Evening News | Binance Labs invests in 5 projects including zkPass and DappOS; North Korean hackers are laundering funds related to Atomic

Organizer: Biscuit, ChainCatcher

"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"

1. Binance Labs Invests in 5 Projects in Its 5th Season Incubation Program, Including zkPass and DappOS

Binance Labs announced investments in five projects in its 5th season incubation program, including the decentralized identity verification solution zkPass, the fully encrypted network Mind Network, the Web3 financial solution Kryptoskatt, on-chain structured products Bracket Labs, and the Web3 application usability solution DappOS.

It is reported that this season, Binance Labs received over 900 project applications, with less than 2% being accepted. The selected projects cover various fields of Web3, including DeFi, infrastructure, tools, and middleware. (Source link)

2. Slow Mist: New Cryptocurrency Theft Software Mystic Stealer Can Attack Wallets Like MetaMask and OKX Wallet

Slow Mist's Chief Information Security Officer 23pds tweeted that a new cryptocurrency theft software, Mystic Stealer, has emerged, capable of attacking 40 browsers, 70 browser extensions, and cryptocurrency wallets such as MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Binance, Rabby Wallet, OKX Wallet, OneKey, and other well-known wallets. It is currently the most popular malware, posing significant risks, and is "primarily promoted in Russian, typical of Eastern European hacker groups." (Source link)

3. BNB Chain Launches EVM-Compatible Layer 2 Network opBNB on Testnet

BNB Chain has launched the EVM-compatible Layer 2 network opBNB on its testnet. It is reported that opBNB is based on the Optimism OP Stack and will help improve transaction speed and reduce costs. opBNB will support over 4,000 transactions per second, with an average cost of less than $0.005 per transaction. Additionally, the mainnet for opBNB is expected to launch in the third quarter of this year. (Source link)

4. FTX Paid Over $120 Million in Legal, Consulting, and Financial Service Fees from February to April

According to The Block, FTX's bankruptcy advisors submitted their spending and fee documents on June 15, indicating that FTX paid $121.8 million in legal, consulting, and financial service fees and expenses from February 1 to April 30.

Among them, Sullivan & Cromwell law firm charged $37.6 million during this period, accounting for 30.9% of total fees and expenses. Investment bank Jefferies charged the lowest fees, accounting for 0.6% of total fees and expenses, while Alvarez and Marsal's restructuring advisors charged $37 million, including over $1.1 million in expenses such as $51,225 for meals, $149,155 for accommodation, and $1,995 for other miscellaneous expenses. (Source link)

5. MistTrack: North Korean Hackers Are Laundering Funds Related to the Atomic Wallet Attack

According to Slow Mist's Web3 security tool MistTrack, North Korean hackers are laundering funds related to the Atomic Wallet attack. A hacker address starting with 0xad3 transferred 503.08 ETH to THORChain in the past two days and exchanged it for Bitcoin, which was then bridged to a BTC address (starting with bc1q). Additionally, North Korean hackers also used SWFT Blockchain to bridge ETH to multiple BTC addresses. (Source link)

6. Osmosis Reduces Inflation Rate by 50% in OSMO 2.0

Osmosis, the largest decentralized exchange in the Cosmos ecosystem, announced a significant update to its tokenomics model OSMO 2.0, reducing its inflation rate by 50% to around 11%. "This adjustment allows Osmosis to strike a balance between growth and stability, ensuring that tokens are distributed more smoothly over time," the team commented on the measure.

Furthermore, the Osmosis team stated that they are exploring the introduction of a protocol revenue burning mechanism to further offset the remaining inflation; and discussing the implementation of a liquidity pool fee switch to allow OSMO stakers to directly share the swap fees generated in the Osmosis liquidity pool.

7. GBTC Rises Over 12% After BlackRock Submits Bitcoin Spot ETF Application

After BlackRock submitted its Bitcoin spot ETF application last week, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) rose over 12% on Friday. Additionally, according to YCharts data, the "GBTC discount" hit a monthly low of -36.61%, which refers to the difference between the stock price and the net asset value (NAV) of the Bitcoin assets held by GBTC.

It is reported that Grayscale's flagship product GBTC allows investors to trade trust shares that hold a pool of Bitcoin, with each share designed to track the current price of Bitcoin, enabling investors to invest in Bitcoin without actually purchasing and holding the asset itself.

Previously, the founder of Morgan Creek stated that BlackRock is applying for a redeemable Bitcoin trust, which would compete with GBTC. (Source link)

8. MZC Virtual Currency Illegal Public Deposit Case Verdict, Previously Raised Over 5 Million Yuan on Fcoin

Recently, the People's Court of Qujiang District, Shaoguan City, heard a case of illegal public deposit collection through virtual currency. In 2019, Deng collaborated with a South Korean company to introduce MZC virtual currency investment and traded through the online investment platform FCOIN, developing relatives and friends in Shaoguan as members, and further expanding membership in Shenzhen, Changsha, and other places through creating national member exchange WeChat groups, on-site explanations, and conference promotions, enticing members to buy MZC virtual currency by promoting "high returns" and "high value."

At the end of 2019, the MZC virtual currency funding chain broke, and soon after, the FCOIN trading platform closed, leaving many participants unable to withdraw the virtual currency they purchased. Deng exited the private placement fund and incurred losses totaling over 2 million yuan based on the MZC currency market price. In May 2020, participants chose to report the case, and after the case was prosecuted, the Qujiang Court found that Deng illegally collected public deposits, disrupting financial order, and his actions constituted the crime of illegal public deposit collection, with a significant amount involved.

It was found that there were 54 clearly reported participants, and 346 accounts of unreported participants, with illegal deposits totaling over 5 million yuan, causing direct economic losses of over 2 million yuan to the participants. During the trial, Deng's family returned illegal gains of 200,000 yuan to the court and compensated the participants over 2 million yuan. The Qujiang Court thus sentenced Deng to three years and six months in prison, fined him 100,000 yuan, and ordered him to repay the remaining unreturned funds. (Source link)

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

1. "Why Did BNB Chain Launch the New Layer 2 Network opBNB?"

Last night, BNB Chain announced the launch of the opBNB testnet, which is an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible L2 scalability solution based on the OP Stack. It is reported that opBNB will support over 4,000 transactions per second, with an average cost of less than $0.005 per transaction. Its mainnet is expected to launch in the third quarter of this year. Why did BNB Chain launch opBNB at this point?

2. "zkSync Top Dex Showdown: Syncswap vs iZiswap"

In the competition among zkSync's top Dex, Syncswap has a conventional product mechanism with no impressive native innovations, while iZiswap's product has a relatively rich native exploration. However, whether this can translate into user and capital growth currently looks pessimistic.

3. "Can Decentralized Exchanges Replace Binance and Coinbase?"

In terms of spot trading, decentralized exchanges seem to perform equally or better than centralized exchanges, while in perpetual trading, centralized exchanges are larger or equal to DeFi. Although fiat on-ramps and off-ramps are challenging, the innovation and competitive advantages of decentralized exchanges are overwhelming. The regulatory dilemmas faced by Coinbase and Binance provide decentralized exchanges with an opportunity for a "curve overtaking," and they are likely to capture a significant portion of the market share.

4. "Analyzing the Polygon zkEVM Ecosystem Map: Slow but Steady"

Recently, Polygon proposed the roadmap for Polygon 2.0, outlining its vision for building an L2 chain network based on ZK technology. Polygon zkEVM supports Ethereum's opcodes. Therefore, while Polygon zkEVM may not be as scalable as other ZK rollup networks, it has the advantage of providing developers with a more user-friendly environment to build dApps using existing Solidity code.