Headlines
CME Bitcoin long futures open interest hits record high at $1.98 billion
CME’s long Bitcoin futures open interest hit a record high. According to data from The Block, CME’s long Bitcoin futures open interest increased from $1.04 billion at the end of October to the current $1.98 billion. This figure exceeds the $1.67 billion contract record when Bitcoin reached a high of $68,000 in November 2021. The increase in open futures contracts may indicate that the price of Bitcoin will appreciate when the current contract expires on the last Friday of December.
MicroStrategy spends $593.3 million to buy 16,130 BTC
MicroStrategy spent $593.3 million to purchase 16,130 BTC at an average price of 36,785 USDT. Previously, MicroStrategy's BTC holdings were 158,400. With this purchase of 16,130, MicroStrategy's total BTC holdings increased to 174,530. Previously, MicroStrategy's holding cost was 29586 USDT. With this purchase, MicroStrategy's BTC holding cost increased by 30252 USDT. Compared with the current BTC price of 37689 USDT, MicroStrategy's current floating profit is 1.29 billion US dollars.
Industry News
Grayscale met with the US SEC to discuss GBTC conversion ETF, and recently hired former Invesco ETF executives
The SEC met with Grayscale on Thursday to discuss a potential ETF conversion for GBTC. Grayscale also recently hired longtime Invesco ETF executive John Hoffman, who will serve as Grayscale's head of distribution and strategic partnerships. The SEC also met with representatives from BlackRock and Nasdaq on Wednesday. BlackRock previously applied for a Bitcoin ETF in June, and several other asset managers followed suit.
Circle: No banking services provided to Justin Sun, TRON Foundation or HTX
In a letter to U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren, Circle refuted the allegedly false allegations that it facilitated illegal financial activity. It also said it did not provide banking services to Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, or Huobi, now rebranded as HTX. "Circle does not directly or indirectly assist or finance Hamas (or any other illegal actor)," the company said in the letter. "Circle also does not provide banking services to Justin Sun. Neither Mr. Sun nor any entity owned or controlled by Mr. Sun, including the Tron Foundation or HTX, currently has an account with Circle." The letter went on to say: "To date, the U.S. government has not specifically designated Mr. Sun or his entities as Specially Designated Nationals. Nonetheless, Circle terminated all accounts held by Mr. Sun and his affiliates in February 2023." The Tron Foundation and HTX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The US SEC confirms receipt of the Fidelity Ethereum spot ETF application proposal submitted by CBOE
According to SEC documents, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) submitted a proposed rule change to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 17, proposing to list and trade the spot ETF commodity trust shares of the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (Trust) under BZX Rule 14.11(e)(4). The SEC has confirmed receipt of the proposal and will solicit public comments on the rule change.
Binance announces pilot program for bank-based third-party custody for institutional investors
Binance announced the successful execution of the world's first cryptocurrency bank tripartite arrangement custody project. This solution enables institutional investors to place trading collateral and over-the-counter collateral in the custody of a third-party banking partner. This is the first pilot in a series of pilot projects initiated by Binance. At the same time, Binance is also the only cryptocurrency exchange that currently offers such a solution. This arrangement directly addresses the issue of counterparty risk, which is the biggest concern of institutional investors today. It replicates a common framework in traditional financial markets, allowing investors to allocate crypto assets according to their risk tolerance. The collateral held by the bank partner can be in the form of a legal equivalent, such as a treasury bill, giving it the additional benefit of being a yield asset.
The current negative premium rate of Grayscale GBTC is 8.09%
Coinglass data shows that the current Grayscale GBTC negative premium rate is 8.09%. In addition, the Grayscale LTC trust premium rate is 28.36%, the BCH trust premium rate is 13.99%, the ZEC trust premium rate is 6.05%, the SOL trust premium rate is 308.53%, and the FIL trust premium rate is 713.54%.
Over $1.12 billion in BTC and $469 million in ETH options contracts expire on Friday
Deribit data shows that BTC options with a nominal value of more than $1.12 billion and ETH options contracts with a nominal value of more than $469 million will expire on Friday (December 1). The maximum pain point price of BTC is $37,000; the maximum pain point price of ETH is $2,100.
SlowMist: A hacker group used the Calendly function to launch phishing attacks. Please pay attention to prevent related risks.
SlowMist Security Team discovered that a hacker group used the function of Calendly to insert malicious links on event pages using the "Add Custom Link" function to launch phishing attacks. Calendly is a very popular free calendar application for scheduling meetings and schedules, and is often used by organizations to schedule events or send invitations to upcoming events.
Project News
CoinList: BitsCrunch token sale starts on December 15th, registration is now open, token price is 0.055 USDT
CoinList officially announced that it will launch the BitsCrunch (BCUT) token sale at 1:00 a.m. (Beijing time) on December 15, and registration is now open. BitsCrunch is a decentralized, AI-enhanced data network that provides analysis and forensic data for NFTs, wallets, and other public chain digital assets. The supply of tokens for this sale is 60, 000, 000 BCUT tokens at a price of 0.055 USDT. In addition, 5, 000, 000 BCUT tokens are reserved for rewards, and 10, 000, 000 BCUT tokens (1% of the total supply) may be available for purchase during the BitsCrunch community sale, subject to BitsCrunch's decision.
Kyber Network co-founder: A statement will be released on the official account tomorrow
Kyber Network co-founder and CEO Victor Tran posted on the X platform that no one cares about users as much as we do. You deserve the best. A statement will be made tomorrow on the Kyber Network official X account. Just today, the KyberSwap attacker released the latest news on the chain, proposing a series of settlement conditions, including full executive control of Kyber, temporary full control of the governance mechanism of KyberDAO to implement legislative changes, and requiring the handover of all documents and information related to the company/protocol. In addition, Kyber is also required to hand over all on-chain and off-chain assets.
Hooked Protocol launches $50 million education ecosystem fund to promote the development of HOOK 2.0
According to official news, Hooked Protocol announced that it has launched a $50 million education ecosystem fund in collaboration with a number of educational institutions. The new education fund will promote the connection between crypto education and real education by strengthening the HOOK 2.0 ecosystem, inspiring new use cases for HOOK tokens, and enhancing the application of on-chain interactions in offline courses.
ANTPOOL: Will refund a user's previous 83 BTC transaction fee, and the refund will be made after the user verifies his identity
According to the official announcement of ANTPOOL, on November 23, a user submitted 83 BTC as transaction fees. After ANTPOOL packaged the transaction, the risk control system temporarily froze it. Please contact ANTPOOL before 0:00 on December 10, 2023 (UTC+ 8) and verify your personal identity as follows. After verification, ANTPOOL will refund the fee.
Polkadot 2.0 Blockspace-as-a-Service is expected to be launched in Q2 next year
Polkadot 2.0 Blockspace As A Service (BaaS) is expected to go live in the second quarter of 2024. The main change in 2.0 is the shift from parachain slot auctions to coretime leasing. Lastic will provide a market for buying and selling blockspace.
Robinhood plans to start offering cryptocurrency trading in the EU in the coming weeks
Robinhood has begun rolling out commission-free trading of stocks and other securities to retail investors in the United Kingdom. Currently, British users must join a waiting list to activate the service, but Robinhood plans to start offering the service directly in 2024. Robinhood also plans to begin offering cryptocurrency trading in the European Union in the coming weeks.
Investment and Financing
Web3 Foundation to Make $1 Million RWA Investment via Centrifuge
Web3 Foundation will make a pilot investment of $1 million in the RWA space through Centrifuge, which will be used for Anemoy’s upcoming US Treasury bonds on Centrifuge. This initiative is part of the Web3 Foundation’s strategic mission to promote the development of Web3 projects through funding, advocacy, and collaboration.
ParaX announces rebranding as Parallel Finance, raising over $30 million
According to official news, Web3 super application ParaX has now rebranded as Parallel Finance. During the transition to Parallel Finance, applications and smart contracts will remain unchanged, and users do not need to migrate any assets. In addition, officials said that it has raised more than $30 million from institutions such as Sequoia Capital, Polychain, Blockchain Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Founders Fund. Earlier on September 30, Web3 super application ParaX announced that it had received strategic financing from Hong Kong digital asset wealth management company Metalpha, but the specific amount has not been disclosed.
DePin provider Grove receives $7.9 million in funding, with participation from Avon Ventures and others
Grove, formerly Pocket Network, a decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) provider, has raised $7.9 million from Fidelity’s Avon Ventures, Placeholder Capital, and Druid Ventures. Grove will use the funding to build new partnerships and drive DePIN towards mainstream adoption.
Character*Voice
Bloomberg Analyst: Spot Bitcoin ETF Approval Window Expected to Be Between January 5 and 10, 2024
Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart said on X Platform that the approval window for a spot Bitcoin ETF is expected to be between January 5 and 10, 2024. According to SEC filings, the comment period for Franklin/Hashdex ended on January 5, and the comment deadline for Ark/21 is January 10.
JPMorgan Chase: DeFi and NFT markets show initial signs of recovery
JPMorgan said in a report that DeFi NFT activity has recovered in recent months as expectations of approval of a U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) have improved sentiment in the cryptocurrency market. The report said the growth came after a nearly two-year slowdown, so there is optimism that the worst may be over in terms of the medium-term trajectory of DeFi/NFT activity. Analyst Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou said that while we have no doubt that the recent recovery in DeFi/NFT activity is a positive sign, we believe it is too early to get excited about it.
Bloomberg Analyst: ARK may sell $130 million of GBTC to inject capital into spot Bitcoin ETF
Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on the X platform that ARK/21 Shares may be in the lead in the initial stages of the spot Bitcoin ETF competition by selling $130 million of GBTC to fund its own spot Bitcoin ETF. Analysts said that this move does not guarantee that it will definitely lead, but it will help, and they need it to compete with companies such as BlackRock and Fidelity.
