WuBlockchain Weekly：BUSD crackdown、US CPI release and Top10 News

Top10 News

1. BUSD’s weekly summary

a. U.S. SEC and others crack down on BUSD link

U.S. SEC has told Paxos Trust Co. that it plans to sue the company for violating investor protection laws. The notice alleges that Binance USD, a digital asset that Paxos issues and lists, is an unregistered security. Firms that receive Wells notices are allowed to respond in writing and tell the SEC why it shouldn’t proceed with a lawsuit. Wells notices aren’t a final indication that the SEC will take enforcement action.

Explanation：According to Adam Cochran, “securities” is a much broader category defined by the 1933 Securities Act that include note, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest, collateral trust certificate, certificate of deposit, etc., which do not necessarily meet the strict Howey test.

b. Regulator orders crypto firm Paxos to stop issuing Binance stablecoin link

The New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos Trust Co., which issues and lists Binance’s dollar-pegged cryptocurrency, to stop creating more of its BUSD token. Paxos will continue to manage redemptions of the product. On-chain data shows that the last mint tx of BUSD ($209M) is at 2023/02/03 21:44 UTC, no new BUSD is minted.

c. Stablecoin issuer Circle warned watchdog about Binance token link

Circle complained to the NYDFS last year about Binance’s mismanagement of its own token reserves. NYDFS explained the suspension of BUSD due to several unresolved issues with Paxos’ relationship with Binance. Special emphasis on unauthorized Binance-Peg BUSD.

d. CZ: We need non-USD stablecoins link

CZ said in the AMA that we need more stablecoins other than USD, such as Singapore dollar stablecoins, Japanese yen stablecoins, etc.; now Japanese yen stablecoin is already communicating with Binance. After BUSD leaves, more USD stablecoins will appear, and Binance will cooperate with more USD stablecoins.

2. BNB Chain aims to double transaction speed, targets ZK tooling in 2023 road map link

BNB Chain said it aims to more than triple the number of validators to 100 from 29 in 2023, upgrade from 140 million gas limit and 2,200 transactions per second (TPS) to 300 million gas limit and 5,000 TPS. It will also launch new infrastructure zkBNB and BNB Greenfield.

3. Blur’s weekly summary

a. NFT marketplace Blur set to raise at billion dollar valuation link

Blur, a rival to major NFT marketplace OpenSea, is set to close a funding round at a billion dollar valuation. TheBlock reported. Blur initially went out to potential backers in the hope of raising $15m to $30m, with a price tag of $700m in mind, only to see it tick higher as the round became oversubscribed.

b. Blur officially launches BLUR Token link

After the release of BLUR Token, Blur TVL (Blur Bidding Pool: 0x00…87Ac) grew 109% to a record high of 50.28k ETH as of Feb. 17. The number of transactions exceeded 32,000 and the number of users exceeded 9.6k, both record highs.

4. U.S. January unadjusted CPI 6.4% y/y, core CPI 5.6% y/y link

The United States announced that the annual rate of CPI in January is 6.4%, exceeding expectations, the expected CPI is 6.2%, previous 6.5%. The annual rate of core CPI is 5.6%, expected 5.5%, previous 5.7%. After the release of the latest US CPI, Ethereum rose by 3.7% in the past 1 hour; Bitcoin rose by 2.7%; the liquidation amount exceeded 30 million US dollars in 1 hour; the three major stock indexes all turned up.

5. An address of an MLM project becomes fifth largest MATIC holding address link

The address 0xc7728354f9fe0e43514b1227162d5b0e40fad410 of a Chinese MLM project accumulated 22.37 million MATIC in a few days, surpassing Binance: Hot Wallet2 became the fifth largest MATIC holding address. This address has consumed 100,000 MATIC gas in the past 7 days. The number of transactions on this address in yesterday was as high as 117,000, which once pushed the median of Polygon Gas to more than 700 gwei. Users need to be careful to stay away from high-risk pyramid schemes to avoid adverse consequences.

6. Soros Fund Management invests in bitcoin mining company Marathon link

Known as the big short, George Soros, whose fund Soros Fund Management bought $39.6 million worth of convertible bonds in bitcoin mining company Marathon late last year. The fund also owns calls and puts on 50,000 MicroStrategy shares and nearly $200

7. MetaMask’s weekly summary

a. Domain registrar Namecheap email hacked, MetaMask warns of risks link

Domain name registrar Namecheap’s email account was compromised, resulting in a flood of MetaMask and DHL phishing emails, MetaMask issued a statement urgently: If you got an email from MetaMask or Namecheap or anyone else like this, ignore it & do not click its links.

b. ConsenSys announces MetaMask integration with Mercuryo link

ConsenSys announced MetaMask’s integration with cryptocurrency payment company Mercuryo, allowing MetaMask to purchase cryptocurrencies using bank cards, Apple Pay and various bank transfers. Mercuryo claims its product streamlines the purchase process by allowing MetaMask users to purchase up to €699 in crypto in 5 easy steps without needing full identity verification.

8. SEC charged Terraform Labs and Do Kwon with crypto asset securities fraud link

The U.S. SEC charged Singapore-based Terraform Labs PTE Ltd and Do Hyeong Kwon with orchestrating a multi-billion dollar crypto asset securities fraud involving an algorithmic stablecoin and other crypto asset securities. Terraform and Kwon raised billions of dollars from investors, many in unregistered transactions. They touted and marketed UST as a “yield-bearing” stablecoin, which they advertised as paying as much as 20 percent interest through the Anchor Protocol. The SEC explicitly alleges in the filing that Luna and UST are unregistered securities.

9. Mysten Labs CEO Evan Cheng is seeking to raise over $100 million for a web3 fund link

Mysten Labs CEO and co-founder Evan Cheng is raising money for a venture capital fund focused on web3 investments. Cheng is in the early stages of pitching the fund to limited partners and is seeking to secure more than $100 million. The fund will invest in web3 on a broad scale, not just for Sui ecosystem projects.

10. Gaming Network Oasys onboards SoftBank as network validator link

Japanese conglomerate SoftBank will become an official network validator on Oasys and will explore further collaborations with the gaming blockchain, including the development of blockchain-based services. Bandai Namco Research, SEGA, Square Enix and Netmarble are among the 21 initial validators for Oasys. Softbank added alongside three more companies, taking the total to 25.

Fundraising

Swiss digital asset infrastructure company Taurus raised $65 million in a Series B round led by Credit Suisse link
L1 blockchain project Monad Labs raised $19 million in funding led by Dragonfly Capital link
Crypto index platform Alongside closed an $11 million seed round led by a16z link
NFT animation shop Superplastic raised $20 million in a Series A round led by the Alexa Fund, Amazon’s venture arm link
Web3 communications project Sending Labs raised a $12.5 million seed round led by Insignia Venture Partners, MindWorks Capital and Signum Capital link
Nefta, a web3 infrastructure startup, raised $5 million in a seed funding round led by Play Ventures link
Caldera , a no-code web3 infrastructure platform, raises $9M from two rounds led by Sequoia and Dragonfly Capital link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.