Daily Report | 21Shares XRP Trust has been registered in the state of Delaware, USA; FTX has set the effective date for its restructuring plan as January 3, 2025; Binance will launch PENGU U perpetual contracts, supporting up to 75x leverage
December 17 News OverviewOrganizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
Important News:
- 21Shares XRP Trust has been registered in Delaware, USA
- The U.S. has seized 32.68 bitcoins from BEC scammers, victims may receive full compensation
- FTX has set the effective date for its restructuring plan as January 3, 2025
- Pudgy Penguins CEO: PENGU tokens will be available for claim on December 18 at 21:00
- Grayscale's cryptocurrency portfolio now covers 30 digital assets
- RootData releases U.S. DeFi project chart, ONDO sees significant rise possibly influenced by WLFI purchases
- Nigerian regulators raid cryptocurrency scam dens, arrest nearly 800 suspects including 148 Chinese citizens
- Trump may use the U.S. Treasury's $200 billion foreign exchange stabilization fund to establish a bitcoin reserve
"What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours"
21Shares XRP Trust has been registered in Delaware, USA
According to Phoenix News, 21Shares XRP Trust has been registered in Delaware, USA, under the name "21Shares XRP Trust." The entity was established on June 3, 2024, as a statutory trust, with CSC Delaware Trust Company as the registered agent, located in Wilmington, Delaware.
The U.S. has seized 32.68 bitcoins from BEC scammers, victims may receive full compensation
U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman announced that due to the swift actions of the U.S. Secret Service and the asset forfeiture division of the U.S. Attorney's Office, victims who lost millions of dollars due to business email compromise (BEC) may receive compensation. In December 2023, a company engaged in real estate transactions reported that its system had been breached, with scammers stealing over $1 million by submitting fraudulent wire transfer instructions.
Investigations revealed that at least ten other businesses or individuals were also victimized, with losses ranging from $75,000 to $425,000. The funds obtained from the scams were laundered through multiple bank accounts, some of which were held by "money mules," and were subsequently consolidated into a cryptocurrency wallet controlled by Nigerian scammers.
Law enforcement acted quickly, seizing approximately 32.68 bitcoins from the scammers' cryptocurrency wallet, valued at around $900,000 at the time. The U.S. Attorney's Office subsequently filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit regarding the seized bitcoins. Since the seizure, the price of bitcoin has more than tripled. Due to the rise in bitcoin prices, ten victims with claims may receive full compensation.
FTX has set the effective date for its restructuring plan as January 3, 2025
According to a press release, FTX and its affiliated debtors announced that the Chapter 11 restructuring plan approved by the court will officially take effect on January 3, 2025. The first round of distributions will begin within 60 days after the effective date and will only be available to approved creditors in the Convenience Classes. FTX has reached agreements with cryptocurrency custodians BitGo and exchange Kraken to provide asset distribution services for retail and institutional clients.
To qualify for the first round of distributions, users must complete the following steps before January 3, 2025:
Log in to the FTX debtor customer portal
Complete KYC verification
Submit necessary tax forms
Open an account with BitGo or Kraken
FTX CEO John Ray III stated, "Over the past two years, our professional team has successfully recovered billions of dollars in assets. The effectiveness of the restructuring plan and the commencement of distributions in January 2025 reflect the significant results of our asset recovery efforts." For transferred claims, only assignees who complete processing before the record date of January 3, 2025, and whose 21-day objection period has expired will be eligible for distributions. FTX Digital Markets Ltd. (FTX DM) will announce its customer distribution process separately.
Pudgy Penguins CEO: PENGU tokens will be available for claim on December 18 at 21:00
Luca Netz, CEO of the NFT project Pudgy Penguins, announced that PENGU tokens will be available for claim on December 18 at 21:00 Beijing time. Holders of Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, Rogs, and SBTs can participate, with a claim period of 88 days; unclaimed tokens will be permanently locked and destroyed after the deadline.
To ensure a smooth claiming process, users should note the following:
1) A minimum balance of $10 SOL must be maintained in the Solana wallet to cover gas fees;
2) It is recommended to use a desktop device to complete the claiming process;
3) Pudgy Toys and Pudgy World will support PENGU distribution through Abstract Chain and LayerZero cross-chain bridges, with relevant details expected to be announced in January 2025.
Grayscale's cryptocurrency portfolio now covers 30 digital assets
According to Grayscale's disclosure on X, its cryptocurrency portfolio now covers 30 digital assets, including AAVE, AVAX, BAT, BCH, FIL, GRT, LDO, LINK, LPT, LTC, MANA, MKR, NEAR, OP, RENDER, SOL, STX, SUI, TAO, XLM, XRP, and ZEC.
RootData releases U.S. DeFi project chart, ONDO sees significant rise possibly influenced by WLFI purchases
RootData released a chart of U.S. DeFi projects on X, stating, "In the past week, U.S. DeFi projects generally declined, but ONDO stood out with a significant rise, possibly related to Trump's crypto project World Liberty purchasing ONDO."
Ondo Finance focuses on enhancing the security, efficiency, and accessibility of financial services through institutional-grade on-chain products. The company is also committed to incubating protocols that support the tokenization of real-world assets and traditional crypto assets.
Additionally, Trump's World Liberty investment is concentrated on several DeFi projects (such as AAVE, LINK, ENA, ONDO), which has sparked market optimism regarding U.S.-based DeFi projects."
According to Cointelegraph, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of Nigeria raided a cryptocurrency scam center in Lagos on December 10, arresting 792 suspects, including 148 Chinese citizens and 40 Filipino citizens.
Ken Gamble, co-founder of the cybercrime investigation firm IFW Global, revealed that the scam gang offered Nigerian employees a monthly salary of $500 plus performance bonuses, which is ten times the local minimum wage.
According to Cryptoslate, Dennis Porter, founder of the Satoshi Act Fund, stated that President-elect Trump plans to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) through an executive order, intending to use the Treasury's Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) to purchase bitcoin. The ESF is typically used to respond to financial crises, with total assets exceeding $200 billion as of October 2024. If implemented, this plan would position the U.S. at the forefront of the global bitcoin reserve race.
Meanwhile, several U.S. states have begun to push for bitcoin reserve legislation, including Pennsylvania and Texas. Additionally, countries such as Brazil, Poland, and Japan are also discussing proposals to establish national bitcoin reserves.
Brazil's Federal Revenue Service seizes smuggled bitcoin mining machines and satellite equipment
Brazil's Federal Revenue Service (RF) recently seized 10 bitcoin mining machines and 8 satellite internet devices for suspected document irregularities and smuggling through Paraguay. The seized products were shipped by two companies, destined for São Paulo and Maranhão, and the goods were chosen to be shipped from Foz do Iguaçu rather than the companies' registered locations, raising suspicions of smuggling.
The Federal Revenue Service stated that it would submit the case to the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), and the responsible company executives may face charges of smuggling or tax evasion.
Blockchain infrastructure project Kontos Protocol has announced its token KOS economic model. The total supply of KOS is 1 billion, with 139.4 million released during the Token Generation Event (TGE), accounting for 13.937%.
The token distribution plan shows that the ecosystem, community, and mining together account for 53.63%, with strategic round investors accounting for 10%, angel round 7.75%, seed round 5.37%, and Series A 2.5%. Additionally, airdrops and teams each account for 5%, advisors 3.75%, marketing 3%, and project development and liquidity reserves each account for 2%.
According to RootData, Kontos is a zero-knowledge-based Layer 2 account protocol. Its architecture allows users to enjoy features such as gasless transactions, no asset operations, and no private keys. The developer of Kontos is Zecrey, which has completed a total of $11.5 million in funding so far, with investments from Shima Capital, Spartan Group, Binance Labs, and others.
Binance to launch PENGU U-based perpetual contracts, supporting up to 75x leverage
According to an official announcement, Binance will launch Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) U-based perpetual contracts on December 18, 2024, at 00:15 (UTC+8), supporting up to 75x leverage.
Su Zhu: Closed ETH long position and went long on SOL
Su Zhu posted on X that he has closed his ETH long position at $4029 and gone long on SOL at $219. FTX claims are coming soon, and the Pump.fun token is about to launch.
Data: Ethereum Foundation sells 100 ETH
According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, the Ethereum Foundation's address 0xd77, used for small high-frequency sales of ETH, sold 100 ETH at a price of $4,024, receiving 402,400 DAI.
OKX to launch PENGU/USDT spot trading at 22:00
According to an official announcement, OKX is about to launch PENGU (Pudgy Penguins), with the following schedule:
- PENGU collection auction time: December 17, 2024, from 21:00 to 22:00 (UTC+8)
- PENGU/USDT spot trading opening time: December 17, 2024, at 22:00 (UTC+8)
- PENGU withdrawal opening time: December 18, 2024, at 10:00 (UTC+8)
"What are the noteworthy articles to read in the past 24 hours"
Alliance DAO was recently selected for the RootData List 2024 annual list of "Top 50 Investment Institutions," and this article features a conversation with Alliance's zero employee, Will Robinson.
Trump's DeFi project WLFI made significant purchases of crypto assets in December, spending nearly $45 million, including ETH, cbBTC, LINK, AAVE, ENA, and the latest ONDO. From the current situation, most of the leadership team are new faces, and the project's practicality and innovation still have some uncertainty.
Arthur Hayes Blog: Meme coins are popular, VC coins are ignored, how should projects finance?
People sometimes act irrationally due to desire or blindness. Unfortunately, many Maelstrom portfolio companies seem to have contracted a "CEX-transmitted disease." Some affected founders mistakenly believe that by following the directives of certain well-known centralized exchanges (CEX), they can achieve so-called "extreme returns." These directives include: boosting a certain metric, hiring a certain person, allocating a certain number of tokens, launching tokens on a specified date, and even temporarily changing launch plans. These companies driven by desire have forgotten user needs and the original purpose of cryptocurrency. If you are also troubled by this disease, please come to my clinic; I have the antidote. Let me explain it to you in detail.
Around 8 a.m. today, according to researcher Waleswoosh, the Pudgy Penguins project token PENGU is expected to launch within 48 hours; meanwhile, as the token launch approaches, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins NFTs has also risen sharply, reporting at 33.7 ETH, worth nearly $140,000, with only a $10,000 gap from the CryptoPunks floor price. At the same time, Pudgy Penguins' parent company Igloo's L2 network Abstract Chain also announced that it will launch its mainnet in January next year, with separate token launch market expectations; OpenSea was also recently reported to have registered the OpenSea Foundation in the Cayman Islands.
Thus, with the Pudgy Penguins token launch, whether PENGU, Abstract, and OpenSea can achieve "three meals from one fish" has become a focal point of market attention.
An important application of AI agents is to help users autonomously complete transactions on-chain.
Meme Popularity Rankings
According to meme token tracking and analysis platform GMGN, as of December 17, 19:30:
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Ethereum tokens are: PEPU, BERRY, PEPE, FROGE, OIIA
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Solana tokens are: SHIKOKU, SSOL, UFO, SUPR, FLOCKY
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Base tokens are: NINJA, VIRTUAL, WHISPY, SKIC, WOLF
