Daily Report ｜ U.S. SEC Delays Decision on Spot Bitcoin ETF Applications; Base Airdrops NFTs to Early Supporting Service Providers

Organizer: flowie, ChainCatcher

"What Important Events Happened in the Last 24 Hours"

1. The SEC Delays Decisions on Spot Bitcoin ETF Applications from BlackRock, Fidelity, and Five Others
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decisions on seven spot Bitcoin ETF applications submitted by BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, VanEck, WisdomTree, Invesco, and Valkyrie.

The decision deadlines for BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust, VanEck Bitcoin Trust, WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust, and Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF will be extended to October 17; the deadline for Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund has been pushed to October 19; and the decision deadline for Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust has also been delayed to October 16.

Following this news, Bitcoin's price briefly fell to $25,965, with a maximum drop of 5.1% in 24 hours, currently quoted at $25,993. (Source link)

2. GBTC Fund Size Increased by $1.17 Billion After Grayscale's Legal Victory
CCData shows that in the two days of August 29 and 30 (the day of the court victory and the following day), Grayscale's GBTC fund assets under management (AUM) significantly increased by $1.17 billion. Currently, Grayscale's total AUM has reached $17.4 billion. (Source link)

3. Ethereum's Latest ACDE Meeting: Testing the Cancun Upgrade Fork in the Order of Holesky, Goerli, and Sepolia Testnets
Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko summarized the latest Ethereum Core Developer Execution Meeting (ACDE), which discussed the latest developments in the Dencun development network, as well as the Verkle Trie and State Expiry roadmap.

Tim Beiko also stated that the Cancun upgrade fork will be tested in the order of Holesky, Goerli, and Sepolia testnets, with the next ACDE scheduled for September 14 at 22:00 Beijing time. (Source link)

4. Chinese Supreme Court Newspaper Article: Virtual Currency is Legally Protected, and Related Assets Cannot Be Uniformly Confiscated or Returned
The People's Court of Siming District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province published an article in the Chinese Supreme Court newspaper titled "The Property Attributes of Virtual Currency and the Disposal of Related Assets," which analyzes the criminal law attributes of virtual currency, stating that virtual currency has economic attributes that can be classified as property, and current laws and policies do not classify virtual currency as illegal items. Therefore, under the current legal and policy framework, virtual currency held by relevant parties in China remains legal property and is protected by law.

The article suggests handling related assets from a basic position of legality, stating that for criminal acts involving virtual currency, related assets cannot be uniformly confiscated or returned, and should be treated differently based on a unified criminal and civil legal order, achieving a balance between personal property rights and social public interests. (Source link)

5. At Least Five Ethereum Liquid Staking Providers Agree to Implement a 22% Limit on All Validators
At least five Ethereum liquid staking providers have implemented or are working to implement self-limiting rules, in which they commit not to hold more than 22% of the Ethereum staking market share—this is seen as a measure to ensure the decentralization of the Ethereum network.
Ethereum core developer Superphiz stated that Ethereum staking providers committed to or working to comply with self-limiting rules include Rocket Pool, StakeWise, Stader Labs, and Diva Stake. Puffer Finance has also committed to comply with self-limiting rules. However, the largest Ethereum liquid staking provider, Lido Finance, voted in June with a 99.81% majority not to implement self-limiting measures. Dune data shows that Lido has exceeded the 22% limit based on staking volume and market share. (Source link)

6. Foreign Media: Thailand May Implement Digital Wallet Plan, Distributing $300 Utility Tokens to Citizens Aged 16 and Above
According to the Bangkok Post, Thailand's new government is expected to issue utility tokens to support its digital wallet plan, which requires approval from the Bank of Thailand, as the regulatory body currently prohibits the use of tokens as a means of payment.

ASPS is expected to distribute utility tokens worth 10,000 Thai Baht to Thai citizens aged 16 and above. It is estimated that the plan will require a budget of 560 billion Thai Baht. The government is consulting with the Ministry of Finance and the Securities and Exchange Commission on how to issue this type of token and determine funding sources.

It is reported that Thailand's new Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin promised during his campaign in April that if elected and forming a government after the May 14 election, he would distribute 10,000 Thai Baht (approximately $300) in digital currency to each citizen aged 16 and above. (Source link)

7. Base: Airdropped NFTs to Early Supporting Apps and Service Providers
Coinbase's L2 network Base announced that today it has airdropped Genesis Builder NFTs (gold level) to over 100 apps and service providers that supported it at launch.

The NFT series was designed by @KlaraVollstaedt and aims to recognize early contributors to the Base blockchain as valuable members of the Builder community. Teams eligible for this NFT must have deployed to the Base blockchain at launch and must be apps, infrastructure, or service providers; independent token or NFT projects do not qualify. Genesis Builder NFT holders will receive Discord privileges to connect with other community members. (Source link)

8. Matter Labs Co-Founder: Ethereum Wins the L1 Race, Some Things Can Only Be Achieved by L1
Alex, co-founder and CEO of zkSync development team Matter Labs, stated in an interview that some things can only be achieved by L1, which are crucial to the value created by blockchain, the most important of which are: decentralization, resilience, and censorship resistance. The role of L1 is to truly fulfill these responsibilities, and in my view, no one does it better than Ethereum. Ethereum is the winner of the L1 race.

Everything else, including scalability, privacy, and user experience, can and will be solved by L2, and is irrelevant compared to L1.

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

1. "Fidelity: A Feasibility Study on Ethereum as a Digital Asset and Potential Yield Asset"

Users can gain technical utility from the Ethereum network by accessing various applications within the Ethereum ecosystem.

Some may ask, "How does utility translate into the value of Ethereum tokens?" In other words, why would investors buy and hold Ethereum tokens instead of simply using them to interact with the Ethereum network? In our previous article introducing the Ethereum network, we simply considered how or why Ethereum tokens might generate value. In this article, we will delve deeper into this issue from an investment perspective and briefly introduce some technical issues.

2. "Reviewing the NFT Cycle Rotation: Who is Rising Against the Trend?"

Like the crypto market, NFTs also have their own rotation cycles, and in November 2022, the NFT market experienced a downturn, with daily trading volume around 5k ETH. During these two minor bear market cycles, how did the leading NFTs perform after undergoing significant changes over half a year? Which NFTs saw a decline? And which NFTs rose against the trend?

Among them, Pudgy Penguins is the only project with a significant increase in floor price, while Invisible Friends and Moonbirds saw the largest declines in floor price.