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Cointime News Wrapup-Afternoon: UK Treasury Seeks Input on Taxing DeFi Staking and Lending
To smooth and facilitate the reading experience for all users, we hereby compose this wrapup, especially for users who cannot check out what’s going on in a timely manner.
Web3 AI platform ChainML has announced the completion of a $6.2 million seed round of expansion financing, led by Hack VC, with participation from Inception Capital, HTX Ventures, Figment Capital, Hypersphere Ventures, and Alumni Ventures. The platform also announced the launch of its agent-based foundation layer, Theoriq.
Baby Shark Universe project, a metaverse project, has completed a seed round of financing with a valuation of $34 million. Participating investors include Animoca Brands, CREDIT SCEND, Sui Foundation, Comma3 Ventures, Creditcoin, GM Ventures, Neuler, Notch Ventures, X+, and Planetarium. The specific amount has not been disclosed, and the new funds will be used for development and global marketing. According to reports, Baby Shark Universe is an open-world role-playing game where players can create their own game content (items, maps), enjoy content created by other players, and expand the game's narrative based on their choices and actions.
According to Coindesk, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has confirmed that cryptocurrency ETFs are not available to mainland Chinese investors. Hong Kong's cryptocurrency ETFs will provide a means to bypass capital controls in mainland China due to their unique physical redemption model.
Web3 social infrastructure UXLINK announced the completion of a new round of $5 million financing, led by SevenX Ventures, INCE Capital, and HashKey Capital. It is reported that UXLINK's total financing has now exceeded $15 million.
Chinese police have arrested six people for running an illegal currency conversion operation that used cryptocurrency to handle around $296 million. The operation was discovered by the Public Security Bureau of Panshi City, Jilin, and involved an "underground bank" that exploited the anonymity and ease of cross-border transfers offered by crypto. The operation used domestic accounts to receive and transfer funds, and exchanged between the yuan and South Korean won. The service was used by Korean purchasing agents, e-commerce firms, and import/export companies, among others.
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission warned the public to be wary of a suspicious virtual asset investment product called "LENA Network". The product involves pledging and lending arrangements related to virtual assets, and claims to provide high returns to investors. This investment product has not been approved by the Securities and Futures Commission for sale to the Hong Kong public. The Securities and Futures Commission notes that the Hong Kong public can access information about the product and contact the product through the Internet. The Securities and Futures Commission advises against trusting those "too good to be true" investment opportunities and remaining vigilant when making investment decisions.
On April 27th, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange issued three notices, announcing the inclusion of Bo Shi HashKey Bitcoin ETF shares and Bo Shi HashKey Ethereum ETF shares, Huaxia Bitcoin ETF shares and Huaxia Ethereum ETF shares, and Jia Shi Bitcoin Spot ETF shares and Jia Shi Ethereum Spot ETF shares as Central Clearing System multi-counterparty eligible securities. It is reported that:
Hong Kong investors and the Financial Education Committee have stated that the investment scope of spot virtual asset ETFs is limited to virtual assets (currently limited to Bitcoin and Ethereum) provided to the Hong Kong public for buying and selling on virtual asset trading platforms holding China Securities Regulatory Commission licenses. Trading counterparties must buy and sell virtual assets through licensed virtual asset trading platforms to reduce counterparty risks. Asset custody must be entrusted to designated institutions regulated in Hong Kong, such as licensed virtual asset trading platforms, banks, or their subsidiaries registered in Hong Kong, to reduce custody risks. Investors can buy and sell virtual asset spot ETFs through securities firms or banks. Some virtual asset spot ETFs also provide non-listed fund unit categories, which operate similarly to non-listed funds. Investors can apply for and redeem units through securities firms or banks.
Hong Kong Customs has reported a successful crackdown on a major money laundering case, involving a staggering HKD 1.8 billion. According to preliminary investigations, a criminal group consisting of three individuals processed over 1,000 suspicious transactions between June 2021 and July 2022 through the establishment of multiple shell companies and bank accounts, including a significant amount of suspicious fund transfers from virtual currency trading platforms. This indicates that the criminals tried to launder their illegal proceeds by taking advantage of the anonymity of virtual currencies. Currently, Customs has arrested three key members of the criminal group, seized the assets of the involved companies, and confiscated a large number of criminal tools, including mobile phones, company seals, and bank cards. The case is still under further investigation, and more suspects may be arrested. This case once again sounds the alarm, reminding the virtual currency industry to increase vigilance and strictly comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority has issued guidelines to local banks on the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and support for the development of Hong Kong's virtual asset ecosystem, in order to support banks in using DLT in a risk-controlled manner. Through clarifying the main regulatory considerations of the Authority, it aims to further promote the wider application of DLT in the industry, including establishing appropriate governance, ensuring the design suitability of DLT application projects, and continuous maintenance and supervision of DLT projects. In order to accommodate the diverse development of technology and the market, the Authority will continue to maintain close communication with the industry and support the orderly development of Hong Kong's virtual asset ecosystem in a risk-controlled manner.
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