Weekly News Highlights | BitMEX Founder Writes That the Crypto Market May Face a "Massacre"; Ronin Attacker Suspected to Be a North Korean Hacking Group

Organizer: Linqi, Hu Tao, Chain Catcher

Important Events

1. BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes writes that the crypto market may face a "bloodbath"

On April 11, BitMEX's former CEO Arthur Hayes wrote that while he remains optimistic about cryptocurrency prices in the long term, he believes the market is currently on the brink of "disastrous outcomes" and cannot escape a "crypto bloodbath," citing three supporting arguments.

First, the ongoing and potentially escalating Russia-Ukraine war will lead to a decline in global economic growth due to rising commodity prices, which will hurt stock prices. If the Nasdaq 100 index falls, it will drag down cryptocurrencies; second, falling interest rates often support the Nasdaq 100 index, while the world is currently seeing higher rates to combat inflation; third, the tech index has failed to rebound significantly at key technical levels, indicating it may decline.

Hayes estimates that by the end of June, Bitcoin could drop to $30,000, while Ethereum could fall to $2,500, prompting him to hedge his positions by purchasing put options. (Source link)

2. The ERC721R token standard is officially released, allowing users to return minted NFTs for refunds
On April 11, the ERC721R token standard was officially released. This standard adds a trustless refund design to NFT smart contracts, allowing minters to return NFTs minted at cost within a given timeframe and receive corresponding refunds. (Source link)

3. Three associations including the China Internet Finance Association: resolutely curb the financialization and securitization tendencies of NFTs

On April 13, the China Internet Finance Association, the China Banking Association, and the China Securities Association jointly called on member units to initiate a proposal to standardize the application of blockchain technology and leverage NFTs' positive role in promoting industrial digitalization and digital industrialization. They aim to ensure that the value of NFT products is adequately supported, guide consumers to rational consumption, and prevent price inflation that deviates from fundamental value laws.

At the same time, they resolutely curb the financialization and securitization tendencies of NFTs, strictly preventing risks of illegal financial activities. Member units should consciously comply with the following behavioral norms: first, do not include financial assets such as securities, insurance, credit, and precious metals in the underlying products of NFTs, indirectly issuing trading financial products; second, do not weaken the non-fungible characteristics of NFTs through ownership fragmentation or bulk creation, indirectly conducting token issuance financing (ICO); third, do not provide centralized trading (centralized bidding, electronic matching, anonymous trading, market-making, etc.), continuous listing trading, standardized contract trading services for NFT transactions, indirectly establishing trading venues in violation of regulations; fourth, do not use virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether as pricing and settlement tools for NFT issuance and trading; fifth, conduct real-name authentication for issuers, sellers, and buyers, properly store customer identity information and issuance transaction records, and actively cooperate with anti-money laundering efforts; sixth, do not directly or indirectly invest in NFTs or provide financing support for NFT investments. (Source link)

4. Forbes releases the list of the world's best venture capitalists in 2022, with a16z partner Chris Dixon at the top

On April 13, Forbes magazine released the list of the world's best venture capitalists in 2022, with a16z partner Chris Dixon ranking first, primarily due to his investment in Coinbase.

Additionally, 12 investors on this list participated in investing in Coinbase, including Micky Malka of Ribbit Capital and Garry Tan of Initialized Capital, ranked second and twenty-eighth respectively, both with Coinbase as their main investment project. (Forbes)

5. Musk proposes to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, valuing it at approximately $43 billion

On April 14, according to SEC filings, Tesla CEO Elon Musk proposed to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 38% premium over the closing price of the common stock on April 1, and has hired Morgan Stanley as his financial advisor.

Musk stated, "Twitter needs to transform into a private company… My offer is my best and final offer, and if it is not accepted, I will need to reconsider my position as a shareholder." Musk expressed, "Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it." It is understood that at the acquisition price of $54.20, Musk's total cash outlay would be nearly $43 billion. (Source link)

6. PeckShield: Algorithmic stablecoin project Beanstalk Farms suffers a hack, losing over $80 million

According to PeckShield's Twitter, the algorithmic stablecoin project Beanstalk Farms was hacked, resulting in losses exceeding $80 million, including 24,830 ETH and 36 million BEAN. Currently, the price of the stablecoin BEAN has dropped from about $1 to $0.136, a decline of 86%.

Additionally, Etherscan shows that an address marked as "Beanstalk Flashloan Exploiter" has transferred thousands of ETH into a mixing pool via Tornado Cash. (Source link)

7. Terraform Labs donates an additional 10 million LUNA to the Luna Foundation Guard

Terraform Labs (TFL) announced the donation of an additional 10 million LUNA to the Terra ecosystem non-profit organization Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), totaling approximately $886 million. (Source link)

8. The U.S. Treasury links the Ronin cross-chain bridge attacker's address to North Korean hacker groups and includes it in sanctions

On April 15, the U.S. Treasury added an Ethereum address (0x098B716B8Aaf21512996dC57EB0615e2383E2f96) to its sanctions list, noting that the address is controlled by the North Korean hacker group "LAZARUS GROUP."

According to Etherscan information, this address has been marked as the Ronin cross-chain bridge attack address, indicating that the perpetrators of the Ronin theft may be North Korean hacker groups. (Source link)

9. Beijing Arbitration Commission: Bitcoin is considered virtual property and is legally protected
On April 14, the Beijing Arbitration Commission made a ruling on a dispute over the management of Bitcoin, stating that Bitcoin and other virtual currencies are considered virtual assets and are legally protected. Currently, there are no laws or administrative regulations in China prohibiting Bitcoin trading activities, nor are all trading activities involving virtual currencies prohibited; rather, activities related to virtual currencies that are deemed illegal financial activities are prohibited. The contract in this case does not fall under the illegal financial activities and token issuance financing activities explicitly prohibited by the aforementioned documents and is not subject to relevant regulations.

The Beijing Arbitration Commission also stated that existing regulations merely emphasize that virtual currencies cannot circulate as money but do not completely prohibit trading as virtual property. Only businesses suspected of illegal financial activities should be regulated. (Source link)

10. EOS EVM mainnet to launch in the third quarter of this year

On April 15, according to the quarterly report released by the EOS Network Foundation, the foundation's total expenditure in the first quarter of this year was approximately $4.4 million, of which $2.24 million was used for funding grants and $920,000 for core code development.

At the same time, the foundation disclosed that the testnet for the EOS EVM network will be launched in the second quarter, and the mainnet will be launched in the third quarter. (Source link)

Important Financing/Venture Capital Information

1. South Korean veteran fund management company Hillstone Partners establishes a $1 billion NFT special fund in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Capital Group

On April 11, South Korean veteran fund management company Hillstone Partners held a joint venture (JV) signing ceremony with Abu Dhabi Capital Group (ADCG) in Dubai. This joint venture will establish the first joint fund valued at $1 billion, primarily investing in NFT-based blockchain startups, cryptocurrency exchanges, and other fields.

It is reported that Abu Dhabi Capital Group is a member of the royal family business in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The joint venture is expected to be established in Singapore or Dubai in the first half of 2022, with management led by Kim Hyung-joo, who has previously served as a member of the National Assembly of South Korea, Deputy Mayor of Seoul, and is currently the president of the Korea Blockchain Industry Promotion Association. (Source link)

2. Uniswap Labs officially establishes a venture capital department, having previously invested in 11 crypto startups

On April 12, Uniswap Labs established a venture capital department called Uniswap Labs Ventures, with assets directly from Uniswap Labs' balance sheet, which will invest across categories in web3 projects and focus on building blockchain infrastructure, developer tools, and consumer-facing applications, helping them build and scale in strategy, product, partnerships, engineering, and design, and also plans to participate in the governance systems of MakerDAO, Aave, Compound, and ENS.

Before launching its venture capital department, Uniswap Labs had already invested in 11 startups and projects, including MakerDAO, Aave, Compound Protocol, PartyDAO, LayerZero, and Ethereum developer platform Tenderly. (Source link)

3. TONcoin Fund launches a $250 million ecosystem fund to support projects developed on TON
On April 12, TONcoin Fund announced the launch of a $250 million ecosystem fund to support projects developed on The Open Network (TON). Investors in the fund include Huobi Incubator, Kucoin Ventures, MEXC Pioneer Fund, 3Commas Capital, blockchain startup Orbs, TON Miners, and Kilo Fund, aiming to deploy funds through incubation, investment, grants, hackathons, and educational projects. Benjamin Rameau, managing partner of TONcoin Fund, stated that they are currently incubating a DEX and NFT project.

TON was launched by Telegram in 2018, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission later accused its ICO of involving unregistered securities issuance. Telegram ultimately settled with the SEC for $18.5 million in June 2020 and ceased participation in TON's operations. (Source link)

4. Cosmos developer Ignite launches a $150 million Web3 accelerator, with multiple investment partners including Alameda

On April 13, Cosmos developer Ignite (formerly Tendermint) launched a $150 million accelerator focused on Web3, called Ignite Accelerator. The program will support up to 20 projects each year.

Investment partners of Ignite Accelerator include Alameda Research, KuCoin Ventures, OKX Blockdream Ventures, Hashkey Capital, Chorus One, Figment, Chainlayer, Strangelove Ventures, Forbole, Everstake, and Galileo.

Last year, Ignite also launched an equity investment incubator, Ignite Ventures (formerly Tendermint Ventures). (Source link)

5. Crypto payment company MoonPay completes $87 million financing, with participation from Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg, and others

On April 13, crypto payment company MoonPay announced the completion of $87 million in financing, with participation from over 60 celebrities, including pop singer Justin Bieber, rapper Snoop Dogg, hotel heiress Paris Hilton, tennis player Maria Sharapova, and actors Bruce Willis, Matthew McConaughey, and Gwyneth Paltrow. According to MoonPay, this round of financing is part of the company's Series A funding.

Previously, it was reported that MoonPay completed a $555 million Series A financing in November last year at a valuation of $3.4 billion, led by Coatue and Tiger Global. It is understood that the funds raised will be used for hiring new employees, expanding business scope, and adding more payment methods. Meanwhile, MoonPay is exploring a method to simplify the checkout process for NFT marketplaces and has already begun testing with partners such as OpenSea, Binance, and Dapper Labs. (Source link)

6. DeFi trading acceleration tool bloXroute completes $70 million Series B financing, led by SoftBank Vision Fund

On April 13, DeFi trading acceleration tool bloXroute announced the completion of $70 million in Series B financing, led by the second phase of the SoftBank Vision Fund, with participation from Blindspot, Dragonfly, Flow Traders, Flybridge, GSR, Jane Street, Lightspeed, ParaFi Capital, and Rockaway Blockchain Fund.

It is understood that bloXroute is a DeFi trading acceleration tool that addresses blockchain scalability issues, providing a mempool and transaction/block infrastructure products to enhance trading profitability for decentralized finance (DeFi) traders, while also helping users avoid network congestion and reliably query key data such as buy/sell transaction completion orders, trading prices, position sizes, liquidation data, and providing real-time oracle services. (Source link)

7. Web3 wallet tracking application Context completes $19.5 million seed round financing, led by Variant Fund

On April 14, Web3 wallet tracking application Context announced the completion of $19.5 million in seed round financing, led by Variant Fund and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, with participation from Dragonfly Capital and angel investors including Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo.

Context is a Web3 wallet tracking application that helps users automatically find and follow Web3 wallets associated with celebrities they follow on Twitter and track the on-chain activities of those wallet addresses in real-time. (Source link)

8. Bloomberg: Avalanche parent company is raising $350 million at a $5.25 billion valuation

On April 14, Bloomberg reported that Avalanche parent company AVA Labs is raising $350 million at a $5.25 billion valuation. (Source link)

9. Ethereum notification service EPNS completes $10.1 million Series A financing, led by Jump Crypto

On April 15, Ethereum notification service EPNS announced the completion of $10.1 million in Series A financing at a valuation of $131 million, led by Jump Crypto, with participation from Tiger Global, ParaFi, A.Capital, Sino Global Capital, Polygon Studios, and Harmony Foundation. EPNS stated that it will use the funds to expand its team, grow its user base, and develop outside the Ethereum ecosystem.

It is understood that the Ethereum Push Notification Service (EPNS) is a notification protocol that helps users receive notifications of on-chain information from the Ethereum blockchain, while also allowing smart contracts and service providers to send notifications to users. (Source link)

10. USDC issuer Circle announces $400 million financing, with participation from BlackRock and others

On April 13, USDC issuer Circle announced the completion of a new round of financing totaling $400 million, with participation from BlackRock, Fidelity, Marshall Wace, and Fin Capital. It is understood that in addition to its important role as a cash reserve asset manager and strategic investor for USDC, BlackRock will also explore the application of USDC in capital markets with Circle. (Source link)