- The SEC vs. Binance case hearing has been postponed to January 22 due to a snowstorm in Washington.
- Kepler hard fork on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) has been implemented.
- The new deadline for the SEC’s resolution on the Grayscale Ethereum spot ETF is January 25.
- The hearing for Dave, a US bank planning to repurchase $100 million in convertible notes from FTX, is scheduled for January 25.
- Binance is set to list AltLayer token (ALT) on January 25.
Key Events
- Due to the impact of a snowstorm in the Washington, D.C. area, the hearing for the SEC vs. Binance case has been postponed to January 22 at 23:00 (Monday, Beijing time). The SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance Holdings Ltd. and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao in June, accusing the cryptocurrency exchange of failing to restrict U.S. investors from accessing Binance.com and directing funds to Zhao’s independent investment fund. The SEC also alleges that 12 tokens listed on the exchange, including BNB and BUSD, are securities.
- The new deadline for the SEC’s resolution on the Grayscale Ethereum spot ETF is January 25, 2024. Previously, on January 10, the SEC approved Grayscale’s conversion of its trust product GBTC into a Bitcoin spot ETF. Analysts from TD Cowen investment bank suggest that the SEC is unlikely to approve an Ethereum spot ETF in the short term and may wait for experience from Bitcoin ETFs before considering approval for Ethereum or other cryptocurrency ETFs.
- Dave, a U.S. bank, plans to buy $100 million in convertible notes from FTX for $71 million. The completion of the transaction is subject to approval by the bankruptcy court, and a hearing on the motion filed by FTX seeking approval for the agreement is scheduled for January 25, 2024.
Project Progress
- The Kepler hard fork on BSC is scheduled to take effect on January 23, 2024, at 16:00 UTC. This upgrade is closely related to Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade and introduces BSC-specific enhancements. These include incentive mechanisms for optimizing the fast termination feature, improving the speed and reliability of transaction confirmation and completion, etc. The Kepler hard fork was previously tested on the BSC testnet on December 19, 2023.
- SushiSwap will close Kanpai on January 23 and reopen the Sushi Bar while restarting the xSushi model. xSushi holders will be able to earn a portion of Sushi DEX transaction fees. By staking Sushi in the Sushi Bar, Sushi holders will receive xSushi and have the right to collect 0.05% from the standard 0.3% transaction fee.
- Avalanche’s WebWallet will be discontinued on January 23 and transition to the new wallet Core. WebWallet’s code will remain open source. Core is built to accommodate upcoming AVAX staking features and functionalities, supporting validation, delegation, x/p/c access, cross-chain transfers, portfolio export, and more.
- AltLayer token ALT will be listed on January 25 at 18:00 UTC as the 45th project on Binance Launchpool. AltLayer is a platform launching native and re-staking Rollups using the Optimistic and ZK Rollup stack. The ALT token has a total supply of 10 billion, with allocations for Launchpool (5%), investors (18.5%), team (15%), strategic advisors (5%), protocol development (20%), treasury (21.5%), and ecosystem/community (15%). The AltLayer airdrop snapshot was completed on January 17 at 8:00:11 (Ethereum block number 19022890), including AltLayer OG Badge NFT holders, Oh Ottie! NFT holders, eligible participants in the Altitude event, qualified EigenLayer re-stakers, and Celestia stakers.
- The zkLink community token sale will take place on CoinList on January 26 at 2:00 UTC. Users who applied for the zkLink Explorer whitelist before January 16 at 20:00 UTC will have priority access to the CoinList community sale. The whitelist prioritizes active community members and long-term zkLink supporters. Users still need to register on CoinList’s zkLink trading page to qualify for the token sale.
Token Unlock
According to Token Unlocks data, four projects will experience a one-time significant unlock this week, including:
- ID, valued at approximately $9 million, will unlock on January 22nd.
- YGG, valued at approximately $8.75 million, will unlock on January 27th.
Governance Voting
The voting deadline for the Aave ARFC proposal on ‘Deploying Aave V3 on the Scroll Mainnet’ is January 22, 23:24 Beijing time. This proposal suggests introducing limited asset access and conservative risk parameters, aiming to establish Aave’s strategic position in the Scroll ecosystem while limiting risk exposure.
The on-chain proposal for the Cosmos Hub on ‘Setting the Minimum Inflation Rate to 0%’ will conclude on January 23. Due to the recent ATOM halving event, the current inflation rate is between 7% – 10%. The proposal aims to remove the 7% lower limit, making ATOM a more scarce asset.
The proposal for the phased merger of Klaytn and Finschia will open for governance voting on January 26, with the voting deadline on February 2 at 13:00. The main contents of this proposal include a phased merger by a newly established foundation, with the first phase focusing on ‘Token Generation and Governance’ on the EVM core stack. The newly merged ecosystem and chain will promote synergies and competitiveness in four key areas: ecosystem, token economy, core network, and governance.