Author | Wu Blockchain
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Top 10 News of the Week
According to The Wall Street Journal, representatives of former President Trump's family have held negotiations to invest in the U.S. subsidiary of cryptocurrency exchange Binance. CZ has been urging the Trump administration to pardon him. The negotiations began last year after Binance contacted Trump's allies and proposed a business deal with the Trump family. It is unclear what form the Trump family's stake would take if the deal is completed, and whether it is contingent on a pardon. Possible scenarios include the Trump family taking a stake or conducting the transaction through World Liberty Financial. Some sources say that Steve Wittkowsky, a close friend of Trump and the chief negotiator for Trump in the Middle East and the Ukraine war, was involved in the deal negotiations.
CZ tweeted to deny the WSJ report's claims about his discussions with the Trump family regarding a Binance.US deal or a pardon, saying "the facts are wrong." CZ revealed that the WSJ had asked hundreds of people about the related issues in an attempt to create news, but he had never discussed a Binance.US deal or pardon with anyone. He stated that as the only convict in U.S. history imprisoned solely for a Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) violation, he does not oppose a pardon, but emphasized that the report may be aimed at reflecting the aftermath of the "anti-crypto war" of the previous administration.
2. Binance Announces $2 Billion Investment from Abu Dhabi's MGX link
Binance officially announced that Abu Dhabi's MGX has made its first institutional investment in Binance. This $2 billion investment is the largest investment in a crypto company to date and the largest crypto-denominated investment ever.
CZ tweeted that Abu Dhabi's MGX has invested $2 billion in Binance, acquiring a minority stake. The transaction will be 100% completed in cryptocurrency (stablecoins), making it the largest crypto investment transaction to date.
The main investor of Abu Dhabi MGX is the government of the United Arab Emirates, which has a strong state-owned character and is fully controlled by the Abu Dhabi royal family.
Binance co-founder He Yi said they welcome sovereign wealth investors rather than financial investors.
3. Binance Takes Action Against Improper Market Makers for GPS and SHELL link
Binance announced that after investigating the misconduct of the market maker for GoPlus Security (GPS), it was found that the same market maker was also responsible for market making for the MyShell (SHELL) project. To protect users, Binance has removed this market maker and prohibited it from further market making activities on the platform. In addition, Binance has confiscated its related earnings and plans to use them to compensate users of the GPS and SHELL projects.
Animoca stated to Wu Blockchain that it did not participate in the market making for GPS and SHELL, and did not know who the participating market makers were, as it did not receive a response from the project parties.
4. U.S. February Core CPI Year-on-Year Hits 3.1%, the Lowest Since April 2021 link
The U.S. February unadjusted CPI year-on-year rate was 2.8%, the lowest since November 2022; the U.S. February seasonally adjusted CPI month-on-month rate was 0.2%, the lowest since October 2022. The U.S. February unadjusted core CPI year-on-year rate was 3.1%, the lowest since April 2021; the U.S. February seasonally adjusted core CPI month-on-month rate was 0.2%, the lowest since December 2022. The U.S. February CPI data was broadly lower than expected, and the futures of the three major U.S. stock indexes expanded their gains.
5. Trump Plans to Sign New Executive Order to Revoke Crypto Banking Restrictions and Adjust Stablecoin Regulation link
U.S. President Donald Trump plans to sign a new cryptocurrency-related executive order as early as this week, aimed at revoking the Biden administration's "Operation Chokepoint 2.0" policy, which is alleged to have restricted crypto companies' access to banking services. Bo Hines, the executive director of the White House Digital Assets Working Group, confirmed that the order is in the works and may involve the Federal Reserve's policies on crypto banks' master accounts, to allow them access to the Fed payment system. Sources say the order may also include instructions to explicitly not treat stablecoins as securities.
6. SEC Delays Approval of Multiple Crypto Spot ETFs link
The SEC has delayed the approval process for the VanEck Solana Spot ETF, Canary Litecoin Spot ETF, Canary Solana Spot ETF, CANARY XRP Spot ETF, Grayscale XRP Spot ETF, and Grayscale Dogecoin Spot ETF. Previously, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the SEC was likely to wait until Atkins was confirmed before taking action. The SEC has also delayed a series of Altcoin ETF applications from BITWISE and 21SHARES, as well as applications related to the physical creation and redemption of BTC and ETH ETFs, and the staking function in ETH ETFs.
7. Bitcoin Magazine CEO: U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Implementation Will Be "Much Tighter Than Market Expects" link
Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey posted on X that the implementation of the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve executive order will be "much tighter than the market expects," with a timeline measured in "days and weeks, not months or years." Bailey said the U.S. government is "keeping pace with technological developments" and taking "urgent action."
8. Spain's Second Largest Bank BBVA Granted Approval to Offer BTC and ETH Trading link
Spain's second-largest bank, BBVA, has received approval from the Spanish financial regulator to offer BTC and ETH trading services to its clients. Previously, in January this year, BBVA's Turkish crypto custody platform Garanti BBVA Kripto opened crypto trading services to the public.
9. MicroStrategy Plans to Issue $21 Billion in Preferred Stock link
MicroStrategy Inc. has filed a prospectus to issue up to $21 billion in 8.00% Series A perpetual preferred stock, to raise funds for general corporate purposes, including potential Bitcoin acquisitions. The company stated it will continue to execute its Bitcoin accumulation strategy, using equity financing, debt financing, and operating cash flow to drive this strategy. Although the filing does not explicitly mention new Bitcoin purchase plans, it reiterates the long-term commitment to this strategy.
10. Vitalik: Ethereum's Goal Has Never Been Unclear, Ethereum's Goal Is to Attract a Massive User Base link
Vitalik stated at the Based Rollup Summit hosted by Taiko that the goal of Ethereum has never been unclear - to attract a large user base, especially to truly benefit from its openness, censorship-resistance, and security. He also painted an optimistic vision for Ethereum's development, improving on past issues with ICOs, DAOs, RAWs, and the social layer, minimizing their shortcomings. "Let's push all these innovations forward, let Ethereum carry it all, and leverage the 10,000 TPS capability brought by teams like Taiko to make it a reality."
Key Fundraising Events
- The Trump family project WLFI has completed its token sale, raising a total of $550 million link
- Crypto payment platform RedotPay announced the completion of a $40 million Series A round link
- Crypto payments company Mesh completed a $82 million Series B round led by Paradigm link
- Templar Protocol announced the completion of a $4 million Pre-Seed round link
- nunu ai announced the completion of a $6 million seed round link
- Web3 game developer M10 announced the completion of a $3 million round link
- Solana staking protocol Rakurai announced the completion of a $3 million seed round link
- Vest announced the completion of a $5 million fundraise link
- Crypto startup Arda completed a $3 million Pre-Seed round link
- Canaan announced it has raised $200 million through a Series A-1 preferred stock financing link
For more industry fundraising events, please check crypto-fundraising.info.
