Weekly Highlights | Damus Officially Launched; Ethereum Launches Zhejiang Testnet

整理：润升，ChainCatcher

Important News

1. Financial Times: Twitter's Payment System May Support Cryptocurrency

On January 31, news from the Financial Times cited sources reporting that Twitter has begun applying for regulatory licenses across the United States and is designing the software needed to introduce payments. Two sources indicated that Musk had stated he hoped the system would initially support fiat currency but may later add cryptocurrency payment features. (Financial Times)

2. Bankruptcy Court Approves BlockFi to Sell Its Crypto Mining Assets to Repay Creditors

On January 31, Cointelegraph reported that a court document submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey stated that BlockFi has been approved to sell its cryptocurrency mining equipment as part of repaying creditors, on the grounds that it is "fair, reasonable, and appropriate under the circumstances." The court indicated that selling the assets would maximize the company's recovery and "realizable value."

It is reported that documents for "all qualified bids" must be sent to the parties specified in the bidding process before the February 20 deadline. Bids must be submitted to the court by March 2, and creditor representatives must oppose the sale of assets to qualified bidders by March 16. (Cointelegraph)

3. SBF-Backed AI Company Anthropic to Raise $300 Million in New Funding

On January 31, the New York Times reported that two insiders stated that the AI startup Anthropic is set to raise approximately $300 million in new funding, which could value Anthropic at around $5 billion, although the final valuation has not been determined.

Anthropic was founded in 2021, raised $124 million in Series A funding in 2021, and secured $580 million in funding led by SBF, the former CEO of FTX, in 2022. According to an article by Bloomberg, FTX/Alameda may have already invested $500 million in Anthropic, as a $500 million entry on its previously disclosed balance sheet was labeled "Anthropic." With the rise of ChatGPT, the AI sector has become a hotspot for funding, but it remains unclear what the specific connection is between SBF and Anthropic. (New York Times)

4. Jack Dorsey: Social Products Damus and Amethyst Based on Distributed Social Media Protocol Nostr Officially Launched

On February 1, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey tweeted that the social products Damus and Amethyst, based on the distributed social media protocol Nostr, have officially launched on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. (Source Link)

5. Celsius: Eligible Users Can Withdraw About 94% of Custodial Assets, Remaining 6% to Be Decided by Court

On February 1, the crypto lending platform Celsius tweeted that it provided an update regarding the upcoming withdrawal process for certain assets in some custodial accounts. Eligible custodial users will be able to withdraw about 94% of their eligible custodial assets. Whether eligible users can withdraw the remaining 6% will be decided by the court later.

Additionally, eligible users will receive specific information related to GAS and transaction fees associated with the withdrawal activities. Eligible users without sufficient assets in their accounts to cover these fees will not be allowed to withdraw their assets. Eligible users are expected to receive emails and communications from Celsius regarding their eligibility by February 15. (Source Link)

6. Blur Utilizes OpenSea's Seaport to Create New NFT Trading System, Bypassing OpenSea's Blacklist Control

On February 1, Web3 data analyst Panda Jackson tweeted that the NFT marketplace Blur has created a new NFT trading system by utilizing OpenSea's Seaport, bypassing OpenSea's blacklist control. Since Seaport is not on OpenSea's blacklist, NFT projects that were blacklisted by OpenSea can now be traded through the new system, enforcing royalties. (Source Link)

7. Ethereum's First Public Withdrawal Testnet Zhejiang Launched, Shanghai+Capella Upgrade Next Week

On February 2, according to Ethereum client developer Nethermind, Ethereum's first public withdrawal testnet Zhejiang has officially launched, and the Shanghai+Capella upgrade is expected to occur next week (epoch 1350). (Source Link)

8. BonqDAO Contract Vulnerability Attack Results in $88 Million Loss

On February 2, The Block reported that the non-custodial lending platform BonqDAO and crypto infrastructure platform AllianceBlock were hacked due to a vulnerability in BonqDAO's smart contract, resulting in a loss of approximately $88 million. The hacker removed about 114 million WALBT (AllianceBlock's wrapped native token) and 98 million BEUR tokens from a vault controlled by users, which was used to mint BEUR, a payment token pegged to the euro.

The technical reasons for the vulnerability are currently unclear, and the hacker has sold approximately $1.2 million worth of tokens, but due to insufficient liquidity, it has been difficult to convert them all into stablecoins or ETH.

Additionally, AllianceBlock stated that the incident is unrelated to BonqDAO's vault, and no smart contracts were compromised. Both teams are committed to eliminating liquidity to mitigate the hacker's ability to convert stolen tokens into other assets and have halted all exchange trading; AllianceBlock has also suspended cross-chain bridging on the AllianceBlock bridge until the situation is resolved. (Source Link)

9. Meta Q4 Revenue at $32.2 Billion, Metaverse Division's Annual Loss Expands to $13.7 Billion

On February 2, according to Meta Platforms (META.O)'s Q4 2022 financial report, Meta's Q4 2022 revenue was $32.165 billion, exceeding market expectations of $31.529 billion; the net profit for Q4 2022 was $4.652 billion, below market expectations of $6.077 billion.

The core department of the metaverse strategy, Reality Labs, reported revenue of $727 million in Q4 2022, with a loss of $4.279 billion. Reality Labs accumulated revenue of $2.123 billion for the entire year of 2022, a year-on-year decline of 6.6%; the total annual loss reached $13.72 billion, with losses further expanding.

In terms of performance outlook, Meta expects Q1 2023 revenue to be between $26 billion and $28.5 billion, with market expectations at $27.25 billion. Additionally, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that Meta will conduct layoffs at the management level. (Jin10)

10. Damus: Randomly Distributing Small Amounts of Bitcoin to Users via the Bitcoin Lightning Network

On February 3, the third-party client Damus for the Nostr protocol stated on its official social platform that it will randomly distribute small amounts of Bitcoin to users of the client via the Bitcoin Lightning Network, and users need to leave their Bitcoin Lightning Network receiving addresses in the comments section of the official Damus account.

Earlier reports indicated that the third-party client Damus has a built-in Bitcoin Lightning Network feature that can directly call third-party Lightning Network wallets for payments. Additionally, Damus has been removed from the App Store in mainland China. (Source Link)

11. Binance Acquires Majority Stake in South Korean Exchange Gopax, Funded by $1 Billion "Industry Recovery Plan"

On February 3, Bloomberg reported that Binance has acquired a majority stake in the South Korean exchange Gopax, with the funding for this acquisition coming from Binance's previously launched $1 billion "industry recovery plan," although specific acquisition terms were not disclosed. Gopax suspended customer withdrawals in November 2022, and its parent company Streami Inc. is one of the top ten known creditors of Genesis Global, which is also a partner in the yield products offered by Gopax. Binance plans to inject capital into Gopax to enable customer withdrawals and interest payments for Gopax's yield products GoFi. Zhao Changpeng expressed hope to further rebuild the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry in South Korea together with Gopax.

Earlier reports indicated that Binance completed due diligence for the acquisition of Gopax in early January and is in the final steps of confirmation procedures. At that time, Binance planned to purchase shares (41.2%) from Gopax's largest shareholder, CEO Lee Jun-hyung. (Source Link)

12. Multiple Mainstream DeFi Projects Release "Fist Bump" Images on Twitter, Possibly Announcing Important News Next Week

On February 4, several mainstream DeFi projects, including MakerDAO, SushiSwap, and Balancer, simultaneously released "fist bump" images with unique project color backgrounds on their official Twitter accounts, leading to speculation that this behavior is related to "Arbitrum's upcoming Token release" or "multiple DeFi projects forming an alliance."

The composable leverage protocol Gearbox Protocol explained in a post: "If you're confused about this, it's just a DAO flash mob we did with other DeFi projects, or a collaborative attempt, but market contributors can prepare something cool for Monday." (Source Link)

13. Multiple Investors Withdraw from New Project "Flux" Founded by Former Moonbirds COO Ryan Carson

On February 5, following the announcement by former Moonbirds COO Ryan Carson of the launch of a new Web3 project "Flux" and the initial investor list, several investors announced their withdrawal on social media.

"Pudgy Penguins" CEO Luca Netz stated: "For transparency, I did not sign anything or fund anything. I thought I was just helping people in the field and keeping friendly. I don't know the details well, but I have made it clear to Ryan that I do not want to participate in this project." Gmoney founder gmoney.9dcc.eth expressed: "I feel uncomfortable with the way this announcement was made before fundraising was completed and the fundraising strategy, so I am no longer committing to this deal. I wish Ryan all the best and hope he succeeds." AvaStars founder j1mmy.eth stated: "After carefully listening to Ryan Carson and everyone else's opinions today, I have decided not to continue investing in Flux."

Additionally, investors such as WhatStrending founder Shira Lazar and Vayner Media co-founder AJ Vaynerchuk also announced their withdrawal from Flux investment.

Earlier, ChainCatcher reported that former Moonbirds COO Ryan Carson announced on social media that he would launch a new Web3 project called "Flux" and disclosed the initial investor list, which includes: gmoney, 9gagceo, Gary Vaynerchuk, j1mmy.eth, Luca Netz, Shira Lazar, Pio Vincenzo, AJ Vaynerchuk, Jeremy Fall, Von Doom, NFTNick, andr3w, lib, and Todd Kramer. The project's partners include Immutable, Blur, Ava Labs, etc., and specific information about the project will be released soon. (Source Link)

Important Financing/Venture Capital News

1. Crypto Security Startup Hypernative Completes $9 Million Seed Round Financing, Led by Boldstart Ventures

On January 30, TechCrunch reported that crypto security startup Hypernative has completed a $9 million seed round financing, led by Boldstart Ventures and IBI Tech Fund, with strategic investments from Blockdaemon, Alchemy, Borderless, CMT Digital, Nexo, and angel investors.

Hypernative was founded by Sagie and Dan Caspi, and in September 2022, the team launched its first product, Pre-Cog, a platform that monitors on-chain and off-chain data sources to predict threats before they occur. (Source Link)

2. Blockchain Security Company Sec3 Completes $10 Million Seed Round Financing, Led by Multicoin Capital

On February 1, The Block reported that blockchain security company Sec3 completed a $10 million seed round financing in April 2022, led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Sanctor Capital and Essence VC, and individual investors including former ParaFi Capital partner Santiago Santos and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko.

Sec3, formerly known as Soteria, currently serves only Solana ecosystem projects. Its clients include Helium Network, Metaplex, and Tulip, with plans to expand to Ethereum, Aptos, Sui, and Polygon in the future. Its products, Launch Audits, X-Ray, CircuitBraker, and WatchTower, cover security solutions from pre-launch to post-launch. (Source Link)

3. Crypto Payment Platform MoonPay Completes Approximately $5.67 Million New Round of Financing

On February 2, documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) indicated that crypto payment platform MoonPay completed approximately $5.67 million ($5,678,231) in a new round of financing on January 23.

According to crypto data platform RootData, MoonPay previously completed a $555 million Series A financing in November 2021, led by Coatue and Tiger Global, with a post-money valuation of $3.4 billion. (Source Link)

4. Crypto Mining Company Pow.re Announces Completion of $27.2 Million in Series A and Strategic Financing

On February 2, CoinDesk reported that Canadian crypto mining company Pow.re announced the completion of $9.2 million in Series A financing at a valuation of $150 million, led by crypto asset management platform Haru Invest, with participation from digital asset trading companies Trinito and RFD Capital. Additionally, Pow.re received a $18 million strategic investment from Haru to fund its expansion into Paraguay. (Source Link)

5. Bitcoin Mining Company TeraWulf Raises $32 Million to Address Debt Issues

On February 3, Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf raised $32 million through a public offering and reached a principle agreement with existing lenders to restructure its debt.

CEO Paul Prager stated: "In achieving these milestones, we are more confident than ever that TeraWulf can achieve profitable growth and compelling returns." After the transaction is completed, the company expects to achieve free cash flow. (Source Link)

6. Web3 Infrastructure Company BlockJoy Completes Nearly $11 Million Seed + Series A Financing, with Participation from Tribe Capital and Others

On February 3, Web3 infrastructure company BlockJoy announced the completion of nearly $11 million in seed + Series A financing, with participation from Gradient Ventures, Draper Dragon, Active Capital, Borderless Capital, Tribe Capital, Bessemer, Renegade Ventures, and others. The new funds will be used to help launch its patented blockchain node management software.

BlockJoy supports clients in deploying and running decentralized blockchain nodes on any infrastructure while maintaining a cloud-like experience, with costs reduced by up to 80% compared to traditional cloud providers. Within six months of its launch, it has operated over 1,200 validators for Helium and recently launched a beta version supporting Ethereum and Helium, with plans to support more new protocols after completing public beta testing in the coming weeks. (Source Link)

7. Arthur Hayes: Zhu Su's New CEX Project "GTX" Has Completed Financing

On February 4, BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes posted on social media that it has been reported that the CEX project "GTX," co-founded by former Three Arrows Capital founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies along with two CoinFLEX co-founders, has completed financing.

According to previously circulated financing information for GTX, the target amount to be raised is $25 million, which will use debt trading as a market entry point. (Source Link)