PANews Editor's Note: PANews has selected important breaking news content this week to help everyone catch up on the latest news during the weekend.
Regulatory News
The UK government wants to formally define crypto assets as a new form of property
According to The Block, the UK government has submitted a bill to Parliament seeking to formally define crypto assets (including NFTs and RWAs) as property. Heidi Alexander, Minister of State at the UK Ministry of Justice, said: "Previously, digital property was not clearly included in the scope of property law in England and Wales-if the assets are disturbed, the owner will be in a legal gray area." The Treasury described the bill as "the first in British history" and pointed out that the country currently has two types of property: "holdings" (such as gold, money, cars) and "behaviors" (such as debts, stocks). If the bill is passed, a third type of property will be introduced "to allow certain digital assets to attract personal property rights."
Alexander specifically noted that the bill was drafted to keep the UK “at the forefront of the emerging global cryptocurrency race” and attract more businesses and investment. Digital assets bring in £34 billion to the UK economy each year.
CFTC announces partnership to combat cryptocurrency scams
According to The Block, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Office of Customer Development and Education (OCEO) aims to spread targeted information about crypto investment scams through a new partnership. According to a press release issued by the CFTC, the American Bankers Association Foundation is a "private regulator" and it and other federal agencies are working with OCEO to produce and distribute an infographic to help audiences identify and avoid "pig killings." In addition, OCEO is also working with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and other organizations to develop investor alerts related to "pig killings."
Beijing police uncovered an underground bank that laundered money through virtual currency transactions, involving 800 million yuan
According to the Legal Daily, recently, during the investigation of a case of occupational embezzlement, the Beijing police found that the suspect transferred a large amount of embezzled funds into a foreign Chinese account in a short period of time. The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau traveled to many provinces and cities across the country and cracked down on an underground money laundering gang that committed money laundering crimes through virtual currency transactions. At present, the four main suspects involved in the case have been approved for arrest by the procuratorate for suspected illegal business operations.
After investigation, it was found that the main member of the gang, Lv, obtained foreign nationality many years ago. While living abroad, he found that he could transfer RMB from China to foreign countries and exchange it for foreign currency through virtual currency transactions. Later, Lv, together with Chen and others, used the virtual currency trading platform to assist domestic personnel who intended to transfer funds to buy virtual currency in large quantities, thereby transferring funds overseas. The amount involved in the case was about 800 million yuan. At the same time, the police found that the gang had provided funding channels and transferred the stolen money involved in many telecommunications network fraud cases and embezzlement cases.
Harris and Trump's first presidential debate ended without mentioning cryptocurrency
The first presidential debate between Trump and Harris ended without any mention of cryptocurrency. The discussion included the war in Israel, the war in Ukraine, immigration issues, economic issues, etc.
Singapore police launch investigation into Worldcoin account sales, five arrested for suspected violations
Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that the Singapore Police Force is investigating seven individuals who allegedly provided trading services for buying and selling Worldcoin accounts and tokens. The investigation involves possible violations of the Payment Services Act 2019, and the police have arrested five people.
Last month, Singapore police arrested five people suspected of buying and selling Worldcoin accounts and tokens. Preliminary investigations showed that three men were suspected of recruiting people to create Worldcoin accounts on behalf of different entities. They then took control of these accounts and tokens in exchange for cash. The assets were transferred to a fourth man and a woman, who are believed to be involved in purchasing and managing the transfer of these assets. During the operation, the police seized more than 200 mobile phones as evidence. Gan Jinyong reminded consumers to be wary of temptations to give up control of digital payment token wallets or World IDs. He pointed out that these accounts are at risk of being abused by third parties.
The SEC has issued $4.7 billion in fines for cryptocurrency this year, a 30-fold increase from 2023.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission brought enforcement actions worth nearly $4.7 billion against cryptocurrency companies and their executives in 2024, up more than 3,000% from 2023. The SEC’s record this year was largely driven by its massive $4.47 billion settlement with Terraform Labs and its former CEO Do Kwon in June, its “largest enforcement action to date,” according to a Sept. 9 report from Social Capital Markets.
The regulator brought 11 enforcement actions in 2024, a 3,018% increase in fines from the previous year’s $150.3 million, despite a decrease of 19 actions against cryptocurrency firms.
Donors to Vice President Harris privately urged her to fire FTC Chair Lina Khan and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler
According to a report by Bloomberg on September 7, if US Vice President Kamala Harris wins the election in November, major Democratic donors on Wall Street are increasingly demanding that her team replace Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Lina Khan and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler. According to people familiar with the matter, these wealthy donors have repeatedly mentioned Lina Khan in calls with Harris team staff and fundraising events, accusing her of hindering the development of the technology industry and other economic sectors. Since IAC Chairman Barry Diller and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman publicly called for the removal of Lina Khan in July, private discussions to replace her have become more intense, believing that Lina Khan is "declaring war on American companies." Some people familiar with the matter said that Democratic donors on Wall Street may continue to lobby privately to replace Lina Khan. However, they emphasized that these donors are unlikely to stop donating because of Lina Khan's fate at the Federal Trade Commission, and Harris has not clearly communicated her position on Lina Khan to donors.
US SEC: Regrets the possible confusion caused by repeated statements that tokens themselves are securities
The SEC wrote in footnote No. 6 of the amended complaint filed against Binance: As this court has noted and the SEC has reiterated, when using the term "crypto-asset securities," the SEC does not refer to crypto-assets per se as securities; rather, the SEC has maintained since the SEC filed its first crypto-asset Howey case that the term is a shorthand. Nonetheless, to avoid any confusion, PAC no longer uses the shorthand term, and the SEC regrets any confusion that may arise in this regard. As the court explained, crypto-assets are the subject matter of investment contracts. The defendants appear to argue that even if the ten crypto-assets were offered and sold as securities during the ICO, they would not always be securities. The SEC does not make this argument. The SEC's allegation with respect to the ten crypto-assets at issue on the secondary market is that, under the Howey standard, there has not been any significant change in their promotion and economic reality, and therefore they continue to be offered and sold as investment contracts. In response to this footnote, Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, said that the SEC insists that the tokens themselves are securities, which is clear from their long record of law enforcement activities. Why mislead the court?
Fox reporter: Several Democratic lawmakers held a private policy-focused meeting with crypto industry executives
Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett said on X Platform that on the afternoon of September 11, the crypto industry organization The Digital Chamber and the office of U.S. Congressman Wiley Nickel held a policy-focused private roundtable meeting specifically to discuss Bitcoin. The meeting was held for House Democrats who are interested in learning more about Bitcoin and how to legislate. The attendees were eight Democratic House members (names not disclosed) and representatives from Riot Platforms, Baker Mckenzie, Auradine, TeraWulf, Sustainable BTC and CleanSpark. Topics discussed included using BTC to achieve financial inclusion, mining and energy sustainability.
Metaverse & AI
Bloomberg: OpenAI plans to raise $6.5 billion at a valuation of $150 billion
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that OpenAI is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors at a valuation of $150 billion. The new valuation (excluding the funds raised) is significantly higher than the $86 billion valuation the company had in its tender offer earlier this year.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is also in talks to raise $5 billion in debt from banks in the form of a revolving credit facility, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. The people noted that the talks are ongoing and terms could change.
Thrive Capital will lead the round, Bloomberg News previously reported. Thrive declined to comment on the latest valuation. Microsoft Corp., the company’s largest investor, will also participate, while Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp. are also in talks to invest.
OpenAI, Google and other employees publicly support California AI safety bill
The California State Assembly recently passed a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) safety bill called "SB 1047", which caused widespread controversy. Many technology companies and politicians believe that the bill will stifle technological innovation in the state after its implementation. However, a letter signed by more than 100 current and former employees of large AI companies recently appeared, urging California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign the bill as soon as possible. The co-signing technology company employees are from OpenAI, Google, Meta, and xAI.
The National Cybersecurity Standardization Technical Committee released the 1.0 version of the "Artificial Intelligence Security Governance Framework"
According to CCTV News, reporters learned from the main forum of the 2024 National Cyber Security Publicity Week that the National Cyber Security Standardization Technical Committee has released the 1.0 version of the "Artificial Intelligence Security Governance Framework". The "Framework" proposes the principles of AI security governance, such as inclusiveness and prudence, ensuring safety, risk orientation, agile governance, technical management integration, coordinated response, open cooperation, and co-governance and sharing. In response to endogenous security risks such as model algorithm security, data security, and system security, and application security risks such as network domains, reality domains, cognitive domains, and ethical domains, the "Framework" proposes corresponding technical responses and comprehensive prevention and control measures, as well as guidelines for the safe development and application of artificial intelligence, providing a basic and framework technical guide to promote the healthy development and standardized application of artificial intelligence.
Project News
Grayscale: Sui Trust is now open to qualified investors
Grayscale said its Sui Trust, which has a net asset value (NAV) per share of $13.50 and a management fee of 2.5%, is now open to accredited investors.
Vitalik: Starting next year, we plan to only publicly mention L2 projects that are above the first stage
Vitalik posted: Starting next year, regardless of whether I invest or not, or whether I am my friend, I plan to only publicly mention (in blogs, speeches, etc.) L2 projects that are above the first stage, which may leave a short grace period for new and really interesting projects. Multiple ZK-rollup teams told me that they are on track to enter the first stage before the end of the year. It's great to see this happen. Of course, we shouldn't throw away the training wheels because we are sure that the proof system is safe; it would be irresponsible to do so. But the first stage (a threshold of 75% of the council to overturn the proof system, and more than 26% of the council members must be outside the rollup team) is a very reasonable mid-level milestone. The multi-signature I am in has never had a liveness failure in many years, let alone a 26% failure rate. The era of rollup being glorified as multi-signature is coming to an end. The era of encrypted trust has arrived.
Sony's Layer2 network Soneium will cooperate with Sony Bank to launch Japanese yen stablecoin
BSCN Headlines stated on the X platform that Sony's Layer2 network Soneium will work with Sony Bank to launch a Japanese yen stablecoin.
friend.tech denied the shutdown rumors, saying the website will continue to operate as usual, and the friend.tech team sold a total of 19,477 ETH from December 2 last year to June 11 this year
friend.tech responded to the community’s questions about the app on the X platform:
1. There is no plan to shut down or discontinue the friend.tech website application.
2. The previous operation of giving up contract permissions is mainly to ensure that no changes are made to the smart contracts deployed on Base that will increase or generate new fees.
3. These actions will not affect the current functionality of the friend.tech app in any way. Everything users know and use remains unchanged.
Earlier, PANews reported on September 11 that according to Lookonchain monitoring, the friend.tech team sold 19,477 ETH (US$52.4 million) from December 2, 2023 to June 11, 2024. The price of FRIEND has fallen by 95% since its launch.
Paypal and Venmo have integrated Ethereum domain name service ENS
Paypal and Venmo have integrated the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), and users can now send cryptocurrencies through ENS names without copying and pasting wallet addresses. The feature is first available to US users and aims to reduce transaction errors and simplify wallet address management. ENS Labs said the move makes it easier for new users and users who are more accustomed to traditional payment platforms to enter the field of decentralized finance. ENS was founded in 2017 and currently has more than 2 million names registered on the chain and more than 4 million off-chain. Paypal and Venmo will support cryptocurrency transactions from 2021.
a16z Crypto announces 21 projects selected for the Fall Crypto Accelerator
a16z crypto announced the 21 projects selected for the Fall 2024 Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), which will receive guidance and support from the a16z crypto investment and operations team over the next 8 weeks. These projects are building at every level of the crypto stack, including AI, DeFi, infrastructure, and consumer applications such as photo sharing and mapping. Specifically include: Anera Labs, building infrastructure to unify all on-chain liquidity; Banyan, a tool that uses AI to bridge communication gaps at work; Blocksense, which supports the creation of oracles that can utilize Internet data and CPU/GPU computing; Cork Protocol, a risk pricing protocol; Dot, which turns user-created pixel art into game elements for on-chain games; Fermah, a universal zero-knowledge proof generation layer; Future Primitive, a new home for Internet photo enthusiasts; Kuzco, an LLM reasoning market; MeshMap, a world 3D map and AR content network; Opacity Labs, a private verification of web2 data through zkTLS; OpenGradient, a blockchain designed to bring world computing to the chain; PIN AI, an open personal AI platform (data + agent); Pod, a new L1 primitive (no blocks, no leaders, and relaxes the concept of total order of transactions); Sekai, a shared and monetized interactive narrative; Skyfire, an open payment protocol; Suave, which enables DApps to accept any token from any wallet on any blockchain; t1, a real-time proof generation; MPC encrypted computing for Web3 TACEO; Term Labs, a DeFi lending platform that matches fixed-rate borrowers and lenders; vlayer labs, a trusted and verifiable data infrastructure driven by zero-knowledge proofs; and zkSpin, a highly parallel blockchain.
Liquity executives: New stablecoin BOLD will be launched within two months
According to DL News, amid a sharp drop in demand for LUSD, Liquity executive Colin Platt said the company is about two months away from releasing its new stablecoin BOLD. BOLD addresses some of the flaws that caused LUSD to fall sharply over the past year. BOLD will use an interest rate chosen by the borrower instead of the one-time fee of its predecessor. It will also accept pledged Ether as collateral.
Moscow Exchange Opts Out of Russia’s Crypto Trading Pilot Program
According to Bitcoin.com, Russia's largest securities market, the Moscow Exchange (MOEX), will not participate in a pilot project for cryptocurrency trading, which was confirmed by Nikolai Trunichkin, head of the exchange's digital projects. Previously, the Russian State Duma approved a legislative package in July to legalize digital currencies and allow exchange trading under the supervision of the central bank. Although the Moscow Stock Exchange chose not to participate in this project, the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange (SPB Exchange) has expressed plans to actively participate in cryptocurrency trading trials. The legal framework aims to strictly regulate digital currency transactions within the Russian financial system by financial authorities.
Fractal Bitcoin Announces the Launch of Fractal Mainnet
Fractal Bitcoin, a Bitcoin extension network, announced on the X platform that the Fractal mainnet is now live, and users can use UniSat Wallet and OKX Wallet to self-host their Fractal assets. These wallets fully support the Fractal mainnet, ensuring that users can control their digital assets. Users can use Mempool Explorer to check their transactions and balances. Fractal Bitcoin has partnered with UniSat Wallet and OKX Wallet to reward active Bitcoin users through the Fractal Mainnet Bootstrap program, and balances can be checked through official channels. Earlier news, Fractal Bitcoin announced the FB token economics, with community allocation accounting for 80%.
Latest Ethereum ACDE meeting: plans to release code changes on Devnet 3 before February next year
Christine Kim, Vice President of Research at Galaxy, summarized the 196th Ethereum Core Developers Execution (ACDE) call, where developers discussed and coordinated changes to the Ethereum Execution Layer (EL). Developers shared updates on the Pectra Devnet 3 release and discussed various Pectra code changes to be implemented on future devnets. They seriously discussed splitting the upgrade into two so that they can release code changes on Devnet 3 on a faster timeline, possibly before February of next year. Developers agreed to make a final decision on this at the next call. Finally, an EF DevOps engineer who goes by the username “pk910” shared updates on his work to clean up the Ethereum public testnet GitHub repository and restructure it for easier use.
Trump said in the video that his crypto project World Liberty Financial will be launched on September 16
“Watch the launch of World Liberty Financial live on Twitter Spaces at 8pm on September 16th. We will embrace the future with cryptocurrency and abandon the slow, outdated big banks,” Trump said in a video posted on his official X account.
Financing News
Web3 music platform Tune.FM receives $50 million in funding
According to Cointelegraph, Web3 music platform Tune.fm has received $50 million in funding from Global Emerging Markets, bringing its total financing to date to $80 million. The new investment will be used to provide liquidity for the protocol's JAM token (JAM), which is used within the platform to reward artists and users. Tune.fm's previous investors include LDA Capital, Alpha Token Capital, Block Alpha, Animoca Brands, HBAR Foundation, and GDA Capital.
The platform provides music streaming services and has an integrated NFT marketplace. Artists receive micropayments for every second of music played, while users can earn tokens by discovering and listening to newly promoted songs. The platform is powered by the Hedera blockchain.
Earlier in January, it was reported that Hedera-based Web3 music platform Tune.FM had received $20 million in funding from alternative investment group LDA Capital.
Tokenized RWA platform Huma Finance completes $38 million financing, led by Distributed Global
According to CoinDesk, the tokenized RWA platform Huma Finance has completed a $38 million financing, including $10 million in equity investment and $28 million in real assets (RWA) investment. The investment was led by Distributed Global, with participation from Hashkey Capital, Folius Ventures, Stellar Development Foundation, etc. The funds will be used to expand Huma's payment financing platform (PayFi), and plans to expand to the Solana blockchain and Stellar's Soroban smart contract network in the coming months. Huma has previously merged with cross-border payment company Arf, and it is expected that payment financing transactions will reach $10 billion next year.
Binance announces Hamster Kombat token economics, total amount of 100 billion, 60% of player rewards in the first season
Binance announced the token economics of Hamster Kombat, a P2E game based on the Telegram Mini App platform. The total supply of HMSTR tokens is 100 billion, and the initial circulation when Binance launched is 64.375 billion. Player rewards in the first season will be 60% of the total supply, and 15% of the total supply in the second season. Binance Launchpool will allocate 3%, 4% of the tokens will be used for liquidity, 8% of the tokens will be allocated to the team, 4% of the tokens will be used for marketing, and 6% of the tokens will be used for cooperation and funding.
Binance to launch 59th Launchpool project: Catizen (CATI)
PANews reported on September 13 that according to Binance's announcement, Binance will launch the 59th Launchpool project - Catizen (CATI), a cat-themed game robot based on the Telegram applet platform. Users can get CATI airdrop rewards by staking BNB and FDUSD for four days starting at 08:00 (UTC+8) on September 16, 2024. CATI will be launched on Binance at 18:00 (UTC+8) on September 20, 2024, and will support CATI/USDT, CATI/BNB, CATI/FDUSD and CATI/TRY trading pairs. The total supply of CATI is 1 billion, and the initial circulation is 305 million. Catizen (CATI)'s token reward in Binance Launchpool is 90,000,000 CATI, accounting for 9% of the total supply.
Important data
The annual rate of US unadjusted CPI in August was 2.5%, and the annual rate of core CPI was 3.2%
According to Jinshi.com, the annual rate of unadjusted CPI in August was 2.5%, expected to be 2.6%, and the previous value was 2.9%. The annual rate of unadjusted core CPI in August was 3.2%, expected to be 3.20%, and the previous value was 3.20%.
Uniswap’s market share has fallen from 50% in October last year to 36%.
According to The Block, Uniswap's market share has dropped from more than 50% in October 2023 to 36% today. Aerodrome has taken 7% of the market share with the help of the growth of Base Layer 2. Orca's market share has increased from 9% at the beginning of the year to 12% last month. friend.tech
The team sold a total of 19,477 ETH from December 2 last year to June 11 this year
According to Lookonchain monitoring, the friend.tech team sold 19,477 ETH ($52.4 million) from December 2, 2023 to June 11, 2024. The price of FRIEND has fallen 95% since its launch.
MicroStrategy acquires 18,300 Bitcoins for approximately $1.11 billion
According to the 8-K filing submitted by MicroStrategy, the company acquired approximately 18,300 bitcoins between August 6 and September 12, 2024, at a cost of approximately $1.11 billion, with an average purchase price of $60,408 per bitcoin. As of September 12, 2024, MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries held a total of 244,800 bitcoins, with a cumulative purchase cost of approximately $9.45 billion and an average price of $38,585 per bitcoin.
Kaiko Report: Coinbase's US market share dropped from 53% in June to 41% in early September, while Bullish's share nearly doubled to 33% during the same period
According to Kaiko Research, the summer downturn eroded Coinbase market share. Coinbase's U.S. market share fell from 53% in June to 41% in early September. Bullish was the main beneficiary, with its market share nearly doubling from 17% to 33% during the same period. Since 2021, large U.S. exchanges have seen a significant increase in market share. The top three exchanges by volume now account for nearly 90% of the market share, up from 66% previously. Meanwhile, smaller exchanges have seen their market share fall from 34% to 11%. This shift has been driven by tighter regulation, lower earnings due to reduced trading activity during the 2022/23 bear market, and the dominance of large exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken in institutional cryptocurrency trading, affecting smaller exchanges such as LMAX. This trend is not limited to U.S. exchanges, with more than 87% of trading volume in the third quarter of 2024 concentrated on five centralized exchanges.
Coinbase's cbBTC market value exceeds $100 million
According to Dune data, the market value of cbBTC launched by Coinbase has exceeded US$100 million, which is US$101,108,479.
Avenir Capital, the family office of Huobi founder Li Lin, established a crypto quantitative fund of funds with a first phase of US$500 million
According to Shenchao, Avenir Capital, the family office of Huobi founder Li Lin, established a crypto quantitative fund Avenir Crypto, with a first-phase fund size of US$500 million.
Sui Network becomes the tenth largest blockchain network by TVL
According to Defillama data, Sui Network has become the tenth largest blockchain network in terms of TVL. Among them: NAVI Protocol TVL reached $340 million Scallop TVL reached $179 million Suilend TVL reached $114 million
