Daily Report | Vitalik states he does not plan to invest in L2 or other token projects; WLFI plans to sell 30% of tokens at a valuation of $1.8 billion; Zhao Changpeng still retains significant shareholder rights in Binance
September 6 News Overview整理：Fairy，ChainCatcher
Important News:
- Trump family's new crypto project has hired Web3 Antivirus and PixelPlex founder Alexei Dulub as an advisor
- Foreign media: Trump family's crypto project plans to sell 30% of WLFI tokens at an $1.8 billion valuation, expecting to raise $537 million
- Vitalik: The Ethereum Foundation's current budget strategy is to spend 15% of remaining funds each year
- OKX will delist DMAIL, JPG, LITH, STC, REVV spot trading
- Binance CEO: Zhao Changpeng is indeed permanently banned from managing or operating Binance, but retains significant shareholder rights
- Vitalik: I do not plan to invest in L2 or other token projects in the future, will only donate to valuable projects
- Trump plans to appoint Musk to lead the Government Efficiency Committee, Musk responds "If given the opportunity, I look forward to serving America."
- Biden's son Hunter Biden will plead guilty to federal tax crimes today, facing up to 17 years in prison
- Telegram founder Pavel Durov promises to significantly improve platform regulation after being arrested in France
"What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours"
Foreign media: Trump family's crypto project plans to sell 30% of WLFI tokens at an $1.8 billion valuation, expecting to raise $537 million
According to DL News, code tests identified by X user Dumpster DAO show that the Trump family's crypto project World Liberty Financial plans to sell 30% of its WLFI token supply at an $1.8 billion valuation to raise funds. If these tokens are sold, it would bring $537 million in revenue to the project's treasury.
Dumpster DAO examined the Dough Finance token deployer (an address on the Polygon blockchain) and found test contracts labeled WLFinancial and WLFiPresale. The contracts indicate that the plan is to sell 30% of the WLFI token supply at six different prices, starting at $0.0075 per token and ending at $0.03 per token, totaling $537 million raised. The code in the test specifies that WLFI is initially non-tradable, but it leaves the option for the project to upgrade WLFI to make it tradable later.
The information contained in the test code aligns with a previous draft of the World Liberty Financial white paper reported by CoinDesk. The draft states that insiders will receive 70% of the WLFI tokens, while the remaining 30% will be sold to the public. At an $1.8 billion valuation, those who will benefit from the project, including several members of the Trump family, could receive tokens worth nearly $1.3 billion.
Trump family's new crypto project has hired Web3 Antivirus and PixelPlex founder Alexei Dulub as an advisor
The Trump family's new crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) announced on the X platform that Alexei Dulub, the founder of Web3 Antivirus and PixelPlex, has joined the team as an advisor.
According to WLFI, "Alexei has been a blockchain pioneer since 2013, building custom L1 and L2 that support today's Web3 projects."
Web3 Antivirus is known as an open-source extension project that prevents crypto scams and wallet losses, while PixelPlex is a provider of blockchain technology solutions and software development.
Binance Kazakhstan has obtained a comprehensive regulatory license approved by AFSA
According to an official announcement, Binance Kazakhstan has received formal approval for a comprehensive regulatory license from the Astana Financial Services Authority (AFSA).
Binance Kazakhstan has completed the necessary steps to operate with a full license in Kazakhstan, including a series of internal and external audits and regulatory inspections, and will be authorized to operate virtual asset trading facilities and provide a range of virtual asset-related services.
88 American business leaders write in support of Harris, including Ripple CEO, Facebook co-founder, etc.
According to CNBC, 88 current and former executives from the American business community support Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the presidency. The signatories include well-known CEOs from several publicly traded companies, including Aaron Levie of Box, Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp, and Michael Lynton, chairman of Snap.
Some signatories appear to be publicly supporting her for the first time since Harris became the de facto Democratic candidate in July. This includes former CEO of 21st Century Fox, James Murdoch, and cryptocurrency executive Chris Larsen, co-founder of the Ripple blockchain platform.
Among the signatories, more than a dozen have made their fortunes on Wall Street, including Tony James, former president and COO of Blackstone Group, and Bruce Heyman, former managing director of Goldman Sachs' private wealth management.
However, among all the signatories, the vast majority of the 88 endorsing Harris are former CEOs of large publicly traded companies, including former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Paramount Pictures' Barry Diller, Merck's Ken Frazier, Lyft's Logan Green, GoDaddy's Blake Irving, Starbucks' Laxman Narasimhan, and PayPal's Dan Schulman.
Vitalik: The Ethereum Foundation's current budget strategy is to spend 15% of remaining funds each year
Vitalik stated in a Reddit post that the Ethereum Foundation (EF) currently has a budget strategy of spending 15% of remaining funds each year, which means that EF will continue indefinitely, but as part of the ecosystem, it will become smaller over time.
Previously reported, Ethereum Foundation's Justin Drake stated that the foundation's financial report will be released soon, estimating that the foundation has about 10 years of funding reserves.
OKX will delist DMAIL, JPG, LITH, STC, REVV spot trading
According to an official announcement, OKX will delist DMAIL, JPG, LITH, STC, and REVV spot trading.
The platform will officially delist the following trading pairs on September 13 from 16:00 to 16:30 (UTC+8): DMAIL/USDT, JPG/USDT, LITH/USDT, LITH/USDC, STC/USDT, and REVV/USDT. The recharge service for these tokens has been suspended since September 5 at 16:00 (UTC+8). Withdrawal services will continue until December 13 at 16:00 (UTC+8).
Data: Three hackers deposited 17,800 ETH into Tornado Cash in three days, worth about $42.7 million
According to Lookonchain monitoring, from September 3 to 5, three hackers deposited a total of 17,800 ETH into the anonymous mixing protocol Tornado Cash, worth about $42.7 million. Among them:
- Penpie attacker deposited 9,600 ETH (about $23 million);
- WazirX attacker deposited 7,200 ETH (about $17.3 million);
- The hacker who previously attacked Bo Shen, founder of Distributed Capital, deposited 1,000 ETH (about $2.4 million).
Binance CEO: Zhao Changpeng is indeed permanently banned from managing or operating Binance, but retains significant shareholder rights
According to Axios, Binance's current CEO Richard Teng confirmed that former CEO Zhao Changpeng (CZ) is permanently banned from managing or operating the company. According to an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Zhao will be prohibited from participating in the company's daily operations after completing his imprisonment on September 29, 2024.
However, as the largest shareholder, Zhao retains all shareholder rights and will still have significant influence over the company. Teng stated, "If the company's performance does not meet expectations, as an investor, he has the right to replace or nominate new board members or a CEO, and shareholders can propose resolutions at any time."
Vitalik: I do not plan to invest in L2 or other token projects in the future, will only donate to valuable projects
In response to his tweet on August 31 stating "I have never sold Ethereum for personal profit since 2018," Vitalik said, "The same applies to the L2 tokens or other project tokens I hold. All profits will be donated to support public goods within the Ethereum ecosystem or broader charitable causes. In the foreseeable future, I do not plan to invest in L2 or other token projects. My goal in funding projects is to support what I believe is valuable, especially in cases where other parts of the ecosystem may underestimate them. Looking ahead, I plan to achieve this solely through donations."
Arthur Hayes: Bitcoin is expected to fall below $50,000 this weekend, has shorted
Bitmex co-founder Arthur Hayes posted on X, "I expect Bitcoin to fall below $50,000 this weekend, and I have shorted."
Trump plans to appoint Musk to lead the Government Efficiency Committee, Musk responds "If given the opportunity, I look forward to serving America."
Trump stated on Thursday that if he wins the election in November, he will establish a Government Efficiency Committee led by Musk. The committee will develop an action plan to eliminate fraud and improper payments within six months. This will save the U.S. trillions of dollars while maintaining the level of government services. Musk wrote on X, "If given the opportunity, I look forward to serving America. No compensation, no title, no recognition is needed." (Jin Shi)
Telegram founder Pavel Durov promises to significantly improve platform regulation after being arrested in France
After being arrested in France, Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated through Telegram, "The claim that Telegram is some sort of anarchist paradise is absolutely untrue. We delete millions of harmful posts and channels every day. We also publish daily transparency reports and have direct channels of communication with NGOs to handle urgent regulatory requests more quickly.
The rapid growth of Telegram's user base to 950 million has led to growing pains for the platform, making it easier for criminals to abuse it. This is why I have made it my personal goal to significantly improve this situation. We have already started this process internally and will soon share more details about our progress."
Pavel Durov responds to the arrest in France, stating he is ready to exit markets incompatible with his platform's principles
According to The Block, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov spoke out for the first time on Telegram after being arrested in France. He not only denied the reasons for the arrest but also stated he is ready to exit markets incompatible with Telegram's principles.
Durov emphasized, "If we cannot reach an agreement with a country's regulators on the balance of privacy and security, we are ready to leave that country at any time. We have done this many times before." He cited examples of Russia and Iran. "We are prepared to leave markets that are incompatible with our principles because we are not in it for the money. Our motivation is to bring benefits to people and defend fundamental rights, especially where those rights are being violated."
Previously, Durov was arrested at a Paris airport and subsequently charged by a French court. The charges include "aiding the dissemination of child sexual images and other crimes, such as drug trafficking on communication applications." This arrest is part of a broader cybercrime investigation involving allegations that Telegram has facilitated money laundering, child pornography, and drug trafficking through its encrypted tools and services. French authorities have released Durov but required him to accept "judicial supervision," meaning the Telegram founder must remain in France.
Biden's son Hunter Biden will plead guilty to federal tax crimes today, facing up to 17 years in prison
Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, will plead guilty today to federal tax crimes, including multiple felonies, facing up to 17 years in prison.
Hunter Biden has been charged with nine tax crimes, including three felony charges. Prosecutors allege that he failed to pay $1.4 million in federal taxes and evaded taxes by submitting tax returns with fraudulent business deductions. They also allege that Biden spent money on luxury cars, luxury hotels, and sex workers instead of paying taxes on time. President Joe Biden has repeatedly stated that he will not pardon his son in these two cases. It is unclear whether the president's thoughts have changed after abandoning his re-election campaign, but he still has the ability to pardon his son or reduce his sentence.
"What excellent articles are worth reading in the past 24 hours"
What new trends are emerging in Web3 payments, which have raised over $200 million in financing in the past two months, with Sequoia, Temasek, and Tether entering the field?
In the recently quieter Web3 market, Web3 payments have been one of the more active sectors.
Solana, Binance, and Coinbase are all emphasizing Web3 payments.
Lily Liu, president of the Solana Foundation, has been promoting the PayFi concept at major Web3 conferences like EthCC this year, claiming its market size may far exceed that of DeFi. Binance Research recently released a research report on Web3 payments titled “Blockchain Payments: A Fresh Start”, detailing the impact of blockchain on global payments. Coinbase's CEO also recently announced participation in a new track related to AI crypto payments.
Despite the overall downturn in the Web3 investment and financing market, Web3 payments have been one of the hottest financing tracks in the past quarter.
According to statistics from Web3 asset data platform RootData, in the past two months, Web3 payments announced 15 financing rounds, with a total amount exceeding $200 million, and large financing rounds have been frequent.
ChainCatcher statistics show that in the past two months, there have been a total of 11 financing rounds exceeding $30 million, nearly 40% of which come from Web3 payments. Among them, stablecoin payment platform Bridge and blockchain payment and settlement technology platform Partior have both secured over $50 million in financing.
2024 H1 Web3 Financing Situation Report: Financing exceeds $7.5 billion, number of transactions increases by 58%
In the first half of 2024, financing activities in the Web3 sector significantly increased, with 1,240 projects raising $7.52 billion, a 24% capital growth compared to the second half of 2023, and the number of transactions increased by 58%. This outperformed the overall venture capital market, which saw a 16.1% capital growth but a 16.7% decrease in the number of transactions.
Seed-stage financing in Web3 showed strong resilience, setting a new high in the first half of 2024 with $189 million raised across 80 transactions. Series A financing also showed strong growth, raising $1.56 billion across 77 transactions, nearly double that of the second half of 2023.
In the second quarter of 2024, the financing environment for global startups improved, mainly due to an increase in large financing rounds and a surge in funding for the artificial intelligence sector, which doubled to $24 billion. Despite market volatility, the overall trend shows a gradual recovery, especially in seed and Series A stages.
The growth of investments in artificial intelligence and Web3 indicates that investors are confident in these high-growth areas, driving stability and improvement in the market environment for 2024. This trend suggests potential upward momentum in the coming quarters, particularly in early-stage transactions.
Telegram founder speaks out for the first time after arrest: We are not in it for money, but to defend people's fundamental rights
On August 25, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was detained in Paris, France, facing multiple charges including fraud, money laundering, and terrorism. On August 29, Pavel Durov was released after posting a €5 million bail but was not allowed to leave France. A complete overview of the incident: Real-time updates | South Korea investigates Telegram; crypto-related businesses account for about 40% of Telegram's total revenue
After nearly a week of silence, Durov spoke out this morning on his official personal channel in response to the Paris detention incident. Here is the full text of his statement:
"Thank you all for your support and concern!"
