WuBlockchain Weekly: BCH Completes Halving and Top10 News

1. Powell Stands Firm on the Federal Reserve’s Cautious Interest Rate Reduction Strategy link

Federal Reserve Chair Powell stated during a lecture at the Stanford Graduate School of Business that recent data on employment growth and inflation has surpassed expectations. While policymakers generally believe that interest rates may decline later this year, this will only occur when they have “greater confidence that inflation is sustainably declining” to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic suggested that interest rate cuts may not occur until the fourth quarter of this year. He anticipates that a decrease of only one-quarter of a percentage point in 2024 would be appropriate, much lower than the three or more rate cuts anticipated by most colleagues.

2. U.S. Department of Justice Transfers 2000 BTC to Coinbase link

On April 3rd, the seized Silk Road BTC address bc1q…u478 was distributed along with two other addresses associated with the US Department of Justice. Among them, 2000 BTC were transferred to Coinbase address 3KrZ…TvX2, while the remaining 29,800 BTC were transferred to the new address bc1q…wzde.

3. Bitcoin Miners’ Revenue Reaches $2.01 Billion in March, Setting a Monthly Record High link

In March, Bitcoin miners’ revenue reached $2.01 billion, marking a new all-time high in monthly mining revenue denominated in US dollars, with block reward subsidies totaling $1.93 billion. Concurrently, the monthly transaction volume on the Bitcoin blockchain reached $2.11 trillion, marking the highest point since September 2022.

4. Tether Makes Another Purchase of 8889 BTC, Surpassing a Total Holding of 75,000 BTC link

The address marked as Tether acquired an additional 8,889 bitcoins on April 1st, worth approximately $620 million. Currently, its total holdings amount to 75,354 bitcoins, with a total value of about $5.31 billion. Tether began purchasing bitcoins in September 2022, initially acquiring 33,980 bitcoins. In May 2023, Tether announced the regular allocation of 15% of its realized net business profits for the purchase of bitcoins.

5. SEC Seeks Public Opinion on Some Ethereum Spot ETFs link

The SEC is currently soliciting public feedback on several Ethereum spot ETFs, including Fidelity’s Ethereum fund, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, and Bitwise Ethereum Trust. The SEC stated in its filing regarding Bitwise: “The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.” The public comment period lasts for 21 days.

6. Tron Moves to Dismiss SEC Lawsuit, Asserting Jurisdictional Rights Over Providing Digital Assets to Foreign Users on Global Platforms link

Tron has requested the dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), arguing that it lacks jurisdiction over “providing digital assets to foreign users on a global platform.” Tron claims that the token sales occurred entirely overseas and measures were taken to avoid the U.S. market, and the SEC did not allege that these tokens were initially offered or sold to any U.S. residents. Previously, the SEC issued subpoenas to Justin Sun, the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation, and BitTorrent in March last year, alleging illegal sales of unregistered securities, fraud, and market manipulation.

7. Binance’s Weekly Summary

a. Nigerian Government Delays Hearing on Binance Tax Evasion Case Until April 19 link

A senior executive from Binance has been detained in Nigeria for over a month on tax evasion charges. Following the initial court appearance, the case has been adjourned until April 19. Binance’s Head of Financial Crime Compliance, Tigran Gambaryan, is charged alongside the company with offenses including failure to pay value-added tax and corporate income tax, as well as conspiring to aid clients in tax evasion through their platform. He will remain detained by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Judge Emeka Nwite has postponed the hearing regarding the company until April 8.

b. Binance Announces Integration of Atomicals (ARC-20) Token on Its Emblem Market link

Binance has announced the integration of Atomicals (ARC-20) tokens into its inscription market, enabling users to trade Atomicals (ARC-20 tokens) on the platform with zero fees. Prior to this, Binance’s inscription market already supported BRC-20 tokens and other inscription tokens.

c. Binance NFT to Cease Support for Bitcoin NFT Trading and Recharge Services on April 18 link

Binance NFT will cease support for Bitcoin NFT trading and recharge services on April 18, 2024, at 14:00 (GMT+8). Users are advised to withdraw their Bitcoin NFT from Binance NFT via the Bitcoin network before May 18, 2024, at 08:00 (GMT+8). Additionally, Binance NFT Marketplace will no longer support any airdrops, rights, or applications related to Bitcoin NFTs after April 10, 2024.

8. FTX Bankruptcy Assets Set to Distribute First Funds to Creditors by the End of 2024 link

According to the meeting minutes from a session held by FTX Digital’s joint official liquidators in the Bahamas, the FTX bankruptcy committee plans to commence the distribution of the first tranche of funds to creditors by the end of 2024. Since the launch of the FTX claims portal on March 1st, creditors have been able to submit their claims through the portal. The current deadline for creditors to submit claims is May 15th, but the meeting minutes indicate that “based on recent developments, the deadline is expected to be extended until at least June 2024.” Creditors’ claims will be valued based on prices as of November 11, 2022.

9. Forbes Releases Global Billionaires List, with 17 Representatives from the Cryptocurrency Industry Accumulating a Total Wealth of $93 Billion link

Forbes has released its 2024 list of global billionaires, with 17 individuals from the crypto sector making the cut. The combined value of crypto assets, publicly disclosed stock portfolios, and private wealth held by these investors and entrepreneurs is estimated to be around $93 billion, more than double the total wealth of the 9 crypto billionaires on last year’s list ($37 billion). Binance founder and former CEO CZ has once again emerged as the wealthiest figure in the crypto realm for the third consecutive year, with an estimated net worth of $33 billion, significantly higher than last year’s $10.5 billion, placing him at number 50 on the global billionaire list. Additionally, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong ($11.2 billion) and MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor ($4.4 billion) are among those included.

10. BCH Bitcoin Cash Completes Halving in the Early Hours of April 4 link

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) underwent its halving on the early morning of April 4th. As of the time of writing, there are approximately 15 days left until the Bitcoin halving and 54 days until the Ethereum Classic (ETC) halving. The year 2024 marks a significant period for halving events. Historically, halving events have played a pivotal role in the development of Bitcoin, serving as important milestones in its history. However, due to the emergence of Bitcoin ETFs in 2024, some analysts believe that the significance of the halving event may be diminished.

Fundraising

Farcaster development company secured a $1 billion financial backing from Paradigm. link
Blockchain XION announced the completion of a $25 million Series A financing round, with participation from Multicoin and others. link
Ellipsis Labs disclosed the closure of a $20 million Series A funding round, led by Paradigm. link
IoTeX received a $50 million ecosystem investment, with contributions from Amber Group and others. link
The cross-chain communication protocol Zeus Network within the Solana ecosystem achieved an $80 million valuation and closed an $8 million financing round. link
Stablecoin startup Agora announced the completion of a $12 million seed round financing. link
Gomble Games declared the closure of a $10 million funding round, with participation from Binance Labs among others. link
Gasp, a cross-chain exchange protocol based on EigenLayer, raised $5 million in a private financing round. link
Yolo Investments invested $8 million in the TON ecosystem. link
Ethereum L2 blockchain LightLink concluded a $6.2 million seed round financing. link
Bitcoin Layer 2 solution UTXO Stack completed a seed round financing, with ABCDE and SNZ Capital leading the investment. link
Jump Capital and Cypher Capital jointly led a $7.5 million seed round financing for web3 AI company Raiinmaker. link
Modular L2 blockchain Camp Network announced the completion of a $4 million seed round financing. link
Blockchain technology company Hyperbridge raised $2.6 million through a Polkadot Crowdloan. link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.