ChainCatcher news, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated that the SEC, led by Gary Gensler, has rejected the application for the Solana ETF, and it is expected that the issuer will resubmit the application after the new SEC chairman Paul Atkins takes office.

ChainCatcher news, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas stated that the SEC, led by Gary Gensler, has rejected the application for the Solana ETF, and it is expected that the issuer will resubmit the application after the new SEC chairman Paul Atkins takes office.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Financial Ltd. announced that the company has conducted layoffs as part of a regular operational review.A Circle spokesperson stated that the number of layoffs accounts for less than 6% of Circle's total workforce. The company will continue to invest in AI-driven regional growth, efficiency, and productivity. Circle will regularly review our investments and expenditures, which includes investing in teams and operational infrastructure that need development, while slightly reducing spending in other business areas and some positions. In June, Circle stated that the company had 882 employees.

ChainCatcher news, Grayscale Investments and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) submitted the 19b-4 filing for a Solana ETF to the U.S. SEC yesterday. With Grayscale's involvement, the only major crypto ETF issuers that have not yet applied for a Solana ETF are BlackRock, Fidelity, ProShares, and Ark. Notably, none of these proposed Solana ETFs will provide staking rewards to investors.This is not voluntary. Solana ETF issuers followed the precedent set by Ethereum ETFs, excluding staking rewards to comply with SEC guidelines. The details of the dialogue between Ethereum ETF issuers and the SEC remain unclear. However, the SEC seems concerned that staking rewards could be classified as securities, as well as the potential forfeiture risks associated with staking ETH.Therefore, when they began applying for the Solana ETF, these institutions opted out of staking from the start. Nevertheless, the issuers have repeatedly insisted that despite the lack of staking rewards, gaining compliant exposure to Solana directly in brokerage accounts makes these products still attractive.However, for Solana, the opportunity cost of forgoing staking is much higher than for Ethereum. According to the Ethereum Foundation, the current staking annual yield for Ethereum is 3.4%. According to data from 21.co, the average staking annual yield for Solana over the past week is 11.4%. The staking rewards for SOL are not always that high, but even in the relatively sluggish month of August, its yield exceeded 8%.

ChainCatcher news, Circle announced that its regulated subsidiary has become the first stablecoin issuer committed to complying with the Value Referenced Crypto Assets (VRCAs) requirements of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA).This helps Circle's USD-pegged stablecoin USDC to be offered on registered crypto asset trading platforms in Canada. Registered crypto asset trading platforms operating in Canada and complying with VRCA requirements can continue to offer USDC after the CSA's deadline of December 31, 2024, for delisting non-compliant stablecoins.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay has recently been experimenting with issuing meme coins on Ethereum and Solana to explore issues of user consent and trust in the Web3 ecosystem. He issued tokens named "Consent" and "I Don't Consent" on Ethereum and Solana through the Clanker bot and Pump.fun platform, respectively. The results of the experiment showed that rapid trading activity led to a significant inflation of the token's value, with Finlay's holdings at one point exceeding $100,000.However, the experiment revealed many issues within the meme coin ecosystem. Due to the lack of clear positioning and purpose for the tokens, investors continuously attempted to assign more meaning to them, with some even threatening Finlay or demanding a long-term development plan. Finlay likened this phenomenon to the issue of data usage consent in the AI field, specifically mentioning Bluesky's practice of using public posts for AI training without explicit user consent, calling for the establishment of a more robust trust mechanism and user consent framework in the Web3 ecosystem.Finlay stated that the meme coin ecosystem urgently needs better tools and incentive mechanisms. He suggested creating new systems that allow token issuers to have fine control over their tokens, including restricting trading within specific communities and providing structured sales methods. He emphasized that this is not only a matter of ethics but also about building better products, stating, "Applications should not become toxic asset pools, and communities should not be filled with users issuing personal threats; your shares should not be diluted by anonymous whales."

ChainCatcher news, stablecoin issuer Schuman Financial has completed a $7.36 million seed round financing, led by RockawayX, with participation from Lightspeed Faction, Kraken Ventures, Nexo Ventures, Gnosis VC, Delta Blockchain Fund, and Bankless Ventures.In addition, Schuman Financial has launched the euro stablecoin EURØP, compliant with MiCA standards.Schuman Financial has become the first European company to obtain a stablecoin issuer license in France, and the company is building an ecosystem around EURØP, which includes SEPA integration, banking channels, and custodial partnerships with tier-one global banks such as Société Générale.

ChainCatcher news, recently several large international virtual asset trading platforms have withdrawn their license applications in Hong Kong. Gu Ronghui, co-founder of CertiK and a member of the Web 3.0 Development Task Force, stated that the Hong Kong government should first regulate the existing stakeholders in the large virtual currency industry and encourage them to move towards compliance, which would have a more meaningful impact on the industry.Regarding the intention of Circle, the world's second-largest stablecoin issuer, to develop in Hong Kong, CertiK can assist in verifying the reserves of the stablecoin issuer Circle in other locations.

ChainCatcher news, FOX Business reporter Eleanor Terrett posted on social media that, according to two informed sources, negotiations between SEC staff and issuers looking to launch a SOL spot ETF have "made progress."The SEC is currently processing the S-1 application for the SOL spot ETF. These informed sources indicated that it is "very likely" to see exchange representatives of potential issuers submit some 19b-4 documents in the coming days, which is the next step in the ETF approval process.ETF issuers stated that, based on recent staff engagement, along with the incoming government supportive of cryptocurrency, there is currently a new sense of optimism that the Solana ETF may be approved sometime in 2025.

ChainCatcher message, payment protocol AEON partners with FDUSD issuer First Digital Labs and Terminus to launch Web3 QR code payments, promoted during Devcon in Thailand. Users can scan the AEON QR code to use FDUSD for purchases at offline merchants, who can receive cryptocurrency without new devices, automatically converting it to local fiat currency.

ChainCatcher news, the Swiss Stock Exchange SIX announced that DWS Xtrackers has become the 17th crypto ETP issuer on SIX. DWS Xtrackers has launched two new products, one targeting Bitcoin and the other targeting Ethereum.SIX stated that since the beginning of this year, the trading volume of 170 cryptocurrency ETPs listed on the Swiss SIX has reached 1.8 billion Swiss francs, with nearly 145,000 transactions. Among the 376 cryptocurrency ETPs and derivatives, Bitcoin dominates with a demand share of 45.2%, followed by Ethereum (15.0%) and Solana (11.5%).

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, Tether Holdings Ltd. is attempting to persuade Turkey to use digital assets to completely reform the country's boron market, marking the latest sign of the cryptocurrency industry's efforts to leverage the commodities sector for further growth. Sources revealed that the stablecoin issuer Tether proposed to government officials the creation of digital tokens representing borate minerals using blockchain technology. Tether also suggested the idea of establishing a digital asset exchange in Istanbul. A Turkish government official stated that the boron proposal is currently not feasible, while an official from Turkey's Ministry of Energy indicated that negotiations with Tether are still in the early stages.It is reported that boron products are primarily used in the manufacture of ceramics, detergents, fertilizers, and glass. Turkey's monopoly supplier, the state-owned Eti Maden General Directorate, estimates that the country's boron reserves account for over 70% of the world's total reserves.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, Tether Holdings Ltd. is attempting to persuade Turkey to use digital assets to completely reform the country's boron market, marking the latest sign of the cryptocurrency industry's efforts to leverage the commodities sector for further growth.Informed sources revealed that the stablecoin issuer Tether has proposed to government officials the creation of digital tokens representing borate minerals using blockchain technology. Tether has also suggested the idea of establishing a digital asset trading platform in Istanbul.A Turkish government official stated that the boron proposal is currently not feasible, while an official from Turkey's Ministry of Energy indicated that negotiations with Tether are still in the early stages. It is reported that boron products are primarily used in the manufacture of ceramics, detergents, fertilizers, and glass. Turkey's monopoly supplier, the state-owned Eti Maden General Directorate, estimates that the country's boron reserves account for over 70% of the world's total reserves.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk Japan, stablecoin issuer JPYC will collaborate with South Korean IT company ITCEN on stablecoin research. The two parties have jointly signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and stated that they will not only study yen stablecoins but also explore the possibilities of stablecoins based on other currencies, such as the Korean won.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, research firm Kaiko stated that the wash trading strategy used to enhance the value of the FBI-created token NexFundAI remains a common practice on decentralized exchanges (DEX) and can also be encountered on certain centralized exchanges.In a report on Thursday, Kaiko analysts indicated that their data shows that among over 200,000 assets on Ethereum DEX, many lack utility and are controlled by individuals; some token issuers are establishing short-term liquidity pools on the exchange Uniswap, controlling the liquidity in the pools and engaging in wash trading to attract other investors; once others enter, the issuers sell off the tokens, achieving returns of up to 22 times their initial Ethereum investment within about 10 days; this analysis reveals widespread fraudulent behavior among token issuers, extending beyond the scope of the FBI's NexFundAI investigation.Kaiko noted that certain centralized exchanges, such as HTX and Poloniex, also appear to have wash trading. According to Kaiko, these exchanges have the highest number of assets, with trading volume to liquidity ratios exceeding 100 times, which may be an indication of wash trading.Kaiko also stated, "We can also see that tokens such as meme coins, privacy coins, and low market cap altcoins often exhibit abnormally high trading volume to depth ratios." Taking the meme coin Pepe as an example, Kaiko found that "in 2024, there is a significant divergence in trading volume trends between HTX and other platforms. The PEPE trading volume on HTX remains high, even increasing in July, while the trading volume on most other exchanges has declined."

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, RWA issuer Midas announced that after obtaining approval from the Liechtenstein regulatory authorities, it will expand the range of its tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds and yield arbitrage trading products for retail users.This means that Midas has removed the $100,000 minimum investment requirement and investor certification process for the mTbill and mBasis tokens, and has simplified the token investment process to just "one click" to obtain the tokens. The company stated that these tokens can be used globally, excluding the United States and sanctioned countries.

ChainCatcher news, according to a new report from CCData, the stablecoin industry will have to endure significant losses in interest income following the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate cut. The top five centralized stablecoin issuers collectively hold nearly $125 billion in U.S. Treasury securities, accounting for nearly 80.2% of their reserve funds. For every 50 basis points the Federal Reserve cuts rates, it will result in an annual loss of $625 million in interest income for dollar stablecoin issuers.Data shows that Tether holds nearly $93.2 billion in U.S. Treasury securities and repurchase agreements, which contributes significantly to its net profit of $5.2 billion in the first half of 2024. The second-largest stablecoin, USDC, holds $28.7 billion in U.S. Treasury securities through its Circle Reserve Fund, while FDUSD, PYUSD, and TUSD hold $1.83 billion, $634 million, and $502 million in U.S. Treasury securities, respectively.