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Brazil Approves Second Solana ETF
Tether plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the UAE dirham AED
Terraform Labs bankruptcy reorganization hearing scheduled for September 19
Changpeng Zhao faces new class-action lawsuit in Seattle federal court
Binance: If multiple Launchpool projects are running at the same time, the user's BNB financial assets will be evenly distributed to each project
Bitcoin mining firm Bitfarms agrees to acquire Stronghold Digital for $175 million
Intellectual property blockchain Story Protocol completes $80 million Series B financing, led by a16z
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Intellectual property blockchain Story Protocol completes $80 million Series B financing, led by a16z
PIP Labs, the core contributor team of Story Protocol, an intellectual property blockchain, announced the completion of a $80 million Series B financing, led by a16z crypto, with participation from Polychain, Scott Trowbridge, senior vice president and board member of Stability AI, Adrian Cheng, founder of K11, digital art collector Cozomo de'Medici, and No Capital. The new round of financing brings PIP Labs' total financing to $140 million.
Story Protocol is an intellectual property blockchain that aims to tokenize trillions of intellectual property assets and unlock the infinite creativity of programmable IP+AI. Currently, the number of IPs on the Story Protocol chain has exceeded 20 million, and more than 200 teams are building applications such as IPFi, AI, and consumer markets.
Crypto payment network Skyfire completes $8.5 million seed round of financing, with Circle and others participating
According to Decrypt, the encrypted payment network Skyfire completed a $8.5 million seed round of financing, with Circle, Ripple, Gemini and others participating.
Founded by two former Ripple developers, Skyfire is an open-source payment system that will allow autonomous AI agents to quickly move around the internet and purchase whatever goods they need to complete a designated task — from data storage and creative assets to airline tickets and groceries. All of these transactions will be powered by the stablecoin USDC.
Skyfire currently runs on Ethereum extension network Polygon, but the company says it plans to expand to other blockchains soon. Skyfire is currently free to use, but says it may soon charge transaction fees of between 2% and 3%.
Tether plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the UAE dirham AED
Stablecoin issuer Tether has revealed plans to develop a new stablecoin pegged to the United Arab Emirates Dirham (AED).
Tether will launch a new stablecoin in partnership with UAE-based Phoenix Group PLC, with the partnership aiming to build a digital representation of the dirham fully backed by liquid reserves in the UAE.
Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether, said: “The UAE is an important global economic hub and the new stablecoin is designed to meet the needs of businesses and individuals seeking to conduct secure and efficient transactions in the UAE dirham, including cross-border payments, trading, and asset diversification.”
Bitcoin mining firm Bitfarms agrees to acquire Stronghold Digital for $175 million
Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms said it has agreed to acquire competitor Stronghold Digital (SDIG) for $175 million, CoinDesk reported.
Bitfarms said in a statement that the offer consists of 2.52 Bitfarms shares for each Stronghold share, a 71% premium to Stronghold’s 90-day volume-weighted average price on Nasdaq as of Aug. 16. Stronghold said in May it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale of the company.
Earlier news, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms is negotiating to acquire Stronghold Digital Mining Inc. for approximately US$164 million, while also fending off an acquisition attempt by Riot Platforms Inc.
Synthetic asset platform Kresko will shut down the project, and users must complete asset withdrawal and migration before September 10
Synthetic asset platform Kresko announced that it will shut down the project. Kresko announced that the project founder has been facing serious health problems, which have worsened recently. After careful consideration and exploring various alternatives, the team concluded that shutting down the project was the best course of action.
The announcement reminds users to complete asset withdrawal and migration before September 10.
According to previous news, on November 8, 2023, Kresko completed a strategic financing of US$1.8 million, led by Electric Capital and Zero Age Ventures. On October 6, 2021, Kresko completed a seed round of financing of US$2.35 million, led by Electric Capital and Polychain.
Crypto travel platform MVL will launch a taxi service on Telegram, and TON can be used to pay for fares
Woo Kyung Sik, CEO of Singapore's encrypted travel platform MVL, said that the ride-hailing service plan TADA Mini will be launched next month. Users only need to search for "TADA Mini" in the Telegram chat group to jump to the ride-hailing interface. Users only need to enter the destination to complete the call. Users can use the virtual currency TON for payment.
Woo Kyung Sik also said that MVL aims to be listed on the Nasdaq in the United States within the next 3 to 5 years.
It is reported that since 2018, MVL has operated taxi services (TADA) in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, and its number of users in Singapore has reached about 2 million.
Terraform Labs bankruptcy reorganization hearing scheduled for September 19
According to Terra's official announcement, the plan confirmation hearing for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization case of Terraform Labs Pte Ltd (TFL) and Terraform Labs Limited (TLL) has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Eastern Time on September 19, 2024 (10 p.m. Beijing time).
Aptos Ecosystem NFT Market Topaz Announces Suspension of Operations
Aptos ecosystem NFT market Topaz announced that after careful consideration, it will cease operations on August 21, 2024 Beijing time.
Topaz sincerely thanks its users, partners, and the Aptos community for their support. The announcement also emphasizes that any subsequent private messages claiming to be from Topaz or "Topaz Support" are unofficial.
YouTube co-founder: We will learn more about Web3 in the coming months
YouTube co-founder Steve Chen posted on the X platform that he had recently been interviewed by blockchain media and would continue to work on gaining a deeper understanding of the various opportunities in the exciting Web3 field in the coming months.
Binance: If multiple Launchpool projects are running at the same time, the user's BNB financial assets will be evenly distributed to each project
Binance’s Chinese official Twitter account stated that if multiple Launchpool projects are running at the same time, unless otherwise stated, users’ BNB assets in BNB current products and fixed-term products will be split and evenly distributed to each new coin mining project.
If a user wants to stake more assets from a specific pool, they can add funds directly to a specific Launchpool.
Malaysian police use steamrollers to crush hundreds of Bitcoin mining rigs to combat power theft
Malaysian officials smashed 985 bitcoin mining rigs on Monday as part of a nationwide crackdown on electricity theft associated with cryptocurrency miners, Decrypt reported.
Videos circulated showing a heavy steamroller slowly rolling over the mining equipment in an attempt to crush it, destroying about $450,000 worth of equipment.
The seized mining equipment was destroyed as Malaysian officials work to combat electricity theft.
Changpeng Zhao faces new class-action lawsuit in Seattle federal court
According to U.Today, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Binance have been accused of being involved in a new class action lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in the Seattle federal court, accusing Binance of laundering money for criminals through its platform, harming consumer interests. The plaintiff claimed that Binance, as a "cryptocurrency money laundering empire", allowed hackers, thieves and other criminals to launder illegal gains on the platform and make huge profits in this way. The lawsuit also accused Binance of violating the RICO Act by committing illegal extortion.
CZ had previously pleaded guilty to money laundering violations in November last year and was sentenced to four months in prison in April this year.
Brazil Approves Second Solana ETF
Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has approved a second Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF), the agency disclosed in its central database.
According to the CVM database, the new Solana (SOL) ETF is in the pre-operational stage and will be launched by Hashdex, a Brazil-based asset manager with over $962 million in assets under management, in partnership with local investment bank BTG Pactual.
It is reported that Hashdex is an experienced player in the ETF field of Brazil's B3 Stock Exchange and has launched products such as the Nasdaq Crypto Index and ETFs based on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Previously, on August 8, the CVM approved the country’s first Solana ETF, issued by Brazilian asset management company QR Asset.
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Unable to withdraw money for more than half a month! An exchange with over 600,000 users is suspected of "running away"
Recently, according to multiple users of the cryptocurrency exchange Websea, it is no longer possible to withdraw coins from the WebSea platform.
On August 5, Websea officially announced that it had decided to immediately suspend recharge and withdrawal services due to a serious unknown attack. Websea needs to conduct comprehensive security maintenance and resume services after confirming that there is no risk.
But half a month later, Websea's deposit and withdrawal services have not yet been fully restored.
On August 20, Websea stated on its official X platform that it was still undergoing a comprehensive security upgrade and announced new strategic developments. The full text did not mention when Websea would resume deposit and withdrawal services, and the latest announcement on the official website was on August 7.
On the evening of the 20th, Websea’s official X platform also followed the hot topic of “Black Wukong” and posted a message saying “Websea is about to undergo a huge change, so stay tuned!”, accompanied by a picture of the game “Black Wukong”.
A thousand times increase in one day! Someone made $6 million a day, and the Wukong of Steam made the related MEME coins crazy
China's domestically produced AAA game "Black Myth: Wukong" was officially released at 10:00 Beijing time on August 20. Within one hour of its launch, the number of simultaneous online users exceeded 1 million, causing the Steam server to crash.
One hour after the game was released, the data had surpassed popular masterpieces such as "Cyberpunk 2077", "Elden Ring", and "Baldur's Gate". As of press time, the peak number of online users exceeded 2 million, topping the Steam online user list, becoming the third-ranked game in the historical peak number of online users of all Steam games, while the top of the historical ranking are "CS 2" and "Dota 2".
The gaming industry is booming, and the capital market has also heard the news and started to hype related concepts. A-share related concepts have performed one after another. Wind data shows that as of the close of August 20, Qitian Technology (300061. SZ) stock price hit the daily limit, with a stock price increase of 20%; CITIC Publishing (300788. SZ) stock price hit the daily limit, closing at 29.86 yuan/share, an increase of 20%; Huayi Brothers (300027. SZ) stock price rose 19% to close at 2.94 yuan/share.
Cryptocurrencies that took advantage of the game's popularity had even more astonishing increases. According to gmgn.ai data, the meme coin $WuKong issued on Solana increased by more than 99,999% in 24 hours that day, and one user earned $350,000 in 5 hours. At the same time, multiple trading pools of the $WuKong meme coin appeared on Solana, with mixed increases and decreases. In addition, $WuKong meme coins also appeared on ETH and BNB, all showing different increases.
This generation of VCs in the cryptocurrency circle has already started to defend their rights
“I talked with some colleagues these days, and this round of VC in the cryptocurrency circle is basically dead. Fortunately, we did not invest much in the primary market, but turned to the secondary market.
“I talked to a market maker, and he felt very sorry for us VCs. In the first year after the project went online, VCs couldn’t get the coins. Only market makers, projects, and exchanges had the coins. But when the price dropped, it was the VCs who took the blame, and they were even ridiculed as VC coins.”
At a cryptocurrency event in Hong Kong, LD Capital founder Yi Lihua spoke up for cryptocurrency VCs. In his opinion, VCs are the biggest scapegoats in this cryptocurrency cycle. Not only have they lost money, but they have also been scolded by others.
As 2024 begins, many senior crypto VC practitioners have resigned and joined project developers or the secondary market for one reason only: they are not making money.
