Weekly Highlights | Bitcoin white paper hidden in the latest Mac system; Hong Kong to "properly regulate" and "promote development" of Web3

Organizer: Xiangxiang Xi, ChainCatcher

Important News

1. The latest Mac system hides the Bitcoin white paper, which may earn commissions from Bitcoin transactions through related features

Recently, a tech community blogger, Andy Baio, discovered that the Bitcoin white paper can be found on any Mac running the latest version of macOS. It can be discovered through a simple terminal command or by navigating Finder.

Enter the following command in the Finder terminal: open /System/Library/Image\ Capture/Devices/VirtualScanner.app/Contents/Resources/simpledoc.pdf. Users need to navigate to Macintosh HD -> System -> Library -> Image Capture -> Devices. Hold Control and click on VirtualScanner.app to show package contents, then open Contents -> Resources folder -> simpledoc.pdf.
Additionally, the blogger stated that the Bitcoin white paper is used as a sample document for a device called "Virtual Scanner II." This device is hidden or not installed by default for some users. Some users speculate that Apple may earn commissions from Bitcoin transactions through related features. (Source link)

2. Hong Kong Financial Secretary: A strategy of "appropriate regulation" and "promoting development" will be adopted for Web3

The Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Paul Chan, published an essay titled "Developing Web3 - Innovating with Integrity and Moving Forward Prudently" on the Hong Kong government website, stating that at least four large seminars or carnivals related to Web3, digital economy, and fintech are being held in Hong Kong this week, with some events expecting over ten thousand participants. To ensure that Web3 progresses cautiously and innovatively, a strategy of "appropriate regulation" and "promoting development" will be adopted.

He also stated, "Recently, the virtual asset market has experienced significant volatility, and there have been recent closures of virtual asset exchanges, leading some in society to doubt the prospects of Web3. However, we believe this is the best time to promote the development of Web3. In the next stage, market participants need to further develop blockchain technology, allowing its characteristics and advantages of transparency, efficiency, security, disintermediation, low cost, and more to find broader application scenarios, solve more existing business model pain points, and even break monopolies, enabling users to share the economic value of data more widely and bring leapfrog progress to the real economy." (Source link)

3. Instagram will discontinue support for digital collectibles on April 11

Instagram announced in its help center that it will gradually end support for digital collectibles, with changes taking effect on April 11, 2023. Users' third-party wallet content will not be affected. At that time, users will no longer be able to create new digital collectible posts on Instagram; all collectibles shared by users will remain in post form but will not include any flashy effects or blockchain information, and users can delete these posts at any time; collectible posts visible only in the user's "Digital Collectibles" tab will be moved to the user's private folder.

Additionally, Instagram will no longer link users' accounts to third-party wallets or allow users to view their digital collectibles or manage third-party wallet binding settings in the associated tab. Users will no longer have access to or be able to download personal information related to collectibles. If users wish to download personal information, they must submit a request before April 11, 2023. Instagram will begin deleting digital collectible data from the system, including users' wallet addresses. Data storage and deletion will comply with its privacy policy and terms of use for digital collectibles. (Source link)

4. Twitter's web logo changed to Dogecoin logo, DOGE rises over 24% in 24 hours

Twitter's web logo was changed to the DOGE emoji around 2:04 today. Additionally, Musk posted an image containing the DOGE emoji and the Twitter blue bird logo at 2:50 today. OKX market data shows that DOGE has risen over 24% in the last 24 hours.

According to JieData monitoring data, the 13th largest DOGE holding address has been continuously accumulating coins since the price low of DOGE in June 2022, with significant purchases in July and August last year. Currently, this address holds 1.86 billion DOGE (approximately $176 million), and the current account has a profit of $44.63 million. (Source link)

5. Twitter's homepage logo switched back from Dogecoin emoji to the blue bird, DOGE drops about 7% in the short term

Twitter's homepage logo has switched back from the Dogecoin emoji to the original blue bird, causing a short-term drop in Dogecoin, which is currently priced at $0.085, down about 7% in 24 hours.

Previously, on April 3, Twitter's web logo was changed to the Dogecoin Shiba Inu emoji, followed by Musk's tweet containing a photo with the Dogecoin emoji, leading to a short-term increase of over 24% in Dogecoin. (Source link)

6. Bilibili launches "High Energy Chain" App for on-chain asset management

Bilibili has launched the "High Energy Chain" App for on-chain asset management, developed by Shanghai Donghun Cultural Media Co., Ltd. The app features on-chain address management, on-chain asset viewing, and searching capabilities, and serves as an entry point for Bilibili's High Energy Chain ecosystem. (Source link)

7. Gitcoin will open a new round of donation activities from April 25 to May 9

Gitcoin announced that it will open the Gitcoin Program Beta Round for donations from April 25 to May 9. It is reported that the Gitcoin Alpha Round donations were held from January 17 to 31. The Alpha Round consists of three different groups of projects focused on the development of open-source software, Ethereum infrastructure, and climate solutions. All projects received over $1,000 in the GR14 and GR15 rounds, totaling 164 projects.

8. Data: 84 financing events disclosed in the crypto market in March, totaling $769 million

According to statistics from the crypto data platform RootData, the crypto market disclosed a total of 84 financing events in March 2023, a decrease of 31.14% from 122 in February. The total amount of financing in March was approximately $769 million, down 18.71% from $946 million in February; among them, infrastructure, DeFi, and gaming were the top three sectors by financing amount, with $363 million, $117 million, and $101 million, respectively.

Additionally, the top three projects by financing amount were cryptocurrency hardware wallet Ledger ($108 million), Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer ($50 million), AI and machine learning-based blockchain platform Fetch.ai ($40 million), independent game developer CCP Games ($40 million), and decentralized internet alternative tomi ($40 million).

Moreover, Web3 venture capital and market maker DWF Labs was the most active investor in March, disclosing a total of 9 investments. (Source link)

9. Lido: Withdrawals of less than 1,000 ETH are expected to be completed within one day after the Shanghai upgrade

Liquid staking protocol Lido announced its predicted Ethereum withdrawal speed, stating that if the Lido protocol's buffer has enough ETH to provide services, withdrawal requests of less than 1,000 ETH can be completed within one day (standard Ethereum withdrawals take 2-6 days). Withdrawal requests ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 ETH may also be completed within 2 days, while requests exceeding 5,000 ETH are expected to take 4-10 days, and requests exceeding 100,000 ETH are expected to take two weeks to complete. (Source link)

10. Arbitrum community initiates temperature check vote to return 700 million ARB to the DAO treasury

The Arbitrum community initiated a temperature check vote for proposal AIP 1.05, proposing that the Arbitrum Foundation return 700 million ARB to the DAO treasury. The vote will end on April 15, with 16 million votes currently in support (approximately 88.12%).

Previously, ChainCatcher reported that the Arbitrum Foundation had submitted two new proposals aimed at limiting its own power and expanding the budget oversight and governance power of ARB token holders. (Source link)

11. LooksRare V2 version launched, reducing protocol fees and gas fees, allowing batch trading of NFTs

The NFT market LooksRare announced the launch of its V2 version in an official blog, aiming to further reduce platform protocol fees and gas fees to compete with Blur and OpenSea Pro.

According to information disclosed by LooksRare, the protocol fee for LooksRare V2 will be significantly reduced by 75% (from 2% to 0.5%), and gas fees will be reduced by 50%. Sellers will also receive ETH directly instead of the previous WETH.

Additionally, LooksRare stated that the new version allows for the listing and purchase of over 70 NFTs in a single transaction, and transactions will support reusable signatures. (Source link)

12. Magic Eden announces its Ethereum platform is officially launched

The NFT market Magic Eden tweeted that its Ethereum platform is officially launched and announced collaborations with 17 ETH Launchpad creators, while "respecting" all royalties for listed digital collectibles.

It is reported that Magic Eden stated that the currently launched Ethereum platform is a "minimum viable product (MVP)," and more features will be launched in the future, aggregating more Ethereum on-chain NFT platforms. (Source link)

13. Binance's Australian division's derivatives financial services license has been revoked

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has revoked the derivatives financial services license of Binance's Australian division.

After the license revocation, from April 14, Binance Australia customers will not be able to increase their derivatives positions or open new positions with Binance. Additionally, Binance Australia will require customers to close all existing derivatives positions by April 21, 2023. (Source link)

14. Conflux initiates proposal to deploy Uniswap V3 on Conflux Network

Conflux has initiated a proposal in the Uniswap community to deploy Uniswap V3 on the Conflux Network to bring Web2 users into DeFi, increase market penetration in Asia, and enter the rapidly expanding Conflux ecosystem. The proposal argues that the collaboration between Conflux and Xiaohongshu, China Telecom has led to a large influx of Web2 users, and Uniswap can increase liquidity by deploying on Conflux, providing users with new trading opportunities.

The Conflux Foundation hopes to provide the community and projects building Uniswap V3 on Conflux with two additional rewards: the Conflux Foundation will establish a liquidity fund pool totaling $2 million for the CFX-USDT, CFX-BTC, and CFX-ETH trading pairs. This pool will be locked for two years, but if the ecosystem requires it, the Conflux Foundation can extend the lock-up period.

Additionally, Conflux will provide $1 million in liquidity rewards to guide early liquidity on the network and suggests allocating $1 million in funds over two years, distributed quarterly to protocols built on Uniswap V3 and deployed on Conflux. (Source link)

15. SEC Chairman: The crypto market is not incompatible with securities laws; the SEC aims to make the market compliant

Gary Gensler, Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), tweeted, "There is no incompatibility between the cryptocurrency market and securities laws. One of the SEC's goals is to make this area compliant so that investors can receive the same protections as in other markets." (Source link)

16. South Korean prosecutors: Terra executives' criminal proceeds exceed $300 million; Do Kwon's assets have all been transferred overseas

South Korean prosecutors stated that nine former and current executives of Terraform Labs have illegally obtained assets worth approximately 414.5 billion won (about $314.2 million) from the project, of which about 91.4 billion won belongs to Do Kwon, but his assets are not under South Korean jurisdiction, most of which may have been converted to Bitcoin and transferred to overseas crypto exchanges. Prosecutors stated that they have requested Binance to block Do Kwon from withdrawing his cryptocurrency.

Previous report, the Financial Securities Crime Joint Investigation Team of the Southern District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul, South Korea, has seized approximately 270 billion won (about $205 million) in assets to recover the improper benefits of Terraform Labs co-founder Daniel Shin and seven others. (Source link)

Important Financing/Venture Capital News

1. LayerZero completes $120 million Series B financing at a $3 billion valuation, with participation from a16z, IOBC Capital, and others

Cross-chain communication protocol LayerZero announced the completion of a $120 million Series B financing at a valuation of $3 billion, with participation from a16z, Sequoia Capital, IOBC Capital, BOND, Christie's, and Circle Ventures. Additionally, LayerZero stated that it would consider a governance token airdrop after the protocol's development is complete, but it is not expected to happen soon.

According to the crypto data platform RootData, LayerZero announced a $135 million financing at a $1 billion valuation in March last year, with participation from a16z, Sequoia Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and others. (Source link)

2. a16z managing partner: hopes to launch a fifth crypto fund, will adjust the size of its crypto funds based on the market

Arianna Simpson, managing partner at a16z, commented on the $4.5 billion fourth crypto fund launched by a16z last year during the TechCrunch crypto podcast "Chain Reaction," stating that the ecosystem has developed to absolutely support funds of this size, which is why they raised a fund of this size.

When asked if a16z would have a fifth crypto fund, Simpson said, "I certainly hope so." She added that a16z will "continue to adjust the fund size based on the market opportunities it sees." Before joining a16z, Arianna Simpson founded an investment fund focused on cryptocurrency called Autonomous Partners. She also helped launch an early fund, Crystal Towers Capital, which primarily invests in YC companies. (Source link)

3. OP Crypto has completed $28 million fundraising for its parent fund

Blockchain venture capital firm OP Crypto announced that it has raised $28 million for its Fund of Funds (FoF), with its founder David Gan stating that 22 investors have participated since last April.

Previously, ChainCatcher reported in July last year that OP Crypto was launching a $100 million fund (Fund of Funds) to deploy funds into new funds focused on early-stage crypto investments. (Source link)

4. IOST announces $10 million investment from BitValue Capital

Canadian Web3 investment firm BitValue Capital announced a $10 million investment in IOST, becoming its strategic partner.

It is reported that this investment will support the IOST mainnet upgrade and the ongoing construction of its ecosystem. BitValue Capital also stated that it will help IOST advance its diversified international compliance expansion centered in Hong Kong, conduct global marketing activities and ecosystem building, and introduce professional quantitative trading firms from North America to support the IOST ecosystem. (Source link)

5. Alchemy Pay receives $10 million investment from DWF Labs at a $400 million valuation

According to CoinDesk, Singapore-based payment service provider Alchemy Pay has received a $10 million investment from market maker DWF Labs at a $400 million valuation to expand its business in South Korea.

It is reported that in the past six weeks, DWF Labs has made eight rounds of investments or financing of at least $10 million in Web3 projects, totaling $165 million. (Source link)

6. Venture capital fund Kaszek Ventures completes $975 million fundraising to invest in blockchain and other fields

Latin American venture capital fund Kaszek Ventures has raised $975 million through two new funds, including a $540 million early-stage fund Kaszek Ventures VI and a $435 million late-stage investment vehicle Kaszek Ventures Opportunity-III (KVO-III).

Kaszek's portfolio includes companies across a range of industries such as blockchain, fintech, enterprise/SaaS, proptech, insurtech, healthtech, edtech, e-commerce, foodtech, climate tech, and biotech. Kaszek has previously invested in Brazilian digital bank Nubank. (Source link)

7. Delphi Labs completes $13.5 million financing, with participation from Jump Crypto and others

According to CoinDesk, Delphi Labs, the incubation arm of Delphi Digital, has completed $13.5 million in financing, with participation from Jump Crypto and others. The funds will be used to establish an accelerator aimed at fostering the growth of teams dedicated to launching Web3 projects. It is reported that each team in the accelerator will receive $200,000 in funding, and project teams will be introduced to Delphi's potential investor network at the end of the program. (Source link)