Weekly Report | Worldcoin's native token WLD officially launched; Crypto data platform RootData undergoes comprehensive upgrade and iteration
Sequoia Capital reduces the size of its cryptocurrency investment fund to $200 million; Meta's metaverse division Reality Labs incurs a loss of $21.3 billion.Organizer: Cookies, ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (7.24-7.30)"
1. Worldcoin Releases Open Letter Signed by Sam Altman, WLD Officially Launched
Worldcoin released an open letter signed by Sam Altman, announcing the official launch of WLD. The letter states that since its establishment over three years ago, Worldcoin aims to create a new identity and financial network owned by everyone. If Worldcoin is successfully launched, it will significantly increase economic opportunities while protecting privacy, promoting global democratic processes, and potentially showcasing a path to achieving an AI-funded universal basic income (AI-funded UBI). Worldcoin includes privacy-preserving digital identity (WorldID) and digital currency (WLD). Verified real users will receive WLD tokens. It is hoped that more people can benefit from this where legally permissible.
Exchanges such as Binance, OKX, and Huobi have launched WLD trading pairs. According to Dune data, as of July 30, before the publication, 257,000 Worldcoin users had claimed over 6.42 million WLD airdrops, with the value of airdrops per address being approximately $54.72.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published an article titled "What do I think about biometric proof of personhood?" expressing his views on biometric proof of personhood. He stated that the four main risks faced by Worldcoin are: privacy, accessibility, centralization, and security. He also shared insights on preventing coercion in biometric identification systems and preventing the renting/selling of IDs. Vitalik proposed some possible solutions to address privacy, accessibility, and centralization issues in biometric identification systems, but he also acknowledged that some of these issues may be fundamental limitations.
According to Reuters, France's privacy regulator has stated that it has launched an investigation into Worldcoin and is assisting the Bavarian authorities in their investigation of Worldcoin. The legality of Worldcoin's biometric data collection and storage "seems to be problematic." (Source link)
2. Crypto Data Platform RootData Completes Comprehensive Upgrade, Launches Four New Features Including Points Incentive System
The crypto data platform RootData has completed a comprehensive upgrade, launching four new features: a points incentive system, wallet login, token pricing and economic model, and a Vietnamese language version.
Specifically, the points incentive system allows users to earn platform points through content contributions and redeem corresponding benefits; the wallet login feature significantly enhances user convenience, laying the groundwork for more Web3 functionalities in the future; the token pricing and economic model supplement the platform's secondary market information, further helping users understand project information; the Vietnamese language version meets the rapidly growing demand from Vietnamese users, providing more localized services.
It is reported that RootData is a visualized and structured crypto data platform that provides information on various projects' financing, teams, news, etc., and connects all projects through ecosystems, tags, and compilations, aiming to become a data entry point for users to discover quality crypto assets. (Source link)
3. Sequoia Capital Reduces Size of Cryptocurrency Investment Fund to $200 Million
The Wall Street Journal cited sources saying that Sequoia Capital has reduced the size of its cryptocurrency investment fund from $585 million to $200 million and cut its ecosystem fund from $900 million to $450 million. Sequoia stated that due to the ongoing market downturn, the company had to downsize and plans to focus its cryptocurrency fund on supporting early-stage startups rather than large institutions that are facing challenges in the current market environment. (Source link)
4. zkSync Ecosystem Lending Protocol EraLend Confirms $2.76 Million Theft; Kannagi Finance Attacker Transfers 600 ETH to Tornado Cash
The zkSync ecosystem lending protocol EraLend tweeted that after a preliminary investigation, the illegal attack was identified as a read-only reentrancy vulnerability. The attacker manipulated oracle prices, resulting in the theft of approximately $2.76 million from the USDC pool, while other pools remained unaffected. Additionally, to limit further impact, EraLend temporarily halted lending, USDC supply, and SyncSwap LP supply, and significantly reduced the interest rates of the USDC pool to protect affected borrowing positions from potential liquidation during this period.
On the 27th, EraLend stated on its social platform that it had identified a CEX account possibly related to the attackers. The team is closely cooperating with local police to provide all relevant information. Currently, authorities are actively conducting further investigations to apprehend those responsible. Furthermore, the team is working with network service providers to trace the attacker's real IP location.
Additionally, the Rug Pull incident involving the DeFi project Kannagi Finance on zkSync Era has led to the official Twitter account being deactivated. The protocol's token KANA has been on a downward trend since reaching a historical high of $0.02 on March 5, now hovering around $0.006. On the morning of the 30th, the attacker transferred 600 ETH (approximately $1.13 million) to Tornado Cash. (Source link)
5. Bloomberg: 4% of Wintermute Employees Will Move to Singapore, Possible Third Office in Dubai
Wintermute co-founder Yoann Turpin stated in an interview with Bloomberg that the company will officially leave London in a few months, with about 4% of its 85 employees relocating to Singapore, where the company is developing derivatives business.
Yoann Turpin mentioned that if the company decides to establish another office, it may be in Dubai. Wintermute set up its first office in London and opened a second office in Singapore in 2021. (Source link)
6. Wall Street Journal: An Investor Group Nears $125 Million Acquisition of Crypto Media CoinDesk
According to the Wall Street Journal citing informed sources, an investor group is close to acquiring crypto media CoinDesk for $125 million.
The investor group is led by Matthew Roszak of private investment firm Tally Capital, which focuses on cryptocurrency and Web3 technology, and Peter Vessence of venture capital firm and family office Capital6.
It is reported that CoinDesk was acquired by DCG for $500,000 in 2016, and its business revenue exceeded $50 million in 2022. In February of this year, due to the bankruptcy of Genesis, DCG sought to sell it for $200 million.
Additionally, media reports indicate that the shares being sold by CoinDesk are priced at approximately $125 million, with a total value exceeding $200 million, not a valuation of $125 million. (Source link)
7. U.S. Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Confirms Purchase of 14 Bitcoins
According to CoinDesk, U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed on Twitter Spaces that he indeed holds Bitcoin. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated: After the Bitcoin conference in May, I decided to take action and purchased two Bitcoins for each of my seven children. At a price of $29,500 each, these 14 Bitcoins are currently worth about $414,000.
Previous report mentioned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that if elected president, he would eliminate the capital gains tax on converting BTC to USD.
8. Meta Financial Report: Reality Labs in the Metaverse Sector Reports Losses of $21.3 Billion
Meta released its second-quarter financial report, stating that its Reality Labs division, which develops virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, incurred an operating loss of $3.7 billion. Last year, Reality Labs lost a total of $13.7 billion, with revenue of $2.16 billion, and combined with the first-quarter loss of $3.99 billion, its total loss since the beginning of last year has reached approximately $21.3 billion.
In its earnings report, Meta stated that due to ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and further investments to expand the ecosystem, Reality Labs' operating losses are expected to "increase significantly year-over-year." (Source link)
9. Informed Sources: Ant Group Plans Restructuring to Restart IPO, Blockchain Business to be Independent
According to Bloomberg citing informed sources, Ant Group is planning a major restructuring to spin off its non-core financial-related businesses, including blockchain and database management services, as well as international operations, in order to apply for a financial holding company license and pave the way for the company's IPO in Hong Kong. (Source link)
10. Data
- Paradigm may have sold all MKR, realizing a profit of $17.16 million
- a16z has transferred a total of 30,933 MKR to Coinbase over 12 consecutive days, leaving only about 6,000 MKR in its holding address
- FalconX withdrew 8,951 MKR from Binance in the past 7 days, approximately $10.5 million
- The market cap of USDC stablecoin has dropped to $26.5 billion, a new low in nearly two years
- In the past month, the floor price of Azuki has fallen by 63%, and trading volume has decreased by 78%
- Rocket Pool set a record for the largest single-day redemption on the 24th, redeeming a total of 6,720 rETH
- Binance's spot market share has dropped from 64% at the beginning of the year to 50%
- The number of users bridging on StarkNet has surpassed 600,000
"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (7.24-7.30)"
1. "RootData: Top Ten Most Active Crypto VCs in Asia-Pacific, Animoca Brands and Hashed Lead the Way"
Currently, more and more Web3 projects are shifting their business focus to the Asia-Pacific region, which has also attracted the attention and investment of many venture capital firms. In this article, RootData combines its own investment data to analyze major venture capital firms located in the Asia-Pacific region based on investment frequency, lead investment counts, fund sizes, and other factors, ultimately identifying the top ten most representative active venture capital firms.
2. "Dmail Secures Financing Again, But Does Mail to Earn Really Work?"
On July 24, multi-chain Web3 infrastructure Dmail Network announced the completion of its Pre-A round of financing. The platform has over 550,000 active users, and according to Dune data, the daily transaction volume on the BNB Chain has recently surpassed 10,000, showing a significant increase in interaction. So, what exactly is Dmail? How is it currently developing? What are the rules of the points system? This article will quickly help you understand.
3. "Coinbase May Become the Biggest Winner Behind the Bitcoin ETF Race, Why?"
All five spot ETF Bitcoin applicants collaborating with the Chicago Exchange—Fidelity, VanEck, Ark Invest's 21Shares, Valkyrie, and Invesco—have submitted revised applications and designated Coinbase as their partner.
We took some time to review the countless conversations that took place during EthCC 2023 and summarized some key thoughts and insights.
As the Dencun upgrade approaches, the Ethereum community is preparing for a hard fork that will ultimately introduce a large-scale scalability upgrade in EIP4844 (also known as Protodanksharding), providing Ethereum's Rollups with a cheaper form of block space on L1, referred to as "blobspace." This long-awaited upgrade is making these L2s the most scalable versions.
This upgrade marks a moment in the development of cryptocurrency, as we are approaching the theoretical minimum cost of crypto economic resources. Not only Ethereum, but many different protocols seem to be nearing their final forms, having minimized the costs of accessing optimized resources.
Currently, the practical utility of launching a token is very limited for us. I have no announcements to make at this time, although I understand your audience may be interested in tokens, but I can confirm that there are currently no plans to make such an announcement.
6. "Mint Ventures: Bottom-Fishing in a Bear Market, Avoid Meme Projects"
Bottom-fishing in a bear market, avoid meme projects.
This sounds like a cliché, doesn't it? Who would choose a meme project with a lifespan of a few months or even just a day for long-term investment?
However, the memes discussed in this article are large-cap ones like Doge, Shiba, and Pepe that have already been listed on major exchanges.
Some opinions suggest that influential "new generation small-cap memes" like Pepe may replicate Doge's trajectory in the next bull market cycle, achieving a market cap of tens of billions.
But in the author's view, when making cross-cycle allocations, it may not be a good choice to bottom-fish these during a bear market.
7. "80% of Revenue Comes from Token Trading Tax, Safety in Doubt, How Long Will the Unibot Narrative Last?"
There has been a massive explosion in the Bot project sector in a short time, with some people cheering for it and others observing rationally.
Optimistic users believe that Unibot allows users to complete on-chain token transactions on social software like Telegram, greatly simplifying the threshold for users to engage in on-chain activities. Currently, more optimism is based on the fact that Unibot's captured revenue has surpassed that of most leading DeFi protocols. Meanwhile, neutral users argue that Unibot-like projects are easy to replicate, and a mix of good and bad Bot projects will emerge in a short time, with safety not guaranteed.
How long will this Unibot narrative last? Will Unibot, like memecoins, come quickly and leave just as fast, leaving chaos in its wake?
