Important information last night and this morning (February 4th - February 5th)

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PANews
02-05
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Important news from last night and this morning (February 4-5)

U.S. lawmakers form House and Senate working groups to draft cryptocurrency and stablecoin legislation

According to The Block, U.S. lawmakers are forming a working group that includes members of key House and Senate committees to develop a regulatory framework for digital assets and stablecoins. At a news conference on Tuesday, White House AI and Cryptocurrency Affairs Advisor David Sacks announced the formation of this bicameral working group, along with Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson. The Senate has already been advancing stablecoin regulation. Senator Bill Hagerty introduced a bill on Tuesday aimed at creating a regulatory framework, including parameters for whether issuers are federally or state-regulated. Hill stated that future stablecoin legislation will be "very similar" to the Senate's approach. Hill said at Tuesday's news conference that future legislation regulating the overall cryptocurrency market structure will be similar to the "21st Century Financial Innovation and Technology Act" (FIT21), and emphasized its bipartisan support.

Acting CFTC Chair: CFTC no longer enforces regulatory oversight

According to CoinDesk, Caroline Pham, the acting chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said on Tuesday that the regulator has restructured its enforcement division to "refocus" on combating fraud and "stop regulating through enforcement." Under the previous CFTC Chair Rostin Behnam, the enforcement division had multiple task forces, including one focused on insider trading, one on cybersecurity and emerging technologies, and one aimed at combating environmental fraud. This restructuring will reduce the number of task forces to two. The new "Complex Fraud Task Force" will handle enforcement of complex fraud and manipulation across all asset classes, from initial investigations to litigation. Paul Hayeck, the deputy director of enforcement, will serve as the acting head of the Complex Fraud Task Force. The "Retail Fraud and General Enforcement Task Force" will handle retail fraud and general enforcement matters, led by Charles Marvine, also a deputy director of enforcement. Pham said in a press release: "This streamlined structure will stop regulating through enforcement and increase efficiency - these much-needed reforms will maximize CFTC resources to take more actions against fraudsters and other bad actors, rather than penalizing law-abiding citizens." According to the CFTC's announcement, the new structure will "more effectively leverage CFTC resources to prevent fraud, manipulation, and abuse, and ensure market integrity," while "providing enhanced enforcement affairs governance and oversight to prevent over-enforcement and enhance consistency, fairness, and due process."

Crypto Czar David Sacks: Evaluating a strategic Bitcoin reserve is a top priority for the government's internal working group

According to The Block, in a Washington news conference held jointly with key congressional committee leaders on Tuesday, David Sacks, the newly appointed "Cryptocurrency Affairs Advisor" to former President Donald Trump, outlined the new administration's broad pro-crypto agenda. When asked about the role of cryptocurrencies in the recently proposed U.S. sovereign wealth fund, Sacks revealed that evaluating a potential Bitcoin reserve is a top priority for the government's internal working group. Sacks told reporters: "We're still waiting for some of the cabinet secretaries to get confirmed in the working group, but one of our top priorities once that's in place will be to evaluate the feasibility of a Bitcoin reserve." He added that the sovereign wealth fund is a separate concept that will be handled by Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick.

Acting SEC Chair appoints former Coin Center policy chief Landon Zinda to join crypto working group

According to Cointelegraph, Landon Zinda has resigned from his role as policy director at the cryptocurrency advocacy organization Coin Center to join the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) cryptocurrency working group. In an announcement on February 4, Acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda stated that Zinda has joined the commission as a senior advisor to the cryptocurrency working group. The former Coin Center executive will join Chief of Staff Richard Gabbert and Chief Policy Advisor Taylor Asher on the working group led by Commissioner Hester Peirce. Coin Center's Director of Communications Neeraj Agrawal confirmed that Zinda "is no longer an employee of the organization." As of February 4, his name still appeared on Coin Center's website, and his LinkedIn profile showed he had been working at the advocacy organization since March 2023. The cryptocurrency working group was announced on January 21 to "help the Commission delineate clear regulatory boundaries, provide viable registration pathways, develop reasonable disclosure frameworks, and deploy enforcement resources judiciously." The SEC stated the group will coordinate and collaborate with other federal agencies, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

SEC crypto-focused working group signals major regulatory shift, aiming to allow projects to legally issue tokens

According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) newly formed cryptocurrency working group will take on a series of priority tasks, as the agency is shifting direction from the past few years. Led by Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce, the working group will focus on distinguishing which "crypto assets" are securities, potentially change the way companies register, and provide clear statements when approving or rejecting exchange-traded products. Peirce outlined her task list in a statement on Tuesday, including a link to the cryptocurrency working group, noting that the list is not exhaustive. One of the priorities, Peirce said, is to classify certain tokens as "non-securities." Peirce stated: "The working group is also considering recommending that the Commission take action to provide potential temporary, prospective, and retrospective exemptions for certain token offerings, provided that the issuing entity or other willing responsible party furnishes certain specified information, keeps it updated, and agrees not to contest the Commission's jurisdiction in cases involving fraud in the purchase or sale of the asset." Peirce said: "We will collaborate with other federal agencies, state securities regulators, and international counterparts, and invite builders, enthusiasts, and skeptics to engage with us to help determine what the final rules should be and what interim measures can be taken to foster innovation." Earlier today, the New York Times reported that the SEC is scaling back its enforcement in the cryptocurrency field.

New York Times: SEC is scaling back its enforcement in the cryptocurrency field

According to the New York Times, five people familiar with the matter revealed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is scaling back a specialized team of more than 50 lawyers and staff that had focused on cryptocurrency enforcement actions. This is one of the first concrete steps taken by former President Trump's administration to reduce regulation of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. One of former President Trump's first executive orders was aimed at promoting the development of cryptocurrencies and "eliminating overregulation of digital assets." Sources said that some lawyers from the cryptocurrency team are being reassigned to other divisions within the SEC. A senior lawyer from the team has been moved out of the enforcement department. Some people familiar with the changes described the reassignment as an unfair demotion. Acting SEC Chair Mark T. Uyeda made a series of appointments while reshuffling other senior SEC positions. The commission employs more than 1,000 lawyers. One of Uyeda's first actions after taking office was to establish a working group to review the SEC's handling of digital assets. The working group is led by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, an outspoken supporter of cryptocurrencies.

Bloomberg: Crypto company Bullish Global backed by Peter Thiel is considering an IPO

Here is the English translation:

According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that the cryptocurrency exchange operator Bullish Global is considering an initial public offering (IPO) as early as this year, with its backers including billionaire Peter Thiel. The company is working with Jefferies Financial Group Inc. to advance the potential listing plans. The people said the discussions are still ongoing and the details of the offering may change, with the possibility of more banks joining the underwriting group. Representatives of Bullish and Block.one did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Jefferies spokesperson declined to comment. Bullish is led by Chief Executive Officer Tom Farley and has over 275 employees with offices in the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, Gibraltar and the Cayman Islands. The company's website shows that Bullish acquired media outlet CoinDesk from Digital Currency Group at an undisclosed price in 2023.

NYSE Has Filed a 19b-4 Application with the US SEC for Grayscale's LTC ETF

The Litecoin official on the X platform stated that the NYSE has now filed a 19b-4 application with the US SEC to seek to convert its Litecoin (LTC) trust into a spot ETF. The 19b-4 application refers to a rule change proposal submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), typically by an exchange (such as NYSE or Nasdaq) to list a new financial product (such as an ETF).

Ionic Platform Based on Mode Suffers Hacker Attack, Losing Approximately $8.8 Million

According to the official announcement from Ionic, the Ionic platform based on Mode was attacked by hackers, who used unofficial fake LBTC (Lombard BTC) as collateral on the Ionic platform to obtain loans. The team is conducting an investigation. According to security firm QuillAudits, the estimated loss from this attack incident is approximately $8.8 million. On-chain sleuth ZachXBT stated regarding this matter: Ionic's predecessor was the Midas protocol, which had been hacked twice in 2023, and Ionic used the old 2022 Midas audit report when it launched. ZachXBT had previously messaged the team questioning the contract security of Ionic, and the team stated that their codebase was forked from Compound, and the vulnerabilities in Midas were due to known vulnerabilities in the Compound code, which have been fixed by implementing whitelists and reentrancy attack breakers in the new pools, emphasizing that Ionic is very secure.

Justin Sun: Li Lin Concealed Due Diligence Materials When Selling Huobi, with a $30 Million Hole Inside

Justin Sun posted on X stating: "Those familiar with the inside story all know that Li Lin concealed the due diligence materials at the time (when selling Huobi), and there was a $30 million hole inside. I finally discovered it and exposed it, but he refused to pay back a penny in the end, and I lent the company to fill it up."

XRP Ledger Resumes Operation Autonomously After About an Hour of Block Production Interruption, No Asset or Transaction Loss Reported

According to Decrypt, the XRP Ledger resumed operation autonomously after about an hour of block production interruption, which is a rare disruption event for the network. Network activity froze at Ledger height 93927173, prompting validators to immediately investigate. The XRP Ledger subsequently resumed normal operation without reporting any asset or transaction loss. XRPL Chief Technology Officer David Schwartz stated on the X platform: "It looks like the consensus mechanism was still running, but the validation results were not being published, causing the network to split. As far as I know, very few UNL (Unique Node List) operators made any changes, so the network may have self-healed." The UNL mentioned by Schwartz is a core component of the XRPL consensus mechanism, serving as a directory of trusted validators to ensure the network's integrity and transaction finality.

R3 Sustainability and Chintai Collaborate to Launch a $795 Million Tokenized ESG Fund

According to Cointelegraph, R3 Sustainability has partnered with Chintai to launch a new blockchain-based sustainable investment fund. R3 Sustainability will utilize Chintai's Layer1 blockchain to develop a $795 million real-world asset (RWA) tokenized fund focused on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments. The fund includes four major sustainable development projects, including a $50 million remote workforce housing program for energy efficiency and the potential to scale up to $150 million in capital in the near term. Additionally, there is a $165 million early-stage industrial project development fund and an $180 million reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant fund focused on serving a large industrial complex in Texas. Finally, the RWA fund will reserve $300 million for a resource efficiency program focused on converting chemical plant wastewater solids into fertilizer products used in North America.

Coinbase Urges US Regulators to Clarify if Banks Can Provide Services to Crypto Firms

According to Cointelegraph, Coinbase has written to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board (Fed), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today, requesting that regulators confirm whether banks can freely provide services to cryptocurrency companies and clarify the current state of banking services for the crypto industry. In the letter, Coinbase has asked the OCC to withdraw an interpretive letter that is believed to "effectively establish a new application process for banking activities" and restrict banks from entering the crypto asset market. Coinbase has also requested that the Federal Reserve and FDIC confirm whether state-chartered banks are allowed to provide crypto custody and execution services and outsource them to third-party service providers. According to a Bloomberg report, Coinbase states that current federal laws already authorize banks to provide crypto services and collaborate with third-party service providers like Coinbase. However, regulators still need to confirm this. To support this claim, Coinbase has enlisted the help of three law firms. Coinbase's Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, stated: "Regulators need to clearly state that banks can partner with third parties to provide crypto trading and exchange services for customers." The issue of U.S. banks providing services to the crypto industry has been controversial. While some banks like BNY Mellon have started offering crypto custody services, there have also been reports that the FDIC has contacted several U.S. banks, requesting them to pause crypto-related activities. In June 2024, Coinbase had sued the SEC and FDIC, accusing these agencies of "colluding to effectively exclude crypto asset companies from basic banking services." In the ongoing legal battle, Coinbase's General Counsel, Paul Grewal, reiterated this accusation in January 2025, claiming that the FDIC had deliberately concealed "pause letters" related to crypto in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

DePIN Project Beamable Completes $13.5 Million Series A Funding, Led by Bitkraft Ventures

According to The Block, the decentralized gaming infrastructure platform Beamable has completed a $13.5 million Series A funding round led by Bitkraft Ventures, with participation from Arca, Advancit Capital, 2Punks, P2 Ventures, Solana Foundation, Scytale Digital, defy.vc, GrandBanks Capital, and Permit Ventures. The new funding round aims to accelerate the development and expansion of the Beamable Network, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) that aims to transform the way game backend infrastructure is built and operated.

Crypto-Native Autonomous AI Agent Platform Olas Raises $13.8 Million, Led by 1kx

According to The Block, the crypto-native autonomous AI agent platform Olas has raised $13.8 million to support the launch of its "agent app store" called Pearl. The funding round was led by 1kx, with participation from Tioga Capital, Sigil Fund, Zee Prime Capital, Borderless, and Keyrock. The Olas team stated that the funds will be used to support its agent app store, aiming to democratize access to user-owned AI agents. Alongside the funding announcement, Olas also launched the Olas Accelerator program, which will provide $1 million in grants and OLAS token rewards to developers building agents on the platform. Olas' technology stack includes Olas Stack and Olas Protocol, which incentivize the creation and co-ownership of AI agents. The team claims to have facilitated over 3.5 million transactions from agents across nine blockchains.

Taproot Wizards Raising $30 Million in New Funding Round, Led by Standard Crypto

According to The Block report, the Bitcoin Ordinals project Taproot Wizards is raising $30 million in its first post-seed round. This round is led by Taproot Wizards' early supporter Standard Crypto, with participation from institutions such as Cyberfund and Collider Ventures. The project will use the new funds to drive the development of the OP_CAT ecosystem, in order to enhance Bitcoin's smart contract capabilities. It is reported that Taproot Wizards was founded in 2023, and in February 2023, the minting of Taproot Wizard #0001 produced a 4MB block, which was the largest block and transaction on Bitcoin at the time. The team has also launched the Ordinals series Quantum Cats, which is currently the highest market cap Bitcoin NFT project. Berachain plans to announce token economics tomorrow, and will launch the mainnet and token TGE on February 6 The Berachain Foundation officially announced that the Berachain token TGE will be conducted simultaneously with the mainnet launch, and the token economics and Checker (or airdrop checker) will be launched tomorrow. US-listed company Semler Scientific invests $88.5 million to acquire 871 BTC US-listed company Semler Scientific announced today that it has invested $88.5 million to acquire 871 BTC. Since July 1, 2024, Semler Scientific's BTC return has been 152%, and it currently holds 3,192 BTC. Tether minted 100 million USDT on Tron at dawn, and Circle minted 250 million USDC on Solana According to Onchain Lens monitoring, in the past 6 hours, Tether has minted 100 million USDT on the Tron network, and since 2025, Tether has minted a total of 200 million USDT on the Tron network. Circle has minted 250 million USDC on Solana. Since 2025, Circle has minted a total of 65 USDC on Solana.

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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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