Scenius Sync (Issue #54)

Crypto Sees Largest Week of Inflows in a Year, Flurry of Firms File for Spot Bitcoin ETF, Powell Says Crypto Has “Staying Power,” & EDX Markets Exchange Launches With Major Institutional Backing

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. WisdomTree, Invesco, Valkyrie, Bitwise, and BlackRock are now all gunning for a Bitcoin Spot ETF

   • On the heels of BlackRock filing for a spot Bitcoin ETF, Wisdom Tree, Bitwise, Valkyrie, and Invesco have all also filed or renewed filings. The firms all aim to provide investors with more accessible and regulated avenues to participate in the bitcoin market. More coverage here.

   • Meanwhile, a Leveraged Bitcoin Futures ETF is set to Start Trading Tuesday. The Volatility Shares’ 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) will become the first leveraged crypto ETF available in the US after the SEC let it go effective on Friday.

   • On the heels of these developments, the ProShares' Bitcoin Futures ETF Racked Up Its Biggest Weekly Inflow in a Year with investors pouring $65 million in to BITO as total assets once again topped $1bn.

2. Fed Chair Powell Says Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Have 'Staying Power' as an Asset Class

   • Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the U.S. central bank should play a “robust federal role” in overseeing stablecoins, a sizable slice of the overall crypto market that legislators are trying to craft rules for. Powell also remarked that cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, have "staying power."

3. FTX’s New Management Recovers $7 Billion in ‘Substantial Progress’

   • The new management team of bankrupt crypto conglomerate FTX Group said it has made “substantial progress” in securing assets and has recovered about $7 billion in liquid assets so far. The FTX.com exchange owed customers approximately $8.7 billion when it filed for bankruptcy last year, based on ongoing analysis, according to a report by the current management team of FTX released on Monday.

4. Coinbase Wins Supreme Court Ruling in Arbitration Lawsuit

   • The company's clear legal victory in the U.S. high court isn't about crypto, but it could play into future court disputes for all businesses as it may have implications on other lawsuits filed against the crypto exchange.

     Namely, that Coinbase can continue trying to compel arbitration after Friday's ruling.

5. SEC Relinquishes $30M BlockFi Penalty Until Investors Are Repaid

   • The SEC has agreed to forgo a $30 million fine from bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi until after investors are repaid, a court filing from Thursday shows.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Crypto investment products see largest week of inflows in a year

   • European asset management firm CoinShares reported Monday the largest inflows into crypto investment products since July 2022, with $199 million pouring into funds last week, correcting almost half the outflows of the previous nine weeks. 

2. Crypto Exchange Backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity, Schwab Starts Operations

   • A new cryptocurrency exchange backed by Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab quietly began executing trades in recent weeks. EDX released a statement about the launch Tuesday, nine months after its backers unveiled their plans for the crypto marketplace. 

   • Per coverage from Coindesk, one thing that separates EDX Markets from other crypto exchanges is that it doesn’t custody customers’ digital assets. Instead, users will go through financial intermediaries to buy and sell crypto assets, similar to how trades are executed on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq. Regulators like the different approach, EDX Markets CEO Jamil Nazarali said, because they think it’s important that there’s separation between the exchange function and the broker dealer function.

3. HSBC Enables Bitcoin, Ethereum ETF Trading in Hong Kong

   • HSBC, the largest bank in Hong Kong, has begun permitting its clients to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

4. Solana welcomes institutional MPC wallet

   • Institutional MPC wallet company Fordefi will integrate its native wallet solution with applications and protocols built on Solana. Unlike wallets owned by individual accounts, institutional wallets must be able to provide access to multiple different stakeholders.  “As tokenization continues to proliferate and mature, it will be imperative to have infrastructure products like the Fordefi platform that enable institutions to efficiently and intuitively manage their assets,” Ben Sparango, head of business development at Solana Foundation, said in a press release reviewed by Blockworks.

5. SAP Using Circle USDC to Test Cross-Border Payments

   • The massive German software company, SAP, is reportedly using Circle’s USDC stablecoin to test cross-border payments on Ethereum’s Goerli testnet. Additional coverage from Blockworks.