Weekly News Highlights | SBF accused of bribing Chinese officials with $40 million in cryptocurrency; CFTC sues Binance and its CEO for violations

整理：西昻翔，ChainCatcher

Important News

1. SBF accused of bribing Chinese government officials with $40 million in cryptocurrency to unfreeze Alameda Research accounts

FTX founder SBF is accused of authorizing the payment of $40 million in cryptocurrency to one or more Chinese government officials to unfreeze accounts related to his cryptocurrency business.

The indictment states that Chinese law enforcement froze accounts at two of China's largest cryptocurrency exchanges in early 2021, including certain cryptocurrency trading accounts of Alameda Research, which contained approximately $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency.

After multiple attempts to unfreeze the accounts through lawyers and lobbying failed, SBF directed and authorized the bribery of one or more Chinese officials to entice them to unfreeze some of the accounts. A portion of the bribe, valued at approximately $40 million at the time, was transferred from Alameda Research's main trading account to a private cryptocurrency wallet in November 2021, and the frozen accounts were also unfrozen around the same time. (Source link)

2. CFTC sues Binance and its CEO for violations

According to a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao violated CFTC regulations, including the Commodity Exchange Act, by soliciting and accepting orders from U.S. customers for commodity futures trading, options, swaps, and leveraged retail commodity trading without being registered with any regulatory agency.

Changpeng Zhao published an article stating that several of the CFTC's allegations are unfounded. Additionally, Binance responded to inquiries from three U.S. senators, claiming that the letter's content is inaccurate and incomplete, and that Binance.US is not a subsidiary of Binance.

3. OKX to hand over approximately $157 million in frozen assets related to FTX to FTX creditors

ChainCatcher reports that OKX will transfer $157 million in frozen assets related to FTX and Alameda to FTX creditors. OKX stated that it will continue to cooperate with FTX creditors and law enforcement, hoping that these assets can eventually be returned to FTX users through bankruptcy proceedings. (Source link)

4. Arbitrum initiates new proposal to introduce ArbitrumDAO and apply for $1 billion grant
ChainCatcher reports that the Arbitrum community has initiated Arbitrum Improvement Proposal 1 (AIP-1), which aims to introduce a decentralized autonomous organization structure called ArbitrumDAO, managed by ARB holders. The Arbitrum Foundation, located in the Cayman Islands, will serve and be governed by the ArbitrumDAO community, aiming to promote the growth and development of the Arbitrum ecosystem. The entity behind the proposal, Lemma, will also apply for a grant of 750 million ARB tokens (valued at approximately $1 billion).

Although the proposal has not yet been approved, a multi-signature wallet named "Arbitrum DAO Treasury2" has been created, which has received nearly 700 million ARB tokens. A representative from the Arbitrum Foundation stated that this address is the Administrative Budget Wallet.

The proposal is reportedly open for voting on Snapshot and will end on April 3, with the current approval rate at 87.12%, against 12.2% opposed and 0.69% abstaining. (Source link)

5. Musk and over a thousand tech leaders sign open letter calling for a pause on training AI systems more powerful than GPT-4

Elon Musk and over 1,000 AI experts and industry executives signed a joint letter calling for a six-month pause on training AI systems more powerful than GPT-4, citing potential risks to society and humanity.

The letter states, "Powerful AI systems should only be developed if we are confident that their effects will be positive and that the risks will be manageable." Musk has previously expressed concerns about AI, stating in a video speech earlier this year that AI is one of the greatest risks to human civilization. (Source link)

6. Foreign media: Tron founder Justin Sun loses diplomatic status
According to Grenada Broadcasting Network, Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun is no longer a diplomat for Grenada. At some point after the elections held in June 2022, he was stripped of his ambassador status due to the new National Party that granted him the position being dismissed by the National Democratic Congress.

It is reported that officials from Grenada's Office of Foreign Affairs and the Government Information Service did not respond to this matter. (Source link)

7. Iron Fish announces tokenomics model, with development team, investors, and foundation each holding 37%, 30%, and 18%, respectively, with a total of 4.5% allocated for airdrops

Iron Fish's official website has announced the project's tokenomics model. The genesis block will contain 42 million tokens, distributed as follows: Iron Fish Foundation: 18%; airdropped to testnet participants: 2.25%; future airdrops: 2.25%; Pre-Seed round investors: 5.1%; Seed round investors: 9.9%; Series A investors: 14.5%; advisors: 0.6%; core development team: 37.4%; IF Labs: 5%; donation fund: 5%.

The mainnet is expected to launch on April 30. For investors, advisors, and employees, the lock-up period will be one year after the mainnet goes live.

Previously reported, last November, privacy crypto startup Iron Fish completed a $27.6 million Series A funding round led by a16z. Other investors include Sequoia Capital, LinkedIn executive chairman Jeff Weiner, and others. (Source link)

8. Bitdeer and Blue Safari merger officially effective, set to list on Nasdaq with a valuation of $1.18 billion

The U.S. SEC has announced the effectiveness of the F-4 registration statement for Bitdeer Technologies, a mining company owned by Jihan Wu, which relates to the previously announced merger with Blue Safari. The merged company BTG will become a publicly listed company on Nasdaq, with a valuation of approximately $1.18 billion, trading under the ticker "BTDR." Notably, the valuation at the time of the merger announcement in 2021 was $4 billion.

Additionally, Bitdeer will hold a special shareholders' meeting on April 11 to approve the business merger and other matters. (PR Newswire)

9. Changpeng Zhao: Binance.US weekly trading volume hits all-time high

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao shared public data indicating that Binance.US (excluding Binance) achieved a weekly trading volume of 41% of Coinbase (Global) last week, marking an all-time high. (Source link)

10. ssv.network launches latest public testnet Jato

ChainCatcher reports that the decentralized Ethereum staking infrastructure ssv.network announced the launch of its latest version of the public testnet Jato today. Jato has optimized gas costs, improved validator account management, and increased the number of nodes running validators. The previous testnet Shifu will be gradually shut down.

Regarding the mainnet launch timeline, ssv.network stated that the mainnet will go live after smart contract audits and implementing feedback and suggestions for Jato, followed by the release of a mainnet candidate version. (Source link)

11. zkSync outlines decentralized vision: to include sequencers, ZK provers, zkPorter, community governance, and zkSync Era

zkSync tweeted that its vision for decentralization is clear, with sequencers, ZK provers, zkPorter, community governance, and all other key components of the zkSync Era network to be decentralized after the core virtual machine and provers are consolidated and stabilized.

Previously, The Block reported that Matter Labs CEO Alex Gluchowski stated that once they want to decentralize sequencers, they will need tokens, and that sequencers will be decentralized within about a year. (Source link)

12. Galaxy Digital reports a net loss of $1 billion in 2022

Cryptocurrency financial services company Galaxy Digital released a report stating a net loss of $1 billion in 2022, compared to a profit of $1.7 billion in 2021. It also reported a loss of $288 million in the fourth quarter. The company attributed the losses to the unrealized market value of its portfolio.

It is reported that Galaxy Digital revealed last quarter that it faced a $76.8 million risk exposure due to the failed FTX, and that its mining business incurred a net loss due to increased costs, despite mining typically being profitable. (Source link)

13. Data: USDC stablecoin market cap drops by about $10 billion to $32.5 billion over the past two weeks

The market cap of the USDC stablecoin has dropped by about $10 billion over the past two weeks, from $42.5 billion to $32.5 billion. The Block's research director Steven Zheng stated, "The events in early March have damaged cryptocurrency investors' and traders' trust in the reliability of stablecoins, even though Circle has provided full redemptions for USDC without delays." (Source link)

14. DeFi protocol SafeMoon on BNB Chain suffers a hack, liquidity pool loses about $8.9 million

The DeFi protocol SafeMoon on BNB Chain was hacked, resulting in a loss of approximately $8.9 million from its liquidity pool. The SafeMoon team stated that its LP has been stolen and is taking swift action to address the issue. According to BscScan data, nearly $8.9 million in assets were transferred out of the liquidity pool.

According to Peckshield, a recent update to SafeMoon introduced a "public burn vulnerability," allowing hackers to artificially inflate the price of SFM tokens using code, and then sell enough tokens back to the liquidity pool in the same transaction, effectively draining WBNB from the contract. (Source link)

Important Financing/Venture Capital News

1. Centralized AI project Fetch.ai receives $40 million investment from DWF Labs

ChainCatcher reports that the AI-focused Web3 protocol Fetch.ai has received a $40 million investment from DWF Labs. This funding round will be used to deploy decentralized machine learning, autonomous agents, and network infrastructure. (Source link)

2. Crypto fund ProDigital Future Fund aims to raise $100 million, has secured at least $30 million in investment commitments

ChainCatcher reports that, according to Bloomberg, the Hong Kong crypto fund ProDigital Future Fund plans to raise $100 million this year to invest in digital asset startups. The fund is led by Ben Ng, a venture partner at Asian private equity firm SAIF Partners, and long-term tech investor Curt Shi, and has secured at least $30 million in funding commitments, with participants in the first round of fundraising including Sunwah Kingsway Capital Holdings Ltd. and Golin International Group Ltd.

So far, the fund has invested in six digital asset projects, including Hong Kong-based metaverse company GigaSpace and Australia-based digital sports club One Future Football. (Source link)

3. Hardware wallet Ledger completes €100 million financing at a €1.3 billion valuation

Hardware wallet Ledger has completed €100 million ($109 million) in financing, with this round valuing the company at €1.3 billion. New investors True Global Ventures, Cité Gestion SPV, Digital Finance Group, and VaynerFund, along with existing investors 10T, Cap Horn, Morgan Creek, and Cathay Innovation participated in this round. Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE acted as the exclusive placement agent, and Jones Day served as legal advisor. (Source link)

4. Web3 social platform SO-COL announces completion of $4.5 million financing

According to The Block, Web3 social platform So-Col, created by Irene Zhao, has secured $4.5 million in investment.

Additionally, crypto data platform RootData shows that SO-COL completed a $1.75 million financing round last February, co-led by DeFiance Capital and Animoca Brands, with participation from Three Arrows Capital, Mechanism Capital, Global Founders Capital, Double Peak Group, Antifund, Genblock Capital, and Kronos Research. Subsequently, SO-COL announced in May last year that it was seeking to raise funds at a valuation of $100 million, but did not disclose progress.

It is reported that SO-COL aims to become a decentralized alternative to Discord, Snapshot, and OnlyFans. (Source link)

5. Cross-chain bridge aggregator LI.FI completes $17.5 million Series A financing, led by CoinFund and Superscrypt

Cross-chain bridge aggregator LI.FI announced the completion of $17.5 million in Series A financing, co-led by CoinFund and Superscrypt, with participation from Bloccelerate, L1 Digital, Circle, Factor, Perridon, Theta Capital, Three Point Capital, Abra, and nearly 20 angel investors.

It is reported that the new funds raised in this round will be used to drive LI.FI's development across more blockchains, DEXs, cross-chain bridges, and to strengthen its sales, business development, marketing, and other capabilities to support token and order flow trading. (Source link)

6. Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer completes $50 million Series A financing, led by Blockchain Capital

Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer developer EigenLabs has completed $50 million in Series A financing, led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Electric Capital, Polychain Capital, Bixin Ventures, Hack VC, Finality Capital Partners, and Coinbase Ventures.

According to crypto data platform RootData, EigenLabs previously completed $14.5 million in seed funding, co-led by Polychain Capital and Ethereal Ventures. (Source link)