What’s Been Happening in Crypto Over the Last Few Days?
Citadel Enters the Crypto Market
Citadel Securities, a major market-making firm, is set to enter the cryptocurrency market. The company plans to take advantage of the U.S. government’s regulatory push in the blockchain sector. Citadel aims to offer services across multiple exchanges, including Coinbase, Binance, and Crypto.com.
This move comes as a surprise, given that Citadel had previously distanced itself from cryptocurrencies.
Source: investing.com
Bybit Hit by a Major Hack
One of the biggest recent events is the attack on the Bybit exchange, where hackers—likely from the notorious Lazarus Group—managed to steal ETH and stETH worth approximately $1.5 billion. The cybercriminals successfully took control of the exchange’s cold wallet.
Interestingly, despite the scale of the attack, the broader crypto market remained relatively stable. Unlike past incidents that triggered panic selling, the market quickly rebounded from the initial drop in altcoin prices.
Bybit responded swiftly by buying back $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum from the market to cover the loss.
How did the hack happen? According to Bybit’s official statement:
"The transfer was part of a planned movement of ETH from our ‘ETH Multisig Cold Wallet’ to our hot wallet. Unfortunately, the transaction was manipulated through a sophisticated attack that altered the smart contract logic and masked the signing interface, allowing the attacker to take control of the ‘ETH Cold Wallet.’ As a result, over 400,000 ETH and stETH, valued at more than $1.5 billion, were transferred to an unidentified address."
Source: announcements.bybit.com
Brazil Approves Its First XRP ETF
While the U.S. regulators have yet to decide on an XRP ETF, their Brazilian counterparts have already approved the Hashdex Nasdaq XRP Index Fund, enabling XRP ETF trading on the B3 stock exchange.
Given Brazil’s massive market size, this development represents a significant opportunity for XRP’s growth.
Source: incrypted.com
Pump.fun Sees Sharp Volume Drop
The Pump.fun platform, which allows users to create memecoins, has seen a 43.37% decline in daily trading volume.
Why the sudden drop? The market appears to be pulling capital out of the memecoin sector, following the controversy surrounding the LIBRA token.
LIBRA was heavily promoted on social media by Argentine President Javier Milei as a token meant to support the country’s economy. However, it ended in a rug pull, leading many to suspect it was a scam from the start.
Source: businessinsider.com.pl