DeFi faces stress test, DoJ fears run on Binance, Hong Kong’s…

High Tales This Week

The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem experienced a challenging week after a seismic safety incident led to over $61 million being stolen from Curve Finance’s swimming pools, leaving a number of protocols going through broader contagion dangers. This assault uncovered vulnerabilities throughout DeFi tasks and sparked efforts to get well stolen funds over the previous few days, hammering the efficiency of tokens and even stablecoins because of the dramatic ups and downs on this story. Because the group navigates the aftermath of this exploit, Cointelegraph compiled the week’s occasions, presenting a timeline of what occurred because the hack on July 30.

US DoJ is anxious a few run on Binance ought to prosecutors convey fraud costs

America Division of Justice is reportedly contemplating charging cryptocurrency exchange Binance with fraud, however hesitating based mostly on prices to customers. In keeping with folks aware of the matter, Justice Division officers are involved about an indictment in opposition to Binance inflicting a run much like what occurred with FTX in November 2022. The officers are contemplating fines or non-prosecution agreements for Binance moderately than legal costs in an effort to scale back the hurt to customers. Binance has been targeted by a criminal probe within the U.S. for allegedly violating the nation’s sanctions on Russia and has additionally confronted lawsuits from U.S. regulators.

Hong Kong debuts retail crypto buying and selling with HashKey and OSL

Digital asset agency HashKey has successfully obtained all necessary licensing to broaden its enterprise from serving skilled traders to taking on retail customers, as Hong Kong expands its cryptocurrency buying and selling to particular person traders. The primary license, Sort 1, permits HashKey to function a digital asset buying and selling platform beneath Hong Kong’s securities legal guidelines. The second, Sort 7, formally permits the agency to offer automated buying and selling companies to each institutional and retail customers. OSL, one other native crypto agency, acquired an improve to its present license from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Fee, permitting it to supply Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) buying and selling to retail traders instantly.

Coinbase denies SEC instructed it to delist the whole lot however Bitcoin

Coinbase has denied reports claiming that its CEO, Brian Armstrong, was as soon as instructed by the U.S. Securities and Change Fee to delist all cryptocurrencies on its platform aside from Bitcoin. In an interview with the Monetary Occasions, Armstrong reportedly acknowledged that the SEC needed Coinbase to delist the practically 250 tokens on its platform. In keeping with a Coinbase spokesperson, nevertheless, the report is lacking context and the SEC didn’t request Coinbase to delist any particular property. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has beforehand claimed that “the whole lot aside from Bitcoin” is a safety beneath the company’s remit.

Ethereum’s eighth birthday: Crypto business shares its high moments

The crypto group has come collectively to celebrate the birthday of the Ethereum network, marking eight years because the Ethereum Basis first despatched the community reside.

On July 30, 2015, former Ethereum Basis CCO Stephan Tual penned a weblog put up, formally saying that the community had been rolled out. “The imaginative and prescient of a censorship-proof ‘world pc’ that anybody can program, paying solely for what they use and nothing extra, is now a actuality,” he wrote. Eight years later, Ethereum and its native forex, Ether (ETH), has grown to develop into the second-largest crypto asset in existence, boasting a market capitalization of $225 billion and greater than 1,900 month-to-month lively builders.

Winners and Losers

On the finish of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $28,985, Ether (ETH) at $1,823 and XRP at $0.63. The overall market cap is at $1.16 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the many greatest 100 cryptocurrencies, the highest three altcoin gainers of the week are Helium (HNT) at 39.79%, XDC Community (XDC) at 20.11% and Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) at 18.04%. 

The highest three altcoin losers of the week are Compound (COMP) at -18.41%, Curve DAO Token (CRV) at -15.86% and Stellar (XLM) at -14.36%.

For more information on crypto costs, be sure to learn Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

“The digital asset services that TASE is exploring will little doubt play foundational roles in the way forward for Israel’s economic system.”

Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks

“Spot [Bitcoin] ETFs will serve one other set of shoppers in a synergistic trend to develop all the asset class.”

Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy

“Generative AI has huge financial potential and will enhance world labor productiveness by greater than 1 share level a yr within the decade following widespread utilization.”

Goldman Sachs

“I personally haven’t seen any audit stories of USDT. I don’t suppose most individuals I spoke to haven’t seen that both. So it’s type of a black field as a result of we simply don’t know.”

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of Binance

“As president, on day one, CBDC goes into the trash can — we’re not going to permit it.”

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida

“An important factor that occurred this yr in Bitcoin is Larry Fink.”

Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital

Prediction of the Week 

BTC worth upside ‘but to come back’ at $29K after Bitcoin RSI reset — Dealer

Bitcoin has not yet seen the majority of its gains this cycle, well-liked merchants imagine. After over a month of performing inside a good buying and selling vary, merchants’ endurance with Bitcoin is carrying skinny, however amid expectations that BTC worth will take a look at ranges nearer to $25,000 and even decrease, pseudonymous analyst Credible Crypto is a kind of arguing the other.

Analyzing knowledge, together with Bitcoin market cap dominance and its relative energy index (RSI), he concluded that circumstances had been reset. “Largest upside strikes on BTC are YET TO COME,” he summarized, earlier than including that:

“A month of sideways motion on BTC and dominance has merely made a better low. H12 bullish div confirmed, RSI on greater TF seems reset, sustaining above the ‘magic’ 40 RSI stage, who’s prepared for the subsequent leg up?”

Persevering with, fellow pseudonymous dealer CryptoCon flagged RSI over longer timeframes to ship a equally bullish take on BTC worth efficiency:

“I see worth going sideways, and I’ve by no means been extra bullish! Simply wait till we break into part 2 on the three Week RSI… Early bull market worth motion, interval.”

FUD of the Week 

Crypto Twitter has been abuzz with debate after a new conspiracy theory has suggested FTX founder Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried may be secretly behind some of the controversial new memecoins on Base. The Bald memecoin was launched on July 30 and witnessed an unbelievable 289,000% acquire inside the first 24 hours of buying and selling. After the token’s nameless developer eliminated hundreds of ETH in liquidity, the worth of Bald plummeted greater than 85% — sparking allegations of a rug pull, which the developer has denied. The incident led quite a lot of blockchain sleuths to dig into the developer’s on-chain previous, prompting some to attract a hyperlink to SBF because the Ethereum pockets deal with chargeable for deploying the Bald token, which had acquired hundreds of ETH in funding from wallets related to FTX and Alameda Analysis.

Particular person charged with cash laundering admits to hacking Bitfinex in 2016

Ilya Lichtenstein admitted to a U.S. court that he was the person behind an exploit of cryptocurrency alternate Bitfinex in 2016 which resulted within the theft of roughly 119,754 Bitcoin. Lichtenstein spoke as a part of a plea settlement with prosecutors, who charged him and his spouse Heather Morgan with cash laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud america. The couple allegedly laundered greater than 94,643 BTC from the Bitfinex hack — value roughly $54 million on the time.

Customers stated CertiK’s warning was a false alarm — then the challenge rugged

Blockchain safety agency Certik tried, in 2022, to warn users of an imminent rug pull surrounding a crypto challenge, however traders turned offended and fired again. The agency rescinded the safety alert. Then, the challenge pulled the plug. That is the story behind the Web3 gaming challenge “Crypto Vehicles.” On the time, the challenge’s native token was quickly falling in worth, its web site was briefly down, and its builders stated that it could not reply on its Telegram because of the Lunar New 12 months vacation celebrated in Vietnam. The scenario triggered Certik’s alert, however when Cointelegraph tried to observe up with the challenge on Aug. 1, 2023, it had way back shut its doorways.

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Cointelegraph Journal writers and reporters contributed to this text.