The Daily: Hyperliquid set for HYPE token launch, MARA purchases $615 million in bitcoin and more

Quick Take

  • Decentralized perpetual trading platform and Layer 1 chain Hyperliquid is set to launch its HYPE token on Friday during a genesis event at 2:30 a.m. ET.
  • Bitcoin miner MARA has acquired another 6,474 BTC, valued at around $615 million, boosting its total holdings to 34,794 BTC worth $3.3 billion — the largest of all public miners.
  • Defunct centralized crypto lender Celsius is distributing $127 million in cash or cryptocurrency to creditors in its second bankruptcy payout.
  • The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Thanksgiving to our U.S. friends! In today's newsletter, Hyperliquid is set to launch its HYPE token, MARA purchases $615 million worth of bitcoin, Celsius plans to distribute another $127 million to eligible creditors and more.

Meanwhile, an ex-Revolut duo raise $2.3 million to build 'blockchain bank account' Bleap.

Let's get started.

Hyperliquid set for HYPE token launch

Decentralized perpetual trading platform and Layer 1 chain Hyperliquid is set to launch its HYPE token on Friday during a genesis event at 2:30 a.m. ET.

  • Hyperliquid emerged as one of the largest decentralized trading platforms by volume in the past year yet has functioned without a native token until now.
  • HYPE will secure the HyperBFT consensus mechanism and serve as the primary gas and staking token for Hyperliquid, enabling the project to decentralize.
  • The token will facilitate trading on the platform's decentralized exchange, traded against the USDC stablecoin on its native spot order book.
  • The genesis event includes a community airdrop, distributing 31% of the total 1 billion HYPE supply to eligible users who collected Hyperliquid's reward points.
  • Some 39.2% of the tokens are allocated for future emissions, community rewards and grants, with 23.8% set aside for current and future core contributors.
  • The Hyper Foundation will receive 6% to support operations. However, no tokens are allocated to private investors, centralized exchanges or market makers, prioritizing community ownership of the network.

MARA purchases another $615 million worth of bitcoin

Bitcoin miner MARA has acquired another 6,474 BTC, valued at around $615 million, boosting its total holdings to 34,794 BTC worth $3.3 billion — the largest of all public miners.

  • The acquisition follows MARA's $1 billion 0% senior convertible note offering due 2030, with about $199 million of the proceeds used to repurchase a portion of its 2026 note.
  • MARA said it bought the bitcoin at an average price of $95,395 and has retained $160 million for future bitcoin acquisitions.
  • MARA's stock closed up 7.8% to $26.92 on Wednesday, according to TradingView, gaining 52% over the past month with a market cap of $8.7 billion.

Celsius to distribute $127 million to creditors in second bankruptcy payout

Defunct centralized crypto lender Celsius is distributing $127 million in cash or cryptocurrency to creditors in its second bankruptcy payout, bringing the cumulative recovery rate to approximately 60.4% of their petition date claims.

  • Creditors receiving crypto will have their payouts valued at a weighted average price of $95,836.23 per bitcoin, according to a Wednesday filing.
  • In January, Celsius administrators distributed $2 billion worth of crypto in its first payout, achieving a recovery rate of 57.65% of eligible claims.
  • Celsius filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 after a $1.2 billion balance sheet gap was revealed. Former CEO Alex Mashinsky faces multiple fraud charges and a maximum 115-year prison sentence.

Coinbase's decision not to support Celo Layer 2 upgrade causes stir among stakeholders

Coinbase announced it will not support Celo's migration from a Layer 1 to a Layer 2 in Optimism's Superchain ecosystem, requiring users to withdraw their funds by Jan. 13, 2025, to avoid becoming inaccessible.

  • The decision sparked a backlash from Celo's community, with cLabs CEO Marek Olszewski calling it a setback for Ethereum's Layer 2-centric scaling roadmap and others urging Coinbase to reconsider.
  • Some speculated Coinbase's decision may stem from technical, security and regulatory challenges tied to supporting new chains and hard forks.
  • However, Coinbase has yet to respond to the community's concerns and did not reply to a request for comment from The Block.
  • The price of the CELO token is down nearly 5% over the past 24 hours.

Players are trying to convince this AI to hand over her $40,000 crypto stash

Freysa, a gamified AI agent that supposedly controls over $40,000 in ether on Base, has been instructed not to give players the prize pool under any circumstances, but that hasn't stopped them from trying.

  • Anyone can send a message to Freysa, aiming to convince her to release all the funds to one person; otherwise, 10% goes to the last messenger, and the rest is split pro-rata among participants.
  • The first message sent to Freysa cost $10, increasing by 0.78% per message up to $4,500, with 70% of fees going to the prize pot and the rest to the developer.
  • The current query price is over $383 after 183 participants and 463 attempts.

In the next 24 hours

  • The latest Eurozone CPI inflation figures are released at 5 a.m. ET on Friday.
  • U.S. markets close early on Friday for Thanksgiving.

Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.


Disclaimer: This article was produced with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT 3.5/4 and reviewed and edited by our editorial team.

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© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

James Hunt is a reporter at The Block and writer of The Daily newsletter, keeping you up to speed on the latest crypto news every weekday. Prior to joining The Block in 2022, James spent four years as a freelance writer in the industry, contributing to both publications and crypto project content. James’ coverage spans everything from Bitcoin and Ethereum to Layer 2 scaling solutions, avant-garde DeFi protocols, evolving DAO governance structures, trending NFTs and memecoins, regulatory landscapes, crypto company deals and the latest market updates. You can get in touch with James on Telegram or 𝕏 via @humanjets or email him at [email protected].

Editor

To contact the editor of this story:
Tim Copeland at
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