Vitalik supports Roman Storm, and CZ laments entering the encryption field too late.

Headlines

▌Vitalik Supports Roman Storm: Hopes the U.S. Will Lead to a Safer World with Fewer Data Breaches

Ethereum founder Vitalik stated, "The interview with Roman Storm, the co-founder of Tornado Cash (which we heavily rely on, the 2019 FinCEN guidance clearly states that service providers offering anonymization software are not subject to money transmission business licensing regulations. This makes us believe that what we are developing should not put us in a high-risk position) is quite good. His trial will start in 10 days. Today, the notion of message privacy without backdoors has been widely accepted, and many business and government officials are frequently using tools like Signal. Considering the frequent breaches of centralized databases we observe today, enhancing privacy protection in payment, identity, artificial intelligence, and other areas should not be seen as a relationship that needs to be 'balanced' with security – it is an essential component of security itself. I hope the United States can take the lead in making a safer, freer, stronger world with less data leakage a reality. The first step is to send a clear signal to developers: this important work is welcomed.

▌****CZ: After seeing the giant whale from 2011 casually transfer cryptocurrency obtained for $0.1, I realized I entered the crypto space too late.

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng (CZ) stated that after witnessing a whale casually transfer cryptocurrency (BTC) for $0.1 in 2011, he realized that he had entered the crypto space too late.

Market

As of the time of writing, according to data from CoinGecko:

The price of BTC is $107,616, with a 24-hour change of -1.4%;

The price of ETH is $2,513.37, with a 24-hour change of -3.0%;

The price of BNB is $654.98, with a 24-hour change of -1.2%;

The price of SOL is $148.39, with a 24-hour change of -2.9%;

The price of DOGE is $0.163, with a 24-hour change of -5.5%;

The price of XRP is $2.22, with a 24-hour change of -5.8%.

The price of TRX is $0.2828, with a 24-hour change of -1.4%.

Policy

▌The U.S. Cryptocurrency Week will review three key bills: the CLARITY Act, the Anti-CBDC Act, and the GENIUS Act

During the U.S. Cryptocurrency Week (July 14 to 18), Congress will review three key bills: the CLARITY Act, the Anti-CBDC Act, and the GENIUS Act.

****▌Turkey bans PancakeSwap for unauthorized cryptocurrency activities

The Turkish Capital Markets Board (SPK) has announced a ban on the decentralized trading platform PancakeSwap, citing that it has not obtained permission to provide cryptocurrency asset services to Turkish residents. This action is carried out based on relevant provisions of the Capital Markets Law. The ban is part of a larger crackdown on unlicensed platforms, involving more than 60 cryptocurrency and foreign exchange websites.

****▌Swedish Justice Minister urges to intensify efforts to confiscate criminal crypto assets

Swedish Minister of Justice Gunnar Strommer has called for police, the tax authority, and the enforcement agency to strengthen the seizure of criminal proceeds, including cryptocurrencies. According to the strict confiscation law passed last year, even if specific criminal acts cannot be proven, authorities can confiscate suspicious assets. Approximately $8.4 million worth of property has been seized so far. Some lawmakers have proposed using the confiscated bitcoins to establish a national strategic reserve, following the practices of the United States and other countries. A previous report indicated that a large number of criminals in Sweden are using cryptocurrencies for money laundering, and law enforcement agencies have suggested expanding enforcement actions on crypto platforms.

Blockchain Applications

▌Coinbase Executive: "14-Year Dormant Whale Transfers $8 Billion BTC" May Involve Private Key Leak

Coinbase executive Conor Grogan posted on social media that there is a possibility that the "$8 billion BTC transfer by a dormant 14-year-old Bitcoin ancient whale" yesterday involved a stolen or leaked private key. Conor discovered that one hour before a large transfer of BTC assets from a giant whale wallet, one of the wallets conducted a test transaction of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and then immediately transferred out all BCH. Conor believes this behavior pattern is unusual, as other BCH wallets were not utilized, and BCH is typically less monitored by giant whale monitoring services. This could be a subtle way to test private keys, and he speculates that these wallets are unlikely to be exchange wallets. Conor stated that although this is just speculation, if true, it could be the largest digital asset theft case in human history.

****▌Bank of Canada Explores Retail CBDC Technological Pathways

The Bank of Canada has taken an important step in exploring the technical feasibility of a digital Canadian dollar by proposing a system specifically designed for retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), focusing on simple everyday payments. It is reported that the Bank of Canada team examined the OpenCBDC 2PC model, which was developed in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Digital Currency Initiative, with design priorities on privacy, speed, and decentralization, allowing users to hold digital funds directly, just like digital cash.

Cryptocurrency

▌Data: Currently, over 30.4% of Bitcoin has been idle for more than 5 years, without being transferred or traded

According to Cointelegraph, over 30.4% of Bitcoin has been sitting in their respective addresses for more than 5 years, without being transferred or traded.

****▌SIM card swapping attacks are rampant, resulting in losses of nearly 50 million dollars in cryptocurrency assets

According to FBI statistics, there were over a thousand SIM swap attacks in 2023, resulting in nearly 50 million dollars in losses. Scammers collect personal information to impersonate the phone owner and trick operators into swapping the SIM card, intercepting SMS verification codes to steal funds from cryptocurrency wallets. A typical case includes Iterative Capital co-founder Brandon Buchanan, who was scammed out of 450,000 dollars worth of Bitcoin. Experts recommend using an APP authenticator instead of SMS two-factor authentication. High-risk users should have a dedicated mobile number for secondary verification and register different email addresses for each service. Institutions can use multi-signature wallets and blockchain risk control tools (such as Crystal Intelligence) to monitor transactions in real time and intercept anomalies, reducing the risk of asset theft.

****▌Coinbase CEO: The banks' Independence Day in the US are all closed, but crypto can serve you every day

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted, "Today, the banks in the United States are closed (July 4th is Independence Day), while crypto can serve you every day."

▌"Insider Whale" has increased its short positions in Bitcoin and Ethereum again, with total losses exceeding 14 million USD

According to OnchainLens monitoring, the "insider whale" @qwatio has once again increased his short positions in Bitcoin (40x leverage) and Ethereum (25x leverage) after being partially liquidated 10 times. In this trade, he has already lost 16 million USD, and overall, his total losses now exceed 14 million USD. Currently, its Bitcoin short position size reaches $55,854,244, with an unrealized profit of $129,125.46; The Ethereum short position size reached $11,052,100.83, with an unrealized loss of $138,595.90.

****▌An address withdrew 7.03 million FORM from CEX, approximately equivalent to 19.82 million USD

According to on-chain analyst EmberCN, a giant whale/institution has withdrawn 7.03 million FORM from Binance in the last half hour, equivalent to about 19.82 million USD, to an on-chain address.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌Analyst: The market's preference for the US dollar is weakening

According to Jinshi Data, Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior market analyst at Swissquote, states that the preference for the dollar is weakening. Firstly, concerns about U.S. Treasury bonds are rising, and secondly, there are risks facing the preference for U.S. Treasuries. Another reason is that the tariff situation and trade disruptions will negatively impact U.S. economic growth, and the Federal Reserve may not necessarily be able to support the economy when inflation risks rise.

****▌U.S. officials: EU trade negotiations are still ongoing, optimistic expectations for an agreement to be reached soon

U.S. White House officials: EU trade negotiations are still ongoing, optimistic expectations that an agreement will be reached soon.

****▌Analysis: The Non-Farm Payroll Report Will Not Change the Federal Reserve's Wait-and-See Stance

After the non-farm payroll data showed that the U.S. economy added significantly more jobs than expected and the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped, gold experienced temporary pressure in the previous trading day. However, XS.com analyst Linh Tran stated in a report that this data does not indicate an overheating economy, but rather shows a relatively stable growth rate. Tran noted that this is not enough to force the Federal Reserve to reconsider its wait-and-see position on monetary policy, which is also the reason why gold prices did not decline further.

▌UK media: The US made last-minute demands, threatening to impose a 17% tax on European agricultural products

According to the Financial Times, three sources said that the U.S. threatened to impose a 17% tariff on EU agricultural product exports, sharply escalating its trade conflict with the EU. This last-minute demand was made by the U.S. ahead of the July 9 deadline for a trade agreement. The U.S. stated that if an agreement is not reached, it will impose a 20% tariff on all EU goods. EU Trade Commissioner Šefčovič received this request at a meeting in Washington on Thursday and conveyed it to ambassadors from the 27 member states on Friday. European Commission President Von der Leyen stated on Thursday that she hopes to reach a "principle agreement" that would allow both sides to continue negotiations before finalizing the agreement. However, Washington is pushing countries to reach a binding agreement before the deadline set by Trump.

****▌No breakthrough achieved, US-EU trade talks will continue into the weekend

According to CCTV News, on the local time of the 4th, EU diplomats stated that EU negotiators failed to make a breakthrough in the US-EU trade negotiations, and the relevant talks will continue until the weekend. EU negotiators indicated that if a broader trade agreement cannot be reached, they hope to ensure that the deadline for the US to delay additional tariffs is extended. It is reported that the scale of the EU's second round of countermeasures has been reduced from the initial 95 billion euros to 72 billion euros. EU diplomats stated that the US threatens to impose a 17% tariff on EU agricultural product exports.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is the difference between gold-backed stablecoins and dollar-backed stablecoins?

Gold-backed tokens and dollar-backed tokens are both stablecoins, but they differ in several aspects. The primary difference between gold-backed stablecoins and dollar-backed stablecoins lies in the collateral that supports their value. Gold-backed stablecoins are pegged to physical gold, typically at a fixed ratio, while some dollar-backed stablecoins are supported by reserves of dollars, short-term assets, and cash deposits. The value of gold-backed stablecoins fluctuates based on the market price of gold, which may experience short-term volatility but tends to appreciate in the long run. Dollar-backed stablecoins maintain a 1:1 peg with the dollar, ensuring more predictable short-term stability. Their value remains stable unless affected by external factors such as regulatory changes or poor reserve management impacting the peg rate. Dollar-backed stablecoins are more liquid and widely accepted within the crypto ecosystem, including exchanges, payment systems, and DeFi applications. They are often used for trading and lending. While gold-backed stablecoins help preserve value, they are rarely integrated into DeFi protocols due to concerns over low liquidity. Gold-backed stablecoins can hedge against inflation, attracting investors seeking growth. Dollar-backed stablecoins are favored by investors looking for stability and value storage.