BTC tops $42,500, OpenSea says open to acquisition

Golden Weekly is a weekly blockchain industry summary column launched by Golden Finance. The content covers key news of the week, mining information, project trends, technology progress and other industry trends. This article is one of the weekly news articles, giving you an overview of the major events in the blockchain industry this week.

Headlines

▌BTC breaks through 42,500 US dollars

The market shows that BTC breaks through 42,500 US dollars, and now It was quoted at US$42,502.7, with an intraday increase of 1.54%. The market fluctuates greatly, so please control risks.

▌OpenSea CEO: Open to potential acquisitions

According to the latest disclosure from OpenSea CEO and co-founder Devin Finzer, the company is interested in Potential acquisitions remain open. Devin Finzer added: "The honest answer is that OpenSea takes a fairly open attitude, and if a suitable partner emerges, we will consider it." However, Devin Finzer said that currently OpenSea is not actively looking for acquirers, and has not yet been "acquired." Acquisition plan." Regarding competitor Blur, Devin Finzer said he is not worried because OpenSea is focused on building a brand that "ensures user safety by removing any fraudulent or questionable product lines."

▌Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Canaan raises US$50 million through preferred stock issuance

In a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) In a disclosure report, Canaan, a publicly traded manufacturer of Bitcoin mining equipment, announced that it has raised $50 million in funding from the sale of preferred shares. Previously, Canaan Ventures successfully acquired US$25 million in a similar preferred stock sale last year.

▌CZ once proposed to use US$4.5 billion in Binance equity as security for returning to the United States, but the judge rejected it

Previous In March, a federal judge rejected Binance founder CZ’s application for a travel permit, who wanted to travel to his home in the United Arab Emirates to deal with the “hospitalization and surgery” of relatives. A new court filing reveals that despite CZ offering to use his Binance stake as security for his return to the United States, a judge rejected his request. The document also shows that CZ’s lawyers pointed out in a letter to Judge Richard Jones on December 22, 2023 that based on Binance’s last round of financing two years ago, the value of the equity proposed as security was as high as $4.5 billion. Court records show Jones held a closed hearing on the request on December 29 and denied Changpeng Zhao's travel request.

Policy

▌Wu Jiezhuang: Opposing the tax increase proposals put forward by the public, including virtual asset stamp duty

< p> Wu Jiezhuang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Hong Kong SAR Legislative Council, said on social media that he met with the Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong SAR, Paul Chan Mo-po, and Deputy Secretary Wong Wai-lun this morning, and expressed his hope that the general principle of the budget plan would be zero tax increase and less levy. , increase momentum, and oppose the different tax increase suggestions put forward by the public, including the imposition of asset value-added tax, departure tax and virtual asset stamp tax; it is believed that it is necessary to enhance the development momentum of various industries, tear down walls and loosen restrictions, and vigorously develop the Web3 industry.

▌Regulators in Alaska and Florida have banned Binance.US from operating

According to the Wall Street Journal, Regulators in Alaska and Florida have banned Binance’s U.S. subsidiary Binance.US from operating. After Binance founder Changpeng Zhao admitted to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws, regulators in Alaska and Florida deemed the company holding Binance.US With an 80% stake, he is unfit to oversee the company’s operations after the state of Florida suspended Binance.US’s money transfer license and the Alaska Department of Banking and Securities refused to renew Binance.US’s license in January 2024.

▌U.S. CFTC Chairman: Spot Bitcoin ETFs will bring risks and federal legislation is urgently needed

Rostin, Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Behnam said at an American Bar Association event today that he is concerned about the risks posed by the recently approved spot Bitcoin ETF products and once again called for federal-level legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies.   Behnam said: “I am concerned that regulatory approval of Bitcoin ETPs poses a risk that retail and institutions alike may mistake the product’s technical approval for actual regulation of cash commodity digital assets. The need for federal legislation has never been more urgent. , I will continue to call for action." Behnam also said that there are currently no good measures to “address opaque and inconsistent practices in digital asset cash markets” around issues such as conflicts of interest and customer protection.

▌BoE and HM Treasury publish response to consultation on digital pound

BoE and HM Treasury publish response to consultation on digital pound . The Bank of England and the UK Treasury have said that a decision on whether to launch a digital pound will be taken as early as around the middle of this decade. Safeguards for a digital pound are being developed. It is too early to decide whether to introduce a digital pound. Feedback on central bank digital currency It is “largely supportive” that further public consultation on the digital pound will take place before the government introduces major legislation. The Bank of England and the British Treasury said that the digital pound will only be introduced after relevant legislation is passed by both houses of Parliament. More preparations for a central bank digital currency are necessary and will maintain the convenience of cash use as core infrastructure operations. For businesses, the Bank of England will not be able to access personal data, and the digital pound legislation introduced by the government will protect user privacy. The digital pound has intrinsic value and, unlike unbacked crypto assets, is stable.

▌Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission: There is a trend of tokenization of traditional financial products

Cai Zhonghui, interim director of the Intermediary Department of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, said at the Asian Financial Forum, The regulation of virtual asset trading platforms is very important, as it involves the reliability of the virtual assets placed by the public on a platform. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the design and security measures, as well as how to respond to cyber attacks. Cai Zhonghui said that there is a trend of tokenization of traditional financial products, and people are concerned about whether ownership rights will be lost and whether the relevant technology is reliable. The industry has proposed whether customers can be allowed to withdraw virtual assets through financial intermediaries. The position of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission is that if it involves Brand platform, suggestions are advisable.

Blockchain Applications

▌Base and OP Labs have successfully activated the Ecotone hard fork on the Goerli network

Base developer Roberto Bayardo said that Base and OP Labs have successfully activated the Ecotone hard fork on their respective Goerli development networks and enabled the ability to publish batches via the EIP-4844 blob today. Base goerli- The transaction type of the devnet batch program is shown as "type 3" (equivalent to the Blob type).

▌Solana: The next Global Solana Foundation Hackathon will be launched on March 4th

Solana officially announced the next Global Solana Foundation The hackathon will launch on March 4, 2024, and will end on April 8, 2024, for a period of five weeks. It is reported that this Solana Hackathon will be operated by the independent organization Colosseum, and registration is currently open.

▌OP Labs plans to introduce a protocol upgrade to improve Superchain security

OP Labs announced that it is introducing a proposed protocol upgrade to improve Superchain ( Superchain’s security incident response capabilities, this upgrade is derived from insights collected through comprehensive simulated incident response and opinions from industry experts, aiming to enhance the resiliency of Superchain after it goes online. OP Labs stated that this is a security upgrade specifically for L1 smart contracts. It should not affect nodes or execution client software. Node operators should not be required to upgrade their nodes or take any action in response to this upgrade. Users should also not be affected. .

▌The Dencun upgrade may be deployed to the Ethereum mainnet at the end of February or early March

Ethereum developers have set a final timetable for the Dencun upgrade. If If it runs smoothly on the Sepolia and Holesky testnets on January 30 and February 7, developers will determine the date when Dencun will land on the Ethereum mainnet. The current target is the end of February or early March.

▌Polygon will launch AggLayer, a new aggregation layer focused on blockchain interoperability, in February

Polygon Labs will introduce a new aggregation layer into its network A new aggregation layer called AggLayer, which will allow developers to connect L2 blockchains to leverage Ethereum for settlement. It is reported that the first version of AggLayer will be released in February, with the goal of enabling developers to connect blockchains to support unified liquidity. According to reports, AggLayer will ensure unified security between connected chains, especially those within the Polygon ecosystem. In addition, AggLayer will become a key component of Polygon 2.0. Unlike other interoperability solutions, AggLayer will aggregate data from all connections. ZK proof of the chain.

▌Worldcoin will open source the iris recognition inference system

Worldcoin’s official blog announced that it will open source the iris recognition inference system (IRIS) to enhance transparency. The system represents The step-by-step process of converting an iris image into an iris code, which is a numerical representation of the texture of a person's iris, is the core engine that verifies an individual's uniqueness within the Orb and securely authenticates their World ID.

Cryptocurrency

▌Data: Ethereum options trading volume hit a record high in January, reaching 17.9 billion USD

Ethereum options trading volume on major crypto derivatives exchanges has reached an all-time high of $17.9 billion, even though there are still five days left until the end of January, according to The Block data dashboard new highs. According to Deribit data, the largest open interest volume currently is for options expiring on February 16 with a strike price of $2,350. This can be interpreted as bullish, with many derivatives traders expecting Ethereum price to rise above this level by mid-February.

▌OSL has reached a cooperation with global insurance and reinsurance company Canopius and obtained a new two-year custody insurance agreement

OSL Group, a licensed virtual asset trading platform in Hong Kong, announced It has reached a partnership with global insurance and reinsurance company Canopius and upgraded the digital asset platform custody insurance agreement. The underwriting team of Lloyd's of London, led by Canopius, will provide OSL with a new two-year custody with higher insurance coverage. Insurance Agreement. In addition, OSL Group stated that Hong Kong regulatory guidelines require virtual asset service providers (VASPs) to provide insurance coverage to 50% of the assets under custody, but currently OSL's insurance coverage has covered at least 95% of the regulated assets and has expanded the custody insurance limit.

▌Parataxis’ crypto fund will have a return of 341% in 2023

According to Bloomberg, the crypto fund (Absolute Return Fund) operated by Parataxis Capital Management The return after fees in 2023 is 341%. CEO Edward Chin said the fund, which focuses on oversold tokens, also invested heavily in Solana, which took a hit after FTX filed for bankruptcy in late 2022 but soared more than 900% in 2023. It is reported that Parataxis manages more than US$100 million in funds, with Absolute Return Fund investing nearly half of this amount. According to the prospectus, the fund has a one-year lock-in period, charges a 2% management fee and a 20% performance fee, has a minimum investment of $100,000, and its investors include traditional pension funds.

▌CoinShares physical Bitcoin management fee will be reduced from 0.98% to 0.35% per year starting from February 1st

CoinShares stated on social media that, in fact, Bitcoin management fees will be reduced from 0.98% to 0.35% per annum starting February 1.

▌The NFT transaction volume on the Solana chain increased by 25% every week

According to data from on-chain data aggregator CryptoSlam, NFT on the Solana chain increased every Weekly trading volume exceeded $62 million, an increase of 25%, and this month’s trading volume was close to $190 million. In December 2023, Solana’s NFT sales exceeded $365 million, surpassing Ethereum and trailing only Bitcoin’s market share. Although sales were relatively small compared to the previous month, January's sales total was Solana's highest since May 2022.

Important Economic Updates< /h2>

▌BitMEX Lianchuang: The Federal Reserve announced that it will stop the BTFP policy, and banks face key decisions

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said on the X platform that the Federal Reserve announced The Federal Reserve’s Bank Term Financing Program (BTFP) policy is no longer ongoing. Arthur Hayes interpreted the move and said that in theory any bank holding loss-making U.S. Treasury bonds (UST) or mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and facing losses on maturity should buy them by converting them into cash before March 11. more time. However, if the Fed cuts or ends quantitative tightening, causing bond prices to rise, bank CFOs are locked into unfavorable funding. The chart posted by Hayes shows a sharp upward trend in reserve balances, suggesting that the market is at an important decision-making moment, especially for banks that are on the verge of bankruptcy. It is reported that the Federal Reserve will end the Bank Term Financing Program (BTFP) on March 11. The current Bank Term Financing Program (BTFP) will continue to issue loans until the end of the program.

▌The Central Bank: It will lower the deposit reserve ratio by 0.5 percentage points on February 5

Pan Gongsheng, governor of the Central Bank, said that the People’s Bank of China will lower the deposit reserve ratio by 0.5 percentage points on February 5. On the 5th, the deposit reserve ratio will be lowered by 0.5 percentage points to provide the market with long-term liquidity of about 1 trillion yuan; tomorrow, the re-loan and rediscount interest rates to support agriculture and small businesses will be lowered by 0.25 percentage points, and the comprehensive social financing costs will continue to be stable and stable. drop.

▌Institutional Economist: The conditions are in place for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in the next few months

Institutional Economist Stewart Paul and Estelle Oh said the conditions are in place for the Fed to cut interest rates in the coming months. We expect the Fed to begin lowering the federal funds rate target range in March as it attempts to achieve a soft landing. Next week, aside from the Fed rate decision, we will get more US data. The most important will be Friday's monthly jobs report. Data on job openings and consumer confidence due on Tuesday, as well as a quarterly employment cost index due during the Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday, will also help reflect how strong the spending outlook is.

Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and not as actual investment advice. Please establish a correct investment philosophy and be sure to increase your risk awareness.