This week, Orbit Bridge suffered an $82 million vulnerability, while Bitcoin (Bitcoin) fell on rising FUD after retesting $45,000. Meanwhile, the approval window for the Spot BTC ETF is approaching.
Orbit loses $82 million in hack
- On December 31, 2023, a cryptocurrency community figure brought public attention to a potential exploit of the Orbit blockchain network's native bridge protocol, with multiple assets being drained from the bridge nodes.
- Shortly after this initial warning, the Orbit Chain team confirmed reports that the bridge had been subject to an exploit. Data confirms that the protocol lost a whopping $81.5 million in various cryptocurrencies due to the hack.
- In its statement, the Orbit team confirmed that they are evaluating the cause of the hack in addition to dealing with law enforcement authorities in this regard. Reports indicated that the modus operandi was similar to the trend observed with North Korean hackers.
Paid coin hack, North Korea takes the spotlight
- Just days after the Orbit Bridge exploit, CoinsPaid, a cryptocurrency payment protocol based in Estonia, suffered its second hack in six months. The hack resulted in a loss of $7.5 million in several cryptocurrency assets, including BNB and Ethereum (ETH).
- Amid rising cases of hacks, a report from TRB Labs this week shined a spotlight on North Korean hackers, responsible for multiple exploits recorded last year. The report indicated that these hackers stole $600 million in cryptocurrencies from hacks last year, which represents a third of the total hacks in 2023.
Discussions about spot BTC ETFs are growing
- Amid the anticipation of approval for a BTC exchange-traded fund, industry commentators have continued to predict an imminent explosion in BTC prices. This week, advisor VanEck, one of the asset managers looking to launch the product, disagreed with that consensus.
- In a detailed expose on According to him, the expected explosion in Bitcoin prices may not come true.
- Vitel Lund, a senior analyst at K33 Research, shares similar sentiments. However, Lund's forecast is leaning into the bearish zone, as the market watcher expects the approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund to spark a news sell-off, leading to a decline in the price of Bitcoin.
- Speculation of ETF products being approved emerged earlier this week, with several market watchers backing the hypothesis. Fox journalist Eleanor Teret refuted these allegations, noting that the decision would not be issued this week.
- While optimism over the approval of ETFs remains high, Dennis Kelleher, CEO of Better Markets, this week urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission to reject applications for Bitcoin ETFs, arguing that the products could expose investors to… To the market manipulation and fraud that exists in the cryptocurrency scene. .
- John Reed Stark, former SEC executive and cybersecurity expert, echoed Kelleher's statements in a lengthy and scathing social media post.
Updates on instant BTC ETF deposits
- The week also saw several updates to multiple deposits on spot Bitcoin ETFs. On January 3, reports confirmed that Fidelity Investments, one of the asset managers in the ETF race, filed a Form 8-A with the Securities and Exchange Commission, looking to register the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund as a publicly traded security.
- Shortly after, asset managers VanEck and Grayscale filed similar Form 8-A filings with the SEC for their BTC ETF products. These filings will allow companies to register their products as securities to be traded on public exchanges when approval is granted.
- Additionally, Ark 21Shares and Valkyrie filed their Form 8-A on the same day as Grayscale and VanEck. The growing list of Form 8-A filings has increased optimism about the product's impending approval.
- Interestingly, to show support for the Bitcoin community, VanEck this week announced plans to donate 5% of Bitcoin ETF proceeds to support Bitcoin core developers, especially Bitcoin Brink, a non-profit dedicated to developing the Bitcoin protocol.
Bitcoin declines after retest
- Meanwhile, as ETF discussions and updates continued, the market maintained optimism surrounding Bitcoin, resulting in a gradual but steady rise in prices. Bitcoin eventually rose to a high of $45,879 on January 2, retesting $45,000 for the first time since April 2022.
- However, this rally was short-lived, as ETF discussions worsened. Cryptocurrency services provider Matrixport has confirmed for the first time that Bitcoin could reach $50,000 in January, reinforcing the bullish outlook for the leading cryptocurrency asset.
- However, following this report, Matrixport argued in a paper dated January 3 that the SEC would reject all applications for Bitcoin ETFs in January, with final approval in the second quarter of 2024. The Matrixport team noted that they expect Bitcoin to fall to 36,000. $ – $38,000 as a result of this.
- Bitcoin collapsed on January 3, falling to a low of $40,750 before making a comeback. The asset eventually closed on January 3 down 4.68%, taking the entire cryptocurrency market down with it. This led to the liquidation of approximately $700 million in the permanent market.
- Bitcoin has recovered from this decline, and is currently trading at $44,349, up 5.2% this week. Amid the recovery drive, BitMEX founder and former CEO Arthur Hayes released a report suggesting that Bitcoin may see a healthy correction due to some upcoming macro events.
- BitMEX is also part of the team responsible for launching actual bitcoin, worth around $45,000 USD, into space aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for January 8, with an expected arrival date of February 23 on the moon.
- Meanwhile, an unknown Bitcoin whale transferred $1.19 million worth of Bitcoin to Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto's wallet, commonly referred to as the Genesis Wallet. This development has sparked speculation among cryptocurrency supporters.
Nigeria pushes for cNGN, SEC insists BUSD is a security
- This week some events surrounding cryptocurrency regulations and their implementation have emerged. The main bank in Nigeria, the most populous black nation, issued a report this week offering rules for banks in the country regarding the operation of cryptocurrency accounts.
- This report came shortly after the country removed its blanket ban on cryptocurrency transactions. This week, the central bank also granted approval to the proposed next generation network project, which is scheduled to be launched next month.
Meanwhile, in the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission has continued to push its own enforcement actions. Recall that the judge agreed with his argument in the Terraform Labs case that Terra ecosystem tokens are securities. The agency cited this ruling to say that BUSD is also a security in the Binance case.
