Weekly Report | Stripe acquires stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion; U.S. SEC approves multiple Bitcoin ETF options for trading; Tesla's Q3 f
Frax Founder: In the AI Memecoin craze, how to properly assess the value of "L1 tokens versus L2 and equity tokens like DApps"?; Kraken is also launching Layer 2, a quick overview of its DeFi dedicated chain Ink; The truth behind the Meme coin SHAR backed by 50 top KOLs, the collusion between KOLs and conspiracy groups has been exposed.
Organizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
"What Important Events Happened This Week (10.21-10.27)"
1、 Stripe Acquires Stablecoin Platform Bridge for $1.1 Billion, the Largest Acquisition in the Crypto Space
According to The Block, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington posted on X that payment company Stripe has acquired stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion.
This is Stripe's largest acquisition to date and the biggest acquisition in the history of the crypto industry. Bridge previously raised $58 million, including a $40 million Series A round at a valuation of $200 million.
Bridge was founded by entrepreneurs Sean Yu and Zach Abrams, providing software tools to help businesses accept stablecoin payments. The two founders previously sold their Venmo competitor Evenly to Block in 2013; Abrams is also a former senior employee at Coinbase.
2、 Truth Terminal Founder: I Will Not Sell My Personal GOAT Holdings for Now, Will Temporarily Safeguard AI's Wallet
Andy Ayrey, the founder of AI robot Truth Terminal, stated on the X platform:
- I hold 1.25 million GOAT, which was given to me by others; I airdropped some of it to friends and AI researchers, and I haven't made any trades since it started going crazy and attracting hype (both good and bad)------I know too much about how it operates internally, which is unfair;
- The wallet of truth_terminal is managed by me and will be transferred to a legal entity (trust or similar institution) designed to meet its needs; no adjustments will be made to its token holdings until a transparent governance process is in place;
- truth_terminal wrote all the tweets itself. I did not inject information into its prompts;
- There are many nuances that are difficult to communicate regarding how language models work, the evolution of AI personalities, and how audience capture affects agency behavior. Misunderstandings about this could lead to significant price increases or decreases, and I will not adjust or liquidate any of my GOAT positions until I release the roadmap for ToT (entity) and related projects, along with a research paper that delves into this process, and statements from artists regarding the broader project and narrative.
The token is a community meme generated around my work. While I certainly hope to benefit from it, trading for personal gain using my internal knowledge of how the token operates goes against my integrity and broader mission. I am making this disclosure to protect those who may follow the hype without fully understanding all the cross-system dynamics at play.
3、 US SEC Chair Responds to Whether He Would Resign if Trump is Elected: No Comment on Elections, but There Will Be Consequences
According to Coindesk, current US SEC Chair Gary Gensler's term is set to expire on January 5, 2026, but traditionally, if the opposition party takes over the White House, the chair will choose to resign. However, if Trump successfully wins the next presidential election, Gensler could complete his term if he decides to stay.
Recently, when asked by a reporter if he would resign if Trump wins, Gary Gensler chuckled softly and stated that he would not comment on the elections, but he added, "Elections have consequences."
4、 US SEC Approves Multiple Bitcoin ETF Options Products for Trading
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the listing of multiple Bitcoin ETF options products on the Cboe Exchange and NYSE American.
- Cboe has been approved to list options for Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB);
- NYSE American has been approved to list options for Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB).
According to documents, both exchanges have set a single-side position limit of 25,000 contracts for each Bitcoin ETF option, lower than other ETF option products. (Crowdfundinsider)
5、 Polymarket to Restrict US Users and Conduct Compliance Checks on High-Stakes Bettors
According to market news, Polymarket will restrict US users and conduct compliance checks on high-stakes bettors.
6、 Bill Gates Privately States He Donated $50 Million to Harris
According to Jin10 data, the New York Times reported that Bill Gates, who has been stepping back from politics for decades, privately stated that he recently donated about $50 million to the nonprofit Future Forward, which supports Vice President Harris's campaign. This donation was originally intended to be secret.
According to someone familiar with Gates' thoughts, he expressed concern about the prospect of Trump being re-elected during private calls with friends and others this year, although he emphasized that he could work with any candidate.
Gates praised the Biden-Harris administration's work on climate change. According to two sources, Gates' charity, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is very concerned that funding for family planning and global health programs could be cut if Trump is elected.
7、 a16z Founder Comments on the Birth of GOAT: The First True Fusion of AI and Cryptocurrency
Marc Andreessen, founder of a16z, discussed the origins of Truth Terminal and the creation of the meme coin GOAT on a podcast. Andreessen described it as the first true fusion of AI and cryptocurrency.
Previously reported , Marc Andreessen posted on X, stating: "This summer, I provided a $50,000 unconditional personal research grant to terminal of truths and its creators. This grant was intended to support independent AI research, and the results have been outstanding, but I have no connection to the meme token GOAT, no financial interest, and do not hold any of its tokens."
8、 Tesla Q3 Financial Report Shows It Did Not Sell Any Bitcoin
According to Watcher.Guru, Tesla's third-quarter financial report shows that the company did not sell any Bitcoin during the quarter.
Additionally, Tesla (TSLA.O) reported Q3 2024 revenue of $25.18 billion, below market expectations of $25.4 billion, and up from $23.35 billion in the same period last year.
9、 Decentralized Social Platform Bluesky Completes $15 Million Series A Financing, Led by Blockchain Capital
According to Decrypt, decentralized social platform Bluesky announced the completion of $15 million in Series A financing, led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from SevenX, True Ventures, and Alumni Ventures.
Bluesky stated that it will not "over-financialize" the "social experience" of Bluesky by integrating crypto tokens, NFTs, or other blockchain-based technologies.
According to RootData , Bluesky is building the AT Protocol, a new foundation for social networks that allows creators to operate independently of platforms, enables developers to innovate freely, and gives users choices in their experiences. The project was initiated by the founder of Twitter.
10、 Musk Increases Support for Trump, Donates Additional $44 Million
According to Jin10, Elon Musk donated approximately $44 million to a team supporting Trump in early October, increasing his support for Trump.
Earlier reports indicated that Musk donated about $75 million to the organization between July and September.
Additionally, according to another document submitted to the Federal Election Commission, Trump's campaign team reported spending over $88 million on advertising in the first half of this month, with $36 million in the bank for the final stages of the campaign. Trump's campaign team raised $16 million during this period.
11、 US Congressman: SEC Chair Should Resign in 2025
According to Decrypt, US Congressman French Hill (R-AR) stated in an interview with the Thinking Crypto podcast that the SEC should have new leadership next year, regardless of which party controls the White House.
Hill criticized SEC Chair Gary Gensler's regulatory policies as unconstitutional and an abuse of power, suggesting that exemptions should be implemented for emerging industries like cryptocurrency.
Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse also predicted that Gensler would resign after the upcoming presidential election, regardless of the election outcome.
12、 US Treasury Considers Sanctions Against Tether
The US Treasury is considering sanctions against Tether. According to informed sources, the federal government is investigating whether the cryptocurrency company Tether may have violated sanctions and anti-money laundering regulations.
Prosecutors from the Manhattan US Attorney's Office have launched a criminal investigation into whether Tether's cryptocurrency has been used by third parties to fund illegal activities such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and hacking, or to launder the proceeds of these activities.
13、 Vitalik: Ethereum Foundation Sells ETH to Pay Researchers in the Ecosystem
Vitalik Buterin clarified on X regarding the Ethereum Foundation's sale of ETH: "The foundation is paying researchers and developers responsible for the following:
- Ethereum will not spend 5 million ETH annually for proof of work;
- User fees are currently very low;
- Transactions can be completed in 30 seconds, rather than 1-30 minutes (EIP 1559)."
14、 RootData List 2024 Opens for Selection Applications, Results to be Announced During the "DeInsight 2024" Summit Next Month
RootData List 2024 is now open for selection applications. This list is the second annual evaluation launched by the Web3 data platform RootData after its first release in 2023, aimed at showcasing influential and innovative key players in the Web3 space and assessing the key forces driving industry progress.
The 2024 list will continue and optimize the evaluation system, mainly including core lists such as Crypto 50, Crypto Investors 50, Crypto Projects 50, and The Best CEO. The evaluation criteria cover a multidimensional index including RootData's popularity index, token performance, portfolio quality, project valuation, financing performance, media popularity, and community development.
For reference, the first list in 2023 received widespread recognition in the industry, covering the TOP50 projects, TOP100 investment institutions, and the TOP20 in eight sub-sectors, providing important references for industry development.
The final evaluation results will be announced on November 11 at the "DeInsight 2024" summit held at Hotel Nikko Bangkok in Thailand. "DeInsight 2024" is co-hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData, with Soso Value as a co-organizer, and is expected to attract over 1,000 industry insiders.
Application link: https://forms.gle/yqGmxLSXGDYSCnK88
15、 Binance CEO: Deeply Relieved and Grateful, Tigran Gambaryan Finally Released After Nearly Eight Months in Nigeria
Binance CEO Richard Teng stated on the X platform: "We are deeply relieved and grateful that Tigran Gambaryan has finally been released after nearly eight months of detention in Nigeria. During this difficult time, Tigran showed tremendous strength, and we commend his resilience in such severe adversity. We are very grateful to everyone who has spent countless hours supporting Tigran's release. Tigran's health and well-being remain our top priority, and we are glad he can now receive the medical care and rest he urgently needs with his family. Binance remains committed to working with global regulators to ensure compliance and transparency in the ever-evolving digital asset space. We look forward to putting this incident behind us and continuing to work towards a brighter future for the global blockchain industry. Nigeria has a young, tech-savvy population with a strong interest in digital finance, fully capable of leveraging blockchain technology to address economic and social challenges. We look forward to playing a constructive role in this effort."
Previously reported , according to DL News, the Nigerian prosecutor withdrew criminal charges against Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan on Wednesday, who has been detained in the African country since February.
"What Great Articles Are Worth Reading This Week (10.21-10.27)"
1、 Frax Founder: How to Properly Assess the Value of "L1 Tokens vs. L2 and DApp Equity Tokens" Amid the AI Memecoin Craze?
The value of L1 tokens is more akin to sovereign assets, existing at a premium due to being "productive assets"; DApp and L2 tokens resemble equity assets, seemingly having no more value beyond generating cash flow.
2、 Kraken is Launching Layer 2, A Quick Look at Its DeFi Dedicated Chain Ink
Ink is Kraken's L2 blockchain based on the Optimism Superchain. As a natural evolution of our mission , Ink will serve as a seamless bridge to DeFi , enabling users to confidently and easily make on-chain payments.
Going on-chain can feel complex and daunting. As a single, integrated ecosystem, Ink simplifies user interactions with top DeFi applications , protocols, and communities. All of this is driven by one goal: to make it easier for people to access exciting new opportunities on-chain.
Ink is built on the open-source, MIT-licensed OP Stack codebase from Optimism, joining the broader Ethereum ecosystem. In addition to benefiting from the security of Ethereum (the world's largest blockchain platform), Ink will also be part of the superchain. This unified blockchain network shares security, governance, and values, adopting a common standard codebase to help scale Ethereum.
3、 The Truth Behind Meme Coin SHAR Under the Endorsement of 50 Top KOLs, KOLs and Conspiracy Groups' Collusion Exposed
"From zero growth to a market cap of $6,000 in just one hour, but it took only one minute to drop from a market cap of $400 billion to $3 million, ending its life with FUD just seven hours after launch" can summarize the brief life of the new meme project Sharpei (token SHAR, abbreviated as "SHAR") on the Solana chain.
As a new meme project, the SHAR team leveraged endorsements claiming "over 50 top crypto KOLs support and endorse us, and the team has successfully operated MEW, MANEKI, and other meme projects…" to gain widespread attention and market heat in a short time, but ultimately ended in a crash, once again revealing the opacity and manipulation in the meme coin market and the collusion between KOLs and project teams.
4、 Is the Meme Launch Platform Becoming Public Chain Infrastructure? A Review of Various Chains' "Pump.fun" Clones
This year's full-chain launch of dog coins echoes last year's inscription craze, with Pump.fun becoming a catalyst for this wave. The simplified token issuance process has allowed more participants to join at low costs, exacerbating market speculation.
5、 Vitalik's New Article: Possible Future of the Ethereum Protocol The Verge
Special thanks to Justin Drake, Hsia-wei Wanp, Guillaume Ballet, Icinacio, Rosh Rudolf, Lev Soukhanoy Ryan Sean Adams, and Uma Roy for their feedback and reviews.
One of the most powerful features of blockchain is that anyone can run a node on their computer and verify the correctness of the blockchain. Even if 95, 96 nodes running chain consensus (PoW, PoS) immediately agree to change the rules and start producing blocks according to the new rules, anyone running a fully validating node will refuse to accept the chain. Miners not part of this conspiracy will automatically converge onto a chain that continues to follow the old rules and continue to build on that chain, while fully validated users will follow that chain.
This is the key difference between blockchain and centralized systems. However, for this feature to hold, running a fully validating node must be feasible for enough people. This applies to both the promoters (because if the promoters do not validate the chain, they are not contributing to enforcing the protocol rules) and ordinary users. Nowadays, it is possible to run a node on consumer-grade laptops (including the laptop I used to write this article), but doing so is quite challenging. The Verge aims to change this situation, making the computational costs of fully validating chains cheap enough that every mobile wallet, browser wallet, and even smart watch will default to validating.
6、 Bitcoin ETF Options Approved, Will Bitcoin Experience Explosive Growth?
On October 18, the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved applications from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), allowing 11 approved Bitcoin ETF providers to conduct options trading. Currently, Bitcoin continues to rise, with highs surpassing $69,000.
ETF analyst Seyffart stated at the Permissionless conference that Bitcoin ETF options could launch by the end of the year, but the CFTC and OCC do not have strict deadlines, so it may be further delayed, more likely launching in Q1 2025.
At the same time, the SEC has postponed the approval of Bitwise and Grayscale Ethereum ETF options, with the market speculating that this is due to the expected inflow of funds being less than anticipated after the Ethereum ETF approval. The SEC wants to further examine the impact of this proposal on market stability and will make a ruling on November 10.
7、 The Largest Acquisition in Crypto History: Bridge's Market Cap Increased by $900 Million in Two Months, Stripe Enters Crypto Payments
On October 21, payment unicorn Stripe finalized its acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, marking the largest acquisition in the crypto industry and Stripe's largest acquisition to date.
As a beneficiary of this acquisition, Bridge aims to provide a platform that integrates stablecoin payment technology support for businesses. Just this August, it announced completing a $54 million financing round, with a valuation of only $200 million at that time. However, in just two months, Bridge's market cap skyrocketed nearly sixfold, ultimately being acquired by Stripe for $1.1 billion, making it one of the fastest-growing projects in the crypto world.
As the funding party for this acquisition, Stripe recently restored support for USDC crypto asset payments on Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon. This acquisition of Bridge will undoubtedly add a sharp edge to Stripe in the crypto payments field. What remarkable new changes will emerge in the crypto payment sector with the strong collaboration of the two?
8、 After a 110% Pump Storm, the Leading Meme Coin Halves, Is ApeChain Still Worth Expecting?
Yesterday, Yuga Labs, the parent company of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which had been quiet for days, initiated a series of major moves.
Yuga Labs first officially announced the launch of the Layer 2 public chain ApeChain. Following that, the on-chain version of "pump.fun" and the one-click token issuance platform Ape Express were also launched.
To attract users to participate in the ApeChain ecosystem, ApeChain introduced the cross-chain bridge Ape Portal and provided an automatic yield model for stablecoin holders on the chain. Stablecoins crossing to ApeChain will be converted to DAI and deposited into sDAI, accumulating yields based on MakerDAO's savings rates.
Additionally, ApeChain has formed a strategic partnership with Wire Network, a universal infrastructure designed for the AI agent economy, to explore new areas where AI agents can perform complex tasks on behalf of humans.
With the issuance of meme coins like CURTIS and DOOKEY on ApeChain, FOMO sentiment quickly surged within the community.
9、 Interview with Mossfire Capital Co-Founder: A Bull Market is Coming, How to See Through Market Fog?
In today's rapidly changing cryptocurrency market, insight and experience are crucial. Raymond, co-founder of Mossfire Capital, shares his unique insights into the volatility of the crypto market, investment strategies, and predictions for future market trends in this in-depth interview. His transition from Web2 to Web3 and his strategies for navigating market downturns provide valuable insights. Let's explore how Raymond seeks opportunities amid the fluctuations of the crypto market and learn about his advice for new investors and his optimistic outlook on the entire crypto market.
10、 Will Trump's Presidency Propel BTC to Break $100,000? An In-Depth Analysis of Crypto Market Views Before the US Election Ends
As the US election approaches its conclusion, the future direction of the crypto market, which is heavily influenced by the US political economy, has become a focal point of recent market attention.
Will Bitcoin's price break new highs as hoped? Will Ethereum's price continue to remain weak? Will the meme coin craze in the Solana ecosystem continue? Can altcoin markets gradually recover? Planet Daily will organize and analyze the current views on the US election and the crypto market for readers' reference.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
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