1. Justin Drake, core researcher at the Ethereum Foundation: If the development direction of EigenLayer goes against the interests of Ethereum, he will resign from his advisory position
Justin Drake, a core researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, tweeted that he recently became an advisor to the Eigen Foundation. Although he can get a lot of EIGEN token rewards as an advisor, he will resign from the advisory position at any time if the development direction of EigenLayer is contrary to the interests of Ethereum, and promises to reinvest all advisory income into valuable projects within the Ethereum ecosystem, whether it is investment or donation. In addition, Justin Drake said that his advisory duties are limited to studying re-staking risks, providing advice in his personal capacity, and his name will not appear in marketing materials.
2. Venezuela plans to cut off the connection between Bitcoin mines and the power grid, and has seized more than 11,000 mining machines
According to Bitcoin.com, the Venezuelan Ministry of Electricity has announced a special operation aimed at monitoring the activities of high-power users connected to the national power grid, including cutting off the connection of all Bitcoin mining farms to the grid. Currently, the Venezuelan authorities have seized more than 11,000 Bitcoin mining machines.
3. The number of new Bitcoin wallets in the past week fell to the lowest level since 2018
According to The Block, data shows that the number of new Bitcoin wallets (7-day average) has dropped to the lowest level since 2018, with an average of only 275,000 new addresses per day in the past week, compared with 625,000 six months ago. In addition, other related indicators have also declined, including miner income measured by hash rate, which has also fallen to a record low. Transaction fees on Bitcoin and on-chain transaction volume indicators are also declining.
Six months ago, excitement around a Bitcoin spot ETF, developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem such as Ordinals, and the upcoming block reward halving pushed the average number of new Bitcoin addresses per week to its highest level since the all-time high in December 2017.
4. John Bigatton, promoter of cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme BitConnect, pleads guilty
Cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme BitConnect promoter John Bigatton appeared in Sydney Magistrates Court on May 16 and pleaded guilty to providing unlicensed financial services on behalf of another person, contrary to section 911B(1) of the Corporations Act. His sentencing hearing will be held on July 5.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said Bigatton provided financial product advice across Australia through seminars (four times) and social media (twice) without holding an Australian financial services licence or authorisation.
5. The second phase of application for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s “Digital Hong Kong Dollar” pilot program has ended, and interviews are expected to be held in May or June
The second phase of applications for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s “Digital Hong Kong Dollar” pilot program ended on May 17. The HKMA expects to conduct interviews with shortlisted applicants in late May or June. The evaluation criteria will include innovation, customer-centricity, legality and compliance, etc.
6. The Xianyu community prohibits the release of digital collectibles and will remove them from the shelves
Xianyu issued an announcement on May 17th regarding the special governance of digital collectibles. It stated that due to recent public opinions exposing the frequent occurrence of false propaganda, transaction fraud, illegal fundraising and other risks in digital collectibles transactions, in order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the majority of users, maintain the healthy ecology of the Xianyu community, and prevent financial risks, from now on, the release of digital collectibles related products in the Xianyu community is prohibited, and digital collectibles related products will be removed from the shelves.
Xianyu lifted the ban on digital collectibles keywords on October 25, 2023.
7. Binance Web3 Wallet launches “Yield Plus” and “Simple Yield” revenue models
Binance Web3 Wallet launches two income modes, “Yield Plus” and “Simple Yield”. These new features will enable users to discover more DeFi opportunities in the earning section of Binance Web3 Wallet.
8. Nigerian court rejects bail application of Binance director Tigran Gambaryan
A Nigerian court rejected the bail application of Binance Financial Crime Compliance Director Tigran Gambaryan, with Judge Emeka Nwite believing that if the application of the Binance executive was approved, he might not continue to appear in court. A Binance spokesperson expressed disappointment and sadness at the ruling. The court will be adjourned until May 23 for cross-examination.
9. COPA v. Satoshi Nakamoto ruling is now published: Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto
The verdict of the case filed by the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA) against Craig Wright, the "Australian Satoshi", has been announced. The verdict states that Craig Wright is not the author of the Bitcoin White Paper, nor is he the person who used the pseudonym "Satoshi Nakamoto" in the Bitcoin White Paper, nor is he the creator of the Bitcoin system, nor is he the author of the original version of the Bitcoin software. The verdict states that Craig Wright, who claims to be the person using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, has lied to the court extensively, and most of the lies are related to the documents he forged. The verdict contains a large number of technical and other details that are necessary to expose the large-scale tampering activities carried out by Craig Wright to prove that he is Satoshi Nakamoto.
10. Alcove has reached cooperation with five major university blockchain associations to promote Aptos development and education
Alcove, the Asian Aptos developer community, has reached a deep cooperation relationship with Chengdu University of Information Technology Blockchain Association CUITBCA, Fudan Blockchain Association FudanBlockchain, Shenzhen University Blockchain Association SZUBA, and Zhejiang University Blockchain Association ZJUBCA.eth. The cooperation is sponsored and supported by Aptos and will jointly promote blockchain education, investment research and developer training. The cooperation includes joint educational activities, online podcast series, blockchain technology research and analysis, and practical developer workshops. Alcove is a Chinese developer community focused on "Move on Aptos" established by Aptos and Alibaba Cloud in the Asia-Pacific region to support the development of innovative decentralized applications.
