Scenius Sync (Issue #52)

US lawmakers file 'SEC Stabilization Act' to fire Gary Gensler, Robinhood ends SOL, MATIC & ADA Support, a16z Sets Up Shop outside US, & Kraken NFT Marketplace Goes Live

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. US lawmakers file 'SEC Stabilization Act' to fire Gary Gensler

   • United States Congressman Warren Davidson has introduced the "SEC Stabilization Act" into the House of Representatives, announced June 12. One of the bill's main provisions is to fire Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler.  See tweet from Congressman Davidson on the filing, here.

   • Meanwhile, a U.S. Court Tells SEC to Respond to Coinbase's Rulemaking Petition Within a Week. “Rules of the road, from legislation or rulemaking or both, must come before enforcement actions. That is why we petitioned the SEC for rulemaking nearly a year ago in the first place,” Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, said in a tweet thread.

2. Robinhood ends support for Solana, Polygon, Cardano amid SEC exchange crackdown

   • Fintech trading app Robinhood has decided to delist three cryptocurrencies amid the SEC's crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges. The firm will not support Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC) or Cardano (ADA) after June 27, 6:59 p.m. ET. Users may transfer these cryptocurrencies until this deadline. Afterward, the firm will sell the coins at market value and credit the amount into the holder's Robinhood buying power.

3. Binance US announces a ‘pause’ to fiat withdrawals scheduled for June 13

   • Binance US announced that it is ‘suspending USD deposits.’ In addition, users are being notified that Binance US’ ‘banking partners are preparing to pause fiat (USD) withdrawal channels as early as June 13.’ The exchange added that it encourages ‘customers to take appropriate action with their USD.’ The announcement also highlighted that Binance US maintains ‘1:1 reserves for all customer assets.’

   • Meanwhile, Binance.US is also removing 10 trading pairs in the wake of SEC lawsuit as well as A Dozen Ethereum, BNB Token Trading Pairs on the international exchange.

4. Solana, Cardano, Polygon Push Back Against SEC 'Security' Label

   • The SEC named the three among a slew of other tokens as examples of securities being offered and traded on allegedly non-compliant crypto exchanges as part of its lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase last week.

5. Andreessen Horowitz Opening Crypto Office in London

   • Citing "a clear regulatory regime" in the UK, a16z crypto sets up shop outside the United States.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Kraken NFT Marketplace Launches With Support for Ethereum, Solana and Polygon Collections

   • Crypto exchange Kraken has officially launched its NFT marketplace out of beta testing, supporting over 250 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) across the Ethereum, Solana and Polygon blockchains. As part of its public launch, the platform has pledged to include not only blue-chip projects like CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, but also more affordable collections that can be bought for under $100.

2. Circle Singapore Obtained Major Payment Institution (MPI) License

   • The license allows Circle Singapore to offer digital payment token services, alongside cross-border money transfer services and domestic money transfer services in the city-state via its various products and services, including the Circle Account, which allows institutional customers access to USDC stablecoin.

3. Bank of China's BOCI issues first tokenized security in Hong Kong on Ethereum

   • Bank of China investment bank BOCI issued fully digital structured notes worth 200 million of offshore renminbi ($28 million) on the Ethereum blockchain, making it the first Chinese financial institution to issue a tokenized security in Hong Kong.

4. 1 million wallets deploy Coinbase-backed Base's smart contracts during testing

   • This initiative was designed to identify potential issues in the network, which is still a testnet, under high stress conditions. With this surge in activity, the team was able to identify critical stress points in both the platform’s design and infrastructure, which it is now actively addressing.

5. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange completes proof-of-concept to tokenize fiat and bonds

   • A new phase in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange’s integration of blockchain technology and traditional assets has been completed with the minting of the first dummy digital government bond as an ERC-1155 security token.