Evening News | Binance responds to rumors of "frozen accounts"; Ethereum merger final completion time expected between September 10 - 20

Organizer: Runsheng, Chain Catcher

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

1. Web3 developer platform Thirdweb raises $24 million, led by Haun Ventures

According to The Block, Web3 developer platform Thirdweb has completed a $24 million funding round at a valuation of $160 million, led by Haun Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Shopify, Protocol Labs, Polygon, Shrug VC, and individual investor billionaire Joseph Lacob.

It is reported that Thirdweb provides pre-built smart contracts and SDKs to help developers create various products, as well as a dashboard for development teams to track and manage on-chain contracts. It currently supports Ethereum, Avalanche, and Fantom, with plans to integrate Solana. This funding round will be used to expand to public chains such as Cosmos, NEAR, and Flow. (The Block)

2. The final completion time for the Ethereum merge is expected between September 10 and 20

According to the Ethereum Foundation blog, the final completion time for the Ethereum merge is expected between September 10 and 20. The merge differs from previous network upgrades in two ways. First, node operators need to update both the consensus layer (CL) and execution layer (EL) clients simultaneously, rather than just one of them.

Second, the upgrade needs to be activated in two phases: the first phase, called Bellatrix, occurs at epoch 144896 on the beacon chain, corresponding to September 6, 2022, at 7:34 PM Beijing time. The second phase, called Paris, triggers the merge when the total difficulty on the execution layer reaches 58,750,000,000,000,000,000,000, expected to occur between September 10 and 20, 2022.

Additionally, as of September 8, a fourfold reward is available for submitting merge-related vulnerabilities, with a maximum reward of $1 million. (Source link)

3. Binance responds to "security" rumors: accounts will be unlocked within a limited time without effective law enforcement judgment

Binance tweeted that regarding recent rumors and statements about Binance's security within the community, users should not be misled. Users' funds on Binance are secure, and if there is no further effective judgment from law enforcement, assets and accounts will be unlocked within a limited time (the cycle varies depending on the specific case).

Binance also reminds users to be cautious when receiving assets from unknown sources through over-the-counter trading, as accounts may be subject to risk control investigations if involved in illicit activities.

Previously, Binance was rumored to be assisting law enforcement agencies in investigations, leading to the freezing of multiple accounts. (Source link)

6. Paradigm proposes NFT issuance model GDA, which can adjust issuance speed based on sales

Crypto venture capital firm Paradigm today proposed a new NFT issuance mechanism—Variable Rate GDA (VRGDA), designed specifically for the digital experimental project Art Gobblers and used in 0xMonaco.

It is reported that the GDA model can adjust NFT prices based on the divergence between actual sales levels and established sales targets, either accelerating or decelerating the sales process, with the ultimate goal of aligning the entire project's issuance pace with the expected sales plan. (Source link)

7. Bitcoin ATM company Bitcoin Depot plans to go public via SPAC on Nasdaq, valued at approximately $885 million

According to The Wall Street Journal, Bitcoin ATM company Bitcoin Depot has reached an agreement with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) GSR II Meteora Acquisition to merge and go public on Nasdaq, with an estimated valuation of approximately $885 million.

Bitcoin Depot, founded in 2016, is the largest Bitcoin ATM provider in North America, with over 7,000 Bitcoin ATMs in the United States and Canada. (WSJ)

8. Elliptic: The total value of stolen NFTs in the past 12 months exceeds $100 million, with Tornado Cash as the preferred money laundering tool

Blockchain research firm Elliptic's latest report shows that the total value of stolen NFTs from July 2021 to July 2022 exceeded $100 million, with an average of $300,000 earned per scam. The blue-chip NFTs most targeted by fraudsters include: Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, Azuki, Otherside, and CloneX, which together account for more than two-thirds of the total value of stolen NFTs, with Bored Apes accounting for $43.6 million in stolen NFT value, the largest share.

Additionally, the cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash has processed $137.6 million in crypto assets in the NFT market, and before being sanctioned by OFAC in August 2022, 52% of NFT scams processed funds through Tornado Cash, making it the preferred money laundering tool for NFT scams. The report suggests that NFT platforms need to screen relevant addresses to comply with OFAC sanctions. (Reuters)

"What are the exciting articles worth reading in the past 24 hours"

1. 《New Trends in Web3 Social Applications Behind Millions in Funding》

Between July and August, amidst the ups and downs of the crypto market, DeFi applications fell silent, NFT project floor prices plummeted, and public chain tracks were deserted. In this situation, two rounds of funding in the tens of millions came from the decentralized social track, namely Satellite IM and Farcaster, but neither has launched a usable application, and the protocols were still in the development stage at the time of funding. Why did these two projects receive support from top capital before their products were unveiled? The author analyzes the new trends in the decentralized social track.

2. 《What is a Truly Crypto-native DApp from an Architectural Perspective?》

When developing a modern toC application, whether it is a Web App, Mobile App, or Desktop App, its basic architecture can be summarized into three parts: front-end, back-end, and database, mainly due to engineering, communication, and security reasons. Based on this, it raises thoughts on blockchain DApps. The author believes that the bear market is a great opportunity to build and enhance infrastructure and believes that these innovative Fat Infra will support the next round of DApp innovation and capture significant value as the Base Layer.

3. 《The Decentralization Path of DAOs: 4 Key Principles and Effective Power Transfer》

The debate around community decentralization continues to burn in the crucible of the DAO ecosystem. DAOs have not yet completed decentralization, primarily because they are not fully autonomous, leading to debates about whether DAOs are leaderless and/or whether there should be a CEO. The author interviews experienced DAO operators and researches several important themes: How are DAOs actually decentralized? How do they change? How does leadership evolve and rotate over time? When and how does this evolution/rotation occur?