Headlines
Feds Kashkari: No more than 2 rate cuts expected in June economic forecast
Kashkari of the Federal Reserve said that no more than 2 rate cuts are expected in the June economic forecast. Inflation seems to be stable for some time, and more patience may be needed. The US economy is in good shape, but if the inflation target of 2% is not achieved, it will damage the credibility of the Federal Reserve. It is more likely than raising interest rates that interest rates will be kept at the current level for longer than the public expects. It is not that monetary policy has no impact, but that the impact is not as large as expected, nor as fast as expected. (Jinshi)
Grayscale withdraws 19b-4 filing for Ethereum futures ETF
Grayscale filed a notice with the U.S. SEC on May 7 to withdraw its 19b-4 application for an Ethereum futures ETF, just three weeks before the SEC was forced to make a decision on its application.
The SEC originally planned to make a final decision on the Grayscale Ethereum Futures ETF on May 30. Grayscale initially submitted a 19 b-4 application on September 19, 2023, hoping to list its Ethereum Futures ETF on the New York Stock Exchange.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart initially believed that Grayscale planned to strategically use its Ethereum futures ETF as a Trojan Horse to force the SEC to approve its Ethereum spot ETF. But he is confused as to why Grayscale is withdrawing its application now, as the SEC will be forced to decide on May 23 whether to approve at least one Ethereum spot ETF application. (Cointelegraph)
Reuters: Robinhoods first-quarter revenue may hit a three-year high
Robinhood Markets first-quarter revenue may hit a record high in nearly three years, thanks to a steady rebound in stock and cryptocurrency trading. Analysts said Robinhood was at the heart of the 2021 meme stock craze, and bets on global interest rate cuts at the beginning of the year pushed U.S. stocks and Bitcoin to record highs, helping Robinhood earn more trading revenue. (Reuters)
Industry News
BlackRock: As of May 6, IBITs holdings have reached nearly 275,000 BTC
According to BlackRocks official spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund data, as of May 6, its IBITs Bitcoin holdings were 274,370.8969 BTC, with a current market value of approximately US$17,303,230,795.92, and the number of outstanding shares rose to 481,120,000.
IntoTheBlock: DeFi security incidents have caused losses of nearly $59 billion so far
IntoTheBlock posted on the X platform that the losses caused by DeFi security incidents have reached nearly US$59 billion so far.
Historically, the main reasons for attacks on DeFi projects include private key management, mechanism design, and smart contract vulnerabilities. However, the first quarter of 2024 showed a shift, with most losses attributed to Rug Pulls, which were caused by the overall rise in the cryptocurrency market.
FTX and its affiliated debtors filed a revised reorganization plan and disclosure statement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Tuesday. The plan is expected to centrally distribute to customers and other creditors around the world substantially all of FTXs assets at the time of its bankruptcy in November 2022. FTX estimates that the total value of property collected, converted into cash and available for distribution will be between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion. This amount includes assets controlled by Chapter 11 debtors and assets controlled by the Joint Official Liquidators of FTX Digital Markets, Ltd. (Bahamas), the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, and the Joint Official Liquidators of FTX Australia.
FTX is understood to owe customers and other non-government creditors about $11 billion. The extra cash will be used to pay interest on the company’s more than 2 million customers, a rare outcome since creditors typically receive only a fraction of the face value of their debts in U.S. bankruptcies.
Court documents show that while all debts will be repaid in full with interest, shareholders will receive nothing. Depending on the type of claims held, some creditors could recover up to 142% of the amount of their claims. However, the vast majority of customers may receive 118% of the amount they held on the FTX platform on the day FTX filed for bankruptcy protection.
FTX also proposed setting up a fund to repay some creditors, including those who provided cryptocurrency loans to FTX, and the money would have gone to government regulators. As FTX enters the final stages of its bankruptcy case, the compensation may be paid in a few months. (Bloomberg)
Colombian Bank Bancolombia Launches Crypto Exchange Wenia and Stablecoin
Bancolombia Group, one of the largest banking groups in Colombia, has launched Wenia, a cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange aims to take market share from cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Bitso in Latin America and Colombia by offering the high level of security associated with Bancolombia to new users in the space.
According to Juan Carlos Mora, president of Bancolombia, the solution involves simplifying the adoption of digital assets and blockchain-based products in Colombia. The platform estimates that it will reach 60,000 users within a year of its launch, given Colombia’s potential as the third most adopted cryptocurrency country in Latin America.
Wenia CEO Pablo Arboleda stressed the importance of providing a friendly platform for new crypto customers. He stressed: Our purpose is to help people connect with the cryptocurrency world in a more convenient, inclusive and efficient way. At the same time, Wenia also launched COPW, a stablecoin anchored to the Colombian peso. (Bitcoin.com)
Binance Research released its April crypto market report, with the following highlights:
The total market value of cryptocurrencies fell by 11.3% in April. The main reasons for this include changes in expectations for interest rate cuts, geopolitical risks, and a slowdown in spot Bitcoin ETF flows.
Meanwhile, the total supply of USD-pegged stablecoins reached a two-year high. The supply of USDT and USDC has been steadily increasing, indicating continued capital inflows into the crypto market;
Most of the top ten tokens by market capitalization were in a state of decline at the end of this month, with TON and BNB rising 1.0% and falling slightly by 1.4% respectively. ETH and BTC both fell by about 8% in April, and XRP and SHIB fell by 17.1% and 19.2% respectively this month. DOGE, ADA, SOL and AVAX fell by about 30% by the end of the month;
In April, the overall TVL of DeFi fell by 0.7%. Among the top ten blockchains, Merlin Chain TVL grew the fastest, with an increase of 1000% and a TVL of more than 1 billion US dollars;
The NFT market also saw a decline in April, with total monthly sales falling 21% to $1.11 billion. Four of the top five NFT series in terms of sales that month were in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Project News
MyShell: Testnet Phase 1 airdrop NFT will be issued soon, deadline is May
The decentralized AI content platform MyShell officially announced on the X platform that the first phase of the testnet airdrop is coming soon, and the new NFT will be accompanied by more privileges, which is planned to last until the end of May. Earlier news, the first phase of the MyShell testnet has been launched.
Bitcoin L2 Network BOB Fusion Season 2 is now live
Bitcoin L2 network BOB (Build on Bitcoin) announced on the X platform that BOB Fusion Season 2 has been launched and users can participate in the following ways:
• Bridge to BOB and provide TVL to DApps;
• Actively use BOB DApps;
• Participate in quests on Galxe.
Character*Voice
SlowMist CISO: Beware of the risk of account takeover caused by malicious phishing links on Telegram
SlowMist Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) 23pds posted on the X platform, warning people to be alert to the risk of Telegram accounts being taken over due to malicious phishing links on Telegram.
Recently, his team discovered that the link identity function of the well-known chat tool Telegram was exposed to a risk. Malicious users sent specific links to victims through private chats. Once the victims clicked on this link, their Telegram accounts might be taken over.
According to Korean media reports, the Democratic Party of South Korea plans to ask financial regulators to review the currently banned spot Bitcoin ETFs.
The opposition Democratic Party won a landslide victory in Aprils general election, winning 175 of the 300 seats in the local legislature, while the ruling Conservative Party won 108. The Democratic Party has pledged to enable local financial institutions to launch spot crypto ETFs and allow retail investors to buy these funds through tax-free accounts.
According to BloomingBit, a member of the Democratic Party said that once the 22nd National Assembly of South Korea begins in June, the Democratic Party plans to ask the countrys top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), to review the spot Bitcoin ETF with the aim of opening such products locally. (The Block)
Investment and Financing
Lava Foundation completes $11 million financing, Animoca Brands and others participate
The Lava Foundation, which is committed to developing the modular blockchain network Lava, announced the completion of a $11 million financing round, with participation from Animoca Brands, Gate.io Ventures, Coingecko Ventures, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Ash Crypto, CryptoLark, and media Crypto Times Japan, Le Journal Du Coin and The Rollup. It is reported that the Lava mainnet launch and airdrop are expected to take place in the coming months. (TheBlock)
According to an article published by Coindesk on the X platform, Singapore Web3 platform Galaxis announced the completion of a $10 million financing round, with Chainlink, Ethereum domain name service ENS, Rarestone Capital, Taisu Ventures, and ENS co-founder Nick Johnson participating in the investment.
Ambient, a decentralized environmental data network project based on Solana, announced the completion of a $2 million seed round of financing, led by Borderless Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures, Parami Investors, Sonic Boom Ventures, Primal Capital and others.
It is reported that Ambient was established in January this year, acquired the Algorand-based environmental data project PlanetWatch in March, and decided to migrate to Solana.
