headlines
headlines
U.S. Department of Justice: Bitzlato participated in Russia’s illegal financial money laundering business, providing funding channels for various crimes on the dark web
Security team MistTrack tweeted that through a detailed analysis of address tags and data on the chain, it was found that a large part of the sanctioned funds on Bitzlato, including 64.8 BTC, 274 ETH, 3200 LTC, 530 BCH, 385,117 stablecoins (USDT, USDC and DAI), 1,202,000 DOGE, with a total value of about 2.56 million US dollars.
cryptocurrency
cryptocurrency
Data: Global cryptocurrency holders will reach 425 million in 2022, an increase of 39%
According to a report by Crypto.com, global cryptocurrency holders will increase by 39% in 2022 compared to 2021. The total number of cryptocurrency holders increased from 306 million at the end of 2021 to 425 million at the end of 2022. The number of bitcoin holders rose 20 percent from 183 million in January to 219 million in December. Additionally, BTC is the most owned asset, accounting for 52% of global cryptocurrency holders. (watcher.guru)
ENS DAO member proposal proposes to sell 10,000 ETH to cover operating costs for the next two years
A governance proposal from members of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) DAO proposes liquidating 10,000 ETH to cover operating costs for the next two years. A draft proposal was submitted on January 18 and is currently being discussed in the ENS community. The DAO's vaults currently hold 40,746 ETH and 2.46 million USDC. Through the Gnosis auction, selling 10,000 ETH will generate at least $13 million in USDC stablecoins. (CoinDesk)
TokenUnlocks Annual Report: At Least $102 Billion Valuable Tokens Unlocked in 2023
Recently, TokenUnlocks released its annual report, which pointed out that after analyzing the top 300 encrypted projects, it is estimated that in 2023, at least $102 billion worth of tokens will be unlocked. Among them, the token with the highest locked value is currently XRP, reaching 18 billion US dollars, followed by Filecoin, Optimism, Chainlink, BitDAO, ApeCoin, STEPN, etc.
Security agency: Thoreum Finance project was hacked, about $580,000 was stolen
According to the detection of the Beosin EagleEye security early warning and monitoring platform, the Thoreum Finance project was hacked, involving an amount of about 580,000 US dollars. Since the transfer function of the non-open source contract 0x 79 fe created by the ThoreumFinance project party is suspected to have a loophole, when the from and to addresses of the transfer function are the same, because the balance is stored in a temporary variable, the balance will increase exponentially when transferring money to yourself. The operator repeats the operation many times and finally makes a profit of 2000 BNB. The Beosin security team traced through Beosin Trace and found that the stolen funds had all been transferred to Tornado Cash.
Raydium hackers transfer $2.7 million into Tornado Cash
According to CertiK monitoring, an Ethereum address related to the Raydium exploit transferred 1774.5 ETH (approximately $2.7 million) to Tornado Cash. According to previous news, Raydium is a DEX based on Solana. The platform was hacked in December last year and lost more than $4.4 million in assets. (cointelegraph)
Coinbase has reached a cooperation with Kava and will list KAVA
Coinbase announced that it will list Kava (KAVA). If the liquidity conditions are met, trading will begin on or after 9:00 PDT on January 19th (1:00 on January 20th Beijing time). Trading for the KAVA-USD trading pair will open in phases once the asset’s supply is sufficient. It is reported that the native integration of Coinbase and Kava will promote the development of ecosystem projects. At present, KAVA can be pledged on Coinbase, and Coinbase users can also explore DeFi applications on Kava. In addition, Kava announced that it has reached a cooperation with the Coinbase team to release liquidity for more Cosmos projects. The integration time of the Cosmos SDK chain into Coinbase will also be shortened to one month, further integrating the speed and interoperability of the Cosmos blockchain, and Ethereum Workshop development capabilities. (Cointelgraph)
GameFi and NFTs
Binance NFT Market Adjusts NFT Minting Rules and Delists Some NFT Series
Binance NFT Market announced the adjustment of NFT minting rules and the removal of some NFT series. The specific content includes: 1. All users who have at least two followers on Binance NFT and complete the standard identity verification can only mint a maximum of five NFTs per day; NFT series that are listed on the NFT marketplace and previously had an average monthly trading volume of less than $1,000 will be delisted. In addition, Binance NFT regularly reviews the listed NFT series. If the NFT series does not meet the standards expected by Binance, it will be removed from the Binance NFT market.
BAYC's new game ticket Sewer Pass has a transaction volume of 4,700 ETH, including Blur, SudoSwap, etc. on the mint blacklist
BAYC opened its Sewer Pass mint on Jan. 18 at 12:30 ET, trading over $1.3 million an hour later and hitting $5 million four hours later. According to OpenSea data, Sewer Pass currently has a transaction volume of 4,700 ETH and a floor price of 1.2 ETH. (The Block)
Investment and Financing
Investment and Financing
Mask Network Receives $5 Million Strategic Investment from DWF Labs
DWF Labs, a Web3 investment company, announced that it will make a strategic investment and cooperate with Mask Network. DWF Labs will invest $5 million in the form of purchasing MASK tokens, which will be used to support the continued construction of the decentralized social network and the entire Mask Network ecosystem.
ZK Proof Startup Ulvetanna Raises $15M Led by Bain Capital Crypto and Paradigm
Zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) hardware company Ulvetanna completed a $15 million seed round of financing at a valuation of $55 million, led by Bain Capital Crypto and Paradigm, and participated by Jump Crypto. The round of equity financing ended in June last year. Ulvetanna is known to be building hardware designed to speed up the process of generating ZKPs, a cryptographic authentication method that proves specific information without revealing the content of said information. In the crypto space, this technology has historically been used as a scaling solution for blockchain networks, especially Ethereum. (The Block)
Flashbots Seeks Up to $50M at $1B Valuation, Paradigm Commits to Lead
Ethereum infrastructure service Flashbots is in discussions with potential backers to raise up to $50 million at a $1 billion valuation. The startup is looking to raise $30 million to $50 million in equity at a pre-money valuation of $1 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the deal and excerpts from the offering summary. Instead of pitching to potential investors, Flashbots invited investors to pitch on the opportunity to participate in the round. Crypto venture capital firm Paradigm has committed to lead the round, the people said. Data site Crunchbase lists Paradigm as the lead investor in Flashbots' 2020 seed round. Flashbots and Paradigm did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (The Block)
Obligate Closes $4M Funding Round, with Blockchange Ventures and Circle Ventures Participating
Blockchain-based debt provider Obligate completed a $4 million seed round extension round of financing, with Blockchange Ventures and Circle Ventures participating, and initial seed round investors including Earlybird and SIX Fintech Ventures, with a total financing of more than $8.5 million. Switzerland-based Obligate essentially allows companies to issue on-chain bonds and commercial paper — or debt securities with defined loan terms — to secure funding from investors in a regulated decentralized finance (DeFi) environment. (CoinDesk)
Odaily News Metaverse game Neopets Metaverse announced the completion of 4 million US dollars in financing, Polygon Ventures, Blizzard Avalanche Ecosystem Fund, Hashkey Capital, IDG Capital and NetDragon Websoft participated in the investment. Funds raised will be used to further grow and deliver immersive gaming experiences while partnering with investors and the wider GameFi community. Neopets Metaverse is a P2E, community-driven virtual pet game based on the original Neopets classic game. (PRNewswire)
global policy
global policy
U.S. CFTC Commissioner: U.S. platforms should face strict CFTC scrutiny before they can list encrypted assets
Christy Goldsmith Romero, commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said the FTX debacle shows that U.S. platforms should face intense scrutiny from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission before they can list crypto assets. The risks associated with virtual currencies mean the expedited process that exchanges typically use to list futures is not enough for the asset class. Current rules allow exchanges registered with the regulator to "self-certify" that their products are safe and list them unless the agency takes action within 24 hours to block the schemes. (Bloomberg)
South Korea will allow the issuance of security tokens, and announce STO issuance and circulation guidelines early next month
Kim Joo-hyun, chairman of the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC), said that he will allow the issuance of security tokens (STO) and establish a safe token circulation system, "by proposing guidelines, sandbox The phases of testing and formal institutionalization will be promoted, and the off-site circulation platform will be institutionalized." Guidelines including STO issuance and circulation regulations will be announced early next month. (Yonhap News Agency)
Characters & Voices
Gemini Lianchuang: GUSD reserve assets are held separately by the custodian, and there is no redemption risk
As the Gemini exchange lending platform Earn is currently facing a liquidity crisis, MakerDAO is adjusting relevant parameters through voting to limit DAI’s exposure to Gemini. Recently, the transparency of GUSD casting, the specific operation process on Maker PSM, and Discussion on questioning the transparency of reserves.
In response, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss responded on the forum that the assets that make up the GUSD reserve are not the property of Gemini. Gemini complies with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) "Guidelines for the Issuance of U.S. Dollar-backed Stablecoins." According to regulatory requirements, any New York Reserves for stablecoins regulated by the DFS and those of issuing entities (such as Gemini) should be segregated from proprietary assets and held by custodians or custodians to safeguard the interests of stablecoin holders. Accordingly, GUSD reserves are held in accounts separate from Gemini's business, operations, and other customer consolidated accounts, with no redemption risk.
Ripple CEO: The lawsuit with the US SEC may reach a ruling in the first half of this year
