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- 8/29/24: The High Seas of NFTs 🌊🦅⛓️💥
8/29/24: The High Seas of NFTs 🌊🦅⛓️💥
Top News
OpenSea receives a Wells Notice from the SEC
Pavel Durov released from custody and placed under travel ban
TON blockchain suffers a second outage within 24-hours
Specs’ Insights
1. OpenSea receives a Wells Notice from the SEC
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 SEC issues Wells Notice to NFT platform OpenSea, threatening to sue, citing NFTs on the platform are securities.
— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru)
3:27 PM • Aug 28, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → Yesterday, OpenSea received a Wells notice from the SEC—a warning that often precedes enforcement action. The SEC's stance is that certain NFTs on OpenSea might be violating securities laws.
OpenSea’s CEO, Devin Finzer, responded by making it clear the company is ready to fight and emphasized how this could hurt creators and the broader crypto industry. OpenSea also pledged $5M to help NFT creators with potential legal fees.
Crypto Twitter had mixed reactions, with some supporting OpenSea and others criticizing it, saying it’s not decentralized enough and they don’t care about artists. Even David Hoffman from Bankless sided with the SEC, suggesting that Bored Apes are securities.
Frankly, I stopped supporting OpenSea years ago after they started unilaterally censoring artists and creators, like a Cuban artist I collect, and banning users for using privacy protocols like Tornado Cash.
While I’m personally not a big fan of OpenSea, I hope they win for the sake of artists, creators, and the entire crypto industry.
2. Pavel Durov was released from custody and placed under travel ban
🚨 BREAKING: Telegram CEO Pavel @durov has been released from custody after posting €5,000,000 bail.
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph)
9:58 PM • Aug 28, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was released from custody yesterday on a €5M bail, formally indicted with multiple charges, and placed under a travel ban—he cannot leave France.
Meanwhile, the leader of the French Patriots party, Florian Philippot, is encouraging Durov to flee the country, saying that “leaving France via the border is easy” — lol. I suppose €5M isn’t that much for Durov.
Even Andrew Tate chimed in, claiming Durov was just charged with violence against women in Switzerland, calling it the “same ol’ playbook,” a clear reference to his own legal struggles.
I love how many infamous figures have come to Durov’s defense. On one hand, it's pretty damning, but on the other, it’s validating. Speaking of which...
If you haven’t watched it yet, Tucker Carlson just posted a 2-hour interview with Mike Benz that covers the Pavel Durov case and whether the Biden administration was involved—a theory I entertained a few days ago in Specs.Chat. I haven’t watched the interview yet, but it’s top of my list.
3. TON blockchain suffers a second outage within 24-hours
🚨JUST IN: @ton_blockchain IS DOWN AGAIN!
Last transaction? Two hours ago.
That’s two outages in 24 hours...
— Milk Road (@MilkRoadDaily)
6:49 PM • Aug 28, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → While Pavel’s getting railed in the slammer, TON’s getting railed on-chain after their second outage in under 24 hours.
The second outage lasted just over 4 hours, compared to the initial 6+ hour outage—both were attributed to network congestion from $DOGS token minting. Fucking dog coins.
Surprisingly, TON is only down 15% over the last 7 days; maybe Durov’s release helped boost sentiment.
While having two back-to-back outages is certainly concerning, I think TON still has a chance given its ties to Telegram. After all, Solana had plenty of outages and now has the highest chance of being the next spot ETF on Wall Street.
Everything Else
⛓️ Crypto & DeFi
Binance CEO denies freezing Palestinian funds
Lightspark introduces Bitcoin Lightning payments
Renzo expands REZ token to Solana via Wormhole
Acre yield-bearing stBTC token launches on Mezo
Stacks, Bitcoin scaling network starts Nakamoto upgrade
Blur, Tensor tokens dip on OpenSea ‘Wells Notice'
Abstract introduces Global Wallet for easier onboarding
Mr 100 buys 500 BTC in dip
AI coins shaken after Nvidia earnings release
🏦 Wallstreet & VC
CryptoCom and Standard Chartered partner for fiat services
Ethereum ETFs see $5.8M inflow, ending outflow streak
IREN posts $184.1M Bitcoin mining revenue for fiscal year
Peregrine raises $3.6M for restaking stablecoin protocol
Edge Matrix raises $20M for launching its L1 blockchain
🏛️ Legal & Regulatory
NFL Players Union sues DraftKings over NFT fantasy game
🌎 Rest of the World
UK shop owner charged for illegal crypto ATM
India takes down 38 scam websites using ‘Mudrex's’ brand
Kakao and LINE launch L1 on mainnet, inviting Telegram-style apps.
🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse
Polymarket bettors miss $270K on Durov's early release
Hamster Kombat token airdrop set for on Sept. 26
Jupiter integrates Pump Fun and Moonshot tokens
Doodles dropped Certified Viral #2 available on Zora
Own the Doge announced a licensing deal with Revolut
Memecoin linked to ETH genesis block tops Uniswap charts
Punks top volume as mid-tiers begin to sell