Daily Legal News: Grayscale submits new Ethereum ETF application; Balancer front-end suffers attack resulting in approximately $238,000 in losses.
Selected News:
1. Optimism Open RetroPGF Round 3 application, will allocate 30 million OP tokens;
2. Gray-scale submits new futures Ethereum ETF application;
3. Balancer front-end has been attacked, resulting in approximately $238,000 in losses;
4. CoinEx private key leakage has caused a loss of $70 million.
5. Ethereum developers proposed the ERC-7512 standard, aiming to achieve on-chain verification of smart contract audit information.
Project Updates
ARK Invest acquires European ETF issuer Rize ETF Limited
Cathie Wood's ARK Invest has announced the acquisition of European ETF issuer Rize ETF, with the specific acquisition amount undisclosed. This acquisition will allow ARK to enter the European ETF market, and the Rize ETF team will join ARK. The existing name and brand of Rize ETF will be gradually phased out and transformed into a department of ARK Invest Limited, renamed "ARK Invest Europe", and the existing Rize ETF index products will still be available.
慢雾 CISO: Balancer encountered BGP or DNS hijacking attacks
23pds, Chief Information Security Officer of SlowMist, posted an article stating that the DeFi liquidity protocol Balancer was subjected to BGP or DNS hijacking attacks, reminding users to pay attention to fund security.
Optimism has recently announced its third round of RetroPGF (Retrospective Public Goods Funding). Starting today, RetroPGF's third round of applications is open and will continue until October 23, distributing 30 million OP tokens to builders, artists, creators, and educators who demonstrate impact in building the Optimism Collective. Contributors of every type to the Optimism ecosystem are eligible for RetroPGF, whether they are developers of Ethereum execution clients or educators creating Optimism video content.
Cryptocurrency custody firm Prime Trust may lay off 62 employees within two months
According to CoinDesk, Prime Trust, a bankrupt cryptocurrency custody firm, has notified its employees that it may lay off 62 people in the next two months. Prior to the bankruptcy filing, Prime Trust disclosed that it had 70 full-time employees. BlockBeats previously reported that on August 15th, Prime Trust filed for bankruptcy reorganization under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in the Delaware Bankruptcy Court. John Guedry was appointed as the company's permanent receiver, and John Guedry, John Wilcox, and Michael Wyse were appointed as the only members of the special restructuring committee.
Arbitrum Odyssey will be back online next week, partnering with Galxe for 7 weeks.
According to official sources, Arbitrum Odyssey will be relaunched next week and will partner with the Web3 community activity platform Galxe for a period of 7 weeks. Completing tasks and exploring the 13 projects on Arbitrum One will earn you a custom badge. The new Arbitrum Odyssey will include the following 13 projects: GMX, Aboard, tofuNFT, Uniswap, ApeX Protocol, 1inch Network, Premia Blue, DODO, Swapr, Treasure, BattleFly DAO, handle.fi, and SushiSwap.According to CoinDesk, a small number of Binance European users were unable to withdraw euros before Paysafe, Binance's regional payment provider, stopped supporting them. A Binance spokesperson responded that Paysafe had conducted "premature closure reviews" for a "very small portion" of users, with about 0.085% of Binance users in Europe with Paysafe accounts affected. The spokesperson said, "We are actively working to expedite Paysafe's return of funds to all affected users. Once Paysafe notifies us that the review is complete, we will immediately notify users through the Binance app and send follow-up emails."
Taiko has released Jólnir (Alpha-5) testnet and introduced new proposals and proof designs.
Taiko, an Ethereum Layer2 network based on zkRollup, announced that its fifth testnet, Jólnir (Alpha-5), has been launched. The new version introduces a proposal and proof design based on Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS), aiming to optimize the network's activity. In addition, Jólnir has updated its bridge implementation and interface, and added new data statistics pages. Taiko reminds users of the Grímsvötn L2 network that the network will continue to operate until October 31st, but will no longer provide official support. Taiko has contacted ecosystem projects deployed on Grímsvötn L2 or Eldfell L3 to assist them in migrating to Jólnir.
a16z Crypto's Web3 startup accelerator program has opened applications for the Spring 2024 course.
a16z Crypto has announced that applications are now open for the spring 2024 session of its Web3 startup accelerator program, Crypto Startup School (CSS), which will be held in London. CSS is a 12-week accelerator program designed to provide expert guidance, funding, and resources to early-stage Web3 companies. The program will begin in March 2024 and conclude with a Demo Day in June. a16z crypto will invest in each participating company with standard terms of $500,000 for 7% equity. Additionally, all content from the CSS 2024 spring session will be made available to the public after the conclusion of the program.
Focus on RWA on-chain DeFi lending protocol TProtocol officially launched on the mainnet and reached a cooperation with Matrixdock, a digital asset platform that provides RWA tokenization solutions, to open the first national debt lending pool. The pool accepts STBT, a short-term national debt token issued by Matrixdock, as collateral, opening up low-risk lending with US Treasury bonds as collateral. Through the pool, users can deposit stablecoins to earn lending interest, with an expected lending interest rate of about 5%. Users who deposit stablecoins into the pool will receive lending certificate tokens rUSTP.
In addition, TProtocol has partnered with numerous DeFi projects to open up the ecosystem for its issued loan certificate token USTP. Users will be able to continue using USTP in other DeFi projects while obtaining underlying returns, which is expected to generate additional returns of 10% - 20%. Meanwhile, TProtocol is preparing for its IDO and will become the first project to issue tokens in the RWA national debt on-chain track.
OKX stated on social media that compensation related to the abnormal fluctuations on September 13th has been distributed to affected users. At the same time, relevant product services have been optimized to prevent similar situations from happening again.
Metis has launched a $5 million DeFi incentive plan, and will first allocate 100,000 METIS to Aave
Ethereum Layer 2 network Metis has announced the launch of a $5 million DeFi incentive program, Metis Journey, aimed at promoting the development of new and existing DeFi applications on Metis. The program will first allocate strategic tokens to Aave V3, with 100,000 METIS tokens being distributed to incentivize Aave users to provide liquidity to asset pools on Metis, including ETH, METIS, USDC, USDT, and DAI.
Maker Community has opened voting on "Deploying Spark Lend on Gnosis Chain".
Maker community has opened voting on the proposal "Deploying Spark Lend on Gnosis Chain". Currently, Spark Lend is only available on Ethereum. The voting will end at 0:00 on September 22nd Beijing time.
Circle: USDC has been launched on the Polkadot mainnet
The stablecoin USDC issuer Circle has announced that USDC is now available on the Polkadot mainnet. Polkadot USDC is natively issued on the Asset Hub and can be considered the official form of USDC on the Polkadot network. Parachains can securely access USDC from the Polkadot Asset Hub via XCM. Enterprises and institutions can access Polkadot USDC on/off-ramps using Circle Account and Circle API.
Injective collaborates with Caldera to launch inEVM Layer 2 testnet
Injective, a Layer 1 blockchain based on Cosmos, has partnered with Caldera, a Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS) company, to launch its inEVM Layer 2 testnet. The aim is to allow Ethereum applications to run natively on the network. The mainnet deployment is planned for the fourth quarter.
Ethereum developers have proposed a new standard, ERC-7512, aimed at enhancing the security of decentralized Ethereum applications by allowing anyone to use and verify smart contract audit information on-chain (rather than off-chain). The proposal was jointly made by developers from projects such as Safe, Ackee Blockchain, OtterSec, ChainSecurity, OpenZeppelin, and Hats Finance. The goal of ERC-7512 is to ensure that audit details, such as who conducted the audit and their findings, can be parsed by contracts to verify their authenticity. Currently, audits are provided manually by teams without on-chain representation of their authenticity. The need for this standard arises from losses caused by issues discovered in smart contracts: over $650 million has been lost due to DeFi-related scams and hacks in the first half of 2023.
Galxe has launched version 2.0, adding mobile applications, Smart Balance functionality, and more.
Galxe has officially released its 2.0 version, with highlights including the Galxe mobile app, Smart Balance, Web3 rating, and updates to Telegram and Discord bots. In addition, the GAL token will be integrated and used in many new features of Galxe 2.0. The Galxe mobile app allows users to browse activities, search project spaces, and manage Galxe ID profiles. Furthermore, to simplify cross-chain transactions, Galxe has launched the innovative Smart Balance feature, allowing users to deposit stablecoins and GAL tokens on the Galxe platform for various fees. The Galxe Web3 rating system provides users with a unique Web3 identity assessment, covering five key aspects: experience, reputation, expertise, assets, and humanity.
Hodlnaut declines OPNX's acquisition proposal, citing lack of liquidity in the $30 million FLEX
The interim legal manager of Singaporean cryptocurrency loan company Hodlnaut has opposed the acquisition terms proposed by crypto claims and trading platform Open Exchange (OPNX). According to court documents seen by Bloomberg, the manager claimed that the $30 million FLEX digital token offer made by OPNX had "a lack of liquidity" and "speculative value". The majority of creditors, who hold 60% of Hodlnaut Group's total debt, also opposed the deal. Other concerns mentioned in the documents include "no injection of cash or similar liquid assets" such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, no timetable for repaying creditor debts, and a lack of detailed information on payments beyond the 30% of debt owed.
Aave community has passed the proposal to increase GHO borrowing rate to 2.5%.
Governance page display, the Aave community has passed the proposal to "increase the stablecoin GHO lending rate". The proposal suggests raising the GHO lending annual interest rate from the current 1.5% to 2.5%, with the aim of addressing the deviation problem of GHO's peg and ensuring its growth and market credibility.
Art Blocks Chief Technology Officer Jacob Rockland announces resignation
Art Blocks' Chief Technology Officer, Jacob Rockland, announced that he will be resigning from his position and will be rejoining Google. Rockland joined Art Blocks in August 2021, previously serving as a Senior Software Engineer at Google.
Bitget has launched Banana Gun (BANANA) and Tipcoin (TIP).
Bitget has launched Banana Gun (BANANA) on the innovation zone and Web3 zone, and recharge has been opened at 18:00 today. Trading will start at 20:00 today. At the same time, Tipcoin (TIP) and Shiba Saga (SHIA) have been launched on the innovation zone, and recharge and trading channels are now open.
CZ: Binance US has never used Ceffu or Binance Custody
Binance founder CZ stated on social media that Binance US has never used Ceffu or Binance Custody. Previously, the SEC requested approval from a US court to inspect Binance US. The SEC believes that Ceffu, formerly known as Binance Custody, may also provide services to Binance US, transferring funds from US customers out of the country, which violates previous agreements.
CZ responds to executive departures: Binance adds over 600 new employees during the same period
Binance founder CZ said at an internal event: "The entire industry needs a high degree of compliance, and Binance has made significant investments in talent, compliance, processes, and technology. Although many people have recently talked about the departure of many senior executives from Binance, many people have also joined Binance, and in the past few months, there have been about six or seven hundred new hires. We hope to attract more talent to join this industry or join Binance."
Funding
Blockchain company Jiritsu, which focuses on verifiable computation, announced that it has raised a total of $10.2 million in two rounds of funding, led by gumi Cryptos Capital, with participation from Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, LLLP, Republic Capital, and others. The company stated that it was founded in 2020 and has developed technologies such as Unlimited Verifiable Computation (UVC) to provide an easy-to-program method that can be applied to any workflow and generate workflow proofs. Jiritsu also launched its asset tokenization platform, Tomei RWA, today. The company stated that the Tomei platform uses zero-knowledge authentication to achieve secure and compliant asset logging, while also providing fine-grained, licensed data access.
The blockchain medical data exchange platform Briya announced the completion of a $11.5 million Series A financing, led by Team8, with participation from Insight Partners, Amiti Ventures, Innocare Health Investments, and George Kaiser Family Foundation. Briya's total financing amount has reached $17 million. Briya's scalable blockchain-driven system can standardize all forms of electronic health records, enabling life science organizations to simplify access and exchange of real-time anonymous medical data. Briya is one of the 10 startups selected for the 2022 Intel Ignite accelerator program and participated in the Health Engine accelerator at the University of California, Berkeley.
时尚领域元宇宙数据分析商 Geeiq 完成 820 万美元 A 轮融资 Translation:
Fashion industry metaverse data analysis company Geeiq completes $8.2 million Series A financingAccording to Vogue Business, Geeiq, a data analytics provider focused on the fashion and lifestyle sector in the metaverse, has announced the completion of a £6.6 million (approximately $8.2 million) Series A funding round, led by YFM Equity Partners with participation from GFR Fund and FOV Ventures. Geeiq primarily provides metaverse market data analysis services to brand owners and also helps businesses obtain customized data analysis capabilities on metaverse platforms such as Roblox, Zepeto, Decentraland, and Fortnite. Its current clients include fashion brands such as Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger.
The hybrid encryption trading platform GRVT announced that it has completed two rounds of financing with a valuation of $39 million and a total financing of $7.1 million. GRVT stated that the seed round of financing was $5 million, jointly led by Matrix Partners and Delphi Digital, and other investors in this round of financing include ABCDE, Susquehanna Investment Group, CMS Holdings, Hack VC, and Matter Labs (the developer of the Ethereum L2 network zkSync). The pre-seed round of financing was $2.1 million, supported by investors such as 500 Startups and Folius Ventures. GRVT aims to provide the efficiency of centralized trading platforms and the self-custody function of decentralized trading platforms.
Aquanow launches AQN Digital Ventures Fund to support cryptocurrency startups
Digital asset infrastructure provider Aquanow announced the launch of AQN Digital Ventures Fund managed by its investment management subsidiary AQN Digital. So far, AQN Digital Ventures Fund has invested in seven portfolio companies, including digital currency payment processing platform BoomFi and lightning network startup Mash, and is expected to make one to two additional investments per month in the future.
Regulation
Grayscale submits new Ethereum ETF application
According to WSJ, Grayscale Investment Company submitted an application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday for a new Ethereum futures ETF, which is registered under the Securities Act of 1933. This Act also governs the registration of commodity and spot Bitcoin ETFs. Grayscale previously applied for a standalone Ethereum futures ETF under the Investment Company Act of 1940, while most securities-based ETFs are registered under this Act.
SEC Cryptography Director: More accusations against trading platforms and DeFi projects are coming
The head of SEC's crypto enforcement, David Hirsch, has warned that other crypto trading platforms and DeFi projects will soon face more penalties and charges. Recently, SEC has been busy dealing with numerous issues. However, the regulator's crypto enforcer made it clear that SEC has more plans for the crypto industry. Hirsch made the remarks at a securities enforcement forum held in Chicago on Tuesday, where he discussed other non-compliant crypto trading platforms and DeFi projects.
Currently, the SEC has criticized Binance and Coinbase. At the same time, the head of the SEC's cryptocurrency assets and cybersecurity department mentioned that the SEC will pursue other companies engaged in similar activities. Hirsch stated, "We will continue to bring these charges" and added that investigations are underway into other top cryptocurrency trading platforms. In addition to these two trading platforms, the SEC is also appealing the Ripple securities case ruling.
The UK's bill on confiscating encrypted assets enters final approval stage
According to The Block, the UK's Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill has been passed by the House of Lords and is now in the final approval stage. If approved later this year, it will give local authorities greater powers to freeze and confiscate crypto assets related to criminal activity. The bill will give local courts and law enforcement agencies new powers to quickly seize crypto assets used for money laundering, drug trafficking, cybercrime, or assisting terrorist activities. The new legislation removes specific legal barriers that currently slow down the asset seizure process, and the provisions in the bill allow authorities to seize digital assets related to criminal activity under the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act.
An appeals court in the United States has postponed the appeal of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to end his pretrial detention on federal fraud charges, with his trial set to begin in two weeks. The panel of judges in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals said they will consider both sides' arguments. Bankman-Fried has been unable to end his pretrial detention since being jailed in early August. His lawyers argued that he was unable to prepare his defense properly while in prison. On the other hand, prosecutors argued that he posed a threat to witnesses while on bail, a view shared by the judge presiding over his case. If this appeal is rejected, Bankman-Fried is unlikely to be granted bail before his trial begins on October 3.
SBF's parents oppose lawsuit filed by FTX against him
The lawsuit filed by FTX, a cryptocurrency trading platform, against its founder SBF's parents, Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, has been countered by SBF's parents' legal representatives. The lawyers stated that FTX's action is a dangerous attempt to intimidate Joe and Barbara and disrupt the jury process just days before SBF's upcoming trial.
FTX accuses SBF's mother Barbara Fried of being a key advisor for SBF's political campaign donations
According to CNBC, FTX accuses SBF's mother, Barbara Fried, of being a key advisor for SBF and its allies' political campaign donations, and a "key figure" in SBF's political donation strategy, encouraging SBF and those closely related to him to "evade federal campaign finance disclosure rules by participating in straw donations or other means to conceal FTX as a source of donations".
Stanford University promises to refund FTX debtor's $5.5 million donation
According to Blockworks, a spokesperson for Stanford University confirmed receiving over $5.5 million in donations from FTX Group, stating that the donations were directly donated by SBF's father and Stanford University faculty member Joe Bankman, and promised to return the money to the debtor. The spokesperson stated that "Stanford University's donations received from the FTX Foundation and FTX-related companies are mainly used for epidemic prevention and research. We have been in discussions with the lawyers of FTX debtors to recover these donations, and we will fully refund the funds."
Data
A certain whale increased its holdings of 1261 MKR at an average price of $1291 within two days.
According to monitoring by @EmberCN, a certain whale increased its holdings of 1261 MKR (approximately $1.63 million) at an average price of $1291 within two days.休眠 4 年地址将全部 2591 枚 ETH 出售，约合 418 万美元
Translation: According to Lookonchain's monitoring, a wallet address that has been dormant for 4 years sold all of its 2591 ETH 6 hours ago, earning $4.18 million.CoinEx private key leak has caused a loss of $70 million
The encrypted trading platform CoinEx has suffered a loss of $70 million due to private key leakage. The CoinEx team is committed to building and deploying a new wallet architecture to restore affected users and platform functionality. CoinEx stated that the stolen amount only accounts for a small portion of its total managed assets, and affected users will receive full compensation for all fund losses.
Data: 3 whales withdraw 34.9 million STORJ from trading platform, worth about $14.44 million
According to Lookonchain monitoring, three new whale wallets have withdrawn 34.9 million STORJ (approximately $14.44 million) from the trading platform: 1. 0x3313 withdrew 25.57 million STORJ (approximately $10.58 million); 2. 0x79bc withdrew 5.35 million STORJ (approximately $2.21 million); 3. 0x97c1 withdrew 3.99 million STORJ (approximately $1.65 million).
Chainalysis' latest report shows that India has become the world's second-largest cryptocurrency market by raw transaction volume, surpassing the UK, Turkey, and Russia. The United States remains the largest cryptocurrency market to date. In terms of regions, Central Asia, South Asia, and Oceania account for 20% of the global cryptocurrency market. Chainalysis points out that from July 2022 to June 2023, the total transaction volume of the Indian cryptocurrency market reached nearly $269 billion. India's tax rate on cryptocurrency activities is much higher than that of most other countries, but this has not suppressed India's huge demand for cryptocurrencies.
Data: Brevan Howard Digital has transferred 2 million LDO in the past two weeks
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, Brevan Howard Digital has transferred 2 million LDO (approximately $3.07 million) in the past two weeks. Brevan Howard Digital has been continuously transferring LDO since March 2nd, and has now transferred a total of 9.04 million LDO (approximately $21.66 million) to CEX at an average price of $2.4. Currently, BH Digital still holds 5.83 million LDO (approximately $9.16 million).
Data: GSR withdraws 1 million WLD from Bybit and KuCoin, worth approximately $1.3 million
According to The Data Nerd, GSR extracted 1 million WLD from Bybit and Kucoin, worth about $1.3 million. GSR currently holds 6.47 million WLD, worth about $8.68 million.
派盾：Vitalik related address transferred 300 ETH to KrakenAccording to Pudun monitoring, Vitalik Buterin transferred 300 ETH (approximately $490,000) to Kraken.
Balancer front-end suffered an attack resulting in approximately $238,000 in losses
The on-chain detective ZachXBT's analysis shows that the front-end attacker of the DeFi liquidity protocol Balancer has made a profit of about $238,000, and the stolen funds are currently stored in "0x645710Af050E26bB96e295bdfB75B4a878088d7E". BlockBeats previously reported that earlier today, Balancer suffered from BGP or DNS hijacking attacks.
DWF Labs deposited 3.3 billion SPELL into Binance this morning, earning $300,000 in profit
According to Spot On Chain, DWF Labs deposited all 3.3 billion SPELL tokens into Binance at an average price of $0.000567 (totaling approximately $1.87 million) 8-14 hours after a nearly 20% price surge. Market makers are expected to earn $300,000 from SPELL in just 8 hours.
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