Today's News Highlights:
The 5th PANews PARTY AWARD Annual Selection Voting Has Officially Started
Binance Will Delist AKRO, BLZ, WRX on December 25
An Investor Lost $102,000 in 12 Minutes Due to the Binance Alpha Incident
Big Time Studios Announces Establishment of a $150 Million Open Loot Fund
sBTC Has Launched on the Stacks Mainnet, Offering a 5% Annual Reward
Renzo Announces the Opening of Season 3 Claims, Allocating 4% of Total Supply
Regulatory News
Ireland's Data Protection Commission Fines Meta €251 Million
According to the announcement from the Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ireland, a final decision has been made against Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (MPIL) regarding a data breach reported in 2018, resulting in a fine of €251 million. The data breach affected approximately 29 million Facebook accounts worldwide, with about 3 million accounts from the EU/EEA. The leaked data included names, emails, phone numbers, locations, workplaces, birthdays, religious beliefs, and gender. The DPC's investigation found that Meta violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the following ways: • Failure to adequately fulfill data breach notification obligations (Article 33(3), Article 33(5)), resulting in a fine of €11 million; • Failure to ensure data protection principles were integrated into the design of data processing systems (Article 25(1), Article 25(2)), resulting in a fine of €240 million. DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle stated that this enforcement highlights the serious risks and harms that can arise from failing to implement data protection requirements during the design and development phases, particularly the potential severe threat to fundamental rights and freedoms posed by the leakage of user privacy data. The complete decision and related information will be released later.
According to CleanSpark's announcement, the company has completed the issuance of $650 million in zero-interest convertible bonds (due in 2030), with net proceeds of approximately $633.6 million. The convertible bonds were offered to qualified institutional investors, including $100 million in bonds from the initial underwriters' full exercise of the over-allotment option. In this issuance, CleanSpark signed a capped buyback agreement with multiple parties, setting the conversion price cap at $24.66 per share (a 100% premium over the closing price of $12.33 on December 12) to reduce potential equity dilution. Additionally, CleanSpark spent $145 million to repurchase 11.76 million shares of common stock to further optimize the shareholder equity structure. The funds will be used to repay the Coinbase credit line, capital expenditures, potential acquisitions, and general corporate purposes. CEO Zach Bradford stated that this financing not only ensures CleanSpark's expansion to a target hash rate of 50 EH/s but also supports its strategic initiatives in expanding mining operations and asset acquisitions while enhancing the company's financial flexibility and shareholder value.
Australian Regulators Sue Binance Australia Derivatives for Failing to Protect Consumer Rights
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), it has sued cryptocurrency company Binance Australia Derivatives, accusing it of failing to adequately protect consumer rights between July 2022 and April 2023. ASIC stated that Binance misclassified 505 Australian retail investors (83% of its total customers) as wholesale clients, resulting in these retail investors not receiving the necessary consumer protections, including product disclosure statements and target market determinations. ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court stated that Binance's compliance systems were severely inadequate, exposing retail investors to high-risk cryptocurrency derivatives, many of whom suffered significant financial losses. In 2023, ASIC oversaw Binance paying approximately $13.1 million in compensation to affected customers. ASIC stated it would seek penalties, declarations, and adverse publicity orders, and continue to protect consumers and maintain market integrity through various regulatory and enforcement tools.
A Cryptocurrency Company Executive Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Embezzling $4.46 Million
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut, 31-year-old DYLAN MEISSNER was sentenced to 48 months in prison for embezzling over $4.46 million from his former employer, along with two years of supervised release and ordered to pay $4.6334 million in restitution. MEISSNER, who served as the Vice President of Finance at a cryptocurrency research company, illegally transferred funds from the company's crypto wallets and bank accounts for personal investment losses and concealed his actions through false accounts. The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David E. Novick. MEISSNER is set to begin serving his sentence on February 21, 2025.
The U.S. Treasury Announces Closure of a North Korean Digital Asset Money Laundering Network
According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Treasury has announced the closure of a North Korean cryptocurrency money laundering network that exchanged cryptocurrency for cash for North Korea through a shell company located in the UAE, Green Alpine Trading, LLC. The U.S. has sanctioned this company and two Chinese nationals involved in the network since 2022. The Treasury noted that North Korea has been raising funds through cryptocurrency crimes to support its nuclear weapons program, and this operation involved cooperation between the UAE and the U.S., although the status of the two sanctioned Chinese nationals was not disclosed.
Ohio Lawmaker Proposes Establishing a Bitcoin Reserve Fund in State Treasury
Ohio State Representative Derek Merrin has submitted Bill No. 703 (Ohio Bitcoin Reserve Act), proposing the establishment of a Bitcoin reserve fund in the state treasury and authorizing the state treasurer to invest in Bitcoin flexibly, but not mandatorily. Merrin pointed out that the U.S. dollar is rapidly depreciating, and Bitcoin could serve as a tool to protect tax funds and enhance state finances. This legislation provides a framework for state governments to utilize Bitcoin technology to address economic challenges and promote innovation. Similar bills have been proposed in Texas and Pennsylvania, aiming to establish state-level Bitcoin reserves.
Local Police in China Seizes $90,000 in Illegal Gains for "VPN Trading"
According to the Wu Enxiang lawyer team’s public account, local police in China seized $90,000 in illegal gains based on a "VPN trading" case, deeming the act of trading Bitcoin through a VPN as illegal. In the case, an individual named Zhang used a VPN to access foreign trading platforms and profited $90,000 from virtual currency trading. According to the "Interim Regulations on the Management of International Networking of Computer Information Networks" and the "Public Security Administration Punishment Law," the police confiscated his illegal gains of $90,000 and imposed a fine of $15,000, while also seizing the tools used in the crime, including a mobile phone and computer.
The controversy in the case lies in whether the act of using a VPN can be directly linked to the subsequent profits from trading and whether the profits from trading can be deemed illegal gains. Legal opinions suggest that the illegality of using a VPN primarily lies in the use of illegal channels, while trading itself is not illegal; deeming subsequent profits as illegal gains solely due to the VPN usage lacks rationality.
Project Updates
Binance Will Delist AKRO, BLZ, WRX on December 25
Binance announced that it will delist and cease all spot trading pairs related to AKRO, BLZ, and WRX on December 25, 2024, at 03:00 (UTC), including AKRO/USDT, BLZ/BTC, BLZ/USDT, and WRX/USDT.
Renzo Announces the Opening of Season 3 Claims, Allocating 4% of Total Supply
Renzo Governance tweeted that the third season $REZ claims have now opened, with this allocation accounting for 4% of the total supply, totaling 400 million $REZ. The claim period is from December 17, 2024, to March 17, 2025. There are 81,684 eligible wallets, requiring at least 1,000 S3 ezPoints, with 37,125 users holding between 1,000 and 2,000 ezPoints receiving a minimum reward equivalent to 2,000 ezPoints. The fully unlocked portion involves 81,236 wallets, while the linear unlock portion involves 357 wallets, which will unlock 33.33% monthly over three months. Users can claim through the Renzo official website.
sBTC Has Launched on the Stacks Mainnet, Offering a 5% Annual Reward
According to official news from Stacks, sBTC has launched on the Stacks mainnet, marking an important step towards a decentralized on-chain Bitcoin economy. sBTC achieves trustlessness, security, and transparency through 1:1 Bitcoin anchoring, an institutional signature network, and Bitcoin hash power backing, supporting the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem. In the initial phase, only deposits are supported, with a liquidity cap of 1,000 BTC and offering up to a 5% annual reward. Withdrawal functionality will be enabled in the first quarter of 2025, increasing the liquidity cap and advancing the permissionless signature network, further promoting the programmability of Bitcoin and DeFi applications.
Big Time Studios Announces Establishment of a $150 Million Open Loot Fund
According to VentureBeat, Big Time Studios has announced the establishment of a $150 million Open Loot fund aimed at promoting game development on the Web3 platform Open Loot. The fund will provide financial support, marketing, and development guidance to game studios, helping them develop high-quality crypto games. The Open Loot platform has 1.5 million registered players and supports developers in minting and distributing digital assets through an SDK, rewarding players and developers with the $OL token. The platform has achieved nearly $500 million in transaction volume.
Opinions
DeFiance Capital Founder: 2025 May Welcome a DeFi Renaissance
Arthur Cheong, founder of DeFiance Capital, stated in a post that 2025 could be the year of DeFi's revival, with key factors including a supportive U.S. government for crypto, growth in core DeFi primitives, and the development of chain abstraction protocols.
Binance co-founder He Yi recently spoke on Space, stating that most meme coins will ultimately go to zero, with only a few projects able to survive long-term, but it is difficult to define which projects will remain. Binance has listed an observation list covering VC-supported projects, infrastructure projects, DeFi projects, and meme coins, but some cannot be launched due to token model issues or inflated data. To enhance transparency, Binance will move some observed projects to the Alpha zone of the Web3 wallet for user trading and screen for high-quality projects with long-term potential. He Yi mentioned that the expansion of Binance's user base causes the market cap of newly listed coins to rise rapidly in the short term, but may then decline slowly. Although Binance attempts to suppress coin prices to reasonable ranges before listing, this strategy has not been widely accepted. She also compared the crypto industry to traditional IPOs, pointing out that many projects lack a real user base, and on-chain data is often inflated through airdrops, leading to projects with business models being undervalued. She emphasized that only projects beneficial to society can achieve long-term profitability and give back to users.
Mikko Ohtamaa, co-founder of Trading Strategy, criticized Polygon's practice of using user-bridged USDC deposits for money markets (such as Morpho), arguing that this poses multiple risks:
Undermining the illusion of self-custody: Although the Polygon bridge is controlled by a multi-signature wallet, this operation breaks users' trust in self-custody.
Attracting regulatory scrutiny: The movement of billions of dollars could trigger significant attention from regulators and the media.
Lack of user choice: Currently, users cannot choose whether to participate in this mechanism, lacking transparency.
Double counting issue: The bridged USDC is used for lending services on Polygon while also being utilized in Morpho on the mainnet.
He suggested that Polygon explore more transparent methods, such as launching an independent bridging service that allows users to choose to convert USDC into "Polygon yield-bearing USDC." Additionally, he mentioned that Circle has launched a non-bridged version of USDC on Polygon, but due to its late launch and incompatibility with the bridged version, it has not gained widespread adoption.
Matrixport: Bitcoin Could Surge 150% in 2024, Bull Market Expected in 2025
Matrixport data shows that as Bitcoin ETFs successfully attract new investors, Bitcoin is expected to perform strongly in 2024, with an annual increase of 150%, closing the year with extraordinary performance. From a risk management perspective, Bitcoin has shown a significant upward trend throughout the year, with a peak increase of 44% in February, marking the best performance of the year, while the decline in April was only 15%, with only five months recording negative returns.
Notably, Bitcoin's volatility is primarily upward, aligning with investor expectations and laying the groundwork for a strong start in 2025. Many investors have reflected on early 2024, lamenting their failure to increase their investment.
Important Data
An Investor Lost $102,000 in 12 Minutes Due to the Binance Alpha Incident
According to @ai_9684xtpa's monitoring, due to the Binance Alpha incident, an investor lost $102,000 in just 12 minutes, with $195,000 going in and $93,000 coming out. The sequence of events is as follows: After false information was released, the investor sold 1.76 million $ARC (about $170,000) to buy 1.42 million $ELIZA at a cost of $0.1376; then realized that the target token should be lowercase $eliza, and sold all $ELIZA for $eliza at $0.09567, incurring a loss of $59,600; after the news was debunked, the price of lowercase $eliza also fell, and the investor sold again at $0.01157, incurring a loss of $43,000. Overall, the investor lost as much as $525,000 in this incident.
Possibly Affected by Binance's Delisting, BLZ and WRX Dropped Over 20% Temporarily
Possibly affected by Binance's delisting, BLZ and WRX temporarily dropped over 20%, while AKRO fell over 10%. Specifically: BLZ is currently priced at $0.104, down 25.3% in 24 hours; WRX is currently priced at $0.1917, down 23.06% in 24 hours; AKRO is currently priced at $0.0036, down 14% in 24 hours; previously, it was reported that Binance will delist AKRO, BLZ, and WRX on December 25.
Blur Transferred 34.41 Million BLUR Unlocked This Month to Coinbase Prime
According to monitoring by Yu Jin, Blur transferred 34.41 million BLUR (approximately $11.06 million) unlocked this month to Coinbase Prime 20 minutes ago. Since entering the unlocking period on June 15, 2023, Blur has unlocked a total of 31.6% (949 million BLUR), flowing into Coinbase Prime, with a total value of $323.1 million based on the price at the time of transfer.
Mt. Gox-Related Wallet Address Transferred 1,130 BTC Worth Approximately $118.45 Million 3 Hours Ago
According to iChainfo monitoring, a wallet address related to Mt. Gox (1HtH…9wHH) transferred 1,130 BTC to two addresses three hours ago, worth approximately $118.45 million.
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