It’s been a very interesting week[in]Crypto has compiled the most important stories in the crypto world for your digest. These stories include Nomad’s $200 million hack, Indian authorities’ investigation of WazirX, Michael Saylor’s resignation as CEO, $140 billion re-entry of stablecoins, and U.S. Senate proposal to make CFTC cryptocurrency the primary regulator .
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Hard-hit crypto projects try to reach a compromise
Nomad, a crypto bridge, suffered a severe attack that resulted in nearly $200 million in losses. The attack shook the cryptocurrency world as hackers impersonated Nomad employees along the way to steal more funds.
Developer platform Github falls victim to malware affecting up to 33,000 people Github repositoryThis move could have dire consequences for developers who clone open source code, as sensitive data such as API keys, encryption keys, and Amazon AWS credentials will be at their fingertips.
To control exploit incidents, projects have started offering bounties to bad actors to turn them into white hat hackers. Solana wallet provider Slope, which suffered a major security breach, has announced that hackers will receive 10% of the stolen funds and will not face any legal action if they return the funds.
White hat hackers managed to recover $9 million of the $200 million stolen, and security firm PeckShield noted that they are working to recover more. Nomad’s team claims they are working with law enforcement agencies and top blockchain security firms.
Regulators step up bets on digital assets
This week saw significant regulatory activity targeting operators in the cryptocurrency space. The New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) fined Robinhood $30 million for failing to meet anti-money laundering rules for its virtual currency business.
In India, WazirX is under investigation by the country’s finance ministry over money laundering allegations. As a result, some of the exchange’s funds were frozen due to ties to a Chinese lending app operating in India.
The SEC has charged Forsage and 11 others with a crypto Ponzi scheme that cost investors more than $300 million. The move is the result of a joint effort by Philippine and Canadian regulators as some defendants pleaded guilty to major charges.
This week, Sen. Cynthia Lummis was fired in its entirety after she claimed that all exchanges operating in the United States were under investigation by the SEC. The SEC has tightened its grip on the nascent industry by handing out hefty fines and taking projects to court.
Cheers to a new beginning
Hashed, an early investor in LUNA, is making a comeback on the scene after losing billions of dollars in Terra’s collapse. The project’s founder, Simon Seojoon Kim, noted that the company will focus on blockchain gaming and is raising a multi-million dollar fund.
PwC’s top cryptocurrency boss Henri Arslanian is also looking for a fresh start after stepping down from the firm to set up a new digital asset fund. Arslanian chose Dubai as the base for the new fund due to its positive attitude towards digital currencies and tightening regulations in countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Michael Saylor has announced that he is stepping down as CEO of MicroStrategy to take on the role of executive chairman. The decision comes after MicroStrategy recorded a $1 billion loss in its bitcoin business and Saylor’s need to focus on “promoting bitcoin.”
A wave of positivity
In addition to reports of hacking in the crypto world, some positive reports were recorded this week. As the cryptocurrency winter shows signs of thawing, on-chain experts point out that $140 billion worth of stablecoins could be re-entering the market. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao commented: “If people want to get rid of cryptocurrencies, most people won’t hold stablecoins.”
Instagram made waves within a week after announcing that its non-fungible token (NFT) feature would be available in 100 countries after being limited to North America and Europe. The team also disclosed integrations with Coinbase Wallet, Dapper Wallet, and the Flow blockchain, sending the industry into a frenzy.
Despite widespread reports of the delay, Tether has given hope to the Ethereum community by saying it will support ETH 2.0. Seeds of suspicion were stirred on the grounds that stablecoin issuers would retain their support amid claims that the ethereum network could fork after the merger and that stablecoins could face a slew of lawsuits if all goes wrong.
Lawmakers around the world are aligned with cryptocurrencies
U.S. senators are considering a new bill that would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) control over the crypto market. The proposed law would revise the definition of goods to include “digital goods” and bring virtual currencies such as bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) under the Commission’s control.
The impact of the bill will create new categories in the industry, such as digital commodity brokers and digital commodity custodians, which require commodity registration before they are allowed to operate.
The Bank of Thailand said it will begin experimenting with a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in retail later this year. Thailand’s top bank said the CBDC experiment will focus on two core areas – security and innovative use-case scenarios for the digital baht.
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