😬🔻Ethereum's Awful August: Can It Bounce Back?
In today’s edition: 🛑 WazirX hack: Users lose over 40%, while funds are laundered, 🚑 Binance's Gambaryan cites serious health issues in court, 🚨 Criminal group in Ukraine pose as police, and more!
Transform financial services through DeFi & Tokenization at Meridian 2024. Stellar Development Foundation’s annual conference will take place in London, UK, from October 15 to 17. Learn More.
Gevulot is the universal proving infrastructure for ZK. Try ZkCloud with free usage, plus extended grant opportunities for premier customers, until 'Q1 2025.
Cartesi did the hard work, like putting Linux on the blockchain, so that building dApps could be radically simple. Discover a boundless design space for your most ambitious web3 projects. Learn more.
The Chopping Block: Telegram’s Founder Arrested, OpenSea Under Fire, and Ethereum’s Dilemma
In this episode, the squad is joined by Rebecca Rettig, Polygon’s chief legal and policy officer, to dissect the SEC’s impact on the crypto landscape, particularly focusing on OpenSea’s Wells notice and impending legal challenges.
They discuss the arrest of Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, analyzing the political and cybersecurity ramifications. The conversation shifts to the internal frictions within the Ethereum Foundation and Vitalik Buterin’s criticism of DeFi, reflecting the community’s mixed reactions. The broader implications for the crypto industry, privacy, and regulatory clarity are highlighted with special insights from guest Rebecca Rettig, who adds depth on the legal and historical context. Wrapping up, they anticipate future challenges and emphasize staying informed.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pods, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Earn bitcoin on Gemini here.
Daily Bits… ✍️✍️✍
📉 Ethereum experienced its worst month in over two years, with a 22% drop in August, driven by disappointing ETF flows, Vitalik Buterin's critical comments on DeFi, and a shift of activity to layer 2 networks.
💸 WazirX users are likely to lose over 40% of their funds following a $234 million hack, with the restructuring process suggesting customers may recover only 55% to 57% of their assets. 💰 The hacker who stole from WazirX has begun moving $4 million worth of stolen ether through Tornado Cash, a privacy tool often used to obscure transaction trails.
🩺 Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan appeared in a Nigerian court on crutches as his money laundering trial resumed, with his legal team citing serious health concerns and challenging the conditions of his detention.
🚔 Ukrainian authorities arrested a criminal group posing as law enforcement, who extorted $250,000 in Tether (USDT) from a young entrepreneur by threatening him with false charges of collaborating with Russia.
📈 Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges saw a 6.6% increase in trading volumes in August, reaching $1.2 trillion, continuing an upward trend from July, with Binance leading the market share.
💸 Global crypto investment products saw $305 million in outflows last week, reversing the previous week's inflows, as negative sentiment spread amid strong US economic data affecting interest rate expectations.
📊 Donald Trump has regained the lead over Kamala Harris on Polymarket, with a 51% chance of winning the US presidency.
Today in Crypto Adoption...
📈 Bluesky, the decentralized social media platform, experienced a surge of one million new users in three days after X (formerly Twitter) was banned in Brazil, leading to a significant increase in traffic and technical challenges.
What Do You Meme?
📈 Your Market Update 📉
BTC is up 1%, trading at $59,063
ETH is down 0.7%, trading at $2,506
BTC dominance: 53.99%
Crypto market cap: $2.16T
*All data as of today, 06:52 am ET. Source: CoinGecko
Recommended Reads
DL News: Why ex-FTX exec’s bold legal strategy probably won’t work
Blockworks: Bukele was right: El Salvador timed the bitcoin bottom almost perfectly
We Are Hiring!
A Bitcoin Reporter to cover all things Bitcoin. See the details and apply here.
A Regulatory Reporter to cover regulatory topics in the space. See the details and apply here.
A Senior Editor to help assign and edit daily news stories, as well as work on features and other editorial projects as needed. See the details and apply here.
An Audience Development Director to broaden the reach of the publication’s content, whether through the web, social media, newsletters, podcast platforms, or videos. See the details and apply here.
🔝 Are you hiring and want to promote the postings in the Unchained newsletter? Let us know!