Wintermute suffers $160M attack, Kraken CEO departs and other news

September 25, 2022


	View in browser

A week in review: September 18–24

Your weekly highlights to stay up to date with the latest crypto news

#1. Kraken's Jesse Powell will step down as CEO, stay on as board chair

After more than a decade heading up crypto exchange Kraken as CEO, Jesse Powell has decided to pass the torch to the company's chief operating officer, Dave Ripley. Powell is not done with Kraken, however. He will become chair of the board for the organization. "It's just gotten to be more draining on me, less fun," Powell said, as quoted in by Bloomberg. Ripley joined Kraken as chief operating officer in 2016.

#2. SEC lawsuit claims jurisdiction because ETH nodes are 'clustered' in the US

As part of a case against crypto YouTuber Ian Balina, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently claimed certain jurisdictional rights based on the high number of Ethereum nodes reportedly residing in the U.S. Although crypto is borderless by nature, the SEC, in this case, is trying to claim that transactions occurred within U.S. boundaries, which could bring certain laws into relevance. The claim is part of a broader case against Balina in which the commission alleges a failure of proper registration for a token sale he facilitated.

#3. China accounts for 84% of all blockchain patent applications, but there's a catch

Information from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology detailed that 84% of the globe's blockchain patent applications come from the country. President Xi Jinping stimulated patent activity when, in 2019, he expressed the need for China to focus on blockchain technology. China has only greenlit 19% of submitted blockchain patents, however.

#4. Prediction of the week. This Bitcoin long-term holder metric is nearing the BTC price 'bottom zone'

Bitcoin largely traded between $18,000 and $20,000 this week, according to Cointelegraph's BTC price index. The number of Bitcoin long-term holders (LTHs) in the red currently lines up with previous bear market bottoms, suggesting that the digital asset may be in the process of bottoming out. Of Bitcoin's long-term hodlers, about 30% sat in losses as of Sept. 22. Bitcoin's 2020 and 2018 bottoms occurred when the percentage of LTHs in the red hit around 35% and 32%, respectively. A drop to between $10,000 and $14,000 could cause the LTH loss percentage to line up with previous bear markets.

#5. FUD of the week. $160M stolen from crypto market maker Wintermute

Decentralized finance operations under United Kingdom-based company Wintermute suffered an attack that cost the firm roughly $160 million. Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy noted the company has enough funds to withstand the loss without affecting customers. Gaevoy expressed willingness to classify the event as a white-hat hack — but only if the violator comes forward. Later reporting showed the attack was not a smart contract exploit as originally thought, but instead a private key issue, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.

#6. FUD of the week. Draft US stablecoin bill would ban new algo stablecoins for 2 years

Bloomberg got its hands on a draft of a U.S. government bill that reportedly aims to prohibit new algorithmic stablecoin creation for two years. The text seemingly seeks to enforce a ban on new stablecoins that derive their pegs from other associated digital assets from the same creator, where redemptions can occur for a fixed price. Stablecoins currently fitting the bill's description would have two years to alter their models.