This week's popular review | Cryptocurrency trading platform EDX Markets goes live, Volatility Shares to launch leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF next week.

BlockBeats will summarize the industry's key news content for the week (6.19-6.25) in this article, and recommend in-depth articles to help readers better understand the market and industry trends.   

Weekly News Recap

EDX Markets, a cryptocurrency trading platform supported by industry giants such as Citadel Securities and Fidelity, will announce its launch soon.

On June 20th, EDX Markets, a new cryptocurrency trading platform supported by Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments, and Charles Schwab, began executing trades in the past few weeks and announced its launch on Tuesday. EDX Markets is a non-custodial trading platform that does not directly handle customers' digital assets or serve individual investors. EDX Markets will offer four cryptocurrencies for trading, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash (these assets have not been recognized as securities by the US Securities and Exchange Commission). The launch of EDX Markets is seen by many in the cryptocurrency community as a sign of Wall Street's accelerated entry into the market.

Volatility Shares will launch the first leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF next Tuesday.

Volatility Shares will launch its 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF next Tuesday. Previously, its application was not rejected by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and became effective this Friday. Stuart Barton, Chief Investment Officer of Volatility Shares, stated in an email that the ETF will begin trading on Tuesday, seeking to provide twice the return of the Bitcoin futures index daily. According to the prospectus, the fund will not directly invest in Bitcoin, but "seeks to benefit from the rise in Bitcoin futures contract prices." The SEC has already approved Bitcoin futures ETFs, but has not yet approved spot ETFs. In the past week, companies including WisdomTree, Invesco, and BlackRock have submitted applications for Bitcoin spot ETFs.

Li Lin officially sues Huobi in Hong Kong for alleged trademark infringement of "Huobi"

On June 21st, X-Spot Limited, controlled by Li Lin, filed a lawsuit against Huobi Global Limited for trademark infringement in the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The complaint stated that X-Spot Limited has always retained exclusive rights to the "Huobi" trademark, and Huobi Global Limited has been using the trademark without authorization from X-Spot. When the original shareholders transferred their shares of Huobi Global Station to About Capital Management, they explicitly agreed to retain the exclusive rights to the "Huobi" trademark and ensure that these rights would not be transferred to the buyer or Huobi. The equity transfer and asset delivery agreement between the two parties clearly stipulates that the buyer is prohibited from using the "Huobi" trademark and brand.

Binance Labs invests in 5 projects in its fifth season of incubation program, including DeFi and infrastructure.

Binance Labs has invested in 5 projects in its fifth incubation program, covering various areas of Web3, including DeFi, infrastructure, tools, and middleware. The specific projects are: zkPass, Mind Network, ...

Kryptoskatt, Bracket Labs, DappOS. Related reading: "Binance Labs invests in 5 projects in its fifth incubation program, including DeFi, infrastructure, and other fields."

Chairman of Hong Kong FinTech Association: Under strict regulation in the US, crypto companies are turning their attention to Hong Kong

The Chairman of the Hong Kong FinTech Association, Neil Tan, said that due to the challenging regulatory environment in the United States, cryptocurrency companies are being forced to explore more friendly jurisdictions. Hong Kong, with its strategic position as a gateway to China and its strong funding channels, is enhancing its ambition to become a leader in the virtual asset field. However, Hong Kong faces fierce competition from Dubai and Singapore. Tan said that other jurisdictions have regressed in terms of access for retail investors, and Hong Kong is leading the way in this area. We will see different participants entering the field, including cryptocurrency and TradFi, among others. There are also many other applicants, including Greentown Holdings. This is a real estate participant with no experience in cryptocurrency or digital assets, but they have expressed a desire to apply for a license.

Coinbase wins in the highest court lawsuit in the United States, transferring a class-action lawsuit from users to private arbitration

On June 23, the US Supreme Court supported cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase's request to halt customer litigation and seek an appeal to transfer the dispute from the court to private arbitration. The judges overturned a lower court ruling by a 5-4 decision, which involved a user suing after a fraudster stole money from their account. The lower court allowed the proposed class action to continue, while Coinbase appealed, arguing that the claim belongs in arbitration. The judges also rejected Coinbase's request to review a second case. Coinbase claims that its user agreement requires disputes to be resolved through arbitration, and under a law called the Federal Arbitration Act, that law governs the process of resolving disputes through arbitration, and when a request to compel arbitration is appealed, the litigation in the initial court must be stopped.

111th Ethereum ACDC Meeting: Discussion on the Final Scope of Deneb Upgrade and Three Proposals Including EIP-7044

Galaxy Research Vice President Christine Kim summarized the 111th Ethereum Core Developer Consensus Meeting (ACDC). The consensus layer team discussed the final scope of the Deneb upgrade, potential changes to validator proofs and aggregation deadlines, and a proposal to increase the maximum effective validator balance from 32 ETH to 2048 ETH. First, developers discussed which CL-centered EIPs to include in Deneb. Teku developer Mikhail Kalinin updated EIP-6988, which proposes a code change to prevent forcibly removed slashed validators from being selected as block proposers by the protocol. Developers also discussed EIP-7044, EIP-7045, and EIP-4788 to be included in Deneb. In addition, Ethereum core developers held their first coordination call on the Holesky testnet launch, which is expected to replace the existing Goerli testnet by the end of the year. As for active validators, its scale is expected to be twice that of the Ethereum mainnet.

Uniswap Foundation announces the third round of Grants: $990,000 awarded to 21 projects

On June 21st, the Uniswap Foundation announced the details of the third round of Grants, distributing a total of $990,000 to 21 projects. The funding direction of this round of Grants involves four categories: protocol growth, research and development, community growth, and governance control. The Uniswap Foundation specifically mentioned three funded projects, namely "Checkpoint-Free TWAP Oracle", "Uniswap v3 SDK Rewrite", and "LP University: From Beginner to Intermediate Uniswap v3 Course".

Gray GBTC Negative Premium Rate Narrows to 31%

On June 21st, according to Coinglass data, the current total position of Grayscale is 21.306 billion US dollars, with a daily increase of 5.21%. The Grayscale GBTC negative premium rate has narrowed to 31.32%. The premium rate of other mainstream currency trusts is as follows:

ZachXBT: France has launched an investigation into the Animoon NFT scam involving a total amount of $6.3 million

The on-chain detective ZachXBT stated on social media that another NFT scam case, Animoon, involving an amount of 6.3 million US dollars, is currently under criminal investigation in France. ZachXBT stated that the PFP NFT project has a total of 9999 units, priced at 0.2 ETH each, and is promoted as a P2E game with practical functions such as large gifts, breeding, and real-life travel. However, in the past nearly 5 months, the team has not delivered anything and has transferred 6.3 million US dollars to Binance and Kucoin trading accounts. Currently, Animoon's Twitter account has disappeared, the website cannot be accessed, and regular chats have been deleted from Discord.

Azuki launches a series of NFTs, and Azuki and BEANZ holders are eligible to participate in the presale. After the announcement, the Azuki floor price dropped more than 12% in 24 hours.

Recently, NFT project Azuki announced on social media the launch of Azuki Elementals series NFT, with a total of 20,000 pieces. Each Azuki and BEANZ holder will receive a Soulbound Token (SBT) airdrop to commemorate their participation in the 2023 Follow The Rabbit event. All Azuki and BEANZ holders can participate in the Azuki Elementals presale on June 27 at 9:00 AM Pacific Time (June 28 at 0:00 Beijing Time). In addition, each Azuki holder has been airdropped an undisclosed and locked element. The remaining NFTs will be sold during the public sale of Azuki Elementals, and the undisclosed NFTs will be unlocked and allowed to be transferred immediately after the sale ends. After the announcement, the Azuki floor price fell more than 12% in 24 hours.

Wintermute

is accused of artificially inflating the price of Celsius Token through fraudulent transactions, aiding former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky in deceiving investors.

On June 24th, Wintermute, a market maker in the cryptocurrency industry, was accused of helping former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky deceive investors in a proposed class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs, who sued Mashinsky and other Celsius executives in July 2022, amended their federal lawsuit in New Jersey this week to include Wintermute, a London-based company, causing another major industry participant to be involved in the Celsius bankruptcy lawsuit. According to the lawsuit, Wintermute engaged in "wash trading" and other improper activities to artificially inflate the value of Celsius' native CEL Token and loan products since March 2021. This trading created an illusion of asset trading frequency far higher than actual levels. Investors claim that Wintermute also played a key role in supporting CEL's futile efforts during Mashinsky's attempts to prop up the token after the collapse of Terra and Luna Tokens in May 2022. "This fraudulent trading activity undermines the price of CEL Token and reported trading volume, all of which are part of a strategy to deceive investors," the investors' lawyer said in the lawsuit. A Wintermute spokesperson said in an email statement, "Wintermute strongly denies any involvement in any improper trading."

Huang Licheng sells multiple blue-chip NFTs again, claiming significant losses in investing in BLUR during the live broadcast

According to on-chain data, over the past 4 hours, the address machibigbrother.eth owned by Huang Licheng has been selling blue-chip NFTs such as BAYC, MAYC, and Azuki on Blur. Specifically, 1 Azuki was sold for 16.78 ETH, 5 BAYC were sold for 183.8 ETH, 12 MAYC were sold for 85.48 ETH, 39 BAYC were sold for 1428.71 ETH, and 3 MAYC were sold for 20.57 ETH. Huang Licheng, also known as "Machi Big Brother," stated during a Twitter Space event that his personal investments have not always been profitable, and he has often suffered losses due to entering the market too late. Currently, he has suffered significant losses in his investment in BLUR Token. In addition, he believes that the architecture of ApeCoin DAO is too centralized and that the investment vision of DAO cannot be realized.

This Week's Popular Articles

"Non-custodial" and "retail investors": Understanding the EDX compliance framework in five points

On June 21st, a "new" cryptocurrency trading platform, EDX Markets, announced its entry. Compared to previous cryptocurrency trading platforms, this time EDX is completely owned by the US national team, with support from Wall Street forces such as Citadel Securities, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab. The platform currently provides services to industry giants such as Charles Schwab, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Digital Assets, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, and Virtu Financial. And this cryptocurrency trading platform represents the "compliant" entry of traditional finance into crypto. So how does EDX achieve compliance?

"How do institutions and retail investors open accounts on EDX?"

Unlike "people-friendly" cryptocurrency trading platforms such as Binance and Coinbase, EDX Markets does not directly provide services to individual investors. Instead, EDX provides order routing services through retail brokers, sending buy and sell orders from retail investors to the trading platform. So, what are the specific steps for cryptocurrency institutions, especially retail investors, to "open an account" with EDX?

"The Wall Street Titans' ETF and EDX Enter the Crypto Market, Good or Bad?"

On June 16th, BlackRock, one of the world's largest asset management companies, submitted a filing for a Bitcoin ETF to the US SEC through its subsidiary iShares. The majority of the English-speaking community believes that this move is aimed at driving out native cryptocurrency companies and introducing large traditional companies that partner with the US government in an attempt to control Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The traditional financial control trading platform, EDX Markets, has also begun to enter the cryptocurrency industry.

"What do the six partners of EDX do?"

 In this new round of financing, EDX Markets has attracted a group of strategic investors in the financial trading industry. These include Miami International Holdings (MIH), DV Crypto, GTS, GSR Markets LTD, and HRT Technology, among others, with Miami International Holdings being the most prominent. So what are these six partners of EDX all about?

"Interview with NDV: Why did traditional asset management elites choose to heavily invest in GBTC when encountering post-00s crypto whales?"

When it comes to NDV, many people may not be familiar with it. The full name is NextGenDigital Venture, and NDV is a new fund established in collaboration with cryptocurrency wealth management company Metalpha Technology Holding Ltd this year, which received a $20 million funding subscription in March. Interestingly, unlike its name, NDV's first major move after its establishment was to invest in the "forgotten" Grayscale Bitcoin Trust GBTC.

"Vela Exchange: The Rising Star in the Decentralized Perpetual Contract Market"

A project called Vela Exchange is rising, which combines the advantages and characteristics of GMX and Gains Network in its mechanism. It successfully ended a two-month beta test in April this year, and made adjustments based on the beta test data and results. After iteration, the latest version is about to be released. Let's take a look at this rising star together.   

"A Quick Look at the New LSD Protocol OETH Opportunities and Risks"

In May 2023, Origin Protocol launched Origin Ether (OETH), an interest-bearing token pegged to the value of Ethereum. The token aims to capitalize on the trend of liquid staking derivatives (LSDs) and provide hassle-free returns to holders.   Although OETH is a new product, Origin Protocol has been integrated with Curve's OUSD/3CRV pool since August 2021. OETH leverages the trend of Ethereum liquid staking to create a diversified, yield-generating Ethereum token.

  

《Who will win in this LSDfi war?》

Since the Ethereum Shapella upgrade, the total amount of ETH staked has increased from 15.3% to 19.2%.

LSDfi is the latest narrative catching Binance's attention, with a potential market value of $16.9 billion and a 102% growth in just three weeks!

《Ordinals Trigger "NFT Retrogression", Not an Idealistic Return》

From the distribution model of BRC-20 Token to ETH's $FERC, to directly inserting images converted to Base64 strings into the Hex Data field of ETH transactions to achieve the Bitcoin NFT engraving method known as ETHscriptions. It seems that the idealistic beauty of "immutable, fair, and decentralized" Bitcoin NFT has been transmitted to ETH through the slightly clumsy NFT generation method formed by replicating Bitcoin's characteristics. However, is this really a return to idealism?

"New BRC20-S, can it kick off the 'DeFi summer' on Bitcoin?"

Through BRC-20S, users can pledge their BRC-20 Tokens or Bitcoin and receive corresponding BRC20-S Tokens as rewards. Like BRC-20, the calculation of pledge rewards will also be implemented through an index. OKX will provide an open source interface for profit calculation, and the pledge income of any user will be consistently calculated in the backend and open source tools, ensuring the uniformity of all calculations.   

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