Evening News | The claims of FTX creditors are attracting interest from investment giants, with valuations generally between 5% and 13% of face value; Ankr attack incident report: the attacker is a former team member

整理：西昻翔，ChainCatcher

"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"

1. Bloomberg: FTX creditors' claims are attracting interest from investment giants, with valuations mostly between 5% and 13% of face value

According to Bloomberg citing informed sources, the claims of FTX Group creditors are attracting interest from large distressed asset investment firms, with companies like Baupost Group and Oaktree Capital inquiring about the claims of FTX customers whose assets are trapped on the exchange. Citigroup Inc., Cowen Inc., and Seaport Global Holdings LLC are trying to act as intermediaries in this emerging market.

Jay Conklin, managing partner at FTX claims brokerage Park Walk LLC, expects more and larger deals to come. However, for now, the claims being traded are relatively small, with negotiations rising for accounts holding $100 million or more. Valuations are mostly between 5% and 13% of face value, and prices are rising as investor interest increases. (Source link)

2. Ankr Attack Incident Report: Attack was a malicious supply chain attack by a former team member, cooperating with law enforcement for prosecution

Web3 infrastructure provider Ankr released an attack incident report detailing the findings from the exploitation of the aBNBc Token vulnerability. Ankr stated that the attack originated from a former team member who maliciously conducted a supply chain attack by inserting a malicious code package that could compromise private keys once a legitimate update was made. Ankr is currently cooperating with law enforcement to prosecute this former team member.

Ankr indicated that this could affect any protocol, and the team is supporting internal human resources processes and security measures to strengthen future security posture. Ankr is implementing several improvements to security, including requiring multi-signature authentication and time locks for all updates, enhancing internal security measures, implementing new monitoring and notification systems, and refining the process for using DeFi protocols. (Source link)

3. Elon Musk: Searching for Twitter CEO successor, will manage software and server teams himself

According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk stated that he would resign as CEO of Twitter once a successor is found, and he will manage the software and server teams.

Previously reported, on December 19, Elon Musk initiated a Twitter poll on whether he should step down as head of Twitter, which garnered over 17.5 million votes, with 57.5% in favor of his resignation. It is reported that Musk indicated he would abide by the results of this poll, and he is actively searching for a new CEO for Twitter. (Source link)

4. FTX executives: Over $1 billion in cash assets identified

According to CoinDesk, FTX executives stated in a procedural hearing on Tuesday that they have identified over $1 billion in assets still held by FTX. FTX identified approximately $720 million in unintegrated cash assets among financial institutions authorized by the U.S. Department of Justice. Nearly $500 million has already been held by U.S. institutions.

FTX's new CFO Mary Cilia stated that they are in contact with these banks and changing the signatories on the accounts to access these accounts and transfer as much cash as possible to authorized deposit institutions. Additionally, approximately $130 million in cash is frozen in Japan. FTX has also identified a $6 million deposit for operational expenses such as payroll. Of the $423 million held in unauthorized U.S. institutions, most is held by a brokerage firm, but Cilia declined to disclose the identity of that brokerage.

Steve Coverick, senior director at FTX's financial advisor Alvarez & Marsal, stated at the hearing that they are working to identify FTX's international crypto assets and transfer these assets to cold wallets through custodians like BitGo. (CoinDesk)

5. SBF has signed extradition documents, may soon return to the U.S.

According to The Block citing ABC News, SBF has signed extradition documents and may soon return to the U.S. from the Bahamas. SBF stated in a Bahamian court on Monday that he would no longer contest extradition to the U.S.

It is reported that SBF has been held at Fox Hill prison and is not eligible for bail. ChainCatcher previously reported that SBF was arrested by Bahamian authorities after U.S. law enforcement charged him. (The Block)

6. Mask Network announces acquisition of Mastodon's second-largest instance Pawoo.net

Mask Network announced the acquisition of Mastodon's second-largest instance, Pawoo.net, with the new team taking over the operation of Pawoo.net starting December 21, 2022, with no impact on existing users.

It is reported that Mastodon is an open-source decentralized distributed microblogging social network that allows anyone to create instances based on the network. Pawoo is built on Mastodon and currently has nearly 800,000 users, including illustrators, anime fans, novelists, and music enthusiasts. (Source link)

7. NEAR Foundation releases Q3 2022 transparency report: Protocol accounts increase to 20.6 million, weekly active wallets surge to 280,000

The NEAR Foundation released its Q3 2022 transparency report, stating that the number of NEAR protocol accounts increased from 15.6 million at the end of Q2 to over 20.6 million at the end of Q3. Weekly active wallets surged to 280,000, up from 26,000 at the end of Q2. During this period, the number of weekly active developers remained stable at around 1,100.

Additionally, the NEAR Foundation invested a total of $39 million in Q3: $10 million in seed funding to deploy capital across dedicated investment funds within the ecosystem; $26 million in grants to support NEAR-based projects through direct investments and grants; and $3 million to establish physical centers, including the U.S. center Banyan and the Balkan center. (Source link)

8. Coinbase has received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland to provide virtual asset services

According to Finextra, Coinbase has received approval from the Central Bank of Ireland to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP), meaning Coinbase can offer products and services to individuals and institutions across Europe and internationally from Ireland.

It is reported that Coinbase's Irish operations will be overseen by newly appointed director Cormac Dinan. (Source link)

"What Interesting Articles Are Worth Reading in the Last 24 Hours"

1. Wintermute Emerges as a Key Player After the Fall of SBF and Alameda

Wintermute has navigated the cutting-edge cryptocurrency markets with skill and emerged victorious during the collapse of the Terra stablecoin, now growing into one of the world's leading cryptocurrency trading firms. Now, it must continue to move forward in a market filled with debris and hidden dangers. They are reportedly seriously considering launching a financial derivatives exchange catering to professional traders, aiming to fill the gap left by FTX.

2. Top Ten Significant Developments in Bitcoin in 2022

Price crashes and the collapse of cryptocurrencies dominated the headlines in 2022, but it can still be considered a year of significant progress for Bitcoin. The Lightning Network, Machankura, Taro, P2P Lightning native browsers, collaborative custody, Value-4-Value, and Plebnet Lightning are all important advancements made by Bitcoin in 2022.

3. Pantera Year-End Letter: The Necessity of Decentralized Systems in Light of the FTX Crisis

The collapse of FTX is a step backward for the industry, but the resulting crypto regulation may serve as a catalyst for progress, as regulation is a necessary catalyst for institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies. Pantera believes that regulated exchanges operate well—such as Coinbase and Bitstamp; DeFi operates well, especially DEX—such as Uniswap, 0x, 1inch, Balancer, and DODO. FTX was unrelated to blockchain, and blockchain did not fail.