Headlines
CME has no plans to launch Solana futures
According to market news, CME has no plans to launch Solana futures. (Jinshi)
Insider: Biden campaign changes stance and begins contacting key figures in crypto industry
U.S. President Joe Biden's re-election campaign has begun reaching out to key figures in the cryptocurrency industry, seeking guidance on "the crypto community and crypto policy moving forward," according to people familiar with the matter. The sources said this marks a major "shift" from the administration's previous cold attitude toward the industry. The sources said the outreach, which began about two weeks ago, marks a dramatic change in the Biden campaign's attitude toward digital asset leaders. The sources requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions. As part of the new effort, Biden's re-election team has called crypto industry leaders who were previously rejected by the Democratic candidate, according to one source. The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (The Block)
BlackRock Files Amended S-1 for Ethereum ETF, Including Seed Funding Information
BlackRock filed an amended S-1 registration statement for the proposed Ethereum ETF, disclosing information about seed capital investors. "On May 21, 2024, Seed Capital Investor conditionally purchased 400,000 shares of Seed Creation Baskets at a price equivalent to $25 per share," BlackRock said in the amended filing. The shares will be listed and traded under the ticker symbol "ETHA." The U.S. SEC recently began conversations with issuers about the S-1 form, and some analysts speculate that the process could take weeks. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on the X platform on Wednesday that BlackRock's filing of the S-1 amendment was a "good sign." There is a reasonable possibility of launching an Ethereum ETF at the end of June, but analysts still believe it will be launched on July 4. (The Block)
Industry News
NYSE President: If US regulation becomes clearer, we will consider providing cryptocurrency trading services
Lynn Martin, president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), said at the 2024 Consensus Conference that if the U.S. regulatory environment is clearer, the NYSE will consider offering cryptocurrency trading services. Martin said that the U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF has accumulated $58 billion in assets since its listing, showing the strong market demand for regulated crypto products. Martin also said that she remains optimistic about using blockchain technology to improve the efficiency and transparency of financial processes, especially for less liquid assets such as municipal bonds. (CoinDesk) Earlier news, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME Group), the world's largest futures exchange, plans to launch Bitcoin spot trading. Three people familiar with the matter revealed that CME has discussed with traders who want to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on regulated markets. The plan has not yet been finalized, and if implemented, it will mark a further intrusion of major Wall Street institutions into the digital asset industry. CME declined to comment.
Deutsche Bank advances blockchain strategy, testing new Ethereum-based platform
Deutsche Bank announced that it will strategically promote the development of blockchain technology to address challenges facing the financial services industry. The German banking giant is participating in Singapore’s Project Guardian, a project led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore that aims to harness the benefits of blockchain for financial markets. Deutsche Bank is currently testing a new platform based on the Ethereum network to serve tokenized funds under Project Guardian. Anand Rengarajan, head of securities services and global sales for Asia Pacific and the Middle East at Deutsche Bank, stressed the urgency of adopting innovative technologies. “Blockchain will be critical in helping us remain competitive as margin compression affects the financial services industry,” he said. According to Rengarajan, blockchain and smart contract-based solutions can significantly reduce costs, shorten trading hours and minimize risk. (Bloomberg)
Project News
OpenAI founder Sam Altman discusses Worldcoin investment with Argentine President
OpenAI founder Sam Altman and Argentine President Javier Milei met in San Francisco to discuss Worldcoin investments in the South American country, among other things. On Wednesday, two of the project's main backers, Tools for Humanity co-founders Sam Altman and Alex Blania, met with Argentine President Javier Milei. Tools for Humanity, co-founded by Blania and OpenAI CEO Altman, is the main developer behind the Worldcoin project. "During the meeting, the Worldcoin team] discussed advances in AI, how to prepare humanity for AI, and its potential investments in Argentina," said Blania.
LayerZero plans to expand to Solana this week
LayerZero revealed that it will expand to Solana on Wednesday. Once the expansion is completed, cryptocurrency holders on the Solana chain will be able to transfer assets to Arbitrum, Ethereum, Polygon, and 70 other blockchains supported by LayerZero. (Coindesk)
ZKasino's refund promise raises doubts, community feedback: 72-hour registration refund process is too short
ZKasino announced yesterday that it has launched a two-step bridge process, which will return ETH to bridgers who do not participate in the ZKAS conversion at a ratio of 1:1. It also said that the team is still working hard and reassured that it will continue to do its best to make the project a success. However, the crypto community pointed out that ZKasino only gave bridge participants a short 72 hours to register (UTC time May 28th 14:00-May 31st 14:00, all working days). After three days, the registration function will be closed and deposits will also be stopped. This short period of time may prevent many people from recovering their deposits. In addition, ZKasino also deliberately avoided the staking rewards previously obtained by users' deposits. It is reported that after the Bridge-to-Earn program ends, ZKasino will convert investors' ETH into Lido's Wrapped Staked Ether. Given the current Lido staking yield of 3.3% and the recent rise in ETH prices, the staking rewards generated are expected to exceed US$100,000. (cryptoslate)
Character*Voice
U.S. Treasury official: No intention to ban cryptocurrency mixers, related measures are aimed at increasing transparency
Brian Nelson, the U.S. Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said at the Consensus Conference that the U.S. Treasury Department has no intention of banning cryptocurrency mixing services. It is reported that the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) proposed in 2023 to classify cryptocurrency mixers as a "major money laundering problem" and require virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to report any crypto transactions involving mixers to the agency. FinCEN's proposal, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice's increasing number of enforcement actions against mixing services (including Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet), are seen by many in the industry as evidence of an imminent complete ban on cryptocurrency mixing in the United States, which the Treasury Department strongly denies. Nelson said the proposal is not to ban the use of mixers, but to increase transparency. He also expressed his understanding of crypto users' desire for financial privacy, but urged the crypto industry and the Treasury Department to work together to find ways to enhance privacy without supporting terrorist financing. (CoinDesk)
Vitalik Buterin: L2 is a cultural extension of Ethereum
Vitalik Buterin wrote that L2 is a cultural extension of Ethereum, pointing out that Ethereum is an L2-centric ecosystem, so you can freely build a sub-ecosystem with your unique functions independently, and this sub-ecosystem is also part of the larger Ethereum. Some specific ways that L2 can and does achieve cultural specialization include: 1. More willingness to conduct user development or "business development"; 2. Emphasis on diversity of values; 3. Diversity of participants.
Apollo: The Fed's promise to cut rates could make it harder to deliver
While some Fed officials have tried to keep open the possibility of another rate hike, the main message from the Fed is that the next step will be a rate cut. But the more dovish the Fed sounds, the looser financial conditions will be, and the harder it will be for the Fed to cut rates, Apollo analyst Torsten Slok said in a report. He called it the "paradox of the reflexivity of the Fed's rate cuts." Slok said that since the Federal Open Market Committee began talking about rate cuts in November last year, U.S. stocks have rebounded and "the household sector has also received a windfall." He said government spending has also provided "an important boost to the economy." (Jinshi)
Investment and Financing
Decentralized AI infrastructure project GaiaNet completes $10 million seed round of financing
The decentralized artificial intelligence project GaiaNet has completed a $10 million financing round. Its key strategic advisors include Lex Sokolin of Generative Ventures, Brian Johnson of Republic Capital, Shawn Ng of 7 RIDGE, Kishore Bhatia, EVM Capital, Mantle EcoFund and ByteTrade Lab. It is reported that GaiaNet is a distributed AI infrastructure that aims to decentralize the current AI agent software. GaiaNet will not set up a centralized server, but will use a distributed edge node network controlled by individuals and enterprises to host AI models based on their proprietary domain knowledge and expertise. (Coindesk)
Oracle Solution API 3 Completes Strategic Round of Financing, Led by DWF Labs
According to market news, the oracle solution API 3 announced the completion of a strategic round of financing, led by DWF Labs. It is reported that this round is a strategic fund diversification financing, with a scale of 4 million USDC, of which DWF Labs contributed 2 million USDC, Spartan Group 1 million USDC, Laser Digital and Caladan (formerly AlphaLab) 500,000 USDC. DWF Labs received 711,744 API 3, Spartan Group received 355,872 API 3, Laser Digital and Caladan received 177,936 API 3. It is reported that the lock-up period of the tokens is in the form of 12-month linear unlocking and 6-month cliff unlocking, which means that 50% of the tokens will be unlocked six months after the proposal is passed, and the remaining 50% will be unlocked linearly in the next six months.
Parasail Completes $4 Million Seed Round at $50 Million Valuation, Led by Protocol Labs
According to official news, recently, Parasail Protocol, which focuses on improving the security of DePIN hardware services, announced the completion of a $4 million seed round of financing, with a valuation of $50 million. The seed round of financing was led by Protocol Labs, and D 11 Labs, MH Ventures, BitRise Capital, E V3, Fenbushi Capital, Modular Capital, Faculty Group, DWF Ventures, Foresight Ventures, AGE Crypto, Waterdrip Capital and others participated. According to the Parasail team, the financing funds will be used to accelerate the implementation of various product functions in the Parasail Master Plan, that is, to pool assets and hardware on DePIN, provide users with service level guarantees, and dynamically coordinate hardware resources according to demand. It is reported that Parasail TVL exceeds 50 million US dollars. In addition to providing security for hardware services through asset delegation, Parasail is building a universal adapter for hardware service provision and verification to enable the flexible use and circulation of universal hardware resources (such as graphics cards, storage, sensors, etc.) in different DePIN ecosystems. With the help of the Parasail protocol, the DePIN project can systematically and efficiently build its network and mobilize hardware resources.
RWA stablecoin issuer Anzen Finance completes $4 million seed round of financing, with participation from Mechanism Capital and others
Anzen Finance, the issuer of RWA stablecoin, announced the completion of a $4 million seed round of financing. Mechanism Capital, Circle Ventures, Frax, Arca, Infinity Ventures, Cherubic Ventures, Palm Drive Ventures, M 31 Capital, Kraynos Capital and others participated in the investment. It is reported that after the completion of this round of financing transactions, its board of directors will not change. Anzen allows users to mint stablecoins USDz supported by a "diversified portfolio of private credit assets", which are collateralized by real-world assets USDz, and the token can be pledged in other DeFi protocols. (TheBlock)