Headlines
▌OpenAI plans to announce a competitor to Google Search next Monday
OpenAI plans to announce its AI search product next Monday, a move that will step up its competition with search giant Google. The announcement date has not been previously reported and may change. Earlier media reports said OpenAI is developing a search product that could potentially compete with Google and well-funded artificial intelligence search startup Perplexity.
▌Binance CEO: Nigerian officials demanded $150 million in bribes
Binance CEO Richard Teng has remained silent about the legal crisis in Nigeria in the past few months, but today he issued a statement regarding the charges against Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan in Nigeria, saying that unidentified persons had contacted the exchange's employees and suggested paying a sum of money to resolve the charges. According to DLNews, Nigerian officials asked Binance for a cryptocurrency bribe of up to $150 million. Richard Teng said in a statement that the lawyers were asked to secretly pay a large sum of money in cryptocurrency within 48 hours.
Quotes
As of press time, according to Coingecko data:
The latest transaction price of BTC is $63,037.57, with a daily change of +3.1%;
ETH's latest transaction price is $3034.89, with a daily change of +2.1%;
BNB's latest transaction price is $596.04, with a daily change of +1.3%;
SOL's latest trading price is $152.73, with a daily change of +7.4%;
DOGE’s latest trading price is $0.1519, with a daily change of +5.7%;
XPR recently traded at $0.5208, with a daily change of +0.7%.
policy
▌American University Law Professor: Stablecoins require federal regulation to prevent financial risks
Hilary Allen, a law professor at American University, pointed out that stablecoins pose a potential threat to the banking system and the public, and advocated for their regulation at the federal level. She warned that stablecoins could lead to bank instability and ultimately require emergency government assistance. The remarks came as the U.S. Congress stepped up its regulation of stablecoins, although the stablecoin bill has little chance of passing in a presidential election year. Financial policy and regulatory expert Marcelo M. Prates believes that stablecoins should be properly regulated, but emphasizes their potential as electronic money, which can help improve financial competitiveness, reduce costs and promote financial inclusion. He suggested that the U.S. federal government formulate three pillars of stablecoin regulation: issuing non-bank licenses, direct access to central bank accounts, and bankruptcy protection of backup assets. This proposal aims to ensure that stablecoin issuers can operate in a low-risk and transparent regulatory environment, so as to better serve the payment industry and protect consumer rights.
▌Citadel Securities CEO: Unclear cryptocurrency regulation remains a problem
Cryptocurrency skeptic and Citadel Securities CEO Kenneth Griffin said in an interview today that unclear cryptocurrency regulation remains a problem. The use of artificial intelligence and false information are concerns before the US election. Griffin also called on US regulators to strengthen coordination in regulating the cryptocurrency industry.
Earlier last year, it was reported that Citadel was considering establishing a cryptocurrency trading market with a high-frequency trading company.
▌JPMorgan Chase: If the US SEC refuses to approve the spot Ethereum ETF, it may face legal challenges and ultimately lose the case
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) said that the Wells Notice issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) should not be an obstacle to the final approval of the spot Ethereum ETF. JPMorgan Chase said that the legal action taken by the SEC against the cryptocurrency exchange appears to be an attempt by the agency to influence U.S. policymakers and lawmakers who will be responsible for passing cryptocurrency market regulations at some point. If the SEC refuses to approve the spot Ethereum ETF, it may face legal challenges and ultimately fail.
▌Canada's anti-money laundering regulator fines Binance $4.4 million
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has fined cryptocurrency exchange Binance Holdings Ltd 6 million Canadian dollars (about 4.4 million U.S. dollars) for anti-money laundering violations. Binance was reportedly fined for not registering as a foreign money service business and for not reporting virtual currency transactions exceeding 10,000 Canadian dollars. The fine was issued on Tuesday and the Canadian regulator announced the news on Thursday.
Blockchain Applications
▌Hyperbolic launches PoSP protocol to solve decentralized AI network trust challenges
Hyperbolic, a startup focused on decentralized AI computing, announced the launch of a protocol called "Proof of Sampling (PoSP)" that aims to address trust challenges in decentralized AI networks. Developed by a team led by Mathematical Olympiad winner Jasper Zhang, the protocol combines advanced sampling methods and game theory to incentivize integrity and minimize computational requirements. Zhang said this innovation can be applied not only to AI, but also to second-layer blockchains and active verification services. They have submitted a paper to arXiv and launched the "spML" implementation. The move marks an important step forward in addressing key issues at the intersection of blockchain and AI.
Cryptocurrency
▌Marathon Digital mined 2,811 bitcoins in the first quarter
Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital (MARA) failed to meet first-quarter revenue expectations due to operational challenges in the first quarter. The miner mined only 2,811 bitcoins in the first quarter of this year, a 34% decrease from the previous quarter. The miner's stock price fell about 1.5% in after-hours trading on Thursday.
The miner said in a statement that bitcoin production and revenue in the quarter were negatively impacted by unexpected equipment failures, transmission line maintenance and higher-than-expected weather-related power curtailments in Garden City and other locations during the quarter.
▌WisdomTree digital currency business launches in New York despite shareholder opposition
WisdomTree's digital currency application, WisdomTree Prime, has been launched in New York, allowing users to use digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. However, CEO Jonathan Steinberg has come under pressure from shareholders for the company's move into decentralized finance. Graham Tuckwell, the company's largest shareholder, has expressed opposition to Steinberg's initiative and called on investors to oppose his re-election. Tuckwell pointed out that Steinberg's decentralized finance initiative is a "huge distraction and a complete failure." WisdomTree has become a major traditional financial player in the crypto space since 2019, but its digital currency fund has attracted relatively little funds, only about $70 million, while other issuers have attracted billions of dollars in investment.
Coinbase tokenization manager: Base will be able to conduct KYC through Ethereum proof service and Coinbase
Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 Base blockchain will be able to prove identity through Ethereum Proof of Service and Coinbase, saving time on Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) verification, said Anthony Bassili, head of tokenization at Coinbase. This will create a label on the user’s so-called smart wallet, designed to be ready for decentralized applications on the blockchain. While this may not be enough for all cases, Bassili said it is expected to eventually evolve into something like a KYC-dependent model, which will begin to form a market structure. More than 300,000 wallets have been verified.
Kaspersky: Nearly 6 million attempts to track cryptocurrency-themed phishing links were blocked in 2023
According to a Kaspersky report, global mobile banking Trojan attacks on Android users increased by one-third in 2023, while cryptocurrency-related phishing also increased sharply. The most popular banking Trojan is Bian.h, accounting for 22% of all Android attacks. From a regional perspective, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan have the highest proportion of users encountering banking Trojans, among which Turkey has the most mobile banking malware attacks.
In contrast, the number of users affected by financial PC malware fell by 11% in 2023, with the Ramnit and Zbot families targeting more than half of affected users. Consumers remain the main target, accounting for 61% of all attacks.
Kaspersky said it blocked nearly 6 million attempts to track cryptocurrency-themed phishing links, a 16% increase from 2022. Scammers mimic cryptocurrency exchanges and offer tokens in the name of major companies such as Apple.
More generally, financial phishing remains a major threat, accounting for 27% of all phishing attacks against business users and 31% of home users. PayPal phishing accounts for more than half of phishing pages targeting users of electronic payment systems.
▌Spot Bitcoin ETF GBTC saw a net outflow of US$43 million yesterday
According to HODL15Capital monitoring data, yesterday (May 9), the spot Bitcoin ETF GBTC had a net outflow of 700 bitcoins, equivalent to approximately US$43 million; ARKB had a net inflow of US$4.5 million; and BITB had a net inflow of US$7 million.
▌CTC Alternative Strategies holds $27.7 million worth of BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF
CTC Alternative Strategies reported that it holds $27.7 million worth of BlackRock's Spot Bitcoin ETF, the second-largest position in the portfolio.
Important economic developments
▌The probability of the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates unchanged in June is 91.5%
According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged in June is 91.5%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut is 8.5%. The probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged by August is 66.9%, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 30.8%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 2.3%.
▌The three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher
The three major U.S. stock indexes closed higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.86%, the S&P 500 up 0.51% and the Nasdaq up 0.27%.
Golden Encyclopedia
How difficult is it to mine Bitcoin alone?
Mining Bitcoin solo requires a single miner to compete with all the other miners around the world. Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus protocol makes mining a natural competition. Regardless of the power of the mining rig, the chances of a solo miner beating the rest of the world's miners to the target hashrate for a block are virtually zero.
Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish a correct investment philosophy and be sure to raise your risk awareness.
