Top Stories This Week

Grayscale wins SEC lawsuit for Bitcoin ETF review

Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments recently scored a big win in its battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

In an ongoing effort to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the U.S. appeals court judge accepted Grayscale’s argument that the SEC’s rejection of its recent ETF application was unfair.

The SEC had alleged that the GBTC didn’t have enough safe practices and fraud protection in place.

Judge Neomi Rao gave the green light to Grayscale’s request for a second review. 

Previously, Rao said that the SEC did not “offer any explanation” as to why Grayscale was in the wrong. 

However, the victory doesn’t automatically mean Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF is a done deal. There’s still more to come…

BitBoy Crypto brand will no longer include YouTuber Ben Armstrong

The parent company of Hit Network, the folks behind the “BitBoy Crypto” brand, just gave the boot to their public face, Ben Armstrong.

The company alleged issues of substance abuse and financial damage as reasons behind the decision. 

In a YouTube and social media announcement, Hit Network revealed that despite efforts their efforts to support Armstrong during his struggle with addiction, they have decided to part ways.

This follows Armstrong facing a series of lawsuits in recent times.

He was in a class-action lawsuit where investors accused him and other influencers of promoting FTX without disclosing how much they were getting paid by the exchange. 

Furthermore, during the lawsuit, there were claims that Armstrong threatened the plaintiff’s lawyers and even blew off a federal judge’s orders to show up in court. The case was put on hold in June.

SEC delays decision on 6 spot Bitcoin ETF applications

The SEC has chosen to postpone delivering a decision on six applications for spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. The commission has opted to extend its review period by an additional, pushing the decision further into October on the calendar.

Shortly after the news broke, the SEC also put BlackRock, the biggest asset manager in the world, in the same delayed decision boat.

Bitwise withdraws Bitcoin and Ether Market Cap ETF application

In a surprising twist following the U.S. SEC’s announcement of delays, Bitwise has submitted a request to retract its application for its Bitcoin and Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF.

This application was originally submitted to the SEC on August 3. It seems that Bitwise is taking a step back to reconsider its approach despite the brief positive market sentiment that followed Grayscale’s recent SEC win.

Robinhood bought back Sam Bankman-Fried’s stake from US gov’t for $606M

Crypto and stock trading platform Robinhood scooped up more than 55 million shares of their own company that were previously owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX.

The purchase, which cost Robinhood roughly $606 million, was finalized this week after filing the paperwork with the U.S. SEC. These shares originally belonged to Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, who is a co-founder of FTX through a company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies. 

However, back in January, the U.S. Department of Justice seized these shares.

The purchase has been in the works for a while. Robinhood’s board of directors gave it the green light in its Q4 2022 report, and an SEC filing from August confirmed that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved the purchase without any legal complications. 

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $25,610, Ether (ETH) at $1,618 and XRP (XRP) at $0.49. The total market cap is $1.03 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Toncoin (TON) at 33.90%, Iota (MIOTA) at 13.13% and Maker (MKR) at 12.33%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are KuCoin Token (KCS) at 15.53%, Hedera (HBAR) at 15.02% and Astar (ASTR) at 12.82%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotes

“There are many cases where transparency is a feature, but people do not want most transactions in the economy to be public.”

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

“Now that the courts are starting to rein in the SEC a bit, I think there’s some hope that the industry is kind of igniting again in the U.S.”

Jeremy McLaughlin, partner at K&L Gates

“In the end, we will win. You can’t steal someone’s company they built on their identity and win.”

Ben Armstrong, former frontman of BitBoy Crypto

“I definitely do think we could see in this next cycle $100,000 cost per Bitcoin, and that’s based on if BTC were to capture even 2 to 5% of gold’s $13 trillion place in institutional portfolios.”

Sue Ennis, vice president of Hut 8

“We see limited downside for crypto markets over the near term.”

JPMorgan analysts

“I spoke to a guy the other day that has 80 altcoins in his portfolio. There’s no way an individual investor can stay across and know exactly what 80 different coins are doing at any one time.”

Ben Simpson, founder of Collective Shift

Prediction of the Week

Bitcoin risks ‘swift’ $23K dive after BTC price loses 11% in August

Data indicates that Bitcoin is on track for a retest of long-term support levels following a drop in BTC price as August came to a close.

Reversing the gains witnessed the previous week, BTC/USD is now trading below $26,000 as of Sept. 1, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.

Initially, market participants had reasons to be optimistic as Bitcoin held a key long-term trendline and maintained the $27,000 level.

However, a decision by the U.S. SEC to delay several Bitcoin ETF applications caused a change in sentiment.

Bitcoin swiftly shed $1,000 in value over just two hourly candles.

Traders have been speculating over the movements. 

“On-chain data suggests that $BTC lacks strong support below the $25,400 mark,” popular trader Ali told X (formerly Twitter) subscribers.

On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators delivered a similarly grim picture for BTC/USD on daily (D), weekly (W) and even monthly (M) timeframes.

Using signals from one of its proprietary trading tools, Trend Precognition, Material Indicators advised that $24,750 needed to hold for bulls to have a chance at clinching a rebound.

FUD of the Week

Balancer exploited in nearly $900k after vulnerability warning.

The Ethereum automated market maker and decentralized finance protocol, Balancer, confirmed that it had fallen victim to an exploit, resulting in losses of nearly $900,000. 

This incident occurred shortly after they had disclosed a vulnerability that impacted several pools.

An Ethereum address allegedly belonging to the attacker has been revealed by blockchain security expert Meier Dolev. Following the exploit, the address received two transfers of Dai stablecoin worth $636,812 and $257,527, respectively, bringing its total balance to over $893,978. 

“Balancer is aware of an exploit related to the vulnerability below,” the protocol’s team posted on X, adding that while mitigation measures taken in recent days had drastically reduced risks, affected pools could not be paused. “To prevent further exploits, users must withdraw from affected LPs,” it advised.

Brazilian crypto streamer loses money by accidentally exposing private key

Brazilian cryptocurrency streamer Fraternidade Crypto is one of the latest victims of unsafe self-custody practices, reportedly losing thousands of dollars due to a private key accident. During a livestream on YouTube, the owner of the Fraternidade Crypto channel, Ivan Bianco, unwittingly exposed his private key to a self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet.

In the middle of the livestream related to Bitcoin and blockchain games, Bianco apparently tried to access his passwords for the blockchain games platform Gala Games through a text file on his computer.

Unfortunately for the streamer, his Gala Games passwords were stored in the same text file as the seed phrase for his MetaMask wallet, which had a significant amount of Polygon’s (MATIC).

Exploits, hacks and scams stole almost $1B in 2023: Report

Cybersecurity firm CertiK reported that over $997 million was lost to flash loan attacks, exit scams, and exploits in 2023.

Malicious actors targeting the crypto space have taken more than $45 million in digital assets from their victims in the month of August alone and a total of $997 million year-to-date.

In the report, CertiK highlighted that exit scams took around $26 million, flash loan attacks took $6.4 million, and exploits took $13.5 million from their victims in August. The cybersecurity firm confirmed that the total losses amounted to over $45 million.

How to protect your crypto in a volatile market: Bitcoin OGs and experts weigh in.

Crypto is a volatile place. Money can be as easily lost as made through the ups and downs of Bitcoin and the wider market. Bitcoin OGs, veterans and experts provide their opinions, tools and views on how to protect your crypto.

Top Stories This Week

Tornado Cash co-founders charged with money laundering, sanctions violations

United States officials pressed charges against the co-founders of crypto mixer Tornado Cash on Aug. 23. Roman Storm and Roman Semenov were both charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Storm was arrested and released on bail a few days later, while Semenov was added to the U.S. list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons. Combined, the charges carry a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison. The third Tornado Cash co-founder, Alexey Pertsev, was arrested in the Netherlands on money laundering charges in August 2022. The law enforcement actions are a continuation of a U.S. government crackdown on Tornado Cash that began last year due to its alleged role in laundering funds of the Lazarus Group, a North Korean-linked hacking collective. Tornado Cash has been implicated in several other hacks as well. All told, the mixer has laundered over $1 billion in ill-gotten gains, the U.S. Department of Justice alleges.

Sam Bankman-Fried is low on meds, living on $3 peanut butter in prison

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried appears to be having a tough time behind bars, eating only bread with peanut butter to accommodate his vegan diet while exhausting his supply of prescription medication. In the same hearing where Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to seven fraud-related charges, his lawyers pleaded for the former FTX CEO to receive better treatment inside Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center. Also this week, Bankman-Fried was granted permission to meet with his legal team outside of jail with 48 hours’ notice. Every day, he will have roughly seven hours to prepare for his upcoming trial expected to begin in October.

Mystery solved: Bitcoin wallet accruing $3B in 3 months is identified

The mysterious Bitcoin wallet that surged up the ranks to become the third-largest holder of Bitcoin in the world in just over three months, has been identified. Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham Intelligence labeled the wallet as Robinhood: Jump Trading Custody. According to data from crypto statistics platform BitInfoCharts, the wallet address first received Bitcoin on March 8. Over the course of the next three months and two weeks, the wallet had accrued a staggering 118,000 BTC — worth $3.08 billion at current prices. The current largest Bitcoin wallets in the world, according to BitInfoCharts, are reportedly owned by Binance and Bitfinex — as Bitcoin cold wallets.

Prime Trust parent company lost $8M investing in TerraUSD

The parent company of crypto custodian Prime Trust — currently involved in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings — has reported losing roughly $8 million in client and treasury funds through TerraUSD investments, presumably when the algorithmic stablecoin collapsed in May 2022. The company described the investment as well as a ramping up of spending in October and November 2022 — in the midst of FTX’s collapse — as contributing to its bankruptcy filing. Court documents show Prime Trust owed more than $85 million in fiat and $69.5 million in crypto to its clients. The collapse of the Terra ecosystem triggered a major market crash in 2022, affecting several firms including FTX, BlockFi, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital.

PEPE whale seizes dip opportunity, buys $529K worth of tokens

A Pepe holder bought 640 billion Pepe tokens for 320 Ether valued at $529,000 after the price of the frog-themed memecoin dropped by approximately 15% due to recent changes to a multisig wallet and concerns about potential developer manipulation. According to on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain, the whale purchased PEPE at an average price of $0.000001163. The value of the once-popular memecoin plunged after changes related to the amount of signatures required to sign transactions led to worries about a potential “rug pull,” which was later confirmed by one of the project’s co-founders.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $26,040, Ether (ETH) at $1,653 and XRP at $0.52. The total market cap is at $1.05 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) at 18.58%, Sui (SUI) at 12.86% and Toncoin (TON) at 11.97%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Pepe (PEPE) at -21.07%, XDC Network (XDC) at -9.62% and ApeCoin (APE) at -8.35%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“If history were to repeat itself, the next halving would see bitcoin rising to $35k before the halving and $148k after.”

Pantera Capital

“A new computing era has begun. Companies worldwide are transitioning from general-purpose to accelerated computing and generative AI.”

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA

“Some of the people who currently think that there should not be effective law enforcement on-chain would feel differently if they got hacked, defrauded, or lost their private keys.”

Mike Kanovitz, CEO of Jurat

“You could never underestimate the damage the SEC’s lawsuit has caused – not only against Ripple – but #XRP. Three years of adoption – that’s what it’s caused.”

John Deaton, pro-XRP lawyer

“AI will never replace human creativity because it will always lack the essential spark that drives the most talented artists to do their best work, which is intention.”

Neal Mohan, CEO of YouTube

“Blockchain and AI can certainly co-exist — they’re both pillars of Web3.”

Aydin Kilic, CEO of Hive Digital Technologies

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin ‘overconfidence reigns’ but bulls must reclaim $27.8K — Trader

Bitcoin needs to reclaim one key moving average to “regain its bullish status,” argues popular pseudonymous analyst CryptoCon, warning that bulls remained too optimistic about the $26,000 BTC price support holding.

For CryptoCon, the 20-week exponential moving average (EMA), now at $27,750, must be won back as support in order for the uptrend to be safe. “I have been covering this moving average a lot recently, but I believe it is critical for Bitcoin to regain its bullish status,” he wrote.

The analysis compared current BTC price action to its rebound from 2018 cycle lows. “It is very important that Bitcoin both rises above and retests the 20 Week EMA as support,” CryptoCon noted with a chart showing the similarities between 2019 and 2023, with the retest and subsequent successful EMA reclaim circled.

FUD of the Week 

Chinese official sentenced to life in prison for Bitcoin mining, corruption

A Chinese government official has been sentenced to life in prison for illegitimate business operations related to running a 2.4 billion Chinese yuan ($329 million) Bitcoin mining enterprise and for unrelated charges of corruption. Prosecutors say Xiao Yi — a former member of the Jiangxi Provincial Political Consultative Conference Party Group — “covered up” the mining operation by instructing relevant departments to fabricate statistical reports and adjust the classification of electricity consumption. From 2017 to 2020, his facility’s electricity consumption accounted for 10% of the city of Fuzhou’s total electricity consumption.

FBI flags 6 Bitcoin wallets linked to North Korea, urges vigilance in crypto firms

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has flagged six Bitcoin wallets linked to North Korean state-backed hacking group Lazarus. The six wallets contain 1,580 BTC worth $40 million believed to be hoarded from various cryptocurrency hacks over the past year. The FBI in its investigation found that Lazarus Group moved approximately 1,580 BTC linked with several crypto exploits. The hacking group has been actively involved in multiple crypto-linked exploits over the years and are believed to have stolen nearly $2 billion in crypto since 2018.

OpenSea manager accused of insider trading sentenced to 3 months in prison, $50K fine

A federal judge has sentenced former OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain to three months in prison for wire fraud and money laundering related to insider trading on the platform. He was accused of using insider information in his position at OpenSea to profit off the trading of NFTs. In his position as product manager, he had the authority to choose which NFTs would be featured on the OpenSea website. He purchased 45 NFTs prior to them being featured and then resold them.

Recursive inscriptions: Bitcoin ‘supercomputer’ and BTC DeFi coming soon

Some believe that Ordinals and recursive inscriptions could supercharge the Bitcoin network as a viable competitor to smart contract platforms. It’s not going to be easy, though.

AI Eye: Get better results being nice to ChatGPT, AI fake child porn debate, Amazon’s AI reviews

Being nice to ChatGPT gets better results, Wired’s weird child porn debate and the end of CATPCHAs.

NFT Collector: Giant Swan’s gothic VR dreamscapes… royalty nightmare on OpenSea

From crying in his car to putting the first 3D object onchain — the story of Giant Swan. Plus royalties race to the bottom accelerates due to OpenSea.

Top Stories This Week

Judge revokes Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail, remands him to custody

FTX’s former CEO, Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, had his bail revoked by a federal judge in response to the release of information to The New York Times allegedly intended to intimidate witnesses. During a hearing on Aug. 11, Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail and remanded him to custody, likely at the Putnam County Correctional Facility. Once his October trial begins, he could be moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Bankman-Fried was reportedly led out of the courtroom in handcuffs. In Kaplan’s view, Bankman-Fried’s interviews with NYT reporters resulted in sharing information with the likely intention “to hurt and frighten” former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, his former colleague and girlfriend.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed a decision on whether to approve or disapprove the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) proposed by ARK Investment Management and 21Shares. ARK originally filed to list the ETF in May, giving the SEC a maximum of 240 days — until January 2024 — to reach a final decision. The SEC’s latest move is fueling expectations that a final verdict will come as part of a batch that includes applications from key players on Wall Street, including BlackRock and Fidelity Investments.

SEC to seek appeal and stay in Ripple Labs court case

The U.S. SEC is moving to appeal a court decision from its lawsuit against Ripple Labs. In a letter to Judge Analisa Torres — the presiding judge in the case — the SEC said it believed her decision warrants a fresh look by an appellate court. The commission asked Judge Torres to put the case on hold during the appeal, saying there are multiple other pending court cases that could be affected, depending on the appeal’s outcome. The SEC is currently in a legal battle with a number of crypto firms, including Binance and Coinbase, over alleged securities violations. Judge Torres ruled, in July, that Ripple’s native token, XRP, is not a security when sold to retail investors. Torres plans to schedule the jury trial for the second quarter of 2024.

PayPal launches PYUSD stablecoin for payment

PayPal launched a new U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin called PayPal USD (PYUSD). Built on the Ethereum network, the stablecoin is backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term treasuries and similar cash equivalents. According to PayPal, the stablecoin will soon be available as a mode of payment for various purchases. The fintech company is home to over 350 million active users, putting it in a strong position to become a crypto payment giant with the introduction of the new stablecoin. PYUSD will be redeemable for U.S. dollars and can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies on PayPal, as well as being transferable between PayPal and Venmo accounts.

Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Softbank, leading VCs face lawsuit for “abetting” FTX fraud

Eighteen leading venture capital investment firms, including Temasek, Sequoia Capital, Sino Global Capital and SoftBank, have been named as defendants in a class-action lawsuit filed in the United States for their links to the now-bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX. According to the lawsuit, the investment firms were responsible for “aiding and abetting” the FTX fraud. The suit further claims that the defendants used their “power, influence and deep pockets to launch FTX’s house of cards to its multibillion-dollar scale.”

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $29,379, Ether (ETH) at $1,842 and XRP at $0.63. The total market cap is at $1.17 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are THORChain (RUNE) at 20.74%, Shiba Inu (SHIB) at 20.16% and dYdX (DYDX) at 9.63%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are GMX (GMX) -12.47%, Mantle (MNT) at -10.10% and XDC Network (XDC) at -8.09%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Stablecoins represent the issuance of a new form of money, making it integral that there are Federal guardrails.”

Maxine Waters, United States representative

“This is the Ethereum contract address for PayPal’s stablecoin. I can’t believe i get to tweet that. We’ve come so far.”

Ryan Sean Adams, crypto investor

“By offering users a relatively seamless way to execute transactions, bots have the potential to carve out their own niche in the crypto ecosystem.”

Jie Xuan Chua, analyst at Binance Research

“PayPal USD is the most significant leap forward for digital assets and the financial industry.”

Charles Cascarilla, CEO of Paxos Trust Company

“It is clear that the world needs and will need something like Worldcoin in the coming years. We just hope that happens in a privacy-preserving decentralized, open-source, permissionless way.”

Tiago Sada, head of product at Tools for Humanity

“By accepting digital currencies, we open our doors to a new segment of donors who are tech-savvy and wish to make a difference through their digital assets.”

Benjamin William, CEO of the Singapore Red Cross

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin trader reveals ‘important’ BTC price zone as bulls hold $29.3K

Bitcoin faces a new battleground as bulls and bears fight for control of a sideways market. Popular pseudonymous trader Daan Crypto Trades flagged, in his latest analysis, a key level to reclaim as BTC price support.

According to the trader, both Bitcoin bulls and bears are caught in a “strongly contested” range, resulting from various trips above and below the current spot price, making the midpoint the level to watch next.

“Pretty clear that the $29.5–29.7K region is an area that’s strongly contested by the bulls and bears,” Daan Crypto Trades wrote.

Bitcoin price has essentially remained the same since mid-June — $28,500 as fundamental support, $31,800 as resistance. Gaining control of the area around $29,700 is, thus, an essential move if bulls are to build the necessary momentum to change the landscape for good, the trader added.

FUD of the Week 

Only 6 out of 45 crypto wallet brands have undergone penetration testing: Report

Cybersecurity platform CER found that only six of 45 cryptocurrency wallet brands, or 13.3%, have undergone penetration testing to find security vulnerabilities. Of these, only three brands have performed tests on the latest versions of their products: MetaMask, Zengo and Trust Wallet. An overall ranking of the security of each wallet lists MetaMask, Zengo, Rabby, Trust Wallet and Coinbase Wallet as being the most secure wallets on the market.

US Fed steps up oversight of banks’ involvement with crypto firms

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expanding the scope of its supervision for banks engaged with the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. Under the Novel Activities Supervision Program, companies providing banking infrastructure to digital asset firms or working with companies that use distributed ledger technologies will be regulated. The policies apply to both insured and uninsured U.S. banks supervised by the Fed. Activities regulated under the program include the custody, lending, trading, issuance or distribution of crypto including stablecoins.

SEC announces $24M settlement for case against Bittrex and its former CEO

The U.S. SEC announced an agreement with crypto trading platform Bittrex and its co-founder and former CEO, William Shihara, for operating an unregistered exchange.Bittrex and Bittrex Global agreed to pay $14.4 million in disgorgement (the repayment of ill-gotten gains), $4 million in prejudgment interest, and $5.6 million in civil penalties to settle the legal dispute with the federal regulator. The agreement is still subject to court approval. The SEC’s complaint, filed in April, claimed Bittrex and Shihara operated an unregistered national securities exchange, broker and clearing agency.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Blockchain games aren’t really decentralized… but that’s about to change

Putting video games fully on chain is a terrible idea and can’t work … or can it?

AI Eye: Apple developing pocket AI, deep fake music deal, hypnotizing GPT-4

Apple is developing AI to run locally on your phone, researchers ‘hypnotize’ GPT-4 to turn it evil, and Google negotiates a deep fake music deal.

Grails’ lucky dip of famous NFT artists, new hope for PFP holders: NFT Collector

Pudgy Penguins CEO reveals why PFT holders aren’t doomed, Grails offers a blind tasting to buy famous NFT artists, and free Amazon Prime NFTs.

Top Stories This Week

The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem experienced a challenging week after a seismic security incident led to over $61 million being stolen from Curve Finance’s pools, leaving several protocols facing broader contagion risks. This attack exposed vulnerabilities across DeFi projects and sparked efforts to recover stolen funds over the past few days, hammering the performance of tokens and even stablecoins as a result of the dramatic ups and downs in this story. As the community navigates the aftermath of this exploit, Cointelegraph compiled the week’s events, presenting a timeline of what happened since the hack on July 30.

US DoJ is concerned about a run on Binance should prosecutors bring fraud charges

The United States Department of Justice is reportedly considering charging cryptocurrency exchange Binance with fraud, but hesitating based on costs to consumers. According to people familiar with the matter, Justice Department officials are concerned about an indictment against Binance causing a run similar to what happened with FTX in November 2022. The officials are considering fines or non-prosecution agreements for Binance rather than criminal charges in an effort to reduce the harm to consumers. Binance has been targeted by a criminal probe in the U.S. for allegedly violating the country’s sanctions on Russia and has also faced lawsuits from U.S. regulators.

Hong Kong debuts retail crypto trading with HashKey and OSL

Digital asset firm HashKey has successfully obtained all necessary licensing to broaden its business from serving professional investors to taking on retail users, as Hong Kong expands its cryptocurrency trading to individual investors. The first license, Type 1, allows HashKey to operate a virtual asset trading platform under Hong Kong’s securities laws. The second one, Type 7, officially enables the firm to provide automated trading services to both institutional and retail users. OSL, another local crypto firm, received an upgrade to its existing license from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, allowing it to offer Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trading to retail investors immediately.

Coinbase denies SEC told it to delist everything but Bitcoin

Coinbase has denied reports claiming that its CEO, Brian Armstrong, was once told by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to delist all cryptocurrencies on its platform except for Bitcoin. In an interview with the Financial Times, Armstrong reportedly stated that the SEC wanted Coinbase to delist the nearly 250 tokens on its platform. According to a Coinbase spokesperson, however, the report is missing context and the SEC didn’t request Coinbase to delist any specific assets. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has previously claimed that “everything other than Bitcoin” is a security under the agency’s remit.

Ethereum’s 8th birthday: Crypto industry shares its top moments

The crypto community has come together to celebrate the birthday of the Ethereum network, marking eight years since the Ethereum Foundation first sent the network live.

On July 30, 2015, former Ethereum Foundation CCO Stephan Tual penned a blog post, officially announcing that the network had been rolled out. “The vision of a censorship-proof ‘world computer’ that anyone can program, paying exclusively for what they use and nothing more, is now a reality,” he wrote. Eight years later, Ethereum and its native currency, Ether (ETH), has grown to become the second-largest crypto asset in existence, boasting a market capitalization of $225 billion and more than 1,900 monthly active developers.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $28,985, Ether (ETH) at $1,823 and XRP at $0.63. The total market cap is at $1.16 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Helium (HNT) at 39.79%, XDC Network (XDC) at 20.11% and Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) at 18.04%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Compound (COMP) at -18.41%, Curve DAO Token (CRV) at -15.86% and Stellar (XLM) at -14.36%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“The digital asset products and services that TASE is exploring will no doubt play foundational roles in the future of Israel’s economy.”

Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks

“Spot [Bitcoin] ETFs will serve another set of customers in a synergistic fashion to grow the entire asset class.”

Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy

“Generative AI has enormous economic potential and could boost global labor productivity by more than 1 percentage point a year in the decade following widespread usage.”

Goldman Sachs

“I personally have not seen any audit reports of USDT. I don’t think most people I spoke to have not seen that either. So it’s kind of a black box because we just don’t know.”

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of Binance

“As president, on day one, CBDC goes into the trash can — we’re not going to allow it.”

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida

“The most important thing that happened this year in Bitcoin is Larry Fink.”

Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital

Prediction of the Week 

BTC price upside ‘yet to come’ at $29K after Bitcoin RSI reset — Trader

Bitcoin has not yet seen the majority of its gains this cycle, popular traders believe. After over a month of acting within a tight trading range, traders’ patience with Bitcoin is wearing thin, but amid expectations that BTC price will test levels closer to $25,000 or even lower, pseudonymous analyst Credible Crypto is one of those arguing the opposite.

Analyzing data, including Bitcoin market cap dominance and its relative strength index (RSI), he concluded that conditions had been reset. “Biggest upside moves on BTC are YET TO COME,” he summarized, before adding that:

“A month of sideways action on BTC and dominance has simply made a higher low. H12 bullish div confirmed, RSI on higher TF looks reset, maintaining above the ‘magic’ 40 RSI level, who’s ready for the next leg up?”

Continuing, fellow pseudonymous trader CryptoCon flagged RSI over longer timeframes to deliver a similarly bullish take on BTC price performance:

“I see price going sideways, and I’ve never been more bullish! Just wait until we break into phase 2 on the 3 Week RSI… Early bull market price action, period.”

FUD of the Week 

Crypto Twitter has been abuzz with debate after a new conspiracy theory has suggested FTX founder Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried may be secretly behind one of the most controversial new memecoins on Base. The Bald memecoin was launched on July 30 and witnessed an incredible 289,000% gain within the first 24 hours of trading. After the token’s anonymous developer removed thousands of ETH in liquidity, the price of Bald plummeted more than 85% — sparking allegations of a rug pull, which the developer has denied. The incident led a number of blockchain sleuths to dig into the developer’s on-chain past, prompting some to draw a link to SBF as the Ethereum wallet address responsible for deploying the Bald token, which had received thousands of ETH in funding from wallets associated with FTX and Alameda Research.

Individual charged with money laundering admits to hacking Bitfinex in 2016

Ilya Lichtenstein admitted to a U.S. court that he was the individual behind an exploit of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016 which resulted in the theft of roughly 119,754 Bitcoin. Lichtenstein spoke as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, who charged him and his wife Heather Morgan with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The couple allegedly laundered more than 94,643 BTC from the Bitfinex hack — worth roughly $54 million at the time.

Users said CertiK’s warning was a false alarm — then the project rugged

Blockchain security firm Certik tried, in 2022, to warn users of an imminent rug pull surrounding a crypto project, but investors became angry and fired back. The firm rescinded the security alert. Then, the project pulled the plug. This is the story behind the Web3 gaming project “Crypto Cars.” At the time, the project’s native token was rapidly falling in price, its website was temporarily down, and its developers said that it would no longer respond on its Telegram due to the Lunar New Year holiday celebrated in Vietnam. The situation triggered Certik’s alert, but when Cointelegraph attempted to follow up with the project on Aug. 1, 2023, it had long ago shut its doors.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?

While depositing may be easy, what some crypto exchanges do with your money behind the scenes can range from concerning to criminal.

Facebook’s parent company lost over $40 billion in metaverse, text-based Discord RPG uses AI and NFTs, Web3 gets new eSports platform, and more.

Girl Gone Crypto has had a wild ride in the crypto industry, going from posting videos playing her ukulele to getting invited to speak at crypto conferences all over the world.

Top Stories This Week

Judge rules XRP is not a security in SEC’s case against Ripple

Ripple Labs scored a victory in a district court in New York on July 13, with Judge Analisa Torres ruling partially in favor of the company in a case brought forth by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dating back to 2020. According to court documents, Judge Torres granted summary judgment in favor of Ripple Labs, ruling that the XRP token is not a security, but only in regard to programmatic sales on digital asset exchanges. XRP’s price skyrocketed within minutes of the news breaking. The case has been ongoing since December 2020, when the SEC sued Ripple and two of its executives over allegations of offering an unregistered security. Despite the positive outcome, several lawyers warned against celebrating too soon, noting the ruling is only partial and does not set a precedent. In addition, the SEC may appeal the decision, which could result in a reversal by a higher court.

XRP becomes 4th largest crypto after Ripple’s partial win over SEC

XRP has become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization this week after Ripple’s partial victory over the SEC. The price of XRP surged as much as 98% in the hours following the decision, reaching as high as $0.93, according to data from TradingView. Meanwhile, its market cap surged a whopping $21.2 billion to reach a new yearly high of $46.1 billion. The new ruling has also sparked a fresh wave of re-listing activity from mainstay U.S. exchanges, with Coinbase, Kraken and iTrustCapital making the token available for trading on their respective platforms.

Celsius Network fined $4.7B by FTC, and CEO arrested under criminal fraud charges

U.S. authorities have announced charges against the former CEO of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius, Alex Mashinsky, over securities fraud, commodities fraud and wire fraud. Former chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon and Mashinsky will also face charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, market manipulation and wire fraud related to manipulating the price of the Celsius token. Authorities arrested Mashinsky as part of the indictment, which includes seven criminal counts. In parallel, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced a complaint against Celsius along with a $4.7 billion fine, claiming its co-founders marketed the platform as a “safe place” for consumers to deposit their cryptocurrency while misappropriating over $4 billion in consumers’ assets. Under similar allegations, the SEC also filed a lawsuit against the company. While Celsius is cooperating with regulators, Mashinsky pleaded not guilty to charges of misleading customers and inflating the CEL token.

Europe’s first spot Bitcoin ETF eyes 2023 debut after year-long delay

Europe’s first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to debut later this year after a long delay. The Bitcoin ETF, created by London-based Jacobi Asset Management, was set to debut in July 2022 but was postponed due to market conditions. The asset manager now sees a gradual shift in demand compared with 2022. A related development also took place in Argentina this week, as the nation welcomed its first Bitcoin futures contract. According to Matba Rofex, the trading platform behind the investment vehicle, it is the first Bitcoin futures contract in Latin America.

Binance headcount reduction hits 1,000 employees

Binance has reportedly laid off hundreds of employees in recent weeks. According to former employees, cuts were global and customer service workers were heavily affected, particularly in India. Including this week’s layoffs, over 1,000 employees have lost their jobs at the exchange. Before the slash, Binance’s global headcount was estimated at 8,000. The reorganization could cost Binance more than a third of its staff. The crypto exchange announced the 20% reduction in staff on May 31, claiming it was not downsizing but reallocating resources amid the ongoing crackdown in the United States. Binance’s most enduring challenge is reportedly an ongoing investigation of its activities and executives by the U.S. Justice Department.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $30,227, Ether (ETH) at $1,923 and XRP at $0.72. The total market cap is at $1.21 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are XRP (XRP) at 54.20%, Stellar (XLM) at 37.88% and Synthetix (SNX) at 31.92%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are eCash (XEC) at -21.82%, Bitcoin SV (BSV) at -16.75% and Maker (MKR) at -7.87%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“This [Ripple ruling] is a big deal. […] It’s been clear since this case was filed that it would have implications across the entire industry.”

Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation

“What I do think is BlackRock, Invesco [and] the group of ETF providers is a real signal that adoption is coming.”

Mike Novogratz, founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital

“I think the next crypto cycle will be driven by consumer apps that are powered by crypto, but users won’t know it’s crypto unless they look closely.”

0xDesigner, pseudonymous Web3 UI/UX designer

“XRP is not a security. This victory for Ripple is a win for the entire industry and a step toward regulatory clarity in the U.S.”

Ripple Labs, developers of the Ripple payment protocol

“[It] is our expectation that the price of Bitcoin will repeat its historical pattern of rallying both ahead of and following each Bitcoin halving.”

Berenberg Capital Markets, New York-based investment firm

“I think if we want Bitcoin to be more than payments, it needs more scaling solutions.”

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum

Prediction of the Week 

Can XRP price hit $1? Watch these levels next

The price of XRP has skyrocketed after a federal court ruling declared that its sales on crypto exchanges complied with United States securities laws. At its highest during the week, the XRP/USD pair reached $0.93, its best level since December 2021.

Certain indicators show that XRP’s ongoing price pump may not be just a short-term reaction to the positive news for Ripple. For instance, the duration of XRP’s massive pump coincides with its trading volumes reaching a 10-month high. 

The number of XRP whale transactions — wallets holding more than $100,000 — climbed to their best level in 2023, suggesting that the wealthiest investors back the XRP rally. “If key whale and shark addresses are increasing their supply going into this pump, then it is a get foreshadowing signal that the pump may just be getting started,” stated pseudonymous analyst Brian Q from data analytics platform Santiment.

From a technical standpoint, XRP can test the key $1 level in the coming days, but its potential to continue the rally beyond looks weak for the time being. If the XRP price decisively breaks above $1, then its next price target by September will likely be near $1.35.

FUD of the Week 

Blockchain Association calls for investigation into Prometheum over alleged ‘sweetheart’ SEC deal

The Blockchain Association has submitted a letter to the U.S. SEC calling for an investigation into crypto firm Prometheum. In the letter, the Blockchain Association requested the regulator to take a look at Prometheum’s special purpose broker-dealer license approval by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The group also raised concerns about the means by which co-CEO Aaron Kaplan secured a seat testifying before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee in June. Prometheum has reportedly changed its public position from calling for regulatory clarity from the SEC to claiming that “there exists a clear pathway to registration for digital assets and legislation is unnecessary” in the country.

New York prosecutor charges hacker over $9M exploit of Solana-based exchange

A former security engineer for an international technology firm has been arrested and charged for allegedly using a smart contract bug to steal $9 million in cryptocurrency from a Solana-based decentralized crypto exchange. The attack was carried out in July 2022 and involved exploiting a vulnerability in the exchange’s smart contracts to generate inflated fees with flash loans. The exploiter later returned most of the funds but was allowed to keep $1.6 million as a white hat bounty. The indictment indicates that the U.S. Department of Justice will “pursue criminal charges if a person intentionally uses a protocol in a way that it was not *intended* to be used,” crypto lawyer Orlando Cosme said on Twitter.

Algorand decentralized lending protocol Algofi to shut down by end of year

Algofi, the borrowing and lending protocol built on decentralized finance blockchain Algorand, will soon shut down. According to a July 11 announcement, developers’ “belief in the strength of Algorand’s technology and novel consensus algorithm has not wavered.” Liquidity Mining programs will be halted and several collaterals will be reduced to 0% until December. The Algofi protocol has around $25 million in total value locked, down from its $135 million peak in February.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Experts want to give AI human ‘souls’ so they don’t kill us all

If developers make AI more human, it may become our friend instead of enslaving us. But what happens when the software gets upgraded?

Interactive NFTs the future for sport, Vegas Sphere excites: NFT Collector

Tennis, golf and UFC all have a moment in NFT land as the Vegas Sphere makes NFT collectors drool.

China expands CBDC’s tentacles, Malaysia is HK’s new crypto rival: Asia Express

China’s president Xi Jinping expands CBDC cooperation at SCO, Hong Kong’s crypto licensing costs surge, and Multichain is hacked yet again.

Top Stories This Week

US lawmakers file ‘SEC Stabilization Act’ to fire Gary Gensler

United States Representative Warren Davidson has introduced the “SEC Stabilization Act” into the House of Representatives. One of the bill’s main provisions is to fire Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler. The bill would remove Gensler from office and redistribute power between the SEC chair and commissioners. It would also add a sixth commissioner to the agency, disallow any party from holding a majority on the commission and create an executive director position. The SEC declined to comment on the matter.

BlackRock applies for spot Bitcoin ETF — a US first if approved

BlackRock, the world’s largest investment company, has filed an application for a Bitcoin spot exchange traded fund (ETF). It would be the first crypto spot ETF in the United States, if it receives approval. According to the filing, Coinbase Custody Trust Company would be the custodian of the fund and Bank of New York Mellon would custody its fiat. The SEC has not approved a spot Bitcoin ETF so far despite numerous applicants. The world’s first spot traded Bitcoin ETF was Canada’s Purpose Bitcoin ETF, set up in early 2021.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao denies rumors of selling Bitcoin to bolster BNB

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has refuted accusations that Binance has been secretly selling Bitcoin (BTC) to artificially stabilize the price of its BNB token. The rumors have come from several market commentators in the past days, accusing the exchange of intentionally manipulating the market to artificially inflate the value of BNB. CZ said that Binance had not sold any of its BTC or BNB, adding that the crypto exchange still held “a bag” of FTX Token — the native token of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX.

SEC’s Gensler says BTC, ETH ‘not securities’ in a newly surfaced video

A newly surfaced video from 2018 featuring Gary Gensler has made the rounds on social media, showing the now-chair of the U.S. securities regulator again stating that multiple cryptocurrencies are not securities. “Over 70% of the crypto market is Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash. Why did I name those four? They’re not securities,” Gensler says in the video, which is understood to come from a 2018 event hosted by Bloomberg for institutional investors. At the time, Gensler was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The video contrasts with his more recent actions as the chair of the SEC.

Binance​.US hires former SEC enforcement official amid lawsuit

Former SEC enforcement official George Canellos has reportedly been hired by Binance.US as part of the legal team defending the company against allegations of operating as an unregistered securities exchange. In response to the SEC’s action on June 5, Binance.US announced the suspension of U.S. dollar deposits and the potential pausing of fiat withdrawals, citing “extremely aggressive and intimidating tactics” from regulators. On Twitter, a former SEC chief said the exchange is “clearly preparing for a criminal prosecution and continuing to hire the best defense attorneys in the world.”

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $26,349, Ether (ETH) at $1,716 and XRP at $0.47. The total market cap is at $1.06 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are KuCoin Token (KCS) at 9.75%, Maker (MKR) at 8.08% and Quant (QNT) at 4.10%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are EOS (EOS) at -29.88%, ApeCoin (APE) at -26.07% and Flow (FLOW) at -25.93%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Inflation is moving in the right direction but the comments from Jerome Powell signify that rates could stay higher for longer, which would put Bitcoin on the back foot.”

Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro

“Requiring a DEX to register in the same way as a national securities exchange is impossible.”

Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase

“U.S. capital markets must be protected from a tyrannical Chairman, including the current one. It’s time for real reform and to fire Gary Gensler as Chair of the SEC.”

Warren Davidson, United States Representative

“The addressable market for digitizing the world’s assets and transferring value safely across the internet is greater than the sum of all the value of all existing assets.”

Emin Gün Sirer, CEO of Ava Labs

“The banking system is failing. The legacy financial system is failing. […] Nothing works. Only Bitcoin works.”

Samson Mow, CEO of Jan3

“Over 70% of the crypto market is Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash. Why did I name those four? They’re not securities.”

Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin price eases downside as traders demand $24.5K support holds

Bitcoin recovered some lost ground by the end of the week as markets shook off mixed United States macro signals.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD circling $26,000 on June 16 after bouncing over $1,000 from the previous day’s lows when it fell below $25,000 for the first time in three months. The 4% plunge came as the Federal Reserve pressed a pause on interest rates but suggesting more hikes would come later this year.

On short timeframes for BTC/USD, traders are remaining cautious amid the risk of further downside to come. “Still in the area of interest, but need to sustain above $24.5K to avoid a cascade to $23k,” wrote Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight.

FUD of the Week 

Curve pool imbalance triggers USDT depeg concerns, Tether CTO calls it FUD

The Tether (USDT) stablecoin slightly deviated from its U.S dollar peg on June 15 due to an imbalance in Curve’s 3pool. The price of USDT fell by 0.3% to around 0.997 as its weightage in the Curve 3pool increased to over 70% from the usual 33.1%. A significant rise in the weightage of a stablecoin in the pool indicates heavy selling of that asset. Tether’s chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, took to Twitter to assure that the depeg is nothing to worry about and it is ready to redeem any amount.

Leaders of the decentralized autonomous organization governing the ApeCoin ecosystem have been criticized by community members for what they described as “insane” salaries. An organizational chart showed salaries ranging from $7,000 to $75,000 per month, shocking some community members and prompting a slew of inquiries from others. According to a board member, the compensation corresponds to the “responsibility and liability of the role.”

‘Who the hell’ is Prometheum and what did it say to Congress about SEC compliance?

The relatively under-the-radar crypto company Prometheum has been thrust into the spotlight after a recent testimony from its co-founder, Aaron Kaplan, before a U.S. House Committee discussing crypto regulatory clarity. Kaplan’s testimony advocated for regulating crypto under current securities laws — a view also shared by the SEC. He argued that multiple frameworks provided by the SEC have “clearly laid out” a “compliant path forward for crypto,” adding that those arguing for new crypto-specific laws are “simply not willing to comply.”

Best Cointelegraph Features

‘Holy shit, I’ve seen that!’ — Coldie’s Snoop Dogg, Vitalik and McAfee NFTs: NFT Creator

NFT art pioneer Coldie creates crypto culture time capsules about Buffett, Buterin and McAfee — and writes lyrics for Snoop Dogg.

Real Bedford is the “Bitcoin” soccer team that’s made headlines and united BTC evangelists.

AI Eye: Is AI a nuke-level threat? Why AI fields all advance at once, dumb pic puns

Is AI an existential threat like nuclear weapons, or as likely to kill us as a toaster? Why all AI fields advance at once, and dumb pic puns.

Top Stories This Week

Dogecoin investors accuse Elon Musk of insider trading in amended class-action lawsuit

A group of Dogecoin investors has requested leave to amend a class-action lawsuit against tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, alleging he is responsible for insider trading of DOGE and asserting the token is a security under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. According to the complaint, Musk profited off DOGE trading at the expense of other investors by causing the price of the token to spike through actions including changing Twitter’s logo to the Dogecoin logo. As one of the world’s richest people, the Twitter CEO has made frequent statements about Dogecoin to his millions of followers since 2019, often causing the price of the token to surge.

Satoshi Nak-AI-moto: Bitcoin’s creator has become an AI chatbot

Satoshi Nakamoto may have effectively disappeared over 12 years ago, but two artificial intelligence dabblers are seeking to revive the ability to chat with the famed Bitcoin creator. The model, essentially, is OpenAI’s ChatGPT trained on a limited data set, including Nakamoto’s public emails and forum posts, as well as other Bitcoin sources. In testing, the chatbot generates responses that are typically uncertain of the future of fiat currencies and hopeful about Bitcoin. Its goal is to show that AI tools could potentially be used in education, one of the creators said.

Buying a bank won’t solve crypto’s debanking issue — Binance CEO

Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has considered acquiring a bank amid the ongoing debanking of crypto firms across the globe. However, according to CZ, regulatory complexity and capital requirements make it unwise for Binance. “The reality is much more complex than the concept,” said the crypto executive. Binance has recently lost its fiat on-ramp and off-ramp partner in Australia — after difficulties finding a bank partner in the United States earlier this year. The company has been seeking a new payment provider in the country. 

Crypto.com has been granted a major payment institution license for digital payment token (DPT) services in Singapore. With the license, the crypto exchange is now authorized to offer its DPT services to customers in the country. The latest announcement adds to Crypto.com’s track record of securing regulatory licenses. The exchange has also been granted registration and/or licenses in France, the United Kingdom, Dubai, South Korea, Australia, Italy, Greece and Cyprus..

Web3 developer Magic raises $52M in funding led by PayPal Ventures

Wallet-as-a-service provider Magic raised $52 million in a strategic funding round led by PayPal Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from venture firms Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone and Volt Capital, bringing Magic’s total funds raised to over $80 million. Magic’s software is currently used by brands in retail, music, fashion and gaming, including Mattel, Macy’s, Xsolla and Immutable. Founded in 2020, Magic has generated over 20 million unique wallets to date. 

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $27,160, Ether (ETH) at $1,903 and XRP at $0.52. The total market cap is at $1.15 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Injective (INJ) at 22.67%, Quant (QNT) at 18.60% XDC Network (XDC) at 15.92%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Pepe (PEPE) at -14.26%, Kava (KAVA) at -11.13% and Flare (FLR) at -10.80%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“The bear phase is finished. […] I think we’ll see new highs probably in the second half of 2024, 2025. […] We’ll probably hit up to 6-to-8 trillion [in market capitalization].”

Dan Tapiero, founder of 10T Holdings and 1RoundTable Partners

“Are the creators of the AI responsible for creating the tool that’s used to infringe copyright, or is it the people who are actually using that to infringe on copyright?”

Andrew Petale, trademarks attorney at Y Intellectual Property

“The debt ceiling deal once again highlights Bitcoin’s utility because it’s essentially a break away from the traditional financial system.”

Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro

“Even though Ethereum doesn’t have the biggest market cap compared to Bitcoin, I think Ethereum is the front-runner in terms of driving worldwide adoption.”

Roger Ver, early Bitcoin investor and Bitcoin Cash advocate

“Crypto, like the internet before it, has the potential to modernize finance and numerous other sectors, […] by offering a faster, cheaper, more private, and accessible platform.”

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

“By combining the power of cryptography with the power of a decentralized crypto network like Bitcoin, we can bring cost and consequence into cyberspace.”

Michael Saylor, executive chairman of MicroStrategy

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin wicks down to $26.5K, but trader eyes chance for ‘bullish surprise’

On Bitstamp, the BTC/USD pair reached a low of $26,519 this week, showing little signs of a trend change as a stalemate between bulls and bears continued to produce little volatility.

Analyzing the current setup, pseudonymous trader Crypto Ed considered the potential for upside topping out at $27,500. “I do think we go down, but as long as we do not break that $26,000, there is a chance for a bullish surprise,” he said.

To break the current impasse, Crypto Ed continued, Bitcoin would nonetheless need to tackle the area above $27,600. “Now I think we bounce back toward $27,500 — resistance of the previous range high — and from there I will be looking for, possibly, shorts toward $25,000,” he said.

FUD of the Week 

Missing ‘Bitcoin Millionaire’ and ONFO coin co-creator found dead

The co-founder of crypto project ONFO coin has been found dead from an apparent gunshot wound about a week after he went missing. John Forsyth, a crypto advocate and emergency room doctor, was reported missing by relatives after not showing up to his shift in a hospital in Missouri. The ONFO coin project allows users to earn coins by referring others to the platform, a term it calls “network mining.” Forsyth joins a list of crypto advocates and founders that have died under mysterious circumstances.

Jimbos Protocol offers $800K bounty to the public after hacker ignores deal

DeFi platform Jimbos Protocol has offered 10% of the exploited funds to the general public after giving the hacker several days to respond to the deal. The Arbitrum-based DeFi app was exploited on May 28 through a lack of slippage control on liquidity conversions, allowing the exploiter to seize assets worth about $7.5 million. The team behind the exploited protocol attempted to negotiate with the hacker offering a “fast $800k payday” in exchange for the return of 90% of the funds. Now, the protocol has extended the bounty offer to the general public.

Multichain team cannot locate CEO, halts service for affected chains

Cross-chain protocol Multichain revealed that its team has been unable to contact its CEO, Zhaojun, fueling rumors that the protocol’s leadership may have been arrested in China amid ongoing technical issues. The protocol has experienced technical problems over the past week, with transactions delayed across multiple cross-chain bridges. After failing to contact the CEO and lacking permission to address the issue, the team suspended services for over 10 chains on May 31, including KeKchain, Public Mint, DynoChain, Redlight Chain, Dexit, Ekta, High Performance Blockchain, Onus, Omax, Findora and Planq.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Bitcoin is on a collision course with ‘Net Zero’ promises

Every year countries are pressured to ramp up their climate change commitments at the COP conference — and Bitcoin mining is an easy target.

Mad scientist’s NFTs degrade when they’re traded: 0xDEAFBEEF, NFT Creator

Self-proclaimed tinkerer 0xDEAFBEEF has hit it big with audiovisual NFTs that slowly degrade in quality every time they’re traded.

AI Eye: 25K traders bet on ChatGPT’s stock picks, AI sucks at dice throws, and more

Decentralized ledger technology is arguably everything that AI is not: transparent, traceable, trustworthy and tamper-free. Could it offset the opaqueness of AI’s black-box solutions?

Top Stories This Week

Binance suspends deposits for bridged tokens, seeks clarity from Multichain team

Crypto exchange Binance suspended deposits for 10 bridged tokens following days of uncertainty surrounding the Multichain protocol. Transactions on the cross-chain protocol have been delayed over multiple bridges in the past few days, with little information from Multichain’s team about the ongoing issues. In a tweet from May 24, Multichain said that some cross-chain routes were unavailable “due to force majeure,” noting that the time for service restoration was unclear. Binance was not the only company to take steps amid the unexplained downtime — the Fantom Foundation removed 449,740 MULTI ($2.4 million) from liquidity on SushiSwap. The MULTI token plunged during the week. On Twitter, rumors circulated that Multichain’s team had been arrested by the Chinese police, with $1.5 billion of smart contract funds under authorities’ control.

FTX 2.0 launching soon? Court filing shows a reboot plan in the works

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX’s revival plans could soon become reality. According to court filing documents, FTX’s new management had a series of meetings with creditors and debtors in the past month, reviewing plans for restarting the exchange and finalizing the material required for its rebooting as FTX 2.0. The documents also suggest FTX could soon enter into a bidding process. Previous reports pointed out that a reboot could come as early as 2024, as the exchange has already recovered over $7 billion in assets.

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin secures $115M for decentralized ID

The bear market didn’t stop Worldcoin from raising $115 million this week in a Series C round led by Blockchain Capital. Funds will be used to support its decentralized World ID and recently released gas-free crypto wallet, World App. The project was co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and built by Tools for Humanity developers to address issues emerging from the exponential complexity of artificial intelligence, such as proving personhood. Worldcoin’s token, WLD, is not available in the United States and some other countries.

Fahrenheit wins bid to acquire assets of crypto lender Celsius

Crypto consortium Fahrenheit won the bidding war for insolvent crypto lender Celsius Network. The bid incorporates Celsius assets previously valued at nearly $2 billion, including institutional loan portfolio, staked cryptocurrencies, mining unit, alternative assets, and over $450 million in liquid cryptocurrency. Behind the consortium are the venture capital firm Arrington Capital and crypto miner US Bitcoin Corp. While Celsius and its creditors have accepted the bid, regulatory approval is still required to complete the acquisition. Celsius filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2022, contributing to a prolonged “crypto winter” in the industry.

Earlier this week, the crypto community celebrated the 13th anniversary of the first Bitcoin transaction when developer Laszlo Hanyecz made the first documented purchase of a good with BTC. The exchange involved 10,000 BTC — worth $41 at the time — and two pizzas from a local restaurant in Florida. The milestone turned into an annual celebration for the crypto space, with community members reminiscing on how far the industry has come since the transaction. Over a decade on, the pioneer cryptocurrency network faces a new wave of disruption thanks to the advent of Ordinals, highlighting the need for developers and capital to build layer-2 solutions.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $26,737, Ether (ETH) at $1,831 and XRP at $0.46. The total market cap is at $1.12 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Render Token (RNDR) at 16.86%, Kava (KAVA) at 10.71% and Huobi Token (HT) at 9.44%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are GMX (GMX) at -13.35%, Sui (SUI) at -12.38% and Fantom (FTM) -11.00%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“I don’t think many people understand the concept of other people owning their data, so I think blockchain will be a big deal in the future.”

Gary Vaynerchuck, crypto entrepreneur

“Don’t overload Ethereum’s consensus.”

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum

“You have every right to do Bitcoin. The only reason these people in Washington don’t like it, is because they don’t control it.”

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida

“This experience [with Ledger Recover] has been very humbling. […] We understand the community’s direction and apologize for the miscommunication.”

Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger

“[Bitcoin is] so decent. There is no marketing department, there is no foundation, there’s no incentive. That’s why it is grassroots decentralized and most decentralized driven.”

Muneeb Ali, CEO of Trust Machines

“By embracing AI responsibly, we can transform policies to better serve our societies.”

Sabin Dima, CEO of Humans.ai

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin holds $20K realized price as analyst eyes ‘big moves coming’

Bitcoin is at 10-week lows, but one longtime analyst is telling investors to ignore the “panic.”

In a Twitter update on May 25, Philip Swift, creator of data resource LookIntoBitcoin and co-founder of trading suite DecenTrader, eyed a BTC price breakout still in progress. “A lot of panic in the market today,” Swift summarized.

BTC/USD is currently testing the mettle of key moving averages against a backdrop of traders’ downside targets extending to $25,000 and below, Cointelegraph reported. Even Swift believes that Bitcoin could still return to as low as $20,000 in the coming months, despite remaining bullish on higher timeframes.

“Zooming out, bitcoin is actually performing well and as expected for this stage of cycle. A clear BTC breakout above Realized Price,” he added, referring to the aggregate price at which the BTC supply last moved. It currently sits at just above $20,000, according to LookIntoBitcoin.

FUD of the Week 

DeFi protocol WDZD Swap exploited for $1.1M: CertiK

DeFi protocol WDZD Swap was recently exploited for $1.1 million worth of Binance-Pegged Ether. According to a report from blockchain security firm CertiK, a known exploiter labeled “Fake_Phishing750” by BSCScan created the contract that later drained the tokens from the protocol. Once the malicious contract was created, the attacker used it to perform nine transactions that drained the funds from the Swap LP contract where the ETH had been deposited. Fake_Phishing750 was responsible for an attack on another protocol called “Swap X,” CertiK stated.

ETH can be both a security and a commodity, former CFTC commissioner says

Ethereum’s native token, Ether, may be both a commodity and a security, the former commissioner of the United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission, Dan Berkovitz, has claimed. The CFTC regulates futures and swaps on commodities, while the SEC solely regulates securities. However, if something is a commodity in the eyes of the CFTC as well as a security under the SEC’s definition, it’s entirely possible for both regulatory bodies to have jurisdiction over it.

Binance denies fund mismanagement allegations, calls it ‘conspiracy theory’

Binance denied allegations of mismanagement of customers’ funds, in response to a Reuters report claiming the crypto exchange commingled customer’s funds with company revenue. As per Reuters’s sources, Binance allegedly blended billions of dollars of corporate revenue and customer funds between 2020 and 2021, with the majority of commingling taking place on accounts held at now-bankrupt Silvergate Bank. On Twitter, Binance chief of communication Patrick Hillmann called the report “1000 words of conspiracy theories.”

Best Cointelegraph Features

Getting a home loan using crypto collateral: Insane or just risky?

Crypto investors are often wealthy on paper but can’t get a home loan from a bank. But putting your Bitcoin up as collateral for a mortgage is super risky.

Ethereum is ‘woefully undervalued’ but growing more powerful: DeFi Dad, Hall of Flame

DeFi Dad has dabbled in everything from selling cameras to delivering food, but it was his crypto insights that amassed him a whopping 152,100 followers on Twitter.

Crypto City: Guide to Osaka, Japan’s second-biggest city

Decentralized ledger technology is arguably everything that AI is not: transparent, traceable, trustworthy and tamper-free. Could it offset the opaqueness of AI’s black-box solutions?

Top Stories This Week

Memecoin hype drives Bitcoin transaction fees to multi-year highs

The ongoing trading frenzy of memecoins like Pepe has triggered an unwanted consequence for Bitcoin (BTC) — raising its transaction costs to their highest point in two years. On May 3, the total amount of fees paid on the Bitcoin blockchain reached $3.5 million, jumping about 400% from late April. Bitcoin’s BRC-20 token standard has become the latest trend in the crypto ecosystem amid the rise of memecoins. A total of 8,500 different tokens have been minted using the BRC-20 standard. Gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain have also recently been skyrocketing to new multi-month highs.

Bitcoin miners earned $50B from BTC block rewards, fees since 2010

Amid an ongoing debate over miner costs and susceptibility to Bitcoin price dips, new figures suggest that miners are firmly in the black in the long term. Calculations from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode suggest that since 2010, fees and block reward subsidies have netted miners billions. Miners’ total all-time income is almost 40% higher than their estimated costs, coming in at $50.2 billion versus $36.6 billion, respectively.

‘Godfather of AI’ resigns from Google, warns of the dangers of AI

Artificial intelligence pioneer and former Google employee Dr. Geoffrey Hinton shared his concerns about the technology that he helped develop over the past several years. According to the neural networks expert, AI could pose a threat to humanity in the future as it learns unexpected behaviors from the massive amounts of data it analyzes. He is also concerned at the continuing AI arms race to develop lethal autonomous weapons systems, as well as an increased number of fake photos, videos and text flooding the internet.

Balaji pays out his crazy $1M Bitcoin bet, 97% under price target

A wild Bitcoin price wager between former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan and pseudonymous Twitter user James Medlock has been settled 45 days ahead of time for $1.5 million. Medlock offered to bet anyone $1 million that the United States would not experience hyperinflation on March 17. The ex-Coinbase executive accepted the bet, predicting the U.S. dollar would deflate due to inflation and, as a result, BTC would reach $1 million within 90 days. In the deal, Medlock netted $500,000, while another $1 million went to two organizations.

Microsoft axes Bing wait list, giving users free access to GPT-4

Microsoft recently announced a number of new AI-powered features for its Bing chatbot and Edge web browser, including full access to the GPT-4 model — the same underlying engine that powers the ChatGPT Plus subscription service. The new features won’t require any purchases or subscriptions, though users will need a free Microsoft account to take advantage of the Bing chatbot’s full suite of functions. By contrast, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus service costs $20 per month for access to the same GPT-4 model.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $29,618, Ether (ETH) at $1,991 and XRP at $0.46. The total market cap is at $1.22 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Pepe (PEPE) at 961.32%, FLOKI (FLOKI) at 35.36% and Rocket Pool (RPL) at 10.15%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Sui (SUI) at -70.87%, Immutable (IMX) at -10.68% and Cronos (CRO) at -10.06%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“Even in the U.S. where that [CDBC] was for quite some time a topic of not great interest, now there is engagement, and for the right reason. The future has arrived.”

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund

“I spent my own money to send a provably costly signal that there’s something wrong with the economy, and that it’s not going to be a ‘soft landing’ like Powell promises — but something much worse.”

Balaji Srinivasan, former chief technology officer at Coinbase

“There’s going to be very few people over the next 10 years that don’t have some involvement in this [crypto] sector.”

Lisa Cameron, member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

“It’s this uncertainty that permeates everything. You just don’t know what’s coming next or where it’s going to come from or why or how in the U.S.”

Oliver Linch, CEO of Bittrex Global

“I console myself with the normal excuse: If I hadn’t done it [co-developed modern artificial intelligence], somebody else would have.”

Geoffrey Hinton, artificial intelligence pioneer known as the “Godfather of AI”

“Well, I think we have both, and I think it’s somewhat naive to say that this [banking crisis] is just limited to First Republic.”

Bob Michele, chief investment officer of J.P. Morgan Asset Management

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin price sets new May high above $29.5K as traders eye breakout

Bitcoin eyed a reclaim of further lost ground on May 5 as $30,000 remained in play. The BTC/USD pair had dipped with United States equities at the Wall Street open the day prior, but the weakness was short-lived as $29,000 support returned.

Popular pseudonymous trader Alan, also known as Trader Tardigrade, was optimistic about upside continuation, which could mimic its breakout from late 2020. “#Bitcoin has entered the phase of ‘Storing of power,’” he told Twitter followers alongside a comparative chart, adding that the moment was the preparation for an “incoming Bull Run.”

FUD of the Week 

Argentina’s central bank halts cryptocurrencies from payment apps

Argentina’s central bank banned payment providers from offering crypto transactions, alleging it intends to reduce the country’s payment-system exposure to digital assets. Cryptocurrencies are not regulated in Argentina, which means all coins and tokens are subject to the decision. Argentina’s fintech chamber urged the government to reconsider the decision.

FBI, Ukraine seize 9 exchange domains on money laundering allegations

Nine digital currency exchanges allegedly aiding and abetting cybercriminals had their domains seized by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation and Ukrainian law enforcement. The seized domains included 24xbtc.com, 100btc.pro, pridechange.com, trust-exchange.org and bitcoin24.exchange. Each website reportedly offered anonymous crypto exchange services, skirting many of the rules and regulations required from a licensed firm.

Darknet hackers are selling crypto accounts for as low as $30 a pop

Cybercriminals from the shadowy parts of the internet are reportedly selling hacked, verified crypto accounts on the darknet for as low as just $30 apiece. Hacked accounts can be used to illegally evade Know Your Customer measures on popular cryptocurrency exchanges. But cryptocurrency accounts aren’t the only items on the list — account information for credit cards with balances of up to $5,000 are sold for just $110, while login credentials for online bank accounts with balances of up to $2,000 are sold for $60.

Best Cointelegraph Features

How to control the AIs and incentivize the humans with crypto?

Some experts believe that AI needs to be controlled by decentralized networks. Others say tokens can be used to incentivize humans to prepare the data sets.

Joe Lubin: The truth about ETH founders split and ‘Crypto Google’

The Ethereum co-founder talks about ancient history, what’s next for MetaMask and Infura and what the future holds for the No. 2 cryptocurrency.

Your guide to the exhilarating and terrifying world of runaway AI development.

Top Stories This Week

Ethereum’s Shapella hard fork executed on mainnet

The Ethereum blockchain’s mainnet, also referred to as the Beacon Chain, implemented the Shapella hard fork on April 12. The upgrade made fund withdrawals possible for those who have staked the network’s Ether (ETH) asset. Within the first hour of the hard fork, a total of 12,859 Ether were unlocked in 4,333 withdrawals, according to Ethereum block explorer beaconchai.in. Nearly a day after the upgrade, ETH surpassed the $2,000 price point.

FTX has recovered $7.3B in assets, will consider rebooting exchange

A comeback for FTX is on the table, according to the legal team of the bankrupted crypto exchange. In an April 12 hearing, FTX’s lawyers said the company had already recovered about $7.3 billion in liquid assets and was considering restarting its crypto exchange operations in the second quarter of 2024, suggesting a reboot as early as April. After the news broke, FTX token (FTT) surged over 112%. Meanwhile in Europe, a Swiss court approved the sale of the firm’s European operations.

OpenAI finds fresh support from Japan amid global country-wide bans

Japan is interested in potentially using technology from artificial intelligence (AI) outfit OpenAI — the creator of chatbot ChatGPT — depending on the resolution of issues relating to cybersecurity and privacy. The interest was expressed by Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, aims to work with Japan to build technology for the country. OpenAI has faced opposition from multiple countries, however. The artificial intelligence race has also accelerated this week with Amazon, Alibaba and Twitter working on their own AI initiatives.

Twitter to launch crypto and stock trading in partnership with eToro

Twitter is reportedly planning to introduce a new feature that lets users trade cryptocurrencies and stocks. The feature will allow users to browse market charts for a wider variety of financial instruments, as well as purchase or sell crypto and other assets through Twitter’s partner fintech firm, eToro. Musk had earlier floated the idea of making Twitter a “super app,” offering users access to several online services in one place.

Mastercard launches NFT-gated musician accelerator program

Mastercard is one of several traditional finance companies that have ventured into the Web3 arena in recent years. Most recently, on April 12, the company announced its new artist accelerator program with a Web3 twist: The program is NFT-gated and, therefore, only accessible to holders of its Mastercard Music Pass NFT. The NFT is limited-edition and free until the end of the month for both musicians and fans, while the program was created in partnership with Polygon.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $30,439, Ether (ETH) at $2,105 and XRP at $0.52. The total market cap is at $1.28 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Injective (INJ) at 54.92%, WOO Network (WOO) at 46.91% and Arbitrum (ARB) at 42.04%.  

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Enjin Coin (ENJ) at -6.49%, Basic Attention Token (BAT) at -2.89% and BitTorrent New (BTT) at -1.19%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“If we want a strong U.S. dollar globally, a U.S. dollar stablecoin is a way to see that happen.”

Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation

“Bitcoin is a gambling token, and it doesn’t have any intrinsic value.”

Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

“There is a very natural tendency to borrow traditional financial industry regulations to apply to crypto. Crypto is different from banks and traditional financial industries.”

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance

“[NFT warranties] will provide a sense of security and trust, which will encourage more non-native crypto users to join the Web3 space with minimal risk.”

George Basiladze, CEO of Wert

“The road of innovation and technological change has never been smooth sailing.”

Paul Chan, financial secretary of Hong Kong

“There is no difference in privacy or surveillance whether you are using your Visa card or a CBDC.”

Aaron Klein, former chief economist of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee

Prediction of the Week 

Bitcoin price spikes above $31K as Ethereum gains spark ‘altseason’ calls

Bitcoin enjoyed some positive action this week, poking through the $31,000 price level, according to Cointelegraph’s BTC price index. Michaël van de Poppe, CEO and founder of trading firm Eight, pointed to a few price points of potential interest.

“Bitcoin looks strong, but will have some shallow corrections in an upward trend,” he noted via an April 14 tweet. “I’ve marked $31.7-32K as important resistance point.”

“However, $25K was the level everyone wanted to buy. This will probably shift to $28.5K, and then nobody buys. I’d prefer to focus on $29.7K,” van de Poppe added.

The Ethereum blockchain’s native asset, ETH, also enjoyed some positive price action during the week. Excitement at the potential prospect of some form of altseason was expressed in the crypto community this week.

FUD of the Week 

Hacker mints 1 quadrillion yUSDT after exploiting old Yearn.finance contract

A hacker exploited an old contract from Yearn Finance, creating a massive amount of the stablecoin yUSDT tokens, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield. The hacker swapped the yUSDT to other stablecoins, allowing them to take hold of $11.6 million worth of stablecoins. At least 1,000 Ether ($2 million) has been transferred to the crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

Crypto exchange Bitrue suffers $23M hack due to hot wallet exploit

Almost $23 million was pilfered from centralized crypto exchange Bitrue due to an exploit. The outfit saw its hot wallet hacked but was able to limit the damage after swiftly jumping into action. The apprehended sum totals less than 5% of funds on the exchange, and the outfit has suspended withdrawals while performing an investigation, with withdrawals planned for resumption on April 18. The hack did not affect the platform’s other wallets, according to Bitrue. “All identified users who are affected by this incident will be compensated in full,” the exchange also noted.

US court issues summons to Tron’s Justin Sun, threatens default judgment if no response

A United States court has issued a summons to Tron founder Justin Sun’s Singapore address in connection to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil case. In March, the SEC filed a civil lawsuit against Sun, the Tron Foundation, the BitTorrent Foundation and Rainberry over the “orchestration of the unregistered offer and sale, manipulative trading, and unlawful touting” of Tron TRX as a crypto asset security. Sun will face “judgment by default” if he does not get in touch with SEC attorney Adam Gottlieb within a certain time window.

Best Cointelegraph Features

ZK-rollups are ‘the endgame’ for scaling blockchains: Polygon Miden founder

He got his start in ZK-rollups after Vitalik Buterin saw his work on Eth Research — now he’s heading up Polygon’s game-changing ZK project Miden.

Why join a blockchain gaming guild? Fun, profit and create better games

You can help create better blockchain games by joining a gaming guild… and have some fun, too.

Pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton ‘10x more into BTC, 4x more into ETH’: Hall of Flame

Former aspiring rapper and pro-XRP lawyer John Deaton predicts XRP will top its all-time high if Ripple wins the SEC lawsuit.