Blockchain Weekly | In July, there were many security incidents in the exchanges and wallets. What happened to the market after the Litecoin was halved?

Overview:

The US Senate Banking Committee held a hearing to review the regulatory framework for digital currency and blockchain; the New York Attorney General’s Office responded to Bitfinex, applying for a judge to dismiss the request for suspension of the lawsuit; the UK FCA clearly defined the scope of cryptocurrency regulation, and BTC and ETH were not regulated LTC halved on August 5 and halved again in 2023; Ren Zeping said that companies should be encouraged to join Libra to promote the inclusion of RMB in Libra reserve assets; the Fed cut interest rates for the first time since the birth of Bitcoin, and the benchmark interest rate was lowered by 25 basis points.

According to PANews statistics, a total of 10 blockchain financings were announced last week, with a total value of over US$47 million (excluding projects that have not disclosed specific investment and financing amounts), involving finance, wallets, brokers, exchanges, supply chains, Payment and other areas.

• The central bank accelerates the study of digital currency and sees how the progress of CBDC in various countries
• Global “City Currency” Inventory: These 13 countries and regions plan to “enclosure” currency
• China's central bank will speed up research and development of legal digital currency; President of PayPal confirms that Libra will go online early next year

The US Senate Banking Committee held a hearing to review the regulatory framework for digital currencies and blockchains

At 22 pm Beijing time on July 30, the US Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on the theme “Review of the regulatory framework for digital currency and blockchain” to discuss current and future regulation of the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. . Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, University of California Irving Law School professor Mehrsa Baradaran, Congressional Research Services Specialist Rebecca Nelson and others attended the hearing.

In response to a question, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that digital currency and blockchain can strengthen the protection of personal data; and said that the United States should not use the law 100 years ago to regulate 21st century technology, and calls for figures Asset legislation; it said that the first thing the regulator has to do is to distinguish between digital assets (for example, Bitcoin and Libra are different), and digital assets should be uniformly regulated and should be regulated by a single independent entity; It is recommended to develop a new policy on digital assets and establish a supervisor.

Mehrsa Baradaran, a professor of law at the University of California, acknowledges that blockchain technology is "amazing", but says that the cryptocurrency market is not large enough, the Fed may have to step in to stabilize the market; using cryptocurrency to achieve inclusive finance does not apply to the United States Innovation cannot solve financial risks; in addition, Libra has a currency risk and it is better to use the US dollar directly.

Congressman Catherine Cortez Masto believes that the blockchain has great potential, and if the United States does not lead, China will catch up. Finally, Mike Crapo, Chairman of the US Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, concluded, “We can’t fall behind in innovation, but we can’t ignore the risks of innovation.”

Further reading: PANews related article "Wanzi long article: reading the blockchain group that struggles with American regulatory agencies"

The Office of the Attorney General of New York retaliated against Bitfinex and applied for a judge to reject the request for suspension of the lawsuit

CoinDesk reported on August 1 that according to a letter submitted to the New York Supreme Court by the Office of the Attorney General of New York (NYAG), NYAG expressed its disapproval of the “complaints” that Bitfinex’s lawyers spent so expensive and cumbersome on the legal dispute. In the subsequent court filing, he applied for a request from Judge Cohen to dismiss Bitfinex's suspension of the lawsuit. The difference between the two sides is whether the state of New York has "jurisdiction" and whether the case involves the "public interest" of the New Yorkers.

Further reading: According to CoinDesk, July 30, lawyers from Bitfinex and Tether complained to New York State Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen that the company had spent $500,000 and commissioned 60 lawyers to complete it. Look for documents required by the NYAG office. In a previous court hearing of the New York Attorney General (NYAG) office against the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and the stable currency issuer Tether, New York Supreme Court Justice Joel M. Cohen decided to postpone the 90-day ruling to give the New York Attorney General The long office continued to investigate Bitfinex and Tether for 90 days.

UK FCA clearly clarifies the scope of monetary regulation, BTC and ETH are not regulated

According to CoinDesk's July 31 report, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a guide to cryptographic assets, which clearly defines “securities tokens”, indicating that they belong to the “special investment” category, subject to FCA regulation; and “functional tokens” "Unregulated by the definition of electronic money or belonging to the new electronic currency category, it is not subject to FCA regulation. Some stable currencies may also conform to the definition of electronic money and are therefore subject to FCA supervision. Bitcoin and Ethereum are classified as trading tokens by the FCA and are not regulated by the FCA.

4 Korean exchanges will update their bank accounts to meet the more stringent requirements of FAFT

According to South Korean local media BChain reported on July 29, in order to meet the more stringent requirements of the Financial Action Prevention Organization (FAFT) for exchange bank accounts, four Korean cryptocurrency exchanges (Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone and Korbit) will be The bank account is updated. The FAFT issued a guidance saying that “if the exchange has money laundering behavior, the bank will also bear legal responsibility”.

Iran approves cryptocurrency mining activities or taxes them

According to Mehr News Agency reported on July 29, at the cabinet meeting on July 28, the Iranian cabinet minister approved the cryptocurrency mining, and said that industry participants need to seek the required licenses from the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade. The cabinet also stated that users of cryptocurrencies must be exposed to the technology, and neither the government nor the bank would provide any guarantees. Mehr said that the cryptocurrency that is mined will be taxed unless the cryptocurrency is exported and the income is brought back to Iran. In addition, cryptocurrency transactions are still not allowed in Iran.

Li Qiwei: LTC halved on August 5 and halved again in 2023

LTC founder Charlie Lee said on August 1 that within four days, LTC will be halved for the first time in four years; and in 2023 LTC will be halved again. LTC halved the mining award at 18:19 on August 5th, Beijing time, from 25 to 12.5, LTC broke through $100, and the current price on OKEx was $105, a 24-hour increase of 14.7%.

Ren Zeping: Enterprises should be encouraged to join Libra to promote the inclusion of RMB in Libra reserve assets

On August 1st, Ren Zeping, chief economist of Evergrande Group, said in a message from the media that “Internet companies should be encouraged to issue coins, encourage enterprises to join Libra, and promote the inclusion of RMB in Libra’s reserve assets”. Ren Zeping said that China's Internet industry giants Tencent and Alibaba have developed in the field of blockchain technology, and Internet users have a good user base and huge potential for legal currency. Whether or not to conduct digital currency research and development in the future depends on the attitude of the regulatory authorities. In addition, China's Internet companies can be encouraged to become Libra partners, actively participate in the Libra Association Board of Directors, participate in voting on major policy or technical decisions, and promote the entry of RMB into Libra reserve assets.

The Fed cut interest rates for the first time since the birth of Bitcoin, and the benchmark interest rate was lowered by 25 basis points.

In the early hours of August 1, the Federal Reserve announced a cut in the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points, the first time the Fed has cut interest rates since the 2008 financial crisis (the year in which the Bitcoin white paper was released). The Fed said it would “lower interest rates based on the impact of global development on the economic outlook and easing inflationary pressures”.

The central bank accelerated the pace of research and development of legal digital currency in the second half of the year

The People's Bank of China stated in the video conference on the second half of 2019 on August 2 that it would “accelerate the pace of research and development of China's legal digital currency (DC/EP) (PANews: Digital Currency/Electronic Payment). Track and study the development trend of virtual currency at home and abroad, and continue to strengthen Internet financial risk remediation."

Further reading: On March 28, 2018, the People's Bank of China pointed out in the 2018 National Video Conference on Money and Silver Work that “steadily promoted the central bank's digital currency research and development”.

On July 31, China Finance published the design idea of ​​the People's Bank of China to promote DC/EP (Digital Currency/Electronic Payment) in Zhou Xiaochuan, former president of the People's Bank of China, at the Wudaokou Financial College lecture of Tsinghua University: “1. Design Including, it includes improvements in account-based electronic payment channels, mobile payments such as scan code payments, and blockchain and distributed ledger (DLT)-like encrypted digital currency systems; 2. Some different systems of technology It may develop in parallel, and it can encourage a number of coordinated development and quick switching, but mainly to exert market enthusiasm; 3. The central bank needs to accurately measure accounting and establish custody rules, achieve 100% reserve to maintain stability, and correct incentive mechanism. The pilot should still limit the scope as much as possible; 5. To prevent the burning of money, relying on disguised subsidies (including direct subsidies and cross-subsidies) to grab market share and distort the competition order." In addition, Zhou Xiaochuan said that encrypted digital currency or similar tokens should be considered for 100% cash.

Mining machine dealer: Jia Nan Zhizhi has secretly submitted the listing application to the SEC, and the first exposure of the core financial data of Bit China

According to the media “IPO knows it” on July 31, the world’s second-largest bitcoin mining machine manufacturer, Jia Nan Zhizhi, “has allegedly secretly submitted a listing application to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 200 million US dollars."

On August 2nd, “IPO knew it” and issued a document saying that it had obtained the latest financial information from Bitian China from relevant parties. “Related persons pointed out that Bitland tried to estimate the IPO in the range of US$13 billion to US$15 billion. Raise funds of 10 to 1.5 billion US dollars." “In the first quarter of 2019, Bitin’s total operating revenue was $1.082 billion, of which revenues for the first three months were 253 million, $253 million and $558 million, respectively; gross margins were 7.91 million, 14.7 million and 2521 respectively. Ten thousand dollars; net profit reached $315 million in March alone, and $345 million and $280 million in losses in January and February, respectively."

Wal-Mart applies for related patents, or will issue stable currency

According to a new patent application filed by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Thursday, retail giant Wal-Mart may be working to issue a dollar-linked stable currency designed to help low-income families find a lower cost alternative to banking systems. select. The patent document states that “a digital currency unit is generated by linking a digital currency unit to a conventional currency”, that is, a stable currency linked to a legal currency. It is said that this blockchain-based digital currency "may be linked to the US dollar" and may also be "only used in selected retailers or partners."

Bank of Philippines UnionBank launches stable currency PHX anchoring its domestic currency peso

According to Fxstreet on July 29th, UnionBank, the largest bank in the Philippines, issued a stable currency PHX linked to the Philippine currency, and completed the first encrypted transaction. It is reported that the bank has successfully used PHX for various transactions such as purchase, repurchase and internal transfer.

Square's second quarter bitcoin sales reached $125 million

Square’s second-quarter financial report shows that “through its Cash app, Bitcoin sales reached $125 million, almost double the first quarter.” Also, "Square's bitcoin trading volume in the second quarter was approximately 20% of Circle's Poloneix BTC/USDT trading volume, Gemini's BTC/USD trading volume was 6%, and Coinbase BTC/USD trading volume was 1%."

Encrypted exchange Kraken acquires Interchange to create the first full-service encrypted trading platform

According to Business Wire on July 31, the crypto exchange Kraken announced the acquisition of Interchange, an institutional-level cryptocurrency accounting, reconciliation and reporting service provider, to create a cryptographic asset trading platform for all anti-counterfeiting services. Interchange has designed a professional-grade asset management reconciliation tool for the crypto-asset market to help institutional investors monitor and report on the holding of crypto assets. Interchange has served more than 60 organizations in less than a year, and its clients include MG Stover, the world's largest digital asset management agency.

Further reading: According to Cryptimi reported on July 30, Kraken worked with the hosting company Etana Custody so that users can choose to encrypt transactions in US dollars, Euros, Canadian dollars, British pounds and Japanese yen. Users can register for a bank account in the Etana Custody wallet, and the user's bank account will automatically be linked to their Kraken account, enabling a transfer of funds between the two systems.

There were 15 blockchain security incidents in July, many of which involved exchanges and wallets.

According to statistics from security companies such as PeckShield and Chengdu Chain Security, there were 15 blockchain security incidents in July. The security incidents involving exchanges and wallets include: 1. There is a signature verification vulnerability in the decentralized exchange 0X protocol. Leads to falsifying signature data for malicious pending orders. Many exchanges and wallets based on the 0x protocol, including Radar Relay, Tokenlon, Star Bit, etc., have suspended trading services. 2, SOXEX exchange runs, hundreds of millions of dollars, involving BTC, ETH, HT, OKB and other mainstream currencies, TokenStore running funds have been partially transferred to the exchange money laundering. 3. More than 8 million US dollars of BTC stolen by the money security were transferred to multiple wallets by hackers, intending to transfer the BTC to the exchange through complicated coins. 4, BitpointJapan exchange, My Dash Wallet wallet, Trezor hardware wallet and other security incidents, including bitpoint hacked stolen $32 million token, My Dash Wallet wallet also caused tens of millions of user assets due to malicious scripts Stolen.

LdgerX's trading platform Omni is online

On August 2, the US Compliance Exchange LedgerX officially announced that the Omni product was launched. On July 30th, according to the chain, Omni sent emails to some users indicating that they would start accepting seed users. Omni is a consumer-grade trading platform owned by LedgerX. Users must recharge at least $10,000 or 1 bitcoin to open an account. Currently, they are restricted to US and Singapore residents.

Further reading: On July 30th, CoinDesk reported that “LedgerX will be the first to launch the first physical settlement of bitcoin futures in the United States on July 31,” but the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced to CoinDesk on August 1. It is said that LedgerX “has not been approved by the committee” to provide bitcoin futures for physical settlement. LedgerX CEO Paul Chou then commented on CoinDesk's tweet that the CFTC is anti-competitive, violating the rules, etc., and will sue it. The Block reported on August 1st that “LedgerX has not been approved by the CFTC. There are no official rules documents on the approval of futures contracts on the LedgerX official website and the CFTC website”. According to an insider, "LedgerX and CFTC have encountered obstacles, and the latter requires LedgerX to delete the related publicity content."

According to PANews statistics, a total of 10 blockchain financings were announced last week, with a total value of over US$47 million (excluding projects that have not disclosed specific investment and financing amounts), involving finance, wallets, brokers, exchanges, supply chains, Payment and other areas.

1 Swiss blockchain financial company Smart Valor received $3.25 million in investment, Venture Incubator led

According to CoinDesk's July 30 report, Smart Valor, a blockchain financial startup based in Zug, Switzerland, received $3.25 million in investment, led by Venture Incubator, and Tally Capital and other Asian and US investors. The company announced that it will set up exchanges operating in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, providing hosting, trading and brokerage services, as well as BTC, ETH and Swiss Franc, Euro, British Pound and US Dollar trading services. Smart Valor was approved as a regulated financial intermediary in Switzerland at the end of last year.

2 LongHash incubates 5 blockchain startups, raising $9.7 million in funding

According to Tech in Asia, on August 2, five blockchain start-ups incubated by the blockchain incubator LongHash have raised 970 since January of this year after a 12-week incubation program (LongHash Hatch). Ten thousand dollars of funds, the five blockchain startups are: Content Delivery Network (CDN) solution Poseidon Network, renewable energy trading project T-RECs.ai, Ethereum wallet AlphaWallet, biotechnology-based identity keyless , green energy blockchain trading platform Lition. Currently, the second round of incubation (June to August) is underway.

3 German blockchain financial company Bitwala received $14.5 million in Series A financing, Sony Finance and NKB led

According to CoinDesk's July 31 report, Bitzala, a German blockchain financial company, received approximately $14.5 million in Series A financing, led by Sony Financial Investment Corporation and blockchain investment bank NKB Group, and existing investors Earlybird and coparion contributed half. Funds. Bitwala offers encrypted banking services, built-in bitcoin wallets, debit cards and trading options, and works with the German bank solarisBank, so customers can trade Bitcoin directly from a current account. Bitwala said the new financing will be used to expand the company's customer base, add new employees, and open bitcoin accounts for businesses.

4 Encrypted Assets Master Broker Troy Receives Million Dollar Strategic Investment from BlockVC and NGC Ventures

Encrypted asset broker Troy announced on official tweet on July 31 that it had "a multi-million dollar strategic investment" from BlockVC and NGC Ventures. Troy is dominated by Troy Network and Troy Trade. The Troy Network is "an open global transaction and clearing settlement network protocol that combines the security of the underlying public chain with Layer 2 technology under the chain." Troy Trade's position is "the world's leading broker in the field of encrypted digital, providing revolutionary trading products and brokerage services to professional clients of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, including: brokerage services for spot and derivatives trading, asset management and wealth. Management services, data intelligence system support, functional value-added services, etc."

5 Blockchain expansion project Solana completed $20 million Series A financing, led by Multicoin Capital

According to CoinDesk's July 30 report, Solana, the first Web-level blockchain expansion project, completed a $20 million Series A round of financing, led by Multicoin Capital, BlockTower, Foundation Capital, Blockchange, Slow Ventures, NGC, Passport Capital and Rockaway Blockchain cast. Solana "proposes a new historical proof (PoH) consensus mechanism, the first to adopt the GPU parallel processing mode, to reach the second layer (Layer 2) without sacrificing the security and simplicity of the first layer (Layer 1) network. The high-performance processing speed of the expansion solution is designed to build a blockchain that can be operated on a large scale on the World Wide Web.

6 Enterprise DeFi Suite Helis Network Receives $500,000 in Strategic Investment, Leading NGC Capital

According to NGC Capital's official WeChat public on July 30, it made a strategic investment of $500,000 for the enterprise-grade DeFi suite Helis Network, Woodstock, Obsidian Capital, SMC Capital, the investment banking division of the SMC Group, and Black Edge Capital. . Helis Network's flagship product, Payroll, is designed to "provide access to decentralized finance (DeFi)," and the Helis payment protocol helps companies improve process automation efficiency.

7 DLT payment platform Liquineq AG was funded by blufolio AG

According to PRNewswire on August 2nd, the start-up company Liqueq AG, based in Zug, Switzerland, announced that it has received an investment from the Swiss blockchain investment company blufolio AG (the amount is not disclosed). Liquineq AG has deployed a new immutable distributed ledger technology (iDLT) global payment platform that enables real-time, transparent and compliant payment transactions at much lower cost than existing platforms.

8 Big Blockchain Intelligence Group Completes Acquisition of Netcoins

According to DGAP's August 2 news, Big Blockchain Intelligence Group Inc. acquired Netcoins, and the company has completed all the issued shares of Netcoins Inc., NTC Holdings Corp. and NTC Holdings USA Corp. announced on May 27. Acquisition. The transaction was purchased for approximately $3 million and was paid through the issuance of 37.5 million shares of BIG common stock at a price of $0.08 per share. Netcoins' business is "developing software that allows mass consumers and investors to easily purchase and sell cryptocurrencies through brokerage services."

9 Blockchain startup Lumachain receives $2.4 million in Main Sequence Ventures public funding

According to Cointelegraph, July 29, blockchain startup Lumachain received $2.4 million in public funding from Main Sequence Ventures, a venture capital fund supported by the Australian Government and the Federal Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. Lumachain will use blockchain technology to track the status and trajectory of food products on the supply chain in real time.

10 cryptocurrency exchange Rain completed $2.5 million in financing, led by BitMEX Ventures

According to CoinDesk reported on July 31, as the first cryptocurrency exchange to complete the sandbox certification of the central bank of Bahrain, Rain completed a $2.5 million financing, led by BitMEX Ventures.

PA Weekly 67th 7.29-8.4

Text | Niu Niu Editor | Tong Source | PANews

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