Scenius Sync (Issue # 151)
Tether’s Continued Record-Breaking Results, Worldcoin (Finally) Making U.S. Debut, Dems Reverse Course To Oppose Stablecoin Bill, & Movement Labs Suspends Co-Founder After Market-Making Scandal
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Essential News 🗞
Tether Released Q1 2025 Attestation
Tether Approaching $120B in U.S. Treasuries, Confirms Quarterly Operating Profit Over $1B, and Strengthens Global USD₮ Demand in Q1 2025. In short, in a quarter marked by market turbulence, Tether delivered record-breaking results that further underscore the company’s financial strength and growing global relevance.
Democrats reverse course to oppose Senate crypto bill
A group of pro-crypto Senate Democrats said Saturday they would oppose GOP-led stablecoin legislation that some of them previously supported if it goes to the floor in its current form, a stunning twist that could jeopardize the bill’s path forward. A group of nine Democrats who have previously backed industry-friendly crypto legislation wrote in a statement Saturday that “the bill as it currently stands still has numerous issues that must be addressed,” adding they “would be unable to vote for cloture should the current version of the bill come to the floor.” The statement was signed by four Democrats who voted in favor of the stablecoin bill when it cleared the Senate Banking Committee in March: Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Mark Warner of Virginia, Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Andy Kim of New Jersey.
Movement Labs suspends co-founder Rushi Manche following market-making scandal
Movement Labs confirmed that its co-founder, Rushi Manche, has been suspended from the organization following a market-making scandal. "This decision was made in light of ongoing events and as the third-party review is still being conducted by Groom Lake regarding organizational governance and recent incidents involving a market maker," Movement Labs said in an X post late Thursday. The controversy has led to the planned suspension of trading for the MOVE token on Coinbase. Manche's suspension came just a few hours after crypto exchange Coinbase announced that it would suspend trading of MOVE starting May 15. Following the December launch of Movement Network's mainnet beta and native token, a market maker allegedly sold off 66 million MOVE tokens, ultimately netting 38 million USDT in profit, according to Binance's findings in March. Binance said at the time that it had notified Movement Labs and Movement Foundation of the irregularities involving their market maker and had frozen the proceeds. Movement Labs allegedly signed a market-making agreement with Rentech, which was misrepresented as a subsidiary of Web3Port but appears to be a separate entity with no digital presence, CoinDesk first reported. Contracts revealed that Rentech controlled around 5% of MOVE’s supply, with incentives to inflate the token’s price to a $5 billion valuation before dumping it for shared profits, raising concerns about self-dealing.
North Carolina House passes state crypto investment bill
North Carolina’s House of Representatives has passed a bill allowing the state’s treasurer to invest public funds in approved cryptocurrencies, which will now head to the Senate. The House passed the Digital Assets Investment Act, or House Bill 92, on its third reading on April 30 by a vote of 71 to 44.
Republican House Speaker Destin Hall introduced the bill in February, which would allow the treasurer to allocate 5% of the state’s investments into designated digital assets. The investments can only be made after obtaining an independent third-party assessment confirming that the crypto holdings are maintained with a secure custody solution and risk oversight and regulatory compliance standards are met.
In a similar vein, Arizona legislature passes Bitcoin reserve bills, moving closer to stockpiling crypto, however, it was then vetoed by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs. See here.
US DOJ requests 20-year sentence for Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky
Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, faces a 20-year prison sentence as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks a severe penalty for his role in a multibillion-dollar fraud. The DOJ on April 28 filed the government’s sentencing memorandum against Mashinsky, recommending a 20-year prison sentence for his fraudulent actions, which led to billions of dollars in losses for Celsius customers.
Innovation & Adoption 💡📈
Sam Altman’s eye-scanning crypto project World launches in US
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s crypto-tied digital identity project World, formerly Worldcoin, has made its US debut in six cities. The project, which aims to verify humans in the age of artificial intelligence, is initially coming to what it calls the “key innovation hubs” of Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco, according to an April 30 announcement. World offers a crypto token, Worldcoin (WLD), to those who verify their identity with its spherical device called an Orb, which scans a user’s face and eyes.
The firm had previously skirted launching in the US due to regulatory concerns over offering a token, fears now seemingly allayed with the crypto-friendly Trump administration.
Tokenized asset company Dinari raises $12.7 million from Hack VC and Blockchange Ventures
Dinari, a California-based crypto company that allows non-U.S. investors to buy shares in American companies with blockchain technology, announced Thursday that it has raised $12.7 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Hack VC and Blockchange Ventures, with participation from VanEck Ventures, F-Prime and the Avalanche Fund. The latest round brings the total amount of money the company has raised to $22.65 million. The company said it will use the money from this latest round to enhance compliance with regulations in the various countries in which it operates. Dinari’s valuation in 2024 was $40.15 million, according to Pitchbook. The current valuation is unclear, but the company says it is generating revenue, although it declined to disclose exact numbers.
X announcement here.
Tether CEO says the firm's AI product will enable peer-to-peer network of AI agents
Tether’s CEO announced the upcoming launch of Tether AI, which is described as an open-source AI runtime. The system will be able to run on any hardware or device, and integrate with crypto payments.
Even as global investors face macro headwinds and the evaporation of initial public offerings, crypto venture capital continues to attract major funding. The blockchain-focused venture firm dao5 recently closed a $222 million second fund, Fortune can exclusively report. Founded in 2022 by Tekin Salimi, a former corporate lawyer and alumnus of the crypto venture giant Polychain, dao5 previously raised a $125 million debut fund, which it has fully deployed into crypto startups, including the layer-1 blockchain Berachain and the decentralized AI project Bittensor.
Aztec Network launches public testnet for privacy-focused Ethereum Layer 2
Privacy-focused blockchain developer Aztec Network has launched a public testnet for its Ethereum-based Layer 2 network, opening access to all developers. Aztec's L2 aims to provide programmable privacy for decentralized applications (dApps) while preserving Ethereum’s inherent transparency. The public testnet launched after more than 100 sequences were successfully deployed on DevNet and ProverNet, according to a company release. Aztec is now planning to launch its privacy-focused L2 on mainnet by the end of 2025.