Scenius Sync (Issue # 202)
Kevin Warsh clears key Senate Committee to become Fed Chair, Wasabi Protocol hit by $5M+ exploit, Sen. Tillis becomes ‘latest roadblock’, Meta begun issuing USDC payouts, & MoonPay Inc. acquired Sodot
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.
If you find this newsletter valuable, please subscribe and share The Scenius Sync with your network 💪
Essential News 🗞
Kevin Warsh clears key Senate Banking Committee vote to become Federal Reserve chair
On Wednesday, the committee voted 13 to 11 to advance Kevin Warsh, splitting along party lines. Warsh had spoken a few times about crypto, calling bitcoin an “important asset that can help inform policymakers.”
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who had previously said he would withhold support for Warsh until the investigation concluded, ultimately voted in favor of the nomination following the DOJ’s decision.
Polymarket eyes return of main exchange to the US, in talks with CFTC: Bloomberg
Polymarket is exploring a path to bring its main exchange back to the United States, according to reporting from Bloomberg. The company’s announcement last year that it would re-enter the U.S. market after acquiring derivatives exchange QCEX, a platform regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. QCX LLC, which does business as Polymarket US, operates a more limited version of the company’s global platform. Over the years, Polymarket has been marked with scrutiny by the derivatives regulator.
CFTC sues New York over prediction market crackdown as 38 AGs back Massachusetts’ Kalshi case
New York Attorney General Letitia James joined 37 other attorneys general Friday in an amicus brief backing Massachusetts’ lawsuit against Kalshi at the state’s highest court. Hours later, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued New York in Manhattan federal court, arguing state enforcement actions against prediction market operators are preempted by federal law. The dueling actions mark the fourth state the CFTC has sued in three weeks and come three days after James filed her own suits against Coinbase and Gemini.
ZetaChain halts cross-chain transactions following attack on smart contract
Layer 1 network ZetaChain has paused cross-chain transactions on the mainnet after the team identified an attack on its GatewayEVM contract.
A GatewayEVM contract is a smart contract that serves as a unified entry point for cross-chain interactions between external EVM-compatible chains and applications on ZetaChain. The incident impacted only internal ZetaChain team wallets, and the team has mitigated the attack vector to prevent more funds from being compromised. DefiLlama data shows that $300,000 was lost in the attack, though the team did not disclose the amount and said it will release a detailed post-mortem.
In other exploit news: SWEAT protocol thwarts multi-million dollar exploit, restores user balances
Still more here: Wasabi Protocol hit by more than $5 million exploit across multiple chains, security firms say
Sen. Tillis becomes ‘latest roadblock’ for crypto bill as he pushes ethics provisions, TD Cowen says
Republican Senator Thom Tillis has become the “latest roadblock” to the crypto bill as he pushes ethics provisions to be included in the Clarity Act, investment bank TD Cowen said. Tillis, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, reportedly said Monday that he would oppose the crypto bill if it does not include ethics language. “There has to be ethics language in the bill before it leaves the Senate, or I’ll go from one of the people working on negotiating it to voting against it,” Tillis told Politico. The ethics issue raised by Tillis is the latest hurdle for the crypto bill.
Innovation & Adoption 💡📈
Meta Launches Stablecoin Payouts for Creators Using Stripe
Meta is launching stablecoin payouts for creators, using Stripe as its payment provider, according to its webpage. Meta is offering Circle’s stablecoin on the Solana and Polygon blockchain to pay out creators, starting with those in Colombia and Philippines, the webpage shows. Once creators receive the stablecoins, they are advised to convert them into local currency by using a local crypto exchange. Meta itself doesn’t provide such services, known as an off-ramp.
First prediction market ETFs could launch next week, Bloomberg analyst says
The first lineup of prediction market exchange-traded funds may hit the U.S. next week, according to Bloomberg ETF Analyst James Seyffart.
On Tuesday, New York-based issuer Roundhill filed a post-effective amendment under Rule 485(b) with the Securities and Exchange Commission, setting a new effective date for its previously filed registration statement. “Looks like we are going to see prediction markets ETFs launch next week,” Seyffart said.
Gemini is looking to make it easier for users to let AI guide their trades. On Monday, the crypto exchange rolled out Agentic Trading, which lets users connect AI models like Claude and ChatGPT to their trading accounts. This will make it easier for AI to autonomously monitor markets, place trades, and even execute trades and manage risk based on predefined trading strategies, according to an announcement shared with The Block.
Crypto Firm MoonPay Bets $100 Million for Institutional Push
MoonPay Inc. has acquired Sodot, an Israeli crypto security startup, as part of a plan by the crypto payments firm to launch a new unit focused exclusively on catering to institutional demand for digital assets. The new unit, known as MoonPay Institutional, will connect large traditional financial firms to a variety of crypto and blockchain services, including trading, tokenized securities, payments, wallet management and stablecoin issuance. It’ll be led by Caroline D. Pham, who joined the New York-based firm as its chief legal officer and chief administrative officer in December, after serving as acting chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission throughout 2025.
Japan’s Bitbank rolls out crypto-linked credit card that pays bills in bitcoin
Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank has launched a crypto-linked credit card that allows users to pay their bills using assets held on its exchange, marking a first for the domestic market, the company said. In a Monday press release, Bitbank said it partnered with EPOS Card, Marui Group’s fintech arm, to roll out the Visa credit card, “EPOS Crypto Card for Bitbank.” The company described the product as the first service in Japan that enables credit card payments to be settled directly from balances held at a crypto exchange.