The Scenius Sync (Issue #14)

We Merged! TradFi Heavyweights Launching Crypto Exchange, & KKR Tokenizes a Fund on Avalanche Blockchain

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. Ethereum's Merge Has Finally Been Completed

   • After eight years of work and delays, the Ethereum blockchain has transitioned to a new method of verifying transactions, known as Proof of Stake. The technical upgrade, called the Merge, was completed in the early hours of Thursday morning. It significantly reduces the amount of energy used by the network and sets the stage for Ethereum to lower its fees and massively expand its user base.

   • For more on The Merge, here are Scenius Insights via our new substack: The Ethereum Merge.

2. Fidelity, Schwab, Citadel Securities Plan to Launch New Crypto Exchange

   • A consortium of financial heavyweights including electronic trading giant Citadel Securities and brokerages Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab Corp. announced plans to launch a new cryptocurrency exchange. The launch of the exchange, to be called EDX Markets, is a sign that Wall Street continues to see opportunity in digital assets despite this year’s slump.

3. Investment Giant KKR Puts Portion of Private Equity Fund on Avalanche Blockchain

   • KKR is working with Securitize Capital to handle the onboarding of new investors, who will be able to invest in KKR's health-care fund through a tokenized feeder fund on the Avalanche blockchain. The $471bn investment giant hopes that a tokenized fund will increase accessibility to individual investors.

4. Treasury Asks for Public Input to Shape Crypto Regulations—Including NFTs and DeFi

   • Related to President Biden’s March executive order to regulate the crypto industry, the U.S. Treasury's questionnaire is designed to assess how the government can better address crime associated with crypto.

5. South Korean Authorities Request Interpol Red Notice For Terra’s Do Kwon

   • With the Terra co-founder's current location a mystery, South Korean prosecutors have requested that Interpol issue a red notice. On Saturday Do Kwon himself tweeted that, “I am not ‘on the run’ or anything similar,” adding that, “for any government agency that has shown interest to communicate, we are in full cooperation and we don’t have anything to hide.”

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Solitaire, Counter-Strike, Snake: How casual gaming could be a ‘huge’ Bitcoin on-ramp

   • Gaming companies Zebedee and Thndr are taking advantage of the Lighting Network, atop Bitcoin, to entertain and onboard gamers into Bitcoin. Thanks to the Lightning Network, a layer-2 payment solution built on top of Bitcoin, instant microtransactions of Satoshis (0.00000001 btc) can pay out to gamers across the globe quickly.

2. Amazon among five companies to develop digital euro prototype for the ECB

   • The European Central Bank has revealed its selected partners to collaborate on the digital euro prototype. Amazon will be responsible for designing e-commerce payments. The prototyping exercise will take place between September and December 2022.

3. Thai banking giants back DeFi startup Forward in $5 million seed round

   • The venture capital arms of some of Thailand’s biggest banks — Kasikornbank and the Bank of Ayudhya — backed DeFi platform Forward in a $5 million seed funding round. 

4. Diamond tokenization startup Diamond Standard raises $30 million

   • Diamond Standard says that tokenizing diamonds opens up the rare mineral as an investable asset class, providing a new store of wealth to both retail and institutional investors. The company raised $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Left Lane Capital and Horizon Kinetics. 

5. PGA Tour Golf NFTs Coming to Tom Brady’s Autograph Platform

   • Autograph, co-founded by Tom Brady, will create official PGA Tour collectibles and will tap into the golf league’s video and data archives to create NFT collectibles, with the help of Tiger Woods. The platform will launch in early 2023 and offer potential real-world perks for fans.