Scenius Sync (Issue #77)

BTC Cracks $42k To Get Back To Pre-Terra Crash Level, Robinhood Crypto Trading Surges 75%, Binance VIPs Were Forewarned, & El Salvador’s Bitcoin Investment is In the Black

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. Bitcoin price briefly breaks $42,000, back to pre-Terra crash level

   • Bitcoin's price has increased by over 6% in the past 24 hours (as of early on Dec 4), back to levels last seen before the Terra crash of May 2022. The largest digital asset by market cap rose as high as $42,100. This is a full retrace to BTC's level above the $41,000 mark in early May 2022. It also sees the digital asset post a value increase of over 150% since the beginning of the year. The global cryptocurrency market cap currently stands at $1.62 trillion, an increase of 4.0% in the past 24 hours. The last time the combined cryptocurrency market cap reached this level was in late April 2022.

2. Binance's 'VIP' traders were forewarned of $4 billion settlement penalty: Bloomberg

   • Binance’s “VIP” traders were privy to the crypto exchange’s impending $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, according to Bloomberg. The settlement was reportedly discussed at a private dinner for some of Binance’s biggest traders, who were attending a conference in Singapore this September.

3. November saw $343 million lost to crypto hacks and fraud cases: Immunefi

   • November has clocked up the highest monthly crypto losses of 2023 so far, with over $343 million lost due to hacks and fraud, according to the latest report from web3 bug bounty platform Immunefi. This month’s losses represent more than a 15 times increase from October’s exploits, which were recorded at approximately $22 million. In total, over $1.75 billion has been lost to crypto hacks and rug pulls year-to-date across 296 incidents, Immunefi said. Notably, November saw a shift in focus for crypto attacks. Centralized finance (CeFi) platforms became the main victims, overtaking decentralized finance (DeFi) by total funds lost.

   • In related news, North Korean hackers have pilfered $3B of crypto over past six years: Report

4. Singapore's DigiFT Wins Regulatory Approvals From MAS After Graduating From Sandbox

   • DigiFT, a digital assets exchange, has received Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) authorization to operate collective investment schemes as well as an “organized market,” or secondary-market trading, according to Henry Zhang, the Singapore-based company's founder & CEO.

     The exchange was granted the central bank's Capital Markets Services (CMS) license on Tuesday and a Recognised Market Operator (RMO) license on Dec. 1. DigiFT is the first exchange with an automatic market making mechanism to have been admitted into the MAS FinTech Regulatory Sandbox," said founder Henry Zhang.

5. Binance Pilots Banking Triparty Agreement to Help Institutional Investors Manage Counterparty Exposure

   • Binance has successfully executed the world’s first cryptocurrency triparty arrangement with a third-party banking partner. The agreement allows Binance's institutional clients to hold collateral with the banking partner in the form of fiat equivalent such as Treasury Bills, which has the added benefit of being a yielding asset. According to its announcement, Binance’s solution bridges traditional and crypto markets, setting new standards for institutional crypto trading and counterparty exposure

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Robinhood says crypto trading surged 75% in November from previous month

   • Robinhood said Monday in a filing with the SEC that crypto trading on the platform surged last month amid an ongoing rally. "November Crypto Notional Trading Volumes were roughly 75% above October 2023 levels," it wrote in an 8-K update, adding that it would release full operating data for the month in the coming weeks. 

   • Similarly, Bitcoin perpetual futures open interest hits yearly high on Deribit

     • The open interest in bitcoin perpetual futures on the Deribit derivatives exchange has reached a yearly high of $740 million, a level not seen since November 2021 when bitcoin reached its all-time high of over $68,000. An increase in open interest suggests that new money is entering the market, indicating growing participation and potential liquidity. The increased premium on CME bitcoin futures contracts suggest sophisticated investors want BTC exposure, an analyst said.

2. BlackRock, Bitwise file updated spot bitcoin ETF applications with the SEC

   • BlackRock and Bitwise updated their S-1 filings for spot bitcoin ETFs with the SEC on Monday. The updated BlackRock filing included new language about efforts the trust administrator will take to monitor for unusual price movements. It also added language about anti-money laundering compliance and included an audited statement from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

     "The Sponsor and the Trust will only interact with known third-party service providers with respect to whom the Sponsor or its affiliates have engaged in a due diligence process to ensure a thorough KYC process, such as the Authorized Participants, Market Makers, Prime Broker and Bitcoin Custodian," the updated filing read.

3. Tokenization of RWAs Gets Push in Europe as AXA, Generali Buys SocGen's Green Bonds on Ethereum

   • French banking giant Societe Generale completed its first tokenized green bond issuance on the Ethereum network as tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) is rising in demand among traditional financial institutions. SocGen issued €10 million ($10.8 million) worth of digital green bond tokens, registered by SG-FORGE, the bank's digital asset-focused arm, the firm said Monday in a press release. Traditional finance institutions AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) and Generali Investments purchased the tokenized bonds.

4. El Salvador's Bitcoin Investment 'In the Black,' Says President Bukele

   • The president of El Salvador took to the X platform early Monday morning to note his country's bitcoin investment was now profitable by more than $3 million following the crypto's rally to the $42,000 area over the weekend.

     "We have no intention of selling; that has never been our objective," he added. "We are fully aware that the price will continue to fluctuate in the future, this doesn’t affect our long-term strategy."

5. Starknet Foundation confirms screenshots showing draft airdrop plans, says snapshot already taken

   • The Starknet Foundation addressed speculations about an upcoming airdrop after screenshots circulated on social media. The foundation emphasized that the screenshots showed draft plans still under development. It clarified that the eligibility cutoff date for the airdrop has been set, and no further user actions can affect this.

   • In contrast, Coinbase Has No Plans to Launch Base Token: CEO Brian Armstrong