Wu said Zhou’s selection The Federal Reserve did not raise interest rates, Mt Gox repayment date postponed, Tether crazy purchases of GPUs, and the top 10 news (0916-0922).

Wu mentioned Zhou's appointment, Fed's interest rate decision, Mt Gox delay, Tether's GPU purchases, and top 10 news (0916-0922).

Author | Wu Talks Blockchain

Top 10 News of the Week

1. Fed Keeps Benchmark Interest Rate Unchanged at 5.25%-5.50%

On September 21st, the Fed kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at the range of 5.25%-5.50%, in line with market expectations. The Fed FOMC statement: Recent indicators show that economic activity has been growing at a moderate pace. Job gains have been slower in recent months, but remain solid, and the unemployment rate stays low. Inflation remains elevated. Twelve officials expect one more rate hike this year, while seven officials expect no change. The median shows that there will be two rate cuts by 2024.

• Bitwise has withdrawn its application for a Bitcoin and Ethereum market-cap-weighted ETF.
• First Market Observation A Brief Discussion on Derivatives, Ton, Games, and ZK New Trends After Token2049
• After Token2049 Discussing Derivatives, Ton Ecology, Games, and ZK in the Primary Market Trend

Fed Chairman Powell said that officials do not need to decide whether to hike rates again this year, let’s continue to look at the data. Although inflation has recently declined, it is hoped that this situation will persist for more than three months. The pace of rate hikes by the Fed last year means “we do have the ability to be patient while we watch and see,” according to Powell.

2. Bitcoin Network Experiencing the Longest Period of Block Congestion

On September 21st, according to @Data_Always, the Bitcoin network is experiencing the longest period of block congestion in its history, which means continuous congestion on the Bitcoin network will have a greater impact on the confirmation of low-value transactions. When the blocks are congested, miners may prioritize transactions that offer higher fees, as they can earn more income. Low-value or low-fee transactions may be delayed. Mempool data shows that there are over 458,000 unconfirmed transactions on the current Bitcoin network.

3. Grayscale Applies for New Ethereum Futures ETF

On September 20th, according to The Wall Street Journal, Grayscale Investments submitted a new Ethereum futures ETF application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The ETF is filed under the 1933 Securities Act, which governs the filing of commodity and spot Bitcoin ETFs. Previously, Grayscale defeated the SEC in its application for a Bitcoin spot ETF, with a judge ruling that the regulatory agency must reconsider the proposal.

4. Mt Gox Extends Repayment Deadline by One Year

According to an announcement on the Mt Gox website on September 21st, the trustee has changed the deadline for basic repayment, early lump sum repayment, and interim repayment from October 31st, 2023 to October 31st, 2024. For the creditors who have provided information, repayment will begin as early as the end of this year in sequential order. Mt Gox will distribute its holdings of 142,000 BTC, 143,000 BCH, and 6.9 billion yen, among others.

5. Binance Weekly Updates

a. Binance Wallet Consolidation Causes Ethereum GAS to Surge to 300

On September 21st, the GAS on the Ethereum mainnet soared from less than 10 to around 300. The main reason may be the sudden increase in a large number of transfers on Binance 14. According to Dune data panel by @sankin_eth, the address has consumed 362 ETH in GAS today, with a transfer quantity of 94,000, both far exceeding the usual. Binance personnel said that they are only doing consolidation when gas fees are low.

b. Binance plans to delist all stablecoins in Europe on June 30th next year

On September 21st, Marina LianGuairthuisot, Binance’s legal manager in France, said at an online public hearing hosted by EBA that since the MiCA regulation, which will take effect in June 2024, has not approved any stablecoins, “Binance plans to delist all stablecoins in Europe on June 30, 2024. Compared with other regions in the world, this may have a significant impact on the European market.”

CZ responded to Wu, saying: This is an issue taken out of context. In fact, we have several partners who are about to launch the euro and other stablecoins, all of which are fully compliant.

6. FTX Weekly Updates

a. FTX sues SBF’s parents to recover transferred and misappropriated funds

On September 19th, according to Coindesk, FTX has sued SBF’s parents Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, demanding to “recover millions of dollars of fraudulently transferred and misappropriated funds.” The amended complaint seeks a judgment against FTX for bankruptcy damages, the return of any property or payments made by FTX to SBF’s parents in the past, and punitive damages for “intentional, willful, wanton, and malicious conduct.” FTX Trading paid a total of $18,914,327.82 (including taxes and costs) to Blue Water, owned by Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried. Barbara Fried is a “key figure” in SBF’s political donation strategy.

On the same day, according to The Block, SBF’s parents’ legal representatives are counterattacking the lawsuit filed by FTX. Lawyers Sean Hecker for Joe Bankman and Michael Tremonte for Barbara Fried stated that this is a dangerous attempt to intimidate Joe and Barbara, and to disrupt the jury process days before SBF’s trial begins, which is completely false. They also added that Mr. Ray and his legal team have received millions of dollars in fees, but the return to FTX’s clients has been relatively small.

b. Stanford University to refund over $5.5 million in FTX donations

On September 20th, according to Blockworks, Stanford University received over $5.5 million in donations from FTX Group. It is said that these donations were directly made by Joe Bankman, SBF’s father and a professor at Stanford University. A spokesperson for Stanford University acknowledged the donations and promised to refund the money to the donor.

c. FTX has sued former employee of FTX subsidiary Salameda, seeking to recover approximately $157.3 million

On September 22nd, FTX has sued former employee of FTX subsidiary Salameda, seeking to recover approximately $157.3 million. The filing alleges that the defendant obtained an advantage in withdrawals during the 90-day period prior to the bankruptcy filing on November 11, 2022 (the so-called “preference period”), which constituted preferential transfers and are “avoidable” under bankruptcy law. The filing also shows that the defendant used their relationship with FTX personnel to ensure they were prioritized over other customers. These transfers were completed in the hours leading up to FTX’s suspension of withdrawals on November 8, 2022. Of the total $157.3 million, over $123 million was withdrawn on or after November 7th.

7. Standard Chartered-backed Zodia Custody to offer yield on crypto assets for the first time

On September 19th, according to The Block, Zodia Custody, the cryptocurrency division of Standard Chartered, will begin offering yield on crypto assets to institutional clients for the first time. According to today’s announcement, the company has partnered with OpenEden to connect custodied crypto assets with real-world yield opportunities. The product will also allow institutions to access staking services.

8. Tether purchases $420 million worth of 10,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs

On September 21st, according to Forbes, Tether has purchased $420 million worth of 10,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, with the transaction granting bitcoin mining firm Northern Data a 20% stake, with plans to rent these chips to AI startups. Northern Data is not the first crypto mining firm to seek new revenue streams amid the AI boom, with previous firms such as Hive, Crusoe, and Hut 8 renting out some of their chips by the hour to startups in need of chips after Ethereum switched to POS.

9. Balancer suffers BGP or DNS hijacking attack

On September 20th, DeFi liquidity protocol Balancer suffered a BGP or DNS hijacking attack. Balancer warns users not to interact with its UI. According to on-chain analyst ZachXBT, the Balancer frontend attacker has profited approximately $238,000, with stolen funds deposited at the address starting with Ox6457.

On September 21st, Balancer protocol’s official Twitter account announced that the protocol has resumed normal operation.

10. Wintermute criticizes DWF Labs again in an interview with Blockbeats

On September 18th, Wintermute once again criticized DWF Labs in an interview with Blockbeats: They have essentially announced over-the-counter trading as investments, and people typically associate investments with long-term perspectives, while trading is more short-term oriented; the industry needs some light regulation because you certainly don’t want bad actors; the biggest criticism of market makers in the market is that there are a lot of people manipulating the market instead of providing liquidity to guide the market’s healthy development.

DWF responded in an interview with BlockBeats: We are not involved in any manipulation. When people see signs that an asset may be profitable, they will flock to that asset. The market liquidity is not as good as it was a year ago, and it is easily influenced by people and driven by the market itself. I think people always need someone to bless or blame, and in this market cycle, that someone is us. The next market cycle may be someone else.

Key Financing Events

• Cryptocurrency startup Mesh completes $22 million Series A financing

• Blockchain gaming startup Proof of Play raises $33 million in seed financing

• Web3 social application based on the Lens protocol raises $2.3 million in pre-seed financing

• Decentralized hackathon service BeWater completes $1 million angel round financing

• Web3 creator community AfterLianGuairty completes $5 million financing

• Decentralized information market protocol Freatic raises $3.6 million in a round led by a16z crypto

• Middle Eastern cryptocurrency startup Fuze completes $14 million seed round financing

• Blockchain technology company Jiritsu completes $10.2 million financing

• French startup Stoïk completes $10.7 million financing, with participation from a16z

• Cryptocurrency startup Bastion completes $25 million seed round financing

• Blockchain data visualization company Bubblemaps completes $3.2 million seed round financing

For more information, please visit the official website:

https://www.wu-talk.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=6&id=18632

For more industry financing events, please refer to crypto-fundraising.info.

We will continue to update Blocking; if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us!