WuBlockchain Weekly: Trump Accepts Cryptocurrency Donations, Binance&DWF Controversy, FTX Liquidation in Progress and Top10 News

May 10, 2024

1. May 6th: Hong Kong Bitcoin Spot ETF Experiences Net Redemptions for the First Time link

On May 6th, the Hong Kong Bitcoin Spot ETF experienced its first net redemption, just one week after its debut. As of May 9th, the Hong Kong Bitcoin Spot ETF holds a total of 4,260 bitcoins, with net assets totaling $261 million. The Hong Kong Ethereum Spot ETF holds a total of 15,630 ethers, with net assets of approximately $46.71 million. The Hong Kong Ethereum Spot ETF has seen net redemptions for three consecutive days. Additionally, the crypto market maker Wintermute has announced that it will provide liquidity for the Hong Kong-listed Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs.

Regarding the discussion about the 20% capital deduction for purchasing the ChinaAMC Bitcoin Spot ETF, Zhu Haokang of ChinaAMC Fund explained in an interview that for physical purchases, an additional 20% of the coin quantity is required to manage the volatility of the underlying digital assets over a 5-day period. If the fund does not collect (or collect enough) safety buffer funds, and there is a significant price drop in the underlying assets within 5 days, the fund can only collect more coins from customers to make up for it after the ETF units are created, exposing the fund to significant counterparty risk. Funds were already returned to primary market investors during the IPO on April 30th.

2. Federal Reserve Officials Do Not Rule Out Possibility of Rate Hike link

Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari stated that the Federal Reserve may maintain interest rates unchanged “for a considerable period” until officials are confident that inflation has reached its target. If inflation begins to decline or if there are signs of significant weakness in the labor market, this could lead to interest rate cuts. While it is not the most likely scenario that inflation will stabilize at 3%, and the threshold for raising rates is quite high, this possibility cannot be ruled out.

3. Trump Announces Acceptance of Cryptocurrency for Presidential Campaign Donations link

FOX reporter Eleanor Terrett indicated that the two competing presidential candidates have expressed contrasting views on cryptocurrencies. President Biden has explicitly stated his support for SEC regulatory enforcement. Former President Trump, on the other hand, has indicated a cessation of his adversarial stance towards cryptocurrencies and intends to “ensure” the acceptance of cryptocurrency donations for his campaign.

Previously, Trump planned to host a dinner with supporters who purchased his Mugshot Edition NFT on a weekend. The NFT features a reference to his arrest last year in Fulton County, Georgia, for allegedly conspiring to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. According to a copy of the dinner invitation seen by Axios, attendees were required to purchase over 47 NFTs priced at $99 each to join the dinner. Financial disclosures from earlier indicated that Trump profited between $100,000 and $1 million from NFT sales in 2022.

4. SEC Chairman: Investors Did Not Receive Important Disclosure Despite Notices Sent to Multiple Crypto Entities link

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, in an interview, highlighted that the SEC oversees a capital market of $110 trillion. Approximately half of this market consists of the stock market, while the other half encompasses the bond market and other markets, with cryptocurrencies representing only a small portion of the overall market. However, he emphasized that this area accounts for a significant part of fraud, scams, and issues in the market, as much of the content in this field does not align with securities law protections.

Regarding the SEC’s actions towards various cryptocurrency entities and their enforcement plans, investors have not received essential disclosures related to cryptocurrencies. Gensler did not directly address whether Ethereum should be classified as a security or commodity but focused on the fundamental issue of ensuring investor protection in the United States, emphasizing the need for adequate disclosures. He also noted concerns about certain transactions involving Ethereum that are not permitted on the New York Stock Exchange (implying potential illegal activities).

5. Robinhood Receives Wells Notice from SEC on May 4th link

On May 4th, Robinhood received a Wells Notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), along with staff recommendations to sue Robinhood for potential actions violating securities laws. This notice followed a subpoena sent to Robinhood after the FTX collapse, focusing on topics like Robinhood’s cryptocurrency listing, cryptocurrency custody, and platform operations. In June 2023, Robinhood delisted tokens such as MATIC, SOL, ADA, FIL, and SAND after the SEC sued Binance and Coinbase.

Vlad Tenev, co-founder and CEO of Robinhood, stated in an interview with CNBC that as cryptocurrencies become “increasingly important,” Americans should have access to them. Despite a 224% growth in cryptocurrency trading on Robinhood in the first quarter of this year, Tenev expressed disappointment that after 16 meetings with the SEC, discussions failed, and the SEC issued a Wells Notice. He suggested that the SEC seems unwilling to change rules to accommodate brokers for cryptocurrency assets but rather chooses to regulate through enforcement actions, which is disappointing.

Sponsored By UNLINK: UXLINK, a social infrastructure project invested by OKX - "IN UXLINK WE TRUST" NFT airdrop event was officially released on May 4th. According to the user's community contribution, on-chain interaction and asset status, it is divided into four levels: "MOON", "TRUST", "FRENS", and "LINK", corresponding to different rights and interests and the number of $UXLINK token airdrops.

6. Vitalik Proposes Multi-Dimensional Gas Pricing Concept and Introduces EIP-7702 This Week link

The concept article on multi-dimensional gas pricing argues that pricing different resources separately can effectively manage Ethereum network resource utilization, improving efficiency and scalability. It points out that Ethereum currently simplifies all resource pricing and limits into a single-dimensional Gas, leading to significant efficiency losses. Additionally, EIP-4844 introduces multi-dimensional pricing for the first time, adding a Blob data area to reduce Rollup costs, increase transaction throughput, while only slightly increasing the maximum block size.

EIP-7702 aims to optimize Ethereum’s account abstraction feature. This proposal allows externally owned accounts (EOA) to temporarily act as smart contract wallets during transactions and revert to their original state after the transaction is completed. Moreover, EIP-7702 introduces a new transaction type that includes contract code and signature fields, similar to the batch and sponsor transactions proposed by EIP-3074.

7. Binance Investigators Accuse DWF of Market Manipulation, Allegations of Collusion with DWF Competitors Lead to Dismissal link

WSI reported that in late September 2023, Binance’s monitoring team submitted a recommendation to remove DWF. Over the next few days, the head of Binance’s VIP client department and its staff raised questions about the investigation results and lodged complaints with the company’s leadership. Another department responsible for assessing employee compliance also initiated its own investigation — this time focusing on the market monitoring team and the evidence they collected regarding DWF. Binance executives stated that the new investigation concluded there was insufficient evidence to suggest that DWF was involved in market abuse.

Regarding the WSJ report, Binance co-founder He Yi indicated that they have been closely monitoring market makers and are stringent about it; there is fierce competition among market makers, with some resorting to underhanded tactics like purchasing PR attacks against each other; Binance ensures its own fairness and does not engage in such practices, but truthfully reports to Monitors and other regulatory bodies.

8. FTX and Alameda Continue Liquidation, FTX Plans to Compensate 118% of User Claim Amounts link

In the past month, marked FTX and Alameda Research wallets collectively transferred and settled $97.35 million worth of crypto assets externally. Currently, FTX still holds $33.85 million worth of BOBA and $11.22 million worth of ETH, along with over 78% of the FTT token supply. Alameda’s primary holdings include $140 million worth of WLD, $102 million worth of BIT, $93 million worth of BTC, and $48 million worth of STG.

On May 8th, FTX and its affiliated debtors submitted a restructuring plan and disclosure statement to the Delaware bankruptcy court. This plan aims to distribute nearly all assets of FTX at the time of its collapse in November 2022 to global clients and other creditors. FTX estimates that the total value of assets collected, converted to cash, and available for distribution will be between $14.5 billion to $16.3 billion. If this plan is approved by the bankruptcy court, 98% of FTX’s creditors will receive approximately 118% of their allowed claim amount within 60 days of the plan’s effectiveness.

However, because the compensation amount is calculated based on the price of the currency at the time of bankruptcy, many people are criticizing this compensation plan.

9. Cartier Jewelry Heir Arrested for Alleged Money Laundering Using USDT link

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has charged and arrested Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, a descendant of Cartier’s founder Louis Cartier, on suspicion of money laundering using USDT funds derived from drug trafficking. Law enforcement in Miami apprehended Maximilien de Hoop Cartier, who is alleged to have conspired with a Colombian drug cartel. Cartier and five Colombian nationals attempted to import 100 kilograms of cocaine and launder hundreds of millions of dollars, primarily through over-the-counter (OTC) USDT transactions, successfully laundering $14.5 million before their arrest.

10. US Crypto Super PAC Raises Over $100 Million for 2024 Elections link

The U.S. super Political Action Committee (PAC) supported by the cryptocurrency industry has raised over $102 million, ranking third among all super PACs involved in the 2024 elections. More than half of the political funds for the cryptocurrency super PAC, approximately $54 million, come from direct corporate contributions, mainly from Coinbase and Ripple Labs. The remainder includes $11 million from a16z founders, $5 million from the Winklevoss twins, and $1 million from Brian Armstrong, among others.

Fundraising

Botanix Labs, the developer behind Spiderchain, announced the completion of a $11.5 million financing round. link
Galaxis, a Web3 platform, completed a $10 million financing round. link
The Lava Foundation secured $11 million in financing, with participation from investors including Animoca Brands. link
Arbelos, a cryptocurrency trading platform, completed a $28 million financing round. link
Seeds Labs, a Web3 game developer, announced the completion of a $12 million seed round of financing. link
UXUY, a multi-chain trading platform, announced the completion of a $7 million Pre-A round of financing in Hong Kong. link
AgriDex, a Solana ecosystem tokenized marketplace, completed a $5 million seed round of financing. link
Arcium, a zero-knowledge privacy protocol within the Solana ecosystem, announced strategic financing of $5.5 million. link
Arch Labs, a native Bitcoin application platform, announced the completion of a $7 million financing round. link
OKX Ventures disclosed strategic investments in four products from Web3 venture studio EVG. link
OKX Ventures also announced an investment in Wild Forest. link
Lagrange announced the completion of a $13.2 million seed round of financing. link
Hemera, a Web3 infrastructure startup, announced the completion of a $2.6 million seed round of financing. link
Ambient, a Solana ecosystem DePIN project under the DeFiFi Networks, secured $2 million in seed financing. link
ZKM, a Bitcoin Layer 2 network, completed a $5 million financing round led by OKX Ventures. link
“Blade of God X,” developed by Void Labs, disclosed receiving several million dollars in financing. link
Airstack, a SocialFi company within the Farcaster ecosystem, announced the completion of a $4 million seed round of financing. link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

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