Weekly Crypto Roundup: disharmony, downfall, and discounts

Crypto headlines this week were taken over by the Harmony heist, which saw around $100 million in crypto funds stolen by hackers, now thought to be linked to North Korea.

Representations of virtual cryptocurrencies are seen in this illustration taken | Photo Credit: DADO RUVIC

The past week in crypto was dramatic all around, with more company catastrophes and a heist thrown into the mix too. However, the ongoing crypto winter didn’t stop two high-profile crypto traders, called ‘whales’ in crypto-speak, from scooping up new coins.

Putting the ‘harm’ in Harmony

Crypto headlines this week were taken over by the Harmony heist, which saw around $100 million in crypto funds stolen by hackers, now thought to be linked to North Korea.

Harmony is a blockchain that is compatible with Ethereum, the industry’s second biggest by market cap. The hack affected Harmony’s Horizon Bridge, which allows investors to move their crypto assets across blockchains. 

Harmony offered $10 million for intel leading to the stolen funds, and even tried to negotiate with the hackers.

“The final term is they retain $10 million and return the remaining amount, in addition to the team ceasing the investigation. The deadline for a response from the responsible party is Monday, July 4th at 23:00 GMT to initiate communication,” stated a company blog post on Wednesday.

Crypto bridges are known for being susceptible to exploits. In March this year, an Ethereum side-chain known as the Ronin Bridge suffered a hack which led to it losing over $600 million. This was one of the largest crypto hacks on record, and was again linked to North Korea.

The crypto community is no doubt tracking how Harmony will reach out to investors whose funds were stolen.

An arrow, or three, to the heart

A large part of the crypto sector’s struggles right now exist thanks to the Singapore-based Three Arrows Capital, a crypto hedge fund that has been ordered to liquidate by a court in the British Virgin Islands.

Three Arrows Capital previously failed to meet margin calls and was reportedly exploring options such as bailouts and asset sales.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has also reprimanded the crypto hedge fund for sharing “misleading information” regarding directors’ shares, and for going over its assets-under-management cap.

As centralized platforms face financial and legal uncertainty in this latest crypto winter, investors too are being forced to rethink the institutions they once trusted without doubt.

Large players go shopping

With Bitcoin still below $20,000 and Ethereum’s Ether just over $1,000, investors are extremely fearful. However, two large whales claimed they used the opportunity to buy the dip.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who already bought over 2,000 BTC for the country, reported he bought 80 more.

“El Salvador bought today 80 #BTC at $19,000 each! #Bitcoin is the future! Thank you for selling cheap,” Mr. Bukele tweeted, with a winking emoji.

Excluding the latest purchase, El Salvador’s Bitcoin investments are down by 57.77%, according to the Nayib Tracker website.

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy CEO and billionaire Michael J. Saylor reported that his company had bought 480 BTC at $20,817 per Bitcoin.

“As of June 28, 2022, MicroStrategy, together with its subsidiaries, held an aggregate of approximately 129,699 bitcoins, which were acquired at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $3.98 billion and an average purchase price of approximately $30,664 per bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses,” a company release stated.

MicroStrategy’s stock is down by 74.76% in the past year.

Next week’s headlines will likely focus on whether or not the ongoing crypto winter forces other large companies to fold.