Weekly Report | ARK and 21Shares Bitcoin Spot ETF not yet listed on DTCC website; Binance Labs manages assets totaling $9 billion

整理：饼干，ChainCatcher

"What Important Events Happened This Week (10.23-10.29)"

1. ARK Invest and 21Shares' Bitcoin Spot ETF Not Yet Listed on DTCC Website

The Bitcoin spot ETF code from ARK Invest and 21Shares has not yet been listed on the DTCC website, with the code being "ARKB".

Previously, it was reported that "ARKA" listed on the DTCC website is the Bitcoin futures ETF code from ARK Invest and 21Shares, which is a fund that has not yet been approved and will provide investors with opportunities to invest in Bitcoin futures contracts.

Additionally, a spokesperson from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) stated in a statement that BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF was added to the DTCC's qualified list in August. The spokesperson said, "DTCC adds securities to the NSCC qualified list in preparation for the launch of new ETFs in the market, which is standard practice. Being on the list does not indicate the completion of any pending regulatory or other approval processes." (Source link)

2. Saudi Crown Prince-Led Investment Fund NEOM Completes New Round of Investment in Companies like Animoca Brands

The technology subsidiary of the "Neom" city construction project, led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced the establishment of the NEOM Investment Fund (NIF) to support the construction and development of 14 priority areas in NEOM. NIF will invest in tech startups globally through mergers and acquisitions and venture capital, focusing on pioneering growth companies and next-generation industries. NIF will also establish joint ventures and partnerships with large multinational companies, institutional investors, and innovators within NEOM. As part of its establishment, NIF announced a new round of investment in companies such as Pony.ai, Regent, Boom Technology, BlueNalu, and Animoca Brands.

Additionally, Open Campus posted on social media stating, "Middle East Web3 education will collaborate with the NEOM Investment Fund for a major event," with specific details yet to be announced. (Source link)

3. BlockFi Announces Completion of Bankruptcy Restructuring and Launch of Compensation Plan
Cryptocurrency lending company BlockFi announced the successful completion of its bankruptcy proceedings and the initiation of its bankruptcy plan. BlockFi will begin implementing the planned measures, including repaying creditors according to the planned terms, working to recover assets from FTX, 3AC, and other companies, continuing to distribute digital assets to customers, and ensuring fair and equitable distribution of customer rights.

For Wallet customers, they can now withdraw funds. BlockFi interest account (BIA) and loan customers will start receiving their first distributions in early 2024. (Source link)

4. dYdX Chain Officially Launched on Mainnet

dYdX Chain, as an independent Cosmos Layer 1, has officially launched on the mainnet, with validators creating the genesis block of dYdX Chain at 1:00 AM on October 27.

The public bridge front end of dYdX Operations subDAO is expected to go live on October 30, 2023. The post-genesis phase includes Alpha and Beta, with the Alpha phase focusing on bridging, staking, and security, while the Beta phase will support trading without rewards. The transition from Alpha to Beta will be determined by governance votes and other factors. (Source link)

5. Worldcoin Foundation to Pay Orb Operators in WLD Instead of USDC

The Worldcoin Foundation will pay Orb operators in WLD tokens instead of USDC. Currently, the circulating supply of WLD tokens has exceeded 1% of its total supply of 10 billion tokens. Of the approximately 134 million WLD issued, 100 million were provided as loans to market makers, and 34 million were distributed as grants to users and Orb operators.

As the loans are set to expire on October 24, Worldcoin announced it will extend the agreement until December 15 of this year, reducing the amount by 75 million tokens; as part of the agreement, market makers will return or purchase some or all of the remaining 25 million. (Source link)

7. Ethereum Core Developer: Confirms Dencun Upgrade Will Not Be Implemented Before Year-End

Ethereum client developers confirmed on Thursday that the anticipated Dencun upgrade will not be implemented in the network hard fork before the end of 2023.

Anonymous Prysm developer Potuz confirmed in the latest core developer call that it is impossible to fork the mainnet in 2023. He noted that the 10 developer networks (devnets) initiated to test the upgrade have encountered consensus issues over the past few months, stating, "None have progressed smoothly."

Previous reports indicated that in September, Ethereum core developers stated that due to the failure of the Holesky testnet launch, the Dencun mainnet activation is unlikely to occur this year. (Source link)

8. He Yi: Binance Labs Manages Assets of $9 Billion, Binance Charity Has Donated Over $30 Million

Binance co-founder He Yi shared insights on Binance's diversified investments and charitable efforts in an interview with Authority Magazine. She mentioned that the venture capital and incubator Binance Labs is dedicated to supporting and investing in strong projects and startups that contribute to long-term growth in the large crypto and Web3 ecosystem. Binance Labs manages over $9 billion in total assets, covering more than 250 portfolios across over 25 countries on six continents and has incubated 50 projects.

Additionally, He Yi mentioned Binance Charity, the first non-profit charitable organization utilizing blockchain technology, which has donated over $30 million to support global sustainable development efforts and assist over 2 million beneficiaries. Binance Charity has launched several charitable initiatives, such as providing lunches for children, Web3 scholarships, and the Pink Care Project (a social impact project aimed at addressing period poverty). (Source link)

9. Bitcoin Market Cap Surpasses Tesla, Ranking 11th Among Global Financial Products
   According to the latest data from 8marketcap, Bitcoin's market cap has now surpassed Tesla, ranking 11th among global financial products. Bitcoin's market cap is approximately $673.5 billion, while Tesla's market cap is about $673.1 billion. (Source link)

10. Data

• As of October 26, the total circulation of USDC has decreased to $25 billion.
• 9x9x9 has converted all SUSHI holdings to PEPE, with SUSHI position losses exceeding $30 million.
• FTX and Alameda addresses have currently transferred a total of $59 million in crypto assets.
• Galaxy Digital has deposited $142 million in WBTC and $28.6 million in ETH to Aave and Compound, borrowing $71.6 million in USDT and $21.9 million in USDC.
• CME Bitcoin futures open interest has surpassed 100,000 BTC for the first time, setting a new record.
• Scroll has attracted nearly $20 million in deposits, with 30% of total Ethereum deposits coming from the top 10 depositors.
• Uniswap front-end trading fee revenue has exceeded $500,000.

"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (10.23-10.29)"

1. "What Other Financial Giants Are Planning Besides BlackRock?"

As a native on-chain asset, Bitcoin does not rule out the possibility that other on-chain assets (cryptocurrencies) will enter the traditional financial market through this method after the registration of the Bitcoin spot ETF is approved. BlackRock, a giant with an asset management scale of $10 trillion (yes, ten times the global crypto market cap), had its CEO Larry Fink publicly state at the end of last year: "The next generation of markets, the next generation of securities, is tokenized securities." In fact, traditional finance has long been laying the groundwork for asset tokenization, which will provide a large amount of assets and capital for future markets.

2. "Galaxy Research Report: How Much Capital Inflow Can We Expect If the Bitcoin Spot ETF Is Approved?"

For the past decade, applicants have been seeking to list a spot-based Bitcoin ETF. During this time, Bitcoin's market cap has risen from less than $1 billion to today's $600 billion (and peaked at $1.27 trillion in 2021). During this period, global Bitcoin holdings and usage have surged, with many different types of wallets, cryptocurrency exchanges, and custodians emerging worldwide, as well as traditional market access tools. However, the largest capital market in the world, the United States, still lacks the most effective market access tool for Bitcoin—spot-based ETFs. Market expectations for the imminent approval of ETFs are rising, and our analysis indicates that these products could see significant capital inflows, primarily driven by wealth management channels that currently cannot obtain secure and efficient Bitcoin exposure on a large scale.

The capital inflow from ETFs, the market narrative surrounding Bitcoin's upcoming halving (April 2024), and the likelihood that interest rates have already peaked or will peak in the short term all suggest that 2024 could be significant for Bitcoin.

3. "SBF Takes the Stand for a 'Desperate Last Stand,' You Might Want to Read These Stories"

This week, SBF's trial has temporarily quieted in the media due to a week-long interruption, with the trial expected to resume on October 26, local time in the U.S. The defense team revealed that SBF will testify, possibly making a "desperate last stand" for himself.

In recent weeks, SBF's friends, lovers, and colleagues have taken turns revealing explosive details during the trial, accusing SBF of deliberately deceiving investors, lenders, and clients. While this is a normal part of the trial process, the revelations between former close friends and lovers remain poignant.

We may find some answers and supplementary background stories of the characters outside the trial in Michael Lewis's new book "Going Infinite."

4. "Zee Prime Capital: How Do Project Founders Find the 'Wedge' to Leverage the Crypto Market?"

Whether in the Web2 space or the cryptocurrency realm, the success stories that aspiring founders yearn for often begin with small and unremarkable ideas. Founders cannot predict the path dependency on the first day; at the beginning of their ventures, they cannot see all the adjacent markets on the horizon. But it is the "adjacent possibilities" that allow businesses to discover and merge new markets during their development.

5. "Behind Chainlink's Surge: Korean Exchanges and Whales Boosting, Upcoming Staking Mechanism Upgrade"

Recently, the price of the leading oracle token Chainlink ($LINK) has continued to rise, reaching a yearly high. Meanwhile, the contract open interest of $LINK has rapidly increased, nearly reaching levels seen during bull markets. The rise of $LINK may be related to Korean exchanges, whale purchases, and significant product launches.

6. "The Intent Track Gains Popularity: Quick Overview of 8 Intent Concept Projects Worth Watching"

At the recent ETHCC conference in Paris, "ETH mass adoption or widespread adoption" became a hot topic. In analyzing this challenge, a key concept emerged—the "Intent Layer." The core idea of this layer is to lower the barrier for DeFi operations by introducing user-friendly interfaces, such as mobile wallets, as intermediaries for interacting with DeFi.

As a result, the intent track has gained significant attention from the market and capital, and recently RootData has intensively included several early intent-related projects. In this article, RootData has compiled basic introductions and operational mechanisms for 8 intent concept projects, including Flashbots (SUAVE), DappOS, Anoma Network, Particle Network, CowSwap, Fairblock Network, Essential, and PropellerHeads.

7. "A Comprehensive Comparison of Four Major DA Layers: Avail, Celestia, Ethereum, EigenDA"

In recent years, due to the growing focus on scaling execution, Layer 2 has begun to receive attention for adoption. Meanwhile, more and more participants are facing growth challenges due to limited block space and high costs. They have begun to realize that an extensible data availability layer is crucial for effectively scaling blockchains. This also means they need a foundational technology layer that can save costs while providing larger block space to support various types of rollups. This article will evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. We will highlight different design choices to facilitate a comprehensive understanding and help developers find the most suitable DA layer for them.

8. "Are Eths Layer 2? Understanding Ethscriptions Virtual Machine and Its Position"

Ethscriptions is a protocol aimed at allowing users to share information and execute computations on Ethereum L1 at a lower cost. It bypasses the use of smart contracts for storage and execution by applying deterministic protocol rules to Ethereum call data to compute state.

The concept represented by Ethscriptions is that without forming decentralized consensus on non-deterministic issues (such as block inclusion and transaction ordering), a blockchain can never be considered secure. The goal of using ESC - VM is to combine decentralization and security with functionalities close to EVM capabilities.