| Linea Mainnet Alpha version is now open; The US SEC will start reviewing the Bitcoin spot ETF application this week, and the review period can last up to 240 days (July 20th).
Headline
Linea Mainnet Alpha Version is Now Open
Linea announced that they have opened access to the Mainnet Alpha Version to the community. Developers and RPC endpoints can now access the Rollup and ETH bridge UI. Cross-chain bridging support for ERC 20 tokens will be launched in the coming weeks.
Cryptocurrency
Dormant ETH ICO Participating Address Transfers Over 61,216 ETH to Kraken
According to blockchain analyst EmberCN, an ETH ICO participating address has transferred 61,216.6 ETH (equivalent to $116 million) to Kraken. This address acquired 61,216.6 ETH from the Ethereum genesis block on July 30, 2015, worth $19,038 at the time (ICO price was $0.311). After eight years of dormancy, it has been moved for the first time and transferred to Kraken, currently valued at $116 million.
According to Glassnode data, on Tuesday, the amount of 1INCH held in wallets related to centralized exchanges reached 184.28 million tokens (worth $65 million), reaching a new all-time high. The exchange balance of 1INCH increased by 50% in three days, accounting for 18.65% of the circulating supply of 987.6 million tokens and 12.2% of the total supply of 1.5 billion tokens. According to the OKX quote from Euroeasy, 1INCH is currently trading at $0.3454 USDT, with a 24-hour decline of 9.11%. Prithvir Jhaveri, co-founder and CEO of Loch Research, said that profit-taking by whales is one of the factors contributing to the price drop of 1INCH. (CoinDesk)
Bloomberg: Former FTX COO Constance Wang joins VC firm Sino Global CapitalThe insider revealed that former FTX Chief Operating Officer Zhe "Constance" Wang has joined the crypto venture capital firm Sino Global Capital. Wang previously served as the COO of FTX and the Co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, where her responsibilities included leading the global business expansion of the exchange, overseeing token listings, and handling public relations and marketing. Sino Global disclosed that it was an early investor in FTX.
Project Highlights
Dune releases new features to enhance team collaboration
Dune has released new features to enhance team collaboration, including team private folders, external data uploading and integration, real-time data scheduling, and data scheduling APIs.
Telegram has issued bonds worth approximately $270 million this week. Telegram has been registering over 2.5 million new users daily, and its monthly active user count has exceeded 800 million earlier this year. Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated that, apart from focusing on Telegram, he only wishes to "own" a few Bitcoin and Toncoin. Pavel Durov personally purchased about a quarter of the new Telegram bonds, investing tens of millions of dollars in its development. According to TechCrunch, Telegram raised $210 million through the bond issuance.
MakerDAO Repurchase Begins, with an average repurchase of approximately $5000 MKR every 27 minutes
The MakerDAO Smart Burn Engine has been activated, with the current treasury surplus being $69.6 million, of which a portion exceeding $50 million ($19.6 million) will be used to repurchase MKR and add it to LP on Uniswap V2. On-chain information shows that there is an average of one repurchase every 27 minutes, with an average repurchase amount of around $5000.
Previously, on July 17th, the MakerDAO community voted in favor of the "Introducing the Smart Burn Engine and Initial Parameters" proposal, which will be executed after 3:44 on July 19th, 2023, Beijing time.
It is reported that the Smart Burn Engine is a new type of smart contract system designed to allocate surplus Dai from the Maker's Surplus Buffer, which has not been used as an emergency reserve. The key difference between the Smart Burn Engine and the previous burning design is that MKR tokens will be accumulated in the form of Uniswap V2 LP tokens, rather than being acquired and burned. According to the proposal, the Dai Savings Rate (DSR) will also be reduced from 3.49% to 3.19%, a decrease of 0.30%. The liquidation ratio (mat) and stability fee for each pool will also be reduced and reduced accordingly.
Investment and Financing
Manta Network development team p 0x labs has completed a Series A financing round with a valuation of $500 million and raised $25 million. Polychain Capital and Sequoia Capital China co-led the round. The team stated that the funds will be used to expand Manta Pacific and Manta Atlantic. (The Block) According to reports, Manta Network founder Victor Ji unveiled a new vision this month. In the roadmap, Manta joins the OpStack and Celestia ecosystems, becoming the first Ethereum L2 solution to integrate with OpStack and Celestia DA. Previously in 2021, Manta Network raised $5.5 million in funding, with ParaFi Capital and CoinFund as lead investors, and participation from CMS Holdings, Divergence, Spartan Group, Longhash Ventures, Global Coin Ventures, SNZ, Zee Prime, and SkyVision Capital among more than 30 other institutions.
RISC Zero completes $40 million Series A financing with lead investment from Blockchain Capital
Zero-knowledge proof infrastructure company RISC Zero has completed a $40 million Series A financing round led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from GalaxyDigital, IOSG Ventures, RockawayX, Maven 11, FenbushiCapital, DelphiDigital, AlgaéVentures, IOBC, TributeLabs’ZeroDao, and Alchemy. This funding will help RISC Zero bring its Bonsai computing platform to market. (CoinDesk)
Global Policies
The US SEC will begin reviewing applications for six Bitcoin spot ETFs, including Blackrock, this week to determine whether to approve or reject them. Although the SEC issued a request for public comments last week, the review will only officially begin after it is published in the Federal Register. The initial review period was set for 45 days but can be extended to 240 days. While there is no guarantee that the SEC will approve any applications, the crypto community speculates that Blackrock has a higher chance of approval. Bitwise's Bitcoin ETP Trust application was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday. Blackrock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, WisdomTree's Bitcoin Trust, VanEck's Bitcoin Strategy ETF, and ProShares' Galaxy Bitcoin ETF will be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday. ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF was published in the Federal Register on May 15, and the SEC extended the review deadline in June. A spokesperson for Valkyrie stated that Valkyrie's Bitcoin spot ETF has not been published in the Federal Register yet but its application was officially acknowledged by the SEC on Monday. (CoinDesk)
The Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee and Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania, Glenn Thompson, announced on Tuesday that he plans to formally introduce his cryptocurrency bill in the House of Representatives this week, together with the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and Republican Congressman from North Carolina, Patrick McHenry. According to Bloomberg, Thompson believes that the recent Ripple ruling will help garner Democratic support for the bill, as it signals the need for more clear guidance to protect consumers. The Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act was introduced by Thompson and Patrick McHenry, with support from Congressmen French Hill and Dusty Johnson. The bill was first introduced in the House for initial review on June 2nd, and is slated for a vote in July. The bill proposes a new regulatory framework that classifies cryptocurrencies as securities or commodities, regulated by either the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). (Cryptoslate)
People's Voices
Celsius Lawyer: Ripple Ruling May Affect CEL Token Pricing, But Not the Restructuring Plan
Celsius's lawyer stated that the XRP ruling may impact the pricing of CEL tokens but will not affect its restructuring plan. Last week, a court ruled that the institutional sales of XRP are securities, catching the attention of Judge Martin Glenn, who is overseeing the Celsius bankruptcy proceedings. Chris Koenig, lawyer for Kirkland & Ellis representing Celsius, told the court, "We believe that the XRP ruling has no impact other than the potential effect on the CEL token issuance." He added that the new company taking over "will not engage in any securities issuance or be involved in any historical business activities of Celsius." Fahrenheit Consortium recently won the bid for Celsius assets and will focus on Bitcoin mining and Ethereum staking operations. However, considering the mandatory downgrade of customer claims related to securities under U.S. bankruptcy rules, the XRP ruling may affect the repayment of funds to CEL holders. Koenig stated that the company previously estimated the token value at $0.20 but it could also drop to zero, while some creditors argue that it should be valued at the apparent value of $0.81 at the time of bankruptcy. (CoinDesk)
