Finishing: Cookies, ChainCatcher
“What important events happened this week (10.2-10.8)”
1. Michael Lewis: Jump Trading lost nearly $300 million due to the collapse of FTX. SBF repurchased Zhao Changpeng’s FTX shares for $2.275 billion in 2021
According to Michael Lewis’ new book about SBF, Going Infinite, crypto market maker Jump Trading lost nearly $300 million in the FTX collapse. The book cites documents discovered by former FTX COO Constance Wang as saying that Jump Trading lost $206 million, while its affiliated trading firm Tai Mo Shan Ltd lost more than $75 million.
The book also reveals many stories about SBF, including that in response to regulatory scrutiny, SBF repurchased Zhao Changpeng's FTX shares for $2.275 billion in 2021, SBF modified the rules to extend the employee SRM lock-up period after SRM rose sharply, and SBF considered paying Trump $5 billion to prevent him from running for president. (Source link)
2. Utopia and Yield Protocol, both invested by Paradigm, will stop all services
DAO solution Utopia announced that it will stop all services on November 6, and the product will be free to use until the end of this month. The project emphasized in the announcement that this action does not mean closing the company, but abandoning existing products and existing directions. It is reported that Utopia previously received US$23 million in financing led by Paradigm in June 2022, with participation from Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Distributed Global and others.
The decentralized fixed-rate lending protocol Yield Protocol announced that it will end operations, citing insufficient demand and an uncertain regulatory environment as key drivers behind the decision to cease operations. The platform attracted more than $22 million in TVL at its peak in April 2022, and its current TVL is just over $2 million. According to RootData data, Yield Protocol completed a $10 million financing in June 21, with participation from Paradigm, Framework Ventures, CMS, and Robot Ventures.
In addition, Ascenders, an action role-playing blockchain game project based on Avalanche, announced that it would stop developing games, including its flagship project "Ascenders MMORPG" and its supporting mini-game "Ascenders: Simulation", and terminate the company's operations. Ascenders previously completed a $6.4 million private round of financing, led by Paramount Capital, Three Arrows Capital, Sino Global Capital and Merit Circle. (Source link)
3. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong Police Force set up a joint working group on virtual asset trading platforms
The Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission have established a dedicated working group to strengthen cooperation in monitoring and investigating illegal activities related to virtual asset trading platforms. The working group was established after a high-level meeting between the two parties on September 28, 2023, and is composed of representatives from the Commercial Crime Bureau, Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau, Financial Intelligence and Investigation Bureau of the Police Force, and the Enforcement Department and Organization Department of the Securities and Futures Commission.
The purpose of the working group is to promote information sharing related to suspicious activities and irregularities of virtual asset trading platforms; implement risk assessment mechanisms for suspicious virtual asset trading platforms; and strengthen coordination and cooperation in related investigations. (Source link)
4. The funds involved in Singapore’s largest money laundering case have expanded to 2.8 billion Singapore dollars
Singapore authorities have seized or frozen assets worth more than S$2.8 billion (about $2 billion) in an ongoing money laundering investigation, an official said, while signaling the government may tighten immigration rules to curb illegal money inflows. It is understood that the amount involved was initially more than S$1 billion, then increased to S$1.8 billion, and rose to S$2.4 billion on September 20. As of today (October 3), the total amount of assets frozen or subject to restriction orders has increased to S$2.8 billion.
It was previously reported that the 10 foreign nationals arrested in the case were suspected of forging documents and money laundering, with the total value of the property involved being about S$1 billion. It was initially determined that the 10 people were all from Fujian Province, China. (Source link)
5. North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group laundered more than $900 million through cryptocurrency cross-chain bridges in the past year
According to Yonhap News Agency, the North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group has laundered more than $900 million (about 1.2 trillion won) in cryptocurrency through cross-chain bridges over the past year, accounting for about one-seventh of the total amount of money laundered through cross-chain bridges in the past year (US$7 billion). (Source link)
6. Singapore’s Whampoa Group plans to launch a $100 million venture capital fund by the end of the year to invest in Web3 and digital assets
According to Nikkei Asia, citing people familiar with the matter, Whampoa Group, a Singapore-based investment institution, plans to launch a $100 million venture capital fund by the end of this year. The fund is expected to invest in Web3 and digital assets and will focus on Series A financing transactions. It was previously reported that the fund will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022. As of now, Whampoa Digital, a digital asset investment institution under Whampoa Group, has not commented on this matter. (Source link)
7. ETHVietnam Summit has been postponed to mid-January 2024
According to the ETHVietnam official website and related email notifications, the ETHVietnam 2023 Summit, originally scheduled to be held from October 27 to 29 this year, has now postponed the main meeting time (including ETHVN Hackathon and ETHVietnam EVENT) to mid-January 2024.
In addition, ChainCatcher and decentralized derivatives protocol KTX.Finance’s “WEB3 FUTURE NIGHT” event, originally scheduled to be held on October 27 during the ETHVietnam Summit, will also be postponed to mid-January 2024. (Source link)
8. The social protocol Stars Arena suffered a vulnerability, resulting in a loss of approximately $3 million. Resources were subsequently obtained to compensate for the loss and the contract will be restarted.
Stars Arena, a social protocol based on the AVAX network, posted on the X platform: "There is a major security vulnerability in the smart contract. We are checking the problem. Please do not deposit any funds." On-chain information shows that Stars Arena has been exploited and lost $3 million. The hacker sent 266,103 AVAX to 0xa2Ebf3FCD757e9BE1E58B643b6B5077D11b4ad7A.
PeckShield's preliminary analysis shows that the Stars Arena:Shares contract has a reentrancy issue, and the hacker exploited the vulnerability to abuse the update weight function when issuing shares, allowing one share to be sold at a higher price. In addition, the hacker's address is associated with a phishing address starting with 0x85Ee, which was originally funded by HTX.
Stars Arena officials said on the X platform that "resources have been obtained to compensate for the losses caused by the hack. A special white hat team will intervene to review the security of the platform. After a comprehensive review, the contract will be restarted, which is expected to be completed within a few hours." (Source link)
9. Data
The amount of financing in the crypto market in September this year was US$505 million, a new low in recent years
CEX trading volume in September was US$311.92 billion, the lowest since 2021
FTX attackers have converted approximately $124 million worth of ETH into BTC
Coinbase L2 network Base has more than 310,000 unique user addresses
About $370 million of SOL was unlocked during epoch 512, of which a16z address unlocked more than $160 million
The number of active developers in the crypto space has reached its lowest point since 2020
friend.tech's total transaction volume has exceeded 250,000 ETH
The number of crvUSD, Curve's native stablecoin, has exceeded 130 million, setting a new record
“What are some interesting articles worth reading this week (10.2-10.8)”
1. "Vitalik's latest research: How do LSDFi protocols and liquidity need to change to improve decentralization and reduce consensus overload?"
The current state of Ethereum development can be said to include a large amount of two-tiered staking, which is generated by a large number of staking pools that participate in providing liquidity staking tokens (LST). (Rocket Pool and Lido are both of this model). This article will mainly focus on the centralization risks of node operators and unnecessary consensus burdens in the current LSDFi protocol and liquidity pools.
2. "Systematic review of the Ripple and US SEC case timeline: an expensive and lengthy showdown"
Ripple’s battle with the SEC is far from over. The crypto exchange and the SEC are preparing to duke it out in court in the second quarter of next year. This article puts together a timeline of the SEC and Ripple case to help understand what’s happening: how the case got to this point and what might happen next.
3. "FT craze temporarily slows down, where is the future of Web3 social networking?"
Web3 Social has obviously lost its popularity. After all, @machibigbrother's entry did not increase TVL. When will this wave of popularity end? I think it depends on the official adjustments. The project's subsequent function updates, gameplay adjustments, and economic models will have a crucial impact on the long-term development of FriendTech.
4. "What rules can DWF Labs follow in market making after violent ups and downs?"
This article will review the six tokens that DWF Labs has made markets for in the past two months and what patterns exist in their price trends. In a bear market with insufficient liquidity, market makers have become an indispensable role, such as providing project liquidity, increasing market depth, and activating the market. Although DWF Labs, which serves as both a market maker and a VC, has achieved the goal of activating the market and increasing liquidity, its style of violent pull-ups and crashes has also caused controversy.
5. "a16z: Catering combined with Web3, why is Blackbird worth our investment?"
One of the joys of living in New York City is that you’re always just minutes away from a delicious meal. Restaurants have long provided patrons with food, socializing, and entertainment. While the restaurant industry continues to evolve and create more value for diners, cities, and society, they often lack margins. We’ve seen blockchain enable direct connections between creators and fans in music and art, allowing creators to identify, engage, and reward their most loyal fans. What if restaurants could do the same? What would it mean for the experiences they can create for their customers, and for their bottom line?
6. "12 charts to explain the continued depression of the crypto market in September"
In August, most crypto industry indicators showed a sharp correction, but the sluggish market conditions did not improve in September. Overall, the past month has continued to show a depressed state, and many indicators have even fallen further. This article will use 12 pictures to interpret the crypto market conditions in September.
7. "Review of the rise of BASE chain: on-chain marketing may be the best way, without the possibility of airdropping new public chains"
Since its launch at the end of July, Base, an Optimistic Rollup-based L2 network built by Coinbase, has accumulated $7 million in transaction fees, exceeding most L2 networks in the same period; the on-chain TVL exceeds $540 million, almost equal to the sum of zkSync Era and StarkNet, becoming the third largest L2 network after Arbitrum and Optimism. As a public chain with minimal airdrop expectations, it has achieved greater success in a shorter time than public chains driven by potential airdrop farming. In this one-click chain launch and driven by potential airdrops, Base's experience seems to show us another possibility for the development of public chains.
8. "Analysis: From the perspective of the halving period, why will the bull market start as early as next year?"
According to the latest data, 85% of the time has passed since the May 2020 halving. At the same time, the supply held by long-term holders (LTH) is close to the all-time high (ATH). In previous cycles, this was a signal near the macro bottom, followed by the early stages of a new cycle.
9. "How do Uniswap V4 and Uniswap X create the best trading experience?"
Uniswap v4 optimizes pool customizability to maximize expressiveness, while Uniswap X optimizes routing to maximize output tokens. Combined, these two protocols provide traders with the best trading experience while maintaining our commitment to decentralized, censorship-resistant, and permissionless markets.
10. Solana Validator Health Report: Decentralization is Steadily Improving
The report shows that the Solana validator network is continuing to grow, as measured by metrics such as the number of nodes, Nakamoto coefficient, and client diversity. The health of the validator network is an ongoing focus for the Solana Foundation, which provides tools and education to help validators and stakeholders around the world participate in the security of the network. In addition, the Foundation also encourages community participation and contributions.