Read in the Digest:
- Hackers Steal $100 Million in Harmony’s Horizon Bridge Attack
- Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Prepares to Launch First Crypto Derivatives Product
- Cristiano Ronaldo Signs Multi-Year Deal with Binance to Promote NFTs
- Bankman-Fried Provides $250 Million Bail Out for Embattled Crypto Firm BlockFi
- Voyager Digital, Reduces Withdrawal Limit from $25,000 to $10,000
Hackers Steal $100 Million in Harmony’s Horizon Bridge Attack
The Harmony (ONE) cross-chain interoperability protocol, Horizon Bridge, has become the latest network bridge to be exploited, with the hackers stealing $100 million. Horizon bridge allowed users to transfer assets between Harmony, Ethereum, and BSC.
The attack, which took place over the span of 17 hours, saw the hacker steal several tokens, including wBTC, wETH, AAVE, FRAX, and several stablecoins. The hacker later converted all the funds to ETH.
On June 24, the Harmony Team announced that it had identified the Ethereum address where the hacker deposited all the stolen funds. At the time of writing, the address holds 85,867 ETH, worth an estimated $102.9 million.
Harmony says it is now working round the clock with the FBI and multiple cyber security firms to ensure the recovery of funds. Although the Bitcoin bridge was unaffected, Harmony notified exchanges and shut down its bridge to prevent further transactions.
Flipsider:
- On April 1, the independent researcher and blockchain dev, Ape Dev, warned that Harmony’s bridge was built around a multi-sig wallet with only four owners, making it easier to exploit.
Why You Should Care
The Horizon Bridge hack is the third major bridge exploit this year, intensifying the calls for greater security of bridge networks.
Coinbase Prepares to Launch First Crypto Derivatives Product
Coinbase, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced that its derivatives arm, Coinbase Derivatives Exchange, will be launching its first crypto derivatives product.
Coinbase Derivatives Exchange, formerly FairX, is a CFTC-regulated futures exchange. According to the official announcement, the Nano Bitcoin futures (BIT) will be made available to retail investors on June 27.
BIT will see Coinbase tap into the crypto derivatives market, representing a $3 trillion worldwide trade volume. Coinbase also revealed that each BIT futures contract will represent 1/100th of a Bitcoin.
Coinbase is awaiting regulatory approval on its futures commission merchant (FCM) license. Until its approval, Coinbase will offer BIT via intermediaries EdgeClear, Ironbeam, NinjaTrader, Optimus Futures, Stage 5, and Tradovate.
Flipsider:
- Coinbase recently announced the discontinuation of Coinbase Pro, resetting subscribers to an Advanced Trade option on the regular Coinbase.
Why You Should Care
Coinbase is launching its first crypto derivatives product with the hopes of attracting more retail traders to its platform.
Cristiano Ronaldo Signs Multi-Year Deal with Binance to Promote NFTs
Binance, the world’s leading crypto exchange, announced on June 23 that it signed an exclusive multi-year partnership with football superstar and six-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo to promote non-fungible tickets (NFTs).
The multi-year partnership between the Portuguese star and Binance will involve the creation of a series of NFT collections for sale on the Binance NFT platform. Binance announced that the first collection would be released before the end of 2022.
The collaboration will see Binance create multiple Ronaldo NFT collections each year. The Ronaldo NFT collections will be released exclusively on the Binance NFT marketplace as a part of the deal.
Confirming the deal, Ronaldo appeared in a promotional video saying, “together, we’ll give you the opportunity to own an iconic piece of sports history.”
Flipsider:
- Pointing to the rapid price drop of NTs, critics claim that Ronaldo has been misled, NFTs are a gamble, and the deal looks pretty shady.
Why You Should Care
NFTs continue to rapidly gain recognition globally, with eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) betting on them as the future of e-Commerce and digital art.
Bankman-Fried Provides $250 Million Bail Out for Embattled Crypto Firm BlockFi
With no central bank willing to come to the aid of BlockFi amidst financial woes, Bitcoin billionaire and founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to provide the crypto lender with a $250 million revolving credit facility.
Bankman-Fried says he takes his duty to protect digital assets and customers seriously. He adds that the fund provided to BlockFi would help the crypto lending platform “navigate the market from a position of strength.”
Bankman-Fried also assured users that BlockFi is financially strong and all operations are normal. Zac Prince, the CEO of BlockFi Zac Prince, is enthusiastic that the aid could help unlock future collaboration and innovation between the two firms.
Bankman-Fried’s quantitative trading firm, Alameda, has also provided a $500 million relief fund for the popular crypto brokerage service provider, Voyager Digital.
Flipsider:
- After its latest funding round, BlockFi was valued below $1 billion, despite hitting a $3 billion valuation in March last year.
Why You Should Care
The philanthropic Sam Bankman-Fried has become somewhat of a savior for crypto firms that have taken a massive hit from the market crash.
Voyager Digital, Reduces Withdrawal Limit from $25,000 to $10,000
Voyager Digital Ltd, a crypto broker firm, has announced it is cutting its daily withdrawal limit from $25,000 to $10,000. The reduction of its withdrawal limit comes after news of its involvement with the embattled Three Arrows Capital.
On Wednesday, Voyager announced that it lent the Singapore-based Three Arrows Capital (3AC) fund in the form of stablecoins and Bitcoin worth approximately $661 million.
The New York-based firm has requested Three Arrows Capital to make a repayment of $25 million USDC by June 24 and complete payment on June 27. However, Three Arrows Capital looks unable to repay the loan.
Voyager is also discussing legal solutions to recover its money from hedge funds. Faced with liquidity issues, Voyager Digital has now announced a 60% reduction of its daily withdrawal limit.
Flipsider:
- Voyager recently received a $200 million bailout fund from billionaire FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried as a line of credit.
Why You Should Care
The move to cut daily withdrawals by 60% aims to reduce the liquidity issues fueled by investors’ intense withdrawal of funds.
