| The Base mainnet launches on August 9th; the US SEC is considering an Ethereum futures ETF (August 4th)
Headlines
Coinbase Officially Launching Base Mainnet on August 9th
Coinbase announced that its L2 base, built using OptimismOP Stack, will be open to the public on August 9th. It is reported that over $68 million worth of ETH was cross-linked into the network last week.
Two insiders revealed that the US SEC has expressed readiness to publicly consider Ethereum futures ETF products. However, one source added that the SEC is willing to weigh the Ethereum futures ETF but cannot guarantee that such applications will be approved.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Henry Jim said, "From the product perspective, all ETF issuers may believe that even if Ethereum (ETF) applications are approved, even if they are introduced in futures form, they should not take the risk of lagging behind." (Blockworks)
Industry News
CZ: Binance has reached 150 million registered users
CZ tweeted that Binance has reached 150 million registered users. Other major developments this week include the official launch of Binance Japan and obtaining the MVP license to operate in Dubai, as well as the launch of two Launchpools (CYBER and SEI).
CZ Responds to "Attempted Closure of Binance.US but Voted Down by CEO": Reports are False, Just FUD
CZ responded on Twitter to the news about the "attempted closure of Binance.US but voted down by CEO": "If it's a board vote, 1 out of 3 votes against can't stop any decision. It requires a 2/3 majority to win; if it's a shareholder vote, Brian Shroder is the CEO and not a VC or other type of investor, indicating that the report is just FUD."
Yesterday, two informed sources revealed that CZ had tried to close Binance.US earlier this year to protect the overall interests of Binance.
One of the sources said that CZ, as chairman of the Binance.US board, had voted on whether to liquidate the company but failed to get unanimous approval.
Binance.US CEO Brian Shroder was the only one who opposed this decision, as he was concerned that suddenly closing the exchange could force customers to quickly transfer or liquidate their cryptocurrencies, causing harm to the customers.
Santiment tweeted that there are currently 15,870 Bitcoin addresses that hold at least 100 BTC. These whale addresses collectively hold 11.5 million BTC, accounting for over half (59.2%) of the current total supply. In the past 12 weeks, the total holdings of these addresses have increased by 27,755 BTC.
Bitcoin's 180-Day Volatility Drops to 46%, Reaching a New Historical Low
Bloomberg Intelligence senior macro strategist Mike McGlone tweeted that data shows the Bitcoin 180-day volatility index has dropped to about 46% in early August, reaching its lowest level in history. Despite the usual beneficial impact of a low index on prices, McGlone believes that Bitcoin has shown relative weakness compared to the securities market since the end of the first quarter, suggesting that all risk assets still face pressure.
Top News
Web3 creator platform Nifty's announces failed transition, gradual shutdown to take place
Web3 creator platform Nifty's announced on Twitter that it will gradually end its operations starting from today.
Nifty's stated, "Earlier this year, considering our limited resources in a difficult market, we turned to developing a platform for Web3 creators. Since then, we have been dedicated to developing new products and seeking opportunities to obtain the necessary funding for continued development. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we did not receive investment opportunities and realized that the project has reached its end."
Worldcoin: Suspends services in Kenya after receiving notice from local authorities
Worldcoin has confirmed that it has temporarily paused its services in Kenya after receiving a suspension notice yesterday.
Kenya has been a major market for the project. A spokesperson for the Worldcoin Foundation stated that there is a high demand for its verification services in Kenya, with thousands of people queuing for the World ID within two days (The Block).
HashKey Exchange tweeted that it will open services to retail investors within weeks, but due to regulatory policies, it will not accept account applications from mainland China users.
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, as of August 3rd, 10:00, Curve Founder has sold a total of 72 million CRV tokens to 15 investors/institutions, in exchange for 28.8 million USD.
LeetSwap: Has retrieved 400 ETH and reopens trading at 7:00 today
LeetSwap tweeted that they have retrieved 400 ETH by attempting recovery operations on 2000 trading pairs. The ETH will be sent to the team's wallet and trading will reopen at 7:00 today.
BNB Chain releases mainnet version 1.2.9, introducing Plato and Hertz hard forks
BNB Chain has released mainnet version 1.2.9. This version introduces Plato and Hertz (Berlin, London) hard forks, which have undergone comprehensive testing on the testnet and are ready to be deployed on the mainnet.
HashKey Exchange, a licensed trading platform, announced today that it has obtained upgrades for licenses 1 and 7, making it the first licensed trading platform in Hong Kong to serve retail users.
As one of the trading platforms previously holding licenses 1 and 7, HashKey Exchange successfully applied for license upgrades through a simplified process and quickly obtained approval for retail services. This license upgrade will further expand HashKey Exchange's business scope from serving only professional investors to retail users, meeting market demand and providing more secure and convenient trading and storage services for retail users.
Tether holds more US Treasury Bonds than Australia, the UAE, and Spain
Cryptocurrency analyst Miles Deutscher tweeted that Tether currently holds more US Treasury Bonds than Australia, the UAE, and Spain.
In addition, Tether's operating profit in the second quarter exceeded $1 billion. BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company, had an operating profit of about $1.6 billion this quarter.
On July 31, Tether released an "Audited Opinion for Q2 2023" completed by the independent accounting firm BDO. The report shows that Tether's excess reserves have increased by $850 million to $3.3 billion. From April to June 2023, Tether's operating profit exceeded $1 billion, with a quarterly growth of 30%. Tether also disclosed a stock repurchase of $115 million.
Investment and Financing
Africa's central bank infrastructure provider, Emtech, announced the completion of a $4 million seed funding round, led by Matrix Partners India, with participation from BTN, Vested, Equity Alliance, LoftyInc Capital, and others. Emtech plans to further develop its CBDC stack and regulatory technology solutions.
Emtech's previous investors include Noemis Ventures, Octerra Capital, and 500 Global. To date, Emtech has raised a total of $10 million. (Techcrunch)
Web3 mahjong gaming platform Mahjong Meta announced the completion of a $12 million financing round, with Dragonfly and Folius Ventures as co-leading investors, and participation from Meteorite Labs, Find Satoshi Lab, Parallel Ventures, Emoote, and others.
The funding will drive the product development of Mahjong Meta and expand the Web3 gaming ecosystem, enhancing player gaming experience and growing its global influence.
zkPass has completed a $2.5 million seed funding round, with participation from Binance Labs, Sequoia China, OKX Ventures, Dao 5, Susquehanna International Group, Cypher Capital, Leland Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund, and others. zkPass combines technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, and third-party transport layer security, enabling users to disclose personal data on any website without revealing personal files. This technology can be used in privacy-based healthcare data markets and DeFi protocols that utilize off-chain data for credit applications. (The Block)
Cybersecurity company Hushmesh completes $5.2 million financing, led by Paladin Capital Group
Cybersecurity company Hushmesh completes $5.2 million financing, led by Paladin Capital Group and backed by Akamai Technologies. Hushmesh will use the funding to develop the key management program Mesh, which is a global information space with built-in automated security features, allowing individuals and organizations to operate online without worrying about malicious attacks or data leaks. Mesh automates encryption key management, providing an unlimited number of keys for each individual and non-individual entity to safeguard unlimited amounts of personal or entity data. (Businesswire)
