The Scenius Sync (Issue #40)

Signature Bank Takeover Appears to Exclude Digital Assets, Blockchain Association Demanding Info on "Debanking" Crypto Firms, & $ARB Airdrop

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. Signature Bank Taken Over By New York Community Bancorp After Sudden Collapse

   • New York Community Bancorp has taken over Signature Bank and assumed most of its deposits, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced Sunday evening, one week after crypto-friendly Signature Bank and tech-focused Silicon Valley Bank both collapsed in the span of a few days—sending shockwaves through the U.S. financial system. New York Community Bancorp’s subsidiary Flagstar Bank's bid did not include approximately $4 billion of deposits related to the former Signature Bank's digital banking business. The FDIC will provide these deposits directly to customers whose accounts are associated with the digital banking business.

   • Meanwhile, FDIC Denies Report Signature Bank Purchaser Must Divest Crypto

     • The FDIC denied it would require any purchaser of Signature Bank to divest its crypto activities. An FDIC spokesperson told CoinDesk in an email that “the receivership does not end until all the bank’s assets are sold and all the claims against the bank are addressed, and the acquirer decides the conditions of their bid.”

2. Blockchain Association Seeks Info From Fed, FDIC, and OCC on ‘De-Banking’ Crypto Firms

   • In a March 16 notice, the Blockchain Association said it had submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for documents and communications that could potentially show regulators’ actions “improperly contributed” to the collapse of the three banks. According to Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith, crypto firms “should be treated like any other law-abiding business” in the U.S. with access to bank accounts.

3. Banking Giant State Street Cuts Ties With Crypto Custody Firm Copper

   • Global custody bank State Street said it has ended its working relationship with Copper, the cryptocurrency custody firm which announced earlier Thursday that it was closing its enterprise infrastructure division. State Street will continue to work on “a multi-faceted solution for both tokenized securities as well as native tokens,” the bank said, adding that the “regulatory environment for digital assets has continued to evolve, as has the requirements for servicing this asset class.”

4. New Lawsuit Accuses Social Media, YouTube Influencers of Hyping FTX Without Proper Disclosure

   • A lawsuit filed Wednesday is seeking class-action status. It named a group of social media influencers and claimed they "actively promoted FTX" to their millions of followers" without disclosing the nature of any payments or compensation. Among the influencers are Erika Kullberg, Ben Armstrong — also known as BitBoy in crypto circles — and Kevin Paffrath,  or "Meet Kevin" on YouTube.

   • In other FTX news, the Bankrupt crypto exchange is suing the liquidators of its Bahamas entity, saying FTX Digital Markets wrongly claims to own the exchange and was actually “a front to facilitate a conspiracy” to defraud customers. FTX's new management wants a declaratory judgment from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware that says FTX Digital Markets “has no ownership” in any of the FTX debtors’ property. 

5. Euler Exploiter Returns $5.4 Million in ETH to DeFi Protocol

   • The Euler Finance exploiter returned 3,000 ETH to the DeFi protocol on Saturday. They drained $197 million from the protocol in a flash-loan attack on Monday. Euler Finance offered a 10% bounty ($19.7 million) to the attacker on Tuesday to return the remaining 90% of the stolen funds. It warned the attacker that if the funds were not returned within 24 hours, it would launch a $1 million reward for information that would lead to their arrest and the return of all funds.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Arbitrum to Airdrop New Token and Transition to DAO

   • Arbitrum, the biggest player in Ethereum’s layer 2 scaling landscape, is finally getting a token. The Arbitrum Foundation said last Thursday that ARB, Arbritrum’s new token, will be airdropped to community members on Thursday, March 23. ARB will mark Arbitrum’s official transition into a DAO, meaning ARB holders will be able to vote on key decisions governing Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova – networks that allow users to transact on the Ethereum blockchain with greater speeds and lower fees.

   • Click here to check eligibility for the airdrop and, of course, here’s a hype video.

2. Microsoft Testing Crypto Wallet in its Web Browser Edge

   • Tech giant Microsoft is working on a non-custodial crypto wallet for its web browser Edge. Microsoft has partnered with Ethereum development studio Consensys to offer a built-in crypto swap feature between ether (ETH), Uniswap (UNI), the dai stablecoin (DAI), and the USD coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) stablecoins.

3. Salesforce Rolls Out Platform for Big Brands to Create NFT Loyalty Programs

   • Customer relationship management software firm Salesforce has launched Salesforce Web3, an NFT management platform to help its clients create token-based loyalty programs. Businesses can mint and sell NFTs, monitor blockchain activity, and view real-time customer data on Salesforce Web3, which launched today with subscription tiers. The roll out comes after a pilot program of 257,000 transactions with Salesforce clients such as whisky brand Crown Royal, clothing brand Scotch & Soda, and Mattel, the toy company behind Barbie and Hot Wheels..

4. Coinbase's Proposed Overseas Trading Venue Would Offer Derivatives

   • The exchange is looking to go abroad amid U.S. regulatory uncertainty. It is exploring launching an offshore platform to trade perpetual swaps tied to cryptocurrencies, according to two sources familiar with the firm’s aspirations to gate-crash a sector dominated by rival Binance.

5. And The Golf Course Goes to Decentralized Country Club Links

   • LinksDAO, the global community of golf enthusiasts which says it's reimagining the "country club," confirmed it won the bid to purchase the Spey Bay Golf Club in Scotland. The organization has raised millions of dollars through the sale of NFTs which double as membership cards.  LinksDAO members could now be heading down the fairway on the stunning country's stunning Moray coastline, securing the listing it described as “too special to ignore” at a guide price of around $900,000. The course first opened in 1907.