Evening News | Binance and a16z invest in Musk's Twitter privatization acquisition consortium; Lido's total locked value surpasses Curve for the first time

Organizer: Nianqing, Chain Catcher

"What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours?"

1. Cryptocurrency hedge fund Pangea Fund completes $85 million financing, with participation from Bain Capital and others

Cryptocurrency hedge fund Pangea Fund has completed $85 million in financing, with participation from institutions such as Bain Capital, ParaFi, Alameda Research, as well as angel investors including USV co-founder Brad Burnham, Apollo Global Management co-founder Josh Harris, and Multicoin Capital partner Kyle Samani.

It is reported that Pangea Fund was founded by former Messari analyst Ryan Watkins and Daniel Cheung, who previously worked at Jennison Associates, and will focus on a "long-only" strategy. (Source link)

2. Binance France officially obtains registration approval as a digital asset service provider in France

According to the official website of the French Financial Markets Authority, Binance France has officially obtained registration approval as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) in France. The registration scope includes digital asset custody, buying/selling digital assets with fiat currency, trading digital assets, and operating a digital asset trading platform. (Source link)

3. Coinbase NFT marketplace beta version opens to all users

Coinbase announced that the beta version of its NFT marketplace is officially open to all users. Coinbase stated that it is still working to add more features to the product. (Source link)

4. Decentralized staking protocol Lido's total locked value surpasses Curve for the first time

According to DeFi Llama data, the total locked value of the decentralized staking protocol Lido has surpassed Curve for the first time, reaching $19.37 billion, making it the top DeFi protocol by total locked value. (Source link)

5. Vitalik donates over $6.5 million to multiple COVID-19 research projects

Ethereum founder Vitalik tweeted that his Balvi Foundation has provided grants to several projects, including $2.5 million to the open-source COVID-19 vaccine development project RaDVaC, $1 million to the air purifier developer ActiveBuidings, $3 million to the Long COVID research organization, and support for the ultraviolet light project Upper Room UVGI.

It is reported that Balvi is a direct donation fund established by Vitalik in January this year to fund high-impact COVID-19 research projects. (Source link)

6. Alipay launches "Digital RMB" mini program, supporting payment functions

The Alipay app has launched a "Digital RMB" mini program to help new users more easily open a digital RMB wallet. After users open a wallet through MyBank in the Digital RMB app, they can use the mini program for one-stop digital RMB payments, transfers, and bank card management. (Source link)

7. Former LedgerX CEO plans to establish interplanetary cryptocurrency Foundation Coin for transactions on any planet in the solar system

Paul Chow, co-founder and former CEO of LedgerX, is raising funds from the MIT Alumni Association to establish his next project, Foundation Coin.

It is reported that Foundation Coin aims to become a new category of digital asset, designed for transactions on planets in the solar system (such as Earth, the Moon, or Mars), inspired by the future space plans of billionaires like Elon Musk and SpaceX. (Source link)

8. South Korea's Shinhan Financial Group establishes a $250 million digital strategic investment fund to invest in blockchain, metaverse, and other companies

Shinhan Financial Group of South Korea announced that it has established a digital strategic investment (SI) fund worth 300 billion KRW (approximately $240 million) named "Wonshinhan Connect New Technology Investment Association No.2" to accelerate the group's digital transformation and ecosystem expansion. Shinhan Capital will manage this fund.

Shinhan Financial plans to strengthen investments in promising digital technology companies in AI (artificial intelligence), blockchain, digital assets, Web 3.0, metaverse, and more through this fund. The group established a strategic investment fund worth 300 billion KRW last April. (Source link)

9. Shanghai High Court: Bitcoin has property attributes as virtual property

The official WeChat account of the Shanghai High People's Court published an article titled "Does Bitcoin Have Property Attributes? How to Execute the Return of Delivery? | Case Reference Book," which states that "Bitcoin, as virtual property, has property attributes and is subject to legal norms governing property rights. When executing the return of Bitcoin, the executing court handles it according to the norms of the delivery request and determines whether the respondent has executable Bitcoin. If the respondent has no executable Bitcoin, based on public interest and good faith principles, the parties may negotiate a compensation price recognized by both parties; if negotiations fail, the applicant may file a separate lawsuit." (Source link)

10. Binance and a16z invest $500 million and $400 million respectively in Musk's Twitter privatization acquisition consortium

According to Chain Catcher, the SEC's disclosure of Musk's Twitter privatization acquisition documents includes a list of "co-investors," showing that Binance invested $500 million in the equity acquisition, a16z invested $400 million, Oracle CEO Lawrence J. Ellison Revocable Trust invested $1 billion, and Sequoia Capital invested $800 million. (Source link)

"What excellent articles are worth reading in the past 24 hours?"

1. "NGC Ventures Partner: How Does the Metaverse Drive the Development of the Creator Economy?"

The creator economy is defined as an economic model centered around independent content creators, with a market size exceeding $100 billion. It has been a pillar of existing social platforms, creating numerous opportunities for creators themselves, as well as for employees and partner brands. The creator economy is crucial for the operation of the metaverse, closely related to other components such as virtual avatars, virtual economies, and gaming, impacting product development for both startups and established companies.

This article will focus on analyzing how the metaverse can drive the development of the creator economy and how the metaverse version of the creator economy differs from the mainstream social media creator economy we are familiar with.

2. "Twitter's Idealized Future: A Protocol, Not a Platform?"

On the night Musk finalized the acquisition deal, Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted an interesting message, stating, "Twitter should not be owned or operated by anyone, it should be a protocol-level public good, not a company. To solve this, Musk is the only solution I trust."

Will Musk follow the path set by Jack Dorsey, or will he become the next king of a centralized monopolistic social network? This article is a compilation of a blog discussion by Suji Yan, founder of Mask Network, who shares his views on these issues from the perspective of an industry observer.

3. "A Comprehensive Analysis of the Value Captured in the ZK Rollup Era"

Zero-Knowledge cryptography is considered one of the most underrated technologies of our generation. Unlike the overwhelming media coverage of themes like artificial intelligence and big data, there is almost no media attention on zero-knowledge technology. Nevertheless, this technology remains a significant breakthrough, providing valuable privacy protection in an era where personal information is exposed. So, what is its value? Why is it important now?