Upcoming Ethereum ETFs Compete on Fee Reductions

Ahead of next week’s anticipated Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listings, most issuers are offering fee reductions or discounts to attract investors. Seven out of ten proposed spot Ether ETFs are reducing fees, with discounts ranging from full cuts to 50% reductions, lasting six months to a year or until a certain asset threshold is met. Ethereum is currently trading at $3,400.

Franklin Templeton’s ETF (EZET) leads with a one-year fee waiver or until it reaches $10 billion in assets, featuring the lowest baseline fee of 0.19%. Other ETFs have fees between 0.20% and 0.25%. Grayscale, not lowering fees for its legacy fund ETHE, launched a new Ethereum Mini Trust with a 0.12% fee for a year or until $2 billion in AUM, but faced criticism for its fee structure.

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Polygon Will Migrate MATIC Tokens to POL in September

Polygon developers announced that the MATIC to POL token swap will begin on September 4, following a year-long preparation. This migration, part of a major protocol upgrade aimed at transforming Polygon into a “network of networks,” will replace MATIC with POL as the native gas and staking asset. The upgrade was tested on a test network to identify potential issues.

POL, touted as a “3rd generation token,” will enable holders to become validators on Polygon-based chains. Users with MATIC on Polygon’s PoS blockchain will see an automatic upgrade, while those on Ethereum or centralized exchanges might need to take specific actions. No deadline has been set for the swap, but the community will eventually determine it.

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Biggest Indian Crypto Exchange WazirX Hacked for $230M

The biggest Indian crypto exchange by trading volume, WazirX, confronted a malicious exploit, resulting in the unauthorized transfer of over $230 million in crypto assets from its Ethereum network multisig wallet, likely due to a private key compromise. The hack involved upgrading a Safe Wallet implementation to a malicious contract. WazirX has paused all withdrawals while investigating the incident.

The stolen assets include over $100 million in SHIB, $52 million in ETH, $11 million in MATIC, $7.5 million in PEPE, and $5.7 million in USDT. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suggests that North Korean (NK) hackers conducted the exploit, moving the funds to an address where they began laundering them through decentralized services and Tornado Cash, consistent with previous NK hacking activities.

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Bankrupt BlockFi to Start Crypto Distributions This Month

Bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi announced it will begin interim crypto distributions through Coinbase in July 2024. BlockFi, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022 following FTX’s collapse, had halted withdrawals but later sought court approval to allow customers to access their locked funds. Distributions will occur in batches, and eligible clients will be notified via their BlockFi account email.

After creditors approved its restructuring plan in September 2023 and a $1 billion settlement with FTX and Alameda Research in early 2024, BlockFi is moving closer to customer recovery. However, non-US clients currently cannot receive funds due to regulatory constraints. Clients who missed earlier withdrawal deadlines may contact the bankruptcy administrator via Coinbase for future distributions.

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Data of the Day

According to CryptoQuant analysts, the price of Bitcoin appears to have bottomed out after reaching nearly $66,000 earlier this week. The CryptoQuant Weekly report noted that the recent decline to around $55,000 last Wednesday led to the largest realized losses for Bitcoin holders in 2024, amounting to $2.5 billion over two days. The analysts explained that such significant losses typically indicate seller capitulation, which is often associated with price bottoms

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More Breaking News

• Kraken has announced that its Kraken Custody services will now be available to institutional clients in the United Kingdom and Australia.
• The Hong Kong Monetary Authority plans to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers.
• Several Mt. Gox creditors reported unauthorized login attempts on their accounts in the last 24 hours, indicating possible brute-force attacks.
• Polymarket currently forecasts a 92% chance of Biden dropping out of the race, while potential successor-based misspelled meme coins rally.
• OKX crypto exchange has officially chosen Malta as its MiCA hub as the new regulatory framework takes effect across the European Union.

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