Evening News | Huobi confirms layoffs; MakerDAO plans to purchase $500 million in U.S. Treasury bonds

Organizer: Runsheng, Chain Catcher

"What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours?"

1. The Wall Street Journal: Traditional hedge funds are shorting the stablecoin USDT

After the collapse of TerraUSD (UST), more traditional hedge funds have executed short trades on the stablecoin Tether (USDT) through the crypto brokerage Genesis Global Trading over the past month. Leon Marshall, head of institutional sales at Genesis, stated that the nominal value of these trades is "hundreds of millions of dollars," but he declined to provide further details. In an interview, Marshall said, "The interest from traditional hedge funds has surged significantly, and they are focusing on USDT and considering shorting it."

It is reported that Genesis indicated that the short trades are almost entirely conducted by traditional hedge funds in the U.S. and Europe, while crypto companies (especially those based in Asia) are more than willing to facilitate the other side of the trades. (Source link)

2. Tether CTO responds to hedge fund shorting rumors: USDT is a reliable stablecoin, and redemptions have always been normal

In response to the news that "traditional hedge funds are shorting the stablecoin USDT," Tether's Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino tweeted that this seems to be a coordinated attack, a new wave of FUD, and astroturfing from the beginning. These hedge funds are using USDT/USD perpetual contracts, spot short selling, and other tools to create enough pressure to cause significant capital outflows, damaging USDT liquidity, and ultimately repurchasing the tokens at a lower price. Over the past months/years, these hedge funds have believed in and helped spread various FUD.

Despite public third-party evidence of Tether's cooperation with regulators and Tether's initiatives to increase transparency, they have always implied that Tether is the bad actor. However, as has been said before, Tether has >=100% reserve backing, redemptions have never failed, and all USDT is redeemed at a price of $1. In 48 hours, Tether processed $7 billion in redemption operations, averaging 10% of its total assets, which is something that almost no banking institution could achieve.

Over the course of a month, Tether processed $16 billion in redemption operations (approximately 19% of total reserves), further proving that Tether's operations, portfolio, banking infrastructure, and team are reliable and have been tested in real-world scenarios. USDT is the only stablecoin that has proven its strength under extreme pressure.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that after the collapse of TerraUSD (UST), more traditional hedge funds executed short trades on the stablecoin Tether (USDT) through the crypto brokerage Genesis Global Trading over the past month. Leon Marshall, head of institutional sales at Genesis, stated that the nominal value of these trades is "hundreds of millions of dollars," but he declined to provide further details. (Source link)

3. Crypto lending platform Celsius Network rejects bankruptcy reorganization and seeks customer support

The lawyers hired by the crypto lending platform Celsius Network proposed filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under U.S. bankruptcy law, but this proposal was rejected by Celsius, and executives will seek customer support to help win the internal debate against the lawsuit.

It is reported that Chapter 11 of the U.S. bankruptcy law allows companies to continue operating while repaying debts. If Celsius enters bankruptcy protection, customer positions will be sold for U.S. dollars at current market prices, and customers will be added to the company's creditor list. (The Block)

4. MakerDAO MIP65 voting has started, with 500 million DAI potentially used to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds

The MakerDAO MIP65 asset allocation community vote has now launched on the governance platform. This proposal suggests that MakerDAO join and activate the RWA (Real World Assets) treasury, with a maximum investment of 500 million DAI, aimed at purchasing USDC through the PSM (Peg-Stability Module) and investing in high-quality liquid bond strategies held in trust arranged and maintained by Monetalis.

At the same time, the proposal presents four options, including 80% purchasing U.S. Treasury bonds + 20% purchasing IG Corp bonds, fully purchasing U.S. short-term Treasury bonds, abstaining, and rejecting. The first option has currently received 18,829 MKR votes in favor, accounting for 69.12%. Voting began early on the 28th and will last for three days. (Source link)

5. Huobi responds to layoffs: No layoff ratio or targets due to reduced revenue, business adjustments, and cost-cutting measures

Huobi responded to the layoff incident by stating that there are no layoff ratios or targets. On one hand, after exiting the mainland China market, there has been an increase in investment in expanding international markets, which has indeed had some impact on revenue; on the other hand, given the current sluggish market conditions, companies also need to make business adjustments and cost-cutting measures to prepare for "winter."

Earlier, according to reports from Wu Talk Blockchain citing insider sources, Huobi will initiate large-scale layoffs, with the scale potentially exceeding 30%. The significant decline in revenue after exiting the Chinese user market is the main reason. Additionally, sources revealed that there have been some issues with Huobi's asset management and its newly invested public chain Cube, leading to potential adjustments in the current management team. However, some investors also indicated that Huobi has ample cash flow and has distributed significant dividends, which should be seen as proactive adjustments in a downward market. (Source link)

"What are some great articles worth reading in the past 24 hours?"

1. "The dYdX Exodus: The Battle Between Application Chains and L2 Rollups"

This article argues that high-quality applications have a weak dependency on the underlying chain, while the underlying chain has a strong dependency on high-quality applications. First, in the current multi-chain landscape, if an application is good enough, finding a foothold is not difficult; second, the intersection between the underlying chain and users mainly manifests at the application layer, and beyond that, users' perception of the underlying chain is reflected only in speed and cost. If there are only good infrastructures without high-quality applications, the value of the underlying chain cannot be fully realized.

In the past, applications would think about how to retain users; since dYdX, perhaps public chains should start considering the issue of "application retention."

2. "After Experiencing This Cycle, I Summarized These Six Major Mistakes and Lessons"

Perhaps only by fully experiencing the bull and bear cycles of cryptocurrency can one begin to truly understand the crypto space. The author has lived through the last bull cycle, observed the madness of that time, and is currently experiencing this bleak bear market, reflecting on the mistakes made and summarizing six lessons: 1. Not taking profits in time; 2. Having too many points of focus; 3. Not recognizing the relationship between DeFi mining and investment; 4. Misunderstanding small hype cycles; 5. Misunderstanding enthusiasm; 6. Lacking patience.