Scenius Sync (Issue #96)

Coinbase’s Halving Commercial, Wells Notice Not Slowing Uniswap, Solana Starts Fix For Congestion, Germany’s LBBW To Offer Custody, & Circle Rolls Out Smart Contract Support for BlackRock's BUIDL

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. Coinbase Releases Bitcoin Halving Commercial

   • Coinbase has just debuted a brand new Bitcoin halving commercial. Indeed, the unveiled advertisement showcased the growing value of Bitcoin since its arrival in 2009. Subsequently, it visually displayed the difference in how much pizza you could buy with Bitcoin in every four-year cycle. The ad has continued to build anticipation for the highly anticipated Bitcoin Halving event, which is currently slated to take place in just three days. This event will see the circulating supply of the digital asset sliced in half. Therefore, the value of the assets will (potentially) surge, which should impact the overall digital asset market.

   • Also, What Is the Bitcoin Halving and Why Should You Care?

2. Uniswap volumes approach $3 billion despite Wells Notice

   • April is proving to be a month to remember for Uniswap. For starters, the decentralized exchange powerhouse crossed $2 trillion in total trading volume on April 5, solidifying its status as a major DEX player as competition heats up across networks, particularly on Solana, where Uniswap does not have a presence. On a more sour note, the platform got served a Wells notice from the SEC on April 10, with many thinking this signaled the start of a war on DeFi.

   • More on the Wells Notice from Cointelegraph, here.

3. UK to legislate on cryptoasset regulatory framework by end of July, minister says

   • The UK’s Finance Minister announced that the government plans to legislate for a regulatory cryptoasset framework by the end of July. The timescale for the enactment of the legislation, that concerns the oversight of stablecoins, crypto staking, exchange and custody services, was delivered by Afolami at the Innovate Finance Global Summit on Monday.

4. Potential movement on stablecoin legislation following talks with Sen. Schumer

   • Movement on stablecoin legislation could be feasible this summer or during the lame-duck session. This follows talks between top House leadership and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer a few days ago, according to a note from investment bank TD Cowen. 

5. Lawmakers demand information on CFTC chair's relationship with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried

   • Sen. Warren and Sen. Grassley are requesting more information on CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam’s relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried, particularly their correspondence in the months leading up to FTX’s collapse.  According to the request, Behnam has until April 29 to hand over records of his meetings, phone calls and other correspondence with Bankman-Fried in the lead-up to FTX’s implosion. 

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Solana Update Brings First Fixes for Congestion Issues

   • The first network update to begin addressing weeks of growing congestion that made Solana incredibly difficult to use as of late rolled out for validators early Monday. Anza, the dev team that spun out of Solana Labs earlier this year, announced overnight that the v1.17.31 release of the Agave validator client—which is run by the computers that support the Solana network—was released with initial fixes for the congestion issues.

   • More from Coindesk here.

2. Germany’s LBBW bank plans to offer crypto custody services in partnership with Bitpanda

   • Germany’s largest federal bank, Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), plans to offer crypto custody services to meet increasing client demand. The market launch is planned for the second half of 2024 and will be in partnership with Bitpanda. The partnership with Bitpanda will provide LBBW with the technical and regulatory infrastructure to offer its customers the new digital asset trading and custody solution, LBBW Board of Directors member Stefanie Münz said. "By offering crypto-asset custody, we are positioning ourselves with a clear added value for our corporate clients, while ensuring the highest security standards," Münz added.

3. Circle launches USDC smart contract support for BlackRock BUIDL holders

   • Circle implemented smart contract support for BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) investors.  The move provides an off-ramp for BUIDL holders, allowing them to transfer their shares to Circle for USDC. BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm, launched BUIDL on Ethereum last month. BUIDL is a tokenized liquid fund that invests in U.S. Treasury bills, among other things, and has its own token of the same name. Within its first week, BUIDL amassed $160 million in inflows and had $288 million as of April 11, according to Etherscan data. 

4. Hong Kong Approves The First Batch of Spot Bitcoin ETFS, Issuer Says

   • Hong Kong has reportedly approved its first spot bitcoin ETFs, with multiple issuers announcing they received permission to launch Bitcoin ETFs. China Asset Management, Bosera Capital and other applicants posted on social media that they got clearance to list Bitcoin ETFs in Hong Kong. However, the Securities and Futures Commission has yet to release an official list of approved issuers. The news mirrors the success of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., which launched in January and quickly attracted over $200 billion in trading volume. Hong Kong's approval marks a milestone as Asia's first jurisdiction to embrace spot Bitcoin ETFs.

5. Adidas partners with crypto fitness app Stepn, both NFTs and merch coming

   • Shoe and sports apparel giant Adidas is teaming up with the Solana-based fitness app Stepn, the latter announced on Monday. The partnership will kick off with a batch of 1,000 NFTs called the Stepn x Adidas Genesis Sneakers collection. It's based on some of Adidas's "most iconic running silhouettes," according to a statement. "This genesis collection is the first of a series of co-branded activities between Stepn and Adidas over a one-year partnership that will see further NFT drops and physical, wearable items on the roadmap," Stepn said in its statement.