Crypto Hackers Bought Ethereum Dip With $40M Stolen DAI

Crypto Hackers Bought Ethereum Dip With $40M Stolen DAI

Crypto hackers of the Nomad bridge used stolen funds to buy cheaper Ethereum during the recent market dip. On August 5, they used 39.75 million of stolen DAI stablecoin to buy 16,892 ETH, which had just gone down by 20% in minutes. After the purchase, the hackers transferred the stolen Ether to Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer that most hackers use to hide the traceability of illicit funds.

Additionally, blockchain investigation firm PeckShield revealed that the Nomad exploiter sent 17.75 ETH to an intermediary Ethereum address and later moved about 2,400 ETH (valued at approximately $7 million) to Tornado Cash. These actions indicate a typical pattern among hackers who use mixers to avoid detection and show little intention of returning the stolen funds.

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Over $1 Billion Liquidated as Crypto Dips and Recovers

Markets suffered a massive downturn in the past 24 hours and crypto felt it the most. Total crypto liquidations exceeded $1.2 billion impacting 286 thousand traders. According to CoinGlass, the liquidations included $851 million in long positions and $311 million in short positions, with the largest single liquidation being a $27 million position on Huobi.

Bitcoin dropped to a low of $49,647 before recovering slightly to $55,700, marking a 12.6% decrease from the previous day. Ethereum experienced a steeper decline, falling 19.5% to $2,111. The altcoin market also saw substantial losses, with Solana (SOL) and BNB each losing 13% and 16%, Dogecoin (DOGE) dropping 18%, and XRP down 15% before all of them regained some value.

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Zircuit Confirms Mainnet and ZRC Token Airdrop Claims

Zircuit, an EVM-compatible zero-knowledge rollup with AI-enabled security, has announced its mainnet and ZRC token airdrop claims process. The platform aims to protect users from hacks using automated AI techniques and serves as a hub for restaked assets like Ether and Bitcoin, allowing users to earn yields. In Phase 1, users can bridge ether to the rollup, with limits increasing over time.

The launch includes a "Zircuit Mainnet Festival," rewarding users with ZRC tokens for gas fees. Zircuit has also begun its Season 1 ZRC token airdrop, rewarding early adopters from a $2.5 billion staking program. The tokens are claimable from August 5 (~263k eligible users) but remain non-transferable until a future token generation event. Binance Labs and Pantera Capital back the project.

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Polymarket Indicates $1.5M Bet on FED Interest Rate Cut

Bettors on the decentralized prediction platform Polymarket have placed $1.52 million on the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by September 2024. This wager aligns with other predictions about the Fed's actions amid a broader market downturn. The bet suggests a 59% chance of a rate cut by over 50 basis points (bps) and a 38% chance of a 25 bps reduction.

Meanwhile, regulated futures markets predict an 84% probability of a 50 bps cut and a 17% chance of a 25 bps cut, according to the CME's FedWatch tool. What is interesting is that the prediction on Polymarket gives a 22% chance of an emergency rate cut in 2024, with just <$100,000 bet. Currently, the federal funds rate is between 5.25% and 5.5%.

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Data of the Day

The activity on the Ethereum network has been decreasing with total transactions reaching their lowest point in the past five months. The seven-day moving average has also dropped to 1.11 million transactions per day, a low since Feb 2024. In addition, the number of active wallet addresses has dropped to about 400,000.

Despite the current slowdown on Ethereum's main chain, Layer 2 solutions are compensating. Base, Coinbase's L2 has seen an increase in transactions (~3.8m total) thanks to the faster and cheaper transactions. This change in Ethereum's meta is still fresh and it's still unclear what the long-term usefulness and demand for ETH will be if activity continues migrating to Layer 2 blockchains.

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More Breaking News

• Capula Management, a hedge fund based in London, has disclosed its ownership of $464m in spot Bitcoin ETFs issued by BlackRock and Fidelity.
• Senator Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats urged US CFTC Chair to finalize a rule that would ban bets on political events with event contracts.
• The US SEC has requested the NY Court to deny Coinbase's extensive subpoena request for SEC Chair Gary Gensler's personal emails.
• Swan Bitcoin has canceled its conference due to staff reductions and a mining shutdown, as CEO Cory Klippsten stated that the timing is not suitable for a festival.
• Justin Sun, the founder of Tron & Huobi (HTX), denied speculations of liquidated leveraged futures positions during the market downturn.

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