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The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem experienced a challenging week after a seismic security incident led to over $61 million being stolen from Curve Finance’s pools, leaving several protocols facing broader contagion risks. This attack exposed vulnerabilities across DeFi projects and sparked efforts to recover stolen funds over the past few days, hammering the performance of tokens and even stablecoins as a result of the dramatic ups and downs in this story. As the community navigates the aftermath of this exploit, Cointelegraph compiled the week’s events, presenting a timeline of what happened since the hack on July 30.

US DoJ is concerned about a run on Binance should prosecutors bring fraud charges

The United States Department of Justice is reportedly considering charging cryptocurrency exchange Binance with fraud, but hesitating based on costs to consumers. According to people familiar with the matter, Justice Department officials are concerned about an indictment against Binance causing a run similar to what happened with FTX in November 2022. The officials are considering fines or non-prosecution agreements for Binance rather than criminal charges in an effort to reduce the harm to consumers. Binance has been targeted by a criminal probe in the U.S. for allegedly violating the country’s sanctions on Russia and has also faced lawsuits from U.S. regulators.

Hong Kong debuts retail crypto trading with HashKey and OSL

Digital asset firm HashKey has successfully obtained all necessary licensing to broaden its business from serving professional investors to taking on retail users, as Hong Kong expands its cryptocurrency trading to individual investors. The first license, Type 1, allows HashKey to operate a virtual asset trading platform under Hong Kong’s securities laws. The second one, Type 7, officially enables the firm to provide automated trading services to both institutional and retail users. OSL, another local crypto firm, received an upgrade to its existing license from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, allowing it to offer Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trading to retail investors immediately.



Coinbase denies SEC told it to delist everything but Bitcoin

Coinbase has denied reports claiming that its CEO, Brian Armstrong, was once told by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to delist all cryptocurrencies on its platform except for Bitcoin. In an interview with the Financial Times, Armstrong reportedly stated that the SEC wanted Coinbase to delist the nearly 250 tokens on its platform. According to a Coinbase spokesperson, however, the report is missing context and the SEC didn’t request Coinbase to delist any specific assets. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has previously claimed that “everything other than Bitcoin” is a security under the agency’s remit.

Ethereum’s 8th birthday: Crypto industry shares its top moments

The crypto community has come together to celebrate the birthday of the Ethereum network, marking eight years since the Ethereum Foundation first sent the network live.

On July 30, 2015, former Ethereum Foundation CCO Stephan Tual penned a blog post, officially announcing that the network had been rolled out. “The vision of a censorship-proof ‘world computer’ that anyone can program, paying exclusively for what they use and nothing more, is now a reality,” he wrote. Eight years later, Ethereum and its native currency, Ether (ETH), has grown to become the second-largest crypto asset in existence, boasting a market capitalization of $225 billion and more than 1,900 monthly active developers.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $28,985, Ether (ETH) at $1,823 and XRP at $0.63. The total market cap is at $1.16 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Helium (HNT) at 39.79%, XDC Network (XDC) at 20.11% and Bone ShibaSwap (BONE) at 18.04%. 

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Compound (COMP) at -18.41%, Curve DAO Token (CRV) at -15.86% and Stellar (XLM) at -14.36%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraph’s market analysis.

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Crypto winter can take a toll on hodlers’ mental health

Most Memorable Quotations

“The digital asset products and services that TASE is exploring will no doubt play foundational roles in the future of Israel’s economy.”

Michael Shaulov, CEO of Fireblocks

“Spot [Bitcoin] ETFs will serve another set of customers in a synergistic fashion to grow the entire asset class.”

Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy

“Generative AI has enormous economic potential and could boost global labor productivity by more than 1 percentage point a year in the decade following widespread usage.”

Goldman Sachs

“I personally have not seen any audit reports of USDT. I don’t think most people I spoke to have not seen that either. So it’s kind of a black box because we just don’t know.”

Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, CEO of Binance

“As president, on day one, CBDC goes into the trash can — we’re not going to allow it.”

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida

“The most important thing that happened this year in Bitcoin is Larry Fink.”

Mike Novogratz, CEO of Galaxy Digital

Prediction of the Week 

BTC price upside ‘yet to come’ at $29K after Bitcoin RSI reset — Trader

Bitcoin has not yet seen the majority of its gains this cycle, popular traders believe. After over a month of acting within a tight trading range, traders’ patience with Bitcoin is wearing thin, but amid expectations that BTC price will test levels closer to $25,000 or even lower, pseudonymous analyst Credible Crypto is one of those arguing the opposite.

Analyzing data, including Bitcoin market cap dominance and its relative strength index (RSI), he concluded that conditions had been reset. “Biggest upside moves on BTC are YET TO COME,” he summarized, before adding that:

“A month of sideways action on BTC and dominance has simply made a higher low. H12 bullish div confirmed, RSI on higher TF looks reset, maintaining above the ‘magic’ 40 RSI level, who’s ready for the next leg up?”

Continuing, fellow pseudonymous trader CryptoCon flagged RSI over longer timeframes to deliver a similarly bullish take on BTC price performance:

“I see price going sideways, and I’ve never been more bullish! Just wait until we break into phase 2 on the 3 Week RSI… Early bull market price action, period.”

FUD of the Week 

Is SBF secretly behind BALD? Crypto Twitter debates latest conspiracy

Crypto Twitter has been abuzz with debate after a new conspiracy theory has suggested FTX founder Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried may be secretly behind one of the most controversial new memecoins on Base. The Bald memecoin was launched on July 30 and witnessed an incredible 289,000% gain within the first 24 hours of trading. After the token’s anonymous developer removed thousands of ETH in liquidity, the price of Bald plummeted more than 85% — sparking allegations of a rug pull, which the developer has denied. The incident led a number of blockchain sleuths to dig into the developer’s on-chain past, prompting some to draw a link to SBF as the Ethereum wallet address responsible for deploying the Bald token, which had received thousands of ETH in funding from wallets associated with FTX and Alameda Research.

Individual charged with money laundering admits to hacking Bitfinex in 2016

Ilya Lichtenstein admitted to a U.S. court that he was the individual behind an exploit of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016 which resulted in the theft of roughly 119,754 Bitcoin. Lichtenstein spoke as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, who charged him and his wife Heather Morgan with money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The couple allegedly laundered more than 94,643 BTC from the Bitfinex hack — worth roughly $54 million at the time.

Users said CertiK’s warning was a false alarm — then the project rugged

Blockchain security firm Certik tried, in 2022, to warn users of an imminent rug pull surrounding a crypto project, but investors became angry and fired back. The firm rescinded the security alert. Then, the project pulled the plug. This is the story behind the Web3 gaming project “Crypto Cars.” At the time, the project’s native token was rapidly falling in price, its website was temporarily down, and its developers said that it would no longer respond on its Telegram due to the Lunar New Year holiday celebrated in Vietnam. The situation triggered Certik’s alert, but when Cointelegraph attempted to follow up with the project on Aug. 1, 2023, it had long ago shut its doors.

Best Cointelegraph Features

Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?

While depositing may be easy, what some crypto exchanges do with your money behind the scenes can range from concerning to criminal.

Facebook’s parent company lost over $40 billion in metaverse, text-based Discord RPG uses AI and NFTs, Web3 gets new eSports platform, and more.

Girl Gone Crypto thinks ‘BREAKING’ crypto news tweets are boring: Hall of Flame

Girl Gone Crypto has had a wild ride in the crypto industry, going from posting videos playing her ukulele to getting invited to speak at crypto conferences all over the world.

Editorial Staff

Cointelegraph Magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.

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Politics

Peers back assisted dying bill – but battles lie ahead

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Peers back assisted dying bill - but battles lie ahead

The controversial assisted dying bill is still very much alive, having received a second reading in the House of Lords without a vote.

But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Day two of debate on the bill in the Lords was just as passionate and emotional as the first, a week earlier.

And now comes the hard part for supporters of Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, as opponents attempt to make major changes in the months ahead.

The Lords’ chamber was again packed for the debate, which this time began at 10am and lasted nearly six hours. In all, during 13 hours of debate over two days, nearly 200 peers spoke.

According to one estimate, over both days of the debate only around 50 peers spoke in favour of the bill and considerably more than 100 against, with only a handful neutral.

The bill proposes allowing terminally ill adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death. Scotland’s parliament has already passed a similar law.

Pro-assisted dying campaigners outside parliament earlier this month. Pic: PA
Image:
Pro-assisted dying campaigners outside parliament earlier this month. Pic: PA

In a safeguard introduced in the Commons, an application would have to be approved by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior lawyer and psychiatrist.

The bill’s sponsor in the Lords, Charlie Falconer, said while peers have “a job of work to do”, elected MPs in the Commons should have the final decision on the bill, not unelected peers.

One of the most contentious moments in the first day of debate last Friday was a powerful speech by former Tory prime minister Theresa May, who said the legislation was a “licence to kill” bill.

That claim prompted angry attacks on the former PM when the debate resumed from Labour peers, who said it had left them dismayed and caused distress to many terminally ill people.

The former PM, daughter of a church of England vicar, had claimed in her speech that the proposed law was an “assisted suicide bill” and “effectively says suicide is OK”.

But opening the second day’s debate, Baroness Thornton, a lay preacher and health minister in Tony Blair’s government, said: “People have written to me in the last week, very distressed.

“They say things such as: ‘We are not suicidal – we want to live – but we are dying, and we do not have the choice or ability to change that. Assisted dying is not suicide’.”

Throughout the criticism of her strong opposition to the bill, the former PM sat rooted to her seat, not reacting visibly but looking furious as her critics attacked her.

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Assisted Dying: Reflections at the end of life

There was opposition to the bill, too, from grandees of the Thatcher and Major cabinets. Lord Deben, formerly John Gummer and an ex-member of the Church of England synod, said the bill “empowers the state to kill”.

And Lord Chris Patten, former Tory chairman, Hong Kong governor and Oxford University chancellor, said it was an “unholy legislative mess” and could lead to death becoming the “default solution to perceived suffering”.

Read more:
Paralympian targeted with abuse for opposing assisted dying bill
The assisted dying debate has been politics – but not as we know it

Day two of the debate also saw an unholy clash between Church of England bishops past and present, with former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey claiming opponents led by Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell were out of touch with public opinion.

While a large group of bishops sat in their full robes on their benches, Lord Carey suggested both the Church and the Lords would “risk our legitimacy by claiming that we know better than both the public” and the Commons.

“Do we really want to stand in the way of this bill?” he challenged peers. “It will pass, whether in this session or the next. It has commanding support from the British public and passed the elected House after an unprecedented period of scrutiny.”

But Archbishop Cottrell hit back, declaring he was confident he represented “views held by many, not just Christian leaders, but faith leaders across our nation in whom I’ve been in discussion and written to me”.

And he said the bill was wrong “because it ruptures relationships” and would “turbocharge” the agonising choices facing poor and vulnerable people.

A campaigner in opposition of the bill. Pic: PA
Image:
A campaigner in opposition of the bill. Pic: PA

One of the most powerful speeches came from former Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, awarded a peerage by Rishi Sunak after a dramatic Commons comeback after losing his arms and legs after a bout of sepsis.

He shocked peers by revealing that in Belgium, terminally ill children as young as nine had been euthanised. “I’m concerned we want to embed an option for death in the NHS when its modus operandi should be for life,” he said.

And appearing via video link, a self-confessed “severely disabled” Tory peer, Kevin Shinkwin, was listened to in a stunned silence as he said the legislation amounted to the “stuff of nightmares”.

He said it would give the state “a licence to kill the wrong type of people”, adding: “I’m the wrong type. This bill effectively puts a price on my head.”

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Assisted Dying vote: Both sides react

After the debate, Labour peer and former MP Baroness Luciana Berger, an opponent of the bill, claimed a victory after peers accepted her proposal to introduce a special committee to examine the bill and report by 7 November.

“The introduction of a select committee is a victory for those of us that want proper scrutiny of how these new laws would work, the massive changes they could make to the NHS and how we treat people at the end of their lives,” she told Sky News.

“It’s essential that as we look at these new laws we get a chance to hear from those government ministers and professionals that would be in charge of creating and running any new assisted dying system.”

After the select committee reports, at least four sitting Fridays in the Lords have been set aside for all peers – a Committee of the whole house – to debate the bill and propose amendments.

Report stage and third reading will follow early next year, then the bill goes back to the Commons for debate on any Lords amendments. There’s then every chance of parliamentary ping pong between the two Houses.

Kim Leadbeater’s bill may have cleared an important hurdle in the Lords. But there’s still a long way to go – and no doubt a fierce battle ahead – before it becomes law.

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UK and Ireland agree deal to address ‘unfinished business’ of the Troubles

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UK and Ireland agree deal to address 'unfinished business' of the Troubles

The UK and Irish governments have agreed a new framework to address the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles.

The framework, announced by Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn and the Irish deputy prime minister, Simon Harris, at Hillsborough Castle on Friday, replaces the controversial Legacy Act, introduced by the Conservative government.

“I believe that this framework, underpinned by new co-operation from both our governments, represents the best way forward to finally make progress on the unfinished business of the Good Friday Agreement,” said Mr Benn.

He added that it would allow the families of victims killed during violence in Northern Ireland between the 1960s and 1990s, to “find the answers they have long been seeking”.

The proposed framework includes a dedicated Legacy Commission to investigate deaths during the Troubles, a resumption of inquests regarding cases from the conflict which were halted by the Legacy Act.

There will also be a separate truth recovery mechanism, the Independent Commission on Information Retrieval, jointly funded by London and Dublin.

“Dealing with the legacy of the Troubles is hard, and that is why it has been for so long the unfinished business of the Good Friday Agreement,” said Mr Benn.

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Mr Harris described the framework as a “night and day improvement” on the previous act. Scrapping the Legacy Act, introduced in 2023, was a Labour government pledge.

What this means

A section of the Legacy Act offered immunity from prosecution for ex-soldiers and militants who cooperate with a new investigative body. This provision was ruled incompatible with human rights law.

The 2023 law was opposed by all political parties in Northern Ireland, including pro-British and Irish nationalist groups.

The agreement replaces a controversial law. (Pic: PA)
Image:
The agreement replaces a controversial law. (Pic: PA)

The Irish government, which brought a legal challenge against Britain at the European Court of Human Rights, also opposed it.

Both governments said the new plans will ensure it is possible to refer cases for potential prosecutions.

Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government had pledged to improve relations with Ireland. (Pic: PA)
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Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government had pledged to improve relations with Ireland. (Pic: PA)

It will ‘take time’ to win families’ confidence

Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Harris, said in a statement that the framework could deliver on Ireland’s two tests of being human rights-compliant and securing the support of victims’ families, if implemented in good faith.

He added that winning the confidence of victims’ families would take time.

Dublin will revisit its legal challenge against Britain if the tests are met, it said.

Restoring strained relations

The UK’s Labour government had sought to reset relations with Ireland, after they were damaged by the process of Britain leaving the European Union.

The Conservative government had defended its previous approach, arguing prosecutions were unlikely to lead to convictions, and that it wanted to draw a line under the conflict.

A number of trials have collapsed in recent years, but the first former British soldier to be convicted of an offence since the peace deal was given a suspended sentenced in 2023.

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Gary Gensler doubles down on crypto approach amid SEC sea change

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Gary Gensler doubles down on crypto approach amid SEC sea change

Gary Gensler doubles down on crypto approach amid SEC sea change

The former SEC chair and Paul Atkins, the current head of the agency, both made media appearance this week to address significant policies proposed by US President Donald Trump.

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