headlines
Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler remained silent on Wednesday when reporters asked whether the SEC might take action soon on an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF under review.
Speaking at the Health Market Association meeting on Wednesday, Gensler said he would not prejudge the matter. He previously called the agencys review process a time-tested process. The cryptocurrency industry has been waiting for the agency to approve the first spot Bitcoin ETF. Several asset managers, including BlackRock and Fidelity, have submitted multiple applications in recent months, but so far those have been delayed.
Binance’s new CEO says the company’s executive team will “remain intact”
Binance’s new CEO Richard Teng said in an interview that he is in no rush to reshape the company’s senior leadership team following the settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the resignation of Changpeng Zhao. When asked about senior Binance executive Yi He’s role at Binance, Richard Teng said, “It’s important that our core team remains intact.”
Richard Teng also emphasized that the companys revenue and profits remain strong and that the companys capital structure is debt-free, but did not disclose details. He also declined to say when a financial auditor would be selected.
Industry News
A document filed on Wednesday showed that Grayscale updated the GBTC protocol for the first time since 2018 to optimize the GBTC structure, prepare for the expected listing of a spot Bitcoin ETF, and improve its competitiveness against other applicants such as BlackRock. GBTCs update involves two proposed changes to the trust agreement, which will later be submitted to a shareholder vote.
The first modification would allow the management fee to be charged from a monthly basis to a daily basis. A spokesman for the company said this was a structural change rather than a cost reduction and had not yet been finalized. Grayscale currently charges a 2% management fee on GBTC, and other spot Bitcoin ETF applicants charge management fees between 0.7% and 1%, according to a Matrixport analyst report.
The second modification will allow assets to be commingled in omnibus accounts, the core processing mechanism of the ETF, which will make the creation and redemption of shares smoother and is an innovation in the Coinbase Custody service. BlackRock’s iShares product will also use Coinbase Custody, as will some other spot ETF applicants.
The above updates will not result in additional costs to Grayscale shareholders and are not required for GBTC to convert to an ETF, the filing said. Shareholders have 20 days from Wednesdays filing to vote on the proposed update.
Swiss asset manager Pando Asset has filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States, filing an S-1 form with the SEC. The ETF will trade on the Cboe BZX exchange, with Coinbase serving as the custodian, according to the filing. For Bitcoin pricing, the document mentions using the CME’s CF Bitcoin Reference Rate.
BlackRock meets with SEC again to discuss ETFs, showing off revised physical model design
Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said on the Physical delivery model design.
In the original and revised physical delivery models, step 4 has changed, that is, the overseas entity market maker obtains Bitcoin from Coinbase and then pays it in cash in advance to a broker registered in the United States (these brokers are not allowed to exposure to Bitcoin).
DOGE-funded and named SpaceX Doge-1 satellite receives regulatory approval
SpaceX’s “Doge-1” satellite, funded and named by DOGE, has received approval from the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and is seeking final approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
It is reported that the DOGE-1 satellite was developed by the space technology company Geometric Energy Corporation, which announced the project in May 2021. The satellite will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Project News
Gitcoin: GG 19 has provided approximately $535,000 in donations so far
Gitcoin posted on the ,in:
1. Ethereum infrastructure research and development round: the donation amount is approximately US$51,000, the number of donations is approximately 75,000, and approximately 12,900 independent users/projects have received donations, including L 2B EAT, EthStaker, ZK Email, etc.;
2. Web3 Community Education Round: The donation amount is approximately US$122,000, the number of donations is approximately 45,000, and approximately 14,900 independent users/projects have received donations, including Trustalabs, EtherScore, ZachXBT, etc.;
3. Web3 open source software round: The donation amount is approximately US$264,000, the number of donations is approximately 118,000, and approximately 23,000 independent users/projects have received donations, including JediSwap, Hypercerts Foundation, Revoke.cash, etc.
BitStable posted on the X platform that an unforeseen security issue occurred during the public sale of BSSB tokens on Bounce Finance, resulting in an unauthorized party obtaining most of the available supply. This incident was caused by a DDoS attack and the use of multiple wallets that directly interacted with the contract causing uneven distribution.
In order to realign BSSB allocations and adhere to DAII’s strategic roadmap, the team decided to:
- 75% of the BSSB tokens involved in the fixed swap auction will be destroyed;
- The remaining 25% is still claimable. However, given the high gas fees and additional costs incurred, this effectively increases the cost of participation by a factor of six.
Celsius: Eligible custodial users can make additional withdrawals starting today
Celsius officially posted on the X platform that starting today, eligible custody users can make additional withdrawals. The only assets currently available for withdrawal are certain custody assets; currently, all other cryptocurrencies remain unavailable for withdrawal. Users are strongly encouraged to withdraw these assets from the Celsius application and immediately obtain personal records of information they may find useful, as the Celsius application will only be available for a limited time.
opBNB developers plan to more than double chain transaction speeds
As part of the new technology roadmap for layer 2 network opBNB, developers hope to more than double transaction speeds and cut network fees by 90%. According to the plan, the move will increase transactions per second (TPS) from around 4,000 to 10,000 and reduce costs to $0.0005 within six months. The first fee reduction is scheduled for December 4, with the fee going from $0.005 to $0.001.
Sei releases v2 upgrade introduction, announcing that it will add support for EVM
Sei will add support for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) in its V2 upgrade, which will enable developers to port Ethereum-based contracts to the Sei network. To add this functionality, Sei V2 will merge Geth. Sei Labs said it has developed a specialized interface to facilitate the interaction of Sei’s existing smart contract components (based on CosmWasm technology) with EVM components. CosmWasm is a custom Cosmos SDK module that allows chains to run smart contracts in the Cosmos ecosystem. With V2, the team will achieve efficient integration of EVM with the Sei network.
Financial services company SoFi Technologies issued a notice stating that SoFi customers will no longer be able to open new cryptocurrency accounts. Existing cryptocurrency customers have until December 19 to migrate their cryptocurrency holdings to Blockchain.com or their remaining balances will be liquidated.
SoFi is a financial services company based in San Francisco founded in 2011. Originally known for its student loan refinancing business, the company has expanded its offerings into personal loans, credit cards, mortgages, investment accounts and more.
Polygon Lianchuang: Polygon will launch two new products about ZK and RWA in December
Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal disclosed some important nodes of Polygon in the next month on the X platform:
1. On December 7, Polygon will hold an offline event Polygon Connect in India;
2. On December 14, Polygon will publicly demonstrate the next generation ZK product, which Sandeep said may become an important milestone for the entire Ethereum ecosystem;
3. On December 20, Polygon will launch new products regarding RWA and institutional adoption.
Velodrome and Aerodrome frontends are under attack, please do not interact
Velodrome and its forked protocol Aerodrome frontend is under attack, please do not interact with it. The team is investigating.
The six founders of Neon Machine, the game studio behind Shrapnel, have filed a lawsuit in Delaware trial court against investment firm 4D Factory CEO Cort Javarone, 4D equity holder Steve Horowitz and private equity firm Northern Pacific Group Scott Honor, and said these investors were trying to control the companys shareholders and plunder its coffers.
KyberSwap Hackers Will Release Negotiation Treaty Announcement on November 30
The KyberSwap attacker posted a message on the chain saying: KyberSwap executives, employees, token holders and liquidity providers, I said I was willing to negotiate. However, what I received was (mostly) threats from the executive team , deadlines, and generally unkind responses. Thats okay, I dont mind. Regarding our (potential) treaty, I have prepared a statement. I plan to publish it promptly on November 30th at noon UTC time. Assuming I continue to be affected by Hostile treatment, we can reschedule for a later date, when we all feel more amicable. You just have to say the word. If not, we will proceed as planned on November 30th.
global policy
The Hong Kong Legislative Council passed a non-binding parliamentary motion Urging the Government to Strengthen Measures to Combat Internet Fraud today. Legislative Council Member (Election Committee) Wu Jiezhuang said that to effectively combat Internet fraud, we cannot rely solely on the power of the police, but must cross borders. It is carried out across government departments, across sectors, and across levels, and it is a protracted battle. Chen Haolian, deputy secretary of the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau of Hong Kong, said: The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission will actively strengthen the investigation and enforcement of online financial fraud activities, and jointly enforce the law with local and regulatory authorities outside Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government attaches great importance to unlicensed virtual assets. Regarding fraud on trading platforms, we will strive to protect the interests of investors and crack down on platforms or websites that violate laws and regulations and involve fraudulent elements.
UK to fine cryptocurrency users who fail to pay taxes on time
The British government on Wednesday called on cryptocurrency users to voluntarily disclose any unpaid capital gains or income tax to avoid penalties, and issued guidance on how to pay these taxes. Tax disclosures should reflect any capital gains or income from trading tokens such as Bitcoin, NFTs, and utility tokens.
Users who have made a cryptocurrency tax disclosure to the UK Treasury have 30 days from the date of disclosure to make all necessary payments. If the deadline is not met, the Treasury will take steps to recover the funds and users may face penalties.
Investment and Financing
Wormhole, a developer platform focused on inter-blockchain communication, announced the successful completion of a new round of financing of $225 million, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. This round of financing attracted participation from investment institutions such as Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, and Arrington Capital. With the injection of funds, Wormhole also announced the establishment of Wormhole Labs, aiming to promote the development and application of cross-chain technology. Since its founding in 2021, Wormhole has become the core infrastructure for many major blockchains and projects, processing more than $35 billion in cross-chain fund transfers and more than 750 million cross-chain messages.
Dan Reecer, chief operating officer of the Wormhole Foundation, said that the company will continue to promote the construction of Web3 infrastructure and launch more innovative products next year to continue to support the development of the Wormhole developer ecosystem.
IOTA launches $100 million fund to promote DLT technology in the Middle East
IOTA launches $100 million fund in Abu Dhabi to accelerate the development of distributed ledger (DLT) technology in the Middle East. The funding will be used for partnerships aimed at tokenizing real assets through the Ethereum Virtual Machine.
DeFi revenue platform Coinchange raises US$10 million, led by G 1.VC, Spirit Blockchain and others
DeFi yield platform Coinchange announced a $10 million funding round led by G 1.VC, Spirit Blockchain, Good News Ventures, K 2.CA and Atoia Ventures, with participation from Mintfox. The new financing will be used to expand its business and services while attracting new customers.
Coinchange provides Earn API services to its clients, enabling trading and earning returns on digital assets. It is reported that Earn API is a risk management platform that supports Bitcoin, Ethereum and major stablecoins.
DWF Labs and DWF Ventures launch Web3 incubation program
According to official news, DWF Labs will launch the first 2024 Web3 incubation program with DWF Ventures, inviting early founders and startups to participate, including decentralized applications (DApps) in areas such as SocialFi, ZK, trading and derivatives, and EVM and the infrastructure of the BTC ecosystem.
DWF Labs will provide comprehensive support in three key areas: product development, guidance and consulting, and go-to-market strategy. The deadline for registration submission is 8:00 UTC on January 5, 2024 (16:00 Beijing time).
Character *Voice
According to a post by Coingecko, since the concept of GameFi was born, 2,127 web3 games have failed in the past five years, accounting for 75.5% of the total 2,817 launched by GameFi. Among them, based on the number of failed Web3 games compared with the number of releases, the average annual failure rate of Web3 games from 2018 to 2023 is 80.8%.
Regarding the definition of failure, Coingecko believes that GameFi whose average active users drop more than 99% from its peak within 14 days should be considered a failure.
Analyst: SEC and issuers are preparing to approve spot Bitcoin ETF by January 10
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on the Yes: More revisions/final documents are pouring in and confirmed in-kind or cash created.
But an important point that has been overlooked in the debate over exact dates, comments, and timelines is that the SEC and issuers are working behind the scenes to get these ETFs ready for this cycle (by January 10, 2024), and most Everyone thought this could not happen.
