Bitcoin Price: US$ 57,529.23 (-2.77%)
Ethereum Price: US$ 2,425.29 (-4.44%)
The FBI has issued a warning about North Korean cyber actors targeting cryptocurrency firms through sophisticated social engineering schemes, aiming to steal funds by impersonating well-known individuals and distributing malware. Despite these security threats, the Bitcoin network has achieved a new all-time high in hashrate, although miners are grappling with increased costs and declining revenue, prompting some to explore renewable energy and diversification into AI and high-performance computing. Amid these developments, 21.co has launched a new Bitcoin wrapper on Ethereum, expanding its suite of wrapped tokens with enhanced security and asset management practices, while rival Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) faces scrutiny over its custodian BitGo’s controversial partnership with BiT Global. The launch of 21BTC seeks to boost liquidity and interoperability across multiple blockchain networks, offering a competitive alternative in the wrapped asset space.
Matter Labs has announced a restructuring plan, resulting in a 16% workforce reduction as the company adapts to the decentralised evolution of its ZKsync ecosystem, while maintaining its commitment to supporting blockchain projects and ongoing development within the ecosystem. Meanwhile, Offchain Labs has launched the Arbitrum Stylus mainnet, enabling developers to build on Arbitrum using familiar languages like Rust and C++, potentially improving the speed and efficiency of decentralised applications by up to 70 times compared to Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) programs, which is expected to lower costs and expand the design space for Web3 applications. In a separate development, a wallet linked to Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon has moved $62 million worth of Bitcoin, raising questions about Kwon’s involvement as he remains entangled in legal battles over the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, with both the U.S. and South Korean governments seeking his extradition amid ongoing legal proceedings in multiple jurisdictions.
Aave and Sky (formerly Maker) are exploring a partnership to bridge decentralised finance (DeFi) with traditional finance (TradFi) through a collaboration known as the Sky Aave Force, proposed by Phoenix Labs. This initiative aims to drive mass adoption of DeFi by integrating Sky’s USDS stablecoin into Aave’s platform, establishing a market for USDS, enhancing yield opportunities, and creating synergies between the two protocols. Meanwhile, Hamster Kombat, a viral Telegram-based game with over 300 million players, is leading mainstream Web3 gaming adoption, according to Yat Siu of Animoca Brands. The game is preparing for what it claims will be the largest airdrop in crypto history, with Siu and others viewing Telegram and TON (The Open Network) as pivotal for expanding Web3 games’ reach, potentially onboarding hundreds of millions of users through simple and accessible blockchain-based apps. At Korea Blockchain Week 2024, Dan Albert, executive director of the Solana Foundation, addressed concerns about Solana’s decentralisation following a coordinated patch deployment. Albert emphasised that coordinating fixes among 1,500 block-producing nodes worldwide does not imply centralisation, clarifying that while the patch was necessary due to a critical vulnerability, Solana’s validator count and open-source software reinforce its decentralised nature despite previous accusations.
South Korean authorities have launched a preliminary investigation into Telegram Messenger over alleged involvement in deepfake-related crimes, marking the first such probe in the country as part of its ongoing battle against online sex crimes. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency is investigating Telegram for “abetting deepfake sex crimes,” following a similar move by France. While Telegram has complied with requests to remove illicit content, challenges persist due to the platform’s reluctance to share user data. Meanwhile, Justin Sun, founder of Tron, has introduced a 100% onchain buyback and burn process for the SunPump meme token, shifting from the initial plan to burn liquidity pool (LP) tokens after the community found the method complex. This new approach ensures all transactions are recorded onchain for transparency, mirroring practices by entities like Binance. SunPump has recently outperformed its predecessor, Pump.fun, in daily revenue and activity. In another development, Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, has analysed why Federal Reserve interest rate cuts may not be benefiting Bitcoin. He attributes this to reverse repurchase agreements (RRPs), which offer higher interest rates than Treasury bills, attracting large money market funds and reducing liquidity for risk-on assets like Bitcoin. Hayes’ insights challenge the common belief that rate cuts are inherently favourable for Bitcoin.
Source: https://cointelegraph.com
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