Cointime

Download App
iOS & Android

Binance Publishes PoR System, MetaMask to Collect User IP Addresses | Cointime Weekly Nov.20 – Nov.26

Top stories

Binance Publishes Merkle Tree-Based Proof of Reserves

Binance announced official proof of reserves (PoR) system. The company is starting with BTC reserves. Right now, Binance has a reserve ratio of 101%. It means Binance has enough Bitcoins to cover all users' balances. 

Kraken CEO critiqued the move by saying, “I’m sorry but no. This is not PoR. This is either ignorance or intentional misrepresentation.”

MetaMask to Collect User IP and Ethereum Wallet Addresse

MetaMask will begin collecting users' IP addresses and Ethereum wallet addresses during on-chain transactions.  Consensys, the company that owns MetaMask, further explained that this only apply when users use MetaMask's default Remote Procedure Call (RPC) application Infura.

Edward Snowden Calls MetaMask’s New Policy Update A “Crime”

Elon Musk Confirms Bankman-Fried Owns 0% of Twitter

Elon Musk has clarified that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), FTX’s co-founder and former CEO, currently owns 0% of Twitter.

The confirmation followed an article published by Bankman-Fried-backed publication Semafor indicating that SBF owns a $100 million stake in the social media platform.  “Neither I nor Twitter have taken any investment from SBF/FTX. Your article is a lie.” Elon Musk responded.

FTX Started Bankruptcy Proceedings

FTX started its bankruptcy proceedings at the Delaware Court.The bankruptcy filing revealed that FTX owes its 50 biggest unsecured creditors around $3.1 billion.

As part of the recent bankruptcy filing, the defunct crypto exchange FTX, along with 101 of the 130 affiliated companies, announced the launch of a strategic review of their global assets. The review is an attempt to maximize recoverable value for stakeholders.

Crypto weekly price action

Bitcoin briefly topped $16,500 again on Friday afternoon, up from Monday's low and narrowing the gap to its Nov. 10 recent near-term high. Ethereum perked above $1,200 Friday, up more than 11% from a Tuesday low, and about 10% from a Nov. 10 high.

Cryptocurrency Prices Heat Map in 7 Days, Source COIN360

Fundraising and investment

Binance Allocates Another $1B for Its Crypto Recovery Fund

Binance announced the Web3 Industry Recovery Initiative (IRI). Binance allocated another $1 billion for its industry recovery fund, effectively increasing the size of the fund to over $2 billion. Aptos Labs, Jump Crypto, along with other prominent crypto companies joined Binance's initiative and will contribute $50 million to the fund.

Fasanara Capital Lands $200M Canadian Pension Fund Mandate

Fasanara Capital, an alternative credit and venture capital investor, has landed a strategic $200m mandate from one of Canada’s largest pension investors. The cash will be used to lend to fund invoice receivables, working capital facilities, short-term SME loans, as well as other speciality finance loan products.

CoinFund Launched $300 Million Fund Targeting Crypto and Web3 Startups

Web3 investment firm CoinFund recently launched a $300 million fund targeting early-stage crypto and web3 startups. CoinFund is also looking to raise an additional $250 million fund specifically for seed-stage investments.

Fenix Games Raises $150M for Blockchain Game Publishing

Fenix Games has raised $150 million to create a new kind of publisher for blockchain gaming.Fenix Games plans to acquire, invest and publish both existing games and blockchain games of the future. The investors include Phoenix Group and Cypher Capital.

Research and technology

Vitalik Buterin Suggests Using ZK-SNARKs for Refined Privacy

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed the concept of using ZK-SNARKs for improved privacy. He also considers that this would refine the Merkle tree transfer-based proof-of-reserves. Binance CEO mentioned his team will carry out this implementation in addition to making it open-source.

Seedless Self-Custody: On MPC and Smart Contract Wallets

The unraveling of FTX and Celsius are the latest in a long list of incidents that remind the industry “not your keys, not your coin”, triggering a flight to non-custodial wallets. Despite common “this vs that” framing, MPC and smart wallets are not competitive, but rather complementary in the long term.

Full List of Cryptocurrency Exchange Hacks 2011-2022

A complete list of cryptocurrency exchange hacks, starting with the most recent major hack of the Binance exchange, where hackers stole BNB tokens totaling $ 570 million, and ending with the Mt. Gox, which during the period from 2010 to 2014.

FIFA World Cup | Price Analysis of 40 Football Fan Tokens

The FIFA World Cup is in full swing, which football fan tokens are the most popular? Which tokens have the best price performance? What factors are influencing football fan token price? Can we predict the fan tokens price? Here are the answers.

Viral Quotes

“WSJ giving foot massages to a criminal.”

— Elon Musk, talked about Wall Street Journal’s coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried

“Sam Bankman-Fried was in the business of buying people and news agencies.

Apparently it worked.  He’s not in jail and media silent.”

— Juanita Broaddrick, Author of "You'd Better Put Some Ice On That"

“You were my family. I've lost that, and our old home is an empty warehouse of monitors. When I turn around, there's no one left to talk to.”

—  Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, apologized to employees

“FTX management lied about not taking user money, it was a sort of a Ponzi scheme. The Terra Luna project was mismanaged like the Lehman brothers. The Luna founders did not walk away with lot of money after it collapsed.”

—  Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO

“Crypto exchanges can and do fail. Even if a crypto exchange is licensed in Singapore, it would be currently only regulated to address money-laundering risks, not to protect investors.”

—  Monetary Authority of Singapore

Comments

All Comments

Recommended for you

  • Whale Transfers 1,133 BTC to Coinbase Prime, Valued at $71.48 Million

    According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale transferred 1,133 BTC from Coinbase to Coinbase Prime through an intermediary wallet, valued at $71.48 million.

  • U.S. AI Chip Stocks Decline Before Market Open, Intel Falls Over 3%

    On July 7, U.S. AI chip stocks experienced widespread declines before the market opened. Intel dropped over 3%, while AMD, Qualcomm, and NXP fell more than 2%. TSMC, Broadcom, and Tesla decreased by over 1%, and NVIDIA declined by 0.7%.

  • China's Central Bank Increases Gold Reserves for the 20th Consecutive Month

    As of the end of June, China's gold reserves stood at 75.44 million ounces (approximately 2,346.446 tons), an increase of 480,000 ounces (about 14.93 tons) from the end of May, which reported 74.96 million ounces (approximately 2,331.52 tons). This marks the 20th consecutive month of gold accumulation.

  • China's Foreign Exchange Reserves in June at $341.6262 Billion

    On July 7, China's foreign exchange reserves for June stood at $341.6262 billion, a decrease of $26 billion from the end of May, representing a decline of 0.75%, with expectations set at $343.2 billion.

  • U.S. Storage Stocks Drop Pre-Market, SanDisk and Micron Down Over 4%

    On July 7, U.S. storage concept stocks collectively fell in pre-market trading. Western Digital dropped over 5%, SanDisk and Micron Technology fell over 4%, Seagate Technology declined over 3%, Rambus fell over 2%, and SMI fell over 1%.

  • U.S. Stocks in Optical Communication Sector Drop Pre-Market

    On July 7, stocks in the optical communication sector of the U.S. market collectively fell pre-market. Astera Labs dropped over 4%, while Marvell Technology, Credo Technology, and AXT Inc. fell more than 3%. Tower Semiconductor, MaxLinear, Corning, Applied Optoelectronics, GlobalFoundries, Lumentum, and Qorvo all declined by more than 2%. Coherent, Nokia, Amphenol, and Broadcom dropped over 1%.

  • Pre-market Decline in U.S. Storage Stocks

    In pre-market trading, U.S. storage concept stocks experienced a widespread decline, with Micron Technology falling by 4.8%, SanDisk dropping over 4%, Corning down more than 2%, and Intel decreasing by over 3%.

  • Two Departments: Support for Reinsurance Institutions to Increase Capital and Issue Supplementary Capital Tools

    On July 7, the National Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau and the Shanghai Municipal Government released several measures to accelerate the construction of the Shanghai International Reinsurance Center. Among these measures, they proposed to enhance the quality and efficiency of the reinsurance industry, support reinsurance institutions in increasing capital and expanding shares, and issuing supplementary capital tools to improve the capacity for internal capital accumulation and external capital supplementation, thereby strengthening the reinsurance industry's capabilities. The initiative aims to guide the insurance industry to focus on major national projects, strategic emerging industries, and livelihood security, consolidating insurance and reinsurance underwriting capabilities to enhance risk protection levels. It also supports reinsurance institutions in leveraging their professional technical advantages to assist the insurance industry in reducing risk.

  • Sources: Saudi Arabia Plans to Expand Oil Pipeline to Red Sea, Increasing Capacity by 2 Million Barrels Daily to Bypass Strait of Hormuz

    On July 7, five informed sources revealed that Saudi Arabia is considering expanding the crude oil pipeline capacity to its western coast on the Red Sea, allowing Saudi Arabia and its neighbors to transport more oil without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. This east-west pipeline, built in the early 1980s, has gained strategic importance since the outbreak of the Iran war in February and the disruption of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline can deliver up to 7 million barrels of crude oil per day to the Red Sea port. The CEO of Saudi Aramco stated in May that approximately 2 million barrels are supplied to west coast refineries, while about 5 million barrels are for export. Sources indicate that Saudi Arabia is in preliminary discussions with some neighboring countries regarding the pipeline expansion, aiming to add about 2 million barrels of pipeline capacity per day. It remains unclear whether Aramco's planned expansion involves upgrading existing infrastructure or constructing new pipelines. One source mentioned that the expansion plan also includes a smaller refined oil pipeline. Two sources indicated that the expansion scale could range from 1 million to 2 million barrels per day, with refined oil also being considered. Another source stated that the project would take several years and cost billions of dollars, requiring adjustments to Saudi crude pricing mechanisms.

  • Citi: Tencent's WorkBuddy Gains Momentum, Maintains 'Buy' Rating

    On July 7, Citi released a research report stating that, according to the latest industry data, Tencent's AI agent product WorkBuddy has reached 20 million monthly active users (MAU) and over 13 million daily active users (DAU), with a DAU/MAU ratio between 65% and 75%. Considering the product has only been launched for a few months, user stickiness and daily engagement are performing strongly. Citi quoted Tencent's management as saying that in terms of daily active users, Tencent is leading its Chinese peers in the deployment of AI agents. Early user data reflects strong natural growth for both CodeBuddy and WorkBuddy, with high retention rates. Early users are interacting with the AI agents for long durations and with high frequency, creating a positive feedback loop. It is expected that AI products will become a key revenue source for Tencent Cloud. The firm believes that WorkBuddy's success demonstrates the strength of Tencent's ecosystem, the synergy between various productivity tools, and users' trust in Tencent's products and security. Citi maintains a 'Buy' rating on Tencent with a target price of HKD 763 unchanged.