Daily Report | Zhao Changpeng faces a new class action lawsuit in Seattle Federal Court; Tether plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the UAE Dirham; Brazil approves its second Solana spot ETF
Highlights of August 21整理：Fairy，ChainCatcher
Important News:
- Brazil approves the second Solana ETF
- Tether plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the UAE Dirham (AED)
- Terraform Labs bankruptcy reorganization hearing scheduled for September 19
- Zhao Changpeng faces new class action lawsuit in Seattle federal court
- Binance: If multiple Launchpool projects run simultaneously, user BNB financial assets will be evenly distributed to each project
- Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms agrees to acquire Stronghold Digital for $175 million
- L1 blockchain Story Protocol developer PIP Labs completes $80 million Series B funding, led by a16z
"What important events happened in the past 24 hours"
L1 blockchain Story Protocol developer PIP Labs completes $80 million Series B funding, led by a16z
Layer1 intellectual property blockchain Story Protocol developer PIP Labs announced the completion of $80 million in Series B funding, led by a16z crypto, with participation from Polychain, Stability AI Senior Vice President and board member Scott Trowbridge, K11 founder Adrian Cheng, and digital art collector Cozomo de'Medici, among others. This new round of funding brings PIP Labs' total funding to $140 million.
Story Protocol is an intellectual property blockchain aimed at tokenizing trillion-dollar intellectual property assets, unlocking the limitless creativity of programmable IP+AI. Currently, the number of IPs on the Story Protocol chain has surpassed 20 million, with over 200 teams building applications in IPFi, AI, and consumer markets.
Crypto payment network Skyfire completes $8.5 million seed round funding, with participation from Circle and others
According to Decrypt, crypto payment network Skyfire has completed $8.5 million in seed round funding, with participation from Circle, Ripple, Gemini, and others.
The company was founded by two former Ripple developers, and Skyfire is an open-source payment system that will allow autonomous AI agents to quickly move across the internet, purchasing any goods needed to complete specified tasks—from data storage and creative assets to plane tickets and groceries. All transactions will be supported by the stablecoin USDC.
Skyfire currently operates on the Ethereum scaling network Polygon, but the company has stated plans to expand to other blockchains soon. Skyfire is currently free to use but has indicated that it may soon charge transaction fees ranging from 2% to 3%.
Tether plans to launch a stablecoin pegged to the UAE Dirham (AED)
Stablecoin issuer Tether has revealed plans to develop a new stablecoin pegged to the UAE Dirham (AED).
Tether will collaborate with UAE-based Phoenix Group PLC to launch the new stablecoin, aiming to establish a digital representation of the Dirham fully backed by liquid reserves in the UAE.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated: "The UAE is an important global economic center, and the new stablecoin aims to meet the needs of businesses and individuals seeking safe and efficient transactions in UAE Dirhams, including cross-border payments, trading, and asset diversification."
Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms agrees to acquire Stronghold Digital for $175 million
According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms has agreed to acquire competitor Stronghold Digital (SDIG) for $175 million.
Bitfarms stated in a press release that the offer includes exchanging 2.52 shares of Bitfarms stock for each share of Stronghold, representing a 71% premium over Stronghold's 90-day volume-weighted average price on Nasdaq as of August 16. Stronghold indicated in May that it was exploring strategic alternatives, including the sale of the company.
Previously reported, Bloomberg cited sources saying that Bitfarms was negotiating to acquire Stronghold Digital Mining Inc. for about $164 million while also fending off acquisition attempts from Riot Platforms Inc.
Synthetic asset platform Kresko to shut down project, users must complete asset withdrawal and migration by September 10
Synthetic asset platform Kresko announced it will shut down its project. Kresko stated that the project's founders have been facing serious health issues, which have recently worsened. After careful consideration and exploring various alternatives, the team concluded that shutting down the project is the best course of action.
The announcement reminds users to complete asset withdrawal and migration by September 10.
Previously reported, on November 8, 2023, Kresko completed a $1.8 million strategic financing round, led by Electric Capital and Zero Age Ventures. On October 6, 2021, Kresko completed a $2.35 million seed round, led by Electric Capital and Polychain.
Crypto mobility platform MVL to launch ride-hailing service on Telegram, with TON for fare payment
Singapore crypto mobility platform MVL's CEO Woo Kyung Sik announced plans to launch a ride-hailing service called TADA Mini next month, where users can simply search for "TADA Mini" in Telegram chat groups to access the ride-hailing interface and enter their destination to complete the call, with the option to pay using the virtual currency TON.
Woo Kyung Sik also stated that MVL aims to go public on the NASDAQ in the United States within the next 3 to 5 years.
Since 2018, MVL has been operating ride-hailing services (TADA) in Southeast Asian countries such as Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, with approximately 2 million users in Singapore.
Terraform Labs bankruptcy reorganization hearing scheduled for September 19
According to an official announcement from Terra, the confirmation hearing for the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan of Terraform Labs Pte Ltd (TFL) and Terraform Labs Limited (TLL) is scheduled for September 19, 2024, at 10 AM Eastern Time (10 PM Beijing Time).
Aptos ecosystem NFT marketplace Topaz announces shutdown
Aptos ecosystem NFT marketplace Topaz announced that it will cease operations on August 21, 2024, after careful consideration.
Topaz expressed heartfelt gratitude to its users, partners, and the Aptos community for their support. The announcement also emphasized that any subsequent private messages claiming to be from Topaz or "Topaz Support" are not official actions.
YouTube co-founder: Will explore Web3 in depth over the next few months
YouTube co-founder Steve Chen posted on the X platform that he recently gave an interview to a blockchain media outlet and will continue to delve into various opportunities in the exciting Web3 space over the next few months.
Binance: If multiple Launchpool projects run simultaneously, user BNB financial assets will be evenly distributed to each project
Binance's Chinese official Twitter account stated that if multiple Launchpool projects are running simultaneously, unless otherwise specified, user BNB assets in both flexible and fixed products will be split and evenly distributed to each new coin mining project.
If users want to stake more assets from a specific mining pool, they can directly add funds to that specific Launchpool.
Malaysian police crush hundreds of Bitcoin mining devices with a steamroller to combat power theft
According to Decrypt, Malaysian officials crushed 985 Bitcoin mining devices on Monday as part of a nationwide effort to combat power theft related to cryptocurrency miners.
Videos circulating show a heavy steamroller slowly crushing the mining devices in an attempt to destroy them. This action destroyed equipment worth approximately $450,000.
Malaysian officials are working to combat power theft, which is why the seized mining devices were destroyed.
Zhao Changpeng faces new class action lawsuit in Seattle federal court
According to U.Today, former Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng (CZ) and Binance have been accused in a new class action lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in Seattle federal court, alleging that Binance facilitated money laundering for criminals through its platform, harming consumer interests. The plaintiffs claim that Binance operates as a "cryptocurrency money laundering empire," allowing hackers, thieves, and other criminals to launder illegal proceeds on the platform, profiting immensely in the process. The lawsuit also alleges that Binance's actions constitute illegal extortion, violating the RICO Act.
Previously, CZ pleaded guilty to money laundering violations in November last year and was sentenced to four months in prison in April this year.
Brazil approves the second Solana ETF
The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has approved the second Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF), as disclosed in its central database.
According to the CVM database, the new Solana (SOL) ETF is in the pre-operational phase and will be launched by Hashdex, a Brazilian asset management company managing over $962 million in assets, in collaboration with local investment bank BTG Pactual.
Hashdex is known as an experienced participant in the ETF space on Brazil's B3 stock exchange, having launched products such as the Nasdaq Crypto Index and ETFs based on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Previously, on August 8, the CVM approved the country's first Solana ETF, issued by Brazilian asset management company QR Asset.
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Over half a month unable to withdraw funds! Exchange with over 600,000 users faces "runaway" allegations
Recently, multiple users of the crypto exchange Websea reported that they have been unable to withdraw funds from the WebSea platform.
On August 5, Websea's official announcement stated that due to a severe unknown attack, it decided to immediately suspend deposit and withdrawal services. Websea needs to conduct comprehensive security maintenance and will restore services once it is confirmed to be risk-free.
However, half a month later, Websea's deposit and withdrawal services have still not fully resumed.
On August 20, Websea stated on its official X platform that it is still undergoing comprehensive security upgrades and announced new strategic developments. The full text did not mention when Websea would resume deposit and withdrawal services, and the latest announcement on the official website remains from August 7.
On the evening of the 20th, Websea's official X platform also followed the trending topic of "Black Wukong," posting that "Websea is about to undergo a major change, stay tuned!" along with images related to the "Black Wukong" game.
1-day surge of a thousand times! Some earn $6 million a day, the Wukong that exploded Steam drives related MEME coins crazy
The Chinese-made AAA game "Black Myth: Wukong" officially launched at 10 AM Beijing time on August 20, surpassing 1 million concurrent users within the first hour, causing Steam's servers to crash temporarily.
Data one hour after the game's release showed that it surpassed popular titles such as "Cyberpunk 2077," "Elden Ring," and "Baldur's Gate." As of the time of publication, the peak concurrent users exceeded 2 million, ranking first in Steam's online user count, becoming the third game in history with the highest peak online users on Steam, while the first place is held by "CS 2" and "Dota 2."
With the gaming industry heating up, the capital market has also reacted, starting to hype related concepts. A-share related concepts performed in succession, with Wind data showing that as of the close on August 20, Qitian Technology (300061.SZ) hit the daily limit, with a price increase of 20%; CITIC Publishing (300788.SZ) also hit the daily limit, closing at 29.86 yuan/share, with a 20% increase; Huayi Brothers (300027.SZ) surged 19%, closing at 2.94 yuan/share.
Cryptocurrencies riding the wave of this game have seen even more astonishing increases. According to gmgn.ai data, the meme coin $WuKong issued on Solana surged over 99,999% within 24 hours, with some users earning $350,000 in just 5 hours. Meanwhile, multiple trading pools of $WuKong meme coins with the same name appeared on Solana, with varying price fluctuations. Additionally, $WuKong meme coins with the same name also appeared on ETH and BNB, showing different price increases.
This round of crypto VCs has already started to defend their rights
"In recent days, I've been chatting with some peers, and it seems that this round of crypto VCs is basically done for. Luckily, we didn't invest heavily in the primary market but shifted to the secondary market.
"Talking to market makers, they sympathize with us VCs. In the first year after a project launches, VCs can't get any tokens, only market makers do. However, when the project's price is driven down, it's VCs who take the blame and are mocked as 'VC coins.'"
At a crypto event in Hong Kong, LD Capital founder Yi Lihua spoke up for crypto VCs, stating that VCs are the biggest scapegoats in this round of the crypto cycle, not only losing money but also being chased and scolded.
As we enter 2024, several senior crypto VC practitioners have gradually left to join project teams or the secondary market, with one reason: not making money.
