Today's news tips:
Hong Kong Stock Exchange has officially launched a series of virtual asset indexes
Tether Launches Asset Tokenization Platform “Hadron by Tether”
Franklin Templeton Expands Its Money Market Fund FOBXX to Ethereum Blockchain
A Bitcoin whale was activated after lying dormant for 14.3 years and transferred 2,000 BTC
Regulation & Policy
Foreign media: Gary Gensler issued a statement suggesting that he may leave the US SEC
According to Bitcoin Magazine, Gary Gensler issued a statement suggesting that he might leave the SEC. In the two paragraphs of the intercepted statement of Gensler, Gensler wrote: "Before I close, I want to say a few words about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its staff." "I am honored to work day in and day out with my colleagues at the SEC to protect American families on the financial highway."
After review, in this statement, Gary Gensler elaborated on how he believes the SEC should effectively regulate the crypto industry: "First, parties who issue or sell securities to the public need to register and make appropriate disclosures to the public; second, intermediaries need to register and be properly regulated in terms of conflicts, disclosures, and business practices." He said: "Before I joined the commission, many applications for Bitcoin ETFs and ETPs had been rejected or withdrawn by SEC staff. Shortly after I joined in 2021, the first Bitcoin futures ETF came into effect after consultation with SEC staff. The Commission approved ETPs for physical Bitcoin and Ethereum earlier this year. Subsequently, investors in these products have benefited from disclosure, supervision, lower fees, and more intense competition compared to non-compliant crypto asset markets. Everything we do is to ensure compliance with the law."
Earlier yesterday, it was reported that Gensler was making final lobbying for US crypto industry regulatory rules .
EU regulators set out guidelines on restrictions for cryptocurrency providers
According to Cointelegraph, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued new guidelines for payment service providers (PSPs) and crypto asset service providers (CASPs) on November 14, clarifying that these institutions must comply with the restrictive measures of the European Union and its member states when transferring money. The EBA pointed out that these guidelines will help financial institutions effectively implement restrictive measures within the governance and risk management framework to avoid operational and legal risks.
The EBA stressed that if there are loopholes in the control, internal policies and procedures of financial institutions, it may lead to legal and reputational risks, weaken the effectiveness of EU restrictive measures, and even affect the stability of the EU financial system. The new guidelines require PSPs and CASPs to use reliable screening systems to prevent users or entities from bypassing restrictive measures. These guidelines will take effect from December 30, 2025.
Upbit could be fined up to $71,500 per KYC violation
According to Aggr News, South Korea’s leading crypto exchange Upbit is facing scrutiny for allegedly violating KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements. During its license renewal, it was reported that UPbit accepted blurred IDs as verification materials, which could result in a fine of up to $71,500 per violation.
According to Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett, 18 states in the United States have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its commissioners, accusing them of unconstitutional over-intervention and unfair "persecution" of the crypto industry under the leadership of SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. The lawsuit signed by 18 Republican state attorneys general in the United States details how the agency has "severe government over-intervention" in the $3 trillion industry through law enforcement actions and infringed on the power of states to regulate their economies. 18 Republican state attorneys general in the United States asked the court to declare that "digital asset transactions are not investment contracts" and to issue an order to prevent the SEC from bringing charges in the future against "digital asset platforms that fail to register as securities exchanges, dealers, brokers or clearing agencies." According to the complaint, many states have already developed their own regulatory frameworks for the crypto industry and encouraged industry development.
Nebraska and Kentucky are co-leading an 18-state coalition challenging the Biden-Harris administration’s unlawful and extensive regulation of cryptocurrencies, according to Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers. In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, state attorneys general and others accuse the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of exceeding its authority. Despite previous actions and public statements by the SEC and its chairman, the agency has launched a regulatory offensive against crypto companies. The SEC has exceeded its authority granted by Congress by attempting to classify cryptocurrencies as investment contracts so that they are regulated by the SEC. In addition to Nebraska and Kentucky, participating states include Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
According to Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives submitted a legislative proposal today that would allow the state to include Bitcoin (BTC) on its balance sheet as a reserve asset.
According to The Block, Ilya Lichtenstein was sentenced to five years in prison for his involvement in the 2016 Bitfinex exchange hack and money laundering. The sentence was based on Lichtenstein's cooperation with the investigating authorities, and the prosecutor recommended a reduced sentence. Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan conspired to launder money, using crypto mixers, layered transactions, dark web and other means to clean up about 120,000 stolen bitcoins, which were once worth as much as $72 million and now have reached $10.7 billion. Lichtenstein and Morgan pleaded guilty to money laundering related to this in August 2023. Morgan's sentencing is scheduled for November 18, and the prosecutor recommended that he be sentenced to 18 months.
According to the official website, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority calls on the public to be vigilant and be careful of some overseas crypto-asset institutions that are not licensed banks in Hong Kong. They claim to be "banks" in Hong Kong, or use the word "bank" when describing their products or services. These actions may have violated the Banking Ordinance. The HKMA has noticed that two overseas crypto-asset institutions that are not licensed banks in Hong Kong held events in Hong Kong. During the events, one of them was reported to have called itself a "bank" and the other described the card products provided on its website as "bank cards". The HKMA is concerned that the statements of the relevant institutions may cause consumers to mistakenly believe that they are licensed banks in Hong Kong and are regulated by the HKMA, or to mistakenly believe that such products and services are provided by licensed banks in Hong Kong. The HKMA reminds the public that crypto-asset institutions that are not authorized institutions in Hong Kong are not regulated by the HKMA. The fact that an overseas crypto-asset institution has the word "bank" in its name, or an overseas "crypto bank" claims to have been licensed elsewhere, does not mean that it is necessarily a licensed bank in Hong Kong. In addition, products or services with the word "bank" in their names are not necessarily provided by licensed banks in Hong Kong.
NFT & Metaverse
Meta fined nearly 800 million euros for violating EU antitrust rules
According to Jinshi.com, Meta Platforms (META.O) was fined nearly 800 million euros for violating EU antitrust rules. Meta Platforms (META.O) plans to appeal the EU fine.
Fast food giant McDonald's has reached a cooperation with NFT brand Doodles, and will launch a co-branded coffee and collectibles series on November 18, including Doodles limited edition cups. American customers can participate in 13,500 McDonald's stores across the country.
Project News
Solidion Technologies Announces Bitcoin Corporate Finance Strategy
According to PR Newswire, Solidion Technolog (stock code: STI), a US-listed battery material supplier, announced the implementation of a Bitcoin corporate financial strategy and plans to allocate its additional capital reserves to Bitcoin. The company said it plans to use 60% of the excess cash generated by operations to purchase Bitcoin, and will convert the interest income from cash held in money market accounts into Bitcoin. It also promised to raise funds in the future to acquire more Bitcoin, and it is expected to designate a certain proportion of funds for long-term Bitcoin acquisitions.
Michael Saylor: Bitcoin will not fall back to $60,000, there is no threat in the short term
According to Cointelegraph, MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor has ruled out the possibility of Bitcoin's pullback to $60,000 - a price that is critical for most of 2024. "I don't think it will fall to $60,000, nor to $30,000, I think it will continue to rise from the current price," Saylor said in an interview with CNBC on November 14. He said that Trump's victory "very clearly" determines the future of cryptocurrency and Bitcoin in the United States, adding: "I really don't see any threats in the short term." Saylor said: "I'm planning a celebration party for Bitcoin to reach the $100,000 target, I think it may be a New Year's Eve party at my house, so I would be surprised if Bitcoin does not break $100,000 in November or December." Saylor also commented on speculation that Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), may resign after Trump takes office next year, saying that whoever takes over the position will play the "most critical role" in the cryptocurrency industry.
Former NFL player Russell Okung's new football league wants to pay players in Bitcoin
According to Decrypt, retired NFL Carolina Panthers player Russell Okung announced on Thursday that he hopes to ensure that his newly formed flag football league Bitball can pay its players in Bitcoin. In an interview, Okung revealed that he envisions a league in which players can earn Bitcoin, fans can own real shares, and the community can accumulate wealth. Okung added: "No more middlemen taking commissions or black box operations. Now, this is pure sports and pure Bitcoin, which means pure opportunity. This is what I am building-a new league." According to Okung, the idea of Bitball came after he left the NFL, when he tried to convince the league owners of the benefits of Bitcoin, but failed. In December 2020, Okung made headlines when he announced that he would exchange half of his $13 million salary (about $6.5 million) for Bitcoin. He still holds all the Bitcoins he has never sold and continues to increase his holdings, which he confirmed to the media. While Okung did not disclose how much Bitcoin he currently owns, the 240 Bitcoins he received in 2020 are worth approximately $21 million today.
As the heat of the US election fades, users flee X and flock to Bluesky
According to Jinshi, the number of users of Bluesky, a decentralized social media platform in the United States, has surged as users have fled X after Trump was elected as the next US president, and the upcoming changes to the terms of service may complicate the legal challenges facing the platform. Bluesky said on Thursday that it had added about 2.5 million new users in the past week, bringing the total number of users to more than 16 million. According to data from the analysis company SimilarWeb, after the news that Trump won the presidential election, X received 46.5 million visits in the United States on November 6, more than any day in the past year and 38% higher than the daily visits in recent months. However, more than 115,000 US users have deactivated their X accounts, the most since Musk acquired the platform. At the same time, Bluesky attracted about 1.2 million visitors on November 6, surpassing the 950,000 visitors of Meta's platform Threads.
Movement Labs Co-Founder: Movement Mainnet is Coming Soon
Rushi Manche, co-founder of Movement Labs, posted on the X platform that the Movement mainnet is coming soon.
Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Expands Crypto Trading Desk to Include Spot Trading
According to Bloomberg, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA is expanding the remit of its digital asset division to handle spot trading of cryptocurrencies, the latest move by traditional banks to penetrate new markets. Italy's largest bank set up a proprietary cryptocurrency trading unit within its corporate and investment banking division in 2023, according to people familiar with the matter. Since then, the department has only traded cryptocurrency options, futures and exchange-traded funds. Although spot trading has not yet started, the trading desk obtained the necessary internal approvals and technical systems about a month ago. Cassie Craddock, managing director of Ripple UK and Europe, confirmed that Intesa Sanpaolo has partnered with Ripple Custody (formerly Metaco) to build custody capabilities for any type of tokenized assets.
Hong Kong Stock Exchange has officially launched a series of virtual asset indexes
According to the official website of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Virtual Asset Index has been launched. The current Hong Kong Stock Exchange Bitcoin Reference Index is 87,984.14, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Bitcoin Reference Exchange Rate Index is 89,996.74, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Ethereum Reference Index is 3,063.82, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Ethereum Reference Exchange Rate Index is 3,198.29. The reference exchange rate is calculated at 4 pm Hong Kong time every day, which is the average of the index values every five minutes within one hour before the end of the day calculation of the corresponding real-time reference index (i.e. 3 pm to 4 pm Hong Kong time).
BlackRock CEO: Tokenization of financial assets will be the next step in future development
According to Cointelegraph, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company, said that "the tokenization of financial assets will be the next step in future development." He pointed out that in the future, every stock and bond will have a unique identification code (similar to CUSIP), all transactions will be recorded on a unified ledger, and investors will also obtain exclusive identity identification. Fink said that tokenization can not only effectively prevent illegal activities, but more importantly, it can achieve instant liquidation and significantly reduce the settlement costs of stocks and bonds. In addition, tokenization will also bring the possibility of personalized investment strategies and improve corporate governance efficiency, ensuring that every shareholder can exercise voting rights in a timely and accurate manner. Tokenizing real-world assets such as real estate, commodities, wine or art means creating blockchain tokens that represent ownership, making it easier to trade these traditionally difficult-to-sell assets.
According to the official website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the 13F document submitted by Goldman Sachs Group disclosed that as of September 30, its Bitcoin spot ETF holdings were worth more than $710 million. These included: $461 million in IBIT (12,769,510 shares, an increase of 83% from the last filing in August); $95.5 million in FBTC (1,720,291 shares, an increase of 13% from the last filing); $71.8 million in GBTC (1,423,069 shares, an increase of 116% from the last filing); $59.7 million in BTCO (940,443 shares, the same as the last filing); and $22.5 million in BITB (650,961 shares, an increase of 156% from the last filing).
NYSE Arca applies to list Bitwise’s crypto index fund BITW as an ETP
According to official news, asset management company Bitwise announced that NYSE Arca has filed Form 19b-4 to apply for the listing of the crypto index fund Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (BITW) as an ETP. The application is the latest move in Bitwise's ongoing efforts to convert a $1.3 billion publicly traded trust into an ETP structure. BITW's shares are currently traded on the OTCQX Best Market. According to Bitwise, the ETP structure brings many benefits to shareholders, including greater efficiency and regulatory protection. It is worth noting that ETPs continue to accept subscriptions and redemptions at net asset value (NAV), creating an arbitrage mechanism that enables the fund to trade on the secondary market in a manner that is more closely related to its NAV. The Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund holds the 10 largest cryptocurrency assets, ranked and weighted by market capitalization. As of October 31, 2024, the fund holds the following assets: Bitcoin (75.1%), Ethereum (16.5%), Solana (4.3%), XRP (1.6%), Cardano (0.7%), Avalanche (0.6%), Bitcoin Cash (0.4%), Chainlink (0.4%), Uniswap (0.3%), Polkadot (0.3%),
Tether Launches Asset Tokenization Platform “Hadron by Tether”
According to the official blog, Tether announced the launch of Hadron by Tether, an asset tokenization platform that simplifies the process of converting various assets into digital tokens. The platform allows users to easily tokenize stocks, bonds, commodities, funds, and reward points. This opens up new opportunities for individuals, businesses, etc. to raise funds using tokenized collateral. The platform provides a range of tools, including asset issuance and destruction, KYC compliance, blockchain reporting, capital market management, and regulatory guidance.
Web3 infrastructure platform Caldera acquires Hook team
According to The Block, Caldera, a Web3 infrastructure platform backed by Founders Fund, has acquired the Hook team to jointly build Metalayer, an Ethereum Rollup infrastructure platform. The amount of the acquisition was not disclosed, following Caldera's $15 million Series A financing in July. The Hook Odyssey protocol originally developed by the Hook team focused on the perpetual futures market for Meme coins and NFTs, built on the Arbitrum Orbit framework, but the protocol has been shut down so that the team can focus on the development of Metalayer. Caldera is a Rollup-as-a-Service platform that has assisted more than 50 projects in creating application-specific chains, including Manta Pacific, Injective, and ApeChain. The Metalayer platform aims to optimize the development experience of multiple Rollup applications and strengthen the collaboration between the Optimistic and ZK Rollup frameworks to unify Ethereum's expansion ecosystem.
Franklin Templeton Expands Its Money Market Fund FOBXX to Ethereum Blockchain
According to CoinDesk, Franklin Templeton has expanded its U.S. Government Money Market Fund (FOBXX) to trade on the Ethereum blockchain. Launched in 2021, FOBXX is the first money market fund to use a public blockchain for trading and ownership tracking, with a current market value of $410 million, ranking third among tokenized money market funds. This year, the fund has added support for multiple blockchains, including Base, Aptos, and Avalanche, with Ethereum being the latest to join. Ethereum is the blockchain of choice for issuing tokenized traditional assets, currently managing $1.6 billion in assets. Franklin Templeton uses Stellar as its main public blockchain, while BlackRock and Ondo are the top two tokenized funds by market value.
The Trump family crypto project WLFI announced that it will adopt the Chainlink standard for on-chain data and cross-chain connections as a secure way to bring DeFi to the next stage of mass adoption.
Binance will launch DEGENUSDT perpetual contract
Binance Futures will launch the DEGENUSDT perpetual contract at 19:30 (ET) on November 15, 2024, with a maximum leverage of 75x.
Financing News
Stablecoin startup BVNK is looking to raise at least $50 million in a new funding round
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that BVNK, a stablecoin startup backed by Tiger Global Management LLC, is in talks with potential backers with the goal of raising at least $50 million. In the early stages of negotiations, the size of the financing and BVNK's valuation may change. Previously, fintech giant Stripe announced in October that it would acquire stablecoin startup Bridge for $1.1 billion, sparking interest in the industry. People familiar with the matter said that investors have shown strong interest in BVNK's financing and stablecoin payment startups in general.
Important data
Yesterday, the US spot Bitcoin ETF trading volume exceeded US$5 billion
Bhutan government address deposited 367.26 BTC worth $33.51 million to Binance
According to Onchain Lens, the Royal Government of Bhutan has just deposited 367.26 BTC worth US$33.51 million into Binance.
A Bitcoin whale was activated after lying dormant for 14.3 years and transferred 2,000 BTC
According to Onchain Lens, a Bitcoin whale that had been dormant for 14.3 years was activated this morning. Back when Bitcoin was only worth $0.067, this miner had accumulated 2,000 BTC. After so many years of holding, this wallet finally took action and transferred the BTC to a new wallet, which was then dispersed to 50 different wallets. Today, the total value of these BTC is as high as $176.2 million.
