Scenius Sync (Issue #91)

Bitcoin Surges Above $71K and Flips Silver, Trump Has Fun and Makes Money With Crypto, BlackRock To Buy Spot Bitcoin ETFs for its Global Allocation Fund, & Sphere Wif Hat?

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. Bitcoin Flips Silver as It Breaks Above $71,000 for First Time Ever

   • Bitcoin, which has increasingly been referred to as "digital gold," flipped silver's market capitalization on its way past $71,000 and setting a new all-time high. On Friday afternoon, Bitcoin broke above $70,000 for the first time ever. Then early Monday morning, the Bitcoin price began climbing and was $71,239.37 at the time of writing. It's gained 2.7% since yesterday and 11.4% since this time last week.

   • Meanwhile, Ether price hits $4,000 for the first time in more than two years

2. Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he has fun and makes money with Crypto - promotes his NFT collection.

   • Trump indicated his administration would take a possibly positive position on cryptocurrency if he were to be elected to the White House again. He spoke about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC released on March 11. Coverage from Cointelegraph here.

3. UK’s FCA Opens the Door for Institutional Investors to Build Crypto-Backed ETN Market

   • The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it will not object to requests from Recognised Investment Exchanges (RIEs) to build a listed market segment for crypto asset-backed exchange-traded notes (ETNs), the regulator said in a press release on Monday, a further sign of the increased institutionalization of cryptocurrency markets. The products would be available to professional investors, including investment firms and credit institutions, the FCA said. ETNs are a type of exchange-traded product, often issued by a bank or an investment manager, that tracks an underlying index or assets.

4. Coinbase asks appeals court to direct SEC to begin writing rules for crypto

   • The SEC violated the Administrative Procedures Act by not engaging in rulemaking and for not providing a detailed reason why it denied Coinbase’s rulemaking petition, the exchange argued on Monday. 

5. Wyoming governor signs into law a bill to give DAOs legal standing in the state

   • A new bill was signed into law in Wyoming that would give decentralized autonomous organizations legal standing in the crypto friendly state. 

     The bill, called the Wyoming Decentralized Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act, dubbed DUNA, was signed into law by Governor Mark Gordon on Thursday. Miles Jennings, a16zcrypto general counsel, called the bill a "major breakthrough" on Friday on X. The venture capital fund advised on the bill and testified before the state's Senate and House committees. 

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. BlackRock plans to purchase spot bitcoin ETFs for its Global Allocation Fund

   • BlackRock may purchase spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for its Global Allocation Fund, according to the U.S.-based asset manager’s updated filing with the SEC. “The Fund may acquire shares in exchange-traded products (ETPs) that seek to reflect generally the performance of the price of bitcoin by directly holding bitcoin ETPs, including shares of a Bitcoin ETP sponsored by an affiliate of BlackRock,” the firm said in the Thursday filing, adding that it will only invest in bitcoin ETFs listed on national securities exchanges. 

   • Also noteworthy along similar lines, Fidelity Canada Recommend 1-3% of Crypto Allocation in Portfolios

2. With Mastercard, MetaMask Tests First Blockchain-Powered Payment Card

   • MetaMask, the popular cryptocurrency wallet for the Ethereum blockchain, is testing an entirely on-chain payment card running on Mastercard's giant network and issued by Baanx, according to promotional materials and a testing platform seen by CoinDesk. Such a product would unite two giants of their respective fields. MetaMask is the biggest self-custody wallet with more than 30 million monthly active users, while Mastercard provides key plumbing in the conventional financial system through its credit- and debit-card network spanning the globe.

3. In March 2024, Deribit will launch options on three altcoins, Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP), and Polygon (MATIC).

   • All of these new altcoin option markets will use USDC as the settlement currency. This differentiates them from the current BTC and ETH inverse options on Deribit, which use the base currency (BTC and ETH respectively) as collateral.

4. Arizona Senate advances effort to add crypto to state retirement funds

   • The Arizona state Senate has advanced a resolution that would have lawmakers and state retirement fund managers look into allocating a portion of portfolios to bitcoin ETFs.  The concurrent resolution, introduced less than a month after the US Securities and Exchange Commission allowed bitcoin ETFs to start trading, seeks to “encourage” the Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) and the Public Safety Personnel Retirement System (PSPRS) to monitor these new investment vehicles and consider adding exposure, according to a fact sheet.

5. Sphere wif hat? Dogwifhat holders set sights on Vegas ad, raise $240,000

   • The popular dog-based Solana meme coin launched a new initiative to raise $650,000 to advertise on Sphere, the Las Vegas arena, for one week.  About $240,000 has been raised so far, with some donors pledging as much as $10,000 to the project.