Today's news tips:
MicroStrategy loses $102.6 million in second quarter, plans to raise $2 billion to buy more Bitcoin
37,000 BTC options and 180,000 ETH options expire today, with a total notional value of $3 billion
Fantom has now changed its name to Sonic Labs and plans to launch a new EVM chain Sonic before the end of the year
NBA star Pippen launches Game 5 Ball project, token contract deployed to Ethereum mainnet
Crypto lending company Morpho completes $50 million strategic financing, led by Ribbit Capital
Coinbase's total revenue in the second quarter of this year was US$1.45 billion, a decrease of 11% from the previous quarter
Blockchain's Bitcoin revenue in the second quarter of this year was $2.61 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%.
Bitcoin whales purchased more than 84,000 BTC in July, the largest monthly purchase since October 2014
Regulatory News
EU regulator warns of offshore crypto risks under MiCA regulation
According to Cointelegraph, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has issued a new opinion highlighting the huge risks posed by global cryptocurrency companies that conduct a large amount of business overseas while seeking partial authorization under the Crypto Asset Market (MiCA) regulations. On July 31, ESMA issued a statement of opinion related to MiCA, and ESMA has issued such statements many times in the past after the implementation of new industry-wide regulations (such as after Brexit). ESMA's latest warning focuses on the complex organizational structure of many global cryptocurrency companies, which have been exposed to using EU-authorized brokers to route orders to execution venues outside the EU, usually in offshore jurisdictions. The EU market regulator said that this practice could undermine consumer protection and create an unfair competitive environment, which is disadvantageous to execution venues within the EU.
To address these issues, ESMA in its opinion calls on the national competent authorities (NCAs) of each EU member state to conduct a rigorous review of the business models of these global firms during the authorization process. ESMA said that crypto-asset execution venues play a vital role in the overall functioning of the crypto-asset ecosystem. According to the opinion, this may manifest as: "While most crypto-asset conglomerates are expected to operate multilateral trading platforms outside the EU, there may also be situations where non-EU entities internalize order flows and execute orders from EU clients on their own accounts." Therefore, the goal is to ensure that these companies fully comply with MiCA regulations to protect consumers and maintain the integrity of the crypto industry.
ESMA also stressed the importance of a nuanced, case-by-case assessment of firms seeking MiCA authorization. ESMA has outlined specific requirements that these firms must meet, including ensuring best execution practices, means to effectively manage conflicts of interest, and fulfilling a duty to act in the best interests of clients. In addition, firms must also comply with strict guidelines on the custody and management of crypto assets on behalf of their clients.
Montenegrin court paves way for extradition of Do Kwon to South Korea
According to Bloomberg, the Montenegrin Court of Appeal upheld a ruling that Terraform Labs Pte. co-founder Do Kwon should be deported to his native South Korea, rejecting a proposal to send him to the U.S. Thursday’s ruling is the latest in a series of decisions for Montenegro, which has been facing dual requests from the United States and South Korea to extradite the disgraced former cryptocurrency tycoon.
The Podgorica court said in a statement on its website on Thursday that no one had appealed the ruling. The ruling also upheld a fast-track extradition procedure previously issued by another Montenegrin court. After the ruling was announced, Do Kwon's lawyer Goran Rodic responded to Bloomberg and said Montenegro would arrange the extradition with the assistance of Interpol and expressed the hope that the extradition could be completed "as soon as possible."
Project News
The Base blockchain team will launch Basenames, an on-chain identity tool similar to ENS, in the coming weeks.
According to The Block, Coinbase's Base blockchain team has launched a new product called Basenames. The tool is designed to make alphanumeric blockchain addresses more readable and will serve as an on-chain resume to help developers find partners. Users can register for Basename through wallets such as MetaMask, Rainbow, and Coinbase Wallet, and customize their profiles. Basenames is similar to Ethereum Name Service (ENS), but uses Base's specific domain name extension base.eth. This product will be launched to the public in a few weeks after the BaseCamp summit.
Fantom has now changed its name to Sonic Labs and plans to launch a new EVM chain Sonic before the end of the year
Fantom announced that it has now officially changed its name to Sonic Labs and plans to launch a new EVM chain Sonic by the end of this year. The name change is aimed at expanding its influence and advancing its technological development. Sonic Labs will be responsible for developing and promoting decentralized applications (DApps) related to Sonic. The new platform Sonic is expected to become a Layer-1 platform, providing a transaction speed of more than 10,000 TPS and a fast settlement layer confirmed within one second. Sonic's native token S will enter the ecosystem through large-scale airdrops, simplified staking and incentive programs. The Fantom Foundation launched the Sonic Labs startup accelerator program at the end of last year, with mentors including Andre Cronje.
MicroStrategy loses $102.6 million in second quarter, plans to raise $2 billion to buy more Bitcoin
According to CoinDesk, MicroStrategy's second-quarter financial report showed that the company had a net loss of $102.6 million in the second quarter, with a loss of $5.74 per share. The profit in the same period last year was $22.2 million, with earnings per share of $1.52. The loss was due to the company's provision of $180.1 million in impairment charges for its Bitcoin holdings, compared with $24.1 million in the second quarter of last year. Data disclosed by MicroStrategy showed that as of July 31, the company held a total of 226,500 bitcoins, with a purchase cost of $8.3 billion and an average price of $36,821. At the current price of $63,500, these Bitcoin holdings are worth approximately $14.4 billion. The company said its Bitcoin yield so far this year is 12.2%, and its goal for the next three years is to reach 4% to 8% per year. In addition, according to Bitcoin Magazine, MicroStrategy will raise $2 billion to buy more Bitcoin.
Crypto exchange Bybit terminates services in France
According to The Block, the crypto exchange Bybit will stop providing products or services in France. Starting at 16:00 Beijing time on August 2, French users will not be able to purchase any type of product, open new positions, or add new positions. All Bybit products, including Bybit Earn and all spot products are included in the restrictions. All remaining open positions of French users will be closed after 16:00 Beijing time on August 13. Only withdrawals of assets and funds will be allowed thereafter. With the EU Crypto-Asset Market (MiCA) regulatory framework set to take full effect in December this year, it has become more difficult for crypto companies to obtain licenses in France. Bybit said in a press release on Thursday: "In light of recent regulatory developments by French regulators, Bybit will stop providing our products and services to French nationals and residents. Once we obtain the appropriate licenses, we look forward to providing services again in the near future."
Aevo has started a 6-month AEVO token buyback process, and has repurchased 1 million AEVO in July
According to official news, Aevo has started the repurchase process of AEVO tokens. In the repurchase in July, 1 million AEVO were purchased at an average price of $0.446. At the same time, the project promised to repurchase at least 1 million AEVO every month from July to December.
NBA star Pippen launches Game 5 Ball project, token contract deployed to Ethereum mainnet
NBA Hall of Fame member Scottie Pippen announced the launch of the Game5Ball project. The token contract has been deployed to the Ethereum mainnet. Pippen said that the project is committed to making history and building a strong community. Despite encountering imposters, attacks and website problems, these problems have been resolved, which makes the team more bullish. Pippen also revealed that as an additional reward, all SP33 NFT holders have received an airdrop of $BALL tokens. The $BALL token contract address is 0x393Bf304dD474f48210f5cE741F19A2a851703Ca. Currently, $BALL ranks second in popularity on DEXSCREENER. BALL is currently priced at $0.002766, up more than 500% in four hours after listing.
The Jupiter community's proposal to "reduce the total supply of JUP by 30%" is currently under voting and will last until August 4th.
According to the official announcement of Jupiter, the supply reduction proposal is now live, aiming to provide more certainty, alignment and transparency for all JUP holders and the community. The proposal proposes to reduce the total supply of JUP by 30%, from 10 billion to 7 billion, with specific measures including the team voluntarily reducing its allocation by 30%, a corresponding reduction of 30% in Jupuary issuance, and cutting the rest from liquidity provision and strategic reserves. These 3 billion JUP will be gradually destroyed (which may take 6 months). Voting starts on August 1 and lasts until August 4.
ETHGlobal Superhack 2024 Hackathon Now Open for Applications, with a Prize Pool of $200,000
According to the official announcement of ETHGlobal, Superhack 2024 hackathon is now open for application. The event will be held from August 2 to August 16, aiming to explore the future of multi-chain and superchain. Participants will conduct experiments around OP Stack and make new friends and mentors at the event. The hackathon offers a total of $200,000 in prizes, and the main sponsors and prizes include Optimism ($24,500), Worldcoin ($20,000), Base ($20,000), etc.
Financial report data
Coinbase's total revenue in the second quarter of this year was US$1.45 billion, a decrease of 11% from the previous quarter
According to The Block, Coinbase's latest financial report shows that the company's total revenue in the second quarter of this year was US$1.45 billion, a decrease of 11% from the previous quarter. The decline in total revenue was partly due to a decline in trading revenue. Coinbase's trading revenue in the second quarter was US$665 million, a decrease of 29% from US$1.07 billion in the first quarter. Solana accounted for 10% of Coinbase's total trading revenue. However, the exchange's stablecoin revenue increased from US$197.3 million in the previous quarter to US$240.4 million. Coinbase's adjusted EBITDA was US$596 million, a sharp drop from US$1.01 billion in the previous quarter. Net profit also fell from nearly US$1.2 billion in the first quarter to US$36 million.
Blockchain's Bitcoin revenue in the second quarter of this year was $2.61 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%.
According to Cointelegraph, Jack Dorsey's payment company Block released its second quarter 2024 financial report, showing that the company's net income in the second quarter was $6.16 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11%. Among them, Bitcoin revenue exceeded $2.61 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%. The total gross profit was $2.23 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20%. Net profit attributable to common shareholders was $195 million, up from $102 million last year.
Block's Cash App had revenue of $4.13 billion in the second quarter. Excluding revenue from Bitcoin trading, revenue was $1.52 billion. Bitcoin gross profit was $67 million, up 52% year-on-year. Block said the growth in Bitcoin gross profit was mainly driven by the increase in the average price of Bitcoin.
In addition, Block also updated its Bitcoin reserves, saying that its Bitcoin holdings had a floating loss of $70 million. As of June 30, 2024, Block held approximately 8,211 Bitcoins on its balance sheet for investment purposes, with a fair value of $515 million. The company purchased approximately 173 Bitcoins in the past quarter.
Galaxy Digital's second-quarter net loss was $177 million, nearly four times the same period last year
According to CoinDesk, as the cryptocurrency market retreated, digital asset financial services company Galaxy Digital (GLXY) reported a net loss of $177 million in the second quarter, almost four times the same period last year. Galaxy's digital asset holdings had a net loss of $161.7 million. According to Coinglass data, Bitcoin fell 12% this quarter after surging nearly 70% in the first three months. In the first half of the year, Galaxy's net income was nearly $245 million, an increase of more than 175% from the first half of 2023.
Financing News
Crypto lending company Morpho completes $50 million strategic financing, led by Ribbit Capital
According to CoinDesk, the decentralized cryptocurrency lending protocol Morpho raised $50 million in a strategic financing round led by Ribbit Capital. Other investors participating in this round of private token sales include a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Variant, Pantera, Brevan Howard, BlockTower, Kraken Ventures, Hack VC, IOSG, Rockaway, L1D, Mirana, Cherry, Semantic, Fenbushi, Leadblock Bitpanda and Robot Ventures.
According to reports, Morpho was launched two years ago and has evolved from the role of optimization layer to Morpho Blue, which is a platform for Aave and Compound users to increase interest rates, and Morpho Blue is an infrastructure on which others can build crypto lending applications and develop their own risk management strategies.
European venture capital firm XAnge has stopped fundraising for its Web3 fund
According to Sifted, European (France and Germany) venture capital firm XAnge has quietly stopped fundraising for its Web3 Fund. Although the Web3 market shows signs of recovery, XAnge has encountered difficulties in raising its first crypto venture capital fund, Digital Ownership Fund. The fund aims to raise 80 million euros and focus on seed and Series A blockchain investments. Due to the hesitation of European limited partners (LPs) towards digital assets, the fund failed to attract enough supporters for its first fundraising. Despite this, XAnge received permission from the French financial regulator last year to invest in crypto tokens through its latest general fund (a 220 million euro fund raised in 2022). XAnge CEO Cyril Bertrand confirmed that the company will no longer raise funds for a dedicated crypto fund, but team member Luc Jodet will continue to invest in crypto companies through the general fund. As the crypto industry experienced a downturn after the collapse of FTX at the end of 2022, global investment in crypto startups fell from $21.2 billion in 2022 to $4.1 billion in 2023, a drop of 80%. Despite the introduction of important regulations in the United States and Europe since the beginning of 2024 and the record high price of Bitcoin, the recovery of the crypto industry has not yet been fully reflected in the European venture capital fundraising environment.
Important data
A whale sold nearly $60 million of ETH and WBTC during last night’s market drop to deleverage
According to on-chain analyst Ember, a whale sold 15,444 ETH and 193.4 WBTC on the chain in exchange for $59.98 million USDC to repay loans and clear leverage when the market fell last night.
Polymarket's cumulative trading volume has exceeded US$1 billion
According to The Block, the decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket has exceeded $1 billion in cumulative trading volume since its launch. From June to the end of July, Polymarket's cumulative trading volume surged 58% from $663 million to $1.05 billion. July's trading volume hit a new high, mainly driven by speculation on US political events, with monthly trading volume exceeding $380 million. The platform currently has about $90 million in open contracts, and the largest market is predictions about the next US president, with trading volume exceeding $474 million, accounting for more than 45% of the total trading volume.
The success rate of deploying tokens created by Pump.fun to Raydium remains at around 1.41%
According to Cointelegraph, 98.6% of memecoins on the Pump.fun platform failed to successfully launch. Data shows that since May, the success rate of cryptocurrencies created by Pump.fun on Solana decentralized finance protocol Raydium has remained around 1.41%, well below the all-time high of 2.56% on February 16. Although the success rate is low, launched memecoins have generated significant transaction fee revenue. Pump.fun is favored by celebrities due to its convenient creation process. Although the overall memecoin market value has declined, the transaction volume has increased significantly. Data: pump.fun’s cumulative revenue exceeds US$80 million
Bitcoin spot ETF had a total net inflow of US$50.64 million yesterday, and the ETF net asset ratio reached 4.54%
According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (August 1, Eastern Time), the total net inflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $50.64 million. Yesterday, the Grayscale ETF GBTC had a single-day net outflow of $71.3271 million, and the current historical net outflow of GBTC is $19.013 billion.
Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF BTC had a net inflow of $191 million in a single day, and the current total net inflow of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust BTC is $209 million. The second is BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a net inflow of $25.9038 million in a single day, and the current total net inflow of IBIT is $20.054 billion.
As of press time, the total net asset value of the Bitcoin spot ETF was US$58.016 billion, the ETF net asset ratio (market value as a percentage of the total market value of Bitcoin) reached 4.54%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached US$17.744 billion.
37,000 BTC options and 180,000 ETH options will expire today, with a total notional value of $3 billion
According to today's option delivery data released by Adam@Greeks.live, 37,000 BTC options expired, with a Put Call Ratio of 0.58, a maximum pain point of $66,000, and a notional value of $2.4 billion. 180,000 ETH options expired, with a Put Call Ratio of 0.55, a maximum pain point of $3,300, and a notional value of $600 million.
Bitcoin whales purchased more than 84,000 BTC in July, the largest monthly purchase since October 2014
According to data from IntoTheBlock and TradingView, Bitcoin whales purchased more than 84,000 BTC in July, the largest monthly purchase since October 2014.
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