Bitcoin (BTC) has just completed its fourth halving, and market participants are waiting for its impact. However, the value of BTC lies in its unique “monetary properties.”

That is one of the findings by Joe Burnett, a researcher at Unchained, a Bitcoin financial services company that provides individuals and businesses with value-collaborative custody for their BTC.

Burnett recently published research findings revealing that Bitcoin is the best savings tool that can “stop the free market from inevitably melting your wealth.”

He believes Bitcoin is a superior asset that allows for the transfer of “modern wealth through time without a leak.”

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Burnett revealed his reasons for being a vocal Bitcoin bull and why it pays to invest in BTC for the longer term.

Cointelegraph (CT): There’s been a ton of talk in crypto circles about the impact of halving, but for the average non-crypto-centric person, this probably sounds garble. What’s the most important thing you think retail investors should know about the Bitcoin halving?

Joe Burnett (JB): At block 840,000, the Bitcoin block subsidy drops from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC, programmatically. No government, no company, and no group of people can alter Bitcoin’s supply schedule. If you change the rules, you simply fork off and create another network. Bitcoin is the best money because it has the best monetary properties (portable, durable, divisible, fungible), and it has the most credibly scarce supply limit.

Monetary properties of different assets. Source: Unchained

The halving is just another block in the chain that confirms a predictable, immutable, and transparent monetary policy.

CT: The ETFs have been credited with putting some oomph behind Bitcoin price, but at some point, ETF holders are bound to rebalance or become sellers, impacting the direction of Bitcoin price. Given Unchained’s focus, what type of convos are you having with investors about Bitcoin’s price volatility?

JB: Unchained is designed to build financial services for long-term Bitcoin holders. When it comes to Bitcoin, it’s best not to hold it for short periods of time. Instead, allocate capital that you intend to save for years to Bitcoin. This enables you to ignore the short-term volatility and focus entirely on the long-term capital appreciation.

CT: I know a lot of analysts and researchers don’t like to talk about price, but hey, it’s what the people want to know. Data shows that Bitcoin price goes parabolic ahead of the halving, yet we are more than 10% down from the all-time high here. What do you think of the left-translated cycle theory, and why did the BTC price sell-off sharply ahead of the halving?

JB: This is actually the first cycle where Bitcoin made a new all-time high before a halving.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

The spot Bitcoin ETFs may have played a critical role in the price increase before the halving, but it seems likely that the approximately 18 months after the halving will be positive as well. In my opinion, the BTC price has been selling off with traditional markets. The S&P 500 is also down.

S&P 500 performance since 2012. Source: Unchained

Bitcoin is a gauge for global liquidity. If macro conditions are tightening, Bitcoin will suffer. If conditions are easing, Bitcoin will benefit. In the long run, more dollars will be created, and Bitcoin is the fastest horse.

CT: Why are you such a Bitcoin bull? Recently, you said investors are seeing their wealth “melt away” for various reasons.

JB: Any wealth that humanity stores outside of Bitcoin can be debased. If the world holds $15 trillion dollars worth of wealth in gold, entrepreneurs will figure out how to mine more gold. If the world holds $300 trillion dollars worth of wealth in real estate, entrepreneurs will figure out how to build more houses.

Lumber production since 1975. Source: Unchained.

Bitcoin is the one asset with the most superior monetary properties and does not melt, no matter how much wealth is stored in Bitcoin. We have not, until now, had an adequate asset to transfer our modern wealth through time without a leak.

Related: Bitcoin Bollinger Bands hit level that saw BTC price squeeze past $50K

CT: What is the biggest psychological hurdle that potential investors at Unchained need to overcome or be convinced of before making an allocation to Bitcoin?

JB: Individuals and enterprises considering saving Bitcoin in their treasury should note that Bitcoin is a long-term saving, not a short-term get-rich-quick scheme. If you hold Bitcoin, you should be prepared to hold it for multiple years and expect extreme volatility.

CT: The halving is over, and Bitcoin is up 58% this year. Do you think it’s too late for investors to position in BTC?

JB: If the halving made you think about Bitcoin again and you’ve started to accumulate some, make sure you’re holding it in the most secure way possible. Collaborative custody is the best way to hold Bitcoin because it enables you to hold it without a single point of failure. Don’t trust Mt. Gox, FTX, Coinbase, or BlackRock with all of your Bitcoin. A single institution should not be able to lose your coins. Unchained fixes this!

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed a potential decision of an application for a spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) from Franklin Templeton.

In an April 23 notice, the SEC said it had designated a longer period to approve or disapprove a proposed rule change allowing the Cboe BZX Exchange to list and trade shares of the Franklin Ethereum Trust. The commission will have until June 11 to reassess its decision on the spot ETH ETF — an additional 45 days.

Many analysts have speculated that the SEC will reach a final decision on whether to approve or deny a spot Ether ETF for listing and trading on U.S. exchanges in May, during deadlines for applications from several asset managers. In March, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart suggested that the current round of Ether ETF applications would “ultimately be denied.”

Related: Ether ETFs may be delayed, as institutions are unprepared — Web3 exec

In January, the SEC began allowing U.S. exchanges to list and trade shares of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs — a landmark decision that will likely continue to affect how financial institutions handle cryptocurrencies. Though some speculated at the time that the commission was likely to follow suit with a spot ETH ETF, reports have suggested that it may be attempting to classify Ether as a security.

Franklin Templeton’s spot BTC ETF was in the first round of approvals by the SEC. As of December 2020, the firm reported it had more than $1.5 trillion in assets under management.

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Bitcoin's (BTC) price has finally outperformed Tesla's (TSLA) stock over the past five years in percentage terms. The electronic vehicle manufacturer has also missed out on a potential $1.27 billion in profit after selling a big chunk of its BTC holdings in 2022.

BTC overtakes TSLA in long-term gains

Over the past five years, Bitcoin's price has risen over 1,180%, while Tesla's stock price has risen over 806%, according to TradingView data.

BTC&TSLA, 5-year chart. Source: TradingView

Looking at smaller time horizons, Bitcoin’s returns have outperformed TSLA over the past year, in particular. Bitcoin rose 139% while Tesla fell over 11% over the past 12 months, while year-to-date BTC is up 49% while Tesla’s stock price is down 42%.

BTC&TSLA, YTD-year chart. Source: TradingView

Such a stellar year so far for BTC has made it the world’s ninth-largest asset with a $1.3 trillion market capitalization, larger than Meta Platforms, Berkshire Hathway, Visa, or JPMorgan Chase.

In comparison, Tesla is the world’s 21st largest asset, with a $455 billion market capitalization, according to Companiesmarketcap.

World’s 10 largest assets by market capitalization. Source: Companiesmarketcap

Tesla was among the first publicly traded companies to invest in Bitcoin back in February 2021, when the company bought over $1.5 billion worth of BTC, around the $36,000 mark.

However, Tesla sold around 10% of its holdings in March 2021. Then, the company sold approximately 75% of its Bitcoin reserves in the second quarter of 2022.

Had Tesla not sold, it would have made over $1.27 billion in profit, up over 84% on its initial investment, at current price levels.

Tesla BTC Balance. Source: Arkham Intelligence

Tesla currently holds 11,509 BTC worth over $766 million with Coinbase Prime Custody, according to Arkham Intelligence.

Related: Bitcoin price breaks above $66K — Has BTC flipped bullish again?

Bitcoin ETFs are the main reason why BTC is winning

The approval of the ten United States spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) was the main reason behind BTC price rising 60% so far this year, according to Andrey Stoychev, the head of prime brokerage at Nexo. He told Cointelegraph:

“U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs’ role in elevating Bitcoin to a genuine asset class has been invaluable, with pleasing trading volumes and capital flows since launch.”

The ten Bitcoin ETFs amassed over 835,000 BTC in cumulative on-chain holdings, worth over $55.1 billion, according to Dune.

Related: New Bitcoin whales, ETFs are up only 1.6% in unrealized profit — Is the BTC bottom in?

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

USDT-issuer Tether says it will freeze addresses linked to sanctioned entities following a report that Venezuela’s state-run oil company was using the stablecoin to bypass sanctions.

A spokesperson from Tether told Cointelegraph that the company remains committed to stopping payments linked to Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned entities:

"Tether respects the OFAC SDN list and is committed to working to ensure sanction addresses are frozen promptly."

This comes after an exclusive report from Reuters claimed that Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA, has been using cryptocurrencies to facilitate its crude oil and fuel exports. The country is facing new oil sanctions reimposed by the United States.

According to the report, the U.S. Treasury Department requires PDVSA customers and providers to wind down transactions by May 31 due to Venezuela’s failure to implement electoral reforms.

Related: Tether’s USDT stablecoin goes live on TON blockchain

The report, which cited anonymous sources, says the reimposed sanctions will make it harder for Venezuela to increase its oil product and export because companies will require U.S. authorizations to do business with the South American nation.

The sources claim that PDVSA has been moving its oil sales to Tether (USDT) as a mitigating move to avoid funds being frozen in foreign bank accounts as new sanctions take effect.

Reports in 2023 linked cryptocurrency payments to a corruption scandal at PDVSA involving the discovery of $21 billion of unaccounted receivables for oil exports.

Related: Stablecoin competition crucial for regulatory engagement — Tether CEO

Reuters’ sources also claim that PDVSA has reworked its spot oil deals in 2024 to a contract model that requires prepayment for exported cargo in USDT. The report also suggests that the Venezuelan state-run oil firm requires new customers looking to conduct oil transactions to hold cryptocurrency in a digital wallet.

It’s understood that companies that looked to resume business with PDVSA following a six-month licensing approval from the U.S. in October 2023 had to resort to intermediaries to carry out the cryptocurrency payment requirements.

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The saga of El Salvador’s state-operated Bitcoin (BTC) wallet, Chivo, continues to unfold as hackers expose more sensitive information related to the wallet.

The hacker group known as CiberInteligenciaSV released part of the source code on the black hat hacking crime forum BreachForums on April 23.

“This time I bring you the code that is inside the Bitcoin Chivo Wallet ATMs in El Salvador, remember that it is a government wallet, and as you know, we do not sell, we publish everything for free for you,” the hacker group wrote.

Source: BreachForums

The move follows a series of Chivo hack-related events, including the public exposure of personal data of 5.1 million Salvadorans — or almost the entire adult population of the country — which was reported in early April.

Local cybersecurity project VenariX took to X on April 22 to warn the public about the upcoming leak. It referred to CiberInteligenciaSV’s Telegram channel, which posted about plans to release the source code.

“Tonight we will publish part of the source code and VPN access that belongs to Chivo Wallet, for free as always, unless one of you nosy government people wants to talk,” CiberInteligenciaSV’s Telegram post reads.

CiberInteligenciaSV also published the file Codigo.rar, which includes a compilation of code and VPN credentials from the Chivo Wallet ATM network.

In September 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, with the government promoting Chivo as the official BTC wallet for citizens. The platform allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin, as well as store and withdraw BTC from ATMs.

Related: El Salvador’s newest Hilton hotel to tap into tokenized debt on Bitcoin

The Chivo wallet had a bumpy start, with users subsequently reporting multiple bugs and technical glitches.

Despite reports of a personal data hack on Chivo surfacing in early April, the Salvadoran government has not addressed the issue.

According to industry reports, El Salvador authorities have not released any official statement related to the hack, causing more confusion about the situation.

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When crypto users lose their private keys or get scammed out of their coins by a con artist, they usually cannot recover their funds. In most cases, their crypto is lost forever. But according to a father and son team that operates out of New Hampshire, all hope is not lost. They claim to have recovered more than $6 million worth of lost crypto throughout their careers.

Chris and Charles Brooks run Crypto Asset Recovery, a service that offers to help crypto users recover lost wallets. They also provide scam-tracking for victims of crypto theft.

Charles and Chris Brooks. Source: Crypto Asset Recovery homepage

In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Chris Brooks, the father of co-founder Charles Brooks, said that about 70% of the duo’s clients come to them after losing their Bitcoin (BTC) wallet password. These users sometimes have no seed word backups, so if they lose their password, their wallets are difficult to recover without the help of a specialist.

 “The BIP39 recovery seed [generated by most modern wallets], was only proposed in 2013 and it didn’t start getting wide adoption until 2015, and so, for folks who have older wallets, that’s not even an option for them,” he stated. Even if a wallet is fairly new, there is still a “handful of wallets where you have to go searching for your seed words if you want to back that up.”

In these cases, if a user forgets their password, they lose access to their wallet since they don’t have any seed word backups they can use to restore it. Even so, Chris claimed that most of these wallets can still be recovered using software that guesses the password through brute force.

Even if a user has a seed word backup, they may have made a mistake when copying it down. For example, they may have left one word out, or they may be getting an error when they attempt to enter the words. Chris said he could often recover these wallets as well by brute-forcing the missing word or the correct order of words.

Charles Brooks said he recently helped a “Casascius coin” collector recover his lost wallet key. A Casascius coin is a physical coin that carries a Bitcoin private key inside of a film on its back side. The private key is only 26 to 36 characters long instead of the usual 51 characters. On the front side of the coin is the first eight characters of the Bitcoin address that corresponds to its key. According to Charles, the collector had accidentally ripped part of the coin’s film, causing “5 or 6 characters” to become illegible. Using the remaining characters and the snippet of the Bitcoin address from the front of the coin, Charles was able to use software to guess the missing characters to the private key.

Related: Crypto’s Indiana Jones? Coinbase exec helps recover $322K of once-lost crypto

The duo recently launched a scam tracking service for users who have their crypto stolen by con artists. In a case where a client was scammed, “[W]e will take the transaction hashes of [the victim] sending funds to the scammer, [and] we will follow those funds into the scammer’s wallet,” Charles stated. After establishing the scammer’s address or “address cluster,” they will attempt to associate it “with a known entity, which is more often than not an exchange.” Once this entity is known, they will “compile a report and help the client report the case to law enforcement.”

In contrast to crypto lost from a forgotten password, Charles cautioned that scammed funds are usually gone forever. The only sliver of a hope of recovering them is by involving police and the courts, he explained:

“We don’t see much likelihood in recovery of scam cases. Once the funds are in somebody else’s wallet, [...] you need to go hunt them down with police and gain access to their Ledger, or whatever is holding it, so we tell [clients] that there is a very low likelihood of recovery.”

Even so, some crypto users may benefit from being able to trace stolen funds and provide a report to the police, he claimed. Charles stated that law enforcement is working on a few cases that the team has reported, but so far, none of these cases has concluded.

The duo claimed that they’ve recovered $6 million in crypto lost through forgotten passwords, missing seed words, and other issues. “We’ve been pretty successful in recovering lost wallets,” Charlie stated. “We have right around a 45% or 46% success rate when somebody needs help with a cracked password, and so over time that has built up.”

Crypto users have lost billions of dollars from forgetting passwords and losing seed words over the years. According to an estimate from Chananalysis, over 20% of the Bitcoin supply is in wallets that are no longer under the control of any person.

The Blockchain Association (BA) and the Crypto Freedom Alliance of Texas (CFAT) revealed a new lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the Northern District of Texas, according to a statement. 

On April 23, the BA announced the lawsuit in a move to challenge the SEC’s recent expansion of the “Dealer Rule,” which the industry groups argue stifles innovation in the U.S. digital asset market.

The BA and CFAT argue that the SEC overstepped its authority by implementing a broad interpretation of the term “dealer” within the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

In February the SEC adopted new rules which redefine “dealer” and “government securities dealer” and therefore require more crypto market participants to register, join a self-regulatory organization and comply with federal securities laws. 

This expansion, the lawsuit claims, creates a vague and burdensome regulatory environment for businesses involved in digital asset trading.

The lawsuit alleges that the SEC failed to adequately address public concerns raised during a limited comment period and neglected to assess the potential negative impacts of the rule.

Kristin Smith, the CEO of the Blockchain Association, said this the latest example of the SEC’s “blatant attempts to unlawfully regulate outside its authority.”

“The Dealer Rule advances the SEC’s anti-digital asset crusade and unlawfully redefines the boundaries of its statutory authority granted to it by Congress, threatening to drive U.S. companies offshore and incite fear in American innovators.”

Related: SEC’s Hester Peirce wants more decentralization in the financial system

The lawsuit seeks a court order to overturn the Dealer Rule expansion based on violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The APA ensures fair and transparent rulemaking by requiring agencies to consider public feedback and provide clear guidelines.

Smith said that they are seeking “declaratory judgment and injunctive relief” against the regulators to overturn the expansion of the rule and ultimately to prohibit its use against the industry “before more harm can be done by this rabid regulator.”

The BA and CFAT represent a significant portion of the cryptocurrency industry, including leading investors, companies, and projects. Overall, their work advocates for a national policy framework within the U.S. that aims to foster local innovation and responsible development within the digital asset space.

Magazine: Altseason on the horizon, SEC targets Uniswap, and BTC halving news: Hodler’s Digest, April 7-13

The DAO Maker crypto fundraising platform, not to be confused with the MakerDAO stablecoin protocol, is attempting to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund new Web3 projects in 2024. However, victims of its August 2021 hack say the project never reimbursed them for the losses they suffered in the attack, even though its development team promised to make all victims whole again. 

Victims also claim that DAO Maker is liable for these losses, as the hack was allegedly the result of a private key compromise suffered due to its developers’ negligence.

DAO Maker was first exploited in August 2021, when approximately $7 million of users’ funds were stolen. The development team later acknowledged that the exploit had occurred because of a private key hack. At the time, it agreed to partially compensate investors with an immediate airdrop of 500 USD Coin (USDC) per person. The remaining compensation was to be paid through an IOU token called “USDR.” This token would become redeemable for the protocol’s native coin, DAO, at prevailing prices within one year.

However, victims of the hack told Cointelegraph that USDR redemptions were never allowed and that they still have not been compensated for their remaining losses. In addition, decentralized finance (DeFi) researcher SOMA Analytics has claimed that DAO Maker forced through a proposal with its governing body to cancel the reimbursement plan, using its large token supply to ensure the vote’s outcome. According to the researcher, the proposal was deleted after its passage, allegedly as part of an attempt by the team to remove evidence of its failure to reimburse victims.

DAO Maker, based in Prague, is completely separate from and has no relation to the similarly named MakerDAO stablecoin protocol.

DAO Maker gets hacked and offers compensation

DAO Maker is a fundraising platform for technology startups, with a particular focus on raising money for Web3 protocols governed by decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). According to its official website, the protocol signed on “more than 75,000 retail users interested in early-stage ventures” in 2020 and has “200,000+ KYC’ed users.”

DAO Maker official website. Source: DAO Maker

As per CoinMarketCap’s description of DAO Maker, the project offers several different systems for investors to participate in new token offerings. One is called a “Strong Holder Offering (SHO),” wherein investors purchase DAO tokens and use them to allocate “DAO Power” to a particular coin offering. The more DAO Power they allocate, the more likely they are to win a participation slot for a particular offering.

If they win a slot, “their allocation will be automatically funded by their USD Coin (USDC) balance” and the investor will be allowed to use these funds to purchase coins in the offering, CoinMarketCap states. The description cites official DAO Maker documents that have since gone offline.

Related: What is a crypto launchpad, and how does it work?

In the 2021 hack, the SHO contract holding these USDC funds was exploited, and $7 million was stolen. In a Medium post on Aug. 12, 2021, the DAO Maker team acknowledged that the hack was caused by “malicious use of one of our wallets with access to admin privileges.”

On Aug. 17, in a separate Medium post, the team announced a plan to compensate investors. The announcement was also shared on the team’s official Telegram channel. The team claimed it would airdrop 500 USDC immediately to each investor impacted by the hack. On Sept. 8, 2021, the remaining losses would be covered through an “IOU token” called USDR. One year later, on Aug. 8, 2022, each USDR token would be redeemable for $1 at a 1:1 ratio plus 10% interest denominated in DAO tokens. “Each USDR token is equal to 1.1 worth of DAO, 1 year after it is airdropped,” the announcement stated.

As an example of how the redemption process would work, the plan considered a user who had lost $1,000 in the hack. This person would “receive 500 USDR tokens on September 8, 2021. [...] After 1 year, they can be redeemed for $550 worth of DAO tokens,” DAO Maker stated.

Both Medium posts were later deleted, but archived versions are still available on the Wayback Machine.

Victims claim USDR redemptions were never allowed

DAO Maker investors told Cointelegraph that the project’s promise to redeem each USDR for $1.10 was never honored by the DAO Maker decentralized autonomous organization nor by its development team.

One investor Cointelegraph spoke with, who used the username “Red Drac” on Telegram and spoke on the condition that their real name not be revealed, claimed they lost $2,000 from the hack. They said they deposited $2,000 in stablecoins to a “pre-deposit” contract. But when the August 2021 hack occurred, this contract was drained, and they lost all of it. Red Drac stated that after the compensation plan was announced, they received 500 USDT (USDT) — and that they also received 1,500 USDR at a later date. However, the USDR was never allowed to be redeemed for DAO as promised.

According to Red Drac, they eventually discovered that a liquidity pool for USDR existed and that they could sell into this pool to cash out early. However, the tokens “were not in a 1:1 ratio to USDT.” Instead, the tokens were being sold at “something like 80%” of their par value. As a result, Red Drac did not sell their USDR into the pool, and these tokens are still sitting in their wallet today.

He claimed that this USDR is nearly worthless now, as there is presently no way to exchange it for other cryptocurrencies. The previously existing liquidity pool was later shut down, leaving holders with no means to cash out. Red Drac acknowledged that they can use the tokens to gain DAO Power within the DAO Maker platform, but they claimed that the tokens “are not that much value because those allocations [don’t] guarantee me that I will actually earn something.”

Telegram user Zztelecom told a similar story, claiming they received 500 USDR as compensation for their loss from the hack. Months later, the token began trading for $0.60 to $0.80 per coin. With such a high discount, they decided to buy roughly 10,000 coins, which they expected to be able to redeem for $10,000 worth of DAO once the tokens became redeemable.

But the tokens never became redeemable and are now worthless on the secondary market. 

 “The DAO Maker team decided to fool everyone,” Zztelecom said. “Trading stopped. [...] In the end, they said that each USDR = 1 DAO Power and we can participate in sales with their help, but we cannot send them to other wallets because DAO Power will be lost.”

Related: DeFi protocol Unizen to provide ‘immediate reimbursement’ after $2.1M hack

Claims of a DAO Maker cover-up

In addition to these claims from victims, DeFi researcher SOMA Analytics claimed to have evidence that the team tried to cover up its abandonment of the USDR redemption process. The researcher published the work via a Notion workspace and is unaffiliated with the nutritional supplement blog of the same name.

According to SOMA, the DAO Maker team created a proposal to abandon the redemption process for USDR. This proposal was allegedly passed by DAO Maker — but was then deleted from its Snapshot webpage. They claimed that the DAO Maker team likely used its own tokens to outvote the majority of tokenholders, ensuring the vote would turn out the way it wanted. It allegedly distributed tokens to new wallets in an attempt to obfuscate its role in the proposal’s passage.

“Between October 3rd and October 5th, [2022], a unique USDR proposal surfaced on DAO Maker’s official Discord from some user named @Dante.eth,” the researcher stated. SOMA claimed that this proposal has since been deleted but was copied by other community members.

According to this copied version, the mysterious user Dante.eth argued that redeeming USDR would have “a massive impact on the price of $DAO for everyone and the token price might never recover.” Purportedly for this reason, the user called for a vote that offered three options for the redemption process. The original proposal to redeem USDR for DAO at a 1:1 rate was not one of the options listed.

Option 1 was for the decentralized autonomous organization to algorithmically sell DAO tokens and airdrop USDC to holders of USDR at a 1:1 rate. This would have allowed holders to be fully compensated, but with stablecoins instead of DAO tokens. Option 2 was to distribute DAO tokens from a Venture Yield partnership to USDR holders once a year. Option 3 was to redeem USDR at only 50% of its par value.

The option to redeem at 50% of par value (Option 3) passed, with 61.72% of tokens being used to vote in favor of it. However, the researcher claimed these 61.72% of votes were cast by only six wallet accounts. The majority of accounts voted for Option 1, but these small holders reportedly did not possess enough tokens to outvote the six whales that voted for the 50% haircut.

DAO Maker proposal vote count. Source: SOMA Analytics

The hack victims acknowledged that the USDR token allows them to obtain DAO Power, which gives them a greater chance of participating in token offerings they are interested in.

Yet despite the DAO vote for a 50% redemption, SOMA Analytics claimed that even this compensation was never distributed by the team. “From what I recall, there was never any claim portal, and people got simply nothing,” they stated in a message. Instead, according to their report, the team allegedly decided to make USDR unredeemable and allow holders to gain DAO power with it instead. The DAO Power that can be gained from the tokens is not transferable, making the token essentially worthless in the secondary market today.

DAO Maker announcement regarding DAO Power for USDR holders. Source: SOMA Analytics

According to SOMA Analytics, the six wallets that voted for the 50% haircut “were created just 10 days before the voting, received substantial amounts of DAO within the same two days (with funds possibly obfuscated through a CEX), and voted exclusively for Option 3.” In their view, this provided a strong indication that the wallets were created by some person or group that was holding a large percentage of the DAO token’s total supply, such as the protocol’s development team. It also indicated that whoever voted for the proposal did not want their identity to be known, as they went through the trouble of creating new wallets solely to participate in the vote.

Cointelegraph could not independently confirm which wallets voted for the proposal, when they were created, or how they were funded, as the proposal has been deleted.

Cointelegraph contacted the DAO Maker team for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. 

DAO Maker continues to provide fundraising services to Web3 startups. According to CoinMarketCap, the DAO token has a market cap of $153 million, making it among the top 400 cryptocurrencies.

Related: DAO Maker founder builds game based on abandoned Logan Paul project in just 30 days

Profit-seeking venture capitalists (VCs) are bad for the long-term sustainability and price action of newly-launched cryptocurrencies.

Despite bringing new liquidity for altcoin launches, VCs introduce significant sell pressure that damages the token’s long-term price action, according to popular crypto analyst Route 2 FI, who wrote in an April 22 Substack post:

“Permissionless token listing and money-hungry VCs are bad for the individual token long term. Every year 100 new tokens launch. Diluting existing ones. It’s now April 2024, and inflows into altcoins seem way more selective and not enough to offset big unlocks.”

One of the main issues with the current token launch trend is their initially high fully diluted valuation (FDV), which promises big airdrop allocations for early adopters but comes with large unlocking schedules for early VC investors. This mechanism will lead to a price decrease for most of these new tokens.  According to Route 2 FI:

“I think most new VC scam coins (high FDV coins) eventually will dump hard AF. And that you can use this to your advantage in pair trading or in situations where you want to hedge.”

The total market capitalization of altcoins, excluding Bitcoin (BTC), stood at $1.05 trillion at press time, up 38% year-to-date, from $760 billion at the beginning of 2024, according to TradingView data.

Total altcoin market capitalization, year-to-date chart. Source: TradingView

The issue with large VC unlocks is the lack of demand from crypto investors, which is unable to cover the large increase in a coin’s circulating supply and the selling pressure, wrote the pseudonymous analyst.

“At some point, the supply will outnumber the demand and we will start spiraling downwards due to massive inflation. Early buyers will get trapped, which leads to bearish sentiment among the community, reduced TVL in the protocol, devs (if any) leaving for greener fields, and team members quitting.”

Related: Europe’s largest banks are moving into crypto thanks to regulations — Bitpanda

Is 2024 the end of crypto altseason?

During previous market cycles, altcoins have historically pumped after Bitcoin’s rise to new highs, as profits from Bitcoin selling are rotated into other cryptocurrencies.

Altcoin Hype Cycle. Source: Rekt Capital

However, with over “300 decent projects,” there isn’t enough liquidity for all the top altcoins to rise together, which could be the end of the altcoin season trend. Route 2 FI said:

“We hear a lot about altseason, but this time around I think things will be different… But ask yourself who is going to buy all these tokens. Unless institutions or retail are coming in masses, it will just be a forever PvP fight.”

Related: Bitcoin price breaks above $66K — Has BTC flipped bullish again?

Bitcoiners from around the world descended upon Poland’s capital, Warsaw, from April 18 to 21 for a weekend of films, networking, group activities and the much-anticipated Bitcoin halving.

The second edition of the family-friendly Bitcoin FilmFest hosted several film premieres and screenings, including a biopic of Carl Menger, founder of the Austrian school of economics and “grandfather of Bitcoin;” Gods of Their Own Religion, a dystopian story in the not-too-distant future about a city living under the jackboot of a technocratic empire; Dirty Coin, which addresses the widespread misconceptions about Bitcoin (BTC) and its reputation as a “dirty coin” due to its energy consumption and alleged role in facilitating illegal activities — and several others. 

Bitcoin FilmFest saw the iconic Kinoteka venue transformed into a Bitcoin-themed theater. Source: Cointelegraph 

The festival took place in Warsaw’s famous Palace of Culture and Science, a stunning display of Stalinist-Gothic architecture known locally as “Stalin’s Palace.” The building is a reminder of the troubled history of Poland, which spent over 50 years under repressive communist rule.

The palace symbolizes soviet grandeur and propaganda — built in the middle of devastated post-World War II Warsaw when residents faced unimaginable struggles. It’s a true product of statism, and it is fitting, then, that it should host an event focused on educating about Bitcoin and building a decentralized economy outside of the government-controlled fiat system.

The Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw. Source: Cointelegraph

The festival also featured the documentary My Trust in You is Broken, which highlights the dangers of trusted third parties and chronicles the story of decentralization, focusing on Nicolas Dorier’s contribution to the Bitcoin ecosystem. His innovation, the BTCPay Server, played a major role in progressing Bitcoin acceptance worldwide.

There were also short films and mini-documentaries, such as Lekker Feeling, which is set in Mossel Bay, South Africa, where an organization called Bitcoin Ekasi partnered with a local surfing group to create new opportunities with Bitcoin.

Bitcoin FilmFest co-founder Tomek Kolodziejczuk told Cointelegraph that the event has evolved into much more than just movies about Bitcoin: 

“Most Bitcoiners say The Matrix is a Bitcoiner movie. But then, what is a Bitcoiner movie? That’s a big debate, right? Is it just a film that includes Bitcoin, or maybe a film that has nothing to do with Bitcoin but was crowdfunded with Bitcoin? Or maybe it’s a film that somehow aligns with Bitcoin’s values of decentralization, autonomy and independence, like maybe a movie that is anti-system, right?”

The event had several satellite meetups, networking gatherings and leisure activities for all — including children. Each morning, the festival hosted an “Amondo morning,” which included a cinema meetup for kids and young people. On April 21 was “Cartoonfest,” a series of short kid’s films and cartoons with narratives about Bitcoin and sound economics.

Buying flats with sats

One such satellite event was “Sats4Flats,” a private event for Bitcoin and real estate professionals that included a discussion on Bitcoin, real estate and tokenization. Participants also shared real estate investment opportunities and brainstormed how to make purchases using Bitcoin.

An example of an apartment for sale advertised by Sats4Flats, with its price in BTC. Source: Sats4Flats

The Sats4Flats event also saw the launch of a new Bitcoin real estate community in Poland, with several presentations from special guests. Sats4Flats founder Maciej Kordala introduced the new initiative, which he said aims to attract the interest of investors and developers in the traditional Polish real estate market.

Tick tock, next block

One of the highlights of the weekend was the Bitcoin halving — an event occurring every four years that halves the block reward for Bitcoin miners, hard-coding Bitcoin as a scarce and ultimately deflationary asset. The festival included a “European Halving Party,” which saw attendees celebrate the halving in the wee hours of the morning on April 20. 

Related: Bitcoin halving 2024 — Done and dusted!

This year’s halving came at a time of euphoric optimism in the Bitcoin community, which has seen some big wins in recent months. In January, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the country, which was followed soon after by a new all-time high of over $73,000 for Bitcoin. All of this is happening in the context of an increasingly tense and uncertain macro climate.

The event coincided with the Bitcoin halving and included a European Halving Party. Source: Cointelegraph

Bitcoiners who spoke to Cointelegraph at the event shared their beliefs that the current system is broken. One attendee shared the story of how Bitcoin has enabled him to build wealth in a “broken system that no longer works for the average person.” This was a common theme at the event. Kolodziejczuk told Cointelegraph, “It makes people ask the question: Is something wrong with the system? And then this question brings them to question the fiat structures and fiat system and then to Bitcoin.”

Kolodziejczuk said the long-term plan is to keep growing and building a culture around Bitcoin. He added that they plan to keep the event in Warsaw and that there’s still a lot of untapped potential, particularly in the traditional film industry. The Bitcoin FilmFest team is “trying to build this bridge to more Hollywood or legacy filmmakers who are getting orange-pilled, with more networking between producers, investors and actors,” Kolodziejczuk said, adding:

“With each next edition, it will be more for filmmakers who are interested in Bitcoin. This is the boiling pot of what fosters the growth of Bitcoin cinema that happens in Warsaw, and let’s continue. It’s just the second edition, right? But the plan is definitely long-term.”

Magazine: Get Bitcoin or die tryin’: Why hip hop stars love crypto

A new project in Finland is turning energy from mining Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency into energy to heat homes during the cold Finnish winter.

Bitcoin mining infrastructure firm Hashlabs Mining has introduced a pioneering project enabling heat generation using specially designed Bitcoin mining devices.

The project combines heat production from the hydro-cooled ASIC mining device — a WhatsMiner M63S — with the Finnish district heating system, where the heat is transferred from a centralized source through a network of insulated pipes to multiple buildings. The new project is designed to allow households to benefit from industrial BTC mining.

“With the help of industrial consumers like Bitcoin miners, Finland can increasingly use its massive nuclear power plant to produce heat,” Hashlabs Mining co-founder Jaran Mellerud said in a post on X on April 23.

A local partner of Hashlabs has already integrated two Bitcoin mines with district heating facilities and is currently integrating a third one, Mellerud said.

Related: Bitcoin halving will lead to more sustainable BTC mining: Report

In the project, Hashlabs specifically utilizes the hot water generated from WhatsMiner M63S mining, which reaches a temperature of 70 degrees Celsius. “The best provider of reliable, high-temperature water for district heating is Bitcoin mining,” the Hashlabs founder stated.

Source: Jaran Mellerud

WhatsMiner-generated hot water is set to replace the heat generated in plants utilizing fuels like biomass and other carbon-neutral heat sources, as well as peat, hard coal and others.

As of 2019, most of Finland’s district heat was produced with wood fuels, accounting for 35%, and hard coal with 18%, according to data from Statistics Finland.

Peat ranked the third most important energy source in district heat production in 2019, with 15% produced with peat.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Singapore-based crypto exchange Crypto.com decided to postpone its South Korea launch after regulators pointed out money laundering anomalies in the platform’s data.

South Korean authorities found Anti-Money Laundering (AML)-related problems in the data submitted by Crypto.com and launched an “emergency on-site inspection” to monitor the crypto exchange’s activities. An official representing the Financial Services Commission (FSC) told local media Segye Ilbo:

“We found concerns related to the prevention of money laundering activities in the submitted materials.”

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which operates under the South Korean FSC, launched an emergency on-site inspection on April 23, just six days before the exchange’s planned launch in the region.

Crypto.com previously obtained a domestic virtual asset business license (VASP) in South Korea after acquiring a local crypto exchange named OKBit.

The company later confirmed that it would delay the upcoming launch due on April 29 and work with the regulators to explain the AML measures it has set in place.

“Korea is a difficult market for international exchanges to enter, but we are committed to working with regulators to advance the industry responsibly for Koreans.”

“We will postpone our launch and take this opportunity to make sure Korean regulators understand our thorough policies, procedures, systems and controls,” the Crypto.com spokesperson added.

Related: Upbit suspends crypto transactions exceeding 1 million won

South Korean financial authorities have also planned to prohibit listing digital assets with hacking incidents on domestic exchanges unless the root cause is thoroughly determined through new guidelines in the near future.

The upcoming regulations will also require all foreign digital assets to publish a white paper or technical manual for the South Korean market before being listed. However, tokens listed on a licensed exchange for over two years may not need to meet these new criteria.

Token issuers that fail to adequately disclose essential information will be subject to getting delisted from exchanges. Since the latter part of 2023, the Financial Supervisory Service has been formulating listing guidelines by soliciting feedback from stakeholders such as the Digital Asset Exchange Association.

Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

The Vietnamese IT company FPT and Nvidia, a global leader in semiconductor chip production, said they would be collaborating to finance and build a $200 million artificial intelligence (AI) factory in Vietnam.

In a joint statement on April 23, the companies said their initiative aims to create a “one-stop shop” for all things AI and cloud computing in Vietnam. Its targets include AI products, GPU infrastructure, tech experts and domain expertise for local clients.

FPT plans to invest funds in the AI factory, which will serve as a “sovereign cloud,” while Nvidia will supply its latest tech. This will include its AI enterprise software and frameworks, along with Nvidia H100 Tensor Core GPUs.

According to the statement, FPT aims to establish Vietnam as an “AI hub of the world” and turn the country into an AI nation while accelerating the adoption of AI applications in neighboring countries such as Japan and Korea. 

Keith Strier, the vice president for Worldwide AI for Nvidia, said that AI has the potential to “improve lives and strengthen the economies of every nation” through accelerating innovation in various fields such as healthcare, agriculture, climate and manufacturing.

The factory will provide cloud GPU services to corporate customers of FPT to accelerate the capabilities and speed of AI applications, as well as offer end-to-end generative AI services.

Related: Vietnamese Web3 coalition Ninety Eight launches $25M ecosystem fund

Additionally, Nvidia’s programs will be incorporated into the educational curriculum and activities, training programs, and lab facilities at universities and high schools around the country. The statement said that over the ne at least 30,000 students will be reached by the initiative. 

In December 2023, the CEO of Nvidia announced that the company had plans to expand partnerships in Vietnam with the intention of attracting local talent in the AI industry.

Before that, in September 2023, the United States and Vietnam entered into business agreements and partnerships worth billions of dollars to further AI-related cooperation, focusing on strengthening the semiconductor supply chain.

During this meeting, heads of major tech companies working in the AI space were present, including Nvidia, Microsoft and Google. 

Magazine: AI didn’t kill the metaverse, it will build it — Alien Worlds, Bittensor vs Eric Wall: AI Eye

Cross-border payment protocol Ripple contested the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) request to impose a $2 billion fine against the blockchain company, saying the penalty should not exceed $10 million. 

In a new filing, Ripple Labs opposed the SEC’s request to a federal judge to impose the almost $2 billion fine on the company. Ripple urged the court to deny the SEC’s requests for an injunction, disgorgement and pre-judgment interest.

Ripple also said the court should issue a more reasonable civil penalty, which should not be more than $10 million. The filing said:

“Ripple has every intent of adhering to that guidance in the future and every incentive to do so. The SEC’s Draconian remedial requests are ungrounded in law or principle. This Court should reject them in their entirety.”

The filing highlighted that the SEC asked the court to ask Ripple to pay $876 million in disgorgement, $198 million in pre-judgment interest and another $876 million in civil penalties. In total, the amount reached almost $2 billion.

Ripple revealed the requested fine amount almost a month ago. On March 25, Ripple Labs chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty revealed that the SEC asked a federal judge to impose such fines on the blockchain company. The lawyer said the SEC remains bent on punishing and intimidating Ripple and the crypto industry.

Within the new filing, Ripple described the fine as “unreasonable” and said that $10 million is the actual amount that reflects a portion of their actual revenues. Ripple redacted the actual percentage shared in the document.

Related: Pro-XRP lawyer requests to be amicus curiae for Coinbase customers

The filing also highlighted that such an amount “would be proportionate in both percentage and dollar amount to comparable digital-asset cases where there was no culpable mental state and no substantial harm or risk of harm to others.”

Source: Stuart Alderoty

On X, Alderoty suggested that the SEC’s actions and ask for the fine are proof of its “ongoing intimidation against all of crypto” in the United States. The Ripple lawyer said the case had no allegations or findings of recklessness or fraud.

In addition, the legal officer believes that Ripple won on “significant” issues and hoped that the judge would fairly approach the final remedies phase of the case.

Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Some of the European Union's largest banks are looking to enter the crypto industry as a result of clarity offered by the bloc’s adoption of the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations.

This is according to Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, the deputy CEO of Bitpanda, who told Cointelegraph:

“European banks are moving into crypto as an asset class and tokenization technology, because MiCA, the upcoming regulatory framework for Europe is suddenly bringing full clarity for banks.”

In May 2023, the European Council adopted the first comprehensive legal framework for the crypto industry. The MiCA framework aims to protect investors through more rigorous transparency standards and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules.

Thanks to gaining regulatory clarity for the first time, European banks are more confident in developing crypto services but lack the technical knowledge and infrastructure, which is why they are tapping crypto services providers such as Bitpanda.  According to Enzersdorfer-Konrad:

“Suddenly [banks] are realizing that they do not have the technical expertise, the knowledge internally because they didn't have time and investment to build it up, but suddenly they want something to go to market with.”

Raiffeisen, the largest community banking group in Austria, has partnered with Bitpanda to offer digital asset services to retail banking customers, while other major banks are looking to develop corporate crypto services.

Beyond the MiCA bill, the approval of the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States has also acted as a strong catalyst for institutional interest, which is reflected across the biggest European banks, said Enzersdorfer-Konrad.

“Across all Europe, all sizes of banks, from tier one to tier three, are clearly looking for [crypto service] providers and use cases about how to start.”

Last week, Germany’s largest federal bank, the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW), announced it will offer crypto custody services to institutional clients starting in the second half the year. The bank is leveraging Bitpanda’s infrastructure to provide custodial service.

Some of Germany’s largest corporations, which are LBBW’s clients, were already been holding crypto assets before the bank started exploring custodial solutions, according to Bitpanda’s deputy CEO.

“In discussions with the relationship managers, [LBBW] realized that their corporate customers already partially hold crypto and Bitcoin on their balance sheet.”

Due to increasing corporate interest, banks like LBBW are pivoting towards offering crypto custody solutions, given that the public has already trusted financial institutions to hold their fiat money and precious metals, explained Enzersdorfer-Konrad.

Cointelegraph Interview with Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad. Source: Cointelegraph

Related: EigenLayer on the brink of potential yield crisis

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered both Google and Apple to remove the Binance app from their respective app stores for users in the Philippines. 

According to a press release from the SEC on April 23, it is working with the Big Tech companies on the removal of “applications operated by cryptocurrency giant Binance.” It said the companies received separate letters on April 19 regarding removing the apps in the local marketplaces.

“The SEC has identified [Binance] and concluded that the public’s continued access to these websites/apps poses a threat to the security of the funds of investing Filipinos.”

Emilio B. Aquino, chair of the SEC, said that selling or offering unregistered securities to locals and operating as an “unregistered broker” is in violation of the country’s securities regulations. 

He said that by removing Binance applications from digital app marketplaces, these companies would help “prevent the further proliferation of its illegal activities in the country,” saying that otherwise, this could have “detrimental” effects on the local economy.

This move comes shortly after the SEC and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) blocked access to Binance websites on March 25.

Related: Binance’s $1B emergency ‘SAFU’ fund now makes up 3% of UDSC supply

The SEC has been actively warning the public against using Binance for investing since November 2023. It says the crypto exchange, which is one of the world’s largest, has yet to secure a license to solicit investments from the public nor to operate an exchange to buy and sell securities.

On April 8, following the enforcement of its official ban on Binance, an SEC official reiterated that they had already provided users with a three-month period, along with an extension, to facilitate the withdrawal of their funds from the exchange. After this period, the SEC said they “cannot endorse” any methods for retrieving funds.

The move to block Binance follows a crackdown from the SEC and the NTC on Feb. 21, through which they moved to block and ban unlicensed crypto trading platforms in the country. At that time Binance was unaffected.

Binance has been involved in other regulatory-related debacles around the world, most recently in a new class-action lawsuit in Canada on April 23, following allegations that it violated local securities laws.

However, on the flip side, the cryptocurrency exchange announced on April 18 that it would return to India after paying a $2 million fine for previous non-compliance with local regulations.

On the same day, it was reported that Binance received its crypto licence in Dubai, also known as the coveted Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP), after its co-founder Changpeng Zhao gave up his voting power in the exchange’s local entity.

Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

PayPal removes protections for NFT buyers and sellers

Multinational payment services firm PayPal is silently taking down protections for purchases related to nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

On May 20, amended policies will take effect, removing buyer and seller protection coverages for NFT purchases. In its upcoming policies page, PayPal said that it has revised its Purchase Protection Program to exclude NFTs from eligibility.

Excerpt from PayPal’s revisions on NFT protections. Source: PayPal 

Apart from this, the company also highlighted that it’s also changing its Seller Protection Program to exclude NFT transactions worth $10,000.01 or above.

This means that PayPal’s guarantee will no longer cover NFT sales over $10,000 against false claims, chargebacks, or scams that could lead to monetary losses.

Adidas and Stepn release NFT sneakers

Move-to-earn game Stepn announced that it partnered with popular shoe retailer Adidas to release co-branded sneaker NFTs on the Solana network.

Stepn said in the announcement that the collaboration is “long-term” and aims to provide their community with a full experience through multiple activations.

Source: Stepn

According to Stepn, the collaboration aims to offer digital assets that promote healthier and more active lifestyles.

The sneakers will cost about 10,000 GMT tokens (the project's native coin), worth about $2,500, according to coin information website CoinGecko.

Related: Nifty News: LA’s Bored Ape lovers go hungry, Bitcoiners sell $500 Game Boy dupe and more

Louis Vuitton drops $8,400 phygital varsity jacket

Fashion brand Louis Vuitton announced the drop of a varsity jacket worth around $8,400, which will have both the physical garment and a corresponding digital collectible NFT.

The jacket is designed by the American record producer and singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams and is a part of the fashion brand’s ongoing Via NFT project.

Digital representation of the limited edition varsity jacket released by Louis Vuitton. Source: Louis Vuitton 

The jacket is made from suede buckskin and bears an embroidered logo of the brand. Users can purchase the jacket through a token-gated site and will receive its physical version later in November or December.

The jacket is the third product released by the fashion brand exclusively to its Via NFT holders. The first product was a bag worth about $9,000. This was followed by a $6,400 digital mini trunk that was also sold exclusively to token holders.

Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Dozens of crypto whale wallets with assets ranging from six to seven figures are stuck on multiple decentralized finance (DeFi) bridge contracts.

One of these whale wallets is linked to Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who has over $1 million worth of assets stuck for over seven months. While a few other wallets have assets unclaimed for over two years.

According to a report published by crypto analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, several notable whale addresses linked to prominent crypto individuals and entities have their funds stuck in these bridge contracts for as long as two years.

Source: Arkham

DeFi bridge contracts are software protocols that allow the movement of assets and data between different blockchain networks, enabling interoperability within the DeFi ecosystem.

However, not all DeFi bridges function the same; on the one hand, there are cross-chain bridges that enable users to automatically obtain their assets on the other chain.

On the other hand, traders using native bridges must retrieve their funds manually as there is no way for the smart contract to remind users to do so, which could result in situations where users forget their money.

Among the most notable names, a wallet linked to thomasg.eth has had $800,000 stuck in Arbitrum Bridge for one year and 10 months. Another wallet, linked to Bofur Capital, with 27 wrapped Bitcoin worth $1.8 million, has been stuck for two years and three months.

Similarly, another wallet linked to nonfungible token (NFT) user Mike Macdonald has about $117,000 in assets linked to CryptoPunks sales on a bridge contract.

Arkham suggested the account owner take a look, reminding them that if they “own the account that sent 5 CryptoPunks to, then you might also own the account that received the proceeds after they were sold.”

Another wallet that received 50 Ether (ETH) from Vitalik.eth seems to have been forgotten for seven months and holds nearly $1 million worth of ETH on the Optimism bridge.

Source: Arkham

One more wallet linked to Coinbase crypto exchange was also identified, containing $75,000 worth of assets that had been stuck for nearly six months.

Arkham suspected Coinbase tried bridging $75,000 worth of USDC to ETH and forgot about it. The assets are stuck in the Optimism bridge contract and waiting to be claimed.

Arkahm Research notified whales linked to these stuck and forgotten funds to retrieve them in case they have forgotten about them. They also reminded the community that these instances occur due to the nature of these native bridges.

Telegram's public support for The Open Network (TON) blockchain and its intention to incorporate its native Toncoin token have led to scammers targeting unsuspecting tokenholders to exploit them.

Information shared with Cointelegraph from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky outlines a cryptocurrency scam that has been attempting to steal Toncoins (TON) from Telegram users worldwide.

According to experts at Kaspersky, the scam has been operating since at least November 2023 as interest and investments in TON surged. Scammers have been promoting an elaborate referral scheme that ultimately aims to steal TON tokens from users.

Related: Telegram commits to TON blockchain, plans to support tokenized emojis and stickers NFTs

Potential targets receive a link from friends or contacts to participate in an “exclusive earning program.” The scammers then begin prompting victims to join an unofficial Telegram bot, purportedly designed to store cryptocurrency and to link their Web3 wallet to the bot’s system.

At the same time, the fraudsters instruct users to purchase Toncoins through legitimate channels like the official Telegram bot, peer-to-peer (P2P) markets, or cryptocurrency exchanges, which adds an element of credibility and a false sense of security.

The signup page for users to purchase boosters, which offering varying returns for TON deposits. Source: Kaspersky

Victims are then coerced into purchasing “boosters” using a separate bot. The scammers claim that users must complete this action to start earning.

This is the point at which scammers make their money. After purchasing a booster, the user irrevocably loses control of their cryptocurrency.

“The costs of “boosters” – labeled by the scammers as “bike,” “car,” “train,” “plane,” or “rocket” – vary from 5 to 500 Toncoins,” Kaspersky’s experts explain.

The scheme's booster tier with commissions offering returns typical of a pyramid scheme. Source: Kaspersky

Users lose anywhere between $2 and $2,700 through the targeted pyramid scheme. After convincing users to purchase fake boosters, the scammers also tout a referral program that requires victims to create private Telegram groups with friends and contacts.

Related: New Telegram mini-apps will be so convenient users won’t know it’s crypto

The scammers provide a referral link that comes with its own video instructions for users in both Russian and English. Users are required to have five successful referrals in order to start earning through the fraudulent scheme.

The scammers promise earnings from two sources, including a fixed payment of 25 TON for each invited friend and commission based on the booster tariff purchased by your referrals.

“It turns out to be a classic pyramid scheme, in which each participant is a partner rather than a freeloader. Sadly, nobody profits except the scammers, and all “partners” lose their investments,” Kaspersky’s analysts explain.

Cointelegraph has requested additional information from Kaspersky regarding the amount of users that have been affected and the total amount of funds that have been lost. This article will be update accordingly.

Magazine: Lazarus Group’s favorite exploit revealed — Crypto hacks analysis

Bitcoin (BTC) stuck near $66,000 on April 23 as waiting sellers kept BTC price action firmly in check.

BTC/USD 1-hour chart. Source: TradingView Liquidity keeps BTC price in tight range

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView revealed an ongoing new trading range in place since after the weekly close.

While overall higher than last week, BTC/USD offered little inspiration to bulls — an overnight rally to $67,200 failed to close a nearby CME Group Bitcoin futures gap.

This, combined with another gap lower at $64,400, form near-term BTC price targets, which have yet to be hit.

Analyzing the current status quo, popular trader Marco Johanning identified $66,700 as the “key level” for Bitcoin to flip to support going forward.

“Looking at the range, BTC reclaimed midrange and then sent from there,” he wrote in part of a post on X (formerly Twitter) on the day.

“However, it couldn't flip the next level at 66.7k so far. That's the key level for today.”

BTC/USD chart with CME futures gaps. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

Johanning saw two options based on the market’s treatment of the $66,700 mark: “a) Flip 66.7k -> head towards the old trendline and range high,” and “b) Get rejected at 66.7k -> fall back to midrange, potentially with a wick below to close the CME gap.”

“Both scenarios assume that the short-term trend will continue, and we will move towards the range high,” he added.

The post referenced the current liquidity landscape on exchange order books, which continued to show bids and asks tightly wound around spot price.

Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass confirmed on the day that $66,000 and $67,350 formed the biggest support and resistance levels, respectively.

BTC liquidity heatmap (screenshot). Source: CoinGlass Bollinger Bands reach February breakout zone

Anticipation of a larger BTC price move, meanwhile, lingered in the background.

Related: BTC trades at ‘deep discount’ after halving — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

For popular trader and analyst Matthew Hyland, changing Bollinger Bands conditions on 3-day timeframes indicated that a range breakout — either up or down — should come soon enough.

The width of the Bands, a classic volatility indicator, is currently the narrowest since mid-February, when BTC/USD last traded below $50,000.

At the time, Cointelegraph reported on the implications of Bollinger Bands behavior for BTC price action, with analysis seeing an upside “squeeze,” which ultimately became reality.

BTC/USD chart with Bollinger Bands, Bollinger Bands width data. Source: Matthew Hyland/X

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.