Weekly Report | The U.S. SEC has postponed the decision date for the spot Bitcoin ETF; Boyaa Interactive plans to purchase up to $100 million in cryptocurrency within a year

Organizer: Biscuit, ChainCatcher

"What Important Events Happened This Week (11.13-11.19)"

1. The U.S. SEC has postponed its decision date on Global X and Franklin Templeton's spot Bitcoin ETFs
According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will delay its decision on the Global X spot Bitcoin ETF until December 22, and has set a comment period during which the public can express opinions on the proposal for the next 35 days.

Additionally, the SEC will also postpone its decision on whether to approve Franklin Templeton's Bitcoin ETF until early 2024. (Source link)

2. Binance Labs Operations Head: Currently more focused on supporting startups with actual products and revenue
Dana Hou, who is responsible for business strategy and operations at Binance Labs, told Bloomberg that the department is currently engaging more actively with founders of crypto projects. Dana Hou stated that despite the unfavorable regulatory environment this year, Binance Labs will continue to invest in more cryptocurrency projects, including those based in the U.S. Recent layoffs at Binance have not affected Binance Labs, and the team is still operating steadily. However, data analysis published on its official website shows that since January, Binance Labs has reduced its team members from 18 to 8.

When asked about the layoffs, Binance Labs stated that it will continue to hire and welcomes new members to join the team. Dana Hou mentioned that Binance Labs and other venture capitalists are now more focused on supporting startups that already have actual products and revenue. In the past, projects were often hyped simply because they received venture capital investment, but recently, such hype has become less concerning in the crypto industry.

This week, Binance Labs announced an investment in Arkham's native token ARKM. Arkham is an AI-driven blockchain intelligence and data platform that provides detailed information and visualization tools for on-chain activities. (Source link)

3. Sam Altman has been removed as CEO and from the board of OpenAI, and a decision on whether to return to OpenAI may be made on Saturday night
OpenAI announced that Sam Altman will no longer serve as CEO and will leave the board, with Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati taking over as interim CEO, effective immediately. The announcement stated that the decision was reached after careful review by the board, citing Altman's lack of transparency in communications with the board, which hindered the board's ability to fulfill its duties. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to lead OpenAI.

Meanwhile, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman will no longer serve as board chair but will remain as president of OpenAI, reporting to the CEO.

According to Bloomberg, citing informed sources, there were many disagreements between Sam Altman and the board prior to his dismissal, particularly with OpenAI co-founder and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever. Points of contention included views on AI safety, the pace of technological development, and the commercialization of the company. OpenAI's investors are pressuring the company's board to reverse the decision to remove former CEO Sam Altman and to remove him from the board. Some investors are actively seeking the help of Microsoft, OpenAI's largest shareholder.

According to The Information, Sam Altman may decide as early as Saturday night whether to return to OpenAI. Informed sources revealed that for a return to happen, board members would need to be replaced. Alternatively, Sam Altman may continue to plan the launch of a new venture. The investor group Tiger Global is pushing for OpenAI's board to restore Altman's position. Another source indicated that Sequoia Capital has been discussing next steps with Altman, including a potential return.

4. Hong Kong-listed company Boyaa Interactive seeks shareholder authorization to purchase up to $100 million in cryptocurrency within a year
According to an announcement from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the board of Boyaa Interactive believes that purchasing and holding cryptocurrency is an important measure for the group to layout and develop its business in the Web3 field and is a key component of the group's asset allocation strategy. After careful consideration, the board recommends seeking prior approval from shareholders to grant the board the authority to conduct potential cryptocurrency purchases during the authorization period, which is 12 months from the date of the special general meeting where the relevant authorization and potential cryptocurrency purchase ordinary resolution is formally passed, with a total purchase amount not exceeding $100 million.

Currently, it is expected to purchase approximately $45 million in Bitcoin and $45 million in Ethereum, with an additional up to $10 million allocated for purchasing USD stablecoins USDT and USDC. Potential cryptocurrency purchases will be conducted on regulated and licensed trading platforms in the public market, including but not limited to HashKey Exchange.

Boyaa Interactive may also continue to explore and conduct potential cryptocurrency purchases on other regulated and licensed trading platforms within the scope of the purchase authorization. Additionally, the group has established a dedicated regulatory team that will regularly monitor the licensing and regulatory environment of trading platforms to ensure that the platforms used by the group are secure and recognized.

Previously, ChainCatcher reported in August that Boyaa Interactive's board had approved a budget of $5 million for purchasing cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH. (Source link)

5. Pantera Capital: Less than 5% of the portfolio is affected by the FTX collapse, crypto companies should reduce the time assets stay on exchanges or with third parties
Pantera Capital tweeted a summary and review of how it responded to the FTX collapse crisis a year ago, stating that it formed a task force to assess the impact on its portfolio after news of FTX and Alameda's financial troubles emerged, identifying all potential risks and providing assistance to high-risk teams. After identifying all potential risks (custody, counterparties, investments, etc.), it worked with affected teams to mitigate further risks and develop a plan moving forward. Due to its regular emphasis on proactive risk management practices to founders, less than 5% of the portfolio teams were significantly affected.

Pantera recommends that crypto companies establish an internal process to minimize the time any assets stay on any exchange or with third parties; implement multi-signature processes for all asset transfers to avoid single points of control; diversify counterparty risks for on-chain and off-chain transactions by ensuring dealings with as many custodians, exchanges, and banks as possible; maintain liquidity and cash value of financial assets as much as possible to avoid unnecessary principal risk; take measures to ensure bank accounts are protected by FDIC insurance limits; and transfer assets from co-mingled wallets (such as exchanges or funds mixed with other funds) to on-chain isolated wallets (such as custodial, self-custodial, or any place where funds are isolated from other third-party funds). (Source link)

6. FTX plans to sell $100 million in cryptocurrency weekly to repay debts, pending regulatory confirmation of the plan
According to Finbold, FTX plans to sell approximately $100 million in cryptocurrency each week. This plan has not yet been finalized due to potential intervention from the SEC or other regulatory bodies.

FTX currently holds approximately 10% of the total supply of SOL, valued at over $3.3 billion. It also holds BTC worth $742 million, ETH worth approximately $226 million, APT worth about $180 million, and XRP worth about $143 million. (Source link)

7. The Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea establishes a working group for virtual asset listings and begins planning guidelines for cryptocurrency listings and delistings
According to ETNews, the Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea recently established a task force related to virtual asset listings (TF) to begin discussions on "regulatory standards (guidelines) for listing, maintaining listings, and delisting."

A relevant person from the Financial Supervisory Service stated that they plan to reach conclusions and report to the National Assembly a few months before the implementation of the "Maximum Asset User Protection Act" in July next year, and will study how to take measures to enhance the effectiveness of the standards and ensure that the industry can protect itself through self-regulation. (Source link)

8. Pyth Network: Retroactive airdrop applications will open on November 20 at 10 PM
Pyth Network announced on social media that its retroactive airdrop application will open on November 20 at 10:00 PM (UTC+8), with a validity period of 90 days. The airdrop claim page will be valid until February 18, 2024.

Previous news, the decentralized oracle Pyth Network announced that it will launch a retroactive airdrop plan for the PATH token, airdropping PYTH tokens to over 75,000 wallets. Pyth community members who contributed to the Pyth Network, applications on 27 blockchains using Pyth data, and individual users of these applications will be eligible for this airdrop. (Source link)

9. Data

• Bitcoin network daily transaction fees reached $11.6 million, surpassing Ethereum for the first time since 2020
• Total issuance of crvUSD exceeded 150 million, setting a new historical high
• CoinShares weekly report: Last week, net inflows into digital asset investment products were $293 million
• The number of Bitcoin millionaire addresses has increased by 215% since the beginning of the year, exceeding 80,000
• Upbit's October trading volume reached $59.8 billion, an increase of 82% month-on-month
• The Ethereum Foundation transferred 1,065.7 ETH to a certain multi-signature address, possibly for funding purposes
• dYdX adopted a $9 million dYdX v3 insurance fund to fill the YFI market liquidation gap

"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (11.13-11.19)"

1. "a16z Annual Report: The Current State of Web3, Business Boundaries, and Regulatory Innovation"

Andreessen Horowitz's annual "Crypto State" report shares data on Web3 activities and innovations. The November 2023 "Policy Focus" summarizes insights from the report for U.S. policymakers and others interested in the current state of crypto policy. The report includes: Why Web3 is so important? The current state of the crypto industry, and policy principles and frameworks.

2. "Interview with Omni Network: Backed by Institutions like Pantera, Analyzing Omni's Cross-Chain Interoperability Innovations"

What initial opportunity led Omni Network to discover pain points such as the Rollup interoperability challenge? What significance will the team's six years of continuous efforts bring to the upcoming L2 explosion in Cancun? In this ChainCatcher interview, the Omni Network team discusses their journey as the "final piece of the puzzle" in the grand narrative of Ethereum scaling from perspectives such as Restaking, cross-chain operation technology, and long-term vision.

3. "TVL Increases to $40 Million, What Participation Opportunities Exist in the Newcomer Layer2 Scroll Ecosystem?"

Since the announcement of the mainnet launch on October 17, the value of crypto assets locked on the Scroll chain (TVL) has increased to $39 million, with the official cross-chain bridge Scroll Bridge having bridged ETH worth over $46.3 million. Why has Scroll, as a newcomer in the Layer2 track, achieved such excellent results in just one month since the mainnet launch? What specific measures have been taken to develop the ecosystem? What participation opportunities exist in its ecosystem?

4. "AllianceDAO Founder: What Does It Take to Be an Excellent Cryptocurrency Founder?"

While writing this article, I realized that this is not only what we look for in the teams applying for our projects but also what is needed to become an excellent crypto founder. The difference between "what we look for" and "what is needed" is that the former is merely an assumption, while the latter is based on empirical evidence.

5. "Interview with Blockstream Co-Founder: The Path to Bitcoin's $100,000"

In this article, Blockstream co-founder and CEO Adam Back shares his insights on the current macroeconomic environment, the future of Bitcoin, and industry dynamics.

6. "New PaaS Model: Decoding the Market Strategies of Top Players in Friend.Tech"

Friend.tech has had many detailed introductions; it is an application that sells entry tickets to private rooms with real-name verification at a Twitter level, with ticket prices determined by mathematical formulas and supply-demand relationships, allowing direct conversations with KOLs once inside. The core gameplay keyword is (3,3). Returning to Friend.tech, what role does (3,3) play in this new landscape?

7. "Vitalik's New Article Proposes a New Direction of 'ZK+Plasma', Will the L2 Landscape Change?"

Having read Vitalik Buterin's new work on the return of Plasma, I was deeply attracted by the "exit game" mechanism based on UTXO-like ledgers, and it seems that Vitalik intends to guide the market towards exploring ZK+Plasma, avoiding the market's stagnation in the Rollup stage. Next, I will provide a detailed explanation.

8. "From Third-Tier Exchanges to Binance Contracts, The 'Production Line' Behind KAS's Mining Coin Gold Rush"

The concept of PoW has become another hot topic following the Bitcoin ecosystem concept, and the "mining coin sector" has repeatedly appeared in many community discussions. However, apart from the boost from Bitcoin-related concepts and market trends, the sudden rise of the PoW concept does not seem to be coincidental. Behind the "KAS Myth," there seems to be a hidden "mythical mining coin production line" that is not known to the mainstream market.

9. "Polygon Founder Sandeep Nailwal: Reflecting on My Entrepreneurial Journey"

With the launch of the Nailwal Fellowship last month, I spent a lot of time reflecting on my roots and considering how such a project would help me in my entrepreneurial journey. Today, I want to share the story of how I created the Nailwal Fellowship—from humble beginnings in a rural village to Polygon becoming a leading blockchain network protocol.