The Scenius Sync (Issue #9)

Tornado Cash Controversy, BlackRock's Private Bitcoin Trust, & Buenos Aires To Run ETH Nodes

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 Merge May Be Coming Sooner Than Expected

   • The long-awaited upgrade—known as “the merge”—is now expected to take place on September 15 or 16, according to a call among Ethereum developers. This long-awaited and talked about change, which will complete Ethereum’s move to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, is expected to make the world’s leading smart-contract blockchain faster, more scalable, and much more energy efficient.

2. Decentralized or Not, Officials Say Tornado Cash Responsible for Illicit Activity

   • The Treasury Department’s decision to sanction a second crypto mixing service has sent blockchain enthusiasts and privacy chauvinists in an uproar this week. While OFAC’s decision suggests that all protocols are subject to the same compliance obligations, some experts say that classifying code as an entity for the purpose of sanctions laws gets complicated.

3. Ripple Is Considering Buying Bankrupt Crypto Lender Celsius’ Assets: Report

   • Ripple Labs—the blockchain payments company behind XRP—may be interested in purchasing assets belonging to the insolvent crypto lending company Celsius. 

4. BlackRock launches a private trust to give clients exposure to spot bitcoin

   • Following its Coinbase partnership, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has launched a private trust offering institutional clients in the U.S. direct exposure to bitcoin. The company reported that “Despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients in how to efficiently and cost-effectively access these assets using our technology and product capabilities.”

5. Crypto Entrepreneurs Bankman-Fried, Sun in Talks to Buy Majority of Huobi Global Exchange

   • Leon Li, founder of crypto exchange Huobi Global, is in talks to sell a majority stake in the company in a transaction that would value the firm at $3 billion or more and be one of the biggest ever in the crypto industry. Reportedly, Li is looking to sell almost 60% of the firm, and has held preliminary talks with Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain network, and FTX, the crypto exchange founded by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried.

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Innovation & Adoption 💡📈

1. Buenos Aires to Deploy Ethereum Validator Nodes in 2023

   • Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, plans to deploy Ethereum validation nodes in 2023. The initiative aims to research and develop adaptive regulation for the crypto ecosystem, the government said. Buenos Aires would be one of the first cities in the world where a government deploys Ethereum nodes, or a computer running Ethereum client software.

2. Paradigm and FTX Team Up To Launch Crypto Futures Spread Trading

   • Liquidity platform Paradigm has partnered with crypto exchange FTX to launch spread trading, allowing users to take advantage of pricing dislocations with “cash-and-carry” plays. These trades exploit variances in market prices and could entail taking a long position in an asset while simultaneously selling the associated derivative.

3. Steve Cohen, the Billionaire behind Point72, is Quietly Setting up Crypto-only Asset Manager

   • The move to create a separate entity reflects Cohen’s increasing bullishness on digital assets. Reportedly, the new entity plans to trade spot cryptocurrencies and digital asset derivatives, as well as look to write checks to outside digital asset-focused hedge fund managers, including possible seed deals. 

4. Moonbirds Just Made All Their NFTs Public Domain

   • In a major change for the popular NFT project, Kevin Rose, founder of Moonbirds, announced on Twitter that both Moonbirds and Oddities will move to a CC0 license. Otherwise known as Creative Commons, CC0 simply means “no rights reserved” on intellectual property. It’s a form of copyright that allows creators to waive legal interest in their work and move it, as far as possible, into the public domain. This means that anyone can now use Moonbirds NFT art freely without any copyright restrictions.

5. Reddit Rolls Out Community Points on Arbitrum’s New Ethereum Scaler With FTX Support

   • Arbitrum’s new gaming and social app-centric Nova chain is live. Social giant Reddit will use Nova to scale its crypto-powered Community Points rewards program. FTX is also on board.