1. Circle has increased its headcount by 15% this year and added about 140 new positions
Circle has increased its headcount by more than 15% this year after revealing in January that it had confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO, according to Bloomberg. A Circle spokesperson said the company has added 137 employees and added more than 140 new positions in areas such as business development, engineering and marketing. The company now has 882 employees, and another 24 have accepted job offers.
New hires include chief accounting officer Tamara Schulz and the exchange’s director of business development Pierre Carras, both of whom joined in May, according to LinkedIn accounts. Sterling Barnett is the director of business development for exchange partnerships in North America and Europe and started in April, according to LinkedIn information.
2. The U.S. Department of Justice opposes Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith’s application for a five-year sentence reduction
According to Cointelegraph, U.S. Department of Justice officials have drafted a motion opposing Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith’s application for a sentence reduction for violating sanctions against North Korea. In a document filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on June 17, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated that the judge should reject Virgil Griffith’s motion to reduce his sentence to 51 months.
A judge previously sentenced the former Ethereum developer to 63 months in prison and a $100,000 fine in April 2022, and given his time in prison prior to the sentencing hearing, his expected release date is January 2026.
3.Reuters: Brazilian tax authorities will require foreign cryptocurrency exchanges to provide information
Brazil's tax authorities are about to ask foreign cryptocurrency exchanges that do not have offices in Brazil to explain their operations and how they work with local service providers, according to Reuters. A decree is expected to be issued this week requiring these exchanges to provide more information. Unlike local exchanges in Brazil, these foreign exchanges do not have to report platform transactions.
Andrea Chaves, deputy secretary for inspection at the Federal Taxation Service, said the first focus is on how these foreign crypto exchanges operate, whether there are any illegal practices, and whether they have information on Brazilian wealth for taxation. Another tax official said the government also wants to see how these exchanges work with local service providers to ensure that they provide the required information in accordance with the 2019 regulations. Exchanges established outside Brazil but operating in the country and even having Portuguese websites include Binance, Coinbase, OKX and KuCoin. The active participation of these exchanges comes at a time when Brazilian cryptocurrency assets are surging.
According to the latest data from the Tax Service, Brazilians declared up to 133.6 billion reais (about 24.6 billion U.S. dollars) in cryptocurrency assets between January and July 2023, an increase of 36.6% from the same period last year. Of this, 14.5 billion reais were declared through foreign exchanges, a year-on-year increase of 51.2%.
4. Binance.US’s remittance agency license was revoked or rejected by multiple US states
According to Bitcoin.com, several U.S. states have revoked or refused to renew Binance.US’s remittance agency license due to compliance issues and legal disputes involving former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. North Dakota financial regulators said: North Dakota joins Alaska, Florida, Maine, North Carolina and Oregon, who have taken similar actions to revoke or refuse to renew BAM Trading Services’ remittance license.
5. Futu Securities: Will continue to strengthen the provision of virtual asset related services
According to Ming Pao Finance, Futu Securities said that it is continuing to strengthen its investment in virtual assets and is actively promoting virtual asset trading services. Xie Zhijian, managing director of Futu Securities, said that according to Futu's latest related survey, more than 40% of investors who have never traded virtual assets expressed their desire to trade on Futu NiuNiu, and nearly 75.6% of experienced investors are also happy to see Futu launch virtual asset trading services on the platform.
6. Yesterday, the total net outflow of US Bitcoin spot ETF was about 150 million US dollars
According to Sosovalue data, yesterday (June 18, Eastern Time), the total net outflow of US Bitcoin spot ETFs was about $150 million. Grayscale ETF GBTC had a net outflow of about $62 million per day; Fidelity ETF FBTC had a net outflow of about $83 million per day; Bitwise ETF BITB had a net outflow of about $7 million per day.
7. Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission: The strategic priorities of the Securities and Futures Commission in the next three years include promoting tokenization and continuously improving the virtual asset regulatory system.
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission published the "2023-24 Annual Report", which disclosed the four major strategic priorities of the Securities and Futures Commission in the next three years. It mentioned that it will use technology and ESG to lead market transformation, promote tokenization to improve the efficiency of the industry, and continue to improve the virtual asset regulatory system, and provide guidance on the use of generative artificial intelligence large-scale language models.
8. Brazilian investment management company Hashdex submits application for Bitcoin and Ethereum combined spot ETF
According to Cointelegraph, Brazilian investment management company Hashdex submitted an application to the U.S. SEC on June 18 to create a combined Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETF on the Nasdaq exchange. The proposed ETF will be balanced based on the market value of the two assets (70.54% Bitcoin and 29.46% Ethereum on May 27). Coinbase and BitGo will serve as asset custodians.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart said the SEC’s final decision on the fund should be made by March 2025 at the latest.
9. Bitwise submitted an S-1 revised document for Ethereum spot ETF to the US SEC, saying Pantera is interested in investing $100 million
On June 18, asset management company Bitwise submitted an amended S-1 document for the Ethereum spot ETF to the U.S. SEC, stating that investment company Pantera Capital "intends to purchase Ethereum spot ETF shares with a total amount of no more than $100 million in this offering." The document stated: "However, since the expression of intent is not a binding purchase agreement or commitment, these potential purchasers may decide to purchase more or fewer shares, or may not purchase at all."
10. OSL Group CFO: Hong Kong’s cryptocurrency “money changer” licensing system may be launched in the short term
According to Ta Kung Pao, OSL Group Chief Financial Officer Hu Zhenbang revealed in a recent interview that a licensing system for cryptocurrency "money changers" may be introduced in the short term. In addition, the SAR government has introduced various regulatory measures, including anti-money laundering and prevention of hackers, taking the initiative to promote market standardization and actively exploring relevant policy formulation options, which makes Hong Kong's advantages in the development of the virtual asset market more and more obvious.
11. Nomura Securities' cryptocurrency unit Laser Digital obtains Abu Dhabi digital asset broker license
According to Cointelegraph, Nomura Securities' cryptocurrency division Laser Digital Limited has obtained a brokerage license for traditional assets and digital assets in the Abu Dhabi region, marking the end of the company's full licensing process in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The new license will allow Laser Digital to provide brokerage and asset and fund management services for digital assets and traditional assets in the region.
Laser Digital received in-principle approval from ADGM in September 2023.
12. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic is one of Terraform Labs’ early investors
According to Montenegrin media Vijesti, a court document shows that Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic is one of the early investors in Terraform Labs and invested $75,000 in it to purchase 750,000 LUNA tokens in April 2018. Before the court document was made public, Spajic claimed that he had never invested in the project personally, but invested in Terraform Labs through his company Das Capital SG from 2017 to 2020.
13. Zodia Custody receives investment from NAB Ventures, a venture capital firm under National Australia Bank
Digital asset custody company Zodia Custody announced that it has received an investment from NAB Ventures, a venture capital firm of the National Australia Bank (NAB). The investment amount was not disclosed. Zodia Custody said that the next step will be to join the unique ecosystem of local digital asset exchanges in Australia to prepare for stricter regulatory requirements expected to take effect in 2025. Zodia Custody also plans to provide custody services for Australian digital asset ETF applicants.
Zodia Custody, which has received investments from Standard Chartered Bank, Northern Trust and SBI Holdings, will launch operations in Australia by the end of 2023.
14. Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Hui: Close consultations with mainland regulatory authorities to allow mainland investors to buy Hong Kong stocks with RMB
According to Jiemian News, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said at the Shanghai Lujiazui Forum that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the interconnection between Hong Kong and the mainland markets. Hong Kong stocks now have RMB counters, and 24 large-priced stocks can be traded in Hong Kong dollars or RMB at the same time. Now we are in close consultation with mainland regulators to implement the implementation of allowing mainland investors to directly use RMB to buy RMB stocks listed in Hong Kong, and connect the RMB counter to the Hong Kong Stock Connect.
15. Pantera Capital's new cryptocurrency fund will invest more than $200 million in AI-related projects
Pantera Capital investment manager Cosmo Jiang said more than $200 million of the new $1 billion fund Pantera Capital is raising will be dedicated to the field of artificial intelligence, according to DL News. Jiang said he is actively looking for projects that use artificial intelligence to promote blockchain businesses and vice versa.
As previously reported, Pantera Capital plans to raise more than $1 billion for its new cryptocurrency fund Pantera Fund V, which will be the institution's second "integrated" fund that invests in startup equity, early-stage tokens, liquidity tokens and other assets.