A crypto influencer recently praised a Nigerian student who agreed to return Solana tokens worth several thousand dollars that were mistakenly sent to his crypto wallet. After the influencer revealed the incident, well-wishers in the crypto community, impressed by the student’s honesty, began sending tips to his crypto wallet. Influencer: Incident Highlights Hope for Crypto […]
Bitcoin News
Filecoin Staking Protocol Core Team Detained by Chinese Police; $22 Million in FIL Tokens Sent to Unknown Address
STFIL, the Filecoin liquid staking protocol, believes its core technical team is being investigated by the Chinese police. The STFIL team said it also recently detected abnormal and unscheduled upgrades to the protocol. During the core technical team’s detention, FIL tokens worth over million were transferred to an unknown external address. Lawyers Engaged to […]
Bitcoin News
Exciting Launch For TRON (TRX) Coming, Justin Sun Announcement Sent This Token 24% Up
TRON (TRX) Founder Justin Sun made an announcement earlier today that created expectations about what’s coming to the ecosystem. Additionally, a second post by Sun made the price of a token surge by 24% in a matter of minutes.
TRON-Based Inscriptions Market To Launch Soon
Recently, the TRON network made it into the news after reaching 95 million total addresses. As reported by NewsBTC, TRON significantly surpassed other Layer-1 networks in address growth, including Avalanche and Cardano.
This time, TRON is in the headlines after its founder, Justin Sun, shared some news for the ecosystem on X (formerly known as Twitter.)
Sun posted on Monday morning to inform the crypto community that a TRON-based inscription marketplace is coming. “Exciting news, the inscription market based on #TRON is about to launch,” said the TRON founder.
Inscriptions became popular after the launch of Bitcoin Ordinals last year. The new technology allowed the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFT) in the Bitcoin blockchain and has seen different applications ever since.
As it can be created using any type of data, like audio, video, and images, other chains started to launch their inscriptions.
TRON developers and APENFT Foundation’s NFT team developed the inscriptions marketplace. All developers are welcome to build in the TRON ecosystem, Sun said.
TRON’s native token didn’t seem to react to the news. TRX’s price has increased by 0.4% in the last 24 hours. At writing time, the token is trading at ,1409, representing a mild 2.1% price surge in the 7-day timeframe.
However, the token’s trading volume of 7.3 million accounts for a 21.48% surge from the day prior, per CoinMarketCap data.
As of this writing, further details about the launch are yet to be revealed. However, the community welcomed the news positively. Many expressed excitement to see what the TRON ecosystem could bring to the NFT market.
Similarly, crypto exchange Binance recently revealed its Inscription Marketplace, allowing users to create and trade inscription tokens within the Binance app.s
Justin Sun Behind BitTorrent (BTT)’s Price Surge?
After the announcement, Sun, who acquired BitTorrent back in 2018, quoted his post to ‘announce’ BTT-related news. BitTorrent is a file-sharing platform built on the TRON blockchain.
#BTT soon… https://t.co/VZ5U09wDW6
— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) March 4, 2024
The two words posted by the blockchain entrepreneur sent the token’s price up by 24%. BTT’s price was moving sideways the 24 hours before Sun’s post, as seen in the chart below.
Just moments after the TRON founder’s comment, the price quickly went from .000001526 to .0000017. An hour later, BTT’s trading volume increased from 0.14 million to 1.6 million, a 51.4% increase in this timeframe.
The token reached .0000018 before the pullback to the .0000017 price range. At writing time, BTT’s price is .000001755, accounting for a 24.6% price increase from the day prior. The 7-day and 30-day performances display a notable price surge of 68% and 118%, respectively.
The performance seen since the beginning of 2024 suggests a recovery from the past year when the token reached its all-time low of ,0000003654. The token’s price has increased 153.6% in the 1-year time frame.
Its market capitalization sits at an impressive .62 billion, making BTT the #64 largest cryptocurrency by this metric, according to CoinMarketCap.
Chainalysis Report: Crypto Value Sent From Illicit Addresses Dropped by Nearly $10 Billion in 2023
According to Chainalysis’ report on money laundering trends, the value of crypto transferred by illicit addresses in 2023 fell by nearly billion from .5 billion to the latest billion. The report attributes the drop to the overall decline in both legitimate and illicit crypto transaction volumes in 2023. An analysis of services used […]
Bitcoin News
Was 50% Of XRP Supply Sent To Bitfinex? Separating Facts From Fiction
A transaction involving a whopping 25.6 billion XRP (valued at nearly billion), nearly half of the total circulating supply of approximately 54.26 billion, raised alarm within the crypto sector in the late evening of January 14. The transfer was reported to have originated from an unknown wallet to the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
Were 25.6 Billion XRP Really Moved?
However, further investigation revealed this to be a failed attempt at exploiting the “Partial Payments” function of the XRP Ledger, as confirmed by Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Bitfinex.
The incident first came to public attention when Whale Alert, a renowned blockchain tracking platform, reported the massive transaction on X. This initial report, which was later retracted, created a stir in the market, raising concerns over a potential security breach in the XRP Ledger that could severely impact XRP’s market price.
Whale Alert acknowledged the error in their reporting with a clarification: “There was an issue with properly reading the Ripple node response, resulting in a few wrong posts. We fixed the issue.” Paolo Ardoino, who also holds the position of CEO of Tether, provided further insight into the incident, stating: “Someone attempted to attack Bitfinex via ‘Partial Payments Exploit’. Attack failed since Bitfinex properly handles the ‘delivered_amount’ data field.”
Ardoino also referenced a section on xrpl.org that explains partial payments in detail. This feature of the XRP Ledger allows a sender to enable a “Partial Payment” flag, resulting in the delivery of an amount less than what is indicated in the Amount field.
The exploit lies in the ability to manipulate this feature to deceive exchanges and gateways. The crucial factor in preventing such exploits is for platforms to use the ‘delivered_amount’ metadata field, rather than the Amount field, to determine the actual amount transferred.
In this particular case, the attacker only sent 16 XRP – a stark contrast to the reported 25.6 billion XRP. This small transaction triggered an alert to the on-chain monitoring system due to the way the Whale Alert systems process and report transactions.
Attacker Tried Other Exchanges As Well
Additionally, blockchain data revealed that similar failed attempts were made on other prominent cryptocurrency exchanges. Binance faced an attempted transfer of 58.9 billion XRP, and Bitstamp was targeted with a 26,200,000 XRP transfer. These transactions, like the one aimed at Bitfinex, were part of the exploiter’s strategy and did not result in the transfer of significant sums of the cryptocurrency.
At press time, the market price of XRP showed resilience against these incidents, maintaining stability at .58. Nevertheless, the XRP bears showed their strength again with yesterday’s weekly close. The price closed below the critical resistance of the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement level at .59. However, the bulls at least managed to defend the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA).
ETH Sent To Exchanges Climbs Above 500,000, Is Ethereum At $2,000 Still Possible?
A massive amount of ETH has made its way to centralized exchanges, increasing the Ethereum balances of these exchanges. Given the implications of exchange inflows, it could be a barrier to the cryptocurrency when it comes to claiming the ,000 resistance.
Investors Send 13,000 ETH To Exchanges
Data from IntoTheBlock shows a massive amount of ETH headed toward exchanges as the price rose. The total inflow volume as of October 31 when the price first cleared the ,800 resistance was at 480,570. However, by the start of November, this number had blown up massively.
November 1 saw the total ETH flowing into exchanges reaching 774,890, and by this time, the bulls had established their dominance above the ,800 level. With outflows coming out at just around 630,000 ETH, the netflows come out to approximately 130,000 ETH flowing into exchanges on November 1. This showed a willingness among investors to start taking profit from their holdings.
As the data tracker shows, the majority of Ethereum investors had moved back into profit after crossing ,800. Even following the retracement, the total percentage of ETH investors in profit is sitting at 55.40% and it is no surprise that some of these investors would want to secure profit.
By November 2, though, there has been a relaxation from investors when it comes to inflows. Data shows that on Thursday, the ETH inflow figures fell to 637,070, although this is still much higher than the previous week’s figures. The exchange net flow is now down to 31,040 ETH as of Thursday.
Ethereum Large Holders Swing Into Action
Ethereum has also seen a spike in the number of large transactions being carried out on the network as well as the transaction volume of these large holders. The total number of large transactions sat at 1,900 on October 29. But by November 2, the figure ballooned to 4,320, an over 100% increase in just four days.
The transaction volumes of these whales also saw a rise in an almost similar manner compared to the number of large transactions. Large transaction volumes were at 741,440 ETH on October 29. But on November 2, the volume reached 2.21 million ETH. In dollar figures, large transaction volumes went from .33 billion to .04 billion.
Looking at the bullish and bearish transactions (i.e those who are buying versus those who are selling), there isn’t a large difference bulls still continue to lead in the asset. The 7-day total for bulls came out to a total of 98 bulls compared to 87 bears. But the gap is closing further on a daily basis where IntoTheBlock shows 14 bulls and 12 bears.
Bitcoin’s Hidden Threat? Miner Revenue Sent To Exchanges Surges Over 300%
The world’s flagship crypto, Bitcoin (BTC), is showing some signs of tension. While external events frequently steer its course, the latest headwinds arise from within its mining community, as recent data suggests mounting selling pressure from Bitcoin miners.
Miles Deutscher, a seasoned crypto analyst, has been vocal about this emerging trend, casting light on what might be a significant underlying issue in the Bitcoin realm. Given the innate mechanics of Bitcoin, miners play a pivotal role not just in transaction verification but also in the coin’s overall market dynamics.
Selling Pressure Amplified By Miners
There’s currently an escalating concern in the Bitcoin community. Miners, the entities ensuring Bitcoin’s transactional integrity and security, appear to be offloading their holdings at an unprecedented rate.
Glassnode, renowned for its report on blockchain data analytics, has revealed that miner revenue sent to exchanges has skyrocketed, marking a new all-time high of 315%.
Such statistics beckon inquiries. Deutscher’s analysis points toward several factors that could be prompting this sell-off converging to produce this scenario. According to Deutscher, Bitcoin’s all-time high hash rates, peak mining difficulty levels, and escalating operational costs have squeezed miners.
One of #Bitcoin‘s biggest supply headwinds right now (that no one is taking about) is the increasing miner sell pressure.
ATH hash rates, peak difficulty + rapidly rising energy prices have combined to heavily affect mining profitability.
With rewards set to be cut in half via… pic.twitter.com/HlL2nuendj
— Miles Deutscher (@milesdeutscher) September 28, 2023
With the profitability of mining endeavors getting pinched and the next halving event looming on the horizon, it’s plausible that miners seek to liquidate their BTC holdings. Deutscher explained such sales are essential for these miners to maintain operational fluidity and ensure their ventures remain viable.
Implications For The Broader Bitcoin Market
With Bitcoin being decentralized, every actor, from individual hodlers to large-scale miners, plays a part in its market dynamics. As miners dispatch more BTC holdings to exchanges, they inadvertently ramp the selling pressure. If it persists, such a trend can exert a downward force on Bitcoin’s price.
However, it’s worth noting that this is just one piece of a vast jigsaw. While miners’ selling pressures are influential, other macro factors, such as approving a spot BTC Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), regulatory landscape, and market sentiment, will influence Bitcoin’s journey ahead.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin has seen a slight bullish trajectory of 2.2% over the past day. The asset currently trades for ,828 at the time of writing, with a 24-hour trading volume of .2 billion and a market cap of 3.9 billion.
Featured image from Unsplash, Chart from TradingView
Do Kwon’s Terraform Sent $7 Million to Law Firm Before Collapse, Report Unveils
Prosecutors investigating failed blockchain firm Terraform Labs have found out that its Singapore office sent millions of U.S. dollars to lawyers just before the crash of its cryptocurrencies. According to Korean media, the transfers suggest that co-founder Do Kwon was aware of the imminent collapse.
Terraform Labs Transferred Large Amounts of Money to South Korean Law Firm Prior to Crash
South Korean prosecutors working on the fraud case against Terraform Labs co-founder and CEO Do Kwon have revealed that the company has paid a total of 9 billion won (nearly million) to Kim & Chang, the country’s leading law firm, national broadcaster KBS reported.
Tracking financial flows from its Singapore headquarters, they were able to establish that the funds were sent in several transactions which started right before the collapse of Terraform’s digital currencies, stablecoin terrausd and cryptocurrency luna, in May of last year.
Investigators from Seoul are cooperating with law enforcement authorities in Singapore to confirm the source of the payments. If it turns out that the blockchain firm has cashed out digital coins, charges of embezzlement may be brought against its management.
The report suggests that Terraform’s chief executive was aware in advance of the possibility of the crypto ecosystem collapsing and likely prepared certain legal moves in response to expected judicial risks such as the current investigation.
The full amount quoted by the KBS was allegedly transferred to Kim & Chang over a period of a few months. The South Korean prosecutors believe that if the funds stem from criminal proceeds they can be frozen and eventually seized.
It has been estimated that around 200,000 people bought Terraform’s cryptocurrencies and suffered heavy losses when their collapse erased billions of dollars in market value.
Do Kwon (Kwon Do-Hyung) was arrested by authorities in Montenegro in March, together with the company’s Chief Financial Officer Han Chang-joon, while trying to leave for Dubai. He is going to stand trial in the Balkan nation for traveling on false documents, before Podgorica considers his extradition to either South Korea or the United States, where he is charged with masterminding the crypto fraud.
Do you think South Korean authorities will be able to seize the money transferred by Terraform to the law firm? Tell us in the comments section below.
Most Crypto Sent From Wallets Sponsoring Russia in Ukraine War Reaches CEXs, Binance, Research Shows
Millions of U.S. dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency has been sent to centralized exchanges (CEXs), most notably Binance, from wallets providing funds in support of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine, transaction data suggests. According to Ukrainian analysts, the money was transferred to the crypto trading platforms in order to be laundered.
Over 90% of Pro-Russian Crypto Transfers Identified in a Study Sent to Largest Exchange
More than million was sent last year from wallets that were used to sponsor the Russian invasion of Ukraine to cryptocurrency exchanges, according to an analysis of such transactions conducted by Hapi Labs. The main purpose of these transfers was to launder the money, the Ukrainian startup claims in a post on Twitter published Tuesday.
While various amounts went to a number of crypto platforms, nearly 96% of the digital cash reached Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. Researchers at the company, which provides blockchain tracking tools and data analysis software, believe this is an indication of failures in the anti-money laundering (AML) procedures.
At the same time, amounts transferred in the opposite direction — from exchanges to wallets used to support the Russian war on Ukraine — are much more modest, the decentralized security protocol developers pointed out.
“Binance is still among the leaders, but as we can see, it is not the only one. Say hello to the bankrupt @FTX_Official and others!” they remarked in another tweet. Two other major centralized exchanges, Kucoin and the European, Ukraine-rooted Whitebit, are also in the top five, along with the decentralized aggregator 1inch.
Hapi Labs tracked donations for weapons and ammunition intended for the Russian army and various private military companies, including groups associated with the two Russia-backed self-proclaimed republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Mark Letsyuk, the company’s head of analytics and research, told the crypto news outlet Forklog.
Often, exchanges don’t block wallets involved in the financing of the Russian military aggression for more than six months, despite requests by law enforcement authorities, the Ukrainian blockchain forensics experts pointed out.
“Centralized exchanges should block such wallets as soon as possible after notification. But most often they are either not blocked at all, or they are blocked very late, when dirty funds have already passed through them and the account is empty,” Letsyuk added, commenting on the findings.
He also noted that Whitebit is the most quick to respond to alerts from law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity companies while cooperating with Hapi Labs and Ukrainian special services to track and block transactions linked to the Russian campaign.
Binance Blames Unregulated and Sanctioned Exchanges
Representatives of Binance referred to a recent article by Chagri Poyraz, head of its global sanctions team, who highlights that the platform uses analytical tools from Elliptic, Chainalysis, and TRM Labs to monitor transactions. He also explains that it’s not very simple to block incoming transactions which can be investigated only after they are made.
These funds can be tracked, but it is very difficult to freeze or block, he elaborated. Poyraz also emphasized that unregulated or sanctioned exchanges do not perform know-your-customer (KYC) checks or comply with existing AML rules. And most of them are based in Russia while some are operating from China or India.
Binance also reminded that during the first eight months of the conflict in Ukraine, more than million in cryptocurrency was raised in support of pro-Russian organizations, most of which are already placed under sanctions. According to a report by Elliptic released in February 2023, such entities have raised around .8 million for the Russian military and associated militias.
The two quoted figures are much smaller than the one produced by Hapi Labs, which may indicate that not all of the funds that passed through the wallets the company studied represent war-related donations. Both sides in the conflict have been raising crypto and according to Elliptic, over 2 million has been sent to Ukraine.
Do you think crypto exchanges have the means to restrict transactions related to funding the war in Ukraine? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.
CAKE Sets Sights For $5 After More Than 7 Million Tokens Are Sent To A Fiery Death
The Pancakeswap token (CAKE) has been one of those cryptocurrencies that have been steadily growing in the background. The popularity of the decentralized exchange (DEX) contributed tremendously to its rise until it took a hit in the bear market like other digital assets. However, a new development has opened up new promises as millions of CAKE tokens have been removed from circulation.
7 Million Burned CAKE
A scheduled burn had seen millions of CAKE tokens taken out of circulation. Pancakeswap announced the burn on Twitter with figures showing that a total of 7,123,715 CAKE had actually been sent to a burn address. The total dollar value came out to around million.
The team also reported growth across various spheres. The first was a 17% increase in trading fees, accounting for 334,000 CAKE and a dollar value of .38 million. Lottery and pottery saw a 28% increase with 40,000 CAKE with a dollar value of 6,000. The largest increase was in the NFT Market, Profile, and Factory, with a 215% increase of 16,000 CAKE and a dollar value of ,000.
CAKE finds support above | Source: CAKEUSD on TradingView.com
Others, such as the Prediction and Auction, were listed with declines. The auction had seen a decline of 1%, translating to 15,000 CAKE with a dollar value of ,000, while Prediction dropped 18% with 75,000 CAKE, a dollar equivalent of 8,000.
Ready For Another Bounce?
The burn announcement had sent CAKE’s price on an initial impressive rally that saw it break above .2. The digital asset had initially been trending below for the better part of last week before the news of the burn.
However, the uptrend didn’t last long as momentum had died down. This first bounce was obviously fueled by the hype created with the burn announcement, so a correction was expected. With a trend like this, though, there is usually another bounce that comes after the first once the digital asset finds its footing.
CAKE has now found support right above the level, which has landed it above the 50-day moving average. With the rise in the popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) once more following the Ethereum Merge, decentralized exchanges such as Pancakeswap are expected to see more volume. With this volume will come a demand for digital assets such as CAKE, and this demand is expected to push the price of the digital asset towards .
CAKE’s price is up 1.16% in the last 24 hours and ranks 3rd on the list of top trending coins on Coinmarketcap at the time of this writing. With a market cap of 7.8 million, it is the 68th largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Featured image from The Coin Republic, chart from TradingView.com
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