Bloomberg: Russia tries to bypass Western sanctions by using Bitcoin for transactions within BRICS
According to Bloomberg Terminal information, as the BRICS summit kicked off in Kazan, Russia, cryptocurrency became one of the topics. Russian lawmakers are promoting the idea that Russian miners can sell their tokens to international buyers, who can then use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to pay for imports, effectively circumventing Western sanctions. Sanctions have hit Russia hard, but cryptocurrencies offer an alternative to the traditional financial system that relies on the dollar and banks.
Richard Wolf, an American economist and professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, commented on the situation, saying that the BRICS alliance is surpassing the United States, which has reached its peak; the United States is on a downward slope and trying to maintain its international dominance; and the BRICS countries are also gaining an economic advantage over the United States.
According to CNN, the U.S. Department of Justice recently warned Elon Musk's America PAC that its campaign to give away $1 million a day to registered voters in swing states may violate federal law. The Justice Department's Public Integrity Division has sent a letter to the political action committee, pointing out that its "cash giveaways" may constitute election-related violations.
Under federal law, it is illegal to pay people to register to vote, and Musk's event requires participants to be registered voters in the designated state and sign a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments. Although Musk emphasized on social media that the winners are not divided by party affiliation and voting is not even mandatory, experts believe that there are still legal risks in limiting the participation of registered voters.
After being criticized, America PAC described the prize money as "speaker compensation," but the terms on its website did not change substantially, still requiring winners to be registered voters. It is not clear whether the Justice Department's letter prompted changes to the campaign's content.
Bank of Canada cuts interest rates by 50 basis points, fourth consecutive rate cut
According to China Fund News, the Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday, lowering the benchmark rate from 4.25% to 3.75%, the largest reduction in borrowing costs since the early days of the epidemic in March 2020. The Bank of Canada said this was a sign that the country was returning to an era of low inflation. In response to soaring prices, the Bank of Canada had previously raised interest rates to a 20-year high, but has cut interest rates four times in a row since June. Inflation fell to 1.6% in September, below the target of 2%.
Apple releases new AI preview, including ChatGPT-integrated features
According to TechCrunch, on Wednesday, Apple Intelligence released the latest iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia15.2 updates, and developers will experience ChatGPT integration for the first time. At the same time, Apple also launched other intelligent features, including Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, and Image Wand. The public will also get Apple Intelligence features for the first time, such as integrated writing tools, image cleaning, article summaries, and a redesigned Siri input experience, which is provided by iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and 15.1 versions. However, they will have to wait for future updates to access OpenAI's platform. Users must select Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT separately during the setup process or later in the settings. They do not need to have a ChatGPT account or a standalone application. However, without a premium account, the number of queries they access will be limited, but everyone can access all OpenAI models, including GPT-4.
OpenAI launches simplified consistency model sCM, which will greatly improve sampling speed
According to the OpenAI announcement, it has launched a new sCM (simplified consistency model), which is based on a simplified continuous-time consistency model and provides higher training stability and scalability.
dYdX releases dYdX v3 sunset process reminder, all trading will stop on October 28
dYdX posted on the X platform: "dYdX v3 Sunset process reminder, all transactions, oracle price updates and fund payments are scheduled to stop at 20:05 Beijing time on October 28. We encourage users to make plans to close their positions and withdraw USDC from the dYdX v3 smart contract." According to the previous announcement, this change only affects dYdX v3 users, and users of dYdX Chain, dydx.trade or v4 API are not affected by this change.
According to the official announcement of the Tapioca Foundation, on October 19, Tapioca DAO suffered a social engineering attack, resulting in the theft of funds worth $4.7 million. The team had offered a $1 million bounty to the hacker in exchange for the remaining $3.7 million, and set a deadline of 4 pm UTC on October 22. As the deadline has passed and no response has been received, the proposal is now invalid.
The Tapioca Foundation is currently working with law enforcement agencies and multiple security teams, including ZeroShadow, Seal911, and the BNB Smart Chain team, as most of the stolen funds are still on the chain. Tapioca is now offering a 10% reward for any individual who can provide clues or take actions to help recover the funds. Relevant information can be sent to tapiocaahack@protonmail.com.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, an insider sold 500 million $SHAR in a single transaction, accounting for 50% of the total supply, in exchange for 19,620 $SOL (about US$3.38 million), causing the price of $SHAR to plummet by 96%.
The insider previously used 5,710 $SOL (about $948,000) through 16 wallets to snap up 665.6 million $SHAR (66.56% of the total supply) and dispersed these tokens to more than 100 wallets. 4 hours ago, he collected 500 million $SHAR from 104 wallets and sold them all at once, making a profit of 13,910 $SOL (about $2.4 million).
zkLink Core DAO announces six-month delay in unlocking over 40% of ZKL tokens
According to The Block, zkLink Core DAO announced the postponement of its ZKL token unlocking plan, delaying the token unlocking originally scheduled for October 22 by six months. This decision involves 40.5% of the total ZKL token supply, affecting the token allocation of early private round investors, teams and consultants, and the unlocking will be postponed to April 22, 2025.
Crypto sleuth ZachXBT revealed on the X platform: “A Chinese OTC trader named ‘Wang Yicong’ has helped Lazarus Group convert tens of millions of dollars of cryptocurrencies stolen from various hacker attacks into cash through bank transfers since 2022. A few months ago, a follower Wang (an OTC trader who has used pseudonyms such as Seawang, Greatdtrader, and BestRhea977) contacted me after his trading account was frozen after completing a P2P trade. They then shared with me a Tron wallet address of Wang Yicong from a screenshot of the WeChat conversation: THsSCBGazjjho7u2BQQsmrpbDv1Q237FL4. Recently, Wang Yicong contacted them to place a larger USDT to CNY order involving approximately $1.5 million on August 13, 2024, at an exchange rate far below the market rate. The address in question is THjaAygUNkzoXufwEoKCzbUZHpsehL9rAZ. When reviewing the blockchain data associated with Wang Yicong, you will notice the integration of large amounts of illicit funds from the Irys co-founder, Alex Labs, and other hacks involving EasyFi, Bondly, Maverick co-founders, etc. ”
Michael Saylor's comments on "regulated Bitcoin custody" criticized by Vitalik
According to The Block, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently criticized the views of MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor. In a recent interview with the New Zealand Herald, Saylor said that concerns about using regulated entities to custody Bitcoin mainly come from "paranoid cryptocurrency anarchists." He elaborated on the case for Bitcoin as a better digital asset and a means of storing value, and advocated that it should be regarded as "a digital currency that is essential to human progress." However, his views on regulated custody have caused a strong reaction within the Bitcoin community, especially from advocates of self-custody, who have harshly criticized it, and some even questioned whether Saylor really understands the essence of Bitcoin.
In response to this controversy, Vitalik expressed his views on the X platform. He bluntly stated: "I am happy to say that I think Michael Saylor's comments are simply ridiculous. He seems to explicitly support the approach of protecting cryptocurrencies through regulatory capture, but there are many precedents for the failure of this approach. I think this is completely contrary to the core principles of cryptocurrency." Vitalik's remarks were in response to Jameson Lopp, co-founder and chief technology officer of Casa. Lopp previously warned: "Bitcoin self-custody is not an exclusive option for paranoid people. Convincing people to trust third-party custodians actually brings many long-term negative effects." He emphasized that self-custody is not only crucial for individual Bitcoin holders, but also the key to maintaining decentralization, enhancing network security, maintaining governance participation, and promoting continuous innovation and expansion without relying on third parties.
Unlike Lopp, Saylor advocates holding Bitcoin through regulated entities such as BlackRock, Fidelity, JPMorgan Chase and State Street. He believes that doing so is not only safer, but also reduces volatility and reduces the risk of loss. Because the government and lawmakers have investments in these institutions, these institutions are less likely to be targeted by the government than unregulated private entities.
MANTRA, a Layer1 blockchain focused on RWA assets, has launched its mainnet
MANTRA, a Layer1 blockchain focused on RWA assets, announced on the X platform that its mainnet is now live, and users will be able to perform several important activities, including: bridging OM tokens from ERC-20 to MANTRA mainnet tokens to gain access to future RWA tokens; users can stake OM to help secure the network and receive on-chain staking rewards; OM will become an important part of the RWA ledger; earn KARMA by completing new tasks on the mainnet.
According to CoinDesk, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse revealed at DC Fintech Week in Washington that his long-term partner Citibank has terminated his personal banking relationship due to his background in the cryptocurrency industry. Garlinghouse said this was the result of the U.S. government's pressure on banking institutions to be cautious in getting involved in crypto assets. He mentioned that Citi gave him five days to process the account funds and made it clear that the move had led to more scrutiny pressure from federal regulators due to its "prominent position in the crypto industry."
Garlinghouse criticized the Biden administration's regulatory attitude toward the crypto industry, especially accusing Gary Gensler, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), of a tough approach, and said that regardless of the outcome of the presidential election in November, U.S. crypto policy will improve in the future. In addition, he also mentioned that an ETF linked to XRP is "inevitable" and suggested that crypto startups register overseas to avoid the uncertainty of U.S. regulation.
According to The Block, Variational, a crypto derivatives trading protocol built on Ethereum Layer2 network Arbitrum, has raised $10.3 million in a seed round of financing. Bain Capital Crypto and Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India and Southeast Asia) co-led the investment, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, North Island Ventures, Hack VC and other investors.
Web3 mobile gaming platform Party Icon completes $9 million seed round led by Bitkraft Ventures
Tesla (TSLA) did not sell its $763 million worth of Bitcoin holdings in the third quarter of 2024. According to the latest financial report, the company neither increased nor decreased its holdings. However, Tesla transferred its Bitcoin assets from public wallets for the first time this quarter, involving a total of $760 million. According to Arkham Intelligence data, Tesla made multiple large transfers, including the transfer of $75.18 million, $76.08 million and $77.16 million to anonymous wallets, respectively, without selling or converting to other crypto assets. Tesla has not further sold Bitcoin since reducing its holdings by 75% in the second quarter of 2022. In addition, Elon Musk's SpaceX also holds about $560 million in Bitcoin. The two companies have a total of about 19,788 Bitcoins with a total market value of about $1.3 billion.
According to Tesla's third-quarter 2024 financial report, the company's quarterly profit exceeded analysts' expectations, and it is expected that car deliveries this year will "increase slightly", causing the stock price of the world's largest electric car manufacturer to surge by more than 9% after the market. The financial report shows that Tesla's net profit in the third quarter was US$2.167 billion, which was expected to be US$1.78 billion, and the gross profit margin was 19.8%, higher than the expectation of 17.3%. Revenue increased by 8% to US$25.2 billion, slightly lower than the average expectation of US$25.4 billion. Tesla said: "Despite the continued deterioration of macroeconomic conditions, we expect car deliveries to increase slightly in 2024." In addition, Tesla's cost of sales per vehicle has dropped to an all-time low of about US$35,100. Tesla still expects cheap models to start production in the first half of 2025.
According to Arkham monitoring, last night, an address suspected to be related to the Ethereum Foundation (0xd7...c1f4) transferred 100 ETH to the CoW Protocol. Subsequently, the address received about 257,400 DAI from the CoW Protocol and transferred these DAI to the address starting with 0x9eE marked as "Ethereum Foundation" on the chain.
It is reported that since the beginning of this year, the suspected Ethereum Foundation address (0xd7...c1f4) has sold ETH for DAI through Cow Protocol almost every week or every two weeks, and the amount is generally 50, 100 and 200 ETH.
Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, posted on the X platform: “575 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been launched in the United States since 2024. 14 of the top 30 by inflows are Bitcoin or Ethereum spot ETFs, including 6 of the top 10. There are also 2 ETFs related to MSTR (a company that holds a large amount of Bitcoin) in the top 30. The traditional financial industry’s interest in cryptocurrencies is real.”
