Weekly News Highlights | Binance launches $1 billion "Crypto Recovery" fund; Huobi announces new Chinese name "火必" (Huobi)

整理：润升，ChainCatcher

Important News

1. Reuters: FTX owes nearly $3.1 billion to its top 50 creditors

On November 21, it was reported by Reuters that the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S., stated that it owes nearly $3.1 billion to its 50 largest creditors. According to documents submitted to the court on Saturday, the exchange owes approximately $1.45 billion to its top 10 creditors, but the names of the creditors were not disclosed. (Source link)

2. Insider: DCG owes subsidiary Genesis over $1.1 billion and requests non-disclosure

On November 21, Twitter user Andrew tweeted that Digital Currency Group (DCG) owes over $1.1 billion to its subsidiary Genesis through a previously undisclosed promissory note hidden from potential investors, and requested non-disclosure.

According to a previous report by ChainCatcher, Genesis is seeking a $1 billion emergency loan from investors due to liquidity issues caused by certain illiquid assets on its balance sheet. DCG has reportedly deleted the names, positions, and images of its team members, board members, and board advisors recently. (Source link)

3. Huobi announces new Chinese name "火必"

On November 22, Huobi announced its new Chinese name "火必" at a brand relaunch event held in Singapore.

It is reported that today's event will also showcase the content of Huobi's brand relaunch and the plan to rebuild Huobi. (Source link)

4. Insider: Genesis faces financing difficulties, has halved its financing target to $500 million

On November 22, Bloomberg reported, citing insiders, that Genesis's lending department is facing financing difficulties, and the company warned potential investors that it may file for bankruptcy if it cannot raise funds. Its financing target has been reduced from $1 billion to $500 million. Insiders added that its parent company DCG is unwilling to sell part of its venture capital portfolio and has no plans to sell its other company Grayscale.

Bloomberg cited a statement from Genesis saying it has no "immediate" plans to file for bankruptcy and is working to resolve the current issues. According to previous reports, Genesis Trading has suspended redemptions and new loan issuances. DCG stated that the operations of its other wholly-owned subsidiaries have not been affected, and DCG has injected $140 million in equity into Genesis Trading. (Bloomberg)

5. Bloomberg: Justin Sun spends about $1 billion to acquire approximately 60% stake in Huobi

On November 22, Bloomberg reported, citing insiders, that Justin Sun spent about $1 billion to acquire approximately 60% of Huobi through the Hong Kong asset management company About Capital. Sequoia China and ZhenFund also sold a combined 28% stake in Huobi Global to About Capital. Insiders stated that Justin Sun excluded his name from the transaction to avoid regulatory scrutiny from China.

ChainCatcher previously reported that Huobi's major shareholder completed the share sale, and About Capital's acquisition fund became the actual controller, while Justin Sun joined Huobi Global's global advisory board and repeatedly stated that he is not the buyer of Huobi. (Bloomberg)

6. Zhu Su: FTX collapse set the crypto industry back 7 to 8 years, may establish an all-weather fund

On November 23, Bloomberg reported that Zhu Su, co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, stated in an interview in Abu Dhabi: "Some industry leaders say that the collapse of FTX set the industry back 5 years, but I think it's worse, about seven to eight years. If the fundamental issues are not properly addressed, the setback will last longer."

Additionally, Zhu Su mentioned that after months of reflecting on the failure of Three Arrows Capital, he is considering establishing a new trading entity, possibly an all-weather fund that invests in both crypto and traditional assets, "but I think this should not be rushed. The domino effect of the FTX collapse has just begun, and more dominoes will fall." (Source link)

7. OKLink: The reason for Shen Bo's asset theft is likely due to private key leakage

On November 23, it was reported by OKLink security experts that the theft of Shen Bo's personal wallet assets occurred when the stolen address directly initiated transfer transactions, transferring ETH, USDC, and other assets to other addresses, rather than using transferFrom. Therefore, the reason for the theft is not the usual authorization phishing, but likely a private key leakage. Additionally, the theft address has already swapped 38 million USDC for DAI, making it impossible to freeze through centralized entities.

According to multi-chain browser data from OKLink, Shen Bo's personal address (ending in 5e894) was hacked on November 10 at 1:48 PM Beijing time, resulting in the theft of 38 million USDC and 1,606 ETH. Currently, Shen Bo's personal address has only 1.05 ETH left, with ERC20 tokens valued at approximately $33. (Source link)

8. ConsenSys will collect IP addresses and ETH addresses of MetaMask users during transactions, but Uniswap states it does not track user IPs and can prevent third-party API tracking

On November 24, DeFi observer Crypto Snooper tweeted that Ethereum infrastructure developer ConsenSys updated its privacy policy, stating that when users use Infura as the default RPC in MetaMask, it will collect the corresponding IP address and ETH address when users send transactions. (Source link)

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams stated on social media that Uniswap does not track IPs and can prevent users from being tracked by third-party APIs. (Source link)

9. Zhao Changpeng: The $1 billion industry recovery fund will be entirely in BUSD

On November 25, Zhao Changpeng responded to issues regarding the composition of the SAFU insurance fund on his social platform, stating that the SAFU fund consists of BTC, BUSD, and BNB. Since the last rebalancing, the price of BNB has risen faster than BTC. Additionally, the $1 billion industry recovery fund will be entirely in BUSD. The holdings of both the SAFU insurance fund and the industry recovery fund are fully disclosed on the blockchain.

Previous reports indicated that Binance announced a $1 billion industry recovery initiative (IRI) overview, stating that IRI is not an investment fund. Currently, Jump Crypto, Polygon Ventures, Aptos Labs, Animoca Brands, GSR, Kronos, and Brooker Group have also committed to participate, with an initial total commitment of approximately $50 million, and more participants are expected to join soon. Binance's initial commitment of 1 billion BUSD can be found at the public address: 0x043a80999cEe3711D372FB878768909fbE7F71E6. (Source link)

10. Solana Foundation loses over $180 million in crypto assets due to FTX bankruptcy

On November 25, the Solana Foundation released a statement indicating that as of November 6, the organization held approximately $1 million in cash on FTX and stated that these funds were "insignificant" to its operations, accounting for less than 1% of its cash reserves. However, the Solana Foundation's losses in crypto assets are much larger, as the foundation holds approximately 3.43 million FTT and 134.54 million SRM, which are now trapped in FTX, with risk exposures of $75.46 million and $107.6 million, respectively.

Additionally, the Solana Foundation also holds $40 million worth of Sollet assets (such as soBTC) and 3.24 million shares of FTX common stock. However, the Solana Foundation clarified that USDC and USDT on the Solana chain are risk-free, as these two stablecoins are directly issued by Circle and Tether, and are currently fully pegged. (Source link)

11. Hong Kong Financial Secretary: A new licensing system for virtual asset service providers will be introduced

On November 25, it was reported by RTHK that Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan stated that virtual assets have become an unstoppable financial innovation, and the government has proposed a vision to embrace the industry, attempting to allow the industry to develop gradually and sustainably in Hong Kong, attracting the global virtual asset community to the region.

Paul Chan stated that although there have been recent collapses in some virtual asset markets and bankruptcies of virtual asset trading platforms, which have attracted public attention, he emphasized that the government is aware of the risks posed by virtual assets and reiterated that it will adopt a regulatory approach of "same business, same risk, same rules," ensuring investor protection.

Paul Chan noted at a banking association event that in the coming months, a new licensing system will be introduced for virtual asset service providers to comply with anti-money laundering and other regulatory requirements, emphasizing the need to ensure that risks are controllable and that market volatility and potential risks do not transmit to the real economy. (Source link)

12. Zhao Changpeng: The crypto market will recover in 2023, and the industry will be healthier than ever

On November 26, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng stated at the "Binance meet up Athens" conference that after the negative events of 2022, the cryptocurrency market will see a recovery in 2023. Compared to a year ago, the industry is now healthier. Binance is not really focused on profitability, but rather on sustainable growth.

When asked about "what stage the current market is in," Zhao Changpeng stated that the mass adoption of cryptocurrency will depend on more people starting to hold cryptocurrencies and the share of cryptocurrencies in their net worth. In the coming years, cryptocurrency adoption may see exponential growth. However, considering regulatory resistance and fear, perhaps slow growth would be better. (Source link)

Important Financing/Venture Capital News

1. Web3 and virtual reality game developer Thirdverse completes $15 million financing, MZ Web3 Fund leads

On November 22, Web3 and virtual reality game developer Thirdverse announced the completion of $15 million in financing, led by MZ Web3 Fund, bringing the company's total financing to $33 million to date. Other institutions that have invested in Thirdverse include 8DAO, B Dash Ventures, Double Jump.tokyo, Fenbushi Capital, Flick Shot, Holdem Capital, Kusabi, OKCoinJapan, Yield Guild Games, and OKX Ventures.

It is reported that Thirdverse plans to release at least 10 Web3 games by 2023 and is currently recruiting more game developers to expand its development team. (Source link)

2. Cosmos-based DeFi protocol Onomy completes $10 million financing, Bitfinex and others participate

On November 23, it was reported by The Block that Cosmos-based DeFi protocol Onomy completed $10 million in financing, with participants including Bitfinex, GSR Markets, Ava Labs, CMS Holdings, and DWF Labs. This round of financing aims to expand the team.

It is reported that Onomy aims to integrate DeFi and the foreign exchange market, with products including a Layer 1 blockchain network and cross-chain bridges, as well as a decentralized exchange and non-custodial wallet called Onex. Onomy's mainnet will launch in the coming days. (Source link)

3. Across Protocol raises $10 million at a $200 million valuation, with participation from Hack VC and others

On November 24, cross-chain bridge Across Protocol raised $10 million at a $200 million valuation, with participation from Hack VC, Placeholder, and Blockchain Capital. The specific arrangement involves these three venture capital firms purchasing 50 million ACX tokens from Risk Labs under the "Success Token" scheme. Each token matures on June 30, 2025, returning 1 ACX and a call option for 1 ACX priced at $0.50.

It is reported that the Success Token is a fundraising solution proposed by the synthetic asset protocol UMA, allowing funds to be raised without providing token discounts. (Source link)

4. Web3 game publisher Fenix Games completes $150 million financing, with participation from Cypher Capital and others

On November 25, Web3 game publisher Fenix Games completed $150 million in financing, with participation from Phoenix Group and Dubai-based venture capital firm Cypher Capital. This round of financing will be used for the acquisition, investment, and publishing of blockchain games.

Fenix Games CEO and co-founder Chris Ko was previously the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Mythical Games and has held general manager positions at Electronic Arts and Kabam. Prior to that, he served as a portfolio manager at BlackRock and an equity research analyst at JPMorgan. Other co-founders of Fenix Games include Mythical Games co-founder Rudy Koch, Antonio Hallack, who previously served as the global electronic trading head at Credit Suisse, and former Mythical Games COO Matt Nutt. (Source link)

5. Crypto payment infrastructure XanPool completes $41 million financing, Target Global leads

On November 25, crypto payment infrastructure XanPool completed $41 million in financing, raising $35 million from lead investor Target Global and $6 million from existing investor Antler Elevate, bringing the company's valuation to $400 million.

Founded in 2009, XanPool also provides seamless integration of fiat to cryptocurrency infrastructure. XanPool is accelerating its expansion plans in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America. (Source link)

6. Bloomberg: Matrixport plans to raise $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, has secured $50 million in investment commitments

On November 25, Bloomberg reported that crypto financial services company Matrixport plans to raise $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, with insiders stating that the company has secured $50 million in investment commitments from major investors. This deal has not yet been "finalized," and Matrixport is still seeking other investors.

Previous reports indicated that Matrixport's BTC fixed income products (including BTC fixed income products and Smart Trend products based on BTC fixed income products) and Victoria BTC fund products were affected by the FTX incident, resulting in losses for 79 clients. Matrixport's PR head Ross Gan stated that Matrixport will continue to operate normally and that the company is not at risk of bankruptcy. (Source link)