Today's Headlines:
- SEC may begin issuing approval notices for Bitcoin spot ETFs on Friday, with trading starting as early as next week
- SEC requests court to reference Terra case ruling in lawsuit against Binance
- Zuckerberg sells off Meta stocks for $428 million in the last two months of 2023
- Fidelity has submitted a registration form for a Bitcoin spot ETF to the US SEC
- World Funds Trust submits application for 6 leveraged ETFs based on Bitcoin spot to the US SEC
- Vitalik advocates for the development of CCIP parsers for all L2s and emphasizes the importance of affordable ENS
- Ethereum Devcon 7 to be held in Bangkok, Thailand from November 12th to 15th
- XAI: A total of 125 million XAI tokens will be airdropped, accounting for 5% of the total supply
Regulatory News:
The Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett posted on the X platform that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is holding meetings with major exchanges (Nasdaq, CBOE, NYSE) to provide final confirmation on the review of the 19b-4 forms submitted by Bitcoin spot ETF issuers.
According to Fox Business News, lawyers from the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets met with officials from major exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, and the Chicago Options Exchange on Wednesday to discuss the trading of Bitcoin spot ETFs on these exchanges. According to anonymous sources within the companies, these meetings are seen as a positive sign that the SEC is about to approve some or all of the Bitcoin spot ETF applications from major fund management companies and crypto companies. The SEC has requested the exchanges to modify and finalize the 19b-4 documents. These documents are submitted by the exchanges on behalf of the ETF issuers and must be approved by the SEC before the ETFs can be sold to the public. Although a final decision has not been made, sources indicate that the SEC may begin issuing approval notices to issuers on Friday, with trading starting as early as next week. ETF analysts and issuers still believe that the SEC will make a favorable decision by January 10th or earlier.
According to Coingape, in the latest development of the lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance, Binance.US, and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, the SEC has submitted a supplemental notice to the court, requesting the court to consider the ruling in the Terraform Labs case to handle the lawsuit against Binance, Binance.US, and Changpeng Zhao, as these cases involve similar arguments.
The SEC stated in the submitted documents: "This view is closely related to the court's consideration of the motion to dismiss filed by defendants BAM Trading Inc and BAM Management US Holdings Inc." In addition, the SEC claimed that if the court references the ruling in the Terra case, it should reject the defendants' motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The SEC also stated that the court in the Terra case defined the "investment contract" to reject the defendants' efforts to "abandon decades of established law," and that an investment contract does not necessarily mean a contract, transaction, or plan. Furthermore, the court applied the "Howey test" to determine that UST, LUNA, wLUNA, and MIR are investment contracts and therefore securities. The SEC stated that this ruling is related to Binance's stablecoin BUSD, staking services, BNB Vault, and Simple Earn program.
Earlier in December last year, a judge ruled that Terraform Labs violated federal securities laws, and the LUNA and MIR tokens are considered securities.
Metaverse:
According to Financial Alliance, Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg rapidly sold off his shares in the last two months of 2023, successfully cashing out as much as $428 million. Regulatory filings from the US Securities and Exchange Commission show that from November 1st to the end of the year, Zuckerberg sold nearly 1.28 million shares of Meta on each trading day. Starting from November 2021, due to the sluggish stock price, Zuckerberg had halted his plan to sell his Meta shares until the end of last year.
The report stated that Meta's Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead sold 566 shares of Meta stock on December 12th. However, this number is insignificant compared to Zuckerberg's sales. According to internal trading tools from Tip Ranks, insiders at Meta sold stocks worth $12.8 million in the past three months. Therefore, there are rumors that insiders at Meta do not have full confidence in the rise of Meta's stock.
Project Updates:
According to a public document, Fidelity has submitted a registration form for a Bitcoin spot ETF to the US SEC. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart explained that this is just a registration of securities, which needs to be completed before the ETF launch. It does not mean that the ETF has been approved. To be listed, the ETF still needs 19b-4 approval and a valid, approved, and complete S-1 filing. The 19b-4 is not yet complete, and the S-1 is still in the preliminary stage, with progress expected next week.
According to Coindesk, Goldman Sachs is in negotiations to become an Authorized Participant (AP) for the proposed Bitcoin spot ETFs by BlackRock and Grayscale, as revealed by two sources familiar with the matter. This role involves creating and redeeming ETF shares to ensure the product trades in sync with its underlying assets. Last week, Fidelity, Invesco, Valkyrie, and WisdomTree designated APs for their proposed Bitcoin spot ETFs, including Morgan Stanley, Jane Street, and Cantor Fitzgerald. Last year, Grayscale designated market makers Jane Street and Virtu Financial as APs for its Bitcoin spot ETF. A source from a large trading firm stated that they expect each Bitcoin ETF to ultimately have 5 to 10 APs.
Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, disclosed on social media that following Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan is also in negotiations with Grayscale to serve as an Authorized Participant for its Bitcoin spot ETF. Earlier reports indicated that Goldman Sachs was in discussions with BlackRock and Grayscale to become an Authorized Participant (AP) for their Bitcoin spot ETFs.
World Funds Trust Submits Application for 6 Leveraged ETFs Based on Bitcoin Spot to the US SEC
According to documents shared by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Henry Jim on the X platform, World Funds Trust has submitted applications to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for 6 leveraged ETFs based on Bitcoin spot. These include 1.5x, 1.75x, and 2x leveraged/inverse leveraged ETFs, namely T-Rex 1.5X Inverse Spot Bitcoin Daily Target ETF, T-Rex 1.5X Long Spot Bitcoin Daily Target ETF, T-Rex 1.75X Inverse Spot Bitcoin Daily Target ETF, T-Rex 1.75X Long Spot Bitcoin Daily Target ETF, T-Rex 2X Inverse Spot Bitcoin Daily Target ETF, and T-Rex 2X Long Spot Bitcoin Daily Target ETF. Codes/fees are pending, and the effective date is March 18, 2024.
The documents indicate that all these ETFs will initially use the unreleased iShares Bitcoin spot ETF as the reference ETF, but reserve the right to use other Bitcoin spot ETFs.
World Funds Trust is an open-end management investment company formed as a statutory trust in Delaware on April 9, 2007.
Vitalik Buterin tweeted advocating for all Layer 2s to develop trust-based, Merkle-proven CCIP parsers so that we can directly register, update, and read ENS subdomains on Layer 2s. He emphasized the importance of ENS and noted that it needs to be affordable. OKX market data shows that ENS started to surge, rising over 30% in the past half hour.
Ethereum Devcon 7 to be Held in Bangkok, Thailand from November 12th to 15th
The Ethereum Foundation announced that Ethereum developer conference Devcon 7 will be held in Bangkok, Thailand from November 12th to 15th, 2024. This Devcon not only marks the announcement of the location but also an expansion of vision, using the entire Southeast Asia region as the stage for community gatherings. The Ethereum community in Southeast Asia plays a crucial role in the global cryptocurrency space, with the region's rapid growth standing out in global cryptocurrency adoption indices. The Devcon team has launched the "Road to Devcon (RTD) Grants" program to support the development of new Ethereum activities, grassroots communities, and educational initiatives in the Southeast Asia region.
Coinbase Adds Hivemapper (HONEY) to Listing Roadmap
Coinbase Assets tweeted that they have added Hivemapper (HONEY) to their listing roadmap. Its contract address on the Solana blockchain is: 4vMsoUT2BWatFweudnQM1xedRLfJgJ7hswhcpz4xgBTy.
XAI: A Total of 125 Million XAI Tokens to be Airdropped, Accounting for 5% of the Total Supply
Arbitrum ecosystem game XAI announced details of an airdrop, with a total of 125 million XAI tokens to be airdropped, accounting for 5% of the total supply. Vanguard NFT holders will receive 1307 XAI per NFT. Legendary NFT holders will receive 290 XAI per NFT. Sentry Keys holders will receive 1658 XAI per key. Additionally, the airdrop claim is not yet active, and users are cautioned to beware of fraudulent links.
Wu Jihan tweeted that analysts at Matrixport operate independently, and their opinions are not influenced or interfered with by management. This latest report is prepared for Matrixport's clients. However, the widespread media coverage is not part of Matrixport's plan and is beyond our control. To my knowledge, Matrixport has always advised clients to be mindful of risks and leverage, especially considering the market volatility triggered by expectations around the potential approval of ETFs. In the context of Bitcoin's history and future prospects, the current volatility and uncertainty surrounding the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs in January are ultimately not significant. In the long run, Bitcoin will always have the upper hand. In my view, the SEC's approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs is inevitable and will attract new investments into Bitcoin. Bitcoin is expected to solidify its position as a store of value and a hedge asset, similar to gold. Earlier reports indicated that Matrixport released a report stating that the US SEC may once again reject all Bitcoin spot ETFs. This led to a significant short-term drop in the price of Bitcoin, which is currently at $42,898, down 4.72% in the past 24 hours.
IoTeX Plans to Launch Layer2 Network W3bstream Designed Specifically for DePIN
The IoTeX Foundation announced on its official blog that the IoTeX core team is preparing to launch the Layer2 network W3bstream, designed specifically for DePIN. W3bstream is capable of compressing (aggregating) a large amount of off-chain data into smaller, verifiable zk-proofs to trigger on-chain transactions. W3bstream can effectively manage data preprocessing through its decentralized sequencer network, contributing to the scalability of DePIN.
IoTeX stated, "While W3bstream's orchestration depends on the IoTeX blockchain, it is still the perfect choice for new DePIN applications due to its speed, security, and cost-effectiveness. However, W3bstream can support existing DePIN projects on any blockchain."
Pionex: Attack on Arbitrum Ecosystem Protocol Related to Gamma, Not Algebra
According to Pionex monitoring, further investigation revealed that the attack on the Arbitrum ecosystem protocol disclosed earlier today is related to the liquidity management protocol Gamma, not the Algebra DEX Engine.
Pionex previously stated that attackers launched a series of attacks on the Arbitrum ecosystem protocol, stealing cryptocurrencies worth $3.4 million and transferring them from Arbitrum to Ethereum, suspecting an attack on Algebra.
Huobi Korea to Terminate Virtual Asset Trading Services on January 29th
PANews reported on January 4th that, according to an official announcement, Huobi Korea, citing the current industry environment, announced the termination of local virtual asset trading services on January 29, 2024, while continuing to support customers in withdrawing assets (Korean won and virtual assets) until all customer assets are withdrawn.
According to an official announcement from Binance, based on recent reviews, Binance will add watch tags for more tokens on January 4, 2024, and remove seed tags for specific tokens.
The tokens added to the watch list are as follows: Aragon (ANT), Firo (FIRO), Keep3rV1 (KP3R), Mdex (MDX), MobileCoin (MOB), Reef (REEF), Vai (VAI), Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Horizen (ZEN). The tokens removed from the seed list are as follows: GMX (GMX), SushiSwap (SUSHI).
The announcement stated that compared to other listed tokens, tokens with watch tags may have higher volatility and risk. Binance will closely monitor and continue to review them. Trading these tokens with watch tags is risky, as these tokens no longer meet the standards for listing on our platform and may be delisted if not improved. Meanwhile, seed tags apply to tokens from innovative projects, which may have higher volatility and risk compared to other listed tokens.
PancakeSwap: Maximum Supply of CAKE Token Reduced to 450 Million
According to official information, multi-chain decentralized exchange PancakeSwap announced that the maximum supply of the CAKE token has been reduced from 750 million to 450 million, and the maximum supply data is now reflected on CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap.
Earlier on December 28th, the PancakeSwap community passed the proposal "to reduce the maximum supply of CAKE to 450 million" with 97.88% support.
Moodys Rates First Fund Using Standard Chartered Bank's Tokenized Platform
According to The Block, Moody's has rated the first fund using SC Ventures, a platform of Standard Chartered Bank, for tokenization. Singapore's FundBridge Capital will issue the fund, named SGD Delta Fund, on the Ethereum and Stellar blockchains, which is a tokenized Singapore government bond fund. Despite the underlying asset's AAA credit quality, Moody's assigned a AA rating, reflecting the risk of the fund manager's lack of experience in managing unit trusts with similar strategies. The fund will primarily invest in high-quality Singapore government securities, and tokenization will be achieved on public blockchains, increasing transparency and enabling whitelisted investors to exchange tokenized units.
Investment and Financing
Binance Labs Announces Investment in Memeland's Native Token Memecoin (MEME)
According to the official blog, Binance Labs announced an investment in the native ecosystem token Memecoin (MEME) of Memeland, an NFT project under 9GAG.
Memeland's core focus is to build and invest in SocialFi and creator economies, aiming to connect creators and communities through its MEME token and NFTs. In addition to NFTs and the MEME token, Memeland also offers MEME Farming and plans to launch several upcoming features and services. These features are designed to enhance user experience and promote community engagement, including NFT staking mechanisms, a social network for community collaboration, and ETH liquidity staking.
Mining News
Bitcoin mining company Marathon Digital (MARA.O) production and mining operations update shows plans to sell some Bitcoin assets in the near future to support monthly operations and financial management. The company produced 1,853 bitcoins in December and a total of 12,852 bitcoins for the full year 2023. As of December 31, 2023, the company holds over 15,000 BTC, with a total cash and BTC value of approximately $1 billion.
Key Data
US Government Currently Holds Over $8 Billion in Bitcoin
According to Blockworks, the US government currently holds at least $8.3 billion worth of Bitcoin, up from just $5 billion less than three months ago due to the rebound in Bitcoin prices. Between November 2020 and 2022, US authorities seized a total of 207,189 bitcoins in three separate actions, which are related to the dark web market Silk Road, Silk Road hacker Jimmy Zhong, and the Bitfinex exchange hacker. The price of Bitcoin has increased 70-fold in the past decade. If the US government chooses to hold all the seized bitcoins instead of selling them, it would still hold approximately 400,000 bitcoins ($17.4 billion), nearly twice the current holding value.
CoinShares: Net Inflows of Digital Asset Investment Products in 2023 Reach $2.25 Billion
CoinShares' annual fund report shows that net inflows of digital asset investment products reached $2.25 billion in 2023, 2.7 times higher than in 2022, making it the third-largest year since 2017. Bitcoin was the biggest beneficiary of improved investor sentiment, with inflows reaching $1.9 billion, accounting for 87% of total inflows. Ethereum inflows saw a slight recovery, reaching $78 million. Meanwhile, Solana inflows amounted to $167 million, accounting for 20% of the asset under management (AuM). The total AuM of crypto investment products reached $51 billion, a 129% year-on-year increase, reaching the highest level since March 2022.
ARK Invest Sells Coinbase Stock Worth Approximately $25.3 Million Again Yesterday
According to Ark Invest Daily's statistics, Cathie Wood's ARK Invest sold a total of 166,183 shares of Coinbase stock on Wednesday, January 3rd, worth approximately $25.3 million at yesterday's closing price. Of these, the ARKK fund sold 145,048 shares of Coinbase stock, and the ARKW fund sold 21,135 shares of Coinbase stock.
A Whale Deposits 3,100 BTC to Binance Yesterday, Expecting to Profit $78 Million
According to Lookonchain monitoring, it was noticed that a whale deposited 3,100 BTC (approximately $140 million) to Binance yesterday before the market downturn. The 3,100 BTC was withdrawn from HTX on October 6, 2022, when the price was $20,000. The address is expected to profit approximately $78 million (+126%).
Market: PEOPLE Up Over 100% in 24 Hours, POWR Up Over 70% in 24 Hours
According to Binance market data, the top-performing tokens in the last 24 hours are: PEOPLE, currently at $0.02781, with a 24-hour increase of 102.40%; POWR, currently at $0.6328, with a 24-hour increase of 73.32%; ENS, currently at $14.64, with a 24-hour increase of 43.11%; CHR, currently at $0.2845, with a 24-hour increase of 27.75%; WING, currently at $11.84, with a 24-hour increase of 19.23%. ETHDOWN is currently at $0.1329, with a 24-hour increase of 16.89%. BEAMX is currently at $0.021033, with a 24-hour increase of 15.72%.
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