Daily Report | Binance plans to hire 1,000 employees this year; Vitalik says Ethereum's latest developments make its fundamentals very strong; Little Kennedy may withdraw from the U.S. presidential race
News Summary for August 22整理：Fairy，ChainCatcher
Important News:
- Insider: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to withdraw from the U.S. presidential race before this weekend
- Vitalik: Ethereum's latest developments make its fundamentals very strong
- Decentralized biotech protocol BIO Protocol has completed $11.81 million in funding
- Binance plans to hire 1,000 employees this year, with annual compliance costs exceeding $200 million
- Sources: Harris will support efforts to promote the cryptocurrency industry
- Cryptocurrency companies contributed nearly 50% of political donations in the 2024 election cycle, totaling $119 million
"What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours"
Vitalik: Ethereum's latest developments make its fundamentals very strong
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on social media, highly praising the latest developments in the Ethereum ecosystem. Buterin pointed out that Ethereum has made significant progress in several key areas:
- L2 network transaction fees have dropped below $0.01;
- The two EVM-compatible L2 networks, Optimism and Arbitrum, have entered their first phase;
- The user experience for cross-L2 wallets has greatly improved;
- ZK tools have become more powerful and mature, simplifying application development; second-generation privacy tools are beginning to emerge;
- The identity, reputation, and credential ecosystem has become stronger and is increasingly widely used;
- Progress in STARK technology has enhanced long-term security and decentralization prospects;
- The roadmap for account abstraction and block construction has become clearer;
- Staking decentralization remains stable, breaking the claim that "PoS is more centralized than PoW."
Buterin emphasized that these advancements have made Ethereum's fundamentals exceptionally strong.
NBA star Jimmy Butler and BitBoy agree to pay $340,000 to settle class action lawsuit related to Binance
According to The Block, NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler and cryptocurrency YouTuber Ben 'BitBoy' Armstrong have agreed to pay a total of $340,000 to settle a class action lawsuit related to Binance, which still requires court approval.
The lawsuit alleges that the two were illegally promoting unregistered securities and soliciting new customers for Binance, resulting in consumer losses. The lawsuit was filed in March 2023 and includes allegations of promoting cryptocurrencies like BNB and BUSD as securities. The two deny any wrongdoing.
Decentralized biotech protocol BIO Protocol has completed $11.81 million in funding
Decentralized biotech protocol BIO Protocol announced on August 20 that it has completed $6.22 million in its first round of Genesis auction funding, exceeding the original target of about $5 million.
Currently, investors participating in the first round of funding can begin claiming $BIO tokens, with 50% available immediately and the remaining 50% to be unlocked linearly over one year (referred to as vBIO).
Notably, this funding amount for BIO accounts for more than half of the total public sales in August this year ($11.81 million), and BIO Protocol has also indicated plans to launch a new round of funding.
Binance plans to hire 1,000 employees this year, with annual compliance costs exceeding $200 million
According to Bloomberg, Binance plans to hire 1,000 employees this year, with many positions focused on compliance. This move is in response to increasing regulatory requirements, especially after the guilty plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which has led to annual compliance costs exceeding $200 million.
Binance CEO Richard Teng stated that the plan is to expand the compliance team to 700 people by the end of 2024, while the company continues to seek to establish a global headquarters. Teng also mentioned that Binance is facing an increasing number of requests from global law enforcement agencies, having handled 63,000 requests this year, up from 58,000 last year.
Sources: Harris will support efforts to promote the cryptocurrency industry
According to Bloomberg reporter Hadriana Lowenkron, Kamala Harris's campaign aides stated that Harris will support efforts to promote the cryptocurrency industry, saying, "She will support policies that ensure emerging technologies and such industries can continue to develop."
Harris's team indicated that despite the industry's witnessing the collapse of many well-known companies, they are still interested in implementing safeguards in the industry. "Clearly, they have indicated that what the industry needs is stable rules and road rules." Nelson referred to Harris's speech last week, which outlined the preliminary pillars of her economic policy.
Cryptocurrency companies contributed nearly 50% of political donations in the 2024 election cycle, totaling $119 million
According to a report released by the corporate influence watchdog Public Citizen on Wednesday, nearly half of corporate political donations in the 2024 election cycle came from cryptocurrency companies.
The report by Public Citizen, based on data provided by the government transparency organization OpenSecrets, found that so far, 48% of corporate election spending has come from cryptocurrency companies like Ripple and Coinbase. The vast majority of these donations have flowed into super PACs that support cryptocurrency, such as Fairshake.
The report noted that of the $203 million raised by Fairshake, $107.9 million came directly from cryptocurrency companies, with the remainder coming from well-known figures in the tech and cryptocurrency industries, including large donations from the Winklevoss twins and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Latin American payment giant Mercado Pago launches dollar-pegged stablecoin "Meli Dollar" in Brazil
According to CoinDesk, Mercado Pago, the digital bank under Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre, announced the launch of the dollar-pegged stablecoin "Meli Dollar" in Brazil. Users can buy and sell this stablecoin without fees using their Brazilian real balance. This move aims to provide users with a practical and stable financial management tool.
Earlier news reported that Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre launched cryptocurrency in Brazil.
On-chain private credit fund Credbull completes $5.2 million funding, led by GnosisVC
According to Coindesk, on-chain private credit fund Credbull announced the completion of $5.2 million in funding. This round of financing was led by GnosisVC, with participation from strategic investors including Outlier Ventures, HODL Ventures, XBTO, LucidBlue Ventures, CryptoHedge, and Marcello Mari of SingularityDAO.
Credbull claims to be the "first licensed on-chain private credit fund protocol," launched in April this year on the Polygon PoS blockchain, aiming to democratize investments in real-world assets (RWA) by connecting traditional finance and Web3. The project's goal is to break down barriers between traditional finance and Web3, providing broader access for investors to participate in the private credit market.
Insider: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to withdraw from the U.S. presidential race before this weekend
According to ABC News citing insiders, U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to withdraw from the race before this weekend. However, this decision has not been finalized and may still change.
One insider added that Kennedy hopes to finalize matters quickly to try to undermine the momentum of the Democratic National Convention. Additionally, Kennedy will deliver a speech nationwide in Arizona this Friday to outline his future path. Meanwhile, Trump will also hold a rally in Arizona on Friday.
"What excellent articles are worth reading in the past 24 hours"
Interview with Binance CEO Richard Teng: Binance's global ambitions, IPO, He Yi, CZ
Last year, Richard Teng took over Binance in an unfavorable environment after his predecessor Zhao Changpeng was forced to leave due to a multi-billion dollar settlement with the U.S. government.
In the nine months since taking over, Teng, who previously served as a regulator in Singapore and the UAE, has worked to transform Binance from a founder-led organization into a board-led institution. Although the company remains silent about its headquarters location and claims to be an "international company," Teng is looking for a long-term home.
Since the collapse of Binance competitor FTX at the end of 2022, cryptocurrency prices have surged, coupled with traditional financial institutions' support for the sector and the possibility that U.S. regulators may take a more lenient stance on cryptocurrencies, speculation about an upcoming IPO has intensified.
However, in an interview in New York on Wednesday, Teng stated that the company is not considering going public. He said, "Our financial situation is very strong, and there is really no need to consider financing or an IPO. The company has been profitable and has been cautious with spending since the fifth month of its operation, so [an IPO] is not a topic of discussion."
Every major chain has its own "Pump.fun," where is the most profitable place to play?
Recently, the mainstream market has been in turmoil, but the popularity of Memecoins continues to rise. Pump.fun's protocol revenue hit a new high on August 13, accumulating over $100 million. Sun.pump launched not long ago, and several Memecoins on that platform quickly surpassed a market cap of $1 million, with gas fees on the Tron chain soaring, and the long-dormant price of TRX also reaching a nearly three-year high, indicating that Sun.pump has almost single-handedly brought a "revival" to the entire Tron chain.
In addition, Moonshot has launched a new issuance mechanism, and BNB chain's Meme activities are ongoing. Various Memecoin platforms across chains are flourishing, raising the question of which can compete with Pump.fun, and where users can earn money? This article will take you through various Memecoin issuance platforms across chains and analyze their competitive advantages.
Goldman's latest U.S. election prediction: Harris wins but will be a "lame duck president"
Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs stated in a report released this week that under the current circumstances, this year's U.S. election may result in a "lame duck president Harris."
From an optimistic perspective, this scenario successfully avoids the chaotic prospect of Trump imposing tariffs indiscriminately, while Harris's radical economic policies will also lose room for implementation. Harris is currently in a favorable position
Goldman Sachs stated that currently, in national polling, Harris is approximately 1.5 percentage points ahead of Trump and has gained a lead in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. Overall, Harris has about a 52%-54% chance of winning in November. Since she took over the mantle of challenging Trump from Biden, her campaign has been gaining momentum for over a month.
Since August 1 of this year, the probability of the Republican Party winning the election has decreased by 10 percentage points, while the probability of the Democratic Party winning a "divided government"—meaning Harris becomes president but the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress or at least one house—has increased by 11 percentage points.
Goldman Sachs also pointed out that while this is currently the most likely implied scenario, the outcome remains highly uncertain.
According to statistics, various U.S. election polls generally indicate that Harris is in the lead, but the margin is not large—at most 5-6 percentage points.
