In the aftermath of the attack, Atomic Wallet — along with individual blockchain investigators — have amped up efforts to track and revert stolen funds.
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Web3 Gamer: GTA 6 crypto rumors, Dr Who/Sandbox, Thai tourist NFTs review
GTA 6 crypto and NFT integration speculation mounts, Top Gear and Dr Who in The Sandbox, and Thailand’s rubbish NFT hunt for tourists.
Web3 Gamer: GTA 6 crypto rumors, Dr Who/Sandbox, Thai tourist NFTs review
Grand Theft Auto VI crypto rumors
Rumors that the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI will incorporate cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have once again surfaced, sparking speculation among fans.
Posts shared on Twitter suggest that GTA 6 will be a play-to-earn game and that in-game items such as cars and weapons will be NFTs.
GTA creator Rockstar Games are yet to weigh in on whether there’s any truth to these claims, but there seems to be little solid evidence backing the rumors.
The company cracked down on the use of crypto in GTA in November last year and sent cease and desist letters to companies running public servers with blockchain integrations — a blow to several game makers that had built their games on the platform.
A Lambo from GTA 5. (Steam/Rockstar Games)Given that GTA 5, released in 2015, has sold over 180 million copies and generated a staggering $8 billion in revenue, it seems unlikely that Rockstar would drastically alter the successful formula of the franchise, the latest installment of which is expected next year or in 2025.
Atomic Wallet hack losses top $35M, on-chain sleuth reports
Security teams are investigating the cause of the attack. Reports have surfaced of tokens being lost, transaction data being erased, and even entire crypto portfolios destroyed.
Pro-XRP attorney's phone hacked to promote LAW token
Deaton alerts followers via daughter's account and urges reporting the hack as the XRP community responds, spreading awareness.
Musk’s alleged price manipulation, the Satoshi AI chatbot and more: Hodler’s Digest, May 28 – June 3
Top Stories This Week
Dogecoin investors accuse Elon Musk of insider trading in amended class-action lawsuit
A group of Dogecoin investors has requested leave to amend a class-action lawsuit against tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, alleging he is responsible for insider trading of DOGE and asserting the token is a security under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. According to the complaint, Musk profited off DOGE trading at the expense of other investors by causing the price of the token to spike through actions including changing Twitter’s logo to the Dogecoin logo. As one of the world’s richest people, the Twitter CEO has made frequent statements about Dogecoin to his millions of followers since 2019, often causing the price of the token to surge.
Satoshi Nak-AI-moto: Bitcoin’s creator has become an AI chatbot
Satoshi Nakamoto may have effectively disappeared over 12 years ago, but two artificial intelligence dabblers are seeking to revive the ability to chat with the famed Bitcoin creator. The model, essentially, is OpenAI’s ChatGPT trained on a limited data set, including Nakamoto’s public emails and forum posts, as well as other Bitcoin sources. In testing, the chatbot generates responses that are typically uncertain of the future of fiat currencies and hopeful about Bitcoin. Its goal is to show that AI tools could potentially be used in education, one of the creators said.
Buying a bank won’t solve crypto’s debanking issue — Binance CEO
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has considered acquiring a bank amid the ongoing debanking of crypto firms across the globe. However, according to CZ, regulatory complexity and capital requirements make it unwise for Binance. “The reality is much more complex than the concept,” said the crypto executive. Binance has recently lost its fiat on-ramp and off-ramp partner in Australia — after difficulties finding a bank partner in the United States earlier this year. The company has been seeking a new payment provider in the country.
Crypto.com has been granted a major payment institution license for digital payment token (DPT) services in Singapore. With the license, the crypto exchange is now authorized to offer its DPT services to customers in the country. The latest announcement adds to Crypto.com’s track record of securing regulatory licenses. The exchange has also been granted registration and/or licenses in France, the United Kingdom, Dubai, South Korea, Australia, Italy, Greece and Cyprus..
Web3 developer Magic raises $52M in funding led by PayPal Ventures
Wallet-as-a-service provider Magic raised $52 million in a strategic funding round led by PayPal Ventures. The funding round also saw participation from venture firms Cherubic, Synchrony, KX, Northzone and Volt Capital, bringing Magic’s total funds raised to over $80 million. Magic’s software is currently used by brands in retail, music, fashion and gaming, including Mattel, Macy’s, Xsolla and Immutable. Founded in 2020, Magic has generated over 20 million unique wallets to date.
Musk’s alleged price manipulation, the Satoshi AI chatbot and more: Hodler’s Digest, May 28 – June 3
DOGE investor lawsuit against Elon Musk, the Satoshi Nakamoto chatbot, and the ongoing crypto debanking worldwide.
Rapid growth in DeFi-focused Ethereum liquid staking derivatives platforms raises eyebrows
Ether’s (ETH) decentralized finance (DeFi) activity has declined in the bear market, and the sector faces further competition from Ethereum’s annual staking reward of 4%, according to Glassnode analysts. However, a DeFi narrative is building around liquid staking derivative (LSD) tokens, which could revive Ethereum’s network activity.
The percentage of gas consumed by DeFi protocols has dropped from 34% in 2020 to between 8% and 16% presently, with nonfungible tokens (NFTs) commanding the maximum share of 25–30%, according to a recent report from Glassnode.
Ethereum gas usage by transaction type. Source: GlassnodeGlassnode’s supply-weighted price index for DeFi, priced in United States dollars and ETH, recorded a 90% loss since early 2021.
The so-called DeFi “blue chips,” which represent a basket of governance tokens from well-known DeFi protocols like Uniswap (UNI), MakerDAO (MKR), Aave (AAVE), Compound (COMP), Balancer (BAL) and SushiSwap (SUSHI), have lost 88% of their market capitalization from all-time highs of $45 billion in May 2021.
ETH vs. DeFi tokens price performance. Source: GlassnodeDeFi blue chip tokens have underperformed against ETH during bullish market rallies and experienced a more severe drop than ETH “on the downside during the bear.” The analysts predict that since the staking of ETH now yields 4%, it will act as a “new hurdle rate over which token returns must jump.” This yield represents the benchmark rate for Ether investors.
Uniswap scam alert: Fraudsters impersonate executives and create fake website
Uniswap and its foundation have no association with the scam as efforts are being made to combat it.
Arbitrum price soars after DeFi whale address resumes ARB accumulation
On June 2, the price of Arbitrum jumped alongside the top-ranking cryptocurrencies after the United States Senate voted to raise the debt limit.
Why is the ARB price up today?
The price of Arbitrum (ARB) rose 9% to an intraday high of $1.25, beating the crypto market’s total overall gains of 1.5% in the same period.
ARB/USDT vs. total daily price chart. Source: TradingViewArbitrum’s outperformance coincided with some strange buying activity associated with popular trader Andrew Kang’s crypto addresses.
Notably, on June 2, the Mechanism Capital co-founder deposited $1 million worth of stablecoins into Arbitrum pools and spent over 20% of it buying RDNT, the native token of decentralized finance lending platform Radiant Capital.
Andrew Kang's crypto activity snapped on June 2. Source: LookonchainLater, Kang exchanged his newly bought and existing RDNT reserves for $867,000 worth of ARB. Then, he deposited the proceeds to Radiant Capital to borrow Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), according to data resource Lookonchain.
Evertas expands crypto insurance offerings to include mining and raises limits
Crypto insurance underwriter Evertas will increase coverage limits to $420 million per policy while adding additional mining coverage.
Taurus deploys on Polygon blockchain for asset tokenization and custody
Taurus raised $65 million in a funding round three months ago. Its clients can now issue digital securities automatically.
Bitcoin ‘big move’ due in July after March $30K push — Latest analysis
Bitcoin “consolidation” could end by July, new research predicts as optimism over a BTC price breakout returns.
In its latest market update on June 2, trading firm QCP Capital revealed a bullish bias on both Bitcoin (BTC) and the largest altcoin, Ether (ETH).
QCP Capital: Bitcoin consolidation “played out perfectly”
Bitcoin price has been ranging between $26,000 and $31,000 since mid-March, but analysts are increasingly calling time on the sideways action.
QCP Capital is among them, predicting a change of course as soon as the end of the month.
This, it argues, is thanks to the United States debt ceiling “sideshow” vanishing, leaving Bitcoin closely mimicking its consolidation and breakout phase from 2020.
Web3 gaming gets competitive edge as Maniac Panda Games joins Cointelegraph Accelerator
European game studio Maniac Panda Games aims to onboard mainstream players to Web3 with its flagship MMO title.
Bitcoin wicks down to $26.5K, but trader eyes chance for ‘bullish surprise’
Bitcoin (BTC) bounced near multiple support trend lines into June 2 as market indecision remained in force.
BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart on Bitstamp. Source: TradingViewTraders bet on $27,500 BTC price ceiling
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting lows of $26,519 on Bitstamp after the daily close.
The pair showed little signs of a trend change as a stalemate between bulls and bears continued to produce little volatility.
The collection of moving averages (MAs) and the short-term holder (STH) realized price near $26,000, thus staying untested on intraday timeframes.
Analyzing the current setup, popular trader Crypto Ed considered the potential for upside topping out at $27,500.
How to access Bitcoin network data without advanced IT skills
Use user-friendly tools like blockchain explorers and public databases to access Bitcoin network data without advanced IT skills.
Coinbase Derivatives Exchange set to roll out BTC and ETH futures
Coinbase Derivatives Exchange’s institutional-sized contracts will be sized at 1 Bitcoin and 10 Ether.
Yuan stablecoin team arrested, WeChat’s new Bitcoin prices, HK crypto rules: Asia Express
RMB stablecoin team allegedly arrested
On May 31, local news outlet PANewsLab reported that the developers for the offshore Chinese RMB and Hong Kong dollar stablecoin issuer CNHC had allegedly lost contact or had been taken away by law enforcement officials. A photo shows what appears to be an empty office building at CNHC’s Shanghai division with the following message posted:
“The building’s assets have been seized by law enforcement; vandalism is prohibited.”
In March, CNHC raised $10 million in its Series A, led by KuCoin Ventures, Circle, and IDG Capital. The team said back then that it planned to use the funds for “expansion in the Asia Pacific Region” and was in the process of moving its headquarters from the Cayman Islands to Hong Kong.
The reported move appears to be part of a wider crackdown on cryptocurrencies by Chinese authorities. On May 24, Asia Express reported that tokens of Singaporean inter-blockchain communications protocol Multichain had plunged 30% on a delayed backend upgrade and rumors of Chinese police arrest of its core developers.
Though Multichain says that it is still operational, it stated on June 1 that it is still “unable to contact CEO Zhaojun and obtain the necessary server access for maintenance,” and as a result, the protocol will need to suspend a number of affected cross-chain services.
Yuan stablecoin team arrested, WeChat’s new Bitcoin prices, HK crypto rules: Asia Express
Chinese RMB stablecoin issuer’s Shanghai office reportedly deserted after police raid, and WeChat offers Bitcoin prices — but for how long?
Scientists propose quantum proof-of-work consensus for blockchain
Boson sampling was once considered a problem looking for a solution. Now, it might be the bridge that brings quantum computing to the blockchain.