Coin Bureau Insider

6️⃣ ZkSync Teases V24 Upgrade, Hints at Airdrop By End of June 🔍

In an X post on Friday, Ethereum layer-2 network ZkSync announced that the protocol’s v24 upgrade would come sometime this summer. The protocol stated that v24 was the “final planned protocol upgrade” before handing over network governance to the community. Some traders see the announcement as a sign that the network will conduct an airdrop this summer.

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🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (18/05/24)

1️⃣ Feds Charge Chinese Nationals in $73 Million 'Pig Butchering' Crypto Scam ❓

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly arrested two Chinese nationals accused of orchestrating a large-scale cryptocurrency operation that involved laundering over $73 million from ‘pig butchering’ crypto scams. The DOJ has charged them with committing money laundering and six counts of international money laundering.

The DOJ said,

The fraud scheme involved more than $73 million laundered through U.S. financial institutions to bank accounts in the Bahamas and converted to the virtual asset USDT, or Tether. A cryptocurrency wallet involved in the scheme received more than $341 million in virtual assets.

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2️⃣ Kraken Considers Dropping USDT In Europe Ahead Of New Regulations 🔽

Crypto exchange Kraken is reportedly considering removing support for Tether’s USDT stablecoin in the European Union after the region approved the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).

Kraken stated it is “actively reviewing” plans to comply with the upcoming MiCA framework. Notably, MiCA will be applied in two phases. The first phase will see rules applicable to stablecoins (asset-referenced, or ARTs, and e-money tokens, or EMTs) coming into force on June 30, 2024, while the second phase will see rules applicable to crypto service providers coming into force on Dec. 30, 2024. Tether has responded to Kraken’s remarks by stating that it expects exchanges to “rightfully focus on EUR liquidity for European customers, while maintaining USDT as an on-ramp off-ramp solution.”

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3️⃣ Dolce & Gabbana Faces Class-Action Lawsuit After Alleged NFT Delivery Delay ▶️

According to a Bloomberg report, a disgruntled customer has filed a class-action lawsuit against Italian fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana and digital assets platform UNXD after alleged delays in delivering NFT products caused the digital assets to lose 97% of their value. The customer identified as Luke Brown reportedly paid $6,000 for “DGFamily NFTs,” a Dolce & Gabbana product combining digital and physical assets as privileges and experiences within the brand’s greater ecosystem.

The complaint alleged the company promised that the NFTs came with outfits to wear in the metaverse. However, the digital outfits reportedly showed up 20 days behind schedule and token holders still couldn’t actually use them for another 11 days because the fashion brand had failed to get approval from the metaverse platform ahead of time.

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4️⃣ Coinbase Says Market 'Underestimating' Timing And Odds Of Spot Ethereum ETF Approval 🤔

In a recently published report, Coinbase institutional research analyst David Han stated that the market may be underestimating the chances for a potential approval of the spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds. Notably, the SEC has key deadlines coming up on May 23 and May 24 to decide whether to approve the applications for spot Ethereum ETFs submitted by VanEck and ArkInvest/21 Shares, respectively.

Han stated,

We think the market may be underestimating the timing and odds of a potential approval. Ether may yet have the potential to surprise to the upside in the coming months [and] does not appear to have major sources of supply-side overhangs such as token unlocks or miner sell pressure.

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5️⃣ Genesis Global Secures Court Approval For $3B Payout ‼️

Bankrupt crypto lender Genesis Global has reportedly secured court approval to return about $3 billion in cash and cryptocurrency to its creditors. Notably, this decision leaves its parent company, Digital Currency Group (DCG), with no recovery from the bankruptcy.

Judge Sean Lane also overruled an objection raised by DCG, which argued that Genesis should pay its customers and creditors no more than the value of the crypto assets in January 2023, when Genesis filed for bankruptcy. Lane dismissed DCG’s legal challenge, stating in a 135-page ruling that Genesis’ parent company lacked the legal standing to contest the Chapter 11 plan.

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🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (17/05/24)

1️⃣ Memecoin Launcher Pump.Fun Claims Ex-Employee Behind $1.9M Exploit ‼️

Yesterday, Solana-based memecoin launchpad pump.fun suffered an exploit that resulted in over $1.9M being stolen from the total $45 million held in pump.fun’s bonding curve contracts. This left the platform compromised and prompted its leadership to temporarily shut the site down.

In its post-mortem report on the attack, the memecoin launchpad identified a former employee as the person behind the exploit that occurred on the platform. The former employee reportedly used their privileged position to gain admin privileges. They then used flash loans to buy out memecoins until they reached 100% on their bonding curves, allowing them to gain liquidity to repay the loans. Pump.fun has announced that it has upgraded its contracts and that it plans to compensate affected users by seeding the LPs for each affected coin with an equal or greater amount of SOL liquidity within the next 24 hours.

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2️⃣ US Senate Passes Measure Withdrawing SEC Accounting Bulletin ▶️

The U.S. Senate has reportedly joined the House of Representatives in voting to approve a resolution rejecting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) controversial cryptocurrency accounting guidance known as SAB 121. The Senate voted 60-38 on the effort to overturn the policy.

Notably, SAB 121 requires firms, including banks, that custody crypto to record customer crypto holdings as liabilities on their balance sheets. The resolution passed by the Senate seeks to formally disapprove of the SEC's guidance, with support from both Democrats and Republicans. The measure will now go to President Joe Biden's desk, who has previously stated that he will veto the resolution.

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3️⃣ Telegram-Based Notcoin Debuts at $1B FDV on Ton Blockchain 🕯

Yesterday, Notcoin (NOT), a token belonging to the viral telegram clicker game of the same name, officially began trading on spot markets. The token debuted with a fully diluted value (FDV) of $1 billion and racked up $294 million in trading volume within the first hour of trading. Notcoin has a maximum supply of 102 billion, with 3% allocated to Binance Launchpool users and a further 1.5% set aside for OKX Jumpstart users.

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4️⃣ Alameda's Sam Trabucco Resurfaces to Defend FTX Exec Ahead of Sentencing ☄️

Sam Trabucco, the former Alameda Research co-CEO, reportedly sent a character reference letter dated May 6 for former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame. Trabucco stated Salame was his best friend and wanted the consequences of his criminal actions to be “fair” based on his role in misappropriating FTX user funds.

The letter reads,

Ryan deserves to face the consequences of his actions — he intimately understands that. All I want is for those consequences to be fair — for him, but also for the world, which will be so much worse off not having him fully in it.

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5️⃣ Notorious Pink Drainer Retires After Hitting $85M Theft Milestone 🔍

Pink Drainer, a notorious crypto-wallet draining kit, published a sudden telegram announcement declaring that it would be retiring its services. The announcement comes after the service reached its goal of helping steal over $85 million in crypto assets. Pink has since deleted the entire Telegram chat record. The Pink Drainer Telegram channel has now rebranded to “Bonadifier” and features an image of Bonad — a drainer with a mental disability — and the message, “never forget what he took from you.”

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🚨 New Video Alert!! 🚨

What if your place in society was determined by a government algorithm? A system that scores everything you say and do, and punishes you in real time for incorrect speech and behaviour?

This is the dystopian nightmare conjured up by the words “Social Credit System”.

The Social Credit System is a very real policy in China. But how many of us know exactly what it is, or how it really works?

Today we have all the answers: what it is, how it came about, and just how worried we should be about it.

This is a video you can’t afford to miss!

🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (16/05/24)

1️⃣ Feds Arrest Crypto Bros for 'Attacking Ethereum' With MEV Exploit ❓

The United States Department of Justice has reportedly arrested two brothers - Anton and James Pepaire-Bueno, for attacking the Ethereum blockchain and stealing $25 million of cryptocurrency during a 12-second exploit. The brothers were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The exploit was reportedly focused on manipulating the maximum extractable value (MEV) in the Ethereum blockchain. In this case, the brothers allegedly deployed a series of test transactions that ultimately allowed them to have the blockchain “prematurely release the full content of a proposed block” and steal the crypto. The DOJ’s charges are significant because they represent a first-of-its-kind criminal action from the U.S. government related to the controversial practice of MEV. The government also suggested in the indictment that the very existence of MEV illustrates how Ethereum itself is a vulnerable system.

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2️⃣ Bitcoin Self-Custody Enshrined As a Right In Oklahoma 💸

Oklahoma has become the first U.S. state to pass a law protecting the right to self-custody Bitcoin. Notably, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed the ‘Bitcoin Rights’ bill – HB3594 - into law on Monday. The bill enshrines Oklahomans’ legal right to mine, transact with, and self-custody cryptocurrencies, boosting the state’s reputation for being a friendly destination for crypto companies and investors.

The bill, HB3594, was introduced by Republican state Rep. Brian Hill and carried in the Senate by Republican state Sen. Bill Coleman. The bill also determines that digital assets used as payment cannot be subject to any additional taxes or charges over other methods. It was inspired by model policy from state-focused bitcoin mining advocacy group Satoshi Action Fund, which has helped introduce similar legislation in 15 other states.

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3️⃣ Eclipse Labs Promotes Vijay Chetty to CEO Nearly a Week After Neel Somani's Ouster 🔍

Eclipse Labs has reportedly appointed its former Chief Growth Officer, Vijay Chetty, as its new CEO. The development comes a week after its former CEO Neel Somani stepped down amid sexual assault allegations. Eclipse noted that Chetty brings over “a decade of crypto-native experience”, having held leadership positions at Uniswap Labs, dYdX Trading, and Ripple Labs in addition to having investing experience at BlackRock.

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4️⃣ Humanity Protocol Becomes Crypto’s New Digital Identity Unicorn 💰

Decentralised identity solution Humanity Protocol has officially become a unicorn after raising $30 million at a $1B valuation in a recent seed funding round. The round was led by Kingsway Capital and saw participation from investors such as Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com, Hashed, and Shima Capital among others. Humanity Protocol is reportedly planning to use the funds to expand its product development unit ahead of its public testnet launch in the second half of 2024.

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5️⃣ Futures Exchange CME Plans To Launch Spot Bitcoin Trading ⚡️

According to a Financial Times report, the world’s largest futures exchange ‘CME Group’ is planning to launch spot bitcoin trading for its clients. The Chicago-based group has reportedly been holding discussions with traders who want to buy and sell Bitcoin on a regulated marketplace. The report noted that CME's spot trading business could be run through the EBS currency trading venue in Switzerland. The spot market is expected to complement CME’s existing standard and micro futures contracts, which are widely considered a proxy for institutional activity.

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🚨 New Video Alert!! 🚨

Speculation isn’t the only reason why people adopt Bitcoin. Besides entertainment, people use BTC because they must. It’s easy to forget that most of the world is using fiat currencies that are failing.

As more fiat currencies have started to falter, BTC adoption has increased, so much so that it’s starting to attract the attention of the likes of the IMF, which recently analysed BTC’s cross-border flows.

Believe it or not, but BTC’s cross border flows make up a significant portion of the GDP of most countries. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Today we will show you what lies underneath.

Enjoy!

🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (15/05/24)

1️⃣ Lending Protocol Sonne Finance Faces $20 Million Exploit, Pauses Markets On Optimism 🥶

Decentralised lending protocol Sonne Finance has reportedly experienced an exploit that resulted in losses of approximately $20 million. The exploit was due to a vulnerability in Compound v2 forks, and the hacker used a known donation attack to exploit the protocol.

The exploit on Sonne Finance’s USDC and WETH contracts was detected by Web3 security firm Cyvers. Since detection, Sonne Finance has paused all markets on Optimism while keeping those on Base operational. The team is offering a bounty to the attacker in exchange for the return of the funds and is currently investigating the identity of the exploiter.

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2️⃣ Degen Chain Back Online After Two-Day Hiatus 🤔

Ethereum layer-3 blockchain Degen Chain is back online after a two-day outage. The chain had been unusable since it effectively shut down at 20:15 UTC on May 12. Specifically, it failed to validate a transaction or produce a new block in over 53 hours.

The protocol relies on Conduit, a rollup infrastructure platform, for its technical framework and operational support, particularly for managing transactions and data availability. Conduit attributed the downtime to a "custom config change" that halted block production for Degen Chain.

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3️⃣ Vanguard Appoints Bitcoin-Friendly Former Blackrock ETF Lead As CEO ☄️

Investment management firm Vanguard has confirmed the appointment of Bitcoin-friendly former BlackRock executive Salim Ramji as its new CEO and member of the board, effective July 8. Ramji previously led BlackRock’s global exchange-traded fund business, overseeing the launch of its IBIT spot bitcoin ETF in the U.S. Notably, Ramji’s appointment comes as a surprise given Vanguard’s negative stance on bitcoin and Ramji’s known interest in the industry.

Ramji stated,

It's an honour to join Vanguard, an institution I have long admired and respected. I am drawn to Vanguard because of the firm's clarity and consistency of purpose and am very excited to get to work and partner with the outstanding leadership team to lead the company into the future.

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4️⃣ Solana-Based Cypher Developer Confesses To Gambling Away $300K Of User Funds 😐

Hoak, a core contributor to the Solana-based exchange Cypher Protocol, has admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies from Cypher's hack reimbursement fund. He claimed to have gambled the funds away. Hoak withdrew various cryptocurrencies from Cypher's redemption contract, including ETH, WSOL, and BONK, across 36 transactions. The theft was discovered by Barrett, another Cypher contributor, who reported them to law enforcement. Hoak attributed his behaviour to worsening mental health and gambling addiction.

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5️⃣ State of Wisconsin Buys Nearly $100M Worth of BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF ‼️

In a May 14 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. state of Wisconsin revealed that it had purchased 94,562 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in the first quarter of the year. The shares are worth nearly $100 million. Wisconsin is the first state to disclose the purchase of bitcoin. The investment board also purchased shares of Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) worth roughly $64 million.

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6️⃣ Former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo Joins Paxos Board ▶️

J. Christopher Giancarlo, the former chair of the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) known by many as ‘Crypto Dad,’ has reportedly joined the board of directors for crypto firm Paxos. Paxos is the company behind the U.S. dollar-pegged Pax Dollar (USDP) and also issued PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin.

Giancarlo stated,

Paxos’s commitment to compliance and dedication to building a more efficient and inclusive financial system resonates deeply with me. I look forward to leveraging my expertise to help guide Paxos as it continues to revolutionize traditional finance.

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🚨 New Video Alert!! 🚨

If you thought that central banks like the Fed are the ones controlling the markets, think again. Some time ago, the baton of control was passed from monetary policy to fiscal policy AKA the Treasury.

Understanding this is critical to forecasting where markets are headed next, which is why we decided to do a video about this topic. Spoiler: it’s basically a crash course in macro and how it affects markets.

By the end of this video, you’ll know only understand how the Treasury has been controlling the markets, but why it’s been doing it, and what could come next for your portfolio.

Enjoy!

However, despite announcing that Coinbase systems are fully operational, some users have reported facing technical difficulties. Coinbase’s status page has also noted that it has been facing “degraded transactions” on May 14 but said that the incident has been resolved as of 4:19 am UTC, along with the system-wide outage.

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🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (14/05/24)

1️⃣ Crypto Prime Brokerage Firm Falcon Labs Settles With CFTC Over Registration Violation ❓

Crypto prime brokerage firm Falcon Labs, Ltd. has reportedly paid $1.8 million in disgorgement and penalties to settle with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission after the agency said it should have been registered as a futures commission merchant (FCM).

The CFTC said Falcon Labs was an "intermediary facilitating its customers’ trading on various digital asset exchanges." The CFTC also noted that Monday’s order was the "first action against an unregistered FCM that inappropriately facilitated access to digital asset exchanges."

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2️⃣ DYdX Founder Antonio Juliano to Step Down as CEO of the Decentralised Exchange; Ivo Crnkovic-Rubsamen Takes Over ⚡️

Antonio Juliano, the founder of decentralised crypto exchange dYdX, is reportedly stepping down as CEO after seven years of heading the crypto derivatives platform. Juliano announced his decision to move from the exchange's daily operations to the position of chairman and president. Ivo Crnkovic-Rubsamen, dYdX’s former chief strategy officer, will be replacing Juliano as CEO.

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3️⃣ Biden Orders Removal Of Chinese-Owned Crypto Miner Near Missile Base 🧐

U.S. President Joe Biden has signed an order preventing MineOne Cloud Computing Investment - a China-linked crypto mining firm, from continuing to use land near a Wyoming nuclear missile base. Specifically, the order forces MineOne and its partners to remove all the improvements and mining equipment on the property located within a mile of the military facility in Cheyenne – a base that houses Minuteman III nuclear missiles.

Biden stated,

There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that MineOne Partners Limited, a British Virgin Islands company ultimately majority owned by Chinese nationals [...] might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.

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4️⃣ Solana Meme Coins, GameStop Stock Rocket as 'Roaring Kitty' Returns on X 🕯

The return of Keith Gill, a financial analyst and investor who goes by the X handle ‘Roaring Kitty,’ on social media platform X has unleashed a massive flood of Solana-based meme coins through the pump.fun protocol. Notably, Gill is closely linked to GameStop’s stock rally in 2021.

Gill announced his return to X (formerly Twitter) by posting a meme that refers to a period of “locking in,” a colloquial term for a period of intense focus or concentration. Users on X and Reddit took this as a sign that he was locking into trading markets. GME Stonks, GameOver, and KiethGillWifHat are a few examples of tokens launched through pump.fun in the last 24 hours. Stocks related to Gill such as GME also saw its price go up as high as 44% in pre-market trading, and as high as 100% on market open before trading was halted.

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5️⃣ Hong Kong’s Spot Bitcoin And Ether ETFs Experience Largest Net Daily Outflows Since Debut 🔍

According to data from SosoValue and Farside Investors, Hong Kong’s Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their largest net outflows on Monday since debuting on April 30.

ChinaAMC’s spot bitcoin ETF led the outflows with 251.65 BTC in outflows, followed by Harvest’s outflow of 147.86 BTC and Bosera HashKey’s 119.99 BTC. The three ETFs held about 3,560 BTC as of Monday, with total net assets shrinking to $219.7 million, compared to Friday's $262.7 million. Meanwhile, spot Ether ETFs from the same issuers saw total joint net outflows of $6.6 million. Harvest Global and ChinaAMC tied for most outflows with $3 million each.

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6️⃣ Coinbase Recovers After System-Wide Outage, But User Withdrawals Remain Offline ‼️

Crypto exchange Coinbase suffered a major outage earlier today. The outage lasted three hours at 4:19 am UTC and eventually managed to fully recover by 7:34 am UTC. While the exact reason behind the outage remains unknown, Coinbase said it will continue investigating the issue.

🚨 New Video Alert!! 🚨

It’s been a quiet week for crypto on the surface. Beneath the surface however, there have been a lot of big developments that could have massive implications for the crypto market.

For starters, we’ve got fresh FUD – allegations of market manipulation on one of the largest exchanges. At the same time, we’ve got old FOMO – the spot Ethereum ETFs could still be on the menu.

Not only that, but macro indicators seem to be pointing to a big risk on rally. This ultimately depends on economic data we get later this week. AI cryptos could also see significant gains.

Watch until the end to find out where some of them are headed!

🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (13/05/24)

1️⃣ North Korean Hackers Deploy ‘Durian’ Malware, Targeting Crypto Firms ‼️

According to a May 9 threat report from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, North Korean hackers are using a “striking” new malware variant dubbed “Durian” to launch attacks on South Korean crypto firms. The report states that at least two cryptocurrency firms have experienced a series of targeted attacks from the North Korean hacking group Kimsuky. Specifically, Kimsuky used the new malware to exploit legitimate security software used exclusively by crypto firms in South Korea.

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2️⃣ China Is Paying Some Workers In Digital Yuan – But Few Are Choosing To Use It ❓

According to a May 13 report from the South China Morning Post, some Chinese cities have begun paying state employees in the country’s CBDC. However, most of these early adopters are reportedly converting their earnings to cash immediately. The report suggested that many Chinese citizens remain hesitant to use a purely digital currency like the digital yuan due to broader fears of surveillance and its limited use cases.

Sammy Lin, an account manager at a Chinese state bank in Suzhou stated,

I prefer not to keep the money in the e-CNY app because there’s no interest if I leave it there. There are also not so many places, online or offline, where I can use the e-yuan.

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3️⃣ Metaplanet Makes Bitcoin a Reserve Asset As Japan’s Debt Mountain Grows 🕯

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet has reportedly adopted BTC as a strategic reserve asset and hedge against Japan's debt burden and the resulting volatility in the yen. The company stated that it acquired a total of 117.7 BTC ($7.19 million) since April.

The company stated,

Metaplanet has adopted bitcoin as its strategic reserve asset. The move is a direct response to sustained economic pressures in Japan, notably high government debt levels, prolonged periods of negative real interest rates, and the consequently weak yen. As the yen continues to weaken, Bitcoin offers a non-sovereign store of value that has, and may continue, to appreciate against traditional fiat currencies.

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4️⃣ El Salvador Launches $360M Bitcoin Treasury Monitoring Website 💸

El Salvador has reportedly launched its own proof-of-reserves website. Notably, the website features various tools for monitoring the country’s Bitcoin holdings using on-chain data. The country’s Bitcoin treasury officially holds 5,748 BTC, roughly worth $360 million at current prices.

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5️⃣ Synthetix Founder Kain Warwick Launches Infinex ☄️

Synthetix co-founder Kain Warwick has officially launched Infinex - a front-end site that aims to simplify DeFi by abstracting away barriers such as wallet setup, asset bridging, and gas fees into a single user-friendly layer. Infinex Account, the platform's main feature, will offer cross-chain capabilities secured through passkey authentication and social sign-in options. Infinex will operate alongside Synthetix and currently supports six blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, and Polygon.

Warwick stated,

Infinex will make it possible for everyone to use crypto and gain access to the expansive options of on-chain trading without relying on someone’s centralised database and relinquishing control of their assets.

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6️⃣ Bitcoin Worth Over $60 Million Moved For The First Time In 10 Years 🔍

Two mysterious Bitcoin wallets that had been dormant for more than 10 years, holding a combined 1,000 Bitcoin (worth $61 million), have suddenly woken up and transferred almost all their BTC holdings to other wallets. While the funds sent from the first address were subsequently split and sent on to additional addresses, the funds sent from the second address are yet to be transferred further.

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