Daily Report | Alameda bribed Chinese officials with 100 million dollars; Deputy Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange stated that central bank digital currency will have the opportunity to become broad money

Organizer: bayemon.eth

"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"

1. He Yi: Binance Will Not Freeze or Seize Any Public Assets, International Business Entities Must Follow International Law Principles

Binance co-founder He Yi responded again on social media to the "freezing of Hamas-related accounts," stating that "Binance will not freeze or seize any public assets, and international business entities need to follow international law principles. The rules are set by the strong, and in the face of international conventions, Binance is just a small player."

2. Crypto Trading and Lending Platform Membrane Labs Completes $20 Million Series A Financing, with Participation from Jump Crypto and Others

Crypto trading and lending platform Membrane Labs has completed a $20 million Series A financing round, with participation from Brevan Howard Digital, Point72 Ventures, Jane Street, Flow Traders, QCP Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Electric Capital, Jump Crypto, QCP Capital, GSR Markets, Belvedere Trading, and Framework Ventures.

The new funds will be used to help establish the mature trading infrastructure needed in the cryptocurrency space to avoid further disasters. It initially established a settlement and clearing engine that allows institutions to choose where and how to custody funds (whether with custodians or multi-party computation (MPC) wallets), and then decide where and how to execute trades through the front end. (Source link)

3. Former Alameda CEO: SBF Once Asked Her to Prepare 7 Different Balance Sheets to Hide Billions in Loans

SBF reportedly asked former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison to come up with different ways to hide billions in loans on Alameda's balance sheet.

In testimony on October 11, the former CEO of Alameda Research described what she and SBF did before meeting with Matt Ballensweig, co-head of trading and lending at the cryptocurrency lending firm Genesis, who requested updated information about Alameda's balance sheet.

Caroline Ellison stated, "SBF said not to send the balance sheet to Genesis." "We borrowed $10 billion from FTX and provided $5 billion in loans to our own executives and affiliated entities. We thought Genesis might share this information."

"He asked me to come up with other ways to present the information. He wanted me to conceal some things on the balance sheet. So I prepared seven different balance sheets. I didn't want to be dishonest, but I presented alternatives to SBF and let him decide." According to court testimony, this incident occurred on June 19, 2022. (Source link)

4. ARK Submits Updated Prospectus for Bitcoin Spot ETF

Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated on social media that ARK has just submitted an updated prospectus for its Bitcoin spot ETF. A few weeks ago, the SEC sent an email to the issuer raising comments and questions about the S-1 form. It is likely that ARK has addressed these issues in this submission.

Some changes in ARK's new prospectus include that the NAV calculation does not comply with GAAP accounting principles, and a description of how assets are stored independently in "wallets" without mixing with other clients' assets. Balchunas believes this indicates that ARK has responded to all SEC comments and has once again returned the decision-making power to the SEC. He stated that while approval may not come immediately, this "back-and-forth communication" with the SEC is a very positive signal. (Source link)

5. Caroline Ellison: Alameda Bribed Chinese Officials with $100 Million to Unfreeze Alameda's Trading Accounts on Huobi and OKX

According to BitMEX Research citing testimony from former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, Alameda Research's trading accounts were frozen on Huobi and OKX in 2021, and subsequent attempts were made to unfreeze the accounts through hiring lawyers, using various trading strategies, and bribing Chinese government officials.

An Alameda Research employee, whose father is a Chinese official, opposed the bribery of Chinese government officials, believing it was a bad idea that would bring trouble to the company. However, SBF insisted it was the only way to unfreeze the accounts. In November 2021, Alameda Research paid about $100 million to Chinese government officials in exchange for unfreezing the accounts, with the money sent in multiple parts to various cryptocurrency wallet addresses. According to Caroline Ellison, the account was somewhat connected to Chinese government officials and was likely used for bribery. (Source link)

6. Former Alameda Engineer: Alameda Had Poor Security, Lost $190 Million Due to Security Incidents

Former Alameda Research software engineer Aditya Baradwaj detailed three security incidents on his personal social media today, which caused Alameda approximately $190 million in losses. Baradwaj stated that SBF believed that for a startup like Alameda, the most important thing was to grow very quickly, so he decided to ignore engineering and accounting standards of technology and financial services companies.

In the first incident, a trader "was phished after accidentally clicking on a fake link while trying to complete a DeFi transaction," resulting in a loss of $100 million. In the second incident, a liquidity mining creator was scammed, causing a loss of $40 million for Alameda. In the third incident, after an old version of Alameda's "plaintext key file" was leaked, attackers were able to "withdraw funds from some exchanges and place erroneous orders," leading to a loss of $50 million. (Source link)

7. Deputy Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange: Under Certain Conditions, Central Bank Digital Currency Will Have the Opportunity to Become Broad Money

According to Beike Finance, Lu Lei, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, stated at the "2023 China (Beijing) Digital Finance Forum" that the essence of all financial activities is intertemporal trading, and currency and interest rates are core. In the existing model, central bank digital currency (CBDC) is mainly positioned as cash-like payment certificates (M0), which are interest-free high-energy currency.

Lu Lei pointed out that assuming the programmability of digital currency, if smart contracts regarding interest rates are loaded onto the central bank digital currency, it will have the opportunity to become broad money (M2). He hopes that the exploration by the Institute of Digital Research can achieve monetary policy adjustments to the central bank digital currency interest rates, reaching macro-control goals. The programmability of central bank digital currency provides innovative space for enriching the central bank's monetary policy tools, but it must be said that this is a common challenge faced by central banks globally. (Source link)

8. Insider: Parity Technologies, a Polkadot Ecosystem Development Organization, Laid Off Over 300 Employees This Week

According to on-chain analyst thiccy citing sources, Parity Technologies, a Polkadot ecosystem development organization, laid off over 300 employees this week.

Additionally, Parity Technologies stated on social media that it is halting its marketing functions to make room for new ecosystem leaders outside of Parity. (Source link)

9. SBF Believes Binance Leaked Alameda's Balance Sheet to CoinDesk

According to The Block, evidence provided by Sam Bankman-Fried during the trial shows that he believes Binance leaked Alameda Research's balance sheet to the media CoinDesk, which was a key event in the collapse of FTX.

Caroline Ellison testified that SBF prepared a memo dated November 6, 2022, outlining potential investors that he and others planned to seek rescue from, which listed TRON founder and Huobi advisor Justin Sun as a potential investor to approach, but added that "it turned out he had a close relationship with CZ." (Source link)

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

1. 《SBF Trial Enters Second Week, Key Witness Testimonies Summarized (Continuously Updated)》

In the week following the formal court appearance of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the SBF trial has seen multiple key witnesses testify, including FTX co-founder Gary Wang, former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, and former FTX engineers.

This article will continuously update the key witness testimonies in the SBF trial. Additionally, for the latest developments beyond witness testimonies in the SBF trial, you can follow ChainCatcher's special tracking on this case *《Latest Developments in the SBF Trial Continuously Tracked》.

2. 《When the Restaurant Industry Meets Web3, A Quick Read on Blackbird's Operating Model and Token Model》

Earlier this month, the Web3 restaurant loyalty application Blackbird completed a $24 million Series A financing led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from QED Investors, Union Square Ventures (USV), Shine, Variant, and others.

So what exactly is Blackbird? How does it operate? What is the economic model of the tokens used to drive its loyalty and rewards system?

3. 《Exploring the Feasibility of Non-Clearing Lending Protocols: Can DeFi's High Yields and Flexibility Coexist?》

In the DeFi space, some lending models (represented by platforms like Aave and Compound) present inherent challenges that can lead to market volatility and unintended liquidations. Non-clearing lending protocols offer a simple and effective new alternative. In this model, borrowers deposit ETH, determine their own liquidation price, and can reclaim collateral as long as they repay the loan before the due date. This model provides greater flexibility and potentially higher returns for both borrowers and lenders.

4. 《Web3 Opinion Leaders and Power: Creating Consensus》

We need to be able to create tokens without excluding direct leadership. Great things are built over time by outstanding leaders with authoritative power and the courage to take bold actions. To achieve the benefits of tokenization without misleading decentralization, we need to create a favorable regulatory environment. By doing so, we will be able to achieve greater outcomes, reduce the cost of crypto capital, and drive further growth in the industry. More importantly, we will enhance the industry's resilience to risks, eliminating a potential avenue for attack that we often overlook—namely, that malicious actors can exploit excessive decentralization to harm the crypto industry.