Bitcoin breaks through $68,000, and the US spot Bitcoin ETF increased its holdings by 32,370 BTC this week
The 12 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs hit a record high in total net asset value since their launch in January. The funds now hold more than $66.1 billion worth of Bitcoin, surpassing the previous record of $62.6 billion set in early June.
The value of ETF holdings represents 4.89% of Bitcoinâs total market cap. The funds experienced their best trading week for inflows since early March, with more than $2.1 billion in inflows, the fourth-best week so far, and six consecutive days of inflows.
The recent rise in the price of Bitcoin has also helped these funds hit new highs; Bitcoin prices have risen about 12% from October 10 to its current price of more than $68,000, pushing up the value of each ETF.
Since the close of trading on October 10 (the last day of net outflows), the total value of Bitcoin held by these funds has increased by about $11 billion. Among them, BlackRock's IBIT has increased its asset value by more than $3 billion during this period, becoming the single fund with the largest increase.
BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an asset class in itself and is discussing its allocation with global institutions
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas shared the full quote from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink on Bitcoin/digital assets during the third quarter earnings call on Twitter. Fink said that Bitcoin assets are an asset class in their own right, and they are discussing allocations with global institutions, and that these assets remind him of the early days of the mortgage market (currently worth $11 trillion). In addition, the U.S. president will not have a substantial impact on this. I think the application of this form of investment will expand to the role of Ethereum because the blockchain can grow substantially.
Aspen Digital: 94% of Asian private wealth has invested or considered investing in cryptocurrencies
A new report from Aspen Digital shows that private wealthâs interest in cryptocurrencies is growing significantly in Asia. The survey shows that 76% of Asiaâs private wealth is already involved in digital assets, with another 18% planning to invest in the future, for a total of 94%. The report surveyed 80 family offices and high-net-worth individuals across Asia, with the majority of respondents managing assets between $10 million and $500 million. This is a significant increase from 2022, when only 58% of respondents were involved in digital assets. With spot Bitcoin ETFs approved in the U.S. and Hong Kong, 53% of respondents have cryptocurrency exposure through funds or ETFs.
a16z Crypto releases report saying global cryptocurrency activity and usage hits all-time high
a16z Crypto released a report saying that global cryptocurrency activity and usage have reached an all-time high. The report shows that as of September this year, there are about 617 million cryptocurrency holders worldwide and 60 million monthly active users, of which the United States accounts for 12% of global mobile wallet users. In addition, the value of ETH through Layer 2 has increased by 36%, while the fees paid have fallen by 94%. The report also pointed out that since the United States approved the Bitcoin ETF in January this year, its cumulative trading volume has reached 437.6 billion US dollars.
Worldcoin announced its name change to World Network, and its Layer2 network World Chain has been launched on the mainnet
According to The Block, the digital identity project Worldcoin, which is backed by Sam Altman, is changing its name to World Network, or World for short. The name change comes as the project also announced that its Layer2 network World Chain has gone live on the mainnet. World Chain is a second-layer blockchain network connected to the project and secured by Ethereum. Optimism, Alchemy, Uniswap, Safe, Dune, and Etherscan will support the launch of the blockchain. The blockchain is built using OP Stack, and World Network said that user transactions account for about 44% of OP Mainnet activity, making it the largest application on the network. World wrote in a press release: "As the project scales and the importance of World ID's human protocol proof increases, the name 'Worldcoin' can no longer cover the project's mission of accelerating everyone's development. With the three pillars of World Chain, World ID, and Worldcoin, World has truly built a network of real, verified humans, aiming to achieve an optimistic future in which humans will continue to be at the center of artificial intelligence progress."
The US SEC formally appealed its lawsuit against Ripple regarding XRP
According to Bitcoin.com, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has formally appealed its ruling on the lawsuit with Ripple regarding XRP. On Thursday, the regulator filed Form C with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In this case, the SEC is the plaintiff and appellant, and the defendants are Ripple Labs Inc. and its senior executives Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen. The SEC's initial lawsuit accused Ripple and its leaders of offering and selling XRP without the necessary registration, in violation of the relevant provisions of the 1933 (Securities Act). In the appeal, the SEC objected to several important rulings. It questioned the court's conclusion that the XRP sold by Ripple on the digital asset platform was not an unregistered security, and the decision that Garlinghouse and Larsen's personal sales did not violate the Securities Act. The SEC also objected to the ruling that Ripple's non-cash XRP distribution in exchange for services did not violate the 1933 (Securities Act).
On July 13, 2023, Ripple won a partial victory when the court ruled that XRP sales on digital trading platforms were not considered securities. However, the court determined that XRP sold by Ripple to institutional investors were unregistered securities. In addition, the court ruled that Garlinghouse and Larsen's personal XRP sales did not constitute illegal behavior. On August 7 of this year, the court issued a final judgment requiring Ripple to pay a civil penalty of $125 million and prohibiting the company from violating (Securities Laws) again.
Vitalik publishes an article discussing the future development of the Ethereum protocol: The Surge
Vitalik published a new article on the future development of the Ethereum protocol (Part 2: The Surge): (Possible futures for the Ethereum protocol, part 2: The Surge), with the following key goals: reaching 100,000+TPS on L1+L2; maintaining the decentralization and robustness of L1; at least some L2s fully inherit the core properties of Ethereum (trustless, open, and censorship-resistant); maximum interoperability between L2s, and Ethereum should be like an ecosystem, not 34 different blockchains. The article states that the current task is to complete the rollup-centric roadmap and solve related problems while maintaining the robustness and decentralization of Ethereum L1.
Monochrome to Launch Australiaâs First Ethereum Spot ETF on Cboe
Monochrome Asset Management is preparing to launch Australia's first Ethereum spot ETF IETH on Cboe, which will start trading on Monday. According to reports, the fund will position itself as the world's first fund to provide physical Ethereum subscription and redemption. Previously, in June, Monochrome Asset Management launched Australia's first Bitcoin spot ETF IBTC on Cboe Australia.
Radiant Capital suffers cyberattack, losses exceed $50 million
In the early morning of October 17, the cross-chain lending protocol Radiant Capital suffered a cyber attack, resulting in a loss of more than $50 million. Radiant is controlled by a multi-signature wallet (referred to as "multisig"), and the attacker allegedly controlled the private keys of multiple signers and then controlled multiple smart contracts. Arkham data shows that the suspect's wallet holds more than $32 million worth of Arbitrum-based assets and about $18 million worth of BNB Chain tokens.
According to analysis by Twitter user @danielvf, the hacker attack on Radiant Capital was caused by the attacker implanting a Trojan program on the computers of multiple team members, inducing the hardware wallet to sign a malicious transferOwnership() operation, transferring control of the lending pool to the attacker. The attacker then deployed the transferFrom code to continue stealing funds from the user's authorized account. There is currently no sign that the hardware wallet itself has been compromised, and the initial judgment is that the signature request was intercepted and replaced on the team member's computer. The complexity of this attack is far beyond the general attack, involving Trojan programs, hardware wallet interception software, smart contract writing, understanding organizational structure and signing processes, and other technologies, and the attacker also prepared a money laundering exit plan. To prevent such attacks, users are advised to strengthen time locks and governance processes, and immediately stop signing and investigate when the signature is abnormal (for example, the signature on the hardware wallet does not generate a signature visible to others in Gnosis Safe).
Radiant Capital officially responded to the hacker attack by tweeting that they are working closely with Seal911 and Hypernative and have implemented stronger multi-signature controls. At the same time, the FBI and ZeroShadow have fully intervened in this security incident and are actively working to freeze all stolen assets. Official recommendations for preventing such attacks include: multi-layer signature verification, independent verification equipment, enhanced Ledger/Trezor security, error-triggered audits, and manual inspection of transaction loads.
Tether: USDT added 36.25 million new users in the third quarter, setting a quarterly record
As of the third quarter of 2024, the number of USDT wallets and accounts on the chain has reached 330 million, close to the total population of the United States. This number does not include the tens of millions of users who use USDT on centralized platforms. Over the past year, the number of USDT users has continued to grow at an average growth rate of 9%, with 36.25 million new users in the third quarter, setting a quarterly record. The growth mainly comes from the application of multiple chains such as Tron, Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum, especially Layer 2 chains such as Optimism, Arbitrum, and the recently joined TON and Celo platforms.
In addition, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced that the company is exploring opportunities in commodity trading and traditional finance (TradFi). Since these businesses will be operated through an independent Tether investment department, they will not have an impact on the stablecoin reserves. Tether has discussed opportunities for US dollar loans with several companies in the commodity field.
Trump-backed DeFi project World Liberty Financial has a dismal public sale
World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project backed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, sold only 638 million WLFI tokens in its public sale as of Wednesday, accounting for only 3.2%. At the public sale price of $0.015, that's equivalent to $9.57 million. According to The Block, the site experienced multiple intermittent outages when the token sale went live. According to the roadmap shared with potential investors, WLFI's first sale plans to raise $300 million, selling 20% ââof the token supply for a total valuation of $1.5 billion.
The Trump family's crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLF) has released a 13-page document detailing the project's mission and token distribution plan. The document shows that the Trump family will receive 75% of the project's net proceeds without any liability. The document emphasizes that Trump and his family members are not directors, employees, managers or operators of WLF or its affiliates, and states that the project and tokens are "not related to any political activities." According to the document, DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Delaware company associated with Trump, will receive 75% of the net agreement income. The Trump family will receive 22.5 billion WLFI tokens (about US$337.5 million). The remaining 25% of the net agreement income will belong to Axiom Management Group (AMG), a Puerto Rican company wholly owned by project co-founders Chase Herro and Zachary Folkman. AMG has agreed to distribute half of its profit rights to WC Digital Fi, an affiliate of Trump's close friend and political donor Steve Witkoff and some of his family members.
Tesla moves its entire Bitcoin reserves to multiple new addresses
Tesla has moved 11,509 bitcoins (worth approximately $770 million) to a new address, which appears to be the entirety of the companyâs Bitcoin reserves, according to on-chain data tracked by Arkham Research.
The transfers took place over the past hour and follow six test transactions by Tesla prior to these token transfers, marking the first time Tesla has interacted with its Bitcoin wallet since it sold most of its assets in 2022.
The company invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in February 2021. It is not clear what the purpose of the transfer was, and some in the community believe the company may be preparing to sell. Tesla will announce its third-quarter financial results after the market closes on October 23.
Pump.Fun plans to launch tokens in the future
Pump.fun announced the launch of its new advanced trading terminal, Pump Advanced, and revealed in X space that it plans to launch a token in the future. The main view of Pump Advanced includes charts, top holder statistics, advanced filters, real-time update threads and other features designed to attract heavy users of Pump.fun. The site also allows users to log in through the identity verification platform Privy, use non-custodial wallets, and will charge 0% fees for at least the first 30 days, with subsequent fees to be announced soon.
Montenegrin court again suspends extradition of Do Kwon pending appeal ruling
The Constitutional Court of Montenegro suspended the extradition of Do Kwon, the former founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, on October 18. The day before, the Montenegrin Ministry of Justice said it had made a decision on Kwonâs extradition and promised to publish the decision on October 20. But the court said it would suspend the extradition proceedings until a ruling on Do Kwonâs appeal was made.
Game developer FractureLabs sues Jump Trading for alleged token price manipulation
Video game developer FractureLabs has filed a lawsuit against Jump Trading, a well-known cryptocurrency market maker, in a federal court in Chicago, accusing it of fraud and deception by manipulating the price of DIO tokens. FractureLabs originally planned to raise funds by issuing DIO tokens for the first time on the Huobi (now renamed HTX) exchange in 2021. The company hired Jump Trading as a market maker for DIO and loaned 10 million tokens to its subsidiary while sending 6 million to HTX for the sale. The lawsuit alleges that Jump Trading systematically liquidated DIO holdings, causing the token price to fall to about 0.5 cents, generating millions of dollars in profits for itself. Jump then repurchased about $53,000 in tokens at a significant discount and returned them to FractureLabs, after which it terminated the market maker agreement.
Hong Kong Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address mentions multiple topics on virtual assets
Article 99 of the Hong Kong Chief Executive's 2024 Policy Address states: Promote the application of cross-border payments using central bank digital currency (CBDC); improve the regulation of virtual asset transactions - the Treasury Bureau will complete the second round of consultation on the regulation of over-the-counter transactions of virtual assets, and submit a proposed licensing system for regulating virtual asset custody service providers; promote the tokenization of real-world assets and the digital currency ecosystem; promote the development of the digital securities market, and encourage more financial institutions and issuers to adopt tokenization technology in capital market transactions; jointly with the Treasury Bureau, submit a draft bill this year to regulate fiat stablecoin issuers.
Recommended reading this week
Wang Feng's Essay: About Hinton, the Father of Deep Learning, the Nobel Prize, and the Long and Hard Life of Great Scientists
Geoffrey Hinton is recognized as the "father of deep learning" in the field of artificial intelligence. His back-propagation algorithm laid the foundation for the development of modern artificial intelligence. However, his academic and professional career was full of twists and turns. From Cambridge to Edinburgh, after several professional transformations, he finally focused on artificial intelligence. Hinton's pursuit of knowledge when he was young was very similar to Pinocchio in the fairy tale - an innocent and curious little puppet who longed to become a "real person", and Hinton's lifelong pursuit was to make artificial intelligence a reality.
Are all new coins on the five major exchanges performing poorly? Analysis of opportunities and risks of altcoins amid liquidity exhaustion
This article analyzes the performance of new coins in the five major exchanges (Binance, OKX, Upbit, Bybit, Coinbase) within one month and finds that most new coins perform poorly, and investors often pay for the flight of early investors. In contrast, mainstream currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have performed steadily and attracted more funds. Investors need to be wary of low-circulation projects and focus on project fundamentals and token economics to gain a foothold in the high-risk crypto market.
A 10,000-fold surge in five days: An in-depth review of $GOATâs journey to $300 million
On October 16, the market value of the Meme coin $GOAT exceeded $300 million, with a single-day increase of 100% and an increase of more than 10,000 times in 5 days. AI trader @truth_terminal changed the traditional Meme coin promotion model by generating a large number of tweets and interacting with the community. AI is not affected by emotions and can automatically adjust content to manipulate the market atmosphere, causing the price of $GOAT to soar. This is a technology-driven market experiment that witnessed the rise of AI trading.
Bitcoin dances alone, MEME coins revel: Galaxy releases third quarter cryptocurrency venture capital report
In the third quarter of 2024, crypto startups received $2.4 billion in venture capital, with most deals involving infrastructure, gaming, and DeFi projects. The United States remains the dominant player in the crypto venture capital space, but new funds are raising less. Despite rising cryptocurrency prices, investor interest in crypto venture capital has declined, causing the number of new funds and the amount of funds raised to fall to the lowest level in four years. Bitcoin ETFs may put pressure on funds and startups, and policymakers should be aware that their actions may affect the development of the industry.
Vitalik Buterin: Ethereum and L2 will reach over 100K TPS through "The Surge"
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin set a goal of achieving more than 100,000 transactions per second (TPS) and improving interoperability on the Ethereum mainnet and layer 2 blockchains in the next step of his roadmap, "The Surge". He emphasized that Ethereum should become a unified ecosystem and pointed out the need to solve key issues such as data availability, data compression and user experience. In addition, Buterin proposed to expand the Ethereum base chain by adjusting gas pricing without sacrificing decentralization.
Public chain war: interpreting the on-chain data and investment logic of ETH, SOL, SUI, APT, BNB, and TON
The public chain landscape has changed. Ethereum is still dominant, but high fees affect user experience. Solana is a star in high-frequency trading and NFT. BNB attracts exchange users. Ton Chain is rising rapidly, and SUI and Aptos are catching up fast. Each public chain has a unique user group and indicators that affect the price of tokens. Through on-chain data analysis, Solana attracts high-frequency trading users, Ethereum is still the first choice for DeFi, and BNB and Ton Chain are popular. SUI and Aptos attract users at low cost, and SUI leads in daily active addresses. Investors can judge whether the price of public chain tokens is reasonable through indicators such as NVA ratio and TVL.
