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Big Questions: What’s with all the crypto deaths? 

Last month, Bulgarian plumbers were called to clear a blocked drain at an apartment block in the capital of Sofia.

The blockage turned out to be the decomposing remains of 41-year-old United States crypto mogul Christian Peev — suspected to have been battered to death with a dumbbell by a friend out of jealousy.

Weeks earlier, a group of children stumbled across the body of missing cryptocurrency millionaire Fernando Pérez Algaba in a river in the Buenos Aries province. Police say he was shot three times before being stuffed into a suitcase, pointing the finger at organized crime.

It’s only the two most recent cases in a 10-month-long stretch of crypto-related deaths — including a helicopter crash in France, a fatal stabbing in the U.S., and a suspected suicide in South Korea, to name a few.

So, what’s connecting all of these grizzly deaths around the world?


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Tencent’s AI leviathan, $83M scam busted, China’s influencer ban: Asia Express

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

South Korea’s Mirae Asset Security Token Working Group, with over $500 billion in assets under management (AUM), is collaborating with Ethereum layer-two scaling solution Polygon (MATIC) for security tokenization initiatives. 

According to a Sept. 7 press release, Mirae Asset Securities has signed a memorandum of understanding with Polygon Labs for “helping domestic and international tokenized securities networks.”

“Mirae’s foray into tokenization will undoubtedly help accelerate the mass adoption of web3 among other financial institutions,” commented Polygon Labs’ executive chairman Sandeep Nailwal.

Meanwhile, Ahn In-sung, head of the digital division at Mirae Asset Securities, wrote: “Through technical collaboration with Polygon Labs, Mirae Asset Securities aims to establish global leadership in the field of tokenized securities.”


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Binance CEO brushes off negativity, assures firm has 'no liquidity issues'

Binance co-founder and CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has hosed down recent rumors against his firm, assuring its balance sheet and employee retention remain robust, despite the recent market uncertainty.

The Binance boss blamed negative news, rumors, bank runs, lawsuits, the closing of fiat channels, product wind-downs and employee turnovers for creating an environment of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) in a Sept. 7 post on X (Twitter). 

He then used the opportunity to clarify Binance’s current financial position:

“Guess what we don't have? No liquidity issues,” CZ emphasized. “All withdrawals (and deposits) are properly handled. All customer funds are #SAFU, and 100% reserved.”

However, observers have noted at least 10 Binance executives have left the helm between July and September alone, including Patrick Hillmann, former chief strategy officer, Mayur Kamat, former product lead, Leon Foong, former head of Asia-Pacific and Steven Christie, former senior vice president for compliance.

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Polkadot 2.0 and the future of DOT, explained

The Polkadot network comprises three fundamental components that collectively form its intricate structure, including the Relay Chain, parachains and bridges.

The Relay Chain lies at the core of the Polkadot ecosystem, functioning as the primary blockchain of the network. It helps to safeguard overall network integrity and facilitate communication among parachains.

Parachains stand as parallel blockchains that represent the various Layer-1 projects building in the Polkadot ecosystem. They serve as hosts for decentralized applications and various blockchain-driven projects. The versatility of parachains lies in their adaptability to cater to the specific requirements of the hosted projects. 

For instance, a parachain designated for a decentralized exchange could be configured to manage a high volume of transactions efficiently. Parachains such as the Astar Network also incorporate features such as Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility, WebAssembly (WASM) smart contracts and cross-consensus messaging (XCM) to facilitate seamless communication between decentralized applications (DApps).

On the other hand, bridges serve as vital conduits connecting the Polkadot network to other blockchain networks. The overarching goal of bridges is to enhance the interoperability of disparate blockchain networks so they can communicate and interact effectively.

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Ripple CTO says 'tide is turning' on US regulatory environment

A court ruling that cleared Ripple's XRP token of being considered a security offering might signal a turn in the tide against regulatory scrutiny of the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the United States and current lawsuits involving the likes of Coinbase and Binance.US and pending ETF applications.

Speaking exclusively to Cointelegraph during the company’s annual Apex developer conference being hosted in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Ripple CTO David Schwartz weighed in on the potential precedent set by a federal judge ruling that XRP was not a security when sold programmatically on cryptocurrency exchanges.

Ripple has been entwined in a protracted legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since 2020, but its recent part victory may have positive implications for a number of crypto-related lawsuits instituted by the SEC.

Schwartz admitted that the SEC case had cost Ripple business deals that had been on the table, but stressed that the bigger loss was felt in the community as ecosystem support felt stifled by the delisting of XRP across a number of prominent exchanges. This has since changed with the latest ruling in favour of XRP:

“The ruling that we've had so far was sufficient to allow exchanges to relist XRP, and it was big, I think, for the entire ecosystem.”

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NFT Collector: Creative AI art, Tomorrowland sells tomorrow’s future 

Greg Oakford, co-founder of NFT Fest Australia, is your guide to the world of NFTs from a collector and fan’s perspective.

Seventeen years ago, Pindar Van Arman built a robot that, like him, painted with a brush on canvas.

He has built several robots since, with each iteration possessing a more sophisticated artificial intelligence that tried to paint “more like I painted.”

The term OG can be thrown around often undeservedly, but Van Arman is truly that when it comes to AI art.

He created his first crypto art project in 2015 — titled bitPaintr — and minted his first Ethereum nonfungible token (NFT) in 2018 titled “AI Imagined Portrait Painted by a Robot” on SuperRare. 


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Bitcoin price can hit $46K by 2024 halving — Interview with Filbfilb

Bitcoin (BTC) has a chance to end 2023 at $35,000 despite heading lower in between, veteran analyst Filbfilb believes.

In his latest interview with Cointelegraph, the co-founder of trading suite Decentrader reveals some BTC price targets that should resonate with the long-term holder base.

Bitcoin faces multiple obstacles to its current uptrend, and the current cycle offers various key differences to those that came before it. It is not just the Bitcoin spot price exchange-traded fund (ETF) debacle; the entire macroeconomic environment looks markedly different to just a few years ago.

Filbfilb predicts that the April 2024 block subsidy halving will nonetheless have a cathartic effect on BTC price performance. BTC/USD could even trade as high as $46,000 by that time, but losses are “likely” to come next.

Filbfilb eyes "likely" BTC price dip to low $20,000 range

Cointelegraph (CT): On short timeframes, you recently predicted another BTC price dip to “crush the remaining hopium.” Where do you see the long-term floor?

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Price analysis 9/6: BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, DOGE, SOL, TON, DOT, MATIC

Bitcoin (BTC) has been trading between $25,333 and $26,156 since Sep. 1. Typically, a volatility squeeze is followed by an expansion in volatility but it is difficult to predict the direction of the breakout with certainty. 

CoinGlass data shows that Bitcoin has fallen for six consecutive years in September. This historic data could keep the bulls at bay in the near term and embolden the bears. Additionally, the United States dollar index (DXY) which has an inverse correlation with Bitcoin has risen sharply in the past few weeks. Both these suggest that Bitcoin could remain under pressure in the short term.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

It is not all gloom and doom for the crypto bulls because lower levels are likely to attract buyers. The prospect of one or more Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund applications receiving approvals may limit the downside. Several analysts believe this event to be hugely bullish for Bitcoin. Any positive news in this regard may prop prices higher.

From a macro perspective, it looks like there may be near-term weakness but lower levels are likely to be purchased. What are the important support levels to watch out for? Let’s study the charts of the top-10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin has been trading below $26,000 for the past two days and the bears are trying to tug the price toward the vital support at $24,800.

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NFT collapse and monster egos feature in new Murakami exhibition

Even if you aren’t personally familiar with famed Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami, you have surely seen his work.

The pop artist’s brightly colored signature characters have appeared on everything from limited edition Louis Vuitton bags to Supreme shirts to Vans skateboarding shoes.

Having collaborated with celebrities like Drake, Kanye West and Billie Eilish, and institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and Gagosian, Murakami is, without a doubt, one of the biggest “conventional” artists to try their hand at making nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Despite this, his projects still haven’t blown up to the extent of other prominent contemporary artists like Beeple.

Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami 2000s pre-owned monogram panda jewelry case selling for an eye-popping $37,000 (Farfetch)


Many are convinced that is set to change, claiming Murakami’s flowers are well on their way to becoming as iconic as CryptoPunks and Bored Apes. After a hotly anticipated but ultimately disappointing NFT launch that coincided with the 2022 crypto collapse, the artist is finally having another go at the medium. A new exhibit at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum shows how Murakami creates original tokens from scratch.

While many take Murakami’s flowers at face value, there is more to them than meets the eye. Inspired by the postwar Japan in which he grew up, these deceptively jolly icons critique the perversion and violence that underscore the country’s otaku and kawaii subcultures.


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SBI expands Ripple remittance tech to banks in Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines

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Japanese financial holding company SBI Group has announced that its international remittance services arm SBI Remit has partnered with Ripple and SBI Ripple Asia to offer an XRP (XRP) remittance service to bank accounts in several Southeast Asian countries. 

In an announcement, the company highlighted that SBI Remit has been using Ripple payments services for international remittances since 2017. Furthermore, SBI Remit also introduced solutions using crypto in 2021, claiming that it was the first in Japan to provide remittance services using XRP to crypto wallets in the Philippines.

With the new update, the payment technology service will be expanded to bank accounts in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. Through the program, SBI Remit will use XRP as a bridge currency to allow fast and cost-effective remittances.

According to the announcement, SBI expects adoption to accelerate as the volume of remittances to bank accounts in the countries mentioned above is high. Meanwhile, SBI also highlighted that it partnered with the cross-border payment solutions company Tranglo to make the expansion possible.

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Bitcoin range trades as volatility subsides, will TON, LINK, MKR and XTZ follow?

Bitcoin (BTC) tried to break out of its range last week, but the bulls could not sustain the higher levels. Bitcoin is back inside the range and is trading near the $26,000 level. The price action of the past few days has formed two successive Doji candlestick patterns on the weekly chart, indicating uncertainty about the next directional move.

Although it is difficult to predict the direction of the breakout, the downside may be limited in the near term on expectations that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may eventually approve one or more pending applications for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Former commission chair Jay Clayton sounded confident when he said in a recent interview that “an approval is inevitable.”

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

In the near term, it is difficult to pinpoint a specific catalyst that could shake Bitcoin out of its range. The lack of clarity about Bitcoin’s next trending move has kept most major altcoins under pressure.

Only a handful of altcoins are showing signs of strength in the short term. Let’s study the charts of top-5 cryptocurrencies that may start a rally if they break above their respective overhead resistance levels.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin is back inside the $24,800 to $26,833 range, but a positive sign is that the bulls continue to buy the dips as seen from the long tail on the Sep. 1 candlestick.

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Crypto lawyer Irina Heaver on death threats, lawsuit predictions: Hall of Flame

“I live in Switzerland. I have guns at home. Anybody who shows up at my home with violent intentions risks being literally shot at,” Heaver warns altcoiners who send her death threats online.

Speaking to Magazine, Heaver explains that she blames memecoin founders for fueling the fiery users on Crypto Twitter.

“I mean, there’s so much responsibility on these community leaders and altcoin leaders. They’re egging on their followers to send threats and intimidate people,” Heaver declares.

As a prominent crypto lawyer in Dubai and Switzerland, Heaver has 41,200 followers — more than your average lawyer. Though not as famous as your Buterins and Heilperns, it’s still fairly impressive considering she has a care-free attitude toward it:

“If somehow they cancel me, I will continue posting on LinkedIn because I have a huge following on LinkedIn.”

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Solana YTD inflows suggest it’s the 'most loved altcoin’ — CoinShares

Solana (SOL) investment products clocked $26 million worth of inflows since the start of 2023, outpacing all other altcoins including Ethereum, suggesting its the “most loved altcoin amongst investors” according to CoinShares.

In a Sep. 4 Digital Asset Fund Flows weekly report, CoinShares' head of research James Butterfill noted that trading volumes for crypto investment products for the week ending Sep. 1 were 90% above the year-to-date average — with crypto product outflows dropping to $11.2 million.

It marks a seven-week run of negative sentiment that’s seen $342 million leave crypto products over that time but YTD, investment products remain net inflow positive at $165 million.

Crypto investment products have mostly seen outflows over the past seven weeks. Source: CoinShares

The outflows haven’t affected Solana products however, which saw weekly inflows of $700,000 — the ninth straight week in a row with inflows of $14.1 million over that time and YTD inflows of $26 million.

Weekly fund flows show positive inflows to Bitcoin and Solana for the week ending Friday, Sep. 1. Source: CoinShares

Bitcoin (BTC) products were the only other asset to see weekly inflows, totaling $3.8 million, while Short BTC, Polygon (MATIC) and Ether (ETH) products all recorded weekly outflows.

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Crypto casino Stake reopens withdrawals just 5 hours after $41M hack

Crypto betting platform Stake has reopened deposits and withdrawals and resumed services for users only five hours after the platform was hacked to the tune of $41.3 million, blockchain security firms estimate.

Stake confirmed that all services resumed at 9:28pm UTC time on Sept. 4 — a few hours after the platform confirmed that several unauthorized transactions were made on Stake’s ETH/ BTC hot wallets:

The betting site said its Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and XRP wallets were not impacted but hasn’t yet shared the cause of the exploit or how much was stolen. Stake however confirmed that user funds remain safe.

Recent analysis by blockchain security firm Beosin calculated the total loss to be $41.35 million, which included $15.7 million on Ethereum (ETH), $7.8 million on Polygon (MATIC) and another $17.8 million from the Binance Smart Chain.

An earlier estimate of $15.7 million by fellow blockchain security firm PeckShield didn’t account for the $25.6 million allegedly lost on BSC and Polygon, according to on-chain analyst ZachXBT.

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Price analysis 9/4: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, BNB, XRP, ADA, DOGE, SOL, TON

The United States' equities markets are on a recovery path. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) surged 2.50% last week to record its best week since June. Even though Bitcoin (BTC) also attempted a relief rally, the bulls could not sustain the higher levels. In the end, Bitcoin finished the week with a marginal loss of 0.5%.

One of the main reasons Bitcoin gave back its gains was because the Securities and Exchange Commission delayed its decision on all spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications. However, this has not dented the expectations of analysts.

In a recent note, JPMorgan analysts said that the regulator will eventually approve several Bitcoin ETFs.

Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360

The short-term price action in Bitcoin remains in flu. But that has not deterred the long-term investors who have held onto their stockpile. Glassnode data shows that the currently mined supply dormant for three years or more has hit a new high of 40.538%.

Could Bitcoin break out of its range in the next few days? What are the important levels to watch out for? Let’s analyze the charts to find out.

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Bitcoin flatlines again but TON, LINK, MKR, XTZ are poised for up-move

Bitcoin (BTC) tried to break out of its range in the first half of last week but the bulls could not sustain the higher levels. Bitcoin is back inside the range and is trading near the $26,000 level.

The price action of the past few days has formed two successive Doji candlestick patterns on the weekly chart, indicating uncertainty about the next directional move.

Although it is difficult to predict the direction of the breakout, the downside could be limited in the near term on expectations that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may eventually approve one or more pending applications for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

Former commission chair Jay Clayton sounded confident when he said in a recent interview that “an approval is inevitable.”

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

In the near term, it is difficult to pinpoint a specific catalyst that could shake Bitcoin out of its range. The lack of clarity about Bitcoin’s next trending move has kept most major altcoins under pressure.

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Shibarium hits 1M wallets amid meteoric growth, SHIB yet to catch up

The total number of wallets on Shiba Inu’s newly launched layer-2 blockchain, the Shibarium network, has surpassed the 1 million mark in a meteoric rise since its relaunch. 

The milestone — announced in a Sept. 3 blog post by the official Shibarium team — means there were at least 900,000 wallets added since Shibarium’s relaunch on Aug. 28, and only two weeks after the Shibarium network first went live — albeit with some technical hiccups.

According to data from the Shibarium blockchain explorer, nearly 100,000 transactions have occurred as of 5:04am UTC Sept. 3, with a peak activity of 132,000 transactions being set on Aug. 25.

Activity on the Shibarium network since inception. Source: Shibarium.io

While network activity has surged, the total value locked (TVL) on the Shibarium network has yet to surge in response. At the time of publication, Shibarium’s TVL stands at just $1.06 million, suggesting that users are only deploying very small amounts of capital on the network.

The total value locked (TVL) on the Shibarium network. Source: DeFiLlama

In their blog post, Shibarium developers noted that they are currently collaborating with a number of third-party bridges to assist investors with bridging other tokens over to the new blockchain.

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Shibarium hits 1M wallets amid meteoric growth, SHIB yet to catch up

The total number of wallets on Shiba Inu’s newly launched layer-2 blockchain, the Shibarium network, has surpassed the one million mark in a meteoric rise since its relaunch. 

The milestone — announced in a Sept. 3 blog post by the official Shibarium team — means there were at least 900,000 wallets added since Shibarium’s relaunch on Aug. 28, and only two weeks after the Shibarium network first went live — albeit with some technical hiccups.

According to data from the Shibarium blockchain explorer, nearly 100,000 transactions have occurred as of 5:04am UTC Sept. 3, with a peak activity of 132,000 transactions being set on Aug. 25.

Activity on the Shibarium network since inception. Source: Shibarium.io

While network activity has surged, the total value locked (TVL) on the Shibarium network has yet to surge in response. At the time of publication Shibarium’s TVL stands at just $1.06 million, suggesting that users are only deploying very small amounts of capital on the network.

The total value locked (TVL) on the Shibarium network. Source: DeFiLlama

In their blog post, Shibarium developers noted that they are currently collaborating with a number of third-party bridges to assist investors with bridging other tokens over to the new blockchain.

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FTX wallet shifts $10M in crypto, sparking fear of token dumps to come

A wallet owned by bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has moved $10 million worth of digital assets from the Solana (SOL) network to Ethereum, sparking concerns it could be the beginning of a series of token dumps amid the exchange’s bankruptcy proceedings. 

According to data from blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence, since Aug. 31, the FTX wallet has transferred $6.23 million worth of Ether (ETH) and more than $4 million in altcoins.

These included $1.2 million of FTX Token (FTT), $1.8 million worth of Uniswap (UNI), $1.3 million of HXRO (HXRO), $550,000 worth of SushiSwap (SUSHI) and $260,000 worth of Frontier Token (FRONT), to another FTX wallet by way of the Wormhole Bridge.

On Aug. 24 FTX proposed a plan to appoint Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Capital Management as the investment manager charged with overseeing the sale and management of its recovered crypto holdings.

According to the plan, the FTX estate would only be permitted to sell $100 million of the tokens per week, however, that limit could be raised to $200 million on an individual token basis. These limits are intended to minimize the impact of token sales while simultaneously allowing FTX to make creditors whole.

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SEC delays BTC ETF decision, Grayscale triumphs SEC, and BitBoy gets the boot: Hodler’s Digest, Aug 27 – Sept 2

Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments recently scored a big win in its battle against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

In an ongoing effort to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the U.S. appeals court judge accepted Grayscale’s argument that the SEC’s rejection of its recent ETF application was unfair.

The SEC had alleged that the GBTC didn’t have enough safe practices and fraud protection in place.

Judge Neomi Rao gave the green light to Grayscale’s request for a second review. 

Previously, Rao said that the SEC did not “offer any explanation” as to why Grayscale was in the wrong. 

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