🕵️ Is the Gensler Investigation Simply Political Theater ? 🎭
In today’s edition: 🏅 Legal victory for prediction market Kalshi, and more!
Transform financial services through DeFi & Tokenization at Meridian 2024. Stellar Development Foundation’s annual conference will take place in London, UK, from October 15 to 17. Learn More.
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ETH Is Down Bad, While Layer 2s Are Ripping. Are L2s Parasitic to Ethereum?
Ethereum scaled its layer 2s, but now they are raking in the fees while paying little to the base chain. Are layer 2s parasitic to Ethereum, or will things turn around? Justin Bons and Ryan Berckmans debate.
Ethereum’s layer 2 solutions are booming, but are they inadvertently holding back the value of ETH itself?
In this episode, Justin Bons and Ryan Berckmans engage in a heated debate over whether layer 2s are enhancing Ethereum’s ecosystem or siphoning off its potential. They discuss the impact of layer 2s on decentralization, network effects, and whether Ethereum, as a layer 1, can scale on its own or if the base layer and the rollups now have different incentives. Has Ethereum scaled appropriately for future usage, or was scaling via layer 2s the wrong roadmap for Ethereum?
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Earn bitcoin on Gemini here.
What’s Poppin’?
by Veronica Irwin and Sage Young
Why the Investigation Into Gary Gensler’s Hiring Practices Is Unlikely to Result in Any Action
The Republican lawmakers behind the move lack enforcement power, and it’s extremely unlikely any federal agency would respond favorably to their recommendation, experts say.
Betting Platform Kalshi Cleared to Offer Election Wagering in U.S.
A judge issued an opinion that effectively allows Kalshi to offer all the nascent platform’s election-related contracts in the US—including ones involving specific candidates—giving Kalshi a leg up in competing against Polymarket, the dominant player in the space.
Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍
⚖️ Kraken requested a jury trial in its legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), following a judge's decision to proceed with the lawsuit, which accuses the exchange of operating without proper registration as a broker, clearinghouse, or exchange.
📊 Kalshi's new political prediction markets were halted shortly after launch due to a federal appeals court granting the CFTC's request for an emergency stay, following the regulator's recent legal loss.
💼 Former US President Donald Trump is set to launch his DeFi project, known as “World Liberty Financial,” on Sept. 16.
⚖️ DeFi lender Sky (formerly MakerDAO) is voting on whether to fully remove wrapped bitcoin (wBTC) from its ecosystem, a decision that could impact $200 million in loans, due to concerns over Justin Sun's involvement with the asset's custodian.
🌐 Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is pressuring layer 2 networks to further decentralize, stating he will only mention those that meet the "Stage 1" decentralization threshold in his future public communications.
⚖️ A federal judge threatened former FTX executive Ryan Salame with sanctions after he admitted to lying about his plea deal, where he falsely claimed prosecutors made promises to cease investigations into his partner, Michelle Bond.
🔗 ZKsync has launched its decentralized governance system, activating smart contracts on the mainnet, allowing the community to participate in key protocol decisions through a structured governance model.
🎮 Treasure DAO members are set to vote on a proposal to migrate their Web3 gaming ecosystem from Arbitrum to ZKsync, citing that ZKsync better aligns with their long-term goals in decentralized gaming.
🚀 Starknet's community approved a proposal to introduce staking for STRK tokens, with plans to launch staking on the testnet soon and full implementation on the mainnet by the end of 2024.
🌞 Toronto-based Cypherpunk Holdings, which is a publicly traded company, rebranded to Sol Strategies, focusing on staking and investing in Solana ecosystem projects as part of a major shift approved by its board.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
🏦 Grayscale launched the first U.S. Ripple Trust, offering institutional investors exposure to XRP, which led to a 4% spike in XRP’s price.
💰 ParaFi Capital is tokenizing a portion of its $1 billion venture fund on the Avalanche blockchain using the Securitize platform, aiming to open its venture strategy to a broader range of investors while leveraging Avalanche's fast and low-cost transactions.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 0.3%, trading at $58,252
ETH is up 1.0%, trading at $2,370
BTC dominance: 53.8%
Crypto market cap: $2.14T
*All data as of today, 07:20 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
Recommended Reads
Castle Island Ventures: Stablecoins: The Emerging Market Story
Blockworks: Is Tether really more profitable than BlackRock?
DL News: Shitposting is part of the job for this crypto pro: ‘It’s an art form’
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