Weekly Report | Bitcoin white paper marks its 16th anniversary; Zhao Changpeng: Currently focusing on educating and investing in cryptocurrencies, AI, and biotechnology; Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Lu Lei: In the field of monetary economics prediction and practice, Satoshi Nakamoto deserves high respect
Qiming Venture Partners Larry Liu's In-Depth Analysis of Crypto Payments (1): The Evolution from Credit Cards to Digital Payments; 2024 Crypto and Settlement Approaching a Record High of Nearly $20 Billion, Will There Be a Regulatory Spring After the Election?; Financialization of Social Networks: Exploring the Next Generation of Digital Interaction ModelsOrganizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (10.28-11.3)"
1、Vitalik: RISC-V is an Important Component of the Ethereum Virtual Machine
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that RISC-V is an important component of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). Vitalik pointed out that the open-source instruction set is crucial in the existing formal verification roadmap for validity proofs.
2、Hong Kong Stock Exchange to Launch Virtual Asset Index Series
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange announced today that it will launch the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Virtual Asset Index Series on November 15, 2024, providing a reliable benchmark price for the rapidly emerging asset class of virtual assets, supporting Hong Kong's development as a leading digital asset center in Asia.
The index series will provide transparent and reliable benchmarks for the pricing of Bitcoin and Ethereum in the Asian time zone, aiming to provide a unified reference price for virtual assets and address price discrepancies between global exchanges.
HKEX Group CEO Charles Li stated, "We are pleased to launch the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Virtual Asset Index Series to meet the demand for this rapidly emerging asset class in the region. By providing transparent and reliable real-time benchmarks, we hope to help investors make informed investment decisions, thereby supporting the healthy development of the virtual asset ecosystem and consolidating Hong Kong's position as an international financial center." (Jin Shi)
3、Arthur Hayes: Family Offices Hold Large Long Positions in BTC, ETH, and Other Tokens
According to CoinDesk, BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes stated, "Given the uncertainty of the U.S. election results, the family office Maelstrom has invested 5% of its fund in staked USDe (Ethena USD), which can earn about 13% returns. We maintain large long positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other tokens."
Hayes added that the fund will deploy all sUSDe into cryptocurrencies once the U.S. election results are clear and the losing side accepts defeat. Hayes joked that who the winner is does not matter in the short term.
4、DWF Labs: Partner Accused of Drugging Women Has Been Removed from Position
In response to the accusation against a DWF Labs partner for drugging women, DWF Labs officially posted on X: "We are aware of recent allegations against one of our partners involving inappropriate and unacceptable behavior, which is deeply concerning. While the matter is still under investigation, DWF Labs has decided to immediately remove this partner from management and operational duties."
According to @hananotsorry Hana's X account, on the evening of October 24, a DWF partner allegedly placed unknown drugs in her drink multiple times at a bar in Hong Kong, and she was saved after being alerted by staff.
5、Binance Appoints Jeff Li as New Vice President of Products
Binance announced during Binance Blockchain Week that it has appointed Jeff Li as its new Vice President of Products. Jeff will focus on expanding and enhancing Binance's product portfolio, ensuring it remains at the forefront of building the future of blockchain and Web3. Jeff Li has over 16 years of comprehensive experience in Web2 and Web3 product leadership and software engineering. During his tenure at Binance, Jeff will lead Binance's global product and design teams.
Binance CEO Richard Teng stated, "We are excited to welcome Jeff to the Binance team. He has worked at some of the world's most renowned tech companies and has extensive product development experience. In his previous roles, he has consistently demonstrated the ability to provide innovative solutions in dynamic emerging industries, making him an ideal candidate to fulfill Binance's mission. We look forward to Jeff driving product development and helping us continue to deliver industry-leading products to the global crypto community."
6、Reddit Has Sold Most of Its Cryptocurrency Holdings in Q3
According to Decrypt, Reddit has sold most of its cryptocurrency investment portfolio in the third quarter, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, which were "used for financial reserves," according to documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
When the social media company filed for its initial public offering (IPO) in February, it held a "negligible" amount of cryptocurrency on its balance sheet, using idle funds to purchase digital assets. On Tuesday, Reddit used similar wording to describe the proceeds from the recent sale. "We sold most of our cryptocurrency portfolio, primarily consisting of Bitcoin and Ethereum," Reddit stated. "The net book value of the cryptocurrency we held and the proceeds from the sale are insignificant."
While the amount of cryptocurrency sold is unclear, the sale occurred in the third quarter ending September 30. When asked about the dollar value of its cryptocurrency portfolio or the definition of "negligible" amounts, Reddit did not immediately respond to Decrypt's request for comment.
7、MicroStrategy Financial Report: Plans to Raise $42 Billion to Buy More Bitcoin in the Next 3 Years
According to CoinDesk, MicroStrategy released its financial report and announced the "21/21 Plan," intending to raise $21 billion through equity and debt financing over the next three years, totaling $42 billion for purchasing Bitcoin. Company President and CEO Phong Le stated that as a Bitcoin reserve company, it will use the new funds to buy more Bitcoin to achieve a higher "BTC yield."
It is reported that MicroStrategy's last purchase occurred in mid-September 2024, when it bought 7,420 Bitcoins for $458.2 million. The company currently holds 252,220 Bitcoins, with a total investment of $9.9 billion and an average purchase price of $39,266. At the current price of about $72,000, the market value of its holdings exceeds $18 billion.
Additionally, the company has raised its "BTC yield" target range from the previous 4%-8% to 6%-10%, with an actual yield of 17.8% in the third quarter.
8、Bitcoin White Paper Celebrates Its 16th Anniversary
The Bitcoin white paper celebrates its 16th anniversary. Sixteen years ago today (October 31), the anonymous founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, published the white paper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System" on the cypherpunk mailing list.
Wang Feng, founder of Blueport Interactive, recalled on social media today that in 2019, he proposed the company invest $20 million in Bitcoin (then priced at less than $6,000 each), but faced strong opposition and threats of lawsuits from a board member representing a major shareholder. It wasn't until early 2023, when Wang Feng resumed the role of CEO, that the company began to execute the Bitcoin investment plan, but by then the price of Bitcoin had risen to $26,000 each.
This statement stemmed from Wang Feng's comments on MicroStrategy's recent plan to raise $42 billion in funding over the next three years. Notably, MicroStrategy only began large-scale Bitcoin purchases in 2020, and if Blueport Interactive had executed its investment plan in 2019, it could have achieved significant returns.
Wang Feng revealed that when he founded Mars Finance in 2018, the platform raised nearly $10 million in funding within a year, with monthly advertising revenue reaching up to 120 Bitcoins, and a single conference in the summer of 2020 could secure around 10 million yuan in sponsorship.
According to The Paper, the Zhejiang Jingde Court recently concluded a dispute case over a virtual currency mining machine sales contract. In April 2021, the plaintiff, Mr. Hang, purchased a "mining machine" platform and 64 hard drives from the defendant, Mr. Chen, for a total value of 429,000 yuan. After paying the full amount, Mr. Chen failed to deliver the equipment as agreed and only refunded 180,000 yuan.
The court cited the National Development and Reform Commission's notice on rectifying virtual currency "mining" activities issued in September 2021 and the People's Bank of China's notice on further preventing and handling risks of virtual currency trading speculation, determining that virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities. The court ruled that the mining machine sales contract is invalid due to violation of public order and good morals, ordering the defendant to refund the remaining 249,000 yuan.
The appellate court upheld the original ruling, stating that the relevant contract not only violates public order and good morals but also does not comply with the basic principles of resource conservation and environmental protection.
Blockchain solar company Glow has completed $30 million in financing, led by Framework and Union Square Ventures. This round of financing includes $6.5 million in funding for the company and $23.5 million in solar investments.
Glow's CEO and co-founder Vorick plans to use this funding to expand the company's power capacity from 5 megawatts to 600 megawatts over the next 18 months and to expand into new countries.
Glow operates a DePIN network consisting of solar power plants in the U.S. and India. To encourage its network's farms to move beyond "dirty" energy grids, the founders designed a holistic economy based on subsidies and token incentives.
Zhao Changpeng stated during an interview at the main venue of Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai that Binance has been doing well during his absence, and even if he is allowed to return, he may not actually go back. He is currently focused on education and investment in cryptocurrency, AI, and biotechnology.
He mentioned that while in prison, no inmates "troubled him," some guards were somewhat strict, but it did not cause any issues, and he was fortunate not to suffer any physical harm. After serving his sentence, he found that other inmates had long sentences, and his "4 months" was already the shortest.
The Blockchain Association stated in a statement: "According to self-reported data collected, anonymized, and aggregated by HarrisX, the U.S. digital asset industry has spent over $400 million to combat the SEC led by Chairman Gensler, resulting in countless job, innovation, and investment losses in the U.S."
The organization stated that the $400 million figure is just "a small part of the industry," as it comes from a sampling survey of Blockchain Association members.
It is reported that the organization's members include Ripple, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Grayscale, and Kraken.
14、Trump: Happy 16th Anniversary to the Bitcoin White Paper
Former U.S. President Trump posted on social media platform X: "I want to wish our great Bitcoin enthusiasts a happy 16th anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper. We will end Harris's war on cryptocurrency, and Bitcoin will be made in America! Vote for Trump!"
15、U.S. October Seasonally Adjusted Non-Farm Payrolls at 12,000, Expected 113,000
According to Jin Shi, the U.S. October seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls were 12,000, expected to be 113,000, with the previous value revised from 254,000 to 223,000.
16、Grayscale XRP Trust Fund Now Open to Qualified Investors
According to official news, the Grayscale XRP Trust Fund is now open to qualified investors seeking XRP investments.
According to the Digital Currency Research Society, Lu Lei, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China, stated in the preface to "Monetary Theory" that if central banks can issue currency without limits, then currency is likely to be replaced by other general equivalents—such as digital assets and stablecoins, which are currently experiencing a rising market value. Will this really happen? As someone who has long engaged in research at the central bank, my instinctive thought is that the urgent issue facing major developed economies is "saving central banks from the hands of central bankers." Although this idea is not the current central bank digital currency (CBDC), as I believe CBDC has no institutional implications for changing the monetary increment, is there a digital currency that can overcome the impact of various digital assets, achieve the effects of stablecoins, and maintain the existence of sovereign currency (solving the problem of monetary unity but fiscal decentralization of the euro)?
The increasing expense of specific assets (such as digital assets) leads them to also move towards their opposite, lacking the liquidity necessary to serve as a general equivalent (i.e., being collected rather than circulated, which is the fate of precious metals exiting currency).
In the field of monetary economics predictions and practices, two individuals deserve high respect— the recently deceased Robert Mundell and the still unknown Satoshi Nakamoto. The former consistently adhered to the idea that exchange is a redundant transaction cost, experiencing the practice of the single currency area theory in the Eurozone, but it has not been realized, nor is it easy to achieve the utopia of dollarization. The latter has watched his creation, Bitcoin, evolve into an extremely expensive digital asset, with the energy consumed globally each year to mine the last 2 million coins being sufficient for over a hundred million people to use for more than a year. According to the marginal cost pricing method, the closer Bitcoin gets to being an asset, the further it is from being widely circulated as currency.
Currently, digital assets are following the old path of the gold standard, and the concept of stablecoins is merely a "soft version" of the optimal currency area theory's practical proposal; our ideas are not necessarily more brilliant than the White Plan of 1945. Simply because in the digital age, old wine is just being relabeled.
18、21Shares Submits XRP ETF Application to U.S. Regulators
According to publicly available documents from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 21Shares has submitted an S-1 form to apply for an XRP ETF named 21Shares Core XRP Trust.
19、Trump's Son: My Family Loves Cryptocurrency, Thanks to the Community for Supporting WLFI
Eric Trump, Trump's son and current Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, posted on platform X that his family loves cryptocurrency and thanked the community for their strong support of World Liberty Financial.
20、Zhao Changpeng: Guards Asked for Token Investment Recommendations While I Was in Prison
Zhao Changpeng stated during an interview at the main venue of Binance Blockchain Week in Dubai: "In fact, several guards recognized me and asked me what tokens to buy. I could only tell them that I was in prison, had no internet connection to the outside world, and could not obtain any information."
"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (10.28-11.3)"
Over time, I have gradually come to believe that value transfer remains the most important and attractive application scenario for blockchain technology in the foreseeable future, consistent with its original vision.
As the entire industry collectively yearns for practical applications rather than further infrastructure development, I have focused on in-depth exploration of this specific area over the past few months. I hope to share these learning notes with everyone, hoping they can be helpful.
As the Web3 industry enters a new development cycle, the Asia-Pacific market, with its rich developer and investor resources, is rapidly becoming an important part of the global Web3 ecosystem. To gain insights into the dynamics of this key market, ChainCatcher collaborated with Taiwan's leading crypto media platform Blocktempo to conduct a comprehensive survey on the research methods of early Web3 investors in the Asia-Pacific region. Ultimately, 1,084 questionnaires were collected, providing valuable first-hand data for the industry to understand the early investor group in Web3.
Recently, U.S. regulators seem to be accelerating their regulatory enforcement in the crypto space as they rush to meet performance targets for the upcoming end of the 2024 fiscal year.
Last week, according to The Wall Street Journal, the federal government is investigating cryptocurrency company Tether for potentially violating sanctions and anti-money laundering regulations. Although Tether denied the allegations, it still caused some panic in the market.
Throughout October, the SEC has charged at least 20 crypto projects and individuals, including Cumberland, Gotbit, CLS, ZM Quant, Saitama, and Robo Inu, seizing over $25 million in cryptocurrency. Many of these charges were also jointly enforced with the FBI and DOJ, focusing on crypto market makers and trading firms that are closer to the money.
With U.S. regulators not slowing down their scrutiny of crypto, the records for crypto litigation and settlements in 2024 may reach new highs.
4、Financialization of Social Networks: Exploring Next-Generation Digital Interaction Models
As the internet evolves, our definition of a "good story" has also changed. We no longer optimize the relevance of information but rather the breadth of its dissemination, and even worse, the emotions it evokes. Therefore, those local newspapers that once highlighted peripheral charitable activities or foreign journalists who risked their lives to reveal overlooked struggles are no longer significant.
5、Research: Performance of Top Five Exchanges Including Binance and OKX in the First Three Quarters
The average return rate of the top five exchanges, including Binance, OKX, Bitget, KuCoin, and Bybit, is negative.
6、Polls Ahead of the U.S. Election: Who Will Win the Key Voters in Future Elections?
In the upcoming November 2024 U.S. election, the influence of cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly significant and may become a key factor in determining the outcome.
According to the latest poll by Paradigm, 5% of voters consider cryptocurrency policy as a major factor in their voting decisions, with this proportion being more pronounced among young voters and males. Among voters, 20% have already invested in or used cryptocurrency, and another 15% plan to invest in the next year, indicating a growing acceptance of cryptocurrency.
The survey results also reveal voters' attitudes toward the two main candidates—Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Although Harris slightly leads in overall support, the support rates for both candidates are equal among cryptocurrency holders. This suggests that the voting intentions of cryptocurrency holders may significantly impact the election results.
Notably, voter trust in the Republican Party's cryptocurrency policy has increased, which may influence independent voters' choices. Additionally, more voters believe that cryptocurrency will play an important role in the future economy, reflecting an increasing awareness of DeFi.
Overall, the rise of cryptocurrency is not only changing the landscape of financial markets but also playing an increasingly important role in the political arena, adding new variables to the upcoming election.
7、CZ's First Public Speech After Prison: Education Takes Time, and I Have Plenty of It Now
The biggest anticipation of this year's Binance Blockchain Week has finally arrived. Zhao Changpeng (CZ), the founder of Binance, who just finished four months in prison, appeared at the main venue and discussed topics related to his prison life, Binance, educational projects, and AI. This is also CZ's first appearance after his release.
After a $4.3 billion fine and four months in a U.S. prison, CZ, who paid a high price for his freedom, appeared relatively chill, with more defined arm muscles than before. On the last day of this very good Uptober, we can once again hear CZ's voice as Bitcoin approaches its historical high of $70,000.
OpenEden has suspended Eugene Ng from his position at the company and has removed him from management and operations at the company and its affiliates. DWF Labs announced on social media that Lingling Jiang will formally replace him as a partner responsible for leading strategic business development.
9、DOGE Transforms into D.O.G.E, Benefiting from "Trump Trade" Surge
On October 29, DOGE surged, breaking through $0.16, with a 24-hour increase of 17%.
As the U.S. election approaches, the Trump trade has once again proven effective, and DOGE has successfully captured political traffic, joining the Trump trade family.
DOGE's ability to capitalize on the U.S. election's hot topic is closely tied to the world's richest man, Elon Musk, who has unreservedly supported Republican candidate Trump with his time, money, and capabilities in this election.
Now, Musk's brand and reputation are highly intertwined with Trump's brand and reputation. Supporting Trump is an important step for Musk to realize his political ambitions. The alignment of interests with Trump will also benefit his business empire if Trump is elected. The impressive performance of DOGE is a preemptive realization of this benefit.
10、Vitalik on Ethereum's Possible Future (Part 6): The Splurge
In the design of the Ethereum protocol, about half of the content involves different types of EVM improvements, while the rest consists of various niche topics, which is the meaning of "the splurge."
