Headlines
Cryptocurrency adoption jumps 6.4% in H1 2024, driven primarily by Bitcoin and Ethereum growth
According to Crypto.com’s latest market size report, the number of owners in the global cryptocurrency market has increased significantly in the first half of this year.
As of June, this number has increased by 6.4% to 617 million people, up from 580 million by the end of 2023. This growth was mainly driven by key developments in the Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems, especially the launch of their related spot ETFs.
Trump: If elected, he would consider letting Elon Musk serve in the cabinet or advisory role
Former US President Trump said that if he is elected as the next US president, he will consider canceling the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit; he will also consider letting Elon Musk serve in a cabinet or advisory role if he is willing.
The Democratic Party’s platform does not mention any blockchain, BTC or crypto-related content
According to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett on the X platform, the Democratic Party of the United States officially released their party platform on the first day of its National Convention, but there was no mention of blockchain technology, Bitcoin, digital assets or anything related to encryption.
Coinbase: Young voters expected to be decisive factor again in 2024 US election
Coinbase said in a blog post that young voters played a decisive role in the 2020 US election and are expected to be a decisive factor again in 2024. Generation Z and millennial voters account for 40% of all eligible voters and will become the majority of voters by 2028. These voters largely represent a group of people who support cryptocurrency and innovation and want to support candidates who can help improve and update the system. Any candidate who wants to win in 2024 must take into account young voters who support cryptocurrency.
Industry News
Yesterday, the U.S. Ethereum spot ETF had a net outflow of $13.5 million and a trading volume of $124 million
According to Trader T, the U.S. Ethereum spot ETF had a net outflow of $13.5 million yesterday, with a trading volume of $124 million, including:
BlackRock ETHA had no inflow/outflow; Grayscale ETHE had a net outflow of US$20.3 million; Grayscale ETH had a net inflow of US$4.9 million; Fidelity FETH had no inflow/outflow; Bitwise ETHW had a net inflow of US$1.9 million.
Source: SEC discussed Solana’s potential securities with issuers before Cboe removed related 19b-4 filings
Before Cboe BZX removed the related Solana ETF 19 b-4 filing, the U.S. SEC met with potential issuers to discuss its concerns about Solana’s potential status as a security, according to people familiar with the matter.
After the discussions, the SEC and Cboe agreed not to file a Form 19b-4 with the Federal Register, which would have initiated the approval process, they said. Doing so would have put pressure on the SEC to make a decision related to the Solana ETF.
Bloomberg: Bitcoin and crypto markets have fallen significantly so far in August, while global stocks are returning to all-time highs
Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have seen sharp declines so far this month, even as global stock markets are returning to all-time highs after shaking off jitters about U.S. growth.
Bitcoin has fallen about 10% in August, lagging a nearly 1% gain in MSCI Inc.’s global stock index and a rally in gold prices to an all-time high. The Bloomberg Global Bond Index is up nearly 2% in the same period.
QCP: Bitcoin perpetual contract funding rate fell to the lowest level since 2022 last weekend, the market is bearish
QCP Capital said in its latest market analysis that equity markets are unusually optimistic, with US stocks at all-time highs and Asian stocks largely bullish today as markets anticipate an imminent US rate cut and soft landing. However, there are still signs of nervousness in the market as options markets expect Powell's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday to result in a 1% move in the S&P 500.
Contrary to stocks, sentiment in the cryptocurrency market is very pessimistic. Over the weekend, the Bitcoin perpetual contract funding rate fell to -13%, the lowest level since 2022. The market seems to be ignoring the possibility of further unwinding of the yen/dollar carry trade. According to Bloomberg, funds such as Vanguard are increasing their bets on further rate hikes by the Bank of Japan, and it remains to be seen whether this will be a catalyst for another decline in the entire market. However, QCP added that it remains optimistic and bullish on the market.
Analysis: Ethereum's daily average gas fee and daily destruction volume hit new lows
CryptoQuant analyst EgyHash wrote that Ethereum's average daily gas fee was only 2.9 Gwei recently, a record low, and its average daily fee in US dollars also hit a multi-year low of only US$0.85.
As a result, the average daily destruction rate of Ethereum has also dropped to a historical low, with a single-day destruction of 115 ETH. Although Ethereum’s gas fees and efficiency rates have dropped sharply, its average daily transaction count has remained flat or increased significantly compared to the same period in the past two years. This drop may be related to the Dencun upgrade that was activated on Ethereum on March 13 this year. While low fees are good for users, they are not for investors, especially given that a large portion of Ethereum’s usage is moving to its L2 network and the potential problems this can cause, such as user and liquidity fragmentation. Despite the approval of the Ethereum spot ETF, the price of ETH has been stagnant since the Dencun upgrade. During this period, the supply of ETH increased by more than 197,000 coins (worth over $500 million), while its price fell by 35%.
Project News
Last week, the number of active addresses on the Base chain reached 4 million, a record high
Jesse Pollak, head of the Base protocol, posted on X that data showed that the number of active addresses on the Base chain reached 4 million last week, setting a record high.
Pichi Finance: PCH Claim Now Live
PointsFi marketplace Pichi Finance announced that PCH claims are now live on its official website, with users being able to choose to claim the entire allocation, or stake it to receive a 3x points bonus to boost rewards in Airdrop Season 2.
UniSat launches BRC-20 engraving service on Fractal testnet
UniSat announced on the X platform that the BRC-20 engraving service of the Bitcoin extension network Fractal Bitcoin testnet has been officially launched. In order to avoid conflicts with existing assets on the Bitcoin mainnet, the rules of brc-20 on Fractal have been specially customized.
Drift Protocol launches prediction market B.E.T. on Solana chain
According to official news, Drift Protocol announced the launch of the prediction market B.E.T on Solana. The first prediction market revolves around the US election. More market categories will be launched in the future, covering sports (F 1, CryptoFightNight), cryptocurrency and culture (Solana debate results).
pump.fun's revenue in the past 30 days reached 27.92 million US dollars, surpassing Solana to enter the top five
DefiLlama data shows that Solana ecosystem Meme coin issuance platform pump.fun has earned US$27.92 million in the past 30 days, surpassing Solana (US$20.15 million) and is currently ranked fifth, second only to Tether (about US$400 million), Circle (US$123.84 million), Ethereum (US$47.81 million) and Tron (US$38.09 million).
Investment and Financing
Fabric, a cryptographic "VPU" chip developer, completes $33 million in Series A funding, led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx
Fabric, a company developing cryptographic "VPU" chips, announced the completion of a $33 million Series A financing round, led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx, with participation from Offchain Labs, Polygon and Matter Labs. The new funds will be used to build computing chips, software and encryption algorithms. The core of Fabric's roadmap is to build a new processing unit called "Verifiable Processing Unit (VPU)", which will be specifically used to process encryption technology.
Bitwise acquires cryptocurrency ETP issuer ETC Group, expanding its business into Europe
Bitwise Asset Management announced today that it has acquired ETC Group, a London-based cryptocurrency ETP issuer with over $1 billion in assets under management. This also marks Bitwise’s expansion into Europe and adds nine European-listed cryptocurrency ETPs to Bitwise’s broad suite of ETPs, hedge fund solutions, and separately managed accounts.
Bitcoin ecosystem income network Corn completes $6.7 million in financing, led by Polychain
Corn, a Bitcoin ecosystem income network, has completed a $6.7 million financing round led by Polychain, with participation from Binance Labs, Framework Ventures, OKX Ventures, HTX, Ventures and Relayer Capital. It is reported that the project aims to enhance the practicality of Bitcoin and introduce new income-generating opportunities.
BiFinance Completes USD 10 Million Series A Funding, Led by Sunfund Fortuna Global Opportunities
Digital asset trading platform BiFinance announced on X platform that it has completed a $10 million Series A financing round, led by Sunfund Fortuna Global Opportunities, with participation from Eternal Asia Group, SDM Education and TigerBCDAO. It is reported that BiFinance's valuation in this round of financing reached $100 million. The new funds will be used to further connect traditional financial assets such as stocks and bonds with the Web3 ecosystem and provide asset-backed tokens (RWA/STO) to enterprises.
Xinhuo Technology announced that it has acquired Avenir Asset Holding for US$33.23 million, and has acquired full control of the cryptocurrency trading platform BitTrade
Newfire Technology, a Hong Kong-listed company, announced that it would acquire the entire issued share capital of Avenir Asset Holding for approximately US$33.23 million (approximately HK$238 million), and plans to pay by issuing up to nearly 110 million new shares. Avenir Asset Holding indirectly holds approximately 84.62% of BitTrade’s share capital. After the transaction is completed, it will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Newfire Technology, and BitTrade will become its indirect subsidiary. BitTrade is mainly engaged in cryptocurrency trading business.
Regulatory trends
The Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued the latest judicial interpretation: "virtual asset" transactions are listed as one of the methods of money laundering
On the morning of August 19, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly held a press conference to release the "Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Money Laundering" (hereinafter referred to as the "Interpretation"). The "Interpretation" will come into effect on August 20, 2024. It has a total of 13 articles, and its main contents include:
1. Clarify the identification standards for the crimes of "self-laundering" and "money laundering by others", as well as the review and identification standards for the subjective understanding of the crime of "money laundering by others". 2. Clarify the identification standards for "serious circumstances" of money laundering. 3. Clarify the seven specific circumstances of "covering up and concealing the source and nature of the proceeds of crime and its benefits by other means". 4. Clarify the principle of concurrent punishment for the crime of money laundering and the crime of covering up and concealing the proceeds of crime and the proceeds of crime. 5. Clarify the standard for the amount of fines. 6. Clarify the standard for lenient punishment. The "Interpretation" lists "virtual asset" transactions as one of the methods of money laundering. It is clarified that the transfer and conversion of criminal proceeds and their benefits through "virtual asset" transactions and financial asset exchanges can be identified as "covering up and concealing the source and nature of criminal proceeds and their benefits by other means" as stipulated in Article 191, paragraph 1, item 5 of the Criminal Law.
Character Voice
Japanese listed company Metaplanet once again spent 500 million yen to increase its holdings by approximately 57.273 BTC
Simon Gerovich, CEO of Metaplanet Inc., a Japanese listed company, announced that the company has increased its holdings of 500 million yen of BTC (about 57,273 pieces) at an average price of 8,730,117 yen. As of August 20, Metaplanet held about 360,368 BTC, spending a total of 3.45 billion yen at an average price of 9,573,556 yen.
Bernstein Research: Trump's potential victory may stimulate BTC to rebound
Bernstein Research released a report saying that the cryptocurrency market, especially Bitcoin, may undergo a major shift depending on the results of the upcoming US presidential election. Analysis shows that Donald Trump's potential victory could catalyze the bottoming out of Bitcoin prices, leading to an increase in the prices of major cryptocurrencies. The report pointed out that Bitcoin prices will only bottom out and rebound if the crypto market becomes interested in Trump's possible victory, as the crypto market continues to interpret the Republican victory as a factor that is favorable to crypto policies.
BRN analyst: BTC price volatility may intensify before Fed Chairman speaks at Jackson Hole conference
Bitcoin prices have edged lower over the past 24 hours despite a broad rally in U.S. stocks ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole conference later this week. Bitcoin prices have fallen nearly 3% over the past 24 hours to trade around $58,500. Valentin Fournier, an analyst at BRN, said the upcoming Jackson Hole meeting could lead to increased volatility in Bitcoin prices, and that Bitcoin volatility could rise in the coming days or week as the market awaits further news from the Fed at the Jackson Hole symposium and macroeconomic indicators.
Peter Schiff: The market is now counting on a rate cut in September, and Powell has no reason not to deliver
As the market's expectations for the Fed to cut interest rates next month are getting higher, the Fed is likely to deliver on that expectation. Wall Street tycoon Peter Schiff said that we will see a rate cut in September, mainly because the market is now counting on a September rate cut. This is why U.S. stocks rebounded after the sell-off on Monday. Since the market has already priced in the possibility of a September rate cut, there is no reason for Powell not to deliver. He always meets market expectations and he doesn't want to cause surprises in the market.
Onchain Foundation Research Director: Glassnode data shows that ETH exchange balance has dropped below 10%
According to Onchain Foundation research director Leon Waidmann, who posted on the When demand for Ethereum rises again, its price could climb rapidly.
Circle executives: EURC market value exceeds 50 million euros, and may soon become the largest euro stablecoin by market value
Patrick Hansen, senior director of EU strategy and policy at Circle, wrote on X that based on DefiLlama data, the market value of EURC has exceeded 50 million euros.
EURC has gained 36% in market value in the past week, mainly due to its launch on the Base chain (where around 8 million EUR EURC are already on the chain) and growth on the Ethereum chain. At this rate, EURC will soon become the number one Euro stablecoin by market value.
SlowMist Cosine: The source of the 4046 suspected stolen BTC funds seems to be related to Genesis Global Trading
According to a post by SlowMist founder Yu Xian on the X platform, after a preliminary look at the suspected theft of 4064 BTC, it seems that some of the source funds are related to Genesis Global Trading.
Earlier news, the chain detective ZachXBT posted on the X platform that a suspicious transfer occurred 7 hours ago, and the potential victim lost 4064 BTC (about 238 million US dollars). The funds were quickly transferred to ThorChain, eXch, Kucoin, ChangeNow, Railgun, and Avalanche Bridge.
DWF Labs Lianchuang: The current crypto market is in the Perp season, and may usher in a recovery period in the future
DWF Labs co-founder Andrei Grachev wrote on X: “These are some of my personal observations (on the crypto market) over the past two years:
Depression > Recovery > Bull Market > Correction > Meme Season > Correction > Perp Season > Recovery > Bull Market We are currently in Perp Season. Note: The above is not financial advice, DYOR. ”
