Kanye West YZY sniper wallet linked to $21M LIBRA extraction scheme: Analysts

#1 Coinbase predicts trillion-dollar stablecoin era by 2028 The total US dollar-pegged stablecoin market is projected to swell to $1.2 trillion by 2028, spurred on by comprehensive crypto regulations in the United States, according to crypto exchange Coinbase. Coinbase said the projections mean the US Treasury issuance would have to be $5.3 billion per week over the next three years to satisfy demand from stablecoin issuers, who use short-term US Treasury bills as backing collateral for their digital fiat tokens. This issuance schedule would cause a minor and temporary drop in three-month Treasury yields of about 4.5 basis points, contrary to analyst predictions that demand from stablecoin issuers will significantly reduce the interest on US government debt. Coinbase wrote in a market report: “We think the forecast doesn’t require unrealistically large or permanent rate dislocations to materialize; instead, it relies on incremental, policy-enabled adoption compounding over time.” Get the full story

#2 Bitcoin’s 4-year cycle may not be dead after all: Glassnode Bitcoin’s recent price action may still be tracking its historic four-year halving cycle, despite some market predictions that increasing institutional interest will break the pattern, according to onchain analytics firm Glassnode. “From a cyclical perspective, Bitcoin’s price action also echoes prior patterns,” Glassnode said in a markets report on Wednesday. Glassnode said several factors suggest that the Bitcoin cycle may be further along than the market assumes. Profit-taking among long-term holders — those holding Bitcoin for more than 155 days — is now “comparable to past euphoric phases, reinforcing the impression of a market late in its cycle,” it said. Glassnode also pointed to weakening demand, with capital inflows into Bitcoin “showing signs of fatigue.” Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have posted outflows of about $975 million over the past four trading days, according to Farside Investors. Continue Reading

#3  Kanye West YZY sniper wallet linked to $21M LIBRA extraction scheme: Analysts An onchain investigation by pseudonymous analyst Dethective linked a wallet that sniped the Kanye West-themed token YZY to another set of wallets behind the LIBRA token, suggesting that the same operator extracted tens of millions of dollars using insider knowledge. In a series of X posts on Thursday, Dethective revealed that a YZY sniper wallet managed to buy $250,000 worth of tokens at just $0.20, far below the price most traders paid. Within minutes, the wallet secured over $1 million in profit, which was later funneled into a treasury wallet. The same treasury wallet had also received large sums from wallets tied to LIBRA’s launch six months ago. Two “Libra sniper” wallets extracted a combined $21 million. In total, nearly $23 million was pulled across the YZY and LIBRA launches, with funds later moved to Kamino or Binance. “We can be sure this is someone with clear inside info,” Dethective wrote. “The proof is that he did not snipe any coin besides $YZY and $LIBRA and he was prepared with huge size.” Continue Reading

Prediction of the Week ETH ‘god candle’ emerges amid Fed rate cut hopes: Is $6K Ether next? Ether’s price displayed strength at the Wall Street open on Friday, rising 13% to $4,788 following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole. ETH price rallied from $4,200 within minutes, reclaiming $4,600, a level that has suppressed the price over the last seven days, per data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView. This performance follows Powell’s Jackson Hole speech, where he hinted at a potential interest rate cut in September, signaling a dovish stance that boosted market optimism. Interest rate cut odds for the Sept. 17 FOMC meeting have now jumped to 91.5% from 75% a day prior, according to the CME Group Fedwatch tool. Continue Reading

FUD of the week Interpol coordinates crackdown on illegal Angola-based crypto miners The International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, announced more than a thousand arrests and the seizure of about $100 million as part of a crackdown that included cryptocurrency miners and fraudsters. In a Friday notice, Interpol said it had coordinated with authorities in Angola to dismantle 25 crypto mining centers being illegally run by 60 Chinese nationals. The organization said it had seized equipment worth more than $37 million, which the Angolan government plans to distribute to “vulnerable areas.” Continue Reading

FUD of the week Coinbase tightens workforce security after North Korea remote-worker threats Coinbase, the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, has come under a wave of threats from North Korean hackers seeking remote employment with the company. North Korean IT workers are increasingly targeting Coinbase’s remote worker policy to gain access to its sensitive systems. In response, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is rethinking the crypto exchange’s internal security measures, including requiring all workers to receive in-person training in the US, while people with access to sensitive systems will be required to hold US citizenship and submit to fingerprinting. “DPRK is very interested in stealing crypto,” Armstrong told Cheeky Pint podcast host John Collins in a Thursday episode. “We can collaborate with law enforcement […] but it feels like there’s 500 new people graduating every quarter, from some kind of school they have, and that’s their whole