Coin360 Daily Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | July 11, 2023

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Jul 11 2023

last year3 minutes read

Markets360

Crypto Market Update

Written by Van

Ex-FTX Executive Under Investigation for Campaign Finance Violations
Moroccan Charged with Impersonating OpenSea, Stealing Digital Assets
Chainalysis Suggests Multichain Exploit May Be an Inside Job
Developer Reveals Potential for Central Authority in Brazil's CBDC
Regulatory Challenges Lead Algofi to Shut Down

Crypto Exchange News

Coinbase Shares Soar Following Agreement with Cboe and Nasdaq
PancakeSwap and Google Cloud Partner to Enhance Infrastructure

Blockchain and Protocol Updates

Axelar Partners with Microsoft to Bridge Public and Private Blockchains
Consensys Launches zkEVM Rollup, Linea, on Mainnet
Aave DAO to Vote on Deployment of Gho Stablecoin
Polygon's MATIC Rises 10% Ahead of 2.0 Upgrade

Crypto Asset Updates

Bitcoin Supply in Profit Increases by Over 53% in 2023
Buterin-Linked Whale Deposit of Ethereum Sparks Speculation
Near Protocol's Treasury Declines to $900M in Q2 2023
ApeCoin Value Drops 15%, Reaches All-Time Low
Whale Activity Shakes Up PEPE Token Ecosystem

Cybersecurity and Exploits

Rodeo Finance Loses $1.53M in Second Major Exploit
Arkham Intel Exchange Defends Decision Not to Support Off-Chain Info

Crypto and Traditional Finance Crossover

Patek Phillipe Watch Used as Collateral in NFT-Based Loan
Starbucks Collaborates with Aku NFT Project, Makes Charitable Donation

Ex-FTX Executive Under Investigation for Campaign Finance Violations

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are investigating Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive, for potential violations of campaign finance law related to his girlfriend's congressional campaign.

Salame is suspected of illegally avoiding contribution limits. The investigation is separate from the one involving FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is facing charges of campaign finance violations, fraud, and conspiracy. Salame has not been charged in the FTX case, but he was previously identified as an unnamed co-conspirator in Bankman-Fried's indictment.

Moroccan Charged with Impersonating OpenSea, Stealing Digital Assets

Soufiane Oulahyane, a Moroccan national, has been charged by the Department of Justice for allegedly impersonating OpenSea and stealing approximately $450,000 worth of digital assets, including a Bored Ape NFT. Oulahyane is accused of creating a spoof website to trick users into providing their OpenSea credentials, subsequently gaining unauthorized access to victims' wallets.

The charges include wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and unauthorized device usage. Oulahyane faces potential sentences ranging from two to 20 years. He is currently in Moroccan custody.

Chainalysis Suggests Multichain Exploit May Be an Inside Job

Blockchain analytical firm Chainalysis suggests that the recent exploit on Multichain may have been an inside job due to issues faced by the protocol and the disappearance of its CEO. Approximately $103 million worth of crypto assets has been transferred away from the Multichain bridge, following a previous transfer of $126 million.

Security firm Beosin suspects an internal operation, as the transfers involved multiple chains and indicated control over the assets. Circle and Tether froze some of the assets.

Developer Reveals Potential for Central Authority in Brazil's CBDC

Pedro Magalhães, a blockchain developer, reverse-engineered Brazil's CBDC code and discovered functions that could allow a central authority to freeze funds. He argued it could be beneficial, but it lacks specifics and transparency. Benefits include taxes traceability and halting bank runs. It runs on Hyperledger Besu, a privately operated EVM-compatible blockchain.

Regulatory Challenges Lead Algofi to Shut Down

Algofi, the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol on Algorand blockchain, will shut down due to various factors. It will transition to withdrawal-only mode. The decline in Algorand's native token (ALGO) and regulatory challenges contributed to the project's closure. Algofi still represents more than half of the value on Algorand despite the drop in total value locked (TVL).

Coinbase Shares Soar Following Agreement with Cboe and Nasdaq

Coinbase's shares surged 16% as the crypto exchange agreed to maintain a surveillance-sharing agreement with Cboe's BZX Exchange for its bitcoin ETF applications, according to filings. Similar agreements were also reached with Nasdaq for BlackRock's bitcoin ETF application.

PancakeSwap and Google Cloud Partner to Enhance Infrastructure

Decentralized trading platform PancakeSwap partners with Google Cloud to ensure infrastructure availability and reliability. They use Dysnix's PreditKube to predict traffic spikes, scale nodes, and reduce costs. PancakeSwap aims to improve security, expand services, and enhance the user experience.

The partnership boosts the value of its native token CAKE by 3.9% at one point. However, PancakeSwap's revenue, total value locked, and trading volume have decreased recently.

Axelar Partners with Microsoft to Bridge Public and Private Blockchains

Axelar and Microsoft joined forces to bridge public and private blockchains, offering developers access to tools via the AxelarJS SDK and message passing. They are also exploring integration of public and private blockchains for AI applications.

Azure's marketplace has 200+ blockchain solutions with 25,000+ applications and services for developers and businesses. Axelar raised $35M in Series B funding and supports 43 blockchains.

Consensys Launches zkEVM Rollup, Linea, on Mainnet

Consensys has launched its zkEVM rollup, Linea, on the mainnet. The Layer 2 chain uses ZK-Rollups for scaling and is compatible with Ethereum apps. It offers a cost-effective solution for developers and users with transaction costs up to 15 times cheaper than Ethereum Layer 1. MetaMask and other developer tools will operate with the network.

Aave DAO to Vote on Deployment of Gho Stablecoin

Aave DAO members will vote on deploying the Gho stablecoin on the Ethereum blockchain, which can be minted against a diversified set of crypto assets. Gho allows stablecoin borrowing on Aave to be more competitive and generate additional revenue for the DAO treasury.

Polygon's MATIC Rises 10% Ahead of 2.0 Upgrade

MATIC, the native token of Ethereum scaling solution Polygon, has risen 10% as traders anticipate the upcoming Polygon 2.0 upgrade. The crypto's daily volume increased by 62% and its open interest grew by 47%, suggesting leverage-backed support. However, highly-anticipated news events can lead to volatile price action.

Bitcoin Supply in Profit Increases by Over 53% in 2023

Bitcoin's supply in profit has increased by over 53% since the beginning of 2023, with 75% of the supply currently in profit, according to data from Glassnode. This equilibrium is reminiscent of scenarios witnessed during the mid-points of the 2016 and 2019 market cycles.

Buterin-Linked Whale Deposit of Ethereum Sparks Speculation

A recent $4 million deposit of 2,013 Ethereum (ETH) from "0x9e92" to cryptocurrency exchange OKX was linked to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The whale has received $41.6 million from Buterin over a period of 4 months, and holds 170,913 ETH, valued at approximately $259 million. The reasons behind the transfers remain unclear.

Near Protocol's Treasury Declines to $900M in Q2 2023

In Q2 2023, Near Protocol's treasury declined to $900 million, with $349 million in fiat, 315 million NEAR, and $90 million in loans and investments. The Near Foundation adopted a responsible approach to treasury management, focusing on three strategies to grow the Near ecosystem. 1.1 million monthly active accounts were recorded in Q2.

ApeCoin Value Drops 15%, Reaches All-Time Low

The value of ApeCoin (APE), the crypto token associated with Yuga Labs' Bored Ape NFT collection, has fallen 15% in the past two weeks, reaching an all-time low of $1.85. Bored Ape NFTs have seen a slight recovery, but ApeCoin continues to decline, down almost 93% from its peak.

ApeCoin is the standard currency for Yuga Labs' virtual world, Otherside. Despite its low price, ApeCoin's market cap is comparable to other metaverse projects like The Sandbox and Decentraland.

Whale Activity Shakes Up PEPE Token Ecosystem

Whales have recently been active in the PEPE ecosystem, making significant investments and sell-offs, influencing the token's price and sentiment. Pepe's current market cap is $566.24 million, with a 24-hour trading volume of $98 million and a circulating supply of 391,790.00 billion tokens. The token has lost -7.54% in the last 24 hours.

Rodeo Finance Loses $1.53M in Second Major Exploit

Rodeo Finance, a DeFi protocol on the Arbitrum blockchain, experienced its second major exploit, losing $1.53 million. The hacker used a code vulnerability in Rodeo's Oracle to transfer 472 ETH ($888,000) from Arbitrum to Ethereum. The exploit involved manipulating a time-weighted average price (TWAP) oracle, enabling the attacker to profit by borrowing and manipulating asset prices. Rodeo Finance's total value locked (TVL) plummeted from $20 million to under $500 as a result. The hacker's flagged address still holds over 370 ETH.

Arkham Intel Exchange Defends Decision Not to Support Off-Chain Info

Arkham Intel Exchange, launching on July 18, will not support off-chain information trading, despite concerns of doxxing. The platform allows users to monetize their blockchain sleuthing skills and offers a public token sale and airdrop on Binance. The company addresses criticism and misinformation about its platform, denying involvement with government agencies and clarifying that user data is not sold.

Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers

Gainers:

FTX Token FTT (+27.43%)

Compound COMP (+12.62%)

Solana SOL (+4.95%)

Losers:

eCash XEC (-4.09%)

Algorand ALGO (-2.38%)

Toncoin TON (-2.36%)

NFT Market Map

Starbucks Collaborates with Aku NFT Project, Makes Charitable Donation

Starbucks collaborates with Micah Johnson for the Aku NFT project, featuring a unique stamp. Starbucks also donates $100,000 to combat food insecurity. Micah Johnson's Aku universe has gained popularity and faced challenges.

Patek Phillipe Watch Used as Collateral in NFT-Based Loan

A user borrowed $35,000 using a Patek Phillipe watch as collateral, which was represented by an NFT. The loan was facilitated by 4K Protocol and listed on the DeFi lending protocol Arcade. The anonymous process allows for global liquidity and more competitive rates. Some are welcoming the new way of lending, while others are concerned about centralization.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.