Headlines
Grass: Airdrop query is now online
Grass has announced on the X platform that the airdrop query is now online. The query page only reflects the allocation of Closed Alpha and Epochs 1-7, and does not include the ongoing Bonus Epoch or To Be Announced allocation. The total supply of GRASS tokens is 1 billion, of which 10% is for the first airdrop. The detailed allocation is:
Closed Alpha: 1.5%
Epochs 1-7: 7%
Bonus Epoch: 0.5%
To Be Announced： 1%
The Eigen Foundation announced on the X platform that the second season of Stakedrop will be unlocked soon, which will reward key contributors and participants in the ecosystem, including stakers and operators, ecosystem partners, and the community. Token collection will be open on or before September 17.
Market News: U.S. CFTC reaches settlement with Uniswap Labs and requires payment of $175,000 fine
According to market news, Uniswap Labs reached a settlement with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and paid a civil penalty of $175,000. It is reported that the CFTC found that Uniswap Labs illegally provided leveraged or margin retail commodity trading of digital assets through a decentralized digital asset trading protocol. Uniswap Labs was required to pay a civil penalty of $175,000 and stop violating the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA).
Industry News
In an interview with Goldman Sachs monthly research magazine Top of Mind, former Dallas Fed President Kaplan said that the Fed may be behind the curve, but only for one or two meetings. He does think the Fed should start cutting interest rates. Kaplan said he is also paying attention to the data, including the August employment report to be released on Friday. He said that a relatively solid data would prompt the Fed to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, but if this data and other data are weaker than expected, the Fed may also cut interest rates by 50 basis points. (Jinshi)
Economists at Goldman Sachs Group analyzed the potential economic impact of a Republican or Democratic victory in the November election and warned that U.S. GDP would face a hit if Trump wins. Goldman Sachs said it does not expect further tariff increases if Harris wins, and the banks economists wrote that Trump could raise tariffs on China, the European Union and Mexico, which would cause inflation to soar, with a peak impact of 30 to 40 basis points on the Feds preferred price index. The additional 10% general tariff proposed by the Republican candidate would have a greater impact, although it would take longer. (Jinshi)
Nigerian judge postpones Binance executive bail hearing to October 9
Tigran Gambaryan, a Binance executive who has been detained in Nigeria since February, may not be eligible for bail until October, and the ruling on Gambaryans bail application has been postponed to October 9. Gambaryan is Binances head of financial crime compliance, and his lawyers have filed a motion for bail.
Although Nigerian tax authorities dropped the charges against him in June, he may still appear in court on money laundering charges. Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen, is a former IRS agent, and many lawmakers and crypto industry leaders have called for his immediate release, claiming he is being unjustly detained. (Cointelegraph)
Ripple seeks stay of $125 million SEC fine
In the lawsuit filed by the US SEC against Ripple Labs, Ripples legal team requested a stay of execution of the August 7 ruling requiring it to pay $125 million. In a document filed with the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 4, Ripples lawyers stated that the SEC has agreed to postpone the payment of the judgment until after September 6. Ripple proposed to deposit 111% of the judgment amount, approximately $139 million, into a bank account until the expiration of the appeal period or within 30 days after any appeal is resolved.
At present, the judge in charge of the case, Analisa Torres, has not approved the request. Ripple CEO once called the August 7 ruling a victory for Ripple and said the company would respect the $125 million fine. (Cointelegraph)
Project News
ApeCoin Launches BluePrint Project to Launch Consumer-facing Application
Yuga Labs co-founder Greg Solano announced that ApeCoin is replanning its development blueprint and launching a new program called BluePrint. The program aims to attract new users and promote community building on the upcoming ApeChain network by launching consumer-facing applications. ApeChain will focus on providing killer application content partners, an easy-to-navigate ecosystem website, and a series of developer tools to simplify the process of deploying new experiences on ApeChain. In addition, ApeCoin has also partnered with web3 business platforms Halliday, Decent, and Privy to simplify the user onboarding process. ApeCoin is currently priced at approximately $0.61, down 97% from its historical high. (The Block)
According to Coindesk, it has obtained a draft white paper for World Liberty Financial, a new crypto lending platform promoted by former US President Donald Trump and his son. It disclosed that most of the power promised by World Liberty Financial will be concentrated in the hands of a few insiders: 70% of the projects governance crypto token WLFI will be held by founders, teams and service providers, and the remaining 30% will be distributed through public sales. Part of the funds raised will also flow to project insiders, but part of the funds will be retained in the vault to support the operations of World Liberty Financial. According to a person close to the project, World Liberty Financial has not yet finalized its plans. (Coindesk)
Binance hires UK accounting firm Grant Thornton to provide audit advice and consulting
Binance has hired British accounting firm Grant Thornton to provide accounting and tax advice to the exchange, and the company will also help Binance prepare for the audit. Binance previously worked with audit firm Mazars, but the latter suspended cooperation with the exchange in December 2022. (Coindesk)
Binance said in a blog post that through the Binance SOL staking feature, users will be able to stake SOL tokens in exchange for BNSOL, a liquid staking token that can be used in various Binance products and external DeFi applications. BNSOL holders can trade, stake, invest, borrow and use their tokens in a variety of ways to unlock the value of their staked SOL while earning staking rewards. Simply put, Binance SOL staking unlocks the liquidity of staked SOL tokens, and BNSOL accumulates staking rewards through the BNSOL: SOL conversion rate. Binance also stated that it will launch a Binance SOL staking event in September this year.
A16z has closed its Miami office due to the crypto market downturn
As the cryptocurrency market slumped, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) exited the Miami area in May because employees were not using the office frequently enough, according to people familiar with the matter. A representative for Andreessen Horowitz confirmed that the firm no longer has an office in Miami but declined to comment further.
The exodus highlights potential weaknesses in Miami’s staying power after it attracted a slew of financial and tech companies in recent years. Shortly after Andreessen Horowitz announced the office, Miami’s cryptocurrency dreams began to unravel with the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX. Venture capital flows to Miami have been on a downward trend since 2022. According to PitchBook data, Miami companies raised $400 million in the second quarter, compared with $5.5 billion in all of 2022. (Bloomberg)
Binance Futures Updates Multiple U-margined Perpetual Contract Leverage and Margin Tiers
According to the official announcement, Binance Futures has updated the leverage and margin tiers of U-margin perpetual contracts for WLDUSDT, MEWUSDT, AVAXUSDT, 1000 BONKUSDT, 1000 SHIBUSDT, SUIUSDT, BCHUSDT, TONUSDT and DOGSUSDT at 07:30 (UTC) on September 4, 2024. Please note: users current positions will not be affected.
Over Protocol plans to conduct an airdrop at the end of September, and the mainnet is now online
Layer 1 protocol Over Protocol has successfully launched its mainnet today. The project aims to create a user-friendly environment where anyone can easily participate in the new P2P financial system without the need for professional knowledge.
The core development team Superblock has raised $8 million in funding to develop this blockchain, focusing on node optimization technology and creating a comprehensive ecosystem to lower the entry barrier for everyday users.
After the mainnet is launched, two key ecosystem applications, OverFlex and OverScape, will be updated at the end of September. In addition, a large-scale airdrop will be carried out after the update at the end of September. Community members who have contributed to the ecosystem over the past year will be rewarded.
Former Mt. Gox CEO plans to launch new cryptocurrency trading platform EllipX this month
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles plans to launch his new cryptocurrency trading platform later this month, focusing on transparency and user-friendliness. The upcoming platform, called EllipX, is scheduled to launch in Europe later this month and will be based in Poland.
Karpeles said the new exchange will be structured like the New York Stock Exchange, but for cryptocurrencies. To ensure transparency, Karpeles plans to separate the different working bodies of the exchange.
The Ethereum Foundation Research Team will hold an official AMA at 21:00 tomorrow night
Justin Drake, a core researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, posted on X that at 21:00 Beijing time on September 5, the Ethereum Foundation (EF) research team will hold an official AMA event on Reddit, and EF researchers will answer various questions raised by the community on the relevant homepage.
It is reported that this is the 12th official AMA in the teams history. The team last held an AMA in January this year (before the Cancun upgrade).
Character*Voice
Uphold CEO: Memecoin explosion is a disturbing trend that is devaluing cryptocurrencies
In a recent interview with The Block, Uphold CEO Simon McLoughlin said he is optimistic about the long-term prospects of cryptocurrencies but is frustrated by the “fraudulent nature” of some segments.
He noted that 7,000 new memecoins are created every day, which is frustrating. Nevertheless, Uphold offers a product called Meme Basket that allows customers to invest in a selection of popular memecoins through its app, including tokens such as DOGE, FLOKI, PEPE and BONK. (The Block)
Coinbase clarifies: Harris campaign not accepting cryptocurrency donations directly
Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas said at an event that U.S. Vice President Harris is accepting cryptocurrency donations, but a Coinbase spokesperson later clarified that Haas was referring to the Future Forward USA political action committee (PAC) supporting Harris, not her campaign.
Future Forward PAC has partnered with Coinbase Commerce to accept cryptocurrency donations. Although Harris campaign website does not currently offer cryptocurrency donations, the development may indicate that the Democratic Partys attitude towards cryptocurrency is changing. Harris presidential opponent Trump has won the support of cryptocurrency fans and companies. Harriss administration has been criticized by the industry for its perceived anti-cryptocurrency stance. (Cointelegraph)
Grayscale: If the dollar weakens and interest rates continue to fall, it will be good for Bitcoin
The Grayscale Research team recently published an article stating that if the U.S. dollar weakens and interest rates continue to fall, it will be good for Bitcoin because, like physical gold, Bitcoin is an alternative currency system that competes with the U.S. dollar in the international market.
And it believes that the main downside risk to crypto valuations is a further rise in unemployment and a possible recession. Therefore, investors should pay close attention to upcoming labor market data, including the next monthly employment report scheduled for release on September 6. However, even if there is a risk of recession, Grayscale Research believes that there is little tolerance for a deep economic downturn, and policymakers will start to release water and promote consumption at the first sign of problems. The lack of discipline in monetary and fiscal policies is one of the reasons why some investors choose to invest in Bitcoin. Therefore, periods of economic weakness may highlight the long-term investment value of Bitcoin.
Justin Sun: Completed the destruction of $8 million of SUN tokens
Justin Sun said on the X platform that SunPump has completed the destruction of $8 million of SUN tokens, and there is still a $4 million destruction plan to be executed.
Ripple CEO: Stablecoin RLUSD will be launched in the coming weeks
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said during a fireside chat at Korea Blockchain Week that the company will launch its new stablecoin in weeks, not months. Garlinghouse also criticized SEC Chairman Gary Genslers approach to cryptocurrencies, calling OpenSeas experience unfortunate. Ripple CEO said he is more optimistic than ever about the development of cryptocurrencies in the next five years.
Investment and Financing
Safe Superintelligence (SSI), co-founded by OpenAI co-founder and former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, has raised $1 billion. SSI currently has 10 employees. The company will focus on building a small team of researchers and engineers, which is located in Palo Alto, California and Tel Aviv, Israel. The new funds will be used to purchase computing power and hire top talents. The company declined to disclose its valuation, but people familiar with the matter said it is valued at $5 billion. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Sequoia Capital, DST Global and SV Angel, as well as NFDG, an investment partnership run by Nat Friedman and SSI CEO Daniel Gross. (Reuters)
Gate Ventures announced that it has made a strategic investment in Space and Time (SxT) in its Series A round. The Series A round was officially announced on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, and will advance SxTs mission in building and scaling AI-driven decentralized data infrastructure.
The Series A funding will be used to advance SxTs innovative data platform, which is designed to provide verifiable and trustless data services. The SxT team consists of world-class AI and cryptography researchers who plan to accelerate product development, expand global influence, and strengthen partnerships in the blockchain field.
At the intersection of AI and blockchain, this investment is expected to have a profound impact on the Web3 ecosystem. With the support of Gate Ventures, SxT will continue to drive AI innovation by providing developers with critical data, infrastructure, and tools.
Samsungs fund announced that it has invested in Soneium development team Startale Labs
Samsung Next, an investment company under Samsung Electronics, officially announced today that it has invested in Startale Labs, the development team of Sonys Layer 2 network Soneium.
Earlier news revealed that the Ethereum Layer 2 network Soneium, jointly developed by Sony and Startale Labs, has been launched on the testnet.
Security incidents
Pendle officially released a post-mortem analysis of the Penpie attack on the X platform, the main content of which includes: Earlier today, a security vulnerability against Penpie resulted in the loss of some funds. In response, Pendle quickly suspended our contract, effectively protecting approximately $105 million. After much effort, the Pendle contract has now been restored. Normal operations have been resumed. Funds on Pendle remain safe.
Since the attacker deployed the first contract used for the attack at 17:45 UTC, the Pendle team detected it through real-time internal monitoring systems, launched an investigation, defended Pendle and Pencosystem from any subsequent attacks, contacted security experts Seal 911 to help evaluate the situation and select and develop security strategies, suspended all contracts on the Pendle platform to prevent the loss of Penpie assets, and actively contacted protocols that used Pendle PT as collateral and informed them that the contract was suspended (PT could not be liquidated during this period). The team then discovered that the vulnerability was related to a feature that allowed Pendle markets to be listed on Penpie without permission. Ultimately, at 00:50 UTC, the Pendle contract was safely restored and resumed normal operations. During the incident, the Pendle team maintained active communication with security experts Seal 911 and Penpie to mitigate losses. Thanks to Dan Caspi, @invlpgtbl and 0x c 0 ffeebabe from @HypernativeLabs for their help and expert support, and a special thanks to @pcaversaccio.
We want to assure Pendies that funds on Pendle remain safe and unaffected, and we will continue to prioritize the safe operation of the platform.”
According to Embers monitoring, Penpie was hacked and assets worth approximately US$27.8 million were stolen due to a security vulnerability, mainly some LRT assets (wstETH/agETH/rswETH, etc.).
Most of these stolen assets were exchanged by hackers for 11,109 ETH (worth about $26.95 million), of which 1,000 ETH (worth about $2.42 million) was laundered by hackers through Tornado Cash 1 hour ago. The initial funds from the address used by hackers to steal assets were also received from Tornado.
Yu Xian, the founder of SlowMist, posted on the X platform that the DAI L2 Deployer private key was leaked, resulting in some recently deployed L2 DAI contract addresses being honeypot addresses controlled by attackers. This address has no related risks on Optimism and Arbitrum, but the Base and Polygon network contracts are not safe. The mainnet DAI contract is safe.
Scammers use new method to defraud Solana users of their crypto
Scammers have recently discovered a new way to defraud Solana users of their cryptocurrencies. They used Solanas built-in token expansion function to secretly destroy users tokens within seconds after they purchased them, making it impossible for users to use or view them. Slorg, a member of the core working group of Jupiter, a Solana ecological transaction aggregator, pointed out that the purpose of scammers destroying tokens may include creating confusion, reducing market circulation to stabilize prices, or conducting small-scale, high-frequency fraud activities. (Cointelegraph)
ScamSniffer: One victim lost $397,831 to setOwner phishing signature
ScamSniffer posted on X-Platform that one victim lost $397,831 by signing a setOwner phishing signature, which changed the ownership of his DSProxy.
Earlier news, ScamSniffers August report showed that crypto phishing scams lost $63 million in August, with one victim losing up to $55 million in an agent ownership scam.
