It’s surely been a stressful 24 hours for whoever oversees the United States government’s crypto wallets holding seized criminal assets.
On Thursday, over $20 million worth of assets seized in relation to the 2016 Bitfinex exchange hack suddenly were drained from a U.S. government wallet, as flagged by Arkham Intelligence, with funds quickly dispersed to exchanges and swapped for stablecoins. It looked bad—and on-chain analysts said it appeared to be theft.
But then on Friday morning, the vast majority of the funds (about $19.3 million worth) suddenly came flooding back into the wallet. Soon after, they were sent to a new wallet, presumably as the U.S. government attempted to better secure the coins.
Was it a white-hat attack from an ethical hacker, and the U.S. offered a sliver of the funds as a bounty for a safe return? That’s still unclear, and the Department of Justice has yet to comment or reply to our requests.
Hacker Returns $19.3 Million to Drained US Government Crypto Wallet
Most of the funds drained from a U.S. government crypto wallet in an apparent attack Thursday were sent back early Friday.
Bitcoin Price Trades Steady in Countdown to US Presidential Election
Bitcoin has receded since testing $70,000 earlier this week, with several key economic reports set to be released in the coming week.
Moo Deng Isn't Dead Yet: Meme Coin Pumps 200% After Binance Listing
Moo Deng mania is back, at least for today: The Solana meme coin is skyrocketing after falling 78% over the last few weeks.
Gary Gensler Should Leave SEC in 2025, Says Rep. French Hill
Rep. French Hill (R-AR) has said regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election, Gary Gensler should leave his post at the SEC.
😂 Meme of the Day
❝
“The SEC can’t submit new evidence or ask us to produce more. Meaning, there won’t be all the drama we had in the litigation when we fought over documents.”
🎮️ GG: 'MemeFi' Telegram Game Reveals Airdrop Date Amid Move From Ethereum to Sui
Telegram tap-to-earn game MemeFi will launch its token in November, but on Sui rather than Ethereum layer-2 network Linea.
🤖 EMERGE: How I Tricked Meta's AI Into Showing Me Nudes, Cocaine Recipes and Other Supposedly Censored Stuff
Despite safety claims, WhatsApp's new AI assistant powered by Llama 3.2 is easily fooled, revealing a lot of things it probably shouldn’t.
🎭️ SCENE: ‘America Loves Crypto’? The Black Keys Will Play Ohio Concert Amid Contentious Senate Race
“Pretty liberal” rock duo The Black Keys will play a Coinbase-backed event in Ohio, as a PAC backed by the exchange aims to elect a hardline conservative to Senate in the battleground state.
📚 Dive Deeper
📹️ WATCH: Bringing Crypto's Global Community Together Through 'Immersive Theater'
HashKey Capital explained how its Decode: Legacy experience is helping to foster connections between crypto's diverse global community, through face-to-face interactions and problem solving.
🎓️ LEARN: What Is Bluesky? Twitter's Decentralized Social Media Rival
While Bluesky seems like Twitter on the surface, the AT protocol architecture it runs on has the potential to be revolutionary.