This Week’s Top 10 News
1. Powell Sticks to the Fed’s Cautious Rate Cut Strategy
Fed Chairman Powell, in a speech at Stanford Business School, stated that recent data on job growth and inflation has been higher than expected. While policymakers generally believe that rates may be cut later this year, this will only happen when they have “more confidence that inflation is sustainably falling” to the Fed’s target of 2%. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic stated that rate cuts may not happen until the fourth quarter of this year, and he expects only a quarter-point cut in 2024, much lower than the three or more cuts anticipated by most of his colleagues.
2. US Department of Justice Transfers 2,000 BTC to Coinbase
On April 3rd, the Silk Road BTC address bc1q…u478, which was seized by the US Department of Justice, was distributed to two other addresses associated with the department. Among them, 2,000 BTC was transferred to Coinbase (3KrZ…TvX2), and the remaining 29,800 BTC was transferred to a new address bc1q…wzde.
3. Bitcoin Miners Earned $2.01 Billion in March, Setting a Monthly Record
In March, Bitcoin miners earned $2.01 billion, setting a new monthly record in terms of USD-denominated miner income. The block reward subsidy accounted for $1.93 billion of this. Meanwhile, the monthly on-chain transaction volume of Bitcoin reached $2.11 trillion, the highest since September 2022.
4. Tether Buys 8,889 BTC, Total Holdings Exceed 75,000 BTC
Tether’s address purchased 8,889 BTC worth approximately $620 million on April 1st. Its total holdings now amount to 75,354 BTC, with a total value of approximately $5.31 billion. Tether started buying Bitcoin in September 2022, initially purchasing 33,980 BTC. In May 2023, Tether announced that it would allocate 15% of its realized net operating profit to buy Bitcoin on a regular basis.
5. SEC Seeks Public Opinion on Some Ethereum Spot ETFs
The SEC is seeking public opinion on some Ethereum spot ETFs, including Fidelity’s Ethereum fund, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, and Bitwise Ethereum Trust. The SEC stated in its filing regarding Bitwise, “The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.” The public comment period will last for 21 days.
6. Tron Requests Dismissal of SEC Lawsuit, Claiming No Jurisdiction Over Providing Digital Assets to Foreign Users on a Global Platform
Tron has requested the dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), claiming that it has no jurisdiction over “providing digital assets to foreign users on a global platform.” Tron argues that the token sales took place entirely overseas and took measures to avoid the U.S. market, and the SEC did not allege that these tokens were initially offered or sold to any U.S. residents. Previously, the SEC issued subpoenas to Justin Sun, Tron Foundation, BitTorrent Foundation, and BitTorrent in March last year, alleging illegal sales of unregistered securities, fraud, and market manipulation.
7. Binance Weekly Recap:
a. Nigerian Government’s Tax Evasion Case Against Binance Postponed to April 19th
Binance executives have been detained in Nigeria for over a month due to tax evasion charges. After the initial hearing, the case was postponed to April 19th. Binance’s Director of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, has been charged with offenses including failure to pay value-added tax and corporate income tax, as well as conspiring to help customers evade taxes through the platform. He will remain in custody by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Judge Emeka Nwite has postponed the hearing regarding the company until April 8th.
b. Binance announces integration of Atomicals (ARC-20) token on its NFT Marketplace
Binance announces the integration of Atomicals (ARC-20) token on its NFT Marketplace, allowing users to trade Atomicals (ARC-20 tokens) with zero fees on the marketplace. Previously, Binance NFT Marketplace supported BRC-20 tokens and other token standards.
c. Binance NFT to Stop Supporting Bitcoin NFT Trading and Recharge Services on April 18th
Binance NFT will stop supporting Bitcoin NFT trading and recharge services at 14:00 on April 18th (GMT+8). Users are advised to withdraw their Bitcoin NFT from Binance NFT via the Bitcoin network before 08:00 on May 18th (GMT+8). Additionally, Binance NFT Marketplace will no longer support any airdrops, rights, or applications related to Bitcoin NFTs after April 10th.
8. Distribution of FTX Bankruptcy Assets Expected to Start by the End of 2024
According to records of a meeting held by the FTX Bankruptcy Committee’s joint official liquidators in the Bahamas, the committee plans to start distributing the first tranche of funds to creditors by the end of 2024. Creditors have been able to submit claims on the FTX claims portal since March 1st. The deadline for submitting claims by creditors is currently May 15th, but the meeting records show that “based on recent developments, the deadline is expected to be extended at least until June 2024.” The valuation of claims will be based on the price as of November 11th, 2022.
9. Forbes Releases Global Billionaire List, Total Wealth of 17 Crypto Industry Members Reaches $93 Billion
Forbes has released its 2024 Global Billionaire List, which includes 17 individuals from the crypto industry. The total value of their crypto assets, publicly disclosed stock portfolios, and private wealth is estimated to be around $9.3 billion, more than twice the total wealth of the 9 crypto billionaires who made the list last year ($3.7 billion). Binance founder and former CEO CZ remains the richest crypto billionaire for the third consecutive year, with an estimated net worth of $33 billion, far higher than last year’s $10.5 billion, ranking 50th on the global billionaire list. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong ($11.2 billion) and MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor ($4.4 billion) are among those included.
10. Bitcoin Cash Completes Halving on April 4th
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) completed its halving on April 4th. There are approximately 15 days until the Bitcoin halving, and 54 days until the ETC halving. 2024 is a halving year, which often plays a significant role in the historical development of Bitcoin. However, due to the special circumstances surrounding the Bitcoin ETF in 2024, the significance of the halving is expected to be diminished.
Key Financing Events:
– Farcaster, a development company, raised $1 billion in financing led by Paradigm.
– Blockchain XION completed a $25 million Series A financing round with participation from Multicoin, among others.
– Ellipsis Labs announced the completion of a $20 million Series A financing round, led by Paradigm.
– IoTeX received a $50 million ecosystem investment from Amber Group and others.
– Solana ecosystem cross-chain communication protocol Zeus Network completed an $8 million financing round at a valuation of $100 million.
– Stablecoin startup Agora announced the completion of a $12 million seed round.
– Gomble Games announced a $10 million financing round with participation from Binance Labs, among others.
– Gasp, a cross-chain trading protocol based on EigenLayer, raised $5 million in a private financing round.
– Yolo Investments invested $8 million in the TON ecosystem.
– Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain LightLink completed a $6.2 million seed round of financing.
– Bitcoin Layer 2 solution UTXO Stack completed a seed round of financing led by ABCDE and SNZ Capital.
– web3 AI company Raiinmaker raised $7.5 million in a seed round of financing led by Jump Capital and Cypher Capital.
– Modular L2 blockchain Camp Network announced the completion of a $4 million seed round of financing.
– Blockchain technology company Hyperbridge raised $2.6 million through the Polkadot Crowdloan.
Tags: Coinbase, CZ, FTX, NFT, SEC, Tether, Ethereum, Wu Shuo Blockchain, Binance, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Powell