According to The Block, on Tuesday, at a hearing held by the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, all five SEC members appeared to testify, and Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer questioned SEC Chairman Gary Gensler about the SEC's case involving cryptocurrency startup DEBT Box. A federal judge in Utah criticized the SEC's handling of the case and said the agency acted poorly. Ultimately, the agency was ordered in March to pay a fine including attorney fees and costs. The same judge also criticized the SEC's alleged misleading statements, and the SEC admitted that it failed to meet expected standards. The Republican from Minnesota asked, "Are you embarrassed at all that we are discussing this here today?" Gensler replied, "The case was indeed not handled properly."
Emmer, who has been critical of the SEC chairman, also asked Gensler about Vice President Harris' comments on cryptocurrencies over the weekend. According to Bloomberg, Harris said she would "encourage innovative technologies like artificial intelligence and digital assets while protecting consumers and investors. We will create a safe business environment by developing consistent and transparent rules." Emmer asked, "Sir, is this your approach as well, or do you think she is blaming you because you didn't create clear enough rules during her three years in office?" Gensler said the law already exists, but Congress can amend it.
Ritchie Torres, a Democrat, also asked Gensler questions about how the agency defines securities, using the example of New York Yankees tickets. “Is there a legal difference from a federal securities law perspective between buying a Yankees ticket that provides the experience of watching a Yankees game and buying an NFT that provides the experience of watching an animated web series?” Gensler said it depends on how something is offered and sold, and whether people are “in anticipation of a common enterprise and anticipating a profit,” citing the Howey test. “The expectation or promise that an object may increase in value or be sold at a profit on a secondary market can be retroactively attributed to nearly any collectible, any consumer product, any work of art, or any piece of music,” Torres said.
US SEC Delays Decision on BlackRock and Bitwise Ethereum Spot ETF Options Trading Application
According to CryptoSlate, according to the latest regulatory documents, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed the decision on BlackRock and Bitwise's Ethereum spot ETF options trading applications, and the latest deadlines will be November 10 and November 11, respectively. The SEC said it needs more time to consider the proposal and extended the initial 45-day review period. According to previous news, the SEC has approved the listing and trading of BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF (iShares Bitcoin Trust, referred to as IBIT) options.
Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years in prison
According to The Block, Caroline Ellison, former co-CEO of Alameda Research, was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the collapse of the crypto exchage FTX. Ellison will also forfeit approximately $11 billion and may serve her sentence in a "minimum security facility." Ellison is also the ex-girlfriend of former FTX CEO SBF, who pleaded guilty in December 2022 to seven counts of wire fraud, commodity fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. Ellison previously cooperated with the government and testified in SBF's criminal trial earlier this year. Ellison told the court in March that SBF instructed her to commit the crime that led to the collapse of FTX. Alameda has access to customer deposits through an unlimited line of credit or directly to customer deposits sent to Alameda's bank account. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversees the sentencing of SBF, said on Tuesday that the difference between SBF and Ellison is that the latter cooperated with prosecutors, while "SBF denied the whole thing." Ellison's lawyers had previously asked the court not to sentence her to prison in light of her cooperation. Her lawyers cited the recommendation of the Federal Probation Department that she be sentenced to three years of supervised release. At the same time, FTX's former engineering director Nishad Singh and co-founder Gary Wang also pleaded guilty to criminal charges and cooperated with prosecutors. They will attend sentencing hearings on October 30 and November 20, respectively. In March of this year, SBF was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison and was required to repay investors and creditors up to $11 billion in losses.
US SEC settles TrueCoin and TrustToken over TrueUSD stablecoin fraud charges
According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it had reached a settlement with TrueCoin LLC and TrustToken Inc. on unregistered sales and fraud charges for the stablecoin TrueUSD (TUSD). TrueCoin is the issuer of TUSD and TrustToken is the developer of the lending protocol TrueFi. Neither TrueCoin nor TrustToken admitted or denied the charges and agreed to pay a fine of $163,766 each. TrueCoin also agreed to return approximately $400,000 in profits and interest. The SEC said that from November 2020 to April 2023, TrueCoin and TrustToken "issued and sold unregistered investment contracts in the form of crypto assets TUSD on TrueFi." The two companies also "falsely promoted the investment opportunity as safe and reliable" and claimed that it was fully backed by U.S. dollars or U.S. dollar-equivalent assets. In fact, most of the assets were invested in "speculative and high-risk offshore investment funds to earn additional returns." It is reported that as of September 2024, 99% of the reserves used to support TUSD were invested in speculative funds.
Türkiye postpones capital gains tax on stocks and cryptocurrencies
Turkey has decided not to move forward with an additional tax package this year that would impose capital gains taxes on stock trading and cryptocurrencies, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said, according to Bloomberg. "There is no stock tax on our agenda. We discussed it before, but it was not included in the agenda. Officials will focus on narrowing the scope of tax exemptions for some time to come," Yilmaz said. Earlier this year, initial plans to impose a capital gains tax on the stock market weighed on the stock market. After strong public opposition, Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said in June that the effort would be "re-evaluated."
Sky halts plans to delist WBTC after conversation with BitGo CEO
According to CoinDesk, the decentralized financial lending platform Sky (formerly MakerDAO) may be ready to suspend its original plan to use WBTC as collateral under the latest advice of an influential advisor. The decision stems from a long discussion with BitGo CEO Mike Belshe on the Sky discussion forum. BitGo was the only custodian of the Bitcoin that WBTC relies on until it reached a strategic cooperation with TRON founder Justin Sun in August to transfer custody rights to the latter. Sky's advisor BA Labs expressed concerns about Justin Sun participation in the project, especially considering that about $200 million in loans on the platform are somehow related to WBTC collateral. As a result, Sky community members voted last week to approve a five-step plan to exclude WBTC from collateral starting in early October. But after the vote, discussions on the matter did not stop.
Belshe made numerous forum posts to clarify that the new custody arrangement was misunderstood and that Justin Sun did not have the ability to unilaterally change the existing structure. He stressed that Justin Sun would not have "the ability to direct changes in key management practices at BitGo or BitGo Singapore," as the two entities oversee the multi-signature keys that control the new custodian. Subsequently, BA Labs issued a statement on Tuesday saying that after further understanding, "the additional details and clarity have given us greater comfort with the current state of WBTC operations and key management." They noted that WBTC exposure as collateral has been reduced to approximately $170 million, reducing the risk to "more acceptable levels." "While we remain concerned about BitGlobal's role as a signatory of WBTC, we find that it is no longer at a level that requires immediate exclusion from collateral, and therefore, we recommend that the collateral delisting process be suspended indefinitely," BA Labs wrote.
BlackRock Digital Assets Head Robbie Mitchnick Sees Bitcoin as a ‘Safe-haven’ Asset
According to Bloomberg, despite Bitcoin's recent high correlation with U.S. stock market price movements, Robbie Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, said that calling cryptocurrencies "risky" assets may be a misunderstanding. "Gold exhibits many of the same patterns. While there are these temporary periods, the long-term correlation is close to zero," Mitchnick said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. He said that Bitcoin is not controlled by a single country or government, and is scarce and decentralized. Mitchnick said, "When we think of Bitcoin, we primarily think of it as an emerging global currency alternative, a scarce, global, decentralized, non-sovereign asset. This is an asset with no country risk and no counterparty risk." BlackRock operates an exchange-traded fund that invests in Bitcoin and Ethereum. But Mitchnick said that many institutional clients have a "less clear" view of Ethereum.
According to Decrypt, a post on a Dark Web forum claimed to have leaked the personal data of 12.8 million Binance users, allegedly including sensitive information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdays, and physical addresses. But Binance called it a scam.
A user named "FireBear" claimed on a leak-related forum on Monday that they had obtained a database containing personal information of Binance users, which was allegedly leaked in August. The post claimed that the leaked data included Binance users' last names, first names, emails, phone numbers, birthdays, addresses, and zip codes. The poster provided a partially blurred sample of the alleged data and offered to sell the information in "part or all" form. The poster invited interested parties to contact directly and warned that the sensitive data could be misused.
In response, a Binance spokesperson said: "This is false. Our security team has investigated these claims and we can confirm that this is not a Binance data leak." Nevertheless, cybersecurity experts warned that such false news could trigger phishing attacks and account theft, and advised users to enable two-factor authentication and be wary of suspicious communications.
Bloomberg: Bank of New York Mellon plans to launch crypto ETF custody service
According to Bloomberg, Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) is about to launch a crypto ETF custody service. According to a recent statement from the bank, after a review by the Office of the Chief Accountant of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), crypto assets will not need to be treated as liabilities on the balance sheet. In addition, BNY Mellon has obtained an exemption from the SEC's crypto accounting policy SAB 121, which helps clear the way for the bank to provide custody services to crypto ETF clients. BNY Mellon's entry into the crypto ETF custody market may eventually threaten Coinbase's dominance. Coinbase provides custody services for the vast majority of U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs. According to Bloomberg estimates, the cryptocurrency custody market is currently worth about $300 million and is growing at a rate of about 30% per year. Given the risks associated with digital asset security, cryptocurrency custody service fees may be much higher than traditional assets.
Grass, an artificial intelligence (AI) web crawler project based on the Solana network, issued a reminder on the X platform, asking users to connect their Solana wallets on the Grass dashboard before 8:00 am Beijing time on October 1. If the deadline is missed, users will not be able to claim the rewards of the first airdrop.
Farcaster client Warpcast launches new "mini app" feature
According to The Block, Farcaster client Warpcast has launched a native way to develop applications for decentralized social media protocols. The tool system, called mini app, went live on Tuesday and is similar to the existing Farcaster Frames feature, which enables people to launch dApps directly in social media feeds. Warpcast developer horsesefacts explained in a social media post: "The mini app view is a complete HTML/CSS/JS web page, so in some ways it is both easier and harder than launching Frames. It's easier because you can use a full interactive canvas and any web framework you want, and it's harder because there's more to set up than a simple picture." Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero said the mini app is a unique feature of Warpcast, "but it can also run on any application built on Farcaster."
Similar to Farcaster Frames, mini apps allow developers to turn any post on Farcaster into an interactive app for minting NFTs, developing games, creating polls, and more. Mini apps can be launched not only from Frames, but also through 'deep links', which are URLs that direct users directly to specific pages within the app, rather than websites or app stores. Currently, the developer documentation states that only Warpcast-specific URLs are supported, but the team says that "new Frame button types may be introduced if these experiments are successful."
The Snapshot page shows that Arbitrum DAO initiated a proposal vote for "Funds to Support the Foundation's Strategic Partner Budget", which currently has a support rate of 99.2%, and the vote will end on September 26. The proposal was put forward by Wintermute Governance, requesting a grant of 250 million ARB (currently worth about $153 million) to enable the Arbitrum Foundation to further promote key strategic partnerships. The proposal states that all expenditures will follow the foundation's established practices and evaluation criteria when seeking partnerships. If the proposal is approved by Arbitrum DAO, the foundation will include and detail this additional budget in the next annual transparency report submitted in the first quarter of 2025. The proposal states that the budget applied for will focus on agreements that meet the following three criteria: key opportunities exceeding 2 million ARB, new agreements signed after this proposal is approved, and contractual commitments lasting one year or more. Some foreseeable capital-intensive areas include, but are not limited to, expanding the Orbit Chain ecosystem, striving for new RWA opportunities, and introducing well-known TradeFi institutions on Arbitrum. Tokens will be allocated only as needed, and will only be traded when contractual obligations are required. The goal of this proposal is not to maintain the status quo, but to ensure that we can continue to foster the growth of the ecosystem through strategic partnerships. These funds will not be used for Arbitrum Foundation operating expenses, including marketing, operations, service providers, or existing agreements that have been signed.
The second phase of the Babylon mainnet will be launched in the second week of October
Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon announced on X Platform that the second phase of the Babylon mainnet will be launched in the second week of October, with a larger total staking limit. Members of the first phase are requested to unstake and withdraw all excess collateral to secure their place in the second phase. More details about the second phase will be announced soon.
Coinbase Assets tweeted that Coinbase will add support for ZKsync (ZK) on the ZKsync network. Please do not send this asset over other networks, or your funds may be at risk of loss. If liquidity conditions are met, trading will begin on or after 0:00 on September 26, Beijing time. Once the asset is in sufficient supply, the ZK-USD trading pair will start trading in stages.
According to The Block, USDC issuer Circle launched the on-chain compliance platform "Compliance Engine" on September 24, aiming to help companies develop blockchain applications while meeting strict compliance requirements. The platform will include transaction screening tools that can be used to "detect high-risk and suspicious transfers" and monitoring tools that "help identify potential high-risk behaviors." The Compliance Engine will include a one-stop "console" where users can integrate APIs and analyze data, mark transactions in real time, conduct long-term investigations, set up blacklists for suspicious wallets, and report transactions to the authorities. The platform will support multiple blockchains connected to Circle's programmable wallet tools, including Avalanche, Ethereum, Polygon, and Solana.
DeFi derivatives protocol Cega launches ‘Vault Token Market’ to facilitate seamless investing
According to CoinDesk, the decentralized derivatives protocol Cega announced the launch of the "Vault Token Market" (VTM), which aims to solve the liquidity problems faced by investors due to the 27-day deposit lock-up period. This feature allows users to withdraw their USDC deposits in advance without waiting for the entire lock-up period. Winston Zhang, co-founder of Cega, said that users can flexibly choose to exit all or part of their positions to improve fund liquidity. Cega's current total locked value (TVL) exceeds US$10 million, and VTM is open to market makers and yield farmers, providing more strategic use cases and liquidity opportunities.
Insider: Musician Sean Combs is currently being held in the same prison as SBF
According to the New York Times, musician Sean Combs ('Diddy') is currently being held in the same wing of Brooklyn Jail in New York as Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and is living in a dormitory-style room, according to people familiar with the matter. Combs has been held for nearly a week on charges including extortion and sex trafficking, and has rejected a request for $50 million in bail. Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud and has served a year in prison so far. It is reported that Combs has been the subject of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. He was recently arrested on federal charges of sex trafficking and extortion.
Catizen Stake To Earn Rewards Withdrawal Channel is Now Open
According to official news, Catizen's Stake To Earn withdrawal reward channel is now open, and users can withdraw previously pledged CATI and additional exchange tokens. In this staking income activity, more than 15 million CATI were staked, and more than 1.1 million CATI holders participated.
Google: Snap deploys Gemini’s multimodal capabilities in its ‘My AI’ chatbot
According to Jinshi, Google announced that Snap has deployed multimodal features driven by Google Cloud's generative AI technology in its "My AI" chatbot, which is now available to Snapchat users in the United States. Google also announced the launch of a customer engagement suite that combines the functionality of contact center AI solutions with generative AI capabilities.
Crypto platform Daylight completes $6 million seed round of financing
According to The Block, Daylight, a crypto platform that recommends personalized on-chain operations to users, has completed a $6 million seed round of financing, led by Union Square Ventures (USV) and co-led by 1kx. Framework Ventures, Chapter One, and Zerion co-founders Evgeny Yurtaev and Vadim Koleoshkin, Blockaid co-founders Ido Ben-Natan and Raz Niv, and Yup co-founder Nir Kabessa participated in the investment. As part of the transaction, USV joined the Daylight board of directors. This round of financing brings Daylight's total financing to $9 million, after the company completed $3 million in financing in November 2022. It is reported that Daylight is a personalized on-chain API integrated in major wallets such as MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Zerion and OKX Wallet, providing users with personalized transaction suggestions such as airdrop claims, NFT casting, and game tasks.
Meridian Completes $4 Million Seed Round, Led by ParaFi Capital and Borderless Capital
According to PRNewswire, Meridian, a decentralized liquidity market and liquid pledge platform, announced the completion of a $4 million seed round of financing. This round of financing was co-led by ParaFi Capital and Borderless Capital, with participation from Amber Group, Saison Capital, Interop Ventures and Oak Grove Ventures. Meridian aims to promote the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem based on the Move protocol, and its platform will become the core liquidity and yield hub in the Movement ecosystem. The platform is currently online on the test network and is scheduled to be launched on the first day of the Movement mainnet launch. Meridian will leverage the security and composability of the Move language to provide efficient liquidity and DeFi infrastructure.
Binance CEO: Binance's historical trading volume has exceeded 100 trillion US dollars
As early as this month, Binance's historical trading volume has exceeded 100 trillion US dollars, according to Binance CEO Richard Teng on the X platform. Binance co-founder He Yi retweeted the tweet.
PANews APP has updated its functions, download and experience it now!
【Comment】Speak freely and exchange views
【Floating window】Reading interrupted, return at any time
【Search within the article】Quickly locate and get to the core
