Scenius Sync (Issue # 212)
SEC plans crypto rule changes in 2026, CFTC Chair says Clarity Act Is ‘So Close’, Zapper (sadly) shutting down, JPMorgan Chase entered the vault curating business, & Paradigm raises $1.2B 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 publication is the following:
Distribute thought leadership that made an impression on us this week
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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Opinions & Alpha 📡 🧠
Most projects should have equity or tokens, not both
“So, can equity and tokens work together? Yes, if it’s absolutely clear that offchain value accrues to equity, onchain value accrues to tokens, there’s enough value to make both assets attractive, and neither one siphons or undermines the value of the other. There’s a place for this, such as when a company’s offchain business is positive sum (e.g., increasing token value by driving more activity to a protocol), or where the token performs a necessary function (e.g., incentivizing permissionless coordination).” -- Jake Chervinsky, CEO Hyperliquid Policy Center
Tokenized equities saw a record $3.4 billion in volume for the month of June
“Tokenized equities saw a record $3.4 billion in volume for the month of June. This marks +279% month-over-month growth and +1,400% year-over-year growth. The growth was primarily driven by SpaceX’s record IPO and surging demand for 24/7 trading. Furthermore, the Solana network now accounts for over 90% of volume traded in these assets. A substantial amount of this volume growth has been driven by Jupiter, the largest onchain platform in the world, which has seen MoM volume growth of +56%, with ~60% of tokenized equity volume happening during off hours and weekends.” -- The Kobeissi Letter
“The models that would let the industrial economy and its constituent parts reason natively don’t exist yet. That is beginning to change. A new generation of companies is building digitally native representations of industrial processes, from metal cutting and injection molding to isotope production and copper mining. Whoever discovers the correct geometry for the physical world will compress reality more efficiently, make better predictions at lower cost, and ultimately determine how physical assets are financed and priced.” Meltem Demirors, Crucible Capital
Essential News 🗞
SEC plans crypto rule changes for exchanges and broker dealers in 2026 regulatory agenda
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is laying the groundwork for cryptocurrency rulemaking before the end of the year, with a blueprint to modify its rules for exchanges and broker dealers. On Tuesday, the SEC released its 2026 Regulatory Agenda, which includes proposed changes from reducing compliance burdens for emerging companies to allowing companies to file reports twice a year to one of the agency’s biggest regulatory priorities — crypto. The SEC is considering proposing to amend a rule that requires brokers to maintain a minimum amount of liquid capital as well as another designed to protect customer assets if a broker becomes insolvent.
CFTC Chair Says Clarity Act Is ‘So Close’ As August Deadline Nears
Chairman Michael Selig said the Clarity Act remains within reach, days after Congress missed its July 4 target to pass the crypto market-structure bill. “We’re so close. We have to get this done,” Selig told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. Some analysts give the measure even odds of passage before the August 7 recess. The bill would divide oversight of digital assets between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, a split the industry has sought for years. The House passed the legislation last summer. The Senate has yet to hold a floor vote. Selig, a Trump appointee confirmed in December, backed the Clarity Act effort as a matter of national competitiveness. He backed the effort as a matter of national competitiveness.
Coinbase secures UK investment services license to add derivatives and equities trading
Coinbase Global Inc. has received authorization from the UK Financial Conduct Authority to provide investment services, expanding its regulatory permissions beyond crypto. The authorization will allow institutional and advanced traders to access crypto, equity, and commodity perpetual futures, while retail users will be able to trade equities on Coinbase for the first time, the exchange said in a statement on Tuesday. According to the statement, the UK investment services authorization marks the largest expansion of Coinbase’s UK product suite since the company entered the market. The license sits alongside Coinbase’s existing UK e-money license and crypto registration.
Crypto exchange Kraken is trying to become a bank in Europe
Kraken, the cryptocurrency exchange planning to go public in the U.S., is pursuing a full banking license in Europe, with a focus on Lithuania as the jurisdiction to secure it, according to a person familiar with the plans. If the firm gets the license, Kraken would be the only crypto exchange to have such a designation. It will also tread the same regulatory path as fintech major Revolut, which holds a specialized European banking license issued in 2018 and regulated by the Bank of Lithuania. This allowed Revolut to offer full current accounts, consumer lending, and stock trading across the European Economic Area (EEA). Kraken declined to comment on the plans. A spokesman for the Bank of Lithuania said the licensing process of financial market participants is confidential.
‘Best course of action:’ DeFi dashboard Zapper to shut down after 7 years
Popular DeFi dashboard and portfolio tracker Zapper is shutting down, according to an announcement on Wednesday. “After close to 7 years building Zapper, I regret to announce that Zapper will be winding down,” Seb Audet, CEO and co-founder of Zapper, wrote in an X post. “We evaluated a number of different options, pursued some to the fullest extent possible, and came to the realization that an orderly wind down is the best course of action.” The move comes amid a wave of closings across crypto, even impacting projects like Zapper that had gained legitimacy and a user base. Once popular NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway, Bitcoin Layer 2 Botanix, and major Cosmos wallet Leap, among dozens of others, have all called it quits, often citing market conditions and lack of traction.
Innovation & Adoption 💡📈
JPMorgan: Launches $700M USDC Vault on Ethereum
JPMorgan Chase entered the vault curating business with a JLTXX USDC-denominated vault holding $700M in U.S. Treasury bills, bonds and overnight repurchase agreements, instantly placing the bank fifth among curators and ahead of TelosConsilium and Upshift. The vault runs on the bank’s proprietary Kinexys protocol on Ethereum, marking a shift from its earlier permissioned blockchain focus. CEO Jamie Dimon’s prior public opposition to stablecoins and DeFi makes the move notable as institutional players expand JPMorgan Chase USDC vault strategy and institutional DeFi treasury investments in 2026.
Paradigm raises $1.2 billion fourth fund, expanding beyond crypto into AI and robotics
Crypto venture capital firm Paradigm has raised its fourth fund, a $1.2 billion vehicle that will invest in crypto, AI, robotics, and other frontier technology startups and companies. The news comes after an earlier report in February that said Paradigm was raising up to $1.5 billion for a new fund under a broader investment strategy. The latest is Paradigm’s fourth overall fund and third venture fund, a Paradigm spokesperson told The Block. The firm’s original fund, launched in 2018, is an open-ended vehicle that invests in both public and private crypto companies, while its other three funds, including the new one, are venture-focused.
Swift launches blockchain ledger for tokenized deposit pilot with 17 banks
Swift has launched a blockchain-based shared ledger that will allow 17 banks across six continents to pilot cross-border payments using tokenized deposits, marking the payment network’s first live use case for the technology.
Participants in the initial pilot include Citi, HSBC, UBS, BNP Paribas, Standard Chartered, Wells Fargo, BNY, DBS, and MUFG Bank, among other global lenders, the payment network said in a statement on Thursday. According to the statement, the shared ledger serves as an orchestration layer for bank-issued tokenized deposits, allowing participating institutions to transfer funds for customers around the clock, including overnight and on weekends, before completing final settlement through existing systems.
BNB Chain builds new Layer 1 for agentic trading, targets 2027 mainnet
BNB Chain is building a new Layer 1 blockchain designed for agentic trading, offering its first detailed look at an architecture that has been in development for months. The chain will sit alongside the existing BNB Chain stack and target sub-50-millisecond transaction preconfirmation, according to the project’s H2 2026 technical roadmap shared exclusively with The Block ahead of publication. Its stated design goal is to approach the execution experience of a centralized exchange while preserving the self-custody and transparency of running onchain.
Ondo Perps Launches First Equity Perpetuals Platform With Tokenized Stock Collateral
Ondo Perps launched the first perpetual futures platform for equities and commodities that supports both tokenized equity holdings and stablecoins as collateral for derivatives positions. By combining 24/7 trading with up to 20x leverage and the liquidity of conventional futures and options, Ondo Perps opens a new layer of capital-efficient trading in global markets. The Ondo Perps platform unlocks trading of perpetual futures on leading U.S. equities, ETFs, and commodities – including SPCX, MU, AAPL, NVDA, TSLA, QQQ, gold (XAG), and silver (XAU) – for global investors outside the U.S. Ondo Perps is built on technology developed by Ondo Finance, the largest tokenizer of securities by total value.