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- 9/12/24: The Great Ape Heist 🐵🪙🏦
9/12/24: The Great Ape Heist 🐵🪙🏦
Valko
September 12, 2024
Top News
Ape CryptoPunk #2386 'stolen' from Niftex platform for 10 ETH
Coinbase officially launches it’s own wrapped Bitcoin, cbBTC
SWIFT partners with major banks for blockchain interoperability
Specs’ Insights
1. Ape CryptoPunk #2386 'stolen' from Niftex platform for 10 ETH
Today happened one of the biggest crypto punk heists of all time. Someone with a lot of patience and knowledge just bought ape 2386 for 10 ETH.
How 👇🧵
— niftynaut (@niftynaut)
7:30 PM • Sep 11, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → One of twenty-four ape CryptoPunks was just “stolen” in what some are calling the greatest NFT heist of all time. For a full explanation of what happened, read 0xQuit’s thread, but essentially:
In 2020, someone fractionalized an ape into 10k shares
Yesterday, a buyer proposed a buyout at 0.001 ETH per share
Holders failed to reject the buyout, the ape sold for 10 ETH
For context, the last 3 ape sales were at $1.48M, $4.45M, and $3.31M respectively — the "stolen" ape already has a $1.41M bid on it.
Crypto Twitter has mixed reactions, with some praising the heister’s brilliant play, while others accuse him of a highly unethical exploit.
While I feel bad for those who lost money (many are friends), I also respect the game.
Anyway, this is a stark reminder that sometimes trustless technology can work against intended outcomes.
With great power comes great responsibility.
2. Coinbase officially launches it’s own wrapped Bitcoin, cbBTC
cbBTC is onchain.
cbBTC is an ERC20 token that is backed 1:1 by Bitcoin (BTC) held by Coinbase.
This means millions of BTC holders can now securely access DeFi apps on @base and Ethereum ecosystems—with more chains coming soon.
Here’s what you need to know ↓ x.com/i/web/status/1…
— Coinbase 🛡️ (@coinbase)
12:32 PM • Sep 12, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → Coinbase has officially launched cbBTC, its own wrapped Bitcoin token, backed 1:1 with Bitcoin, on Ethereum mainnet and Base.
cbBTC lets Coinbase users utilize the Bitcoin they already hold in new onchain ways, such as providing liquidity to DeFi protocols or using it as collateral for loans.
This solution blurs the lines between TradFi and DeFi, helping non-crypto natives seamlessly access onchain apps like Aave, Curve, Compound, and more.
The launch comes amid controversy surrounding the leading wrapped Bitcoin token WBTC from Bitgo.
If Coinbase’s success with Base is any indicator, cbBTC is about to take off and spawn a massive Bitcoin economy on Base — one where Bitcoin effectively becomes a strategic reserve asset.
3. SWIFT partners with major banks for blockchain interoperability
We’re paving the way towards real-world solutions that will enable our members to transact interchangeably with regulated #DigitalAssets and currencies on the Swift network.
👉 Discover what’s next on this exciting journey: okt.to/7kMhD4
#DigitalCurrencies#innovation
— Swift (@swiftcommunity)
9:41 AM • Sep 11, 2024
⌐◪-◪ → The SWIFT network (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) just announced a new digital asset initiative.
The collaboration between SWIFT, Chainlink, and 12+ financial institutions aims to enable interoperability between SWIFT member banks and 3 blockchains (Ethereum, Avalanche, and Quorum).
If successful, over 11,000 SWIFT member banks could be launched onto the digital frontier, allowing millions of customers easy access to blockchain.
This would not only upgrade our legacy international transfer process but also enable real-time transfer of tokenized real-world assets in traditional finance.
Sometimes I think we might not be that early anymore.
Everything Else
⛓️ Crypto & DeFi
Vitalik will not advertise L2s with multi-sig security
Pendle launches Bitcoin yield pools
Bitfinex BTC longs paused for the debate, then continues to grow
FTX estate unstakes $24M SOL, still has $943M
Myriad shares new details on its prediction market platform
Raydium introduced a new ‘Burn & Earn’ feature
Aave considers Coinbase's cbBTC, opening decentralization debate
Binance launches SOL liquid staking - BNSOL
Vega passes governance vote to shutdown its L1 blockchain
Osmosis launches cross-chain token portal Polaris
🏦 Wallstreet & VC
Bitcoin ETFs see $43M outflow, ending 2-day positive flows
Prometheum goes live as 1st registered crypto broker-dealer
CleanSpark buys 7 Bitcoin mining facilities in Tennessee for $30M
Standard Chartered says Bitcoin could hit record high by EOY
Tune.fm raises $50M to provide liquidity for the protocol’s JAM token
Ark Invest buys $8.4M in Coinbase shares after debate dip
🏛️ Legal & Regulatory
CFTC tackles crypto pig butchering scams with new partnerships
🌎 Rest of the World
UK introduces bill that makes crypto and NFT’s legal properties
CEX.IO resumes UK operations after meeting FCA guidelines
ECB cuts interest rates again by 0.25 percentage points
Singapore stablecoin usage doubled in Q2 2024 to $1B
Bank of Russia targets July 2025 for retail CBDC
🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse