Here comes Friday, September 29nd. As the week comes to an end we can focus on the highlights of the crypto industry over the past few days.
Binance urges Paysafe users to convert euros to USDT
The well-known crypto exchange has advised Paysafe customers to convert their EUR to USDT stablecoin by October 31, meanwhile halting the buying, selling and trading of this fiat currency as of today.
The Binance’s banking partner refrains from providing deposit processing services to the platform since September 25, as previously announced. However, Binance called Paysafe’s decision “sudden.”
At the moment, the exchange is busy working on the integration of new fiat channels. The procedure is expected to take a few days.
Users can now purchase cryptocurrency for euros via credit or debit cards and withdraw fiat to their bank accounts.
As you may remember, on August 16, the exchange shut down the platform used for swapping fiat money for Binance Connect (Bifinity).
Bifinity launched in March 2022 in collaboration with Checkout.com, Paysafe and others.
Coinbase to roll out perpetual futures trading
Another renowned exchange will introduce trading of perpetual futures to retail customers outside of the US. That’s according to Coinbase official blog.
In April, the company received approval to operate from Bermuda’s financial regulator, followed by the launch of its Coinbase International Exchange service for institutional investors in May. In the Q2 2023, total futures trading volume on the “international” platform exceeded $5.5b.
“In the coming weeks, we will begin to offer eligible customers access to regulated perpetual futures contracts on Coinbase Advanced,” the firm explained.
About 75% of crypto assets trading turnover originates from derivatives markets, according to their data.
“We are dedicated to partnering with high-bar global regulators to build a crypto regulatory framework that allows crypto technology to continually drive innovation,” Coinbase officials said.
The acquisition of a license by the exchange in the insular jurisdiction formed part of a strategy dubbed Go Broad & Go Deep. As part of the strategy, the platform also revamped its retail service in Singapore, overhauled its user interface for Brazilian customers and engaged in talks with the Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority (ADGM).
Earlier, Coinbase negotiated obtaining a license with regulators in Canada.
More previously, Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong stated his willingness to exit the U.S. market due to the lack of “regulatory clarity.”
Crypto fraudsters managed to steal $889M in Q3 2023, report says
Between July and September, the crypto industry suffered about $889.3 million in losses due to hacks, scams, and rug pulls [a scam where a fraudulent developer launches and hypes a cryptocurrency project to attract investment and then suddenly abandons the project and disappears with the funds, leaving the holders with a worthless asset – t/n]. Such data was provided by Beosin experts.
The losses were categorized as follows:
- $540.16 million – 43 hacking attacks;
- $282.96 million – 81 rug pulls;
- $66.15 million caused by phishing scams;
The crypto industry experienced more losses in the Q3 of 2023 than it did in the first half of the year as a whole ($655 million).
DeFi protocols accounted for 67.4% of attacks (29 incidents, to be precise). In monetary terms, the largest damage recorded was due to a blockchain attack (Mixin Network, $200 million). The breaches of Curve ($73 million), CoinEx ($70 million), Alphapo ($60 million), and Stake ($41.3 million) came next in terms of losses.
Among blockchains, Ethereum turned out to be the least gainer – as a result of 16 attacks, projects were stripped of $227 million. Coming next (unless the Mixin incident is considered) is BNB Chain (10 incidents totaling $37.4 million in damages).
Speaking of the rug pulls, Multichain ($210 million), Bald ($23 million) and Pepe ($15.5 million) particularly stood out.
According to analysts, only 10% of the assets stolen by hackers have been retrieved. By way of comparison, the index amounted to 45.5% in the H1 2023. 67% of funds ended up at the hackers’ addresses, while 18.4% went through mixers.
Chainalysis previously estimated that North Korean hackers had stolen $340.4 million as of Sept. 14. The attackers harvested a third of that amount from just two attacks attributed to Lazarus.
It is to be recalled that $42.5 million worth of bitcoins were discovered on the wallets of the hacking group.
Shanghai reveals a blockchain development plan
The Chinese city authorities have published a set of measures aimed at accelerating the development of blockchain technology in the city by 2025.
According to the outline, the metropolis intends to achieve breakthroughs in the following fields:
- blockchain system security;
- cryptographic algorithms;
- blockchain-specific processors;
- smart contracts;
- cross-chain bridges;
- data storage;
- confidentiality-oriented solutions;
- regulation.
Such developments will lay the foundation for the blockchain basic services platform and the advancement of key industries. Among the latter are municipal government, cross-border trade, supply chains, finance, metaverse and data elements circulation.
Utilizing ZKP (Zero-Knowledge Proof) solutions will enhance the common protocols to protect against information disclosure.
More specifically, it is stated that their efficiency will be twice that of Plonk.
The authorities expect to attract blockchain industry’s natural gifts, including those from abroad.
“[We] will also guide universities, research institutes and companies to step up their efforts in cultivating young blockchain talents, creating interdisciplinary and cross-industry platforms…,” the document says.
Although China barred all crypto transactions in September 2021, the country remains positive about the underlying technology.
In May 2023, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission published the “Web3 Innovation and Development White Paper (2023)”. As per the paper, the PRC capital intends to turn into an international innovation center of the digital economy.
At the same point, the Chinese city of Nanjing launched a “China Blockchain Technology and Application Innovation Platform” aimed at promoting and developing metaverses.
That same month, Henan province’s Zhengzhou authorities unveiled a project to launch a hub for virtual world-oriented startups. As part of the initiative, it will set up a special 10 billion yuan ($1.42 billion) fund to develop the industry.
It should be noted that the authorities of the Chinese Sichuan have estimated the metaverse market to reach $34 billion by 2024. What’s more, they anticipate the creation of industrial parks to establish companies associated with digital worlds.