Important information last night this morning (March 3-March 4)
Reprinted from panewslab
03/04/2025·2M
According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s newly formed cryptocurrency task force will hold its first roundtable later this month as part of a series of meetings. The SEC said in a statement Monday that the meeting, titled “Our Past and Future – Defining Securities Status”, will be held on March 21 at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. This roundtable is part of a "Spring Sprint, Seeking Cryptocurrency Clarity" series. "I look forward to using public expertise to develop a viable regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies," Hester Peirce, a Republican member who leads the cryptocurrency task force, said in a statement. Peirce said she plans to prioritize some tokens as "non-securities."
SEC withdraws lawsuit against Kraken, which Kraken calls a turning point in the U.S. crypto industry
According to Kraken's announcement, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has agreed to withdraw the lawsuit against Kraken without paying a fine, admitting violations, and Kraken's business model will not be affected. Kraken said that the withdrawal of the lawsuit is not only a legal victory for the company, but also a key turning point in the US crypto industry's move towards fair regulation. Kraken criticized the previous SEC's "regulation is law enforcement" strategy, saying it hindered innovation and investment and put the United States at a disadvantage in the global crypto market competition. The company thanked the White House and the new SEC leadership for promoting the change and said it would continue to support the "crypto task force" led by Congress and SEC member Hester Peirce to advance a clear framework for digital assets regulation. Kraken believes that a stable and predictable regulatory system will help attract investment, boost industry growth, and maintain the U.S. competitiveness in the global digital asset economy. The company reiterated that it will continue to promote innovation while protecting consumer rights and working with regulators to ensure that the "regulation is law enforcement" model will no longer appear in the future.
Trump: Peer-to-peer tariffs will begin on April 2
According to King Shih, US President Trump said that reciprocal tariffs will be implemented on April 2. Tariffs on Canada and Mexico will begin on Tuesday.
Yuga Labs announces that US SEC has officially concluded its investigation
Yuga Labs posted on X platform: "After more than three years of investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially ended its investigation into Yuga Labs. This is a huge victory for the NFT field and all the creators who are driving our ecosystem. NFT is not a securities."
Tencent Yuanbao APP tops the free list of App Store in China, surpassing DeepSeek
Tencent Yuanbao APP rose to the top in the Apple App Store free app download rankings in China, surpassing DeepSeek.
Nasdaq has submitted 19b-4 application documents for Grayscale Hedera ETF
According to Cointelegraph, Nasdaq submitted 19b-4 application documents, applied for listing and trade Grayscale Hedera ETF (HBAR).
NYSE Arca has submitted 19b-4 application documents for Bitwise Dogecoin ETF
NYSE Arca has filed a 19b-4 application document for the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF, which states in the "Text of Proposed Rules Changes" states that under Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and its sub-rule 19b-4, NYSE Arca proposes to list and trade shares of the Bitwise Dogecoin Exchange Trading Fund under NYSE Arca Rule 8.201-E (Commodity-based Trust Shares).
Strategy: Holding 499,096 bitcoins as of March 2, has not increased its holdings in the past week
According to the latest 8-K report submitted by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), the company did not sell any Class A common shares and did not purchase new Bitcoins between February 24 and March 2. As of March 2, 2025, Strategy and its subsidiaries held a total of 499,096 Bitcoins, with a cumulative purchase cost of approximately US$33.1 billion, and an average purchase price of US$66,357 per coin. In addition, the company's board of directors announced that 8.00% Series A Permanent Preferred Stock (STRK) will pay a quarterly cash dividend of $1.24, with a payment date of March 31 and an equity registration date of March 15.
Arthur Hayes: Believe it is still in a bull cycle, with the worst case Bitcoin falling to $70,000
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said in his latest blog post that although the U.S. stock market index is still close to its all-time high, Bitcoin has signaled that the liquidity crisis is approaching. Based on this, Hayes believes that the U.S. stock market will experience a serious correction due to concerns about the recession. Hayes pointed out that if Bitcoin leads the trend when the market falls, it will play a similar role when it rises. With huge leverage in the system, slight financial disturbances may quickly evolve into a full-scale panic. If his predictions are accurate, the Fed will act soon. Bitcoin will be the first to bottom out and rebound, while the fiat financial system dominated by the U.S. stock market will then fall into trouble. Hayes firmly believes that it is still in a bull cycle, so the worst case for Bitcoin is to fall back to the all-time high of the previous cycle. But he is not sure if it will fall to this level. A positive signal is the decline in the U.S. Treasury’s total account balance, which is equivalent to liquidity injection. Based on confidence in Trump's financial policies and its goals, Hayes increased exposure when Bitcoin trades in the range of $80,000 to $90,000. If it is just a "dead cat rebound", he expects Bitcoin to fall to a low of $80,000 again. If the S&P 500 or Nasdaq 100 index falls 20% to 30% from its historical highs, and a large financial institution is on the verge of bankruptcy, the global market may fall simultaneously, and all risky assets will suffer a setback, and Bitcoin may fall below $80,000 or even fall $70,000. Regardless of how the market fluctuates, Hayes said it will be cautious in buying on dips, not using leverage, and wait for the final fluctuation of the global (especially the United States) fiat currency financial markets, which will drive Bitcoin to $1 million or even higher. He concluded: “Keep focused and buy bitcoin.”
Layer1 blockchain Cronos faces strong opposition over a proposal to restore the 70 billion CRO tokens destroyed in 2021. Early voting results on Mintscan showed that 95.7% of participants voted to reject the program. The vote is expected to end on March 17. In addition, Cryptoslate reported that CRO advocate Wyll Bilderberg said on the X platform: "Destruction is destruction, and the destroyed tokens should not be resurrected. I almost never object to anything that happened on Cronos, but today, I strongly oppose it! If this bill passes, it will only confirm that Cronos is highly centralized and therefore not trustworthy." Previously, yesterday's news, Cronos proposed to reissue 70 billion destroyed tokens to "create Cronos strategic reserves."
AI company CoreWeave submits IPO application to raise $4 billion at a valuation of $35 billion
According to CoinDesk, CoreWeave, an AI company that works closely with Bitcoin mining company Core Scientific, submitted an IPO application today, with an expected financing of US$4 billion and a valuation of more than US$35 billion. The prospectus shows that the company achieved revenue of $1.9 billion in 2024, but suffered a net loss of $863 million due to AI-related investments. The company's cumulative losses have reached US$1.5 billion. CoreWeave has invited Core Scientific to assist in the construction of a 500 megawatt (MW) AI infrastructure. When CoreWeave was still in the Ethereum mining business, the latter was the former's largest GPU supplier.
Amouranth, a well-known online anchor, said she was robbed by a gunman and asked for cryptocurrency
According to Cointelegraph, late at night on March 2, the well-known online anchor Amouranth (real name Kaitlyn Siragusa) posted a series of posts on the X platform, saying that he had been robbed and the robbers asked him for cryptocurrency. On March 3, hours after her first post on X, she posted another update, saying there were three gunmen and attached a video suspected to be from a surveillance camera. Three loud noises came after she took the three men to another part of the property, and the three men ran out of the screen. In November 2024, Amouranth posted a screenshot of her Coinbase account, showing that she held about 211 bitcoins, which was worth $20 million at the time, equivalent to $86,535 per bitcoin. The screenshot also shows that she holds about $80,000 worth of Ethereum, which was priced at $2,161 at the time. Amouranth is known for revealing her financial situation, and has participated in a YouTube personal finance program and shared her earnings on various platforms.
Zora announces launch of "entertainment-only" Meme coins, planned to airdrop in spring 2025
According to The Block, the general media registration protocol Zora announced in a Monday announcement that it will launch its Meme coin of the same name on the Optimism-based Base network in the coming months, with the upcoming token "for entertainment only" and will not grant holders the right to govern. The first snapshot of ZORA was taken on Monday, while the second snapshot is scheduled for three days before ZORA’s official airdrop and is expected to take place sometime in spring 2025. The total supply of the token is 10 billion, of which 26.1% are allocated to contributors, 20% are for incentives, 20% are owned by the treasury, 18.9% are allocated to the Zora team, 10% are for traceable airdrops, and 5% are for maintaining liquidity. It is reported that Zora is a general media registration protocol built using the Optimism technology stack. The company was founded in 2020 and launched its decentralized, creator-centric Zora network in 2023. In May 2022, Haun Ventures led a $50 million round of financing from Zora, when the agreement was valued at $600 million.
AI startup Anthropic completes $3.5 billion in financing, with a valuation of $61.5 billion
According to Zhitong Finance Network, artificial intelligence startup Anthropic announced that it has officially completed a financing of US$3.5 billion, with the company's valuation reaching US$61.5 billion. The round of financing was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with $1 billion investing, and other investors include General Catalyst, Jane Street and Fidelity Management & Research Company. In addition, existing investors such as Menlo Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners have also invested additionally in this round of financing. Anthropic's valuation surged in part due to the rapid expansion of the company's business. According to people familiar with the matter, the company's annual revenue operating rate was about $1 billion by the end of 2023, but it has increased by 30% this year. However, Anthropic did not comment on the specific revenue. The new financing will be used to develop next-generation AI models, expand computing power, strengthen AI security research, and promote expansion of Asian and European markets. Last week, Anthropic launched Sonnet, a more advanced AI model, and released a new AI agent that can automate software programming tasks. This move further demonstrates its cutting-edge innovation capabilities in AI R&D.
Hut 8 Net profit in 2024 reached US$331 million, holding 10,171 BTC and increasing AI infrastructure
According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 achieved a net profit of US$331 million in 2024 and had an annual revenue of US$162 million, benefiting from the rising Bitcoin price. As of the end of 2024, Hut 8 holds 10,171 BTC, with a current valuation of approximately US$905 million, most of which has been used as collateral to purchase ASIC mining machines. The company manages 1,020MW of energy and plans to expand to 12,300MW. At the same time, it has reached a custodial cooperation with Bitmain, with an estimated revenue of US$125 million per year, and jointly develop the next generation of ASIC mining machines. Hut 8 is also increasing investment in AI infrastructure, and its subsidiary Highrise AI signed a five-year GPU cloud computing service agreement and received a strategic investment of US$150 million from Coatue to support the development of AI business. Despite strong performance, the company's stock price fell 7.25% today and its market value fell to $1.5 billion.
Market crash in February triggered $500 million in ETH liquidation
According to The Block, the Ethereum lending market experienced its worst liquidation incident in 12 months in February, with nearly $500 million in collateral being liquidated. This is the second highest monthly liquidation amount in DeFi history, second only to the $670 million liquidation scale when the market crashed in May 2021. The surge in liquidation occurred simultaneously with a sharp decline in the market value of the entire cryptocurrency market, triggering a series of forced closing positions. These liquidations are mainly concentrated on two major lending platforms, Aave and Compound, which jointly handled most of the liquidations in February. While lending agreements are designed to handle liquidation through automated processes, the scale of the February event highlights how quickly market conditions deteriorate when overall market sentiment changes. For borrowers, this emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthy mortgage rate and adequate buffering to withstand market downturns. Despite the huge liquidation volume, major lending platforms have shown resilience and operate as designed even under pressure. This operational stability represents an important maturity point in DeFi infrastructure, indicating that these protocols can handle large-scale deleveraging events without systemic risks.
Tether appoints Simon McWilliams as CFO to advance comprehensive financial audit
According to Tether's announcement, it has appointed Simon McWilliams as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to advance the company's historic comprehensive financial audit. McWilliams has more than 20 years of financial audit experience, which will drive Tether to further enhance transparency and strengthen cooperation with regulators. Tether has previously established a transparency benchmark through a quarterly audit with BDO, the world's top five accounting firms, but this comprehensive audit will further verify its reserve assets and enhance market trust. Meanwhile, Tether has moved to El Salvador and obtained a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) license. Former Tether CFO Giancarlo Devasini will be transferred to the group chairman, focusing on macroeconomic strategies to promote Tether to deepen digital asset applications worldwide.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju posted a statement that the crypto market is gradually becoming a tool for the United States to seek national interests. Since Trump's election, global moral standards have declined, and as long as actions that are in line with Trump's interests and the interests of the United States are no longer considered illegal. He pointed out that the United States opened its markets in a lack of regulation, and although it did not strictly crack down on scam programs, it clearly sent a signal that projects that follow the Trump administration agenda and benefit the U.S. national interests will be supported. The issuance of Trump-themed coins is a symbol of this trend. Ki Young Ju believes that this strategy may lead to “tokens serving the national interests of the United States” being detrimental to other countries. At the same time, this trend is not conducive to assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum that are committed to globalization and neutrality. He speculated that judging from Trump's recent remarks, Bitcoin and Ethereum are in a delicate position of "not an ally or an enemy."
Slow Fog: STAR10 token owner has waived contract ownership
According to SlowMist monitoring, the latest on-chain data shows that the STAR10 project party has waived the ownership of the contract. Nevertheless, security agencies remind investors to remain vigilant and conduct adequate due diligence (DYOR) when trading or holding the token to prevent potential risks. The STAR10 token issued by football star Ronaldinho has been exposed to have security risks due to excessive contract authority, and the assets of the coin holder may be destroyed at will.
Infini proposes white hat deal that allows hackers to retain 20% of stolen funds
According to on-link news, Infini founder Christian just transferred 0.1 ETH to the hacker address, and posted a message saying that he recognized his ability to discover protocol vulnerabilities and hoped to reach a white hat agreement. Christian proposes that hackers can retain 20% of the stolen funds as bounty, and the rest must be returned to the official designated wallet (0x7e857de437a4dda3a98cf3fd37d6b36c139594e8). If the hacker accepts the proposal, Infini says it will no longer hold legal liable. It is not clear whether the hackers will accept the agreement.
CoinShares: Net outflow of digital asset investment products last week $2.9 billion
According to the latest report by CoinShares, digital asset investment products have experienced capital outflows for the third consecutive week, with outflows reaching a record high last week, reaching US$2.9 billion, and cumulative outflows of US$3.8 billion in three weeks. Bitcoin was hit the most, with $2.59 billion flowing out last week, and short Bitcoin products flowing in slightly inflows of $2.3 million. The outflows mainly came from the United States (US$2.87 billion), Switzerland (US$73 million) and Canada (US$16.9 million), but German investors took advantage of the low price and inflowed $55.3 million. Ethereum set a record for the largest outflow in a single week, reaching $300 million, with Solana and Ton flowing out $7.4 million and $22.6 million respectively. Sui performed best, with $15.5 million inflows and $5 million inflows in XRP. Blockchain stocks were also not spared, with $25.3 million outflows. CoinShares analyzed that the Bybit hacking incident, the Federal Reserve's hawkish stance and the inflow of funds totaling $29 billion in the previous 19 weeks have led to weakening market sentiment and triggering some profit-taking.
According to Ember Monitoring, a giant whale/institution address that has accumulated 40,000 ETH since September 2022 has cleared its holdings 40 minutes ago and transferred 37,000 ETH (about 86.94 million US dollars) to Binance. The address has bought 48,800 ETH in total, with an average price of US$1,651. The average price transferred to Binance is about US$2,430, and the overall profit is about US$38.06 million.
FTX/Alameda unsolicited 3.03 million SOLs and transferred them to multiple wallets
According to Lookonchain monitoring, FTX/Alameda has lifted 3.03 million SOLs (approximately US$431.3 million) and transferred them to multiple wallets.
According to Lookonchain monitoring, a giant whale wallet holding more than 110,000 ETH ($235 million) appears to be selling ETH. In the past 14 hours, the wallet has transferred 30,000 ETH ($68.55 million) to FalconX and Galaxy Digital and received 7.76 million USDC from FalconX. This wallet may be related to Genesis Trading.
The hackers have cleaned up all 499,000 ETH stolen from Bybit, which took 10 days
According to on-chain analyst Yuchen Monitor, the hackers have cleaned up all the 499,000 ETH ($1.39 billion) stolen from Bybit, and the entire process lasted 10 days. ETH price fell 23% in the process (from $2,780 to $2,130 now). THORChain, the main channel for hackers to use money laundering, also obtained $5.9 billion in transaction volume and $5.5 million in handling fee income due to hackers' money laundering.
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