Top 10 News of the Week
1. Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested in Francelink
Telegram founder and CEO Durov was arrested at a French airport at 20:00 local time (GMT 18:00) last Saturday. The arrest was carried out by the French Gendarmerie de Transport Aéronautiques (GTA), who had just arrived from Azerbaijan and was wanted by the OFMIN department of the French National Judicial Police based on a French search warrant issued by a preliminary investigation. The judiciary believes that Telegram's lack of content review, non-cooperation with law enforcement, and some of the tools it provides (disposable numbers, cryptocurrencies, etc.) make Pavel Durov an accomplice in drug trafficking, child crimes, and fraud. TON fell 13.2% in the past 24 hours on Saturday.
The TON community has issued a statement on the arrest of Telegram CEO, assuring everyone that the TON community remains strong and fully operational. As a community committed to free speech and decentralization, we stand firmly with Pavel during this challenging time. Pavel has been a loyal advocate for these values, and we believe his efforts to promote an open and decentralized internet will continue to inspire millions of people. The TON community remains focused on our mission, and we will continue to work to uphold these principles around the world. We encourage everyone to remain calm, united, and continue to build as we work together to navigate this situation. Thank you for your continued support.
Regarding the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France, Vitalik commented: Telegram has been criticized for not being serious enough about encryption, but based on the information currently available, the accusation seems to be just "unregulated" and has not leaked people's data, which looks very bad and is worrying about the future of software and communication freedom in Europe. Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu commented that we are committed to supporting our friends, the TON community, in this fight against freedom. Decentralization is the way to fight censorship and maintain our freedom. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino tweeted that it is very worrying that Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested for achieving freedom of speech through Telegram. If we fail in the fight to defend freedom of speech and communication, everything else will become irrelevant and our future will enter a dark age.
Russian State Duma Deputy Chairman Davankov called on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to try to rescue Durov in the early morning of the 25th. He said that he had sent a corresponding request to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Russian Embassy in France has taken necessary measures to understand the relevant situation of Pavel Durov. Pavel Durov was born in 1984. The media said that he has multiple nationalities including Russia, France, and the United Arab Emirates. It is reported that because Pavel Durov is a French citizen, he will not be exchanged or extradited to other countries.
Russian officials have reacted angrily to the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov as he stepped off a private jet at Paris' Le Bourget airport on Saturday. The Russian Embassy in France issued a statement early Sunday saying that French authorities refused to cooperate with them in accessing Durov. "After the news of Durov's arrest was published in the media, we immediately asked the French authorities to clarify the reasons and asked them to ensure the protection of his rights and provide consular access. But as of today, the French side has avoided contact on this matter. We are in contact with Durov's lawyers." In addition, some Russian officials described the arrest as an indirect hostile act against Russia.
As of press time, Telegram CEO was released on bail of 5 million euros, but was prohibited from leaving France. According to the Paris Judicial Court, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was formally charged with six serious crimes, namely: assisting in the operation of an online platform to organize illegal transactions, refusing to provide the required information to the authorities, assisting in multiple crimes, money laundering, failure to declare encryption services as required, and providing encryption tools without declaration. The prosecutor's investigation also found that the Telegram platform failed to effectively respond to judicial requests in cases involving child pornography, drug trafficking, and cybercrime. Therefore, the French National Jurisdiction Against Organized Crime (JUNALCO) decided to launch a criminal investigation. The preliminary investigation was launched in February 2024, and then the case was officially filed on July 8. Further investigations have been handed over to the Cyber Crime Unit of the National Gendarmerie (C3N) and the National Customs Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF).
2.Key members of the non-small account team have been taken away by the Inner Mongolia police for investigation over the past six months link
According to Crypto Intelligence, many key members of the Feixiaohao team have been taken away by the Inner Mongolia police for investigation. Half a year has passed. The reason is unknown. It may be because Feixiaohao has been on some pig-killing exchanges and problematic currencies. There are also rumors involving disputes over the sale of Feixiaohao. There are still teams claiming to be Feixiaohao in the market. Wu Blockchain that he also confirmed the above information from relevant channels. Feixiaohao is one of the leading cryptocurrency market information platforms in simplified Chinese.
3. The Supreme People’s Court lists “Research on the Disposal of Virtual Currency Involved in Cases” as a Major Judicial Research Topic for 2024link
The Supreme People's Court announced in a public account that it has determined the major judicial research topics for 2024 based on extensive solicitation of opinions and sufficient demonstration, and issued a bidding announcement for major judicial research topics for 2024. The key funded topics include research on the disposal of virtual currencies involved in the case, research on judicial issues involving the digital economy, and research on judicial responses to disputes involving artificial intelligence. The project management unit will provide research funding support for the winning project team, including 150,000 yuan for each special funded project, 50,000 yuan for each key funded project, and 30,000 yuan for each youth project.
4. Former US President Donald Trump released a video to promote his DeFi project World Liberty link
On Thursday, former US President Donald Trump released a video to promote his DeFi project World Liberty. He said, "Today I have made a plan to make the United States the crypto capital of the planet. Some people are trying to strangle you and bankrupt you. We will never let this happen." Earlier, Trump's second son announced the Telegram channel of the new DeFi project and renamed it World Liberty Financial.
5. CICC: The Fed is expected to cut interest rates 4-5 times overall link
CICC analysis pointed out that the speech made by Federal Reserve Chairman Powell at the Jackson Hole conference was almost equivalent to an early "official announcement" of a September rate cut, and the market has fully factored in the September rate cut; the expectations for rate cuts have fluctuated many times and significantly since the beginning of this year, which fully demonstrates that simple linear extrapolation at any point in time may be completely reversed, and the back-and-forth swing in expectations has increased the difficulty of asset allocation; over-reliance on the "average law" of previous rate cut cycles has little reference value and may even be misleading; we calculate that the central axis of 10-year US Treasury bonds is 4%, corresponding to an overall rate cut of 4-5 times (about 100bp) in this round of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, which can solve the problem.
6. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida: Web3 and blockchain technology are the basis for solving social problemslink
The WebX Conference, Japan's largest cryptocurrency-themed event, opened in Tokyo, Japan, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivered a speech via video. "Web3 and blockchain technology are the basis for solving social problems," said Fumio Kishida. Kishida mentioned that the government has begun to promote specific measures including tax reform and legal amendments to help Web3 startups raise funds more smoothly. In addition, Kishida Fumio also stated that in the "Basic Policy for 2024", efforts will be made to improve the environment for the use of Web3-related tokens, facilitate payments, and revitalize the content industry, while considering user protection.
7. Russia will start a cryptocurrency payment and transaction pilot on September 1 link
Russia is about to start a cryptocurrency payment and trading pilot, which is scheduled to begin on September 1. Russia will use the national payment card system to exchange between rubles and cryptocurrencies when testing payment and trading platforms. If the trial is successful, the Moscow Exchange and the St. Petersburg Currency Exchange may be allowed to establish cryptocurrency platforms, and any existing cryptocurrency can be used for the trial.
8. OpenSea received a Wells notice from the US SEC link
OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said in a post that he received a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because the SEC believed that the NFTs on the platform were securities and threatened to sue it. In response, OpenSea expressed shock and believed that this move would have a wide-ranging impact on creators and artists. In response to this situation, OpenSea promised to allocate $5 million to help NFT creators and developers who received the Wells notice pay legal fees, and emphasized that it will continue to fight for the industry.
9. Maker rebrands to Sky Protocol and will launch native governance token SKY link
The Maker Protocol has officially changed its name to Sky and announced the names of its upgraded stablecoin and native governance token, aiming to make DeFi more accessible to the public. As part of the rebrand, Maker renamed the decentralized stablecoin Dai (DAI) to USDS. The protocol also launched the Sky (SKY) native governance token for the wider Sky ecosystem as an upgraded version of the Maker (MKR) token. MakerDAO co-founder Rune Christensen claimed that the rebranding is a step towards the "next evolution of DeFi." Phoenix Labs and Spark Protocol CEO Sam MacPherson said that the USDS upgraded from DAI will have a freezing function. Previously, centralized stablecoins such as USDT/USDC all had a freezing function. In addition, the Sky official website upgraded from MakerDao also has a function that prohibits the use of VPN login, which is suspected to block some regions on the front end.
10. Andre Cronje: Defi is the core cornerstone of a decentralized societylink
Andre Cronje published an article titled "Why DeFi", stating that the core of finance has always been empowerment and putting idle assets to work. In Defi, you do not need to be a qualified investor to participate in this market. Defi is the core cornerstone of a decentralized society until traditional industries (such as insurance, energy, real estate, car sales, banking, etc.) are all on-chain, free to access, transparent and open to everyone.
Key financing events
- Stablecoin payment company Bridge completes $58 million in financinglink
- Multi-chain infrastructure project Edge Matrix Chain (EMC) announced the completion of $20 million in financinglink
- Solana restaking protocol Solayer announces $12 million seed round of financinglink
- Blockchain data platform Space and Time announces $20 million Series A funding roundlink
- Time tokenization platform Time.fun completes $3 million seed round of financinglink
- L1 Blockchain Quai Network Announces $5 Million Strategic Fundinglink
- Blockchain development company Peregrine Exploration announces $3.6 million in fundinglink
- Crypto trading platform Neverless announces completion of $6.7 million Pre-Seed round of financinglink
- Blockchain game developer double jump.tokyo announced the completion of over $10 million in financinglink
- Web3 game development studio Gameplay Galaxy completes $11.17 million in seed round extension financinglink
- On-chain project financing platform Legion announces completion of $2 million seed round of financinglink
- Solana Optimistic Network announces new funding roundlink
- Decentralized AI asset creation platform Nectar AI completes $3.9 million seed round of financinglink
- Crypto development company Chainbound completes $4.6 million in financinglink
For more industry funding events, please visit crypto-fundraising.info .
