Scenius Sync (Issue # 192)

CFTC claims exclusive jurisdiction over futures, Peter Thiel Exits ETHZilla, Ledn sells $188M BTC-backed bonds, Figure debuts tokenized stock with $150M offering, & Dragonfly closes $650M Fourth Fund

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.

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Essential News 🗞

1. CFTC claims exclusive federal authority over prediction markets in new brief, clashing with states

   • Congress gave the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission “exclusive jurisdiction” over futures, which includes event contracts, the agency said in a court brief filed on Tuesday evening, following assertions from its chair, Michael Selig, that states are overstepping in trying to oversee prediction markets. The derivatives regulator submitted the amicus — or “friend of the court” — brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a case involving Crypto.com and the state of Nevada. Crypto.com’s prediction-market arm sued Nevada in June, seeking to block the state from preventing it from offering sports-event contracts.

2. Tech Billionaire Peter Thiel Exits Ether Treasury Firm ETHZilla

   • Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel and his Founders Fund have fully exited ETHZilla Corp., according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Entities managed by Thiel now report owning zero shares in the company, the filing released late Tuesday shows. In August, those same entities disclosed a 7.5% stake. ETHZilla has yet to respond to an out-of-hours request for comment. ETHZilla is a digital asset treasury, a company that primarily holds cryptocurrencies — in this case Ether — and raises funds by selling investors stocks and bonds.

3. US CLARITY Act to pass ‘hopefully by April’: Senator Bernie Moreno

   • The US CLARITY Act, a highly anticipated bill aimed at providing greater clarity for the US crypto industry, could make it through Congress in just over a month, according to crypto-friendly US Senator Bernie Moreno. “Hopefully by April,” Moreno told CNBC during an interview at US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida on Wednesday. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong joined Moreno for the interview, explaining that they were with representatives from the crypto, banking and US Congress at the World Liberty Financial (WLF) crypto forum to reach a solution on market structure.

4. Exclusive: Kraken acquires token manager Magna as crypto exchange prepares for IPO

   • Kraken has purchased the token management platform Magna, the crypto exchange announced on Wednesday. Kraken declined to disclose the terms of the acquisition, which closed on Friday. It’s the exchange’s sixth deal over the past year, including its $1.5 billion purchase of the U.S. futures platform NinjaTrader in March. Magna helps crypto companies manage the distribution of their cryptocurrencies. When crypto startups raise money from venture capitalists, they often promise investors a tranche of tokens, much like traditional startups give VCs equity.

5. Abu Dhabi Funds Boosted BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Exposure to $1 Billion by End of 2025: Filings

   • Abu Dhabi-based investment funds grew their Bitcoin exposure to more than $1 billion in total at the conclusion of last year, new filings with the SEC show.

     Mubadala Investments and Al Warda Investments, which is connected to the Abu Dhabi Investment Council—itself a Mubadala company—collectively owned nearly 21 million shares of IBIT, the BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF that provides direct exposure to crypto’s top asset. Based on values from the time of report, Mubadala owned around $630 million in IBIT and Al Warda maintained a $408 million stake.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Ledn sells $188 million worth of bitcoin-backed bonds: Bloomberg

   • Ledn has sold $188 million in securitized bonds backed by bitcoin, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. “The deal comprises two bonds, including an investment-grade portion that was priced at a spread of 335 basis points over the benchmark rate,” Bloomberg said, citing anonymous sources. Ledn, which allows users to borrow against their bitcoin rather than sell it, has originated billions of dollars in loans since its founding. In November, stablecoin giant Tether invested in Ledn, seemingly as demand for bitcoin-backed credit accelerates across retail and institutional markets.

2. Exclusive: Crypto venture firm Dragonfly closes $650 million fourth fund—even as blockchain VCs face ‘mass extinction’

   • The crypto venture ecosystem is going through a “mass extinction event,” as Hadick put it, but Dragonfly has thrived despite a founder breakup, a regulatory scare from the Department of Justice, and a pivot away from China amid a crypto crackdown. At the core of Dragonfly’s strategy are its four symbiotic leaders: Hadick, the fintech bridge; Haseeb Qureshi, the ambassador; Tom Schmidt, the DeFi whiz; and Bo Feng, the firm’s mysterious founder and an icon of the Chinese tech scene. “It’s bizarre to see us now become one of the incumbents,” said Qureshi. “We’re playing a bigger game than we were playing in the past.”

3. Figure is debuting its tokenized stock along with upsized $150 million offering

   • Figure Technology Solutions (FIGR), the blockchain company helmed by ex-SoFi CEO Mike Cagney, is debuting Thursday a new, tokenized class of its stock that trades entirely on blockchain rails cutting out traditional intermediaries, the firm told CoinDesk. The stock token, dubbed FGRD, will be available on Figure’s Onchain Public Equity Network (OPEN), where it is issued, traded and settled without relying on the traditional clearing and custody systems that underpin most of Wall Street. Investors can access the asset through the Figure Markets app and self-custody wallets integrated with the network. Investors will also be able use their stock tokens for lending or borrowing through Figure’s decentralized finance protocol Democratized Prime.

4. Kalshi inks sports hedging deal with Game Point on the heels of over $1 billion in Super Bowl trading

   • Prediction marketplace Kalshi has entered the institutional sports risk hedging space, striking a partnership with broker Game Point Capital to allow teams to hedge performance bonus payouts. The deal was announced Thursday by CEO Tarek Mansour on X. Mansour framed the partnership as an institutional alternative to the traditional over-the-counter reinsurance market, which he described as restrictive and opaque. The sports insurance and reinsurance industry represents an annual market of approximately $9 billion, Mansour said in the post, a figure the CEO stated is projected to double by 2030.

5. First spot SUI ETFs debut as Canary Capital and Grayscale launch funds with staking

   • Two spot SUI exchange-traded funds hit the market on Wednesday, offering investors direct exposure to the token’s price along with the ability to earn staking rewards. Canary Capital launched its Canary Stake SUI ETF under the ticker symbol SUIS on the Nasdaq exchange. The investment firm said the fund will track the spot price of SUI and will also allow investors to benefit from net staking rewards through SUI’s proof-of-stake mechanism. “The Canary Staked SUI spot ETF (SUIS) brings exposure to SUI in a registered, exchange-traded structure, while also enabling investors to benefit from net staking rewards generated through SUI’s proof-of-stake mechanism,” said Steven McClurg, CEO at Canary Capital, in a statement.