Bitcoin’s price stayed range-bound, PayPal launched the PYUSD stablecoin, Sam Bankman-Fried was jailed ahead of his trial, Curve returned 70% of funds stolen in the hack, and other developments from the week.
Bitcoin price remains range-bound
During the week, the leading cryptocurrency traded in a range from $29 000 to $30 000. On Monday, August 7, Bitcoin briefly slid below the $29 000 level. On Wednesday, August 9, it briefly breached the $30 000 mark twice but could not hold the round figure.
As of writing, Bitcoin was trading at about $29 400.
Most top-10 digital assets by market cap showed little movement, with Solana (SOL) the exception, up 6.4%.
The aggregate cryptocurrency market cap tops $1.2 trillion. Bitcoin dominance index stands at 50.4%.
PayPal launched the PYUSD stablecoin
The payments giant PayPal announced the launch of the ‘stablecoin’ PayPal USD (PYUSD). The issuer is Paxos.
According to the release, the asset is fully backed by ‘deposits in US dollars, short-term Treasuries and similar cash equivalents’. PYUSD is pegged to the US dollar on a 1:1 basis.
Sam Bankman-Fried jailed ahead of trial
The federal judge revoked bail for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and remanded him in custody until the next hearing scheduled for October.
Earlier, with a motion to review the pretrial detention, the US DOJ argued that on release, Bankman-Fried contacted former FTX.US general counsel Ryan Miller, used a VPN allegedly to watch the Super Bowl, and shared personal notes of former Alameda Research chief Caroline Ellison with the New York Times.
The defense acknowledged the passing of notes to journalists but contested influence on witness testimony. Lawyers also argued that the arrest would hinder trial preparation. But the court was not persuaded.
What to discuss with friends?
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- The XRP price on Gemini surged to $50. The community cited a glitch.
Curve returned 70% of stolen funds
DEX Curve Finance announced the return of 70% of funds stolen in the July 30 attack on the stablecoin pools. The team is investigating the remaining 30% and is working to determine the shares of each affected user, ‘for proper distribution’.
Also Curve also offered a reward of $1.85 million for identifying the hacker to bring him to court. The project team said the deadline for voluntary restitution had passed and they were prepared to drop charges if the stolen assets were fully recovered.
Better Markets urges the SEC to reject all Bitcoin-ETF filings
The nonprofit Better Markets, in letters to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urged the agency to reject applications to launch Bitcoin-ETFs, citing ‘potential investor risks’.
According to the organization’s general counsel Stephen Hall, the crypto industry has suffered losses of $2 trillion.
«Multiple coercive measures, bankruptcies, criminal prosecutions. Dozens of lawsuits over deceit, fraud and theft. Meanwhile the main beneficiaries of the crypto boom are criminals who use it to spread ransomware, launder money and engage in all manner of illicit activity. In this context the SEC should assess the latest wave of Bitcoin-ETF applications», said the specialist.
According to two Better Markets letters, the Commission should continue to adhere to a conservative stance in the future.
Also on ForkLog:
- CoinGecko launched an index of tokens the SEC regards as securities.
- Ukraine recognised virtual assets as property under civil law.
- Hackers stole over $900 000 through a vulnerability in a Bitcoin-wallet utility.
Wallet team launches beta of non-custodial wallet on Telegram
The developers of the Telegram bot Wallet on The Open Network announced the beta of non-custodial wallet TON Space. The public release, with support for NFT collections and crypto-asset trading, is planned for September.
Poll: 60% of investors expect Bitcoin rally after the halving
Nearly 60% of respondents, from the popular blogger PlanB, answered they believe in the start of a bull market after the halving of the leading cryptocurrency in 2024.
As of writing, 17,329 people had participated in the poll. Responses were distributed as follows:
- 59.9% — bullish market after the halving, again;
- 17.3% — no bull market in 2024-2025;
- 22.9% — I don’t know.
What else to read?
This week covered how augmented reality technologies will change humanity, why neural networks will not replace actors, and how hackers hack wallets.
Also ForkLog gathered key metrics for mining companies for July.
In the traditional digest, we collected the main cybersecurity events of the week in the cybersecurity sphere.
The decentralized finance sector continues to attract heightened investor interest. ForkLog gathered the most important events and news of recent weeks in the digest.