Headlines 

▌Tether to Hedge Funds Shorting USDT: Strategy Failed, ‘You Made no Profit’

Tether, issuers of the USDT stablecoin, criticized hedge funds for shorting the cryptocurrency saying that the bearish bets have failed to pay off and are not worth the huge amount of fees brought on by the strategy. Stablecoins have come under increased scrutiny following the high-profile collapse of the Terra blockchain in May. Amid the chaos, USDT temporarily lost its parity to the dollar, falling to $0.95 at some point, as investors exited the stablecoin in panic. With the USDT price capped at $1, most of the bets have been taking place on liquidity pools in DeFi and in futures tracking USDT. The goal is to create pressure, “in the billions, causing ton of outflows to harm Tether liquidity and eventually buy back tokens at much lower price.” Tether believes hedge funds have hemorrhaged millions of dollars in failed short bets because they lacked a fundamental understanding of how the USDT stablecoin works.

Policies  

▌Report: The Central African Republic Requests Regional Central Bank's Assistance in Crafting Crypto Regulations

A new report has claimed the Central African Republic, which became the first country in Africa to make bitcoin legal tender, recently requested the regional central bank’s assistance in developing a cryptocurrency regulatory framework. The report also said the CAR had expressed its “commitment to the single currency and respect for the statutes of the Bank of Central African States.”The report also added that the BCAS’ Herve Ndoba and the CAR’s Minister of Finance and Budget had both signed the statement that signaled the two parties’ commitment to work together again.

Cryptocurrency

▌Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Slams Michael Saylor as "Total Clown"

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has hit out at MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor in a recent tweet, calling the prominent Bitcoin maximalist “a total clown.” In a video clip, Saylor views Ethereum as inherently unethical. Earlier this month, he said that the second-largest cryptocurrency was obviously “a security.”The Ethereum community was quick to hit back at Saylor by recalling that the ardent Bitcoin supporter was accused of securities fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission back all the way back in 2000. Saylor paid a fine to settle with the regulator without admitting or denying charges.

▌Harvard University and Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web Plan to Preserve Digital Information

The Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW) announced it will be supporting an initiative with Harvard University’s Library Innovation Lab (LIL) called the “Democratizing Open Knowledge” program. With FFDW’s support, LIL plans to explore decentralized technologies that can preserve digital information.

▌The total number of users on the Ethereum Layer2 Arbitrum chain exceeded 1 million

31 July, according to Dune Analytics, the total number of users on the Ethereum Layer2 Arbitrum chain has exceeded 1 million, reaching 1,025,930 as of today. In addition, the Arbitrum chain has more than 20 million successful transactions, the current number of 20,499,780 (total transaction volume of 21,416,388).