The Scenius Sync (Issue #24)

BlockFi Files for Bankruptcy & Sues SBF, Aave Pauses Lending on 17 Tokens, & Fidelity Forges Ahead With Retail Crypto Trading

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. BlockFi files for bankruptcy, cites FTX collapse for its troubles

   • The crypto lender was previously “rescued” by FTX following Terra’s stablecoin collapse. The newly-bankrupt platform then filed a lawsuit against FTX Sam Bankman-Fried’s holding company, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, demanding it turn over its shares in Robinhood as collateral it agreed to pay as part of a pledge agreement earlier in November.

2. House lawmakers set first FTX hearing for Dec. 13

   • The House Financial Services Committee will hold its first FTX-focused hearing on Dec. 13. The hearing, titled “Investigating the Collapse of FTX, Part I,” is likely to be part of a series. Senate lawmakers are also taking a close look at the FTX crisis. The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday, and the Senate Banking Committee is working to schedule an FTX hearing. 

3. Aave pauses lending markets for 17 Ethereum-based tokens

   • Aave, the largest decentralized lending protocol on Ethereum, has temporarily frozen lending markets for 17 tokens in an effort to protect itself from taking on bad debt due to future market manipulation attacks. 

4. EU blockchain infrastructure plan proceeds as parliament passes digital policy

   • The European Parliament passed a vote on the Digital Decade policy program, which will help businesses and public services digitalize their work and promises support for a “pan-European blockchain-based infrastructure."

5. Crypto Exchange Kraken Settles Case With US Treasury Over Serving Customers in Iran

   • The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has reached a settlement with crypto exchange Kraken over serving customers in Iran, OFAC said in a statement Monday. Kraken agreed to pay $362,159 to settle its potential civil liability for apparent violations of sanctions against Iran and also agreed to invest $100,000 in implementing additional sanctions compliance controls.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Bank of Japan to trial digital yen with three megabanks

   • Despite Japan’s uncertainty on whether to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Bank of Japan (BoJ) continues experimenting with a potential digital yen. The BoJ has started a collaboration with three megabanks and regional banks to conduct a CBDC issuance pilot. The pilot aims to provide demo experiments for the issuance of Japan’s national digital currency, the digital yen, starting in spring 2023 with plans to make a decision on whether to issue a digital currency by 2026.

2. DBS Becomes First Bank in Asia to Use JPMorgan’s Onyx Platform

   • DBS Group Holdings Ltd, the largest financial institution in Singapore has announced it has completed a trade financing deal using the Onyx blockchain protocol from JPMorgan. DBS is the the first bank in Asia to complete an intraday repurchase transaction on a blockchain based network.

3. Ready to trade? Fidelity finally opens retail crypto accounts

   • "The wait is over," the investment powerhouse said in an email Monday sent to some users, adding that a Fidelity brokerage account was needed to be able to fund a new Fidelity Crypto account. Once opened, the account promises commission-free trading of bitcoin and ether.

4. Binance Releases Proof of Reserves System

   • Following its recent announcement outlining its commitment to transparency, Binance is releasing its Proof of Reserves (PoR) System, ​which is the next step in its effort to provide transparency on user funds. The launch of this feature will start initially with BTC, with other tokens and networks being added in the next couple of weeks.

5. Crypto Lender Matrixport Seeks $1.5 Billion Funding Value Despite FTX Chaos

   • Matrixport Technologies Pte, one of Asia’s biggest crypto lenders, is targeting $100 million in funding at a valuation of $1.5bn up from $1bn a year earlier, even as the fall of FTX reverberates across the digital asset market.