBI raids home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan on Nov. 13, seizing his phone and electronics.
Coplan was woken up at 6:00 am Eastern Time in his New York City home by US law enforcement officials who demanded he hand over his phone and electronics, the New York Post reported, citing a source close to the matter. A Polymarket spokesperson confirmed the incident with Cointelegraph, calling the raid “obvious political retribution” by the outgoing Biden administration “for providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election.”
“We charge no fees, take no trading positions, and allow observers from around the world to analyze all market data as a public good,” the spokesperson said.
Responsive post on X from Coplan here.
MicroStrategy Plans $1.75 Billion Convertible Notes Offering to Expand Bitcoin Holdings
The early bird gets the worm, or so the adage goes. In the case of MicroStrategy, it's been just over four years of steadily stacking Bitcoin—and it wants more. MicroStrategy said Monday evening that it plans to raise $1.75 billion through convertible notes to buy more of the world’s largest crypto and for “general corporate purposes.” The zero-interest senior notes will mature in 2029 and be offered to qualified institutional buyers. If everything goes according to plan, the company could get its hands on up to 19,000 additional Bitcoin.
In related news: MicroStrategy buys $4.6B of Bitcoin as price nears all-time high
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, a prominent and powerful court that has brought numerous high-profile crypto-related cases, plans to cut back on cases related to crypto, according to one of its top prosecutors. That doesn't mean prosecutors there will disregard crypto cases, but fewer people will be working on them compared to 2022, Scott Hartman, co-chief of the securities and commodities fraud task force at the Manhattan Court said during a Practising Law Institute conference on Friday, according to reporting from Reuters. "You won't see as much crypto stuff coming out of at least the SDNY in the future," Hartman said at the conference.
Innovation & Adoption 💡📈
Options trading on spot Bitcoin ETFs may launch this week as OCC 'preparing for the clearance'
The Options Clearing Corporation, the largest equity derivatives clearing organization, said Monday it is "preparing for the clearance" of options on spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. "That's a wrap. Now it's just a matter of when not if," Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said in a post on X, noting that the listing process after OCC approval is considered relatively quick. Alison Hennessy, Nasdaq's head of ETP Listings, said on Bloomberg's ETF IQ that Nasdaq is ready to go and that IBIT options could be listed "as soon as tomorrow."
Goldman Readies Plans to Spin-Out Its Digital Assets Platform
Goldman Sachs Group Inc is speaking with potential partners as it plans to spin out its digital-assets platform into a new company for large financial firms to create, trade and settle financial instruments via blockchain technology. The bank is in talks with a number of market participants on the plans as it continues to build out the platform’s capabilities and develop new commercial use cases, Mathew McDermott, Goldman’s global head of Digital Assets, said in an interview. Plans for the new company are in the early stages, but the long term goal is to execute the spin-out within the next 12 to 18 months, subject to regulatory approvals, McDermott said.
Memecoin returns were 6x higher than crypto market average over past 30 days
Memecoins’ have posted average returns of 103% over the past 30 days — over 6x higher than the crypto market’s 16.1% average return, according to data from Artemis. Dogecoin (DOGE) and Pepe (PEPE) registered the more significant gains among the 19 memecoins tracked by Artemis during the period, growing 196.1% and 115%, respectively. PEPE’s “beta play” PepeCoin also rose significantly, with a 121.1% gain. Meanwhile, Solana-based Bonk (BONK) climbed 70.2%, while Base’s Brett (BRETT) saw a 63.5% price increase over the period. Notably, many memecoins connected to the US elections have crashed in the days following the conclusion of the presidential race, including MAGA (TRUMP), which fell 72% over the past 30 days.
According to market insights platform Kaito AI, memecoins controlled nearly 24% of investors’ mindshare as of Nov. 14. One out of four crypto investors posting on X is discussing memecoins.
Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 Monad begins rolling out testnet
The highly-anticipated Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 Monad has begun rolling out its testnet as part of a phased release, a source told The Block. “I made a tx, it was fast,” well-known crypto trader Jordan Fish, also known as Cobie, wrote on X. The news follows the launch of Monad’s devnet in March, having reached 10,000 transactions per second in internal testing. "This is an important milestone for our team," Keone Hon, CEO and co-founder of Monad developer Monad Labs, told The Block at the time.
Pennsylvania introduces bill to use $7 billion state fund for Bitcoin Strategic Reserve purchases
Pennsylvania’s legislature has introduced landmark legislation for establishing a Bitcoin reserve, positioning the state at the forefront of digital asset policy in the United States. The bill, led by Representative Mike Cabell, enables the state to allocate a portion of its reserves exclusively to Bitcoin as a strategic hedge against inflation and an asset to secure the Commonwealth’s economic future. The news comes after Pennsylvania passed the Bitcoin Rights bill through its House and is currently being considered by the PA Senate. According to Satoshi Action Fund co-founder Dennis Porter, Pennsylvania’s adoption of Bitcoin reserve legislation reflects a proactive stance in response to financial instability and inflationary pressures. Porter said during a recent Twitter Spaces event,