1. Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken and other institutions established a technical anti-fraud alliance
Coinbase has launched the Technology Anti-Scam Alliance with industry leaders including Match Group, Meta, Kraken, Ripple, Gemini and GASO to combat online fraud and financial scams. The partnership aims to protect and educate users, emphasizing that fraud is a technology-wide problem, not just limited to social media, cryptocurrency or finance.
2. Zheng Zhigang's Hong Kong-listed company Arta TechFin cooperates with Chainlink to explore tokenization solutions for real-world assets such as real estate
Adrian Cheng’s Hong Kong-listed asset management company Arta TechFin and Chainlink have expanded their partnership and are exploring solutions for tokenizing real-world assets such as real estate.
3. The EU intends to introduce blockchain infrastructure to improve record keeping and data transfer between member states
The European Union has formed a new organization to introduce blockchain infrastructure and improve record keeping and data transfer between the bloc’s 27 member states, DLNews reported.
Mathieu Michel, Belgium's state secretary for digitalization, said blockchain infrastructure will affect individuals and companies. Michel has promoted the blockchain project managed by EU countries and called it Europeum. He said at a press conference that Europeum will be tangible in the daily lives of European citizens. It will allow citizens to trace the origin of their products and enable companies to protect their intellectual property by maintaining data on an immutable blockchain network.
Ten European member states, including Italy, Poland and Greece, have agreed to help operate and launch the EU blockchain. Other European countries will still be able to use this blockchain infrastructure. Michel added that more countries are expected to join. Germany and France have not yet committed to the arrangement, but the latter has been supportive of the project.
4. Trump campaign will accept any cryptocurrency donations through Coinbase Commerce
According to CNBC, the Trump campaign announced on Tuesday that it will begin accepting cryptocurrency donations in support of opponents of "socialist government control" of the U.S. financial market. Supporters can use the "Coinbase Commerce" product to accept any cryptocurrency donations.
5. Yesterday, the total net inflow of US Bitcoin spot ETFs was about US$300 million
According to Farside data, the total net inflow of US Bitcoin spot ETFs yesterday (May 21, Eastern Time) was approximately US$300 million.
Among them, BlackRock ETF IBIT had a single-day net inflow of approximately US$290 million; Fidelity ETF FBTC had a single-day net inflow of approximately US$25 million; Bitwise ETF BITB had a single-day net outflow of approximately US$4.2 million; VanEck ETF HODL had a single-day net outflow of approximately US$5.9 million;
6. The EU's Artificial Intelligence Act was officially approved, the world's first comprehensive AI regulation
According to The Paper, the European Council has formally approved the Artificial Intelligence Act, the world's first comprehensive regulation on artificial intelligence (AI).
The European Commission proposed the "Artificial Intelligence Act" in 2021 with the aim of protecting citizens from the hazards of this emerging technology. After several rounds of negotiations and consultations, the European Parliament approved the bill in March this year. As the two major legislative bodies of the European Union, the European Council and the European Parliament play the roles of the upper house and the lower house respectively.
The EU's Artificial Intelligence Act imposes strict transparency obligations on high-risk AI systems, while placing lower requirements on general AI models. With the approval of both legislative bodies, the bill will be published in the EU Official Journal in the coming days after being signed by the European Parliament and the President of the European Council, and will come into force 20 days after its publication.
7. Worldcoin was found by the Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data to have violated the privacy law
According to Rthk, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has completed its investigation into the Worldcoin project. Privacy Commissioner Chung Lai-ling ruled that the operation of Worldcoin in Hong Kong violated the Privacy Ordinance and has issued an enforcement notice requiring it to stop collecting citizens' iris and facial images with iris scanning devices.
The investigation results showed that WorldCoin violated the data protection principles of the Privacy Ordinance regarding the collection, retention, transparency, access and correction of personal data. The collection of facial and iris images was unnecessary and excessive.
Regarding the fact that WorldCoin will retain personal data for up to 10 years for the purpose of training artificial intelligence models for identity verification procedures, the PCPD believes that this period is too long and constitutes excessive retention of personal data.
8. Xu Zhengyu: Hong Kong's future financial focus will be on interconnection with the mainland, virtual assets, etc.
According to Ta Kung Wen Wei Po, the 15th Legislative Council front hall exchange meeting in Hong Kong was held this morning. Financial Secretary Paul Chan led a group of officials to attend the meeting. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Paul Chan said that the focus of finance in the future will be on connectivity with the mainland, green finance, virtual assets and other aspects.
9. U.S. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler: FIT21 will "weaken" regulators' oversight of cryptocurrencies and capital markets
According to CoinDesk, Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said on Wednesday that the FIT21 bill would harm investors and hinder the work of the SEC. He said, "The FIT21 bill will create new regulatory loopholes and undermine decades of precedents for investment contract regulation, exposing investors and capital markets to immeasurable risks."
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill later Wednesday.
10. WisdomTree gets approval to list Bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs on the London Stock Exchange
According to CoinDesk, asset management company WisdomTree has obtained approval from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to list cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). According to an announcement released on Wednesday, WisdomTree's physical Bitcoin (BTCW) and physical Ethereum (ETHW) ETPs are expected to start trading on May 28 and are only available to professional investors. The two products will charge a fee of 35 basis points. WisdomTree said it was one of the first applicants to have its prospectus approved by the UK regulator.
11. Bloomberg reporter: 21 Shares and Invesco's cryptocurrency ETP prospectuses have both been approved by the UK FCA
Bloomberg reporter Emily Nicolle tweeted that the cryptocurrency ETP prospectuses of WisdomTree, 21 Shares and Invesco have all been approved by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) today.
12. Worldcoin responds to allegations of privacy violations: no profit from personal information
Worldcoin issued a statement in response to the "Hong Kong Privacy Commissioner's Office ruling that Worldcoin violated the privacy ordinance." Worldcoin said that it does not attempt to understand, share or profit from personal identity or personal information, but only to verify that they are human and independent.
13. Near founder established R&D lab NEAR AI
Near founder Illia Polosukhin announced the establishment of a research and development laboratory, NEAR AI, which will be led by him and Alex Skidanov. The laboratory will first build an "AI Developer" to solve the core problem of building end-to-end Web3 applications based on user intent. In addition, the NEAR Foundation has also established an incubator and investment department HZN focusing on artificial intelligence projects, which will provide support for early Web3 x AI projects.
14. Ying Yuzhou intends to seek shareholder approval to purchase cryptocurrencies with a total amount not exceeding US$100 million
Hong Kong-listed company Ying Universe (03700.HK) issued an announcement stating that as the board of directors believes in the potential of cryptocurrencies and investing in cryptocurrencies is crucial to the group's Web3.0 business development strategy and asset allocation strategy, after careful consideration, the board of directors recommends seeking prior approval from shareholders to grant the board of directors the authority to make potential cryptocurrency purchases during the authorization period (i.e. twelve months from the date on which shareholders formally pass ordinary resolutions to purchase authorizations and potential cryptocurrency purchases at the annual general meeting of shareholders), with a total amount not exceeding US$100 million.
