VC Roundup: Investments in Web3 startups top $1B in July

[Bull Whales Expand Unrealized Gains, Updates on Some Whale Positions] According to monitoring by HyperInsight, the recent market recovery has led to bull whales expanding their unrealized gains or turning losses into profits. Updates on some whale positions are as follows: 1. Huang Licheng: Closed part of his long positions in ETH, ZEC, and HYPE over the past 2 hours. Currently holds $29.46 million in ETH long positions with unrealized gains of $2.03 million (171%); holds $3.41 million in HYPE long positions with unrealized gains of $140,000 (43%). 2. "CZ Counterparty": Unrealized gains of $460,000 on ETH long positions, which had unrealized losses of $21 million two days ago. Position size is approximately $168 million, with an average price of $3,201. XRP long positions total $85.38 million, with an average price of $2.29, and unrealized losses of $3.63 million (-42%). 3. "Largest ZEC Bear on Hyperliquid": Holds $48.72 million in ETH short positions with unrealized gains of $5.5 million (168%); holds $10.12 million in ZEC short positions with unrealized gains of $2.01 million (99%). 4. "Suspected XPL Insider" Whale: After being inactive for over 10 days, opened 5x leveraged ETH long positions and 7x leveraged SOL long positions, with a total position size of $6.19 million. 5. James Wynn: Holds 40x leveraged BTC long positions with unrealized gains of $240,000 (340%) and a position size of $2.88 million. Previously attempted to short SOL but closed those positions shortly after opening.

[A Certain Whale Profits $2.13 Million from BTC Long Position and Moves to ETH with $1.11 Million Unrealized Gains] According to monitoring by Lookonchain, a certain whale recently closed its BTC long position, earning approximately $2.13 million in profit. Subsequently, the whale opened a position of 11,590 ETH with 6x leverage, amounting to approximately $37.28 million in size, and currently has unrealized gains of about $1.11 million.

[Malaysia Cracks Down on Illegal Bitcoin Mining, Power Losses May Reach $1 Billion] Malaysian authorities have intensified enforcement actions against illegal Bitcoin mining, with related activities causing approximately $1 billion in stolen electricity losses. Enforcement teams are using drones to detect heat sources, handheld devices to monitor abnormal electricity usage, and conducting surprise inspections based on resident reports. Some illegal mining sites even use bird sounds to mask the noise of mining machines. Regulatory authorities stated they will tighten oversight to curb the spread of the issue.

Cantor Equity Partners' shareholders have approved the merger with Twenty One Capital, a subsidiary of Jack Mallers. It is expected that the merged company will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the code "XXI" on December 9th, becoming the first Bitcoin native public company. （Cointelegraph）

[U.S. SEC Issues Warning Letters to Nine ETF Providers Requesting Responses on High Leverage Risks] The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued warning letters to nine ETF providers, including Direxion, ProShares, and GraniteShares, requesting comprehensive responses regarding risk issues for ETFs proposed to offer leverage exposure exceeding 2x (including some crypto products). The SEC expressed concerns about funds aiming to provide leverage exposure exceeding 2x for target indices or securities.