This week as well has seen a couple of activities in the crypto space. This week BTC-pulse brings what you might have missed. From Coinbase making headlines with new development, and Biden’s World Bank candidate trashing crypto, to SBF getting into more soup, here are the top stories of the week.
Beijing backs China’s development as a leading crypto market.
Last week ended with news of China’s plans to become a cryptocurrency powerhouse. On the 20th of February, it was originally announced that Hong Kong may soon allow retail players to trade major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum.
Among the shifts, reports surfaced suggesting China now backs the expansion. Officials from mainland China may often go to Hong Kong in order to stay abreast of the latest crypto developments, according to rumors.
Huobi, a cryptocurrency exchange, decided a few hours later to apply for a license to build a branch in Hong Kong. More than one hundred and twenty thousand ether were retrieved by Jump Crypto and Oasis from a Wormhole exploit. Furthermore, this week, Jump Crypto, a web3 infrastructure company, made public its accomplishment in retrieving 120,000 ETH that had been stolen in 2022 through the notorious Wormhole hack.
Oasis.app, a DeFi platform, claims that during the Wormhole exploit, the sender deceived the contracts and moved the collateral and debt from the explorer’s vaults to their own. The judge formally asked for Oasis’s help in locating the missing property.
The event sparked significant alarm among bitcoin advocates and exposed a weakness in the decentralized network. So, the return of the stolen assets is a welcome relief and another evidence that blockchain technology may be safe and durable against cyber attacks. Jump Crypto has not commented on the specifics of the recovery. It has however informed its clients that it has taken the necessary precautions to avoid a recurrence of the situation. The safety of its customers’ money is a top priority, and the corporation has made that clear.
Biden’s candidate for World Bank says cryptocurrencies are “trash.”
There were additional stories about the World Bank in the news this week. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden proposed Ajay Banga, a business executive, to head the World Bank on Thursday, citing Banga’s record in forming public-private partnerships (P3s) to combat financial exclusion and climate change.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced that former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga will replace outgoing World Bank President David Malpass. Malpass had indicated earlier this year that he would be stepping down from his position.
Coinbase discloses employee hacking incident
Yet the greatest story of the week was undoubtedly Coinbase. The bitcoin exchange said that several of its workers had recently been the target of a spear-phishing email assault.
The company came clean about the hack that hit some of its workers. A message was sent by the firm on Twitter informing clients of the occurrence and assuring them that no financial data was stolen.
Soon after this report, the company once again made headlines due to an important new breakthrough. The prominent cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase stated on February 23 that it has established a basic L2 network built on Optimism’s OP Stack.
The main goal of this action is to increase the number of crypto users by millions over the next several years.
FTX faces more fraud allegations
By the end of the week, FTX had made some further progress in his legal case. In the United States, disgraced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried faced fresh criminal accusations on February 23.
Further charges disclosed in the prosecution of infamous FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) have revealed previously unknown details. Possible illicit political contributions made by SBF are at the center of the latest allegations.
The importance of Bankman-lobbying Fried’s efforts on Capitol Hill becomes clear.
On February 23, Reuters reported that additional charges against SBD had been unsealed in federal court in Manhattan. Allegedly contributing tens of millions of dollars illegally to US politics, SBF and his accomplices are named in many charges.
