Author | Wu Blockchain
Top 10 News of the Week
1. Bitcoin Reaches New Historic High link
Bitcoin continued to rise on Friday, reaching a new historic high of $118,868.2.
2. Musk Recently Announced the Establishment of the "America Party" Supporting Bitcoin link
Musk recently announced the establishment of the "America Party" and stated that the party will support Bitcoin, claiming that "fiat currency has no hope". The new party aims to challenge the current two-party system in the United States and plans to play a decisive role in key bills by focusing on a few congressional seats. The party has not yet been officially registered with the Federal Election Commission, and its specific roadmap has not been disclosed.
3. Trump Administration's Digital Asset Working Group to Submit First Important Crypto Policy Report on July 22 link
The Trump Administration's "Digital Asset Market Working Group" will release its first important crypto policy report before July 22, covering regulatory and legislative recommendations. The report, led by David Sacks and Bo Hines, is jointly written by agencies such as the Treasury Department, Commerce Department, SEC, and CFTC, responding to the president's early executive order aimed at strengthening the US leadership in the global crypto field. The content may include suggestions such as Bitcoin strategic reserve financing plans and fair access to Federal Reserve payment systems for crypto companies. The CFTC Acting Chairman stated that the report will serve as the government's "crypto roadmap".
4. SEC Considers Establishing a New Framework to Accelerate Approval Process, Expected to Release Draft This Month link
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering establishing a new framework to accelerate the approval process, with multiple crypto spot ETFs likely to be approved soon. Previously, crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett revealed that the new framework may allow exchanges to directly list crypto ETFs that meet certain standards without submitting 19b-4 documents to the SEC one by one, with trading platforms able to go online after 75 days. Bloomberg Industry Research ETF analyst James Seyffart expects the framework draft to be released this month and implemented in September or October, at which point the floodgates for other crypto asset ETFs will open.
5. Shanghai State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission Holds Study Meeting to Discuss Cryptocurrency, Stablecoin Development, and Blockchain Applications link
On July 10, the Shanghai State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission held a central group study meeting, focusing on the development trends and response strategies of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins. They required maintaining keen awareness of emerging technologies, strengthening research and exploration of digital currencies, and adhering to the integration of production and data, exploring blockchain technology applications in cross-border trade, supply chain finance, and asset digitization.
6. Survey: Most Merchants in Yiwu Have Not Heard of Stablecoins, Only a Few Accept Stablecoin Payments link
Market rumors claimed that "over 3,000 merchants in Yiwu use stablecoins with monthly transactions reaching $1 billion". However, a on-site investigation by 21st Century Economic Report found that currently only a few merchants support stablecoin payments, and most merchants are unfamiliar or have compliance concerns. A local Yiwu person long focused on virtual currencies stated, "As far as I know, there's no situation of large-scale stablecoin use by merchants in Yiwu." A merchant long tracking virtual currencies explained that export-oriented companies can claim tax rebates through traditional settlement methods, which creates disincentives for stablecoin use. Huatai Securities previously claimed that Yiwu's on-chain stablecoin flow exceeded $10 billion in 2023.
7. JD.com, Standard Chartered, Ant Group, and Multiple Institutions Prepare to Apply for Hong Kong Stablecoin Licenses link
The "Stablecoin Regulations" will officially take effect on August 1, with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority opening license applications. Stablecoin licenses are scarce, with an expected single-digit issuance, but over 40 companies are preparing to apply, with law firms reporting dozens more interested. Applicants are primarily China's largest financial institutions and internet companies, including JD.com, Standard Chartered, Circle, Ant International, and Ant Digital. Smaller companies have slim chances due to high barriers.
8. EU Grants MiCA Licenses to 53 Crypto Companies, Tether and Binance Not Included link
Circle executive Patrick Hansen shared the latest data showing 53 institutions have received EU MiCA licenses, allowing "passport" services across 30 European Economic Area countries without individual country applications. Fourteen enterprises are authorized to issue stablecoins or electronic money tokens (EMT), including Circle, Crypto.com, Societe Generale, Stablemint, Quantoz, and StablR. Tether, USDT's issuer, remains non-compliant and is not on the list. An additional 39 crypto asset service providers (CASPs) are approved, such as BBVA, Robinhood, Coinbase, Kraken, and OKX. Binance is not on the list.
9. Four Major USD Stablecoin Issuers Collectively Hold Approximately $182.4 Billion in US Treasury Assets link
Tether, Circle, First Digital, and Paxos collectively hold about $182.4 billion in US Treasury assets, surpassing South Korea and the UAE, ranking 17th in the US Treasury Department's "country holdings ranking", just behind Norway's $195.9 billion. Tether has the largest scale, with its CEO stating they hold over $125 billion in Treasuries. Circle manages $55.2 billion in short-term Treasuries and repurchase agreements through BlackRock funds. First Digital and Paxos hold approximately $1.3 billion and $880 million in Treasury assets, respectively. Stablecoin institutions generally rely on T+0 settled short-term US Treasuries to ensure liquidity, with current Treasury yields exceeding 5%, becoming mainstream stablecoin asset reserves.
10. GMX Hacker Returns Approximately $40 Million in Stolen Assets link
GMX officially confirmed that the GLP pool on GMX V1 on Arbitrum was attacked, with approximately $40 million in tokens transferred to an unknown wallet address. To prevent further attacks and protect user assets, GMX has suspended trading of GMX V1 on Arbitrum and Avalanche, as well as GLP minting and redemption functions. This vulnerability does not affect GMX V2, its markets and liquidity pools, or the GMX token itself.
The GMX hacker used Circle CCTP to transfer funds from Arbitrum to Ethereum and convert USDC to DAI, which sparked community criticism of Circle's freezing mechanism. ZachXBT directly stated that Circle does not care about the ecosystem, attempting to flag the activity to Circle team members in a short time but was overlooked.
Regarding the GMX hack, SlowMist pointed out that the root cause was a design flaw in GMX v1: short operations immediately update the global short average price (globalShortAveragePrices), thereby affecting AUM (total managed assets) calculations, allowing GLP price manipulation. The attacker exploited the Keeper's ability to enable timelock.enableLeverage when executing orders, creating large short positions through a re-entrancy attack, manipulating the global average price, artificially raising GLP price in a single transaction, and profiting through redemption arbitrage.
On Friday night, GMX hacker agreed to return the stolen $42 million assets in exchange for a $5 million white hat bounty. Currently, $10.49 million in FRAX has been returned. Previously, assets worth $32 million were converted into 11,700 ETH, currently valued at around $35 million, with an unrealized gain of approximately $3 million.
Key Financing Events
- Tether announced strategic investment in blockchain analytics company Crystal Intelligence link
- YZi Labs will support investment institution 10X Capital in establishing a US-listed BNB Treasury company link
- YZi Labs announced strategic investment in blockchain infrastructure platform Aspecta link
- Stablecoin startup Agora announced completion of $50 million Series A funding, led by Paradigm link
- Monad ecosystem DEX Kuru Labs completed $11.5 million Series A funding, led by Paradigm link
- Web3 infrastructure developer Zypher Network announced completion of $7 million funding link
- Xitadel completed a new funding round, with Solana co-founder Anatoly participating link
- Trading platform Olax announced completion of $3.38 million seed round funding link
- Velvet Capital completed $3.7 million funding, led by YZi Labs and Blockchain Founders Fund link
For more industry financing events, please visit crypto-fundraising.info.
