1.QCP Capital: Bitcoin options front-end volatility dropped by 6%, the market may take a breather
QCP analysis points out that cryptocurrencies rose for the third consecutive day yesterday, with BTC testing $64,000 again and ETH returning to $2,500. The rise was supported by strong inflows into BTC and ETH spot ETFs. Over the past two days, the BTC ETF recorded a net inflow of $250.3 million, while the ETH ETF had a net inflow of $8.1 million. With no major macroeconomic events happening before this Friday, except for the upcoming PCE price report, cryptocurrency prices may take a breather here as enthusiasm for interest rate cuts fades. In options, front-end BTC volatility is down 6 points from yesterday's peak, and volatility continues to decline as the market adjusts to the path of policy normalization.
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2. A Bitcoin mining address group that has been silent for nearly 16 years has revived, containing 250 BTC
$15.95 million worth of Bitcoin (250 BTC) has just been moved from 5 addresses that were active in Bitcoin’s first month of existence (January 2009). Each address received 50 BTC for mining one of blocks 2247, 2401, 2455, 2486, and 2690. These addresses had been dormant for nearly 16 years.
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3. The US SEC filed a lawsuit against the "pig killing" cryptocurrency scam for the first time
Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC's enforcement division, warned that such scams are catastrophic to retail investors and the threat is growing rapidly. The first lawsuit targets the NanoBit platform, in which three U.S. residents are suspected of impersonating financial industry professionals in WhatsApp groups and defrauding at least 18 investors of nearly $1 million in crypto assets and fiat currencies. The second lawsuit targets the CoinW6 platform, involving a total amount of $2.2 million and at least 11 victims. Unlike the NanoBit case, the scammers of CoinW6 disguised themselves as "young, attractive professionals" and established fake romantic relationships with victims through social media before inducing them to invest.
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4. The RMB exchange rate against the US dollar rose and approached the 7.0 mark, and the USDT exchange rate was 6.93
As the Federal Reserve released a signal of interest rate cuts, the RMB exchange rate showed a strong upward trend. As of 4:59 on September 21, the offshore RMB against the US dollar was 7.0421, up 295 points from the previous trading day. At the close of 16:30 on September 20, the onshore RMB against the US dollar was 7.0552, up 108 points. The USDT/CNY price on Binance Exchange dropped to 6.93.
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5.SEC approves BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF options trading
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved BlackRock's proposal to list options trading on its spot Bitcoin ETF. This is the first time a spot Bitcoin ETF has been approved for options trading, which is expected to increase market liquidity and attract more large investors to participate. Other companies such as Grayscale and Bitwise are also applying for similar options trading approvals and are expected to be approved soon.
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6. VanEck: Harris as US president may be more favorable to Bitcoin
"Looking at Bitcoin alone, we believe a Kamala Harris presidency would likely be better for Bitcoin than a Trump presidency, as it would, in our view, accelerate many of the structural issues that initially drove Bitcoin adoption. If that happens, Bitcoin's unique regulatory clarity could make it more competitive than other digital assets," VanEck wrote. According to VanEck's latest analysis, the entire crypto industry would reap the rewards if Trump were to become president again. "We believe a Trump presidency would be generally positive for the entire crypto ecosystem, as it would likely result in more deregulatory and business-friendly policies," VanEck wrote.
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7. Wu's Weekly Selection: The Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in recent years, Trump uses Bitcoin to buy hamburgers, CZ will be released from prison next week and News Top 10
Top 10 News of the Week
1. The Federal Reserve announced a 50 basis point rate cut link
The Federal Reserve announced that it would cut interest rates to 5%, lower than the expected 5.25%, the first rate cut since March 2020. The median forecast shows that there will be two 25 basis point rate cuts in 2024, totaling 100 basis points. Fed Governor Miki Bowman voted against the action, preferring only a 25 basis point cut, the first time a governor has dissented since 2005. Powell said at the press conference that the 50 basis point rate cut will help keep the economy and labor market strong and reflects the Fed's confidence that inflation is moving towards the 2% target.
CICC: The Fed is more aggressive than we expected. Its reaction function has completely shifted from focusing on inflation to focusing on employment. Although Powell denied victory in the fight against inflation at the press conference, he now seems to be focusing only on employment. The Fed has a low tolerance for rising unemployment, and officials do not want to take risks and destroy the bright prospects of a "soft landing". Any unemployment rate above 4.4% in the future may trigger more interest rate cuts. The Fed's interest rate cuts will support demand expansion, and US economic growth may continue to maintain a high growth rate. In the medium term, the US policy combination of "loose fiscal policy and loose monetary policy" may increase inflation risks.
2. Arthur Hayes: Interest rate cuts may cause risk assets to fall in the short term, and the era of central banks is over link
Arthur Hayes, founder of BitMEX and CIO of Maelstrom, said on Token2049 that with the upcoming rate cut by the Federal Reserve, risk assets may fall in the short term, especially the rise in the yen exchange rate may impact the crypto market. However, as interest rates fall to near zero, high-yield assets such as Ethereum will benefit. Ethereum's current annualized staking yield is about 4%. Once the Fed's rate cut causes the U.S. Treasury rate to fall below 4%, ETH will become very attractive and may trigger a new round of bull market. In addition, tokens such as Ethena's USDe and Pendle's BTC staking will benefit from it. Hayes also pointed out that the era of central banks is over, governments will dominate monetary policy, and crypto assets will become the only globally transferable safe-haven tool.
3. Trump buys burgers with Bitcoin at a New York bar link
Trump once again courted the digital asset community on Wednesday, treating supporters to burgers at a bar in New York City, which he paid for with Bitcoin. When he arrived at PubKey, a Bitcoin-themed bar in Greenwich Village near New York University, he was greeted with boos and shouts of "loser." But when he walked into the dimly lit bar, he was greeted with warm applause from Bitcoin enthusiasts and Trump supporters.
In addition, the Trump family-related crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) will launch the governance token WLFI. 63% of WLFI tokens will be sold to the public, 17% for user rewards, and the remaining 20% for the team. The Trump family-related crypto project World Liberty Financial plans to provide cryptocurrency lending services on the Ethereum blockchain, similar to existing decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. The project token WLFI has no pre-sale, venture capital, and early purchases. Zak Folkman, head of project operations, emphasized that the WLFI token sale will be regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). All WLFI buyers will be subject to the same KYC standard review as U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges such as Coinbase and Kraken.
4. Arkham released the latest ranking of government Bitcoin holdings, with the United States ranking first link
Arkham has released the latest ranking of government Bitcoin holdings. Data shows that the United States currently ranks first in the global government Bitcoin holdings with $12.16 billion in Bitcoin holdings, followed by the United Kingdom, which holds $3.67 billion in Bitcoin. Bhutan ranks third with $782 million, and El Salvador, a global pioneer in Bitcoin promotion, ranks fourth with $352 million. It is worth noting that Germany's Bitcoin holdings have dropped from $3.56 billion to zero.
Unlike most governments, Bhutan’s Bitcoin does not come from asset seizures by law enforcement, but from Bitcoin mining operations, which have increased dramatically since the beginning of 2023. Bhutan is known to have built Bitcoin mining facilities in multiple locations, the largest of which is located at the site of the now-closed Education City project.
5. Binance founder CZ will be released from prison next week link
According to the official website of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, Binance founder CZ will be released from prison next week, and 47-year-old Asian man CHANGPENG ZHAO will be released on September 29, 2024, with registration number: 88087-510. Previously, Binance CEO Richard Teng confirmed that CZ will be banned from operating and managing Binance for life, but on the other hand, CZ is obviously the largest shareholder and will retain all shareholder rights.
6. The U.S. SEC strengthens its review of Binance’s token listing and trading process link
The U.S. SEC has placed Binance’s token listing and trading processes under closer scrutiny in its proposed amended complaint. The SEC questioned Binance’s compliance in these processes, pointing out that it may be at risk of not complying with securities regulations. The document similarly details Binance Simple Earn and 10 digital assets (SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, ATOM, SAND, MANA, ALGO, AXS, and COTI) that were allegedly sold on the Binance platform as unregistered securities.
Recently, Binance launched a large number of TON ecological games and memecoins, which caused great controversy in the community, and even raised questions about insider trading. Binance co-founder He Yi said: Binance has no intention of steering the wind to Meme. There are currently three types of projects in the market: 1) TG mini-games, which have many players; 2) A large number of infrastructure projects and other coin issuances, which are all highly valued VC coins; 3) Memecoin is the only one left in the market that is hot. The previous contract did follow the trend and launched NEIRO. The community reported that Meme was becoming a currency, so it took some time to find some projects with relatively low market value and dispersed coin holdings to test the water; 4) For other types of projects, we also keep observing. If you think there are coins that you think are particularly good, you are welcome to recommend them. However, Binance is a trading platform and will try to provide as many tokens as the market needs, but investment is risky. I hope everyone will DYOR as much as possible before buying and selling.
7. JPMorgan Chase CEO: JPMorgan Chase is one of the largest users of blockchain link
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said at the Financial Markets Quality Conference on Tuesday that JPMorgan Chase, as the largest bank in the United States, may be one of the largest users of blockchain technology. However, Dimon said that blockchain is just a good way to share data and continues to maintain a skeptical attitude towards cryptocurrencies. JPMorgan Chase forked a version of Ethereum in 2020 to create a private permissioned network called Onyx, which has processed more than $700 billion in transactions.
8. Tether’s Q2 2024 audit shows $118.4 billion in reserves link
Tether's audit for the second quarter of 2024 showed that its reserves amounted to $118.4 billion, exceeding liabilities by $5.3 billion, of which more than $97.6 billion were U.S. Treasuries. This makes Tether the 18th largest holder of U.S. Treasuries in the world, surpassing countries such as Germany, the UAE and Australia. In addition, Tether actively cooperated with 180 institutions in 45 jurisdictions around the world, froze approximately 1,850 wallets involved in the case, and assisted in the recovery of more than $113 million in assets.
9. Circle announces it will move its global headquarters to New York City, USA link
Circle announced that it will move its global headquarters to New York City, USA, and build a flagship space on the top floor of One World Trade Center. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that in the 11 years since its establishment, USDC now supports trillions of dollars in on-chain transactions. 2025 will be the year when stablecoins enter the mainstream, and it plans to open its new headquarters to the world in early 2025.
USDC, the stablecoin issued by Circle, is now available in Brazil and Mexico. The move allows the direct exchange of Brazilian real (BRL) and Mexican peso (MXN) into USDC without converting fiat currencies into dollars. Circle said that businesses can obtain USDC from local financial institutions for their own purposes, or they can provide stablecoins to retail customers. Circle now supports local bank transfers through PIX and SPEI, the national real-time payment systems of Brazil and Mexico, respectively.
10. Vitalik: The insurance DAO model is underestimated, and the symmetric model can bring fairer incentives link
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin tweeted that insurance DAOs (decentralized autonomous organizations) are seriously underestimated. Insurance DAOs allow multiple participants facing similar risks to pool funds together and agree to provide protection for any member who suffers the risk. This symmetrical model ensures the balance of incentives. Vitalik pointed out that DAOs can still hire professional claims adjudicators, but since each participant does not know whether he will be a beneficiary next time, the adjudicator has an incentive to remain fair. He also mentioned that similar models have existed in the past and still exist in some places today.
Key financing events
Binance Labs announces investment in modular blockchain network Hemi Labs link
Bitget and Foresight Ventures announce $30 million strategic investment in TON blockchain link
Decentralized finance platform Drift Labs announces $25 million Series B funding link
Solana developer platform Helius announces $21.75 million in funding link
Decentralized clearing network Yellow Network completes $10 million seed round of financing link
Crypto infrastructure network Pipe completes $10 million financing, Multicoin leads the investment link
Data Pool Network web3 startup Vana announces $5 million in new funding, led by Coinbase Ventures link
a16z CSX shortlisted project MagicBlock completes $3 million pre-seed round of financing link
0xAstra, the innovative gamified full-chain liquidity aggregation protocol, announced the completion of a $3 million seed round of financing link
Fermah completes $5.2 million seed round led by a16z’s CSX and Lemniscap link
On-chain perpetual DEX LogX announces completion of $4 million strategic round of financing link
RISE announces $3.2 million seed round led by Finality Capital link
Grass Network, an AI and data project, has completed a new round of financing, led by Hack VC link
Ore announces the establishment of Regolith Labs and completes $3 million seed round of financing link
For more industry funding events, visit crypto-fundraising.info.
