Chinese AI Startups Take on Industry Giant OpenAI

🇨🇳 OpenAI’s ChatGPT’s absence in China has created a unique opportunity for a new wave of Chinese AI startups, each vying to fill the void and establish themselves as leaders in the generative AI space. Backed by major regional investors, these startups are developing advanced AI systems capable of producing various types of content, from images and text to music, posing a major challenge to OpenAI’s global supremacy.

🔴 Four key startups have become leaders in China’s AI sector, each achieving unicorn status with valuations exceeding $1 billion. Zhipu AI, backed by giants like Alibaba Cloud and Tencent, is leading with a valuation of $2.5 billion. They focus on providing comprehensive AI solutions and have amassed a team of 800 employees.

🔴 MiniMax, based in Shanghai, takes a unique approach, employing anime-themed characters to engage the gaming market. Valued at $2.5 billion, their interactive avatars can generate responses, jokes, and even flirt with users. Meanwhile, 01.ai, with a valuation of $1.2 billion, focuses on open-source models tailored to the Chinese market, such as the productivity-focused Wanzhi.

🟩 “There is no winner of foundation models yet in the China market. These are some of the names leading the charge to claim that title,” Charlie Dai, Vice President and principal analyst at tech-focused consultancy Forrester, told the Financial Times.

Why Tokenization Could Be the Answer to Real Estate Liquidity Crunch

⚔️ However, amidst this surge of RWAs, one asset class that has yet to get the attention it deserves is real estate. The latest statistics reveal that the global real estate market was valued at $613 trillion in 2022, with projections showing it could eclipse $729 trillion by 2028. However, despite this potential, real estate remains one of the most illiquid asset classes.

🟧 To provide some context, assets like stocks and bonds are traded on a daily basis, but a piece of property can take more than a decade before it changes hands. Of course, one of the main reasons is that property owners prefer to hold real estate as a long-term asset or because of the sentimental value attached to generational ownership.

🍾 According to a tokenization report by BCG, the opportunity to tokenize illiquid assets such as real estate, art, and select commodities stands at a whopping $16 trillion. This partly explains why traditional financial companies that have been anti-crypto are, for the first time, willing to join the digital asset bandwagon.

Nigeria Pushes Back Against Binance, Claims CEO’s Bribe Allegation ‘Lacks Any Iota of Substance

🇳🇬 The statement on Wednesday followed Binance CEO Richard Teng’s blog post, where he accused a Nigerian government official of pressuring crypto representatives to accept a secret agreement. This agreement would supposedly settle claims the Nigerian government has against the exchange.

🟢 “Teng made false allegations of bribery against unidentified Nigerian government officials who he claimed demanded $150m in cryptocurrency payments to resolve the ongoing criminal investigation against the company,” the Ministry of Information spokesman Rabiu Ibrahim said.

💲 The exchange “will not clear its name in Nigeria by resorting to fictional claims and mudslinging media campaigns,” he added. “The only way to resolve its issues will be by submitting itself to unobstructed investigation and judicial due process.”

Wells Fargo Banks Has Invested $143 Million In Bitcoin, Filing Reveals

🪙 The vast majority of those funds were held with the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) – a Bitcoin spot ETF whose shares are designed to track Bitcoin’s spot price during traditional stock market hours. The fund directly backs its shares with a fixed amount of BTC, which gradually declines over time due to management fees.

💲 The other two Bitcoin-related investments include a $99,000 position in the Bitcoin ATM provider Bitcoin Depot and a $1.2 million position in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), a Bitcoin futures ETF. The total position represents just a drop of Wells Fargo’s $603 billion in assets under management and has likely shrunk alongside Bitcoin’s price since the reporting period.

💵 Nevertheless, the crypto community has hailed the bank’s allocation as a massive step toward institutional Bitcoin adoption. Back in 2018, the same bank temporarily banned crypto credit card purchases, but its analysts came to recognize Bitcoin’s rapid adoption growth and price appreciation over the coming years.

Wall Street Giants, JPMorgan’s Onyx Eye Industrializing Blockchain PoCs

🛡 Leading financial institutions on Wall Street are shifting their focus towards industrializing proofs-of-concept (PoCs) developed within the blockchain experiment known as Project Guardian. JPMorgan’s blockchain platform, Onyx, is particularly keen on converting the insights gained from its pilot program with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) into tangible products.

🔗 During the TokenizeThis event held in Miami on May 10, Stephanie Lok, product manager of JPMorgan’s Onyx, said the company is focused on investment fund tokenization as a key area of focus. “That’s a very big focus area: how can we kind of productionize, industrialize what we built out as a proof-of-concept?” Lok stated.

🔗 Another traditional firm heavily invested in blockchain-enabled finance migration is WisdomTree, an asset manager. Maredith Hannon, head of business development for WisdomTree, highlighted the company’s interest in portfolio personalization and blending portfolios with checking accounts.

ℹ️ Hannon further elaborated on the potential benefits of real-world asset tokenization for investor portfolios, envisioning the ability to create a myriad of allocation variations and risk profiles. WisdomTree is also exploring the provision of different on-chain services through a unified interface for its clients.

Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame Seeks 18-Month Sentence, Citing Cooperation and Remorse

💣 Ryan Salame, a former executive at FTX who pleaded guilty to election fraud charges in September, is requesting leniency from the court in the form of an 18-month sentence. According to a sentencing memorandum filed on Tuesday, Salame’s attorneys argue for a lighter sentence based on his cooperation with authorities and genuine remorse.

⚫️ During his time at FTX and Alameda, Salame was responsible for managing wire deposits and fiat currency conversions for FTX customers. He also participated in political contributions using Alameda funds and led charitable initiatives in the Bahamas.

🧍‍♀️ In the filings, Salame’s attorneys emphasize that his role in the fraudulent activities was less central and more operational. They said that he had no knowledge of the conspiracies orchestrated by the individuals at the center of Alameda and FTX.

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SWIFT China President Wen Yang on Overcoming Barriers in CBDC Systems

🇨🇳 The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) China President recently shared insights on the challenges and solutions for cross-border central bank digital currency (CBDC) interoperability. In an interview with 21st Century Business Herald, Wen Yang addressed the fragmentation in CBDC systems due to varying technological paths and standards among different economies, highlighting the organization’s effort to bridge technical gaps.

🔴 According to the report, over 130 economies are now exploring CBDCs, with nearly 70% of central banks expecting to issue them within the next decade. However, the rapid development could lead to potential “data silos” where systems are unable to communicate with one another.

⏳ “Currently, there are significant differences in the technological paths and standards, including protocols, among economies, which presents a ‘fragmentation’ challenge and leads to ‘data silos’,” said Yang. China’s digital yuan has seen implementation across various applications, while the European Central Bank is in the process of preparing for a digital Euro. In India, commercial banks handle one million digital rupee transactions daily across the country.

PitchBook Report: Crypto Fundraising Soars to $2.4B in Q1 2024 with Over 500 Deals

🪙 The crypto market has experienced a significant surge in fundraising, reaching a whopping $2.4 billion in the first quarter of 2024, fueled by a shift in market sentiment and fresh inflows. According to a recent analysis by PitchBook, a leading data provider for private and public market investors, there has been a substantial increase in investment activity within the cryptocurrency sector compared to the previous quarter.

💲 The bull market witnessed during Q1 played a pivotal role in driving the surge in investments. Cryptocurrency values soared to levels not seen in months, enticing institutional investors to pour money into the market following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

💵 According to the PitchBook report, a total of 518 deals amounting to $2.3 billion were closed in the first quarter of the year within the cryptocurrency industry. This reflects a remarkable 40.3% increase in investments compared to the previous quarter. Considering the heightened on-chain activities observed in Q4 2023, this surge marks a substantial leap forward for the sector.

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YouTube Investigator ‘Coffeezilla’ Accuses Rabbit AI of Involvement in an NFT Scam

💥 Stephen Findeisen, popularly known as “Coffeezilla” on YouTube, has accused artificial intelligence company Rabbit AI of orchestrating a nonfungible token (NFT) scam and attempting to cover it up. Findeisen, a prominent investigator on the video-sharing platform, recently released a video on the Coffeezilla channel, shedding light on Rabbit AI’s alleged involvement in the NFT space.

🔴 According to Findeisen’s findings, Rabbit AI was previously known as Cyber Manufacture Co. and managed to raise $6 million for an NFT project named Gama. However, the company’s founder and CEO, Jesse Lyu, later distanced Rabbit AI from the world of cryptocurrencies, stating that they would “never touch crypto” in Discord statements.

🔴 Lyu claimed that Gama was merely a “fun little project” he participated in during the COVID-19 pandemic and that he left the project once the associated game was open-sourced. Contradicting Lyu’s claims, Findeisen presented recordings in which Lyu discussed ambitious plans for the Gama project.

🔥 In those recordings, Lyu expressed intentions of investing millions into Gama to create a groundbreaking NFT experience. He also mentioned future plans for a concept called Gamaverse and the potential for a clean energy initiative in relation to Gama Coin.

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Blockchain Data: Bitcoin Whale Activity Surging, Confidence in Bull Market Returning

🪙 Bitcoin whales, large holders of the cryptocurrency, have shown an increased appetite for accumulating more coins, signaling a return of confidence in the bull market, as per blockchain data. The resurgence in whale activity comes after the price of Bitcoin reached its all-time high in March and subsequently experienced a significant market correction.

💲 Market intelligence firm CryptoQuant highlighted the strong buying force exhibited by whales, indicating their belief that current prices are favorable for purchasing and accumulating Bitcoin, despite prevailing fear and market uncertainty.

💎 Whales, defined as owners of Bitcoin addresses holding between 1,000 BTC and 10,000 BTC (excluding mining firms and crypto exchanges), tend to buy Bitcoin more aggressively during bull markets and reduce their buying activity during bear markets.

🧬 Throughout March, whales had increased their BTC holdings by over 9.8%. Although their accumulation rate slowed in April to 4.2% by May 1, coinciding with Bitcoin’s price decline of over 20% to under $57,000, the metric has now rebounded to 5.5% as of May 22.

Ethereum Layer 2 TVL Sets a New All-Time High at $47 Billion

🔷 The total value locked (TVL) of Ethereum Layer 2s have reached a historical record of $47 billion. According to the data posted by L2BEAT, the current TVL of all canonically bridged, externally bridged, and natively minted tokens on Ethereum Layer 2 networks is $47.45 billion, setting a new all-time high.

🔵 Breaking down by networks, Arbitrum One leads the ranking and has a TVL of $19.3 billion. OP Mainnet comes the second with $7.88 billion. Base is ranked the third with $6.94 billion TVL. Other blockchains with a TVL exceeding $1 billion include Blast, Mantle, Linea, and Starknet. L2BEAT indicated that the total value locked of all L2s has increased by 17.39% in the past seven days.

🔵 The bullish trend was primarily motivated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent approval of the spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs). On May 23, the SEC approved the Ethereum ETF applications filed by a total of eight issuers, marking the second spot digital asset ETF in the country, following the spot Bitcoin ETFs approved in January.

🔹 The issuers included BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Bitwise, VanEck, Ark, Invesco Galaxy, and Franklin Templeton. They are yet in the process of submitting S-1 forms, as the timeline remained uncertain while analysts expected launch within weeks.

Canada Warns of Rising Pig Butchering and Crypto Investment Scams

🇨🇦 The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) has warned about a surge in crypto scams targeting Canadian citizens. In a Tuesday announcement, the anti-fraud call centre said there has been an increase in two specific types of cryptocurrency scams targeting Canadian citizens, including pig butchering or romance scams, and investment scams.

📌 In response to this concerning trend, the CAFC, in collaboration with the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), has issued a warning to raise awareness about these sophisticated scams, particularly those involving prolonged online communication.

💥 The CAFC, in collaboration with the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO), warned citizens to exercise caution when engaging with individuals who discuss cryptocurrency trading or investments. “Fraudsters may attempt to establish a friendship or develop an online romance, or they may pose as legitimate investment advisers. Over time, the scammer will propose an investment opportunity, often involving crypto assets,” the warning states.

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Zentry Secures Strategic Funding to Propel Metagame Layer Development

🎮 Zentry, formerly known as GuildFi, has secured funding in a strategic round to build its Metagame Layer. According to a press release shared with Cryptonews, the funding round included investments from Spartan Capital, Synergis, LongHash Ventures and DWF Labs. Animoca, Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures and Pantera Capital have previously supported the company.

⏰ The new funding has increased Zentry’s treasury to over $150 million, including 16,000+ ETH, positioning the company to advance the development of the Metagame Layer for future web3 gaming and social experiences. “As we build the Metagame Layer to unite all games and experiences into one vibrant Play Economy, adding the invaluable relationships from Spartan Capital, Synergis and LongHash was a no brainer,” said Zentry founder and CEO Jarindr Thitadilaka.

🖥 “They each bring deep expertise in gaming, virtual worlds and decentralized technologies – which will be critical as we execute our empowering vision to link people’s online and IRL activity to web3’s economic incentive layers,” said Thitadilaka. In April, GuildFi rebranded as Zentry as a part of the relaunch. It announced to introduce a new token conversion program where holders of the original GuildFi token GF could convert it to the new token ZENT.