Scenius Sync (Issue #131)
Trump Still Keen On Crypto, Polymarket's Coplan is Decrypt's POY, MSTR Joins Nasdaq, PENGU drop TODAY, Avalanche9000 Upgrade Goes Live, Soon OpenSea Token, & MegaETH Raises $10M in 3 Mins
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:
Share the essential stories driving the crypto industry and markets.
Highlight innovative applications and mainstream adoption of crypto and blockchain technology.
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Essential News 🗞
Trump remains keen on strategic crypto reserve with aim of making US industry leader
President-elect Donald Trump said during the election he wanted to create a federal bitcoin reserve; now, he appears to believe a strategic cryptocurrency reserve could be necessary if the United States wants to secure its place as the industry leader in digital assets. "You're embracing crypto," CNBC's Jim Cramer told Trump when interviewing him on television Thursday. Cramer then asked: "Strategic petroleum reserve-like for crypto?" "I think so," Trump answered. "We're gonna do something great with crypto, 'cause we don't want China, or anybody else, not just China, others are embracing it, and we want to be the head."
Drafting rules for digital assets will be a top priority in 2025 for the newly-selected House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill as Republicans look to create a regulatory framework in the first 100 days. “We need a market structure for digital assets,” Rep. French Hill told CNBC on Friday morning. Hill also noted that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise plans to “move a regulatory structure bill for digital assets” and is also focused on stablecoins.
‘Major implications’ for gaming tokens as CyberKongz hit with SEC Wells notice
Gaming tokens could be in for a setback after non-fungible token (NFT) platform CyberKongz was hit with a Wells notice by the United States securities regulator. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought up the “concerning rhetoric” that an ERC-20 token in tandem with a blockchain game cannot be issued without it first being registered as a security, CyberKongz said in a Dec. 16 X post. Such discourse would have “major implications” for the Web3 gaming industry, CyberKongz explained, adding it would “defend against this stance for the wider space.”
Decrypt's 2024 Person of the Year: Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan
Crypto-based prediction market Polymarket was a breakout success in 2024. The platform accurately predicted global events throughout the year, including the U.S. presidential election. Its 26-year-old CEO Shayne Coplan, who views the world through the lens of probabilities, is Decrypt's 2024 Person of the Year.
Bitcoin Bull MicroStrategy Joins Nasdaq 100
MicroStrategy officially joined the Nasdaq 100 on Friday, cementing its place among an elite group of companies. Nasdaq announced the listing in a press release detailing the annual changes to the Nasdaq-100 index.
In related news, MicroStrategy acquired another 15,350 BTC for ~$1.5 billion at ~$100,386 per bitcoin.
Innovation & Adoption 💡📈
PENGU: Everything You Need to Know About the Pudgy Penguins Solana Token and Airdrop
After amassing more than 50 billion social media views and placing toys on shelves in Walmart and Target stores across the country, Ethereum NFT project Pudgy Penguins is launching a token. The news sent the Pudgy Penguins floor price skyward, breaching $100,000 and becoming the second largest profile picture project in all of NFTs. “A founder’s job in crypto is to maximize for optimal excitement,” said Pudgy Penguins IP owner Luca Netz in a video interview with crypto personality ThreadGuy. While excitement swirls around the Pudgy Penguin ecosystem, find out everything you need to know about its upcoming token PENGU, which is launching on December 17 on Solana. PENGU will launch on December 17, 2024. An official launch time has not been shared, but it is expected to launch in the morning ET hours.
Official links and claim details will only be shared and announced from the Pudgy Penguins account on X.
X announcement here.
OpenSea Cayman Islands registration fuels token airdrop rumors
Non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea has sparked speculation of an impending token launch and user airdrop following its registration in the Cayman Islands. The news was shared on Dec. 14 by Waleswoosh, a pseudonymous researcher from the Azuki NFT collection, who posted a screenshot of OpenSea’s Cayman Islands registration. NFT community members have since speculated that the digital collectible platform plans to launch a cryptocurrency and conduct a token airdrop.
Avalanche, the application-friendly Layer 1 blockchain, published its much-anticipated Avalanche9000 upgrade on Monday, according to an announcement. The upgrade introduces a number of new features, including improvements that make it easier to launch “subnet” blockchains and cheaper to run smart contracts. “This is the start of hundreds of Avalanche L1s launching,” the team wrote on X. “Avalanche9000 reduces the cost to deploy an L1 by 99.9%, and with hundreds of L1s being developed on testnet, look out for an explosion of launches in the coming months.” The team explained in a blog post that Avalanche9000 is the network’s largest upgrade to date. The update features improvement proposals ACP-77, which changes how validators operate, and ACP-125, which lowers the base fee on Avalanche’s main “C-chain” network.
In related news, Avalanche raises $250 million locked token sale led by Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly and ParaFi Capital
A new developer report from venture firm Electric Capital found Solana is the number one blockchain for new developers. The report found that of the 39,148 new developers who began exploring crypto this year, 7,625 built on Solana, representing an 83% jump year-over-year in the network's developer count. This marks the first time a blockchain ecosystem is growing faster than Ethereum since 2016, the report said. However, Ethereum remains the top blockchain by total developer share across North and South America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Solana followed second in terms of developer count across the same regions.
Read Electric Capital’s full developer report here.
MegaETH developer raises $10 million in 3 minutes on Cobie's Echo
MegaLabs, the developer of a "real-time" blockchain called MegaETH, raised $10 million in under three minutes on Echo, the angel investor platform founded by popular crypto trader Jordan Fish, better known as Cobie. MegaLabs initially aimed to raise $4.2 million and hit that target in just 56 seconds after the sale went live late Thursday, co-founder Shuyao Kong told The Block. Due to overwhelming investor demand, the project decided to raise an additional $5.8 million, which was fully funded in 70 seconds, Kong said.