Evening News | In 2022, the financing amount in the cryptocurrency industry reached $26.77 billion; Gemini and DCG are in a debt dispute

整理：饼干，ChainCatcher

"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"

1. Gemini Co-Founder Sends Letter to DCG Founder Demanding Repayment of Over $900 Million to Earn Users

Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss sent an open letter to DCG founder Barry Silbert on behalf of over 340,000 users of its Earn product, demanding repayment of more than $900 million owed.

Previously, Gemini lent digital currency to Genesis, resulting in an unrecoverable amount of approximately $900 million, and had to suspend its lending product, Gemini Earn. Cameron also revealed in the open letter that DCG owes Genesis approximately $1.68 billion.

Houlihan Lokey had previously proposed a plan on behalf of the creditor committee to address the liquidity issues of Genesis and DCG and provide a pathway for asset recovery. The plan is based on the information received so far from Genesis, DCG, and their respective advisors. (Source link)

2. DCG Founder Responds: Did Not Borrow $1.675 Billion from Genesis or Default on Interest

Barry Silbert, founder of Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of Grayscale, responded to the "Gemini co-founder letter matter," stating that he did not borrow $1.675 billion from Genesis and has never defaulted on interest to Genesis, and is currently repaying all outstanding loans.

The next loan maturity date is May 2023. DCG submitted a proposal to Genesis and the advisors of Gemini co-founders on December 29 but has not received any response. (Source link)

3. Zhu Su: DCG Suffered Huge Losses Last Year Due to Three Arrows Bankruptcy, Conspired with FTX to Attack Luna and stETH

Three Arrows Capital co-founder Zhu Su tweeted that, based on a rough estimate of DCG's situation, "DCG conspired with FTX to attack Luna and stETH, achieving considerable success, but they suffered heavy losses in our bankruptcy last summer and in Babel and other companies involved in GBTC. They could have calmly restructured at that time but magically filled this hole through 'redeemable promissory notes' from left hand to right hand. They misled the market for several months like FTX, using various methods to attack us, and no one asked how Genesis filled the gap while they spent six months absorbing more deposits in an insolvent state, hoping for a market rebound. FTX creditors also have cases of fraudulent transfers of capital from Alameda to Genesis, and most OGs are aware of how close Barry and SBF have been from the beginning (SBF was involved with Genesis, and they gave him his first FTT-backed loan). In any case, Genesis creditors will push for bankruptcy in the coming days and recover the remaining DCG assets, and they may demand Barry to repay his cash in a straightforward manner instead of waiting for the Department of Justice's criminal case compensation penalties." (Source link)

4. Data: Crypto Industry Financing Reached $26.77 Billion in 2022, with 1,528 Financing Events

According to the crypto data platform Rootdata, the total disclosed financing amount in the crypto industry reached $26.77 billion in 2022, with 1,528 financing rounds, representing a 4.5% decrease and a 28% increase compared to 2021, respectively. There were 57 M&A events that year, with 10 disclosing acquisition amounts totaling $1.64 billion.

The top 5 sectors by financing amount were infrastructure ($7.565 billion), CeFi ($5.68 billion), NFT ($3.456 billion), DeFi ($1.651 billion), and gaming ($1.626 billion).

The top 5 projects by single financing amount were Terra ($1 billion), Fireblocks ($550 million), Polygon ($450 million), ConsenSys ($450 million), and Yuga Labs ($450 million). Additionally, Animoca Brands raised a total of $544 million across three financing rounds.

The top 5 investment institutions by number of investments were Coinbase Ventures (119 times), Animoca Brands (118 times), Shima Capital (88 times), GSR (76 times), and Spartan Group (63 times). (Source link)

5. BitKeep Updates on Hacker Attack Incident: Compensation Application Page to be Launched in APP

Web3 multi-chain wallet BitKeep announced that it will launch a compensation application page within the BitKeep APP, allowing affected users to submit compensation addresses, currencies, and other information. This is currently under urgent development.

Additionally, BitKeep stated that the team is currently gathering key information through judicial processes, and due to the need to cooperate with relevant departments' investigations, it is inconvenient to disclose more information externally. Previously, the BitKeep APK 7.2.9 installation package was hijacked and replaced by hackers, causing some users to use an application package with implanted code, leading to private key leaks.

BitKeep CEO Kevin stated at the end of December regarding the attack incident, "We have frozen part of the hacker's funds, and the work to recover the remaining losses for users is also in full swing." (Source link)

6. Ethereum Scaling Project Scroll to Execute Pre-Alpha Network Reset on January 9

Ethereum scaling project Scroll announced that it will execute a Pre-Alpha network reset on January 9 to increase the throughput of the Pre-Alpha test network. After the network reset is completed, Scroll recommends that users reset and remove all Scroll networks from their wallets before re-adding them. (Source link)

7. Data: Ethereum Accounted for 80% of All Block Space Fees in 2022, BNB Chain Accounted for the Remaining 80%

Crypto researcher Data_Always published an article stating that Ethereum accounted for 80% of all block space fees in 2022, while BNB Chain accounted for the remaining fees, and the largest simple transfer models (Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Litecoin) accounted for only a negligible amount of fees. On the day of Otherdeed NFT minting, the fees generated on Ethereum exceeded the total fees for Bitcoin for the entire year of 2022.

The share of Gas used by L2 doubled, but the adoption rate remains low, although it may improve with the rollout of EIP-4844. For Ethereum, it must continue to scale and prioritize the usability of the protocol, although fees will always be a KPI, the new goal is to scale faster than adoption, which will be key to driving prices up and consolidating Ethereum's position in the crypto ecosystem.

Despite adopting a subsidized transaction model, Tron still exceeded Bitcoin in block space demand and maintained relatively stable fees throughout the year, primarily due to Tron capturing low-value USDT transfers. The Bitcoin Lightning Network has not seen meaningful growth, and the expectations for Lightning Network adoption have been overly optimistic, with most peak transaction fees attributable to the collapse of crypto institutions. (Source link)

8. Zhao Changpeng: Focus on Education, Compliance, Products, and Services in 2023

Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng stated on social media that he hopes to keep 2023 simple, efficiently handling affairs, knowing what to do and what not to do. The focus for 2023 will be on four areas: education, compliance, products and services, and ignoring FUD, false news, and malicious attacks.

CZ also stated that there are no products without security in the crypto industry, and one should never aim for money. (Source link)

9. SushiSwap to Deprecate Kashi and MISO Platforms

SushiSwap CTO Matthew Lilley recently tweeted that the lending product Kashi and the token launch platform MISO will be deprecated in the first quarter of this year, citing poor design and lack of resources as the main reasons for phasing out these products. (Source link)

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

1. "Gemini Founder Slams DCG 'Mess,' $1.7 Billion Fund Mystery"

At the start of 2023, the crypto circle's "mutual tearing" drama has welcomed a new plot. On January 2, Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of the American crypto exchange Gemini, released an open letter accusing Digital Currency Group (DCG) CEO Barry Silbert of employing "malicious delay tactics," claiming that DCG and its subsidiary Genesis Global Capital owe Gemini customers $900 million and that DCG's internal fund management is "a mess."

2. "Reviewing the Nine Major Events of Ethereum in 2022"

This article selects nine significant Ethereum annual events and topics worth recording, summarizing them to help everyone recall some key points when reflecting on 2022. This includes the Ethereum merge, the maturation of sharding solutions, the FTX explosion, the emerging DeSoc, the ZK-EVM track, and the compliance and decentralization of MEV-Boost, among others.

3. "1confirmation Partner: Three Underrated Product Trends for 2023"

As a tradition, Richard Chen makes three low-profile predictions about product trends for the coming year. This article first reviews how his predictions from last year (vertical-specific NFT markets, trust-minimized cross-chain bridging, investing in DAOs) fared, and then Richard Chen makes three predictions for 2023.

4. "Seven Major Themes Related to Bitcoin in 2023: Lightning Network, CBDC, Miniscript Wallets, etc."

This article comes from comments by Stephan Livera, host of the "Stephan Livera Podcast" and Managing Director of Swan Bitcoin International. As the chapter of 2022 comes to a close, it's time to turn our attention to what will happen in 2023. Here are some themes that Stephan Livera believes will be related to Bitcoin in 2023.