PA Daily | Binance announces KernelDAO as the fourth Megadrop project; Upbit adds COMP to the Korean won market
Reprinted from panewslab
04/01/2025·29DToday's news tips:
Binance announces KernelDAO (KERNEL) as the fourth Megadrop project
Upbit adds COMP to Korean won market
PumpBTC: Over-chain airdrop claim will start on April 2
Tether buys 8888 BTC again on Q1, worth $735 million
BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin may threaten the dollar's status, but tokenization has potential
Nigeria SEC will regulate virtual asset service providers under new law
Rhode Island bill allows residents of the state to trade $10,000 in Bitcoin tax-free every month
Regulatory/Macro
Metaplanet purchased 696 BTC, and its total holding increased to 4046
Japanese listed company Metaplanet announced that it had purchased 696 new bitcoins through its Bitcoin revenue generation business line, with a total amount of approximately 10.152 billion yen, and an average purchase price of 14,586,230 yen per coin. As of now, the company's total Bitcoin holdings have reached 4,046, with a cumulative purchase amount of approximately 52.368 billion yen, and an average purchase price of 12,943,181 yen per coin. In addition, the company generated 770 million yen of operating income by selling cash-guaranteed Bitcoin put options in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, equivalent to 50.26 BTC option fees.
Backpack completes the acquisition of FTX EU and starts the user funds return process today
Backpack announced the official launch of the asset return program for former FTX EU users to help qualify users recover frozen fiat money. This marks the important progress of Backpack after completing the acquisition of FTX EU and the official start of fund allocation. Eligible users can go to the Backpack EU platform to create an account and complete identity verification (KYC) from now on. The fund withdrawal function will be opened later, when users will receive withdrawal notifications. This return process is only for the fiat currency balance and unfinished withdrawal requests of FTX EU users. Cryptocurrency and NFT-related claims still need to be processed through the FTX International platform. Backpack plans to implement the return process in an efficient and transparent manner, and restart the FTX EU's MiFID II license, and will provide a comprehensive EU-wide crypto derivatives service in the future.
According to Cryptobriefing, the U.S. Treasury Department and other federal agencies are expected to disclose their holdings of Bitcoin and other crypto assets on April 5 to follow President Trump's recent instructions. Whether the digital assets mentioned by Trump, such as XRP, SOL and ADA, will be included in the national digital asset reserves will also be clarified soon. David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc, said the audit results could reveal the reasons for Bitcoin’s recent price movement. On March 6, Trump issued an executive order requiring the establishment of strategic Bitcoin reserves and digital asset reserves. According to a presidential document released on March 11, all federal agencies must report to the Treasury Secretary of the situation of their holdings of Bitcoin and other digital assets within 30 days of the order. The Finance Minister was also directed to set up two offices to manage the digital assets held by the government. The strategic Bitcoin reserve will store Bitcoin obtained through criminal or civil forfeiture and will not sell Bitcoin. According to data tracked by Arkham Intelligence, the U.S. government currently holds about 198,012 bitcoins, worth about $16 billion. David Sacks, head of cryptocurrency affairs at the White House, said the U.S. government has held about 400,000 bitcoins in the past decade through civil and criminal assets. However, about half of them, or 195,000 bitcoins, have been sold, earning $366 million. If the government had kept all 400,000 bitcoins at the time, its value would now exceed $17 billion.
Rhode Island bill allows residents of the state to trade $10,000 in Bitcoin tax-free every month
According to Bitcoin Magazine, Bill 0451 filed in the U.S. State Senate last month proposes that state residents and businesses can conduct up to 10 Bitcoin transactions (or equivalent sales) with a single value of less than $1,000 without paying state capital gains taxes. The bill defines "bitcoin sales" as: "any transaction behavior that exchanges Bitcoin for fiat currency or other physical/digital assets", while emphasizing that the exemption only applies to the state tax level and does not affect federal tax liability. According to the bill, individuals and businesses participating in tax-free transactions must keep transaction records in full, including data such as the total transaction amount in a single day, and are ready to undergo audit verification by the state tax department at any time. Chris Perrotta, chairman of the Rhode Island Blockchain Committee, pointed out that the bill will effectively reduce the payment friction of digital assets after it is passed, which will stimulate the development of the state's blockchain economy and make Rhode Island a technology frontier. In addition, he also proposed that small businesses accept Bitcoin as a payment method for products and services to stimulate economic growth. To date, other U.S. states have not yet introduced similar bills.
Bloomberg: Coinbase shares come in worst quarter since FTX crash
According to Bloomberg, shares of Coinbase Global Inc. and other cryptocurrency-related companies suffered a heavy blow in the first quarter of 2025 due to growing concerns about the U.S. economic outlook. Coinbase shares fell 31%, marking its worst quarterly performance since the FTX collapsed at the end of 2022. Almost all major crypto-related stocks plummeted, from conglomerate Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. to mining companies Riot Platforms Inc. and Core Scientific Inc., which failed to survive. The situation in the crypto market is also not optimistic. Bitcoin's market value has fallen by more than 10%, and Ethereum's market value has fallen by 45%.
Musk plans to resign from the U.S. Department of Efficiency (DOGE) at the end of May
According to Xiaoxiang Morning News, Elon Musk plans to resign from the U.S. Department of Efficiency (DOGE) at the end of May. In an interview with Fox News, Musk said he was confident that he would complete the goal of cutting the $1 trillion federal deficit before leaving. It also stressed that the government is inefficient, there is a lot of waste and fraud, and that it is confident that it will reduce spending by 15% without affecting critical services. In addition, Musk expressed doubts about the unusually rich wealth of members of Congress. He noted that many members of Congress earn only $200,000 a year but own up to $20 million in property, questioning how they accumulate such huge wealth with limited income.
According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, Bryan Steil, chairman of the House Digital Assets Subcommittee, revealed that after Wednesday's review, the U.S. House's STABLE Act (Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability Promotes Better Ledger Economy Act) will "well in line with the Senate's GENIUS Act (Guide and Establish U.S. Stablecoin National Innovation Act)," which came after several rounds of "draft revisions" and received technical assistance from the SEC and CFTC. Bryan Steil believes that there is a 20% difference between the bill and the GENIUS Act, which is only textual, not significant or substantial. Currently, the biggest difference between the two is the requirements for international stablecoin issuers, state regulation of issuers, and some minor technical differences between the two texts. "At the end of the day, I think everyone recognizes that we want to work with our colleagues in the Senate to push the bill to pass," Steil said.
Nigeria SEC will regulate virtual asset service providers under new law
According to Bitcoin.com, the Nigerian Investment and Securities Act 2025 (ISA) recently signed by Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu effectively ends uncertainty surrounding the status of cryptocurrencies, and the new bill actually repeals the Investment and Securities Act No. 29 of 2007. This revised Securities Act “formally” recognizes cryptocurrencies as an asset class. This determination not only eliminates the uncertainty surrounding cryptocurrencies, but also means that they are no longer prohibited assets. In addition, law enforcement agencies that have "harassed" people involved in these assets will have to stop such behavior. Emmotimimi Agama, Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC), said the new law gives the SEC more effectively the power to promote innovation and protect investors, repositioning Nigeria, making it a competitive destination to attract domestic and foreign investment. In addition to identifying digital assets and investment contracts as securities, the Investment and Securities Act 2025 also clearly places virtual asset service providers (VASPs) within the regulatory scope of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria. The law also bans Ponzi schemes and imposes severe penalties, including imprisonment, on the masterminds of the scam.
According to King Thousand, White House Press Secretary Levitt said that U.S. President Trump will announce his reciprocal tariff policy at an event held in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday. Levitt said Trump's statement was mainly "state-based" tariffs, but he also "promises" to implement industry tariffs at another time. Levitt said Trump's cabinet members will attend the announcement. "The president will announce a tariff plan that will reverse the unfair trade practices that have been exploiting our country for decades," Levitt said. "It's time for reciprocity, time for the president to take historic changes to do the right thing for the American people." In addition, Trump said, maybe tomorrow night, maybe on Wednesday, you will see the (reciprocity) details of the tariffs.
Viewpoint
According to Matrixport analysis, Bitcoin ETFs have seen net outflows for two consecutive months. Although the inflows from year to date remain positive (US$1.05 billion), this data is mainly due to a surge in US$5.3 billion in January. Bitcoin ETFs have performed significantly weaker recently, especially compared with safe-haven assets such as gold, which continues to hit record highs. Fund flows show that Bitcoin ETFs are still highly dependent on favorable financing rates and arbitrage opportunities rather than broad investor interest. In addition, retail investors in the crypto market are sluggish in speculation, and it is difficult for Bitcoin ETF capital inflows to recover significantly in the short term.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said in his latest blog post: “Bitcoin Value = Technology + Fiat liquidity, this technology works, and won’t change any significant in the near future, for better or worse. So Bitcoin’s trading is based entirely on the market’s expectations of future fiat money supply. If my analysis of the Fed’s main shift from Treasury QT to QE is correct, Bitcoin hit a local low of $76,500 last month and now we are starting to move towards $250,000 at the end of the year. Of course, this is not an exact science, but if I take gold as an example, if I have to place a bet between the time I think Bitcoin would hit $76,500 or $110,000 first, I would bet on the latter. Even if the U.S. stock market continues to fall due to tariffs, earnings expectations collapse or foreign demand declines, I still believe that Bitcoin will continue to climb. Recognizing the pros and cons of it, Maelstrom is deploying capital with caution. We don’t use leverage, and we make small purchases relative to the size of our total portfolio. We have been buying bitcoin and altcoins at all levels between $90,000 and $76,500. The pace of capital deployment will accelerate or slow down based on the accuracy of my forecasts. I still believe that by the end of the year, Bitcoin can reach $250,000.”
Fidelity Digital Asset recently released a report to explore whether Bitcoin has entered a cyclical "peak and fallback" stage, or is still on the verge of "acceleration stage". Analyst Zack Wainwright pointed out that Bitcoin’s acceleration phase is usually accompanied by high volatility and high returns, similar to the trend when it broke through $20,000 in December 2020. Although Bitcoin’s return so far this year is -11.44%, down nearly 25% from its all-time high, Wainwright believes the current performance is consistent with the average retracement in previous cycles. He said that Bitcoin is approaching the end of this acceleration phase, which has lasted for 232 days as of March 3, and the peaks of previous cycles usually occur between days 244 and 280. In addition, several international companies and US listed companies have recently expressed interest in Bitcoin. Although the specific impact of institutional investment on prices is unclear, Wainwright proposed a key indicator: the number of days that hit new highs in 60 days. He predicts that if Bitcoin is about to hit a new high, its starting point may be close to $110,000.
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner of Dragonfly Capital, responded to the remarks related to "VCs were wiped out in this round" on the X platform, saying: "I have been working in the cryptocurrency venture capital field for nearly eight years, and this cliché is so callous to my ears. In 2018/2019, crypto venture capital fundraising was so tragic that it was like 'no one took over these tokens, the fig leaf was torn off, and the garbage industry could not see any returns'. Since you can say so confidently, use real money to short it, and see the difference in three years and speak with the results."
BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin may threaten the dollar's status, but tokenization has potential
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a recent letter that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies could pose a threat to the US dollar's international status. He pointed out that if investors view Bitcoin as a tool to combat dollar inflation, it could cause serious problems. However, Fink also emphasized that the cryptocurrency industry also has many advantages, especially in tokenization. Fink mentioned that the United States currently enjoys the status of the US dollar as a global reserve currency, but this advantage is not permanent. He warned that by 2030, mandatory spending and debt repayment in the United States could drain all federal revenues, resulting in a permanent deficit, and thus provide digital assets such as Bitcoin to replace the dollar.
Nevertheless, Fink said he supports the development of cryptocurrencies and believes that tokenization can improve traditional financial ecosystems through digital infrastructure and promote its democratization. He also mentioned that cryptocurrencies play a role in hedging inflation, but if managed improperly, it may also pose risks to the US economy. Fink has shown special interest in the potential of asset tokenization, believing that it can bring profound changes to traditional finance.
Project News
Binance announces KernelDAO (KERNEL) as the fourth Megadrop project
Binance announced KernelDAO (KERNEL) as its fourth project on its Megadrop platform. KernelDAO is a re-staking agreement that supports Kernel, Kelp and Gain. The total supply of KERNEL tokens is 1 billion, of which 40 million (accounting for 4% of the total supply) will be distributed as Megadrop rewards, and another 40 million will be used in batches for other marketing activities after 6 months of stock launch. The initial circulation supply when it was launched was 162,317,496 pieces (accounting for 16.23% of the total supply).
Upbit adds COMP to Korean won market
Upbit announced that it will add Compound (COMP) trading pairs to the Korean won market at 16:35 on April 1, 2025, supporting the Ethereum network.
OKX will be offline for MAX/USDT, KISHU/USDT, 1INCH/USD and GRT/USD perpetual contracts
Ouyi OKX announced that it will regularly remove some perpetual contracts, and the following trading pairs will be stopped at 16:00 on April 8, 2025 (Beijing time): MAXUSDT, KISHUUSDT, 1INCHUSD and GRTUSD.
PumpBTC: Over-chain airdrop claim will start on April 2
According to official news, the Bitcoin re-stake agreement PumpBTC announced that the over-chain airdrop claim will start from 02:45 Beijing time on April 2, and the allocation details will be announced soon.
Ethereum transaction fees have fallen to their lowest level since mid-2020
According to Cointelegraph, Ethereum transaction fees have fallen to their lowest level since mid-2020.
Bithumb will launch REZ tokens in the Korean won market
According to the official announcement, South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb will launch REZ tokens in the Korean won market.
Important data
Compound founder suspected of selling 50,000 COMP worth about $3.19 million
According to ai_9684xtpa monitoring, Compound founder Robert Leshner is suspected to sell 50,000 COMP tokens through Galaxy Digital, with a total value of about $3.19 million. The token was transferred to Galaxy three weeks ago (March 12) when it was worth $2.03 million, or had been entrusted to it for sale. Half an hour ago, all of these tokens were recharged to Binance. It is worth noting that today, affected by the positive news of COMP launching Upbit, the token price rose by 90% in a short period of time.
According to OKX market data, COMP may be affected by the new Korean won trading pairs added by Upbit, and COMP rose 66.69% in a short period of time and is now quoted at US$64.5, with a maximum increase of US$74.97. Previous news, Upbit added COMP to the Korean won market.
According to monitoring by the analyst @ai_9684xtpa on the link, market makers have just cracked down on committing evil, and GUN is suspected to be committing crimes against the wind. There are always high-frequency small-selling orders from early morning to eight in the morning. On average, there are 10 orders per order in 1 second, and about $6 per order, which can sell about $216,000 tokens per hour. According to the research report of Binance New Coin, 2% of the total tokens (i.e. 200 million) of GUN are used for liquidity/market making, and marked "The token has not been distributed to the market maker yet, and additional address information will be provided in the future." However, the address has transferred 191 million tokens at 3 am yesterday. Currently, the price of GUN coin has fallen to US$0.07634. Market makers seem to have just withdrawn their bulk sell orders, and the coin price has rebounded slightly.
23pds, chief information security officer of Slow Mist Technology, posted on the X platform that the zkLend hacker (the original case occurred in February) accidentally clicked on the phishing website when trying to use Tornado Cash, and 2,930 ETH stolen money was stolen by the phishing website.
Tether buys 8888 BTC again on Q1, worth $735 million
According to on-chain analyst Ember Monitor, USDT issuer Tether purchased another 8,888 BTC ($735 million) in the first quarter of this year: The address where Tether purchased and reserved BTC was proposed from Bitfinex on the first day just ended in the first quarter. This is the BTC that Tether purchased in the first quarter of this year: since May 2023, Tether has issued an announcement to regularly use 15% of the company's profits to purchase Bitcoin enhanced reserves. Tether currently holds a total of 92,647 BTC (US$7.64 billion), making it the sixth largest BTC wallet address. Their comprehensive purchase cost of BTC is about $41,147, and their current floating profit is as high as $3.83 billion.
Vitalik sent 274.1 ETH as a grant or donation to a contract deployed by @0xisla
According to OnchainLens monitoring, Vitalik has sent 274.1 $ETH ($500,000) to a contract deployed by @0xisla, as a grant or donation, @0xisla is building Zuitzerland.
When World Liberty Financial raised more than $500 million, industry experts pointed out that with governance clauses that favor insiders, former U.S. President Donald Trump's family took control of the crypto firm and seized most of the money, Reuters reported. The project is billed as a "DeFi platform" and claims to allow users to bypass banks to directly use cryptocurrency to obtain financial services. However, the investigation found that the platform has not been operated publicly and the team size is extremely limited. Still, World Liberty announced in mid-March that it raised $550 million by selling governance tokens. Reuters estimates show that most of the sales occurred after Trump won the election in November last year, and the WLFI token only gives holders the voting rights to modify the project code and cannot be traded publicly. In January this year, World Liberty website details changed to show that the two co-founders Zak Folkman and Chase Herro have handed over control to entities that hold 60% of the Trump family. So far, the Trump family can obtain 75% of the net revenue from token sales and 60% of the platform's operating revenue. Based on this calculation, about $400 million in financing has been granted to the Trump family, and only 5% of the funds left for platform construction (about $27.5 million).
Financing
A16z general partner Andrew Chen disclosed on the X platform that a16z Speedrun has launched a new round of startup applications, with the application deadline being May 11. a16z Speedrun will provide up to $1 million to startups in very early stages, then work closely with them over the next 90 days and will help promote it. The next round of projects will be launched from July 28 to October 10, 2025.
Pantera disclosed in a blog post titled "PANTERA's All-round Blockchain Investment Strategy" that it plans to raise funds for the fifth venture capital fund (Pantera Fund V), and is now open for subscription. The new fund is a "All-in-one" venture capital style fund, providing access to all-round blockchain assets, including venture capital equity, private tokens, liquidity tokens, etc. The first closure date is June 30, 2025, with a target amount of US$1 billion and a minimum investment of US$1 billion.
Ambient completed a $7.2 million seed round, with a16z, Delphi Digital and Amber Group participating
According to CoinDesk, the crypto-AI project Ambient completed a $7.2 million seed round of financing, with a16z's crypto accelerator program, Delphi Digital and Amber Group participating. According to reports, Ambient aims to combine artificial intelligence technology to provide fast, cheap and open intelligent services. The project uses a proof of work mechanism similar to Bitcoin and works similar to Solana's network.
According to CNBC, OpenAI announced on Monday that it had completed a $40 billion financing, setting a record for the highest financing of private technology companies. After this round of financing, the company's valuation reached $300 billion (including new capital injection). Japan's SoftBank became the leading investor in this round with US$30 billion, with existing investors such as Microsoft, Coatue, Altimeter and Thrive jointly investing $10 billion. This round of financing has made OpenAI's valuation third among the world's unlisted companies, second only to SpaceX (US$350 billion) and the same as TikTok's parent company ByteDance. OpenAI said in its official blog that the new fund will be used to "break through the boundaries of AI research" and expand its computing power infrastructure. People familiar with the matter revealed to CNBC that about $18 billion will be invested in the "Star Gate" project jointly jointly with OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle - a joint venture project announced by former US President Trump in January 2025. The first period of $10 billion in funds will be in place immediately, and the remaining $30 billion is expected to be completed before the end of 2025. However, the financing agreement comes with special terms: If OpenAI fails to complete the for-profit structure restructuring by December 31, 2025, the financing amount may be reduced by as much as US$10 billion. This clause has exacerbated the company's transformation pressure, and the plan needs to be approved by Microsoft and the California Attorney General.
AI+Crypto project Mahojin completed a $5 million seed round financing, led by a16z CSX and others
AI+Crypto project Mahojin announced the completion of a $5 million seed round of financing, led by a16z CSX and Maelstrom.
It is reported that Mahojin is a GitHub for AI model creators and datasets, which can track IP and pay model creators and dataset owners.
Nasdaq-listed Internet company The9 Limited announced that it had signed a targeted share issuance agreement with cryptocurrency investment funds Elune Capital, Fine Vision Fund and Bripheno Pte. Ltd. Under the agreement, investors will inject $8 million into The9. The9 will issue Class A common shares to investors at the average closing price of the 30 trading days before the agreement is signed, and the issued shares will comply with the statutory lock-up period regulations. The9 will set up a new company to operate its global GameFi platform. The company plans to reach a cooperation with the third-party International Cryptocurrency Foundation to use the GameFi tokens issued by the foundation as the official cryptocurrency of the platform. It will also cooperate with the cryptocurrency exchange to promote platform crypto users to join The9's GameFi ecosystem.
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