Evening News | FTX's debts have attracted potential acquisition interest from about 117 companies; Binance's revenue in 2022 may reach 12 billion USD

Organizer: Biscuit, ChainCatcher

"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"

1. He Yi: Binance hopes the Big Four are willing to audit crypto assets, and the $1 billion 'recovery plan' is advancing two major transactions

He Yi, co-founder and CMO of Binance and head of Binance Labs, stated during an online discussion at the "POW'ER 2023 Hong Kong Web3 Innovators Summit" that Binance will publicly prove the reserves of most of its coins in the future. "The audit of crypto asset reserves and the audit of listed financial statements are not the same thing; the audit of listed financial statements is a different concept. Currently, only Coinbase, as a listed company, has conducted a financial audit. The Big Four accounting firms are not very enthusiastic about auditing crypto assets, and Binance hopes there will be auditing firms willing to conduct audits."

In addition, He Yi mentioned that Binance's $1 billion "recovery plan" is not a charity plan and needs to return to business. The plan is advancing two relatively large transactions involving two trading platforms. (Source link)

When discussing the FTX bankruptcy incident, He Yi said, "I didn't expect FTX to be so crazy at that time; it was only after seeing the CoinDesk article that I realized the seriousness of the problem. At that time, we still didn't know that it was completely misappropriating users' assets; we just thought FTX was spending too extravagantly." Additionally, He Yi stated, "Binance has very strict internal controls; no matter how senior the employees are, they are not allowed to trade cryptocurrencies. After buying, they must hold for more than 90 days before trading."

2. FTX's multiple businesses have attracted potential acquisition interest from about 117 companies worldwide

According to a legal document released, as of Sunday, approximately 117 parties, including various global financial and strategic counterparts, have expressed potential acquisition interest in one or more of FTX's businesses. So far, FTX has signed 59 non-disclosure agreements. LedgerX, a derivatives division of FTX US, is one of the few companies that remain solvent and is leading in 56 letters of intent.

FTX stated that, given the charges against these former executives by the Department of Justice and securities and commodities regulators, it will not sell any claims related to Sam Bankman-Fried, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, Caroline Ellison, or their families. The deadline for submitting preliminary bids for these four companies will expire between January 18 and February 1. However, in another document submitted on Sunday, a committee representing FTX creditors stated that there would be no rush to sell. (Source link)

3. Coinbase announces further details of restructuring plan: laying off 950 people, total costs between $149 million and $163 million

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Coinbase (COIN.O) announced further details of its restructuring plan, which is expected to be largely completed by the second quarter of 2023, with total restructuring costs estimated between $149 million and $163 million, and will lay off 950 employees. (Source link)

4. CryptoQuant: Binance's revenue in 2022 may reach $12 billion, OKX has achieved 4 times revenue growth in the past two years

Crypto data analysis tool CryptoQuant tweeted that Binance's revenue has grown tenfold over the past two years, with revenue in 2022 potentially reaching $12 billion. Since the second quarter of 2021, Huobi's quarterly revenue has decreased by 98%. OKX's revenue has quadrupled in the past two years, with the platform destroying or repurchasing OKB worth approximately $948 million in 2022. (Source link)

5. The U.S. Department of Justice has seized approximately $456 million worth of Robinhood stock held by SBF and Gary Wang

According to court documents, the U.S. Department of Justice has seized over 55 million shares of Robinhood stock held by SBF and his FTX co-founder Gary Wang through the holding company Emergent Fidelity Technologies. Based on last Friday's closing price, the 55 million shares of Robinhood stock are valued at approximately $456 million. The stock had previously been held in an account at the UK brokerage ED&F Man. (Source link)

6. People's Bank of China: As of December 2022, "currency in circulation (M0)" includes circulating digital RMB

The People's Bank of China stated that as of December 2022, "currency in circulation (M0)" includes circulating digital RMB. The balance of circulating digital RMB at the end of December was 13.61 billion yuan. After revision, the growth rates of M1 and M2 at the end of each month in 2022 showed no significant changes. (Source link)

7. Huobi Korea will operate independently, and its chairman will acquire a majority stake from Li Lin

According to South Korean media News1, Huobi Korea will sever ties with Huobi Global and operate independently. It was reported that Huobi Korea will negotiate on equity issues, with more than half of Huobi Korea's shares currently owned by Huobi Global founder Li Lin. Huobi Korea's chairman Jo Guk-Bong will acquire a majority stake from Li Lin. (News1)

8. BlockFi CEO cashed out nearly $10 million from loans provided by FTX

According to a presentation released by the bankrupt crypto lending company BlockFi outlining the progress, timeline, and proposed agenda of its ongoing court cases, BlockFi CEO Zac Prince was able to withdraw approximately $9.2 million from BlockFi in April 2022, thanks to a $400 million loan from FTX. Additionally, Prince withdrew another $1.36 million in August at the then-market price for tax purposes.

BlockFi revealed that its management team "deployed their personal assets on the platform to trade, earn interest, and store various cryptocurrencies under the same terms of service as customers," thereby passing on the customer interests in the FTX rescue plan to themselves. Furthermore, after a counterparty threatened to file a lawsuit, FTX provided an additional $15 million to BlockFi insiders in June. Due to the structure of the settlement, some of BlockFi's payments were routed through executives and ultimately paid to counterparties. (The Block)

9. Forbes: Since last November, approximately $12 billion has flowed out of Binance

According to a Forbes investigation, Binance has experienced a significant outflow of assets over the past two months. Forbes analysts compiled data from multiple data analysis platforms and conducted an in-depth study of Binance's wallets, revealing that the exchange has seen approximately $12 billion in outflows since last November.

At the beginning of December last year, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao assured customers that withdrawal amounts were not even among the top five at the exchange and that there was no need to worry. However, in reality, Binance has lost 15% of its assets since then. Since last November, Binance's native token BNB balance has halved, and the number of BUSD stablecoins has decreased by 40%. Forbes pointed out that the exchange's MATIC, APE, and GALA balances have also decreased by 40% to 50%. (Forbes)

10. Former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh may provide evidence of SBF violating campaign finance laws in hopes of leniency

Former FTX engineering director and SBF's roommate Nishad Singh met with prosecutors during a "proffer session" and may provide evidence of SBF violating campaign finance laws in hopes of a lighter sentence. Such sessions typically include offering "limited immunity" to encourage interviewees to speak freely. Previously, FTX group executives Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison met with federal prosecutors to reach agreements.

According to Bloomberg citing insiders, Singh possesses a wealth of information regarding FTX and SBF's political donations. Since 2020, Singh has personally donated over $9.3 million to initiatives aligned with the Democratic Party. In April 2021, Singh donated $1 million to the political action committee Mind The Gap, founded by SBF's mother. According to a court document from last November, Singh received a $543 million loan from Alameda Research.

According to ChainCatcher previously reported, Twitter users claimed that the FBI may have initiated a manhunt for former Alameda co-CEO Sam Trabucco and FTX engineering director Nishad Singh. (CoinDesk)

11. BitDAO's modular Ethereum Layer 2 network Mantle launches testnet

BitDAO's modular Ethereum Layer 2 network Mantle Network announced the launch of its testnet. Mantle obtains security from Ethereum through Rollups and is building a separate data availability layer in collaboration with partner EigenLayer.

It is reported that the Mantle Network stack consists of three layers, one for transaction execution, while the other two handle transaction finalization and data availability, respectively. Transaction fees on Mantle will be paid using the BIT token. Developers need to fill out a form to gain access to the Mantle testnet. (Source link)

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

1. "2022 DeFi Review: Can DeFi Without Innovation Drive the Next Bull Market?"

Several leading protocols in the DeFi space are essentially developing along an integration route. Even when a bull market arrives, there are rarely emerging, vertical projects. Just like in China's internet era, giants like Alibaba and Tencent monopolized major categories such as social media, gaming, and e-commerce. This article is the written version of the Twitter Space "2022 DeFi Review and Summary" hosted by ChainCatcher and CatcherVC, summarizing the insightful views of DoDo researcher Flame, Synthetix's head for China Errance, dForce founder Mindao, GoPlus Security partner manager Stan, and iZUMi Finance co-founder Jimmy. You can click here to view the full version.

2. "AvatarDAO: X To Earn Sector Research Report"

While most investment activities still occur in the primary and secondary markets, a miraculous door has opened, releasing tremendous potential in 2021. That is GameFi. This thematic research report does not require you to have deep knowledge of the GameFi industry, as it is organized by professional researchers from AvatarDAO. This report will comprehensively summarize the development process of the GameFi sector, covering the definition of GameFi, the early history of blockchain games, the 1.0 and 2.0 phases of GameFi, and future development trends of GameFi X.0.

3. "AC Talks with the Fantom Community: Huge Discrepancies in Using On-Chain Data as KPI Compared to Ethereum's Development Path"

Recently, Andre Cronje, known as the "father of DeFi," announced his return. As one of the earliest builders in the DeFi space, AC published an article last April titled "Crypto is Dead, Crypto Lives On," announcing his exit from the scene. However, his related news can still bring some volatility to Crypto, especially Fantom. After AC's return, everyone is focused on whether AC can restore the former glory of DeFi and bring better development to Fantom. Recently, AC initiated an infinite AMA event, and this article compiles some of the exciting content.

4. "ZK Validator: 2022 Zero-Knowledge Proof Field Review"

According to Google Trends data, interest in searching for "zero-knowledge proofs" surged in 2022, and even during the harsh bear market in the second half of this year, interest has continued to rise. This article is a report on the progress in the field of zero-knowledge technology. It has been a busy year for the entire industry, but we can confidently say that 2022 was a breakthrough year for zero-knowledge proofs.