Scenius Sync (Issue #58)
FedNow Launches, SEC Signals Appeal of Ripple Case, Razzlekhan and Husband Cop a Plea, & Worldcoin’s WLD Token Makes Waves
Scenius: The intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. The communal form of the concept of genius.
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Essential News 🗞
SEC Asserts Ripple XRP Case was 'Wrongly Decided', Signals Appeal
After a judge delivered a mixed win for Ripple in its lawsuit against the SEC, the agency filed new documents late Friday in its lawsuit against Terraform Labs and its CEO Do Kwon, claiming the Ripple decision was flawed and could be appealed.
Celsius Network Reaches Key Settlements to Resolve Litigation
Celsius Network reached settlements that potentially clear a path for the crypto lender to win court approval for its plan to return assets to its customers and conclude its bankruptcy. One of the settlements resolves customer claims over allegations of fraud and misrepresentation by prior Celsius management by bumping up recoveries by 5%. The agreement resolves 30,000 claims seeking $78 billion in compensation, according to court papers filed on Thursday by lawyers for Celsius.
Crypto rapper 'Razzlekhan,' husband reach plea deal over Bitfinex hack laundering
An American couple accused of laundering billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from the 2016 hacking of virtual currency exchange Bitfinex have entered into a plea agreement, court records showed on Friday. More coverage from Coindesk, here.
House Republicans’ long-awaited crypto market structure bill is here
A group of House Republicans have introduced a long-awaited bill that, if passed, would define the crypto oversight roles of the CFTC and the SEC once and for all. The bill will likely face pushback from House Democrats, many of whom have argued that the SEC should have a larger role than the bill currently allocates.
Investor Group Nears $125 Million Deal for CoinDesk
A syndicate of investors led by Matthew Roszak of Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of Capital6 is in the final stages of sealing a deal for cryptocurrency-focused media company CoinDesk. The transaction would have an enterprise value of about $125 million. The deal comes at a time when DCG is being squeezed by the bankruptcy of its lending arm, Genesis Global Capital, and the closures of its institutional-trading platform TradeBlock and its wealth-management unit HQ.
Innovation & Adoption 💡📈
Federal Reserve officially launches new FedNow instant-payments service
The Federal Reserve launched its FedNow instant-payments service Thursday, following several years of developing a system officials say will allow the faster flow of cash for businesses and individuals. Whether it’s providing instant access to paychecks, allowing for last-minute bill payments or sending government payments out to individuals, the system is expected to improve the flow of money through the U.S. economy. So far, 35 early adopters, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, two of the four largest banks in the U.S., have signed up.
According to some, FedNow is unlikely to pose a threat to stablecoins, despite the two having more than a few financial characteristics in common.
Sam Altman’s Worldcoin launches token with more than two million sign-ups
Worldcoin, the controversial crypto project co-created by Sam Altman, on Monday announced the launch of its WLD token — which it will distribute to more than two million people around the world. The project is among the crypto sector’s most divisive. Its focus is on helping people prove their identity online with credentials verified in person by iris-scanning orbs. More than two million people — the bulk of them in the Global South — have already been verified, and all of them stand to receive their share of WLD token.
Meanwhile, Worldcoin's WLD Token surges 88% after listing on multiple exchanges reaching a fully diluted valuation of almost $27 billion.
The reception has not been entirely positive. Here’s a Twitter thread from Zacbxbt, a well-known on-chain crypto sleuth, and an article reporting on Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s outlining of ‘four major risks’ with Worldcoin following the token launch.
OpenSea Makes ‘Deals,’ Launches Peer-to-Peer NFT Swaps
The new feature allows collectors to trade NFTs directly with each other as well as add WETH to “sweeten the deal.” For more info, here’s the Twitter announcement.
VC firm CoinFund raises $158 million to back crypto startups
CoinFund’s latest investment vehicle is its fourth seed fund. The new fund is larger than the one CoinFund initially set out to raise, said CEO Jake Brukhman. The New York-based firm had initially aimed for $125 million, but received more interest than expected, he said.
Similarly, well-known crypto VC Polychain raises $200 million for the first closes of its fourth crypto VC fund. Polychain reportedly still plans to raise around $400 million total for the fourth fund.
Optimism moves forward with two proposals to add zk-proofs
Ethereum Layer 2 optimistic rollup scaling solution Optimism is moving forward with two proposals put forward by O(1) Labs and RISC Zero that promise to revamp Optimism's tech stack and bring zk-proof capabilities to the platform. The move aims to enable secure and efficient cross-chain communication between layers and directly between OP chains. Last month, Optimism changed its name to OP Mainnet, aligning with its “superchain” vision.