Scenius Sync (Issue #94)

SBF Gets 25 Years In the Clink, FTX Aims To Repay Creditors By End of 2024, Binance Taps BOD For First Time, Ethena To Airdrop 750M ENA Tokens, & Bitwise Enters ETH Spot ETF Race

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. Bankman-Fried Is Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison Over FTX Collapse

   • FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing billions of dollars from customers, marking the final chapter in a case that has upended the crypto industry. US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan delivered the sentence in federal court in Manhattan moments after Bankman-Fried said he was “sorry about what happened at every stage.” He faced as long as 110 years behind bars after being convicted last year of seven offenses, including fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors had sought a sentence of as much as 50 years while Bankman-Fried’s lawyers had recommended just 6 1/2 years. While there is no parole in the federal system, he could be released a few years early for good behavior.

   • In an email exchange with ABC News, the disgraced crypto mogul said he’s trying to make things right from prison. See additional coverage from Decrypt here.

2. FTX bankruptcy estate aiming to begin repaying creditors by the end of 2024

   • The FTX bankruptcy estate has set a goal to begin repaying customers by the end of 2024, according to notes from a meeting of FTX Digital's Joint Official Liquidators in the Bahamas.  FTX's bankruptcy is made up of two separate processes running in parallel: the Chapter 11 bankruptcy being adjudicated in a Delaware court in the United States and the official liquidation process of FTX Digital, FTX's subsidy based in the Bahamas, due to the "hopelessly commingled" nature of FTX's accounting. However, both sides of the estate have agreed to work together such that creditors may submit their claim to either entity and that no creditor receives less than the value they're entitled to. 

   • In more FTX news, FTX estate's $7.5 billion sale of locked solana attracts strong interest

3. Binance taps board of directors for the first time

   • Binance Holdings Ltd. has named a board of directors for the first time, according to Bloomberg News, after a year marked by change and turmoil. The board is made up of seven members, including CEO Richard Teng and three other company executives — Heina Chen, Jinkai He, and Lilai Wang. There are also three outside members, Gabriel Abed, Arnaud Ventura and Xin Wang, according to reporting from Bloomberg. 

4. Custodia Bank Loses Lawsuit Challenging Fed Rejection of Master Account Application

   • A federal judge has rejected Wyoming-based Custodia Bank's argument that it is entitled to a Federal Reserve master account and membership with the Fed. Judge Scott Skavdahl, of District of Wyoming, denied Custodia's motion for judgement on Friday, writing that federal laws do not require the nation's central bank to give every eligible depository institution access to its master account system, nor did the provided evidence suggest that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors influence a regional branch of the Fed to deny its application for an account.

5. UK court freezes $7.6 million worth of Craig Wright's assets to prevent court cost evasion

   • A UK judge approved a so-called ‘worldwide freezing order’ for £6 million ($7.6 million) worth of Craig Wright’s assets. The freezing order is on behalf of Crypto Open Patent Alliance to help cover its $8,471,225 court costs for challenging Wright’s claims that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. The move was triggered by Wright moving some of these assets out of the UK.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Ethena will airdrop 750 million ENA tokens on April 2

   • Decentralized finance protocol Ethena, which offers the $1.3 billion USDe token, unveiled plans Wednesday to debut its governance token by airdropping tokens to users on April 2, according to a blog post. The protocol is set to airdrop 750 million ENA tokens, or 5% of the total supply. The campaign to earn "shards," which qualify users for the token airdrop, will end on April 1. Those who unstake, unlock or sell all their USDe before this date will not be eligible for the airdrop.

2. Hong Kong-Based Asset Manager VSFG and Value Partners Apply for Spot Bitcoin ETF

   • Asset manager VSFG, together with its partner, Value Partners, have applied for a spot-bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) with Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), VSFG's Head of Investment and Products Brian Chan told CoinDesk on Wednesday. Earlier this week, a report from Bloomberg Intelligence said the SFC is likely to allow in-kind creations and redemptions for spot bitcoin ETFs in the second quarter of this year.

   • In other HK news, HSBC launches retail tokenized gold products in Hong Kong

3. Bitwise Enters Race for Ethereum Spot ETF

   • Crypto investment firm Bitwise filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today to offer a spot Ethereum ETF. Bitwise joins an increasingly crowded field of companies vying to bring the first Ethereum spot ETF to market following the successful launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs earlier this year.

4. First deal closes on crypto angel investing platform Echo, raising $300,000 for Ethena

   • Echo, the new platform aiming to give aspiring angel investors access to the same deals as larger and more established venture capitalists, is currently operating in an invite-only beta mode. However, it took only three hours for Echo's users to close its first deal: a $300,000 investment in "synthetic dollar" protocol Ethena. Furthermore, while a recent private sale reportedly valued Ethena at $600 million in Fully Diluted Value (FDV), deal participants were able to buy in at Ethena's previous $300 million valuation, minus a 5% carry fee for the Echo platform.  

5. Grayscale introduces crypto investment fund that prioritizes staking rewards

   • Grayscale Investments has announced an investment fund tailored to sophisticated clients eager to expose their portfolios to income generated from staking cryptocurrency tokens. According to a recent statement, the Grayscale Dynamic Income Fund is only available to clients with more than $1.1 million assets under management or a net worth of more than $2.2 million. The fund intends to convert staking rewards into United States dollars weekly, with distributions planned quarterly for investors. Additionally, Grayscale claims that careful analysis will be conducted to select the proof-of-stake (PoS) tokens included in the fund’s portfolio.