Headlines

▌Ethereum Announced the Abandonment of The "Shandong" Test Network and Will Launch a New Public Test Network Next Week

Ethereum developers launched the "Shandong" test network in October this year, aiming to test the EIP proposal involved in the upcoming "Shanghai" upgrade, but according to the EF JavaScript team on social media It was disclosed on the website that the Ethereum developers have now decided to abandon the "Shandong" test network, and at the Ethereum developer conference call held on this Thursday (December 9), it has been planned to be the "Shandong" test network around December 15-16 and then launch a brand new public test network.

Policy

▌U.S. Lawmakers Want the Environmental Protection Agency to Study the Environmental Impact of Crypto Mining

U.S. Senators Ed Markey, Jeff Merkley, and Representative Jared Huffman introduced a bill on Thursday that would instruct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to study energy usage and the impact of encrypted mining on the environment. The Environmental Transparency in Crypto Assets Act will direct the EPA to produce a report examining the impact on greenhouse gas emissions of miners using more than 5 megawatts of electricity. The bill itself cites concerns about climate change and its growing ecological impacts, including droughts, wildfires and unusual weather events. Bitcoin consumes more energy per year than countries like Chile or Bangladesh, the bill says. It also suggested that the EPA's rules could cover the crypto mining industry to ensure they are subject to greenhouse gas emissions reporting and other similar rules, and to assess whether any mining facilities are operating without the necessary permits.

▌CREW Asked the Federal Election Commission to Investigate Whether SBF Is Involved In "Serious Violations" of Election Laws

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) for alleged "serious violations" of election law on the grounds that he admitted to supporting the 2022 primary election. Republican groups provided "dark" money. The group's indictment cites an SBF interview last month that said SBF had donated $37 million or more to Republican-linked campaigns in a way that avoided legal requirements to make those donations public.

Cryptocurrency

▌The European Union Will Require Cryptocurrency Companies to Report Tax Details to Regulators

The European Commission stated that it plans to require cryptocurrency companies to report user holdings to tax authorities, but the agency is still studying how to implement these measures for exchanges located outside the EU. EU Tax Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said in a statement that anonymity means that many crypto asset users who make large profits fall outside the sights of national tax authorities. This is unacceptable. Asked how the EU would enforce these measures against companies outside the bloc, Gentiloni said, 'We will work on this and it is important for us that EU residents are targeted by these measures, even if they are using a website from elsewhere. Gentiloni’s measures would further the EU’s Markets in Cryptoassets Regulation (MiCA), which allows foreign companies to acquire EU clients using a process known as reverse solicitation.

▌Binance Proof-of-Reserves Audit Shows Holdings Are Overcollateralized

Binance’s first proof of reserves (PoR) audit report reveals that the company had sufficient assets for mass customer withdrawals and that customers had put up enough margin to collateralize leveraged positions. The PoR audit was conducted on Nov. 22, 2022, by the South African business unit of international audit, tax, and advisory firm Mazars. It employed several methods to verify that Binance had enough assets to honor customer withdrawals.

▌Huobi Research: Some Forecasting in 2023

Leading crypto exchange Huobi Global in its 2022-2023 annual report, has predicted that the current bear cycle may soon be over, as it expects the crypto market to reach its bottom in early 2023. On Jan. 1, 2022, the global crypto market had a total market capitalization of approximately $2.2 trillion. However, the heat of the bear market has flushed out almost $2 trillion of its value, dropping to a low of $847.6 billion as of press time. The 2022 bear market was worsened by macroeconomic distortions resulting from interest rate hikes and surging inflation. In addition, the Terra-Luna, Three Arrows Capital, and FTX collapses led to widespread contagions that have forced many crypto companies into bankruptcy and put investors at a considerable loss. According to Huobi’s report, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem was worse hit as the total value locked (TVL) across chains declined by over 70%. According to DefiLlama data, the TVL of DeFi protocols fell from $171 billion in January to roughly $55 billion at the end of October.

▌Binance Labs Is Leading a Private Round II for GoPlus Security

Binance Labs, the venture capital, innovation and incubation arm of Binance, is pleased to announce that it is leading a private round II for GoPlus Security. GoPlus Security is a leading Web3 security infrastructure provider that covers most of the major blockchain networks with multidimensional risk detection to build a safer Web3 environment. GoPlus Security has developed a real-time, dynamic, and automated security detection platform that covers token, NFT, malicious address, approval security, contract security, and dApp security. With more than 2 million data calls everyday, GoPlus Security is currently the most significant security data provider on 13 chains. GoPlus Security is also preparing for a security service marketplace to launch at the end of 2022.