Blockchain and Crypto News

Don’t miss real-time updates

Decentral Block Post

Access real-time blockchain and cryptocurrency news updates from around the globe.

China dev fined 3 yr’s salary for VPN use, 10M e-CNY airdrop: Asia Express

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments.

An unnamed individual in China was fined 1.06 million Yuan ($144,907) for using a virtual private network (VPN) to access restricted websites as part of a remote work routine for a foreign employer. 

According to local mediareportsearlier this week, during his employment as a consultant between 2019 to 2022 the unnamed individual accessed GitHub to view source code, answered questions in customer support, held teleconferences via Zoom, and posted multiple threads on Twitter with the help of a VPN.

Images from the China Digital Times story.

Based on a document issued by City of Chengde Police, the individual’s income earned with the aid of a VPN was deemed as “proceeds of crime.” The police issued a penalty of $144,097, equivalent to three years of the individual’s salary.

Chinese law prohibits the use of VPNs to bypass the country’s “Great Firewall” that blocks popular sites such as Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook. The ruling has spooked many in China’s IT and Web3 circles, who often rely on VPNs for similar remote-work tasks.

China Digital Times
Continue reading

Minecraft bans Bitcoin P2E, iPhone 15 & crypto gaming, Formula E: Web3 Gamer

Back in our July edition, we announced Satlantis, an independent Minecraft server run by the game’s fans, enabled players to earn Bitcoin by completing in-game quests using play-to-earn functionalities. We noted Minecraft developer Mojang’s previous NFT ban and concluded, “Time will show how this integration fairs against the ban.”

Time has shown, as Microsoft subsidiary Mojang has asked Satlantis to remove the play-to-earn features, according to a Discord post by server founder David Dineno. The server accepted the request and removed the feature two days after the Discord post.

The Satlantis founder stood behind the play-to-earn model and expressed his annoyance with the situation, stating:

“The Game That Shares its Profits with Players’ works. And it works well. All of the time, money, and energy that we put into this game together will not be forsaken by a few dinosaurs at some conglomerate.”

Despite the setback, the Satlantis community can take solace in the fact that the team is actively exploring alternative platforms that “encourage innovation instead of stifling it.”

Apple iPhone 15 Pro New Colors
Continue reading

Price analysis 9/27: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, DOGE, SOL, TON, DOT, MATIC

Bitcoin (BTC) managed to stay above the $26,000 level even as the S&P 500 tumbled to a three-month low and the US dollar index (DXY) rose to a new year-to-date high. This is a mildly positive sign as it shows a lack of aggressive selling at lower levels.

Bitcoin remains stuck inside a range and the directionless price action has kept the traders on the sidelines. Bitcoin’s daily spot exchange transactions topped 600,000 in March but dwindled down to 8,000-15,000 last week, according to new research from on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant. Low liquidity could lead to volatile moves in either direction, hence traders should be careful and wait for confirmations rather than taking positions on every intraday breakout.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

The near-term price action remains uncertain but that has not deterred the long-term bulls from adding Bitcoin to their portfolio. MicroStrategy co-founder and executive chairman Michael Saylor announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the firm had acquired 5,445 Bitcoin at an average price of $27,053 per Bitcoin.

Could Bitcoin and select altcoins start a short-term up-move? Let’s study the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin is witnessing a tough battle between the bulls and the bears near the 20-day exponential moving average ($26,436). The bulls pushed the price above the 20-day EMA on Sep. 27 but could not clear the 50-day simple moving average ($26,757).

image
Continue reading

Blockchain detectives: Mt. Gox collapse saw birth of Chainalysis

It’s been more than a decade since 850,000 BTC went missing from Mt. Gox, yet the collapse of the former exchange remains one of the most infamous black swan events of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

While creditors of the defunct exchange are edging closer to some form of restitution, Mt. Gox’s demise ended up playing an important role in the development of tools to identify, track and tackle the illicit movements of funds through the wider cryptocurrency industry.

The search for answers and funds played a key role in the birth of crypto’s best-known blockchain analytics and tracing firm, Chainalysis, explains co-founder Michael Gronager.

Close to a decade later, Chainalysis’ analytics tools are being used by myriad private and public enterprises and institutions. From data analytics to pure law enforcement use cases, the firm’s services continue to prove influential — and sometimes controversial — across the industry.

Gronager is a crypto OG, having previously co-founded cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. He got involved in blockchain analysis after Kraken went looking for a steady banking partner and met a wall of wariness over the lack of visibility in the cryptocurrency ecosystem along with KYC and money laundering concerns.

The story of Chainalysis
Continue reading

Bitcoiner who tried to trade his way to Alaska has failed, 900 miles from finish

A Bitcoin proponent’s recent attempt to crypto trade his way from New York to Alaska has come to a sudden and bitter end — some 900 miles from his final destination. 

Thomas Kralow, a crypto trader and educator recently set himself the daring task of traveling from one side of the United States to the other funded solely by trading crypto.

On Aug. 12, Kralow set out from New York with his assistant Ilya and an initial budget of $5,000 cash.

The pair forked out some cash for a dinged-up Mercedes and set up a Starlink antenna on the back of the vehicle — with fast internet being a requirement for quick trades — leaving them with just $2,500 to trade their way to Alaska.

Unfortunately for Kralow, he never made it to his final destination — with his cheap vehicle grinding to a permanent halt in Seattle, just 12 days after starting the journey.

Continue reading

Circle launches native euro stablecoin on Stellar

Stablecoin issuer Circle has launched a Stellar network version of its euro-backed stablecoin, EURC, according to a Sept. 26 announcement. EURC was previously only available on the Ethereum and Avalanche networks.

Stablecoins, or fiat-backed crypto tokens, have become an essential component of the Web3 ecosystem. They allow users to send payments, borrow currency, lend it out for interest, and perform other fiat-currency related actions on blockchain networks. U.S. dollar-backed USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) are currently the sixth and seventh largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. Tether’s contract the third-largest consumer of gas fees on Ethereum, according to Etherscan.

However, most stablecoins are backed by the U.S. dollar. If a user wants to send Web3 payments denominated in their local currency, there currently aren’t many options.

USDC-issuer Circle attempted to help solve this problem in 2022 by launching EUROC, a euro-backed stablecoin on Ethereum. According to research published by the Bank of International Settlements, the euro is the second most traded fiat currency in the world. It is currently the official currency for 20 countries in Europe. On May 25, Circle launched a native version of EUROC on Avalanche, and on September 23 it was renamed “EURC.”

Related: ABN Amro issues 5M euro digital green bond through Polygon-powered Tokeny

Continue reading

US gov’t messed up my $250K Bitcoin price prediction: Tim Draper, Hall of Flame

Tim Draper is a prominent venture capitalist, the founder of Draper University and the creator of the Meet The Drapers television series. He invested early in Tesla, SpaceX and Coinbase and has 254,000 followers on X.

“Let me get my second prediction to actually happen, and then we’ll move on to other predictions,” Tim Draper tells Hall of Flame, refusing to be drawn on price predictions for XRP and Ethereum.

This makes sense, given it’s been six years since he forecast that Bitcoin would reach $250,000 by 2022.

Spoiler alert: It didn’t.

Which is not to say it won’t happen eventually, as Draper has been pretty far-sighted in the past.


Continue reading

Optimism OP token slips 10% in week ahead of $30M token unlock

64 Total views

Listen to article
News

The price of Optimism’s native OP token is leading losses among the top 50 cryptocurrencies, falling as far as 10% on the week ahead of a $30 million token unlock.

According to data from tokenomics platform Token Unlocks, 24.16 million OP tokens, which account for roughly 3% of the circulating supply — are scheduled to be unlocked on Sept. 30.

The next OP token unlock is scheduled for Sept. 30. Source: Token Unlocks

At current prices, the unlock will see a little more than $30 million worth of OP tokens hit the market, with $15.49 million going to core contributors and $14.26 million set aside for investors.

Token unlocking events form a core part of many main cryptocurrency projects, with many teams choosing to gradually release tokens to the market instead of unleashing them all at once. Typically however, unlocking events are viewed by investors as likely to put pressure on prices, as a new supply of tokens becomes available for sale.

image
Continue reading

Price analysis 9/25: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, DOGE, TON, SOL

Bitcoin’s (BTC) weakness on Sep. 24 shows that the bears remain in control. Sellers are trying to pull the price below $26,000 but the bulls are likely to defend the level with vigor. Buyers are trying to achieve a positive monthly close for Bitcoin in September for the first time since 2016.

If they can pull it off, it will be a major sentiment booster as October generally favors the buyers. According to CoinGlass data, Bitcoin has seen a negative monthly close in October only on two occasions, in 2014 and 2018. However, Bitcoin bulls will find it difficult to maintain the momentum if macroeconomic headwinds persist.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

Another risk to the cryptocurrency recovery may come from the strength in the greenback, which has risen for ten straight weeks, its longest winning streak since 2014. The United States dollar index (DXY) has also formed a golden cross, indicating further potential upside in the near term.

Will the U.S. dollar extend its gains or witness a short-term correction? Can Bitcoin bulls hold off the bear pressure in the last week of September? Let’s analyze the charts to find out.

S&P 500 Index price analysis

The S&P 500 Index turned down sharply from the downtrend line and broke below the moving averages on Sep. 15. This started a downward move, which has reached the crucial support at 4,325.

image
Continue reading

Chainlink downplays worries after users notice quiet change to multisig

Decentralized oracle network Chainlink has downplayed a recent change in the number of signers required on its multisig wallet — a move that garnered backlash on social media from vocal critics.

Crypto researcher Chris Blec was among a number of users on X (formerly known as Twitter) who called out Chainlink for quietly reducing the number of signatures required on its multi-signature wallet from 4-of-9 to 4-of-8.

The 4-of-8 multisig requirement is a security measure that requires four out of eight signatures to authorize a transaction.

In a Sept. 25 X post, Blec drew attention to an original post from a pseudonymous user which showed that a wallet address had been removed from the multisig wallet without any announcement being made by Chainlink.

While members of the crypto community were quick to raise their concerns with the move, a spokesperson for Chainlink told Cointelegraph that the update was part of a standard signer rotation process.

Continue reading

Crypto exchange Upbit stems fake APT token flood, resumes services

South Korea cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has resumed Aptos (APT) deposits and withdrawals again after fixing an issue that saw a scam APT token incorrectly recognized as the real deal.

On Sept. 24, Upbit abruptly halted Aptos token services after noting an “abnormal deposit attempt,” prompting an inspection of the wallet system.

The problem appears to have originated from a newly created fake APT token called “ClaimAPTGift.com” which had made its way to 400,000 Aptos wallets after its creation on Sept. 21.

The fake token was likely part of a typical token airdrop scam, in which users are airdropped tokens that contain links pointing unsuspecting users to phishing websites.

However, a reported failure by Upbit to properly verify the source code of the scam tokens led to the exchange recognizing the fake tokens as real Aptos tokens, allowing users to deposit them on Upbit and sell them for Aptos' market price, according to X user Definalist.

Continue reading

Crypto traders shift focus to these 4 altcoins as Bitcoin price flatlines

Bitcoin (BTC) has been trading in a tight range for the past three days even as the S&P 500 fell for the last four days of the week. This is a positive sign as it shows that cryptocurrency traders are not panicking and rushing to the exit. 

Bitcoin’s supply seems to be gradually shifting to stronger hands. Analyst CryptoCon said citing Glassnode data that Bitcoin’s short-term holders (STHs), investors who have held their coins for 155 days or less, hold the least amount of Bitcoin supply in more than a decade.

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

In the short term, the uncertainty regarding Bitcoin’s next directional move may have kept traders at bay. That could be one of the reasons for the subdued price action in several large altcoins. But it is not all negative across the board. Several altcoins are showing signs of a recovery in the near term.

Could Bitcoin shake out its slumber and start a bullish move in the near term? Can that act as a catalyst for an altcoin rally? Let’s study the charts of the top-five cryptocurrencies that may lead the charge higher.

Bitcoin price analysis

The bulls have managed to sustain the price above the 20-day exponential moving average ($26,523) but they have failed to start a strong rebound. This indicates a lack of demand at higher levels.

image
Continue reading

Binance.US scores against SEC, Mt. Gox delay repayments, and other news: Hodler’s Digest, Sept. 17-23

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has failed to win immediate access to Binance.US’s software, with the judge saying he isn’t “inclined to allow the inspection at this time.” The hearing was held on Sept. 18 to discuss the SEC’s motion to compel Binance to hand over detailed information and make its executives more available for depositions. In a hearing, Judge Faruqui said that he wasn’t “inclined to allow the inspection at this time.” Alternatively, he proposed that the SEC should come up with more specific requests for discovery and speak with a broader range of witnesses. In another headline, Binance global and its CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao requested dismissal of the SEC’s lawsuit filed against them in June, claiming the regulator overstepped its authority in the case. 

Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi has officially changed the deadline for paying back the exchange’s creditors from Oct. 31, 2023, to Oct. 31, 2024. Presently, the Mt. Gox estate holds some 142,000 Bitcoin (BTC), 143,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and 69 billion Japanese yen. Mt. Gox was one of the earliest cryptocurrency exchanges, once facilitating more than 70% of all trades made within the blockchain ecosystem. Following a major hack in 2011, the site subsequently collapsed in 2014 due to alleged insolvency; the fallout affected about 24,000 creditors and resulted in the loss of 850,000 BTC.

Tether’s Treasury is set to provide a $1 billion near-term liquidity for the Tron network. The billionaire authorization was flagged by blockchain tracker WhaleAlert, which drew a quick-fire response from Tether chief technology officer Paolo Ardoino, who said that the USDT tokens would be used as inventory to “replenish” the Tron network. Authorizing USDT in the Tether Treasury allows the company to issue USDT instantaneously once customer funds are received to ensure that the issuer maintains 100% of its reserves. Ardoino added that the event was an authorization and not an actual issuance, with the allocated amount set to serve as inventory for upcoming issuance requests and chain swaps from the Tron network.

Debtors of FTX have launched legal action against the parents Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, alleging that they misappropriated millions of dollars through their involvement in the crypto exchange. The plaintiffs argued that Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried exploited their access and influence within the FTX empire to enrich themselves at the expense of the debtors in the FTX bankruptcy estate. The debtors alleged that SBF’s parents were “very much involved” in the FTX business from inception to collapse, contrary to what SBF has claimed. According to the complaint, Bankman and Fried extracted significant unearned rewards from their involvement in FTX Group, including a $10-million cash gift and a $16.4-million luxury property in the Bahamas.

Digital currency investment company Grayscale is the latest firm to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a new Ether (ETH) futures exchange-traded fund (ETF).


Continue reading

Price analysis 9/22: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, DOGE, SOL, TON, DOT, MATIC

The Federal Reserve did not hike interest rates in its meeting on Sep. 20 but hinted that rates could remain higher for longer. At the post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Jerome Powell cautioned that “the process of getting inflation sustainably down to 2% has a long way to go.”

This possible scenario may have triggered the sell-off in the United States equities markets and also in the cryptocurrency space. Risk assets typically tend to underperform in a high-interest-rate environment.

While the S&P 500 is down more than 2% and the Nasdaq about 3% this week, Bitcoin (BTC) has a remained flat.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

The altcoins have been unable to hold on to their intra-week gains due to a risk-off sentiment. Still, an encouraging sign is that Bitcoin and the major altcoins have largely managed to stay above their crucial support levels. The price action over the next few days is critical as it is likely to witness a tough battle between the bulls and the bears.

Will bears seize the initiative and drag Bitcoin and the major altcoins lower or could buyers regroup and push prices higher? Let’s study the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

image
Continue reading

JPEX staff flee event as scandal hits, Mt. Gox woes, Diners Club crypto: Asia Express

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments.

Last week’s Token2049 conference in Singapore was a life-changing experience for some; for others the event did not meet expectations, but for a select group of individuals, the imminent prospect of being pursued by law enforcement meant they had to abandon their booths and flee the event.

On September 21, local news outletsreportedthat Hong Kong police had arrested 11 individuals linked to troubled cryptocurrency exchange JPEX on charges of fraud and operating an unlicensed virtual assets exchange. More than 2,000 users are estimated to have been affected by the scandal, with total funds of $1.3 billion Hong Kong dollars involved in the incident ($166 million). Police allege users’ assets have been embezzled by JPEX staff.

In a dramatic raid on September 13 — day one of the conference — Hong Kong police arrested key executives, leading its staff to abandon its corporate booth. The exchange subsequently applied for voluntary deregistration with the Australia Securities & Investment Commission, disclosing that its Australian entity had little assets left. After the news broke, JPEX reportedly raised its withdrawal fees to 999 USDT per transaction to prevent capital flight.

In anannouncementon September 20, JPEX said that 400 million Tether (USDT) worth of users’ deposits would be eligible for redemption. However, the catch is that the funds can only be redeemed starting in late 2025. The firm stated that due to the ongoing law enforcement investigation, its telecom service providers and asset custodians have frozen applicable services.

JPEX booth advertisement posted the day before the exchange was raided by police. (Facebook)
Continue reading

Uniswap launches educational platform with DoDAO

On September 21, decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap launched an educational platform in conjunction with the blockchain education-focused Do Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).

According to the announcement, Uniswap University aims to create a structured learning pathway for onboarding users to its V3 exchange via courses, simulation, and quick guides. Via the platform, users can gain knowledge on topics ranging from "What is a DEX?" to advanced topics such as "Strategy Backtesting Tools." Meanwhile, simulations such as adding/removing liquidity and exploring advanced position management tools allow users to gain quick practical experience.

In one advanced course, Uniswap teaches users the fundamentals of becoming a liquidity provider on V3. Developers wrote:

"In this chapter, we will explore several potential strategies that you, as a liquidity provider, can consider. These include holding (HODL) stable coins, maintaining 50% of two different tokens, possessing 100% of one token, providing wide range liquidity, providing narrow range liquidity, and supplying liquidity in volatile token pools. Each strategy comes with its own set of advantages and drawbacks."

Earlier this year, Uniswap's Business Source License expired, allowing developers to fork the Uniswap V3 protocol and deploy their own DEXs. Shortly after its launch in May 2021, Uniswap V3 surpassed Bitcoin (BTC) in terms of fee generation. Over $451 million worth of coins and tokens were traded on the Ethereum (ETH) mainnet of Uniswap V3 alone. 

Continue reading

Near Foundation CEO Marieke Flement resigns

Marieke Flament, CEO of Near Foundation, the developer of the namesake community layer-one protocol, has resigned.

According to the September 21 announcement, Chris Donovan, Near Foundation's general counsel, will replace Flament as the new CEO following the resignation. Flament gave no specific reason for her departure. Speaking on her tenure, Flament said: 

"Two years ago, I had never heard of NEAR. Upon doing a bit of research and after several conversations it became clear that NEAR had a tremendous potential – fantastic tech, a diverse and vibrant community and a world of open possibilities, and so I joined."

From 2021 to 2023, Flament claims that the daily active user count of Near Protocol grew from 50,000 to 3 million. Its Twitter followers also grew from 200,000 to over 2 million, citing more than 2,000 pieces of press coverage. Partnerships signed by Near during this period include SWEAT, Playember, Circle, Ledger, Alibaba, Amazon, Google, KPMG, Cosmose AI, SailGP, The Littles, PipeFlare, Shemaroo, Kakao Games, Inven / Vortex and Netmarble / Marblex in Korea.

In addition, Flament disclosed that the current treasury balance of the Near Foundation is 330 million NEAR, worth an estimated $350 million. Summing up her leadership strategy, Flament wrote:

Continue reading

NFT Collector: William Mapan explains generative art using a crayon and dice

Generative artist William Mapan’s latest collection, “Distance,” sold out in less than 24 hours despite launching in the middle of a very weak NFT market.

From his early long-form generative series “Dragons” on the Tezos blockchain to the highly sought-after “Anticyclone” ArtBlocks collection that currently commands a 5 ETH floor, Mapan has a unique way of capturing the hearts and minds of collectors.

But many people in the public still don’t understand what generative art even is. Mapan has a unique way of explaining the often misunderstood genre by boiling it down to a piece of paper, a crayon and a die.

“It can be really hard to explain but usually the way I explain is to put away the code, put away the blockchain, put away everything. Just take a piece of paper, a crayon and dice. Imagine drawing two by two boxes on that paper, so four boxes total. You then throw the dice — if the roll shows up as a three or below, you draw a square; if the dice shows four or above, you draw a circle into one of the boxes.

“You just made an algorithm; you just made a set of rules and introduced some randomness in there. That’s basically what generative art is, you build a set of rules, an algorithm and then introduce randomness. Then you try to control that part of the space.

Strands of Solitude #010 by William Mapan
Continue reading

Phishing victim sends eye-watering $4.5M in USDT to scammer

132 Total views

Listen to article
News

An unwitting cryptocurrency holder has reportedly fallen victim to an eye-watering $4.46 million phishing scam.

According to data from Etherscan, $4.46 million in Tether (USDT) was withdrawn from a Kraken crypto exchange wallet and eventually sent to an address ending “ACa7.”

Blockchain security firm PeckShield, has labeled the address as being owned by a phishing scammer.

Another blockchain scam platform, Scam Sniffer, suggested on Sept. 20 that the funds were sent to an address linked to a “fake Coinone crypto mining exchange."

image
Continue reading

Optimism to sell $160M in OP tokens to 7 purchasers via private sale

Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Optimism (OP) has disclosed plans to sell 116 million OP tokens to seven private buyers for treasury management purposes

At current prices, the sale will see $159 million worth of OP tokens change hands.

While some observers feared the sale would bring about depressed prices from Optimism “dumping” its tokens on the market, it seems unlikely that the sale of the tokens will have any material impact on the price of OP, due to the sale being private.

Additionally, the tokens are being sourced from the unallocated portion of the OP token treasury — meaning that they are not part of the circulating supply.

Optimism (OP) token price over the past 30 days. Source: CoinGecko

As explained on the Optimism website, the tokens are subject to a two-year lock up period, meaning that buyers are unable to sell them on secondary markets.

Continue reading
Image