Strictly prevent virtual assets from becoming a tool for money laundering. Durov’s arrest is related to 12 crimes

Headline

▌Economic Daily: Strictly prevent virtual assets from becoming a tool for money laundering

The Economic Daily article pointed out that at present, new technologies and new formats such as virtual assets are constantly updated and iterated, showing a state of superposition with traditional upstream crimes such as telecommunications network fraud, online gambling, and underground banks. In order to cover up and conceal money laundering, criminals continue to innovate their methods and hide money laundering activities in online transactions. Among them, virtual currency, game currency, "running point platform", live broadcast rewards, etc. have become new money laundering carriers and methods, with characteristics such as networking and chaining, and are highly concealed and confusing. After the legal network is tight, it must be strictly enforced. To punish money laundering crimes according to law, all parties need to strengthen cooperation and coordination to form a joint force to combat. Public security, procuratorial, judicial and financial regulatory departments should strengthen coordination and cooperation, and continuously improve the law enforcement and judicial cooperation mechanism. The general public should be vigilant, recognize the nature of new money laundering crimes, and never fall into the money laundering trap for petty profits.

▌Pavel Durov arrested in connection with 12 crimes including cybercrime against "cryptonomy" services

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested as part of a large-scale cybercrime investigation, facing charges including providing unauthorized "cryptonomy" services and tools, according to a statement released by the Paris Judicial Court. "Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the instant messaging platform Telegram, was arrested on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at Le Bourget Airport in the suburbs of Paris and was detained by the police at 8 pm," the statement said. "This move was implemented in the context of a judicial investigation that began on July 8, 2024, following a preliminary investigation launched by the Cybercrime Unit of the Paris Public Prosecutor's Office. The judicial investigation is based on the charge of providing cryptography services and tools." Several other charges are listed in the document, including conspiracy to "possess pornographic images of minors" and "money laundering for the illegal proceeds of criminal organizations." Durov is being questioned as part of the cybercrime investigation.  

The Paris Public Prosecutor's Office in France said that the case of Durov, the founder of Telegram, under investigation involves 12 crimes, most of which are cybercrimes.  

It was previously reported that French authorities could detain Pavel Durov until August 28.

Market

As of press time, according to Coingecko data:

BTC's latest transaction price is $62,926.97, with a daily increase or decrease of -2.1%;

ETH's latest transaction price is 2,682.99 yuan, with a daily increase or decrease of -2.3%;

BNB's latest transaction price is $548.81, with a daily increase or decrease of -4.2%;

SOL's latest transaction price is $157.11, with a daily increase or decrease of -1.0%；

DOGE's latest transaction price is $0.1052, with a daily change of -4.0%；

XPR's latest transaction price is $0.5873, with a daily change of -2.0%。

Policy

▌U.S. authorities oppose former FTX executive's request to withdraw plea agreement

The U.S. Attorney's Office opposes former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame's request to withdraw his plea agreement. Salame pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. His lawyers filed to rescind the agreement, saying prosecutors hinted during negotiations that they would not investigate Salame's partner, Michelle Bond. However, authorities filed a new indictment against Bond on August 22, charging her with campaign finance violations. Salame argued that he pleaded guilty because the government promised not to investigate Bond. The filing called the allegation "patently false." Salame also faces about $6 million in fines and restitution. Salame is scheduled to go to prison on October 13, and if the court accepts his rescission request, he could face a full criminal trial. Salame did not testify in the trial of former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried, while former FTX executives Nishad Singh and Gary Wang have pleaded guilty and testified. Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, and Ellison's sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

▌French authorities can detain Pavel Durov until August 28

The French prosecutor's office detained Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov on August 24 as part of a judicial investigation against an unnamed individual. Durov is accused of conspiracy with illegal activities, refusal to provide information to authorities, money laundering, criminal gang association, and undeclared provision of crypto services. French authorities have extended his detention from August 25 to August 28 for further questioning.

▌The US SEC's lawsuit against the Kraken crypto exchange will go to trial

Judge William H. Orrick of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) lawsuit against the Kraken crypto exchange will go to trial. The SEC accused Kraken of not registering as a broker, exchange or clearing house, and claimed that some cryptocurrency transactions on its platform constituted investment contracts and were securities. Although Kraken tried to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that cryptocurrencies did not meet the definition of securities in the Howey test, Judge Orrick decided that the case would continue. He said that although cryptocurrencies themselves are not securities, their trading contracts may constitute investment contracts and should therefore be subject to securities laws. This case shows that the SEC is expanding its regulatory scope to include not only exchanges but also specific cryptocurrencies such as Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL). ▌ Abra settles with the US SEC over unregistered sale of crypto asset securities The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today filed a settlement charge against Plutus Lending LLC, doing business as Abra, alleging that it failed to register the offer and sale of its retail crypto asset lending product Abra Earn. The SEC also accused Abra of operating as an unregistered investment company.  

According to the SEC’s complaint, Abra Earn allowed U.S. investors to tender their crypto assets to Abra in exchange for Abra’s promise to pay a floating interest rate. At its peak, the Abra Earn program had approximately $600 million in assets, of which nearly $500 million came from U.S. investors. The complaint alleges that Abra marketed Abra Earn as a means for investors to “automatically” earn interest on their crypto assets, using investors’ crypto assets in various ways to generate income for itself and to fund interest payments. The complaint further alleges that Abra Earn was offered and sold as a security and that these offers and sales did not qualify for an SEC registration exemption.  

To resolve the Commission’s allegations, Abra, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, agreed to an injunction prohibiting it from violating the registration provisions of the Securities Act and the Investment Company Act and requiring it to pay a civil penalty in an amount to be determined by the court.

▌TD Cowen: Cryptocurrency bill faces increased risk of political deadlock, progress may stagnate next year

Analysts at investment bank TD Cowen called for more realistic expectations for the passage of U.S. crypto legislation next year. Jaret Seiberg, managing director of financial services at TD Cowen Washington Research Group, said there is an increased risk of political deadlock in the cryptocurrency market structure bill FIT21 and the Senate Agriculture Committee bill.  

Analysts said: "We believe this optimism is misplaced as we believe the voting prospects for both bills are declining this year. There is an increasing risk that these bills will be politically blocked next year, and we are also skeptical about the results of next year's elections regardless of the outcome. This is because both parties want to get more donations before they ultimately bring benefits to the industry."

Blockchain Applications

▌Aave Labs Announces Plan to Use BlackRock's BUIDL Shares to Stabilize GHO

Aave Labs proposes to update its GHO Stability Module (GSM), which involves using shares of BlackRock's tokenized fund BUIDL to help maintain its stablecoin's dollar peg.  

According to the proposal, the new GSM will allow Aave to exchange BUIDL shares provided by users for USD Coin (USDC) to mint its ecosystem's native dollar-backed stablecoin GHO. These tokens will be held in a smart contract until users redeem their GHO for USDC.  

BUIDL’s shares are valued at $1 per token, paying daily returns to investors every month. The fund divides its assets between cash, U.S. Treasuries, and repurchase agreements. According to RWA.xyz, BUIDL’s assets under management (AUM) exceed $502 million.

Crypto

▌Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan Detained in Nigeria for Six Months, Wife Requests Immediate Release

Tigran Gambaryan, head of financial crime compliance at Binance, has been detained in Nigeria for six months. His wife, Yuki Gambaryan, requested her husband’s immediate release in a video statement released recently, saying that his health had deteriorated sharply, he was unable to walk, and had suffered from malarial pneumonia several times during his detention. Gambaryan was detained in the Nigerian capital of Abuja in February this year, initially under house arrest, and later transferred to Kuje Prison. He is currently facing money laundering charges, but none of the charges are supported by evidence. His plight has attracted the attention of some members of the U.S. Congress, who have called for his immediate humanitarian release. The U.S. government has not yet made a public statement on Gambaryan's situation.

▌DDoS attack takes French government website offline, may be linked to Pavel Durov's arrest

Several French government websites have been taken offline by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which is suspected to be linked to a Russian hacker group. The affected websites include the Paris Administrative Court, the French health department and the French Supreme Court website. The attack is believed to be a response to the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France.  

On August 24, Durov was detained by French authorities on charges including conspiracy to commit illegal activities. French President Emmanuel Macron later issued a statement saying that Durov's arrest was not for political reasons and reiterated France's commitment to freedom of expression. However, the announcement sparked widespread criticism from the crypto community and free speech activists, with industry leaders including Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and billionaire Elon Musk calling for Durov's release. 

As of now, Durov has not been formally charged with a crime. French authorities can detain him until August 28 for further investigation.

▌Fractal Bitcoin: The mainnet is scheduled to go online on September 9, and 80% of the tokens are allocated to the community

Fractal Bitcoin posted on the X platform: The mainnet is scheduled to go online on September 9; 80% of all tokens are allocated to the community, and 20% of the tokens with a lock-up period are allocated to the team and contributors; brc-20 on Fractal will be activated at block height 21,000 on the Fractal mainnet; PizzaSwap on Fractal (formerly known as Fractal Swap) will be launched on the testnet this week; once PizzaSwap goes online, the official will begin testing the embedded mini-asset bridge, allowing users to transfer BTC and other assets between Bitcoin and Fractal.

▌Paypal's stablecoin PYUSD reaches a market value of $1 billion in one year

On August 26, Paypal's stablecoin PYUSD announced that it had broken the $1 billion mark for the first time since its launch in August 2023. PYUSD was originally launched on Ethereum and later underwent a major transformation, with most of its tokens now issued on Solana. The latest data shows that as of August 26, 2024, PYUSD's market value has reached $1,008,546,868, setting a new milestone. PayPal USD reached this milestone almost twice as fast as USDC and three times as fast as USDT.

▌OP Labs: The bridged USDC standard has landed on OP Stack

OP Labs announced on the X platform that the bridged USDC standard has landed on OP Stack, and OP Chain can use the standard OP Stack bridge to deploy the bridged USDC standard. OP Labs added that Circle's specifications and processes provide a simple way to deploy bridged USDC to OP Chain, with the option to upgrade to native USDC in the future.

Important Economic Dynamics

▌The probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in September is 68%

According to CME's "Fed Watch", the probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in September is 68%, and the probability of a 50 basis point cut is 32%. The probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 50 basis points by November is 48.7%, the probability of cutting interest rates by 75 basis points is 42.2%, and the probability of cutting interest rates by 100 basis points is 9.1%.

▌Deutsche Bank: It is recommended to short the 10-year US Treasury bond because the job market is resilient

Deutsche Bank strategists recommend shorting the 10-year US Treasury bond, believing that the 10-year Treasury yield may rise by about 30 basis points from the current level because the US job market is still resilient.

▌Goldman Sachs' trading department expects the S&P 500 to hit a new high this week, which may trigger market FOMO

Goldman Sachs' global market managing director and tactical expert Scott Rubner believes that strong capital flows from corporate buybacks and systematic investment strategies are expected to push the S&P 500 to a record high this week, further strengthening investors' fear of missing out (FOMO).  

"We estimate that non-emotional demand from machines and companies this week is $17 billion a day, and the three-week stock trading window is very favorable until September 16," Rubner said. Goldman Sachs' simulation of commodity trading advisors (CTAs) for the next week shows that these funds may buy stocks regardless of how the market trades. In addition, last week, Goldman Sachs' corporate buyback department saw the largest demand of the year, more than twice the same period in 2023, and Rubner expects buying to be strong before the quarterly quiet period on September 13.

Golden Encyclopedia

▌What is the new domain name dacc.eth registered by Vitalik?

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has chosen a new Ethereum domain name that specifically refers to "defensive accelerationism." Buterin's d/acc advocates a controlled, cautious approach to technological development and promotes more decentralization. This philosophy "seeks to create and maintain a more democratic world and attempts to avoid centralization as the preferred solution to our problems."

Disclaimer: As a blockchain information platform, Golden Finance publishes articles for information reference only and is not intended as actual investment advice. Please establish correct investment concepts and be sure to increase risk awareness.