Today’s News Highlights
1. Market maker Wintermute relocates 4% of its employees, including co-founders, to Singapore.
2. Ethereum Core Developers Meeting #114: Devnet #8 expected to be launched next week.
3. Worldcoin releases security audit report, stating that “most issues have been resolved.”
4. US legislators send letter to Cook, expressing concerns about Apple’s App Store stifling blockchain innovation.
- After multiple rounds of disasters and baptisms, is it the golden age for decentralized stablecoins?
- HV-MTL Quarterly Review Can Yuga Games be the Lifeline for APE?
- What are the highlights of dappOS, which leads the LianGuairadigm’s new track of intent trading and is favored by many top VCs?
5. Regulatory officials close to the matter: Ant Group’s relisting is unlikely in the short term.
6. Peruvian President issues new decree requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
7. Japan Blockchain Association submits request to the government for revision of cryptocurrency asset tax.
8. PROOF, the parent company of Moonbirds, to launch the Grails Season 4 NFT series.
Regulation
The US Department of Justice has filed a written motion with a federal judge seeking to revoke SBF’s bail.
The US Department of Justice has now filed a written motion with a federal judge seeking to revoke SBF’s bail. Prosecutors from the Department of Justice submitted a written opinion to a federal judge on Friday, accusing SBF of leaking Caroline’s private diary to The New York Times and attempting to interfere with witnesses. Subsequently, SBF applied to seal Caroline Ellison’s private documents. In addition, Judge Kaplan denied the application to detain SBF but issued a temporary restraining order against the parties involved and the witnesses, prohibiting them from publicly disseminating any case-related information that could interfere with a fair trial. It is reported that SBF’s trial is scheduled to begin on October 2, 2023.
Peruvian President issues new decree requiring cryptocurrency exchanges to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
The Peruvian President has issued a new decree stipulating that all cryptocurrency exchanges operating within the country must comply with anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. According to the decree, virtual asset service providers, including individuals and companies operating in Peru, are now required to report information to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF-Peru). The department is responsible for receiving, analyzing, and transmitting information to identify money laundering and terrorist financing activities. The definition of “virtual asset service provider” includes entities engaged in various cryptocurrency-related activities, such as converting virtual assets into fiat currency, exchanging different forms of virtual assets, transferring virtual assets, providing custody and management of virtual assets, and offering financial services related to the sale or provision of virtual assets. One of the main objectives of the decree is to ensure that Peru’s cryptocurrency exchanges comply with the recommendations put forward by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), with particular emphasis on the FATF’s “travel rule.” While the decree is now in effect, it is expected that UIF-Peru will issue more specific guidelines in the coming days to further clarify the obligations and responsibilities of virtual asset service providers in the country.
US Legislators Write to Cook, Concerned About Apple App Store Suppressing Blockchain Innovation
Representatives Gus Bilirakis (Republican, Florida) and Jan Schakowsky (Democrat, Illinois) have written a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, inquiring whether Apple’s App Store guidelines are stifling emerging technologies such as distributed ledger technology and NFTs.
The legislators point out that Apple appears to profit from cryptocurrency applications by enforcing the introduction of “lite” versions and reducing their utility, using the example of the App Store experience for Axie Infinity. They express concerns that Apple’s policies may harm the United States’ leadership position in emerging technology.
Indian Supreme Court Urges Federal Government to Formulate Clear Cryptocurrency Regulations
According to the Hindustan Times, the Indian Supreme Court has directed the federal government to clarify whether it intends to establish a federal agency to investigate criminal cases related to cryptocurrencies, stating that it is “unfortunate” that there is still no law or institution regulating cryptocurrencies.
Japan Blockchain Association Submits Request to Government for Revision of Cryptocurrency Taxation
The Japan Blockchain Association (JBA), represented by Yuzo Kano of the exchange bitFlyer Inc., has submitted a request to the government on the 28th to revise the taxation system for cryptocurrency assets. They call for a review of the cryptocurrency taxation system that hinders the growth of Japan’s Web3 business and the development of an environment where citizens can own and use cryptocurrency assets.
The proposals include: 1. Canceling the year-end unrealized gains tax on third-party token issuance. If the year-end unrealized gains tax is abolished, companies will no longer need to sell their held tokens for tax purposes, significantly lowering the threshold for entering the Web3 business. 2. Changing the tax treatment of individual cryptocurrency asset transactions to separate self-assessment with a unified tax rate of 20%. Under the current tax system, taxing the sale of tokens may cause a decline in token prices, hindering the growth of the token economy. 3. Canceling the profit income tax on each cryptocurrency asset transaction.
Previously, at the WebX conference, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated that Web3 is part of the new capitalism and that solving social problems should be the engine of growth.
US Banking Industry Advocacy Group Supports Senator Warren’s Reintroduced Cryptocurrency Bill
The Bank Policy Institute, a US banking industry advocacy group, supports Senator Elizabeth Warren’s legislation aimed at addressing cryptocurrency money laundering issues. She first introduced the legislation several months ago. The bill focuses on the transparency of digital asset transactions, requiring digital asset wallet providers, miners, and others who verify and protect transactions on the blockchain to maintain records of their customers’ identities. The purpose is to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. Warren initially introduced the bill at a Senate Banking Committee hearing in December 2022, titled “Cryptocurrency Crash: Why the FTX Bubble Burst and Its Harm to Consumers,” stating that cryptocurrencies should comply with the same anti-money laundering regulations as banks.
NFT
The British Museum collaborates with Sandbox to launch a metaverse interactive space and NFT collections
The British Museum is collaborating with The Sandbox, an Ethereum-based metaverse game, and LaCollection, an authorized partner of the museum and a French startup, to build a metaverse interactive space and create a series of NFT digital collectibles.
Starbucks to launch “Green Apron” NFT series on Nifty Gateway on August 2nd
Starbucks will launch the classic “Green Apron” NFT series on the Nifty Gateway NFT marketplace on August 2nd. It will be open to eligible Odyssey members at 12:00 AM Beijing time on August 2nd and to the public at 3:00 AM on the same day. The series consists of 5000 NFTs and will be issued on Polygon with a price of $100 per NFT.
PROOF, the parent company of Moonbirds, to launch Grails Season 4 NFT series
PROOF, the parent company of Moonbirds, will launch the Grails Season 4 NFT series. Grails IV showcases the works of 20 artists, whose identities will initially be hidden. PROOF recently released an NFT series called Mythics, which includes over 20,000 NFTs and will be minted over a period of 200 days. Additionally, Sotheby’s recently generated millions of dollars in revenue by selling Grails NFTs, which were previously owned by the bankrupt crypto venture firm 3 Arrows Capital (3AC).
Project Updates
Worldcoin releases security audit report, stating “most issues have been resolved”
Worldcoin has published a security audit report on its official blog. Starting from April 2023, the protocol underwent two independent security audits by Nethermind and Least Authority. Nethermind focused on auditing the protocol’s smart contracts and identified 26 issues. 92.6% (24 issues) have been fixed after the verification stage, one issue has been mitigated, and the remaining one has been confirmed. Least Authority focused on auditing the protocol’s use of cryptography and identified 3 issues, along with six recommendations. All issues have been “resolved or planned to be resolved.”
Lawyer claims a domestic blockchain DAO organization has been arrested for suspected criminal activities, possibly a traditional MLM organization
According to Liu Honglin, founder of Shanghai Mankun Law Firm, several core members of a well-known domestic DAO organization have been simultaneously arrested in multiple cities in China. The police initiated investigations due to the issuance of tokens and member incentives within the DAO organization, making it potentially the first domestic DAO organization involved in criminal activities. Mankun Law Firm has been commissioned to provide criminal legal services in this case.
According to Wu Shuo Blockchain, this well-known domestic “DAO” is actually a traditional MLM organization. The organization conducted numerous offline activities in cities such as Xi’an, Harbin, and Zhengzhou, using the name DAO and establishing a so-called “backbone training camp,” which is unrelated to well-known projects in the cryptocurrency field.
114th Ethereum Core Developer Meeting: Devnet #8 Expected to Launch Next Week with Two EIPs Included
Christine Kim, Vice President of Galaxy Research, wrote that on July 27th, Ethereum core developers gathered on Zoom for the 114th All Core Developers Call (ACDC) conference. The ACDC conference is hosted by Ethereum Foundation researcher Danny Ryan and is held every two weeks to discuss and coordinate changes to the Ethereum Consensus Layer (CL). This week, developers discussed updates to the Deneb test work and updates to two EIPs, which may be considered for inclusion in the next CL upgrade after Deneb, now called Electra.
Last week, developers performed a shadow fork on the Sepolia test network and are currently updating tools in preparation for the launch of Devnet #8. Devnet #8 is expected to launch later next week or early the following week. Hsiao-Wei Wang, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, is preparing a new version of the CL code specification for Devnet #8, which will be ready for client teams before Monday, July 31st.
The next update also includes two EIP upgrades, namely EIP 6914 and EIP 6110. EIP 6914 introduces a method for reusing validator index numbers of validators that have fully exited the beacon chain. By ensuring that there are no large gaps in the validator index when nodes handle withdrawals and scan the validator set, unnecessary computational burden on CL nodes can be avoided. EIP 6110 changes the addition of new validator deposits to EL blocks, so that the responsibility for deposit inclusion and validation is done on EL instead of CL. The transfer of responsibility brings some benefits, including: reducing the complexity of Ethereum client software design; improving the security of validator deposits; and improving the user experience of validators.
Market maker Wintermute to Relocate 4% of Employees, Including Co-founders, to Singapore
An executive at market maker Wintermute said in an interview with Bloomberg News that approximately 4% of the company’s employees will relocate to Singapore in the coming months. Yoann Turpin, co-founder of this UK-based company, will move to Singapore along with some employees. Wintermute was founded in 2017 and provides liquidity for more than 50 exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken. It is also an active venture investor in the market.
Regulatory Officials: Unlikely for Ant Group to Relist in the Short Term
According to China News Agency, media reports quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying that Ant Group is planning a restructuring, divesting some non-core businesses to pave the way for a restart of its Hong Kong IPO. Regulatory officials close to the matter stated that the relisting of Ant Group requires both legal compliance and judgment based on the company’s internal and external market conditions. Based on the recent information obtained, it is unlikely for Ant Group to relist in the short term.
According to Bloomberg’s report citing informed sources, Ant Group is planning to restructure and divest some businesses that are not part of its core Chinese financial operations, in order to pave the way for its initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong. The sources said that the company is considering separating its blockchain, database management services, and international businesses from a main entity, which will be used to apply for a financial holding license in China.
DeFi project Kannagi Finance on zkSync Era suspected of Rug Pull, TVL close to zero
DeFi project Kannagi Finance on zkSync Era experienced a Rug Pull. According to DeFiLlama data as of 15:58 today, its total value locked (TVL) is close to zero, remaining only $24, compared to $2.13 million yesterday. Its official Twitter account has been deactivated.
Important Data
Data: Total minted supply of Ordinals NFT surpasses 20 million
Dune data shows that the total minted supply of the Bitcoin NFT protocol Ordinals has surpassed 20 million, currently reaching 20,040,774. The accumulated fee revenue is 1,863.9396 BTC, worth approximately $54.5433 million.
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