Ethereum developers have migrated the Ropsten testnet to the Proof-of-Stake consensus, Bloomberg reported an SEC investigation into the BNB token, PayPal added the option to withdraw cryptocurrencies to external wallets, and other events of the past week.
Bitcoin price slips below $30,000
Bitcoin began the week trading above $31,000, but amid news of the investigation into the BNB token and rising US inflation, could not hold this level.
On Sunday, 12 June, Bitcoin tested a range below $27,000 (on the Binance exchange). At the time of writing the asset was trading near $27,900.
By the end of the week, all assets in the top-10 by market capitalization were in the red. The worst performers were Ethereum (-15.8%), Polkadot (-14.8%) and Solana (-12.8%).
According to CoinCodex, for the week among mid-cap digital assets the wallet token Mrweb Finance recorded the largest gain. The AMA price rose by 68.64%.
The DeFi platform Celsius Network’s token, CEL, declined the most. The CEL price fell by 38.51%.
Total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $1.18 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance index rose to 45.4%.
Ethereum team carried out a successful migration of the Ropsten testnet to PoS
Ethereum developers carried out a successful transition of the Ropsten testnet from the Proof-of-Work (PoW) to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Following Ropsten, the test networks Goerli and Sepoila will be migrated to PoS. This will take several weeks.
The so‑called “Merge” is the grand rehearsal for the forthcoming mainnet upgrade, slated for autumn.
Reuters reported that criminals laundered $2.35 billion through Binance, and Bloomberg reported SEC investigation into the BNB token
According to Reuters, between 2017 and 2021, criminals laundered no less than $2.35 billion through the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, proceeds from hacks, investment fraud and the sale of drugs, due to weak AML procedures.
Binance said that, contrary to common belief, cryptocurrencies are not the primary method for criminals to launder funds. CEO Changpeng Zhao also published 50 pages of correspondence with Reuters. The CEO described the media representatives as “journalists who mislead and waste time.”
At the same time, Bloomberg stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating whether Binance’s token BNB was a security at the time of its sale in 2017.
Sources noted that the investigation may not necessarily lead to any charges and could take months. Binance said that “they do not consider it appropriate to comment on ongoing communication with regulators, which includes outreach, assistance and voluntary responses to information requests.”
PayPal added option to withdraw Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to external wallets
PayPal opened cryptocurrency transfers between accounts, as well as withdrawals to external wallets. The ability to send Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin to various addresses is currently available to a select group of US users. Support for the option for all American customers will roll out in the coming weeks.
Ukrainian monobank bans direct withdrawals from Bitcoin exchanges to hryvnia cards
Monobank support cited Clause 4.3 of the Terms and Conditions, which provides for suspending inbound and outbound transactions in foreign currency if there is suspicion of their link to illicit activity, including forex deals and transfers of electronic money.
Meanwhile, P2P transfers on Binance continue to operate normally.
Media: Anchor developers blame Do Kwon for Terra ecosystem collapse
The Terra collapse was inevitable, which became evident already at the design stage, according to anonymous developers of the leading Anchor protocol who spoke to JTBC.
They say that during the protocol’s design, calculations envisioned a fixed yield of 3.6%, but a week before launch Do Kwon, head of Terraform Labs, rejected that idea and raised the target to 20%.
Late in the week, media reported that an SEC investigation into the algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) had begun.
An American court rejected Do Kwon’s appeal and ordered him to cooperate with authorities regarding the investigation into possible offerings of unregistered securities via the Mirror protocol.
Unknown hacker steals 20 million OP tokens due to market-maker error
The hacker snatched 20 million OP tokens (~$17 million) sent to the Optimism Foundation market maker Wintermute. According to the Wintermute team, due to an internal error they specified the multi-sig wallet Gnosis Safe for the L1 Ethereum network instead of the L2 address.
The unknown attacker sold 1 million OP for ETH and bridged the funds to the mainnet via the Synapse and Hop bridges to then send to Tornado Cash. Another 1 million OP was sent to Vitalik Buterin and the attacker delegated voting rights from 1 million OP to Ethereum Foundation security researcher Yoav Weiss.
On Friday, the hacker sent another transaction to Buterin and returned 17 million OP to Wintermute’s address.
Tron to modify USDD into an over-collateralized stablecoin
The Tron team plans to support an “over-collateralization” of the algorithmic stablecoin USDD at 140% to avoid a collapse akin to TerraUSD. Today the ratio sits above 200% — reserves include 14,040 BTC, 140 million USDT and 1.9 billion TRX.
What to discuss with friends?
- Selling real estate for stablecoins has begun in Ukraine.
- Anthony Hopkins asked Snoop Dogg for advice on buying NFTs.
- Neal Stephenson announced the launch of a crypto startup.
- Actor Seth Green paid over $286,000 to recover a stolen BAYC token.
Chainlink team announces staking. LINK token up 11%
The Chainlink developers announced the rollout of staking for LINK tokens in the second half of 2022. The team noted that the move will bolster security as the ecosystem scales.
According to the developers, the initial aim is to create a “reliable and simple foundation that will gather feedback.” Over time, staking’s use cases will expand and its architecture will be made more complex.
Osmosis blockchain halted due to a critical vulnerability
On Wednesday, 8 June, the Osmosis blockchain platform in the Cosmos ecosystem paused block production due to a vulnerability that could have drained liquidity pools on the Osmosis DEX. It allowed withdrawal of liquidity from pools with a 50% premium.
The project team estimated the damage at about $5 million and said it would take several days to fix. By the end of the week the developers said the new code is already being tested, and the update will be deployed over the weekend. The OSMO token reacted with a rally.
USDC stablecoin launched on Polygon
Circle, operator of USD Coin (USDC), added support on its payments platform for Polygon’s Layer-2 solution to use the stablecoin. Circle has automated for users the ability to transfer USDC from Ethereum to the Polygon network via its cross-chain protocol Polygon Bridge.
Jack Dorsey’s company unveiled Web5 concept
Block’s unit TBD presented the concept of a decentralised, open-source platform Web5. The developers say the project will give users full control over their personal data and digital identities.
Also on ForkLog:
- Edward Snowden advised using cryptocurrencies, but not to invest in them.
- Do Kwon refuted accusations of withdrawing $2.7 billion from the Terra ecosystem before its collapse.
- The Swedish central bank urged banning Bitcoin for environmental reasons.
- Mastercard will allow cardholders to buy NFTs with fiat.
What else to read, watch, and listen to?
ForkLog’s educational cards explained what a governance token is, DeFi 2.0, the Chainlink network and who Mike Novogratz is.
Who are the ‘hodlers’, ‘hamsters’ and what else for ‘shitcoins’? Try to understand what lies behind these odd formulations, and take ForkLog’s new test.
In traditional digests they compiled the week’s main events in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
The cryptocurrency industry continues to attract more institutional players. This is reflected in new investments in infrastructure and the growing attention firms pay to Bitcoin as an asset class. The most important recent weeks’ events are in ForkLog’s review.
This week they held an audio stream on Telegram-ForkLog LIVE with Input Output HK researcher Roman Oleynikov. They discussed Layer-1 blockchains, their similarities and differences.
In a new ForkLog LIVE special report they looked at how to find a job in the cryptocurrency industry.
Read Bitcoin news from ForkLog in our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analytics.