Today's news tips:
Insider: US CFTC is investigating Jump Crypto
UK FCA arrests two people involved in illegal cryptocurrency trading worth £1 billion
OpenAI competitor Anthropic releases latest AI model Claude 3.5
Standard Chartered Bank is setting up spot cryptocurrency trading desks for Bitcoin and Ethereum: People familiar with the matter
Gemini co-founders Winklevoss brothers have each donated $1 million in Bitcoin to Trump's campaign team
LayerZero launches a new claim mechanism called “Proof of Donation”, requiring a donation of $0.10 per ZRO
Particle Network Completes $15 Million Series A Funding, Led by Spartan Group and Gumi Cryptos Capital
Affected by the ZRO airdrop, Arbitrum rollup’s daily revenue and profit both hit new highs
Regulatory News
Insider: US CFTC is investigating Jump Crypto
According to Forbes, citing people familiar with the matter, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating the cryptocurrency business of Chicago-based trading company Jump Crypto, including its trading and investment activities. Although there is currently no evidence of wrongdoing, the investigation reflects the regulator's growing attention and supervision of the crypto market. Jump Crypto launched its crypto division in 2021 and quickly became an important market maker and investor in the crypto industry. However, in recent years, the company has experienced a series of challenges, including being involved in the Wormhole hack and the collapse of FTX.
Italy to step up monitoring of cryptocurrency market, fines up to €5 million
Italy is stepping up regulation of the crypto asset market and plans to impose high fines for market manipulation and insider trading, according to Reuters. According to a draft document reviewed by Reuters, the fines could be as high as 5 million euros (about 5.4 million U.S. dollars). The document is expected to be approved by the cabinet later today. The draft proposes that fines for insider trading, illegal disclosure of inside information or market manipulation will range from 5,000 euros (about 5,400 U.S. dollars) to 5 million euros.
UK FCA arrests two people involved in illegal cryptocurrency trading worth £1 billion
According to the FCA official website, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the London Police have arrested two suspects suspected of operating illegal cryptocurrency businesses. The two men, aged 38 and 44, were accused of buying and selling more than 1 billion pounds (about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars) of crypto assets through their businesses without registration. According to the FCA's statement, the two suspects have been released on bail after interrogation. During the investigation, the FCA and the London Police inspected relevant offices and seized several digital devices from two residential properties in London. At present, the investigation is still ongoing and the FCA did not disclose further details. Since January 2021, the UK requires all crypto asset service providers to register with the FCA to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. However, so far, despite more than 300 companies trying to register, only 44 companies have successfully obtained registration qualifications.
AI
OpenAI competitor Anthropic releases latest AI model Claude 3.5
According to Sina Technology, OpenAI competitor Anthropic released its latest AI model Claude 3.5 Sonnet on Thursday. In March of this year, Anthropic launched the Claude 3 series of models. Subsequently, OpenAI launched GPT-4o in May. Anthropic said that Claude 3.5 Sonnet is faster than the previous flagship model Claude 3 Opus, and it is also the first model of Anthropic's new Claude 3.5 family.
Project News
Standard Chartered Bank is setting up spot cryptocurrency trading desks for Bitcoin and Ethereum: People familiar with the matter
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that Standard Chartered Bank is setting up a trading desk for Bitcoin and Ethereum, a move that will make the bank one of the first global banks to enter spot cryptocurrency trading. It is reported that the new cryptocurrency trading desk will be put into operation soon and will be operated by London as part of Standard Chartered's foreign exchange trading department. Previously, although several banks, including Goldman Sachs Group, have been involved in cryptocurrency derivatives trading for a long time, they have not been able to directly trade these underlying assets due to strict regulatory restrictions. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's proposal to implement a 1250% risk weight for unhedged cryptocurrency exposure has made direct trading more difficult. Standard Chartered Bank said in an emailed statement that the bank has been committed to working closely with regulators to meet the trading needs of institutional clients for Bitcoin and Ethereum. This move is highly consistent with its strategy of supporting clients in the development of a broader digital asset ecosystem, including access, custody, tokenization and interoperability. A Standard Chartered Bank spokesperson did not comment further.
Grass: Bind your Solana wallet to your platform account and verify your email address. You can view your rewards on the dashboard.
The decentralized web crawler project Grass said on the X platform that users need to link their Solana wallet to the corresponding Grass account, verify the bound email address, and follow the official tweet link to enter the "Rewards" tab on the dashboard. The support team will answer user-related questions at any time on Discord.
ConsenSys calls on IRS to delay cryptocurrency reporting requirements, citing compliance burden
Bill Hughes, a lawyer for blockchain software technology company ConsenSys, said on the X platform that the company has sent a letter to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reiterating its concerns about the draft 1099-DA form (digital asset tax form). He emphasized that the proposed regulations require "overly broad" information and impose "a heavy burden on compliance." Therefore, he advocated postponing the implementation of any reporting requirements that affect software developers and supported the introduction of multi-broker rules. Hughes said that these regulations fail to fully consider the burdens on entities that are traditionally not subject to reporting obligations. Earlier in April, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a draft tax form for reporting digital asset transactions, applicable to tax returns in 2025.
Mocaverse Project Leader: MOCA will conduct a token generation event in July
Tyler Durden, project leader of Mocaverse, a Web3 project under Animoca Brands, said on the X platform that MOCA will conduct a token generation event (TGE) in July.
Arthur Hayes: Bank of Japan's selling of U.S. debt may force the Federal Reserve to print money on a large scale, which will boost a new round of crypto bull market
Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, wrote that Japan's fifth largest bank, Norinchukin Bank, recently announced that it would sell $63 billion worth of U.S. and European bonds. This indicates that other Japanese banks may follow suit and sell up to $450 billion in U.S. bonds in total. Hayes pointed out that the reason why Japanese banks sold U.S. bonds in large quantities was that the interest rate differential between the United States and Japan widened sharply, resulting in a sharp increase in the foreign exchange hedging cost of holding U.S. bonds, and holding these bonds has begun to lose money. In the election year, U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen is likely to ask the Bank of Japan to absorb these sold bonds through the Federal Reserve's FIMA repurchase tool to avoid a sharp rise in U.S. bond yields and trigger financial market turmoil. Hayes believes that if the Federal Reserve prints money on a large scale to buy back the U.S. bonds sold by Japan, it will bring a new round of U.S. dollar liquidity to the cryptocurrency market and boost a new round of cryptocurrency bull market. He said that in order to maintain the current dollar-based financial system, the supply of U.S. dollars must increase, which will undoubtedly push up the prices of crypto assets including Bitcoin.
Gemini: Final distribution of Earn user funds has arrived, and full equivalent assets in physical form have been returned
Crypto exchange Gemini Trust has released an update for Earn users on the X platform, with the final distribution of Earn products now in place, representing approximately 3% of the remaining digital assets owed to Earn users by Genesis as of the suspension date (November 16, 2022). With this final distribution, Earn users will receive 100% of the assets owed to them in kind, representing a 237% recovery in asset value (a $1 billion increase in value) since Genesis suspended withdrawals. This process has officially concluded.
Gemini co-founders Winklevoss brothers have each donated $1 million in Bitcoin to Trump's campaign team
Gemini co-founders Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss tweeted that they have donated $1 million in Bitcoin (15.47 BTC) to the Trump campaign and will vote for Trump in the November election. Cameron Winklevoss said: "Trump supports Bitcoin, supports cryptocurrency, and supports commercial enterprises. He will end the Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency."
3iQ Submits Application for North America’s First Solana ETF
Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart tweeted that 3iQ has just submitted an application to launch the Solana ETF in Canada, planning to use the code QSOL. This is also the first Solana ETF application in North America.
Coinbase to List Core Tokens on Coredao Network
Coinbase announced that it will support Core (CORECHAIN) tokens on the Coredao network. Users should be aware that CORECHAIN assets can only be transferred through the Coredao network, otherwise funds may be lost. Currently, CORECHAIN transfers are open in regions where Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange support trading. According to the plan, if liquidity conditions are met, CORECHAIN trading will begin around 0:00 am on June 22nd, Beijing time. The trading pair CORECHAIN-USD will be launched in stages. It should be noted that CORECHAIN may be restricted in certain supported jurisdictions.
Coinbase International to Open ALT-PERP, LDO-PERP and PENDLE-PERP Perpetual Futures Trading on June 27
Coinbase International Exchange announced that it will begin supporting perpetual futures trading for Altlayer (ALT), Lido DAO (LDO), and Pendle (PENDLE) on or after June 27, 2024, at 9:30 UTC. These new markets will be available on Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced platforms, with the corresponding trading pairs being ALT-PERP, LDO-PERP, and PENDLE-PERP, respectively.
Coinbase to List LayerZero (ZRO)
Coinbase announced that it will support LayerZero (ZRO) on the Ethereum network (ERC-20 token). Users should note that ZRO assets can only be transferred through the Ethereum network, otherwise funds may be lost. Currently, ZRO transfers are open in regions where Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange support trading. Coinbase noted that the ZRO-USD trading pair will start trading in phases later today after liquidity conditions are met. It should be noted that ZRO may be restricted in some supported jurisdictions. In addition, ZRO will be marked as an "experimental" asset on Coinbase, and its contract address is 0x6985884C4392D348587B19cb9eAAf157F13271cd.
X platform may have reached a cooperation with Midjourney, and Grok may use Midjourney for image generation
According to TestingCatalog News, xAI code snippets show that the X platform and Midjourney may have reached a cooperation. In the future, Grok may use Midjourney for image generation.
MicroStrategy purchased approximately 11,931 Bitcoins between April 27 and June 19
MicroStrategy announced that it had acquired an additional 11,931 bitcoins at a price of $65,883 per bitcoin between April 27 and June 19, using proceeds from convertible bonds and excess cash, with a total value of $786 million. The acquisition brings the total number of bitcoins held by MicroStrategy to 226,331. As of June 20, MicroStrategy's total investment in Bitcoin was approximately $8.33 billion, with an average purchase price of approximately $36,798 per bitcoin.
LayerZero launches a new claim mechanism called “Proof of Donation”, requiring a donation of $0.10 per ZRO
LayerZero announced a new claiming mechanism called "Proof-of-Donation" on the X platform, and plans to donate about $18.5 million to the Ethereum developer funding protocol ProtocolGuild through this mechanism. When users claim ZRO tokens, they must donate $0.10 in USDC, USDT or native ETH for each ZRO, and these donations will be donated directly to ProtocolGuild. The LayerZero Foundation said it will match all donations up to $10 million. LayerZero's ZRO airdrop claim is now open at 19:00 today.
Later in the news, LayerZero CEO said that there is no mandatory donation and those who do not want to donate can choose not to receive the airdrop; the airdrop has deviated from the original intention and the donation certificate was chosen to avoid short-term speculation.
Japanese crypto exchange bitFlyer plans to acquire FTX Japan
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer plans to acquire FTX Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, according to Reuters and Nikkei.
All crypto exchanges in South Korea are jointly participating in the formulation of new self-regulatory regulations for listing and delisting coins
According to Chosun Biz, all virtual asset exchanges in South Korea are jointly participating in the formulation of the "Self-regulation of Virtual Asset Trading Support" plan, marking a major shift in the self-regulatory model of cryptocurrency exchanges. The self-regulation that was previously led by the five major won market exchanges is now being extended to all exchanges to jointly establish self-regulatory norms. The plan is promoted by the Korean Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) and aims to formulate self-regulatory guidelines for virtual asset trading support through joint consultation. The "General Guidelines for Review of Virtual Asset Trading Support" issued by DAXA has become the basis of the new plan, and is widely collecting opinions from various exchanges for improvement. This cooperation involves not only the five major won market exchanges, but also about 20 cryptocurrency market exchanges. It is the first case of comprehensive cooperation among virtual asset exchanges to establish a self-regulatory mechanism. The country's Financial Supervisory Service is also actively involved, providing advisory support and requiring exchanges to strengthen the review and supervision of listed assets. The new self-regulatory plan is expected to be announced around the implementation of the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act" on July 19, and industry insiders are actively working to upgrade the existing guidelines and strengthen related regulatory content.
31 Japanese listed companies hold crypto assets to avoid asset shrinkage caused by the depreciation of the yen
According to Nikkei News, the number of Japanese listed companies holding crypto assets is continuing to rise. According to the latest statistics, as of May 2024, 31 companies have been involved in the field of crypto assets, which has doubled from 16 three years ago. Among them, companies whose main business is digital services and game development are particularly eye-catching. At the same time, there are growing calls to improve Japan’s immature accounting and auditing system.
Musk's X platform payment plan does not include cryptocurrency for now
According to Decrypt, users of the X platform (formerly Twitter) may not be able to send or receive cryptocurrencies on the platform in the short term. Although cryptocurrency enthusiasts have long speculated that Musk, as a major supporter of the Meme coin Dogecoin, will integrate it into X's "all-purpose application" plan, new regulatory documents show that Musk's planned payment service X Payments does not include cryptocurrency. X Payments has obtained money transmission licenses in 28 states and plans to apply in the remaining states, aiming to provide users with payment functions similar to Venmo or Zelle.
Bitwise releases its first Ethereum spot ETF ad, supports minting this ad as NFT
According to Cointelegraph, digital asset management company Bitwise released its first Ethereum spot ETF advertisement on Thursday, allowing NFT enthusiasts to mint this 39-second ad clip on Ethereum. Bitwise declared in a post on June 20: "Capture a piece of cryptocurrency history: the first national TV ad clip minted as an NFT."
Financing News
Particle Network Completes $15 Million Series A Funding, Led by Spartan Group and Gumi Cryptos Capital
According to The Block, the modular chain abstraction Layer 1 project Particle Network has completed a $15 million Series A financing. This round of financing was led by Spartan Group and Gumi Cryptos Capital, and other investors included SevenX Ventures, Morningstar Ventures, Flow Traders and HashKey Capital. This round of financing uses a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) and will be used to expand the team size to more than 40 people. The second phase of Particle Network's testnet is expected to start this week, and the mainnet and PARTI tokens are scheduled to be launched in the third quarter.
Important data
Stablecoin issuer becomes 18th largest holder of U.S. Treasuries
According to CoinDesk, stablecoin issuers have become the 18th largest holder of U.S. Treasuries. According to Tagus Capital data, stablecoin issuers currently hold more than $120 billion in U.S. Treasuries. Tether Ltd, the issuer of Tether (USDT), alone holds about $91 billion in U.S. Treasuries, while Circle, the issuer of USDC, holds $29 billion worth of short-term U.S. bonds (including repurchase agreements).
The U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF had a total net outflow of $140 million yesterday, continuing its net outflow for 5 consecutive days
According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (June 20, Eastern Time), the total net outflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $140 million. Yesterday, Grayscale ETF GBTC had a single-day net outflow of $53.1022 million, and the current historical net outflow of GBTC is $18.326 billion. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow yesterday was BlackRock ETF IBIT, with a single-day net inflow of $1.4791 million. The current total net inflow of IBIT has reached $17.643 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs is $56.411 billion, and the ETF net asset ratio (market value to the total market value of Bitcoin) is 4.4%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached $14.668 billion.
Data: Bitcoin's total transaction fees fell 64% this week due to slowing on-chain activity
IntoTheBlock data shows that total Bitcoin transaction fees fell 64% this week to $19.2 million as on-chain activity slowed.
12 entities that received 59% of the LISTA airdrop have sold 25 million LIST through DEX or deposited them in CEX
According to Spot On Chain monitoring, LISTA's price has increased by 37% since the airdrop and CEX listing. It has been noted that 59% of the airdrop (about 31.1 million LISTA) went to 12 recipient entities. Of these claimants' tokens, 25 million LISTA (about $16.8 million) were sold through DEX or deposited on Binance and Bitget in the past 20 hours.
Affected by the ZRO airdrop, Arbitrum rollup’s daily revenue and profit both hit new highs
Previously, LayerZero launched a new "proof of donation" claiming mechanism, and a large number of users chose the Arbitrum network to receive the ZRO airdrop, resulting in Arbitrum rollup's single-day revenue of US$3.43 million and profit of US$3.29 million on June 20, both of which set historical highs.
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