Headlines
Biden tests positive for coronavirus
According to CNN, Biden tested positive for the new coronavirus and canceled a speech today.
Biden: If health problems arise, I will consider withdrawing from the race
President Biden said in a new interview that he would reevaluate his presidential campaign if his doctors told him directly that he was not healthy, The New York Times reported. The comment was the latest in a series of back-and-forth explanations of what might have caused him to reconsider. Biden also said for the first time that he had hoped to step away from the presidency and hand it off to someone else, but that he decided to run again because he believed his wisdom and experience would help bridge the countrys worsening divisions.
Regulatory trends
Hong Kong Spot Bitcoin ETF Total Holdings Exceed 5,000 BTC
According to data disclosed by HOD L1 5 Capital on the X platform, the total holdings of Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETF exceeded 5,000 Bitcoins, setting a record high. Data shows that as of July 16, the total holdings of Hong Kong spot Bitcoin ETF reached 5,022 Bitcoins.
According to Decrypt, German law enforcement disclosed to it that an emergency sale of nearly 50,000 bitcoins has concluded, with sales revenue reaching $2.88 billion (2.639 billion euros), while the value of the bitcoins was about $2.1 billion when German law enforcement seized them. German law enforcement said that these proceeds did not initially represent any additional income for the Free State of Saxony, but would be kept until the criminal proceedings were finally concluded.
The sale, which totaled 49,858 bitcoins, took place between June 19 and July 12 and was a coordinated effort between the Saxony State Police’s Central Office for the Protection, Custody and Use of Cryptocurrencies, the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office and German trading firm Bankhaus Scheich.
US election
The probability of Biden withdrawing from the election has risen to 65% on Polymarket
Data from prediction market Polymarket shows that the probability of Biden withdrawing from the US presidential election has risen to 65%.
Earlier news said Biden tested positive for the new coronavirus and canceled a speech today.
Biden: Tired of Elon Musk trying to buy US presidential election
US President Biden posted on Elon Musks social media account X: I am tired of Musk and his group of wealthy people trying to buy this (US presidential) election.
The U.S. Senate briefing on the Trump rally shooting has just ended. It is reported that the gunman went to the rally site a few days in advance to scout the location. The time interval from the time the gunman was photographed and considered suspicious to the time he opened fire was 62 minutes; the time interval from the time he was discovered by the sniper to the time he opened fire was 20 minutes. FBI Director Wray said that the gunman has not yet been found to have contact with foreign countries, but has not found a clear motive. The gunman used encrypted communications and rarely used social media.
ETF Progress
9 Spot Ethereum ETF Fees Revealed
As issuers have successively submitted S-1/A and other documents of spot Ethereum ETFs to the US SEC, the fees of 9 spot Ethereum ETFs have been announced. The specific data are as follows:
BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF has a fee of 0.25% (0.12% for the first $250 million), and the ticker is ETHA;
The Fidelity Spot Ethereum ETF has a fee of 0.25% (no management fee in 2024), and the ticker is FETH;
The Bitwise spot Ethereum ETF has a fee of 0.20% (0% for the first $500 million or the first 6 months), and the ticker is ETHW;
21 Shares Spot Ethereum ETF has a fee of 0.21% (0% for the first $500 million or first 6 months), and the ticker is GETH;
VanEck Spot Ethereum ETF has a fee of 0.20% (0% for the first $150 million or first 12 months), and the ticker is ETHV;
The Invesco Galaxy Spot Ethereum ETF has a fee of 0.25% and the ticker is QETH;
Franklin Spot Ethereum ETF has a fee of 0.19% (0% before January 21, 2025 or the first $1 billion), and the ticker is EZET;
Grayscale’s spot Ethereum ETF has a fee of 2.50% and its ticker is ETHE;
Grayscale’s Spot Ethereum Mini ETF has a fee of 0.25% (0.12% for the first $2 billion or first 12 months) and the ticker is ETH.
Bloomberg ETF Analyst: Only Proshares ETF Fee Information Missing
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart wrote that the fee information for the spot Ethereum ETF expected to be launched next week is currently missing only the fee information for the Proshares ETF. Nine of the 10 ETFs have already announced their fees.
Project News
TON Foundation plans to launch Bitcoin cross-chain bridge service TON Teleport BTC
The TON Foundation plans to launch the Bitcoin cross-chain bridge TON Teleport BTC, which is reportedly a trustless bridging service designed to facilitate secure Bitcoin transfers between networks linked to Telegram. The TON Foundation said that the bridge service is designed to enable Bitcoin holders to participate in decentralized financial (DeFi) activities on TON while keeping their original assets safe.
Anatoliy Makosov, technical director of TON, said: All transactions are executed through smart contracts and verified by TON blockchain validators. Storing and using Bitcoin on TON is as safe as on the Bitcoin network itself, but at a lower cost and more convenient.
Aethir suspends token swap with io.net and launches $50 million community reward program
According to official news, Aethir announced the suspension of the $50 million token exchange plan previously agreed with io.net. The Aethir Foundation decided to launch the Aethir Community Rewards Program to distribute the $50 million worth of ATH tokens originally allocated for exchange to loyal and active participants in the Aethir network to recognize the valuable contributions of the Aethir community and further motivate people to continue to participate in the Aethir ecosystem.
The plan is allocated as follows:
(1) Checker Node License Holder Rewards. $20 million worth of ATH tokens will be distributed to Checker Node License holders, all of whom are eligible to receive a minimum number of ATHs; bonuses will be given to those who have staked at least 2,500 ATHs per Checker License and those who have staked since the TGE. Aethir will take snapshots every day to determine eligibility, with the last snapshot to be taken on July 23, 2024.
(2) ATH-AI Staking Pool Yield Enhancement: The remaining $30 million worth of ATH tokens will be allocated to the ATH-AI Staking Pool within 24 weeks to increase returns and support the development of artificial intelligence applications on the Aethir network.
Aethir claims that the $50 million community rewards program is an important milestone towards the decentralized future of cloud computing and will accelerate the growth and development of the Aethir ecosystem by reallocating resources originally used for the io.net token exchange.
Sanctum posted on X that the CLOUD airdrop allocation query portal on LFG has been re-launched, and 1,000 new users who meet the airdrop qualifications have been added.
Additionally, after the Cupcakes EXP bug is fixed, non-Cupcakes holders allocations may be slightly reduced, up to 3%.
zkLink: Novadrop first round of ZKL token redemption will start on July 22
zkLink posted on the X platform that the first round of ZKL token redemption for Novadrop will begin on July 22.
According to previous news, on June 3, zkLink announced the launch of the first round of NovaDrop Genesis, an airdrop of tokens. Eligible users will have 4 months to claim ZKL tokens. A total of 5% of ZKL shares will be available for claiming in the airdrop.
Character Voice
Vitalik Buterin: Against making political voting choices based on whether or not you support crypto
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has expressed his opposition to making political voting choices based on whether or not to support cryptocurrencies. Supporting a politician should be based on their entire platform and views, not just because they support cryptocurrencies.
Vitalik wrote in the article that the cryptocurrency field is increasingly active in politics and supports political parties and candidates almost entirely based on whether they are willing to be tolerant and friendly to cryptocurrencies. But decisions made in this way are likely to go against the values that originally brought you into the crypto field. In the crypto field, people tend to focus too much on the centrality of money and the freedom to hold and spend money (which can also be tokens). Bitcoin is seen as an extension of the spirit of libertarianism in the field of Internet payments.
Vitalik believes that freedom is important, and decentralized networks are good at protecting freedom. Money is an important area where such networks can be applied - but it is only one of several important areas. And being cryptocurrency-friendly now does not mean it will still be cryptocurrency-friendly five years later.
Bitwise CIO: Bitcoin ETF purchases more than twice as much BTC as miners mined since launch
Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise, said that since the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF, the number of bitcoins purchased by related funds has reached about 263,965, while the number of bitcoins mined by Bitcoin miners during the same period was 129,281, which means that the number of BTC purchased by Bitcoin ETFs since their launch is more than twice the amount mined by miners.
In addition, Bitcoin has risen by about 40% since the ETF was launched on January 11, and has risen by more than 100% since October 2023. The impact of the Ethereum ETF on ETH is expected to be even greater.
Putin: Cryptocurrency mining accounts for 1.5% of Russias electricity consumption
Russian President Vladimir Putin said cryptocurrency mining accounts for 1.5% of Russias electricity consumption.
In response to the communitys controversy over the transparency and fairness of airdrops, Sanctum founder FP Lee said in a post on X: This is the last time I will issue a response to airdrops. I know that many deposit users are disappointed, especially compared to those who get airdrops through non-deposit methods, they get a much smaller share of tokens and feel that they have been treated unfairly... I can deeply feel your pain, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to all those who silently support us. It is our great honor that you are willing to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in our protocol...
FP Lee added: “There is absolutely no internal allocation of the airdrop. We don’t know most of the users who have obtained Earnestness, but they have invested tens or even hundreds of hours in Sanctum for free.”
