South Korea to regulate cross-border transactions of virtual assets
According to Jinshi, the Ministry of Finance of South Korea said that South Korea plans to regulate cross-border transactions of virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies from the second half of 2025, introducing registration and reporting requirements. The Ministry of Finance said that under the new regulations, companies handling cross-border transactions of virtual assets will be required to register with the authorities in advance and report transactions to the Bank of Korea on a monthly basis. According to data from the Korean Customs, a total of 11 trillion won (7.97 billion U.S. dollars) worth of foreign exchange-related crimes have occurred in South Korea since 2020, of which 81.3% involved virtual assets.
According to FOX Business, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill aimed at providing regulatory clarity for digital assets. The bill passed by a large margin of 176 to 26, including the support of 76 Democrats and all 100 Republican members. The bill allows residents to self-custody digital assets and clarifies the tax guidelines and payment usage rights for Bitcoin transactions.
The bill was drafted by the Bitcoin advocacy group Satoshi Action Fund, reflecting the trend of states pushing for the standardization of cryptocurrencies in the absence of clear federal regulation. If passed by the Senate, the bill will be submitted to Governor Shapiro for signature. In addition, 1.5 million Pennsylvania residents hold cryptocurrencies, accounting for 12% of the total population, making it an important supporter of this legislation.
OpenAI plans to launch its next-generation cutting-edge model Orion by December
OpenAI disbands another safety team, chief advisor on “AGI Readiness” resigns
According to CNBC, OpenAI is disbanding its "AGI Readiness" team, which was responsible for assessing OpenAI's ability to handle increasingly powerful AI technology and assessing the world's readiness for such technology.
Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, wrote on X Platform: "We are deeply relieved and grateful that Tigran Gambaryan has finally been released after being detained in Nigeria for nearly eight months. Tigran has shown tremendous strength during this difficult time, and we commend his resilience in the face of such severe adversity. We are very grateful to everyone who has dedicated countless hours to support Tigran's release. Tigran's health and well-being remain our top priority, and we are glad that he can now be with his family to receive the medical treatment and rest he desperately needs. Binance remains committed to working with global regulators to ensure compliance and transparency in the evolving digital asset space. We are eager to put this incident behind us and continue our efforts to create a brighter future for the global blockchain industry. Nigeria, with its young, tech-savvy population and strong interest in digital finance, is well-positioned to use blockchain technology to address economic and social challenges. We look forward to playing a constructive role in this effort."
Market News: Polymarket confirms Trump whale FREDI9999 is a French trader
According to Aggr News, citing Bloomberg, Polymarket confirmed that Trump whale FREDI9999 is a French trader. Earlier, it was reported that FREDI9999 held more than $20 million in bets on Trump's victory on Polymarket, raising concerns about manipulation.
Kraken plans to launch a blockchain called Ink early next year for DeFi transactions and lending
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken plans to launch a blockchain for decentralized applications early next year that will allow tokens to be traded, borrowed and loaned without intermediaries, Bloomberg reported. The new digital ledger, called Ink, will use technology similar to Coinbase Global Inc.’s Base.
Ink founder Andrew Koller said in an interview that the developer testnet will be launched later this year, and developers will be able to try out Ink's applications on the testnet. It is expected that the blockchain will be open to retail and institutional users in the first quarter. Koller said that Kraken does not plan to issue its own tokens; Ink applications will be available through the Kraken Wallet application; more than a dozen applications will be available when Ink debuts, such as decentralized exchanges and aggregators; eventually, the chain may become the home of real-world assets and advanced lending applications; Kraken initially plans to become the chain's sorter, making money by organizing and managing transactions on the network, but the function will eventually be decentralized and shared by multiple parties.
Binance Labs Announces Investment in Solana Ecosystem Fitness Accountability App Moonwalk Fitness
According to the official blog, Binance Labs announced its investment in Solana Ecosystem Fitness Accountability App Moonwalk Fitness. Moonwalk Fitness plans to use this round of financing to accelerate product development and launch iOS and Android apps.
According to reports, Moonwalk Fitness combines gamification and financial incentives to promote a healthier lifestyle. It encourages users to complete their daily step goals by staking USDC, SOL or BONK. Those who fail to meet the target will lose part of their stake, and the rewards will be distributed to the winners.
Coinbase International will launch ApeCoin perpetual futures contracts
Coinbase International Station announced on the X platform that Coinbase International Station and Coinbase Advanced will add support for ApeCoin perpetual futures contracts. The APE-PERP market is expected to open at or after 17:30 on October 31, 2024, Beijing time.
Binance Futures Launches GOAT 1-75x USDT Perpetual Contract
According to the official announcement, Binance Futures will launch the GOATUSDT perpetual contract at 21:30 on October 24, 2024 (Eastern Time Zone 8), with a maximum leverage of 75 times.
Blockchain startup R3 weighs options, including sale
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter revealed that R3, a New York-based blockchain startup, has held preliminary discussions with representatives of Ava Labs, Solana Foundation and Adhara. These discussions have been going on for at least six months and include options such as joint ventures, minority stake sales or outright sales. People familiar with the matter said that although its Corda technology is used by multiple live platforms such as the Swiss Stock Exchange's digital asset trading platform, some projects have not entered the testing phase. The company laid off about a fifth of its employees a year ago and currently has 200 to 250 employees.
According to The Block, Microsoft will list the proposal to "evaluate investment in Bitcoin" as a voting item at the annual shareholders' meeting on December 10. The proposal was put forward by the conservative think tank The National Center for Public Policy Research, but the board of directors recommended that shareholders vote against the proposal, believing that it was "unnecessary" and stated that the company's management had "carefully considered" the relevant issues.
Microsoft said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that its global finance team regularly evaluates a variety of investment assets, including cryptocurrencies, for diversification and risk management. Although Bitcoin has been considered in the past, the board has not made further investment decisions due to factors such as volatility. If the proposal is passed, Microsoft will become the largest publicly listed crypto investment company, surpassing MicroStrategy and Tesla.
According to Cointelegraph, GnosisDAO, the decentralized autonomous organization behind Gnosis Chain, has approved a proposal to launch a $40 million venture fund aimed at accelerating early blockchain projects. GnosisDAO will inject $20 million into the fund, and the remaining $20 million will come from external LPs. The fund, called GnosisVC Ecosystem, will prioritize investments in projects engaged in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, decentralized infrastructure, and financial payment channels.
Social media platform Bluesky completes $15 million Series A financing led by Blockchain Capital
According to Bluesky's official announcement, the social platform Bluesky has completed a $15 million Series A financing round, led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from Alumni Ventures, True Ventures, SevenX, Pivot Global, etc. Despite the support of crypto venture capital, Bluesky has made it clear that it will not "over-financialize" the platform through tokens, NFTs, etc.
Currently, Bluesky has more than 13 million users and plans to use the new funds to strengthen community building, invest in trust and security, and support the AT Protocol developer ecosystem. The platform will also develop a subscription model to provide users with functions such as video uploading and personalized configuration. At the same time, Bluesky will build payment services for creators and explore voluntary monetization channels to support the growth of more Web3 applications.
Arkham Intelligence tweeted that an address associated with the US government was suspected to have been attacked, and about 20 million US dollars of USDC, USDT, aUSDC and ETH were transferred from the address 0xc9E6E51C7dA9FF1198fdC5b3369EfeDA9b19C34c to the attacker's address 0x3486eE700CcaF3E2F9C5eC9730a2e916a4740A9f.
The attacked address 0xc9E has received funds transferred from 9 addresses seized by the US government related to the Bitfinex hacking case, including the 0xE2F699AB099e97Db1CF0b13993c31C7ee42FB2ac address mentioned in court documents. At present, the attacker address 0x348 has begun to convert these funds into ETH and is suspected of laundering them through suspicious addresses related to money laundering services.
