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Welcome to The Node! Today is thesecond day of Consensus, in Austin, Texas.
Over the next four days, The Node will publish twice a day: once in the morning providing the usual news digest and once in the afternoon. These second newsblasts will feature on-the-ground reporting and live updates from Consensus, so you can stay up-to-date whether you’re here or not. – Daniel Kuhn |
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SEC INDICTS: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into whether Terraform Labs – the Singapore-registered firm that created the terraUSD (UST) stablecoin and luna (LUNA) token – violated U.S. laws regarding how it marketed the crypto coins. Terra and luna functionally lost all of their value last month, and the company launch a new blockchain. - TFL CEO Do Kwon lost an appeal to the SEC regarding his company's synthetic stock exchange Mirror Protocol, which questioned the watchdog's jurisdiction. He will now have to overturn records and comply with a separate investigation.
- Luna (or the new blockchain’s native asset) and lunc (luna classic) gained about 30% after the news, but are subsequently down.
HOP IN! Layer 2 bridge Hop protocol has distributed 20.5 million governance tokens (HOP) to its users in the form of an airdrop, which will form the basis of a DAO. Some 54.8 million tokens are available to be claimed by ~100k eligible recipients, meaning that a lot of you have probably never heard of Hop. - Be not afraid, Hop protocol currently supports Gnosis and Polygon as mainnet rollups, but will soon offer support for Optimism and Arbitirum.
BUYING INFRA: Payments company Circle agreed to buy Cybavo, a digital asset infrastructure platform that focuses on custody and blockchain application development, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will allow Circle offer "infrastructure as a service" for companies looking to build on Web 3 but worried about security. - Separately, Floor raised $8 million in a Series A funding round to build out its “token-gated experience” where community members have to purchase an NFT to gain access to the app. The funding will help Floor launch the public app, which removes the NFT purchase clause that could be a barrier to entry for some users.
- Finally, digital payments firm Flexa plans to buy marketing technology company Drop Party to engage with customers through various online campaigns. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
MARKET MAKING: Virtu Financial (VIRT) sees a market-making opportunity in crypto as demand for the asset class grows, CEO Douglas Cifu said. He also said he doesn’t hold a view on the crypto sector apart from wanting to build a proper ecosystem for institutions and thinks there’s a lack of confidence in the incumbent companies. BLOCKCHAIN CELEBRITY: Residents of the Marcy Houses, a public housing complex in Brooklyn, N.Y., where Jay-Z grew up, will have the opportunity to take free Bitcoin education classes, funded by the rapper turned businessman and Twitter (TWTR) co-founder Jack Dorsey. Beginning June 22 and running until just after Labor Day, the program will be taught by Black Bitcoin Billionaire founder Lamar Wilson and Najah Roberts, founder of the first African-American and woman-owned crypto exchange and education center in the U.S. - Meanwhile, VeChain has signed on to be the first official layer 1, or base layer, blockchain partner for mixed martial arts organization UFC. The multiyear deal was reportedly worth $100 million.
– Xinyi Luo & D.K. |
If you’re attending Consensus 2022 in Austin, Texas and you’re interested in institutional investments in the Web3 space, then we have a fireside chat, you’re not going to want to miss: From Decks to Partnerships: The Web3 VC Journey to Strategic Investing. In this talk, Nexo’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner Kalin Metodiev, CFA, and Head of Corporate Finance and Investments, Tatiana Metodieva, CFA will unveil the secrets to successful VC activity in our novel industry as they touch on the inner workings of Nexo Ventures, Nexo’s strategic investment arm. Thе fireside chat will take place on Saturday, June 11 at 5:00 pm.
Join in and get intel on the latest trends in the venture capital and Web3 economies, as well as large-scale digital assets adoption.
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- Seth Green Pays $300K to Recover His Stolen Bored Ape Ethereum NFT (Decrypt)
- Pussy Riot Crashes Texas State Capitol, Mints Commemorative Ethereum NFT (Decrypt)
- Optimism exploiter claims willingness to return 18 million OP tokens (The Block)
- Anthony Hopkins Flaunts ENS Name and NFT Interest on Twitter (NFT Plaza)
- "Hype and hustle at Gary Vaynerchuk’s NFT conference" (The Verge)
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Okra Finance is the world's first Permissioned DeFi Composable Index Platform. Through our drag-n-drop DApp GUI and DeFi infrastructure, Fund Managers and Financial Advisors with no prior coding knowledge are able to instantly create smart contract-based funds that are fully redeemable and readily distributable on-chain. Combined with a highly customizable permission layer, Okra revolutionizes Digital Assets Fund Management with institution-ready tooling necessary to cater to today's investors. Stop by booth#340 to meet the team and grab some freebies during Consensus2022! |
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A guide to official and side events |
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You might want to check out, or tune in: - All day, starting at 10:00 a.m., CoinDesk's Layer 2 division will be hosting the "Big Ideas" stage where some of the most brilliant and bizarre of our little generation will discuss their visions for the future. On stage today: MemeAnalysis, Julie Fredrickson and our own David Z. Morris.
- At 11:45 a.m., Kimbal Musk, kin of Elon, will discuss his big green DAO on the mainstage.
- NBA superstar Spencer Dinwiddie joins Calaxy's Solo Ceesay and former pro basketball player Baron Davis to discuss social tokens and fame, at Exhibit Hall 5 or streaming. Starts at 1:00 p.m.
- "The Pseudonymous Philosopher": Punk6525 is speaking today at 4:00 p.m. with CoinDesk Chief Content Officer Michael Casey on the Consensus Mainstage.
- At Stubb’s, heavy metal legends Anthrax to perform. CoinDesk's Marc Hochstein likely to be there, head-banging.
Speaking of DAOs, here's a comprehensive guide to every event on these autonomous collectives at Consensus. |
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Why Luna’s Collapse Is Good for Crypto* Bill Barhydt, CEO of Abra, was recently interviewed to discuss the stablecoins markets and Luna's failed attempt to run an algorithmic stablecoin at a global scale. The full interview can be found here *This is sponsored content from Abra. |
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