Evening News | Signature Q1 cryptocurrency deposits decrease by approximately $826 million; U.S. Senator requests Binance to provide balance sheet
Block launched a company focused on improving the Bitcoin Lightning Network; the founder of Blur stated that Blur's growth strategy was inspired by Uniswap and Taobao.整理：flowie，ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened in the Past 24 Hours"
1. Signature Bank Continues to Limit Cryptocurrency Deposit Exposure in Q1, Deposits Decrease by Approximately $826 Million
Cryptocurrency-friendly bank Signature Bank released its mid-quarter financial update for Q1 2023 on Thursday. Due to regulatory and market factors, the bank has limited its cryptocurrency deposit exposure, resulting in a continued decline in deposits related to cryptocurrency clients, with its spot deposit balance decreasing by approximately $826 million.
So far, deposits related to cryptocurrency clients have decreased by $1.5 billion in Q1. As Signature continues to reduce the loan balances of its larger business lines, the spot loan balance has decreased by $1.71 billion to date in Q1. The bank reiterated that it will not engage in trading, custody, or lending/offer loans secured by cryptocurrency.
Previous report indicated that in December last year, Signature Bank announced it would reduce cryptocurrency deposits by up to $10 billion, ultimately reducing crypto deposits from 23.5% to below 15%. However, recent clients such as Coinbase have turned to Signature. (Source link)
2. WSJ: U.S. Senators Demand Binance Provide Operational Information Including Balance Sheets from 2017 to Present
According to the Wall Street Journal, three U.S. senators sent a letter to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and his top U.S. deputy Brian Shroder, stating that "Binance and its related entities have deliberately evaded regulators, transferring assets to criminals and sanctions evaders, and hiding fundamental financial information from its customers and the public."
The senators requested Zhao and Shroder to provide copies of Binance's balance sheets since 2017, as well as the number of U.S. users on its platform during this period. Additionally, the senators requested documents related to Binance's anti-money laundering policies and procedures; information regarding the relationship between the global exchange and its U.S. affiliate; and disclosure of any communications related to compliance restrictions, demanding a response from Binance by March 16.
In response, Binance stated in a statement that much misinformation about the company has circulated, but it appreciates the senators' request and will provide information to help them better understand the company. (Source link)
3. Blur Founder: Blur's Growth Strategy Inspired by Uniswap and Taobao, Future Development Will Be Heavily Influenced by the Community
According to CoinDesk, Pacman, co-founder of the NFT marketplace Blur, stated in an interview that his real name is Tieshun Roquerre, a 24-year-old developer and investor. Roquerre revealed that the tokenomics and growth strategy of Blur were inspired by the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange Uniswap and the e-commerce platform Taobao.
Regarding NFT royalties, Roquerre stated that his position is to maximize copyright fees in a scalable and sustainable manner. Although there are zero-royalty markets, he decided to steer away from these markets by incentivizing traders (for example, through its competitive strategy against OpenSea).
Regarding Blur's privacy policy statement that "the platform collects information such as browsing history, email addresses, and work history that can be used to create consumer profiles," Roquerre denied that the platform is collecting user data and stated that its privacy policy is "very standard." He added that the data collected is publicly visible on the blockchain. However, he promised to update the privacy policy to clarify its intentions to users.
Roquerre also stated that the platform's future will be heavily influenced by its community, which can use the treasury holding 39% of the total supply of BLUR tokens. He said, "The community can vote on fiscal grants available for developing features or various initiatives, and can also vote to allocate fiscal grants to new economic designs, which may include introducing platform fees at some point in the future to generate additional revenue."
Additionally, according to crypto data platform RootData, Blur completed a $11 million seed round financing led by Paradigm in March 2022. (Source link)
4. Data: Addresses Associated with IOSG Ventures Profited $36 Million from Buying Low and Selling High in 2022
On-chain data analysis platform Lookonchain tweeted that an institution accumulated 7,669 ETH ($12 million), 83,815 AAVE ($6.37 million), 919,998 UNI ($5.74 million), and 86,976 COMP ($4 million) this year.
Furthermore, the institution made a profit of $36 million in 2022 by bottom-fishing ETH and selling at the top. Between June 24 and August 1, 2022, the institution received 95,138 ETH from Binance (worth $118 million at the time), with an average receiving price of $1,237; and transferred 95,100 ETH to Binance on August 15, September 14, and September 15, 2022 (worth $154 million at the time).
On January 4 and today, the institution received 86,976 COMP from Binance, with an average receiving price of $39; on January 4 and January 7, it received 83,815 AAVE from Binance, with an average receiving price of $57; today it received 919,999 UNI from Binance, with an average receiving price of $6.2; and on January 4 and February 22, it received 7,669 ETH from Binance, with an average receiving price of $1,492.
Lookonchain stated that this institution is associated with IOSG Ventures because they use the same Binance deposit address. (Source link)
5. Near Ecosystem NFT Platform Few and Far Completes $10.5 Million Financing, Led by Pantera Capital
The Near ecosystem NFT platform Few and Far has completed $10.5 million in financing, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Cypher Capital, Huobi Ventures, Hypersphere, Metaweb, Mantis Partners, K5 Global, and others.
It is reported that this round of financing will help Few and Far expand the platform's capabilities and enhance user experience. (Source link)
6. Block Launches Company c= Focused on Improving Bitcoin Lightning Network
According to CoinDesk, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's payment company Block has established a company c= focused on improving liquidity and routing for the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
c= aims to enhance network reliability by submitting Bitcoin to the Lightning Network and developing infrastructure to address transaction failures caused by low liquidity and inefficient routing. (Source link)
7. Circle CEO: Developers and Entrepreneurs in the Crypto Space Are Becoming Increasingly Reluctant to Operate in the U.S.
Jeremy Allaire, CEO of USDC stablecoin issuer Circle, tweeted, "We have been expanding developer programs, events, hackathons, etc., notably, the vast majority of these activities are happening outside the U.S. U.S. developers and entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly reluctant to develop blockchain software applications in the U.S." (Source link)
8. Uniswap Foundation Establishes Uniswap Bridge Assessment Committee and Launches Evaluation Process
ChainCatcher reports that the Uniswap Foundation has announced the establishment of the Uniswap Bridge Assessment Committee and the launch of the evaluation process. The committee will handle eight cross-chain bridges, including Axelar, Celer, deBridge, Hyperlane, LayerZero, Multichain, Router Protocol, and Wormhole, along with three bridging solutions created by the Celer team, Gnosis team, and ERC-5164: Cross-chain Execution, focusing on Uniswap's governance needs and providing short-term recommendations for how the Uniswap community should address bridge issues in the coming weeks.
Additionally, the committee will provide guidance on ideal long-term solutions and suggestions for how the Uniswap community can continue to monitor and investigate bridges as the space evolves.
Currently, committee members include Ermyas Abebe, Jasraj "Jazzy" Bedi, Sean Casey, Ben O'Neill, Peter Robinson, and David Hyland-Wood, with plans to expand the team in the coming weeks. (Source link)
"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading in the Past 24 Hours"
As one of the most cutting-edge technology fields today, Web3 is attracting more and more alumni from top universities, such as Blur, Scroll, Opensea, Aleo, and STEPN, all founded by alumni from leading institutions like Stanford, continuously injecting new vitality into the industry.
Rootdata recently compiled a collection of seven projects founded by alumni from top global universities, including Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Zhejiang University. Stanford University has the highest number of projects listed, reaching 44, while other universities range from 20 to 30 projects.
Rootdata provides a detailed overview of the projects founded by these university alumni in the Web3 space.
Recently, Silvergate Bank's holding company, Silvergate Capital Corporation, announced it would delay the submission of its annual 10-K report for the fiscal year 2022, stating, "The company is currently analyzing certain regulatory inquiries and investigations related to the company." Subsequently, many crypto companies and trading platforms, including Coinbase, Circle, Tether, and Galaxy Digital, distanced themselves from Silvergate; meanwhile, Silvergate's stock suffered a sharp decline in the capital markets. Bloomberg crypto reporter Matt Levine wrote an article analyzing the reasons behind Silvergate's "bank run."
