U.S. judge rules that Zhao Changpeng must stay in the United States before sentencing
According to Cointelegraph, Seattle District Court Judge Richard Jones ruled that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao must stay in the United States until his sentencing date in February next year because he is unlikely to return to the United States if he is allowed to travel to the United Arab Emirates. Judge Jones said that Zhao Changpeng has huge wealth and property overseas and has no connection with the United States. His family lives in the UAE, where he enjoys preferential status. In this case, the court found that the defendant did not have clear and convincing evidence that he would not be a flight risk upon returning to the UAE. For these reasons, the court granted the government's motion that the defendant should remain in the United States from the time of his plea to sentencing.
Binance's investment company withdraws application for Abu Dhabi license
According to Reuters, a Binance spokesperson said on Thursday that Binance's investment company BV Investment Management has withdrawn its license application from the Abu Dhabi Financial Regulator. The regulator's website shows that Binance submitted an application a year ago and withdrew the application on November 7 this year. The license allows Binance subsidiaries to manage a collective investment fund. A Binance spokesperson said, "In evaluating our global licensing needs, we believe that this application is unnecessary. The decision to revoke the license application has nothing to do with the settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice." He said that Binance will announce the location of its global headquarters "in due course", but declined to disclose further details. In addition, Binance will continue to work with regulators to "provide world-class services and products in the Middle East and beyond."
Ethereum latest meeting: Goerli fork date expected to be set early next year, Dencun activated in January
Ethereum core developer timbeiko.eth tweeted a summary of the 176th ACDE meeting. Developers discussed the status of Dencun, the testnet schedule, and how to plan the next network upgrade. According to the meeting discussion, Devnet#12was launched last week, and almost all clients are running on it. Bugs were found and fixed in several clients, including Reth and Lighthouse. At the same time, the development team is ready to fork the testnet, and plans to conduct a large Goerli shadow fork in the coming weeks. The developers unanimously agreed that if things go well, the Goerli fork date will be set in early 2024, with the goal of activating Dencun on the network in January. In addition, the meeting briefly discussed the planning of the Prague/Electra network upgrade. The two potential topics for the next upgrade are Verkle Tries on EL and DAS on CL, both of which still need to be "deepened". It is reported that the last ACDE meeting in 2023 will be held at 22:00 on December 21, Beijing time.
Wall Street Journal: Do Kwon to be extradited to the United States
Montenegro’s top judicial official has privately said he plans to send TerraUSD-Luna founder Do Kwon to the United States instead of South Korea to face criminal charges, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The US National Defense Authorization Bill does not include any encryption provisions
According to The Block, the U.S. Congress released the final National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday night, which authorizes funding for defense-related activities. The plan does not include any cryptocurrency or blockchain provisions, delaying crypto legislation until next year. A previous crypto amendment required regulators to establish review standards for financial institutions engaged in crypto activities, while requiring the Treasury Department to make recommendations to Congress on cryptocurrency mixers. Another bill proposed the establishment of an independent working group to "combat terrorism and illegal financing." However, the National Defense Authorization Act does not include the above two bills.
LayerZero: Native token expected to be launched in the first half of 2024
LayerZero Labs tweeted that LayerZero has always had the ability to use native tokens in the protocol. In the past few months, we have heard discussions in the community about this matter, and now it is clearly stated that the LayerZero token will be launched, which is expected to be realized in the first half of 2024.
Sam Altman-backed crypto firm Meanwhile launches Bitcoin private credit fund, plans to raise $100 million
According to The Block, Sam Altman-backed crypto startup Meanwhile Group has launched a Bitcoin private credit fund through its investment management subsidiary Meanwhile Advisors, providing institutional investors with access to Bitcoin investment. The fund seeks to raise $100 million and is expected to complete fundraising by the end of the first quarter of 2024. The fund is a closed-end fund that will generate income by lending Bitcoin, with a target yield of 5%. The minimum investment amount is $250,000, with no upper limit. The investment period is three years, the harvest period is four years, and the total period is seven years. Capital will be returned to investors during the harvest period, so most of the capital may be returned before 7 years. The fund will charge a 2% management fee and a 20% carried interest, which will be collected in the form of Bitcoin. Anchorage Digital will serve as the fund custodian.
Pando Asset has submitted an updated version of its Bitcoin spot ETF application to the SEC
According to a public document, Swiss asset management company Pando Asset has submitted an updated version of the Bitcoin spot ETF S-1 form to the US SEC. According to previous news, Pando Asset submitted a Bitcoin spot ETF application to the SEC last week. The ETF will be traded on the Cboe BZX exchange, and Coinbase will serve as a custodian. Bitcoin pricing will be based on CME's CF Bitcoin reference rate.
Fidelity Spot Bitcoin ETF Added to DTCC’s Active ETF and Pre-launch List
Fidelity's spot Bitcoin ETF "FIDELITY WISE ORIGIN BITCOIN FD SHS" has been included in the active ETF and pre-launch list of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) with the trading code FBTC.
Earlier in October, a DTCC spokesperson said that BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF was added to DTCC's qualified files in August, but this was a "standard process" to prepare for the launch of a new ETF. This move does not mean that the ETF has obtained any regulatory approval or other approval process results.
VanEck releases 15 predictions for the crypto industry in 2024, Bitcoin will hit a record high in the fourth quarter
Asset management company VanEck tweeted 15 predictions for the crypto industry in 2024. Specifically, they include: 1. The U.S. recession is coming, but the first batch of Bitcoin spot ETFs will also be approved. In the first quarter of 2024, more than $2.4 billion may flow into these ETFs to support the price of Bitcoin. 2. The fourth Bitcoin halving in 2024 will have minimal disruption to the market. After the halving, the price of Bitcoin will rise, and some low-cost miners will make huge profits. 3. Bitcoin prices will hit an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2024, which may be driven by political events and regulatory changes after the U.S. presidential election. 4. Ethereum will not surpass Bitcoin, but will still outperform major technology stocks. Ethereum's market share will be challenged by other smart contract platforms. 5. After the implementation of EIP-4844, Ethereum L2 will capture most of the TVL and transaction volume compatible with EVM. 6. NFT activity will rebound to a record high, Ethereum will continue to lead, and Bitcoin will gain traction through the Ordinals protocol. By the end of 2024, the NFT issuance ratio of ETH to BTC will reach 3:1.7. Binance will lose its first spot trading position, and competitors such as OKX, Bybit, Coinbase and Bitget will compete for the leading position. Coinbase's futures market daily trading volume may exceed $1 billion. 8. The market value of stablecoins will reach more than $200 billion, a record high. 9. DEX's share of the spot trading market will reach a record high. 10. Remittances will promote the use of blockchain, and "Bitcoin staking" on the Lightning Network provides income opportunities through new, user-friendly staking tools. 11. A breakthrough blockchain game may have more than 1 million daily players. 12. Solana is expected to become the top 3 blockchains in market value, TVL and number of users. 13. DePin networks, especially Hivemapper and Helium, will be more adopted. 14. New accounting standards will increase corporate cryptocurrency holdings. 15. KYC-compliant DeFi applications, led by Uniswap, may outpace non-KYC-compliant applications, attracting institutional trading volume and increasing protocol fees.
Jack Dorsey takes further step into Bitcoin with new hardware wallet called Bitkey
According to Bloomberg, Jack Dorsey's company Block Inc. is offering a new Bitcoin hardware wallet called Bitkey, which allows users to self-custody their cryptocurrency on a hardware device similar to a USB thumb drive. Users of the wallet can connect to cryptocurrency exchanges and payment services, including Block's Cash App, allowing them to transfer tokens between platforms. Block is also working on developing new mining software.
As previously reported in June, Coinbase Pay will be integrated into Block’s self-custodial Bitcoin wallet Bitkey.
The Thirdweb vulnerability was caused by a problem integrating two separate OpenZeppelin libraries
Security firm Dedaub said on the X platform that the root cause of the Thirdweb vulnerability was that two independent OpenZeppelin libraries, ERC2771 and Multicall, interacted poorly when used in combination. This allowed _msgSender() to be spoofed, causing various access control issues, including loss of funds.
OpenZeppelin also disclosed the matter: "We publicly disclose a serious vulnerability that is caused by a problem in the integration of standard ERC-2771 and self-delegated calls with user input data (including but not limited to multi-calls). For projects that combine these modes, this problem poses a significant risk of address spoofing attacks. This problem is caused by a problematic integration mode and is not unique to the implementation included in the OpenZeppelin Contracts library. Despite this, our team has been working hard with the white hat community to identify and notify potentially vulnerable projects."
Earlier on December 5, Thirdweb said that a commonly used open source library had a security vulnerability, and contracts created on the platform before November 23 must take mitigation measures. Later today, Scam Sniffer said that 515 tokens were suspected to be affected by Thirdweb-related vulnerabilities, 3 of which had been exploited, and the attackers made a profit of about $218,000; attackers could use Thirdweb-related vulnerabilities to call any function of ERC20 tokens; Velodrome said that the Relay contract was temporarily suspended due to Thirdweb-related vulnerabilities, and the core contracts were not affected.
Bitcoin staking project Babylon completes $18 million in financing, led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC
Bitcoin-focused project Babylon has raised $18 million in a round led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC, CoinDesk reported. Framework Ventures, Polygon Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, OKX Ventures, Finality Capital, Breyer Capital, and Symbolic Capital also participated in the financing. Babylon said the project aims to "build a decentralized world secured by Bitcoin" by converting all 21 million BTC that will eventually exist into decentralized staking assets. There are currently nearly 19.6 million bitcoins in circulation. Babylon will be launched on the testnet in January 2024. Ideally, the protocol hopes to enter the mainnet when Bitcoin is "halved."
Bitcoin financial services company Swan has raised $40 million to develop institutional products such as Bitcoin loans
According to Fortune, Bitcoin financial services company Swan announced today that it will expand its service scope, including entering institutional products such as Bitcoin-backed loans, and raised $40 million in funds for expansion in 2023, and raised $125 million in funds for its own venture capital and private equity investments. A total of about $165 million. Although Klippsten declined to disclose spending details, he said Swan's investment is mainly focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Founder Cory Klippsten said Swan plans to raise another $150 million in 2024 for expansion. Swan's revenue sources are also expanding rapidly, driven by other institutional products such as advisory services and investor asset management. According to Klippsten, Swan's annualized revenue in November was $125 million and is expected to exceed the $200 million mark in the first quarter of next year.
ZK infrastructure platform Sindri completes $5 million seed round of financing, led by Coinfund
According to The Block, zero-knowledge proof infrastructure platform Sindri has completed a $5 million seed round led by Coinfund. Sindri will use the latest funds to expand its team, expand its developer network, and build a comprehensive zero-knowledge-based developer stack. Previously, the project received $2 million in pre-seed round financing in June 2022.
Kava 15 mainnet is now online, and the KAVA inflation rate will be permanently reduced to zero on January 1 next year
According to official news, the Kava 15 mainnet has been successfully launched, and the KAVA token inflation rate will be permanently reduced to zero from 8:00 am Beijing time on January 1, 2024.
Stars Arena changes its name to The Arena and will move its domain name
Jason Desimone, the new CEO of Avalanche's ecological social protocol Stars Arena, announced that "Stars Arena" has officially changed its name to "The Arena". In the next few days, the UI and products will be slightly changed, and the domain name will be migrated. Before the official announcement, the official website will still be "starsarena.com". At present, the project's X account has been changed to "The Arena". Please avoid fake accounts and phishing links.
L2 Network Blast’s TVL has exceeded $800 million
DeBank data shows that the total value of assets held by the Blast contract address of the Layer 2 network launched by Blur founder Pacman has exceeded US$809 million, of which about US$716 million worth of ETH is deposited in the Lido protocol, and US$93.13 million of assets are deposited in the Maker protocol, with about US$160,000 in assets in the wallet.
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