Compiled by: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
“What important events happened this week (June 24-June 30)?”
1. Certik: Web3 lost nearly $200 million due to security incidents in June
According to Certik data, the Web3 sector lost approximately $198.3 million in June due to vulnerability exploits, hacker attacks and scams, which was the second highest monthly loss amount in 2024. In addition, $1.3 million was refunded in security incidents.
Among them, exit scams lost about $4.8 million, flash loans lost about $23.5 million, and vulnerability exploits lost about $171.3 million.
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2. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has finalized new regulations for taxing cryptocurrencies
The IRS has finalized new regulations for taxing cryptocurrencies, and cryptocurrency trading platforms will need to report transactions to the IRS starting in 2026. However, decentralized platforms that do not hold assets will be exempted.
These are the main elements of the new rules finalized by the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday, which essentially implement a provision of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed by the Biden administration in 2021.
Even without these new rules, cryptocurrency holders will need to pay taxes; however, there is no real standardization on how to report these holdings to the government and individual investors. Starting in 2026 (covering transactions in 2025), cryptocurrency platforms must provide a standard 1099 form, similar to the forms sent by banks and traditional brokerage firms. In addition to simplifying the tax process for cryptocurrencies, the IRS has also stated that it is working to combat tax evasion.
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3. Fed's Daly: If inflation remains stable or declines slowly, interest rates will need to remain higher for a longer period of time
Fed's Daly said that inflation data showed that it was cooling down and the policy effect was in line with expectations. If inflation remains stable or falls slowly, interest rates will need to remain at a higher level for a longer period of time. If inflation falls or the labor market changes, the Fed can adjust its policy in a timely manner.
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4. Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission: "Tokencan", "Hong Kong Weibi Crypto Assets" and others are suspected of engaging in virtual asset-related fraud activities
The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission today warned the public to beware of entities operating under the names of “Tokencan”, “Hong Kong Weibi Crypto Assets” and “HKD.com Corporation” that are suspected of engaging in virtual asset-related fraudulent activities and claiming to operate virtual asset trading platforms in Hong Kong without obtaining a license.
The Hong Kong Police Force has taken action to block the relevant websites and social media pages. The Securities and Futures Commission has also included "Tokencan", "Hong Kong Weibi Crypto Assets" and "HKD.com Corporation", as well as their respective websites, on the warning list.
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5. Data: More than 40 crypto projects will unlock $755 million in assets in July
According to Cointelegraph, more than 40 crypto projects will unlock $755 million worth of crypto assets in July.
According to Token Unlocks data, the project with the largest unlocking volume in July is AltLayer (ALT), which is expected to unlock 684 million tokens, worth about $125 million, on July 25. It is followed by Xai (XAI), which will unlock tokens worth about $93 million on July 9. In addition, projects such as Aptos, Arbitrum, Optimism, Sui, Immutable and Starknet will also unlock a large number of tokens in July.
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6. Bitfinex analyst: Trump’s election will be conducive to the change of the regulatory environment of the US cryptocurrency industry
According to The Block, Bitfinex analysts said, "The Winklevoss brothers, well-known figures in the cryptocurrency field, supported Trump's campaign by donating $2 million in Bitcoin. The move shows that Trump is increasingly seen as a pro-innovation candidate in the cryptocurrency and traditional financial (TradFi) communities."
Bitfinex analysts believe that Trump's victory in November will mean a shift in the regulatory environment for the U.S. cryptocurrency industry to become more favorable. "During the campaign, Trump showed support for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which contrasts with the current administration's more cautious and regulatory-heavy approach. The Trump administration is likely to prioritize the establishment of a clear and pro-innovation regulatory framework to encourage innovation and investment in the cryptocurrency industry."
However, according to Moe Vela, a former senior adviser to Joe Biden, debate viewers were more focused on which candidate was physically, mentally and possibly morally fit to be president. “This debate was more about a contrast of personalities, different leadership styles, and two octogenarians trying to prove their vitality, energy and viability.”
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7. Biden campaign hires Coinbase advisory board member as 2024 election advisor
The Biden campaign hired Keisha Lance Bottoms as a senior adviser for the 2024 election. Lance Bottoms served as mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 and joined the Coinbase advisory board in April 2024 after she resigned as a White House adviser in 2023.
Foreign media The Hill said on June 27 that Lance Bottoms will remain at Coinbase during President Biden's campaign, which is expected to end when American voters go to the polls in November. The news media reported that the former mayor said that cryptocurrency is a "non-political, unifying issue." It is not clear whether Lance Bottoms will provide advice to the Biden campaign team on cryptocurrency-related issues.
According to The Hill, Lance Bottoms said at the Stand With Crypto Atlanta event: "Cryptocurrency provides an opportunity to enhance financial freedom for communities that are typically unbanked and underbanked."
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8. Binance decided to take strict measures to combat account abuse
Binance announced that it will take measures to combat account abuse and maintain platform compliance and market credibility. Binance has found that some account functions have been abused, and users have used these accounts to gain unfair advantages, such as more favorable rates or higher API limits. In order to ensure the fairness of the platform and protect the interests of users, Binance will further strengthen the monitoring of all account usage and related activities, and investigate potential or suspected abuse incidents. When necessary, Binance will take appropriate measures, including suspending or terminating the use of relevant accounts.
In addition, Binance encourages users to report account abuse and will provide rewards for verified abuse cases. Users can report by sending an email to misuse-reporting@binance.com.
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9. Nigerian SEC requires crypto companies to complete registration within 30 days, otherwise they will face enforcement action
The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given cryptocurrency exchanges and digital asset traders 30 days to re-register their businesses or risk enforcement action, Decrypt reported.
The SEC said the new registration is intended to amend its rules regarding digital asset issuance platforms, exchanges and custody of virtual asset service providers (VASPs). “All operating and potential VASPs are required to complete the application process by visiting the SEC electronic portal within 30 days of the date of this circular,” it said in a statement on its website.
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10. Blast: Currently the sixth largest on-chain economy
According to data disclosed by Blast, Blast is the sixth largest public chain in terms of total Dapp lock-up and decentralized exchange transaction volume, and is among the top five public chains in terms of fee payments. Within 100 days of the launch of the mainnet, BlastDapp's total lock-up grew to $2 billion, making it the fastest growing public chain in all L1 and L2 in history. Not only the total lock-up, but also Blast's daily transaction volume and number of users are growing and creating new highs.
Additionally, Blast is the only chain with a native stablecoin, USDB. Unlike other chains that rely on third-party stablecoins and do not generate yield, Blast's USDB ensures that users retain the value of their yield. USDB is already the fifth most used and fourth most held stablecoin in the world.
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"What are some interesting articles worth reading this week (June 24-30)?"
1. After the ZRO and BLAST airdrops, the project owners and the money-grabbing party no longer accept each other's support.
Although Blast has put a little fire on the discussion of “airdrops are dead” by not checking witches and taking into account a certain degree of fairness (especially taking care of some retail investors) in this airdrop, the point-based airdrop it represents is still not the way forward for Web3 projects.
Before the airdrop, Blast had a bad reputation due to its point-based gameplay. In March, the new point-based gameplay released on the Blast mainnet was accused of PUA. The new rules require users to migrate their ETH points to the mainnet to enjoy a 10x inflation, but users need to pay more than $50 in gas fees for migration, which is too costly for small retail investors. After the migration, users found that the inflation factor was a random number of 0-10 times. Although Blast officials later fixed the bug, it also left criticism that the points calculation rules were not transparent. Previously, the official also secretly issued a large number of gold points to some Dapps.
2. "Web3 operations are embedded in Web2 social media. Will Blinks usher in the Solana on-chain rebate era?"
On June 25, the Solana Foundation announced the launch of two new features: Solana Actions (transactions) and Solana Blinks (blockchain links). The new features will allow users to connect and send transactions without leaving the current website.
The Solana Foundation said that by using Actions and Blinks, any website that can display a URL can use these new features. In other words, only one link is needed to embed on-chain activities including Mint and Swap into social media, which is reminiscent of the Frames feature on Farcaster.
3. "1kx: What are the bottlenecks and breakthrough points of prediction markets such as Polymarket?"
How should prediction markets such as Polymarket solve problems such as insufficient liquidity, information asymmetry, and lack of users?
4. "Feature | After 8 years of competition among nearly 500 projects, a unicorn finally emerged. Is Web3 Social Summer coming?"
In the first two years of becoming a unicorn, the founder of Farcaster adopted the most primitive method to promote his social application: lobbying Web3 people in his circle of friends one by one and inviting them to join the platform, including Vitalik Buterin who promoted Farcaster.
After thousands of field promotions, Farcaster has a group of elite seed users.
Web3 users, led by Twitter's early investor Fred Wilson, announced their migration to Farcaster, where most of Vitalik's views were first published.
On May 21, Farcaster announced that it had completed a $150 million financing at a valuation of $1 billion.
Web3 social has been around for eight years since the decentralized content platform Steemit was launched in 2016, kicking off the Web3 social narrative.
Compared to the ups and downs of DeFi and GameFi, Web3 social networking is a more lonely story. Most of the first-generation gold diggers such as Steemit and Bihu have ceased operations. Lens, Damus, and friend.tech quickly fell into silence after creating a brief spark.
Farcaster seems to bring a glimmer of hope for Web3 social networking.
5. "Dialogue with Maverick COO Ada: How to build a one-stop liquidity operating system in the DeFi field?"
On the evening of June 19, Maverick V2 was launched as scheduled. Influenced by this good news, the MAV token rose by more than 10% that day.
Maverick has been working hard to improve LP returns and capital utilization efficiency.
High capital efficiency means that under the same amount of liquidity, the capital pool on the Maverick platform can run more trading volume. The more trading volume the capital pool has, the more LP returns it can directly convert into.
Ada, who has made outstanding achievements in the traditional financial field and is now the COO of Maverick, said in an interview with ChainCatcher that Maverick V2 makes the platform not just an AMMM or DEX solution provider, but a one-stop liquidity operating system (LiquidityOS).
She explained that the LiquidityOS concept proposed by Maverick is analogous to Apple's IOS operating system, supporting developers to custom develop and customize any liquidity tools and solutions on the platform.
On Maverick V2, token project owners can solve all liquidity-related issues in one stop, from the initial liquidity construction layout, to the selection of incentives for liquidity growth, and finally to the improvement of liquidity stickiness.
Data shows that Maverick's transaction volume ranks among the top three on multiple chains, and the product has also been recognized by core DeFi players. When new Layer2 networks choose to introduce DEX or AMM online, they will give priority to Uniswap, Curve, and Maverick. In addition, Maverick V2 has attracted well-known projects such as Lido, Swell, EtherFi, Ethena, USDe, and Liquity to cooperate in deployment.
6. A brief review of the rise and fall of the “No. 1 Bitcoin Exchange”: three years of glory and ten years of atonement
If we talk about who can leave a strong mark in the history of Bitcoin, Mt. Gox is definitely one of them. This trading platform, which once occupied more than 70% of the global Bitcoin trading market, went from glory to bankruptcy, which was full of drama and left a profound lesson.
The story of Mentougou began in 2010, when it was founded by a programmer named Jed McCaleb. Initially, Mentougou was a trading platform for trading "Might and Magic" cards, and its name was taken from the abbreviation of "Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange". In July 2010, McCaleb keenly captured the potential of Bitcoin and transformed the platform into a Bitcoin exchange. This decision provided a brand new trading platform for Bitcoin, making digital currency trading more convenient. McCaleb's foresight and innovative spirit laid the foundation for the Bitcoin trading market, but it also opened up the turbulent history of Mentougou.
7. "How much will the Mt.Gox compensation drop BTC? The crypto market can still stage a five-year low, six-year low and seven-year high"
The road to Mt.Gox compensation is particularly long, and it has recently sparked heated discussions again. So, what impact will this Mt.Gox compensation have on the crypto market? How much is the price of BTC likely to drop? Can the crypto market stage a five-year low, six-year low, and seven-year turnaround? Why is it the best time for Mt.Gox to pay now?
8. "Ethereum spot ETF is about to be launched, should we be bullish or bearish?"
The market is bleak, but there is quite a lot of news about Ethereum.
There have been many good news about Ethereum spot ETFs. First, Consenys announced that the SEC had stopped investigating Ethereum securities issues. Then, market news said that the Ethereum spot ETF is expected to be approved and launched on July 2. Standard Chartered Bank also joined in the fun and was recently rumored to be building a trading platform for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Despite the numerous news, the market still did not improve as most of them were expected. As Bitcoin once fell below the $60,000 mark, Ethereum also fell back below $3,400. However, if we compare Ethereum, which fell to $2,900 at the end of May due to insufficient narrative, and then compare it with the downward elasticity of mainstream currencies in the past week, we can see that the expectation of spot ETFs still provides strong price support for ETH.
Judging from the current node, the much-anticipated Ethereum spot ETF is about to be launched, and its performance after listing has begun to become the focus of industry discussion. Will it fall rapidly due to selling, or will it be able to turn the tide with the capital of institutions? The market has completely different views on this.
Ethereum's trend this year can be described as twists and turns, but from the main narrative, it is nothing more than the Cancun upgrade and the hype of the E spot ETF.
On March 13, the Cancun upgrade was completed, and ETH reached a high of $3,981. Since then, it has rotated with the news of the ETF. When the approval of the ETF was declared hopeless, the price fell all the way. After an extreme reversal, it rose to 3,600 overnight, and then continued to fluctuate at a high level in conjunction with the broader market.
9. "Pacifier fun or software war? TON ecosystem game Hamster Kombat becomes popular in Iran and attracts criticism from politicians"
Recently, in the streets and alleys of Iran, in subway stations, taxis and buses, and even in any place, you can always see people constantly clicking on their mobile phone screens. These Iranians who seem to be having fun are probably users of Hamster Kombat. They click so mechanically and repeatedly, not for fun, but to make money.
Hamster Kombat, which has attracted tens of thousands of Iranian users, is a Telegram-based click game, the core gameplay of which is to earn coins by clicking in the game. This kind of casual game with a simple mechanism is doomed to be ignored in traditional games. However, in the cryptocurrency industry, by associating "click" with "earning money", especially after Notcoin successfully proved the value and feasibility of the "Tap to Earn" mechanism, a number of similar projects were immediately launched and achieved rapid growth. Hamster Kombat is one of the best among them, and it even has a tendency to surpass its predecessor.
On June 24, Hamster Kombat announced on the X platform that its game player base has reached 200 million, while the number of subscribers to the project's X and YouTube accounts is 9.8 million and 28.7 million respectively. From the perspective of user scale alone, this small game, which was only launched in March this year, is undoubtedly the most popular phenomenon-level project after Notcoin. However, Hamster Kombat, which has become popular in Iran recently, is obviously not "welcomed" by the local government and mainstream media.
10. "NFT track mid-year report: Uncertain fluctuations, who is the "big winner" behind it?"
In December 2023, total NFT market trading volume reached record levels. NFT sales on the Bitcoin network exceeded $881 million for the first time, setting a new high for single-month sales, according to NFT Pulse. This figure significantly exceeds the sales of Ethereum and Solana, with Ethereum’s NFT sales at $365 million and Solana’s $325 million. Overall, the entire NFT market reached approximately $1.7 billion in trading volume in December 2023.
But in January 2024, the transaction volume of the NFT market fell to $1.28 billion, down 24.7% from December 2023. However, the overall transaction volume in the first half of 2024 showed an upward and downward trend, and in March 2024, the total transaction volume reached a high of $2.157 billion. In May, the total NFT transaction volume plummeted, from $1.38 billion in April to $795 million, a decrease of 42%. The NFT transaction volume on the three major blockchains, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, fell by 80.5%, 20%, and 50.1%, respectively. The number of NFT traders in May also decreased compared with previous months, especially Bitcoin, where the number of traders decreased from 393,000 in April to 114,400.
