Evening News ｜ Silicon Valley Bank Faces Liquidity Crisis; Meta is Building a Text-Based Decentralized Social Network

Organizer: flowie, ChainCatcher

"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"

1. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) Shares Plunge 60%, Founders Fund and Other Funds Advise Clients to Withdraw from the Bank

Shares of SVB Financial Group, the parent company of Silicon Valley Bank, plummeted over 60% on Thursday, with a further decline of nearly 20% in after-hours trading. Reports indicate that several funds, including Founders Fund, led by Silicon Valley "venture capital godfather" Peter Thiel, advised clients to withdraw their funds from the bank.

Additionally, several venture capital firms, including Coatue, reportedly advised their portfolio companies to consider withdrawing from Silicon Valley Bank.

Earlier reports indicated that SVB lowered its earnings forecast after hours on Wednesday and disclosed significant losses from the sale of securities and stock issuance. (Source link)

2. Justin Sun Responds to HT Abnormal Fluctuations: Triggered by a Series of Liquidations from a Few Users in the Spot and Contract Markets

Justin Sun tweeted in response to the abnormal fluctuations of HT, stating, "Huobi is safe and operating normally. The recent market volatility and leveraged liquidations were caused by a few users triggering a series of liquidations in the spot market and HT contract market. Currently, all operations are progressing steadily without any emergencies; these fluctuations are merely the result of market behavior."

Earlier, Huobi's market data showed that within a 6-minute period starting at 5:00 AM, the HT token rapidly dropped from 4.3485 USDT to 0.3138 USDT, a decline of nearly 93%, before quickly rebounding to a current price of 3.8542 USDT, down 20.12% in 24 hours. Due to the significant market fluctuations, ChainCatcher reminds investors to manage their risks. (Source link)

3. Meta is Attempting to Build a Text-Based Decentralized Social Network

According to moneycontrol, Meta revealed via email that it is trying to create "an independent decentralized social network for sharing text updates."

The project, codenamed P92, is still in its early stages with no specific launch date, and Adam Mosseri, who oversees Instagram, is leading the project. (Source link)

4. President Biden Proposes 30% Tax on Electricity Used for Crypto Mining in Fiscal Year Budget
According to Cointelegraph, President Biden proposed a phased 30% tax on the electricity costs of cryptocurrency mining in his government's 2024 fiscal year budget. The U.S. Treasury Department released a supplemental budget explanation document on March 9, stating that any company using resources (whether owned or leased) will "pay a consumption tax equivalent to 30% of the electricity costs used for digital asset mining."

The document suggests that the tax will be implemented for tax years after December 31, 2023, and will be phased in over three years at a rate of 10% per year, reaching a maximum of 30% by the third year. Crypto miners will need to report "the amount and type of electricity used and the value of that electricity." Cryptocurrency miners who obtain off-grid electricity will still be liable for taxes and will need to estimate the electricity costs generated by any "power plants." (Source link)

5. Huobi NFT Market to Shut Down on May 13, Users Advised to Transfer NFT Assets

Huobi stated in its NFT withdrawal notice that due to strategic planning and product adjustments regarding cloud wallets, the Huobi NFT market will officially shut down on May 13, 2023. Therefore, users need to transfer their NFT assets from the Huobi NFT to their own on-chain wallets.

The transfer deadline is May 13, 2023, and all functions will be operational until the deadline. After the deadline, the Huobi NFT market will be removed, and related services will no longer be provided. (Source link)

6. Ark Invest Increases Holdings of Coinbase Stock by Over $20 Million Through Two Funds

Cathie Wood's asset management company Ark Invest has continued to increase its holdings of Coinbase stock in its funds, adding another $20.5 million after increasing its holdings on Wednesday.

According to its latest trading documents, Ark Invest added 301,437 shares of Coinbase stock to its Ark Innovation ETF and 52,525 shares to Ark Next Generation Internet. Coinbase's stock closed down 7.8% at $58.09 on Thursday. Based on the closing price, Ark Invest's recent acquisition cost is approximately $20.5 million. (Source link)

7. New York Attorney General Sues KuCoin for Violating Securities Laws, Claims "Ether is a Security"

According to CoinDesk, New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against the cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin, accusing it of offering unregistered securities and commodities. The lawsuit is part of a "crackdown on unregistered crypto platforms" initiated by New York state regulators. The lawsuit also alleges that Ether, Luna, and TerraUSD are all considered securities.

Additionally, James believes that KuCoin is selling unregistered securities through its lending and staking product, KuCoin Earn. James seeks a court order to prevent KuCoin from operating in New York and instructs KuCoin to implement geo-blocking based on IP addresses and GPS locations to prevent New York residents from accessing KuCoin's applications and services. (Source link)

8. Ethereum ZK-Rollup Scaling Solution Taiko Plans to Launch Mainnet in Early 2024, Achieving Complete ZK-EVM Circuit

The Ethereum ZK-Rollup scaling solution Taiko announced its roadmap, planning to launch the Alpha-2 testnet this month, which will include permissionless provers and some ZK-EVM circuits, and aims to launch the mainnet in early 2024, achieving a complete ZK-EVM circuit, decentralized proposers, and decentralized provers. (Source link)

"What Interesting Articles are Worth Reading in the Last 24 Hours"

1. “Decoding the Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank Crisis: A Gamble in the Dollar Rate Hike Cycle”

U.S. small and medium-sized banks are facing a series of crises! On March 8, Silvergate Bank, known for being crypto-friendly, announced its liquidation and will return all deposits to customers. On March 10, Silicon Valley Bank faced a liquidity crisis, with its stock price plummeting over 60%, resulting in a market value loss of $9.4 billion in one day.

Silicon Valley Bank may be the first domino to fall in this crisis, affecting not only other U.S. banks but also potentially impacting tech startups in Silicon Valley. What exactly happened? This article tells the story of how banks go bankrupt.

2. “Babylon: Bringing Bitcoin's Security to Blockchains in the Cosmos Ecosystem”

Today, Babylon launched its testnet, having completed an $8 million funding round led by IDG and Breyer Capital last year. Previously undisclosed is that EigenLayer founder Sreeram Kannan also supported the project, and Zaki Manian, co-founder of Sommelier Protocol, serves as an advisor. Additionally, it seems to have caught the attention of Cosmos's Osmosis. Why has Babylon garnered so much support? This article provides a brief analysis of Babylon.

3. “Value Accumulation Case Study: How Yuga Labs Built a Massive Business Empire?”

Value accumulation is a crucial yet often overlooked topic in Web3. This article delves into how the value generated within the Yuga ecosystem is distributed among different stakeholders (Yuga Labs, $APE, BAYC, MAYC, etc.).