Important information from last night and this morning (August 14th - August 15th)

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08-15
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Important information from last night and this morning (August 14-August 15)

The U.S. July unadjusted CPI annual rate was 2.9%, and the core CPI annual rate was 3.2%

According to Jinshi.com, the annual rate of US unadjusted CPI in July was 2.9%, expected to be 3.00%, and the previous value was 3.00%. The annual rate of US unadjusted core CPI in July was 3.2%, expected to be 3.20%, and the previous value was 3.30%.

The US government transferred 10,000 Silk Road-related bitcoins to Coinbase Prime last night

According to CoinDesk, blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence shows that the U.S. government transferred 10,000 Silk Road-related seized bitcoins to Coinbase Prime on Wednesday (23:38 Beijing time). The crypto wallet that initiated the transfer received about $600 million worth of bitcoins from a wallet marked "U.S. Government: Silk Road Justice Department Confiscated Funds" two weeks ago. Deposits to exchanges usually indicate an intention to sell assets, but in this case, the transfer may be for custody reasons. The U.S. Marshals Service, an agency under the U.S. Department of Justice, announced last month that it had established a partnership with Coinbase Prime to "protect and trade" large digital assets. It is unclear what exactly happens to these tokens after they enter the platform. The U.S. Department of Justice announced in 2022 that it had seized more than 50,000 BTC and arrested James Zhong, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud after accusing him of manipulating the trading system of the Dark Web market Silk Road in 2012. According to court documents, the government last confirmed the sale of Silk Road assets in March 2023, when 9,861 tokens were sold for $216 million. The government listed in the document a plan to sell the remaining assets in four batches that year, but there has been no follow-up communication about any sales since then. According to Arkham, wallets associated with the US government currently hold $12 billion worth of BTC and small amounts of other seized cryptocurrencies.

Senator Chuck Schumer Promises to Enact Crypto-friendly Laws if Harris Is Elected President

According to Cointelegraph, U.S. Senate Majority Leader and Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said that if Kamala Harris is elected president, his goal is to pass bipartisan legislation supporting cryptocurrencies by the end of this year. Speaking at the Crypto4Harris Town Hall meeting, Schumer said: "We can't continue to sit idly by, because then we risk sending cryptocurrencies overseas to countries with minimal standards that don't have any regulation at all." Schumer noted the growth of the crypto industry and said that the Harris administration is not necessarily opposed to cryptocurrencies in principle, adding that if Harris is elected president, his goal is to pass legislation supporting cryptocurrencies in the United States by the end of this year. He said: "I hope to bring members of both parties in the Senate together and create momentum so that we can pass reasonable legislation to help the United States maintain its position as the most innovative country in the world." Schumer said: "When it comes to artificial intelligence or encryption technology, innovation is our North Star." He pointed out that lawmakers need to provide guardrails to protect users of technology, maintain national security, and ensure that encryption technology is not abused by evil elements. “Congress has a responsibility to provide common-sense and sensible regulation for cryptocurrency, and we need your support to ensure any proposal is bipartisan,” Schumer added, calling on voters and cryptocurrency enthusiasts to pledge their support for Harris’ campaign.

Circle CEO: Harris campaign is actively engaging with the crypto industry

According to CryptoSlate, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire is optimistic about rumors that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is shifting to a more favorable stance toward cryptocurrencies. He made the remarks in an interview with CNBC on August 14, saying that Harris' presidential campaign is actively working with the crypto industry to "work together" to deepen understanding of crypto-related policies in preparation for the 2024 U.S. election. According to Allaire: "Both the government and the Harris campaign are working together to really understand the issues, participants, industries, and policy issues." In the interview, he also shared his views on a virtual roundtable held on August 8 with White House officials, Harris campaign representatives, U.S. lawmakers, and industry leaders. The Circle CEO said the event highlighted the bipartisan nature of the issue and its importance to voters. He added that the industry is seeking clarity on Harris' economic policy intentions and her stance on cryptocurrencies.

NYSE Arca withdraws application to list commodity trust and cryptocurrency ETF options

According to Cointelegraph, a document on August 13 showed that the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca Electronic Exchange withdrew a rule change it proposed in January this year. The proposed change would allow the listing and trading of options based on commodity trusts, including options based on cryptocurrency ETFs such as Grayscale GBTC. This is the latest in a series of regulatory activities around cryptocurrency ETF options. According to previous news, on August 8, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) revised an application to list Bitcoin ETF options. According to a document on August 6, Nasdaq asked the US SEC to allow it to list BlackRock iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) options. Bloomberg expects Bitcoin spot options to go online in the fourth quarter.

Eric Trump hints at family's upcoming crypto project involving 'digital real estate'

According to CoinDesk, citing the New York Post, the Trump Group, the holding company of former US President Donald Trump's business enterprises, is about to launch a new cryptocurrency plan. Eric Trump, the son of former President Trump and executive vice president of the Trump Group, revealed the upcoming project in an interview with the Washington Post, but refused to disclose any specific details, saying only that the crypto project would be announced publicly after "everything is ready." He hinted that the project may involve "digital real estate," suggesting that people can lend or borrow money through it. Eric Trump said: "This project is fair, and it is collateral that anyone can get immediately. I don't know if people realize how big a shock this is to the banking and financial industries." He added in the interview that he has a "unique view" on "how people can be easily excluded from certain markets" and said that the Trump family "must have suffered a fair share of financial discrimination." In addition, Eric Trump said: "I think at some point, we all want to achieve some form of economic independence and live in a world where we don't have to follow the scripts of big banks. That day will come soon." Earlier on August 7, Trump's son Eric Trump said he had a strong interest in encryption/DeFi and would make a major announcement.

Multiple suspects in June Holograph hack arrested in Italy

Holograph, a full-chain NFT protocol, said on the X platform: "After two months of extremely intense manhunt by the French Office for the Prevention of Cybercrime (OFAC), BRI, Europol, the Italian Anti-Mafia Investigation Bureau and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS), we are pleased to announce that several people have been arrested in connection with the Holograph hacking incident on June 13. As part of the arrests, a large number of assets and electronic devices have been frozen and seized. The arrests were carried out in Italy with the assistance of the French authorities. The suspect will soon be extradited to France for trial. As the investigation is still ongoing, the name of the suspect cannot be released at the request of the French authorities. The team will share more information on the recovery of assets in the Holograph ecosystem."

Vanguard's new CEO: No plans to launch a cryptocurrency ETF

According to The Block, Vanguard's new CEO Salim Ramji said in an interview that the company has no plans to launch a cryptocurrency ETF. Salim Ramji took over as Vanguard CEO last month after serving in senior leadership positions at BlackRock for ten years. Ramji most recently served as Global Head of iShares and Index Investments at BlackRock, responsible for managing most of the company's client assets and developing the iShares platform. Vanguard is the world's second largest asset management company, with more than $9 trillion in assets under management.

Fidelity Digital Asset Management is working on stablecoins and tokenized Treasury products

According to The Block, Cynthia Lo Bessette, head of Fidelity Digital Asset Management, said in an interview that it is not clear whether the next ETP product will appear after Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bessette added that although the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not yet approved an Ethereum ETF that can pledge the underlying assets, this may change because pledge is a key component of the Ethereum ecosystem. The emergence of an Ethereum pledged ETF may only be a matter of time, not a question of whether it will happen. Her team has had "constructive conversations" with SEC staff to discuss the possibility of introducing this feature to the market. In addition, Fidelity Digital Asset Management is also studying tokenization, including stablecoins, on-chain treasuries, and credit.

EigenLayer is testing support for permissionless tokens, this feature will be deployed to the mainnet next week

According to The Block, EigenLayer is testing support for permissionless tokens, allowing any ERC-20 token to be added to the protocol as a re-pledgeable asset. Eigen Labs said that this feature will be deployed to the mainnet next week, which will expand the range of assets that can provide security for decentralized networks and unlock the cryptoeconomic security of ERC-20 tokens. After completing the initial testing of the testnet, EigenLayer will enter the mainnet stage, and user interface support is expected to be launched in the late third quarter. Earlier this year, Andreessen Horowitz invested $100 million in Eigen Labs, and the total asset value of the project has now exceeded $12 billion.

Iran's banking system suffered a massive cyber attack, and Moscow is about to resume stock market trading

According to the Jerusalem Post, citing Iranian media reports, the Central Bank of Iran and several other banks suffered a major cyber attack, which caused a large-scale disruption in the country's banking system. Preliminary assessments indicate that this may be one of the largest cyber attacks against Iran's national infrastructure. In addition, market sources said that the Moscow Exchange will resume stock market trading at 17:30 Moscow time (22:30 Beijing time). Previously, the Moscow Exchange in Russia suspended trading. The Moscow Exchange issued a statement saying that on August 14, the Moscow Exchange stock market decided to temporarily suspend trading from 16:18 Moscow time (21:18 Beijing time) due to the discovery of a software error. Due to the software error, most access servers were unable to connect to trading participants. The software error included incorrect memory processing on various access servers. The fault has been resolved. The stock market will resume trading at 17:30 (22:30 Beijing time), and the system is ready to withdraw orders and connect participants. Trading in the rest of the Moscow Exchange's markets: the derivatives market, the foreign exchange market and the precious metals market, as well as the deposit and credit business of the money market are all proceeding as usual.

Offchain Labs has established a new division called "Tandem" and has invested $10 million in the division

According to Bloomberg, Offchain Labs, the developer of the Arbitrum blockchain, announced the establishment of a new business unit "Tandem" dedicated to promoting mainstream adoption of crypto networks. Offchain Labs has invested $10 million in the department, focusing mainly on Ethereum ecosystem projects outside of Arbitrum. Offchain Labs is supported by venture capitalists such as Lightspeed Venture Partners and Ribbit Capital. Tandem will focus on promoting the application of blockchain in the mainstream market, such as Robinhood and blockchain games that cooperate with Arbitrum. Offchain Labs expects that the new department will become one of its main sources of income.

MetaMask Launches Blockchain Debit Card Developed in Partnership with Mastercard and Baanx

According to CoinDesk, MetaMask has begun to launch a blockchain debit card developed in cooperation with Mastercard and Baanx. The first batch of MetaMask cards will be piloted by a small number of users in the EU and the UK, and are planned to be promoted in a wider area later this year. The card allows users to pay directly with their USDC, USDT and wETH assets in the MetaMask self-custodial wallet, and the assets are supported by the Linea blockchain (Ethereum Layer-2 network).

Former TON Foundation member established TON Ventures with an initial fund size of US$40 million

According to The Block, former TON Foundation members Ian Wittkopp and Inal Kardan founded TON Ventures and launched the first fund worth $40 million. The fund aims to support projects based on the TON blockchain. Wittkopp and Kardan served as director of TON Accelerator and director of games, respectively. TON Ventures mainly invests in start-up projects within the TON ecosystem, focusing on areas such as decentralized finance, games, advertising/marketing and regulated financial products. Wittkopp said that TON Ventures has supported more than a dozen start-ups including Catizen, Tradoor and Evaa Protocol. The average investment amount of the fund is $500,000 or less, but it will also participate in late-stage "strategic" transactions such as large agreements. The fund is expected to be fully deployed within a year.

Binance will launch BANANA U-margined Perpetual Contract

Binance Futures will launch USDⓈ-M BANANA perpetual contract at 10:00 am Beijing time on August 15, with a leverage of up to 50x.

Decentralized AI blockchain platform Sahara AI completes $43 million in financing, led by Binance Labs and others

Sahara AI, a decentralized AI blockchain platform, announced the successful completion of a $43 million financing round led by Binance Labs, Pantera Capital and Polychain Capital, with participation from many top global investment institutions such as Samsung, Matrix Partners and Siam Commercial Bank of Thailand. At the same time, many leading figures in the AI ​​industry and academia also joined in to help, including Laksh Vaaman Sehgal, Vice Chairman of Motherson Group, and Anthropic scientist Rohan Taori. Sahara AI was founded by Sean Ren, AI professor at the University of Southern California, and Tyler Zhou, former investment director of Binance Labs. Since April 2023, it has established cooperation with 35 leading companies and research institutions such as Microsoft, Amazon, and MIT. The financing will be used to expand the team, improve the performance of AI blockchain, and accelerate the construction of the developer ecosystem. “Binance Labs is committed to empowering teams with the potential to create disruptive technology solutions and supporting Web3 founders who can make a lasting impact,” said He Yi, co-founder of Binance and head of Binance Labs. “We look forward to Sahara AI taking the lead in building a decentralized AI blockchain platform to reshape the future of AI, making it more transparent, secure, and accessible to everyone.”

Parfin, a licensed Ethereum L2 developer, raises $10 million in funding led by ParaFi Capital

Parfin, a crypto infrastructure company focused on enterprise-level blockchain development, has raised $10 million in the first round of its Series A financing, The Block reported. The financing was led by ParaFi Capital, with participation from Framework Ventures, L4 Venture Builder and Núclea. Parfin plans to raise another $16 million through a second round of Series A financing, bringing the total financing to $38 million. Founded in 2019, Parfin will use the funds to continue developing its customized Rayls network and expand to global markets, especially Latin America. Rayls is a permissioned EVM blockchain for enterprise application scenarios such as tokenization, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and inter-institutional transactions. All accounts must meet KYC compliance requirements while maintaining user privacy and connecting to the DeFi world through the Rayls public chain. The blockchain is currently participating in the CBDC pilot of the Central Bank of Brazil and was selected for the Mastercard Start Path program in May. In addition, Parfin also provides stablecoins, fiat currency deposits and withdrawals, and crypto brokerage services.

Stablecoin payment platform Sling Money completes $15 million Series A financing, led by Union Square Ventures

Stablecoin payment platform Sling Money announced the completion of a $15 million Series A financing round, led by Union Square Ventures, with participation from Ribbit Capital and Slow Ventures. This round of financing will help Sling Money advance its mission of global payments, making cross-border remittances instant, convenient and low-cost. Transfers on Sling Money are made using Pax Dollar (USDP), a dollar-backed stablecoin issued by Paxos Trust Company. USDP and its reserves are strictly regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services. Sling Money uses stablecoin technology and a user-friendly interface to enable users to make instant transfers between more than 50 countries at almost zero fees. The company previously received a $5 million seed round of financing led by Ribbit Capital.

Bitcoin network infrastructure developer Satflow completes $7.6 million seed round, with Coinbase Ventures and others participating

According to official news, Satflow, a Bitcoin network infrastructure developer, announced that it has completed a $7.6 million seed round of financing, led by Variant Fund, with participation from Nascent, Coinbase Ventures, UTXO Management, Hash3, CMS, Asymmetric, Robot Ventures, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Sora Ventures, and MEME LAND. Angel investors include Nick Hansen of Luxor, Udi Wertheimer of Taproot Wizards, FarmerJoeDomo, Dan Held of Taproot Wizards, and Danny Diekroeger of Deezy.

According to reports, Satflow will focus on providing infrastructure for market makers and large traders, upgrading Bitcoin L1 to institutional-level quality and enhancing decentralization.

Marathon Digital purchased 4,144 BTC for $249 million. The total amount of BTC on its balance sheet currently exceeds 25,000

Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA), a US bitcoin mining company, disclosed in its official blog that as of July 31, 2024, MARA held 20,818 bitcoins on its balance sheet, second only to MicroStrategy. Between August 12 and August 14, 2024, MARA purchased 4,144 BTC (about $249 million) using proceeds from the issuance of convertible notes. This purchase, combined with the BTC mined by the company so far this month, has increased the total amount of bitcoin held by MARA on its balance sheet to more than 25,000 BTC.

Bank of America Q2 report: holding $2.8 million worth of IBIT and $1.5 million worth of FBTC

According to the second quarter 13-F filing submitted by Bank of America to the U.S. SEC, as of June 30, it held $2.8 million worth of IBIT, an increase of 31%; and $1.5 million worth of FBTC, an increase of 21%.

Hedge fund firm DE Shaw increased its holdings of Bitcoin spot ETFs worth more than $170 million in Q2

According to the second quarter 13-F filing submitted by hedge fund company DE Shaw to the US SEC, as of June 30, it held BlackRock IBIT worth $90 million and Fidelity FBTC worth $90 million, an increase of more than $170 million from the first quarter. It is reported that DE Shaw's IBIT holdings in the first quarter were $6 million and FBTC holdings were $3 million.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley bought more than $600 million of Bitcoin spot ETFs in the second quarter of this year

According to Reuters, regulatory documents released on Wednesday showed that Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley purchased more than $600 million in Bitcoin spot ETFs in the second quarter of this year. Goldman Sachs' quarterly disclosure documents (13-F) submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) show that as of June 30, it has purchased a total of about $418 million in Bitcoin spot ETFs, most of which are BlackRock IBIT, totaling nearly 7 million shares, worth about $238 million. At the same time, Goldman Sachs also holds a large number of Fidelity FBTC and Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF shares. On the other hand, as of June 30, Morgan Stanley also held 5.5 million shares of BlackRock IBIT, worth $188 million. The bank also holds a small number of Ark ARKB and Grayscale GBTC shares.

2 addresses redeemed 6197 ETH through Blast cross-chain in the past hour, and then recharged all of them to Binance

According to @ai_9684xtpa, two addresses suspected to be controlled by the same whale redeemed 6,197 ETH through Blast cross-chain in the past hour, and then recharged all of them to Binance, worth about $17.04 million. These two addresses invested 39,886.1 ETH in the early days of Blast, worth about $90.16 million, and received a total of $1.71 million worth of BLAST airdrop rewards, showing their huge contribution to the TVL of the Blast platform.

Vitalik's address transferred 199.9 ETH to Kraken 7 hours ago, equivalent to about 530,000 US dollars

Arkham data shows that Vitalik Buterin's address starting with 0x1Db transferred 199.9 ETH to the Kraken Deposit address 7 hours ago, equivalent to approximately US$530,000.

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Disclaimer: The content above is only the author's opinion which does not represent any position of Followin, and is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as, investment advice from Followin.
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