| Fidelity applies for Bitcoin ETF; Azuki is in talks for an acquisition (June 30th).
Headline
Fidelity Officially Files Bitcoin Spot ETF Application
Asset management giant Fidelity Investments has officially filed an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF.
Prior to this, it was rumored in the market that Fidelity would submit an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF after BlackRock submitted its Bitcoin ETF application. As early as 2021, Fidelity had submitted an application for a Bitcoin spot ETF called the Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, but it was rejected by the U.S. SEC in early 2022.
Industry News
UK Cryptocurrency Regulatory Financial Services Act Approved by the King
King Charles of the UK has approved a bill that grants regulatory authorities the power to oversee cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, marking the final formal stage in which the bill becomes law.
Royal assent is a procedural step that follows the agreement of legislators, making the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) law and including measures to regulate cryptocurrencies. The bill was approved by the Parliament's upper house last week.
CME to Launch ETH/BTssC Exchange Rate Futures Contract on July 31
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) will launch Ethereum and Bitcoin exchange rate futures contracts on July 31st, and investors can trade the ETH/BTC exchange rate.
Headline
Christian: Negotiations with Azuki founder about acquisition, $40 million offer is too low
Odaily News - Azuki major shareholder and co-founder of NDV, Christian, expressed that the $40 million offer for the acquisition is too low after discussions with Azuki founder. He wrote, "Just had a phone call with ZAGABOND (Azuki founder), and I think the $40 million offer is too cheap. I am now waiting for the community meeting to start later."
ZAGABOND responded on Twitter, "Glad to talk about the CN community and hear your feedback. Looking forward to tonight's show. I know the part about the offer in your tweet is a joke. I just want to clarify it to the readers."
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) announces new game HV-MTL Forge is online
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) announced on Twitter that their new game HV-MTL Forge is now online.
It is reported that HV-MTL Forge is a space construction and pet game that combines maze exploration. HV-MTL NFT holders can build in-game residences and compete for rankings in the metaverse. The game's goals are "build, showcase, battle, evolve", and players need to evolve HV-MTL mechas into EVO 2. The game has a total of 6 seasons, corresponding to 6 opportunities for upgrades.
Starknet mainnet quantum leap new version to go live on testnet within a week
Odaily News According to official sources, the Starknet mainnet version 0.12 Quantum Leap will be launched on the testnet within a week, significantly improving TPS.
StarkWare announces Cairo roadmap, updating contract syntax and V2 version
StarkWare has released the roadmap for the programming language Cairo. Cairo will soon release the V2 version, and the project team expects to release new contract syntax along with Starknet alpha v 0.12.0. StarkWare states that Cairo is now stable and rich enough to support complex applications and port existing Cairo 0 logic. In addition, the backward compatibility of Starknet ensures that even if the language undergoes significant changes, users will have enough time (at least six months) to complete contract development, verification, and deployment.
Mirror announces launch of Writing NFT 2.0
Content platform Mirror has announced the launch of Writing NFT 2.0. The new NFT features include support for custom covers, open minting, in-wallet reading, and secondary purchases.
Investment and Financing
DeFi protocol AlloyX completes $2 million financing, led by Hack VC
DeFi protocol AlloyX completes $2 million Pre-Seed funding with Hack VC as the lead investor, along with Circle Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Stratos, Lecca Ventures, MH Ventures, very early Ventures, Archblock, dao 5, Credix Finance, and others participating.
In addition, AlloyX is partnering with decentralized lending marketplace Credix Finance to create the Real World Asset Vault. AlloyX's Vault combines Credix Finance's over-collateralized tokenized loans with tokenized US Treasury bonds smart contracts.
Nomura Securities' crypto subsidiary Laser Digital is set to acquire digital asset trading company Elysium Technology Group. Through this acquisition, both companies aim to provide better digital asset trading services to institutional investors. The transaction is expected to be completed soon.
Elysium specializes in off-exchange and post-trade solutions for forex and digital assets through its RiskDB and MatchHub services. RiskDB minimizes transaction costs by streamlining post-trade workflows, while MatchHub software matches, coordinates, and settles real-time trades.
Islamic Coin, a cryptocurrency project compliant with Islamic law, has announced a $200 million investment from digital asset investment firm ABO Digital, bringing its total funding to $400 million.
Zero-knowledge identity verification solution Outdid announces the completion of $2.5 million seed financing, led by Jump Crypto, with participation from Superscrypt and 15 angel investors including Matias Woloski, Martin Varsavski, and Gaston Frydlewski. The new financing will be used to expand operations and business scope.
Sound
Vitalik Buterin responded to "How to view the advantages and disadvantages of EOA wallets based on MPC and smart contract wallets" by stating, "EOA wallets based on MPC have fundamental flaws, as they cannot revoke keys (excluding resharing; old owners can still recover keys), smart contract wallet is the only choice."
