Argentina President To Probe $Libra Token Scam
Israel Okereke
Project/Community Manager | Host, Blockchain Talks with Israel | PlatON Dev. Ambassador | Product Marketer |
Week Ending February 15, 2025
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Welcome to our weekly newsletter summarising the most significant events in the cryptocurrency and finance industry over the past week. Stay informed and up to date with the latest developments.
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Here are the top stories from the past week:
Top Stories: ?? Argentina President To Probe $Libra Token Scam ______________________________________________________________________
A new cryptocurrency, $LIBRA, has ignited a heated debate in the corridors of Crypto Town. Recently Argentina’s President Javier Milei allegedly promoted a new cryptocurrency which turned out to be a scam. On Friday night, Milei promoted $LIBRA through his X account, saying it would boost the economy and support local enterprises. This promotion gave a sudden push to the LIBRA token price.
The $LIBRA token touched a high of $5.00? and then it crashed about 90% reached under $1 price, and lost over $4.4 BILLION from the market due to its legitimacy concerns. Read More.
KIP Protocol Accused of Rugging Argentina’s $LIBRA Memecoin
Milei’s Endorsement & Retraction: President Javier Milei’s X account promoted LIBRA, a Solana-based memecoin by KIP Protocol, pushing its market cap to $4.5B. Hours later, he deleted the tweet and denied involvement.
$87M Liquidity Pull: KIP Protocol allegedly removed $87M in USDC and SOL from liquidity pools, causing a 95% price crash. Bubblemaps flagged that 82% of LIBRA’s supply remains unlocked.
KIP Denies Wrongdoing: The team claims they didn’t act as market makers or profit from sales, but on-chain data suggests otherwise. Read More.
?? OpenSea Shuts Down KYC Airdrop Rumors
Speculation Over Airdrop: A link tied to OpenSea Foundation surfaced, sparking rumours of a token requiring KYC and age verification.
OpenSea Denies Claims: CEO Devin Finzer dismissed the rumours as misinformation, stating the KYC text was from a test site.
Points System, No Token Confirmation: OpenSea recently introduced XP rewards, fueling airdrop speculation, but has yet to confirm any token launch. Read More.
?? Binance CEO Criticizes Token Listing Process
Listing Speed Issues: CZ called Binance’s token listing process “broken,” citing price spikes on DEXes due to shortlisting windows.
Meme Coin Market: He acknowledged Binance’s meme coin listings, attributing it to regulatory constraints on utility tokens.
Market Awareness: CZ clarified he isn’t involved in listing decisions and warned traders about volatility. Read More.
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On this Week's?Top Picks
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? OpenSea introduces $SEA & launches OpenSea 2 Open Beta.
?? Story launches $IP airdrop claim, Kaito yappers eligible.
?? Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund bought ~$436M of Bitcoin $BTC.
?? US SEC acknowledges spot Solana $SOL ETF filings.
?? SoftBank reports a $2.4B net loss in Q4 2024.
?? Legend raises $15M in Seed funding led by a16z Crypto.
?? Elon Musk-led group offers to buy OpenAI for $97.4B.
??? Apple releases emergency security updates.
?? ALPHA
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OpenSea Introduces $SEA: OpenSea 2 Open Beta live; TGE & airdrop coming soon.
Kaito Unveils $KAITO: Whitepaper released; tokenomics to follow.
Pumpfun Mobile App: Now on iOS & Android (UK excluded).
RedStone Oracles Teases $RED: TGE & airdrop expected soon.
Socket Quiz Wraps Up: The top 50% of participants earn a PowerPuff Discord role.
Aztec Foundation Launches: Paving the way for a decentralized, privacy-preserving network.
Namada Phase 3 Coming Soon: $NAM transferability in Phase 5.
Doodles Introduces $DOOD: 68% of supply for the community; launching on Solana & Base.
Uniswap $UNI Launches Unichain Mainnet: Built on Optimism’s Superchain.
Succinct Prover Network Testnet Live: Earn stars by generating proofs.
LiveArt Teases $ART: TGE & airdrop incoming.
Unichain Hints at Major Announcement: Possible mainnet launch this week.
? AIRDROP
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Berachain Social Airdrop: Top X yappers & Discord users can claim.
Arkham Season 1 Airdrop: Eligible for Season 1 points holders.
B3 $B3 Airdrop: XP & BP holders can claim until Feb 24.
Solayer $LAYER & Avalon $AVL Airdrops: Available for platform users.
Story Protocol $IP Airdrop: 10% of supply allocated; 5% for users, 5% for ecosystem projects.
RedStone Oracles $RED Tokenomics: 10% allocated for Community & Genesis.
Movement $MOVE Airdrop: Pre-registration open; Public Beta coming soon.
Rivalz $RIZ Airdrop: Claim starts Feb 21 (~7% of supply).
MyShell Airdrop: Open for MySoul NFT & ShellCoin holders.
Infinex $PENGU Airdrop: Available for account holders; bonus for Patrons holders.
Form Airdrop Checker Live: Meditations Phase I, Friendtech, & Virtuals users eligible.
Airdrop Strategies & Recaps: Insights from Earndrop on Polymarket, Berachain, Naoris & Credible.
OpenSea Refutes KYC Airdrop Rumors: CEO calls it "boilerplate text" from a test site.
?? CRYPTO UPDATES
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Argentina President & $LIBRA Memecoin: Javier Milei promoted then deleted a post about LIBRA, sparking scrutiny of KIP Protocol.
Ethereum $ETH Pectra Upgrade: Launching on Holesky (Feb 24), Sepolia (Mar 5), and Mainnet (Apr); aims to enhance scalability, security & UX.
Ethereum Foundation Moves $120M into DeFi: Deployed 45K ETH into Spark, Aave & Compound.
CZ reveals dog's name 'Broccoli'; Four Meme, Binance’s memecoin launcher, crashed as Broccoli memecoins launched.
Spot Crypto ETFs: SEC acknowledges filings for Solana ($SOL), Dogecoin ($DOGE), Ripple ($XRP), and Cardano ($ADA) by major firms, slightly improving approval odds.
Staking in ETH ETFs? NYSE Arca & 21Shares propose adding staking to Ethereum ETFs; SEC discusses staking with Jito Labs & Multicoin Capital.
Binance Listing Issues: CZ calls Binance's token listing process "a bit broken" due to rapid post-announcement price spikes.
Strategy Buys More Bitcoin: Acquired 7,633 BTC for $742.4M, bringing total holdings to 478,740 BTC ($46.5B).
Digital Asset Inflows Surge: $1.3B inflows last week—Bitcoin ($407M), Ethereum ($793M).
Coinbase Eyes India Return: In talks with regulators after 2022 suspension.
Bybit Removed from France’s AMF Blacklist: Working toward a MiCA license.
Binance & SEC Pause Legal Dispute: Both parties request a 60-day halt amid ongoing regulatory discussions.
Crypto[.]com Expands in Europe: Gains approval for cross-border services across EEA member states.
Proton Wallet Goes Public: Self-custodial Bitcoin wallet now available to all users.
Kanye West Shuts Down Crypto Rumors: Declares "IM NOT DOING A COIN" after reportedly being offered $2M to launch one.
SEC Hacker Pleads Guilty: Eric Council Jr admits to conspiracy & fraud after posting a fake Bitcoin ETF approval tweet from the SEC's account.
?? FINANCIAL UPDATES
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State Street & Citi Bank Enter Crypto Custody: The world’s largest custodian bank ($44T AUM) joins Citi in offering crypto custody services.
Mubadala Buys $436M in Bitcoin ETFs: Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund ramps up BTC exposure; BlackRock secures Abu Dhabi license.
Coinbase Q4 2024 Earnings Beat Expectations: Reported $2.3B in revenue, $1.3B net income (vs. expected $1.87B revenue).
Barclays discloses ~$131M of Bitcoin $BTC ETF holdings; previously disclosed a minimal position in Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF which it no longer holds.
Wisconsin & Barclays Increase Bitcoin ETF Holdings: Wisconsin’s BTC ETF holdings rise to $321M (+109%), Barclays discloses $131M in BTC ETFs.
MetaPlanet Raises $25.9M for Bitcoin: Japan-based firm to be added to MSCI Japan World Index in February.
GameStop Explores Crypto Investments: Evaluating Bitcoin & other assets for potential business synergy.
US CBP Seizes Bitcoin Mining Machines: MicroBT & Canaan shipments blocked; follows last year’s AI chip-related Bitmain seizures.
Bitmain Sells Half of Core Scientific Stake: Initially acquired shares in 2022 during Core Scientific’s bankruptcy.
Tether Buys Stake in Juventus Football Club: Aims to bridge sports & digital assets.
Japan FSA to Recognize Crypto as Securities: Plans to approve Bitcoin spot ETFs.
SoftBank Reports $2.4B Q4 Loss: Recently committed $15B investment in Oracle-OpenAI partnership (Stargate).
Robinhood Reports $916M Q4 Profit: Crypto revenue hit $358M.
BitGo Eyes IPO in 2025: Previously raised $100M at a $1.75B valuation.
Digihost Repurposes Bitcoin Mine for AI: $440M project to focus on high-performance computing.
Elon Musk-led Group Offers $97.4B for OpenAI: Sam Altman responds, jokingly offering to buy Twitter for $9.74B.
Trump Imposes 25% Tariffs on Steel & Aluminum: Potential global retaliation expected.
Gold Hits $2,925 ATH: Driven by central bank purchases & safe-haven demand.
CleanSpark Reduces Bitcoin Mining Costs: Cuts hashcost by 25% amid stagnant BTC hashprice.
?? SECURITY INCIDENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS
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Apple Patches Zero-Day Vulnerability: Emergency update fixes exploit that disables USB Restricted Mode on locked devices.
SlowMist Weekly Security Report Reports $8.95M in Losses: Incidents include social engineering, contract vulnerabilities, and account compromises.
Microsoft Expands Copilot AI Bug Bounty: Higher payouts for moderate-severity vulnerabilities.Microsoft February Security Update: 55 vulnerabilities patched, including four zero-days (two actively exploited).
zkLend Exploited for $9M: Offers hacker a 10% white hat bounty for fund return; post-mortem pending.
Lazarus Group Deploys New JavaScript Implant: "Marstech1" targets developers via websites and NPM packages.
OmniGPT Allegedly Breached: Hacker leaks 34M chatbot interactions, 30K emails, phone numbers, and user-uploaded files.
TOKEN UNLOCKS
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ApeCoin $APE / ~$12M / FEB 17th Sourced from Tokenomist
?? FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENTS
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HashKey Group raises $30M in funding from Gaorong Ventures.
Plasma raises $24M in Series A funding led by Framework Ventures & Bitfinex.
Mango Network raises $13.5M in funding from several investors.
StakeStone raises $10M in funding from BingX Labs.
GamerBoom raises $9M in funding from several investors.
BitRobot raises $8M in funding led by Protocol VC.
Teneo raises $3M in Seed funding led by RockawayX, Borderless, & Generative Ventures.
Fileverse raises $2.5M in Series A funding led by Nobody.
Soter Insure raises an undisclosed amount in Series A funding led by Galaxy.
Yield Guild Games raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Gam3Girl Ventures.
KUN raises an undisclosed amount in funding led by BAI Capital.
Legend raises $15M in Seed funding led by a16z Crypto.
Blum raises $5M in Pre-Seed & Seed funding led by Gumi Cryptos Capital.
Mirai Labs raises $4M in Seed funding led by Mechanism Capital.
Cabal raises $3M in funding from several investors.
InfiniFi raises $3M in Pre-Seed funding led by Electric Capital.
Whetstone Research raises $1.3M in Pre-Seed funding led by Variant.
Zengo raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding led by Tether.
TaoFi raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding led by Digital Currency Group.
Bidask Protocol raises an undisclosed amount in funding from DWF Labs.
Fere AI raises an undisclosed amount in funding from Morningstar Ventures.
Coala Pay raises $3.5M in Seed funding led by Castle Island Ventures.
Drosera raises $3.25M in Seed funding led by Greenfield Capital.
Hivello raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding led by Animoca Brands.
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That's all for this week's Digital Discovery Newsletter! We've covered many topics, from major industry developments to the latest in DeFi, security, funding, alpha, airdrop and upcoming events. Join us next week for another edition.
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Stay informed, stay crypto-savvy!
The Digital Discovery Team