Cryptocurrency

Where would you hide $3.4 billion worth of Bitcoin? For James Zhong, the ideal spot was to store it on a computer — with its circuitry exposed — placed in a used Cheetos popcorn tin hidden in a bathroom closet under a pile of blankets. Zhong, now 32, was sentenced to a year in federal

A single trader just spent a staggering 64 Ether — equivalent to $118,000 — in gas fees purchasing $155,000 worth of a memecoin called Four (FOUR). According to an update from the popular blockchain tracking service ‘Whale Alert’, the lone trader paid an astonishing $119,157 in Ether (ETH) to complete a Unsiwap trade that swapped

As so-called “memecoins” capture the attention of the wider crypto industry in recent weeks, a viral video has emerged detailing just how easy it is for anyone with an internet connection to create a brand new cryptocurrency from scratch.  A May 6 video from digital artist Johnny Shankman — who goes by @whitelights.eth on Twitter

Top Stories This Week Memecoin hype drives Bitcoin transaction fees to multi-year highs The ongoing trading frenzy of memecoins like Pepe has triggered an unwanted consequence for Bitcoin (BTC) — raising its transaction costs to their highest point in two years. On May 3, the total amount of fees paid on the Bitcoin blockchain reached

Confidence in the United States financial system seems to be eroding fast with investors trying to find the next weakest link that is about to collapse. Bill Ackman, CEO of hedge fund management firm Pershing Square, cautioned that time was running out to fix the problem. The U.S. equities markets have become vulnerable to adverse

Bitcoin transaction fees surged in early May, reaching their highest point over the past two years, according to data from Crypto Fees. On May 3, the total amount of fees paid on the Bitcoin blockchain reached $3.5 million, jumping about 400% from late April. The average Bitcoin transaction fee reached as much as $7.2, according

Smart contract auditor CertiK claims to have blocked $160,000 from Merlin, a zk-Sync-based decentralized exchange (DEX) which has been the center of a rogue insider “rugpull” that lost users $1.8 million last week. CertiK shared the news of its successful $160,000 freeze of the stolen funds in an update to its 257,700 Twitter followers on

Investors seem to have priced in a 25 basis points rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve on May 3. Next, they will look for clues on the Fed’s actions for the rest of the year. Will the Fed maintain its hawkish stance as inflation still remains well above its target range or will

On May 2, European cryptocurrency investment firm CoinShares published its latest “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report,” which stated that the digital asset market experienced bearish sentiment for the second consecutive week, resulting in outflows totaling $72 million. The report noted that the bearish sentiment could be attributed to the probability of further interest rate hikes

JPMorgan Chase emerged as the winner in the auction to acquire the deposits and a “substantial majority of assets” of the troubled bank First Republic. This marked the failure of the third regional bank in the United States since March and laid open the vulnerabilities in the legacy banking system. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) has risen

On May 1, cryptocurrency exchange OKX announced that it would be listing memecoin Pepe (PEPE) at 17:00 Hong Kong Time (HKT) and open Pepe withdrawals on May 2 at 17:00 HKT. In supporting the listing decision, OKX staff wrote:  “Pepe the Frog is a cartoon character and internet meme created by cartoonist Matt Furie. Pepe

Top Stories This Week Circle launches cross-chain USDC transfer protocol Circle launched a cross-chain protocol that enables USDC transfers between the Ethereum and Avalanche blockchains. The protocol works by burning the selected amount of native USDC on the source chain, and minting an equivalent amount of new USDC on the intended destination chain. The protocol

The cryptocurrency market witnessed sharp volatility on April 26 on rumors that large sums of Bitcoin (BTC) were on the move from the wallets linked to the defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox and the United States government. A minor positive is that Bitcoin and select altcoins held their respective support levels. After Bitcoin’s sharp rally

Our weekly roundup of news from East Asia curates the industry’s most important developments. Hong Kong inching close on a clear crypto regulatory pathway A few months after prominent industry players lamented the lack of registration pathways for cryptocurrency exchanges in Hong Kong, some respite may finally be on the horizon. On Apr. 27, Julia

Whatever happened to EOS? After the biggest ICO in history, the former top 10 token now languishes around number 53. But the community has since taken back control and is determined to restore the smart contract platform to its former glory. If you’re a newcomer to the crypto industry, you may not even be familiar

The team behind Lens, a Web3 social media protocol, has announced the launch of a new “layer 3” network to scale blockchain social media apps. Called “Bonzai,” the new network processes and stores posts, comments and shares, taking this data off the Polygon network and thereby increasing scalability for Lens, according to an April 26

Unlike restricted proof-of-work (PoW) blockchains like Bitcoin, the Polkadot blockchain allows cross-blockchain transfers of any asset or data, facilitates more transactions per second and needs less infrastructure. Polkadot uses a nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) blockchain centered on interoperability of parachains that connect to and are secured by the Relay Chain. Validators can validate both the Relay

A freshly unsealed indictment has charged five individuals with “conspiring to manipulate the market” in relation to an alleged scheme involving the ERC-20 Hydro (HYDRO) token. An April 24 statement from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) said the indictment charged three people for conspiring to manipulate the market for Hydro. Two other individuals

Bitcoin (BTC) is on target to finish the week with a sharp fall of around 9%. This suggests that some traders may be booking profits in fear of a resumption of the downtrend. Analysts expect Bitcoin to reach the $26,600 to $25,000 zone where buying interest may pick up. When an asset emerges from a

Reminiscent of Tamagotchi and Pokémon, the wildly popular digital pets and creatures of the 1990s, CryptoKitties is a blockchain-based game where players can collect, trade and breed digital virtual cats. CryptoKitties was the first Ethereum-based game, and its popularity underscored many of the network’s scaling issues. This digital cat-breeding blockchain game caused quite a bit