PA Daily | Hong Kong approves an investment immigration application with ETH as proof of assets; Kanye refuses to promote RUG Meme coin to obtain $2 million

Today's news tips:

Invest Hong Kong approves an investment immigration application with ETH as asset proof

Caixin: Hao Gang, former deputy director of Beijing Local Financial Regulatory Bureau, suspected of money laundering with Bitcoin

Florida Senator Introduces Bitcoin Investment Bill

Kentucky and Maryland lawmakers separately proposed "Bitcoin Reserve" bills

US SEC postpones decision on BlackRock Ethereum ETF options trading to April 9

Video sharing platform Rumble announces $775 million strategic investment from Tether

Solayer has opened LAYER token airdrop qualification inquiry

Rapper Kanye West: Someone offered me $2 million to launch the RUG Meme coin, but I rejected their request

Regulatory/Macro

Judge rules Coinbase must face customer lawsuit in New York

On Friday, a U.S. federal judge ruled that crypto exchange Coinbase must face lawsuits from customers who accused the exchange of illegally selling securities without registering as a broker-dealer, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, New York, rejected Coinbase's argument that it did not qualify as a "legal seller" under federal securities laws because it had never transferred ownership of the 79 tokens traded by customers. The judge cited the allegation that "customers on Coinbase trade only with Coinbase itself," which was sufficient to conclude that Coinbase was the seller. Engelmayer also refused to dismiss charges under California, Florida and New Jersey laws, saying that customers had sufficiently accused Coinbase of being a seller who directly sold these tokens. "Coinbase does not list, offer or sell securities on its exchange," Coinbase said in a statement. "We look forward to defending the remaining charges in the district court."

Invest Hong Kong approves an investment immigration application with ETH as asset proof

According to Hong Kong certified public accountant clementsiu, the Hong Kong Investment Promotion Agency has approved an investment immigration application with Ethereum as proof of HK$30 million in assets. The accountant said that in October 2024, he had successfully handled the first investment immigration case in Hong Kong using Bitcoin as proof of assets.

Caixin: Hao Gang, former deputy director of Beijing Local Financial Regulatory Bureau, suspected of money laundering with Bitcoin

According to Caixin, after nearly two years of investigation, Hao Gang, former deputy director of the Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in the first instance. According to Caixin's understanding from multiple channels, Hao Gang was involved in Bitcoin money laundering; in addition, he also assisted a senior executive of a leading Bitcoin mining company to lift border control, and the bribes may have reached 10 million yuan. On February 6, 2025, the Beijing Second Intermediate People's Court publicly sentenced Hao Gang's bribery and money laundering case in accordance with the law, and sentenced the defendant Hao Gang to eight years in prison for bribery and a fine of RMB 500,000; sentenced to four years in prison for money laundering and a fine of RMB 800,000, and decided to execute eleven years in prison and a fine of RMB 1.3 million. The illegal gains and interest from his bribery will be recovered, confiscated, and turned over to the state treasury.

Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev has been temporarily released by a Dutch court

According to Bitcoin.com, after spending nine months in a Dutch prison, Alexey Pertsev, one of the developers of Tornado Cash, was temporarily released on Friday, but he still faces a 64-month (5 years and 4 months) sentence. In a recent positive turn of events, the court released Alexey Pertsev and placed him under house arrest and electronic monitoring until his trial date. Pertsev posted on the X platform: "Freedom is priceless. My house arrest was only possible through the efforts of my lawyers, who were paid for with your donations. My struggle is not over yet. For the final victory and confidence, I still need everyone's help." Earlier yesterday, Tornado Cash developer Alexey Pertsev was granted conditional release in order to appeal.

Florida Senator Introduces Bitcoin Investment Bill

According to The Block, Florida Republican Senator Joe Gruters filed a bill on Friday proposing to allow the state to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. According to the filing, the senator suggested that Florida's chief financial officer could use public funds to "invest in Bitcoin and other digital assets for specific purposes." Gruters' bill outlines that Florida's chief financial officer "shall not invest more than 10% of the total funds in any account" in Bitcoin. Some of the sources of public funds mentioned in the bill that can be used to invest in Bitcoin include general revenue funds, budget stabilization funds, trust funds, and "all institutional funds of each state agency and judicial department." The bill also proposes to "authorize the trustee of the State Administrative Commission to invest and reinvest available funds from the system trust fund in Bitcoin... and provide that public funds for Bitcoin investments are not subject to certain security requirements." Last October, Florida's chief financial officer Jimmy Patronis said the state held about $800 million in "crypto-related" investments. He also said that if Trump becomes president, the amount of state government investment in crypto assets may increase.

Kentucky and Maryland lawmakers separately proposed "Bitcoin Reserve" bills

As Utah becomes the first state to pass legislation allowing public funds to be invested in crypto assets, two more states joined the ranks this week: Kentucky and Maryland, according to CoinDesk. Although the state initiatives are broadly related to the so-called "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve" plan at the Republican-led federal level, the states have proposed their own measures, and the specific ways of investing state funds in digital assets vary. This week, Maryland Democratic Representative Caylin Young introduced a new bill to promote the establishment of a Bitcoin strategic reserve, similar to the reserve envisioned by U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis. In Maryland, the reserve will be funded by law enforcement revenue from gambling violations. Legislation in Kentucky was also introduced this week, and there are currently two bills that will allow state retirement funds to invest in digital asset ETFs. These bills will also set up obstacles to the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Fifteen other states are weighing related legislation in the current session, and more states are expected to follow suit. Two other states - Michigan and Wisconsin - have already invested part of their retirement funds in crypto ETFs. As of now, 22 states have enacted bills, are seriously discussing proposals, or have already begun investing in cryptocurrencies.

US SEC postpones decision on BlackRock Ethereum ETF options trading to April 9

According to The Block, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday postponed its decision on whether to approve BlackRock to list and trade options on its spot Ethereum ETF. According to the filing, the SEC said it will decide on April 9, 2025 whether to approve or refuse to allow BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust to trade options. The SEC said: "The Commission believes it is necessary to specify a longer time to issue an order approving or rejecting the proposed rule change to allow sufficient time to consider the proposed rule change and the issues it raises." Also on Friday, the SEC solicited public comments on a proposal submitted by Cboe BZX Exchange on behalf of Fidelity to list and trade options on its spot Ethereum ETF. These comments are required to be submitted within 21 days of publication in the Federal Register.

US regulators conducting tokenization pilot, using stablecoins as collateral

According to CoinDesk, Caroline Pham, acting head of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is promoting a tokenization pilot program backed by stablecoins, and an upcoming summit will invite executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Circle, Crypto.com and other digital asset companies to participate. The specific date and further details of the Digital Asset CEO Forum have not yet been determined. Last November, Fan proposed the idea of a tokenization regulatory sandbox through his advisory committee, the Global Markets Advisory Committee, but the agency's previous leadership did not adopt it. "I am pleased to announce this groundbreaking initiative for the U.S. digital asset market," Acting Chairman Pham said in a statement on Friday. "I look forward to working with market participants to deliver on the Trump administration's commitment to ensure that the United States leads the world in economic opportunities." According to the agency, this plan, based on what Fan calls the concept of "responsible innovation," will promote the use of non-cash collateral through distributed ledger technology. In its recommendations last November, Pham's advisory committee had expected to allow market participants to experiment with non-traditional collateral. “By improving the operational infrastructure of assets that are already eligible for regulatory margin, blockchain or other distributed ledger technologies (DLT) could help reduce or eliminate some of the challenges without changing collateral eligibility rules,” the recommendation states. “Market participants could also use their existing policies, procedures, practices and processes to identify, assess and manage the risks of using DLT, just as they do with other forms of market infrastructure and technology.”

AI/Metaverse

Meta to conduct company-wide layoffs starting next week

According to Jinshi, an internal memo shows that Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) plans to carry out expected layoffs across the company next week while accelerating the recruitment of machine learning engineers. The memo shows that layoff notices in most countries (including the United States) will be issued starting at 5 a.m. local time on Monday. Employees in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands are not affected by layoffs "due to local regulations", while employees in more than a dozen other countries in Europe, Asia and Africa will receive notices between February 11 and February 18.

Financing

Video sharing platform Rumble announces $775 million strategic investment from Tether

According to official news, video sharing platform and cloud service provider Rumble (NASDAQ: RUM) announced that the company has completed a $775 million strategic investment from Tether. Regarding the details of the transaction, as part of the transaction, Tether purchased 103,333,333 shares of Rumble Class A common stock at a price of $7.50 per share, for a total of $775 million. The company will use $250 million of it to support growth plans after deducting transaction costs. As part of the completion of the transaction, the company has successfully completed the previously announced acquisition offer to purchase up to 70 million shares of Class A common stock. As of the expiration date, a total of 70,061,168 shares were effectively and successfully tendered and not withdrawn. Rumble subsequently accepted the purchase of 70 million shares on a pro rata basis, and the zero-share tender was fully accepted, for a total amount of $525 million (excluding fees and expenses related to the tender offer). The depository will immediately pay for the shares accepted for purchase and return all other shares that were tendered but not purchased.

DCG founder: A total of $105 million has been invested in more than a dozen AI projects, and we look forward to increasing investment in 2025

According to CoinDesk, DCG founder and CEO Barry Silbert is betting heavily on decentralized artificial intelligence (deAI), calling it "the next major era of cryptocurrency" with potential that could even surpass Bitcoin. In a letter to shareholders from Digital Currency Group (DCG), the cryptocurrency group he leads, Silbert expressed strong optimism about deAI: this is the crypto industry's effort to merge artificial intelligence innovation with blockchain technology. He believes that this technological fusion may bring greater returns to humanity than the closed systems developed by OpenAI and other giants. "We are moving from digital ownership of assets to decentralized ownership of intelligence and the availability of vast decentralized computing resources," Silbert wrote in his fourth-quarter letter. He said the company has invested $105 million in a dozen deAI projects and is looking forward to increasing investment in 2025. He specifically mentioned DCG's investment in Bittensor, a crypto network focused on machine learning and AI applications, and wrote that Bittensor's TAO token has many similarities with Bitcoin. DCG plans to invest heavily to support the Bittensor ecosystem. Silbert pointed out that DCG established a company called Yuma in November last year to incubate Bittensor’s infrastructure projects. In addition, Grayscale, another company under DCG, now also offers investment products related to TAO.

Project News

Solayer has opened LAYER token airdrop qualification inquiry

The Solayer Foundation announced on the X platform that the LAYER token airdrop qualification query is now open. Yesterday, Solayer announced the LAYER token economics: the maximum supply is 1 billion, and 51.23% is allocated to the community and ecosystem.

Rapper Kanye West: Someone offered me $2 million to launch the RUG Meme coin, but I rejected their request

According to The Block, American rapper Kanye West said on social media that he hopes to have a dialogue with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong on "cryptocurrency-related matters." Prior to this, he revealed that he had received a $2 million proposal asking him to issue tokens, but he rejected the proposal and stopped cooperating with the proposer. According to the chat screenshots released by Kanye, this cooperation requires Kanye to promote a RUG disk Meme coin, pay $750,000 in advance, and Kanye can announce that his account has been stolen 8 hours after posting, and pay another $1.25 million 16 hours after posting. The man behind the scenes said that this cooperation can make tens of millions of dollars in profit.

Layer3 gaming network B3 will launch B3 tokens and airdrop on February 10

B3, a Layer3 gaming network built on Base, announced on Friday that it will launch its recently announced B3 token on February 10, accompanied by an airdrop event, according to Decrypt. A snapshot of network activity will be taken before the planned "S1 airdrop", and there will be more airdrops, tournaments, and gamified ways to earn B3 in the future. According to a post on the X platform, B3 stakers will receive certain benefits, including tokens for dedicated game chains, early access to new games on the network, and other potential rewards. The post also briefly introduced the token economics: 34.2% of the token supply will be allocated to the community and ecosystem, 23.3% to the team and advisors, 22.5% to the Player1 Foundation to support the B3 ecosystem, and 20% reserved for investors. Tokens for investors, team members, and advisors will have a one-year lock-up period, followed by monthly unlocking over the next three years. The total supply of B3 has not yet been announced.

Telegram Game TapSwap to Launch Its TAPS Token on BNB Chain, Not TON Network

According to Decrypt, the Telegram-based click-to-earn game TapSwap announced that its upcoming TAPS token will be released on BNB Chain instead of the originally planned TON network. The game was originally scheduled to complete the token airdrop in late January, but recently said that the token launch was postponed based on the advice of an unnamed "first-level" decentralized exchange in order to find better market conditions. However, after completing the first season of the game on February 6, the project decided to advance the token launch on BNB Chain, which is expected to take place on February 14 according to an X post earlier this week. The project said: "The release of TAPS tokens on BNB Chain will enhance speed, security and accessibility, making TapSwap more attractive to players and investors." Users will earn the upcoming tokens based on their overall participation in the TapSwap click-to-earn game. However, in the future, the game plans to transform from the click-to-earn model and integrate skill-based gameplay. In early January, Telegram and TON announced an exclusive agreement requiring all mini-games or applications that integrate cryptocurrencies to use TON exclusively. However, despite TapSwap having previously touted its partnership with TON, it made no mention of Telegram or any migration plans in its token launch announcement.

Viewpoint

AllianceDAO founder: Many AI+Crypto projects are a bit far-fetched, tokenization strategies may become an important tool for startups

Imron Khan and Qiao Wang, founders of Web3 venture capital accelerator AllianceDAO, said in a podcast recently that many current AI and blockchain projects seem far-fetched, but there are also teams that integrate AI technology into blockchain applications in a more natural way. They believe that in the future, the integration of AI and blockchain will be more seamless, and users will only feel the performance improvement of the product without realizing the technology behind it. The two also analyzed recent market dynamics, including changes in US policies, the development of Bitcoin spot ETFs, and L1/L2 public chain competition. Regarding Bitcoin, rumors that the United States may establish a strategic reserve (SBR) have attracted market attention. If the plan is implemented, it may drive a surge in institutional demand. In terms of public chains, Solana has gradually become the first choice for entrepreneurs, and its ecology has grown rapidly, while Base launched by Coinbase is facing pressure due to insufficient liquidity. At the same time, new public chains such as Sui and Aptos have emerged, challenging traditional L2 solutions. In addition, tokenization has become a new model for entrepreneurship. For example, the founder of Vine launched the Vine token to try to restart the application, and Trump coin (TRUMP) has also seen a surge in market value due to political influence. The two believe that tokenization strategies may become an important tool for startups, and brand tokens will also change the way of fundraising and user participation.

Trump: DeepSeek is a very positive development, not a bad thing

According to the financial sector, US President Trump expressed his views on DeepSeek and whether it poses a national security threat, saying that this is a developing technology, and if it is developed correctly, we will benefit from it because the cost of artificial intelligence involved now will be much lower than people initially thought, which is a good thing. Trump emphasized that it should be seen as a very positive development, not a bad thing.

Important data

The total net inflow of the US Bitcoin spot ETF yesterday was US$171 million, and the ETF net asset ratio reached 5.96%

According to SoSoValue data, yesterday (February 7, EST), the total net inflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $171 million. Yesterday, Grayscale ETF GBTC had a net outflow of $0.00 per day, and the current historical net outflow of GBTC is $21.906 billion. Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF BTC had a net outflow of $0.00 per day, and the current historical total net inflow of Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust BTC is $1.237 billion. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest net inflow on a single day yesterday was Ark Invest and 21Shares' ETF ARKB, with a net inflow of $59.0353 million per day, and the current historical total net inflow of ARKB is $3.011 billion. The second is Fidelity ETF FBTC, with a net inflow of $52.4681 million per day, and the current historical total net inflow of FBTC is $12.78 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of the Bitcoin spot ETF was US$113.095 billion, the ETF net asset ratio (market value as a percentage of the total market value of Bitcoin) was 5.96%, and the historical cumulative net inflow has reached US$40.701 billion.

Santiment: Single Dogecoin transactions exceeding $100,000 have dropped by two-thirds compared to early November last year

Santiment posted on the X platform that Dogecoin (DOGE) has seen a sharp decline in single transactions of more than $100,000 recently, with weekly transactions currently only one-third of the peak period in early November when the "Trump effect" drove the volume. An increase in whale transactions is often seen as a signal that whales may start accumulating assets again, and investors can watch to see if a similar surge in transactions will occur again in the future.

A whale sold 10828.5 ETH to repay his loan on Aave in order to unload leverage

According to on-chain analyst Ember, the whale nemorino.eth sold 10,828.5 ETH in the past three hours to repay his loan on Aave in order to unload leverage. He sold 10,828.5 ETH in exchange for 28 million USDC to repay the loan, with an average selling price of $2,586. After paying off all the loans, he now still holds 8,833.4 ETH (US$23.26 million). Whales unload leverage generally because they believe that prices will continue to fall.