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💰 Avalanche Powering Smart Contracts With Web2 APIs Using Chainlink Functions
Chainlink intends to enhance its interoperability with blockchain systems and enable new use cases for hybrid smart contracts. Similarly, the crypto business is eager to join the vast network; in this instance, Avalanche got a Chainlink service on the blockchain. Chainlink is still under testing since it was built on top of Avalanche Fuji, the blockchain testnet. Chainlink’s integration with Avalanche was mentioned during the most recent Avalanche Summit on May 5, however, the service was just deployed today. Chainlink Functions enable new Web3 and Web2 integrations. Web3 developers could not previously link their smart contracts to existing Web2 APIs. This would provide access to social media signals, artificial intelligence computers, messaging services, and much more. Chainlink Functions may be used with other high-quality Chainlink services offered on Avalanche, such as Chainlink Data Feeds, Chainlink VRF, and Chainlink Automation. Web2 developers, on the other hand, were unable to use their current infrastructure while developing a Web3 application. Chainlink Functions offers the critical foundation required for developers to create complex applications that make use of the best of both worlds.
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⬜️ OKX Wallet Becomes The First Wallet To Launch Marketplace For BRC-20 Trading
OKX is introducing new functionality that will enable consumers to manufacture and trade Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens using the platform’s wallet. Users may now only see and transfer their Ordinals on OKX’s wallet, but they will be able to trade BRC-20 tokens starting this week. Customers will be able to mint Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens inside the wallet by late May. The OKX Wallet is the first multi-chain Web3 wallet that incorporates multi-party computation (MPC) technology, which increases security by removing a single point of failure and making it simpler for a user to regain access to assets in an emergency. It is a genuinely decentralized, self-custody wallet where all transactions and tokens are on-chain, according to the Bitcoin idea of “not your keys, not your money.” This features Lightning Network compatibility, which allows for cheaper and quicker Bitcoin transactions. Staking is also supported for Bitcoin Layer-2 token Stacks (STX) and BRC-20 tokens, as well as OKX BTC Explorer for BRC-20. Users may now verify BRC-20.
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🪙 Ether Holders Embrace Near Month-Long Wait for Staking ETH
Crypto investors looking to earn yields on their ether (ETH) holdings have to wait nearly a month before they can be set up as network validators on Ethereum. Data from two sources show waiting times for staking ether lingers at 640 hours, or about 26 days. Exiting the network, on the other hand, takes just 0.013 hours, or less than a minute. Validators are entities in a proof-of-stake blockchain, such as Ethereum. The data indicates the demand for validators to enter the network and earn the nearly 5% annual yield. Such strong demand is likely stemming from large ether holders, who do not want to cash out and instead just want to earn some passive income on their holdings. Some market watchers say these upcoming validators could be a mix of both new market entrants as well as stakers who previously unstaked ether from the network to test if the process works seamlessly and are now entering again. Shappella – a portmanteau of Shanghai and Capella, two major Ethereum network upgrades that occurred simultaneously on April 12.
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💰 Bankrupt Crypto Lender Celsius Transfers $75M of Ether to Staking Service Figment
Beleaguered cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network staked some $75 million of ether (ETH) last week via Figment, an institutional-grade staking service, blockchain data shows. According to data by crypto intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence, Celsius transferred some 40,928 ETH to a crypto wallet spread through fourteen transactions between May 10 and May 12. The account is owned by Figment. The transfer represents one of the largest movements of funds for the crypto lender since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July. Celsius was one of the crypto firms that became insolvent after the sudden implosion of blockchain project Terra and the subsequent meltdown of crypto markets a year ago, forcing the company to freeze user withdrawals. As part of the restructuring process, the bankruptcy court is holding an auction to sell the firm and its assets to interested investors including digital asset investment firm NovaWulf and private equity giant Apollo Global Management.
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💰 MakerDAO’s AI Governance Plan: A Game-Changer For Crypto Investors
MakerDAO announced its governance model which will be using artificial intelligence (AI) and new brand crypto tokens. This announcement was made by MakerDAO founder, Rune Christensen, through a forum post. The AI tools will be creating a “governance equilibrium” which will lead to development in the future. The new tokens will be linked to many of the planned features and will unite the Maker governance token (MKR) and the Dai stablecoin (DAI) under a new brand. MakerDAO will be launching six SubDAOs in the next stage which will be responsible for certain tasks delegated from MakerDAO and will be able to use AI. While users will be able to farm tokens from SubDAOs, this will unfortunately not be available to U.S. users. The following stage will introduce new governance tools that allow users to summarize, verify, and generate governance proposals with the help of AI. These features will be gated and only those who hold Maker’s new tokens will have access. MakerDAO will launch governance participation incentives and a new blockchain that makes DAO’s core features immutable.
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📣 Jump Trading Allegedly Profited $1.3 Billion From Price Manipulation TerraUSD
A lawsuit has been filed in Illinois district court alleging that Jump Trading engaged in price manipulation of TerraUSD (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin, through a partnership with Terraform Labs. According to court documents, Jump Trading purchased millions of UST tokens in 2021 to manipulate their value to reach $1, violating the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations. The lawsuit also accuses Jump of getting rich illegally. Specifically, in May 2021, when the UST stablecoin algorithm failed to maintain a fixed $1, Terraform and its CEO Do Kwon allegedly coordinated transactions with Jump to manipulate the market price for UST and aUST. To encourage Jump manipulation, Terra and Kwon agreed to amend their previous agreements and transfer over 61.4 million LUNA tokens to Jump at a high discount. Jump later sold back with a profit of more than 1.28 billion USD. Jump is the leading financial backer of Terraform Labs and has borrowed tens of millions of LUNA tokens in exchange for market-making services for transactions in LUNA, UST, and aUST.
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💰 Among Bitcoin Developers, Debate Is Raging Over Whether to Censor Ordinals BRC-20s
The staggering amount of BRC-20 tokens minted via the Ordinals protocol, which clogged the Bitcoin network and sent transaction fees sky-high, has sparked a debate among developers of the blockchain over how to tame the on-chain frenzy. The debate is playing out on the bitcoin-dev mailing list, which hosts discussions about Bitcoin development. Opinion is divided on whether more drastic steps should be taken to curb the sudden surge in BRC-20 mints. The soaring fees have forced some bitcoin users in Africa to seek alternative payment options including stablecoins, while crypto exchange Binance said it’s in the process of integrating the “layer 2” scaling solution for Bitcoin known as Lightning Network. It’s been a windfall for Bitcoin miners but has presented an existential conflict for purists of a blockchain designed to be a peer-to-peer payments network but also free from censorship. Sherief recommended mitigating Ordinals token mints by drafting and implementing a bitcoin improvement proposal (BIP) or making changes to Bitcoin Core, the primary software for connecting to the Bitcoin network.
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🇨🇦 Binance Announces Exit from Canada, Citing Regulatory Tensions
Crypto exchange Binance has announced that it would cease operations in Canada, citing the challenging regulatory environment. “We had high hopes for the rest of the Canadian blockchain industry,” the company said in a Friday tweet. “Unfortunately, new guidance related to stablecoins and investor limits provided to crypto exchanges makes the Canada market no longer tenable for Binance at this time.” In February, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) revealed new guidance that prohibited crypto asset trading platforms within the country from allowing customers to buy or deposit stablecoins without the CSA’s prior approval. Obtaining approval would require the crypto trading platform to pass the CSA’s various due diligence checks. In its Friday tweet, Binance added that it did not agree with the new regulations but still hopes to work with Canadian regulators to further develop a regulatory framework around cryptocurrencies. Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”) is a Canadian citizen, with the company describing its exit from the country as holding “sentimental value.”
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🥇 Bitcoin 2023 Conference to Host Political Leaders from Around the World
Bitcoin enthusiasts, tech innovators, and industry leaders from around the world will come together to discuss the latest advancements in the Bitcoin industry at the Bitcoin 2023 Conference. The conference is committed to providing a platform for diverse views and opinions to build a strong Bitcoin community that focuses on solving real problems and finding solutions. The program includes speakers from all spheres of society, from academics to engineers to politicians. Prominent political figures speaking at the conference include Cynthia Lummis, Senator from Wyoming; Governor Ridwan Kamil of West Java, Indonesia; Congressman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina; Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida; Tulsi Gabbard, former Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii; and David McIntosh, former Congressman & White House Senior staff. Senator Lummis, a staunch advocate for Bitcoin and technological innovation, will share her views on cryptocurrency's role in the financial industry. She has been a vocal proponent of Bitcoin, co-sponsoring the Financial Innovation Act of 2021, which calls for a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
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🔵 Arbitrum DAO’s New Proposal To Distribute 3,350 ETH In Fee Revenue
The Arbitrum community has dispersed a percentage of the DAO’s earnings to ARB token holders in accordance with the number of tokens each bearer has delegated. The protocol further indicated that it would develop an income-sharing mechanism via the periodic activation of a smart contract. This will guarantee that the prizes are given on schedule. The project is anticipated to generate a more engaged and devoted user base, as well as distinguish Arbitrum. According to Arbitrum, the move will offer ARB a purpose other than being a useless governance token, harmonizing community incentives. Several members, however, were concerned that the income distribution might define the ARB token as a security. The daily active users on the popular layer-2 rollup ARB fell from a two-week peak in the recent 24 hours, prompting concerns about the spike’s long-term viability. Since its high in March, daily transactions have decreased by more than half. Arbitrum has declared that it will contribute any excess transaction fee earnings to DAO. The ARB token, on the other hand, is presently a pure governance token with no defined function, such as fee accrual or a burning mechanism.
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💰 Hut 8 First-Quarter Revenue Drops 64% as Bitcoin Mining Difficulties Bite
Bitcoin miner Hut 8 Mining (HUT) first-quarter revenue dropped a greater-than-estimated 64% to C$19 million ($14.16 million) from the year earlier as the company was forced to turn off some machines due to a dispute with its energy provider. Revenue fell 13% from the previous quarter, missing analyst expectations of C$21.2 million. The Toronto-based company reported earnings per share (EPS) of C$0.47 compared with forecasts for a loss of C$0.15 on FactSet. While the crypto mining industry is starting to emerge from a brutal crypto winter that saw major names like Compute North and Core Scientific (CORZ) file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Hut 8 had to turn off about 8,000 machines in its Ontario facility due to a dispute with its energy provider in mid-November. Since then, it has managed to bring only about 1,000 back online. On top of that, its facility at Drumheller, Alberta is operating at just 15% capacity due to electrical problems that have damaged the equipment. The site likely accounts for about 0.9 EH/s of Hut 8’s total 2.6 EH/s of computing power.
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📣 Korean Court Determines Do Kwon Obtained About $176M From Terra-LUNA
The assets worth 233.3 billion won, equivalent to $176 million of Terraform Labs CEO Kwon Do-hyung (Do Kwon), a key figure in the collapse of the Terra-Luna cryptocurrency, have been freezed. The judge of the Southern District Court in Seoul, South Korea, recently accepted the prosecutor’s request to preserve the assets of co-founder Terra Do Kwon. All seized property will be preserved before trial to prevent criminal suspects from handling it until they are found guilty. The court determined that the amount of money Do Kwon obtained from the crime was 233.3 billion won (about $176 million).Do Kwon has banned the sale of the commercial and residential apartment building “Galleria Foret” in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, a new office building in Nonhyeon-dong, and imported cars. However, its securities deposited in Mirae Asset Securities, deposits deposited in Woori Bank and cryptocurrencies deposited in crypto exchanges cannot be processed. Requests to recover and preserve other financial assets were denied. CEO Kwon created Terraform Labs in 2018 along with Shin Hyun-seong, former CEO of Chai Corporation, who is currently being prosecuted without detention and has released Terra and Luna Coins. In May of last year, the coin’s value plummeted, and it is estimated that investors worldwide have lost about 50 trillion won.
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⬜️ OKX Transfers Whopping $60M To Alameda’s Crypto Wallet
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, OKX sent over $60 million worth of crypto assets to the wallet of bankrupt Alameda Research in the last five hours. This was accomplished through 16 transactions, which included 10 deposits of $5 million USDT and 337,859 MASK (roughly $1.30 million). It’s worth noting that OKX has promised to cooperate with FTX debtors and law enforcement officials to return any funds linked to the bankrupt firm on its platform. Moreover, during the last seven days, the Alameda wallet has received over 1 million Stargate tokens (STG) and over 5 billion units of the GPEPE meme coin from an unknown wallet. This is quite interesting considering that Alameda’s largest crypto holding was $61.40 million USDT, with other top holdings being 100 million BitDAO tokens worth $48.61 million, 19,292 Ethereum (ETH) worth $26.5 million, $12.35 million USDC, 28.9 million Stargate tokens worth $18.43 million, and 16.39 million Polygon tokens worth $14.63 million. The firm also holds altcoins like Lido (LDO), FTX Token (FTT), Serum (SRM), among others. Overall, its crypto assets are worth $285.86 million.
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💰 Liechtenstein Plans to Accept Bitcoin for Payments to State, Prime Minister Says: Report Liechtenstein Plans to Accept Bitcoin for Payments to State, Prime Minister Says: Report
Liechtenstein is planning to add bitcoin (BTC) as a payment option for government services, German news outlet Handelsblatt reported on Sunday. Any crypto received as payment will likely be immediately exchanged for Swiss francs, Liechtenstein's national currency, Prime Minister Daniel Risch told the newspaper. The European Union is now finalizing its landmark licensing regime known as the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation. Risch, who is also the country's finance minister, did not specify a timeline for adding the payment option, according to the report. Although crypto is too volatile to entrust portions of the country's multi-billion dollar annual savings, that could change, the Prime Minister reportedly signaled. “Crypto like bitcoin are currently still too risky. But this assessment can change," Risch told the newspaper. something that could draw to the region crypto firms seeking regulatory clarity. Although Liechtenstein is not a member of the bloc, it is part of the greater European Economic Area (EEA), to which the framework's relevance can be extended.
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🪙 Compound III Now Expanded To Layer-2 Arbitrum
Compound Labs announced that Compound III had been deployed to Arbitrum, allowing the use of ARB, GMX, WETH, and WBTC as collateral to lend USDC. This is the third blockchain deployed by Compound III after Ethereum and Polygon. Compound, the veteran lending protocol of Ethereum, announced in August last year the launch of the third version of the EVM-compatible chain, Compound III “Comet” can be used for lending, while other assets are mortgage assets. Compound III. Kevin Cheng, Senior Software Engineer at Compound Labs, explains that Comet will significantly save gas for users by not changing the parameters of the protocol. Each type of collateral on the platform comes with custom loan and liquidation rates, with WETH and WBTC having slightly lower liquidation fees. The USDC market will target a reserve fund of 5 million USDC and have a minimum loan size of 100 USDC. Compound II uses a risk pool model where users can borrow any asset. In this model, the protocol is as secure as the single weakest asset, and this can also lead to bad assets draining all assets in the protocol. Currently, lending protocols such as Aave also work in this way.
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🇺🇸 U.S. crypto firms set sail to Bermuda amid dark and stormy US regulatory environment
As the regulatory environment in the U.S. grows dark and stormy, American crypto companies are looking east to Bermuda and its friendlier digital asset framework. The renewed interest in crypto frameworks outside of the United States is a reaction to the country’s key regulators cracking down on crypto firms, and Congress moving slowly to establish new rules for the industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission has targeted crypto companies. Bermuda has spent the last five years building and fine-tuning its digital asset framework since enacting the Digital Asset Business Act, which established a licensing regime for issuing, selling or redeeming digital assets, operating as a payment service provider business using digital assets and operating as an electronic exchange, among other endeavors. Since that time, Bermuda has granted licenses to crypto companies including Block and its subsidiary Cash App, along with Circle, the Boston-based issuer of the USDC stablecoin. Burt himself is active in the crypto space, attending conferences like the Satoshi Roundtable in Dubai.
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🇯🇵 G-7 Finance Ministers Discuss Crypto Regulation Ahead of Japan Summit Next Week
The Group of Seven (G-7) intergovernmental political forum has signaled its commitment to implementing the Financial Stability Board's (FSB) forthcoming norms for regulating crypto assets and the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) recommendations on central bank digital currencies. The group's finance ministers and central bank governors announced they had discussed crypto asset supervision at a Saturday meeting in Niigata. India, as the president of the G-20, has been pushing for globally coordinated crypto rules. In February, the group said forthcoming global crypto norms will be based on a new synthesis paper jointly produced by the IMF and the FSB. The G-7 has indicated it will follow the standards set by the FSB. The G-7 also supports the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) efforts to accelerate the global implementation of its travel rule, which mandates the sharing of information on fund transfers between financial institutions, the finance ministers said. The global money-laundering watchdog is due to publish a progress report on travel rule implementation.
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🪙 Over 440,000 Ethereum Added to Liquid Staking Derivatives in Two Weeks
In less than two weeks, the total value locked (TVL) in liquid staking derivatives has increased by 441,110 ether, worth roughly $793 million. While Lido Finance dominates the market with 74.35% of the TVL, competing liquid staking protocols Rocket Pool and Frax Ether have recorded double-digit gains of 34% to 42% in the past 30 days. The second-largest LSD protocol is Coinbase Wrapped Staked Ether, with 1,145,137 staked ether. Liquid staking protocols continue to grow, with the top decentralized finance (defi) protocols recording an additional 441,110 ethereum (ETH). As of May 12, 2023, the total value locked (TVL) in liquid staking derivatives (LSDs) stands at 8,872,715 ether, equivalent to $16.101 billion. This marks a significant increase from the 8,431,605 ethereum locked in liquid staking protocols on April 30. In just 12 days, the number of ether deposits surged by an impressive 5.23%. Despite the recent addition of 441,110 ethereum, the TVL in LSDs is currently worth less than it was on April 30, owing to ethereum’s decline in market value. Notably, Lido dominates the market with a 74.3596% share.
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🏦 Crypto VC Paradigm Secures $50 Million Stake In Coinbase
The recent share purchase by Paradigm, a crypto venture capital firm and existing Coinbase investor, is a sign of its confidence in the exchange operator. Paradigm bought additional shares worth about $50 million earlier this week, according to a regulatory filing by co-founder Fred Ehrsam to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. Ehrsam, who was also a co-founder of Coinbase from 2012 to 2017 and is a current board director at the company. PD’s decision to invest further in Coinbase is timely, given Coinbase’s ongoing legal tussle with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Paradigm filed an amicus brief last month in support of a lawsuit by Coinbase against the SEC, which seeks to compel the SEC to respond to Coinbase’s request for rulemaking for the crypto industry. In its filing, Paradigm said that the delay by the SEC has left the industry in a state of uncertainty, and it is imperative that the SEC be held accountable for its inaction. Coinbase shares have been on a rollercoaster ride, with a 65% increase in value so far in 2023, according to MarketWatch data.
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💰 GBTC Investors Fume Over SEC Redemption Inquiries
U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman wrote a letter addressed to SEC Chair Gary Gensler, inquiring about whether Grayscale Bitcoin Trust investors (GBTC) can redeem their assets from the investment company. In the letter, Sherman expressed concerns over the fact that Grayscale may have prioritized profits over the interests of over 850,000 retail investors whose assets are currently trapped in GBTC. As a result, Sherman believes that the SEC needs to step in and protect the interests of these investors. Grayscale’s decision to issue more GBTC shares is believed to have played a significant role in the shares trading at a discount to its net asset value. According to ycharts data, the discount has narrowed to 39.76% as of press time. This action has created concerns for thousands of GBTC investors who are worried about the safety of their investments. Sherman has posed several questions to the SEC regarding Grayscale’s actions. He has inquired about Regulation M and whether it is still a barrier to shareholder redemptions. His other questions are related to Grayscale’s lack of an independent director on its board and whether its 2% Bitcoin-based fee is high.
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💰 MakerDAO Founder Proposes Plan for Upgraded Versions of DAI Stablecoin, Governance Token
Decentralized finance (DeFi) lending platform MakerDAO’s founder, Rune Christensen, laid out plans to introduce a new stablecoin and governance token as part of the platform’s on-going revamp, according to a proposal posted on Maker’s governance forum on Thursday. The tokens will be upgraded versions of Maker’s stablecoin DAI and its governance token maker (MKR). The proposal is part of Maker’s major restructuring called the “Endgame” that aims to revitalize the platform and boost development of applications for the protocol’s stablecoin. Maker’s governance has been embroiled in drama on several occasions, leaving community members divided, while demand for its DAI stablecoin has been steadily declining, dropping to $4.7 billion tokens in circulation from almost $10 billion in little over a year. The initiative, which was approved in October by the community, includes breaking up Maker’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) structure into smaller SubDAOs, which are self-governing and self-sustaining entities with their own tokens within the MakerDAO ecosystem.
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💰 Leaked documents show Celsius was plotting a bold business pivot weeks before bankruptcy
Celsius Network, the failed crypto lender, pitched deep-pocketed investors on an ambitious plan to white-label some of its services last year — just as its core business imploded. Pitch documents obtained by The Block show that Celsius approached both Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs and Abu Dhabi-backed fund ADQ about a project branded Celsius Web Services in May and June, respectively. The initiative would see Celsius offer generic versions of its products. Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius who resigned in September, spearheaded the CWS plan and wanted to raise $1 billion to get it off the ground, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. As well as Goldman and ADQ, Mashinsky pitched his own board, which until June last year included Laurence Tosi, managing partner of WestCap Group, and a representative of Canadian pension fund Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec. Those investors jointly invested $750 million in Celsius in late 2021, but wanted no part of CWS. Mahinsky’s attempt to launch a raft of new products and pivot Celsius away from its core business of lending out crypto assets couldn’t.
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🇦🇷 Argentina moves to tighten grip on crypto transactions
Argentina's central bank is moving to tighten its grip on crypto transactions in the inflation-rattled country, having last week issued new guidance that prohibits some companies from certain activities. Specifically, registered payment service providers known locally as PSPCPs may not carry out or facilitate operations with digital assets that are not regulated and authorized by the central bank. The notice, dated May 4, says that the providers won't be able to carry out the transactions on their own. Companies formally registered with the central bank as payment service providers include large players in the space such as MercadoLibre, Bind Pago, Mobbex, Nubi and Pomelo. The rules appear to target "automatic purchase buttons," and interested users who want to conduct such transactions "should do it on their own accord." Crypto use in the country has been rising, especially as Argentines rush to protect their savings in the face of annual inflation above 100%, multiple exchange rates and capital controls. Still, widespread adoption has faced obstacles, especially with fear of volatility and widespread skepticism about possible scams.
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🪙 Ether Selling Pressure Post-Shanghai Upgrade Was 'Non-Event,' Says Nansen
In hindsight, the selling pressure of ether (ETH), Ethereum’s native token, turned out to be a “non-event” following the Shanghai upgrade, which enabled staking redemptions for the first time, according to a report from blockchain analytics firm Nansen. Over a month has passed since the Shanghai upgrade that marked Ethereum’s full transition to a proof-of-stake blockchain, and ETH staking deposits have surpassed withdrawals. Shanghai, crypto bulls and bears debated extensively about the market’s potential response following the upgrade. The price of ETH has decreased about 8% to $1,851, since April 13 when Shanghai went live, per CoinDesk data. The CoinDesk Market Index, designed to measure the broad performance of the digital asset market, has dropped nearly 10% in the same time period. Crypto exchange Kraken, which complied with regulation from the Securities and Exchanges Commission to end its crypto staking-as-a-service platform for U.S customers in February, had the most withdrawals at over 646,000 ETH, with Coinbase.
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📣 BlockFi Customers Can Be Repaid $300M Held in Custodial Accounts, Judge Says
BlockFi custodial wallet users can be returned nearly $300 million, as a New Jersey judge ruled on Thursday May 11 that assets sitting in the wallets belong to clients rather than the estate of the bankrupt crypto lender. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan ruled against repaying a further $375 million in funds that clients tried to withdraw from BlockFi’s interest-bearing accounts, known as BIA, after the company froze funds last year. “The court finds that all digital assets held by the debtors in custodial omnibus wallets are indeed client property, and not property of the bankruptcy estates, subject, of course, to possible avoidance and clawback rights,” Kaplan said, but had less happy news for BIA customers. “No transfer request by customers between the BIA and the custodial wallet accounts initiated after 8.15 pm on November 10, 2022 were effectuated and completed,” Kaplan said, despite the crypto company's user front-end appearing to confirm that they had successfully shifted funds. At a hearing held Monday, Deborah Kovsky-Apap of law firm Troutman Pepper argued that her clients.
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🪙 Binance’s VC Arm, With Over 200 Investments, Focuses on 'Explosive' Potential for Web3
Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume, may have found itself in the crosshairs of the U.S. regulators, but its venture capital (VC) arm, Binance Labs, continues to invest across the Web3 ecosystem. Despite the looming U.S. regulatory uncertainties and a continued bear market, Binance Labs has been able to grow its assets to $9 billion at the end of the first quarter from $7.5 billion last August. The VC arm expanded because it believes Web3 is still in its early stages and that blockchain technology has yet to see an “explosive” use case outside of financial instruments, Yibo Ling, the chief business officer of Binance Labs, said during an interview with CoinDesk. “We are very much long-term investors in this space. We're not a fly by night – come in, and try to get a quick hit and move on because our core business is obviously long on the entire industry,” Ling said. He also added that his firm looked for investment opportunities that haven’t been rocked by market conditions or potential regulations.
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💰 Lido DAO Governance Holds Onto 39 ETH Despite Sushi Recovery Effort
Lido DAO governance is currently deliberating on a proposal that would see the return of funds that ended up in its execution layer rewards vault following a SushiSwap attack that resulted in a $3.3 million loss last month. The majority of the lost funds were attributed to Michael Patryn, otherwise known as Omar Dhanani, who is an alleged serial scammer and a co-founder of QuadrigaCX, which is now bankrupt. To address this, a proposal to return these funds had been flagged with the Lido team, and a related snapshot vote was posted last week. As of publication, an overwhelming majority of Lido community members (99.92%) have voted to take “no action,” choosing not to return the funds back to Sifu. Despite the proposal making sense on the surface level, Misha Putiatin, the CEO of Statemind, noted on a discussion thread that there could be severe ramifications to the protocol if it were to be approved. He pointed out that without a clear framework, Lido DAO could be heavily throttled by an inflow of hack reimbursement proposals. In case of reimbursement, Lido DAO would need to be an arbitrary judge of what constitutes legal or illegal activity for other protocols which is way beyond its usual capacity and might bring unpredictable legal risks.
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🪙 Tether reports $1.5 billion net profit for first quarter in latest attestation report
Stablecoin issuer Tether said it had a net profit of $1.5 billion in the first quarter, more than double what it reported in the previous period, according to its latest attestation report. "We are thrilled with the tremendous success Tether has achieved in Q1 2023, with our reserves' surplus reaching an all-time high of $2.44B," Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Tether, said in a statement shared with The Block exclusively. Tether's consolidated total assets amounted to at least $81.8 billion as of May 9, while its consolidated total liabilities amounted to $79.4 billion, per the statement, reflecting excess reserves of at least $2.44 billion — an all-time high. The excess reserves are much higher than Tether's Q4 numbers of $960 million. Tether included additional categories into its reserves reporting for the first time. These include bitcoin, physical gold, overnight repo, and corporate bond allocations. It holds $1.5 billion worth of bitcoin and $3.3 billion worth of precious metals. Tether said the majority of its investments, about 85%, are being held in cash, cash equivalents, and other short-term deposits.
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🐸 Pepe whales are sitting on paper profits worth more than $90 million
Pepe, a memecoin styled on the Pepe the Frog cartoon, has made some crypto traders millions — at least on paper — as its price skyrocketed since launching last month. The top 15 pepe whales — large holders of the tokens — are collectively sitting on potential profits that currently total $92.6 million, according to onchain data analyzed by Lookonchain. While the whales have sold some holdings, they still hold over 38 trillion pepe coins, or around 9% of its total supply, Lookonchain said. The profits result from simple math. The whales paid an average of $0.0000000853 per token, and the current price of the coin is around $0.00000224. That's a lot of zeros, but it adds up to a gain of 2,526%, according to CoinGecko data. Two of the top 15 whales are sitting on paper profits of over $11 million each, with the rest seeing gains between $2.9 million and $6.9 million, according to Lookonchain. One of the whales, however, has their address blacklisted, meaning they'll likely never be able to cash out. Meme coin trading volumes are soaring, led by pepe. Last month, Dogecoin saw volatility after Elon Musk temporarily replaced the blue Twitter bird icon with an image of the doge dog.
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