Dean Thomas

Orbit Chain exploited, $81.6 million drained from cross-chain bridge Orbit Chain's cross-chain bridging protocol Orbit Bridge was exploited on Saturday, December 30th, resulting in over $81 million stolen across major cryptocurrencies like USDT, ETH, and WBTC in a matter of hours. The protocol has confirmed the attack and issued a statement on X. Preliminary examination into the attack suggests the hacker leveraged the Tornado Cash mixing service to obfuscate transactions before exploiting vulnerabilities in Orbit Chain's Ethereum vault. Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that the threat actor systematically drained assets from Orbit Bridge, splitting the theft into five transactions totaling $82 million. Transferred funds included $30 million in Tether stablecoin USDT, $10 million of stablecoin USDC, 21.7 million in ETH, $9.8 million of wrapped Bitcoin WBTC, and $10 million worth of DAI. The exact attack vector is unknown, but the funds were likely stolen by exploiting a vulnerability in the bridging process itself, allowing assets to be minted on one chain without being burned on the originating chain. This points to a weakness in the cryptographic proofs or relayers meant to guarantee atomic transfers. #CryptoNews

Radiant Capital halts Arbitrum markets after reported $4.5M flash loan attack Blockchain security firm Beosin described the exploit as a flash loan attack — with the attacker exploiting a “rounding issue” in the codebase, “which led to a cumulative precision error.” This ultimately allowed the “attacker to profit through repeated deposit() and withdraw() operations,” it wrote in a Jan. 3 post on X. An earlier Jan. 2 post from PeckShield also identified the issue as caused by a “known rounding issue” in the current Compound/Aave codebase. “The root cause is not new: It basically exploits a time window when a new market is activated in a lending market (forked from the popular Compound/Aave),” it added. #CryptoNews

MicroStrategy’s Saylor Sells $216M of His Shares to Buy More Bitcoin MicroStrategy‘s executive chairman, Michael Saylor, has begun selling $216 million worth of his shares in the company. The decision reveals Saylor’s intention to utilize part of the proceeds to expand his personal Bitcoin holdings. Saylor, a prominent advocate for cryptocurrency adoption, unveiled this plan in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulatory filing reveals that Saylor is selling 315,000 MicroStrategy shares acquired via stock options. 310,000 of these were granted in 2014 and are set to expire in April of this year. Saylor has already begun the sell-off, initiating the process with the sale of the first tranche consisting of 5,000 shares on January 2. During MicroStrategy’s third-quarter earnings call, he disclosed his intention to sell 5,000 shares per trading day over the next four months, subject to a minimum price condition. Regarding the reasons behind this, Saylor stated. #CryptoNews

Altcoin season on the horizon The crypto market has reached a critical point. If bitcoin continues to hold steady, another $100 billion could enter into the altcoins, sparking a massive altcoin season. Crypto has arrived at a very important juncture. Bitcoin has recently taken out last year’s high and looks to have its sights set on the all-important $48,000 level. Currently still holding firm above $45,000, $BTC could jump to $48,000 very quickly, especially if the announcement of a Spot Bitcoin ETF is made within the next few days. If the expected announcement is indeed made, and bitcoin does get up towards $48,000 to $50,000, a price hiatus for the king of the cryptocurrencies might take place. It could be at this point, with bitcoin having made its leap up, that investors start looking to take value out of bitcoin and put it into the altcoins, given that they would need to start playing catch up. #CryptoNews

Crypto phishing attacks drained nearly $300 million in 2023: Scam Sniffer Crypto phishing activities increased during 2023, with scammers using wallet drainer malware to siphon nearly $300 million from victims, according to blockchain security firm Scam Sniffer. In a report, Scam Sniffer identified that wallet drainers stole $295.5 million in crypto assets from more than 324,000 victims over the past year — with the largest amount stolen from a single user being $24 million. The malware is deployed on phishing websites, using services like Cloudflare to mask their actual server addresses. The sites are designed to trick users into signing malicious transactions with their crypto wallets, enabling the scammers to steal their funds. Notably, when older wallet drainers exit the scene, others swiftly take their place — compounding the cycle of phishing activities throughout the year. #CryptoNews

Whales Make Big Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) Moves Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) were subject to some major whale transactions, Whale Alert disclosed. According to the whale tracking handle, 1,335 BTC was transferred from Coinbase to an unknown wallet on December 30. But that was not the only transaction involving Bitcoin. A few hours before the above transfer, another whale sent 3,144 BTC to Coinbase. These two transactions implied that both whales involved were on opposite sides of the divide. While the first one plans to hold, the latter transfer suggests a sell-off. However, it was a different case for ETH. Around the same period, $33.50 million worth of ETH was transferred into the Coinbase exchange. There was another 9,991 ETH moved into the same exchange hours before the latest one. #ETH #CryptoNews

Council of Europe adopts new guidelines for responsible AI use in journalism The Council of Europe announced on Dec. 29 that it will put into effect guidelines for the “responsible implementation” of artificial intelligence (AI) in journalistic practices. The Council’s Intergovernmental Steering Committee on Media and the Information Society(CDMSI) adopted the guidelines originally released on Nov. 30, saying they are an “important contribution” to promoting a rule of law-based and human rights-compliant public communication sector. The guidelines cover AI systems in various stages of journalistic production, such as the initial decision to use AI and media organizations acquiring AI tools and incorporating it into the newsroom. #CryptoNews

Stock of Bitcoin's Biggest Public Holder Is Overvalued by 26%, Analyst Who Predicted BTC Rally Says - Investors wondering what's next for shares in business intelligence firm MicroStrategy following this year's 343% surge may want to look at what 10x Research, led by Markus Thielen, who predicted this year's BTC rally, is saying. - Per 10x's latest research note, MSTR's shares appear overvalued by 26%. The conclusion is based on the firm's regression model, studying the relationship between the dependent variable, MSTR, and the independent variable, BTC's spot price. #CryptoNews #BTC

“We Are So Close, Yet So Far”: Industry Leaders Unveil Insights on Crypto Regulation - In a recent panel discussion hosted at the Finance Magnates London Summit (FMLS:23), prominent figures in the digital asset industry shared crucial insights into the evolving landscape of crypto regulation. The panel, moderated by Erwin Voloder, the Head of Policy at the European Blockchain Association, delved into the challenges and transformations catalyzed by recent events, notably the collapse of FTX. - The discussion on Crypto Regulation after FTX underscored the pivotal role of regulation in shaping the industry's trajectory. Despite the challenges posed by FTX's downfall, the consensus among panelists, including Stephanie Ramezan, the Head of UK at Gemini, Audris Siow, the Head of Business Development for EMEA at Talos, Dan Moczulski, the Managing Director for UK at eToro, Andrey Stoychev, the Prime Brokerage at Nexo, and Alex Royle, the Head of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs for EMEA at Galaxy, was that regulatory intervention is essential for the industry's growth and sustainability. #CryptoNews #FTX

Stablecoins To Be Next Trillion-Dollar Market, Outpacing ETFs: Expert - Gabor Gurbacs, an advisor to prominent stablecoin issuer Tether, has argued the potential of stablecoins to become a transformative force in the financial markets, comparing their future to the explosive growth of investment vehicles like exchange-traded funds (ETFs). - In a statement on X, Gurbacs contended that stablecoins possess the key attributes necessary to create the next multi-trillion-dollar market. He first highlighted the historical evolution of investment wrappers, progressing from stocks to hedge funds, mutual funds, and ETFs. - According to him, each contributed to the creation of multi-trillion-dollar markets. Gurbacs expressed a firm belief that stablecoins will be the next significant development in the trajectory. #ETFs #CryptoNews

Nigerian crypto players who accepted central bank ban tipped to be early leaders — Analyst - Crypto players who cooperated with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before it lifted the ban on digital assets for Nigerian banks and financial institutions on Dec. 23 are going to be in the best position to lead the industry in the future, according to Nigerian finance professional Olumide Adesina. - In an interview with Cointelegraph, Adesina said those who engaged with regulators and the CBN during the ban period rather than ranting are the biggest winners and are likely to be the early gatekeepers to the industry. - Nigerian cryptocurrency players who actively engaged with regulators have shown significant success in lobbying the central bank to soften its earlier stance, he added. - Adesina noted that the CBN’s recent circular announcing the ban lift is a step in the right direction. He said that with a renewed focus on financial stability, the central bank aims to open the country’s financial ecosystem to digital securities approved by the local regulator. #CryptoNews

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