Weekly Report | Alexey Pertsev sentenced to 64 months in prison for money laundering; Polymarket completes a total of $70 million in two rounds of financing; Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission allows investment in overseas-listed ETFs under certain conditions
Testing online launch, Binance investment incubation, a quick overview of 3 recent popular interactive projects; Tornado Cash developer sentenced, is "Code is speech" dead?; Over $15 million in cumulative financing, Web3 acquaintance social networking pioneer UXLINK and its ambition of "social + trading".Organizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (5.13-5.19)"
1. Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission: Allows Investment in Overseas Listed ETFs Under Certain Conditions
According to ChainCatcher, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular today allowing SFC-approved exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that use a fund-of-funds structure to invest in overseas listed ETFs from different markets under simplified regulations, including actively managed ETFs, provided certain conditions are met.
Ms. Choi Fung-yi, Executive Director of the SFC's Investment Products Division, stated that further simplifying the regulations applicable to fund-of-funds ETFs will save costs for ETF issuers and provide flexibility, while broadening investment options for investors and ensuring an appropriate level of investor protection. This move will also enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness in attracting overseas ETFs and solidify its position as a premier asset management hub.
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2. Hacker Scam Group Pink Drainer Announces Closure After Stealing Over $75 Million
According to ChainCatcher, screenshots released by a blockchain security agency show that the hacker scam group Pink Drainer announced it would shut down after stealing over $75 million. The announcement stated that Pink Drainer has achieved its goal and will retire as planned. All infrastructure will be gradually shut down, and stored information will be cleared and destroyed. Administrators warned users to beware of impersonators and stated that they would not return in the future. Any messages claiming to be from them but not signed with their wallet addresses (0x636/0x9fa) are not from them.
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3. RootData: Total Amount of Transfer Orders in the Primary and Secondary Market Reaches $202 Million, Quantity Ratio is 3.71
According to ChainCatcher, Web3 asset data platform RootData stated on social media that there are currently 52 transfer orders in the primary and secondary market, with a total amount of $202 million; the demand market has 14 orders totaling $25.5 million. The amount ratio of transfer to demand orders is 7.96, and the quantity ratio is 3.71. The trading amount and volume in the primary and secondary market are significantly higher than in the demand market, indicating that current investors prefer to trade in the transfer market.
Additionally, there are 11 projects with valuations exceeding $3 billion, including Solana, Worldcoin, Sui, Ethena, Circle, OKX, FalconX, LayerZero, Fireblocks, Alchemy, and Sei Network. In comparison to the previous round of valuations, Memeland and EigenLayer are among the top projects in terms of growth, increasing by 14.5 times and 5 times, respectively. Hivemapper saw a decrease in valuation of 9.5%.
It is reported that RootData's primary and secondary market aims to bridge the primary and secondary markets, aggregating professional institutional investors' demand for project equity/SAFT transactions and improving market resource allocation efficiency.
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4. TrueBridge's Blockchain Fund TrueBridge Blockchain I Completes $62 Million Fundraising
According to ChainCatcher, TrueBridge Capital Partners announced that its five funds have completed $1.6 billion in fundraising, including:
- TrueBridge Capital Partners Fund VIII raised $884 million;
- TrueBridge Direct Fund III raised $253 million, focusing on mid-to-late stage tech companies;
- TrueBridge Secondaries I raised $230 million, focusing on mixed portfolios;
- TrueBridge Seed & Micro-VC II raised $189 million, focusing on seed stage and micro venture capital;
- The blockchain fund TrueBridge Blockchain I raised $62 million, focusing on seeking high-potential blockchain project portfolios.
It is noted that this is TrueBridge Capital Partners' first blockchain fund, and General Partner Mel Williams stated that the fund recognized the potential of blockchain technology early on, and launching this dedicated fund emphasizes their continued commitment to this field.
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5. Kunming Economic Investigation Uncovers a Virtual Currency Pledge Mining Pyramid Scheme Involving Over 280 Million Yuan
According to ChainCatcher, in November 2023, the Kunming Economic Investigation Unit successfully uncovered a new type of online pyramid scheme crime using virtual currency and blockchain concepts. Since 2022, Li and others established a community on a public blockchain, luring participants with promises of "static mining income through pledged virtual currency" and "developing downlines to earn significant dynamic referral income," claiming that every level of player could receive management rewards of 2% to 30% from direct referrals. As of April 2023, their group had developed over 10,000 members, forming a 15-level criminal organization with over 280 million yuan involved. Currently, 15 suspects have been arrested, 8 have been approved for arrest, and 11 have been transferred for prosecution.
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6. Tornado Cash Developer Alexey Pertsev Sentenced to 64 Months in Prison for Money Laundering
According to ChainCatcher, a Dutch judge ruled in the court of 's-Hertogenbosch that Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was guilty of money laundering and sentenced to 64 months in prison.
The verdict may set a precedent for future trials of other Tornado Cash developers. Other Tornado Cash developers, such as Roman Storm and Roman Semenov, are also facing money laundering and sanctions violation charges in the U.S.
Last year, after the U.S. placed Tornado Cash on its sanctions watchlist again, Roman Storm was arrested. However, in the U.S., Roman Storm has not been charged with responsibility for laundering $1.2 billion, due to differences in how U.S. and Dutch laws handle individual liability for such alleged crimes.
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7. Mark Cuban: SEC Has Not Learned from Mt. Gox Incident, Believes Registration Process Alone is Sufficient to Protect Investors
According to ChainCatcher, billionaire and crypto-friendly figure Mark Cuban stated on Twitter that Japan learned lessons from the Mt. Gox incident and reformed its regulatory system, ensuring that when the largest failure in cryptocurrency history occurred, it did not harm stakeholders in Japan. In contrast, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not learned from this. They still believe that merely having a registration process is enough to protect investors.
Cuban emphasized Japan's approach of providing opportunities for entrepreneurs to drive innovation. He believes the SEC has done a poor job of protecting investors from fraud and hopes that crypto finance will be adequately regulated like current financial institutions.
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8. North Korean Hackers Launder $150 Million in Stolen Crypto Using Tornado Cash
According to ChainCatcher, a United Nations report revealed that North Korean hackers laundered $150 million in stolen crypto through Tornado Cash in March 2024. In March 2023, North Korean hackers illegally extracted $147.5 million in cryptocurrency from HTX. A year later, these funds were transferred to North Korea via Tornado Cash.
According to Reuters, the UN is currently investigating 97 cyberattack incidents attributed to North Korea, which have consumed approximately $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency from 2017 to 2024.
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9. Decentralized Prediction Market Polymarket Completes $70 Million in Two Rounds of Financing, Latest Round Led by Founders Fund
According to ChainCatcher, Polymarket, a decentralized prediction market, completed $45 million in Series B financing, led by Founders Fund.
Additionally, General Catalyst previously helped the company raise $25 million in Series A financing, bringing Polymarket's total fundraising to $70 million across two rounds, with supporters including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
According to Web3 asset data platform RootData, Polymarket is a decentralized information market platform that allows users to trade on the most controversial topics in the world (such as coronavirus, politics, current events, etc.). On Polymarket, users build portfolios based on their predictions and can earn returns if they are correct. When users decide to buy shares in the market, they are weighing their knowledge, research, and views on the future. Market prices reflect traders' perceptions of the likelihood of future events, turning trading activity into actionable insights that help people make better decisions. Thus, Polymarket is a primary source of unbiased real-time data on future events.
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10. Nigerian Court Rejects Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan's Bail Application
According to ChainCatcher, the Nigerian Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected the bail application of Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan, who is on trial for alleged money laundering. In Friday's ruling, Judge Emeka Nwite found that Gambaryan posed a flight risk.
Judge Nwite agreed with the prosecution's lawyer Ekele Iheanacho's argument that it would be unwise to grant Gambaryan bail, given that his co-defendant, Binance's regional manager for Africa, Nadeem Anjarwalla, had previously escaped from custody.
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"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (5.13-5.19)"
Recently, the full-chain modular Rollup network Initia, the full-chain interoperability protocol Analog, and the AI project MyShell incubated by Binance Labs have successively announced the launch of their testnets, quickly making it to the RootData Trending List and becoming popular projects for user interaction in the crypto community.
2. “Tornado Cash Developer Sentenced, Is 'Code is Speech' Dead?”
Yesterday, Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev, a 31-year-old Russian citizen, was sentenced to 5 years and 4 months in prison in the Netherlands for laundering $2.2 billion on a cryptocurrency mixer platform. Pertsev had previously been detained for eight months. This time will be deducted from his sentence, leaving him with four and a half years. Pertsev's lawyer will have 14 days to appeal the judge's decision.
The industry generally views this case as not only a watershed moment for DeFi regulation but also as a change in the trajectory of crypto privacy, creating a "chilling effect" on the global open-source community, where open-source software developers being convicted marks a shift towards traditional legal frameworks governing Web3 smart contract developers.
3. “Over $15 Million Raised, Web3 Social Networking Pioneer UXLINK and Its 'Social + Trading' Ambition”
Recently, the v2 version of Friend.tech was released, accompanied by the airdrop of the native token FRIEND, quickly attracting market attention. The token price surged by 72.6% within 24 hours, pushing Web3 social applications to a new peak and making SocialFi a focal point in the market.
In the SocialFi space, a plethora of Web3 social applications, including Farcaster and Tomo, are continuously innovating. The Farcaster ecosystem's L3 chain Degen Chain performed impressively, achieving a peak transaction volume (TPS) record in the Ethereum ecosystem on April 18; on April 10, the Friend.tech clone Tomo announced it had completed a $3.5 million seed round led by Polychain; additionally, CyberConnect launched a Cyber re-staking feature powered by EigenLayer and liquidity re-staking protocols.
The SocialFi space is increasingly favored by both technology and capital.
4. “GM Vietnam 2024 Conference Guide: Dozens of Web3 Giants Gather in Ho Chi Minh City”
With the rapid development of blockchain technology, Web3 has become a new engine driving technological innovation. In this wave, Vietnam, as a standout in the emerging markets of Asia, is gradually becoming the focus of the Web3 industry. As a blockchain technology exchange event with significant influence in Vietnam and the Asia-Pacific region, GM Vietnam attracts global Web3 attention.
GM Vietnam 2024 continues its tradition, co-hosted by Kyros Ventures, Ninety Even, and Ancient8, gathering the world's best investors, entrepreneurs, and technical experts to discuss the latest industry dynamics and seek new opportunities for market growth and future development in Ho Chi Minh City during the ongoing bull market.
5. “Decoding dYdX Chain: The Future Direction of Decentralized Derivatives Trading?”
Recently, dYdX Chain publicly displayed data showing its total on-chain trading volume reached $120 billion, with $20 million allocated to staking users, demonstrating strong performance metrics. As a well-established decentralized derivatives trading platform developed over seven years, dYdX first migrated from the Ethereum mainnet to Layer 2 and ultimately built its own chain, dYdX Chain, making its unique development path worthy of analysis. This article will explore its impact on users, developers, and the decentralized finance industry based on dYdX's development history.
6. “Is Vietnam, Known as a 'Tax Haven,' a Fertile Ground for the Crypto Industry?”
Taxation plays a crucial role in any industry, influencing or deterring retail investor participation. For example, in Japan, despite government efforts to promote the Web3 industry, a tax of up to 50% on crypto trading has suppressed trading volume. India imposes a 30% tax on crypto gains, along with an additional 1% tax at source, similarly hindering investor participation.
In contrast, Vietnam faces different challenges, characterized by ambiguous tax regulations that create uncertainty in market prospects. This report will delve into Vietnam's crypto taxation environment, assessing the potential opportunities and challenges posed by these policies (or lack thereof).
Since April 30, six virtual asset spot ETFs have been listed and traded in Hong Kong for half a month. How has the market performed? Have the much-anticipated physical subscriptions and the Ethereum spot ETF launched ahead of the U.S. brought new increments to the Hong Kong market? What stories are worth looking forward to in the future? With these questions in mind, the OKLink Research Institute reviewed the development of the Hong Kong virtual asset ETF market based on data over the past two weeks.
8. “Trump vs. Biden: The 'Crypto Election' Battle Begins”
Starting this year, people around the world are paying attention to the U.S. elections.
On one hand, against the backdrop of increasing political polarization, persistent economic recession, and severe social division, the choice of the next U.S. president will have a crucial impact on the country's political landscape. On the other hand, ongoing inflation, escalating trade wars, and the collective development of economies also require attention to the U.S. elections.
On November 5, 2024, the U.S. presidential election will take place as scheduled. Given the current situation, it is likely that this year's U.S. president will be chosen between the 81-year-old Democratic representative Biden and the Republican representative Trump, known for his outrageous statements. To win votes, both will campaign vigorously, articulating their political intentions and electoral promises, covering issues such as the economy, demographics, gender, education, and military.
But unlike in the past, crypto has surprisingly been included in the agenda of this presidential battle.
So, how will Ethereum develop next? In this article, I discuss modular blockchains, database design, and reference GCR's views to attempt to answer this question.
The argument of the innovator's dilemma can be summarized as: "Successful companies often fail to adapt to shifts in paradigms, especially in terms of technological innovation. The reason is that they over-focus on making their products successful rather than trying to update and explore unfamiliar ideas."
As Hong Kong's Web3 environment becomes increasingly open, in addition to several Hong Kong investment institutions making significant purchases of U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs, more and more Hong Kong stocks are entering the crypto space. This article by PANews reviews eight Hong Kong-listed companies that have engaged in the Web3 wave this year. These institutions not only allocate substantial amounts to crypto assets but also integrate their businesses with Web3 technology and invest in related crypto projects to promote diversified development and even transformation, positively impacting their stock prices.
