Daily Report | Binance Wallet launches Lorenzo Protocol TGE; Kraken has laid off hundreds of employees across various business units in the past few months
April 18 News OverviewOrganizer: Jerry, ChainCatcher
Important News:
- Kraken has laid off hundreds of employees across various business units in recent months
- Binance Wallet launches Lorenzo Protocol TGE
- Binance Alpha and Binance Futures will list Balance (EPT)
- KiloEx has recovered all stolen funds, case is officially closed
- Zhao Changpeng: BNB is a Meme coin
- Cryptocurrency exchange eXch announces it will cease operations on May 1 due to money laundering allegations
"What important events have occurred in the past 24 hours"
Kraken has laid off hundreds of employees across various business units in recent months
According to two insiders, cryptocurrency exchange giant Kraken has laid off hundreds of employees across all business areas in recent months as the company prepares for a public listing in the United States and continues to streamline its operations.
Reports indicate that in late October last year, Kraken laid off 400 employees, about 15% of its total workforce, at which time Silicon Valley investor and Kraken board member Arjun Sethi was serving as co-CEO alongside David Ripley. An insider stated that "hundreds have left" since Sethi took over as co-CEO, noting that in addition to the 15% reduction at the end of last year, the company plans to continue layoffs.
Binance Wallet launches Lorenzo Protocol TGE
Binance Wallet announced it will host an exclusive token generation event (TGE) for Lorenzo Protocol in collaboration with PancakeSwap. The 10th exclusive TGE will be held through the decentralized exchange PancakeSwap. The subscription period is from 9 AM to 11 AM UTC on April 18.
According to the latest official regulations: Users must complete a valid purchase of Binance Alpha tokens through Binance Wallet (non-custodial) or Binance Exchange within 30 days prior to the TGE date (from March 19, 2025, 00:00:00 UTC to April 17, 2025, 23:59:59 UTC). An additional allocation of 84 million BANK tokens will be used for future marketing activities.
Binance Alpha and Binance Futures will list Balance (EPT)
Binance Alpha will launch and open trading for Balance (EPT) at 8:00 PM on April 21. Additionally, the Binance Futures platform will launch the EPTUSDT perpetual contract at 9:00 PM on April 21, with a maximum leverage of 20 times.
KiloEx has recovered all stolen funds, case is officially closed
According to an official announcement from KiloEx, the platform has successfully recovered all stolen assets from this security incident, involving approximately $5.5 million, and is currently cooperating with judicial authorities and third-party experts to advance the formal closure of the case.
At the same time, a 10% bounty will be awarded to the white hat hacker as per the agreement. KiloEx stated it will not pursue further legal liability and is committed to continuously enhancing the platform's security.
Zhao Changpeng: BNB is a Meme coin
Zhao Changpeng cited the news of BNB's upcoming listing on Kraken, stating: "BNB is a Meme coin."
Previously, it was reported that BNB would be listed on Kraken on April 22, and deposits are now open.
According to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency exchange eXch announced it will cease operations on May 1. Earlier reports indicated that the exchange was used for money laundering, involving some of the stolen funds from the $1.4 billion hack incident at Bybit.
In an announcement on April 17, eXch stated that the majority of its management team voted to adopt a "stop and retreat" strategy in response to allegations that the North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group laundered approximately $35 million through the platform—funds originating from the $1.4 billion hack at Bybit.
The exchange claimed it has become a target of a "transatlantic joint law enforcement operation" aimed at shutting down its business and possibly filing criminal charges. eXch stated in its announcement: "Although we have resisted multiple attempts to shut down our infrastructure and maintained operations, we believe it is pointless to continue operating in an environment where we have become a target of signal intelligence surveillance, merely due to the hostile environment created by the misinterpretation of our mission." The exchange initially denied blockchain detective allegations of assisting the Lazarus Group in money laundering but admitted to handling a "very small portion of funds" from the February hack incident.
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Meme Popularity Rankings
According to the meme token tracking and analysis platform GMGN, as of April 18, 19:50:
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Ethereum tokens are: ETH IS FOR EVERYONE, PIRATE, MR, TUON, CTM
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Solana tokens are: BRRR, GWIF, ASSET, NCM, Nike
In the past 24 hours, the top five popular Base tokens are: VIRTUAL, DRB, DEUS, TOSHI, USDT
