News Report:
00:00-09:00
Keywords: Citibank research report: global family offices’ investment in cryptocurrency doubles year-on-year, Coinbase hires Ryan VanGrack as Vice President of Litigation, more than 40 US Republicans urge SEC to abolish SAB 121, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman predicts AI will bring unprecedented prosperity and solve climate problems, US DTCC and Digital Asset complete US Treasury bond tokenization pilot to enhance settlement efficiency, BlockFi receives nearly 250 million USDC from Coinbase Prime and may start repaying customer funds, prediction platform Polymarket considers launching a token financing of over 50 million USD, Mango Markets plans to reach a $500,000 settlement agreement with the CFTC, subject to community voting approval, Musk loses lawsuit against former Twitter employee over unpaid severance pay.
1. Report: Coinbase announced that it will support Moonwell (WELL) on the Base network (ERC-20 tokens). Users should be aware not to send this asset through other networks, as funds may be lost. Transfers of WELL assets are now open in regions where trading is supported by Coinbase and Coinbase Exchange. If liquidity conditions are met, the WELL-USD trading pair will be phased in after 9:00 am Pacific Time on September 24. Support for WELL may be restricted in certain supported jurisdictions.
2. Report: According to Coinbase Assets, Coinbase will add support for CoW Protocol (COW) on the Ethereum network (ERC-20 tokens). Users are reminded not to send this asset through other networks, as funds may be lost. If liquidity conditions are met, trading will begin on September 24, 2024, at 9:00 am Pacific Time or later.
3. Report: According to Arkham officials, bankrupt cryptocurrency lending company BlockFi received nearly 250 million USDC from Coinbase Prime two days ago. Previously, BlockFi received court approval to repay 100% of customer funds.
4. Report: Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal announced on social media that “Ryan VanGrack will join Coinbase as Vice President of Litigation, having previously served as General Counsel at globally renowned market maker Citadel Securities.”
5. Report: Blockchain solution provider Digital Asset and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) recently completed a pilot project for the tokenization of US Treasury bonds on the Canton network. The project involved 26 market participants and completed 100 transactions, aiming to improve settlement speed, ensure privacy, and comply with legal requirements. In the pilot, participants applied “digital twins” tokens to various scenarios, including trading, collateral, and default handling, by converting US Treasury bonds (UST). The system enables instant asset transfers when margin notices occur, and all transaction processes are traceable and auditable. Even in the event of investor default, assets can be transferred quickly and legally, ensuring transaction security. This project demonstrates the technological advantages of the Canton network, especially in terms of transaction privacy and legal compliance, promoting the application of tokenized assets in the financial market.
6. Report: The Celestia Foundation, the team behind the Celestia blockchain network, announced the completion of a $100 million financing round, led by Bain Capital Crypto, with participation from Syncracy Capital, 1kx, Robot Ventures, Placeholder, and others, bringing the total financing amount of the project to $155 million.
7. Report: According to ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, global asset management giant BlackRock verifies the balance of its Bitcoin addresses from Coinbase Prime through its own blockchain nodes on a daily basis, ensuring the holdings of its physical Bitcoin ETF. While this data is only available to institutional clients, BlackRock has earned widespread trust with its 30-year impeccable record. Unlike crypto platforms like FTX, BlackRock’s ETF system is highly transparent, secure, and has always followed strict custodial processes. Despite market doubts about the transparency of its Bitcoin trading, Balchunas emphasized that BlackRock ensures the security of assets and the trust of its clients through self-custody and blockchain verification.
8. Report: According to sources, decentralized crypto prediction platform Polymarket is considering raising over $50 million through token issuance to support its platform operations. Investors in this financing round would receive token warrants, giving them the right to purchase tokens if they are issued in the future. However, Polymarket has not made a final decision, and there is no clear timeline for the token issuance. In May of this year, Polymarket completed a $45 million Series B financing round led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, with other notable investors including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The platform has attracted nearly $1 billion in bets, mainly focusing on major events such as the 2024 US presidential election.
9. Report: Decentralized crypto exchange Mango Markets is considering reaching a $500,000 settlement agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The exchange is facing CFTC charges for operating as an unregistered exchange, illegally providing services to US users, and failing to conduct customer identity verification. Mango Markets’ legal representative proposed paying a fine to avoid litigation without admitting or denying any wrongdoing. The proposal requires approval from Mango Markets’ governance token holders (MNGO), and the current results indicate that it is likely to be approved. In addition, the agreement also needs approval from the CFTC’s commissioners. Previously, Mango Markets reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and paid a fine of approximately $700,000.
10. Report: German industrial giant Siemens successfully issued and settled a digital commercial bill worth 100,000 euros using JPM Coin System from JPMorgan’s Onyx blockchain platform and SWIAT’s private blockchain. The transaction was conducted under the German Electronic Securities Act (eWpG), and payment was made using JPMorgan’s JPM Coin System, with asset transfer completed through the delivery versus payment (DvP) mechanism of the SWIAT network. The entire process took only 93 seconds, marking the start of cooperation between Onyx and SWIAT in developing digital asset issuance products for commercial banks. This move aims to shorten the value chain, enhance transaction flexibility and speed, and promote the scalable application of blockchain in financial transactions.
11. Report: OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman released a blog post on September 23, stating that humanity is entering the “era of intelligence” and AI technology will bring unimaginable prosperity. Altman said that AI will not only accelerate scientific progress but also gradually solve global issues such as climate change, and may establish space colonies and reveal the mysteries of physics within decades. He optimistically predicts that future AI systems will have super self-evolution capabilities, making technological breakthroughs for humans “commonplace.” Altman believes that the arrival of this era will bring tremendous prosperity and change our way of life.
12. Report: The official news account of OpenAI was hacked on the X platform and false information about the cryptocurrency “$OPENAI” was posted. The post claimed that the token “connects artificial intelligence and blockchain technology” and encouraged all OpenAI users to claim a portion of its initial supply. However, “$OPENAI” does not exist, and the link in the post directs to a phishing website that imitates the official OpenAI website, attempting to steal users’ login credentials. The false information has not been removed, and the comment function has been disabled, increasing the stealthiness of the scam. This is not the first time OpenAI has been targeted by such attacks. As early as June 2023, the CTO’s account also posted similar false token information. OpenAI has become a target of multiple phishing activities, and users need to be vigilant to avoid being deceived.
13. Report: According to Farside Investors’ monitoring, the data for US Bitcoin ETF and US Ethereum ETF (as of September 23) is as follows: US Bitcoin ETF: GBTC net outflow of $40.3 million; BTC net inflow of $8.4 million; ARKB no net inflow or outflow of funds. US Ethereum ETF: ETHE net outflow of $80.6 million; ETH and CETH no net inflow or outflow of funds.
14. Report: Patrick McHenry, Chairman of the US House Financial Services Committee, Senator Cynthia Lummis, and 40 other politicians wrote to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on September 23, stating that SAB 121 disrupts the custody rules for cryptocurrencies, weakens consumer protection, and stifles financial innovation. These 42 politicians also claimed that SAB 121 is a proposed rule that requires entities holding cryptocurrencies in custody to record these holdings as liabilities on their balance sheets, and was issued without consulting any “prudent regulatory agency,” and the accounting method “deviates from established accounting standards.” The politicians also criticized the Office of the Chief Accountant of the SEC for working with certain institutions to circumvent the balance sheet reporting requirement, which could lead to widespread inconsistency.
15. Report: According to data tracked by Whale Alert, at around 8:14 am Beijing time, the USDC Treasury minted and transferred an additional 50 million USDC into Coinbase on the Ethereum network.
16. Report: According to a memo obtained by Bloomberg, Musk lost a lawsuit against a former Twitter employee in a legal dispute over unpaid severance pay. The employee was fired when Musk took over the social media platform in 2022. Two years ago, Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion and quickly laid off more than half of the employees. This move led to appeals from over 2,000 former employees who claimed they did not receive sufficient severance pay. The lawsuit victory last Friday could set a precedent for thousands of former employees who have filed similar arbitration claims. “The arbitrator awarded our clients full severance,” lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan said in a memo on Monday. “We are excited about this development and hope it foreshadows more good news to come.”
17. Report: According to a report released by Citibank, the “2024 Global Family Office Survey,” the number of family offices bullish on cryptocurrency has doubled from 8% last year to 17% this year, with direct investment still being their preferred investment method. The report points out that family offices’ interest in digital assets is still growing from a relatively low base. Whether it is large family offices with assets under management exceeding $500 million or small family offices with assets under $500 million, the level of interest in digital assets is similar. Direct cryptocurrency investment and cryptocurrency-related investment funds are their preferred directions. Compared to small family offices, large family offices show greater interest in tokenized real-world assets (RWA), with 11% of large family offices holding cryptocurrency exposure, while this proportion is only 3% for small family offices. On the other hand, small family offices have a greater demand for derivatives, with 8% holding exposure to these products, compared to 3% for large family offices. The Asia-Pacific region is leading in the adoption of digital assets, with 37% of family offices investing or interested in investing in digital assets. In this region, 1 out of every 20 family offices reports that digital assets account for over 10% of investable assets. Meanwhile, family offices in Latin America show the least interest, with 83% of family offices not prioritizing the allocation of digital assets.
18. Report: According to analyst Yu Jin’s monitoring, a whale that previously exchanged ETH for WBTC when the ETH/BTC exchange rate was 0.0435 bought back ETH 8 hours ago. The whale sold 640 WBTC ($40.45 million) and exchanged it for 15,040 stETH. The ETH/BTC exchange rate was 0.0425. The whale now holds 15,040 stETH ($39.8 million) and 516 WBTC ($32.6 million). In addition, between August 21 and September 4, the whale also bought 125,605 AAVE at a price of $127, and these AAVE now have a floating profit of $5.75 million (+36%).
