Crypto.com launches the second round of layoffs, 1inch integrates with NEAR ecosystem Aurora

【Data Intelligence】

Kraken CEO: Transactions related to Tornado Cash addresses will be blocked

According to reports on August 17, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell confirmed that the trading platform will block transactions related to TornadoCash addresses, but Jesse Powell opposes the recent US sanctions on Tornado Cash-related addresses. In an interview with Bloomberg, Jesse Powell asserted that individuals are entitled to financial privacy and stated that many people actually use Tornado Cash for legitimate reasons. On the other hand, Jesse Powell feels that the community’s reaction may have been exaggerated. Although Tornado Cash’s GitHub code base was deleted unnecessary, he feels that the sanctions may be caused by regulators’ knee-jerk reaction to TerraUSD’s collapse.

The three largest listed Bitcoin mining companies in the US stock market lost more than US$1 billion in the second quarter

In the second quarter, the price of bitcoin plummeted by about 60%, resulting in huge losses for many mining companies listed on the US stock market. According to public trading data, in the three months ended June 30, three U.S.-listed bitcoin mining companies, Core Scientific Inc., Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. and Riot Blockchain Inc., reported net losses of $862 million and $192 million, respectively. and $366 million, in addition to writedowns on the value of other large mining holdings such as Bitfarms Ltd. and Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. According to Mellerud data, top listed mining companies mined 3,900 BTC in June, but sold 14,600. For example, Core Scientific sold about 80% of its tokens in June alone to pay for operating expenses and support growth. In addition to mining companies, other cryptocurrency-related listed companies also performed poorly in the second quarter. Coinbase Global Inc. reported a loss of US$1.1 billion, and MicroStrategy Inc. also reported a net loss of more than US$1 billion.

【 Regulatory News 】

Coinbase sued in Georgia for allegedly failing to protect users from unauthorized transfers

Crypto exchange Coinbase has been sued in Georgia for allegedly failing to protect users from unauthorized transfers, according to a tweet from Watcher.Guru.

IRS issues subpoena to crypto trader SFOX in search of potential tax evaders

The IRS can issue a "John Doe" subpoena to major cryptocurrency trader SFOX, a U.S. court ruled Monday, allowing the tax agency to seek out potential tax evaders using the company's trading services. The John Doe subpoena means the IRS does not know the specific identity of the potential tax evader. SFOX itself has not been accused of violating any laws. The IRS, which collects capital gains taxes on every transaction, has previously issued such subpoenas to companies like Kraken and Circle, often when it wants to confirm that the recipient's customers are reporting their taxes correctly. The subpoena will ask for information about any "U.S. taxpayer who conducted a cryptocurrency transaction equivalent to at least $20,000 with or through SFOX between 2016 and 2021," and SFOX will be required to share information about those users and any information on their transactions. Record.

【Industry Trends】

Citigroup Adds Two Executives to Digital Assets Team

Citigroup has added two executives to its digital assets team, Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS Group): Ryan Rugg and David Cunningham. Rugg will serve as global head of TTS Digital Assets, having previously been a partner and head of IBM's Americas blockchain team. She will be based in New York and report to Carol Grunberg, TTS' Head of Global Partnerships and Innovation. Cunningham, who most recently served as chief commercial officer at regtech firm Lex Tego, and chairman of cryptocurrency exchange Coinmama, has been named director of digital asset development and strategic partner at TTS. He will be based in Dublin and report to Kunal Bist, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships, TTS.

Crypto investment giant DCG registers lobbying event for the first time

According to documents disclosed on August 15, Julie Stitzel, vice president of public policy at encryption investment giant Digital Currency Group (DCG), has registered to lobby on behalf of DCG, which is the company's first direct lobbying activity. As of its most recent filing, DCG reported lobbying spending of $120,000 per quarter. However these were contracted through partnerships with outside firms Klein Johnson Group and Capitol Counsel.

Agya Ventures closes $32 million new fund

On August 16th, venture capital firm Agya Ventures announced that its new fund, Fund I, has completed a fundraising of US$32 million, intending to explore virtual real estate investment in the Metaverse. The limited partners of the fund include a number of Japanese real estate companies, including Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd., Tokyo Real Estate Co., Ltd., Obayashi Gumi Co., Ltd., Mori Masaki Co., Ltd., and Hitachi Solutions Co., Ltd.

Compound: Multi-chain Comet upgrade is ready

The DeFi protocol Compound is about to launch its third version of the multi-chain lending protocol Compound III (Comet), which will first deploy the USDC market on Ethereum. Currently, the contract has been deployed on the main network and will be activated by Compound governance. At the end of June, Compound Labs released the code base of the multi-chain lending protocol Compound III to the community. Compound III is designed with the borrower in mind and is capital efficient, gas efficient, secure and easy to manage. Major changes include: Compound III deployments have a single borrowable (interest-bearing) underlying asset, collateral size limits are set for each collateral asset, there are separate collateral factors for borrowing and liquidation, the risk management/liquidation engine has been completely redesigned, direct Use Chainlink for price feeds, etc.

1inch integrates with NEAR ecological EVM expansion network Aurora

On August 16th, the DEX aggregator 1inch announced the integration with the NEAR ecological EVM expansion network Aurora. Aurora is a NEAR-based Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution that is compatible with Ethereum EVM. Through the Rainbow Bridge, users can freely transfer assets between Aurora, NEAR and Ethereum.

【Elite Viewpoint】

Kraken CEO: Transactions related to Tornado Cash addresses will be blocked

According to reports on August 17, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell confirmed that the trading platform will block transactions related to TornadoCash addresses, but Jesse Powell opposes the recent US sanctions on Tornado Cash-related addresses. In an interview with Bloomberg, Jesse Powell asserted that individuals are entitled to financial privacy and stated that many people actually use Tornado Cash for legitimate reasons. On the other hand, Jesse Powell feels that the community’s response may have been exaggerated. Although Tornado Cash’s GitHub code base was deleted unnecessary, he feels that the sanctions may be caused by regulators’ knee-jerk reaction to TerraUSD’s collapse.

【What to watch today】

Source: Crypto.com Launches Second Round of 'Larger' Layoffs

During Crypto.com's quarterly "all staff" conference call last Friday, the company said it had launched a new round of layoffs that would be "significantly larger than the first round," sources said. During the conference call, Crypto.com leadership said they had no intention of going public, but the layoffs were unlikely to be announced by top executives, the sources said, as they claimed after the layoffs in June that "everyone's job is safe and will not Further layoffs." According to the source, the June layoffs targeted "resilient" roles such as customer service and growth, as demand for such workers dwindled as the number of customers and transaction volume on the platform declined. The new round affects "employees from key departments such as exchanges, applications, and wallets." Earlier news, in June, Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com fired 260 employees, accounting for 5% of its total workforce, citing the crypto bear market.

Scan the code to follow the link to finance

All the latest information