Evening News | Silvergate Capital announces closure and liquidation; stocks of crypto startups like OpenSea are being sold at a discount

Organizer: Nianqing, ChainCatcher

"What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours?"

1. Stocks of crypto startups like OpenSea and ConsenSys are being sold at significant discounts

The holding company of crypto bank Silvergate Bank, Silvergate Capital Corporation, announced on Wednesday that it will shut down operations, planning to end the bank's business and voluntarily liquidate in an orderly manner according to applicable regulatory procedures. The stock fell sharply by 40% in after-hours trading.
Silvergate stated that an orderly wind-down of the bank's operations and voluntary liquidation is "the best way forward." The bank's liquidation and winding-down plan includes full repayment of all deposits. The company is also considering how to best address claims and preserve the remaining value of its assets, including its proprietary technology and tax assets. Additionally, Silvergate Bank has decided to ultimately cease operations of the Silvergate Exchange Network (SEN). (Source link)

2. Reuters reports that JPMorgan has terminated its banking relationship with Gemini, which Gemini denies

According to a source familiar with the matter, JPMorgan will end its partnership with the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini and will no longer provide banking services to Gemini. As early as the beginning of 2020, JPMorgan had listed Gemini and the publicly traded exchange Coinbase as clients. Furthermore, a spokesperson for the San Francisco-based exchange confirmed that Coinbase's banking relationship with JPMorgan remains intact.

Gemini responded on its official Twitter, stating that contrary to the report, it still maintains a banking relationship with JPMorgan. (Source link)

3. Web3 content platform Mirror launches NFT subscription minting feature Subscribe to Mint

Web3 content platform Mirror announced the launch of its subscription minting feature "Subscribe to Mint," which is currently deployed on Ethereum, Optimism, and Polygon chains, aimed at supporting interaction between creators and collectors. This feature is completely free for creators, who will receive 100% of the revenue from the NFTs sold.

The new feature has two potential use cases: 1. Genesis Drop. Web3 projects can publish content and pair it with collectible NFTs that include the project logo or symbol, then use "Subscribe to Mint" to interact with the project audience through content updates and subsequent NFT drops; 2. Launch collectible NFT series, where holders can complete minting NFTs and encourage new users to register as subscribers to participate in future NFT drops. (Source link)

4. Stocks of crypto startups like OpenSea and ConsenSys are being sold at significant discounts

Richard Freemanson, CEO of the secondary trading market Birel, confirmed that many crypto startups' stocks are currently being sold at considerable discounts on Birel.io, including Alchemy, Blockchain.com, Chainalysis, Kraken, ConsenSys, Blockdaemon, CoinDCX, and OpenSea.

The scale of bulk stock offerings from these companies ranges from $3 million to $50 million, with significant variations in discounts. Blockchain.com and ConsenSys stocks are being sold at discounts of 74% and 71% from their latest funding rounds, respectively. Chainalysis stocks are sold at a 61% discount, and OpenSea stocks at a 51% discount. Alchemy, Blockdaemon, and Kraken stocks are discounted by 31%, 30%, and 9%, respectively. (The Block)

5. BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes: A centralized Bitcoin-backed stablecoin NUSD should be created

BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes published an article expressing his views on stablecoins in the crypto industry, arguing that over-collateralized stablecoins like MakerDAO and algorithmic stablecoins like TerraUSD are unnecessary; the former is inefficient, and the latter poses significant risks. The market tends to view the true reason for the existence of stablecoins as allowing traders to transact between fiat and cryptocurrencies, thus whether stablecoins are centralized or not is not important.

Additionally, Arthur believes that it is too risky for the U.S. financial system to have a large amount of dollars in the hands of institutions that must immediately liquidate their debts to fulfill commitments to clients. Therefore, while USDT, USDC, and BUSD may continue to exist, their deposit bases will have an upper limit on overall growth, which is not conducive to further expanding liquidity in the crypto market.

Subsequently, Arthur proposed the establishment of a Bitcoin-backed stablecoin NUSD (The Satoshi Nakamoto Dollar), which consists of the value of Bitcoin and a "short position in a reverse perpetual swap agreement of Bitcoin and USD value," thus maintaining the stability of its value through the derivatives market. At the same time, NakaDAO needs to be established, with centralized trading platforms providing trading venues for the perpetual swap agreements to ensure the normal operation of NUSD. (Source link)

6. CFTC Chairman: Ethereum is a commodity, and the CFTC has direct jurisdiction over its derivatives market

Rostin Behnam, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stated on Wednesday to the Senate Agriculture Committee that Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, is a commodity. Ethereum has been listed on CFTC exchanges for a long time, and the CFTC has direct jurisdiction over its derivatives and underlying markets. (decrypt)

7. Tencent Huanhe: Will go offline on June 30, users are advised to process refunds

Tencent's digital collectibles platform Huanhe issued a notice about going offline, stating that due to business adjustments, the Huanhe APP will go offline at 24:00 on June 30, 2023. After the Huanhe APP goes offline, users holding collectibles will no longer be able to query, download, display, or share purchased digital collectibles in the APP, and refunds will no longer be possible. Huanhe advises users to process refunds before June 30, 2023.

"What excellent articles are worth reading in the past 24 hours?"

1. "HashKey Capital Research Report: 5 Tech Hotspots to Watch in 2023"

The HashKey Capital research team has released a report on "5 Tech Hotspots to Watch in 2023," which includes: 1. Major upgrades to Ethereum (Shanghai, Cancun); 2. Technologies, products, and services related to staking; 3. Improvements in modular blockchains and the development of specific application Rollups, such as L3s; 4. Other non-scaling applications of ZK, such as ZK Bridges; 5. Iterations of AA+MPC and the Lightning Network, providing other technologies for end users.

2. "Delphi Digital: GameFi Will Undergo a 'Major Restructuring' in 2023"

This article summarizes the Delphi Digital and Naavik Gamefi 2023 report. It mainly reflects on the challenges faced by the Gamefi industry, the progress made, and future trends.

In the first quarter of 2022, investment peaked at over $3.7 billion, with 50% of cryptocurrency investments related to gaming. Since the beginning of this year, the average price of the top 10 gaming tokens by market capitalization has dropped by 97%, partly due to declining retail investor interest. This is mainly because the F2P model cannot sustain a viable economy, leading to a loss of active player base.

3. "Bitcoin's Star Public Chain Stacks: How Far Can It Go in the Future?"

With the popularity of the Bitcoin NFT protocol Ordinals, the entire Bitcoin NFT market has entered a new round of competition. As one of the first blockchains capable of producing Bitcoin ordinals, Stacks has benefited significantly. In the past ten days, its token STX has quadrupled in price. Although the broader market has recently entered a downward trend, the price of STX has also fallen to $0.69, but it remains a popular coin favored by many investors.

However, the popularity of Ordinals has also raised a question: as more Bitcoin NFT projects emerge, the Bitcoin network may experience congestion, which will test the minimalist philosophy of Bitcoin. For Stacks, as a Bitcoin L2 public chain, this presents both a challenge and a rare opportunity.