Top 10 News of the Week
1. SEC: Spot ETH ETF issuers can start trading on July 23link
Sources revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) informed the issuer of the spot Ethereum ETF that trading can begin on July 23. The SEC has no further comments on the recently submitted S-1, and the final version needs to be submitted by Wednesday. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, tweeted that the SEC finally responded to the issuer, asking them to submit the final S-1 form (including fees) this Wednesday, and then apply for effectiveness after the close of next Monday so that it can be launched on Tuesday (July 23). This is of course in the absence of unforeseen last-minute problems.
In an interview with Coinage founder Zack Guzmán, Hester Peirce, a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said that there is still room for reconsideration on whether the Ethereum ETF can be pledged. She pointed out that "whether it is pledge or any function of the product, these are all open to re-examination." The interview also covered the future changes of the Ethereum ETF, the development path of the Solana ETF, the change of the SEC's institutional culture, the terminated crypto investigation, and her views on the future direction of SEC regulation.
2. MtGox forum poll: 55% of participants will not sell Bitcoinlink
A vote on the Reddit MtGox forum showed that among the 467 members who participated in the vote, 260 people chose not to sell any of the bitcoins after receiving them as compensation, accounting for the highest proportion of 55%; 88 people chose to sell all of them, accounting for 18%, ranking second highest among the voting options; 68 people chose to sell 1% to 25%; and 26 people chose to sell 25% to 50%.
3. Trump will attend the Bitcoin conference to strengthen security measures, the number of visitors may reach a new highlink
After the assassination attempt on Trump, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey said that he had communicated with the Trump team and that Trump was in good spirits and still promised to give a speech in person at the Bitcoin 2024 conference. The Bitcoin 2024 conference will be held in Nashville, Tennessee, from July 25 to 27. Coinbase's recent research shows that 50 million adults in the United States hold cryptocurrencies.
After attendance fell during the bitcoin bear market, attendance could easily surpass last year's roughly 12,000 people, and could even rival 2022's record of more than 25,000. Brandon Green, chief of staff for the conference's organizers, said ticket sales have accelerated since the announcement that Trump would attend the conference, predicting that the final audience could be between 20,000 and 45,000. The conference could offer a unique "symbiotic" opportunity for the bitcoin industry and politicians. One of the conference's founders promised Trump that attending the conference could bring him $15 million, according to the Washington Post.
4. Trump: Will issue the fourth NFT; The Federal Reserve should avoid cutting interest rates before Novemberlink
Trump said in the interview, "The previous series was very successful, selling out 45,000 cards in one day, and I plan to do it again because people want me to do it again." In May of this year, Trump's campaign team began accepting cryptocurrency donations. According to the Wall Street Journal, citing data from the Federal Election Commission, of the approximately $331 million raised by Trump's campaign last quarter, about $3 million was in cryptocurrency. Trump also said that if he wins, he will allow Jerome Powell to complete his term as chairman of the Federal Reserve until May 2026; the Federal Reserve should avoid cutting interest rates before the November election; the corporate tax rate will be reduced to 15%, and there is no plan to ban TikTok; JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is considered to be the Secretary of the Treasury.
5. Powell: The Fed will not wait until inflation drops to 2% before starting to cut interest rateslink
In a speech at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said the Fed will not wait until inflation falls to 2% before starting to cut interest rates. He pointed out that if inflation is fully reduced to 2%, it may be too long to wait. At present, the Fed needs more evidence of falling inflation to ensure the correctness of policy adjustments. Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos wrote that Federal Reserve Chairman Powell recently said that the recent slowdown in inflation and economic activity is roughly in line with the Fed's expectations, but he still refused to say whether this is a reason for the Fed to cut interest rates at its policy meeting later this month. The inflation report released last week showed a general improvement in the economy, which prompted some private analysts to doubt whether the Fed needs to wait until September to cut interest rates.
6. Vitalik: Against choosing political allies based on who “supports crypto” link
Vitalik published an article titled "Against Choosing Your Political Allies Based on Who "Supports Cryptocurrency"". In the article, he said that although cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly important in modern politics, excessive focus on this may go against the values of entering the crypto field in the first place. He emphasized that cryptocurrency is not just currency and blockchain, but has a broader concept of technological freedom and personal freedom behind it. Freedom is not limited to payment, but also freedom of communication, digital identity and thought. Politicians who support cryptocurrency do not necessarily have the same stance on other freedoms and technological issues.
In response to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin's latest remarks "against making political votes based on whether or not to support cryptocurrency", Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson refuted that my primary goal has always been to keep the government away from cryptocurrency as completely as possible, but when this goal is not possible, the remaining options are very clear. If they will continue to over-regulate, then we should not vote for them. Voting for Biden is voting for the demise of the US cryptocurrency industry. For this reason, we should vote for candidates who support cryptocurrency.
7. a16z explained why they turned to support Trump link
a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen said that he has been a Democrat for most of his life, but he will support Trump in the 2024 presidential election because the Biden administration has stifled startups through excessive regulation and potentially unnecessary taxes, while the Trump administration will help innovation flourish. They disagree with the White House's current plan for "over-regulation" of artificial intelligence. Unlike the Biden administration, Trump's cryptocurrency regulatory plan is a "comprehensive recognition of the entire field." Biden's proposal to tax unrealized capital gains forced him to vote for Trump.
8. BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is a legitimate financial instrumentlink
Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, said in an interview with CNBC: "My view five years ago was wrong. I believe Bitcoin is a legitimate financial instrument." He also said that Bitcoin is a legitimate financial asset that everyone should hold. BlackRock announced on Monday that its assets under management (AUM) reached $10.6 trillion in the second quarter. Currently, its BTC ETF IBIT holds more than 300,000 BTC, making it the largest public holder of Bitcoin.
Dell Group CEO Michael Dell retweeted a video of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink's interview with CNBC, and said that Bitcoin is fascinating (Fascinating Bitcoin).
9. Grayscale officially launches decentralized artificial intelligence fundlink
Grayscale officially launched the Grayscale Decentralized AI Fund LLC, which aims to strengthen AI investment in the cryptocurrency industry. The fund is rebalanced quarterly, and initial investments include Bittensor (TAO) 2.92%, Filecoin (FIL) 30.59%, Livepeer (LPT) 8.64%, Near (NEAR) 32.99% and Render (RNDR) 24.86%. The fund focuses on three areas: chatbots, image generation and other decentralized AI applications; solving problems caused by centralized AI such as deep fakes, false information and certified robots; and AI-related infrastructure such as GPU computing, data storage and decentralized market services.
10. Indian crypto exchage WazirX may have been hacked, with losses exceeding $230 million link
Chain detective ZachXBT said in a post that the Indian crypto exchage WazirX may have been hacked, with losses of more than $230 million. The stolen assets include 5.43 trillion SHIB ($102 million), 15,298 ETH ($52.5 million), 20.5 million MATIC ($11.24 million), 640.27 billion PEPE ($7.6 million), 5.79 million USDT and 135 million GALA ($3.5 million). The attacker has begun selling SHIB and other tokens for a total of 9,956 ETH ($34.36 million). The WazirX hacker holds 56,813 ETH ($197.64 million), leaving only $25.29 million worth of altcoins unsold. WazirX has issued a post confirming the security vulnerability and temporarily stopped Indian rupees INR and cryptocurrency withdrawals.
Key financing events
- Blockchain data network developer Chainbase completes $15 million Series A fundinglink
- OKX Ventures announces investment in zkLink link
- Bitcoin DeFi company Liquidium announces $2.75 million seed roundlink
- Partior announces $60 million Series B funding led by Peak XV Partnerslink
- Token distribution protocol ZAP has completed $15.1 million in financing, with a valuation of $100 millionlink
- Fintech company Tapi completes $22 million Series A financing, with participation from a16z and otherslink
- Web3 social platform beoble announces $3 million in fundinglink
- Haruko completes $6 million Series A fundinglink
- Fintech company Caliza completes $8.5 million in financing, led by Initializedlink
- Crypto AI startup Mira completes $9 million seed round of financinglink
- Allium Labs Completes $16.5 Million Series A Fundinglink
- Real World Asset (RWA) Credit Agreement Zivoe Announces $8.35 Million Financinglink
- HashKey Capital announces investment in CatizenAI publishing platform Pluto Studiolink
For more industry funding events, please visit crypto-fundraising.info .
