Scenius Sync (Issue # 149)
Fed’s Powell Signals Loosening Crypto Rules, Vitalik Floats Swapping EVM for RISC-V To Boost Scalability, Minecraft Clone Puts Every Game Action on Blockchain, Zora Confirms 4/23 Token Launch
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 🗞
Fed Chair Jerome Powell signals potential loosening of crypto rules for banks
Since President Donald Trump took office in January, federal banking agencies have shifted their stance toward digital assets. During an interview on Wednesday at The Economic Club of Chicago, Powell pointed to “a wave of failures and fraud” over the years, but said that the atmosphere itself is turning more mainstream. There could be a "loosening" of crypto-related rules in banks' future, according to Powell. During an interview on Wednesday at The Economic Club of Chicago, Powell pointed to "a wave of failures and fraud" over the years, but said that the atmosphere itself is turning more mainstream. During the event, Powell also spoke about tariffs, immigration and inflation, among other topics. "We took a pretty conservative, other bank regulators took an even more conservative perspective on the guidance and rules we imposed on banks," Powell said. "I think there will be some loosening of that."
Vitalik Buterin floats swapping Ethereum's EVM for RISC-V to boost scalability
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, in a new blog post on the Ethereum Magicians forum, floated a "radical" long-term proposal for the blockchain network's execution layer: replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine's (EVM) bytecode with the open-source RISC-V architecture. "The beam chain effort holds great promise for greatly simplifying the consensus layer of Ethereum," Buterin wrote. "But for the execution layer to see similar gains, this kind of radical change may be the only viable path." Buterin's post argues that in order to boost performance of Ethereum's execution layer, the network needs to boost the efficiency of the EVM proving process. Adopting RISC-V (pronounced "risk five"), an open-source processing architecture comparable to its proprietary competitors like ARM and x86, could slash on-chain execution costs by as much as 100x in some cases, Buterin argues.
China's local governments sell seized crypto to refill public coffers despite trading ban: Reuters
Chinese local governments have been selling seized cryptocurrencies via private companies despite an ongoing crypto trading ban in mainland China, according to Reuters. Amid a slowing economy, local governments have been selling crypto assets confiscated from illicit activities for cash to replenish public coffers — a practice that legal experts say could lead to opaque processes and foster corruption — Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing transaction and court documents. China continues to ban cryptocurrency trading and mining activities on the mainland, while Hong Kong has repeatedly expressed its ambition to become a crypto hub with a trading licensing regime. The Chinese authorities, however, have enlisted local companies to help dispose of seized crypto assets. While it is illegal for individuals to trade crypto, operating a business that assists the government in selling crypto remains legitimate — which has attracted a growing number of participants — the report said.
Over $380M Worth of Crypto Stolen During Bybit's $1.4B Hack Has Gone Dark
Bybit's CEO announced that 27.95% of the $1.4 billion lost in a hack by the North Korean Lazarus Group is untraceable. The stolen funds were moved through mixers and cross-chain swaps to obscure their trail. Of the hacked funds, 84.45% were converted from ether to bitcoin, with a significant portion distributed across thousands of wallets.
Brazilian Men Sentenced in $190 Million Bitcoin Investment Ponzi Scheme
A Brazilian court this week jailed three men for their part in a crypto Ponzi scheme that prosecutors say conned investors out of approximately $190 million. The court sentenced Joel Ferreira de Souza, Gesana Rayane da Silva, and Victor Augusto Veronez de Souza to a combined sentence of 170 years behind bars for their role in running Braiscompany, according to local media.
Braiscompany promised people false returns on Bitcoin investments, prosecutors said. As far back as in 2021, the company was accused of being a pyramid scheme, and Brazilian cops were investigating Braiscompany in 2023.
Innovation & Adoption 💡📈
Crypto Knocks on the Door of a Banking World That Shut It Out
Crypto is pushing deeper into the banking system. A regulatory crackdown on crypto in the wake of the meltdown of FTX and two crypto-friendly banks prompted some in traditional finance to break up with the industry two years ago. Now President Trump’s pledge to make America a “bitcoin superpower” has set the stage for crypto to become more intertwined with the banking system. A host of crypto firms including Circle and BitGo plan to apply for bank charters or licenses, according to people familiar with the matter. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global and stablecoin company Paxos are considering similar moves, other people said. That comes as the Trump administration moves to incorporate crypto into mainstream finance and Congress advances a pair of bills that would establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which let people easily trade in and out of more volatile cryptocurrencies. The legislation would require stablecoin issuers to have charters or licenses from regulators.
Ethena Labs, Securitize unveil 'Converge' network roadmap
Ethena Labs, the developer of the USDe synthetic dollar (USDe), and financial technology company Securitize, released a preliminary roadmap for their upcoming Converge network, a high-throughput blockchain focused on real-world assets and decentralized finance (DeFi). According to the announcement, a testnet will be live in the coming weeks, with a mainnet launch later in 2025. Converge will feature a 100 milliseconds native block time, with plans to reduce block times to 50ms by Q4 2025. The developers also plan to achieve at least one gigagas of potential throughput during 2025. Gigagas is a measure of billions of gas units processed by a blockchain network in one second. Ethena and Securitize are launching the network to support permissioned real-world tokenized applications and permissionless DeFi applications as the line between traditional and decentralized finance continues to blur.
Securitize making more waves here: Securitize acquires MG Stover fund services arm; $38 billion in assets now under administration
This 'Minecraft' Clone Puts Every Game Action On-Chain—Here’s Why
A Minecraft clone on the Somnia blockchain testnet called Chunked puts every in-game action on the blockchain—from a player’s movement to every block placed, mined, and crafted. Creator MSquared, a division of metaverse tech builder Improbable, says this is the first of a number of blockchain experiments as the firm looks to see how far it can push the boundaries of crypto gaming. Playing the game is a smooth experience, even with all the on-chain hooks, as there isn’t noticeable lag when placing or mining a block. That said, some issues can arise when crafting with blocks momentarily disappearing from a player's inventory. Plus, the game world’s borders are fairly small, significantly reducing the infinite sandbox experience of the real Minecraft.
Neutrl Raises $5M to Tokenize a Popular Hedge Fund Altcoin Trade
Novel decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Neutrl aims to bring a hedge fund trade — once limited to sophisticated investors — to the masses in the form of a crypto token. The protocol is launching its NUSD "synthetic dollar" token, designed to generate returns by arbitraging discounted altcoin deals in over-the-counter (OTC) markets, the team told CoinDesk in an exclusive interview.
Neutrl also raised $5 million in seed funding led by digital asset private marketplace STIX and venture firm Accomplice. They were joined by Amber Group, SCB Limited, Figment Capital and Nascent alongside a range of crypto angel investors including Ethena founder Guy Young and derivatives trader Joshua Lim of Arbelos Markets, recently acquired by FalconX.
Coinbase-Backed Zora to Airdrop Token After a Week of Contentious Promotions
Zora's onchain social media platform will launch its ZORA token on April 23, 2025, following viral attention on X. Two snapshots will determine token distribution, covering user activity from January 1, 2020, to April 20, 2025. The platform saw a surge in activity, with over 230,000 new traders joining after promotions by Base's Jesse Pollack.