Headlines

Fed's Kashkari: No more than 2 rate cuts expected in June economic forecast

Kashkari, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that no more than two rate cuts are expected in the June economic forecast, and inflation seems to remain stable for some time, and more patience may be needed. The US economy is in good shape, but if the inflation target of 2% is not achieved, it will damage the credibility of the Federal Reserve. It is more likely than raising interest rates that interest rates will be kept at the current level for longer than the public expects. It is not that monetary policy has no impact, but that the impact is not as large as expected, nor as fast as expected. (Jinshi)

Grayscale withdraws 19b-4 application for Ethereum futures ETF

Grayscale filed a notice with the U.S. SEC on May 7 to withdraw its 19 b-4 application for an Ethereum futures ETF, with only three weeks left before the SEC was forced to make a decision on its application. The SEC was originally scheduled to make a final decision on the Grayscale Ethereum futures ETF on May 30. Grayscale originally submitted a 19 b-4 application on September 19, 2023, hoping to list its Ethereum futures ETF on the New York Stock Exchange. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart initially believed that Grayscale planned to strategically use its Ethereum futures ETF as a "Trojan Horse" to force the SEC to approve its Ethereum spot ETF. But he is confused as to why Grayscale is withdrawing its application now, as the SEC will be forced to decide on May 23 whether to approve at least one application for an Ethereum spot ETF. (Cointelegraph)

Reuters: Robinhood's first-quarter revenue may hit a three-year high

Robinhood Markets' first-quarter revenue may hit a record high in nearly three years, thanks to a steady rebound in stock and cryptocurrency trading. Analysts said Robinhood was at the heart of the 2021 meme stock frenzy, and bets on global interest rate cuts at the beginning of the year pushed U.S. stocks and Bitcoin to record highs, helping Robinhood earn more trading revenue. (Reuters)

Industry News

BlackRock: As of May 6, IBIT's holdings have reached nearly 275,000 BTC

According to BlackRock's official spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund data, as of May 6, its IBIT's Bitcoin holdings were 274,370.8969 BTC, with a current market value of approximately US$17,303,230,795.92, and the number of outstanding shares rose to 481,120,000.

IntoTheBlock: DeFi security incidents have caused losses of nearly $59 billion so far

IntoTheBlock posted on the X platform that the losses caused by DeFi security incidents have reached nearly $59 billion so far. Historically, the main reasons for attacks on DeFi projects include private key management, mechanism design, and smart contract vulnerabilities. However, the first quarter of 2024 showed a shift, with most of the losses attributed to Rug Pull, which was due to the overall rise in the cryptocurrency market.

FTX estimates the total value of assets distributable to creditors will be between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion

FTX and its affiliated debtors filed a revised reorganization plan and disclosure statement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Tuesday. The plan is expected to centrally distribute to customers and other creditors around the world substantially all of FTX's assets at the time of its bankruptcy in November 2022. FTX estimates that the total value of property collected, converted into cash and available for distribution will be between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion. This amount includes assets controlled by Chapter 11 debtors and assets controlled by the Joint Official Liquidators of FTX Digital Markets, Ltd. (Bahamas), the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, and the Joint Official Liquidators of FTX Australia.

FTX is understood to owe customers and other non-government creditors about $11 billion. The extra cash will be used to pay interest on the company's more than 2 million customers, a rare outcome as creditors typically receive only a fraction of the face value in U.S. bankruptcies. Court documents show that while all debts will be repaid in full with interest, shareholders will receive nothing. Depending on the type of claims held, some creditors could recover 142% of the amount of their claims. However, the vast majority of customers could receive 118% of the amount they held on the FTX platform on the day FTX filed for bankruptcy protection. FTX also proposed setting up a fund to repay some creditors, including those who provided cryptocurrency loans to FTX, money that would have gone to government regulators. Compensation could be paid out in a few months as FTX enters the final stages of its bankruptcy case. (Bloomberg)

Colombian Bank Bancolombia Launches Crypto Exchange Wenia and Stablecoin

Bancolombia Group, one of the largest banking groups in Colombia, has launched Wenia, a cryptocurrency exchange. The exchange aims to take market share from cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and Bitso in Latin America and Colombia by offering the high level of security associated with Bancolombia to new users in the field. According to Juan Carlos Mora, president of Bancolombia, the solution in question involves simplifying the adoption of digital assets and blockchain-based products in Colombia. The platform estimates that it will reach 60,000 users in the first year of its launch, given Colombia's potential as the third country with the most cryptocurrency adoption in Latin America. Pablo Arboleda, CEO of Wenia, stressed the importance of providing a friendly platform for new crypto customers. "Our purpose is to help people connect with the cryptocurrency side in a more convenient, inclusive and efficient way," he stressed. At the same time, Wenia also launched COPW, a stablecoin anchored to the Colombian peso. (Bitcoin.com)

Binance Research: Total cryptocurrency market value fell 11.3% in April, and the total supply of US dollar stablecoins reached a two-year high

Binance Research released its April crypto market report, with the following highlights: The total market value of cryptocurrencies fell by 11.3% in April, mainly due to changes in expectations for rate cuts, geopolitical risks, and a slowdown in spot Bitcoin ETF flows; at the same time, the total supply of USD-pegged stablecoins reached a two-year high. The supply of USDT and USDC has been steadily increasing, indicating continued capital inflows into the crypto market; most of the top ten tokens by market value were in decline at the end of the month, with TON and BNB up 1.0% and down slightly 1.4%, respectively; ETH and BTC both fell by about 8% in April, and XRP and SHIB fell by 17.1% and 19.2%, respectively, this month. DOGE, ADA, SOL, and AVAX fell by about 30% by the end of the month; DeFi's overall TVL fell by 0.7% in April. Among the top ten blockchains, Merlin Chain TVL grew the fastest, with an increase of 1000% and a TVL of more than $1 billion; the NFT market also declined in April, with total monthly sales falling 21% to $1.11 billion. Four of the top five NFT series in sales that month belong to the Bitcoin ecosystem.

Project News

MyShell: Testnet Phase 1 airdrop NFT will be distributed soon, ending in May

The decentralized AI content platform MyShell officially announced on the X platform that the first phase of the testnet airdrop is coming soon, and the new NFT will come with more privileges, which is scheduled to last until the end of May. Earlier news said that the first phase of the MyShell testnet has been launched.

Bitcoin L2 Network BOB Fusion Season 2 is now live

Bitcoin L2 network BOB (Build on Bitcoin) announced on the X platform that BOB Fusion Season 2 is now launched, and users can participate in the following ways: • Bridge to BOB and provide TVL to DApps; • Actively use BOB DApps; • Participate in tasks on Galxe.

Character*Voice

SlowMist CISO: Beware of the risk of account takeover caused by malicious phishing links on Telegram

SlowMist Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) 23 pds posted on the X platform, saying that we should be alert to the risk of Telegram accounts being taken over by malicious phishing links in Telegram. Recently, his team discovered that the link identity function of the well-known chat tool Telegram was exposed to a risk. Malicious users sent specific links to victims through private chats. Once the victim clicked on this link, his Telegram account might be taken over.

Foreign media: The Democratic Party of Korea intends to ask the FSC to review the spot Bitcoin ETF to seek to open such products

South Korea's Democratic Party plans to ask financial regulators to review the currently banned spot Bitcoin ETFs, according to Korean media reports. The opposition Democratic Party won a landslide victory in the general election in April, winning 175 of the 300 seats in the local legislature, while the ruling Conservative Party won 108 seats. The Democratic Party has pledged to enable local financial institutions to launch spot crypto ETFs and allow retail investors to purchase these funds through tax-free accounts. According to BloomingBit, a member of the Democratic Party said that once South Korea's 22nd National Assembly begins in June, the Democratic Party plans to ask the country's top financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), to review spot Bitcoin ETFs with the aim of opening such products locally. (The Block)

Investment and Financing

Lava Foundation completes $11 million financing, Animoca Brands and others participate

The Lava Foundation, which is committed to developing the modular blockchain network Lava, announced the completion of a $11 million financing, with participation from Animoca Brands, Gate.io Ventures, Coingecko Ventures, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Ash Crypto, CryptoLark, and media Crypto Times Japan, Le Journal Du Coin and The Rollup. It is reported that the Lava mainnet launch and airdrop are expected to take place in the coming months. (TheBlock)

Singapore Web3 platform Galaxis completes $10 million in financing, Chainlink participates in the investment

According to Coindesk’s post on the X platform, Singapore’s Web3 platform Galaxis announced the completion of a $10 million financing round, with Chainlink, Ethereum domain name service ENS, Rarestone Capital, Taisu Ventures, and ENS co-founder Nick Johnson participating in the investment.

Solana Ecosystem DePIN Project Ambient Completes $2 Million Seed Round of Financing, Led by Borderless Capital

Ambient, a decentralized environmental data network project based on Solana, announced the completion of a $2 million seed round of financing, led by Borderless Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures, Parami Investors, Sonic Boom Ventures, Primal Capital, etc. It is reported that Ambient was established in January this year, acquired the Algorand-based environmental data project PlanetWatch in March, and decided to migrate to Solana.