Evening News | Solana TVL accused of being inflated by over 70%; Vitalik claims that USDT, USDC, and others may determine the direction of the ETH hard fork
BlackRock provides cryptocurrency trading and custody services for its clients through Coinbase Prime; Voyager has been approved to return $270 million in cash deposits to customers.Organizer: AChai, Chain Catcher
"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"
1. Sources: A developer faked 11 identities, Solana TVL suspected to be over 70% fabricated
According to CoinDesk citing informed sources, Saber chief architect Ian Macalinao has 11 fake identities, including Surya Khosla, a developer of the Solana ecosystem DeFi yield aggregator protocol Sunny, 0xGhostchain, founder of the Solana algorithmic stablecoin project Cashio, and Goki Rajesh, founder of the multi-signature wallet Goki. Thanks to the TVL algorithm written by Ian Macalinao, billions of dollars have been repeatedly counted within Solana's DeFi ecosystem (at least including Sunny and Saber). Ian Macalinao previously stated that he believed the explosive growth of TVL triggered the soaring price of SOL.
Currently, Ian Macalinao and fellow Saber developer Dylan announced at the end of June that their created crypto fund Ship Capital has been renamed Protagonist. According to the official website and regulatory documents, the fund has raised at least $33 million and has shifted to participate in the development of the Aptos ecosystem.
It is reported that the projects the fund has currently invested in include Aptos, programmable NFT startup Cardinal, neobank Cogni, and decentralized finance platform Delta One. (Source link)
2. Vitalik: USDT, USDC, etc. may determine the direction of ETH hard forks
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin stated at the BUIDL Asia event that centralized stablecoins like USDT and USDC could be "important decision factors for future hard forks." Vitalik Buterin added that in the next five to ten years, Ethereum may see more controversial hard forks, and centralized stablecoin issuers may become more influential decision-makers. (Cointelegraph)
3. BlackRock provides crypto trading and custody services for its clients through Coinbase Prime, with the latter's stock soaring over 40%
Coinbase announced a partnership with BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company, to provide institutional clients of BlackRock's end-to-end investment management platform Aladdin with direct access to cryptocurrencies, initially including only Bitcoin. Coinbase Prime will offer crypto trading, custody, prime brokerage, and reporting services to Aladdin's institutional client base. Following the announcement, Coinbase's stock soared over 40% to $112. (Source link)
4. Voyager approved to return $270 million in cash deposits to customers
Crypto lending service provider Voyager Digital has received approval from a U.S. bankruptcy court to return $270 million in customer cash. Reuters cited The Wall Street Journal reporting that Judge Michael Wiles, overseeing the Voyager bankruptcy case, ruled that the company provided "sufficient grounds" to support its argument that customers should be allowed access to the Metropolitan Commercial Bank custodial accounts. (Reuters)
5. Lido DAO treasury diversification proposal approved, will sell 10 million LDO to Dragonfly Capital
The voting for Lido Finance's updated treasury diversification proposal has concluded, with the proposal passing with over 99% support. Lido will sell 10 million LDO to Dragonfly Capital.
This is the second time Lido DAO has voted on a sale proposal. Previously, Lido Finance released a proposal in mid-July to sell 20 million LDO at a price of $1.452, with Dragonfly Capital planning to purchase 10 million, but that proposal did not pass. Subsequently, Lido Finance modified the proposal, increasing the lock-up period for the tokens sold to Dragonfly Capital by one year. (Source link)
6. Moonbirds announces shift to cc0 protocol and will establish Moonbirds DAO to encourage commercialization
Moonbirds founder Kevin Rose stated on Twitter today that Moonbirds is shifting to the cc0 protocol and will establish Moonbirds DAO. It is reported that this DAO will oversee the licensing of the Moonbirds name, with the primary goal of encouraging general commercialization while preventing scams, hate speech, and violence. (Source link)
7. Crypto venture capital firm Lattice Capital has raised $60 million for its second fund
Crypto venture capital firm Lattice Capital announced today that it has raised $60 million for its second crypto fund, which will support the most promising early-stage Web3 startups. It is reported that the Lattice Capital II fund is three times the size of last year's first fund, and a regulatory document from February of this year disclosed the existence of the fund.
Lattice general partner Mike Zajko stated that Lattice will issue checks ranging from $500,000 to $1.5 million from this fund and plans to invest in 40 to 50 companies, having already deployed to 9 companies. The only publicly disclosed transaction, NFT smart certification company Optic, announced completion of a $11 million seed round in July this year. (CoinDesk)
8. Former chief of Uniswap Labs proposes to create Uniswap Foundation and requests $74 million in funding
Former chief of Uniswap Labs Devin Walsh posted on the Uniswap governance forum proposing the creation of the Uniswap Foundation, whose mission is to support the decentralized growth and sustainability of the Uniswap protocol and its supported ecosystem and community, providing grants to builders, researchers, organizers, scholars, analysts, etc., to develop the protocol and plan its future.
The proposal suggests forming a 12-person team and requesting a total of $74 million in funding from the Uniswap community, of which $14 million is for operational budget to cover the entire team for 3 years, and $60 million is to expand the Uniswap Grants Program (UGP) budget to over 3 years. The first payment would be $20 million. Additionally, the proposal requests 2.5 million UNI for governance, primarily through delegation. By using the new smart contract primitive The Franchiser, the UNI can be revoked by the DAO at any time and cannot be used for any purpose other than governance.
To further discuss the proposal, the proposer plans to attend the Uniswap community call on Wednesday, August 10, at 4 PM EST and host a Twitter Space on Monday, August 15, at 11 AM EST on @uniswapgrants. (Source link)
9. Meta: Instagram is introducing digital collectibles display features in over 100 countries or regions
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that Instagram is introducing digital collectibles (to showcase NFTs on Instagram) in over 100 countries or regions across Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas, and has launched integrations with Coinbase Wallet and Dapper, as well as support for the Flow blockchain.
Instagram currently supports connections with third-party wallets, including Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, and Dapper Wallet, with supported blockchains including Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow. (Source link)
10. Web3 startup Halliday completes $6 million seed round financing, led by a16z
Web3 startup Halliday has completed a $6 million seed round financing, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Hashed, A.Capital, SV Angel, and others.
It is reported that Halliday was launched in November 2021 and offers gamers the option of "play now, pay later," aiming to make in-game purchases of NFTs more affordable and convenient. (Decrypt)
"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading in the Last 24 Hours"
In 2022, the hottest game in the Web3 industry is undoubtedly STEPN. As an early investor behind it, Folius Ventures has quickly gained popularity, becoming one of the most outstanding emerging venture capital firms this year, with other representative investment projects including Project Galaxy, Scroll, CyberConnect, and many other star projects.
It is worth noting that Folius Ventures limits its investments to Asia-Pacific and Chinese entrepreneurs. Jason believes that the next chapter of Web3 will be written by B2C applications, and in the next 5-10 years, entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region have a huge advantage over their European and American competitors.
2. Interview with rct AI: It's time to think about how blockchain will change the game publishing side
Aside from gameplay, what impact will blockchain have on the publishing side? Should there be local publishers, and how should revenue be shared with local publishers? If there is a demand based on the content itself in the future, will localization needs arise? Should the operational methods and gameplay in different regions also be adapted to local conditions?
Given that purchasing power varies by region, do we really need to share a single data system? Do we need to allocate servers? How much of the content should be on-chain? There are many aspects of publishing-related content that we need to explore.
3. The continuous collapse of funding platforms: Reflections on the CEFI crypto lending market model
Recently, crypto lending platforms have repeatedly suspended redemptions, causing panic among crypto market participants and a significant drop in the crypto market. But what exactly is crypto lending? What are the functions of crypto lending? What are the general terms of crypto lending and the current situation of CEFI? This article provides an in-depth understanding of the CEFI crypto lending market model.
