Headlines
Bitcoin Surges Past $64,000 USDT, Continuing to Reach New Highs in December 2021
Bitcoin reaches all-time highs against multiple fiat currencies
As the price of Bitcoin reaches a two-year high, in the past few days, the price of Bitcoin against the Japanese yen, Malaysian ringgit, Indian rupee, New Taiwan dollar, South Korean won, Chilean peso, Australian dollar, Chinese yuan, South African rand, Norwegian krone, and Turkish lira have all reached historic highs.
Arkham: US Government Transfers Over $1 Billion in Bitcoin from Seized Bitfinex Hacker Funds
According to Arkham data, an address labeled “U.S. Government: Bitfinex Hacker Seized Funds” transferred 2,818 BTC, worth approximately $173 million, to a new address a few hours ago. Another related address subsequently transferred its holdings of 12,300 BTC, worth approximately $923 million, to a new address.
Reportedly, these bitcoins came from the seized Bitfinex hacker funds by the U.S. Department of Justice, and the department has not yet responded to the motive behind the transfer. According to Arkham, there is another U.S. government wallet containing approximately 94,600 BTC, also belonging to the seized Bitfinex hacker funds, with a calculated value of approximately $5.79 billion at the current price.
Insider: SBF Shares Cryptocurrency Market Investment Advice with Prison Guards and Recommends Investing in SOL
Insiders revealed that SBF has been incarcerated in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since last summer, spending most of his time dealing with his own case. Additionally, SBF has shared investment advice on the cryptocurrency market with prison guards and recommended investing in Solana (SOL).
Gemini Trust: If Approved by the Court, Gemini Earn Users Will Receive 100% Physical Digital Asset Returns
Gemini Trust stated on the X platform that it has reached a preliminary settlement with Genesis and other creditors in the Genesis bankruptcy case. If approved by the bankruptcy court, all Gemini Earn users will receive 100% of their digital assets in physical form. This means that Gemini Trust will return digital assets worth over $1.8 billion, $700 million more than when Genesis stopped withdrawals on November 16, 2022.
If the bankruptcy court approves the settlement in principle, it is expected that Earn users will receive approximately 97% of physical assets within about two months, with the remaining balance expected to be received within the next 12 months. This settlement is subject to definitive documentation. The required bankruptcy court procedures may take up to two months to complete, and we will notify Earn users in a timely manner.
Coinbase: All Services on the Official Website Have Been Restored, and the Team is Fixing a Few Customers’ Account Balance Display Errors
Coinbase announced that all services on its official website have been restored. A very small number of customers may still see inaccurate balances on their accounts. The team is working to resolve this display issue for these users. Previously, during market fluctuations, the Coinbase platform briefly experienced downtime, causing some users to be unable to access it, and some users’ balances showed as zero.
Industry News
Nigeria Detains Two Binance Executives in Crackdown on Cryptocurrency
According to foreign media reports, Nigeria has detained two executives from Binance in its crackdown on cryptocurrency.
SBF Proposes a Sentencing Range of 63 to 78 Months
Court documents show that SBF has proposed a sentencing range of 63 to 78 months.
U.S. SEC Seeks to Extend Deadline for Opening Arguments in Ripple Case to March 22
Former U.S. federal prosecutor James K. Filan stated on the X platform that in the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple, the SEC is seeking to change the deadline for the remedies brief, including extending the deadline for opening arguments to March 22, 2024, Ripple’s deadline to submit its opposition brief to April 22, 2024, and the SEC’s deadline to submit its reply brief to May 6, 2024.
Options Contracts Worth a Nominal Value of Approximately $2.14 Billion in BTC and ETH Will Expire and Be Settled on Friday
Deribit data shows that options contracts worth over $1.48 billion in BTC and $659 million in ETH will expire and be settled this Friday (March 1). The maximum pain price for BTC is $53,000, and for ETH, it is $2,850.
Deribit Asia-Pacific Business Manager: Market FOMO Expects BTC to Break $69,000
Lin Chen, the Asia-Pacific business manager of Deribit, stated on the X platform, “The options market for BTC has diverged; there are those who pay nearly a million dollars to buy 300 BTC with a strike price of $60,000 that expires at the end of March, and there are also those who sell call options with a strike price of $65,000 that expires at the end of September, earning a premium of $3.74 million. Some are selling bull market spreads, such as selling call options with a strike price of $60,000 that expires at the end of June and buying call options with a strike price of $75,000 as protection. The market is already in FOMO mode, and it feels like it will reach $60,000 in a minute, and everyone seems to be waiting for it to break $69,000.”
DWF Labs Launches OTC Trading Platform Liquid Markets
DWF Labs announced the launch of the institutional-grade OTC trading platform Liquid Markets. The platform provides a compliant OTC trading venue for blue-chip tokens and altcoins, available 24/7. Liquid Markets is integrated with Fireblocks and Talos.
VanEck Launches NFT Marketplace and Digital Asset Platform SegMint
Global investment management company VanEck, in collaboration with Nueva.Tech, Delegate.xyz, MINTangible.io, Portals.to, and Walletchat.fun, has launched an NFT marketplace and digital asset platform called SegMint. The model of SegMint aims to simplify the self-custody sharing of digital assets. The company states that this process is similar to owning a secure vault to store digital assets and granting others shared access and ownership of the assets without compromising security.
SBF Continues to Follow a Vegetarian Diet in Prison, Cellmate Writes to Judge Requesting Leniency
Carmine Simpson, a former New York City Police Department official incarcerated with SBF, wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on behalf of SBF requesting leniency. Kaplan is scheduled to sentence SBF on March 28, and he was convicted in November of last year on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.
It is reported that SBF continues to adhere to a vegetarian diet in prison, but the conditions are poor. Simpson wrote in the letter, “Although Sam (SBF) has 12 out of 14 meals each week that consist of uncooked rice, a spoonful of disgusting-looking beans, and week-old lettuce, he has maintained his commitment to not mistreat animals.” Simpson initially had doubts about SBF’s motives but changed his mind after spending time with him. He wrote, “When he (SBF) first told me that his main reason for working so hard to become a successful and wealthy person was to donate all his money to noble causes and people in need, to be honest, I thought he was lying to me. But soon I concluded that Sam is the most selfless person I have had the privilege to meet. The world would be much better if Sam Bankman-Fried is released.” Simpson added that he expects the judge not to take his letter seriously, as he himself is facing criminal charges.
Project News
Gas Hero Game to Temporarily Pause and Return to Closed Testing Status for Rule Redesign
According to official sources, Gas Hero has encountered major difficulties and challenges on the road to optimizing the product, causing harm to players. Due to the difficulty of recovery, after repeated discussions, it has been decided to return Gas Hero to closed testing status. The following are details regarding the closed testing: Open registration for the game will be temporarily suspended, but players can invite new players through recommendations. The team may make frequent adjustments, additions, or deletions to any features during the closed testing period. The team may redefine the game rules during the closed testing period. Players will have more involvement in the game’s design during the closed testing period.
For existing players, two options are provided to continue or discontinue participation in the closed testing: Option one, choose to stay: players can continue to communicate directly with the game developers and participate in game design and discussions. Accounts will be fully preserved. Option two, choose to leave: players need to bind all in-game assets and actively destroy them, except for Gas Hero x STEPN badges, Gas Hero founding heroes, and Gas Hero redemption vouchers.
Important information: The decision window will close five days after the announcement is made, and Gas Hero will officially enter the closed testing phase. Prior to the maintenance time before this announcement, the team has completed a snapshot at 8:10 AM UTC on February 28, 2024 (approximately block height 54,050,886), and all matters related to this announcement are based on this snapshot.
io.net Plans to Launch a Points Reward Program on March 1st, with IO Token Expected to be Released by the End of April
The Solana-based DePIN protocol io.net will launch the first phase of its points reward program called Ignition on March 1st. The program will run until April 28th. The program will reward points based on the GPU users provide to the network. When asked if the reward points will be converted to io.net’s native token IO, io.net founder and CEO Ahmad Shadid declined to comment but stated that the token is expected to be launched on April 28th. io.net stated that the upcoming Ignition reward program is the first step towards decentralization and transferring governance to the community.
JuJupiter LFG Launchpad Voting to Open Next Week
The voting for Jupiter Exchange’s LFG Launchpad will open during the week of March 4th. Jupiter DAO will be voting on the first two projects to be launched on the Launchpad. The two projects with the most votes will be officially approved by the DAO. 75% of the Launchpad fees will be distributed to voters to increase participation.
BounceBit to Launch Testnet on March 8th
BounceBit has announced that it will launch its testnet on March 8th. Users who register an account and deposit at least $100 will be able to experience BounceClub (formerly BounceBox) on the testnet launch.
Serenity Shield: Project Wallet Hacked, Trading Suspended, and SERSH Token to be Relaunched
Blockchain data storage protocol Serenity Shield has announced on X platform that its project’s MetaMask wallet has been attacked. The team has taken measures to protect the interests of the community members, including immediately suspending SERSH token trading on PancakeSwap and suspending trading on Gate.io and MEXC. Additionally, Serenity Shield has decided to relaunch the SERSH token. The team is actively addressing the current situation and will announce more details soon. SERSH holders before the incident will receive the new tokens at a 1:1 ratio. Please note that any transactions made after the snapshot timestamp will not be eligible for replacement, and this rule only applies to DEX purchases. For transactions made on CEX, Serenity Shield will communicate with the respective CEX platforms to determine the replacement process and update the information accordingly. According to blockchain detective ZachXBT, Serenity Shield lost 6.9 million SERSH tokens worth approximately $586,000.
PlayDapp to Launch Token Migration Portal for Self-Custody PLA Holders in March
According to official sources, PlayDapp has released the following updates regarding token migration:
1. For self-custody PLA holders (non-coordinated on CEX): The migration portal is planned to launch in March, and the specific date will be announced later.
2. For CEX PLA holders: The team is discussing with CEX to explore migration methods and procedures in certain cases. Based on these discussions, the migration methods and timelines for PLA holders on each exchange may vary. Previously, PlayDapp suffered losses of tokens worth $290 million due to two hacking attacks. PlayDapp plans to launch a new PDA token to replace the 1.79 billion invalidly minted PLA tokens caused by the smart contract attack. PlayDapp will collaborate with some coordinated CEX to facilitate the migration from PLA to PDA, compensate users holding PLA with PDA, and compensate affected users based on their balances at the snapshot time at a 1:1 ratio.
Matrixport HK Submits Virtual Asset Trading Platform License Application to Hong Kong SFC
According to data from the official website of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong, Flying Hippo Technologies Limited submitted a virtual asset trading platform license application on February 26th, and the name of the virtual asset trading platform is “Matrixport HK”.
Investment and Financing
ether.fi Completes $27 Million Fundraising
Liquidity re-pledge protocol ether.fi has announced the completion of a $27 million fundraising round, led by Bullish and CoinFund, with support from over 95 investors.
Backpack Raises $17 Million in Strategic Financing, Led by Placeholder
Backpack.exchange and its ecosystem projects have announced the completion of a $17 million strategic financing round, with a valuation of $120 million. The round was led by Placeholder, with participation from Hashed, Wintermute, Amber Group, Robot Ventures, Selini, Delphi Digital, and others.
Backpack’s ecosystem includes the Backpack wallet, exchange, and the Mad Lads NFT project, which ranks first in the Solana ecosystem. The Backpack core team is also the developer of the Solana smart contract framework Anchor and the “executable NFT” (xNFT) token standard.
BounceBit Completes $6 Million Seed Round, Led by Blockchain Capital and Breyer Capital
Bitcoin collateralized L1 project BounceBit has completed a $6 million seed funding round, with joint leadership from Blockchain Capital and Breyer Capital. Other participants include dao 5, CMS Holdings, Bankless Ventures, NGC Ventures, Matrixport Ventures, DeFiance Capital, OKX Ventures, HTX Ventures, and individual investors such as Calvin Liu, Chief Strategy Officer of EigenLayer. BounceBit’s founder and CEO, Jack Lu, stated that the structure of this funding round is a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) with token warrants, but he declined to comment on the valuation.
Geodnet Raises $3.5 Million, Led by North Island Ventures
DePIN project Geodnet has raised $3.5 million in funding, with North Island Ventures leading the round. Modular Capital, Road Capital, Tangent, Reverie, and existing investors Borderless and IoTeX also participated.
Geodnet is a community-based DePIN project, where anyone can contribute to the network by installing and operating a Satellite Miner.
Pantera Capital Invests in Morpho Labs, a16z-backed DeFi Lending Protocol
Crypto investment firm Pantera Capital has announced an investment in DeFi lending protocol Morpho Labs, with the specific amount undisclosed.
In 2022, Morpho raised $18 million through a native token sale, with a16z and Variant leading the round. Other participants included Nascent, Semantic Ventures, Cherry Crypto, Mechanism Capital, Standard Crypto, and Coinbase Ventures.
Humanity Protocol Completes Strategic Financing with Participation from Hashed and Others
Humanity Protocol has announced the completion of strategic financing, with participation from over 20 institutions including Hashed, CMCC, Cypher Capital, Foresight Ventures, and Mechanism Capital. The specific amount has not been disclosed. The funds from this round will be used to accelerate the development and deployment of the Humanity Protocol, improve its scalability, efficiency, and user accessibility, and prepare for the upcoming testnet.
Wormhole Receives 1.8 Million ARB Grant from Arbitrum, Aims to Facilitate Migration of 100 Million Native Issued USDC to Arbitrum
Wormhole Foundation has announced the receipt of a 1.8 million ARB grant from Arbitrum DAO to facilitate the migration of 100 million native issued USDC to the Arbitrum network.
The program will distribute ARB rewards to users who bridge their USDC using Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) and hold the bridged USDC in Aave, Compound, Beefy, or the bridging address. The participation methods include bridging USDC to Arbitrum using the Portal Bridge, providing USDC on Compound, Aave, or Beefy to continue earning ARB rewards (optional), and claiming ARB rewards. The rewards will accumulate every seven days for a maximum of three months, and the rewards can be claimed within one year. Unclaimed rewards will be returned to Arbitrum DAO.
Data
Bitcoin’s Third-Largest Holding Address Adds 4,809 BTC Today, Floating Profit Exceeds $4.2 Billion
On-chain data shows that Bitcoin’s third-largest holding address added 4,809 BTC today, equivalent to approximately $293 million. This is the first addition to the address since January 5th of this year. The address currently holds a total of 131,945.15 BTC, valued at approximately $8.135 billion, with an unrealized profit of $4.283 billion.
Ordinals Developer: Inscription 2 Sold for $1.4 Million, Setting a New Record for Ordinals Inscriptions
Ordinals developer Leonidas announced on X platform that Inscription 2 has just been sold for $1.4 million (24.48 BTC), setting a new record for the highest-selling Ordinals inscription.
Kaiko: AI Token Sets New Historical Trading Volume Record of $13 Billion Last Week
Kaiko announced on X platform that the AI token set a new historical trading volume record of $13 billion last week, with WLD ranking first.
0x Scope: 138 AI Crypto Companies Raise Over $1.24 Billion
Web3 data analytics company 0x Scope has released a “Deep Mapping Report of Crypto+AI Industry,” which tracks 138 AI-related crypto companies. The data shows that these companies have collectively raised at least $1.24 billion from investment institutions, and the combined market capitalization of the 138 AI-related tokens is approximately $17.86 billion.
Bitcoin ETP’s Average Daily Trading Volume Reaches $2 Billion in 2024
James Butterfill, Director of Research at CoinShares, announced on X platform that the average daily trading volume of Bitcoin ETPs has increased from $34 million in 2023 to $2 billion in 2024.
Ethereum Foundation-Associated Address Deposits 4,000 ETH to Kraken
According to Lookonchain monitoring, an Ethereum Foundation-associated wallet has deposited 4,000 ETH to Kraken, equivalent to approximately $13.3 million, as the price of ETH surpassed $3,300. This is the first time since January 6th, 2022, that the wallet has deposited ETH to Kraken, when the price was around $3,350. The wallet received 39,006 ETH (approximately $130.6 million) from EthDev and currently holds 33,006 ETH (approximately $110 million).
Amber Group-Related Address Withdraws 13,800 ETH from Binance, Approximately $44.9 Million
According to Scopescan monitoring, an Amber Group-related address has withdrawn 13,800 ETH (approximately $44.9 million) from Binance. Subsequently, 7,000 ETH was transferred to a new address, and 6,800 ETH was transferred to an Amber Group recharge address.
