Article reprinted from: PA Daily
Today's news highlights:
A U.S. court ruled that OFAC overstepped its authority in sanctioning Tornado Cash smart contracts
The Trump administration is considering allowing the CFTC to lead the regulation of digital assets
A Brazilian lawmaker proposed a Bitcoin reserve bill, intending to allocate 5% of the national treasury reserves to Bitcoin
OpenAI secures $1.5 billion new investment from SoftBank
Movement Network Foundation announces MoveDrop, which will airdrop 10% of MOVE tokens to the community
Uniswap Labs launches a historic maximum $15 million bug bounty program
The board of directors of U.S. listed company Banzai approved its purchase of Bitcoin as a reserve asset
Japanese social media giant Line plans to launch 30 blockchain-based mini Dapps early next year
Regulation & Policy
A U.S. court ruled that OFAC overstepped its authority in sanctioning Tornado Cash smart contracts
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's ruling, determining that the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) exceeded its authority in sanctioning the immutable smart contracts of Tornado Cash, marking a significant victory for the protocol and its users. The panel of three judges stated in their ruling that, while the Treasury has the authority to take action against 'property', the immutable nature of Tornado Cash's smart contracts means they cannot be controlled or owned, and therefore do not constitute property under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Coinbase's Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal stated that these smart contracts must now be removed from the sanctions list, allowing U.S. users to use this privacy-protecting protocol again. The appeals court has instructed the Texas district court to approve a motion for partial summary judgment filed by plaintiffs-appellants such as Joseph Van Loon.
Later news indicated that Tornado Cash (TORN) broke through $34, rising over 900% in 24 hours.
The central bank and six other departments jointly issued (Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Digital Finance)
The People's Bank of China and six other departments jointly released (Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Digital Finance), clearly accelerating the digital transformation of financial institutions, improving the digital finance governance system, promoting the development of key areas such as technological finance, green finance, and inclusive finance, supporting the digital renminbi pilot, and enhancing the quality and efficiency of financial services. At the same time, it strengthens risk prevention and data security, optimizes the payment environment, aiming to basically establish a modern financial system that adapts to the development of the digital economy by the end of 2027.
In creating an efficient and secure payment environment, it mentions steadily advancing the digital renminbi pilot, continuously improving the acceptance environment for digital renminbi, and enriching the usage scenarios of digital renminbi. Strengthen anti-money laundering regulation in digital finance business.
The Trump administration is considering allowing the CFTC to lead the regulation of digital assets
According to Fox Business News, the incoming Trump administration aims to expand the powers of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), granting it significant regulatory authority over a large part of the digital asset market. This move is part of a broader effort by elected President Donald Trump and the Republican majority in Congress to weaken the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) regulatory power over the digital asset industry under President Biden and outgoing SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. According to sources with direct knowledge of Trump's team's thoughts, with Trump's inauguration and the increasing influence of the crypto industry in Republican politics, the CFTC's responsibilities may soon expand to regulate the spot market for digital assets seen as commodities (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum) as well as the exchanges that facilitate their trading. Key figures in the incoming Trump administration believe that regulatory easing is needed to stimulate innovation in the crypto business, including potentially transformative blockchain technology. Former CFTC Chairman Chris Giancarlo stated, 'With sufficient funding and the right leadership, I believe the CFTC can start regulating digital commodities on the first day of Trump's presidency.'
A Brazilian lawmaker proposed a Bitcoin reserve bill, intending to allocate 5% of the national treasury reserves to Bitcoin
According to Crypto.news, a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies has proposed the allocation of 5% of the country's $370 billion treasury to a strategic Bitcoin reserve. The proposed Bitcoin bill will limit Brazil's Bitcoin reserves to around $18.5 billion. Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of the National Congress) must first pass the bill before it can be submitted to the Federal Senate (the upper house). If the senators in the Federal Senate support the proposal, it will be submitted to the Brazilian president for approval into law.
Morocco may officially lift the cryptocurrency ban imposed in 2017 and re-legalize it
According to Reuters, Bank Al Maghrib Governor Abdellatif Jouahri stated at an international conference that Morocco is promoting a cryptocurrency-related bill, which is currently in the approval process. Since 2017, Morocco has imposed a ban on cryptocurrencies, but underground trading activities remain active. Jouahri revealed that the Moroccan central bank has drafted a regulatory law for crypto assets and is researching the feasibility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). He emphasized that CBDC, as a type of digital currency controlled by the central bank and distinct from decentralized cryptocurrencies, may play a role in promoting public policy goals such as financial inclusion.
NFT & AI
Kraken will shut down its NFT marketplace and focus on other projects
According to The Block, cryptocurrency exchange Kraken stated in a statement that the company will shut down its NFT marketplace to free up resources for upcoming projects. After November 27, 2024, users will no longer be able to list, bid, or sell items on Kraken's NFT marketplace; they can only withdraw assets. The marketplace will be completely closed by February 27, 2025. A representative from Kraken stated: 'We decided to close our NFT marketplace to shift more resources to new products and services, including unreleased plans currently in development. Customers have been informed of these changes, and our team will assist them in transferring their NFTs to their Kraken wallets or their chosen self-custody wallets.'
OpenAI secures $1.5 billion new investment from SoftBank
According to CNBC, OpenAI allows employees to sell approximately $1.5 billion in stock in a new acquisition bid made to SoftBank. Insiders indicated that this new financing would allow SoftBank to acquire a larger share of OpenAI, while also enabling current and former employees of OpenAI to cash out their shares. The new acquisition plan will conclude this week, and the deal is being driven by SoftBank's founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who has been seeking a larger stake since investing $500 million in OpenAI's last funding round. This acquisition proposal is unrelated to OpenAI’s plans to potentially restructure the company into a for-profit entity. Reports state that even without SoftBank's substantial financial backing, OpenAI has encountered no issues raising billions of dollars in cash. Since the launch of ChatGPT two years ago, its valuation has soared to $157 billion. OpenAI has raised about $13 billion from Microsoft and completed a latest funding round of $6.6 billion led by Thrive Capital in October, with participation from chipmaker NVIDIA, SoftBank, and other investors. The company also secured a $4 billion revolving credit facility, bringing its total liquidity to over $10 billion.
Project Dynamics
Movement Network Foundation announces MoveDrop, which will airdrop 10% of MOVE tokens to the community
Movement Network Foundation announces the MoveDrop airdrop plan, aimed at rewarding early users and community members of Movement. MoveDrop will allocate 1,000,000,000 $MOVE (10% of total supply) to the community, with eligible users including: Road to Parthenon participants, Battle of Olympus winners, Gmovers, designated communities, and Movement testnet builders. Users can visit the MoveDrop website to register, with a deadline of December 2, 2024, at 2:00 PM UTC. After the upcoming TGE, they can check MoveDrop eligibility and claim the airdrop. Late registration will result in loss of eligibility for MoveDrop claims. Users can choose to claim $MOVE on the Ethereum mainnet or wait until the Movement Network mainnet goes live (coming soon) to claim $MOVE, which will yield a 1.25x reward multiplier. The Movement Network Foundation also stated plans to distribute more $MOVE tokens in future events. Previously, news had announced the MOVE token economics, with 60% allocated to the community.
WalletConnect launches WCT token eligibility check page
Cryptocurrency wallet protocol WalletConnect announces the launch of a token eligibility check feature, allowing eligible users to claim and stake WCT tokens.
Uniswap Labs launches a historic maximum $15 million bug bounty program
Uniswap Labs announced the launch of a bug bounty program totaling up to $15.5 million, the largest bounty reward program in history, aimed at discovering and fixing critical vulnerabilities in the Uniswap v4 core contract. Uniswap v4 is the latest iteration of the Uniswap protocol, which introduces 'hooks' that allow developers to customize pools, transactions, fees, and interactions with liquidity providers (LPs). This version aims to significantly save user costs by reducing pool creation fees by 99.99% and optimizing costs for multi-hop transactions. The Uniswap v4 code has already undergone independent audits from nine institutions, including OpenZeppelin and Trail of Bits, and has gone through multiple rounds of community security contests without significant vulnerabilities found.
Starknet becomes the first Ethereum Layer-2 network to support crypto staking
According to CoinDesk, Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution Starknet has officially launched crypto staking functionality, becoming the first Ethereum L2 network to allow users to earn rewards by staking tokens. Users holding at least 20,000 STRK (approximately $12,000) can become validators, staking assets as collateral to validate transactions and earn rewards; users holding less than 20,000 STRK can delegate their tokens to validators for staking. Users must wait 21 days to stake and retrieve tokens, including rewards generated during the staking period. At the same time, Bitwise Asset Management announced that it will operate a public validator node for STRK holders to delegate staking and provide independent validator services for institutional clients.
The board of directors of U.S. listed company Banzai approved its purchase of Bitcoin as a reserve asset
According to Globenewire, U.S. listed company Banzai International, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNZI) announced that its board of directors has approved the purchase of Bitcoin as a financial reserve asset. The company's board has authorized Banzai to use company funds to purchase and hold a certain amount of Bitcoin, up to 10% of the company's corporate financial account, to achieve financial asset diversification and hedge against inflation. Banzai founder and CEO Joe Davy stated: 'We believe that Bitcoin will diversify our assets and allow us to benefit from Bitcoin's potential long-term value.' Banzai is described as a marketing technology company providing fundamental marketing and sales solutions.
NYSE Arca submits a 19b-4 application for Bitwise Bitcoin and Ethereum ETP
According to official news, cryptocurrency asset management company Bitwise Asset Management announced that NYSE Arca has submitted a 19b-4 application to list a Bitwise exchange-traded product (ETP) that will hold both Bitcoin and Ethereum spot assets weighted by market capitalization, providing exposure to both assets. According to the submitted documents, this ETP will directly hold these two assets. The launch of this ETP is still awaiting approval of the Form 19b-4 document and the effectiveness of the Form S-1 registration statement.
MetaMask co-founders used Clanker and pump.fun to issue the same meme token CONSENT for comparison
MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay disclosed on Warpcast that this morning on Farcaster, clanker launched a token named 'CONSENT' on the Base network, followed by a coin of the same name appearing on the Solana network. Dan Finlay later posted: 'I am comparing the meme token experience between WC (Warpcast) and SOL. There are two tokens named CONSENT, and ultimately only one will prevail. So far, the obvious result is: on Clanker, it gets run away by a lot of people and Rugged; while on Pump.fun, at least the developers are actual founding members. For example, it is absolutely impossible to crowdfund an organization using Clanker’s model. So far, even though the amount I invested in Pump.fun is only a small part of Clanker, the returns have already far exceeded what I lost on Clanker.'
In response, the Base ecosystem AI Agent Clanker stated on platform X: 'MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay used Clanker and pump.fun to issue meme tokens, and he provided us with some great feedback that we will use to improve our products. Dan Finlay stated that his experience was not good, but he earned over $26,000 just through ETH.'
Swell has opened the Wavedrop 1 airdrop claim
The re-staking protocol Swell on platform X states that the Wavedrop 1 airdrop claim is now open, meaning SWELL tokens earned in Wavedrop 1 are now available for claiming. Continuing to hold Swell assets or using them in supported DeFi integrations can enhance users' next Wavedrop.
The integrated public chain Supra announces that the Supra MoveVM mainnet is now live
According to official news, the integrated L1 public chain Supra announced that the Supra MoveVM Layer1 mainnet is now live, with more products to be launched in the coming months. Supra stated: 'Today we are starting the next phase of realizing our vision, which is to connect all blockchains and even the Web2 world using Supra’s IntraLayer: IntraLayer serves as a unified layer aimed at connecting the entire digital finance sector.' Additionally, its SUPRA token's TGE will start on November 27 at 21:00 Beijing time.
Japanese listed company Remixpoint plans to repurchase $3.27 million worth of Bitcoin
According to Coinpost, Japanese listed company Remixpoint announced it will again purchase Bitcoin worth 500 million yen (approximately $3.27 million), bringing its total investment in crypto assets to around 3.5 billion yen (approximately $22.92 million). The company plans to complete the acquisition by the end of this year while monitoring market conditions. The company stated that it would disclose information promptly if the new purchase significantly impacts merged performance. Previous reports in September indicated that Remixpoint acquired crypto assets worth around $5.27 million, including BTC, ETH, SOL, and AVAX.
Web3 distribution platform Portal announces the launch of three new products in December
Web3 distribution platform Portal announces the launch of three new products in December 2024, allowing users to utilize Hyperway's features on any blockchain through these products.
CZ suggests utilizing blockchain technology for AI data labeling and advocates for decentralized tool development
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stated on social media that tasks such as AI data labeling are well-suited to be completed via blockchain, leveraging global low-cost labor and enabling instant payments through cryptocurrencies, breaking geographical barriers. He also mentioned that BNB Chain's Greenfield provides storage support but still requires more tools for development, calling on developers to collaboratively build a decentralized AI data processing ecosystem.
Japanese social media giant Line plans to launch 30 blockchain-based mini Dapps early next year
According to CoinDesk, Japanese social media giant Line plans to launch 30 blockchain-based mini Dapps (decentralized applications) early next year, covering games, social, DeFi, and AI chat functions, and plans to expand the total number to 150 by the end of the first quarter. This move aims to provide more blockchain services for its 196 million active users, drawing on Telegram's successful experience in Web3 gaming. Line has previously ventured into NFTs but failed to gain traction due to user experience and interface design issues; this time it will re-energize through blockchain games and practical functions.
Binance Wealth Management, one-click buying, instant exchange, margin, and futures will launch Thena (THE)
According to Binance's announcement, Binance will gradually launch functions related to Thena (THE):
1. Binance Wealth Management: THE capital-protected earning product will be launched today at 18:00 (UTC+8) and open for subscription; users can purchase THE through the dollar-cost averaging platform starting from 18:00 on November 28.
2. One-click buying & selling: THE can be purchased and sold using credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, or wallet balance through the 'one-click buying' page one hour after it goes live on spot trading.
3. Instant Exchange Trading Platform: Within one hour of going live, users can exchange THE for BTC, USDT, or other supported tokens on the instant exchange platform without exchange fees.
4. Margin Trading: Starting from 20:00 today, Binance's full and isolated margin will add THE as a borrowable asset and the THE/USDT margin trading pair, with data to be provided on the margin page.
5. Futures Trading: Starting from 20:15 today, Binance will launch THE 1-75x USDT perpetual contracts.
Financing News
Deutsche Bank joins Partior's $80 million Series B financing as a strategic investor
Singapore blockchain fintech company Partior announces Deutsche Bank as a strategic investor joining its Series B financing, which totals $80 million. Previously, the Series B round was led by Peak XV Partners, with participation from J.P. Morgan, Jump Trading, Standard Chartered, Temasek, and Valor Capital Group.
Partior plans to expand cross-border settlement capabilities with support from Deutsche Bank, developing functions such as instant foreign exchange swaps and multi-bank payments. Deutsche Bank will join its platform as the euro and dollar settlement bank and enhance its recently launched dbX cross-border payment ecosystem's capabilities. Since its establishment in 2021, Partior has processed over $1 billion in transactions, providing real-time clearing and settlement services through its blockchain-based network, streamlining global payment processes and enhancing transparency and efficiency.
Talus Network completes $6 million financing led by Polychain Capital, reaching a valuation of $150 million
According to The Block, the high-throughput blockchain protocol Talus Network completed a $6 million strategic financing led by Polychain Capital, reaching a valuation of $150 million. This round of financing also attracted investors such as Foresight Ventures, Animoca, Geek Cartel, and Echo, as well as several well-known angel investors, with funds to be used to expand the Talus ecosystem, including Protochain, Nexus framework, and 'AI dating experience' applications. Talus's total financing amount thus reaches $9 million. Talus aims to support decentralized AI agents, with its developed Talus Agents managing DeFi portfolios, DAO governance fund allocations, and in-game NPC tasks, allowing users to jointly own and trade these on-chain assets. Additionally, the platform plans to launch the TAI token for transaction fee payments and resource allocation. As an ecological case, Talus will launch the 'AI Bae' application by the end of the year, providing users with personalized AI companions, generating exclusive virtual images through TikTok, and supporting chat, social betting, and tokenized interactions.
Important Data
U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF saw a total net outflow of $123 million yesterday, with a net asset ratio of 5.45%
Pump.fun accounted for 62% of Solana DEX trading volume in November
According to Dune data, Pump.fun accounted for 62.3% of Solana's decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume in November, with a trading value share of 42.3%. In the past three months, the platform has contributed an average of over 60% of Solana's DEX trading volume. Pump.fun, launched in January 2024, allows users to create tokens for free and has spawned various popular meme coins. However, the platform has been controversial due to inappropriate content live broadcasts and legal compliance issues, including animal abuse, fake suicide performances, and inappropriate video uploads. Nevertheless, Pump.fun makes a significant contribution to Solana's trading ecosystem, and its future development will directly influence the health and stability of the Solana network. Some analysts believe that Solana's over-reliance on Pump.fun may pose potential risks and caution is needed regarding the network's long-term sustainability.
Pantera Bitcoin Fund achieves thousandfold returns, cumulative return rate exceeds 131,000%
Pantera Capital's Bitcoin fund has achieved over 1000 times returns since its establishment in 2013, with a cumulative yield of 131,165%, a milestone reflecting its forward-looking strategy in Bitcoin investment. Fund manager Dan Morehead recalled the background when the fund was started, mentioning that the team bought 2% of the world’s Bitcoin when its price was at a low in 2013. He stated that Bitcoin's long-term growth potential remains enormous, even though only 5% of global financial wealth is involved in blockchain assets, this proportion is expected to significantly increase with clearer U.S. regulations and the entry of institutional investors. Morehead predicts that Bitcoin could reach a market value level of $740,000 per coin in the next few years, and expects the long-term growth of the blockchain industry to continue to bring substantial returns to investors. He also emphasized that although the road to investing in Bitcoin is full of twists and turns, its potential asymmetric returns make it one of the most attractive investment opportunities of the last 40 years.
CryptoQuant: Long-term Bitcoin holders have sold over 728,000 BTC in the past 30 days
According to The Block, based on CryptoQuant data, long-term Bitcoin holders have sold over 728,000 BTC in the past 30 days. CryptoQuant stated in an X post: 'This is the largest sell-off since April.' This also reverses the trend of large buyers aggressively accumulating Bitcoin in October when positive inflows of Bitcoin approached 250,000 coins. According to TradingView data, Bitcoin's market share (measuring its proportion of the total cryptocurrency market cap) is currently about 58.78%, down from recent highs of over 60%.
Vitalik earned 22.89 ETH by selling meme tokens and donated 320 ETH to CoinCenter
According to Lookonchain monitoring, vitalik.eth has again sold some meme coins obtained for free (including DOG reported earlier), earning 22.89 ETH ($76,500). He then donated 320 ETH ($1.07 million) to CoinCenter.
