CryptoPress

Crypto miner Gryphon Digital is seeking dismissal from a lawsuit brought by its former partner Sphere 3D over a spoofing attack that resulted in 26 Bitcoins being transferred to a fraudulent address. According to the initial complaint filed by Sphere 3D in April, Gryphon CEO Rob Chang allegedly wired 18 BTC in January to a fraudster posing as Sphere 3D’s chief financial officer through a spoofing attack. Within a few days, eight more Bitcoin were sent to the same address, resulting in a total loss of over $500,000 at the time. Gryphon claims, however, to be a victim of Sphere’s “gross negligence” that allowed a malicious actor to access Sphere’s computer system, send spoof emails from its domain and cause Gryphon to send cryptocurrency intended for Sphere to the attacker. “Sphere’s complete and utter lack of care with respect to the safeguarding, security, and control of its technology systems resulted in Gryphon sending over $500,000 worth of bitcoin to the hostile threat actor, which Gryphon has been unable to recover,” reads court documents filed on Aug. 18. A spoofing attack is when a hacker pretends to be a trusted entity to deceive a system or user. This kind of scam can occur across various platforms, such as email or IP addresses. The goal is often unauthorized access, data theft, or malicious activity redirection. In a previous statement about the litigation, Patricia Trompeter, CEO of Sphere 3D, stated that “Gryphon has put the Company’s assets at significant risk and willfully violated their contractual duties.” In addition to dismissing allegations related to the transfer of assets, Gryphon has also filed claims against Sphere 3D for breach of contract, negligence and defamation. The lawsuit is the latest stage in a partnership that began in August 2021, with Gryphon managing Sphere 3D’s “crypto mining activities.” Back then, the two companies planned to merge under the Gryphon brand. #bitcoinchina #bitcoincharts #bitco

In a recent update on X (formerly Twitter), the chief technology officer of Ripple Labs, David Schwartz, brought attention to a recent development involving the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) appeal. According to Schwartz, the SEC is seeking an appeal at this specific point based on its interpretation that the legal case has not yet concluded. This understanding affords involved parties the privilege to appeal after the finalization of the case. This procedural strategy is intended to enhance the legal proceedings’ efficiency and avoid continuous disruptions to the main case due to multiple appeals concerning minor decisions. Following Judge Analisa Torres’ July 13 ruling that XRP is not a security when sold on digital asset exchanges, the SEC has since submitted an appeal. Although prompted by the favorable verdict for Ripple, this move by the SEC focuses on an unforeseen development within the legal proceedings. Schwartz stressed that combining appeals is vital to improve things, with separate appeals likely to make the legal process even longer. However, the exec clarified a rule for special situations. The SEC argues that the unique situation, in this case, is a reason to do things differently. It suggests stopping the process until the appeal is settled, but Ripple disagrees. Ripple believes that even if the SEC can appeal, the main lawsuit should proceed while the appeal process happens. This matches the idea of letting the trial continue and looking at appeals carefully when everything else is done. Schwartz provided more information because of rumors in the Bitcoin community about discussions that the SEC might want to appeal Torres’ decision to higher courts. The outcome of the legal disagreement between Ripple Labs and the SEC could be influenced by the court’s choice about whether to accept the appeal request. #bitcoinworld #bitcoincharts #bitcoinmarket #tradinglifestyle #investinbitcoin #bitcoinusa #cryptonews

Bitcoin is down for the week, but it’s still up about 50% YTD. Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining stocks have jumped by over 200% year-to-date. One miner stock, Cipher Mining (CIFR), is up by a whopping 389% for the year so far. Bitcoin price fell 10% against USD Thursday amid speculations that SpaceX might have sold its remaining holdings. That brings the most work-based cryptocurrency down to what may be a bargain price at this time in its halving cycle, at under $26,000. While markets are watching crypto prices after this week’s turbulence, crypto stocks are another class of blockchain assets in the bargain bin this week, especially with their soaring YTD trendline. Bitcoin Miners Are Popping on Wall Street Crypto stocks are up by quite a bit more this far into 2023 than the broad stock market benchmarks. The S&P 500 Index of the top 500 U.S. companies has increased by a very healthy 14% thus far in 2023. The tech-focused NASDAQ Composite is up a whopping 28% for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up a paltry 4% in comparison to the other benchmarks. Meanwhile, top performers include stocks like Nvidia (219%), Meta (164%), and Tesla (117%). But even those three top-performing stocks aren’t flying as high as some Bitcoin miners are, with the blockchain surging in activity this year. Two Bitcoin mining stocks, Riot Platforms Inc. (RIOT) and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (MARA), are trading well above 200% since January. Riot is up 228%. The company mined 1,775 BTC in Q2. Marathon’s gains are also at 228%, exactly like its competitor. But since January, Cipher Mining is up by even more this week: 389%. Why BTC Mining Stocks Have Soared So Much Although it has unraveled some in 2023, the correlation between Bitcoin and stock prices has meant investors could ride market swings in the same direction, up or down, but with more leverage in long BTC positions on-chain. #bitcoinworld #bitcoincharts #bitcoinmarket #tradinglifestyle #investinbitcoin #bitco

SpaceX’s Bitcoin write-down report on Aug. 18 sparked confusion among the crypto community. The report published in The Wall Street Journal puzzled many, who questioned whether SpaceX held $373 million worth of Bitcoin and sold it in 2021–2022 or whether they only reduced their Bitcoin exposure by the same amount. Several social media outlets reported that SpaceX had sold its entire BTC holdings, while others expressed uncertainty, claiming they were unable to confirm the amount based on the wording of the report. Elon Musk revealed in 2021 that SpaceX holds Bitcoin, as does Tesla, on its balance sheet. While Tesla’s Bitcoin holdings were made public, there were no estimations around SpaceX’s BTC holdings, which has been key to the ongoing confusion. Tesla once held $1.5 billion worth of BTC purchased during the bull market but revealed it had sold 72% of its holdings in Q2 2022. The SpaceX write-off claims were also believed to be one of the key catalysts behind the $2,000 BTC price drop, although several others denied it being a cause. Musk hasn’t addressed the issue yet, but the market FUD made him a target of Bitcoin proponents who questioned his strategy of buying high and selling low, while a few others called it market FUD. One Reddit user wrote that Musk is running out of cash across all his companies, suggesting that Musk might sell “all of his Bitcoin and doge within the next 6 months.” Users on X (formerly known as Twitter) also called out Musk for his “paper hands,” a term used for those who sell their BTC holdings prematurely. Others linked the BTC write-down to X’s ambition of becoming a payment giant. #bitcoinworld #bitcoincharts #bitcoinmarket #tradinglifestyle #investinbitcoin #bitcoinusa #cryptonews #cryptocurrencyinvestments #trader #poloniex #blockchain #xlm #binance #bitcointechnology #cryptocoin #bitcointips #cryptomoedas #bitcoinmoney #investorsclub

Transactions on the newly launched Shibarium are reportedly stuck in a pending state — accounting for more than 1,003 ether ($1.8 million) in locked funds. Blockchain security team Beosin stated that the funds are locked and has advised users to temporarily stop using Shibarium. Data from Shibarium's primary blockchain explorer indicate no new transactions have been confirmed for five hours. A screenshot circulating on social media reportedly captured from an internal Telegram conversation — which has not been verified by The Block — seemingly shows one Shibarium developer stating: "We can't recover the ETH bridged." Noted blockchain sleuth ZachXBT chimed in to say that they have not confirmed if the RPC is dead, but "it's a sloppy launch regardless." As of the time of this writing, the Shibarium RPC website appears to be inaccessible. Users have also reportedly been blocked from sending messages on the project's Discord shortly after the issues began. The price of Shiba inu has declined by 9% over the past 24 hours. Associated tokens Bone and Leash have dropped by 13% and 25%, respectively. Shibarium launched yesterday during the Blockchain Futurist Conference in Canada. #coinbasewallet #bitcoincharts #btcnews #cryptocurrencyexchange #bitcoinnetherland #bitcoinminning #bitcoininvestment #cryptocurrencyinvestments #cryptohumor #cryptomining #cryptolife #digitalcurrency #cryptosignals #bitcoincash #bitcoinvalue #cryptomillionaire #bitcoinuk #cryptography #sharecrypto

The approval for America’s largest digital asset exchange, Coinbase, to offer crypto futures to U.S. retail customers is being seen as a major regulatory victory amid a heated battle with the country’s securities regulator. On Aug. 16, the National Futures Association — designated by the U.S. commodities regulator as a registered futures association — granted Coinbase permission to operate a Futures Commission Merchant platform. A loud signal Some crypto industry commentators see the approval as a significant regulatory victory for Coinbase and crypto, given thathe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has accused the exchange of avoiding the registration of its offerings. “If I were a judge I'd wonder why somehow [Coinbase] manages to register with the [CFTC] yet the [SEC] claims that Coinbase is unwilling to do the hard work to register," investment management firm Electric Capital founder Avichal Garg wrote in an Aug. 17 tweet. Former CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz, thpolicy head at crypto investment firm a16z, said that “Customers and innovation can both win when a regulator is open to having a constructive dialogue around new technology.” Meanwhile, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the approval was a major moment for crypto clarity in the United States. The move has also placed Coinbase in a position normally helmed by traditional finance firms. Two institutional exchanges, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange, currently offer Bitcoin and Ether futures in the United States. Coinbase labeled the move as a “critical milestone,” adding it makes it the first crypto-native company to directly offer traditional spot crypto trading alongside futures products. Tapping into a massive market In May, CoinGecko reported that the global crypto derivatives market was worth just under $3 trillion, while Coinbase highlighted that the global crypto derivatives market represents around three-quarters of all tradin

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has offered an analysis of the Community Notes tool from X — formerly Twitter — comparing the feature to an example of “crypto values” on social media. In an Aug. 16 post on his personal website, Buterin said that given X’s Community Notes were shown or not shown based “entirely by an open source algorithm,” the platform tool was “the closest thing to an instantiation of ‘crypto values’ that we have seen in the mainstream world.” Community Notes, a Twitter feature launched in the U.S. as Birdwatch in October 2022 — prior to Elon Musk’s purchase of the firm — was aimed at allowing contributors to rate tweets as “helpful” and offer context. “It’s not perfect,” said Buterin on the algorithm behind the feature. “But it’s surprisingly close to satisfying the ideal of credible neutrality, all while being impressively useful, even under contentious conditions, at the same time.” The Ethereum co-founder provided a detailed analysis of the Community Notes algorithm, including it not “naively taking an average score from people’s votes” to determine how helpful a comment may be to users, as well as detecting major political divides on content. The feature has allowed additional context for seemingly misleading photos used as previews for stories and COVID-19 misinformation. “I would say that the ‘theorycel aesthetic’ side of crypto [referencing this tweet] is necessary precisely to distinguish protocols that are actually trustless from janky constructions that look fine and seem to work well but under the hood require trusting a few centralized actors - or worse, actually end up being outright scams,” said Buterin. He added: “It’s the closest that very-large-scale applications are going to get within the next couple of years, and we can see that it provides a lot of value already.” #bitcoinguru #bitcoincharts #bitcoiner #cryptocurrencyexchange #investinbitcoin #blockchai

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) — the financial regulator with the final say over allowing a spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF) — may be moving closer to giving the investment vehicle the green light after several years of applications. In June, the world’s largest asset management firm, BlackRock, added its application to the bundle of Bitcoin ETF filings currently being reviewed by the SEC, creating renewed interest among investors in and out of the crypto space. The company later added a “surveillance-sharing agreement” with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase following reports the SEC could be more open to accepting an ETF application under such conditions. BlackRock is one of many firms with crypto ETF applications in the SEC pipeline. ARK Invest, under CEO Cathie Wood, filed to list its ARK 21Shares spot Bitcoin ETF in May 2023 and received the most recent delay from the SEC on Aug. 11, pushing back the deadline another 21 days as the regulator opens the proposal to public comments. Under SEC guidelines, the federal regulator has the authority to delay ETF applications for up to 240 days — by opening them to public comment or otherwise — from the first filing in the Federal Register. Even so, the SEC has never approved a spot Bitcoin ETF proposal from any firm in the United States and only started accepting investment vehicles tied to BTC futures in October 2021. One of the challenges behind getting the SEC to allow a spot crypto ETF may be the nature of the investment vehicle. Bitcoin futures-linked ETFs also enable individuals and companies to invest in the crypto asset without an exchange, while a spot BTC ETF could involve holding Bitcoin within a fund for more direct investment. #bitcoincanada #cryptotraders #bitcoiner #cryptoexpert #bitcoinnetherland #cryptocurrencynews #bitcoin #cryptoinvestment #bitmain #cryptotrader #bitcoinnews #coinmarketcap #cryptomeme #bitcoinsallday #cryptoinvestor #bitcoinmi

An individual, identified only as “Mr. Chen,” has been convicted by the Fuzhou Mawei People’s Procuratorate on charges of “offense of concealment and concealment of crime” for purchasing 94,988 Chinese yuan ($13,067) worth of Tether for an acquaintance. According to local news reports, Mr. Chen was contacted by Mr. Lin, his acquaintance, around February 2022 to post his bank card details on social media app WeChat. Mr. Chen subsequently received seven fiat yuan transfers from Mr. Lin, which Mr. Chen used to purchase USDT. The stablecoins were then sent back to Mr. Lin. Through the process, Mr. Chen earned a total commission of 147.1 yuan ($20.26). Commenting on the matter, the Fuzhou Mawei People’s Procuratorate stated: “Con artists use virtual currency to transfer and launder stolen money. This kind of online money laundering in the name of purchasing virtual currency, knowing that others use the information network to commit crimes and providing assistance to them, has violated the law.” The Fuzhou Mawei People’s Procuratorate subsequently sentenced Mr. Chen to nine months in prison, deferred for a period of one year, along with a fine of 5,000 yuan ($689). Since the beginning of the year, Chinese authorities have begun a tough crackdown on cryptocurrency activities in the country. Last week, Jinfeng Sun, political commissar of the Network Security Bureau, said that technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence have been involved in a spree of incidents relating to “fraud and data theft.” However, the crackdown appears to be in broad scope and not specific to crime deterrence. In July, the $1.5 billion Multichain protocol was shut down by Chinese police after the arrest of its CEO. Since then, users’ bridged assets, as well as enterprise funds, have been mysteriously swapped into privacy coins and stablecoins and bridged out of the protocol. No explanation has ever been given as to why. #bitcoinchina #cryptocurrencymark

Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Curve Finance has officially stated its intention to reimburse users impacted by the recent hack resulting in $62 million of losses. According to an X (formerly Twitter) post from its official account, ongoing investigations are yielding progress, with approximately 79% of the funds successfully recovered. The platform also said it would assess each impacted user for reimbursement. This assessment aims to ensure an equitable distribution of resources. The incident on July 30 involved malicious actors exploiting vulnerabilities within the release history of Curve Finance’s Vyper compiler. The individual behind the hack directed their attack at versions 0.2.15 to 0.3.0 of the Vyper compiler. Identifying the vulnerabilities demanded a significant degree of skill and substantial resources, as highlighted by experts in the field. One contributor to Viper said the attack was likely planned for weeks before execution. Among the pools exploited were CRV/ETH, alETH/ETH, msETH/ETH and pETH/ETH. Furthermore, there is growing concern that the tri-crypto pool on Arbitrum might also have been exploited. The attack rippled across the entire DeFi ecosystem. A comprehensive examination of the breach underscored an issue within the budding cryptocurrency sector: the absence of proper incentives to identify vulnerabilities in previous software iterations. A 10% bounty was extended to the individual responsible for the hack, and upon acceptance, the perpetrator started to return the funds. According to Etherscan, at the time of writing, the total value of the funds returned amounted to 4,821 Ether or $8,891,578. #bitcoinworld #cryptowallet #kucoin #cryptolifestyle #binanceexchange #cryptocurrencynews #bitcoininvesting #altcoindaily #bitcoinart #wallstreet #altcoins #cryptomarket #cardano #cryptocurrencytrading #monero #bitcoinasia #instaethereum #bitcoinmoney #daytraders

In a potential transformative move for users, Visa, the payments solution provider, is testing an innovative solution enabling on-chain gas fees to be paid using a Visa card. Mustafa Bedawala, a product manager at Visa, presented the report, highlighting an observed challenge with cryptocurrency wallets; the ongoing requirement to oversee Ether balances for covering gas fees. The standard Ethereum procedure involves users acquiring ETH from an exchange or on-ramp service and then transferring it to their wallets to cater to variable gas fees. This continuous adjustment of gas prices frequently leads to users either overspending or having insufficient ETH, introducing intricacies and challenges. Visa’s innovative solution employs Ethereum’s ERC-4337 standard and the “Paymaster” smart contract, enabling off-chain gas fee settlement. The process involves the user triggering an Ethereum transaction via wallet, sent to the paymaster. The web service computes the gas fee and charges Visa using Cybersource. Subsequently, a digital signature is provided and momentarily validated, then attached by the wallet before being sent to Ethereum. Paymaster verifies the signature and covers the gas fee. This sequence of steps allows the user to directly pay gas fees with their Visa card off-chain, eliminating the need for users to hold ETH merely for paying fees. According to the publication, Visa has trialed this concept on the Ethereum Goerli testnet, utilizing available open-source tools, such as Stackup’s userop.js library. The trial transactions effectively covered fees through the Paymaster, bypassing the requirement for ETH. Notably, this concept has the potential to reduce friction for blockchain users and allows the user to directly pay gas fees with their Visa card off-chain, eliminating the need for users to hold ETH merely for paying fees. #cryptoexchange #bitcoincharts #bitcointalk #bitmex #binanceexchange #cryptocurrency_news #invest #cryptoinvestment

A United States federal appeals court has upheld a decision to dismiss an investor class-action lawsuit against online brokerage firm Robinhood Markets over its meme stock trading debacle in early 2021. A total of 16 investors took part in a class action lawsuit against the trading platform in September 2021, alleging the firm restricted them from purchasing 13 “meme stocks” when hedge funds were being short squeezed in January 2021. This stopped them reaping the profits and also caused the share prices of these stocks to plummet, they alleged. Robinhood won a motion to dismiss the complaint in January 2022, citing the plaintiff's failure to state a claim, plaintiffs then went on to argue the decision in the U.S. appeals court in March 2023. However, it appears the investors have hit another setback as the appeals judge has upheld the decision to dismiss the lawsuit, with U.S. Appellate Court Judge Britt Grant saying the arguments lacked legal merit. She explained that Robinhood “had the right to do exactly what they did” because they were not legally obligated to protect these investors from pure economic loss. This is because Robinhood was, and still is, legally permitted to restrict its customers’ ability to trade securities and to refuse to accept any of their transactions, Judge Grant added. If the investors decide to pursue the matter further, their next and final route will be through the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the U.S. However, they will need to file a petition for a “writ of certiorari,” which is a document asking the Supreme Court to review the case. The Supreme Court takes on about 100-150 cases from over 7,000 reviews, so the plaintiff’s chances of having its case heard once more are likely slim. The GameStop short squeeze happened in January 2021, which was initially triggered by users of the /wallstreetbets subreddit. #bitcoinguru #bitcoinindonesia #bitcoinmarket #cryptocurrencyexchange #bitcoinnetherland #b

Podcaster and commentator Joe Rogan has blasted the idea of a United States central bank digital currency, describing a digital dollar as a “game over” scenario for American citizens. In an Aug. 8 episode of the widely-watched podcast Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan and rapper Post Malone turned to topics surrounding the U.S. financial system, pausing to focus on the potential abuses of power that could come with CBDCs in the United States. Joe Rogan’s podcast typically amasses more than 11 million listeners per episode. Meanwhile, Post Malone boasts a combined 31 million followers across X and Instagram. It comes as discussions around CBDCs have started to make their way into U.S. presidential campaigns. Rogan didn’t mince words when asked for his thoughts on a CBDC: “No f**king way. No way. That’s what I think. I think that’s checkmate. That’s game over.” Rogan spelled out a scenario where a tyrannical government could tie the flow of a CBDC to one’s social credit score, saying that citizens could easily be cut off from their finances for breaking the rules. “If they decide somehow or another that you need some social credit score system and it’s for the benefit of society, and they outline that, they can track your behavior and your tweets and all your things [...] They just decided you f**ked up, and the rules are the rules,” he said. Malone also mentioned his concerns with the banking system in the United States, noting that FDIC insurance only covers bank account values up to $250,000. The pair also discussed the controversial decision by the Canadian government to freeze the bank accounts associated with the “Freedom Convoy” truckers in February last year. Malone argued that the U.S. government has too much control over the flow of everyday people’s finances and that they could potentially cut off funding to anyone at a moment's notice. #bitcoinguru #bitcoincharts #antminers #cryptocurrencyexchange #blockchainwallet #bitco

The Bank of Russia has revealed that it will begin testing operations for Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) project with digital rubles. The test will begin on Aug. 15. A statement released by the Bank of Russia indicates that the pilot tests will involve the participation of 13 banks and a restricted group of their clients. According to Olga Skorobogatova, first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, initiating pilot operations using genuine digital rubles represents a pivotal phase within the project. This step facilitates the examination of the digital ruble platform’s functionality within an industrial context, the refinement of essential procedures in collaboration with clients, potential process adjustments, and the assurance of a user-friendly and comprehensible client experience. Skorobogatova added that the bank’s strategy involves bringing the digital ruble into widespread use, hinging on the outcomes of gradual testing and contingent upon the successful execution of comprehensive trials encompassing all operational possibilities involving the digital ruble. According to the deputy governor, it is expected that starting from 2025, citizens and businesses will be able to actively use the national digital currency at their own request. As per the announcement, the initial phase of the pilot program will focus on refining fundamental processes, including the establishment and funding of digital ruble accounts (digital wallets), digital ruble transactions among individuals, uncomplicated automated payments, and the utilization of a QR code for transactions involving purchases and services. Those taking part in the pilot initiative will have the opportunity to employ digital rubles for payments at 30 retail establishments situated across 11 cities in Russia. The intention is to broaden the roster of pilot participants by the conclusion of 2023, encompassing the inclusion of both individuals and businesses. #bitcoinchina #bitcoincharts #b

American financial technology company PayPal launched a new stablecoin called PayPal USD (PYUSD) on Aug. 7. The U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin will be issued by Paxos Trust Co. and fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term Treasurys and similar cash equivalents. It’s built on Ethereum and “designed for digital payments and Web3,” with the firm saying it will soon be available to United States customers. PYUSD will be redeemable for U.S. dollars at all times, can be exchanged for other cryptocurrencies on PayPal, and will be transferable between PayPal and Venmo. The company claims it will soon be available as a mode of payment for various purchases. PayPal launching a stablecoin could accelerate its efforts to become a crypto payment giant, an initiative the company started in 2020 after making way for crypto payments on the platform. PayPal boasts over 350 million active users and already lets users in the U.S. and the United Kingdom buy, sell and hold Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin while also enabling payments in the assets. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman hopes the new stablecoin will become a part of the overall payments infrastructure. The company first confirmed its plan to launch a crypto stablecoin in January 2022, claiming it would work closely with relevant regulators. While there are multiple stablecoins available in the crypto market, PayPal will be the first launched by a major payment processor. Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla said: “With the launch of the first stablecoin by a leading financial institution, PayPal and Paxos are proving the real-world value of blockchain technology. PayPal USD is the most significant leap forward for digital assets and the financial industry, and Paxos is proud to enable this transformative product.” #bitcoinworld #bitcoincharts #btcnews #cryptoexpert #cryptoinvestor #cryptocurrency_news #bitcoininvesting #altcoindaily #cryptohumor #cryptomining #bitcoinnews #coinmarketcap #cryptosignals #bitcoi

Ethereum (ETH) competitor Avalance (AVAX) witnessed an uptick in on-chain activity in the second quarter of 2023, according to the crypto data firm Nansen. Avalanche’s C-Chain, the project’s default smart contract blockchain, saw between 200,000-550,000 daily transactions throughout the second quarter. According to the analytics firm, the figures represent nearly double the volume of daily transactions in Q1. The data firm also notes that Avalanche’s daily active address count steadily increased across Q2, hitting a high of 117,304 on June 14th. “The steady increase of active addresses, coupled with the rise in daily transactions, is indicative of healthy growth within the ecosystem and showcases the flourishing community supporting Avalanche.” Q2’s surge in on-chain activity wasn’t reflected in AVAX’s price, however. The 19th-ranked crypto asset by market cap dropped from trading around $17.79 at the beginning of the quarter in April to $13.02 at the end of June, a decrease of nearly 27%. Avalanche’s native token is trading at $12.40 at time of writing. Decentralized finance tracker DeFi Llama also notes that Avalanche’s total value locked (TVL) dropped from $867 million on April 1st to $693.94 million on June 30th, a decrease of nearly 20%. The platform’s TVL sits at $608.82 million at time of writing. The TVL of a blockchain represents the total capital held within its smart contracts. TVL is calculated by multiplying the amount of collateral locked into the network by the current value of the assets. #coinbasewallet #cryptocurrencymarket #bitcoiner #cryptolifestyle #bitcoinnetherland #cryptocurrencynews #bitcoininvestment #altcoindaily #bitmain #cryptomining #blockchain #xlm #binance #cryptocurrencycommunity #bitcoininfo #bitcoinasia #cryptocrunchapp #blockchainconference #investorsclub

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has addressed the possibility of launching a cryptocurrency at a time the executive ranks among the most influential individuals in the space. Musk made the declaration after it emerged that there were reports alleging that X (formerly Twitter) had launched a crypto token. The reports about the token escalated after Twitter, acquired by Musk in 2022, began rebranding to X. In response, in a post on August 5, Musk ruled out the possibility of the company ever launching a cryptocurrency, stating, “And we never will.” This after an X user, pseudonymously known as Doge Designer, raised caution among users, advising them to be wary of reports claiming X had introduced a cryptocurrency. It is worth noting that Musk’s influence in the realm of cryptocurrencies cannot be overlooked, as he has emerged as one of the leading figures in the space. The Tesla CEO has publicly expressed his fondness for the meme-based cryptocurrency, Dogecoin (DOGE). As reported by Finbold, Musk revealed that his affinity for Dogecoin extends beyond its market potential; he appreciates its humorous nature. Indeed, despite initially lacking significant viability, several crypto players, such as Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, believe that Musk’s involvement with Dogecoin has helped the token remain relevant in the crypto realm. Interestingly, despite Musk’s active interest in cryptocurrencies, he has advised against investing in the sector, as reported by Finbold. He has denied promoting or encouraging people to invest in digital assets. DOGE’s possible new use cases With Twitter’s rebranding also focusing on facilitating transactions in the financial world, speculations about tokens like Dogecoin potentially finding significant use cases in the ecosystem have arisen. Musk’s recent statement ruling out the possibility of X launching a crypto token has sparked further speculation that the company may turn to Dogecoin, potentially boost

The attacker behind the $61 million July 30 Curve Finance attack has returned 4,820.55 Alchemix ETH (alETH), worth approximately $8,889,118, to the Alchemix Finance team and 1 ETH, approximately $1,844, to the Curve Finance team. The Alchemix Finance protocol alETH-ETH pool on Curve is one of the pools that was originally exploited. The Curve Finance protocol was attacked through a reentrancy bug on July 30, and over $61 million worth of crypto was lost in the attack. The exploit affected the Alchemix Finance alETH-ETH, JPEG’d pETH-ETH and Metronome sETH-ETH pools. The JPEG’d pool, in particular, was frontrun by a miner extractable value (MEV) bot, causing the proceeds from the attack to go to the bot instead of the attacker. The emergency mutisig suspended all rewards for affected pools on Aug. 2. Total losses for the exploit were originally estimated at $47 million, but were later updated to $61.7 million. On Aug. 4, at 3:45 p.m. UTC, the attacker posted a message to themselves on the Ethereum network at 3:45 p.m. UTC. The message seems to have been directed at the Alchemix and Curve development teams. In it, the attacker claimed they would return the funds, but only because they didn’t want to “ruin” the projects involved and not because the attacker had gotten caught. At 11:16 a.m. UTC, the attacker returned 1 alETH to the Curve Finance deployer account. Approximately two hours later, they made three separate transfers adding up to 4,820.55 alETH, which were all sent to the Alchemix development team multisig wallet. The total returned funds add up to approximately $8.9 million worth of cryptocurrency. Since the original attack was for over $61 million, these returned funds represent approximately 15% of the total amount drained. However, some funds may have been moved to other addresses and may be returned in separate transactions. #bitcoinworld #smartcontracts #bitcointalk #bitcoininvestor #cryptoinvestor #cryptocurrencynews #cryptoinvesting #cr

Alibaba Group, the Chinese tech and e-commerce giant, announced the release of two open-sourced artificial intelligence (AI) models from its cloud computing department on Aug. 3, according to a press release. Its two large language models (LLMs) are dubbed Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat, each with 7 billion parameters. Alibaba said these two models are small-size versions of the Tongyi Qiawen, which the company released in April. The new models aim to help introduce AI to the operations of small and medium-sized businesses. The company said Qwen-7B and Qwen-7B-Chat have various capabilities that would be appealing to enterprises, such as being able to “code, model weights, and documentation will be freely accessible to academics, researchers and commercial institutions worldwide.” Alibaba’s latest LLMs are also the first released from a Chinese tech company to be open-sourced. However, it said businesses with over 100 million monthly active users will need a license. On Aug. 1, the company also announced an update in the form of a vector engine to its AnalyticDB data warehousing service, allowing its corporate clients to quickly create custom generative AI applications. This development comes after Meta released its open-sourced LLM — Llama 2 — with Microsoft on July 16. Meta says its Llama 2 was trained using 40% more public data and can process twice as much context as its predecessor. It is also open-sourced, with the biggest version of Llama 2 featuring 70 billion parameters. Similar to Alibaba’s latest model, it requires a license from companies with over 700 million monthly users. On July 26, Alibaba announced what it called “the first training and deployment solution for the entire Llama2 series in China” after it deployed a Llama 2 solution for businesses to develop AI-powered software and tools. #bitcoinguru #cryptotraders #btcnews #tradinglifestyle #cryptoinvestor #bitcoinusa #bitcoin #altcoindaily #trader #wallstreet #cryptolife #crypt

KuCoin's Bitcoin and Litecoin mining pools will be suspended from 16:00:00 on Aug. 15, 2023 (UTC) until further notice. The exchange said the decision was "in line with KuCoin's evolving business strategy" but didn't elaborate further. It's unclear if the decision is related to the upcoming Litecoin halving. KuCoin staff wrote: "To ensure uninterrupted earnings during our temporary suspension, users who are involved in cryptocurrency mining, we recommend transitioning your BTC and LTC miners to alternative mining pools before 16:00:00 on August 15, 2023 (UTC)." The exchange also warned users to back up and preserve their mining records and related data before Aug. 27. Currently, the KuCoin Bitcoin and Litecoin mining pools have hash rates of 9.08 exahash per second (EH/s) and 3.90 terrahash per second (TH/s), respectively. On the whole, the Bitcoin network has a hash rate of 349.19 EH/s, compared to 792.16 TH/s for the Litecoin network. Cointelegraph previously reported that KuCoin is preparing to lay off 30% of its workforce. The exchange denied it was doing so, stating that it had not initiated any layoff plans. CEO Johnny Lyu wrote: "First things first, KuCoin is operating smoothly. Our recent H1 2023 report shows strong growth in users and new listings, and our talented team is expanding steadily." Since July, the exchange has implemented mandatory Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for its users. Existing customers will be barred from depositing unless they complete KYC. The exchange says it has over 20 million registered accounts. #cryptoexchange #smartcontracts #bitcoiner #bitmex #investinbitcoin #bitcoinusa #bitcoininvestment #sharecrypto #trader #wallstreet #cryptocurrency #cryptotrading #cryptosignals #bitcointechnology #cryptocommunity #cryptomillionaire #cryptoexplorer #cryptologyjournal #sharecrypto