9/25/24: The Queen Has Fallen ⛓️ 🔥📱

Author

Valko
September 25, 2024

Top News

  1. Caroline Ellison sentenced to 2 years in prison for FTX crimes

  2. Gary Gensler grilled in 2-day congressional hearing over crypto

  3. Farcaster client Warpcast upgrades frames with “mini-apps”

Specs’ Insights

1. Caroline Ellison sentenced to 2 years in prison for FTX crimes

⌐◪-◪ → Caroline Ellison, SBF’s ex-girlfriend and former CEO of Alameda Research, was sentenced to 2 years in prison for her role in the FTX downfall.

To say she got off easy is an understatement. For context, SBF got 25 years and faced up to 110 years. So why did she get off so easy?

Well, it’s simple really — as soon as shit hit the fan, she threw her peers under the bus. She was so instrumental to the presecution’s case that they praised her for “extraordinary cooperation”. Judge Kaplan said, “I’ve seen a lot of cooperators in 30 years. I’ve never seen one quite like Ms. Ellison.”

So while Caroline wasn't given a get out of jail free, she got the next best thing. Meanwhile, SBF is literally cellmates with Diddy, the diddler. Rough.

💬 Do you think her sentence is fair? Let me know in → Specs.Chat.

2. Gary Gensler grilled in 2-day congressional hearing over crypto

⌐◪-◪ → Yesterday, Gary Gensler and the SEC got roasted over crypto regulation, operation chokepoint, his handling of the DBET Box case, and more.

One of the better moments (clipped above) was when Dem. Ritchie Torres used an analogy to ask Gary why NFTs, like Stoner Cats, are securities but NY Yankees tickets are not — Gary fumbled his words, a deer in headlights.

Congressman Tom Emmer roasted Gensler saying, "Your inconsistencies on this issue have sent this country back. We could not have had a more historically destructive or lawless Chairman of the SEC." — ouch.

Last, but certainly not least, SEC commissioner Hester Pierce joined in, bashing the SEC for its vagueness, asserting that the agency "should have long recognized that crypto tokens are not securities" and may be intentionally using vague language.

Meanwhile, 42 congress members just wrote to Gary demanding the SEC let banks custody Bitcoin AND Mark Cuban basically said Kamala doesn’t F with Gary.

💬 What are the odds Gary keeps his job? Let me know in → Specs.Chat

3. Farcaster client Warpcast upgrades frames with “mini-apps”

⌐◪-◪ → Warpcast, the Twitter-esque client built on top of Farcaster, just launched a new feature called “mini-apps”.

Between this new announcement and Telegram, it feels like we’re in the middle of a mini-app renaissance — empowering users to embed highly tailored onchain experiences.

If you want to give it a go, check out this mini-app made by Paragraph or FlappyCaster. While these are just proof of concepts, the sky is the limit here in terms of creativity.

If you’re want to build your own mini-app, or just learn more about how it works, check out the developer docs here.

💬 Know any mini-app devs I can work with? Let me know → Specs.Chat!

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

  • Visa launches platform to help bankes test tokenized assets

  • Binance launches pre-market trading with actual tokens

  • Circle unveils new compliance tool for programmable wallets

  • Satoshi-era Bitcoin whale moves Bitcoin after 15 years

  • Sky reconsiders plans to remove wBTC after chat with BitGo CEO

  • Celo surpasses Tron in number of active stablecoin addresses

  • Banana Gun trading bot promises to refund $3M stolen from 11 users

  • DEPIN leaders hop on podcast to discuss building Solana

  • Brink Foundation donated over $1M to Bitcoin developers last year

  • WazirX hacker is almost done laundering $230M in stolen funds

  • Anemoy partners with Chronicle for real-time data on its Treasuries fund

  • Arkhan Intelligence gains 490k Twitter followers in a single day

  • Citrea deploys BitVM-based bridge on Bitcoin testnet

  • Cega debuts “vault token market” to increase liquidity on platform

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

  • Spot Bitcoin ETFs mark 4th straight day of inflows with $136M on Tuesday

  • BNY Mellon moves closer to offering crypto ETF custody services

  • MicroStrategy could soon generate yield by lending its Bitcoin

  • Y-Combinator’s latest startup batch has no crypto companies

  • Daylight raises $6M to build onchain recommendation system

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

  • SEC postpones decision on Ethereum ETF options

  • Rep. Maxine Waters wants to reach a compromise on stablecoin bill

  • CZ, founder and former CEO of Binance, to be released in four days

  • Mark Cuban says Kamala is against regulation through litigation, warns Gensler

  • MicroStrategy outpaces BlackRock’s IBIT by 3x year-to-date

  • TrustToken settles with SEC over fraud accusations in stablecoin investing

  • Stand With Crypto changes Kamala’s crypto rating to from “B” to “NA”

🌎 Rest Of The World

  • Fire alarm symbolically interrupts Australian crypto conference

  • Assetera, an Austria-regulated platform, to offer tokenized assets on Polygon

  • Brazil cracks down on citizens using VPNs to access Twitter, which is banned

  • Turkey abandons plans for additional taxes on crypto and stocks

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

  • CryptoPunks community hosting a new Twitter Space series today

  • Polymarket’s presidential election market surpasses $1B in bets

  • Iggy Azalea proclaims “crypto will have ass” after Rodeo Party in Singapore

  • POPCAT memecoin on Solana breaks $1B market cap

  • CHONKS has creators going wild on Twitter with pixel art

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