Weekly Report | BlackRock surpasses Grayscale to become the largest digital asset fund management company by total assets under management; 44% of institutional investors increased their holdings in Bitcoin spot ETFs in the second quarter
Employees receive an average of over $100,000 in airdrops, EigenLayer is once again embroiled in a "bribery" controversy; supporting Polymarket, challenging the CFTC, crypto giants are targeting the $100 billion online gambling market; the "Grayscale effect" reappears, what exactly has the spot ETF listing brought to Grayscale?整理：Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (8.12-8.18)"
Forbes reporter Eleanor Terrett stated that Harris and her campaign team members were absent from the event. If the goal of the "Crypto4Harris" event on Wednesday night was to persuade the skeptical digital asset industry that Harris's election as president is something they should support, then the event was almost entirely ineffective.
Eleanor Terrett noted, "I received over a hundred pieces of audience feedback. Most respondents were dissatisfied with Harris's performance on the conference call and did not believe she would cooperate with the so-called 'crypto reset' encouraged by Democratic politicians and industry leaders. This is mainly because Harris has not publicly stated her position on cryptocurrency."
CoinShares research director James Butterfill disclosed on X that BlackRock has recently surpassed Grayscale to become the largest digital asset fund manager by total assets under management.
As of August 15, BlackRock's crypto ETF assets under management reached $22 billion, while Grayscale's crypto ETF assets under management reached $20.7 billion.
3、Mining Company Core Scientific Expands Priority Note Offering to $400 Million
Bitcoin mining company Core Scientific announced an increase in its offering of $400 million in 3.00% convertible priority notes due in 2029. The initial offering size was $350 million, which has been expanded due to favorable market conditions.
These notes are scheduled to settle on August 19, 2024, and will be offered privately to qualified institutional buyers. The initial purchasers will receive an option to buy an additional $60 million in notes.
According to Decrypt, Eric Trump, Donald Trump's son, revealed a new crypto project as "digital real estate."
Eric Trump stated, "It's fair. It's collateral that anyone can access and obtain immediately. I don't know if people realize what a huge change this is for banks and the financial world. I hope we can help change that."
5、44% of Institutional Investors Increased Holdings in Bitcoin Spot ETFs in Q2
Data from Bitwise shows that approximately 66% of institutional investors increased or held their positions in Bitcoin through U.S. spot exchange-traded funds in Q2.
According to 13F filings submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 44% of asset managers increased their Bitcoin ETF positions in Q2, while 22% maintained their positions. Only 21% reduced their holdings, and 13% exited.
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan stated, "This is a pretty good result, comparable to other ETFs."
6、South Korean Sports Committee Employee Steals Colleagues' Salaries to Invest in Bitcoin
According to JTBC, the South Korean Sports Committee conducted an internal review and found that an employee misused a company credit card to purchase beef and embezzled other employees' salaries to invest in Bitcoin.
The audit revealed that the employee misappropriated the company credit card from the athlete village operations department to purchase approximately 600,000 won worth of beef and other items. By forging company emails, the employee transferred about 3.5 million won (approximately $2,573) of other employees' salaries into their own account and used the funds to invest in Bitcoin, spending about 4.6 million won (approximately $3,383) of public funds at Japanese restaurants and other places.
7、Wells Fargo: Stock Market Will Experience a 30-Year Surge After Fed Rate Cuts
Wells Fargo's global investment strategy chief Paul Christopher stated that the U.S. stock market will experience a surge not seen in 30 years.
Paul Christopher believes that today's market is similar to that of 1995, when the stock market was booming, and the S&P 500 index (SPX) set 77 historical highs. Investors may face a similar environment. This is because inflation is declining, the economy "has not collapsed," and the U.S. Commerce Department estimates that GDP grew by 2.8% year-on-year in Q2.
Paul Christopher told CNBC on Thursday that the Federal Reserve "is in a favorable position if it can be sufficiently proactive."
8、a16z Announces Establishment of Its First Mega Fund in Asia in Japan
According to the Nikkei, U.S. venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced the establishment of its first mega fund in Asia in Japan, with participation from NTT Group and other companies.
It is reported that this fund aims to include Japanese companies active in venture capital as an alternative source of funding to China.
9、Australian Regulators Claim 58% of Crypto Ads on Facebook Are Scams
Australian competition regulators cited a report stating that over half of the crypto ads on Facebook are either scams or violate Meta's policies.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) stated that 600 ads were identified during the investigation. Currently, the agency is only focusing on 234 ads and claims that other celebrity scam cases may be discovered after the investigation concludes. The regulator stated, "At least since January 2018, Meta has been aware that a significant portion of cryptocurrency ads on the Facebook platform used misleading or deceptive promotional methods."
The ACCC stated, "Advertisers must agree to certain contractual terms, including compliance with Meta's advertising policies. These policies prohibit the publication of ads that use deceptive or misleading practices."
It is claimed that although Meta removes individual ads after receiving complaints and sometimes bans related accounts, it continues to display similar ads from the same celebrity or other public figures and profits from them.
10、Financial Lawyer Scott Johnsson: U.S. Government May Be Selling Bitcoin
Financial lawyer Scott Johnsson stated on the X platform that the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) is almost certainly selling Bitcoin from Silk Road. According to the service agreement signed between USMS and Coinbase in June, USMS has been sending Bitcoin to the custodial addresses required by the agreement.
Given that the agreement requires USMS's assets to be kept completely isolated, once transferred and ultimately reaching Coinbase Prime (or other mixed trading addresses), it can be determined that USMS has sold or is about to sell these Bitcoins.
The final sale situation will be confirmed at the latest in the report of the Department of Justice's asset forfeiture plan for fiscal year 2024.
"What Interesting Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (8.12-8.18)"
1、Employees Average Over $100,000 in Airdrops, EigenLayer Again in "Bribery" Controversy
EigenLayer is once again embroiled in a controversy over alleged "bribery."
Yesterday, according to a Coindesk investigation, employees of the re-staking protocol EigenLayer received a large number of airdropped tokens from ecosystem projects relying on its technology. The total value of these tokens is nearly $5 million, with a current value of nearly $1 million.
Although EigenLabs clarified in an official blog that EigenLabs and the Eigen Foundation prohibited employees from accepting such token airdrops back in May.
EigenLabs also stated that there is no evidence that any employee of Eigen Labs pressured any team to improperly benefit Eigen Labs or its employees.
However, crypto users seem unconvinced. The comments section on Coindesk's X platform is filled with doubts about EigenLayer's "bribery."
2、Supporting Polymarket, Challenging CFTC, Crypto Giants Target $100 Billion Online Gambling Market
As of August 14, over $600 million has been wagered on the U.S. election-related predictions on Polymarket.
This massive betting has caught the attention of U.S. regulators, with the CFTC approving a proposal in May to ban event contracts that allow betting on political events.
On August 5, several U.S. senators and House representatives urged the CFTC to quickly finalize and implement this regulation to prevent the commodification of U.S. elections.
Crypto giants like Gemini, Crypto.com, Robinhood, and Coinbase are collectively resisting the CFTC, arguing that the latter has no authority to regulate prediction markets.
Behind the struggle between the two sides lies the crypto giants' preference for online prediction markets.
Currently, the total trading volume of crypto prediction markets is about $2 billion, but there is a larger market behind it. The global online gambling market is expected to grow from $60.63 billion in 2023 to $103.74 billion by 2028.
Since OpenAI released the text-to-video AI model Sora, AI has once again become the hottest track in today's market, with waves of investment pouring in, and innovative projects that integrate AI and Web3 emerging like mushrooms after rain. According to crypto data platform Rootdata, the "AI and Web3" sector has nearly 240 projects, clearly becoming an independent track, with the decentralized AI network Sahara being one of the star projects in this sector.
Sahara was founded by Sean Ren and Tyler Zhou in May last year, aiming to provide decentralized AI network infrastructure to facilitate AI assetization, helping users deploy or build customized and personalized AI products.
Sean Ren is a tenured professor in the computer science department at the University of Southern California, with 15 years of industry research experience in AI; Tyler Zhou previously served as the investment director at Binance Labs and participated in multiple project investments and incubations.
In March of this year, Sahara announced that it had completed a $6 million funding round led by Polychain Capital back in August last year, with participation from investment firms such as Sequoia Capital, Samsung Next, and Nomad Capital.
The two founders told ChainCatcher that Sahara has provided data services to over 30 enterprise clients, including well-known companies like Microsoft, Amazon, MIT, Snapchat, and Character AI, and has already generated millions of dollars in revenue.
In an exclusive interview with ChainCatcher, Tyler Zhou revealed that Sahara plans to launch consumer products in April-May; the Sahara testnet will go live in Q3, with the mainnet expected to launch in Q4.
On April 4, Sahara launched its first points activity, Sahara Social, on the task platform Galxe for early users, allowing users to earn early points rewards by connecting to the Sahara network, registering for the waiting list, and completing other tasks.
4、"Grayscale Effect" Reappears, What Has the Spot ETF Listing Brought to Grayscale?
The U.S. regulatory approval of crypto ETFs has turned Grayscale's fortunes around but has also introduced stronger competitors. The landscape of crypto asset management has undergone significant changes due to the entry of traditional asset management companies. Grayscale's new layout is urgent, having launched 6 new crypto trusts in the past three months.
5、Staking 2024 Tokyo: The Largest Gathering of Staking Worldwide, Exploring the New Era of Web3
In today's rapidly evolving blockchain and Web3 technology landscape, staking, as an important part of the cryptocurrency field, is leading a new trend of asset appreciation and ecological prosperity. With the booming digital economy, staking has gradually become the focus of attention for investors and blockchain project parties. As a focal event in this field, the "World's Largest Staking Gathering | Tokyo Station" will grandly open on August 28, 2024, at the Prince Park Tower Tokyo, building a bridge for global staking enthusiasts and industry elites to exchange and collaborate.
This Staking Conference is co-hosted by authoritative institutions such as DP CAPITAL, Japanese cryptocurrency/Web3 entity CoinPost, decentralized Bitcoin reserve protocol Solv Protocol, and well-known Web3 media ChainCatcher, aiming to gather the most secure, best risk-managed, and reliable liquidity staking projects globally to explore opportunities and future trends in staking business development. This event not only showcases the latest advancements in staking technology but also provides attendees with a valuable platform to gain insights into market trends, share experiences, and expand their collaboration networks.
Japan, as a leader in the Asian and global cryptocurrency markets, offers unique conditions for the prosperity of staking businesses with its mature market environment and high user retention rates. In recent years, Japan has made significant progress in blockchain technology and digital currency, with the government’s friendly policies and improved regulatory environment further promoting the industry's development. Therefore, choosing to hold this global staking conference in Japan will undoubtedly bring more business opportunities and development prospects for attendees.
On July 25, Monad's ecological projects announced three consecutive million-dollar-level financing rounds.
Among them, the MEV infrastructure and liquid staking platform aPriori raised $8 million in a seed round led by Pantera Capital, reportedly bringing aPriori's token valuation to at least $100 million; the liquid staking protocol Kintsu completed a $4 million financing; and the on-chain order platform Kuru raised $2 million led by Electric Capital.
The investment lineup for this Monad ecological project is very luxurious, with not only star investment institutions like Pantera and Electric but also many well-known figures in the industry, such as Marin Tvrdic from Lido and the founder of Wormhole.
Since Monad completed a $225 million financing at a $3 billion valuation in April this year, the recent announcements of top capital support for its ecological projects have further increased its network's popularity.
Crypto KOL AB Kuai.Dong stated on social media that Monad is different in that many public chains have strong backing from their own capital camps, while the applications being built on them have not made much of a splash. Monad, on the other hand, has applications being built on it that have also received investment from well-known institutions, such as Kintsu, Kuru, Monad Pad, and aPriori.
With the upcoming launch of the testnet, the Monad ecosystem has become a new gold mining opportunity for the crypto community.
7、Frequent CEO Changes Behind Starknet, Deepening Trust Crisis
Last week, the Starknet Foundation announced a change in CEO, with Diego Oliva, who had served as CEO since March 2023, stepping down and James Strudwick, responsible for Starknet ecosystem growth, taking over.
This is not the first significant executive change for the Starknet team this year. In January, StarkWare CEO Uri Kolodny posted on the X platform that he had resigned due to family health reasons, with the CEO position taken over by Eli Ben-Sasson, another co-founder and president of StarkWare.
Since facing community backlash over airdrop allocation issues earlier this year, Starknet has not ceased to face controversy. Recently, the leading derivatives protocol ZKX in the Starknet ecosystem announced its shutdown less than two months after its TGE, and the Starknet Foundation members' defense of ZKX has also faced dissatisfaction from investors.
Frequent CEO changes, coupled with Starknet's "inaction" after multiple public relations crises, have led community users to question the operational status of the organization behind it.
Key Points Summary
- MicroStrategy (MSTR) began purchasing Bitcoin in August 2020.
- The company has made five purchases totaling over 15,000 Bitcoins.
- Is there a correlation between these purchases and MSTR's stock price?
On August 11, 2020, MicroStrategy boldly entered the Bitcoin (BTC) space, making headlines and ushering in a new era for the entire industry.
Under the leadership of Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy quickly rose to become one of the largest publicly held Bitcoin companies in the world, fundamentally changing how companies think about financial management and shifting the entire industry's attitude toward digital assets.
As we celebrate the fourth anniversary of this decision, let’s delve into some significant Bitcoin purchase cases by MicroStrategy and see how these strategic moves have influenced the market.
9、New York Times: Tether Co-Founder and His Shattered Crypto Dream
On sunny days in 2022, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Brock Pierce enjoyed taking friends on boat trips to Vieques Island, about 75 miles from his home in Puerto Rico. Pierce wanted to show his friends a property he "loved most in his life": a once-glamorous seaside resort that he bought for over $15 million.
At its peak, the resort was a W Hotel, featuring a 6,000-square-foot spa, a restaurant run by a Michelin-starred chef, and breathtaking ocean views, serving as a pillar of Vieques' tourism industry. Later, in 2017, the hotel was hit by Hurricane Maria and forced to close. Pierce reopened it, using his wealth earned from cryptocurrency to revitalize the hotel and the local economy.
10、Interview with Raydium: The Biggest Beneficiary of the pump.fun Effect
Here is the original content:
Jack Kubanek: Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Lightspeed. I'm your host Jack Kubanek, and today with me is Infra, a developer from Raydium, an anonymous developer responsible for Raydium's Labs entity. Raydium is a DeFi protocol that has been running on Solana for some time and has recently gained significant attention. Infra, thank you very much for joining Lightspeed.
Infra: Thank you for having me, I'm glad to be here.
Jack Kubanek: What is your daily work at Raydium?
Infra: A large part of it involves operational oversight, including managing third-party vendors, whether it's server-side, RPCs, or ensuring bill payments. There’s also some strategic work, thinking about future program development or smart contract development, as well as community engagement, marketing, branding, and third-party integration.
