💸 Early Miners Cash Out Amid New BTC ATHs
In today’s edition: 📈 Bitcoin's new record high, 💡 Key takeaways from ETHDenver, 🚨 OrdiZK's $1.4M exit scam?, 💹 USDT reaches $100B cap, and more!
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Union is the first sovereign interoperability layer pioneering trustless bridging between appchains, L1s, and L2s without depending on trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or MPC. Looking to future-proof blockchain bridging, it is the only protocol that fully addresses the sovereign bridging trilemma, unlocking a horizontally-scaled future.
In this episode of Unchained, Alex Pack, managing partner at Hack VC. Pack discusses the firm’s recent $150 million fundraise, the challenges of raising capital in a bear market, and the firm’s focus on early-stage Web3 infrastructure. He also shares his thoughts on the intersection of crypto and AI, the future of DeFi, and the importance of security in the crypto space. Pack believes that the current infrastructure of crypto is still in its early stages and needs significant improvement before it can reach mainstream adoption. He also sees potential in the development of more secure smart contracts and the integration of AI into decentralized applications.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Or watch it on YouTube.
What’s Poppin’?
by Sage Young, Brandy Betz, Sam Sriram, Frederick Munawa, and Nelson Wang
Miners Appear to Sell $69 Million Worth of Decade-Old Bitcoin
A large amount of bitcoin mined in 2010 was sent to Coinbase after the leading digital asset hit a new all-time high, suggesting that some of the earliest bitcoin miners are cashing out their old block rewards.
Bitcoin Hits New All-Time High Above $69,000, Presaging More Potential Gains
Bitcoin has hit a fresh all-time high above $69,000 amid record levels of open interest and heightened trading volume on Tuesday.
Tether’s USDT Hits $100 Billion Market Cap for First Time
The dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether has added $10 billion in market value since December, fueled by bullishness about cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin.
ETHDenver 2024: 3 Top Takeaways
ETHDenver saw a more than 33% increase to 20,000 visitors compared to last year. What do the attendees and presenters tell us about the future of Ethereum and crypto in general?
OrdiZK Team Allegedly Steals $1.4 Million in Exit Scam
The team behind cross-chain bridging protocol OrdiZK appear to have stolen $1.4 million worth of ether from users, after allegedly draining tokens from the project contract and deleting its website and social media accounts.
Daily Bits…✍️✍️✍️
📝 The SEC expressed concerns over Binance.US's adherence to a consent order, noting insufficient evidence to show that Binance global employees did not have access to US customer assets, despite Binance.US's claims of compliance.
⚖️ ShapeShift agreed to a $275,000 settlement with the SEC over charges of operating as an unregistered securities dealer, committing to avoid future violations of securities regulations.
📉 Jupiter, a trading platform on Solana, encountered difficulties with its perpetual futures service as bitcoin reached new heights, causing disruptions but promising users compensation for their losses.
⚖️ Do Kwon's extradition saga continues as a Montenegro court ordered a retrial, possibly delaying his extradition to the US where he faces fraud charges related to Terra's collapse.
🔒 Coinbase responded to the SEC's attempt to apply a default judgment from an insider trading case to their ongoing legal battle, stating that the judgment should not influence their case.
🌉 Frax Finance announced the public opening of its bridge to the layer 2 network Fraxtal, enabling asset transfers and expanding its ecosystem with a focus on DeFi applications.
🚨 WOOFi faced an $8.75 million exploit on its Arbitrum-based swap service, and is offering a white hat bounty to the attacker for the return of stolen assets following a flash loan manipulation incident.
💹 The DeFi sector's total value locked surpassed $100 billion for the first time since May 2022, fueled by rising cryptocurrency prices and growing interest in restaking and tokenization.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
🎵 Coachella is venturing into NFTs again with OpenSea, aiming to offer fans VIP experiences and exclusive merchandise, moving past its previous FTX partnership challenges.
🔗 Revolut collaborated with MetaMask to launch "Revolut Ramp," facilitating direct cryptocurrency purchases into MetaMask wallets from Revolut accounts, simplifying Web3 transactions for users in the UK and EEA.
📈 Grayscale introduced the Grayscale Dynamic Income Fund (GDIF), its first actively managed crypto fund, targeting staking returns from multiple cryptocurrencies for qualified investors, following successful internal funding and notable returns.
🌐 A proposal for a Web3 financing platform was introduced at China's "Two Sessions," aiming to bridge Hong Kong, Macao, and Guangdong in the Greater Bay Area to support the blockchain and digital assets industry.
The $$$ Corner…
📊 Solana-based IO Research achieved a $1 billion token valuation in its Series A funding round, signalling strong investor confidence in its decentralized physical infrastructure network, io.net.
💰 Utila, an Israel-based crypto wallet service for institutions, raised $11.5 million to enhance its capabilities for asset tokenization, indicating growing institutional interest in crypto and tokenization.
💵 DWF Labs spent $10 million on tokens from TokenFi’s treasury to bolster AI development, propelling TOKEN's value to an all-time high.
💡 Sahara, a crypto startup co-founded by University of Southern California Professor Sean Ren, secured $6 million in seed funding to pioneer a "decentralized AI network" aimed at compensating individuals and companies for their contributions to AI training and development.
What Do You Meme?
Recommended Reads
CoinDesk: Bitcoin Miners Show Muscle Pushing Back Against Warrantless 'Emergency' Order
DL News: The new $5bn world of liquid restaking on Ethereum offers extra yields and extra risks
Unchained: What Are Schnorr Signatures in Bitcoin?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is down .7%, trading at $66,657
ETH is up 2.8%, trading at $3,836
BTC dominance: 49.48%
Crypto market cap: $2.62T
*All data as of today, 06:00 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
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