Weekly Report | Jump Trading loses nearly $300 million due to FTX collapse; Utopia and Yield Protocol, invested by Paradigm, will cease all services
The ETHVietnam summit has been postponed to mid-January 2024; the financing amount in the crypto market in September was $505 million, setting a new low in recent years.整理：饼干，ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (10.2-10.8)"
1. Michael Lewis: Jump Trading Lost Nearly $300 Million Due to FTX Collapse; SBF Bought Back FTX Shares from Zhao Changpeng for $2.275 Billion in 2021
According to Michael Lewis's new book about SBF, Going Infinite, crypto market maker Jump Trading lost nearly $300 million in the collapse of FTX. The book cites documents discovered by former FTX COO Constance Wang, stating that Jump Trading lost $206 million, while its affiliated trading company Tai Mo Shan Ltd lost over $75 million.
The book also reveals many stories about SBF, including that to cope with regulatory scrutiny, SBF bought back FTX shares held by Zhao Changpeng for $2.275 billion in 2021. SBF modified rules to extend the employee SRM lock-up period after a significant rise in SRM, and he considered paying Trump $5 billion to stop his presidential campaign. (Source link)
2. Paradigm-Backed Utopia and Yield Protocol to Cease All Services
The DAO solution Utopia announced it will stop all services on November 6, with the product available for free until the end of this month. The project emphasized in its announcement that this does not mean the company is shutting down, but rather abandoning existing products and directions. Utopia previously raised $23 million in funding led by Paradigm in June 2022, with participation from Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, and Distributed Global.
The decentralized fixed-rate lending protocol Yield Protocol announced it will cease operations, with insufficient demand and an uncertain regulatory environment being key drivers behind the decision. The platform attracted over $22 million in TVL at its peak in April 2022, while its current TVL is just over $2 million. According to RootData, Yield Protocol completed a $10 million funding round in June 2021, with participation from Paradigm, Framework Ventures, CMS, and Robot Ventures.
Additionally, the Avalanche-based action role-playing game project Ascenders announced it will stop game development, including its flagship project Ascenders MMORPG and its accompanying mini-game Ascenders: Simulation, while also terminating company operations. Ascenders previously completed a $6.4 million private funding round led by Paramount Capital, Three Arrows Capital, Sino Global Capital, and Merit Circle. (Source link)
3. Hong Kong SFC and Police Force Establish Joint Task Force for Virtual Asset Trading Platforms
The Hong Kong Police Force and the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission have established a dedicated task force to enhance cooperation in monitoring and investigating illegal activities related to virtual asset trading platforms. The task force was formed after a high-level meeting held on September 28, 2023, and is composed of representatives from the Police Commercial Crime Bureau, Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau, Financial Intelligence and Investigation Bureau, as well as the SFC's Regulatory Enforcement and Institutional Departments.
The purpose of the task force is to facilitate information sharing related to suspicious activities and violations concerning virtual asset trading platforms; implement risk assessment mechanisms for suspicious virtual asset trading platforms; and strengthen coordination and cooperation in related investigations. (Source link)
4. Singapore's Largest Money Laundering Case Involves Funds of Up to SGD 2.8 Billion
A Singaporean official stated that in an ongoing money laundering investigation, authorities have seized or frozen assets worth over SGD 2.8 billion (approximately USD 2 billion), while indicating that the government may tighten immigration regulations to curb the inflow of illegal funds. Initially, the amount involved was over SGD 1 billion, which later increased to SGD 1.8 billion, then to SGD 2.4 billion on September 20, and as of today (October 3), the total amount of frozen or restricted assets has risen to SGD 2.8 billion.
Previous reports indicated that 10 foreign nationals arrested in this case were suspected of crimes such as forgery and money laundering, with the total value of the assets involved estimated at around SGD 1 billion, with preliminary determinations indicating that all 10 individuals are originally from Fujian Province, China. (Source link)
5. North Korean Hacking Group Lazarus Group Laundered Over $900 Million Through Cryptocurrency Cross-Chain Bridges in the Past Year
According to Yonhap News Agency, over the past year, the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group laundered more than $900 million (approximately 1.2 trillion KRW) through cross-chain bridges, accounting for about one-seventh of the total amount laundered through cross-chain bridges in the past year (USD 7 billion). (Source link)
6. Singapore's Whampoa Group Plans to Launch a $100 Million Venture Capital Fund by Year-End to Invest in Web3 and Digital Assets
According to Nikkei Asia, Singapore-based investment firm Whampoa Group plans to launch a $100 million venture capital fund by the end of this year, which is expected to invest in the Web3 and digital asset sectors, focusing on Series A financing deals. Previous reports indicated that the fund would be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022, but as of now, Whampoa Group's digital asset investment arm, Whampoa Digital, has not commented on the matter. (Source link)
7. ETHVietnam Summit Postponed to Mid-January 2024
According to the official ETHVietnam website and related email notifications, the ETHVietnam 2023 summit originally scheduled for October 27-29 has now postponed its main conference dates (including the ETHVN hackathon and ETHVietnam EVENT) to mid-January 2024.
Additionally, the "WEB3 FUTURE NIGHT" event, originally scheduled to be held during the ETHVietnam summit on October 27 in collaboration with decentralized derivatives protocol KTX.Finance, will also be postponed to mid-January 2024. (Source link)
8. Social Protocol Stars Arena Suffers a Vulnerability Loss of Approximately $3 Million, Subsequently Secures Resources to Compensate for Losses and Will Restart Contracts
The AVAX-based social protocol Stars Arena posted on the X platform: "A significant security vulnerability has occurred in the smart contract, and we are investigating the issue. Please do not deposit any funds." On-chain information shows that Stars Arena has been exploited, resulting in a loss of $3 million. The hacker sent 266,103 AVAX to 0xa2Ebf3FCD757e9BE1E58B643b6B5077D11b4ad7A.
Initial analysis by PeckShield indicates that the Stars Arena:Shares contract has a reentrancy issue, which the hacker exploited to abuse the weight update function during the issuance of shares, allowing a share to be sold at a higher price. Additionally, the hacker's address is associated with a phishing address starting with 0x85Ee, which initially received funds from HTX.
Stars Arena's official account on the X platform stated, "We have secured resources to compensate for the losses incurred from the hack. A special white hat team will intervene to review the platform's security, and after a comprehensive review, we will restart the contracts, which is expected to be completed within a few hours." (Source link)
9. Data
- In September, the amount of financing in the crypto market was $505 million, setting a new low in recent years.
- September CEX trading volume was $311.92 billion, the lowest since 2021.
- FTX attackers have cumulatively exchanged approximately $124 million worth of ETH for BTC.
- The number of unique user addresses on Coinbase's L2 network Base exceeds 310,000.
- Approximately $370 million in SOL was unlocked during epoch 512, with over $160 million unlocked from a16z addresses.
- The number of active developers in the crypto space has reached its lowest point since 2020.
- The total trading volume of friend.tech has exceeded 250,000 ETH.
- The number of minted Curve's native stablecoin crvUSD has surpassed 130 million, setting a new historical high.
"What Exciting Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (10.2-10.8)"
The current state of Ethereum's development can be said to include a significant amount of two-tiered staking, which is generated through a large number of participants providing liquidity staking tokens (LST) in staking pools. (Both Rocket Pool and Lido operate under this model). This article will mainly focus on the centralization risks of node operators in the current LSDFi protocol and liquidity pools, as well as the unnecessary consensus burden.
2. "Systematic Overview of the Timeline of Ripple vs. U.S. SEC Case: An Expensive and Prolonged Showdown"
The battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is far from over. This crypto exchange and the SEC are preparing to face off in court in the second quarter of next year. This article organizes the timeline of the SEC and Ripple case to help understand what is happening: how the case has developed to this point and what may happen next.
3. "FT Hype Slows Down, Where Is the Future of Web3 Social?"
Web3 Social has clearly shown a trend of fading heat, as @machibigbrother's entry has not brought growth to TVL. When will this wave of enthusiasm come to an end? I believe it depends on official adjustments. The upcoming feature updates, gameplay adjustments, and economic models of the project will play a crucial role in the long-term development of FriendTech.
4. "Volatility and Price Drops: What Patterns Can Be Observed in DWF Labs' Market Making?"
This article will review six tokens that DWF Labs has market made over the past two months, examining what patterns exist in their price movements. In a liquidity-scarce bear market, market makers have become an indispensable role, such as providing liquidity for projects, increasing market depth, and stimulating the market. However, DWF Labs, which serves as both a market maker and VC, while achieving the goals of stimulating the market and increasing liquidity, has also sparked controversy with its volatility and price drops.
5. "a16z: Why Is the Combination of Dining and Web3, Blackbird, Worth Our Investment?"
One of the joys of living in New York City is that delicious meals are always just a few minutes away. Restaurants have long provided customers with food, social spaces, and entertainment. Despite the continuous evolution of the restaurant industry, creating more value for diners, cities, and society, they often lack profit margins. We have seen that blockchain has enabled direct connections between creators and fans in music and art, allowing creators to identify, interact with, and reward their most loyal fans. What if restaurants could do the same? What does this mean for the experiences they can create for customers and their bottom line?
6. "12 Charts Interpreting the Persistently Depressed September Crypto Market"
Most indicators in the crypto industry saw significant corrections in August, but the sluggish market state did not improve in September. Overall, the past month continued to show a depressed state, with several indicators even experiencing further declines. This article will use 12 charts to interpret the conditions of the crypto market in September.
Since its launch at the end of July, Coinbase's Optimistic Rollup-based L2 network Base has accumulated $7 million in transaction fees, surpassing most other L2 networks during the same period; its on-chain TVL exceeds $540 million, nearly equal to the sum of zkSync Era and StarkNet, making it the third-largest L2 network after Arbitrum and Optimism. As a public chain with minimal expectations for airdrops, it has achieved greater success in a shorter time than public chains driven by potential airdrop farming. In this landscape of one-click chain launches driven by potential airdrops, Base's experience seems to show us another possibility for the development of public chains.
According to the latest data, 85% of the time has passed since the halving in May 2020 until the next halving. Meanwhile, the supply held by long-term holders (LTH) is close to an all-time high (ATH). In previous cycles, this has been a signal near the macro bottom, followed by the early stages of a new cycle.
9. "How Do Uniswap V4 and Uniswap X Create the Best Trading Experience?"
Uniswap v4 optimizes pool customizability to maximize expressiveness, while Uniswap X optimizes routing to maximize output tokens. Together, these two protocols provide traders with the best trading experience while maintaining our commitment to decentralized, censorship-resistant, and permissionless markets.
10. "Solana Validator Health Report: Decentralization Level Steadily Increasing"
The report shows that the Solana validator network is continuously growing and is measured by indicators such as the number of nodes, Nakamoto coefficient, and client diversity. The health of the validator network is a key focus for the Solana Foundation, which provides tools and education to help validators and stakeholders worldwide participate in the network's security. Additionally, the foundation encourages community participation and contributions.
