Scenius Sync (Issue #51)

SEC Sues Binance & Coinbase, House Republicans Put Forth Ambitious Crypto Oversight Bill, & Apple Enters the Metaverse with Vision Pro Headset

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.

If you find this newsletter valuable, please subscribe and share The Scenius Sync with your network 💪

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Essential News 🗞

1. SEC Sues Crypto Exchange Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao, Alleging Multiple Securities Violations

   • On Monday the SEC sued crypto exchange Binance, the operating company for Binance.US and Binance founder and CEO “CZ” on allegations of violating federal securities laws. The enforcement action follows a similar suit filed in March by the CFTC.

   • The SEC also alleged that a number of other tokens, including the native coins for the Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Coti (COTI) and Algorand blockchains (ALGO), Filecoin network (FIL), Cosmos hub (ATOM), Sandbox platform (SAND), Axie infinity (AXS) and Decentraland (MANA) are securities.

   • Not surprisingly, Binance says it will 'defend our platform vigorously' from SEC lawsuit. Nonetheless, Binance users pulled $1.5B amid the sweeping SEC charges. Link.

2. U.S. House Republicans Push for Crypto Oversight With Bill to Make SEC Play Ball

   • In the most significant crypto oversight proposal Congress has come up with this year, the proposed legislation would check a lot of boxes the digital assets sector is clamoring for. But the draft bill released Friday by the leaders of the House Financial Services Commission and Agriculture Committee hasn’t yet drawn Democratic support and comes with caveats, including the SEC’s ongoing power to determine which assets are securities that would remain under that agency’s authority.

   • For a helpful summary, see this Tweet thread.

3. Coinbase sued by SEC one day after regulator sues Binance

   • In the lawsuit, the SEC claims Coinbase acted as an unregistered broker and alleges numerous tokens are securities including: SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, AXS, CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH, and NEXO.

   • Coinbase dropped 15% in pre-trading after the SEC’s announcement. Link.

4. Binance Hands Rising Star Teng Key Role to Replace CEO Zhao at Largest Crypto Exchange

   • The appointment of Richard Teng to oversee Binance’s regional markets outside the U.S. has positioned the one-time Abu Dhabi regulator as the most likely successor to Changpeng Zhao, who founded the world’s largest crypto exchange in 2017.

5. Genesis Bankruptcy Judge Extends Mediation Period Between Genesis, Creditors

   • U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane extended a mediation period between crypto lender Genesis and its creditors at a Monday bankruptcy hearing as tensions flared over the role Genesis’ parent company Digital Currency Group would play in the lender's restructuring.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Apple Enters the Metaverse & Revolutionizes Mixed Reality with Vision Pro Headset

   • Apple said the device, which will sell for $3,499 and won’t be available until early next year, would be a new way to interact with digital content in the physical space using the user’s hands, eye and voice to interact with apps. Users can control the device with their hands and experience movies, TV shows and games in a more immersive way.

2. El Salvador's Volcano Energy Secures $1B in Commitments for 241 MW Bitcoin Mine

   • Stablecoin issuer Tether is among the investors in the new bitcoin mining site powered by solar and wind energy in El Salvador.

3. Cboe Wins Approval for Margin Trades on Crypto Futures Exchange

   • Cboe Digital won approval from the CFTC to offer physically and financially settled margined contracts beginning in the second half of this year. This means traders on Cboe Global Markets Inc.’s digital-asset exchange will soon be able to enter into margined Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts. 

4. New Stablecoin Issuer Raft Is Eschewing Fiat for Its Financial Backing

   • Raft debuted its new U.S. dollar stablecoin called R. It is the first stablecoin collateralized by a single crypto asset: liquid staking leader Lido’s staked ether (stETH). The stablecoin, which began trading Monday, uses both hard- and soft-peg mechanisms to keep its price around $1. The hard peg depends on arbitrage to maintain a stable price, while the soft peg relies on incentivizing users to act based on “the expectation that the peg will be kept in the future.”

5. Credit Suisse-backed Taurus integrates Polygon for its tokenization offering

   • Taurus, a Swiss crypto infrastructure firm, announced an integration with the Polygon blockchain network for its tokenization and custody platforms.

     The move means Taurus's clients, which include Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, can now leverage Polygon to tokenize any asset, including equity and debt. Polygon becomes the fourth blockchain supported by Taurus's tokenization platform, following Ethereum, Tezos and Cardano.