Evening News | The BAYC development team officially launched the ApeCoin token and airdropped it; Aave officially launched the V3 product

Organizer: Zeyi, Chain Catcher

"What are the truly important news today?"

1. Ukrainian President Signs the "Virtual Assets Law," Officially Legalizing the Crypto Industry

According to the official website of Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation, President Zelensky today officially signed the "Virtual Assets Law," legalizing the crypto industry. From now on, foreign and Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchanges will operate legally, and banks will open accounts for crypto companies. The market will be regulated by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.

It is reported that the law will establish the legal status, classification, and ownership of virtual assets; determine the list of virtual asset providers and their registration conditions; and stipulate financial monitoring measures in the virtual asset field. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance is actively amending Ukraine's tax laws and civil code to fully launch the virtual asset market. Previously, the law was passed by the Ukrainian Parliament on February 17. (Source link)

2. BAYC Development Team Yuga Labs Officially Launches ApeCoin Token, 15% for Airdrop
The parent company of the NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Yuga Labs, officially announced the launch of the ApeCoin token, which serves as a protocol layer token for the Web3 economy.

It is reported that the ApeCoin token has functions such as governance, unified spending, ecosystem access, and incentives. The total supply is 1 billion tokens, with 62% allocated to the ecosystem fund (15% of which will be airdropped to the community), 16% owned by Yuga Labs and its supported charities, 14% owned by project initiators, and 8% reserved for the four co-founders of the project.

The airdrop will begin at 8:30 AM Eastern Time on March 17 (which is 8:30 PM Beijing Time today). The airdrop rules indicate that holders of Bored Ape NFTs will receive 10,094 tokens; holders of Mutant Apes will receive 2,042 tokens; those holding both Bored Ape and Kennel Club will receive 10,950 tokens; and holders of Mutant Ape and Kennel Club will receive 2,898 tokens. (Source link)

3. Exchanges like Binance, FTX, and Coinbase Announce Listing of ApeCoin (APE)

Binance announced that it will list ApeCoin (APE) at 10:30 PM Beijing Time on March 17, opening trading pairs APE/BTC, APE/BUSD, and APE/USDT, with APE withdrawals available from 10:30 PM Beijing Time on March 18.

So far, exchanges including Binance, FTX, Coinbase, OKX, Huobi, Binance US, Gemini, and Kraken have announced they will list ApeCoin (APE). (Source link)

4. Aave Officially Launches V3 Product, Introducing Cross-Chain Asset Features

The decentralized lending protocol Aave announced the launch of Aave v3 on six different blockchains, including Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Fantom, Harmony, and Optimism, with the launch date on the Ethereum mainnet yet to be determined.

It is reported that the Aave V3 upgrade introduces features such as cross-chain asset functionality, community contribution tools, a gas optimization model expected to reduce fees by 20-25%, and efficient modes. Additionally, V3 will integrate a range of decentralized applications, including Instadapp, Debank, 1Inch, Paraswap, Zapper, DeFisaver, and Zerion.

Among them, the cross-chain asset feature of Aave V3 allows for the minting and burning of tokens via cross-chain bridges, where Aave's "aTokens" will be minted on one chain and burned on another, maintaining accounting between different chains while allowing users to pursue yield arbitrage and other strategies. "This means users can deposit funds on the Ethereum mainnet but can borrow from Polygon and repay on Avalanche," said Aave founder Kulechov. (Source link)

5. Federal Reserve Raises Benchmark Interest Rate by 25 Basis Points, In Line with Market Expectations

In the early hours of March 17 Beijing Time, the Federal Reserve released a statement from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The Fed voted to raise the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.25%-0.50%, predicting that rates will reach 1.75%-2% by the end of the year, in line with market expectations. This marks the first rate hike by the Fed since 2018 to combat historic levels of inflation. (Reuters**

6. IoTeX Launches $100 Million Sustainable Ecosystem Fund

The blockchain platform focused on the Internet of Things (IoT), IoTeX, announced the launch of a $100 million sustainable ecosystem fund, which will support over 1,000 decentralized machine economy startups in developing use cases, aiming to connect over 10 million smart devices to the MachineFi portal in the next three years. (Source link)

7. Foresight Ventures Plans to Invest $100-200 Million in Web3 Startups Over Three Years

Shanghai-based crypto venture capital firm Foresight Ventures plans to invest $100-200 million in Web3 startups and projects over the next three years, focusing on projects building Web3, NFTs, and blockchain infrastructure. Foresight Ventures has previously invested $10 million in the primary cryptocurrency market and over $100 million in the secondary crypto market.

It is reported that Foresight Ventures was established in April 2021, aiming to provide additional support for "emerging" projects with "disruptive potential." Its ecosystem also includes the cryptocurrency exchange Bitget and the crypto wallet BitKeep. (Blockworks)

8. 2022 Hurun Global Rich List Released, Zhao Changpeng and SBF Make the Cut

The Hurun Research Institute today released the "2022 Hurun Global Rich List," with Elon Musk ranking as the world's richest person for the second consecutive year with a net worth of 1.29 trillion yuan. Additionally, Binance founder Zhao Changpeng ranked 67th with 145 billion yuan, while FTX founder SBF ranked 77th with 135 billion yuan, making them the only two individuals from the crypto industry in the top 100. (Source link)

9. Weibo Launches TopHolder Digital Collectibles Platform

The self-media digital collectibles toolkit "TopHolder" under Tianxiashow has officially reached a strategic cooperation with Weibo. As the only digital collectibles issuance platform within Weibo, TopHolder will support the development of Weibo's digital collectibles business.

It is reported that after Weibo launches the digital collectibles feature, Weibo users can directly access TopHolder on their personal Weibo homepage, apply to become digital collectibles creators, put their original works on-chain for verification, and convert them into globally unique digital collectibles displayed on their personal Weibo homepage.

Both parties will provide Weibo users with digital collectibles solutions and application scenarios based on original content, jointly helping to expand the social value of content creators and empower the evolution of the creator economy. (Source link)

"What articles are the editors of Chain Catcher reading?"

1. "Yao Qian Talks About Web 3.0: The New Generation of Internet Approaching Gradually"

After 30 years of development, the internet is now at a crucial point in its evolution from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0. Strengthening forward-looking research and strategic forecasting on Web 3.0 is undoubtedly of great significance for the future construction of internet infrastructure in our country. This article aims to analyze the possible forms of Web 3.0 and provide relevant reflections in conjunction with domestic and international internet development practices and technological evolution trends.

2. "Key Insights: Nine Major Challenges for Institutional Investors Entering the Web 3 World"

With a total market capitalization of $1.7 trillion and over $30 billion in venture capital flooding into the space in 2021, cryptocurrency is an industry that no investor can afford to ignore. However, even some large companies, such as Sequoia and a16z's recent Bain Capital, are building their crypto businesses, many smaller firms are still unprepared to enter the Web 3 world. Now is the time to take a step back and reflect on what I have learned from experience—more importantly, to open the door for new investors in the Web 3 world.

3. "Ansem's Grand Article: The Resurgent Q2 Crypto Market and Investment Forecast"

With few exceptions, the first quarter of the crypto market was tough, but this time, aside from cryptocurrencies, other markets also entered a downward trend. We have seen that due to global geopolitical risks and a deteriorating macro environment, many tech stocks and growth stocks have also suffered significant blows, while commodity and war stocks performed well. Many of these technical charts look similar to the blanket declines we saw during the first DeFi Summer in 2020, and these are all billion-dollar companies that employ large numbers of people.