1. Bloomberg: US CFTC is considering taking enforcement action against former Voyager CEO
According to Bloomberg, U.S. regulators are considering taking punitive measures against Stephen Ehrlich, the former CEO of cryptocurrency lending platform Voyager. Staff at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Enforcement Division internally recommended that after investigating Voyager's behavior, the agency accused Stephen Ehrlich of violating the agency's regulations and misleading customers about the security of their assets. The CFTC can seek fines and other non-criminal penalties for its alleged misconduct, but the agency's investigations do not always lead to enforcement actions. People familiar with the matter said that CFTC commissioners are currently voting on whether to approve enforcement actions against him within a few days. Voyager disclosed in August 2022 that the CFTC had requested information related to its business, customers and lending activities as part of its bankruptcy case. But Ehrlich, who was not formally accused of any wrongdoing as CEO when Voyager filed for bankruptcy, said in an emailed statement that he was "angry and confused" about the government's expected civil lawsuits, which were groundless and planned to refute the allegations. However, the report pointed out that under Ehrlich's guidance, Voyager transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to high-risk companies, including crypto hedge funds Three Arrows Capital and Alameda Research. People familiar with the matter said that the CFTC investigation determined that Ehrlich did not conduct proper due diligence on the company before lending Three Arrows Capital more than $650 million worth of Bitcoin and U.S. dollars, and the loan was never repaid.
2. Curve initiated a proposal vote in the Arbitrum community, intending to apply for an incentive budget of up to 50 million ARB
Curve has initiated a proposal vote in the Arbitrum community to apply for the Short-Term Incentive Program (STIP), planning to apply for a budget of up to 50 million ARB, specifically for providing incentive grants to eligible protocols. Successful applicants will receive funding after coordinating with the Arbitrum Foundation and the STIP-ARB multi-signature, and the funding depends on each applicant completing KYC and signing the Arbitrum Foundation Funding Agreement form. Funds will be allocated on a per-grant basis based on the number of votes in favor of each proposal until the 50,000,000 ARB budget is exhausted. For the proposal to be successful, it must reach the legal threshold of 71.51 million ARB and receive more than 50% of the votes in favor. Voting has now begun and will end at 18:00 on October 13.
3. Chainlink officially releases one-stop data solution Chainlink Data Streams
Chainlink officially announced that Chainlink Data Streams, a one-stop data solution developed specifically for the DeFi industry, has been officially released. The solution combines two functions: low-latency data transmission and automated transaction execution, aiming to improve response speed and user experience.
4. The number of independent user addresses of Coinbase L2 network Base has exceeded 310,000
Dune data shows that the number of independent user addresses of Base, the Layer 2 blockchain built by Coinbase based on OP Stack, has exceeded 319,000, and the bridge storage value is nearly 211,000 ETH.
5.Metis' proposal to "switch data availability back to Ethereum" has been passed
Ethereum scaling solution Metis announced that the proposal to "switch data availability back to Ethereum" has been passed. Metis will re-store all transaction data on the Ethereum mainnet, converting from the off-chain storage layer to the original traditional Optimistic Rollup format, thereby eliminating the complexity layer in the Metis architecture and enabling full data availability.
6. Action RPG blockchain game Ascenders will stop game development and the company will cease operations
AAA action RPG blockchain game Ascenders recently announced to the community on Discord that it will stop developing games and its company will also cease operations. The announcement stated that the results of the Land NFT casting carefully prepared by the team in May 2023 were far from expectations. According to niels, who claims to be an angel investor of Ascenders, the investor's investment has been accrued to 0, and in July this year, he learned that the company was facing bankruptcy due to no remaining funds. According to previous news, Ascenders announced that it will start NFT casting on Arbitrum on May 18. Ascenders completed a $6.4 million private round of financing on March 8, 2022, led by Paramount Capital, Three Arrows Capital, Sino Global Capital and Merit Circle. Other participating institutions include DeFiance Capital, Blizzard Fund, etc.
7. Circle cross-chain transmission protocol CCTP has been launched on Base test network
According to official news, Circle's cross-chain transfer protocol CCTP is now online on the Base test network. Currently, CCTP can transfer USDC between Ethereum, Avalanche, Arbitrum and Optimism through 12 routes, and the number of routes supported by the CCTP network will increase to 30 in a few weeks.
8. Sun Yuchen withdrew 14,344 ETH from Binance and deposited it back to Lido
According to on-chain analyst Ember, Sun Yuchen's address redeemed 20,000 ETH (US$32.4 million) from Lido yesterday, and then transferred it to Binance 9 hours ago. However, 7 hours ago, he withdrew 14,344 ETH (US$23.2 million) from Binance through another address, and then deposited 14,000 ETH back to Lido.
9. Former BlackRock executive: The US SEC may approve all Bitcoin spot ETF applications at the same time
According to The Block, Martin Bednall, a former BlackRock executive, said at the CCData Digital Asset Summit earlier this week that the U.S. SEC may approve all Bitcoin spot ETF applications at the same time, and the potential approval of Bitcoin ETFs will have a "huge positive impact" on the cryptocurrency market. Steven Schoenfeld, CEO of MarketVector Indexes under VanEck, also agreed and said that approval may be completed "in the next 3 to 6 months." This is because the SEC did not completely reject the ETF application recently, but instead solicited opinions. In addition, Schoenfeld added that the SEC recently lost the Grayscale case, which means that it may have to allow the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to be converted into a spot Bitcoin ETF.
10. Crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger cuts 12% of its employees
According to The Block, crypto hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger has laid off 12% of its employees. In a letter to employees, the company's CEO Pascal Gauthier said: "We must continue to make decisions for the long-term development of the company. Macroeconomic headwinds limit our ability to generate revenue. In order to cope with current market conditions and business realities, we must reduce layoffs by 12%." According to previous news, Ledger announced in March this year that it had raised most of the 100 million euros (109 million US dollars) in its first round of financing, with a valuation of 1.3 billion euros.