This Week’s Top 10 News
1. US March Unadjusted CPI Exceeds Expectations
The US March unadjusted CPI stood at an annual rate of 3.5%, higher than the expected 3.4% and the previous value of 3.2%. The US February unadjusted core CPI had an annual rate of 3.8%, slightly higher than the expected 3.7% and the previous value of 3.8%. The US March unadjusted CPI reached its highest level since September 2023. Following the release of the March CPI data, the swap market indicates a decrease in the likelihood of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in June. The probability of the Federal Reserve maintaining interest rates in May is 98.4%, while the probability for June is 76.8%.
According to The New York Times, US President Biden stated on Wednesday that despite the overall acceleration in economic price growth, he still expects the Federal Reserve to cut rates this year. However, he mentioned that new data suggests that the rate cut may be delayed until later in the year. Wall Street analysts believe that the unexpected increase in inflation on Wednesday indicates that the Federal Reserve may maintain interest rates for a longer period than expected, possibly until before the November election.
2. Bitcoin Miners’ BTC Inventory Hits Three-Year Low
According to CoinMetrics data, the Bitcoin miners’ holdings reached a new low of 1.794 million coins this week, the lowest since 2021. Since November last year, the miners’ balance has decreased by 27,000 coins, in contrast to the accumulation before the halving in May 2020. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s hash rate has increased by 45% in the past five months, significantly higher than the 15% growth before the previous halving.
3. Hong Kong Bitcoin Spot ETF to Launch by the End of April
On April 10, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission updated the list of fund management companies for virtual asset management on its official website, adding CSOP Asset Management Limited and Huaxia Fund (Hong Kong) Limited. Tencent Finance’s “First Line” exclusively learned from different sources that the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission urgently updated the list of virtual asset management funds on April 10 because it plans to announce the first batch of Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETFs on April 15. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission originally planned to approve four Bitcoin spot ETFs in the first batch, including CSOP Asset Management, Huaxia Fund, Bosera Fund, and Huili Financial. According to the process in Hong Kong, after the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission approves the first batch of Bitcoin spot ETFs on April 15, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will need about two weeks to prepare for the listing of the products.
According to Bloomberg, Hong Kong may approve exchange-traded funds for direct investment in Bitcoin and Ethereum as early as Monday, April 15. Informed sources said that issuers such as CSOP Asset Management and Bosera Fund are expected to obtain approval for these two types of spot crypto ETFs. It is worth noting that the schedule is still uncertain and may change at the last minute.
4. Vitalik Presents Ethereum Ecosystem Map, Excluding L2 and Blast That Don’t Use ETH as DA
Vitalik’s presentation at Hong Kong included the Ethereum ecosystem map, which includes: Arbitrum ecosystem, OP ecosystem (OP, Base), Starknet ecosystem, zkSync, Metis, Linea, Scroll, Polygon ecosystem, Fuel, etc. However, it does not include “ETH L2” that does not use ETH as a DA, such as Celestia. It also does not include the currently popular Blast.
5. Uniswap Labs Receives Wells Notice from the US SEC, Founder Vows to Fight
Hayden Adams, the founder of Uniswap, announced that Uniswap Labs received a Wells Notice from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 11. Hayden Adams stated that he is not surprised but rather annoyed and disappointed, and is prepared to fight back. He believes that the product they provide is legal and their work is historically correct. However, it is clear that the SEC has not made efforts to establish clear and sensible rules for a long time, but instead has decided to focus on attacking long-term builders like Uniswap and Coinbase. Meanwhile, bad actors like FTX are getting away with it. They must fight against US government agencies to protect their company and industry. This fight will last for years and may even go all the way to the Supreme Court.
6. Tether’s Net Profit in 2023 Reaches $6.2 Billion with Only 100 Employees
Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise, cited Maelstrom data to reveal that Tether, the stablecoin issuer, had a net profit of approximately $6.2 billion in 2023, accounting for 78% of Goldman Sachs’ $7.9 billion and 72% of Morgan Stanley’s $8.5 billion. However, Tether only has about 100 employees, while Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have 49,000 and 82,000 employees, respectively.
7. Binance Weekly Highlights
a. Binance Enters the Top 10 Global Unicorn Rankings for 2024, Becoming the Only Blockchain Enterprise
According to the latest “2024 Global Unicorn Rankings” released by the Hurun Research Institute, Binance entered the top 10 for the first time, ranking ninth. Binance is also the only blockchain enterprise and the youngest enterprise in the top 10. In addition, Binance ranked sixth in the list of unicorns with the highest value growth, with a value increase of 99 billion RMB. In the list of unicorns with the most value decline, Opensea ranked third with a value decline of 83 billion RMB, and Ripple ranked tenth with a value decline of 28 billion RMB. In addition to Binance, other blockchain representative enterprises in the global unicorn industry include Dunamu (parent company of Upbit) and Ripple.
b. Binance Chief Compliance Officer: Working with Nigeria to Ensure Release of Detained Executive
Noah Perlman, Chief Compliance Officer of Binance, stated that Binance is making every effort to “cooperate” with the Nigerian government to ensure the release of Tigran Gambaryan, the head of financial crime investigation who has been detained. He expressed optimism about reaching a solution with the Nigerian government to release Tigran Gambaryan but declined to disclose specific details.
8. Paraguay Suspends Proposed Cryptocurrency Mining Ban
Paraguayan senators have temporarily suspended the progress of the cryptocurrency mining ban and are considering selling excess energy from the Itaipu hydroelectric plant to miners instead of exporting it to Brazil and Argentina. Senator Salyn Buzarquis pointed out in a letter to the Congress on April 8 that licensed mining farms are expected to bring in more than $125 million in revenue for the National Electricity Administration (ANDE) by 2025. Earlier, several Paraguayan lawmakers proposed a bill attempting to temporarily ban cryptocurrency mining in the country, claiming that it was stealing electricity and disrupting the country’s power supply.
9. Arthur Hayes: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Prices to Experience Sharp Decline Before and After Halving
Arthur Hayes’s latest blog post states that he personally believes that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices will experience a sharp decline before and after the halving. This is because the halving occurs at a time when the US dollar liquidity is tighter than usual, which will add momentum to the frenzy of selling crypto assets. However, after May 1st, the QT pace slows down and returns to regular planning: asset inflation initiated by financial mischief from the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury.
10. Ripple CEO Expects Cryptocurrency Market Cap to Double This Year
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expects the total market cap of the cryptocurrency market to double this year, surpassing $5 trillion. This is due to various macro factors, including the emergence of the first Bitcoin spot ETF in the US, the Bitcoin halving, and the possibility of positive regulatory momentum in the United States.
Key Financing Events
– Monad Labs raises $225 million in funding led by Paradigm.
– Bitcoin L2 developer Alpen Labs raises $10.6 million in funding led by Ribbit Capital.
– Binance Labs announces investment in Bitcoin re-collateralization infrastructure platform BounceBit.
– DePIN platform Uplink announces $10 million funding led by Framework Ventures.
– Web3 beauty startup Kiki World raises $7 million in seed funding, with participation from a16z Crypto, among others.
– SocialFi application Tomo completes $3.5 million seed funding led by Polychain Capital.
– Thesis announces the launch of Bitcoin L2 named Mezo after completing Series A funding.
– Lumoz raises $6 million in token financing with a valuation of $120 million, with participation from OKX Ventures, among others.
– Web3 social simulation game Today announces $5 million seed funding.
– Decentralized AI network project Ritual receives multi-million dollar investment from Polychain Capital.
– Web3 game studio Sortium announces over $4 million in funding, led by Signum Growth.
– GPU.net announces $5.25 million Series A funding.
– Auradine raises $80 million in Series B funding, with participation from StepStone Group, Marathon Digital, among others.
– Sapien raises $5 million in seed funding, with participation from Primitive Ventures, Animoca.
For more industry financing events, you can visit crypto-fundraising.info.
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