The wallet service provider was the victim of a hack in 2023 that caused losses of over $100 million. The Malaysian Securities Regulatory Authority has added Atomic Wallet, a Web3 wallet service, to its list of financial institutions banned from operating in the country, according to the agency’s website. Atomic Wallet was warned for “operating a digital asset exchange (DAX) without registration,” according to the website. The regulator did not provide further details, but Atomic Wallet was the victim of a hack in 2023 that caused losses of over $100 million and has been the subject of litigation since then. The company joins several other cryptocurrency companies that the commission has banned from operating in the Asian country, including Crypto Trade Malaysia and Best Exchange. Atomic Wallet describes itself as a secure, decentralized, anonymous crypto wallet for staking and exchanging over 100 digital assets. Hacking incident In 2023, a group of users sued Atomic Wallet in the United States after the Web3 wallet provider fell victim to a cybersecurity breach. According to an analysis conducted by Elliptic, losses exceeded $100 million, with some users reporting losses of their entire cryptocurrency portfolios. The exploit was reportedly linked to the North Korean hacker group, the Lazarus Group, which allegedly transferred the stolen funds to Cambodian cryptocurrency exchange Phuone Pay. A US federal judge dismissed the class action lawsuit later that same year because the court failed to prove jurisdiction over the Estonian cryptocurrency company. In December 2023, Atomic Wallet launched a $1 million bug bounty bid to find security vulnerabilities in its wallet software. Growing Cyber ​​Threats Losses from cryptocurrency fraud, hacks, and exploits increased by about 21% year-over-year in 2024 as hackers targeted private keys on centralized exchanges and Web3 wallets. In a blog post published on December 19, Chainalysis said $2.2 billion in funds were stolen in 303 incidents in 2024, up from 282 in 2023. Private key breaches were the largest proportion of cryptocurrency stolen in 2024, accounting for 43.8%, according to Chainalysis research. Centralized exchanges turned out to be the most common target. “2024 saw a significant shift in cryptocurrency attacks, with centralized organizations becoming more prominent targets,” Jan Raussis, cybersecurity expert and co-founder of DeFi ecosystem SmarDex, told Cointelegraph.

$549 million of assets under management are underwritten by BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, according to RWA.XYZ data. Securitize, the brokerage firm that represents the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), has filed a Frax staking application to add BUIDL as an additional backer for the Frax USD stablecoin. With these enhancements, using BUIDL as a secured reserve asset can provide deeper yield paths, liquidity and exchange options, as well as reduce the risk of collateralization from BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. The proposal must go through a public vote before BUIDL can invest in US government bonds that can be added as a reserve asset for the proposed Frax USD stablecoin. Real-world assets (RWAs) have been identified as increasingly popular as a backed asset and reserve for stablecoins due to their high liquidity, fast settlement, and ability to provide significant profit opportunities for their holders. BUIDL is targeting the cryptocurrency market Ethena Labs (the developer behind Ethena, responsible for the US dollar-denominated USDe) announced the development of a BUIDL-backed stablecoin in September 2024. The BUIDL-backed stablecoin called USDtb is a separate product of USDe Ethena. USDtb went live on December 16 and raised nearly $65 million in total value (TVL) on its first day of trading. Unlike USDe, which relies on a difficult delta-neutral trading strategy to issue stablecoins, USDtb is backed by short-term US government bonds that hold BUIDL tokens at a 1:1 ratio to the US dollar. Oct. In 2024, BlackRock began promoting BUIDL as a collateral for cryptocurrency exchanges. The asset manager is said to have talked to Binance, OKEx, and Deribit about including the token as a collateral on their platforms. Using BUIDL as a crypto derivatives exchange would challenge the dominance of existing stablecoin providers like Tether and Circle, which currently operate digital asset exchange reserves.

Best Wallet ($BEST) token presale continues to attract strong investor interest after surpassing $5 million. Although it has only been a few weeks since fundraising began, the project’s advanced features seem to have been enough to convince Web 3 enthusiasts to participate and stand to reap huge profits once the token is listed. Despite the recent sell-off the crypto market experienced following the Fed’s aggressive comments this week, that hasn’t stopped investors from pushing the $BEST presale to new highs. Crypto-friendly policies supported by Donald Trump continue to be a good reason to invest in the blockchain space. Best Wallet is introducing innovative tools for investors, including a screener that helps identify the most promising Web 3 projects at an early stage. Additionally, the development team’s roadmap includes the launch of a decentralized exchange (DEX) and debit card services, which will allow users to seamlessly spend cryptocurrencies. Best Wallet’s native token, $BEST, is currently available at a presale discount of just $0.02327. This latest batch is only available for 27 hours. The price will increase when it expires. Stablecoins and DeFi outlook is bright in 2025 Stablecoins have been gaining attention this year as cryptocurrency adoption continues to grow around the world. The market capitalization of these digital assets is expected to grow by 48% in 2024, reaching a record high of $193 billion as of December 1. Meanwhile, more than $27 trillion in transactions have been processed in stablecoins since the beginning of the year, a threefold increase compared to the same period last year, according to Coinbase Market Outlook data. The sector shows no signs of slowing down, and analysts believe these figures could increase by another $5 trillion in 2025. Moreover, the DeFi sector is poised to re-emerge as a powerful force within the cryptocurrency industry after a difficult few years in which investors questioned the safety of most protocols. Total value locked (TVL) across multiple blockchains has reached $131 billion, a level not seen in the past two years, while current trends suggest that this value will surpass the record $178 billion it reached in 2021 by next year. However, meme coins are currently considered the most promising sector, as they have risen to the top of the cryptocurrency rankings by market capitalization in a relatively short time. Nine of the sector’s most valuable assets have already surpassed $1 billion, and many more have reached nine figures this year following the post-election rallies. Investor interest in these “internet jokes” (as some call them) is clear, calling into question fundamental ideas of how assets are valued. Community growth, a sense of belonging, and virality are some of the factors that have contributed to the recent rise in meme coin valuations. A secure Web3 wallet to store your valuable digital assets in a new crypto era Cryptocurrency is entering a new era, and investors need a secure wallet to store their digital assets. Prices are rising fast and once worthless tokens are no longer so valuable. Best Wallet stands out from the competition by offering superior transaction execution capabilities. This crypto storage solution is integrated with over 200 decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and over 20 cross-chain bridges to provide the best available prices for each token. For years, users have struggled to convert fiat currency into digital assets, but that’s no longer a problem as Best Wallet is making the transition easier through partnerships with top-tier payment processors such as Alchemy Pay and MoonPay. This ensures support for local wallets and financial institutions that process payments seamlessly and quickly. Additionally, the wallet currently supports over 100 fiat currencies, including USD, EUR, and GBP, and allows users to deposit funds into the wallet directly from their bank accounts. While these features are appealing, there is one tool in particular that may intrigue early investors and users. It is called “Upcoming Tokens” and its main purpose is to help investors identify new projects that offer promising benefits using advanced screeners. Best Wallet allows users to get their hands on these presale assets at bargain prices, putting them in a good position to potentially make big profits if they become popular. A notable success story of how the Upcoming Tokens feature is used is Pepe Unchained ($PEPE), a meme coin that sold for just $0.00992 in its presale. Investors who managed to invest at this rock bottom increased their investment by 591% immediately after it was listed on the three major centralized exchanges. Catslap ($SLAP) is another good example of the power of this tool. This meme coin saw a notable price increase of 3,091% immediately after the end of its presale. As it turns out, meme coins aren’t the only upcoming tokens that can be identified. Promising infrastructure tokens such as Solaxy ($SOLX), a layer-2 Solana project, were also spotted by the screener. The project is still in the presale stage and has raised over $3 million in just three days. According to this crypto analyst, $BEST token has 10x potential $BEST token opens the door to experience the best that Best Wallet currently has to offer. The user base has grown by 50% month-on-month, meaning that the demand for the token is being met. Meanwhile, other segments of the ecosystem, such as decentralized exchanges and the upcoming Best Card, will also attract demand for $BEST. Buying the token in the presale will allow investors to reap huge rewards. Crypto Gains, a popular crypto influencer, predicts that the value of the token could see a 10x return once the entire ecosystem is fully up and running. Best Wallet: Token Presale! It’s like investing in Meta Mask if you have coins. Easily 10x? – YouTube For Crypto Gains, the wallet can be considered an upgrade from MetaMask in many ways due to its sophisticated features. This could potentially lead to even better returns when the native token $BEST is listed on CEX. Investor appetite for this new project seems insatiable, as evidenced by its ability to easily surpass the $5 million…

BTC price volatility is returning to six-digit levels due to Coinbase-led Bitcoin buying. Bitcoin BTC is down $96,495 as of Dec. 21, approaching $100,000 after a “monster” BTC price surge led to a sudden uptrend. BTC price suddenly recovers from weekend Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked BTC/USD, up $7,000 in 24 hours. Some relief finally arrived at the start of the weekend after a drop to a December low of $92,000 led to liquidation of leveraged long positions. Bitstamp hit a high of $99,500, and the lack of institutional trading seemed almost meaningless as bulls tried to reclaim six-figure amounts. The bounce came as buyers returned to Coinbase, the largest U.S. exchange, which had previously sparked selling pressure. Popular trader Exitpump summarized in a post on X that “Coinbase is buying heavily off the lows,” and compared it to Binance’s buying. His colleague Superbro noted that the 50-day SMA (simple moving average) was acting as clean support for BTC/USD. Trading account Dr. Magic further explained the “fake” breakdown signal on Bitcoin’s Relative Strength Index (RSI). According to the RSI post, “There’s a reason I’m obsessed with this RSI scam breakdown I’ve been posting for a while because it was happening on every major leg up to the first local high,” he told his followers, using a chart showing the correlation of highest prices. The signal was substantiated. At the time of writing, the daily RSI is at 52 and is holding above the important midpoint of 50. As reported by Cointelegraph, the RSI typically stays above the “overbought” 70 level for extended periods in Bitcoin bull markets. Too little, too late for Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin’s return to nearly $100,000 seemed bittersweet for investors in the US spot Bitcoin ETF. According to data from UK-based investment firm Far Side Investors and other sources, ETFs recorded net outflows of nearly $300 million as of Dec. 20. The largest of these ETFs, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), recorded a record high of $72.7 million in net outflows. On an hourly basis, he looked for possible breakout signals in the form of an inverse head-and-shoulders structure, a classic pattern that indicates short-term and long-term lows.

The collapse of the Terra ecosystem has finally led to the closure of Terraform Labs following a settlement with the SEC. Tai Mo Shan’s Jump Crypto agreed to a $123 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on December 20 for misleading investors ahead of the launch of its algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD (UST). Tai Mo Shan signed an agreement with Terraform to buy Terra LUNA LUNA shares for $0.004375, according to the SECIn 2021, Tai Mo Shan bought nearly $20 million in UST, a significant price to maintain a 1:1 peg of the algorithmic stablecoin to the U.S. dollar. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler had this to say about the UST collapse: “The impact was felt across the cryptocurrency market, ultimately costing many savings accounts. Despite the label, cryptocurrency market participants are expected to adhere to appropriate safety regulations and not mislead the public.” The collapse of TerraUSD in May 2022 sent shockwaves through the cryptocurrency community and had a major impact on stablecoin regulations, such as the Lummis-Gillibrand Stablecoin Act of 2024, which banned algorithmic stablecoins. TerraUSD collapses TerraUSD, an algorithmic stablecoin that is pegged to the US dollar through software and digital asset additions, collapsed in May 2022. The algorithmic stablecoin began its decline on May 8, 2022, when a whale deposited $285 million to UST. This caused UST to lose its 1:1 USD peg and trade at a spot price of $0.98. On May 10, 2022, TerraUSD fell to $0.67, leading to a number of sell-offs among long-term traders, further fueling fear, uncertainty, and investor skepticism. During the UST default, the algorithmic stablecoin’s market cap was larger than the underlying LUNA reserves that served as UST collateral. This indicated that the algorithmic stablecoin was not backed by sufficient underlying reserves – UST prices collapsed as investors panicked and sold their UST. Due to the collapse of UST and the subsequent recession, US authorities investigated Terraform Labs and its founder, Do Kwon, ultimately resulting in a lawsuit and a large settlement of $4.4 billion.

Bitcoin traders’ realized losses have likely peaked, which could signal a bottom for the current BTC price decline. Bitcoin’s BTC ticks fell to $96,685 on the daily chart, marking the first time since the first week of November that it had three consecutive red candlesticks. This week happened to be the period before Donald Trump’s US election victory. Another similarity to the last time three or more red candlesticks were observed on the daily chart is that Bitcoin retested the 50-day EMA level. BTC price has fallen more than 15% from its all-time high, with one analyst saying the biggest drop may be over for the largest cryptocurrency. Bitcoin correction “almost complete,” analyst says Bitcoin price dipped below $93,000 in December. On the 20th, independent crypto trader Captain Fibick said that BTC’s correction is nearing the end. In a post on X, the trader highlighted that BTC’s current decline is due to a significant bearish divergence between BTC price and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) from last month. Typically, such a divergence is followed by an 8% to 10% drop, which is considered a “healthy reset.” The trader expected the price to bounce back from the $94,000 area. On the contrary, anonymous crypto trader Cold Blooded Shiller predicted a sharper drop in Bitcoin based on the same divergence pattern. The trader compared BTC’s current price action to January 2024 and said that if the outcome is similar, BTC’s decline could drop to $85,000. Meanwhile, futures market analyst Byzantine General highlighted the constant selling by spot holders. The analyst said: “Spot is really selling at a premium at the moment because it’s so heavily sold and decoupled from the derivatives market.” In fact, CryptoQuant analyst Maartunn said this is the most significant selling activity on Coinbase since Bitcoin was listed at $66,000. The selling pressure is “relentless” as Coinbase’s premium falls to a quarterly low. Bitcoin’s real losses hit $28.9 million As selling pressure grows hour by hour, realized losses also peaked above the weekly average. Bitcoin on-chain analyst Axel Adler Jr. highlighted that realized BTC losses over the past five days have reached $28.9 million, 320% higher than the weekly average in 2024. It has only surpassed 28 million 10 times this year. Analysis of the mid-term Bitcoin chart reveals a bearish structural break (BOS). However, if Bitcoin continues to close the daily candle above $95,000, the reversal will obviously be invalidated. As can be seen from the chart, the 4-hour candle dropped to $92,777 before quickly recovering above $95,000. It would be ideal for Bitcoin to see a daily candle above $95,000 to invalidate the bearish sentiment.