headlines
All ETF applicants except Hashdex have submitted updated S-1 (S-3) documents
Odaily News Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett stated on the All other ETF applicants, including Invesco, Fidelity, Valkyrie, and Franklin, have submitted updated versions of their S-1 filings (in the case of Grayscale, they are S-3 filings).
In addition, according to information compiled by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, Hashdex’s most recent filing was on December 26 last year.
U.S. SEC releases supplementary opinions on Bitcoin spot ETF applicant’s S-1 filing
Odaily News Chamber of Digital Commerce founder and CEO Perianne posted on the X platform that the U.S. SEC has just released supplementary opinions on the pending applicant’s S-1 document.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart confirmed the news and said there will be more amendments tomorrow, but he did not view the additional opinion as a signal of delay. This actually shows how quickly the SEC handles these matters. It’s almost unheard of for (multiple Bitcoin spot ETF applicants) to file with the SEC in the morning and receive comments the same day.
Gary Gensler issues crypto investment risk warning
Odaily News SEC Chairman Gary Gensler posted on the X platform that individuals providing crypto asset investments/services may violate applicable laws, including federal securities laws. Investors participating in cryptoasset securities should understand that they may lose critical information and other important protections related to their investments. In addition, investing in cryptoassets can also be associated with a high level of risk and often severe volatility. Many major platforms and cryptoassets have experienced bankruptcies and/or devaluation. Continuing to invest in cryptoassets requires recognizing significant risks.
Gensler also noted that fraudsters have been taking advantage of the popularity of crypto assets to lure retail investors into participating in scams. These investment environments are rife with fraud, including fake token offerings, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, and outright theft in which project sponsors disappear with investors’ funds.
The Odaily news governance page shows that the Starknet community has voted to approve the proposal to activate the Alpha V 0.13.0 upgrade on the main network, with a final support rate of 99.46%.
It is reported that the main content of the upgrade is to add the V3 transaction type, whose purpose is to enable the Starknet network to support some future functional upgrades, such as adding STRK as a gas token in addition to ETH.
ETF Progress
Odaily News Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on the X platform that BlackRock adjusted ETF fees to 0.3% in the latest filing. Thats lower than I had predicted, so I think its going to make it a tougher competitive situation for other competitors, Balchunas said.
Note: The fee scale is actually 0.2% for the first 12 months, or up to $5 billion.
Odaily News Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on the X platform that 20 minutes after BlackRock submitted the ETF update document, ARK lowered the fee to 0.25% in its ETF update document. Im telling you, once they initiate it, a fee war is going to break out, Eric Balchunas said.
Note: ARK’s full fee is 0.25%, and the first 6 months are free.
Grayscale has filed an update to Bitcoin Spot ETF S-3 with a fee of 1.5%
Odaily News SEC official website shows that Grayscale has submitted the Bitcoin spot ETF S-3 update document, and its fee is 1.5%.
Bloomberg ETF Analyst: VanEck’s ETF fee is 0.25%, Fidelity may face a fee disadvantage
Odaily News Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on the X platform that VanEck’s Bitcoin spot ETF fee is 0.25%. As BlackRock, Ark, and VanEck have successively adjusted their fee standards, Fidelitys 0.39% fee ratio has been reduced from the cheapest level to the middle level.
Bitwise has filed an update to Bitcoin Spot ETF S-1 with a fee of 0.24%
Odaily News SEC official website shows that Bitwise has submitted a Bitcoin spot ETF S-1 update document with a fee of 0.24%, which is the lowest value currently known.
Franklin Templeton has filed an update to its Bitcoin Spot ETF S-1 with a fee of 0.29%
Odaily News SEC official website shows that Franklin Templeton has submitted its Bitcoin spot ETF S-1 update document with a fee of 0.29%.
BlackRock has injected $10 million in seed funding into its Bitcoin spot ETF
Odaily News The latest revised S-1 filing shows that BlackRock has injected $10 million in seed funds for its Bitcoin spot ETF. Seed funding is when banks and brokerages put up money to buy constituent stocks (in this case, Bitcoin) in exchange for shares of the ETF that can be traded on the public market on its first day of trading. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart believes that the infusion of seed funds may mean that the ETF will be launched soon. (The Block)
VanEck has infused $72.5 million in seed funding for its Bitcoin spot ETF
Odaily News The latest revised S-1 filing shows that VanEck has injected $72.5 million in seed funds for its Bitcoin spot ETF. Seed funding is when banks and brokerages put up money to buy constituent stocks (in this case, Bitcoin) in exchange for shares of the ETF that can be traded on the public market on its first day of trading. Seed funding is usually small, just letting the ETF run. (The Block)
Pantera Capital plans to invest $200 million in Bitwise Bitcoin spot ETF if approved
Odaily News The latest revised S-1 filing shows that Bitwise has injected $500,000 in seed funds for its Bitcoin spot ETF. Pantera Capital, meanwhile, plans to inject $200 million into Bitwise’s Bitcoin spot ETF, once approved. However, this is only an investment intention and is not legally binding. (The Block)
Odaily News Deribit data shows that the most traded BTC options today are options expiring on January 12, which may be related to the expectation of approval of the spot Bitcoin ETF. Volume (notional value) was $165.7 million in puts and $157.7 million in calls, indicating active market activity.
Bloomberg: If spot Bitcoin ETF is approved, trading could begin as early as the next business day
Odaily News analysis said that before the spot Bitcoin ETF can start trading, two technical requirements must be met. First, the SEC must approve the 19 b-4 filing by the exchange listing the ETF; second, the SEC must approve the related Form S-1.
The SEC plans to vote on the exchange’s 19B-4 filing in the coming days. It is unknown whether the SEC will take action on the issuer’s filing (S-1) at the same time. If the SEC approves a spot Bitcoin ETF, the ETF could begin trading as early as the next business day.
An SEC representative declined to comment on the current status of the filing. (Bloomberg)
Industry news
Binance releases reserve certificate for January 2024: BTC reserve ratio reaches 103.79%
Odaily News Binance released the reserve certificate in January 2024. The BTC reserve ratio reached 103.79%, the ETH reserve ratio reached 106.56%, the USDT reserve ratio reached 123.20%, and the BNB reserve ratio reached 106.04%.
Upbit Singapore receives major payment institution license from Monetary Authority of Singapore
Odaily News Upbit Singapore announced that it has obtained a major payment institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowing it to expand its digital asset business while complying with Singapores high regulatory standards.
Upbit APAC currently operates compliant digital asset trading platforms in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. (PR Newswire)
Odaily News CleanSpark announced the purchase of 160,000 Bitmain S21 mining machines. The first 60,000 units are priced at US$193.2 million and will be delivered in June 24. The remaining 100,000 units will retain call options. (PR Newswire)
Japanese C2C second-hand trading platform Mercari will accept BTC payment
Odaily News Japan’s C2C second-hand trading platform Mercari said it will accept BTC to purchase goods on its flea market APP before June this year. The company will process BTC payments through its Tokyo-based crypto subsidiary Mercoin. (Nikkei Shimbun)
Project News
The BNB Beacon chain may cease service in April 24, which will affect BEP 2 and BEP 8 tokens
Odaily News BNB Chain published a blog post stating that the BNB Chain community recently proposed BEP 333: BNB Chain Fusion, which is a proposal to gradually eliminate the BNB Beacon Chain from its ecosystem. The initiative aims to improve BSC development effectiveness, enhance security, and improve asset utilization efficiency.
Beacon Chain Fusion is scheduled to be implemented in April 2024. Users should plan their asset transition to ensure the safety of their funds, BEP 2 and BEP 8 tokens will be affected.
Odaily News The Arbitrum community has voted to approve the ArbOS 11 version proposal and is currently waiting for implementation. The proposal proposes to introduce several improvements to Arbitrum, including support for the EVM Shanghai upgrade and PUSH 0 opcode, as well as various bug fixes.
The improvements, now audited and ready for adoption, involve the Arbitrum Orbit chain, Arbitrum One, and Arbitrum Nova (the proposal involves the latter two), while the ArbOS upgrade can be considered an Arbitrum hard fork.
136 million EVMOS will be destroyed this Thursday
Odaily News Evmos CEO Federico said on the was burned.
TinFun has closed the public sale early and the whitelist sale will end at 11:00
Odaily News NFT project TinFun posted on the X platform that the TinFun public sale lottery amount reached the expected target of 25,000 ETH. In order to avoid excessive market hype, excessive FOMO in the community, and ensure the safety of user funds, TinFun decided to close the public sale early at 8:00 on January 8.
The whitelist sales time remains unchanged and will still end at 11:00 on January 8; the lottery results will be announced within 2 days and the refund claim page will be opened.
Narwhal hacked, $1.09 million in stolen assets deposited into Tornado Cash
Odaily reported that according to Cyvers Alerts monitoring, multiple suspicious transactions were suspected to have occurred in the Narwhal token NRW. All NRW has been converted into USDT and bridged to ETH through Stargate.
The stolen funds were converted from USDT to ETH on the Ethereum chain and $1.09 million was deposited into Tornado Cash.
Investment and Financing
Blockchain social platform Freechat completes $80 million in financing
Odaily News Blockchain social platform Freechat has recently completed US$80 million in financing, with a post-money valuation of US$800 million. The investor has not been disclosed. It is reported that Freechat was founded in 2022 and completed a US$2 million seed round of financing in August 2022. In early 2023, Freechat officially launched global servers. (36 krypton)
Core Scientific completes $55 million equity subscription offering
Odaily News Core Scientific announced the completion of a US$55 million equity subscription offering, which was oversubscribed.
said Adam Sullivan, CEO of Core Scientific. As a result of this successful capital raise, we plan to complete Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in January to continue executing on our growth plans. (Business Wire)
Mining company Argo: Completed placement of 38 million shares, total proceeds of US$10 million
Odaily News Encryption mining company Argo Blockchain posted on the
Odaily News Solana ecological DeFi platform Saros announced the completion of a US$3.75 million private placement round of financing, with participation from Solana Ventures, Hashed, Spartan, Arche Fund, GBV, Assym, IF, Genblock, K 300, Cryptomind, Kyros and Evernew.
Odaily News Linekong Interactive Group Co., Ltd. (HK.8267) recently announced in an announcement that it has successfully signed a share subscription agreement and plans to subscribe for 30.3% of the Bitcoin network and AI computing power innovation service company EcoPowX with an investment of US$1.26 million. shares. EcoPowX mainly focuses on providing computing power solutions for artificial intelligence and Bitcoin networks through environmentally friendly gas power generation technology, and promotes environmentally friendly processing of flare gas in oil areas by cooperating with large oil fields and natural gas processing equipment suppliers in West Africa.
Linekong Interactive stated that this investment in EcoPowX aims to diversify its encrypted digital asset investment portfolio in order to respond to the changing market environment. The company remains optimistic about the future market prospects and promises to continue investing resources in Web3 and technological innovation.
AI-driven Web3 tracking platform TrendX completes US$1 million in seed round financing
Odaily News AI-driven Web3 tracking platform TrendX announced the completion of a US$1 million seed round of financing, with participation from Foster Labs, Web3 Link, Coresky, Tripod Capital, CatcherVC, MIIX Capital, etc.
KuCoin Labs strategic investment in Sui ecological cross-chain inscription protocol ISSP
Odaily News KuCoin Labs recently announced a strategic investment in ISSP to support its development of innovative inscription protocols based on the Sui network.
ISSP is a cross-chain inscription protocol system that integrates the inscription market and inscription exchange, and has initially launched the SUI-20 inscription standard protocol on the Sui network, using the built-in indexer of the network node to index inscription data. (Business Wire)
Regulatory developments
Odaily News South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service is formulating comprehensive guidelines for virtual asset issuance, circulation, and online standards. The leader of the Digital Asset Research Group of the Financial Supervisory Service said that it has been cooperating with the exchange for about half a year and the guidelines have been basically completed.
It added: Since the law is being drafted for the first time, various market characteristics must be taken into account, such as the existence of multiple markets and the difference between the Korean local market and the global market. (Hankyung)
Thailand’s State Council issues legal opinion against country’s prime minister’s digital wallet plan
Odaily News According to The Nation, Thailand’s Office of the State Council will submit a legal opinion that Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s government cannot pass legislative bills to fund the 500 billion baht ($14.4 billion) digital wallet plan. If there is an urgent need to stimulate the economy, the government should issue an executive order rather than pass a bill to borrow the funds, an anonymous source familiar with the matter said at the Council of State. That a bill would take months to implement is a sign that the economic situation is not dire.
Srettha previously said Thailands economy is in crisis and needs a boost to end a cycle of low-single-digit growth. The digital cash handout, seen as a major stimulus to boost growth, aims to give 10,000 baht each to about 50 million Thais as a one-time measure to stimulate consumption and business activity. It is reported that the airdrop will use a state-issued token instead of existing digital assets or cryptocurrencies, and sellers can exchange it for cash at designated banks. (Bloomberg)
Character*Voice
Odaily News Binance’s new CEO Richard Teng said in an interview with Italian media IlSole 24 ORE that since he took over the leadership position in November 23, Binance has ushered in the return of funds and positive net inflows.
Regarding CZs future role, Teng said: As part of the agreement, he agreed to step down and will not be involved in the day-to-day management or structure of the organization. He intends to take a break.
In terms of technological innovation, Teng said that he is working on the combination of blockchain and AI, as well as asset tokenization. Teng is optimistic about the future of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, emphasizing that the cryptocurrency industry will continue to develop, including increased credibility, increased user trust, new institutions joining, and the launch of new products. At the same time, he expressed support for Bitcoin ETF, believing that more products will bring more users and make the industry more popular.
Odaily News DWF Labs Lianchuang Andrei Grachev posted on the X platform that short-term ups and downs are not important. In any case, we will reach/touch the magic $100,000 in this cycle.
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