👨‍💻 Vitalik HACKED!

Good morning!

We have a big week ahead with the potential for FTX to be granted permission to sell BILLIONS in Crypto on Wednesday, something we will be keeping a close eye on.

In the meantime, the liquidators of the bankrupt exchange continue to create drama, this time suing popular LayerZero to recover $21 million. In other news, Vitalik was hacked on Twitter over the weekend, leading many to fall for a fake link. At least his ETH wallet wasn't compromised!

Let's dive in.

Markets

Coinbase issues clarification after reports of it ceasing services in India (3 minute read)
Coinbase recently addressed a potential misunderstanding regarding its operations in India after some reports hinted at a complete halt of services for its Indian users. According to updates from TechCrunch and Economic Times on September 11th, Coinbase India users received emails indicating a discontinuation of services by September 25th and advising them to withdraw any remaining funds from the platform. However, it's important to note that this notification was not directed at all Indian customers but rather those who were not in compliance with the exchange's revised standards. In a statement shared by a Coinbase spokesperson with Cointelegraph, it was clarified, "We are reaching out to inform you that we will be discontinuing all Coinbase Retail services linked to your above-mentioned account, as we will be disabling access for the retail accounts that no longer meet our updated standards for these services."

FTX sues LayerZero Labs to recover $21m (2 minute read)
FTX has taken protocol developers LayerZero Labs to court in a bid to annul trades involving former executives of the financially beleaguered firm. The lawsuit revolves around a deal inked between Caroline Ellison, the former head of Alameda Research, and LayerZero Labs on November 7, 2022—just a mere four days before FTX filed for bankruptcy. Under this agreement, Alameda sought to offload its 5% stake in LayerZero for a cool $150 million, while LayerZero would wipe clean Alameda's $45 million loan. FTX's new management has cried foul, alleging that the empire of Sam Bankman-Fried was already insolvent when this deal went down, branding it a fraudulent transaction that needs to be undone. In response, LayerZero Labs CEO Brian Pellegrino fired back, calling the lawsuit a collection of "baseless allegations." It seems this drama has been brewing for quite some time, as LayerZero Labs had been attempting to resolve share ownership issues with FTX liquidators for nearly a year, only to be met with radio silence.

Tech

Hacker Steals Over $690,000 After Hijacking Vitalik Buterin's Twitter Account (3 minute read)
Ethereum's creator, Vitalik Buterin, found himself tangled with a mischievous Twitter hacker who managed to swipe a hefty $691,000 from unsuspecting users who fell for a tricky link shared on his feed. The drama unfolded on Saturday, as the hacker infiltrated Buterin's Twitter and posted a tweet about the launch of a fake NFT by Consensys. This deceptive link, potentially exposed to his 4.9 million followers, lured victims into connecting their wallets for NFT minting, only to siphon away their funds instead of creating the coveted tokens. Though the post has been scrubbed from existence, the damage was done, leaving some users nursing big losses. Within a mere hour, the hacker made off with over $147,000, a sum that swiftly swelled to a jaw-dropping $691,000, as per blockchain sleuth @ZachXBT's findings.

Mastercard ‘committed’ to making CBDCs as easy to use as money (2 minute read)
Mastercard is embarking on a mission to assist central banks in their endeavors to roll out central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), believing that the "continued global interest" in this space made this summer the perfect time to launch its program. Raj Dhamodharan, the head of digital assets and blockchain at Mastercard, emphasized their aim to promote and facilitate interoperability across various payment methods, which they see as vital for a thriving economy. This innovative program, which set sail in August, has gathered a crew of partners including Ripple, Consensys, Fluency, and Fireblocks. Mastercard's enthusiastic push into the CBDC realm follows a Bank of International Settlements (BIS) survey, revealing that approximately 93% of banks were actively exploring CBDC possibilities, with 60% of them crediting stablecoins for accelerating their CBDC initiatives.

Misc

Digital Euro Conspiracy Theories and Privacy Concerns Put EU Central Bankers in the Hot Seat (3 minute read)
Advocates for a digital euro face political opposition to the concept of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). In the EU, officials emphasize the benefits of a digital euro, such as broad usability, enhanced privacy, and safeguarding Europe's independence from foreign payment providers. In contrast, some U.S. figures like Robert F. Kennedy Junior and Ron DeSantis view state-backed digital currencies as tools of surveillance and social control, while EU lawmakers like Marcel de Graaff express concerns about government intrusion and the potential for a social credit system. This political opposition presents a unique challenge for EU central banks, accustomed to technical and economic arguments, as they navigate a landscape that spans legitimate privacy concerns to conspiracy theories about CBDCs being part of a broader program of state control.

What it’s like in Europe’s popular crypto haven Portugal as the U.S. cracks down (6 minute read)
Crypto investment firm Greenfield has recently hailed Lisbon as the most important global crypto hub, surpassing New York, Berlin, and Singapore. The city's "profound DeFi scene" and favorable tax policies were cited as key reasons for this recognition, even as the government considers scaling back incentives for foreign investors. Lisbon's tax regime remains more appealing than many other European cities, especially considering the recent dip in the collective crypto market cap. Coupled with benefits like the newly introduced digital nomad visa and competitive living costs compared to other Western European cities. It’s easy to see why Lisbon is becoming a Crypto hub.

Someone paid $500,000 in transaction fees to move just $200 of bitcoin (2 minute read)
In a costly slip-up that could make even the most careful of us wince, a user unintentionally lost nearly 20 bitcoin, equivalent to $500,000, as a transaction fee to move a mere 0.074 bitcoin, worth around $200. This inadvertent record-breaker now holds the title for the priciest transaction fee ever paid in U.S. dollars for a single Bitcoin transaction. Remarkably, the wallet behind this eyebrow-raising mishap is no novice, boasting a track record of more than 120,000 transactions, as confirmed by Casa CTO Jameson Lopp. As for the cause of this wallet's generosity, Lopp suspects it might be the result of a glitch in the software of an exchange or payment processor. Yikes!

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