Daily Report | Trump says he will not run again if he fails in the 2024 election; Zhao Changpeng is expected to return to Dubai to reunite with his family after being released from prison; U.S. SEC approves options for BlackRock Bitcoin ETF listed on Nasdaq
Highlights of September 23Organizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
Important News:
- Trump says he will not run again if he loses the 2024 election
- Harris promises to include crypto business in her "opportunity economy" vision while protecting consumers
- High-net-worth accounts investing over 1 billion won in virtual assets account for 47% of the market total in South Korea
- Zhao Changpeng expected to return to Dubai to reunite with family after release from prison
- South Korea's virtual asset reporting center received over 3,000 reports in a year, 15% involving false advertising
- Argentina dismantles a smuggling gang of cryptocurrency mining equipment
- US SEC approves options for BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF listed on Nasdaq
- CryptoQuant co-founder: Bitcoin hash power dominance is shifting from China to US mining companies
"What important events happened in the last 24 hours"
Trump says he will not run again if he loses the 2024 election
According to Jinshi, former President and Republican presidential candidate Trump stated that if he fails to win the presidential election this November, he does not believe he will run again in 2028.
Born in 1946, Trump is currently 78 years old and will be 82 by the time of the 2028 US presidential election. Before President Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 election, Trump frequently attacked the 81-year-old Biden on age issues.
US Vice President Harris made her first comments on the crypto industry at a recent Wall Street fundraising event, incorporating artificial intelligence and crypto technology into her vision for an "opportunity economy."
Harris stated, "To build an opportunity economy, I will bring together labor, small businesses, founders, innovators, and large companies. We will work together to invest in America's competitiveness and future. We will encourage innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence and digital assets while protecting consumers and investors. We will create a safe business environment with consistent and transparent road rules."
Organizers described this Manhattan fundraising event as Harris's last opportunity to speak in person in New York before the November election, with one insider calling it "the hottest ticket in town." Tickets for the event started at $500 and later rose to $1 million. Celebrities in attendance included Anne Hathaway, Whoopi Goldberg, and Billy Porter.
According to reports from Reuters last week, Harris plans to "launch a new economic policy this week aimed at helping Americans build wealth and creating economic incentives for businesses to achieve this goal," but specific details remain scarce.
In South Korea, there are over 3,400 high-net-worth accounts investing more than 1 billion won (approximately $749,000) in virtual assets, with an average investment of 9.45 billion won ($7.08 million) per account.
According to data obtained by Democratic Party member Ahn Doo-jae from the Financial Supervisory Service, among the 7.7 million virtual asset accounts opened by the two major exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb, accounts with assets exceeding 100 million won account for only 1%, yet their investment scale represents 70% of the total amount.
Among these high-value accounts investing over 1 billion won, the average investment amount is 9.45 billion won. These high-value investors make up only 0.04% of all accounts but hold 47% of the total investment amount in the virtual asset market, indicating that the cryptocurrency market is more concentrated than the stock market.
Among these high-value accounts, investors in their 40s make up the largest proportion, while those in their 50s have the largest average holdings, averaging 14.8 billion won.
Zhao Changpeng expected to return to Dubai to reunite with family after release from prison
According to Hong Kong media Aastocks, Binance founder and former CEO Zhao Changpeng is set to be released from prison on September 29 and is expected to return to Dubai to reunite with his family. Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for money laundering by a US federal court in April this year and was incarcerated in California at the end of May. Additionally, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently filed another lawsuit against Binance, reiterating that the exchange violated federal securities laws.
According to data obtained by Democratic Party member Lee In-young from the Financial Supervisory Service, the virtual asset investment fraud reporting center (now the virtual asset unfair trading reporting center), established and operated since June last year, received a total of 3,036 reports by July this year. In 2023, 1,532 reports were received, of which 44% were unrelated to virtual assets or difficult to classify. The next largest categories were false exaggeration (15%), online fraud (14.6%), investment guidance groups (11.9%), and romance scams (11%).
Of the 1,532 reports received in 2023, only 36 involved unfair trading, accounting for just 2.3%.
Argentina dismantles a smuggling gang of cryptocurrency mining equipment
Argentine tax officials and naval security personnel joined forces to dismantle a large smuggling gang of Bitcoin mining equipment. In this "major operation," the Argentine Naval Prefecture (PNA) and the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP) conducted multiple raids, seizing hundreds of high-end mobile phones, graphics cards, and mining components.
Officials revealed that the gang used "crypto investment" for money laundering and smuggled in cities such as Mar del Plata and Bahía Blanca. The operation seized over 30 million pesos (approximately $31,000) and $19,000 in cash, with four suspects arrested and facing charges related to smuggling and money laundering.
US SEC approves options for BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF listed on Nasdaq
According to Decrypt, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved a rule change allowing the Nasdaq International Securities Exchange to list and trade options for BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF (iShares Bitcoin Trust, referred to as IBIT). This decision marks another step in expanding the range of Bitcoin-related derivatives, providing investors with additional tools to manage exposure to the world's largest cryptocurrency.
Since regulators approved several Bitcoin-related ETFs in the US, BlackRock has been seeking such listing approvals since at least March this year. The SEC's approval came after several amendments submitted by Nasdaq ISE aimed at addressing concerns about manipulation and excessive risk in the emerging crypto options market.
IBIT options will be physically settled and will use American-style exercise, providing hedging services for investors looking to manage Bitcoin-related risks. Despite the approval, the SEC's actions still stem from ongoing concerns about the potential risks of cryptocurrency derivatives. Comments submitted during the review process highlighted worries about market volatility and the broader integration of cryptocurrencies with traditional financial markets. Some urged the SEC to delay approval until the Bitcoin market stabilizes further. Regardless, the SEC found that the exchange's monitoring mechanisms, including real-time monitoring and a cross-market monitoring sharing agreement with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, were sufficient to prevent manipulation.
CryptoQuant co-founder: Bitcoin hash power dominance is shifting from China to US mining companies
CryptoQuant co-founder Ki Young Ju expressed the view that the dominance of Bitcoin hash power is shifting to US mining companies.
According to Ki Young Ju, Chinese mining pools currently operate 55% of the network's hash power, while US mining pools manage 40% of the hash power. He further explained that US mining pools primarily serve institutional miners in the US, while Chinese pools support relatively smaller Asian miners.
Howard, the Director of Development Relations for TON Asia, pointed out in a post on X that although the mini-program gaming sector has recently been active, there are still multiple areas within the TON ecosystem that remain to be developed. Howard believes that areas such as credit card cashback, gift card businesses, real asset tokenization (RWAs), yield products, Launchpool-type projects, and offline QR code payment solutions hold tremendous potential and are expected to develop into billion-dollar projects on the Telegram mini-program and TON blockchain.
He stated that compared to EVM ecosystems like Ethereum, TON is more suitable for young developers and Web2 gaming studios due to its large user base and real growth potential.
According to The Block, Bernstein analysis pointed out that despite US Vice President Kamala Harris recently expressing support for the crypto industry at a fundraising event, the market remains confused about her policy uncertainties. In contrast, market sentiment in the crypto space may be stronger after a Trump victory, as he has explicitly promised to make the US a "crypto capital" and supports DeFi, asset tokenization, and Bitcoin mining. However, regardless of the election outcome, the current inflow of funds into Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs and the Federal Reserve's loose monetary policy are expected to continue driving the market upward.
BlackRock IBIT modifies custodial agreement with Coinbase, requiring withdrawal within 12 hours
According to HODL15Capital citing SEC document information, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF IBIT has modified its custodial agreement with Coinbase, requiring withdrawals to be completed within 12 hours.
These adjustments reflect BlackRock's efforts to address recent allegations, enhance operational frameworks, and improve liquidity.
Early Bitcoin players fall victim to fake "Jingxiang" and "Xu Jiayin" scams, losing 700,000 yuan
Early Bitcoin player "Security Empty" posted on X that he has fallen victim to fake "Jingxiang" and "Xu Jiayin" scams, losing 100,000 USDT (approximately 700,000 yuan).
He stated that the scammers added him through business card recommendations and lured him with low-priced USDT, ultimately defrauding him of 100,000 USDT in assets. Upon discovering that the other party had not undergone real-name authentication and that their identity was false, he realized he had been scammed.
So far, the victim has begun contacting Binance, Tron, OKLink, and friends around him, and has also reported to the police.
According to ChainCatcher, several individuals have fallen victim to similar scams, resulting in personal asset losses, so please be cautious in identifying such schemes.
"What are some interesting articles worth reading in the last 24 hours"
TOKEN2049: The temperature difference is widening, the strong get stronger
The new four kings of the crypto industry have emerged, the strong get stronger, and the weak are confused, with the Matthew effect beginning to show.
Mining the Solana ecosystem, 15 major potential benefits not to be missed at Breakpoint
From September 20 to September 21, the fourth Breakpoint will be held in Singapore. As the largest and most influential ecological conference in the Solana ecosystem (especially considering that last year's Breakpoint fermentation period almost coincided with SOL's explosive growth cycle), Breakpoint carries the expectations of the entire Solana ecosystem for information exchange on value judgment, future direction, and wealth codes.
In the following article, KOL fabiano.sol, focusing on the Solana ecosystem, summarizes the promotional plans and potential promotional content of various ecological projects during the Breakpoint period. For investors interested in deeply participating in the Solana ecosystem, this review can be seen as an "upgrade preview" for the second half of the year.
For the Solana ecosystem, Breakpoint has always been a gold mine for obtaining Alpha information and early insight clues.
After last year's presentation, Nosana achieved a 400-fold growth.
I checked the list of Solana ecosystem projects intending to promote during the Breakpoint period, and the following projects may see an increase after releasing positive news.
On September 19, Trump bought burgers for supporters at the Bitcoin-themed bar PubKey in New York City and paid with Bitcoin. Trump used the Strike payment app to pay $998.7, which is built on the Lightning Network. The bar received Bitcoin using the Zaprite app.
PubKey is a well-known Bitcoin bar in Manhattan, featuring Bitcoin payments and becoming a gathering place for enthusiasts in the field. Fortune interviewed PubKey owner Thomas Pacchia to delve into the story behind Trump's use of Bitcoin for his purchase. Here are the details.
Is MicroStrategy's model a scam?
Fun fact: Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy was one of the companies that suffered the most significant market value shrinkage and losses during the 2000 internet crisis, and his wealth also experienced a massive drawdown during that bubble burst.
Now, MicroStrategy's main business is an online AI and data analysis service, and its official website still reflects the traditional internet B2B enterprise level; aside from the company's substantial BTC holdings, in my personal view, there is hardly any product or technology that can support MicroStrategy's current market value of over $20 billion…
Solana's new phone Seeker debuts, can it break even through airdrops this time?
On September 19, Solana Labs' Solana Mobile officially announced the new web3 smartphone Seeker, which is the second-generation web3 smartphone device developed by the company following the first-generation web3 phone Saga. Earlier this year, Seeker was pre-sold under the code name "Chapter 2," with official announcements stating that pre-sales have exceeded 140,000 units.
Previously, the main reason Chapter 2 could complete a large number of pre-sale orders without revealing specific information about the device was that the airdrop appreciation of the first-generation web3 phone Saga far exceeded the purchase cost. Therefore, there are similar expectations for the second-generation phone.
It is reported that the early bird price of $450 for the Seeker pre-sale will end on September 21. With the specific details of the Seeker phone being revealed, what highlights in device functionality are worth buying compared to the first-generation phone Saga? From the perspective of airdrops, can purchasing now expect to break even through airdrops?
This article briefly introduces the specific details of the Seeker phone and compiles the airdrop values received by previous Solana phone pre-purchasers, hoping to provide reference for readers' purchasing decisions.
