This Week's News Preview | Hamster Kombat will launch tokens and conduct an airdrop; Zhao Changpeng may be released from prison; several FOMC voting members will give speeches

整理：Fairy，ChainCatcher

Key News:

• Multiple FOMC members will speak intensively this week
• Former Alameda CEO Caroline will be sentenced on September 24
• On-chain perpetual DEX LogX will conduct TGE on September 24
• Hamster Kombat plans to launch its token and conduct an airdrop on September 26
• Zhao Changpeng may be released from prison on September 29
• Wintermute will launch a new prediction market OutcomeMarket

September 23 (Monday)

South Korean crypto exchange Aprobit announces closure, trading will stop on September 23

South Korean crypto exchange Aprobit announced its closure, with trading set to stop on September 23, and withdrawals available until December 23.

Aprobit stated: "Due to changes in the business environment, we have decided to terminate trading support, and we will do our utmost to ensure that all users do not encounter any inconvenience in retrieving their assets deposited on the exchange even after trading support ends."

It is reported that only half of the 22 crypto exchanges registered as virtual asset operators in South Korea are currently operational.

ether.fi: Season 3 airdrop event will end on September 14, claims will go live on September 23

ether.fi announced on social media that the Season 3 airdrop will end on September 14. A query page is planned to go live on September 17, with claims starting on September 23. Season 3 participants can choose to claim ETHFI on the Ethereum mainnet, Arbitrum, or Base network, and must make their selection by September 15.

U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing will involve SEC testimony, expected to focus on digital asset regulation

The U.S. House Financial Services Committee plans to hold several hearings in September, focusing on cryptocurrency-related issues, including decentralized finance (DeFi), the regulation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the impact of "pig butchering" scams.

The first hearing on September 10 will focus on DeFi, followed by a hearing on SEC enforcement and "pig butchering" scams on September 18. The full committee hearing on September 23 will involve SEC testimony, expected to focus on digital asset regulation. Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry, who is set to retire, expressed hope to complete cryptocurrency legislation by the end of the year.

European regulators consult on MiCAR guidelines, virtual public hearing to be held on September 23

According to Crowdfund Insider, the three major European regulatory authorities (EBA, EIOPA, and ESMA) have released a consultation document on the guidelines under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), aimed at establishing standardized testing and legal opinion templates for crypto asset classification to promote a unified classification approach.

The deadline for submitting comments on the consultation document is October 12, 2024. European regulators will hold a virtual public hearing on September 23, 2024, inviting stakeholders to register by September 19. All received comments will be published after the consultation ends, unless specifically requested to remain confidential.

September 24 (Tuesday)

Former Alameda CEO Caroline will be sentenced on September 24

Former co-CEO of Alameda Caroline Ellison will be sentenced on September 24 in a New York court. Caroline is also the ex-girlfriend of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, and she pleaded guilty in December 2022 after FTX's collapse resulted in billions of dollars in consumer losses.

Caroline faces fraud charges including two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, two counts of actual wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. These charges carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison, but her sentence may be lighter due to her cooperation with prosecutors.

Other former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh are also facing charges, but they have cooperated with prosecutors as well. Gary Wang's sentencing is set for November 20, while Singh's is scheduled for October 30.

Lisk community vote on "to burn or allocate 100 million LSK tokens to DAO fund" begins

Blockchain application platform Lisk has initiated a vote on "to retain or burn 100 million LSK tokens" (25% of the total capped supply of 400 million). The vote is scheduled to take place on the new Lisk DAO starting September 24 and will last for 7 days until October 1.

If the community chooses to allocate to the DAO fund, the 100 million LSK tokens will be distributed to the Lisk DAO fund. These tokens will belong to the fund from 2027 to 2033, with 15 million LSK tokens distributed each year for six years, and 10 million in the seventh year.

If the community chooses to burn, the 100 million LSK tokens will be permanently removed from the total supply. This move will reduce the total supply of LSK tokens by 25%, down to 300 million tokens.

Chromia native token CHR staking will go live on September 24

According to official news, the blockchain platform Chromia announced that it will end the "MVP" mainnet phase on September 30, after which the network will officially be called "Chromia Mainnet."

At the same time, the native staking feature for Chromia will go live on September 24. After the native staking goes live, users can stake CHR tokens on Chromia, Ethereum, and Binance Smart Chain, with an annual staking yield of 10%, plus a share of network fees.

On-chain perpetual DEX LogX will conduct TGE on September 24

On-chain perpetual DEX LogX announced on the X platform that it will conduct TGE on September 24.

According to RootData, LogX is an L2 on-chain liquidity solution focused on perpetual contracts. LogX is designed as a large aggregator that brings together liquidity from different chains. Users do not need to manage gas fee tokens or the complexity of executing multiple transactions for each operation. LogX aims to provide unprecedented deep liquidity for professional traders and institutions.

WalletConnect launches native token WCT, airdrop registration will open on September 24

According to The Block, Web3 communication protocol WalletConnect will launch its native token WCT on Optimism. WalletConnect stated that registration for the WCT airdrop will open on September 24, with eligibility based on usage of the WalletConnect network.

WalletConnect CEO Houlgrave stated that the initial supply cap for the WCT token is 1 billion, with 18.5%, or 185 million tokens, allocated for the first season airdrop. Houlgrave noted that this airdrop will cover WalletConnect's end users, as well as wallets, applications, nodes, software development kits, and communities that have contributed to WalletConnect's success.

To participate in the WCT airdrop, users must register by connecting their wallets, linking their GitHub accounts, and providing their email addresses. Eligibility requirements include having an Ethereum address, actively using WalletConnect, or contributing to open-source projects. The first season airdrop will end on October 11, at which point token distribution will occur. Any unclaimed tokens will be redistributed to future airdrop seasons. Initially, WCT tokens will be non-transferable, with transfer functionality potentially enabled through community governance in the future, and tokens cannot be transferred between wallets until all features are activated in 2025.

WalletConnect Inc. has been renamed Reown, focusing on user experience, and has established the WalletConnect Foundation to oversee the WalletConnect protocol and ensure the network's growth, security, decentralization, and ecosystem expansion.

September 25 (Wednesday)

BNB Chain: Application deadline for MVB Season 8 extended to September 25

BNB Chain announced on X that the application deadline for MVB Season 8 has been extended to September 25 at 23:59.

The MVB program is a collaboration between BNB Chain, Binance Labs, and CMC Labs. MVB Season 8 will continue to provide resources and support necessary for early Web3 builders to thrive in the BNB Chain ecosystem.

EOS Network Foundation: Plans to conduct Spring 1.0 hard fork on September 25

According to official news, the EOS Network Foundation announced that the stable version of the Spring 1.0 upgrade is planned to be released on September 4, with the recommended upgrade period from September 5 to 24, and the hard fork or consensus upgrade scheduled for September 25.

The Spring 1.0 upgrade will introduce the Savanna consensus algorithm, and after the hard fork activation, it will significantly shorten EOS's finality time from several minutes to several seconds.

Paradigm will launch Paradigm Fellowship 2024 from September 25 to 29

Paradigm announced that it will launch Paradigm Fellowship 2024 from September 25 to 29, with applications currently open until July 22. The Paradigm Fellowship is a program that gathers cryptocurrency game engineers and researchers.

September 26 (Thursday)

Hamster Kombat plans to launch its token and conduct an airdrop on September 26

The Telegram ecosystem game Hamster Kombat announced that it will launch its HMSTR token on TON on September 26 and conduct an airdrop for players on the same day.

BNB Chain has activated the Bohr hard fork on the BSC testnet, mainnet upgrade scheduled for September 26

BNB Chain has successfully activated the Bohr hard fork on the BSC testnet. The Bohr upgrade on the BSC mainnet is scheduled for September 26, 2024. This hard fork was deployed on the BSC testnet on August 20, 2024.

The Bohr hard fork includes four BEPs:

• BEP 341: BEP 341 will allow validators to continuously generate blocks.
• BEP 402: Allows filling in missing fields in the block header to generate signatures.
• BEP 404: Clears miner history when switching validator sets.
• BEP 410: Adds delegation for validators.

The Bohr hard fork is an important upgrade for the BNB Chain, improving efficiency by allowing validators to continuously generate blocks. With Bohr set to be deployed on the mainnet, this upgrade will enhance the chain's scalability and security.

Cardano plans to launch Fund13 on September 26, allocating 50 million ADA to fund quality proposals

Cardano will launch Fund13 on September 26, planning to allocate 50 million ADA (approximately $16.5 million) to fund quality proposals. The community will vote on which ideas will receive funding, consistent with Catalyst's democratic governance approach. Unlike previous funding rounds, Fund13 places greater emphasis on enterprise solutions.
Proposers will have three weeks to submit proposals, with the submission window closing on October 10. However, the deadline for Cardano partners will be extended to November 7, allowing them more time to refine their proposals.

Community voting for Fund13 will take place from November 28 to December 12. The funding categories have been adjusted compared to the previous round, now consisting of four general categories open to everyone (developers, ecosystem, concepts, and products) and two exclusive categories for tier-one partners (enterprise and growth).

September 27 (Friday)

Space Nation CEO Jerome announces game will officially undergo Soft Launch on September 27

Space Nation CEO Jerome announced that the game will officially undergo Soft Launch on September 27. The Soft Launch will be divided into two phases, with a level cap of 50 for the first 6 weeks, followed by the first season of guild planet conquest battles in the next 6 weeks. After the Soft Launch ends, the game will enter the Global Launch phase, at which point the Space Nation DAO will also begin to form.

A year ago, Space Nation Online conducted its first Alpha test. This year's two Closed Beta tests attracted 24,893 users from 110 countries. During the two tests, over 180 billion CHR in virtual currency transactions were achieved.

CEO Jerome Wu summarized: "Since its establishment, Space Nation has been committed to building a long-term prosperous economy, and thanks to the strong support from the community, the team is confident about this Soft Launch."

IMX Marketplace will cease operations on September 27

According to NFT Plazas, Immutable recently announced that it will close its Immutable X marketplace on August 13 and will cease operations entirely on September 27. The Immutable X marketplace was initially launched to showcase the capabilities of the Immutable SDK, and it will now focus on supporting third-party markets rather than maintaining its own trading platform.

However, users of the Immutable marketplace do not need to take any additional steps for their assets, as all NFTs and tokens are stored on the blockchain, linked to the user's wallet address, and can be accessed across different markets using the Immutable global order book.

September 29 (Sunday)

Zhao Changpeng may be released from prison on September 29

According to the Securities Times WeChat account, "former Chinese billionaire" Zhao Changpeng confirmed he is about to be released from prison. According to relevant reporters, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons website has updated Zhao Changpeng's current location to the Residential Reentry Management (RRM) in Long Beach, California. This means he is undergoing preparation and assessment for reentry into society. If all goes well, he will return to society on September 29.

Specific Time Undetermined

The Fed's "quiet period" ends, multiple FOMC members will speak intensively

According to Jin10, with the end of the Fed's "quiet period," investors will closely monitor the speeches of Fed officials next week. If Fed officials refuse to commit to the possibility of a significant rate cut again this year, the dollar may rebound, dragging gold lower. However, if Fed officials indicate consideration of another 50 basis point rate cut at the November meeting, the dollar may struggle to find support. Here are the macro events to watch next week:

• Monday 20:00, 2024 FOMC member and Atlanta Fed President Bostic will speak on the economic outlook;
• Monday 22:15, 2025 FOMC member and Chicago Fed President Goolsbee will participate in a fireside chat;
• Tuesday 01:00, 2026 FOMC member and Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari will speak;
• Tuesday 22:00, U.S. September Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index;
• Thursday 21:10, Boston Fed President Collins will host an online meeting on central bank regulation and financial inclusion, with Fed Governor Cook attending;
• Thursday 21:20, Fed Chair Powell will pre-record a video for an event;
• Thursday 21:25, FOMC permanent member and New York Fed President Williams will speak;
• Thursday 22:30, Fed Governor Barr will speak;
• Friday 01:00, 2026 FOMC member and Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari will have a fireside chat with Fed Governor Barr;
• Friday 21:30, 2025 FOMC member and Boston Fed President Collins and Fed Governor Cook will speak;

Wintermute will launch a new prediction market OutcomeMarket

According to The Block, crypto trading platform Wintermute will launch a new prediction market OutcomeMarket on Ethereum, Base, and Arbitrum next week.

The company is developing OutcomeMarket using Chaos Labs' Edge Proofs Oracle and will initially launch betting markets for TRUMP and HARRIS tokens.

Wintermute stated in a press release: "Unlike existing prediction markets limited to a single chain, a multi-chain approach allows users' native blockchain ecosystems to participate directly without cumbersome asset bridging." Wintermute also noted that future integrations with DeFi may be possible, such as providing users with yield or leverage. Wintermute plans to utilize trading platforms Bebop, WOO, and Backpack as market makers for the two initial ERC-20 token markets and will expand to more markets. Wintermute's trading pool will be liquidity-supported, with payments made when one side wins.