🧟♂️ Billions in Market Cap With Little Usage
In today’s edition: 🏛️ Consensys sues SEC, 🚪 Cboe exits spot crypto trading, 🙏 Support pours in for CZ, 🤑 Rare "Epic Sat" fetches $2.1 million, and more!
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Union is the first sovereign interoperability layer pioneering trustless bridging between appchains, L1s, and L2s without depending on trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC. Looking to future-proof blockchain bridging, it is the only protocol that fully addresses the sovereign bridging trilemma, unlocking a horizontally-scaled future.
On Thursday, Consensys sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a Texas federal court, seeking to prevent an impending SEC action against its MetaMask wallet and to clarify that ether is not a security.
The complaint calls out the agency for what Consensys describes as “regulatory overreach,” challenges its notion that ether is a security, and says the SEC has violated the Constitutional requirement of fair notice under the due process clause. It notes that for years, the SEC and its sister agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, took the position that ether is not a security.
The lawsuit also challenges the SEC’s recent focus on Ethereum’s switch to proof of stake in 2022 as a basis for increased scrutiny, a stance Consensys CEO Joseph Lubin deemed “preposterous.”
Laura Brookover, senior counsel and head of litigation and investigations at Consensys, joined Unchained to unpack the lawsuit and what it means for the future of Ethereum and overall crypto in the US.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
What’s Poppin’?
by Sam Sriram, Sage Young, and Michael Bodley
Why Many ‘Zombie Blockchains’ Still Have Market Caps in the Billions of Dollars
Defined as having massive market caps with little usage, zombie blockchains have gigantic valuations for reasons other than their fundamentals.
Cboe Shutters Spot Crypto Business, Citing Regulatory ’Headwinds in the US’
Better-known for its crypto derivatives trading business, Cboe on Thursday moved to shut down its spot crypto trading lines.
Ex-Binance CEO Zhao’s Cadre of 160 Supporters Beseeching Court for Leniency Dwarfs SBF’s Defenders
Changpeng “CZ” Zhao had an impressive array of family members, friends, crypto execs, and Binance employees write to the presiding judge on his behalf.
Rare ‘Epic Sat’ From Bitcoin Halving Sells for $2.1 Million
ViaBTC has auctioned one of four “epic sats” for $2.1 million on the crypto exchange CoinEx Global.
Consensys Sues the SEC Over Ether’s Status as a Security
Consensys has filed a lawsuit against the SEC and five of its commissioners, including Chair Gary Gensler, over the regulator’s “overreach” and the attempt to classify ether as a security.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
⚖️ Celsius Loan creditors are planning to appeal the reorganization plan, citing unsatisfactory recovery terms and considering legal options to amend the agreement.
🔒 The European Parliament approved an anti-money laundering package that includes rigorous due diligence for crypto firms and creates a unified regulatory framework across the EU.
🇨🇳 Yao Qian, former head of China's digital yuan project, is under investigation for “violations of discipline and law.”
🔨 The SEC charged Texas-based mining firm Geosyn and its founders with defrauding investors out of $5.6 million, alleging misuse of funds for personal expenses.
🚨 The FBI cautioned Americans against using unregistered crypto money transmitting services, emphasizing the importance of Money Services Business registration for compliance.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
💳 Stripe announced its re-entry into cryptocurrency payments, starting with USDC stablecoins on Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon, marking its first crypto engagement since 2018.
🤝 Franklin Templeton enhanced its $380 million tokenized treasury fund by enabling peer-to-peer transfers of the asset manager’s BENJI token, which represents the fund, on the Stellar and Polygon blockchains.
The $$$ Corner…
💼 Pantera Capital aims to raise $1 billion for its new crypto fund, Pantera Fund V, focusing on startup equity, early-stage, and liquid tokens.
💡 Movement Labs secured $38 million to develop a layer 2 blockchain using Facebook's Move language, aiming to enhance blockchain security.
🌍 Natix Network raised $4.6 million ahead of its token launch and plans to airdrop 1 billion NATIX tokens on the Solana blockchain.
🎮 Pantera Capital fully funded InfiniGods' $8 million Series A to enhance their blockchain gaming infrastructure and expand globally.
📈 Pantera Capital also acquired additional Solana tokens from the FTX bankruptcy estate auction, reinforcing its crypto investment portfolio.
What Do You Meme?
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📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 0.6%, trading at $64,168
ETH is up 0.9%, trading at $3,126
BTC dominance: 50.87%
Crypto market cap: $2.49T
*All data as of today, 07:00 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
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I apparently read your newsletter like as a “1440 newsletter “ for crypto and I noticed in every edition, at least one news article stands out for me.
In this edition, the stripes adoption of stable coins is the most interesting and adoption is the cornerstone for success!!!