Weekly Report | Sei launched the mainnet Pacific-1 test version and opened airdrop claims; on August 18, the total liquidation amount exceeded 1 billion dollars
SpaceX has sold Bitcoin that was once valued at $373 million; friend.tech has received seed round investment from Paradigm, with trading volume exceeding 10,000 ETH.整理：饼干，ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (8.14-8.20)"
1. Sei has launched the mainnet Pacific-1 test version, open for airdrop claims
According to official news, the Sei mainnet test version Pacific-1 is now officially online, supporting users to cross-chain and stake SEI. Atlantic and airdrop rewards will be available for claim after the initial warm-up period when the Sei ecosystem is ready.
Sei officially announced its tokenomics, with a total supply cap of 10 billion tokens, 51% allocated to the community, of which 48% is allocated to ecosystem reserves, including staking rewards, ecosystem programs, and Sei airdrops and rewards. 9% of the tokens are allocated to the foundation treasury; 3% of the tokens are allocated to Launchpool.
Subsequently, the Sei Foundation announced an increase in the number of eligible wallets for cross-chain airdrops from 500,000 to 1.5 million, including users from Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Solana, Optimism, and Osmosis chains. (Source link)
2. Insider: SEC May Approve Ethereum Futures ETF, Plans to Launch Before October
According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to approve the listing of the first Ethereum futures ETF, with multiple companies including Volatility Shares, Bitwise, Roundhill, and ProShares having applied to launch Ethereum futures ETFs. It is currently unclear which funds will receive approval. Insiders have revealed that officials have hinted that several ETFs may be listed before October.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the SEC may allow multiple Ethereum futures ETFs to be listed simultaneously. Asset management company Volatility Shares plans to launch its Ethereum futures ETF on October 12, which would become the first Ethereum futures ETF launched under standard procedures in the U.S. The SEC has not notified these companies to withdraw their applications, and sources say this indicates that the SEC will not block the launch of such funds in the coming weeks. (Source link)
3. Singapore Police Arrest Over 10, 8 Wanted for Fraud, Gambling, and Money Laundering
According to ChainCatcher, Singapore police announced the arrest of 10 suspects, with twelve assisting in the investigation, and eight currently wanted by the police. These individuals (all holding Chinese passports, three of whom are Chinese nationals) are suspected of participating in money laundering related to organized crime activities overseas (including fraud and online gambling).
Authorities have issued disposal bans on 94 properties and 50 vehicles, with a total estimated value exceeding 815 million SGD. The police also seized over 35 related bank accounts (with balances exceeding 11 million SGD), cash (including foreign currency) totaling over 230 million SGD, multiple pieces of jewelry and ornaments, and 11 documents related to virtual asset information.
The police stated that all involved individuals are neither Singapore citizens nor permanent residents. Under relevant laws, individuals convicted of money laundering can face up to 10 years in prison, or fines of up to 500,000 SGD, or both. (Source link)
4. Wall Street Journal: SpaceX Has Sold Bitcoin Worth $373 Million, Timing Unknown
Elon Musk's SpaceX has sold Bitcoin worth $373 million acquired in 2021-2022. Wall Street Journal reporters reviewed SpaceX's financial documents, which recorded a holding of Bitcoin (BTC) valued at $373 million on the company's balance sheets for 2021 and 2022, but this crypto asset has since been sold, with the specific timing unclear. Following this news, the price of BTC briefly dropped to $25,166, with a daily decline of 8.73%. (Source link)
5. Ethereum Foundation Allocated Approximately $9.21 Million to 57 Projects and Activities in Q2 This Year
The Ethereum Foundation announced the funding situation for its "Ecosystem Support Program" in the second quarter, providing a total of $9,218,158.34 to 57 projects. (Source link)
6. NoLimit Fund Led by Former Binance Strategy Chief Raises $50 Million
According to The Block, the venture capital fund CVP NoLimit Fund I, led by former Binance strategy chief Gin Chao, announced the completion of a $50 million fundraising round, which will focus on investing in crypto startups.
It is reported that NoLimit focuses on seed-stage deals and strategic rounds, with check sizes ranging from $250,000 to $3 million. Its bets include Mysten Labs, Connext, Hogwarts Labs, Binance.US, and IQ Protocol. The company has invested in over 20 projects globally and expects to make another 20 investments in the next 12 months.
According to RootData, Gin Chao is a founding partner of NoLimit Holdings, and he is also a board member of Binance US and CoinMarketCap. He served as the strategic officer at Binance from 2018 to 2022, having previously worked at the NBA and Dell. Gin Chao graduated from Carnegie Mellon University and New York University. (Source link)
7. friend.tech Receives Seed Round Investment from Paradigm, Trading Volume Exceeds 10,000 ETH
friend.tech tweeted that it has received seed round investment from Paradigm. Earlier this year, friend.tech collaborated with Paradigm to build a new online social interaction tool and expressed gratitude for the community's enthusiasm, stating it is pleased to continue growing with the community.
According to Dune data, the total trading volume on the friend.tech platform has reached 11,345.3 ETH, with protocol fees amounting to 515.7 ETH. Additionally, the platform has over 35,000 buyer addresses and has completed nearly 463,000 transactions, with the market value of users' "personal stocks" reaching 5,736.2 ETH.
Several Chinese KOLs have expressed that they do not recommend friend.tech, with Jason Chen believing that friend.tech currently resembles a typical Ponzi scheme, where the token has no cap but the price grows exponentially with the number of holders, easily causing FOMO. However, behind the exponential rise is a potential crash once someone sells, and friend.tech's mission is to bring TVL to Base. (Source link)
8. Huobi Founder Li Lin Rents Then Buys Luxury Apartment in Hong Kong for Over 1 Billion HKD
According to Wu Shuo Blockchain, the largest estate-style first-hand unit in Kowloon, the villa C outside Dragon Horse Road in Mid-Levels, has been purchased by Huobi founder Li Lin.
According to Ming Pao, the property was sold under a rent-to-buy scheme, allowing for a rental period of 90 months, approximately 7.5 years, starting from the 1st of this month. After completing the 7.5-year rental period, there is a 3-month renewal option, after which the unit can be purchased at a subscription price of 1 billion HKD, calculated at a usable area of 11,692 square feet, equivalent to 85,529 HKD per square foot. If the final buyer exercises the 1 billion HKD subscription right, the transaction price may set a new record for first-hand estate-style houses in Kowloon. Earlier, Li Lin sold his stake in Huobi for over 1 billion USD to Sun Yuchen. Li Lin also enjoys purchasing properties in Shenzhen, Beijing, and other locations. (Source link)
9. Data
- On August 18, the total liquidation amount across the network exceeded 1 billion USD, second only to "3.12" and "5.19".
- The attacker of BNB Bridge has been liquidated approximately 5.6 million vBNB (about 52.3 million USD).
- The unlocked 49 million BLUR may have been transferred to VC or team-owned token receiving addresses.
- BTC worth 148 million USD was transferred from an unknown wallet to Coinbase.
- Maker protocol's annual revenue exceeded 165 million USD, setting a two-year high.
- Coinbase expects to gain 61 million USD in annual profits from the Base network.
- As of August 17, ETH's historical volatility fell below 20%, reaching a two-year low.
"What Are Some Noteworthy Articles to Read This Week (8.14-8.20)"
In the Middle East, a relatively balanced regulatory and innovative Crypto "land," how does Cypher "forge good relationships" to develop diverse businesses ? What are the obvious characteristics of the investment and entrepreneurial atmosphere in the Middle East Web 3 ? As an investor who has experienced the complete cycles of Web1/Web2, how does Bill Qian view the current development cycle of the Crypto industry, as well as the recent trends of Bitcoin spot ETF applications and PayPal issuing stablecoins, where Web 2 forces are entering against the trend **? Bill Qian recently shared his insights through an interview with ChainCatcher on these topics.
From a business perspective, Binance's unusual rise speed and new organizational methods have made it one of the most worthy companies to study today. This article comes from Wang Hanyang, who, along with friends, sorted through over 4,000 resumes found online, claiming to have worked or interned full-time at Binance. Their backgrounds and experiences piece together a glimpse of this mysterious company.
3. "Multicoin Capital Partner: Analyzing Why Modular Blockchains Are Overrated from 7 Perspectives"
Over the past two years, the debate on blockchain scalability has centered around the "modular vs. integrated" topic.
It is important to note that discussions in cryptocurrency often conflate "single" and "integrated" systems. The technical debate between integrated systems and modular systems has spanned a long history of 40 years. This dialogue in the cryptocurrency space should be constructed through the same lens as history, and it is far from a new debate.
When considering modularity versus integration, the most important design decision that blockchain can make is to what extent to expose the complexity of the stack to application developers. The customers of blockchain are application developers, so the ultimate design decisions should take their positions into account.
Today, modularity is largely hailed as the primary means of blockchain scalability. In this article, I will question this assumption from first principles, revealing the cultural myths and hidden costs of modular systems, and sharing my conclusions drawn from six years of contemplation on this debate.
We hope that this technology can truly belong to all of us, leading to a vision where you can achieve this with blockchain. You can embed artificial intelligence in smart contracts. With the power of zero-knowledge proofs, data privacy can be maintained. Over the coming decades, this technology will become increasingly intelligent. You can choose to do anything you want or change it in any way you wish.
So what is the relationship between blockchain and artificial intelligence? What kind of world will AI lead us to? What is the current state and challenges of AI? What role will blockchain play in this process?
Since the Black Mountain EDCON in April, "ZK" has become one of the hottest terms this year, expanding the narrative space brought by Ethereum to new heights. Many believe this will be a new market worth hundreds of billions of dollars, creating more opportunities and wealth stories, such as "ZK mining." Of course, ZK, as a new era that has yet to arrive, also means that many opportunities are difficult to identify accurately at present.
What will ZK look like in the future still requires more imagination. The Proof market built by =nil; Foundation has sparked my endless fantasies about this hundred-billion-dollar era. Recently, I had an in-depth conversation with Mikhail Komarov (hereafter referred to as Misha), co-founder of =nil; Foundation, discussing topics related to =nil; Foundation, zkLLVM, and the Proof market.
6. "Layout for Cancun Upgrade: Which is the Better Choice, OP or ARB?"
In 2023, the Cancun upgrade is undoubtedly one of the most critical industry events following the Shanghai upgrade. According to current news, the Cancun upgrade, included in EIP4844, is expected to take place between 2023.10 and 2024.1, while the two main L2 projects, Arbitrum (referred to as ARB) and Optimism (referred to as OP), have experienced significant corrections after reaching new highs in token prices in the first half of the year, making it perhaps a better time for positioning.
7. "Financial Times: Has Binance Lost Its Opportunity to Dominate the Crypto Market?"
If Binance can weather the regulatory storm following the FTX collapse, it will become the preferred venue for crypto token trading, and CZ can position himself as the "acceptable face" of cryptocurrency, even though many still view the market as the Wild West. Binance's scale is not just a concern for regulators. Crypto advocates also believe that for an industry that advocates decentralized finance, theoretically, no single participant or entity should hold too much influence.
The cryptocurrency market often exhibits high cyclicality, and this cyclicality is very consistent and not coincidental. They are predictable. If we guess correctly, this has a huge impact on the future of the cryptocurrency market. Increasing evidence suggests that we are in the early stages of a new cycle, with risk assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies subtly confirming this throughout the year.
