Transform financial services through DeFi & Tokenization at Meridian 2024. Stellar Development Foundation’s annual conference will take place in London, UK, from October 15 to 17. Learn More.

Gevulot is the universal proving infrastructure for ZK. Try ZkCloud with free usage, plus extended grant opportunities for premier customers, until 'Q1 2025.

Cartesi did the hard work, like putting Linux on the blockchain, so that building dApps could be radically simple. Discover a boundless design space for your most ambitious web3 projects.

The SEC Thinks Crypto Airdrops Are Securities. Here’s Why This Lawyer Thinks It’s Wrong

Congressmen Tom Emmer and Patrick McHenry sent the SEC a letter demanding clarification on how crypto airdrops are securities offerings. Amanda Tuminelli of the DeFi Education Fund breaks down why she thinks the SEC is wrong on its interpretation.

This week, Republican Representatives Tom Emmer and Patrick McHenry sent a letter pressing SEC Chair Gary Gensler for clarity on how securities laws apply to airdrops.

With billions of dollars worth of tokens airdropped this year alone, projects need clarity more than ever.

In this episode, Amanda Tuminelli, chief legal officer of the DeFi Education Fund, dissects the SEC’s stance on airdrops, why her organization believes the SEC has stretched the legal definition of “compensation” too far, and what Congress might ask Gensler in his upcoming hearing.

Plus, she talks about how the SEC “regrets” any confusion it caused for using the term “crypto assets securities,” since the agency now admits that tokens themselves are not securities.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Earn bitcoin on Gemini here.

What’s Poppin’?

by Sage D. Young

Should the Solana Foundation Be Dissolved? Yes… and No…

Issues of strategy, security, and support were lined up against concerns of burn-off opportunity, bureaucracy, and bloat as the Solana Foundation’s executive director faced RockawayX’s CEO in the concluding debate at Solana Breakpoint.

$1.3 Billion Market Cap BONK Caught Asymmetric Financial’s Eye at $28 Million, Founder Tells Solana Breakpoint Event

Echoing the way that DOGE outpaced top cryptos during the last cycle of 2021, memecoin BONK has in the past year been a better performer than the governance tokens of the biggest Ethereum layer 2s.

Bring Back ICOs, Says Multicoin Capital’s Tushar Jain, Winning Agreement From Debate Adversary Qiao Wang of AllianceDAO

In a debate at the Solana Breakpoint conference on Saturday, the Multicoin Capital executive convinced the AllianceDAO founding contributor of the democratizing value of initial coin offerings.

PYTH Stakers Get Carrots and Sticks as Douro Labs Rejigs Staking Mechanism

Rewards and slashes in store for stakers on security-enhanced oracle network Pyth, Douro Labs CEO told Solana Breakpoint conference in Singapore.

Opinion: Women in Crypto Are Underpaid and Undervalued: 10 Ways to Change That

Rebecca Liao, one of the few female founders/CEOs of a layer 1 protocol, lays out just how pervasive the problem is—and what can be done to fix it.

Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍

• 🤑 At a Wall Street fundraiser, VP and presidential candidate Kamala Harris expressed her support for fostering innovation in AI and digital assets, while emphasizing the importance of consumer protection in the crypto space.

• ⚖️ The CFTC won a legal case against a crypto and forex scam, securing $31 million in repayments for defrauded investors, highlighting increased efforts against fraudulent schemes.

• 🔓 BingX reopened some services following a significant hack, refuting cover-up allegations and committing to transparent communication as it works to fully restore operations.

• 💼 MicroStrategy deepened its bitcoin investment strategy by purchasing over $450 million worth of bitcoin, raising capital through an upsized debt offering to fund this acquisition.

• 📈 The SEC approved BlackRock's proposal to list and trade options on its spot Bitcoin ETF, further expanding investment choices for the rapidly growing crypto sector.

• ⚡ Coinbase announced its plan to launch cbBTC, its wrapped Bitcoin token, on Solana, enhancing interoperability and liquidity for DeFi protocols within the Solana ecosystem.

• 🎤 Iggy Azalea is set to launch Motherland, an online casino using her MOTHER token.

Today in Crypto Adoption...

• 🛫 Travala expanded its platform by adding Solana-based assets for travel bookings, enhancing payment options and rewarding customers with SOL for their purchases.

What Do You Meme?

📈 Your Market Update 📉

• BTC is up 1.4%, trading at $63,633

• ETH is up 2.9%, trading at $2,656

• BTC dominance: 53.96%

• Crypto market cap: $2.33T

*All data as of today, 06:00 am ET. Source: CoinGecko

Recommended Reads

1. VanEck: Mid-September 2024 Bitcoin ChainCheck: 1-Year Review Edition

2. Economist Noelle Acheson on tokenization 

3. CoinDesk: The Next Stage for Public Good Funding in Crypto

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1. A Bitcoin Reporter to cover all things Bitcoin. See the details and apply here. 

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