Who's with crypto?ππ‘οΈ
Senators split on crypto, Coinbase's odds in SEC lawsuit. Fraud charges hit HyperFund founders. WEN meme coin's price slump.Taylor Swift's deepfake controversy and Amazon's new movie.
Hello, y'all. If you think you know your music, then this is for you frensπ
A complete go. Check out π Asset - Music Nerd.
This is The Token Dispatch π you can hit us on telegram π€
18 US senators are waving the crypto flag.
Coinbase's advocacy arm,Β Stand with Crypto, has done the math.
Leading the pack are Republican heavyweights Cynthia Lumnis and Ted Burr.
LumnisΒ champions withΒ eight crypto bills and making 184 shoutouts about crypto.
The Divide:Β The pro-crypto camp is mostly Republican - 14 out of 18.
30 senators, predominantly Democrats, oppose crypto. Just 4 are showing love for crypto.
Crypto's Public Enemy No. 1?
Senator Elizabeth Warren is not holding back her punches on crypto.
She has three anti-crypto bills under her belt and a slew of public statements.
Her latest move? Re-introducing a bill aimed at tightening the leash on digital assets.
Coinbase Likely to Win SEC Lawsuit with a 70% Chance
Bloomberg analysts suggest Coinbase has a strong chance of winning against the SEC. The lawsuit accuses Coinbase of selling unregistered securities and offering unauthorized staking services.
During court proceedings, questions arose about the SEC's broad definition of collectibles, potentially favoring Coinbase's argument.
Analyst Elliott Stein believes Coinbase's argumentβthat not all crypto transactions are investment contractsβis more convincing.
βOur Thesis: Coinbase is 70% likely to beat the SEC, if not outright on this motion, then later,β SteinΒ wrote.
The Courtroom Saga
New York District Judge Katherine Polk Failla questioned the SEC's wide-ranging definition of securities, raising concerns about its implications for the crypto industry.
The judge expressed skepticism about the SEC's stance on Coinbase's staking-as-a-service, suggesting it might not fit traditional investment paradigms.
The judge expressed worry that the SEC's approach might unjustly classify collectibles, like Beanie Babies, as securities, indicating a potential overreach.
After a hefty four-hour legal tussle, the judge didn't make a call right then and there, hinting she needed a bit more time to mull things over. If Coinbase doesn't snag a win with this motion, the legal battle will march on to the next phase.
TTD Fraud π¦Ήπ»
The SEC hasΒ slapped fraud chargesΒ on the founders of the HyperFund scheme, which hoovered up over $1.7 billion globally, branding it a pyramid scheme.
Behind the Scheme:Β Founders Xue Lee and Brenda Chunga, known in the crypto circles as Sam Lee and Bitcoin Beautee, allegedly promised returns from mining operations.
It was all smoke and mirrors with no real profit-making activities behind it.
The Fallout:Β By early 2022, the scheme collapsed, leaving investors out in the cold.
Lee and Chunga face charges of fraud and running an unregistered securities operation. Chunga has already pleaded guilty to related charges and is cooperating with the authorities, awaiting the court's decision on financial penalties.
TTD WEN πͺ
The Solana-based WEN meme coin witnessed a notable price slump, shedding over 30% from its daily peak.
Why? sparked by the project's strategy to eliminate 27% of the token's total supply.
What it WEN? WEN token originates from a poem by weremeow.
Converted into an NFT and fractionalized into one trillion pieces - each piece representing a WEN token.
Despite the anticipation surrounding the burn of overΒ 270 billion tokens, the price failed to rally, contrary to some traders' expectations.
The airdrop is conducted via Jupiter, a decentralised exchange (DEX) aggregator, as part of a test for its new launchpad.
Jupiter's upcoming JUP token airdrop will also utilise this launchpad.
Over a million Solana wallets qualify for the WEN airdrop, including active Jupiter users, popular NFT project holders on Solana, and Solana Saga smartphone owners.
Surge in Solana Signups: The 7-day moving average of new addresses on Solana has reached the highest level in the network's history.
Whereβs ETF?π¨
Vanguard has reiterated that it has no plans to launch a bitcoin ETF, but industry watchers believe that Schwab Asset Management could enter the arenaπ
TTD TSπ©π»βπ€
Taylor Swift's Deep fake images were released all over the internet.
In response, X has temporarily blocked searches related to the artist's name.
Searches for "Taylor Swift," "Taylor Swift AI," or "AI Taylor Swift" yield noΒ results on X.
And Instagram?Β Instagram has added disclaimers to searches involving "Taylor Swift AI."
Taylor Swift is reportedly considering legal action against the deepfake site responsible for publishing sexually explicit images.
Who else has beenΒ affected by AI-generated deepfakes? the list includes Tom Hanks, MrBeast, Gayle King, and Michael Saylor.
SumSubΒ showsΒ that from from 2022 to 2023, there's 10x increase in deep fakes globally.
U.S. Representative Joseph MorelleΒ called for legislationΒ to criminalize the production of non-consensual deepfakes.
TTD Amazon π
Amazon MGM Studios isΒ developingΒ a movie titled "Razzlekhan," focusing on Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan.
Who are they? The couple involved in laundering over $3 billion worth of Bitcoin linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
Background: The script is inspired by a 2022Β New York TimesΒ article that dubbed the couple as βBitcoinβs Bonnie and Clyde.β The pair was arrested in February 2022 for laundering more than 94,643 BTC from the Bitfinex hack.
In August 2023, Lichtenstein and Morgan entered guilty pleas to charges related to money laundering and conspiracy, as part of a deal with U.S. prosecutors.
The filmβs title, "Razzlekhan," refers to Heather Morganβs alter ego as an βirreverent comedic rapper.β
TTD Surfer π
The Italian data protection authorityΒ has accused OpenAI of breaching data protection and privacy laws with its AI chatbot, ChatGPT.
Polygon Labs proposes a frameworkΒ to classify DeFi as 'critical infrastructure' and oversee them by federal cybersecurity agencies in the US.
Sotheby's has sold its first individual poem, "Cord," by Ana Maria Caballero, for 0.28 Bitcoin or $11,430.
If you like us, if you don't like us .. either ways do tell usβοΈ
If you dig what we do, show us love on Twitter, Instagram & Threadsπ€
So long. OKAY? β