Rebecca Rettig

The Kick Off Round Of The Sei Foundation Creator Fund's $10M Initiative Has Just Complete. With 862.5K $SEI Matched To Support Creators. The kickoff round offered a $250,000 matching pool to support projects building on Sei, utilizing Quadratic Funding (QF) through Gitcoin Grants Stack. This method amplifies the impact of small donations ensuring projects receive a larger share of the matching pool. For the kick off round Sei used an innovative approach to ensure a fair funding distribution pioneered by Gitcoin. The use of Connection-Oriented Cluster-Matching (COCM) addresses some of the limitations of traditional QF. Kick Off Round Metrics: - Total Matching Pool: 862,500 SEI - Total Raised by Crowd: $38,371.68 - Number of Voters: 2,707 - Number of Projects: 63 - Average Donor Contribution: $14.17 The Sei Foundation has partnered with Karma GAP to keep grantees accountable and share their progress with the community. Grantees must use Karma GAP to set milestones and provide updates. To qualify for future rounds, they must share their progress and explain fund usage. Here are the top five projects by total matching funding: - @crossover_xo: 72,029.91 SEI - @s3_labs: 64,288.63 SEI - @fuckersforlife: 59,168.59 SEI - @dobnfts: 55,294.63 SEI - @remosworld: 47,492.54 SEI If you are a creator on Sei make sure to stay tuned for announcements about the next funding round. Join the Sei Community Grants Telegram Group to stay updated and connect with other creators and supporters. Read more:  https://lnkd.in/dGRrF9XH

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SEC Candid Admission - A disaster for the crypto industry. SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda's recent comments on Fox News represent a notable shift in the dialogue around cryptocurrency regulation. Admission of Failure: Mark Uyeda's candid admission that the SEC's regulatory approach has been "a disaster for the whole industry" marks a rare instance of self-criticism from within the SEC. This admission suggests an internal recognition that the current strategy might be counterproductive, possibly leading to a reevaluation of how regulations are approached. Lack of Clear Guidance The criticism of enforcing policy without clear guidance points to a systemic issue within the SEC's regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies. This lack of clarity has led to: Increased Legal Battles The crypto industry has found itself entangled in numerous lawsuits, largely due to ambiguities in how digital assets are defined and regulated. Major players like Coinbase and Crypto.com have taken legal action against the SEC, arguing overreach in authority and the classification of assets as securities without proper justification. Industry Uncertainty The absence of clear regulatory guidelines has created an environment of uncertainty. Industry Voices Leaders like Brad Garlinghouse from Ripple and the Winklevoss twins from Gemini have echoed Uyeda's sentiments, indicating widespread frustration within the industry. This chorus of criticism underscores a fundamental disconnect between regulatory bodies and the industry they aim to oversee. Potential for Change The mention of efforts like creating a tailored S-1 form for digital assets by Uyeda in earlier discussions shows there's recognition within the SEC of the need for specific regulatory tools for cryptocurrencies. This could be a step towards providing the clarity the industry desperately seeks. Legislative Efforts The introduction and progress of the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) in Congress demonstrates a legislative push towards defining clearer roles for agencies like the SEC and CFTC in regulating digital assets. If passed and implemented, this could significantly alter the regulatory landscape. Conclusion Mark Uyeda's admission, while dramatic, might be the catalyst needed for a more constructive dialogue between regulators and the crypto industry. It highlights a critical juncture where the approach could shift from adversarial to collaborative, aiming for a regulatory framework that encourages innovation while ensuring investor protection. However, the path forward involves navigating complex legislative and bureaucratic landscapes, where change, while increasingly necessary, might still be slow and contested.

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The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services' Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion recently held a hearing entitled "Decoding DeFi: Breaking Down the Future of Decentralized Finance." Over the course of a few hours, lawmakers and witnesses discussed how decentralized finance is reimagining peer-to-peer transactions, emphasizing the need for regulation to evolve to accommodate this new financial landscape. If you don't have a couple of hours to watch the entire recording, don't sweat it. Here are my top five key takeaways from the discussion: 💡 Decentralized Finance's Potential: DeFi technology has the potential to revolutionize the financial sector by creating permissionless and decentralized financial systems, enabling peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries like banks. 🚀 Preserving Innovation: The testimony highlighted that DeFi’s potential benefits, such as increased financial inclusion and efficiency, should not be undermined by overly restrictive regulations. Lawmakers must strike a balance between encouraging innovation and protecting consumers. 🌍 Global Competition: The U.S. risks falling behind other jurisdictions, such as the European Union, which have been more proactive in studying and regulating DeFi. Many countries are rolling out comprehensive regulatory frameworks, providing much-needed clarity to the digital asset industry. ⚖️ Regulatory Challenges: Existing U.S. regulatory frameworks were designed for centralized financial systems and do not easily apply to decentralized protocols. This necessitates a thoughtful reevaluation of how laws should evolve to regulate DeFi while supporting innovation. 🛡️ Consumer Protection Needs: DeFi protocols must ensure transparency and clear disclosures to protect consumers. Without traditional intermediaries, users may be more vulnerable to financial losses from hacks, scams, or technical failures. A link to the full recording of the hearing can be found in the comments below. 📽️

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🚀 Unlock the Power of Decentralized Governance on the Cardano Blockchain with The Summon Platform APIs 🚀 Elevate your Web3 community experience with Summon Platform's comprehensive API suite, built on Cardano's robust blockchain infrastructure. Our APIs empower developers to seamlessly integrate advanced DAO tooling and governance features into their token-gated community sites. 🛠️ Key Integration Possibilities: • Create and customize DAOs effortlessly • Implement secure multi-signature wallet management • Deploy efficient snapshot-style voting mechanisms • Utilize on-chain smart contract solutions for treasury management • Gamify community engagement and reward contributors • Enable token-based access control 🔐 Security & Ease of Use: Leverage Cardano's blockchain security with our OAuth support via Sign in with Cardano, ensuring a seamless and secure user experience. 💻 Developer-Friendly: Our API-centric approach guarantees smooth interoperability, allowing you to focus on crafting exceptional user interfaces while we handle the complexities of blockchain governance. 🌐 Scalable Solutions: Whether you're managing a small community or a large-scale organization, Summon Platform's APIs adapt to your needs, providing tools for treasury management, voting systems, and community engagement. Ready to revolutionize your decentralized community? Explore Summon Platform's APIs and join the future of Web3 governance today! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gJii4rv7 #Web3 #Blockchain #API #DAOTooling #Cardano #AI #DecentralizedGovernance #SummonPlatform #Voting #DigitalIdentity #DAO #MultiSig #Wallet #SaaS

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🌟 Exciting Web3 developments are unfolding at breakneck speed—here’s what you need to know from the past 24 hours: - Redacted Launches Crypto Fund for Web3 Startups: Redacted, a data and entertainment firm, has announced a new crypto fund to support emerging Web3 and gaming startups. Backed by prominent firms like Saison Capital and Animoca Brands, the fund will provide capital, market entry strategies, and token-based economic models to seven initial projects, aiming to enhance Redacted’s ecosystem and foster decentralized innovation. - Web3 Fund Investment and Ecosystem Support: The Redacted Fund has secured over $10 million from influential investors and will make initial investments of up to $250,000 in early-stage startups. This initiative includes providing critical assistance in areas like market entry and token-based economic models, positioning the startups strategically within the Web3 landscape. - Web3 Technology Reshaping Financial Landscapes: Web3.0 technology is progressively reshaping the financial landscape through its decentralized nature, intelligent capabilities, and integration of real-world data. This transformation is expected to usher in a new era of financial innovation and possibilities, as highlighted in recent discussions between financial institutions and Web3.0 leaders. - UK Campaign to Lead in Web3 and Immersive Technologies: techUK has launched a six-month campaign to explore how the UK can lead in the development, application, and commercialization of Web3 and immersive technologies. The campaign includes workshops, roundtables, and panel discussions to convene stakeholders and shape innovation policy, focusing on technologies like blockchain, smart contracts, and extended reality. - Redacted’s Native Token for Growth Incentives: Redacted’s upcoming native token, RDAC, is designed to serve as a growth catalyst for portfolio companies. The token will enable these companies to align their product objectives with real-world applications, facilitating iterations and reinforcing market fit within the Web3 ecosystem. #Web3 #CryptoFund #DecentralizedInnovation #TokenEconomy #BlockchainTechnology #StartupFunding #FinancialInnovation #UKTechLeadership #ImmersiveTech #TechInvestment

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On incentivizing #failure On the ChainCraft Games stream today on #SankoTV with Eric Wood, CSP & Ryan Beltrán, talking about the role of #blockchain tech in making #indiedevelopers & #AAA publishers less risk-averse & trepidatious about TRYING things, by using #generativeAI as an accelerant in product #iteration , and letting those developers maximize their chance of extracting more longterm value out of their sweat equity than experience/learnings alone. Most great games that hit are 90% familiar 10% innovation, and often they aren't the FIRST to try something (also most games don't "succeed"). What if we provided a win-win for both those who tried and failed, and those who want to try in a different way, faster, by remixing those past failures off a #marketplace ? What if we could incentivize that "failure," turning it on its head and actually increasing willingness to take shots on goal, as my buddy Jamy would say. What if that novel mechanic you devised in your game, still made you money in the long run because there are a billion reasons why a game won't reach market, and often few of them are directly related to the cogency of THAT specific implementation of that mechanic, at that moment, pitched by that person in front of that stakeholder etc. etc. As Xin would say, how many miracles are you trying to pull off in one go? Game devs, and particularly indie devs, are highstacking those miracle attempts :) Also unintentional shoutout to #balatro which has been my OBS background for the last few days 😆 #gamedevelopment #ai #middleware #gamedevtools #usergeneratedcontent #gamesindustry #web3 #decentralization

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Discover our #Blockchain #Crypto VC contact list, which includes 200+ #VC firms, 1,100+ #VC professionals (Partners and Principals), and 1,000 email contacts. https://payhip.com/b/sXEGH #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #investmentbanking #privateequity #managementconsulting #b2b #founders #entrepreneurs

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"Like many products in crypto, stablecoins will likely speedrun banking history, starting with simple banknotes before expanding the money supply through increasingly sophisticated lending." Sam Broner offers a fascinating new mental model for thinking about stablecoins, grounding the emergence of strategy-backed synthetic dollars, fiat-, and asset-backed stablecoins in the history of bank deposits and American money. With millions already having transacted trillions of dollars using stablecoins, this prescient analysis should be useful for anyone curious about the future of this exciting mechanism for frictionless, cost-free payments. https://lnkd.in/esbr46-w

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NFT/'web3' cleanup: DraftKings was sued under the claim that their NFTs were unregistered securities. The Judge applied the Howey test and allowed the lawsuit to go forward. DraftKings shut their NFT collection and platform down THE NEXT DAY to avoid discovery and the possible impacts. The Howey test worked. Read the full article ----- Defector: "DraftKings Abruptly Shuts Down NFT Operation, Panicking Collectors With Vast Holdings Of Digital Tokens" (Chris Thompson) (August 1, 2024) (excerpt): "DraftKings, the daily fantasy sports and sports betting company, abruptly shut down a program called Reignmakers on Tuesday. Reignmakers, which the company launched in 2021. The decision to wipe the entire program, says DraftKings, was not made lightly, but was forced "due to recent legal developments." "DraftKings has not yet specified what "recent legal developments" are troubling its now dead Reignmakers product. The company was sued in U.S. District Court in 2023 by a Reignmakers player named Justin Dufoe, who accuses the company of dealing in unregistered securities, of taking advantage of relatively unsophisticated "retail investors," and of failing to market and support Reignmakers to the degree necessary to return to its users the expected financial benefits. DraftKings filed a motion in September to dismiss Dufoe's complaint, but that motion was denied on July 2. A scheduling conference was held by the parties on July 29; Reignmakers was shut down for good on July 30. A DraftKings spokesperson contacted by Defector Wednesday declined to confirm whether the Dufoe complaint is the "recent legal development" that forced the company's hand." Reignmakers users purchased NFTs at the assorted levels with the expectation that possession of them would convey better odds of winning contests hosted on DraftKings. That was the gamification element of Reignmakers, which came along several months after DraftKings began to market and mint their NFTs. But as with all NFTs, some too-large part of the real appeal to their purchasers was the expectation, however baldly insane, that these pointless and practically useless and infinitely duplicable digital images would grow in value over time." Defector: https://lnkd.in/gsuk9tdh #web3 #scam #nft #rugpull #howeytest #ponzi #cryptocurrency #blockchain #useless

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HarrisX and Consensys have just released an eye-opening and comprehensive study on U.S. voter attitudes toward blockchain and crypto, nationally and in key battleground states. The results show that 92% of crypto owners are set to vote in the 2024 elections, and nearly half of voters nationally support pro-crypto policies. Both major parties have an opportunity to win these voters over, with 85% of crypto owners expecting presidential candidates to take a pro-crypto stance. This bipartisan potential could shape the political landscape in key swing states we polled like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, where crypto voters will be a pivotal force in the next election. The survey tells a compelling story about the growing maturity amd influence of the crypto industry and voter on American politics. Proud to have worked on this groundbreaking study with the excellent teams under Joseph Lubin and Bill Hughes and Alex Chizhik. Take a look at the full report and insights into how crypto could tip the scales in 2024.

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THIS has two....no, three of my favorite things in #crypto. 1. Intelligent thought leadership from the likes of Ari Redbord and Anthony Apollo. 2. Innovative Financial Products. 3. #PublicPrivatePartnership. THIS is why i joined the industry a few years back, THIS is how we move the needle. Add this #TRMTalks to your list of Pods!

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Recently talked to Proactive about Binance’s recent legal win 👀 I think this will pave the way for a token regulation model that would encompass the entire decentralized ecosystem 👍 Full article here: https://lnkd.in/eesrvnXC #WEB3 #BLOCKCHAIN #DECENTRALIZATION

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Build, Launch & Operate Your Token – was a side event that followed Token2049 which yours truly moderated😉 Nestor Dubnevych from Legal Nodes - shared an overview of the current regulatory landscape, the dynamic legal qualification of tokens, and best practices for launching utility tokens, focusing on centralized vs decentralized projects and legal frameworks. https://lnkd.in/eDuergAy

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