On April 3, 2023, at Ethereum block height 16,964,664, a group of MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) bots were exploited for $25.3 million. An analysis of the exploit revealed that a renegade validator switched the MEV bots’ transactions and seized various crypto tokens, such as 7,460 wrapped ether and 64 wrapped bitcoin. While the Mechanisms Behind
BNB Chain was the king of rug pulls in the first quarter of 2023, with over 73.3% of such scams in the entire crypto ecosystem happening on the network, according to an April 4 report from blockchain security firm Immunefi. The report, titled “Crypto Losses in Q1 2023,” investigated a variety of crypto hacks and
Dakar, the capital of the West African nation of Senegal, now boasts an annual Pan-African Bitcoin conference, over 10 merchants accepting Bitcoin, a local peer-to-peer BTC exchange and a budding Bitcoin community. What’s more, the speed at which Bitcoin’s progress is unwinding is staggering. The city hosted the DakarBTC Days conference just 10 months after
Midjourney, an artificial intelligence (AI) service that generates images from natural language descriptions, recently banned the making of pictures of Chinese President Xi Jinping, much to the dismay of its users. However, the ban has not deterred its users from finding a workaround by creating deepfakes of Xi, which are manipulated digital representations produced by
Major Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual continues onboarding new cryptocurrency services with the launch of its own stablecoin backed by the U.S. dollar. BTG Pactual is preparing to launch the BTG Dol, a new stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar on a 1:1 ratio, using the bank’s custody services. Announcing the news on April 4,
Ethereum surged to an eight-month high on Tuesday, as bulls began to gradually return to cryptocurrency markets. As the session matured, the global market cap moved higher, and is up by 1.27% at the time of writing. Bitcoin moved closer to a key resistance level at $28,500. Bitcoin Bitcoin (BTC) continued to trade close to
The Zambian kwacha, one of the best-performing currencies in 2022, is now expected to see its first quarterly decline in nearly two years. The Zambian leader Hakainde Hichilema claimed that stalled debt restructuring negotiations are adding to pressure against the local currency. Zambia’s Debt Default After ending 2022 as one of Africa’s best-performing currencies, the
Dogecoin (DOGE) pared a portion of its massive daily gains on April 4 as investors speculated on the meaning behind Elon Musk’s latest cryptic stunt. Elon Musk pumps Dogecoin by over 30% In what appears to be a late April Fool’s joke, Musk-owned Twitter changed its official blue bird logo to mimic Dogecoin’s symbol —
The U.S. Federal Reserve could be competing with commercial banks due to a facility called the “overnight reverse repurchase agreement facility,” which has currently drawn in more than $2 trillion in deposits. According to analysts, this has affected bank deposits, as investors run to grab the higher yields it offers compared to traditional banks. The
Bitcoin (BTC) hit new month-to-date lows overnight into April 4 as fresh rumors over the biggest exchange, Binance, spooked fragile markets. BTC price returns to $28,000 after weekly lo Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD dipping to $27,240 on Bitstamp. Its lowest since March 28, the performance followed an outbreak of claims
A member of the XRP community filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request back in early August 2022 regarding communications between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and banking giant JP Morgan involving Ripple Lab and XRP. In a new update, Ashley Prosper shared that the request continues to be delayed. Prosper is
After being robbed of $196 million in a flash loan attack, Euler Finance convinced its hacker within 25 days to return most of the funds. The outcome was a result of numerous to and fro, which eventually led the hacker to do “the right thing.” On March 13, the Euler Finance hacker carried out multiple
A bill seeking to put blockchain and crypto assets under the purview of the Kenyan Capital Markets Authority is supposedly set to be debated in the country’s parliament. The bill also seeks to “widen the meaning of ‘securities’ to capture digital currencies.” The persons that receive licenses from the regulator are also required to maintain
The Ethereum KZG ceremony, which aims to provide a cryptographic foundation for Ethereum scaling, has already had over 83,000 contributions of randomness from users all over the world. Now it’s receiving a contributor from outer space. Cryptosat, a blockchain-powered satellite orbiting Earth, announced its contribution of entropy from space on April 4 at 6 a.m.
The dominance of cryptocurrency exchange Binance in trading volume market share has slipped over the past two weeks following a lawsuit from the United States commodities regulator and its decision to halt some zero-fee trading. In an April 4 newsletter blockchain analytics platform Kaiko reported Binance “lost 16% market share of trade volume,” with its
Ethereum mainnet Archive Node service, ArchiveNode.io, said it will be shutting down, claiming that the project has been a success. On April 4, ArchiveNode.io announced it was “sunsetting” its services after more than three years of providing free Ethereum mainnet Archive Node services to developers, students, and researchers. An Ethereum Archive Node is an instance
Bitcoin (BTC) is “untouchable” despite ongoing regulatory pressures in the crypto sector and those who don’t have some crypto exposure are “seriously silly” according to Bloomberg’s senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone. During an April 3 stream with crypto podcaster Scott Melker, McGlone argued that unlike other cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH), Bitcoin couldn’t be killed
A senior People’s Bank of China (PBOC) official has urged regulators to consider cryptocurrency risks and fraud that could lead to bank failures when innovating regulation. The Chinese official highlighted the recent collapse of U.S. banks that provided services to crypto customers as an example. “The regulation philosophy, technology, and capability must be upgraded to
A new decentralized layer has been added on top of Ethereum to make smart accounts possible with the introduction of ERC-4337 and account abstraction — but infrastructure providers suggest it may be tricky to participate profitably right now. ERC-4337, commonly called “smart accounts” or “account abstraction” was deployed on the Ethereum mainnet on March 1.
The finance ministers and central bank governors of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are exploring ways to decrease their countries’ dependence on the U.S. dollar and promote the use of local currencies in trade settlements. “We must remember the sanctions imposed by the US on Russia,” said Indonesian President Joko Widodo. ASEAN Countries