Crypto Market Update: MetaMask Users’ Email Addresses Exposed In Cybersecurity Incident, Silk Road Bitcoin Thief And His One-Year Sentence, And More

Written by Van - Perfected by ChatGPT

Unauthorized actors gained access to a third party’s computer system used to process customer service requests, potentially allowing them to view customer support tickets submitted by MetaMask users. The breach may have affected up to 7,000 MetaMask users who submitted customer support tickets between August 1, 2021 and February 10, 2023. The incident did not ask for personally identifying information, but some users may have used a free text-field to submit sensitive information such as economic or financial information, name, surname, date of birth, phone number, and postal address.

ConsenSys has taken steps to eliminate unauthorized access in the future and contacted the Data Protection Commission of Ireland and the Information Commissioner’s Office of the United Kingdom to report the breach. The company’s third-party customer service provider is working with a cybersecurity and forensics team to perform a more detailed investigation of the incident. Meanwhile, hardware wallet provider Keystone warned MetaMask users that some might receive more phishing emails due to the incident since the attacker may use this swiped email database to look for potential victims.

Bitcoin Approaching Critical Resistance Level of $31,000 as the “Boring Old Grandpa”

Bitcoin is approaching a critical resistance level of $31,000, with investors eagerly awaiting its next move. The recent US retail sales slump by 1% and potential interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve have caused market uncertainty, leading to a decline in Bitcoin’s price. However, experts speculate that this rate hike could mark the peak of the tightening cycle, potentially benefiting Bitcoin as an alternative asset.

Michael Safai from Dexterity Capital has stated that Bitcoin is becoming the “boring old grandpa” in the cryptocurrency market due to its steady and mundane nature, which is actually a positive aspect during times of economic uncertainty. Meanwhile, Ethereum is experiencing a lot of excitement and attention due to its recent Shanghai upgrade, which has reignited the discussion around its regulatory status as a security. Safai suggests that the upgrade has changed the rules of the game in the cryptocurrency market and may be a reason for excitement among users.

James Zhong, a man who stole 50,000 Bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace in 2012, has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison for wire fraud. Zhong used a simple glitch on Silk Road’s website to obtain the Bitcoin, which he then spent on real estate investments, luxury hotels, nightclubs, and Lamborghinis. US police discovered the stolen Bitcoin worth over $3.36 billion during a search of Zhong’s Georgia home in 2021. Though prosecutors have asked for a sentence of less than two years citing Zhong’s youth, autism, and help in recovering the stolen crypto, a maximum of 20 years in prison is possible. The Silk Road marketplace permitted users to engage in illicit activities such as selling weapons and stolen credit card information using Bitcoin. Its creator, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested in 2013 and is serving two life sentences without parole.

Ethereum Sees $700 Million Worth of ETH Withdrawn as Upgrades Bring Bullish Breakout for Ether

The long-awaited upgrades to the Ethereum network, Shanghai and Capella, were activated recently resulting in 333,243 ETH worth over $700 million being withdrawn so far.

Source: Etherscan

A total of 1,117,638 ETH worth \(2.35 billion is waiting for full exit, with potential daily selling pressure of between \)120 million (57,600 ETH per day limit). 49.3% of the withdrawals are from Kraken in response to a $30 million settlement with the SEC, which means there’s a chance a significant portion of the resulting ETH will move to decentralized liquid staking platforms instead of being sold. Researcher at Ethereum Foundation, Justin Drake, has predicted that solo validators in the Ethereum network may receive special airdrops in the future, which could promote decentralization.

The recent series of upgrades to the Ethereum blockchain has caused a bullish breakout for Ether (ETH), resulting in over $90 million in ETH futures short positions being wiped out in just the last two days. The successful implementation of flexible ETH staking has also resulted in an increase in the total number of staked ETH tokens, with deposits outpacing withdrawals today, reaching 51,340 ETH on Nansen dashboard. Despite weak on-chain network utilization fundamentals, deflationary ETH supply tailwinds coupled with progress towards addressing scalability issues are expected to remain supportive of the price for the foreseeable future.

Source: Glassnode

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Arbitrum’s Controversial Proposal to Return 700 Million Tokens Fails by Overwhelming Majority

A controversial proposal, AIP 1.05, to return 700 million ARB governance tokens to the DAO treasury has failed by an overwhelming majority. The proposal aimed to reclaim the tokens that were allocated prematurely and without approval from token holders. Notable token holders representing millions of ARB tokens, such as olimpio.eth, 0xBbE9, galxe.arb, chainlinkgod.eth, and blockworksres.eth, voted against the proposal, citing concerns about the platform’s long-term viability and the practicality of a forced buyback. The price of Arbitrum’s governance token has increased more than 7% over the past 24 hours, currently trading at around $1.67.

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TrueUSD Catching Up To Tether In Binance Bitcoin Trading Volume, But Traders Remain Hesitant

The market share of TrueUSD (TUSD) in bitcoin trading volume on Binance is catching up to Tether’s USDT following the exchange’s zero fee trading discount, but data shows traders are still hesitant to use TUSD, according to crypto data firm Kaiko. TUSD’s market share rose to 49%, almost equalling Tether’s, but larger buy and sell orders are still placed for the USDT pair. TUSD has become the crypto market’s fifth largest stablecoin with a \(2 billion [market cap](https://coin360.com/glossary/market-capitalization), while USDT’s circulating supply has grown \)10 billion in the past months and is closing in on its all-time high.

Source: Kaiko

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Avalanche Sees 85% Growth In Daily Active Addresses In 90 Days, Sets Six-Month High

Blockchain protocol Avalanche’s daily active addresses reached nearly 80,000 on April 12, a six-month high, with an 85% growth in the past 90 days. Avalanche’s partnership with financial institutions on April 12 contributed to the interest in the platform from traditional financial companies. Avalanche is among the fastest-growing protocols, with only four growing faster, according to blockchain data firm Artemis.xyz. The price of AVAX is at $19.5, with a 1.64% increase in the past 24 hours.

Source: Artemis.xyz

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Olympus to Increase ETH Holdings in Treasury Backing OHM Token

Olympus, a decentralized reserve crypto project, will increase its holdings of “volatile assets” such as ether (ETH) in the treasury backing its OHM token, according to a new Treasury Framework approved by community members. The move will give Olympus more exposure to ETH, which is already the largest “volatile asset” in the reserve treasury backing OHM. However, the shift will not be as “aggressive” as many community members called for and will result in a decrease in Olympus’ exposure to stablecoins such as DAI. The treasury team recognizes the need to decrease reliance on stablecoins with centralized backing, but also cautioned against YOLO-ing everything into ETH without incurring a hearty dose of risk. The vote passed with nearly unanimous approval.

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Summary of Market Events and Price Action

As a summary of today’s events and price action in the market, it is crucial to note the following key points:

• BTC faces $31,000 resistance while Silk Road thief receives one year in prison
• ETH holds $2,100 as daily deposits outperform withdrawals
• ARB rises 7% despite the failed AIP 1.05 proposal
• AVAX slightly increases amid growing network activity
• TUSD sees user hesitancy
• OHM turns the ETH mode on
• OKB surges following the introduction of SUI jumpstart
• PolkaCity: The Ultimate Metaverse Game for Earning Passive Income
• Wilder World: A 5D Metaverse Adventure Where Creativity and Profit Collide
• NFT Worlds Uncovered: A Top Metaverse Game for Earning and Exploring

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Gainers:

WOO Network WOO (+26.57%)

OKX OKB (+12.91%)

Frax Share FXS (+12.01%)

Losers:

Conflux CFX (-2.97%)

Stacks STX (-2.45%)

EOS EOS (-1.89%)

NFT Market Map

A large holder of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs has sold 27 of them, worth nearly $3M, causing the BAYC floor price to fall by nearly 8% over the past two days, pushing the collection’s market capitalization below that of CryptoPunks. The seller, Franklin, cited an “IRL [in real life] issue” as the reason for the sales to pay off loans taken out on the BendDAO lending platform. The lower prices are affecting other traders on BendDAO as well, as the value of collateralized Bored Apes lower, pushing them toward liquidation.

Traders are using over 1,000 Bored Apes as collateral for loans across three lending protocols (BendDAO, JPEG’d, and ParaSpace), showing how overleveraged the Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem is. Additionally, a Blur marketplace program has incentivized people to post bids for NFTs close to their floor price, making it easier for traders to unload their assets. The downward price action across different PFP collections suggests that leveraged NFT traders may see their positions come under pressure.

Former President Donald Trump has earned anywhere between \(100,001 to \)1 million from sales of Trump-branded non-fungible tokens (NFTs) through CIC Digital LLC and CIC Ventures LLC. The NFTs featuring Trump’s likeness were released in December and sold out within a day. The filing from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics shows that Trump holds the position of “manager, president, secretary and treasurer” at the companies. It is not clear how Trump was able to earn from the project or how much he earned from it. Twitter users and crypto enthusiasts were previously digging into the project, finding evidence of stolen art and questionable wallet addresses.