headlines
Bitcoin is back among the top ten assets in the world by market capitalization
8 Marketcap data shows that Bitcoin has returned to the 10th place in the global asset market value rankings with a market value of US$949.8 billion, surpassing the market value of Berkshire Hathaway (US$863.28 billion) and currently ranking behind Meta Platforms (US$1.193 trillion). )after.
Starknet announced some relevant details about the Starknet Provisions Program on the X platform:
-Aimed at 1.3 million addresses;
-50% of tokens distributed to Starknet users;
-Ethereum stakers, EIP authors, and Protocol Guild members may be eligible for airdrops;
-All costs for claiming STRK through the Provisions portal will be borne by the Starknet Foundation to ensure that eligible users can obtain STRK with maximum ease.
Yuga Labs acquires Moonbirds development team Proof
Bored Ape Yacht Club development team Yuga Labs has announced that it has acquired Moonbirds development team Proof. Yuga Labs declined to disclose any details about the acquisition. In the future, Yuga Labs will include Moonbirds in its Otherside gamified virtual universe game.
CNBC: CZ’s sentencing on money laundering charges postponed to April 30
Sentencing of former Binance CEO CZ on money laundering charges will be postponed until April 30, according to a notice from a federal court in Seattle. On November 21 last year, CZ pleaded guilty to charges that the Binance exchange he founded failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, and the filing did not give a specific reason for the delay.
Industry news
South Korea will strengthen the declaration review and inspection of virtual asset trading platforms starting this year, and unqualified virtual asset exchanges will be removed. Before the inspection phase, South Korea is also considering introducing a suspicious transaction preventive transaction stop system that can quickly prevent the concealment of criminal proceeds.
South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIU) released the “2024 Work Plan” based on expert and industry opinions on February 12 through consultations with the Policy Advisory Committee and relevant agencies. The FIU plans to prevent unqualified virtual asset exchanges from entering the Korean won market by strengthening declaration reviews and anti-money laundering (AML) inspections, and will remove unqualified exchanges that have already entered the market.
U.S. prosecutors submitted a sentencing memorandum to the Seattle federal court on Friday regarding Binance’s alleged violation of U.S. economic sanctions laws and anti-money laundering regulations. They asked the federal judge to approve the relevant plea agreement. It is reported that the plea agreement also requires long-term prosecution of Binance. Monitored for five years. In addition, Bloomberg also revealed that CZ, the former CEO of Binance, has pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering crimes and is expected to be sentenced in April this year. Although he may face up to 10 years in prison, according to the plea agreement information, the sentence is expected to be no more than 18 months. . According to previous news, Binance admitted to violating U.S. anti-money laundering and sanctions regulations at the end of last year and agreed to pay a fine of up to $4.3 billion.
Foreign media: Court approves Genesis’ sale of $1.3 billion worth of GBTC shares
The court approved Genesis sale of its GBTC share worth $1.3 billion.
MicroStrategy Bitcoin holdings now worth $10 billion
MicroStrategys Bitcoin holdings are currently worth $10 billion.
Chainalysis: Cryptocurrency money laundering fell 30% year-on-year to $22.2 billion in 2023
Chainalysis said in its annual report on cryptocurrency laundering that illicit cryptocurrency activity dropped significantly last year, in part due to a decline in cryptocurrency trading volumes but also because hacking groups such as the Lazarus Group were developing ways to evade detection.
Chainalysis said the amount of money laundered through cryptocurrencies in 2023 was $22.2 billion, down from $31.5 billion the previous year. This decline was larger than the decline in transaction volume, suggesting that factors other than the overall market downturn may have contributed to the decline in illegal activity. Data shows that only about 1% of all money laundering is conducted through cryptocurrencies. It is reported that Deloitte wrote in a report in June 2023 that all illegal money laundering funds are approximately US$2 trillion per year.
Project News
PIXEL token transfer has begun, or 50 million tokens may be used for market making
On-chain analyst ai_ 9684 xtpa monitoring pointed out that the chain game Pixels project team has begun to distribute PIXEL tokens. in:
250 million tokens (5%) are cross-chained to the Ronin network for game players to apply for PIXEL;
1.7 billion tokens (34%) were transferred to multi-signature addresses for ecological construction;
85 million tokens (17%) are transferred to multi-signature addresses for use by the treasury;
50 million tokens (1%) were transferred to the new address 0x 8 FB...d 3D fd, suspected to be used for market making.
ERC 404 project Pandora posted on the X platform: The final paperwork has finally been completed. Today Pandora officially becomes a complete entity.
We went from a few people with an idea to a full-fledged startup with a team of over 10 people. Today we have an audit coming up, with liquidity locks to follow. As we continue to explore the final EIP, the team will release some exciting new stuff with full documentation. Everything has just begun.
Merlin Chain mainnet launches 24-hour TVL reaches US$543 million
Within 24 hours of the start of the mainnet staking activity of Merlin Chain, the native second-layer network of Bitcoin, the TVL value of assets pledged on the chain has reached 543 million US dollars, surpassing Blast and becoming the Layer 2 with the fastest TVL growth within 24 hours, including 4,425 BTC, $105 million BRC-20, $197 million BRC-420 and $28 million Bitmap and other assets, the number of participating addresses reached 63,417.
It is reported that the TVL of the Blast mainnet exceeded US$80 million within 24 hours after it was launched.
Memeland has launched MEME airdrop
Memeland posted on the X platform that the MEME FARMING airdrop is now officially online, and users can check the airdrop qualifications through the official address.
If an address is determined to be a bot, you have 7 days to appeal.
Ordinals Founder Asks for Advice on Genesis RUNE, Says All Fair Mint and No Pre-Allocation
Casey Rodarmor, founder of the Bitcoin NFT protocol Ordinals, is asking for suggestions on the creation of RUNE. Community members can submit suggestions on the name, currency symbol, divisibility and minting conditions.
Casey said Runes 0-9 may be hard-coded, all in open fair casting, without any type of premine or preallocation.
Justin Sun posted on the X platform that TRON will soon launch its second-layer Bitcoin solution and route. This innovative approach aims to closely connect various tokens in the TRON network, including stablecoins, with the Bitcoin network and its Layer 2, such as the Ordinals world, in a decentralized manner through various combinations. stand up.
Pudgy Penguins floor price exceeds BAYC, now quoted at 22.7 ETH
According to Blur data, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins reached 22.7 ETH, an increase of 13.96% in 24 hours, exceeding the floor price of BAYC.
ETF related
ARK 21 Shares spot Bitcoin ETF exceeds $1 billion in assets under management
21 Shares posted that the total asset management scale (AUM) of the ARK 21 Shares Spot Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) has exceeded US$1 billion (US$1,021,886,846); it currently holds 21,455 Bitcoins, five The average daily trading volume is US$81.77 million.
According to an analysis report by asset management firm Grayscale, fundamental changes in the supply and demand balance of Bitcoin may have a greater impact on the price of the cryptocurrency, especially the upcoming halving event.
Historically, halving events are often followed by cycles of rising prices. However, a new factor, namely ETFs, will also impact Bitcoin’s performance during this April’s halving event. “In addition to overall positive on-chain fundamentals, Bitcoin’s market structure is favorable for price post-halving,” the report states.
The Grayscale report pointed out that the current issuance of new coins (mining rewards) per block is 6.25 Bitcoins, which is approximately US$14 billion per year based on a price of US$43,000. In other words, to maintain current prices, $14 billion worth of buying pressure would need to be generated over the same period. “After the halving, these demands will be reduced by half: the issuance of new coins per block is 3.125 Bitcoins, which is equivalent to reducing to $7 billion per year, effectively reducing the selling pressure.”
After the halving, the mining reward per block will be reduced to 3.125 Bitcoins. In order to cope with cost pressure, miners will usually sell more Bitcoin stocks, thereby increasing supply and driving down prices.
Grayscale said that the nine Bitcoin spot ETF products recently launched in the United States may serve as a hedging force against the selling pressure of miners. Bitcoin ETFs could significantly absorb selling pressure, potentially reshaping Bitcoins market structure by providing a stable source of new demand, which would be beneficial for prices, the report said.
VanEck files updated S-1A for its spot Ethereum ETF
A document released by Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart shows that VanEck has submitted an updated version of the S-1A document for its spot Ethereum ETF filing.
Financial lawyer Scott Johnsson commented that since Ark/21 Shares submitted its update a few weeks ago, this is the first amendment that does not include a pledge clause.
