The Scenius Sync (Issue #27)

SBF Wants Out of Bahamas, Trump's NFT Drop Sells Out in Hours, & Yuga Nabs New CEO from Activision Blizzard

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. White House Refuses to Answer Questions About Sam Bankman-Fried Donations meanwhile the FTX Founder Changes His Mind on Extradition to US

   • The White House has refused to clarify whether it will return any political donations made to President Joe Biden by disgraced FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Meanwhile, after a few days in Bahamian prison, SBF said on Monday in Bahamian court that he no longer intends to fight extradition to the United States, after previously being against the move. However, the plan surprised his lawyer, prompting courtroom confusion—and the judge ultimately sent the FTX founder back to prison.

2. Warren, Marshall introduce bill to tighten money laundering rules for crypto

   • Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., are working together on legislation to tighten anti-money laundering rules around digital assets. The bill is unlikely to pass before this Congress ends in early January, but would further extend rules that are anathema to many cryptocurrency users and advocates. That said, it may serve to hasten rulemaking processes already underway within federal agencies and could help shape debate over how to further apply anti-money laundering laws to digital assets and push regulators to finalize rules. 

3. Binance Proof-of-Reserves Auditor Mazars Pauses All Work for Crypto Clients

   • Mazars, the auditing firm working with Binance and other crypto exchanges on proof-of-reserves statements, has paused all work for crypto clients. Mazars also deleted Binance's proof-of-reserves assessment, which found its bitcoin reserves were overcollateralized.

4. Yuga Labs Appoints Activision Blizzard President and COO Daniel Alegre as New CEO

   • Yuga Labs, web3 leader and home of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), CryptoPunks, Meebits, and more, announced the appointment of Daniel Alegre as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective in the first half of 2023.

5. Binance.US Agrees To Purchase Voyager for at Least $1B

   • Binance.US has entered an agreement with Voyager to purchase the bankrupt lender for more than $1 billion, the companies announced Monday. The bid, which was the highest and best offered, as per bankruptcy code, comes in at about $1.022 billion. The figure represents fair market value of Voyager’s assets at current prices, plus $20 million in incremental value, Voyager noted in a statement. 

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Apple Plans to Allow External iOS Apps in Potential Boon for Crypto, NFTs

   • The tech giant plans to let iPhone and iPad users install apps from outside the App Store due to EU regulations. The move could make it easier for developers to build apps around NFTs and broaden the ability to make crypto payments through iPhones and iPads. The rollout of support for external apps from third-party sources and marketplaces will initially begin only in Europe to comply with the new law. However, the functionality could be expanded to other territories depending on whether those countries adopt similar regulations.

2. Donald Trump NFT collection sells out within hours

   • A 45,000 item NFT trading card collection created by the former U.S. president sold out within hours and racked up more than 648 ETH, or about $785,000, in trading volume, in its first 24 hours.

3. PayPal Working With Crypto Wallet MetaMask to Offer Easy Way to Buy Crypto

   • The partnership between the payments firm and MetaMask developer ConsenSys is intended to enable users to select their PayPal accounts as a payment option to buy ether (ETH) from within the MetaMask app. The offering is designed to facilitate seamless purchases and transfers of ether from PayPal to MetaMask.

4. Amid crypto turmoil, Hong Kong debuts first crypto futures ETFs

   • Two exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track U.S.-listed cryptocurrency futures raised a combined $73.6 million ahead of their debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange in defiance of the sector's meltdown. The ETFs, managed by CSOP Asset Management, invest in bitcoin and ether futures listed on the CME exchange in the United States, the only cryptocurrency assets currently permitted by Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).

5. Visa proposes using StarkNet for automatic recurring payments

   • Visa said that StarkNet, a layer 2 blockchain built on top of Ethereum, may help bridge the gap between crypto and the real world by letting people who use self-custodial wallets pay their bills more easily.