1. Fed Official: Rate Cuts Possible by Year-End link

Neel Kashkari, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, stated that the prediction by Bank of America that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates once this year, but not until December, is a reasonable forecast. He mentioned that the Fed is currently in a favorable position to gradually gather more inflation data, economic data, and labor market data before making any decisions. However, if there is to be just one rate cut, as the median forecast suggests, it is likely to occur at the end of the year.

2. Consensys: SEC Will Not Classify ETH Sales as Securities Transactions link

Consensys has announced that they have been informed by the SEC that the investigation into Ethereum 2.0 will be concluded without charges, indicating that the SEC will not classify the sale of ETH as a securities transaction. On June 7, Consensys had written to the SEC requesting confirmation that the approval of an ETH ETF in May, which treated ETH as a commodity, would lead to the end of the Ethereum 2.0 investigation. Additionally, Consensys emphasized that the struggle continues as they seek a declaration in the ongoing litigation that providing user interface software like MetaMask Swaps and Staking does not violate securities laws.

It is noteworthy that in the SEC’s lawsuit against Kraken, the SEC claimed that 11 tokens, including SOL, ADA, and ALGO, are securities.

3. German Government Addresses Net Deposit 1,400 BTC to Kraken, Bitstamp, and Coinbase link

On June 19, at 16:47 UTC+8, the German Government transferred a total of 2,000 BTC (approximately $130 million) to Kraken, Bitstamp, and Coinbase, as well as an unmarked address 139PoP…H7ybVu, with each receiving 500 BTC. Additionally, at 21:17 UTC+8, the German Government transferred 200 BTC to Coinbase and 1,500 BTC to the unmarked address 139PoP…H7ybVu. As of the latest update, the German Government has withdrawn 310 BTC from a Kraken withdrawal address and 10 BTC from an unmarked address bc1qulc6…parj8, resulting in a net transfer of 1,400 BTC to exchanges and a net outflow of 3,390 BTC, totaling approximately $220 million over two days. The German Government’s address still holds 47,179 BTC, valued at approximately $3.06 billion.

4. Certik’s Resolution of Kraken Vulnerability Incident Sparks Controversy link

On June 20th, CertiK issued a formal response regarding the serious vulnerability at Kraken exchange. CertiK emphasized that upon discovering the flaw, they promptly notified Kraken, which categorized it as a “severe” level issue. Despite achieving initial success in fixing the vulnerability, Kraken’s security team later threatened CertiK employees, demanding the return of cryptocurrency amounts that did not match without providing a repayment address. CertiK decided to publicly disclose this incident to protect user safety and transparency, urging Kraken to cease threats against white hat hackers and collaborate to safeguard the future security of Web3.

According to disclosures by @tayvano_ and @CyversAlerts related to the Kraken incident, Certik Withdrawer addresses engaged in transactions from Kraken’s hot wallet on June 7th and 8th. This involved extracting 154k MATIC (approximately $114,000), 553.506k USDT, and 60.332 ETH (approximately $223,000). Subsequently, 553.506k USDT was exchanged on-chain for 149.364 ETH, and 154k MATIC was deposited into the ChangeNow mixing platform. Certik Withdrawer addresses continued withdrawals on these dates, involving additional sums of USDT and ETH, with some assets redirected to ChangeNow and other activities that have raised significant scrutiny.

CertiK conducted deposit testing transaction traces publicly disclosed, indicating that on June 6th, Certik test address: 0x5a…285C conducted Tornado Cash testing before the Kraken vulnerability withdrawal testing, transferring 1.2k MATIC (approximately $872) into Tornado Cash, although the purpose remains unclear.

Cyvers CTO @Meir_Dv noted that an unknown address: 0x1d…7ac9 created contract: 0x45…CeA9 on the Base network on May 24th and engaged in activities. Certik’s test address: 0x5a…285C was also observed using the same signature hash 0xa04a4c3b as the unknown address: 0x1d…7ac9, casting doubt on Certik’s claim of discovering the vulnerability on June 5th. Further investigation suggested that the contract deployed on Base: 0x45…CeA9 may have tested for similar vulnerabilities on OKX and Coinbase around May 24th.

CertiK published a series of FAQs regarding the CertiK-Kraken white hat incident, stating they did not directly involve assets of genuine Kraken users in their research activities. Throughout communications with Kraken via email and video conferences, CertiK consistently assured them of refunding the funds. All currently held funds have been returned; however, the total amount differs from Kraken’s demands. CertiK returned: 734.19215 ETH, 29,001 USDT, and 1021.1 XMR, whereas Kraken requested returns totaling: 155818.4468 MATIC, 907400.1803 USDT, 475.5557871 ETH, and 1089.794737 XMR. CertiK detailed the vulnerability specifics to Kraken and achieved fixes within 47 minutes of discovery. Following testing completion, CertiK promptly notified Kraken through various channels and submitted detailed reports. CertiK did not participate in Kraken’s bounty program nor made any bounty requests, focusing solely on resolving the issue.

Additionally, CertiK conducted multiple large-scale tests to assess Kraken’s protection and risk control limits. Despite several days of extensive testing, nearly $3 million worth of cryptocurrency did not trigger any alarms, indicating unresolved limitations.

As per security researcher @tayvano_, Certik’s returned 734.19215 ETH, 29,001 USDT, and 1021.1 XMR are verifiable on-chain. However, the return of 29,001 USDT was withdrawn from Binance on June 19th, raising questions about certain data discrepancies. For instance, Certik sent 47 ETH to ChangeNow and received 61 ETH from ChangeNow; discrepancies in XMR quantities (possibly due to privacy transactions) and the rationale behind converting $907,000 USDT into 244 ETH remain unclear. Kraken’s request for Certik to return funds, including 155818.4468 MATIC, 907400.1803 USDT, 475.5557871 ETH, and 1089.794737 XMR, highlights significant discrepancies and unresolved questions, particularly concerning the MATIC asset.

5. Coinbase Announces Pre-Launch Market Platform link

Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced have announced the launch of the Pre-Launch Market, enabling trading and price discovery of tokens before their official issuance. The Pre-Launch Market allows users to trade perpetual futures contracts for tokens that have yet to be listed. Qualified institutional users and retail traders can access the Pre-Launch Market through Coinbase International Exchange and Coinbase Advanced, respectively. The first token supported in the Pre-Launch Market is EIGEN, which is already available for trading. However, its trading volume on the launch day, June 18, was rather modest, amounting to only $5,465.

6. Bybit and OKX Refuse to List Political Tokens link

Following Kraken’s announcement of the listing of political tokens BODEN and TREMP, CoinDesk reported that Bybit and OKX declined to list these political tokens due to potential political risks for centralized exchanges. HTX is the only major exchange besides Kraken to list the TREMP token and has stated that it does not rule out the possibility of listing the TRUMP token as well.

7. Japanese Crypto Exchange BitFlyer in Talks to Acquire Bankrupt FTX Japan link

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange giant BitFlyer is in negotiations to acquire the bankrupt FTX Trading’s Japanese subsidiary, FTX Japan, and take over its operations. FTX Trading filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. in November 2022, which included about 130 group companies. The acquisition is expected to involve billions of yen and will depend on the progress of the bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. courts.

8. MicroStrategy Purchases Approximately 11,931 Bitcoins Between April 27 and June 19 link

Michael Saylor announced that MicroStrategy has once again purchased 11,931 BTC at an average price of approximately $65,883 per Bitcoin, totaling around $786 million. As of June 20, 2024, MicroStrategy holds 226,331 BTC at an average price of $36,798 per Bitcoin, with a total value of approximately $8.33 billion. The acquisition was funded using proceeds from convertible notes and surplus cash.

9. Ethereum NFT Market Experiences Declines in Both ETH and USD Terms link

As of the latest update, the Ethereum NFT market is experiencing a general downturn once again. As of the time of writing, the floor prices for mainstream Ethereum NFTs are as follows: Cryptopunks at 24.45 ETH, PudgyPenguins at 8.44 ETH, BAYC at 8.84 ETH, Azuki at 2.99 ETH, Milady at 5.17 ETH, and DeGods at 0.80 ETH. Over the past week, these NFTs have shown price changes in Ethereum terms as follows: Cryptopunks -16.98%, PudgyPenguins -20.87%, BAYC -19.41%, Azuki -22.70%, Milady +13.63%, and DeGods -15.63%. This market trend may be influenced by the upcoming conclusion of Blur’s third season.

10. LayerZero Airdrop Launched, Users Must Donate $0.10 for Each ZRO Claim link

On June 20th, LayerZero launched its airdrop, with its ZRO token immediately listed on major exchanges such as Binance, OKX, Coinbase, and Upbit. LayerZero distributed the ZRO tokens across multiple dimensions including the number of public chain uses, L0 protocol counts, Stargate voting rewards, LP, ONFT, and OFT users. CEO Bryan Pellegrino announced that 1 million addresses qualified for the airdrop, and nearly 10 million ZRO tokens were distributed to users who owned the sybil tokens.

LayerZero allocated 30 million ZRO tokens in its RFP, with Stargate receiving 10 million ZRO tokens and Pudgy Penguins and Kanpai Pandas each receiving 1 million ZRO tokens. All projects in the RFP allocated their quotas to their respective communities as desired.

Additionally, LayerZero introduced a new claiming mechanism called “Proof-of-Donation,” where users must donate $0.10 USD in USDC, USDT, or native ETH per ZRO token to receive ZRO. These donations, totaling approximately $18.5 million USD, will go directly to the Protocol Guild, a collective funding mechanism for Ethereum developers. The LayerZero Foundation will match all donations, up to a maximum of $10 million USD.

Fundraising

• Particle Network, a modular blockchain development platform, announced the completion of a $15 million Series A financing round. link

• Solana Layer 2 solution Sonic completed a $12 million Series A financing round. link

• Binance Labs announced an investment in Rango. link

• Renzo, a liquidity re-staking protocol, announced the completion of a $17 million financing round. link

• Wasabi, a memecoin leveraged trading protocol, completed a $3 million financing round. link

• Saltwater Games, a UK-based Web3 and XR gaming company, received an investment from Animoca Brands. link

Learn more, check out crypto-fundraising.info.

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