Gm legends,

Happy Valentine's day!

On this day of love, it just so happens that CPI numbers are being announced. Plus red roses are bleeding out of the charts as Bitcoin is holding on tight to $21,500 and Ethereum $1,500. Only Fed Chair J Powell can dictate whether or not we continue to fall off a cliff or we finish the day with romance.

Today we look at the next chapter on the SEC's warpath as Paxos gets 'BUSDusted' by the SEC. Plus, breaking news! Circle may have been the insider informants who tipped the SEC and NYDFS off!

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Here's what's inside today.

🔥 The big topic. Paxos gets BUSD'usted by SEC (again)🗞 Hot crypto news. SBF uses VPN to watch the Super Bowl ads, Magic Eden lay-offs, Circle tips off the SEC AND MORE.👀 Updates across the bloc. Dsquared Finance TGE on February 15th, Pendle Fi launch Pendle/Eth Pools TODAY, Wen Llama NFT whitelist spots up for grabs, Jedi gifts alpha on Camelot Dex's upcoming launches AND MORE.🛡 Chart of the day. $ETH's Golden Cross Moment... will it lead to a 2020 bull run?

🧵 Thread of the day. Crypto Condom breaks down a bullish case for whats happening with Synpase.

🔥 The big topic.

Paxos gets BUSD'usted by SEC (again)

Gensler nukes crypto ahead of Valentine’s day

In the meantime, Dan is off to the pawn shop to sell the ring, flowers and box of chocolates to protect his crypto bags! 

Seriously, Gary, what are you doing? 

This feels like ring-a-round-the-roses as he fires a bubble gun at the crypto industry to see what bursts and creates the most havoc.

Last week we saw Gensler go after Kraken and CoinBase after the rumours of banning staking as a service for US customers turned out to be true.

But seriously?! Rookie mistake, Jesse, if all you needed to do was fill out a form!

PS. there's not actually a form to fill in.

To kick start the week the FUD machine is out in force, and stablecoin issuer PAXOS is next on the list as the SEC delivers a Wells Notice detailing its intent to sue, alleging that BUSD is an unregistered security.

But what we aren’t sure of just yet is whether or not the SEC will be suing PAXOS for issuing BUSD or just listing it.

Binance FUD anyone?! 

Probably.

But where there's FUD there's usually truth which brings about irrationality, as the markets reflect.

Gary’s the man and what Gary wants, Gary gets. Because let’s be honest, the Howey test (the test that determines whether or not an asset is classed as a security) doesn't really matter. The SEC has complete free reign over what they call something, anything and everything regardless.

Judging by this tweet from reporter Eleanot Terrett, this could just be the beginning of something more.

Is USDC next?

The gloves are off. And Big Bald Brian is ready for a scrap.

What happens next for USDC is unclear but I wouldn't be surprised if we see Gary attacking CoinBase and Circle again.

Then again, will Circle's partnership with BlackRock keep it safe? BlackRock currently manages the Circle Reserve Fund made up of USDC and short-term US treasuries. After all, it’s a win-win here as an external manager, like BlackRock, is subject to SEC regulation.

On a side note, could you actually imagine the drama if Gary high-fives SBF and relaunches FTX to then issue a 1:1 pegged USDftx stablecoin that magically passes all regulatory scrutiny?

BREAKING UPDATE: Did Circle just rug Paxos and BUSD? According to a report in Bloomberg, Circle tipped off the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) which is currently running the investigation.

What does this mean for you?

I'm going to state the obvious here: take profits when you’re taking the calculator out to show your partner how many internet beans you’ve earned today.

If you have a stack of BUSD it probably going to be a smart move to switch them over because even CZ himself says that they will be moving away from BUSD as the main trading pair.

Our Take

It is refreshing to know that we, the people of the crypto-twitter, have the Crypto Mum, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who publicly stands out against Gary and his tyranny.

But is this Operation Choke Point 2.0? A coordinated operation to cut crypto companies off from the US banking system?

Remember this is the SEC vs PAXOS which is creating market-wide FUD and again brings to the forefront that clear regulatory rules are needed so that exchanges, protocols and us, as users, do not fall to trap to the uncertainty.

In other news, here's Gary watching the Super Bowl on Sunday, waiting to see if a commercial would pop up.

I wonder if he minted any of the QR-coded NFTs?

🗞 Hot crypto news.

🐮 Bullish News

Brazil's old bank allows tax payments in crypto. The law was passed back in December 2022 and now Banco do Brasil's collaboration with BitFy makes it possible for customers to pay their tax bills, fees and obligations using crypto. Will Latin America be the new home of crypto innovation?

Mysten Labs partners with Tencent. The creators of Sui Network recently announced a partnership with Tencent who has been bullish on the metaverse long before it was a buzzword. The collaboration spans GameFi, cloud services and payments.

Decentralised stable coins PUMP. It's no surprise, given the past 48 hours, that projects like Curve, Aave, Frax, Maker DAO all saw explosive price action. The battle of the decentralised stablecoin has begun.

🐻 Bearish News

Circle tipped off NYDFS in a report published by Bloomberg. It's said that the stablecoin issuer Circle, who issues USDC, tipped off the New York Department of Financial Services back in the fall. Dirty tricks and not what crypto needs right now!

Magic Eden lay-offs get announced on Twitter as the Solana and Polgyon-based NFT marketplace says goodbye to 22 talented teammates in a company-wide restructuring. 

SBF VPNs the Super Bowl. In a wild weekend of DigiDaigaku’s NFTs, Dunkin Donuts and ice-cold American beer ads, SBF just couldn't miss out as he uses a VPN to bypass his bail conditions prompting the question of dark web usage. SBF's SEC trial has been delayed until the Department of Justice's criminal trial is complete.  

👀 Updates across the bloc.

Project Updates

Cathartes is the first community-generated artwork NFT collection coming to Bitcoin. This week they kick off sneak peeks, giveaways and potential alpha drop on collabs.  

DSquared Finance token generation event goes live on Camelot DEX on February 15th at 2:22 UTC check out the medium for all of the details including the vesting schedules, development updates and previous presale rounds.

Flux Finance goes live, bringing US treasuries on-chain and unlocking the yield hidden inside in the form of a stablecoin loan against OUSG. 

Maker DAO launches Spark Protocol, the growth arm of the Marker Protocol. Spark Lend, built on top of Aave (whilst also becoming a competitor) will be the protocol's first project launch. Set to launch in April on the back of the latest governance proposal. Maker DAO just got a facelift. 

Pendle Fi Pendle/Eth pool goes live on Camelot DEX at 5PM UTC on February 14th.

Revelo Intel, the TLDR alpha platform has exceeded expectations since its launch with 100 alpha hunters signing up for lifetime membership. 

Sushi Swap joins the Cosmos. But instead of building a derivative platform Chefs have bought Vortex Protocol, a soon-to-be-launched decentralised derivative exchange built on top of Sei Network.

Trident DAO make updates to their team vesting, unlock for early investors and information on their projected burn releases tomorrow. They've also released information on their dex Oasis Swap.

Wen Llama NFT is having a topical waifu (wife) AI image-generating competition for Valentine's, with the top 10 earning a whitelisting spot. PS check out this blocmates discord message for bonus info on exclusive whitelist spots. 👀

zkSyn and the CEO of Matter Labs Alex G post a daily count down... February 16th is the day? In the meantime here are projects joining the zkEVM revolution. 

BONUS: Camelot DEX and the GRAIL token has been up only over the weekend and Jedi breaks down a list of the up-and-coming fair launches that are happening.

Governance Updates

Aave has had a proposal submitted by Marc Zeller from the Aave Chain Initiative to freeze BUSD on Aave V2 as the growth of BUSD is now limited with PAXOS halting the minting process in April.

Sonne Finance votes to add a wrapped staked liquid ETH ($wstETH) market.

Timeless Finance proposal to Redactced Cartel to create a new hidden hand market for Timeless Finances Bunni products. Aka bridges coming to UniV3

🛡 Chart of the day.

$ETH's golden cross

The last time we saw the Ethereum Golden Cross happen was back in May 2020 and we all know the monstrous bull run that happened after that right?!

I'm not saying that will happen more, but the Golden Cross is one of those mythical parts of technical analysis where the 50EMA (light blue) crosses up and over the 200EMA (red) creating bullish momentum.

All eyes watch and wait.

Bull case. Love is in the air today and we break back above the 200 EMA pushing back up towards the $1,700 zone and recovering the vector candle.

Bear case. Love definitely wasn't in the air as we break below $1,450 to try and find support at $1,350. 

Coming up this week.

Volatility is incoming as we wait to see how the market digests the CPI and PPI numbers. Do traders "steady lads" deploy capital or run to the safety of the dollar expecting a less than soft landing?

🧵 Thread of the day.

You might have heard the rumours of Synapse circulating Twitter but what else is fueling the surge in demand for the most widely used cross-chain messaging system? Crypto Condom breaks it down.

TLDR, Synapse is releasing Syn Chain soon (Eth Denver?), single-sided staking approved, Binance listing rumours and a syn air drop?! This is one of those threads that's easy to brush past.

And on that note, thanks for reading, catcha apes in the next edition!

grant, jedi & dan 🫡

A Final Word 🤝 

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