Evening News | Terra founder Do Kwon has been issued an arrest warrant; SevenX Ventures completes $80 million first close for its third fund
Zhao Changpeng denies Forbes' assessment of his net worth at $17.4 billion; cryptocurrency venture capital firm North Island Ventures completes $125 million fundraising for its new fund.Organizer: Jessy, Chain Catcher
"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"
1. NFT Project Doodles Completes $54 Million Financing at a $704 Million Valuation, Led by Seven Seven Six
NFT project Doodles has completed $54 million in financing at a $704 million valuation, led by the venture capital firm Seven Seven Six (776), founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, with participation from Acrew Capital, FTX Ventures, and 10T Holdings. Doodles' official statement indicates that they are using this funding to quickly acquire a world-class team of engineers, creatives, marketers, and business executives, and to fund product development, acquisitions, proprietary technology, media, and collector experiences. The team will expand from 11 members to 30. (Forbes)
2. Beijing First Intermediate People's Court Discloses Litecoin Investment Dispute, Orders Defendant to Return Owed Assets
The People's Court of Shijingshan District and the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court recently made first and second-instance judgments on a civil dispute involving Litecoin investment, ordering the defendant Ding Hao to return 33,000 Litecoins to the plaintiff Zhai Wenjie.
According to the information, on December 5, 2014, Zhai Wenjie transferred 50,000 Litecoins to Ding Hao's designated receiving address for fund investment. Ding Hao promised to pay 1,000 Litecoins as interest every month. By April 7, 2017, Ding Hao had returned 17,000 Litecoins, still owing 33,000 Litecoins.
The court held that the IOU and receipt signed by Zhai Wenjie and Ding Hao could prove that a borrowing contract relationship was established between the two parties. In nature, Litecoin should be considered a specific virtual commodity, which does not have the same legal status as currency and cannot and should not be circulated as currency in the market. However, Litecoin possesses the attributes of virtual property and virtual goods and should be protected by law.
After the first-instance judgment was announced, the defendant appealed on the grounds that virtual currency investments are not protected by law in China. The Beijing First Intermediate People's Court stated in its second-instance judgment that although relevant legal documents stipulate that activities related to virtual currency are illegal and that investments in virtual currency and related derivatives by legal persons, non-legal persons, and natural persons violate public order and morals, rendering related civil legal acts invalid, there are no laws, administrative regulations, or departmental rules that deny the protectability of virtual currency itself as virtual property. Therefore, the first-instance court's determination that the Litecoins lent by Zhai Wenjie in this case have the attributes of virtual property and should be protected by law is not improper, and the court upheld it. (Source Link)
3. Crypto Venture Firm North Island Ventures Completes $125 Million Fundraising for New Fund
According to Business Wire, crypto venture firm North Island Ventures announced that its new fund, NIV Fund II, has completed fundraising of $125 million, which will focus on making 30 to 40 early-stage investments in emerging crypto and Web3 companies and protocols, with initial investments ranging from $250,000 to $3 million. (Business Wire)
4. Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, and Fidelity Plan to Launch Cryptocurrency Exchange
Financial giants Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Asset, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial plan to launch a cryptocurrency exchange called EDX Markets. The exchange aims to create a highly liquid cryptocurrency ecosystem that can aggregate liquidity from multiple market makers to reduce spreads and enhance transparency.
EDX Markets will be led by CEO Jamil Nazarali, CTO Tony Acuña-Rohter, and General Counsel David Forman. (Source Link)
5. Zhao Changpeng Denies Forbes' Valuation of His $17.4 Billion Net Worth
A Twitter user recently claimed that Zhao Changpeng ranks 99th on Forbes' global billionaire list with a net worth of $17.4 billion. Zhao responded, "These numbers are assessments, and the author is basing it on some subjective opinions. I don't have anything like that in my wallet. It doesn't matter. Let's focus on making a positive impact for users." (Source Link)
6. South District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul Issues Arrest Warrant for Terra Founder Do Kwon
According to the Chosun Ilbo, a team of five prosecutors from the South District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul recently applied to the Southern District Court of Seoul for arrest warrants for Terra founder Do Kwon and TFL founding member Nicholas Platias, among others. The main charges against them are violations of the Capital Markets Act, as the prosecution believes that the cryptocurrencies Terra and Luna fall under the category of "investment contract securities" as defined by the Capital Markets Act. (Chosun Ilbo)
7. Crypto Investment Fund SevenX Ventures Completes $80 Million First Close for Fund III
Asian emerging crypto investment fund SevenX Ventures announced the completion of an $80 million first close for Fund III.
It is reported that SevenX Ventures Fund III has a total scale of $100 million and will fully close fundraising by the end of October. The funding for this fund mainly comes from continued follow-on investments from LPs of the first and second funds, as well as family offices of leading internet entrepreneurs in Asia.
SevenX Ventures Fund III will allocate 60% of its funds to invest in middleware and infrastructure protocols focused on the data layer, and 40% to invest in decentralized applications centered around Asian application developers, covering new business model explorations in gaming, finance, content, and social networking. (Source Link)
8. Decentralized Data Management System Inery Completes Financing at a $128 Million Valuation, Led by Metavest
The decentralized data management system Inery has received investment from Web3-focused venture capital firm Metavest, with this round of financing valuing the company at $128 million.
Inery is a decentralized data management system that brings databases into Web3. It provides a low-cost, low-latency, secure, and tamper-proof way for data management. The data management system is designed to ensure that users (including gamers and enterprises) maintain control over their data assets in the virtual world. (Source Link)
"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading in the Last 24 Hours"
As many applications are leaving to build their own blockchains, the decentralized wireless communication network Helium is going in the opposite direction. On August 30, Helium's core developers initiated the HIP70 proposal, planning to migrate the network from its custom blockchain to Solana.
Chain Catcher interviewed Yuan, the head of Helium's Asia-Pacific region, who shared the strategic considerations behind Helium's migration to Solana.
2. "Vitalik: Should There Be Demand-Based Recurring Fees on ENS Domain Names?"
In the early days of ENS, people could register all 8,938 five-letter words from a "spelling word list" (which included various uncommon words) and prepay for a hundred years of ownership for just two Lamborghinis. In reality, as many have pointed out: almost all five-letter domain names are already taken, with many holding onto their positions waiting for high-paying buyers.
Is this really the best way to allocate domain names? By selling domain names at low prices, ENS DAO clearly has less revenue, which limits its ability to enhance the ecosystem. The current situation also undermines fairness.
In response, Vitalik wrote an article exploring whether there is a better way to allocate domain ownership.
On September 13, the NFT leasing protocol Rentable announced its closure, stating that all services would cease on October 14. Co-founder Emiliano Bonassi expressed, "We did not find a product that fits the market, and our runway has ended. After careful consideration and discussions, we prefer to move towards closure rather than pursue further fundraising."
Once, NFTFI was a hot sector, especially after the NFT leasing protocol standard ERC-4907 was passed in June, many were optimistic about this sector. However, in just a few months, things changed dramatically, and the founder reflected on the reasons for the "failure."
