Tag: #ETH

OKX Discloses Monthly Proof of Reserves, Holding $10.4 Billion in BTC, ETH, and USDT

by Blockchain News

OKX, a global Web3 technology firm and cryptocurrency exchange, disclosed its 10th consecutive monthly Proof of Reserves (PoR) report today. The report shows that the exchange holds USD$10.4 billion in primary assets, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Tether (USDT).

In an effort to understand public sentiment about PoR and transparency, OKX conducted two Twitter polls. The data reveals that 84% of respondents consider monthly PoR reports to be either ‘somewhat important’ or ‘very important.’ Additionally, 88% of respondents indicate that transparency is a significant factor in choosing a crypto platform.

The August PoR report from OKX encompasses 22 commonly traded digital assets and demonstrates that the exchange has maintained a reserve ratio above 100% for ten consecutive months. The reserve ratios for BTC, ETH, and USDT are currently 102%, 102%, and 103%, respectively. Lennix Lai, OKX Global Chief Commercial Officer, stated, “The 38% increase in assets under management on OKX coincides with our focus on transparency, as indicated by our monthly PoR reports.”

Since the launch of its PoR page in late 2022, the exchange reports that hundreds of thousands of users have engaged with its open-source verification tool. This tool enables users to independently verify the solvency of OKX while maintaining their privacy. To date, the exchange has made over 210,000 addresses public for its PoR program.

OKX plans to continue publishing monthly PoR reports and is developing tools for user verification of its solvency and asset backing.

The firm, which has over 50 million global users, is known for its crypto trading services and publishes its Proof of Reserves on a monthly basis as part of its operational transparency.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /

HashKey Launches as HK’s First Licensed Retail Crypto Exchange, Begins BTC and ETH Trading

by Blockchain News

On 28 August 2023, HashKey Exchange, the city’s first licensed retail virtual asset exchange (crypto exchange), commenced operations today. The official launch, hosted at the Maritime Museum Central, was attended by key figures from the HKSAR government, leading banks, insurance entities, and representatives from the Big 4 auditing firms.

The platform, which supports direct bank transfers in both USD and HKD, introduced initial fiat trading pairs such as BTC/USD, ETH/USD, and USDT/USD. Joseph Chan Ho-lim, JP, Undersecretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, and Norman Chan Tak-lam, GBS, JP, Chairman of the Hong Kong Web3 Association, were among the notable speakers who shed light on the evolving landscape of the Web3 industry in Hong Kong.

Livio Weng, COO of HashKey Group, highlighted the capabilities of the HEX Engine, a robust system designed to handle up to 5,000 transactions per second (TPS). Emphasizing compliance, HashKey Exchange operates under the stringent guidelines set by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. This includes rigorous user admission protocols, anti-money laundering measures, and consistent transaction monitoring. Additionally, the platform has fortified its security measures, storing 98% of its digital assets in cold wallets. To ensure transparency and adherence to regulatory standards, regular audits are conducted by the Big 4 accounting firms.

In celebration of its inauguration, HashKey Exchange is offering a temporary waiver on trading fees and has introduced the “HashKey Grand Launch Festival,” providing added benefits for its new user base.

HashKey Exchange, a subsidiary of HashKey Group, stands as the pioneer in Hong Kong, having received the green light for virtual asset trading for retail users from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). HashKey Group, a prominent digital asset financial service provider in Asia, delivers a comprehensive suite of services, ranging from trading to Web3 infrastructure, with operations spanning Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /

Smart Whale Cumberland Liquidated 8K $ETH Prior to Market Crash

by Blockchain News

In a strategic move, Cumberland, a prominent player in the crypto space, offloaded 8,000 $ETH, equivalent to $14.4 million, just before the cryptocurrency market took a downturn.

As per data from CoinGlass, the entire cryptocurrency market witnessed a 7% decline on August 18, reducing its total valuation to $1.1 trillion. Ethereum’s price notably dipped to its lowest at $1,550, marking a 15% decrease from its value 24 hours prior.

Following this market crash, Cumberland proceeded to withdraw 4,000 $ETH ($6.72 million) from Binance.

Cumberland’s astute market operations aren’t new. On June 6, 2023, amidst the market’s FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) due to the SEC’s lawsuit against Binance, several institutions and whales, termed as “SmartMoney”, were observed purchasing at lower prices.

During this period, Cumberland moved 67.9 million $USDC out of Circle and subsequently deposited 67.1 million $USDC into Coinbase. In a similar vein, another notable entity, FalconX, transferred 37 million $USDC from Circle and channeled 29.5 million $USDC into Binance.

After Cumberland’s strategic stablecoin deposit, the cryptocurrency’s price saw a temporary decline, bottoming out at $24,800 on June 14, 2023. However, in the following weeks, Bitcoin’s market value made a significant recovery, soaring by over 35% to reach $31,804 by July 13. Such astute investment strategies, especially purchasing at depressed prices, have historically yielded substantial returns for institutions like Cumberland.

A brief about Cumberland

Operating as a subsidiary of DRW, Cumberland has been a significant figure in the crypto domain since 2014. With over three decades of experience inherited from DRW, the firm utilizes technology, research, and risk management to present institutions with strategic market opportunities. Their services span both traditional voice markets and advanced electronic trading solutions, including platforms like Marea and an API. Their collaborations with industry giants such as Bloomberg in areas like data, research, and media further emphasize their influential stance in the crypto ecosystem. Cumberland’s deep-rooted understanding of Web3 verticals and their contribution to growth solidifies their position as a preferred partner in the digital markets.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /

Shiba Inu’s SHIB Price Up Nearly 10% and Trading Volume Doubles Over Last 24 Hours

by Blockchain News

The Shiba Inu’s SHIB price surged around 10% in the past 24 hours, while Bitcoin remains stuck at around $29,400. This surge makes SHIB one of the hottest cryptocurrencies, raising interest among traders. On Binance, 1000 SHIB are grouped together as one trading unit, symbolized as 1000SHIB.

In the meantime, according to Coinglass, 1000SHIB’s trading volume on Binance exchange increased over 100% to $1.32 billion, ranking third behind BTC and ETH, with trading volumes of $4.48 billion and $1.76 billion, respectively.

Additionally, the open interest in Shiba Inu increased over 33% to $101.65 million.

With the upward trend of SHIB token price, the funding rate has turned negative, meaning that short traders will pay fees for longer trading. Funding rates are periodic payments between traders in perpetual contract markets, based on the difference between these markets and spot prices. This alignment prevents lasting price divergence in crypto markets, with platforms like Binance Futures recalculating the rate multiple times daily.

The Long/Short ratio on Binance is 0.8907, indicating an increase in short traders. However, be warned: market makers and manipulators may pump the SHIB price to liquidate short traders.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /

Golem, Raised 820,000 ETH in 2016 ICO Ironically, Now Stakes 98,016 ETH

by Blockchain News

the Golem Foundation has staked 98,016 ETH (equivalent to $183M) into Ethereum’s Proof of Stake (PoS) system, as reported 15 hours ago. This move is noteworthy as it represents a substantial portion of the 820,000 ETH ($8.52M) that the Golem project had raised during its Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on November 11, 2016.

The Golem Network is “a global group of creators building ambitious software solutions that will shape the technological landscape of future generations by accessing computing resources across the platform.” The Golem project, a decentralized marketplace for computing power, has been a pioneering force in the blockchain space. It was one of the first projects to crowdfund for building, and its first implementation, Brass Golem, became operational in 2018. The project’s primary objective is to provide computing resources for demanding projects without the involvement of central authorities. 

Ironically, the Golem project still holds a significant amount of ETH from its ICO. Out of the 820,000 ETH raised, 721,984 ETH (worth approximately $524M) is still in their possession.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / /

Understanding ETH/BTC Rate – Key Factors and Price Predictions

by Blockchain News

According to CME Group report, the two dominant cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), make up over 61% of the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies. The connection between these two cryptoassets has been especially strong since the introduction of BTC futures in December 2017, circling around +0.85 during the last year. 

When compared to the USD, these cryptocurrencies exhibit high volatility. BTC’s daily price volatility during the last year was 42% annualized, compared to ETH’s daily volatility of around 59%. This shows that ETH tends to climb more when BTC rises, and vice versa. 

It’s noteworthy to note that the volatility of the ETH/BTC (ETH-BTC) exchange rate is lower than that of either BTC or ETH alone. This has been the situation ever since BTC futures were introduced in late 2017. The volatility of ETH-BTC has decreased to 30% during the last year, which is around one-fourth less than that of BTC-USD and nearly half that of ETH-USD.

The ETH-BTC exchange rate has very little sway on changes in interest rates, gold prices, or crude oil futures. However, it has shown a greater interest in the future of the USD and technology stocks. Since May 2022, the one-year rolling correlation of ETH-BTC with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 has been consistently around +0.2, suggesting a modest but persistent positive correlation. 

The distinct sentiments of ETH and BTC can be attributed to their distinct applications and market supply methodologies. ETH’s market capitalization stood at $224 billion on July 11, 2023, while BTC’s was substantially higher at $550 billion.

ETH switched to a less energy-intensive proof of stake (PoS) paradigm in 2022, whereas BTC uses an energy-intensive proof of work (PoW) system. The maximum supply of Bitcoin is 21 million coins, with 19,4 million currently in circulation. In contrast, the total supply of ETH is theoretically unlimited, with the potential to mint up to 18 million new coins per year.

The mining of new ETH coins has begun to decrease since the implementation of the PoS system. The creation of new BTC coins has continued at an annual rate of 335,000. At the next halving event, which is anticipated to occur in April 2024, the BTC supply is expected to be halved.

BTC’s quadrennial halvings in 2010, 2014, and 2018 coincided with huge runups in price prior to the reduction in BTC supply growth, followed by enormous bear markets. Going into the three previous halvings, the amount of revenue that miners demand for validating transactions on the bitcoin blockchain has tended to spike, followed by tremendous declines in bitcoin prices of between 70% and 93%.

Looking ahead, if BTC rallies ahead of its upcoming April 2024 halving as it did ahead of previous halvings, that might also help ETH prices to rise even further on a relative basis. However, these possibilities are far from certain. 

In conclusion, the Ether-Bitcoin price nexus is influenced by a variety of factors, including the supply mechanisms of both cryptocurrencies, their correlation with technology stocks and the USD, and macroeconomic factors such as interest rates and monetary policy. As the crypto landscape continues to evolve, these dynamics will be crucial to watch.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /

Breaking: CoinsPaid, AtomicWallet, and Alphapo Incidents All Connected to North Korea’s Lazarus Group

by Blockchain News

MistTrack, a renowned crypto tracking and compliance platform, has unveiled potential connections between a series of incidents that have stirred the crypto community. These incidents involve CoinsPaid, AtomicWallet, and Alphapo, three major players in the crypto sphere.

On July 26, 2023, MistTrack hinted at the possibility of the notorious Lazarus Group being behind these incidents. The Lazarus Group, also known as Hidden Cobra, is a cybercrime group believed to be based in North Korea. Known for their cyber espionage and cyber warfare tactics, they have been implicated in a number of high-profile attacks, including the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, the 2016 Bangladesh Bank heist, and the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack.

The first incident involves Alphapo, a prominent payment processor for various gambling services. On July 23, 2023, Alphapo reported that their hot wallets had been compromised, resulting in the loss of over $23 million in cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), TRON (TRX), and Bitcoin (BTC). However, recent updates suggest that the total amount stolen is far greater than initially reported, amounting to $60 million.

The second incident involves Atomic Wallet, a noncustodial decentralized wallet, which reported losses of over $100 million due to a security breach. The losses from the Atomic Wallet heist have now skyrocketed to over $100 million, according to an analysis conducted by Elliptic. This alarming figure highlights the severity of the attack, which compromised an estimated 5,500 crypto wallets.

MistTrack’s investigation revealed that the address TNMW5iEH7CCudMTGFJA9Ch6KSf6J3hAJem received funds from TJXXmeUbie3JBfK7H3UQb43sWnbhhdTJQx, an address allegedly used by the Atomic Wallet hackers. This information was shared in response to a tweet by ZachXBT, who suggested that the Atomic Wallet hack might have been executed by the Lazarus Group. ZachXBT noted, “seeing lots of similarities in the laundering patterns to Ronin + Harmony.”

These findings were further corroborated by @onchainsnoop, who was acknowledged by MistTrack for meticulously unearthing the compelling correlation between these three major incidents. MistTrack extended an invitation to anyone with additional information to direct message or share their findings.

The platform acknowledged the improbability of a full recovery of the stolen funds but emphasized that every clue could help piece together the puzzle and potentially aid in reclaiming a portion of the stolen funds.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / / /

Alphapo Hot Wallets Stolen Cryptos Amount to $60M Now

by Blockchain News

Alphapo, a prominent payment processor for various gambling services, has been hit by a significant security breach. The company reported on July 23, 2023, that their hot wallets had been compromised. The incident resulted in the loss of over $23 million in cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), TRON (TRX), and Bitcoin (BTC). However, recent updates suggest that the total amount stolen is far greater than initially reported.

According to a tweet by ZachXBT, a well-known figure in the crypto community, on July 25, 2023, an additional $37 million stolen in TRON and BTC has been located. This revelation brings the total amount stolen from Alphapo’s hot wallets to a $60 million. The exact amount of BTC stolen remains unclear, suggesting that the total figure could be even higher.

The stolen funds were reportedly swapped for ETH and then bridged to other blockchains, including Avalanche and Bitcoin. The addresses involved in the breach include:

  • 0x040a96659fd7118259ebcd547771f6ecb9580d17

  • 0x6d2e8a20b8afa88d92406d315b67822c01e53c38

  • TKSitnfTLVMRbJsF1i2UH5hNUeHLDrXDiY

  • TDoNAZHa7WxarUAFbQUhiijTGtd7EpbzRh

  • TJF7mdFxDuHB4tb9hoyR4SCpKxk7gr23ym1

Following the security breach, HypeDrop, one of Alphapo’s customers, had to disable withdrawals. In response to a query about the deposit and withdrawal issues, HypeDrop stated, “Our provider is currently working to solve some recent issues from their side, they are facing problems specifically related to withdrawals of BTC, ETH, and TRX, as well as deposits for ETH and TRX.”

The incident has raised serious questions about Alphapo’s security protocols and the potential impact on its clientele. Observers are closely following the situation, with further developments expected as the investigation unfolds. According to ZachXBT, the hack appears to have been carried out by Lazarus, a group known for leaving a distinct fingerprint on-chain.

This incident serves as a stark reminder of the security risks associated with cryptocurrency activities.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / /

60k BTC and 60k ETH on Justin Sun’s Tron Seem Unbacked

by Blockchain News

Crypto analyst ErgoBTC has raised serious questions about the backing of TRC20 BTC tokens on the Tron network in a series of tweets. The analyst suggests that 60,000 of these tokens, currently parked in the JustLend protocol, appear to have never been backed. This implies an unbacked (non-existent) Total Value Locked (TVL) of $1.8 billion, which is roughly 50% of the current TVL in the JustLend protocol.

ErgoBTC’s tweets were in response to another tweet by a user named “alto | dollar.eth” who claimed to have found the wallet that backs the 60k ETH on Tron, but its current balance is zero. This raises further questions about the backing of TRC20 tokens on the Tron network.

In a typical centralized peg scheme, the custodian advertises their reserve holdings for transparency and trust, as seen with wBTC. However, information on the custodian for the TRC-20 BTC backing is practically non-existent.

The analyst conducted a thorough investigation into the existence of the total 114k BTC on the BTC blockchain. The findings suggest that if these coins exist, they are not sitting in a dedicated address. Furthermore, a deeper dive into the 60k “mint” done on August 21, 2022, revealed no signs of this activity on the BTC blockchain.

The investigation extended to major exchanges such as Poloniex, Huobi, and Binance, but none showed signs of the 60k BTC transactions. The TronDAO, which is not explicitly used for backing TRC20 BTC, also showed no signs of related non-exchange addresses.

The analyst concludes that these findings are signs that the TRC20 BTC on Tron was at best temporarily and partially unbacked, and at worst, still partially backed (-60k of the reported 114k BTC). The biggest impact seems to be a completely fake JustLend TVL, approximately 50% of which is apparently unbacked.

The tweets also trace the path of the 60k BTC minted on August 21, 2022, which was sent to JustLend for a 600m USDC loan. Half of this loan was repaid within two hours of creation, funded by an address attributed to Justin Sun. The remaining loan was funneled through another wallet, which also received from J-Sun and deposited over $1 billion to Circle in late September and early October.

The blockchain story ends here, but ErgoBTC notes that Huobi changed hands on OCT 10, 2022, one week after the >1B USDC deposits to Circle . The analyst emphasizes that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but none of this would be necessary if the TRC20 BTC custodian was transparent.

Source

Tagged : / / / / / / / / / / /

61,216.6 ETH from Ethereum ICO Address Moved to Kraken

by Blockchain News

An Ethereum (ETH) address associated with the initial coin offering (ICO) in 2015 has transferred a staggering 61,216.6 ETH, equivalent to $116 million, to the Kraken exchange a few hours ago. This transaction marks the first movement of these funds since their acquisition eight years ago.

source: etherscan

The address in question received 61,216.6 ETH from the Ethereum genesis block on July 30, 2015. At the time of the ICO, the value of these tokens was a mere $19,038, with each ETH priced at $0.311. Fast forward to today, and the same amount of ETH is worth an astounding $116 million, showcasing the tremendous growth and adoption of Ethereum over the years.

source: etherscan

The transfer of such a substantial amount of ETH to Kraken could indicate a potential huge sale pressure or a strategic move by the original ICO participant. However, the exact intent behind this transaction remains unknown.

It’s worth noting that the transactions could influence Ethereum price given the substantial amount involved.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / /
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 44,347.88 2.14%
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,369.15 0.16%
Litecoin (LTC) $ 79.06 5.71%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 257.02 3.60%