Wu said Zhou's Picks: A number of US giants submitted spot Bitcoin ETF applications, and the first leveraged Bitcoin ETF passed the Top 10 News (0617—0623)
authorship | Wu talks about blockchain
This Week's Top 10 News
1.Federal ReserveChairman Powell believes payment stablecoins should be treated as currency
a. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell: LikeBitcoinSuch cryptocurrencies seem to have “staying power”
On June 22, at the latest House hearing, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell said that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin seem to have “lasting power” (lasting power); stablecoins have a significant share of the overall cryptocurrency market, and lawmakers are trying to set rules for them.
b. Powell stated at the hearing that stablecoins are a currency for payment
Powell also stated at the hearing that payment stablecoins are currencies, and the central bank should play a role in approving their issuance in the US. “We do regard payment stablecoins as currency.” Powell also dismissed suggestions that the Federal Reserve might directly issue digital dollars (CBDC) or digital dollars to Americans soon, partly due to privacy concerns.
2. Following BlackRock, 4 more asset managers have submitted spot Bitcoin ETF applications
A Volatility Shares executive told CoinDesk that Volatility Shares' 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITX) will be the first leveraged crypto ETF in the U.S., following the SEC's entry into force on Friday. This ETF will correspond to the CME Bitcoin Futures Daily Rolling Index.
a. Bitwise submits a new application to the US SEC to amend the rules to suit its planned Bitcoin spot ETF
Following BlackRock's application for a spot Bitcoin ETF, Bitwise Asset Management submitted a new application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on June 16 to amend the rules to suit its planned Bitcoin spot ETF. The US Securities and Exchange Commission rejected the Bitcoin spot ETF application submitted by Bitwise in June 2022 and found that the ETF was unable to fully monitor and share, provide protection against market manipulation, and prove the size of the relevant market. In a new filing, BitWise said the SEC should approve, reject, or initiate other processing around its proposed rule changes within 45-90 days.
b. WisdomTree and Invesco submit another spot Bitcoin ETF application
On June 21, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas tweeted that asset management firm WisdomTree has once again submitted a spot Bitcoin ETF application. Additionally, Invesco has also submitted a new 19b-4 document for a spot Bitcoin ETF.
c. Valkyrie Funds has also submitted a spot Bitcoin ETF application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
On June 22, Valkyrie Funds also submitted a spot Bitcoin ETF application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which previously provided a Bitcoin Strategy ETF and a Bitcoin Miner ETF. If approved, the spot ETF is called the Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund and is scheduled to be listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol BRRR.
3.BinanceUS Weekly News Summary
a. Binance and the US SEC have reached a proposed agreement to ensure that only Binance.US employees can use customer funds
Late on June 16, Binance, Binance.US, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced an agreement to ensure that only Binance.US employees have access to customer funds. The proposed statement, which is still to be signed by a federal judge overseeing the case, is that Binance.US will take steps to ensure that no Binance (Global) executive has access to the private keys of its various wallets, hardware wallets, or root access to Binance.US's Amazon Web Services tools. Additionally, Binance.US will share details about its business expenses, including estimated costs, in the coming weeks.
According to @JohnReedStark, District Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the District of Columbia has agreed to Binance's agreement with the SEC and has submitted a consent order. Earlier, the judge rejected the SEC's request to freeze the assets of entities such as Binance US, and requested negotiations between the two parties. The proposed agreement between the parties ensures that only BinanceUS employees have access to client funds.
b. Binance US says it is working with banking partners to re-enable dollar withdrawals
On June 23, according to cryptoslate, Binance US said it is working with banking partners to re-enable dollar withdrawals. Most dollar withdrawal requests will be completed in five business days or less as usual, but bank partners are expected to stop the service in the near future. Users are advised to exchange dollars for stablecoins, which may automatically convert their dollar balances to USDT, remove most advanced US dollar trading pairs, and provide new USDT advanced trading pairs.
4. Binance Roundup of This Week's News
a. BNB Chain launches EVM-compatible L2 network opBNB on testnet
BNB Chain has launched the EVM-compatible L2 network OpBnB on the testnet. Its Optimism-based OP Stack and uses optimistic rollups will help increase transaction speed and reduce costs. The OpBnB mainnet is expected to go live in the third quarter of this year. The developers say OpBnB will support more than 4,000 transactions per second, with an average cost of less than $0.005 per transaction.
According to @tmel0211 analysts, BNBChain is intended to facilitate and seamlessly provide a “migration” channel for other L2 developers, focusing on application areas such as social and gaming with higher throughput requirements, faster frequency, and lower rate requirements.
b. Binance Lightning Network Node Launched
On June 20, Binance tweeted that it is currently working to integrate access to support the Bitcoin Lightning Network, and confirmed that it has recently deployed a new Lightning Network node. According to Wu's on-chain inspection, Binance's Lightning Network node was launched about 5 days ago. Currently, the node capacity (Capacity) is 25 BTC, and it has 4 channels (Channels). The channels are mainly connected to OKEX, Kraken, and Bitfinex Lightning Network nodes.
c. Binance's UK subsidiary BML's registration with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been officially withdrawn
Binance's UK subsidiary Binance Markets Limited (BML)'s registration with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was officially withdrawn on May 30. None of the Binance entities are licensed to operate in the UK. Binance Regional Manager Ilir Laro pointed out that BML was acquired by Binance Group in 2020 to conduct regulated business in the UK, but BML has never carried out any type of regulated business in the UK, and the deregistration had no impact on its operations.
d. Binance Announces Launch of a Regulated Digital Asset Platform in Kazakhstan
On June 21, Binance announced the launch of a regulated digital asset platform in Kazakhstan. Binance said the new platform will provide trading and conversion, fiat deposit and withdrawal, and crypto asset custody services for users in Kazakhstan. Previously, Binance received permission from the AIFC Financial Services Authority (AFSA) in October last year to provide escrow services.
e. Kazakh President Tokayev attended the Binance Kazakhstan signing ceremony
CZ showed images of the signing of a contract with Minister of Information Technology Bagdat Musin in Kazakhstan. Kazakh President Tokayev witnessed the signing. Binance emphasizes that users in Kazakhstan can use fiat to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, and the global site continues to be open to users in that country. Binance said it is cooperating with five regulators in the country, including AIFC Financial Services Authority, Department of Digital Development, Ministry of Innovation and Aerospace Industries, National Bank, etc.
f. Binance will launch a zero-fee campaign for TUSD spot and leveraged transactions for pending orders
On June 21, Binance announced that it will launch a zero handling fee campaign for pending orders. Starting at 08:00 (East 8th zone time) on June 30, 2023 until further notice, all users trading on TUSD spot and leveraged trading pairs will enjoy zero fees for pending orders.
5.Li LinOfficial lawsuit against Huobi in Hong Kong for using the “Huobi” trademark
Wu said it was exclusively learned that X-Spot Co., Ltd., controlled by Li Lin, sued Huobi Global Limited (Huobi Global Limited) for trademark infringement in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region High Court on June 21. Earlier inSun YuchenAfter blocking Li Lin's brother's account and accusing him of dumping HT, Huobi must start using the “Huobi” trademark again.
According to the indictment, X-Spot Co., Ltd. has always retained exclusive rights to the “Huobi” trademark, and Huobi Global Limited (Huobi Global Limited) has been using the trademark without X-Spot's authorization. When the original shareholders transferred their Huobi Global shares to About Capital Management (About Capital Management), they clearly agreed to retain the exclusive rights to the “Huobi” trademark and ensure that these rights will not be transferred to the buyer or Huobi. The share transfer and asset delivery agreement between the two parties clearly stipulates that the buyer is prohibited from using the “Huobi” trademark and brand.
Huobi Global Limited responded that it has the right to use the trademark in many legal jurisdictions around the world, so it has the right to use it freely. Huobi Global Limited's place of registration is not Hong Kong. The right to use trademarks in Hong Kong is subject to Hong Kong's laws and regulations. At present, no formal notice of acceptance has been received from any court.
6. FT: Cryptocom has its own trading and market making team, but its employees are being asked to say no
On June 19, according to FT, Cryptocom has its own trading and market making team, but its employees are required to say “there are no internal market maker-type operations” and to state to partners that they are not participating in the transaction. Cryptocom responded that the internal market maker is treated in exactly the same way as a third-party market maker. It is the customer's counterparty and operates in the broker-broker model to increase the liquidity of the order book and reduce price spreads. The company does not rely on proprietary trading as a source of revenue.
7. Wall Street giant-backed crypto exchange EDX Markets has begun operations
On June 20, according to the Wall Street Journal, EDX Markets, a new crypto exchange supported by Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments (Fidelity Investments), and Charles Schwab (Charles Schwab), began operations. EDX uses a non-custodial model, does not directly handle customer assets, and plans to partner with third-party banks and cryptocurrency custodians. Unlike FTX and Binance's problems, EDX is based on traditional financial markets to attract brokers and investors concerned about the safety of their funds. The exchange will offer trading in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. This shows that some Wall Street firms are still interested in cryptocurrencies despite regulatory pressure and market cooling.
On the same day, EDX Markets announced the completion of a new round of financing, with investors including Miami International Holdings, DV Crypto, GTS, GSR Markets LTD, etc. EDX will launch EDX Clearing later this year to settle matching transactions on EDX Markets.
8. FTX paid over $120 million in legal, advisory, and financial services fees from February to April
Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX paid $121.8 million in legal, advisory, and financial services fees between February 1 and April 30, according to The Block Research data. Of this, Sullivan & Cromwell collected $37.6 million, or 30.9% of the total fees; Alvarez and Marsel restructuring consulting firms charged $37 million and had additional expenses of over $1.1 million.
9. Prime Trust closes all fiat and cryptocurrency pairs for deposits and withdrawals
According to CoinDesk, Prime Trust closed all fiat and cryptocurrency pair deposits and withdrawals on June 22 under an order from the Nevada Financial Supervisory Authority. TrueUSD said the TUSD stablecoin was unaffected, that it no longer uses Prime Trust to mint or redeem TUSD, and maintains “multiple dollar channels” elsewhere. BitGo announced that it has terminated its acquisition of Prime Trust.
Regulators say Prime Trust is “operating at a huge deficit” and may even be insolvent and currently unable to meet customers' withdrawal needs. Prime Trust can request a hearing within 30 days of issuing an order. If no application is made, a cessation order is considered final.
10. CoinbaseFormer CTO: Apple, Microsoft, and Google can help governments seize cryptocurrencies from citizens
On June 19, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan said in a podcast interview that if the G7 countries decide to allow the seizure of digital assets, then tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, and Google can lend them a helping hand. Countries may decide to seize digital assets in the future to try to recover from economic turmoil. He said that if ordered to do so, tech giants can easily scan our devices to find private keys and hand them over to the authorities.
Key financing events
AI-based crypto search engine Kaito raised $5.5 million in Series A funding with a valuation of $87.5 million, led by Superscrypt and Spartan
Smart contract infrastructure company Neutron secures $10 million in funding led by Binance Labs and CoinFund
Singaporean digital payments startup dtcpay announced it has raised $16.5 million in the Pre-A round
Crypto mining company Arkon Energy secures $26 million in new financing to enter the US market
Web3 wallet platform Galaxy Finance announces $30 million Series B funding
Full-chain money market agreement TapioCADAO officially announced the completion of a $6 million seed round
Digital Asset Spot and Derivatives Trading DEX Vertex Protocol Announces Strategic Investment from Wintermute Ventures
For more industry funding events, check out crypto-fundraising.info.
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