Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 27-Sept. 2 – Cointelegraph Magazine

top stories of the week

Grayscale Wins SEC Bitcoin ETF Review Lawsuit

Crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments recently scored a big victory in its battle with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

In an ongoing effort to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), a U.S. appeals court judge accepted Grayscale’s argument that the SEC’s rejection of its recent ETF application was inappropriate. Fair. The SEC claimed that GBTC did not have adequate security practices and fraud protection.

Judge Neomi Rao gave the green light to Grayscale’s second review request. Previously, Rao said the SEC had not “provided any explanation” why Grayscale was at fault.

However, the win doesn’t mean Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF is a foregone conclusion. There’s more to come…

BitBoy Crypto brand will no longer include YouTuber Ben Armstrong

Hit Network’s parent company, the folks behind the “BitBoy Crypto” brand, just fired its public figure, Ben Armstrong.

The company cited issues of substance abuse and financial loss as reasons behind the decision.

In YouTube and social media statements, Hit Network revealed that despite its efforts to support Armstrong during his battle with addiction, it decided to part ways with the influencer.

Armstrong has recently faced a series of lawsuits. He was embroiled in a class-action lawsuit in which investors accused him and other influencers of promoting FTX without disclosing how much the exchange paid them.

Additionally, during the course of the lawsuit, it was claimed that Armstrong threatened plaintiffs’ attorneys and even refused an order from a federal judge to appear in court. The case was shelved in June.

SEC Delays Decision on 6 Bitcoin ETF Spot Applications

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has chosen to delay a decision on six spot bitcoin ETF applications in the United States. The committee opted to extend the review period by another 45 days, delaying a final decision until October. Shortly after the news broke, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also included BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, in the same delayed decision.

Bitwise Withdraws Bitcoin and Ethereum Market Cap ETF Applications

In a surprising turn of events, Bitwise filed a request to withdraw its Bitcoin and Ethereum market-cap-weighted strategy ETF application after the US SEC announced the delay. The filing was originally filed with the SEC on Aug. 3. Despite Grayscale’s brief moment of positive market sentiment after its recent SEC win, Bitwise appears to be taking a step back to reconsider its approach.

Robinhood buys back Sam Bankman-Fried stake from U.S. government for $606 million

Cryptocurrency and stock trading platform Robinhood has acquired more than 55 million shares of its own company, previously owned by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Robinhood completed the acquisition this week after filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at a cost of about $606 million. The stake was initially held by Bankman-Fried and FTX co-founder Gary Wang through a company called Emergent Fidelity Technologies.

However, back in January, the U.S. Department of Justice seized the shares. The acquisition has been in the works for some time. Robinhood’s board gave it the green light in its fourth-quarter 2022 report, and an August SEC filing confirmed that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved the acquisition without any legal disputes.

winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) Priced at $25,610, Ethereum (ETH) $1,618 Ripple (Ripple) $0.49. The total market cap is $1.03 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the 100 largest cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoins this week are Token (TON) 33.90%, Iota (MIOTA) 13.13% and Manufacturer (MKR) was 12.33%.

The top three altcoins this week are KuCoin Token (KCS) 15.53%, Hedera (HBAR) 15.02% and Astar (Astor) was 12.82%.

For more on cryptocurrency prices, be sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

most memorable quote

“Transparency is a feature in many cases, but people don’t want most transactions in the economy to be public.”

Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO

“Now that the courts are starting to impose some restrictions on the SEC, I think there is hope for the industry to be rekindled in the US”

Jeremy McLaughlin, Partner, K&L Gates

“In the end, we’re going to win. You can’t steal a company that someone built and won as themselves.”

Ben Armstrong, former lead singer of BitBoy Crypto

“I do think that in the next cycle, the cost of each bitcoin may reach $100,000, and it depends on BTC taking 2% to 5% of the $13 trillion gold share in institutional portfolios.”

Sue Ennis, Vice President, Hut 8

“We see limited downside in the cryptocurrency market in the short term.”

JP Morgan analyst

“I was talking to a guy the other day who had 80 altcoins in his portfolio. It’s impossible for an individual investor to stay at the same time and understand exactly what 80 different coins are doing.”

Ben Simpson, Founder, Collective Transformation

forecast for the week

Bitcoin at Risk of ‘Swift’ $23,000 Dive After BTC Price Falls 11% in August

Data suggests that Bitcoin is poised to retest long-term support levels as its price fell in late August. As of Sept. 1, BTC/USD reversed gains from the previous week and is now trading below $26,000, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.

Initially, market participants had reason to be optimistic, as Bitcoin held onto a key long-term trendline at the $27,000 level. However, the U.S. SEC’s decision to delay several Bitcoin ETF applications has caused a change in market sentiment. In just a two-hour candlestick, Bitcoin quickly lost $1,000 in value.

Traders have been speculating on these moves. “On-chain data suggests BTC lacks strong support below the $25,400 mark,” popular anonymous trader Ali Tell X (formerly Twitter) Subscribers.

On-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators presents a similarly grim picture for BTC/USD on daily, weekly and even monthly time frames. Material Indicators, using its proprietary trading tool Trend Precognition, is signaling that bulls need to hold $24,750 to have a chance of locking in a rally.

The most talked about FUD this week

Balancer was exploited after warning of the vulnerability, costing nearly $900,000.

Ethereum automated market maker and decentralized finance protocol Balancer has confirmed that it has fallen victim to an exploit that has resulted in losses of nearly $900,000. The incident came shortly after the company disclosed a vulnerability affecting several mining pools.

Blockchain security expert Meier Dolev has disclosed an Ethereum address that allegedly belongs to the attacker. Following the breach, the address received two stablecoin Dai transfers worth $636,812 and $257,527, bringing its total balance to more than $893,978.

“Balancer is aware of a vulnerability related to the following vulnerabilities,” the protocol’s team posted on X, adding that while mitigations in recent days have significantly reduced the risk, affected mining pools cannot be suspended. “To prevent further exploitation, users must exit the affected LP,” the team advises.

Brazilian Crypto Streamer Loses After Accidentally Leaking Private Keys

A Brazilian cryptocurrency streamer is one of the latest victims of insecure self-custody practices, reportedly losing thousands of dollars due to private key mishaps.owner crypto fraternity Channel Ivan Bianco inadvertently exposed his self-hosted cryptocurrency wallet private keys during a YouTube livestream.

In a live broadcast related to Bitcoin And blockchain gaming, Bianco apparently attempted to access the passwords for his blockchain gaming platform, Gala Games, through a text file on his computer.

Unfortunately for this streamer, his Gala Games password was stored in the same text file as his MetaMask wallet’s seed phrase, which contained a large number of Polygon (MATIC).

Exploits, Hacks and Scams Steal Nearly $1 Billion in 2023, Report Says

Cybersecurity firm CertiK reports that flash loan attacks, exit scams and exploits cost more than $997 million in 2023. In August alone, malicious actors targeting the cryptocurrency space took more than $45 million in digital assets from victims, for a total of $997 million year-to-date.

In the report, CertiK highlighted that in August 2023, exit scams lost approximately $26 million, flash loan attacks lost $6.4 million, and exploit victims lost $13.5 million. The cybersecurity firm confirmed the total damage was more than $45 million.

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editorial staff

Writers and reporters at Cointelegraph Magazine contributed to this article.