Daily Report | In the first half of 2024, losses from hacking incidents in the cryptocurrency sector amounted to approximately $1.56 billion; more than half of the top 25 hedge funds in the U.S. hold exposure to Bitcoin ETFs; Obama is privately lobbying to replace Biden, stating that Biden cannot defeat Trump
July 3 News OverviewOrganizer: Luan Peng ChainCatcher
Important News:
- Paddle: Approximately $1.56 billion lost in hacking incidents in the crypto sector in the first half of 2024
- Paraguay raises electricity prices for cryptocurrency mining businesses by 14%
- Polymarket: The probability of Vice President Harris becoming the 2024 Democratic candidate skyrockets to 35%
- Matrixport: Given several potential stimulus factors, the crypto market may experience a explosive rebound
- Manta co-founder: Hopes Polkadot clarifies whether it discriminates against Asian, especially Chinese developers
- Famous journalist: Obama is privately lobbying to replace Biden, claiming Biden cannot defeat Trump
- U.S. court orders crypto hedge fund Jafia and its head to pay $84 million in CFTC lawsuit
- ZachXBT: The Bittensor on-chain wallet attack incident originated from stolen private keys
"What important events happened in the past 24 hours"
According to data from PeckShield, there were over 200 major hacking incidents in the crypto sector in the first half of 2024, resulting in losses of approximately $1.56 billion, with $319 million recovered. Compared to the same period in 2023, losses increased by 293% (when losses were $480 million). DeFi protocols remain the primary target, accounting for 59% of the total value stolen.
In the first half of 2024, more than 20 public chains experienced major hacking attacks, with Ethereum, Bitcoin, and XRP being the top three cryptocurrencies by loss amount. Ethereum and BNB Chain tied for the highest number of attacks, each accounting for 31.3% of the total, followed by Arbitrum at 12.5%.
Paraguay raises electricity prices for cryptocurrency mining businesses by 14%
According to Bitcoin.com, Paraguay's National Electricity Administration (ANDE) announced an increase in electricity prices for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining businesses in the country, raising the prices for crypto asset mining, blockchain, tokens, and data centers by 14%, which may affect the feasibility of maintaining these activities in the country.
Due to the lack of clarity in this sector, this price increase has already led a company planning to invest over $400 million in the country to withdraw.
Data from decentralized prediction market platform Polymarket shows that in the predictions for "2024 Democratic Candidate", besides Biden (50%), current Vice President Kamala Harris has a winning probability of 35%, Michelle Obama's probability is 7%, and Newsom's probability is 5%, with the contract expiration date set for August 21, 2024.
Matrixport posted on X platform stating: "As the total market capitalization fell from $2.7 trillion to $2.3 trillion, daily trading volume in cryptocurrencies also dropped from $180 billion to $50 billion. There is a saying in traditional finance, 'Don't short a dull market,' because even a slight momentum can push prices up. This may also apply to the crypto market, as during the summer lull, given several potential stimulus factors (such as the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts, the U.S. presidential election, etc.), the market may experience a explosive rebound."
Manta Network co-founder Victor Ji posted on X platform expressing hope that core members of the Polkadot team could publicly state whether there is unfair or even discriminatory behavior against Asian developers, particularly Chinese developers. He pointed out that several projects in the Polkadot China community, such as Bifrost, Phala Network, DIN (formerly Web3Go), and MXC Foundation, have also expressed dissatisfaction with Polkadot's discrimination and false democracy.
Additionally, Kaito AI data indicates that although Bifrost's on-chain activity is significantly higher than that of KILT Protocol, the official X account mentions Kilt far more frequently than Bifrost.
Victor Ji emphasized that Manta Network also faced unfair treatment when applying for funding incentives. He called on the Polkadot team to publicly respond and address these issues to eliminate toxic voices and discriminatory environments in the Web3 space.
Previously reported, Manta Network co-founder Victorji.eth publicly criticized the Polkadot ecosystem on Twitter, calling it a "highly toxic" ecosystem that lacks true value for Web3 and does not focus on users or adoption rates.
Famous journalist: Obama is privately lobbying to replace Biden, claiming Biden cannot defeat Trump
According to Jinshi News, renowned American conservative political journalist, writer, and commentator Tucker Carlson stated that despite publicly supporting Biden, Obama is privately lobbying to replace him, telling insiders that Biden cannot defeat Trump. Carlson described this as the situation described by "exceptionally reliable sources."
In last Friday's debate, Biden completely embarrassed himself, causing panic among Democratic leaders and prompting The New York Times to insist that he should withdraw from the race. Despite strong opposition, Obama still supported Biden on social media, claiming that "bad debate nights happen," and people should continue to support him.
Carlson stated on social media: "From an exceptionally reliable source, Obama's tweet supporting Biden is not sincere. Privately, Obama is telling people that Biden cannot win, so he supports an open nomination convention." He added, "Obama did not disclose who he supports, and at least until yesterday afternoon, he had not personally met with Biden to convey this message."
U.S. court orders crypto hedge fund Jafia and its head to pay $84 million in CFTC lawsuit
According to Bloomberg Law News, a federal court in Illinois has ordered the cryptocurrency hedge fund Jafia LLC and its head Sam Ikkurty to pay $84 million to settle fraud charges brought by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Judge Mary Rowland stated that Sam Ikkurty made various false statements regarding the cryptocurrency hedge fund operated by his company Jafia, including statements about his experience in cryptocurrency trading. Sam Ikkurty also used funds from other investors to pay inflated buyback amounts to fund investors, constituting a "typical Ponzi scheme."
ZachXBT: The Bittensor on-chain wallet attack incident originated from stolen private keys
Regarding the Bittensor on-chain wallet attack incident, on-chain detective ZachXBT monitored and found that 32,000 TAO (worth $8 million) were stolen from an address starting with 5FbWTr.
ZachXBT stated that the attack incident faced by Bittensor originated from stolen private keys.
The ETF Store President: Ethereum spot ETF may launch in the week of July 15
The ETF Store President Nate Geraci posted on social media stating that BBG insists that the Ethereum spot ETF will be issued in mid-July. The revised S-1 will expire on July 8 and may submit the final version of the S-1 before July 12. This theoretically means that the relevant ETF will launch in the week of July 15.
More than half of the top 25 hedge funds in the U.S. hold Bitcoin ETF exposure
According to Cointelegraph, data from investment firm River shows that as of the end of the first quarter of 2024, 13 of the largest 25 hedge funds in the U.S. have Bitcoin ETF exposure.
Among them, Millennium Management holds 27,263 Bitcoins, worth $1.69 billion, accounting for about 2.5% of its total assets under management (valued at $67.7 billion). Other hedge funds with significant Bitcoin holdings include Schonfeld Strategic Advisors (holding 6,734 Bitcoins) and Point72 Asset Management (holding 1,089 Bitcoins).
On the other hand, some top hedge funds, such as Bridgewater Associates, AQR Capital Management, and Balyasny Asset Management, have not yet invested in Bitcoin ETFs.
"What are the exciting articles worth reading in the past 24 hours"
As a leader in the crypto industry, Vitalik Buterin has always been active at the forefront of the industry. Besides being well-known as the founder of Ethereum, Vitalik has also personally invested in several new crypto projects. On June 28, the layer 2 project MegaETH, aimed at creating ultra-high-performance real-time EVM, announced it had raised $20 million, with Vitalik appearing on the list as an investor. PANews reviews the crypto projects that Vitalik has invested in to see how he has performed as an investor.
According to publicly available information, Vitalik has currently invested in 7 crypto projects. Among them are well-known projects like StarkNet and Polymarket, as well as poorly performing ones like Nocturne, which announced its shutdown in June this year.
Altcoins are in a downward spiral, it's time to refocus on DeFi
This article represents the author's interim thoughts as of publication, which may change in the future, and the views expressed are highly subjective and may contain errors in facts, data, or reasoning logic. Criticism and further discussion from peers and readers are welcome.
Who received the $40 million promotion fee from Polkadot?
On June 29, Polkadot community members released the operational report of the Polkadot treasury for the first half of 2024, revealing that the treasury spent a total of $87 million. If calculated based on the current spending rate, these reserves will only last the Polkadot treasury for another 2 years.
What surprised the community is that Polkadot spent $37 million just on promotion expenses, accounting for a large portion of the treasury's expenditures. Among them, advertising expenses amounted to $21 million, including sponsorship fees of $10 million, marketing and public relations companies $4.9 million, and digital advertising $4 million. Event expenses totaled $7.9 million, including event expenditures of $4.5 million, business development $3.9 million, and media production $3.2 million.
At the recent release conference of the "2024 Shanghai Web3.0 Innovation Ecosystem Construction Research Report" (hereinafter referred to as "the Report"), representatives from government agencies, universities, and related industries unanimously agreed that the development of Web3.0 is crucial for the information technology industry. The Report, guided by the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, was jointly released by the Liberation Daily and Fudan University School of Economics, marking Shanghai's first industry report focused on Web3.0.
The era of parallel execution has arrived, an overview of the MEV landscape on Monad
This article explores the possibility of building a robust miner extractable value auction infrastructure (MEVA) on Monad.
