Liz Coyne

In the weekly roundup episode of Blockworks&#8217; podcast &#8220;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lyn-alden-explains-connection-between-inflation-bitcoin/id1558223079?i=1000513411286" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">On the Margin</a>,&#8221; Michael Ippolito, co-founder, sits down with Senior Editor Tyler Neville to talk about the news in macro, including: Elon <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-industry-skeptical-on-musks-bitcoin-u-turn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announces</a> that Tesla will stop allowing customers to pay in Bitcoin, the US Department of Justice and IRS <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/irs-justice-department-probing-binance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">look into</a> Binance, and Stan Druckenmiller predicts the currency will lose reserve status in 15 years.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Elon Dumps Bitcoin, Justice Department Looks Into Binance" width="1024" height="576" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/69dxK2NwQ0w?list=PLvER9nHSRN3xVs_p-dl7L7K_ZgL6lSudu" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



&#8220;On the Margin&#8221; is a two-part show.&nbsp;Once a week, Mike interviews industry experts, and then at the end of the week he is joined by co-host <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tyler Neville</a> where they break down the top crypto and macro stories. Episodes go live every Wednesday and Saturday morning.



Subscribe to &#8220;On the Margin&#8221; today on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lyn-alden-explains-connection-between-inflation-bitcoin/id1558223079?i=1000513411286" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apple</a> or <a href="https://spoti.fi/3bTa9uw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spotify</a>, or watch the episode on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69dxK2NwQ0w&amp;list=PLvER9nHSRN3xVs_p-dl7L7K_ZgL6lSudu&amp;index=18" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouTube</a>.

Elon Dumps Bitcoin, Justice Department Looks into Binance

Shalini Nagarajan

ParaFi Digital Opportunities, Framework Ventures, and 1kx allege that <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/curve" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Curve</a> founder Michael Egorov carried out an elaborate fraudulent scheme that spanned six months, deceiving them in multiple ways.



Egorov purportedly misled the three venture capitalists starting in 2020 by making false promises of granting them a stake in Curve.&nbsp;



He is said to have used their network and reputation to gain trust and legitimize Curve, according to their most recent <a href="https://webapps.sftc.org/ci/CaseInfo.dll?SessionID=1F4572B39AD289AEBB9F14C065325F8203E47EB8&amp;URL=https%3A%2F%2Fimgquery.sftc.org%2FSha1_newApp%2Fmainpage.aspx%3FWeb_Server%3Dimgquery.sftc.org%26MINDS_Server%3Dhoj-imx-01%26Category%3DC%26DocID%3D08533304%26Timestamp%3D20230609013525%26Digest%3D05da02677bf2046d8a4610a17a67437b96563648" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">complaint</a> filed in San Francisco in April. The litigation, first <a href="https://www.dlnews.com/articles/people-culture/vcs-parafi-framework-1kx-sue-curve-founder-michael-egorov/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> by DL News, was originally filed in October.



As things unfolded, Egorov supposedly stole the plaintiffs&#8217; trade secrets, which included valuable information like industry contacts, investors and investment know-how for Curve.&nbsp;



Curve Finance is a platform meant for exchanging tokens with low fees by using pools of similar assets. Liquidity providers to the platform are rewarded with the protocols native token <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/crv" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CRV</a> and trading fees.



Egorov is accused of fraudulently luring the plaintiffs to invest in his company. He then allegedly used their money to boost the value of Curve, denied them their promised shares and fled to Switzerland, renouncing his US residency. All this was done to keep the profits for himself, leaving the plaintiffs out in the cold, they claim.



The plaintiffs’ claimed that Egorov justified “significantly shifting the power [to govern Curve] in his favor.” Instead of letting go of his power in the Curve DAO, he sold some CRV tokens to enrich himself while still keeping significant control, they added.



“Because he deposited plaintiffs’ funds into Curve’s liquidity pools, Egorov has received CRV tokens and fees as an incentive for providing liquidity,” attorneys for the VCs said.



Blockworks has reached out to ParaFi, Framework Ventures, 1kx and Egorov for comment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Egorov seeks Swiss resolution for lawsuit</h2>



According to <a href="https://webapps.sftc.org/ci/CaseInfo.dll?SessionID=1F4572B39AD289AEBB9F14C065325F8203E47EB8&amp;URL=https%3A%2F%2Fimgquery.sftc.org%2FSha1_newApp%2Fmainpage.aspx%3FWeb_Server%3Dimgquery.sftc.org%26MINDS_Server%3Dhoj-imx-01%26Category%3DC%26DocID%3D08575322%26Timestamp%3D20230609020055%26Digest%3D21fc360c443dd4f9b50e8af253e5fe25bc485782">court documents</a> filed on May 22, Egorov&#8217;s attorneys claim that the lawsuit filed in San Francisco is a response to ongoing litigation in Switzerland that began three years ago. They argue that Egorov&#8217;s company, Swiss Stake (Curve’s license holder), had the right to terminate that litigation.



Egorov is now requesting to either postpone or dismiss the lawsuit filed by the plaintiffs, arguing that the case should be handled in Switzerland, as the parties contractually agreed to resolve it there.



“To justify their blatant forum shopping, plaintiffs concocted a new and compelling story painting Egorov as an evil villain who duped three naïve VC firms into giving up ‘trade secrets’ (such as the names of widely known investors) and $1M in invested funds (that Swiss Stake promptly offered to return),” Egorov’s lawyers said in the filing.



“This tale of woe — which, in three years of Swiss litigation, Plaintiffs somehow never mentioned — is fiction,” they added.



They further claimed that Egorov established Swiss Stake in 2019 in Switzerland, as the country is known for being a leading hub for blockchain tech. And during their negotiations, the plaintiffs desired to invest in Swiss Stake and engaged their own Swiss legal representation to draft and finalize an investment agreement with Egorov, they said.



Swiss Stake ultimately decided to end the investment agreement involving the plaintiffs and started refunding the funds that investors had initially paid, according to them.



While other investors allegedly accepted the refunds, the plaintiffs refused them and instead filed a lawsuit in Zug against Egorov and Swiss Stake in August 2020. They claimed breach of contract and specifically referred to the Swiss forum selection clause.



A hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 19.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Venture firms accuse Curve founder of elaborate fraud

Ratings agency Moody’s slashed Coinbase’s outlook to “negative” from “stable” two days after the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the exchange <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-coinbase">operated as an unregistered broker</a> and sold unregistered securities since 2019.



A negative outlook suggests that the agency could downgrade Coinbase’s rating in the future.



Moody&#8217;s decision to change the outlook stems from uncertainty about how much the SEC&#8217;s charges will affect Coinbase&#8217;s business model and cash flows, the agency said in a <a href="https://ratings.moodys.com/ratings-news/403841?mod=article_inline" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> published Thursday.



The commission also alleges that Coinbase&#8217;s staking-as-a-service products break the Securities Act of 1933 because &#8220;the Staking Program has five stakeable crypto assets, and each of these assets is considered an investment contract and therefore a security.&#8221;



The SEC further claims that Coinbase didn&#8217;t make sure that the crypto assets it sold were not considered <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ava-labs-howey-test-wrong">securities according to the Howey test</a>.



After the lawsuit, regulators from 11 states, including California and Washington, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-states-are-going-after-coinbase-following-sec-lawsuit-heres-how">sent Coinbase a show cause order</a>. The order requires Coinbase to explain why it shouldn&#8217;t be told to stop selling cryptocurrencies in those states within 28 days.



Moody&#8217;s warned that Coinbase could face some serious consequences from the regulators.&nbsp;



These might involve returning any money earned unlawfully, paying fines and penalties, and suffering setbacks in its staking rewards business and other activities.&nbsp;



The agency also noted that it&#8217;s unclear when and how these issues will be resolved and what it means for Coinbase&#8217;s finances.



Moody’s isn’t the only one warning about Coinbase’s rating. Berenberg analyst Mark Palmer <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-shares-uninvestable">slashed the company’s price</a> target on Thursday from $55 to $39.



Coinbase has reacted to the SEC&#8217;s lawsuit by stating that the agency <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-responds-sec-lawsuit">conducted a review of its business</a> in 2021 and granted permission for the company to go public, despite the 2019 allegations made in the lawsuit.



Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal previously told Blockworks: “The solution is legislation that allows fair rules for the road to be developed transparently and applied equally, not litigation. In the meantime, we’ll continue to operate our business as usual.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Moody’s warns Coinbase faces serious consequences

Jon Rice

In the wake of a blistering lawsuit from the SEC, Binance.US notified users this evening that it would be pausing all customer withdrawals and transitioning, at least temporarily, to an all-crypto exchange.



Binance US attributed the decision to &#8220;banking partners [who] have signaled their intent to pause USD fiat channels.&#8221;



In a statement the exchange, operated by BAM Trading, <a href="https://www.binance.us/status">said</a> that it would be suspending all USD deposits as banking partners prepared to pause USD withdrawals ‘as early as June 13 2023.’



Binance.US noted in their statement that they maintain 1:1 reserves for all customers, and that all operations are currently functioning.



The exchange <a href="https://twitter.com/binanceus/status/1666996908651323393">encouraged customers</a> to withdraw USD via bank transfer by June 13, 2023.



The exchange noted that all USD trading pairs would be suspended next week, and that any USD balances held in reserve may be converted to stablecoins after June 15.



The notice also stated that ACH transfers in US dollars would potentially be subject to delays, which it suggested may be due to the weekend bank closures and elevated volumes.



Binance US had already noted that it would <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/binance-culls-usdt-trading-pairs/">delist some trading pairs</a>.



In the notice, Binance US described the <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/sec-allegations-against-binance/">SEC lawsuit</a> as making &#8220;baseless claims&#8221; and described the agency&#8217;s tactics as &#8220;aggressive&#8221; and &#8220;unjustified.&#8221;



The exchange has also been <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/binance-us-sec-assets-freeze/">threatened with an asset freeze.</a>



Binance.US has had a checkered history, with one CEO — Catherine Coley — disappearing from public view, and another resigning after an extremely short tenure at the business. The latter, Brian Brooks, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/news/cz-ceo-bam-trading/">provided testimony</a> to the SEC that questioned the nominal independence of the exchange.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/bnb">BNB</a>, the native token of Binance, has fallen from just over $308 to around $259 over the past week, at the time of writing.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Binance.US to halt all fiat withdrawals ‘as early as June 13’

Bessie Liu

Blockchain gaming provider Polemos has announced a new chain-agnostic blockchain game platform it calls &#8220;The Armory.&#8221; This platform intends to offer gamers the ability to rent digital assets without collateral or deposit requirements.



Traditionally in <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/gaming" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gaming</a>, digital asset rentals require a deposit, or the borrowers are only given copies of the original item. The Armory, on the other hand, will not ask for any collateral or deposits beyond a borrowing cost and give users the chance to use the digital assets as they like.



Players retain any rewards earned through their borrowed items, giving them an opportunity to experiment with different digital assets without the need to invest a large amount of time and money.



Lenders will be able to earn money from digital assets sitting idly in their wallets, though there is a small fee required to list each digital asset.



Halborn, a blockchain security firm, has audited the platform&#8217;s smart contract, potentially providing lenders with enhanced security. Smart contract audits are crucial for blockchain security, and multiple audit firms may review the code for some companies. This helps to ensure untampered item returns and reinforces overall platform security.



The Armory will be chain agnostic and integrated into Polemos’ <a href="https://forge.polemos.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Forge</a>, meaning it will be able to operate on a variety of different blockchains. 



Initially, The Armory will support all <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/polygon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Polygon</a> proof-of-stake games, including Galaxy Fight Club, and in development games such as Apeiron, Deadrop and others. It plans to later integrate with other blockchains including Immutable, Solana, Avalanche and Ton.



“By providing a convenient solution for borrowers and lenders alike, we’ve opened up lending of game assets to the whole industry — with no work required by games to enable these great benefits,” Sascha Zehe, cofounder and co-CEO of Polemos, said in a statement.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Polemos launches platform for collateral-free digital asset rental

Ben Strack

In response to increased regulatory scrutiny in the US, crypto companies have begun placing a greater emphasis on hiring legal professionals. This follows recent developments regarding the SEC&#8217;s ongoing lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-changpeng-zhao-face-sec-charges">The SEC targeted Binance on Monday</a> for allegedly engaging in the unlawful sale of securities and failing to register under the Exchange Act, among other charges.



The US securities regulator <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-coinbase">then sued Coinbase</a>, claiming it was operating as an unregistered exchange. Agencies from individual US states <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-states-are-going-after-coinbase-following-sec-lawsuit-heres-how">also went after the company’s trading and staking services</a> in separate legal actions.



Both exchanges have denied wrongdoing.&nbsp;



Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at TRM Labs, noted that the heart of cases alleging unregistered securities hinges on whether certain digital assets are, in fact, securities. Redbord was named vice chair of the CFTC’s technology advisory committee in March.&nbsp;



Redbord said that he expects this issue to be initially addressed by the courts and eventually by Congress.



“In the meantime, crypto businesses can seek legal counsel from those versed in these complex issues, invest in compliance teams, use blockchain intelligence solutions, work with law enforcement to weed out bad actors and build robust corporate governance structures,” Redbord told Blockworks.



Some companies said new developments don’t impact their long-standing focus on compliance. They have acknowledged the need for additional vigilance after the latest allegations against Binance and Coinbase, however.



A representative for crypto exchange Bitstamp told Blockworks in an email Thursday that while the company has been “a compliance-first exchange” since launching in 2011, it takes new regulatory developments “very seriously.”&nbsp;



“As such, we are currently reviewing the new information that has come out this week to determine what actions to take,” the spokesperson added.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Marc D&#8217;Annunzio, general counsel for crypto marketplace Bakkt, said the company intentionally separated its crypto trading and custody functions, and has historically chosen to move slowly and evaluate the implications of its decisions.



He added that the actions against Binance and Coinbase continue a trend. The company is actively discussing with regulators and legislators ways to develop clear, actionable guidance — alongside enforcement — for crypto companies wanting to comply with laws.&nbsp;



“While some of the headlines are new, our approach is not,” D&#8217;Annunzio said. “While there’s arguably more developments to monitor on any given day, our process for doing that and considering impacts to our business remains unchanged.”



After closing its deal to acquire Apex Crypto last month, Bakkt delisted 25 coins to maintain its “compliance-first and consumer protection-focused approach,” D&#8217;Annunzio told Blockworks Thursday.&nbsp;



The company also acquired a broker-dealer license from Bumped Financial earlier this year. This was done “so that when there is a clearer framework for offering coins that are deemed to be securities, we are in a position to offer them,” D&#8217;Annunzio added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A push to build legal teams in lead-up to latest actions</h2>



Zachary Plotkin, a managing director at recruiting firm Madison-Davis, said that crypto companies have traditionally prioritized professionals specializing in know-your-customer (KYC), onboarding, and due diligence. However, in 2023, there has been a noticeable increase in demand for legal support in specific areas.



In terms of full-time roles, Plotkin said more crypto companies have been hiring counsel in recent weeks.&nbsp;



Crypto.com posted a job listing Thursday for legal counsel tasked with “representing the company in negotiations and interactions with regulators, policymakers and industry stakeholders on tech-related matters,” it states.&nbsp;



Kraken last week listed the opening for a senior corporate and securities counsel to join its “growing” corporate legal team of nearly a dozen.



Representatives for Kraken and Crypto.com did not return requests for comment about the job postings, or other efforts.



Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments — in the middle of its own legal battle with the SEC — posted a job posting for regulatory counsel last week. The professional would engage with the SEC and FINRA “as Grayscale’s regulated entities grow their private placement, public quotation, ETF and ETP business lines,” the listing states.



Even eBay, which acquired NFT marketplace KnownOrigin last year, is seeking crypto counsel to offer legal advice related to NFTs, blockchain and other Web3 matters.



<a href="https://workincrypto.global/">WorkInCrypto.Global</a> founder Sam Wellalage said he recently helped various “major players” hire legal and regulatory senior professionals, noting the market for such talent has recently heated up.



In addition to full-time professionals, the demand for temporary legal consultants, as well as those focused on fraud and third-party risk, has increased in the last six months amid regulatory uncertainty in the segment, Plotkin added.



These employees are mainly being hired on a contractual basis for periods ranging from three months to two years, which Plotkin attributes to firms wanting to stay cost-efficient and nimble during what he called an “economic downturn.”&nbsp;



The SEC’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, however, have caused larger crypto firms to pause hiring, Plotkin said, adding that the space has entered “a wait-and-see period.”&nbsp;



“[With] Coinbase, Binance and all these other companies … there is definitely pressure from the government on them,” Plotkin said. “Before people take action or spend money to bring on new resources, they want to see how the government is going to react.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Crypto firms beefing up legal support amid regulatory crackdown

Michael Bodley

On Thursday, BitGo reached a preliminary agreement to acquire the parent company of Prime Trust. This marks a significant step forward in Prime Trust&#8217;s quest for emergency funding to address its financial challenges.



BitGo’s purchase, as denominated in a “non-binding term sheet,” snapped up “100% of the equity of Prime Core Technologies, Inc., the parent company of Prime Trust,” according to a BitGo <a href="https://blog.bitgo.com/bitgo-signs-letter-of-intent-to-acquire-prime-trust-to-expand-digital-asset-and-fintech-b1868391784a">statement</a>. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.&nbsp;



Prime Trust executives this week had <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/prime-trust-said-to-be-scrambling-for-emergency-cash-package">embarked on a whirlwind attempt to raise $25 million</a> or so in financing by this weekend, two sources familiar with the matter told Blockworks.&nbsp;



For <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitgo">BitGo</a>, a well-capitalized firm with a number of cryptocurrency business lines, the move looked to give the company a leg up in terms of its technology stack as mergers and acquisition interest remains rampant throughout the industry.&nbsp;



A number of distressed crypto companies in 2023, as well as strict oversight from the SEC and other regulators, has led industry participants to closely monitor the market for buying opportunities.&nbsp;



It wasn’t immediately clear on Thursday whether the tentative deal — which is presumably subject to additional internal approvals — would affect Prime Trust employees.&nbsp;



BitGo CEO Mike Belshe in the statement called the planned acquisition a “landmark transaction,” which he said would serve as the vanguard for a “greater shift in the digital asset landscape toward a more secure and sustainable future.”



The plan is for Prime Trust’s Nevada-registered trust company to be folded into BitGo’s own regulated crypto-oriented trusts. Those affiliated companies for BitGo are located in Germany, New York, South Dakota and Switzerland.



And the idea is to plug in Prime Trust API product’s to help “reinforce” core BitGo products — including custody, settlement and compliance functions.&nbsp;



In another development on Thursday, BitGo played up its pending access to Prime Trust’s “world-class network of banking partners and payment rails, crypto IRA, and additional wealth management offerings.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

BitGo bails out Prime Trust in acquisition deal

James Cirrone

Google Cloud is offering certain customers up to $1 million in protection for costs incurred during undetected crypto mining attacks.&nbsp;



Subscribers to Google’s Security Command Center Premium, a cyber threat detector, are entitled to this hefty protection.&nbsp;



Philip Bues, a cloud security expert for market research firm IDC, said that Google Cloud is taking a step forward with this move.



“Cryptomining attacks continue to be a serious security and financial issue for organizations who do not have the right preventative controls and threat detection capabilities in their cloud environments,” Bues said in a statement.



The decision to include such coverage for these types of breaches came after Google’s Cybersecurity Action Team published a September 2022 <a href="https://services.google.com/fh/files/blogs/gcat_threathorizons_full_sept2022.pdf">report</a> showing that in 65% of cases involving compromised cloud accounts, hackers were engaging in cryptocurrency mining.



The attacks are often partially or completely automated, according to the report, making them quick and easy to carry out.



In the event that a hacker manages to bypass Google&#8217;s detection capabilities and proceeds to run crypto mining software on a user&#8217;s cloud account, Google will now take responsibility for the customer&#8217;s expenses, providing coverage of up to $1 million for their bill.



It’s important to note that this protection program doesn’t have anything to do with bitcoin mining. It is available only for people using mining software. One of the most popular crypto tokens to be mined this way is monero (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/xmr">XMR</a>).&nbsp;



Blockworks reached out to Google and didn’t receive an immediate response.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Google now offering $1M crypto mining attack protection

Crypto custodian Prime Trust has been angling with increasing urgency to raise millions of dollars in emergency fundraising, according to two sources familiar with the matter.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/prime-trust">Prime Trust</a> has engaged in talks with a number of potential financiers, sources said.&nbsp;



The company may need that money by the beginning of next week, if not earlier, both sources said. The firm offers a range of crypto financial services, including spot custody, as well as support for crypto on- and off-ramps to fiat. 



Wide ranging solutions to the company’s apparent steep cash flow shortage appeared to be on the table. Prime Trust executives are said to have floated $25 million as one amount that would stabilize the US firm’s balance sheet.



What caused the shortfall was not immediately clear on Thursday, though both sources pointed to Prime Trust’s shrinking customer assets.&nbsp;



Reports that <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitgo">BitGo</a> may be interested in acquiring the company were unconfirmed at the time of writing.



Spokespeople for Prime Trust did not immediately return requests for comment.&nbsp;



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a>’s back-to-back lawsuits against <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/binance">Binance</a> affiliates, as well as <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase">Coinbase</a>, have amped up retail and institutional trader anxiety around keeping crypto assets on exchanges. 



The emergency financing package has been designed to prevent Prime Trust from entering “receivership,” according to one source with direct knowledge of the matter. That could suggest the crypto company’s finances are in dire shape — and that its executives aren’t confident in Prime Trust’s ability to dig itself out of its monetary hole.&nbsp;



“We know that Prime Trust has had issues in the past,” one source said. “They’ve losses on their balance sheet…but they’re now exposed.” 



After the closure of Signature Bank, which transpired amid a wave of US bank closures earlier this year, Prime Trust became more integral to the operations of a number of top crypto companies.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Prime Trust said to be scrambling for emergency cash package

Kraken, a centralized exchange headquartered in San Francisco, has announced that its NFT marketplace is now live. The marketplace launched with a selection of over 250 unique NFT collections.



A notable feature of the new marketplace is its gasless experience — when purchasing or selling a digital asset on the platform, a user will not be charged for the transactions. This will be the case regardless of market conditions.



Gas fees, however, will be charged for transferring digital assets on and off the platform.&nbsp;



The Kraken NFT marketplace has been <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-exchanges-look-to-cash-in-on-nft-boom">in the works for over a year</a>, launching a public beta version of its testnet in November last year.&nbsp;



During its beta phase, the marketplace supported NFT collections from Ethereum and Solana. With its public launch, the marketplace has expanded its offerings to include digital collectibles from Polygon as well. This includes popular items such as its &#8220;red-hot Reddit collectible avatars.&#8221;



The marketplace also aims to be user friendly for non-crypto-native traders.



Most NFT platforms today require their users to have a crypto wallet to purchase digital collectibles. Kraken’s platform accepts fiat and cryptocurrencies — meaning users can bid on a NFT even if they do not own any tokens.



For those who do have a wallet, the NFT marketplace currently supports MetaMask and Phantom, with plans to later connect with WalletConnect. 



Kraken’s decision to launch its NFT platform comes amid a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-coinbase">US government crackdown on centralized exchanges</a>. Competition in the NFT marketplace remains fierce, with marketplace giants <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/opensea">OpenSea</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/blur">Blur</a> dominating the space.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Kraken NFT marketplace launches with over 250 collections

Darren Kleine

“Once you’ve wrestled,” Mike Novogratz quotes Dan Gable, “everything else in life is easy.”



Wrestling defined the CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners at a young age, he says, building the foundation for his success. “Wrestling teaches you how to lose and come back.”



The investor admits he “got lucky” pivoting into something he was “naturally good at.”



Novogratz explains what made him successful as a macro-investor in a recent episode of the 1000X podcast (<a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/3fLwRHCW2S5rySubiTrPaO?si=e6534a8ef43d4962">Spotify</a> / <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/empire/id1554930038?i=1000616134217">Apple</a>). “It&#8217;s a combination of reading economic trends, political trends, social trends — in understanding how markets behave with those inputs.”



“There&#8217;s a lot of intuition in it,” he says.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The only silver lining</h2>



His intuition has not always hit the mark, he admits. “We thought institutions were gonna buy crypto. I&#8217;ve got 430 people in Galaxy all geared up to help institutions come in to buy crypto.”



A combination of <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/brady-dale-sam-bankman-fried">bad behavior</a> in the crypto industry, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/regulation-by-enforcement-unsustainable">tough regulation in the US</a>, no regulation outside the US and high interest rates caused institutional enthusiasm to wane, he says.



“Now,” he says, “the only silver lining is, retail&#8217;s still buying. It was always the people’s revolution, and they’re still out there.”



Novogratz says he certainly hasn’t given up faith in <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bitcoin">Bitcoin</a>. The “big decentralized revolution” that is building a “whole new world” on networks like <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/ethereum">Ethereum</a> is still moving forward, he says, “but the market now seems to want to see shit that works.”



“Unless you&#8217;re an early adopter, you&#8217;re not using <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/web3">Web3</a> in your normal life,” he says.



Novogratz says that to “suck people in,” the crypto industry will need apps that people can “sink their teeth into.”



One strong prospect for crypto’s appeal as a utility is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-is-decentralized-identity">authentication</a>, he says. “With all these deep fakes,” he says, “how do I validate that this is actually my work?”



“But now I want to see people actually show me the app that does it — and even if it doesn&#8217;t get complete adoption — then we&#8217;re telling stories that people can sink their teeth into again.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">No better inflation hedge in the world</h2>



It could take some time for a return to a crypto bull market, Novogratz says. “We&#8217;re not going to get a sustained bitcoin rally until the Fed says we&#8217;re done and we&#8217;re cutting,” he says. “And that, in my mind, is probably [the] end of summer” but could take longer if stagflation settles in, he warns.



Pointing to America’s debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding <a href="https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/united-states/government-debt--of-nominal-gdp#:~:text=United%20States%20Government%20Debt%3A%20%25%20of%20GDP,-1969%20%2D%202022%20%7C%20Quarterly&amp;text=United%20States%20Government%20debt%20accounted,123.6%20%25%20in%20the%20previous%20quarter.">120%</a>,&nbsp; Novogratz argues the “only way out” of the predicament is inflation. Last year, Novogratz says, the Federal Reserve did a “pretty good job” of inflating their way out of debt.&nbsp;



“We had seven percent inflation. We&#8217;re paying three percent for our debt, two and a half percent. That was the blended average. So you just inflated four percent of the debt away.”



“Of course, you can&#8217;t say that as a central banker, and you can&#8217;t say that as a treasury official,” says Novogratz, “but you&#8217;ll want to have higher inflation to get out of the debt trap.”



<iframe loading="lazy" frameborder="0" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=BWG8431937823" width="100%"></iframe>







“If it gets too high, you&#8217;re screwed. And so it&#8217;s a really, really challenging dance for the stewards of your economy to pull off.”



Bitcoin and crypto in general were the best inflation hedges in the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, he says, when everyone was panicking about a rise in costs. But when the anticipated higher prices finally showed up, Powell “took a sledgehammer to the gonads of inflation.”



“That was painful. Crypto would&#8217;ve kept going higher.”



Still, Novogratz sees promise amid market tumult and “regulatory assault.” He notes that retail “continues to accumulate” despite the noise.



“It&#8217;s surprising to me,” he says, “how much buying happens every day, in small amounts, that adds up to big amounts.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Novogratz says crypto retail is the market’s ‘silver lining’

Macauley Peterson

A year and 7 months after it was filed, the case of Joseph Kent v. PoolTogether and its backers has been tossed by a Brooklyn federal court judge.



The central question at issue — whether the PoolTogether protocol constitutes an illegal lottery under New York law — was not addressed, because the judge ruled that the plaintiff, Kent, lacked standing to sue.



PoolTogether was started in 2019 by Leighton Cusack, Brendan Asselstine and Chuck Bergeron. Cusack was named as a defendant in the suit. He <a href="https://twitter.com/lay2000lbs/status/1666470640604311552?s=20">tweeted</a> that he was “extremely happy” with the hearing, though his legal challenges are likely not over.



“There is still a good chance they are going to try and refile this case (or an amended complaint) in state court,” Cusack told Blockworks.



Just over a year ago, PoolTogether’s Cusack <a href="https://twitter.com/PoolyNFT/status/1533515933179953152?s=20">raised $1.5 million for a legal defense fund using NFTs</a> purchased by over 4,200 unique wallets.&nbsp;



Kent, who led a technology team for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential bid, filed the complaint in October 2021, with clear political overtones. The original suit noted that he was “gravely concerned that the cryptocurrency ecosystem — which requires the use of enormous amounts of electricity — is accelerating climate change and allowing people to evade financial regulations and scam consumers.”



District Judge Frederic Block noted in his 16-page decision that Kent’s lawsuit was based “on an entirely different premise,” but one which could not be adjudicated on the merits, in the absence of any harm in fact.



“By his own admission, he can withdraw his contributions at any time and the fees that those transactions would incur are not imposed by the defendants,” the judge ruled.



Quoting established precedent, Judge Block wrote that federal courts have “the power to redress harms that defendants cause plaintiffs, not a freewheeling power to hold defendants accountable for legal infractions.”



Kent deliberately used the protocol in an irrational manner by depositing a total of just $12 in GUSD and USDC stablecoins to PoolTogether’s pool on Ethereum mainnet. It’s well known that Ethereum has sometimes required high transaction fees, and these were readily apparent to Kent — in fact, they formed part of the basis of his claim for harm.



But PoolTogether also operates on Polygon and Avalanche — and more recently Optimism —&nbsp;where deposit fees are much lower. In all cases, transaction fees are the result of using the third-party networks where PoolTogether’s decentralized app (dapp) is deployed and not paid to the protocol.&nbsp;



As a no-loss lottery — effectively a prize-linked savings account — PoolTogether always offers participants a positive expected value. The protocol earns interest from other DeFi protocols such as <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/compound">Compound</a> and conducts random prize drawings to pay out the pooled interest to lucky winners. Depositors can always withdraw 100% of their principal, however.



Blockworks has reached out to Kent’s attorneys.



Judge Block concluded that the defendants, which include venture capital funds Dragonfly, Nascent and Galaxy Digital, did not cause Kent any injury. He was not entitled to any interest from his deposits to PoolTogether, even though he could have received interest for deposits made to Compound directly.



“Crucially, the decision to deposit funds with PoolTogether or to send them directly to Compound (or, for that matter, to leave them in his digital wallet) belonged to Kent and Kent alone,” Judge Block wrote.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

PoolTogether class action case dismissed, for now

Casey Wagner

SEC Chair Gary Gensler defended his agency’s recent enforcement actions against Binance and Coinbase and issued a stark warning to any other businesses operating in the space: Comply, or you can expect a lawsuit, too.&nbsp;



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/gary-gensler">Gensler</a> did not mince his words during a virtual appearance at the 2023 Global Exchange and Fintech Conference Thursday, demanding that crypto firms follow existing laws. There is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-responds-sec-lawsuit">no need for further congressional action</a>, as many in the space have called for, he said. 



“It’s the law of the land,” he said, defending the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a>’s ability to oversee crypto markets. 



Crypto companies have no excuse to not be operating within the rules, Gensler added, dismissing any claims that companies are unable to comply under existing laws.&nbsp;



“We&#8217;ve issued a reopening release that reiterated the applicability of existing rules to platforms that trade crypto assets securities, including so-called DeFi systems, that&#8217;s already the law. That&#8217;s already the rules,” Gensler said. “Not liking the law, not liking the rules is different than not hearing it or not getting it.”&nbsp;



There is <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-crypto-clarity-securities-gensler">no ‘regulatory clarity’ needed</a>, Gensler added, arguing that issuers and broker-dealers and exchanges should know exactly how to comply. 



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/gary-gensler-national-disgrace">Gary Gensler Is a National Disgrace: It’s Time to Rein Him In</a>



The SEC head also doubled-down on his long-time stance that crypto markets are ripe for manipulation and fraud.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We&#8217;ve also seen numerous companies before and after FTX blow themselves up, hurting countless investors in their way, hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions around the globe,” Gensler said. “The crypto securities markets should not be allowed to undermine the well-earned trust of public capital markets.”&nbsp;



Days after his agency announced aggressive charges against exchanges <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-allegations-against-binance">Binance</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-coinbase-allegations">Coinbase</a>, Gensler firmly stood by the lawsuits, alleging the exchanges explicitly and knowingly <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-10-tokens-securities">violated securities laws</a>. 



“Working alongside <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-states-are-going-after-coinbase-following-sec-lawsuit-heres-how">law enforcement partners in 10 states</a>, we charge Coinbase for never properly registering the offer and sale of its staking program,” Gensler said. 



Binance faces similar registration and securities offering violations, but the SEC also alleges <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-pushes-back-sec-lawsuit">the exchange commingled client assets</a> and manipulated markets, Gensler added, citing complaints released Monday. 



Companies are “seeking a bunch of meetings with the SEC during which you&#8217;re unwilling to make the changes needed to comply with the securities laws,” Gensler said, possibly referring to recent statements from Coinbase and Robinhood stating they have attempted to engage with the SEC but have been unable to register.&nbsp;



On the day Coinbase’s charges were announced, the exchange’s chief legal officer, Paul Grewal, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-in-house-hot-seat">appeared before the House Agriculture Committee</a> to face questions on crypto market regulation.  



“I am still digesting the complaint that was served today,” Grewal said during the hearing.&nbsp;



“What I can speak to, in much greater detail, are the many, many interactions we’ve had with the SEC, going back not just months, but several years,” Grewal said, adding that the exchange has spoken with SEC staffers dozens of times.&nbsp;&nbsp;



It’s not an issue of inadequate guidelines, Gensler countered on Thursday, the exchanges simply do not want to do what they are told.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Gensler: Crypto firms know exactly how to register, they just don’t want to

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., introduced a bill Wednesday alongside Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., that will ban companies established in China from acquiring a stake in American digital asset firms. 



The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1870?s=1&amp;r=1">bill</a> is an attempt to rid the influence of the Chinese Communist Party on American crypto companies, according to Tuberville.



“This bipartisan bill will help to wall off the burgeoning American digital commodity industry from CCP interference and preserve our data privacy and investor protection rights,” Tuberville wrote in a <a href="https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/tuberville-leads-bipartisan-bill-to-block-ccp-ownership-of-american-crypto-companies/">statement</a>.&nbsp;



Serving as an amendment to the Commodity Exchange Act, the bill would prohibit the CFTC from greenlighting any American-based crypto firm that is “owned in whole or in part by an entity organized or established in the [People’s Republic of China].”&nbsp;



Tuberville first made his intentions to introduce this bill known in a Wednesday Wall Street Journal opinion <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-communism-has-a-new-meaning-prometheum-custody-data-commodities-china-d655bb88?st=pvmccr81tw8iwyx&amp;reflink=article_copyURL_share">piece</a>, where he added that under the bill, the CFTC would have the power to block sales of crypto firms to Chinese-based companies.&nbsp;



In it, Tuberville hinted that his crypto bill could be slipped into the US Farm Bill, a massive piece of legislation that expires in September 2023.&nbsp;



Prometheum Ember Capital is what spurred Tuberville’s interest to keep China out of American crypto. Prometheum was <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230523005313/en/Prometheum-Ember-Capital-is-the-First-SEC-Qualified-Custodian-for-Digital-Assets-Securities">granted</a> a license by FINRA on May 23 to operate as a custodian for digital assets. Tuberville cited SEC <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1718271/000101905619000222/offeringcircular.htm">filings</a> showing that Prometheum is strategic partners with Shanghai Wanxiang Blockchain Inc., which is a spinoff of Wanxiang Group.



Tuberville’s smoking gun is that Lu Guanqiu, the founder of Wanxiang Group, was posthumously praised by the CCP in 2021 and named a &#8220;National Excellent Communist Party Member.&#8221; The CCP went on to say in a press <a href="http://www.wanxiang.com.cn/en/index.php/news/info/2132">release</a> that “Comrade Lu Guanqiu had always listened to the Party and followed the Party.”



So far, China hasn’t been a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-bills-make-hill-debut">huge focus in lawmakers’ crypto bills</a>, but Tuberville has shifted that dynamic. Gillibrand hasn’t been on the record about her joint effort with Tuberville on this bill, but has teamed up with Republicans before.&nbsp;



Gillibrand and Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., tried to pass the Responsible Financial Innovation Act last year, a bill focused on regulating digital assets. It hasn’t been reintroduced in the new congress yet.



Congress is also beginning to take notice of Web3 and blockchain technology, applications of crypto beyond money and currency.



The House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Innovation, Data and Commerce gathered Wednesday to discuss possible use cases for distributed ledger tech.&nbsp;



One professor talked about blockchain’s potential to advance contact tracing systems for Covid-19 and other diseases. Another expert testified on the topic of smart contracts, saying they could help improve regulatory compliance and supply chain management.



Rep. Rick Allen, R-Ga., said his colleagues are making a mistake talking only about the security versus commodity debate.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Tuberville bill would block Chinese ownership of US crypto companies

Katherine Ross

The US government is opposing a motion to allow bankrupt crypto exchange Bittrex US to return customer funds.&nbsp;



The government’s response comes after Bittrex US filed a motion “authorizing the debtors to honor withdrawals of cryptocurrency assets by customers.”



A hearing will be held on June 14.&nbsp;



Essentially, the US government is saying that the motion is “premature” and “it improperly attempts to subordinate creditors outside of a plan.”



The latter is due, in part, to the fact that Bittrex US owes the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/fincen">FinCEN</a>) $5 million.



“Fairness and equity demand that if the [Office of Foreign Assets Control] and FinCEN Debts cannot be paid in full by confirmation, the United States should have a chance to prove that the cryptocurrency assets belong to the Debtors and can be clawed back from the customers as prepetition preferences and pre-confirmation sub rosa distributions,” the <a href="https://casedocs.omniagentsolutions.com/cmsvol2/pub_47475/56183223-b612-48b6-b981-1e5f4660cb37_109.pdf">filing</a> states.



In the original <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/bittrex">Bittrex</a> US motion, it sought to categorize creditors in order of importance to repay.



The government denies that categorization is necessary, stating that Bittrex US “demonstrated why the issues of ownership of cryptocurrency assets need to be determined prior to the confirmation of the Plan. Finally, siloing creditors into subordinated classes outside of the confirmation hearing is improper. For these reasons, which are discussed more fully below, the Motion must be denied.”



Instead, the government wants these issues discussed once a plan is established and confirmed.&nbsp;



The lawyers continued, “similarly, whether the customers hold in rem interests or claims against the Debtors is not an issue that needs to be determined now. Customers can, presently, be allowed to withdraw the cryptocurrency assets in accounts now, but should be subject to potential avoidance actions at confirmation should all creditors not be paid in full.”



Bittrex US filed for <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bittrex-bankruptcy-sec">bankruptcy after it was charged by the SEC</a> with running an unregistered securities exchange.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Bittrex US request to return customer funds ‘premature,’ government argues

As one analyst lowered his price target for Coinbase by nearly 30%, another described recent sell-offs of the crypto exchange’s shares as “overdone.”



Mark Palmer, an analyst at Berenberg Capital Markets, decreased his price target for Coinbase stock from $55 to $39.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The stock’s price stood at roughly $54 on Thursday at 10:30 am ET, up about 1.5% on the day. The crypto exchange’s shares are down about 17% in the last five days, dropping below $47 on Tuesday after <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-sues-coinbase">the SEC sued Coinbase</a> for alleged securities violations.&nbsp;



“The reduction in our price target reflects our view that COIN, which we had expected to report weak [second quarter] trading volumes before the SEC filed a lawsuit against it on Tuesday, could see that weakness persist and intensify due to the overhang that the lawsuit has created,” Palmer said.



He added: “The upshot is that we view COIN shares as uninvestable in the near term.”



The company’s trading volumes during this year’s first quarter were $145 billion — flat quarter over quarter, but significantly down from $309 billion during the first quarter of 2022.



The SEC’s allegations against the crypto exchange include operating as an unregistered exchange, broker and clearing agency, as well as listing tokens that the commission claims are securities.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase">Coinbase</a> has denied that it lists securities. Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said in a Tuesday statement the company has “demonstrated commitment to compliance.”



“The SEC&#8217;s desired remedy would require the complete wind-down of COIN&#8217;s core businesses in the US,” Palmer wrote in a research note. “We believe the prospect of such a wind-down is likely to exacerbate the overhang on the company&#8217;s shares.”



Owen Lau, an executive director at Oppenheimer &amp; Co., said in a Tuesday note that while the lawsuit wasn’t unexpected — after the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sec-serves-coinbase-in-latest-alleged-crypto-securities-violation">SEC served Coinbase with a Wells notice</a> in March — the price reaction was &#8220;a bit surprising.&#8221;



While half, or more, of Coinbase&#8217;s revenue could be at risk, he added, the Coinbase stock sell-offs on Monday — the day <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-changpeng-zhao-face-sec-charges">the SEC sued rival exchange Binance</a> — and Tuesday appear to be “overdone.”&nbsp;



“In our view, Coinbase will fight this lawsuit in court, which will likely be a long battle,” Lau wrote. “The uncertainty of long-term revenue has increased, but near-term revenue impact could be immaterial.”&nbsp;



In a note on Tuesday, Morningstar Analyst Michael Miller wrote that he would not change his $80 fair value estimate for Coinbase in response to the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/sec">SEC</a> lawsuit news. However, he assigned a &#8220;very high uncertainty&#8221; rating to the company, pointing out that Coinbase is expected to remain in a state of &#8220;regulatory limbo for the foreseeable future.&#8221;



“While the SEC’s complaint was expected, this is still a material negative event for Coinbase, particularly given the breadth of the charges,” he said.



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

Coinbase shares ‘uninvestable in the near term,’ analyst says

The SEC continues to pursue a temporary restraining order which seeks to freeze the assets of BAM Trading and BAM Management — the entities operating Binance.US.



“At present BAM Trading states that it holds $2.2 billion in crypto assets (as well as hundreds of millions more in fiat currency) belonging to investors who have entrusted BAM Trading to custody those assets on the Binance.US platform,“ the SEC said in its latest <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Memorandum-68.pdf">filing</a>. 



The <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-us-sec-assets-freeze">original temporary restraining order</a>, which was filed on Tuesday, June 6 has not been granted by the court yet.&nbsp;



Outside of freezing the assets of Binance.US, the commission wants to ensure that “relevant documents” are not destroyed or tampered with and ensure that BAM Trading complies “with specified relief concerning the custody and control of customer assets, and refrain from transferring them other than in the ordinary course of business, provided such ordinary course transfers are not made to any entity or person affiliated with Binance or Zhao.”



The SEC goes on to say, “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-changpeng-zhao-face-sec-charges">Zhao has deliberately engaged in concerted efforts</a> to provide a crypto asset platform for U.S. investors while shunning the applicability of U.S. law to protect securities investors.”



The SEC believes that the temporary restraining order is necessary because the listed defendants “knew that their conduct with respect to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-execs-unlicensed-securities-exchange">U.S. investors was illegal </a>and risked U.S. government enforcement actions. Instead of ceasing such illegal activity, Zhao and Binance doubled down.”



Since the SEC asked for the order, it’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cz-ceo-bam-trading">filed transcripts of conversations with ex-Binance.US</a> CEOs and previous auditing — <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-mixed-company-client-funds">backing up the SEC’s claim</a> that Binance commingled company and customer funds.&nbsp;



Binance has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/binance-pushes-back-sec-lawsuit">denied that it commingled funds</a>.&nbsp;



The commission is also looking to serve Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and Binance via alternative means due to previous comments and the lack of a known Binance headquarters.



In the filing, the SEC quotes Zhao as “dismissing such ‘traditional mentalities’ [of a known headquarters] by saying ‘what kind of horse is a car? So you have to have an office. Wherever I sit is going to be the Binance office. Wherever, wherever I meet somebody is going to be the Binance office. ‘You have to have an entity. You have to have a headquarters. You have to have a bank account.’ All those things [don’t] have to exist for blockchain companies.”



<hr class="wp-block-separator">
Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your email every evening.&nbsp;<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/newsletter/?source=end" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter</a>&nbsp;now.
 
Want alpha sent directly to your inbox? Get degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance, can’t-miss tweets and more from&nbsp;<a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research&#8217;s Daily Debrief</a>.
 
Can&#8217;t wait? Get our news the fastest way possible.&nbsp;<a href="https://t.me/blockworks_news" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us on Telegram</a> and follow us on <a href="https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMPyTxgswn6_dAw" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google News</a>.
<hr class="wp-block-separator">

SEC says Binance, CZ ‘doubled down’ on illegal activity

0xpibblez

Solana Q2 Update

Digital Asset Summit (DAS) is returning March 2024.



This year&#8217;s event will be held in our nation’s capital, where industry leaders, policymakers, and institutional experts will come together to discuss the latest developments and challenges in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency.



What you can expect:



<ul>
<li>Insights on the impact of regulatory implications and the need for realistic policy</li>



<li>Access to institutional dinners and exclusive networking events,</li>



<li>Unparalleled insights from industry leaders</li>
</ul>



And more! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to be in the room when the future of crypto is decided.



Join us and help shape the future of our industry.

Get Involved

GET NOTIFIED 

Provide your email to be the first to know when tickets go on sale

INTERESTED IN ATTENDING? 

LEARN MORE

Provide your email below to learn more about sponsorship opportunities

INTERESTED IN SPONSORING? 

March 18-20 | Washington, D.C.

das2024_thumb_d

DAS2024_Thumb_d

Digital Asset Summit 2024 | Washington, D.C.

2022 was a meme. Skeptics danced, believers believed. Eventually, newcomers turned away, drained of liquidity and hope. Now, the tide is shifting and it&#8217;s time to rebuild.



Permissionless II is the brainchild of Blockworks and Bankless. It’s not just a conference, but a call to action for those who want to build a better future together.



Permissionless II embodies the ethos, electricity and excitement for crypto and Web3, all while acknowledging that somewhere in 2022, we lost the script.&nbsp;



If you’re still here, you can see the opportunity before us. Together, we can get it right this time.&nbsp;



Permissionless II: Coming to theaters in Austin, TX this September.

Tickets

Buy Tickets

Prices are subject to increase. Register today and save!

General Admission Pass

keys_ticketicon

Keys_TicketIcon

30% off available to Bankless Premium Subscribers aka Bankless Citizens. Discount code is required.

BANKLESS CITIZENS

earth_ticketicon

Earth_TicketIcon

Apply Now 

This application is open for students currently enrolled in college or university. Accepted students will receive approval to register for a $99 student ticket.  Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting mid-June. 

Student Ticket 

notebook_ticketicon

Notebook_TicketIcon

Get Notified 

Info on our Hackathon and other Permissionless II perks will be coming soon - sign up to get notified and to join our Discord.

DEVELOPERS

tools_ticketicon

Tools_TicketIcon

Prices are subject to increase. Register today and save!

Culture Content Partner

Presenting Sponsor 

Diamond Sponsors 

Emerald Sponsors 

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors 

Speakers

Erik Voorhees

Anatoly Yakovenko&nbsp;is the co-founder of Solana and CEO of Solana Labs. He has almost two decades of experience building high-performance operating systems, including leading OS development at Qualcomm and holding engineering roles at Dropbox and Mesosphere. Yakovenko has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Anatoly Yakovenko

Mary-Catherine (MC) Lader is the Chief Operating Officer of Uniswap Labs, a developer of foundational web3-based products and applications. In this role, she oversees the company’s growth efforts, strategic initiatives, and operations. Previously, she held various leadership roles at BlackRock, including as the Global Head of the firm’s digital sustainability business, Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s digital wealth business, and leader of the firm’s strategic fintech investments and blockchain activities. MC began her career as an investor in Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group. She received her J.D. and M.B.A. degrees at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, respectively, and her B.A. at Brown University.

Mary-Catherine Lader

Congressman Tom Emmer was sworn in for his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 6, 2015. He is currently serving his fifth term.



After serving as the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee for the 116th Congress and again for the 117th Congress, Tom was elected by his fellow Republican colleagues to be the House Majority Whip. Currently, he sits on the House Financial Services Committee.&nbsp;



Born in 1961, Tom grew up in Minnesota and attended St. Thomas Academy. He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and his JD from William Mitchell College of Law.



After practicing law for several years, he opened his own law firm. The next 20 years were spent balancing family, business, coaching hockey, and serving on the city councils in Independence and Delano.



Before coming to Congress, he served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2004-2008.



He and his wife Jacquie have been married for over 30 years and have seven children. They reside in Delano.

Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN)

Raj Gokal&nbsp;is the co-founder of Solana and COO of Solana Labs. He previously was director of product at Omada Health; an entrepreneur-in-residence at Rock Health; the co-founder of Sano, a minimally invasive glucose sensor company; and an investor at General Catalyst Partners. Raj has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.&nbsp;

Raj Gokal

Hester M. Peirce was appointed by President Donald J. Trump to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was sworn in on January 11, 2018.



Prior to joining the SEC, Commissioner Peirce conducted research on the regulation of financial markets at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She was a Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where she advised Ranking Member Richard Shelby and other members of the Committee on securities issues. Commissioner Peirce served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins. She also worked as a Staff Attorney in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Commissioner Peirce was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler &amp; Pickering (now WilmerHale) and clerked for Judge Roger Andewelt on the Court of Federal Claims.



Commissioner Peirce earned her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and her JD from Yale Law School.

Hon. Hester M. Peirce

Jesse Pollak is the creator of Base and is the Head of Protocols at Coinbase, where he works on Ethereum L1, L2, and new onchain efforts. Prior to Base, Jesse led all of Coinbase’s consumer-facing engineering from early 2017 to middle 2021, including building Coinbase, Coinbase Pro, and Coinbase Wallet. Jesse joined Coinbase through the acquisition of Clef, a company he founded and ran for five years that built passwordless identity solutions for crypto companies.

Jesse Pollak

Zaki Manian is a Co-Founder of Sommelier, the most powerful coprocessor yet for DeFi traders and Liquidity Providers. He’s also a Co-Founder of iqlusion, which provides infrastructure like a data center and a Cosmos validator for next-gen crypto technologies. Previously, Zaki helped build the Cosmos ecosystem, including launching the first public Cosmos testnet, and served as a director of Tendermint. Zaki has been a leading developer in the blockchain space since 2014, when he taught himself cryptography and began contributing to projects including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Zcash, and Tendermint. Having studied history of science at the University of Pennsylvania, Zaki’s skill sets in software engineering, programming, and computer science are largely self-taught.

Zaki Manian

At Alluvial, Chief Growth Officer Mara Schmiedt focuses on advancing industry participation and adoption of Liquid Collective, seeking out world-class partnership opportunities, and overseeing Business Development, Sales, and other strategic functions. Mara recently joined Alluvial as Chief Growth Officer from Coinbase, where she served as the Head of Sales for Coinbase Cloud, the leading developer platform for blockchain-based infrastructure products and APIs. She expanded Cloud's staking business, supporting large-scale organizations, enterprises, and institutional investors. Prior to joining Coinbase, she managed Business Development at Bison Trails, a leading provider of blockchain-based infrastructure acquired by Coinbase in February 2021. Mara also served as Strategy Manager at ConsenSys, where she supported the strategic development of Codefi, the blockchain application suite for Web3 Commerce and Finance.



Mara is passionate about open-source technology and has published multiple research reports and papers on liquid staking, such as <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/13-s15SvCIUBukhSZiNkpd0sTff3izQ5G/view">The Internet Bond</a> and <a href="https://consensys.net/insights/eth-2-staking-ecosystem-report/">Ethereum 2.0 Staking Ecosystem Report</a>.&nbsp;



Additionally, she has led various industry initiatives, including leading the working group with the Ethereum Foundation that developed the Ethereum Launchpad and the first distributed validator technology (DVT) PoCs. Mara's deep experience in bringing technology and blockchain-based products and services to market — as well as her track record of building world-class business and sales organizations — bolsters Alluvial's support of Liquid Collective.

Mara Schmiedt

Stani Kulechov

Hasu

Christine is a Partner and Head of Digital Asset Strategy at Apollo Global Management, Inc. In this newly created position, Christine leads digital asset strategy across the firm, exploring more ways to apply blockchain technologies to Apollo’s business. She also plays a key role in Apollo’s strategy to invest in some of the most innovative digital asset companies and founders, with a specific focus on those transforming the financial services sector where Apollo can serve as a validator and enabler of new technologies. Previously, she was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan and led its Blockchain/Crypto/Metaverse program through initiatives in digital assets, tokenized payments, internet of-things, decentralized identity, NFTs, and virtual worlds. She is a graduate of Brown University. Christine was named in Fortune’s The Ledger 40 Under 40 list of “the most impressive, young superstars transforming business at the leading edge of finance and technology.”

Christine Moy

Media and entertainment executive with 14 years experience scaling and monetizing premium IP. Most recently the President of Billboard and was responsible for transforming the brand from a stale music trade magazine to a global multi-platform experience for fans. Under Julian’s leadership Billboard has developed new products and businesses with partners like Twitter, Meta and Google, ultimately propelling the company to record revenue and profitability. He has previously held leadership positions with MRC Studios, Dick Clark Productions, and NBC Universal.

Julian Holguin

Trevor McFedries is the founder of Friends With Benefits, Web3’s premier Social DAO, as well as the Founder and former CEO of Dapper Collectives, an organization dedicated to decentralizing media and social via DAOs. McFedries is the creator of virtual pop star Lil Miquela and founded technology startup Brud, which was acquired by Dapper Labs. Since its inception in 2017, Brud has raised funds from Sequoia Capital, Spark Capital, and SV Angel amongst others. Friends With Benefits pioneered social tokens and counts Andreesen Horowitz, Spark, Pace Capital, and Kindred Ventures as investors.



Before creating Brud and FWB, Trevor was known professionally as Yung Skeeter and worked as a DJ, producer, and director for acts including Ke$ha, Azealia Banks, and Katy Perry. McFedries has performed at music festivals Lollapalooza and Coachella, served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Bad Robot, and was an early employee at Spotify. He currently serves on the board at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and Rhizome (New Museum, NYC).

Trevor McFedries

Santiago Roel Santos (CryptoPunk #9159) is an investor focusing at the intersection of DeFi and the Web3 metaverse (NFTs/gaming). Most recently was a Partner at ParaFi Capital, one of the largest crypto funds specializing in DeFi. Prior to that, he was at Sageview Capital investing in Internet and software and, before that, at JP Morgan investment banking. Santiago began investing in crypto in 2012.

Santiago Roel Santos

Michael Anderson is the co-founder of Framework Ventures, one of earliest and largest VC firms to enter the “DeFi” or Decentralized Finance industry. With over $1B in AUM, the firm has since expanded into additional maturing verticals like blockchain gaming and social crypto. Prior to Framework, Michael and his co-founder Vance Spencer launched Hashletes, a digital collectible startup with official licensing from the NFL. Before entering crypto, Michael served as a product manager at both Snapchat and Dropbox, where he helped build out their monetization platforms.

Michael Anderson

Soona Amhaz is founder and GP of Volt Capital, a venture firm that focuses on pre-seed and seed companies in the digital assets space. Soona is also an advisor to On Deck, Forbes 30 under 30 in VC, and an alum from the University of Michigan School of Engineering.

Soona Amhaz

Colleen Sullivan is Co-Head of Ventures at Brevan Howard Digital. Prior to joining Brevan Howard Digital, Colleen co-founded and served as CEO of CMT Digital, where she was also a partner with the broader CMT Group and commenced activities in the crypto industry in 2013. Prior to starting CMT Digital, Colleen co-founded Sullivan Wolf Kailus, a boutique law firm that specializes in hedge fund, private equity, venture capital, digital assets, and other alternative investment products. Colleen also previously practiced law in the Investment Funds and Derivatives group at Sidley Austin LLP and, at age 25, co-founded a company called iOptions Group LLC, which developed hedging and monetization strategies for holders of employee stock options. Ms. Sullivan currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.

Colleen Sullivan

Tarun is an alumni of D. E. Shaw Research (DESRES), Vatic Labs, an HFT firm, and Cornell. He fell into the blockchain world in 2011, when he was working on ASICs at DESRES and observed Bitcoin ASIC mining rigs substantially delay DESRES’s ASIC production. He has spent the last seven years working on simulation-based R&amp;D at the intersection of high-performance computing and AI and is applying this knowledge to the blockchain ecosystem.

Tarun Chitra

Kevin Owocki is the founder of Gitcoin.co — Where builders &amp; funders come together to build the open web.  Gitcoin has delivered <a href="http://gitcoin.co/results">$50mm worth of value</a> to OSS devs in the last several years. He has a BS in Computer Science, 15 years of engineering leadership experience in Open Source Software and Web Startups. Kevin is a community organizer in the Boulder Colorado Tech Scene.

Kevin Owocki

Meltem Demirors is Chief Strategy Officer of CoinShares, a publicly listed investment firm that manages over five billion in digital assets on behalf of a global investor base, and is a trusted partner to investors and entrepreneurs navigating the digital asset ecosystem.



 An established veteran of digital asset investing, Meltem draws on her substantial experience and widespread influence to accelerate growth and acceptance of the asset class. Prior to joining CoinShares, Meltem helped build and grow Digital Currency Group, raising capital from the world’s largest corporations and managing a portfolio of 120 companies and 4 subsidiaries. Before she was bitten with the bitcoin bug, Meltem worked in the Oil &amp; Gas industry in trading, corporate treasury, and M&amp;A roles. 



Meltem has been recognized for her personal contributions to the industry and serves as an outspoken advocate. She is a founding member of the World Economic Forum Blockchain Council. Meltem teaches at her alma mater MIT as well as Oxford, and is passionate about privacy and civil rights.

Meltem Demirors

Vance is the co-founders of Framework Ventures, a thesis-driven venture capital firm whose team of technologists, researchers, and investors partner with founders and teams to build token-based networks and develop the requisite cryptoeconomics, governance, and community to scale.

Vance Spencer

I do research at Scroll. Specifically, I focus on bridge design and protocol decentralization. My background is in computer science and I have been in crypto full-time since 2018.

Toghrul Maharramov

Jim Bianco is President and Macro Strategist at Bianco Research, L.L.C. Since 1990 Jim’s commentaries have offered a unique perspective on the global economy and financial markets. Unencumbered by the biases of traditional Wall Street research, Jim has built a decades long reputation for objective, incisive commentary that challenges consensus thinking. In nearly 20 years at Bianco Research, Jim’s wide ranging commentaries have addressed monetary policy, the intersection of markets and politics, the role of government in the economy, fund flows and positioning in financial markets.



Jim appears regularly on CNBC, Bloomberg and Fox Business, and is often featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Grants Interest Rate Observer, and MarketWatch. Prior to joining Arbor and Bianco Research, Jim was a Market Strategist in equity and fixed income research at UBS Securities and Equity Technical Analyst at First Boston and Shearson Lehman Brothers. He is a Chartered Market Technician (CMT) and a member of the Market Technicians Association (MTA). Jim has a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Marquette University (1984) and an MBA from Fordham University (1989).

Jim Bianco

Mr. Forman is the Founder and Managing Partner of ParaFi Capital. ParaFi is a leading investment firm focused on the blockchain and digital asset markets, and an early pioneer in decentralized finance (“DeFi”). ParaFi is one of the largest investors, users, and governance participants within the DeFi ecosystem, spanning the full network lifecycle from pre-launch to full decentralization. Mr. Forman serves as the Chief Investment Officer across the firm’s strategies, which include investing in public and private cryptoassets, systematic credit and market neutral DeFi strategies, and blockchain-focused venture capital and growth equity investing.



Prior to founding ParaFi in 2018, Mr. Forman spent 10 years at leading alternative investment managers, including KKR and TPG. While at KKR, Mr. Forman served as a Director in the Credit business, investing across a wide array of industry sectors and strategies, including distressed special situations, private credit, and opportunistic and liquid credit. Prior to KKR, Mr. Forman served as a Vice President with TPG’s former credit business, Sixth Street Partners, as one of the first investment professionals to join the platform, helping scale its private credit vehicle, TPG Specialty Lending, which listed publicly in 2014. Earlier in his career, Mr. Forman worked in private equity at Littlejohn &amp; Company and investment banking at Rothschild &amp; Co. Mr. Forman graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ben Forman

Vanessa Grellet is a Managing Partner at Aglaé Ventures. Vanessa is a Global Executive with over 20 years of expertise in the Financial Services and Tech industry. At Aglaé Ventures she manages the Web 3 focused fund. Prior to joining Aglae she has Head of Portfolio growth at CoinFund and Executive director at ConsenSys where she focused on driving adoption for Ethereum based products,  Strategic initiatives, Alliances and Channels.  She was involved in setting up the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), the Accounting Blockchain Coalition (ABC) and the Blockchain for Social Impact Coalition (BSIC). Prior to ConsenSys she was a Strategy Executive at NYSE focused on investments and M&amp;A and a key member of PwC’s global wealth management team. Vanessa is a Founding Board member of AABC focused on Blockchain and Art, a member of the Advisory Council of ConsenSys, a Milken Institute Associate, a contributor to the  World Economic Forum Digital Future Council and part of <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/top-people-in-crypto-and-blockchain-2022/vanessa-grellet">Cointelegraph’s list of 100 most influential people for 2022</a>. Mrs. Grellet graduated Cum Laude from Law School (Paris II Assas) and Business School (HEC).

Vanessa Grellet

Mihailo Bjelic received his MSc in CS from the University of Belgrade. Prior to entering Web3/blockchain industry, he co-founded an AI/ML-powered platform for automotive industry and several other smaller startups and side projects. In 2017, he decided to join the Web3 movement full-time, primarily as a researcher interested in Ethereum scaling and multi-chain paradigms. In parallel with his work, he became one of the prominent Ethereum proponents and community members. In 2019, he started working on Polygon and conceptualized its architecture, vision and brand. In 2020, he joined hands with the Matic Network team and they have been working together on Polygon since then.

Mihailo Bjelic

Ben is a co-founder of Optimism, a leading Ethereum L2 ecosystem. He served as Chief Scientist before becoming a director at the Optimism Foundation. In his free time, he makes Ethereum-based parody songs under his stage name, Weird ETH Yankovic.

Ben Jones

Kristin is the CEO of the Blockchain Association, the Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing more than 100 of the industry’s leading companies. She also serves as a board member of the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web. Kristin serves as a liaison between policymakers and the cryptocurrency industry to assist in the creation of legislation and regulation that promotes the growth of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the U.S. She is also a leading, public voice advocating for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry through top-tier media interviews, op-eds and letters to the editor, and global speaking engagements. Kristin is a renowned voice for the industry, having been featured on Fortune’s 2020 40 under 40 list, CoinDesk’s 2021 50 people who defined the year in crypto, and CoinTelegraph’s 2022 top 100 Influencers in Crypto and Blockchain. Prior to leading the Blockchain Association, Kristin helped blockchain and technology companies achieve their public policy objectives in Washington. She served as a Senate and congressional aide on Capitol Hill for nearly ten years, much of which was spent focusing on technology policy.

Kristin Smith

Avichal is a successful entrepreneur with executive experience at Google and Facebook, which acquired his previous company. As an angel investor, Avichal has invested in 15 unicorns and 5 decacorns including Airtable, Boom Supersonic, Color Genomics, Cruise, Deel, Figma, Newfront Insurance, Notion, Nova Credit, Pulley, and others. He co-founded Electric Capital in 2018 and has grown it to one of the largest crypto venture firms globally. Electric is an investor in many of the leading web3 protocols and companies such as Bitwise, Bitnomial, dYdX, Frax, Kraken, Magic Eden, NEAR, and Solana.

Avichal Garg

Matt Hougan is one of the world’s leading experts on crypto, ETFs, and financial technology. He is Chief Investment Officer for Bitwise Asset Management, a pioneer in cryptoasset index funds with more than $1.2 billion in assets under management. He was previously CEO of ETF.com, where he helped build the world’s first ETF data and analytics system, the leading ETF media site, and the world’s largest ETF conference, Inside ETFs. Hougan is co-author of both “A Comprehensive Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds” and “Cryptoassets: The Guide to Bitcoin, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies for Professional Investors” from the CFA Institute’s Research Foundation. He is a crypto columnist for Forbes, and a three-time member of the Barron’s ETF Roundtable.

Matt Hougan

Li Jin

Ethan is the co-founder of the Cosmos network and serves as the CEO of Informal Systems. Informal Systems is a member-driven worker’s cooperative building software that enables trustworthy relationships between protocols and people to flourish. Ethan also serves as the President of the Interchain Foundation which funds and coordinates development of public goods in the Cosmos ecosystem. Ethan sees local money systems as the basis for self-sufficient local economies to prosper. With a background in cell biology, neuroscience, mathematics, machine learning, and distributed systems, his goal is to build systems that encourage humans to work cooperatively through methods of self-organization. He is currently focused on blockchain technology as a means to bring greater political and economic sovereignty to local communities around the globe. Prior to Informal Systems, Ethan co-founded the Tendermint and Cosmos projects, and served as CTO of Tendermint Inc. Today, dozens of projects are adopting technology conceived in the original Cosmos whitepaper, including the Inter-Blockchain (IBC) Communication protocol – an industry-standard for permissionless communication between sovereign blockchains. Today, the Cosmos ecosystem continues to pioneer technological paradigms for building interoperable application-specific blockchains.

Ethan Buchman

As founding partner and COO, Cynthia oversees the business operation and leads global business development and sales. Previously Investment Director at Bitmain Technologies, Cynthia focused on investments in blockchain technology and decentralized applications.



Prior to venturing into crypto, Cynthia was Vice President at Hong Kong Exchange (HKEX), responsible for derivatives product development and institutional sales. She started her career in HK as a commodities trader.

Cynthia Wu

Tyrone leads J.P. Morgan’s Blockchain team and is responsible for creating innovative Web3-focused products &amp; solutions for J.P. Morgan’s businesses and clients, and for engaging with the industry at large in order to provide a holistic blockchain strategy for the firm. Tyrone is also the Head of Onyx Digital Assets, a multi-asset tokenization platform that enables the exchange of value for various types of digital assets. Tyrone was previously a Senior Blockchain Product Manager in J.P. Morgan’s Blockchain Center of Excellence and was also the Head of Product for Quorum, an open-sourced Ethereum-based blockchain platform built for Enterprise use. Prior to moving into the blockchain industry in 2015, Tyrone was a software engineer within J.P. Morgan's Credit Markets business, and before that he spent several years in Product transformation, managing and delivering large strategic programs across various businesses within J.P. Morgan, across Front, Middle and Back Office risk and trading systems. Tyrone sits on the Board of Directors of The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance and The Hyperledger Foundation.

Tyrone Lobban

Rich is a Co-Founder and President of GSR and leads the group across strategic initiatives and growth. He began his career at Goldman Sachs where he spent 11 years between New York and London in commodities trading as a Managing Director and Global Head of Crude Oil and Derivatives Trading. Prior to joining GSR, he spent a few years on the buy-side, running energy trading teams at two New York-based hedge funds. Rich earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Columbia University.

Rich Rosenblum

Jelena is CEO and Co-Founder at Noble, a purpose built native asset issuance chain for the IBC ecosystem. She is also Co-Founder of the Canadian Web3 Council, a national advocacy organization for the cryptocurrency and blockchain ecosystem

Jelena Djuric

Kain Warwick is an Australian cryptocurrency entrepreneur most-known as the founder of Synthetix protocol. Synthetix is a financial primitive that enables the creation of synthetic assets, offering unique derivatives and exposure to real-world assets on the blockchain.&nbsp;In 2020, Kain popularised the concept of yield farming that sparked the 2020 DeFi boom, earning the moniker: ‘the father of modern agriculture.

Kain Warwick

Eugene is a cofounder at Ellipsis Labs, which designs and builds sustainable DeFi protocols from first principles. Ellipsis Labs is a core contributor to Phoenix, a limit order book DEX on Solana. Prior to co-founding Ellipsis Labs, Eugene worked on DeFi protocol design, MEV, and HFT. He is also a contributor at Umbra Research.

Eugene Chen

Brian Quintenz is the Head of Policy for a16z crypto, where he helps to translate between the crypto and policy communities.



Brian has long stood out as an innovative thinker in crypto and DeFi and was one of the earliest leaders in Washington to recognize the value of crypto. Brian initially joined a16z crypto as a senior advisor. In December 2022, he moved to the full-time role leading its policy team.



Prior to joining a16z, he was nominated by both Presidents Obama and Trump to serve as commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and, in August 2017, was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He also led the agency’s Technology Advisory Committee, which hosted the most comprehensive set of public crypto-related policy discussions and briefings of any federal financial regulator. During his service, the CFTC oversaw the listing of the first U.S. regulated Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts on derivatives exchanges, and the rapid expansion of DeFi. All the while, he was a champion for tailored, risk-calibrated regulation.



Prior to his appointment to the CFTC, Brian was the Founder and Managing Principal of Saeculum Capital Management, LLC where he developed and implemented Saeculum’s long term, momentum-based investment process for both traditional discretionary accounts as well as a managed-futures, commodity pool hedge fund.



Brian began his career on Capitol Hill, where he worked for 6.5 years and served as senior policy aid to a Member of Congress. He received his B.S. from Duke University and M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

Brian Quintenz

Robby Yung, Animoca Brands’s CEO of Investments, partner at Animoca Capital, a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification with a portfolio of products and games including the REVV and SAND tokens, as well as investment and partnerships with companies like Axie Infinity,  OpenSea, Dapper Labs, and Alien Worlds and subsidiaries like The Sandbox, Gamee, Quidd, and Lympo. Robby has been in gaming since 2012 and blockchain gaming since 2018. He served as the first CEO of Animoca Brands after taking the group public in 2015. Prior to that, he cofounded magazine publisher, One Media Group, which he listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. He also founded Chinese television and outdoor media concern, Redgate Media Group, which was acquired by  Inno-Tech Holdings . He began his career in technology, building wireless telecom networks in China and Indonesia with Metromedia.

Robby Yung

Papua New Guinean-Australian Paff Evara (they/them) is a marketing director turned creator, speaker and web3 founder. A natural storyteller, Paff went viral during lockdown, building an audience of over 110K people as they empowered people to take up more space as their authentic selves.



In 2022, Paff and their wife Han founded Take Up Space, a web3 community turned media DAO and metalabel for change-makers. Through intersectional media, community and events, their mission is to create culture in motion both on and off-chain.&nbsp;

Paff Evara

Motty Lavie serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Braavos, a cutting-edge smart contract wallet designed to offer a seamless UX and prime security through true multi-factor authentication.. As a seasoned entrepreneur, Motty has established companies within the traditional web2 sector and successfully scaling them into multimillion-dollar global enterprises. Motty holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematics from the prestigious Technion Israel Institute of Technology

Motty Lavie

Lucas Vogelsang is the CEO and Co-founder at Centrifuge, focusing on bringing Real World Assets to DeFi since the early days of Ethereum. Before diving into crypto in 2017 Lucas has been working at the intersection of tech and business since dropping out of University. He co-founded the Swiss e-commerce startup DeinDeal as its CTO. After its successful sale, he helped the German startup KaufDA with their international expansion. Lucas spent 6 years in Silicon Valley where he was working at early stage startups including Taulia where he met his Centrifuge co-founders.

Lucas Vogelsang

Matt&nbsp;McElroy&nbsp;is Vice President, Digital Business Operations &amp; Innovation for Warner Brothers Discovery Sports. In this role, Matt oversees business operations for NBA Digital, live PPV events on Bleacher Report as well as WBD Sport’s growing efforts to put live sports on Max.&nbsp; He also leads a number of emerging Web 3 initiatives for the company including Blocklete Golf and B/R Watch to Earn, among others.



Previously&nbsp;Matt&nbsp;helped launch B/R Live, Turner Sports' premium live sports streaming subscription product, which transitioned into Bleacher Report in 2021.  During his 17-year tenure at Turner/WarnerMedia/Warner Brothers Discovery,&nbsp;McElroy&nbsp;has worked in various roles across the media portfolio including time at Cartoon Network, <a href="http://pgatour.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">PGATOUR.COM</a>, <a href="http://ncaa.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NCAA.COM</a>, as well as Corporate Strategy and Emerging Media teams.



McElroy&nbsp;earned his MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University and his bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida State University.

Matt McElroy

Tara is a growth-oriented leader who believes blockchain technology will fundamentally alter the way the world works and what is possible. As Cofounder &amp; CEO of Co:Create, she helps innovative brands unlock the power of their community with gamified, self-owned loyalty and reward programs. She began her crypto journey as Chief Revenue Officer of Alto, a leading cryptoIRA and digital asset IRA custodian. There she established partnerships with institutional crypto asset managers and grew company revenue by 25X in 18 months. She previously was Chief Commercial Officer at a consumer lending FinTech firm, where she led an advocacy campaign to change the tax treatment of employer-sponsored student loan repayment programs that was passed into law as part of the CARES Act. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of South Carolina.

Tara Fung

Alex is a member of the Core Team at Velodrome Finance, the leading DEX on Optimism. Prior to getting involved in DeFi, Alex worked in politics, technology, and consulting.

Alex Cutler

Mike Silagadze is the founder and CEO of&nbsp;<a href="http://ether.fi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ether.fi</a>, the first ETH staking protocol that allows stakers to maintain full control of their keys throughout the entire staking process, making it the only truly decentralized liquid staking platform. Prior to founding&nbsp;<a href="http://ether.fi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ether.fi</a>, Mike was CEO and co-founder of Top Hat, which he grew into the market leader in student engagement software, with 500 employees and $60 million in annual revenue.



He is also an active speaker and lecturer in the higher education, technology, and startup communities, having lectured at the Rotman Commerce Entrepreneurship Organization, the ASU GSV Summit, MaRS, Tech Fest Toronto, SAAS North and T­E­Dx­Laurier­University, among many others.

Mike Silagadze

Dan Elitzer is a co-founder of Nascent (nascent.xyz), a team of builders who have backed over 100 early-stage founders creating products and primitives for an open financial world.



Previously, Dan co-founded IDEO CoLab Ventures, a crypto-focused venture firm associated with the renowned design agency, IDEO. During that time, he also helped launch YAM Finance.



Dan began his career in social enterprise and microfinance, working with both domestic social impact organizations and international development agencies. Dan earned an MBA from MIT Sloan, where he co-founded the MIT Bitcoin Club and MIT FinTech Club, and a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Pomona College.

Dan Elitzer

Blake Finucane is the Chief Strategy Officer for Emergent Entertainment, where she runs an NFT Fund and is building a Web 3 MMORPG called Resurgence. She is also the host of the podcast Context: Views on Crypto and Culture, presented by Boys Club. She wrote one of the first academic thesis on crypto art which was published in 2018, as part of her Master’s degree in Art History. She is based in Vancouver, BC.&nbsp;

Blake Finucane

Kevin is currently a Vice President at BlockTower Capital where he leads investments and initiatives involving tokenized assets, DeFi, and credit. Prior to joining BlockTower, Kevin completed his first year at MIT Sloan, where he served as an officer of the Sloan Blockchain Club and developed a web3 product as a founder. His career in the crypto industry started in 2017 at Deloitte Consulting, where he managed teams applying blockchain solutions to institutional clients within financial services.

Kevin Chan

Nikil Viswanathan is the co-founder and CEO of <a href="http://alchemy.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alchemy</a>, the world's leading blockchain developer platform. Alchemy is hailed as the fastest-growing company in history after going from public launch to being worth <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/08/alchemy-which-aims-to-be-the-de-facto-platform-for-developers-to-build-on-web3-raises-another-200m-and-is-now-valued-at-10-2b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$10 billion dollars</a> in 16 months. With a team of only 37 at the $10 billion mark, the company also had one of the highest team-to-impact ratios in history. Alchemy powers over $100 billion in transactions globally including the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-21/nfts-mushroom-into-billion-dollar-market-with-help-from-alchemy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">majority of the NFT industry</a>, top web3 companies, and traditional enterprises. Alchemy is backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Silver Lake, Lightspeed, Stanford University, the Google chairman, founders &amp; execs of Charles Schwab, Linkedin, NYSE, and many more.

Nikil Viswanathan

John Zettler is the Staking Product Lead at Coinbase. He was a cofounder of $cbETH and has led a number of products at Coinbase through the years including Commerce (crypto payments) and Asset Hub. Before Coinbase, John founded one of the first art NFT marketplaces (RARE Art) and the first combined crypto/stock trading platform for US investors. In a past life, John worked on Wall Street.

John Zettler

Steph Alinsug is the founder &amp; CEO of&nbsp;<a href="https://onvessel.world/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Vessel</a>, the home of onchain luxury media, and the producer of Broadcast, a summit series and digital magazine on the future of onchain media. Prev. Seed Club. Highly online, @cryptohun3y on Twitter and many other places on the internet.&nbsp;

Steph Alinsug

Simon Jones is CEO &amp; Co-Founder of Voltz Labs, the creators of Voltz Protocol—DeFi's first synthetic interest rate swap AMM and non-custodial clearing house. Prior to creating these core DeFi rails, which recently surpassed $20B of notional trade volume, Simon was the founder/early team of two Fintech startups, one of which was majority acquired by an international bank. The guiding principle at all these businesses has been the opportunity to create a more transparent, equitable, and anti-fragile financial system. Simon completed his Executive Education at Stanford.

Simon Jones

Brandon Millman is the CEO and co-founder of Phantom, a self-custodial crypto wallet native to Solana and now available on Polygon and Ethereum. Phantom aims to become the cross-platform entry point for mainstream consumers to interact with web3 app, and has set a new UX and UI standard for web3 users. In a short time, Phantom has become the fastest-growing crypto wallet in history.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Prior to building Phantom, Millman oversaw the growth of the engineering teams at 0x, a decentralized exchange for trading ERC 20 tokens. His teams were responsible for the development of multiple cutting-edge decentralized technologies including 0x's RFQ system which provided tools for professional market makers to provide liquidity, and 0x API, the most performant multi-chain DEX aggregation engine. During Millmans time at 0x, its products powered billions of dollars of trade volume per week. Before crypto, Millman was a senior engineer at Twitter and worked on many product teams spanning recommendations, infrastructure and Twitter for iOS to build out the social medias’ explore, moments, home and search frameworks.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Brandon Millman

Ken Smith is a Rocket Scientist and member of the Grants and Management Committee at Rocket Pool, a permissionless decentralized Liquid Staking Protocol. Since its mainnet launch in 2021, Ken has served as a Node Operator with Rocket Pool. He is also the founder of NextBlock Solutions LLC, an Ethereum blockchain consulting company that offers training and educational services to web3 organizations. Currently, Ken serves as an advisor to NodeSet, a staking-as-a-service (SaaS) company that is building on top of the Rocket Pool protocol. In 2014, Ken began his journey in crypto mining altcoins using homebuilt rigs.

Ken Smith

Ben Fisch is co-founder and CEO of Espresso Systems, the developers of the Espresso Sequencer network which brings decentralization and improved interoperability to L2s. Espresso Systems are also the developers of the CAPE data privacy application. Ben is additionally an assistant professor of computer science at Yale. Previously, Ben earned his PhD at Stanford working in the applied cryptography research group. His research on Verifiable Delay Functions (VDFs) sparked a multimillion dollar industry initiative (see VDF Alliance) and plays an important role in several blockchains including Ethereum 2.0, Chia, and Filecoin. His research on Proofs of Replication is the basis of Filecoin's incentive layer and consensus protocol. Filecoin is a live distributed storage system that already has reached a storage capacity exceeding 1.5 exabytes.

Ben Fisch

https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/PMLSII_AOL_20230531b_gif.gif