Friday, 2nd June. As the week comes to an end we can focus on the highlights of the crypto industry over the past few days.

Sandbox CEO’s Twitter account hacked to promote fake SAND

On May 26, some anonymous individuals took over the Twitter account of The Sandbox metaverse CEO Arthur Madrid to spread phishing, disguising it as a fake token airdrop.

However, the head of the project succeeded in restoring access to the profile. He also cautioned that people should never click on suspicious links and avoid falling for the tricks of any intruders. 

There was also official comment from The Sandbox’s account regarding the situation. They said to be actively engaged in blocking the fraudulent website. 

After Madrid’s account was hacked, the prpject’s native token began to slowly rise in value. As of this writing, the asset is trading at $0.5473, up 4.2% overnight, according to CoinGecko.

This is not the only time a similar situation occurs with The Sandbox. Back in February, an unidentified criminal gained access to the work computer of one of The Sandbox employees and sent scam emails to the platform’s users. It was a fake notification of access to the metaverse and contained malicious links.

As you may remember, in March, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire warned the community about the hacking of the Twitter account of the company’s chief strategy officer, Dante Disparte. The crook made a post that claimed there was a “one-time bonus” for USDC holders in the form of an airdrop. 

As of April, the hacker gained control of the KuCoin crypto exchange account, leading to a loss of users’ funds totaling $22,628.

Binance CEO dismisses bank acquisition

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), chairman of crypto exchange Binance, said the company has no interest in buying any banking institutions due to the challenges surrounding regulation and capital requirements.

“The reality is much more complex than the concept. You buy one bank, it only works in one country, and you still have to deal with the banking  regulators of that country. It doesn’t mean you can buy a bank and do  whatever you wanna do,” Zhao noted. 

He also added that the authorities may deprive the bank of its license, particularly when dealing with digital assets. 

As CZ puts it, even if Binance purchases just one institution, they would still need “corresponding banks all over the world and most of the corresponding banks are in the U.S.” Zhao believes that crypto-related entities could restrict the use of cryptocurrency rather than provide access to international transactions. 

The head of Binance pointed out the high cost of running such a business and the relatively small profitability. He also cited the challenge of obtaining a license to buy.

“Many banks don’t have very sound business models. They’re very risky businesses. They take the customer’s money, loan it out, try to make money, If they don’t get it back, they declare bankruptcy. In many countries the government will save them, but I don’t like to run those kinds of businesses,” Zhao reasoned.

Eventually, CZ stated that Binance will consider small minority investments in banks, perhaps affecting the attitude of the financial sector toward cryptocurrencies.

To recap, Zhao saw signs of a bull market in May because of a report on digital assets on Chinese television. As he noted, the event caused quite a stir in the country, resulting in a beneficial effect on the industry.

DappRadar: memecoins to become the next catalyst for crypto mass adoption

The lower barrier of entry to meme cryptocurrencies might play a critical role in the global embrace of digital assets. This is what DappRadar expert Sarah Gherghelas expressed on the Cointelegraph podcast.

According to the research company, amid the prosperity of memecoins, other segments of the crypto industry were experiencing bottlenecks.

According to Gherghelas, in the year 2023, it’s the meme-based coins that most people associate with digital assets whenever they think of them. She clarified that throughout the history of cryptocurrency there have been several cycles of popularity when it comes to such assets. This time, however, is “different,” because the trend persists for a longer period.

At DappRadar, they attribute this trend to the mainstream nature of crypto-related memes on social media as well as to the creation of close-knit communities that people want to be a part of. That said, the recent price performance of these digital assets brought in a large number of traders.

Gherghelas went on to add that meme tokens are more affordable because of their lower barrier to entry.

“You can be a millionaire in Shiba, but you can never afford one million Bitcoin or one million Ethereum,“ she explains. 

DappRadar analysts singled out Shiba Inu and Floki Inu coins, which definitely represent a great value. Developers of the former coin announced the launch of the L2-network, while the latter runs its own metaverse.

As a reminder, the PEPE memecoin holders saw $160 million in profits, according to analyst Scimitar Capital. Most of the proceeds are due to users who purchased the asset in the first week after the launch.

As per Lookonchain, the total unrealized profit of the top ten Milady coin holders hit $20 million.

OKX unveils industry-first BRC-30 token staking solution

OKX crypto exchange introduced the BRC-30 standard. This expanded version of BRC-20 implements a staking mechanism for bitcoin-based tokens.

As described, the innovation will unlock additional digital asset interaction and passive income for users in BRC-30 tokens.

“Staking drives users to hold onto their assets, potentially reducing pressure on the market from sellers and contributing to a more stable ecosystem,” OKX added.

Once BRC-30 is deployed, BTC and BRC-20 token holders will be able to generate income not only through trading. The mechanism helps expand the number of participants in the ecosystem and consolidate the bond of asset holders with the underlying network, OKX stressed.

The exchange’s team itself takes care of issuing BRC-30 tokens, creating a staking pool, and recruiting early participants into it. 

It will be possible for users to make deposits, to withdraw funds and receive rewards at any time.