Today's news tips:
Monetary Authority of Singapore: Bitcoin spot ETFs cannot be listed in Singapore
Sam Altman: The priority right now is to launch a new model that might be called GPT-5
BlackRock Product Director: Funds flowing into Bitcoin spot ETFs come from retail investors and new investors
Crypto exchange Gemini gets approval to launch services in France
Web3 Venture Capital Inception Capital Completes First Fund Raising $30 Million
Conflux announces EVM-compatible Bitcoin Layer 2 solution
Ethereum staking platform Kiln completes $17 million financing, led by 1kx
Tether's Bitcoin holdings increased to 66,465, worth about $2.8 billion
Regulatory News
US Senate Banking Committee to Reopen Crypto Money Laundering Investigation ‘In the Coming Weeks’
According to Politico magazine, Sherrod Brown, chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, said in an interview that the Senate Banking Committee will reinvestigate money laundering in the cryptocurrency industry "in the coming weeks." Brown added that it remains to be seen whether the policies being discussed will be implemented as a series of independent bills or a package of bills.
EU tentatively agrees tough cryptocurrency due diligence measures to combat money laundering
According to CoinDesk, EU policymakers reached a provisional agreement on Wednesday on parts of a comprehensive regulatory package to combat money laundering that will make all crypto companies perform due diligence on their customers. The Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) is a comprehensive effort to combat sanctions evasion and money laundering. It includes the creation of a single rulebook and the establishment of a regulator that will also have regulatory authority over the crypto industry.
The European Parliament and the Council, which consists of finance ministers from the EU’s 27 member states, have agreed to measures including that crypto companies apply “customer due diligence measures” when conducting transactions of €1,000 ($1,090) or more. Wednesday’s announcement said the agreement also adds measures to reduce the risks associated with transactions from self-hosted wallets. “This agreement is an important part of the EU’s new anti-money laundering regime,” said Belgian Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem. “It will improve the way national anti-money laundering and terrorist financing systems are organized and work together. This will ensure that there is no room for fraudsters, organized crime and terrorists to legitimize their proceeds through the financial system.”
Earlier on January 16, it was reported that the European Banking Authority would expand anti-money laundering measures to cryptocurrency companies.
Monetary Authority of Singapore: Bitcoin spot ETFs cannot be listed in Singapore
According to Lianhe Zaobao, a spokesperson for the Monetary Authority of Singapore said that collective investment schemes (CIS) available to retail investors in Singapore are regulated by the Securities and Futures Act and cover ETFs. The types of assets they can invest in are limited. Currently, Bitcoin and other digital payment tokens (cryptocurrencies) (DPTs) are not eligible assets for retail CIS. Therefore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore does not allow such financial products to be listed in Singapore and marketed to retail investors because cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are not listed as eligible assets for ETFs.
AI&NFT
Sam Altman: The priority right now is to launch a new model that might be called GPT-5
According to The Information, OpenAI founder Sam Altman said that the current priority is to launch the next version of the company's big voice model, which may be called GPT-5. In addition, he also said that the next important artificial intelligence model will be better at writing computer code. Artificial intelligence may become a new computer operating system in the future.
Pudgy Penguins and "Old Master Q" reached an IP cooperation, and the current floor price hit 16.99 ETH and continued to hit a new high
Pudgy Penguins officially announced that it has reached an IP cooperation with the well-known Hong Kong comic book "Old Master Q" to celebrate the upcoming Lunar New Year. According to OpenSea data, the current floor price of the NFT series has reached 16.99 ETH, setting a new record high.
Coinbase NFT Marketplace Launches Instant Minting Feature for Creating AI-Generated NFTs
Coinbase NFT marketplace X Platform said users can now create AI-generated NFTs using the Coinbase NFT instant minting feature.
NFT blockchain game Apeiron will launch APRS TGE in February and now launches the ANIMA airdrop points activity
NFT blockchain game Apeiron announced the launch of the incentive token ANIMA airdrop. Users can obtain airdrop points by completing certain tasks in the game, interacting with the game's social media, casting and owning NFTs. The team also released an explanation detailing the various ways to earn points. In addition, Apeiron also announced that S2.R's Apostle casting will end on January 31, and the token generation event (TGE) of its governance token APRS is scheduled to start in February. After the TGE event starts, the airdrop points will be converted into ANIMA tokens for users to claim.
PANews previously reported that Apeiron completed a US$10 million seed round of financing in April 2022, led by South Korean blockchain investment company Hashed, with participation from DeFiance Capital, Morningstar Ventures, Spartan Group and De-Fi Capital.
Project News
JPMorgan Chase CEO says "Satashi" may change Bitcoin supply, criticized and ridiculed by the crypto community
According to NASDAQ, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon expressed doubts about the finality of the 21 million bitcoin supply cap in an interview with CNBC in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, saying: "I think there's a good chance that when we get to 20 million bitcoins...Satashi's original words' will appear there, and then all the bitcoins will be deleted. How do you know it will stop issuing at 21 million?"
The remarks were criticized and ridiculed by many crypto professionals. Will Clemente, co-founder of Reflexivity, said that Dimon "lacked basic understanding." Satashi, the pronunciation of Satoshi Nakamoto, also became the MEME coin and was hotly speculated by speculators.
BlackRock Product Director: Funds flowing into Bitcoin spot ETFs come from retail investors and new investors
Rachel Aguirre, head of product at BlackRock US iShares, said in an interview with Bloomberg that the funds flowing into the BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF (IBIT) came from retail investors and new investors.
Crypto exchange Gemini gets approval to launch services in France
According to CNBC, Gemini, a cryptocurrency exchange founded by twin brothers Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss, has obtained the virtual asset service provider (VASP) registration from the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) and is about to launch its services in France. Gemini said that they will launch its products to retail and institutional customers in France in the next few weeks and are currently in the "final preparation" stage to open its entire platform to French users.
Vitalik Buterin: Stronger security properties than multi-signature are required to meet L2 standards
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin wrote on the X platform: “For me, for something to qualify as L2, it must have stronger security properties than multi-signature, even if it is not an overall guarantee like Rollup. Validiums meets this, and optimization is possible, but a rigorous analysis of the exact security gain is needed.”
Franklin Templeton: Ordinals and L2 of Bitcoin ecosystem should not be ignored, optimistic about Ethereum ecosystem
The digital asset research team of asset management giant Franklin Templeton published an article stating that the Ordinals and second-layer solutions of the Bitcoin ecosystem should not be ignored. These are essential to solving Bitcoin's economic security problems and improving the practicality of BTC as a store of value (SoV). In addition, it also stated: "I am excited about Ethereum and its ecosystem. Although it has recently experienced a "midlife crisis", we see a bright future with many strong driving forces that will drive the Ethereum ecosystem forward. On Solana, we see Anatoly using single-atom state machines as a powerful use case for decentralized blockchains to reduce information asymmetry. We are impressed by all the activities we have seen on Solana in the fourth quarter of 2023, including DePIN, DeFi, Meme tokens, NFT innovation, and Firedancer."
Sui: Move programming language will add new features such as Enums and macro functions in version 2024
The public chain project Sui Network announced in its official blog that this year, the Move programming language will be updated, providing developers with new ways to define data and call functions. These important new features make building applications on Sui more flexible and in line with expectations for the latest programming languages. The Move 2024 update introduces enumeration types Enums, macro functions, method syntax, and many other new features to make it more powerful. As open source projects, Move and Sui allow the community to continue to improve. The following features will initially be tested in the alpha version, followed by the release candidate version and the final version. Some planned updates to Move will affect existing code.
The 2024 version of Move will be rolled out in a measured manner, allowing developers to test new features and update existing code accordingly. Developers can start testing the alpha version by specifying edition = "2024.alpha" in the "package" section of their Move.toml file. Features released under the alpha version will be unstable and may not compile. After these new features are relatively stable and breaking changes have been added, a release candidate will be released. As with the alpha, developers will be able to test the release candidate by specifying edition = "2024.rc" in the "package" section of their Move.toml file.
Early this year, probably in early March, the compiler will ask developers if they would like to migrate to the release candidate version when building their project. An automated tool will then migrate the project to the new version, adding a version tag in Move.toml and automatically fixing any breaking changes. Later this year, the 2024 Move update will be pushed forward from the release candidate version, and the "2024" version will become the default version for all new Move packages.
VanEck plans to close and liquidate its Bitcoin futures ETF "XBTF"
According to the decision of the VanEck ETF Trust Fund Board of Directors on January 16, 2023, asset management company VanEck announced today that it will close and liquidate one of its VanEck ETF products. The name of the ETF is: VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF; code: XBTF; exchange: CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange).
The third Bitcoin futures ETF "XBTF" was listed on the CBOE exchange on November 16, 2021, with an opening price of US$60.81.
Stablecoin protocol Frax Finance plans to launch Layer 2 blockchain Fraxtal in February
According to CoinDesk, Sam Kazemian, founder of the stablecoin protocol Frax Finance, said in an interview that the company is planning to launch the Layer 2 blockchain Fraxtal in February. Kazemian said: "The current schedule is the first week of February. Etherscan will support it through Fraxscan on the first day, and a large number of projects will debut shortly after the release."
The new product will add to Frax's existing product suite, which includes Frax (a fully collateralized algorithmic stablecoin), a lending platform, an automated market maker, an inflation-linked stablecoin, FPI, and a liquid collateral token, frxETH. Fraxtal will use rollup technology, which executes transactions on the Ethereum mainnet, batches the data, compresses it, and sends it back to the mainnet. Frax's liquid collateral token, frxETH, will power Layer 2 and act as a gas fee for the blockchain.
According to CoinGecko, FRAX has a market cap of $647 million as of writing, making it the seventh-largest stablecoin in the world.
Snowbridge has successfully cross-chained between Polkadot and Ethereum testnet
Snowbridge developer Clara shared on the X platform that she has successfully achieved a cross-chain transfer from Ethereum's testnet Sepolia to Polkadot's testnet Rococo through Snowbridge. This means that the current test is very successful and Snowbridge will be launched on the Kusama network soon.
It is reported that Snowbridge will be deployed on Kusama first, followed by Polkadot. The two deployments will be independent. Both deployments will be bridged to the Ethereum mainnet. There are currently no plans to bridge to other Ethereum networks. At launch, two-way transfers of Ethereum, ERC20 tokens, DOT, and KSM will be supported. At the same time, a client library will be provided to allow third-party teams to build front-ends around the bridge. The launch will be followed by future upgrades to implement more features requested by the community.
Snowbridge is a set of libraries and services for trustless bridging between Ethereum and Polkadot. Snowbridge brings true innovation to cross-chain interoperability, not only for Polkadot, but for the broader blockchain ecosystem. It is the only fully decentralized and trustless Polkadot<>Ethereum bridge. While many other Ethereum bridges exist, they all compromise in some way. Snowbridge is designed to bridge not just assets, but arbitrary states. This means it is not limited to transferring cryptocurrencies or tokens, but can handle a wider range of data and information types, such as cross-chain messaging. Parachains are in high demand for Ethereum bridges, and some chains have introduced more centralized bridges as a stopgap measure. However, without Snowbridge, these stopgap measures would introduce multiple systemic risks to the Polkadot ecosystem.
Binance will launch WIF 1-50x U-based perpetual contracts
According to the official announcement, Binance will launch WIF 1-50x U-based perpetual contracts at 22:15 (ET on January 18, 2024). When the WIFUSDT perpetual contract is launched, its funding rate will be capped at +2.00% / -2.00%; funding will be settled every four hours. It is reported that dogwifhat (WIF) is a meme token on Solana, and Binance has not yet launched the spot of the token.
Conflux announces EVM-compatible Bitcoin Layer 2 solution
Conflux Network officially announced that it is launching a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution compatible with EVM. BTC will become the local currency for calculating gas fees. Easily bridge multiple asset types from the Bitcoin blockchain. Provide unparalleled security for third-party smart contracts. The Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus protocol will be integrated with BTC staking to enhance credibility.
Manta Pacific chain suffered an RPC attack, accessibility will be restored soon
According to the latest tweet from Manta Network, the Manta Pacific chain suffered an RPC attack at approximately 9AM UTC (5PM Beijing time). Currently, the issue is being addressed. Nevertheless, the chain is operating normally, block generation is not affected, and accessibility will return to normal soon.
Investment and Financing
Web3 Venture Capital Inception Capital Completes First Fund Raising $30 Million
According to TechCrunch, Web3 venture capital firm Inception Capital (formerly known as OP Crypto) has successfully closed its $30 million flagship fund (Fund of Funds). David Gan, founder and general partner of Inception Capital, said that the fund is mainly aimed at family offices and high-net-worth individuals, providing "diversified" exposure to early-stage crypto venture capital transactions. The fund is supported by investors such as Mirana, FJ Labs and Serafund. Gan pointed out that the fund plans to invest in about five new investment managers and funds each year, rather than specifically supporting specific projects, protocols or startups. Currently, the fund has invested about 30% of its funds and plans to continue to focus on emerging managers in the crypto risk space.
Inception Capital has invested in managers including Syncracy Capital, Escape Velocity, Alliance, OrangeDAO, and Everyrealm. It has also invested alongside Bain Capital Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Multicoin Capital, and Marc Andressen and Chris Dixon of a16z.
Crypto exchange WOO X completes $9 million in new funding round to improve liquidity
According to The Block, the crypto exchange WOO X announced the completion of a new round of financing of US$9 million, with Wintermute, Selini Capital, Time Research, Presto Labs, Pulsar, AlphaLab Capital, Efficient Frontier, Amber and Riverside Hedge participating.
The exchange plans to launch the DMM project in the spot market in the first quarter of this year. The company added: "Taken together, these initiatives will enable WOO X to achieve a 100% custody ratio in the second quarter of this year." The statement said the company intends to use the newly raised funds for global market expansion and obtaining regulatory licenses. The main purpose of the financing is to "align the interests of liquidity providers" rather than raising funds, as the participants in this round of financing are market makers who promise to improve WOO X's liquidity.
WOO X said that the company improved its business model in the third quarter of last year, working with more liquidity providers in the spot and perpetual futures markets, trying to "break away from the constraints of a single liquidity provider, Kronos Research". In November 2023, Kronos suffered a hacker attack, which reportedly caused a loss of approximately $25 million. After the incident, Kronos suspended all trading, which once caused problems for Woo X. Woo X is an exchange incubated by Kronos, which is the main market maker of the exchange.
Ethereum staking platform Kiln completes $17 million financing, led by 1kx
According to CoinDesk, the Ethereum staking platform Kiln has completed a $17 million round of financing. This round of financing was led by 1kx, with participation from IOSG, Crypto.com, Wintermute Ventures, KXVC and LBank. This is an extension of the $17.6 million Series A financing announced by Kiln in November 2022. Kiln said that the funds raised will be used for the company's global expansion, including the opening of the Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, and further product development. Kiln has raised a total of $35 million from investors since its inception.
Mining News
The cold wave in the United States caused the power of the entire Bitcoin network to drop by about 25%
According to The Block, after the recent cold snap, Bitcoin's network hash rate has dropped by about 25% in the past few days due to power rationing requests from grid regulators in Texas, a state that has now become a global center for the crypto mining industry.
Data from MiningPoolStats and Blockchain.com show that global hashrate estimates dropped from about 600 EH/s on Friday to 450 EH/s on Tuesday (it has now recovered to 512.46 EH/s), coinciding with a weather alert issued by ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), the grid regulator for much of the state, from January 14 to 17 due to extreme cold weather in the region.
Officials issued conservation calls on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday after ERCOT issued its warning. "Due to continued cold temperatures, record-breaking demand and unseasonably low winds, operating reserves are expected to be low tomorrow morning," ERCOT said. "We ask Texas businesses and residents to conserve electricity where it is safe to do so." Yesterday's latest request for power cuts ended at 9 a.m. Central Time.
Important data
U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF trading volume exceeds $11.1 billion on fourth trading day
According to Yahoo Finance data compiled by The Block, on January 17, the cumulative trading volume of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $11.1 billion in the fourth trading day. Grayscale, BlackRock, and Fidelity continued to dominate, accounting for more than 90% of the total trading volume. However, the trading volume on that day was $1.5 billion, which was a decrease from the previous day ($1.8 billion). So far this week, the trading volume of both trading days is far lower than the $3 billion on Friday and the $4.6 billion on the first day.
Data: Total inflows of US Bitcoin spot ETFs excluding GBTC exceed $2.9 billion
Updated data from BitMEX Research shows that the BlackRock Bitcoin Spot ETF had inflows of $373 million on January 17. On January 17, 2024, the 10 Bitcoin ETF issuers had inflows totaling $932 million (excluding GBTC). All data for Day 4 is out, except for GBTC.
After four days of Bitcoin spot ETF trading, the total inflow of Bitcoin spot ETF funds exceeded US$2.9 billion (excluding GBTC). The top three inflows after the fourth trading day are: BlackRock (US$1.085 billion), Fidelity (US$884 million), and Bitwise (US$375 million).
Earlier today, BitMEX Research said that Bitwise Bitcoin Spot ETF bought a net of 1,598 BTC yesterday. Bitwise's "BITB" issued about $70 million in new ETF shares, setting a record for the second largest trading day.
Bloomberg analyst: Grayscale GBTC negative premium narrowed to 0.472%
According to data released by Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, the negative premium of Grayscale Bitcoin spot ETF "GBTC" is 0.472% today, which has narrowed significantly compared with yesterday's 0.8%.
Arkham: Over $2 Billion Worth of Dormant Bitcoin Moves Days After Bitcoin Spot ETF Begins Trading
According to The Block, cryptocurrency tracker Arkham Intelligence monitoring data showed that a few days after the spot Bitcoin ETF began trading, more than $2 billion worth of dormant Bitcoin was transferred through multiple associated addresses. These BTCs moved once in 2019, and had been dormant since 2013. Arkham said: "Historically, these Bitcoins have all moved at the same time and date."
It is reported that these BTC have been merged from 49 addresses to 5 addresses, each containing 8,000 to 12,000 BTC, with a total of 49,858 BTC held, with a total value of approximately US$2.12 billion.
dYdX 24-hour trading volume surpasses Uniswap, becoming the DEX with the largest daily trading volume
According to CoinDesk, CoinMarketCap data shows that the 24-hour trading volume of dYdX, a decentralized exchange that recently migrated from Ethereum to Cosmos, has surpassed Uniswap to become the DEX with the largest daily trading volume.
Data shows that the Cosmos-based dYdX V4 had a trading volume of US$757 million in 24 hours, surpassing Uniswap V3's US$608 million trading volume. The dYdX v3 market, which is still in operation, had a trading volume of US$567 million, ranking third.
According to dYdX, the V4 market has seen a total trading volume of $17.8 billion to date since launch. dYdX v3’s trading volume will total over $1 trillion in 2023.
TUSD has decoupled from the anchor to $0.9743, having briefly touched $0.9685
Binance market data shows that the stablecoin TUSD briefly fell to $0.9685 and is now trading at $0.9743, having deviated by 2.57%.
Tether's Bitcoin holdings increased to 66,465, worth about $2.8 billion
According to The Block, stablecoin issuer Tether recently purchased another 8,888 bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to approximately 66,465 BTC. These bitcoins are currently worth approximately $2.8 billion. Tether began buying Bitcoin in September 2022, initially purchasing 33,980 BTC. Since then, the company has continued to purchase Bitcoin every quarter. Its second largest purchase was in March 2023, when it purchased 15,915 BTC. The latest purchase was at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, which is Tether's third largest purchase to date.
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