Stories by Liam J. Kelly
Justin Sun-Owned Exchange Poloniex Hacked for At Least $126 Million
Poloniex, a crypto exchange owned by Tron founder Justin Sun, has seen more than $126 million worth of crypto assets exit one of its wallets as the result of a "hack incident." The transfers were first flagged by blockchain security firm Peckshield; blockchain explorer Etherscan shows a series of transfers from the "Poloniex 4" wallet to the hacker's wallet, including ETH, TRON, the stablecoins USDT and TUSD, and meme coins including PEPE, FLOKI, and SHIB. It's not just on the Ethereum blockchai...
Staking Tokens Post Double-Digit Gains on BlackRock Ethereum ETF Hype
Hot on the heels of BlackRock's newest ETF filing are popular Ethereum-staking tokens. The governance token behind Lido Finance has soared more than 20% overnight, per CoinGecko, reaching $2.49 at time of publication. Over the last week, the figure has ballooned even further, hitting 37% since last Friday. Beyond satisfying speculators, LDO also serves as a voting token for the liquid staking protocol Lido Finance. Holders can vote yay or nay on changes to protocol parameters or how Lido should...
Yuga Labs Says 'UV-A Emitting Lights' to Blame for ApeFest Attendees' Eye Pain
In a brief statement on Thursday morning, Yuga Labs said that "UV-A emitting lights installed in one corner of the event" was likely the cause of eye pain experienced by attendees of the Bored Ape Yacht Club event ApeFest in Hong Kong. Following the three-day event, reports poured in of attendees rushing to emergency rooms, each citing some variety of eye pain, temporary blindness, and skin irritation. In their statment, the creators of the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT collection said...
Investors Bet $5.5 Million on Stackr to Onboard JavaScript Devs to Crypto
With fresh funding in hand, Stackr is looking to make building on blockchains a whole lot easier. The latest $5.5 million round was led by Archetype, and joined by Scalar Capital, Lemniscap, and Spartan Group among others. The money will be used to build out its team, launch the product’s first iteration, and attract developers looking to make the leap into crypto. Stackr’s plan is simple: Let Web2 developers build out any crypto app they want without needing to learn a new programming language....
ApeFest Attendees Report Experiencing Eye Pain, Yuga Labs Says 'Less Than 1%' Affected
Attendees of Bored Ape Yacht Club's ApeFest concert have reported experiencing extreme eye pain that's prompted some of them to visit the hospital. "To all my friends who suffer now: go get your eyes checked. You’ve likely most literally got your eyes burnt with UV like I did, which requires medications, eye drops, eye protection, antibiotics, and specialist care," wrote one attendee. "Don’t ignore this health hazard. Without proper treatment, it may cause long-lasting vision impairment and othe...
Stablecoin Supply Has Bottomed Out—Is It Bullish for Crypto?
Notable crypto talking heads are calling it: there's now only one way things can go. “I believe that the supply of stables has bottomed and will be Up Only from here,” tweeted Nic Carter. After dropping for most of 2023, the total supply of all stablecoins appears to have stalled. But why? Instead of stablecoin holders pulling their digital dollars from the market (and redeeming real dollars), they’re doing the opposite. “For the first time in two years, we are actually seeing inflows,” wrote Tw...
Solana Drops 5% as FTX-Linked Address Moves SOL to Kraken, Binance
After flying high the last few weeks, it now looks like Solana is headed back down to Earth. SOL is down almost 6% in the last 24 hours and is currently trading hands at around $39.82, per CoinGecko. The bearish move comes amid some hefty SOL transfers from FTX-linked Solana addresses, per data from Solana block explorer Solscan. In September, a court approved the liquidation of $3.4 billion worth of crypto assets, including $1.16 billion in SOL, belonging to the FTX estate—the remains of Sam Ba...
SEC Served PayPal Subpoena 'Relating' to Firm's Stablecoin
Payments giant PayPal today revealed in its quarterly report that the SEC had issued the firm with a subpoena over its stablecoin. "On November 1, 2023, we received a subpoena from the U.S. SEC Division of Enforcement relating to PayPal USD stablecoin. The subpoena requests the production of documents," reads the report. The payments firm said it is cooperating with authorities. A subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a legally enforceable request for documents, test...
Maple Finance Launches on Base Network, Targeting Institutional Activity
Maple Finance is expanding its on-chain offering this autumn, rolling out services on the speedy Base network. This makes it the lending platform’s third blockchain after Ethereum and Solana. The first pool on offer on Base will be Maple’s Cash Management pool, which currently yields 4.8% generated from short-duration U.S. treasuries. This specific pool was launched in August amid soaring interest rates, earning a boon on American government debt. What is Maple Finance? Maple Finance is a block...
Biden Administration Issues ‘Sweeping’ Executive Order to Reign in AI
The Biden administration is taking serious steps to rein in artificial intelligence. Today, the White House issued an executive order that includes a sweeping 26-point mandate for firms working on AI. The points range from mitigating the technology’s penchant for discrimination to urging developers to “share their safety test results and other critical information with the U.S. government.” AI and ICE: U.S. Immigration Scans Social Media Before Approving Visas Each of the 26 points is organized...
What Is Lido Finance, Ethereum's Largest Liquid Staking Project?
If you’ve been following Ethereum for the last three years, you’ve also likely heard of Lido Finance. The massive liquid staking protocol, which launched shortly after Ethereum began its transition to a proof-of-stake blockchain, now commands the lion’s share of the staking market. Per an oft-cited Dune dashboard from Hildobby, there are more than 27.8 million–or nearly $50 billion–Ethereum staked total across various cryptocurrency exchanges, individual validators, and decentralized protocols l...
New dYdX Chain Denominates Trading Fees in USDC
After finally launching its highly anticipated blockchain yesterday, dYdX is now trotting a unique new tokenomics scheme. Perhaps the most notable change will be that trading fees on the decentralized derivatives platform will now be denominated in the dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin as well as DYDX, giving validators the choice between the two. Maintained and minted by Circle, USDC is a cryptocurrency that tracks the price of the U.S. dollar and purports that every token is backed by a dollar...
Memecoin Madness: PEPE, Dogecoin and SHIB Surge Amid Crypto Rally
Popular memecoins haven't been left out of the latest rally alongside heavyweight assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Topping the list is the frog-themed Pepecoin, which has enjoyed an overnight rally of almost 14%. PEPE is still worth fractions of a penny, though, trading hands now at $0.00000120 per CoinGecko, meaning that 84 million PEPE tokens are only really worth $100. Over the week that rise is much steeper, too; the cryptocurrency has soared a whopping 90% since last Thursday. Pepecoin, as...
Bitcoin Hits $35,000, Reaching 16-Month High Amid ETF Hype
Bitcoin has just breached $35,000 per data from CoinGecko—a price not seen since May 2022. On the day, the move represents just a 4% rise; stepping back, however, the milestone arrives amid a very bullish week for the market's largest cryptocurrency. Over the last seven days, Bitcoin has surged by more than 24%. It's dragged the rest of the market with it too, with Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Cardano, and Dogecoin all posting hefty double-digit gains over the same period. Of the top ten cryptocurren...
Polygon Deploys New POL Token Contracts on Ethereum
New Polygon, new token. As the multi-chain scaling solution continues to roll out its updated roadmap, Polygon today finally deployed the token contracts for its new POL token on Ethereum. A token contract is a type of smart contract that has the records and utilities powering a token, like its supply and who holds what balance. Polygon Outlines Launch of New POL Token in Latest Network Upgrade POL will replace the network's current MATIC token; the network will not support two tokens. MATIC hol...
Blockchain Tech 'Stuck in the Eighties': Fantom's Andre Cronje
Fantom co-founder Andre Cronje is hoping to give blockchain technology as we know it a facelift. "Blockchain technology is stuck in the eighties," he told Decrypt. "The internet and tech back then were predominantly used for financial applications simply because financial transactions were the only thing that made economic sense to digitize." Cronje added that today's standards mean those kinds of transactions now cost a fraction of a penny, something that "would cost you much more" on networks...
Bitcoin Hits $30,000 Amid Spot ETF Amendments From BlackRock, Fidelity
The price of Bitcoin soared 6% overnight, briefly retaking $30,000—a level not seen since earlier this summer, per data from CoinGecko. Bitcoin's price continues to hover around the $30,000 mark, currently trading hands at just over $29,950, up 5.3% on the day. The latest uptick comes amid a raft of refilings and amendments from finance's biggest players, as the race for a spot Bitcoin ETF heats up. A highly anticipated product, a spot Bitcoin ETF is expected to lure in more institutional inves...
NYAG Sues Genesis, Gemini, DCG for Defrauding Crypto Investors of $1 Billion
The New York Attorney General's office has filed a lawsuit against Genesis Global Capital, Gemini Trust, and Digital Currency Group (DCG) this morning. The complaint also includes allegations against Soichiro Michael Moro, the former CEO of Genesis, and Barry E. Silbert, the founder and CEO of DCG. “These cryptocurrency companies lied to investors and tried to hide more than a billion dollars in losses, and it was middle-class investors who suffered as a result,” said New York Attorney General L...
Ethereum Staking Is Losing Its Appeal–Here's Why
The queue for adding new staking validators on Ethereum briefly hit zero yesterday. It's now risen again to 996 validators, but it's still a far cry from its peak on June 10, when over 96,500 validators faced a waiting period of over 45 days, per Beaconcha.in data. In broad strokes, the slowdown suggests a dwindling appetite for staking Ethereum. Validators are responsible for proposing and validating new blocks on a proof-of-stake blockchain like Ethereum. In return, they receive a reward for t...
Binance US Says Crypto Deposits Are No Longer FDIC Insured
Binance's American entity informed users today that their crypto holdings with the exchange are no longer FDIC-insured. An email sent to users today and seen by Decrypt announced that Binance US has "updated the deposit insurance language" in the firm's terms of service. It indicated that it had done this following guidance from the FDIC. The firm first announced that Binance US accounts were insured up to $250,000 in 2019 in a now-deleted blog post. "All USD deposits are held in pooled custodia...
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