Bitcoin
Ethereum, Bitcoin, XRP Lead $1.5 Billion in Crypto Scam Losses
The first half of 2024 has seen an increase in major attacks in the cryptocurrency sector. Ethereum (ETH)Bitcoin (BTC) and XRP led the way in crypto scam losses totaling over $1.5 billion. This year, over 200 significant incidents have resulted in approximately $1.56 billion in losses.
Cryptocurrency scam losses reach $1.5 billion
According to data from Peck Shield Alert, only $319 million in lost crypto funds have been recovered. Furthermore, this year’s losses represent a staggering 293% increase compared to the same period in 2023, where losses totaled $480 million.
Cryptocurrency Scams Overview in 2024, Source: PeckShieldAlert | X
Furthermore, DeFi protocols have been the main targets of hackers. They account for 59% of the total value stolen. Over 20 public chains have suffered major hacks during this period. Furthermore, Ethereum, Bitcoin, and XRP topped the list of amounts lost through cryptocurrency hacks.
Furthermore, Ethereum and BNB Chain were the most frequent targets, each accounting for 31.3% of the total hacks. Meanwhile, Arbitrum followed with 12.5% of the attacks. One of the most significant incidents occurred on June 3, 2024.
DMM BitcoinA major Japanese cryptocurrency exchange has reported a substantial breach. Attackers stole 4,502.9 BTC, worth over $300 million at the time. This incident highlighted vulnerabilities within exchanges, especially those that handle large volumes of digital assets.
Read too: XRP News: Whale Moves 63 Million Coins as Ripple Strengthens Case
Major XRP, ETH and BTC hacks
A week after the Bitcoin DMM attack on June 10, UwU lendsa decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, was compromised. The breach resulted in the loss of approximately $19.3 million in digital assets. The hack highlights the ongoing risks associated with DeFi platforms, which typically operate with less regulatory oversight. The platform then offered a $5 million bounty to capture the hacker.
Earlier this year, on February 3, 2024, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen confirmed a major security breach involving his personal wallets. Initially, there were rumors that Ripple itself was targeted. However, Larsen clarified that the hack involved his digital wallets and not Ripple’s corporate assets.
The hackers managed to transfer a whopping 213 million XRP tokens, valued at approximately $112.5 million. Furthermore, on-chain detective ZachXBT first alerted the community about the suspicious transactions. In response to the theft, Larsen and several cryptocurrency exchanges took swift action to mitigate the impact.
Several exchanges, including MEXC, Gate, Binance, Kraken, OKX, HTX, and HitBTC, collaborated to freeze a significant portion of the stolen funds. Binance alone froze $4.2 million worth of XRP to aid the investigation.
Additionally, on April 2, 2024, FixedFloat, a Bitcoin Lightning-based exchange, suffered a security breach. Unauthorized transactions led to financial losses exceeding $3 million. This incident highlighted ongoing security issues for FixedFloat, following a similar breach earlier in the year.
The company has also faced significant challenges in securing its platform against repeated attacks. In February, hackers stole $26 million worth of Ethereum and Bitcoin from FixedFloat. These digital assets were then dumped on exchanges to realize profits.
Read too: Ethereum Leads Bitcoin by 2x in Network Fee Revenue Thanks to Layer 2
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Kritika boasts over 2 years of experience in the financial news industry. Currently working as a crypto journalist at Coingape, she has consistently demonstrated a flair for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. Kritika combines insightful analysis with a deep understanding of market trends. With a keen interest in technical analysis, she brings a distinct perspective to her reporting, exploring the intersection of finance, technology, and emerging trends in the crypto space.
The content presented may include the author’s personal opinion and is subject to market conditions. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication is not responsible for your personal financial loss.
Bitcoin
RIOT, MARA and CLSK shares at risk
Bitcoin (BTC) Mining stocks like Riot Platforms (RIOT), Marathon Digital (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK) retreated in pre-market trading as BTC retreated.
RIOT, MARA and CLSK all fell more than 2%, while other crypto-related stocks such as MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Coinbase (COIN) fell 1.5%.
Bitcoin sell-off continues
Crypto-linked stocks retreated as Bitcoin resumed its downtrend on Wednesday. After rising to $63,750 on Monday, BTC is hovering at $60,0000 and it is unclear whether it will recover.
More importantly, Bitcoin is dangerously close to the crucial support at $58,273, which is the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA). The next support level for Bitcoin is $56,426, representing its lowest level in May.
Bitcoin Price Chart
If Bitcoin drops below this price, it will be a sign that the bears have prevailed, which could take it to the $50,000 level, if not below.
This decline happened after a whale deposited nearly 2,000 Bitcoins to Binance in two separate transactions. While this isn’t always the case, deposits to exchanges often happen when holders are exiting their positions.
The whales’ action coincided with a period in which the German government continues to sell off its Bitcoin holdings. It transferred $52 million worth of coins to exchanges on Tuesday.
As a result, data from CoinGlass shows that the volume of Bitcoin balances on exchanges has started to increase. The volume rose to 2.49 million on Tuesday, from last month’s low of 2.47 million.
Bitcoin balances on exchanges
Bitcoin Mining Companies at Risk
If the Bitcoin sell-off continues, it will put Bitcoin mining companies like Marathon, CleanSpark, and Riot Platforms at risk. These companies have tended to have a close correlation with Bitcoin in the past.
This drop is happening a few months after the halving event, reducing the amount of Bitcoins that miners receive.
To compensate for this drop, most of these companies have added their mining equipment. CleanSpark has reached a hash rate of 20 EH/swhich helped her mine 445 coins in June after mining 417 coins the previous month. She did this after purchasing 5 mining sites in Georgia.
Digital Marathon mined 590 coins in June, down 40% from the same month in 2023 and flat from May.
Riot Platforms, on the other hand, focused on acquiring Bitfarms, a company that mined 189 coins in June.
Bitcoin
Michael Saylor Issues Statement on Bitcoin Amid Crypto Market Sell-Off by U.Today
U.Today – Amid an ongoing sell-off in the cryptocurrency market, Michael Saylor, a prominent advocate and president of MicroStrategy, made a statement on X (Twitter) that reverberated across the crypto space: “Just Bitcoin.”
This two-word tweet comes as the cryptocurrency market faces significant sell-offs as the price of Bitcoin plummets.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, began its decline in Tuesday’s trading session, hitting $63,223 at one point before falling further.
Losses deepened on Wednesday as investors considered remarks from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, with Bitcoin hitting intraday lows of $59,509. At the time of writing, BTC is down 2.85% over the past 24 hours to $60,274.
According to data from CoinGlass, the sell-off has resulted in a significant amount of cryptocurrencies being liquidated in the past 24 hours, totaling over $166 million. However, this has not deterred Saylor’s confidence in Bitcoin, as he reiterates his longing for the crypto asset in his tweet.
Cryptocurrency market crashes
Cryptocurrencies fell on Tuesday after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank needs to see more progress on inflation before cutting interest rates, which are now at 5.25%-5.50%. Powell revealed at a monetary symposium in Sintra, Portugal, that the United States is moving closer to a disinflationary path.
“We want to be more confident that inflation is moving sustainably downward toward 2% before we begin the process of tapering or easing policy,” Powell said.
Market losses deepened after Wednesday’s economic releases that indicated the labor market is cooling. Recent data showed weaker-than-expected private payroll growth in June, but weekly jobless claims were higher than economists had forecast. The latest figures come ahead of the highly anticipated June nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.
As the cryptocurrency market goes through a period of uncertainty, the coming days and weeks will be crucial in determining the direction of BTC’s price.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin and Ethereum in GTA 6? Still rumors — for now
Rumors that the long-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 will use cryptocurrency that has been circulating for more than a year now—and they’re spinning again.
On Wednesday, a pseudonymous Crypto Twitter influencer named Gordon — apparently named after Gordon Gekko from the iconic 1987 film “Wall Street” —shared to his nearly 500,000 followers that “GTA 6 will allow cryptocurrency payments” and that “so far only Bitcoin, EthereumIt is USDT [are] confirmed.”
But in reality, no cryptocurrency has been confirmed for Grand Theft Auto 6, despite ongoing chatter about the rumors. Rockstar Games and parent company Take-Two have made no such announcements this week on the subject, nor have they made any prior announcements, and official trailers and announcements have made no mention of cryptocurrency being included.
However, the tweet — which also included a fake trailer for the game — quickly went viral, with over 500,000 views as of this writing in a matter of hours. When Twitter users asked Gordon for his sources, he would jokingly respond that his “uncle works there” or say that previous reports on the matter were “old” at this point.
But really, nothing has changed since then. DecipherGG’s reported in previous rumors in May 2023, not even since the first official trailer — which initially leaked with “BUY BTC” stamped on itApparently by the leaker in question—premiered last December.
DecipherGG reached out to Rockstar Games for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Could Grand Theft Auto 6 implement a crypto element when it releases in 2025? It’s certainly possible, and if so, it would be a transformative moment for cryptocurrency adoption by the traditional gaming industry.
Take-Two Interactive has explored the space before, acquiring casual gaming giant Zynga in early 2022, when Take-Two founder and CEO Strauss Zelnick suggested there were “Web3 opportunities” that they could explore better as a team. Zynga has launched its first blockchain game on Ethereum, called Sugartownbut Take-Two has yet to get involved with other brands.
Rockstar Games, on the other hand, prohibited the use of cryptocurrency or NFTs on player-run Grand Theft Auto 5 servers in late 2022, following a rise in the use of NFTs to represent unique player-owned assets on modded game servers.
And given Grand Theft Auto’s satirical tone, the game may be more likely to criticize cryptocurrency and poke fun at caricatures of crypto fans and NFTs, for example, rather than trying to launch its own on-chain currency. But that’s all speculation at this point, as there are relatively few official details about GTA 6.
For now, at least, don’t believe the hype. While Rockstar Games hasn’t officially closed the door on cryptocurrency usage in Grand Theft Auto 6, it hasn’t confirmed anything about it either. However, it’s sure to remain a hot topic in the long run leading up to release, which is currently scheduled for fall 2025.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
Bitcoin
Crypto President Trump’s ‘Lesser’ Regulation Will Bless Coinbase’s Bitcoin Leverage, Expert Says – Coinbase Glb (NASDAQ:COIN)
Chris SenyekChief Investment Strategist at Wolfe Researchrecently expressed his opinion on the potential impact of a Donald Trump win the 2024 elections in the cryptocurrency market.
What happened: Senyek suggested that a Trump presidency could ease cryptocurrency regulations, benefiting companies like Coinbase Global Inc. COIN due to its importance Bitcoin BTC/USD Leverage.
“Trump would be less harsh on crypto regulation, and Coinbase would be a big beneficiary of that given its influence on bitcoin,” Senyek said during CNBC’s “Last Call” on Tuesday.
See too: Enhance Your Retirement Portfolio: The Benefits of Adding Cryptocurrency
Why does this matter?:Senyek’s comments come in the context of the former president Donald Trump‘s reported plans to participate at the Bitcoin 2024 convention, which could reinforce his image as a “Crypto President”.
Trump’s potential participation in the Bitcoin 2024 convention, a major event on the cryptocurrency calendar, could have significant implications for the industry.
Pratik KalaHead of Research in DigitalX Limitedhe has predicted a Trump victory in the upcoming elections, but warns that immediate cryptocurrency-friendly regulations may not be a priority.
A recent report by 10x Search explore the recent rise in Bitcoin price and its potential connection to Trump’s strong position in the 2024 election race. The report, titled “Is the Bitcoin Trump Pump Sustainable?”, highlights a 4% spike in Bitcoin’s price following the news that the president Joe Biden will remain in the race despite a poor performance in the presidential debate.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading 2.10% lower at $60,860.66, according to Benzinga Pro.
Read next:
Image created using photos from Shutterstock
This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Pooja Rajkumari
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© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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