Crypto Digest: Weekly Digest of the Biggest Crypto News (September 21 to September 27)
Kucoin confirmed on September 25 (UTC time) that Bitcoin, ERC-20 and other tokens in its hot wallets were transferred out of the exchange.
It was initially reported that about USD 150 million worth of tokens had been moved to a different address. The address received transactions of 11,484 Ether, worth roughly $4 million, plus $146 million in transactions of other tokens.
Many are little-known, such as Gladius, Chroma, Ocean Token, and Hawala, but there were also Maker, OMG, and YFI tokens in the mix.
KuCoin Hack Closer to USD 200 Million
As Kucoin posted more suspicious addresses, it is clear that the damage is worse than initially thought.
The damage so far is closer to $200 million. Here is the breakdown
- USD 153 million of ETH and ERC-20 tokens.
- 1,008 Bitcoin (USD 10.8 million).
- 26,733 LTC (USD 1.2 million).
- 18,495,798 XRP (USD 4.5 million).
- 14,713 BSV (USD 2.2 million)
- 9,588,383 XLM (USD 705,522).
- 228,952,838.064073 in TRX based tokens (USD 6.3 million).
- USD 14 million worth of Tether (USDT) on the EOS and Omni blockchain.
KuCoin’s CEO Johnny Liu said that the stolen amounts, forms just a “small part of the company’s total asset holdings”. Further, he expressed that affected customers will be reimbursed of any losses from the company’s insurance fund.
Bitcoin Should Be Worth Far More According to Bloomberg
Bloomberg analyst Mike McGlone believes that Bitcoin should be looking at a USD 15,000 price at present rather than the $10,300 USD it is holding at the moment.
According to a newsletter published by the media agency, the company says that on-chain indicators, such as the healthy growth in hashrate and active addresses suggest that Bitcoin’s price should be performing at a much higher price.
Even during recent drops in the value of Bitcoin, McGlone believes that the future of the token is hopeful in both trading and investment purposes.
Ethereum Transaction Fees Fall To Lowest In 49 Days As DeFi Craze Subsides
The average cost of processing an Ethereum transaction has fallen to a 49-day lull, marking an end to a spell of super-high transaction costs that made the network prohibitively expensive to use.
Yesterday, Ethereum’s average transaction fee was $2.248, according to data from BitInfoCharts. It touched USD 2.28-four cents higher-on August 23, but hasn’t slipped below USD 2.248 since August 9, when the cost of the average Ethereum transaction was USD 1.94.
Fees increase when there is more demand to process transactions than there are miners or blockchain space to process them. It is a benchmark of increased activity. That they have declined suggests a decrease in activity.
VeChain Joins Leading Health and Safety Alliance in China, Will Be Sole Blockchain Provider
VeChain announced plans to use its blockchain-as-a-service platform to enhance technical capacities of China Animal Health and Food Safety Alliance (CAFA) and build a farm-to-table traceability system.
According to VeChain, the company is positioning itself to be at the forefront of widespread adoption of blockchain technology by being the engine that drives the traceability platforms used by consortiums and alliances like CAFA.
CAFA has over 130 bonafide members which include big companies in the food industry such as supermarkets, e-commerce companies, and food and beverage firms.
Rumors on Ripple Acquisitions Growing Among XRP Investors After Remarks From CEO Brad Garlinghouse
A statement dropped by Ripple CEO Bradley Garlinghouse in a recent episode of Ripple Drop is fueling speculation among XRP investors that the payment startup is on the cusp of announcing more acquisitions.
According to Garlinghouse, Ripple is looking to strategically grow its business amid the current economic climate following a big fundraise that saw the San Francisco-based firm getting $200 million in Series C funding.
Last year, Ripple acquired crypto trading firm Algrim and the decentralized finance payments startup Logos. It also invested USD 50 million in MoneyGram and now has nearly 10 percent stake in the remittance firm.
World Economic Forum Names XRP As Most Relevant in Central Bank Digital Currency Space
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is looking at Ripple’s native currency, XRP, as the most relevant cryptocurrency in the emerging central bank digital currency (CBDC) space.
Although the WEF is drawing a clear line between the cryptovurrencies and CBDCs, it names XRP as the most relevant cryptocurrency in the wholesale CBDC space for intra or inter-bank payments and settlements.
In a recent blog post, Ripple notes that central banks around the world are locked in an arms race to develop their own CBDCs. The payments startup also explains how central banks can leverage XRP to facilitate and support the use of CBDCs.
Sources:
- Cryptocurrency Exchange KuCoin Hacked, $150 Million Moved, https://decrypt.co/43015/cryptocurrency-exchange-kucoin-likely-hacked-reports
- KuCoin Hack Closer to $200 Million as Team Releases More “Suspicious Addresses”, https://decrypt.co/43036/kucoin-hack-closer-to-200-million-as-team-releases-more-suspicious-addresses
- Bitcoin Should Be Worth Far More According to Bloomberg, https://www.coininsider.com/bitcoin-undervalued-apparently-it-is-according-to-bloomberg
- Ethereum Transaction Fees Fall To Lowest In 49 Days As DeFi Craze Subsides, https://decrypt.co/43055/ethereum-transaction-fees-fall-to-lowest-in-49-days-as-defi-craze-subsides
- VeChain Joins Leading Health and Safety Alliance in China, Will Be Sole Blockchain Provider, https://dailyhodl.com/2020/09/21/vechain-joins-leading-health-and-safety-alliance-in-china-will-be-sole-blockchain-provider
- Rumors on Ripple Acquisitions Growing Among XRP Investors After Remarks From CEO Brad Garlinghouse, https://dailyhodl.com/2020/09/26/rumors-on-ripple-acquisitions-growing-among-xrp-investors-after-remarks-from-ceo-brad-garlinghouse/
- World Economic Forum Names XRP As Crypto Asset Most Relevant in Central Bank Digital Currency Space, https://dailyhodl.com/2020/09/27/world-economic-forum-names-xrp-as-crypto-asset-most-relevant-in-central-bank-digital-currency-space
Originally published at https://www.publish0x.com.
