WuBlockchain Weekly: Federal Reserve to Raise Interest Rates Twice This Year, Several Executives Depart from Binance and Top10 News

Jul 07, 2023

1. Powell: Federal Reserve to Raise Interest Rates Twice Within 2023 link

On June 29th, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, speaking at the 4th Financial Stability Conference in Madrid, Spain, stated that most Fed officials expect the Fed to raise interest rates twice more within 2023. Powell noted that the U.S. economic growth slowed notably in 2022, but recent indicators suggest that the economy continues to expand at a moderate pace. For instance, consumer spending has been rising, some indicators in the housing market are starting to rebound, the labor market remains “very tight,” and inflation remains well above the Fed’s 2% target level. Inflation pressures are still high, and the Fed has a long way to go in its fight against inflation. In a previous event, he also projected that core inflation in the United States may not return to the central bank’s 2% target level until 2025.

2. Binance’s Weekly Summary

a. Fortune Magazine: Binance’s General Counsel, Chief Strategy Officer, and Senior Vice President of Compliance to Depart from the Company link

On July 7th, according to Fortune magazine, Binance’s General Counsel Hon Ng, Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann, and Senior Vice President of Compliance Steven Christie have announced their resignations this week. The executives’ decision to leave is reportedly in response to the ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. In a message sent to Fortune magazine, CEO CZ stated that the company promoted a new General Counsel a month ago, and Chief Compliance Officer Noah Perlman will continue to stay with the company. He added that Hillmann’s departure is due to personal reasons.

On the same day, CZ, the CEO of Binance, responded on Twitter, confirming that personnel changes are a common occurrence in companies. However, he stated that the reasons fabricated by the “news” are completely false. He further emphasized that the news is “absolutely false” and that only one person left the company this week. He accused the report of exaggerating everything.

According to Bloomberg, Yibo Ling, Binance’s Chief Business Officer, is among the American employees who have departed. Sources mentioned that during the mid-year performance evaluations in June, several employees were asked if they were willing to relocate, and some employees who refused were subsequently dismissed. Earlier, Wu Shuo exclusively reported on the large-scale personnel optimization carried out by Binance in June.

b. Binance Releases the Eighth Asset Reserve Proof link

On July 6th, Binance released its 8th Asset Reserve Report (snapshot date: 7–1). Compared to the previous report (snapshot date: 6–1), the BTC reserves of users decreased by 3.6%, equivalent to a reduction of 22,000 BTC. The ETH reserves of users decreased by 4.4%, equivalent to a reduction of 192,000 ETH. The BNB reserves of users increased by 6.6%, equivalent to an addition of 1.83 million BNB. The USDT reserves of users decreased by 9.45%, equivalent to an addition of 1.61 billion USDT.

c. Binance Announces Collaboration with Online Learning Platform Courser to Develop Certified Web3 Education Project link

On July 6th, Binance announced a partnership with Coursera, one of the world’s largest online learning platforms, to develop a certified Web3 education program. This program is designed for individuals who are interested in gaining knowledge about blockchain, Web3, and all digital assets. Coursera has a global user base of over 124 million and is a publicly listed company on the New York Stock Exchange. In 2022, Coursera recorded a total revenue of $524 million.

3. Kraken Ordered to Submit Customer Information to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) link

On July 1st, a federal court ordered the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken to provide the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with specific user information to investigate whether users have underreported their taxes. The court order requires Kraken to provide information on users who conducted cryptocurrency transactions exceeding $20,000 between 2016 and 2020. This information includes users’ names, dates of birth, addresses, phone numbers, and taxpayer identification numbers.

4. BlackRock CEO Believes Bitcoin Serves as “Digital Gold” link

On July 5th, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, expressed his desire to collaborate with regulatory agencies and address any concerns they may have regarding the spot Bitcoin ETF application recently submitted by the asset management company. He believes that the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Bitcoin, plays a role as the “digital gold,” despite personally not owning any Bitcoin. Fink stated, “What we’re trying to do is democratize crypto, make it more accessible to investors, and reduce the cost. Right now, the spreads on buying and selling cryptocurrencies are very wide.”

5. BlackRock and Other Companies Resubmit Application for Bitcoin Spot ETF

a. BlackRock Resubmits Bitcoin Spot ETF Application to the SEC link

On July 4th, according to Bloomberg, BlackRock has resubmitted its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through Nasdaq, including new details. The new filing reveals that Coinbase Global Inc. will provide market surveillance support for the ETF. This move aims to address concerns from regulatory agencies regarding the initial filing, which they deemed lacking necessary information. Other companies such as Fidelity Investments, Invesco, VanEck, 21Shares, and WisdomTree have also made modifications to their respective application filings.

b. Valkyrie Modifies and Resubmits Filing for Bitcoin Spot ETF link

On July 6th, Valkyrie made modifications and resubmitted its application for a spot Bitcoin ETF, following a similar move by companies like BlackRock. Like other firms, Valkyrie has also partnered with Coinbase as its monitoring and surveillance-sharing partner. Previously, on June 22nd, Valkyrie had submitted an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but it was rejected on the grounds of inadequate filing.

6. Bitcoin Depot, the World’s Largest Cryptocurrency ATM Operator, Lists on Nasdaq link

On July 3rd, Bitcoin Depot, the largest cryptocurrency ATM operator globally, completed its SPAC merger with GSR II Meteora Acquisition and began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “BTM”. The company achieved a valuation of $885 million. Bitcoin Depot is the first cryptocurrency ATM operator to be listed on a major U.S. stock market. In pre-market trading, BTM’s stock price briefly surged to $6.60, more than double GSRM’s closing price on Friday, before settling at $3.39, representing a 5% increase from Friday’s closing price.

7. Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission Official States Security Tokens and RWAs to be Updated, Potentially Opening to Retail Investors link

On July 6th, WuBlockChain exclusively learned that Elizabeth Wong, the head of the Financial Technology Division at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong, revealed during her visit to Eliptic that the SFC will soon release an update to change its view on Security Token Offerings (STOs) that was established four years ago in 2019. According to the update, Securities Tokens or Real World Assets (RWAs) will not be defined as complex products and may have the opportunity to be open to retail investors. RWAs will be regulated based on the underlying assets. Analysts believe that this could potentially trigger a new wave of enthusiasm for RWAs.

8. Users Affected by the XIRTAM Incident Can Submit Applications for Fund Recovery link

On July 3rd, Binance announced that they have completed the necessary preparations related to the XIRTAM asset recovery. Users who were affected by the XIRTAM incident can submit specific information by August 2, 2023, 23:59 (UTC+8) to apply for the return of their corresponding ETH assets. The security team will process the applications and return the assets to eligible users through a smart contract address.

9. Hotbit Announces Team’s Conversion of Withdrawable Assets into Highly Liquid Assets, Allocated Proportionally to Holders link

On July 6th, the suspended exchange Hotbit announced that the hot wallet currently holds approximately $6 million in withdrawable assets, mostly from users who were unable to pay withdrawal fees. These assets will be converted to USDC on Arbitrum and distributed proportionally to the holders. The company’s invested and locked assets are valued at around $10 million and will be gradually converted to “high liquidity assets” on Arbitrum, also distributed proportionally to the holders of the platform token. Hotbit’s investment portfolio includes a DEX product inspired by GMX, and the team is willing to use HTB as the platform token. The Hotbit team will transfer the domain and remaining assets to a new team. Some of the investment assets are still in long-term lockup, and over the next 2–3 years, the unlocked investment assets will be converted into “high liquidity assets” and allocated to HTB holders.

10. Multichain: Current Suspension of Multichain Services link

On July 7th, Multichain made an official update on their Twitter account stating that their services are currently suspended and there is no confirmed timeline for restoration. Users are advised not to use Multichain bridging services.

Earlier on the same day, according to PeckShield monitoring, an unusually large amount of multi-chain assets, approximately $125 million, flowed out to multiple wallets from the Multichain protocol. This includes $122 million from the Multichain:Fantom Bridge, $6.835 million from the Multichain:Moonriver Bridge, and $666.47k USDC from the Multichain:Dogechain Bridge.

Subsequently, Multichain’s official Twitter account stated that locked assets on the Multichain MPC address had been abnormally moved to unknown wallets. The team is uncertain about what has occurred and is currently investigating the situation. They recommend all users to temporarily cease using Multichain services and revoke any contract authorizations associated with Multichain.

It is worth noting that Multichain previously announced a $60 million financing round led by Binance Labs and participated by Sequoia China in December 2021. For a detailed timeline of Multichain events and further updates, please refer to the official website of WuBlockChain (wu-talk.com) .

Fundraising

Decentralized video sharing platform BitChute Seeks $75 Million to $100 Million Valuation in $10 Million Series A Funding Round link
Blockchain startup Web3Go Completes $4 Million Seed Round Funding Led by Binance Labs link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

Wu Blockchain

Discussion about this post