This week in review | Starknet Foundation has conducted an airdrop snapshot; Wormhole completes $225 million financing.
BlockBeats will compile industry news highlights for the week of 11.27-12.03 in this article, and recommend in-depth articles to help readers better understand the market and industry trends.
Weekly News Recap
Starknet Foundation has conducted an airdrop snapshot
On December 1st, the Starknet Foundation confirmed a screenshot displaying the airdrop plan draft and stated that an airdrop snapshot has been conducted. The foundation emphasized that a plan is currently being developed to distribute tokens to certain past active users and contributors. The deadline for eligibility for the airdrop has been set and any subsequent actions by users will not affect future airdrops. According to Scopescan, the STRK token contract was deployed 379 days ago with a total supply of 10 billion tokens.
Plate Rotation Chain Tour, Multiple Projects Online
On November 27th, the full-chain RTS game Sky Strife opened Season 0 testing on the Redstone Holesky testnet, and at the same time began casting the Sky Strife Season Pass. Related reading: "PASS Card FOMO to 21000 ETH, how to play the full-chain RTS game Sky Strife?"
On November 28th, Web3 gaming platform Portal announced plans to airdrop its upcoming token and released information on the first season of activities. It is reported that $PORTAL is a cross-ecosystem gaming token that connects various gaming experiences on major blockchains such as Solana, Avax, Klaytn, and Polygon. Related reading: "How to participate in the airdrop activity of Web3 gaming platform Portal, which foreigners are all participating in".
On November 27th, Gas Hero, the second game developed by the STEPN team and produced by Find Satoshi Lab, officially launched its Community Test. This round of testing is open to 3000 community users, including Gas Hero NFT badge holders, Find Satoshi Lab ambassadors, partners, and other different groups. Gas Hero has recently sent notification emails to all eligible users. For more information, please read "Gas Hero launches community test, player experience record (with tutorial)".
New project Mint Cash airdrop expected to trigger USTC surge
On November 26th, after USTC's 24-hour increase of 180%, the most notable factor behind the surge in USTC price was a new project - Mint Cash. Mint Cash claims to be the spiritual successor of TerraUSD (UST), with team members from the former Anchor team and Aleph Research, including team leader Shin Hyojin and engineer Minjae Yang. Related reading: "Behind the USTC surge, is Mint Cash's airdrop expectation or LUNA's "comeback"?"
MicroStrategy purchases approximately 16,130 bitcoins for about $593.3 million in cash
On November 30th, MicroStrategy announced that the company has purchased approximately 16,130 bitcoins for about $593.3 million in cash, at an average price of $36,785 per bitcoin. Currently, MicroStrategy holds a total of 174,530 bitcoins, with a total investment of about $5.28 billion and an average purchase price of $30,252 per bitcoin.
Bitcoin DeFi protocol BitStable launches token sale, $BSSB attacked upon release
Bounce Finance announced the launch of native token $BSSB for decentralized asset protocol BitStable on Bounce Launchpad on November 29 at 12:00. Users can obtain corresponding $BSSB shares by staking $AUCTION tokens or through auction mechanism. Within two hours after the announcement by Bounce Finance, the price of $AUCTION increased by over 15%. However, just two hours after the launch, $BSSB encountered "coordinated attacks and DDoS attacks". Many experienced community members have expressed that BitStable is a "nice rug loser" behind this attack. Related reading: "How to participate in BitStable token sale, a Bitcoin DeFi protocol about to IDO?"; "$BSSB attacked upon release, BitStable questioned by the community for being a "rug".
Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, passed away at the age of 99
On November 29th, Charlie Munger, a long-time partner of Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), peacefully passed away at a hospital in California on Tuesday morning at the age of 99. Berkshire Hathaway stated that Munger himself would have celebrated his 100th birthday on January 1st of next year. Buffett, the 93-year-old Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said in a statement: "Without Charlie's inspiration, wisdom, and participation, Berkshire Hathaway would not have achieved the size it has today."
CoinList will launch the BitsCrunch token sale on December 15th and registration is now open
On December 1st, CoinList announced that the BitsCrunch (BCUT) token sale will begin at 1:00 AM (Beijing time) on December 15th and registration is now open. BitsCrunch is a decentralized, AI-enhanced data network that provides analysis and forensic data for NFTs, wallets, and other public chain digital assets. The token sale will offer 60,000,000 BCUT tokens at a price of $0.055 per token, with an additional 5,000,000 BCUT tokens reserved for rewards. In addition, an additional 10,000,000 BCUT tokens (1% of the total supply) may be offered for purchase during the bitsCrunch community sale, at the discretion of bitsCrunch.
Wormhole completes $225 million financing at a valuation of $2.5 billion and announces the establishment of Wormhole Labs
According to Fortune's report on November 29th, Wormhole completed a $225 million financing at a valuation of $2.5 billion. There was no lead investor in this round, and it was participated by Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, ParaFi, Dilectic, Borderless Capital, Arrington Capital, and Jump Trading. This round of financing is also the largest round of financing for cryptocurrency projects in 2023. In addition, the team behind Wormhole announced the establishment of a new company, Wormhole Labs, which will help develop the protocol. The unveiling of Wormhole Labs ultimately confirmed the split between Wormhole and Jump Crypto. Related reading: "How to participate in the potential airdrop of Wormhole with $225 million financing?"
Spartan Group Creation: Short Position Leaked by Major Cryptocurrency Exchange
On November 28th, Kelvin Koh, co-founder and managing partner of Spartan Group, announced on social media that "today, we were surprised to hear from an industry contact that a major centralized cryptocurrency exchange we are trading on leaked our short position. This is a major breach of client confidentiality and we will be cutting off our trading activity on that exchange. What's even more despicable about this incident is that the information was shared casually. If any random employee of the exchange can access client trading positions and share them with random parties, it indicates that the exchange has not taken appropriate control measures. We are talking about one of the largest exchanges. This is why centralized exchanges need to be regulated and subject to stricter scrutiny."
Zhu Su speaks on social media again after 9 weeks
On December 1st, Zhu Su, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, spoke on social media again after a 9-week silence. As previously reported by BlockBeats, on September 29th, the liquidator of Three Arrows Capital stated that Zhu Su, co-founder of the hedge fund, was arrested in Singapore while attempting to leave the country.
Bitget announced the suspension of new user registration in mainland China
On December 1st, Bitget is currently in negotiations regarding a major investment matter. This strategic decision will bring more opportunities and growth space for Bitget. Therefore, new user registration in mainland China will be suspended from today onwards. Please stay tuned for official announcements.
WSJ: US Judge Temporarily Bars CZ from Leaving US
According to the Wall Street Journal, a federal judge in the US has temporarily barred Binance founder CZ from leaving the country. The judge still needs to decide whether to require CZ to stay in the US while awaiting a ruling on violating anti-money laundering requirements. The ruling is scheduled for the end of February.
KyberSwap attacker proposes settlement terms, demanding control of the company and all assets
On November 30th, the KyberSwap attacker published a new message on the chain, proposing a series of settlement terms, including full executive control of Kyber, temporary comprehensive control of KyberDAO's governance mechanism to implement legislative changes, and the surrender of all documents and information related to the company/protocol. In addition, the attacker also demanded that Kyber surrender all on-chain and off-chain assets. The attacker promised a series of compensation measures for company executives, employees, token holders, and investors once the demands are met. These measures include providing fair valuations for executives, doubling employee salaries, providing 12 months of severance pay and comprehensive benefits for employees who do not wish to stay, and guaranteeing the value of investor tokens. The attacker emphasized that if their demands are not met by December 10th or if they are contacted by any sovereign state agents, the settlement agreement will be declared null and void.
This Week's Popular Articles
The impact of technological progress on the future is a topic that has been discussed time and time again. Last month, Marc Andreessen's "Tech Optimism Manifesto" explicitly opposed the state of being afraid of technological progress. This month, OpenAI sparked controversy and reignited the discussion. Vitalik Buterin opposes the mentality of "prioritizing maintaining the current state of the world" and points out that technological development not only needs to focus on intensity, but also on direction. In his latest article, he deeply explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain, and proposes the concept of "d/acc" (decentralized acceleration). He believes that with the accelerated development of technology, the emergence of artificial intelligence may become one of the biggest challenges facing humanity, but he also proposes a more humane and decentralized development path.
Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem is on the rise, what protocols should we pay attention to recently?
Currently, the Bitcoin ecosystem is one of the most talked-about topics in the cryptocurrency community. In addition to the hype surrounding the inscription heat of FOMO and various token protocols that are still being built, investors who are still watching are more concerned about the DeFi scene in the Bitcoin ecosystem. With the recent surge in various BRC tokens over the past month, related assets in the Bitcoin ecosystem have accumulated to a considerable scale. According to Coingecko data, the market value of the BRC-20 market has exceeded $600 million. This has led to a demand for liquidity from BRC-20 asset investors. Recently, several DeFi protocols in the Bitcoin ecosystem have had new developments, which are summarized by BlockBeats as follows.
Pizza Ninjas: A Potential Bitcoin NFT New Blue Chip with Consensus from China and Abroad
After the market for Chinese-focused 10K Bitcoin NFT series such as Bitcoin Frogs and Goosinals cooled down, Ordinals Maxi Biz (OMB), a Bitcoin NFT project with a low total supply and significant influence in the English-speaking community, received more attention. OMB's market started after the 10K craze and rose steadily from around 0.2 BTC to 0.5+ BTC and still remains stable. Pizza Ninjas, which we are introducing today, is also a Bitcoin NFT project with significant influence in the English-speaking community and a low total supply. Compared to OMB, Pizza Ninjas has an even lower total supply and is also very popular in the Chinese-speaking community. Pizza Ninjas, which has gained consensus from both Chinese and foreign communities, has the potential to become another new blue chip Bitcoin NFT project besides Taproot Wizards (not yet released) and OMB.
BlockBeats News, on November 28th, according to official sources, Jito, a liquidity staking protocol on Solana, announced the launch of its governance token JTO and released information about an airdrop. It is reported that the total amount of JTO airdrop is 100 million, of which 90 million JTO will be distributed in this airdrop, and 10 million JTO will be distributed next year.
Crazy shopping spree for $930,000 worth of NFTs, what is Flamingo DAO?
The NFT market has become lively again at the beginning of December. According to NFTstats.eth data, ETH NFT trading volume has doubled compared to last week. On December 1st, Flamingo DAO, a DAO organization focused on investing in NFTs, purchased 26 NFTs including Matt Kane, DCA, Zeblocks, and Emily Xie, with a total value of 448 ETH, approximately $939,400, in just over an hour.
Last weekend, what was the hottest meme coin? SHIB, PEPE, or DOGE? In the community's view, the answer is undoubtedly "Q*". After Sam's return to OpenAI news and Musk's "exposure" of OpenAI's Q*, the "OpenAI concept" became another hot meme after "Musk Grok". Following closely behind is its "derivative meme" FROGE. Last week, in the foreign crypto community, FROGE was undoubtedly the "meme top", and its price has multiplied by a thousand in the past four days.
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