Important News from Last Night and This Morning (August 10-11)

SharpLink is suspected of buying all the $200 million it raised into ETH

According to on-chain analyst Ember, a new wallet withdrew 52,809 ETH ($220 million) from Coinbase Prime 10 hours ago. The funds were then distributed to eight wallets for staking. One of these wallets is a known address for SharpLink (SBET). SharpLink raised $200 million through a stock sale last Friday, so it's likely that the funds were used to purchase ETH over the weekend. If this speculation is correct, SharpLink (SBET) currently holds 621,000 ETH, worth $2.65 billion. The average purchase price is approximately $3,226.

1inch team investment fund sold some ETH and 1INCH, realizing $8.36 million in profit

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, the 1inch team investment fund has begun selling previously purchased ETH and 1inch tokens on-chain. They have sold 5,000 ETH at an average price of $4,215 for 21.07 million USDC, and 6.45 million 1inch tokens at an average price of $0.28 for 1.8 million USDC. These ETH and 1inch tokens sold today have generated a profit of $8.36 million. The ETH consisted of 11,198 ETH purchased in February for $2,577 for 28.85 million USDC, while the 1inch tokens consisted of 61.76 million 1inch tokens purchased in July for $0.253 for 15.65 million USDC.

A whale/institution once again increased its holdings by over $200 million in ETH, currently holding over $900 million in ETH

According to Onchain Lens, a whale/institution has added another 49,533 ETH, valued at $210.68 million, from Galaxy Digital and FalconX. Currently, the whale holds a total of 221,166 ETH, valued at $940.73 million, spread across six different wallets. Previous reports indicate that a major whale/institution has accumulated over 170,000 ETH, worth approximately $670 million, over the past four days.

An Ethereum developer was detained in Türkiye for allegedly helping others abuse Ethereum.

According to BeInCrypto, an Ethereum developer named "Fede's Intern" has been detained in Izmir, Turkey, on suspicion of helping others "abuse" Ethereum. In a post on X, the developer stated that authorities accused him of facilitating this activity. "Fede's Intern" denied any wrongdoing, emphasizing that he and his team are "just infrastructure builders" and are willing to cooperate with authorities. During his detention, he posted intermittent updates, stating that he had been moved to a private room and provided with food. He also claimed that arrangements were being made to leave Turkey for Europe on a private jet within a few hours. Upon arrival in Europe, he will continue to fight the charges with his legal team.

U.S. Treasury Secretary: Leading the search for Powell's successor

According to CCTV News, on August 10 local time, U.S. Treasury Secretary Benson said that he is taking the lead in searching for a successor to U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell.

TRM Labs: Embargo Ransomware Group Transfers $34 Million in Cryptocurrency Since April

According to Cointelegraph, blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs reports that a ransomware group known as Embargo has transferred over $34 million in ransom-related cryptocurrency since April. Embargo currently holds approximately $18.8 million in cryptocurrency in unaffiliated wallets, a tactic experts believe may be intended to delay detection or exploit improved laundering conditions in the future. Embargo operates using a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) model, primarily targeting industries with high downtime costs, including healthcare, business services, and manufacturing, and tends to target victims in the United States, likely due to their greater ability to pay. TRM's investigation suggests that Embargo may be a rebranded version of the notorious BlackCat (ALPHV) group, which disappeared earlier this year after a suspected exit scam. The two groups share technical overlap, using the Rust programming language, operating similar data leak websites, and exhibiting on-chain connections through shared wallet infrastructure. While not as overtly aggressive as LockBit or Cl0p, Embargo employs a double-extortion strategy: encrypting systems and threatening to release sensitive data unless victims pay. In some cases, the group publicly names victims or leaks data on its website to increase the pressure.

Crypto executives: At least one Bitcoin user is kidnapped every week, and the frequency of attacks will increase during bull markets

According to Cointelegraph, SatoshiLabs founder Alena Vranova warned of an increasing number of scams, physical attacks, and kidnappings targeting Bitcoin and cryptocurrency holders. "Every week, at least one Bitcoin holder around the world is kidnapped, tortured, extorted, and sometimes even worse," she warned, warning that even small cryptocurrency investors can be targeted by violent criminals. "It might seem like a problem only for Bitcoin OGs, but that's not the case. We've seen people kidnapped for $6,000 worth of cryptocurrency, and we've seen people murdered for $50,000." "The identities of over 80 million Bitcoin holders and cryptocurrency users have been leaked online; 2.2 million of these contain home addresses," she added, adding that these attacks are correlated with Bitcoin's price and increase in frequency during bull markets.

The Russian hacker group GreedyBear recently stole over $1 million in cryptocurrency by forging MetaMask wallets.

According to Decrypt, Koi Security, a US- and Israel-based hacking group, reportedly affiliated with GreedyBear, has stolen over $1 million worth of cryptocurrency over the past five weeks using 150 weaponized Firefox extensions, nearly 500 malicious executables, and dozens of phishing websites. Koi CTO Idan Dardikman stated that Firefox attacks were "by far" their most profitable attack vector, accounting for the majority of the $1 million in proceeds. This particular tactic involved creating fake versions of widely downloaded crypto wallets such as MetaMask, Exodus, Rabby Wallet, and TronLink. The hackers used extension hollowing to bypass marketplace security measures, initially uploading benign versions of the extensions and then updating the applications with malicious code. The group also published fake reviews of the extensions to create a false impression of trust and reliability. Once downloaded, the malicious extensions would steal wallet credentials, which were then used to steal cryptocurrency. Another major attack vector for the group involved the distribution of nearly 500 malicious Windows executables, including credential stealers, ransomware, and Trojans, and their addition to Russian websites that distribute pirated or repackaged software.

LayerZero Foundation proposes to acquire Stargate cross-chain bridge and its token STG for $110 million

According to The Block, the LayerZero Foundation proposed to acquire the Stargate cross-chain bridge and its STG token for $110 million. Under the terms of the proposal, the STG token will be deactivated, and STG holders can exchange their tokens for LayerZero's native token ZRO at a rate of 1 STG to 0.08634 ZRO, equivalent to $0.1675 per STG and $1.94 per ZRO. Stargate will be incorporated into the LayerZero Foundation, and its DAO will be dissolved. The proposal states: "This proposal aims to accelerate the development of Stargate and LayerZero, providing Stargate with resources to enable it to implement an aggressive roadmap and expand its privileges beyond bridging, while deeply connecting a powerful revenue-generating protocol to the LayerZero ecosystem, allowing end consumers to have deeper access to LayerZero."

APT, ARB, AVAX and other tokens will usher in large-scale unlocking, of which APT unlocking value is approximately US$52.1 million

According to Token Unlocks data, tokens such as APT, ARB, and AVAX will usher in large-scale unlocking next week. Among them, Aptos (APT) will unlock approximately 11.31 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on August 12, accounting for 2.20% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$52.1 million; Arbitrum (ARB) will unlock approximately 92.65 million tokens at 9:00 pm Beijing time on August 16, accounting for 2.04% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$41.9 million; Avalanche (AVAX) will unlock approximately 1.67 million tokens at 8:00 am Beijing time on August 15, accounting for 0.51% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$39.2 million; Sei (SEI) will unlock approximately 55.56 million tokens at 8:00 pm Beijing time on August 15, accounting for 1.21% of the current circulation and worth approximately US$17.5 million. Solayer (LAYER) will unlock approximately 27.02 million tokens at 10:00 PM PDT on August 11th, representing 9.51% of the current circulating supply and valued at approximately $17 million. Starknet (STRK) will unlock approximately 127 million tokens at 8:00 AM PDT on August 15th, representing 5.98% of the current circulating supply and valued at approximately $16.8 million. io.net (IO) will unlock approximately 13.29 million tokens at 8:00 PM PDT on August 11th, representing 6.51% of the current circulating supply and valued at approximately $8.3 million. Peaq (PEAQ) will unlock approximately 84.84 million tokens at 8:00 AM PDT on August 12th, representing 7.03% of the current circulating supply and valued at approximately $5.6 million. BounceBit (BB) will unlock approximately 42.9 million tokens at 8:00 AM PDT on August 11th, representing 6.36% of the current circulating supply and valued at approximately $5.4 million.

Huajian Medical launches "Global Enhanced Ethereum (ETH) Vault" strategy

Huajian Medical (01931.HK) issued an announcement on the group’s latest strategic upgrade and dimensional upgrading initiative. After the board of directors’ resolution, the group officially launched the “Global Enhanced Ethereum (ETH) Vault with Downside Protection Mechanism” strategy (Ethereum (ETH) Vault Strategy).

Michael Saylor releases Bitcoin Tracker information again; Strategy may disclose increased holdings next week

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), has once again released Bitcoin Tracker information on the X platform and may disclose the increase in holdings next week. He said: "If you don't stop buying Bitcoin, you won't stop making money."

AguilaTrades, a whale, started shorting ETH with 25x leverage 20 minutes ago.

According to on-chain analyst Ember's monitoring, the whale AguilaTrades started shorting ETH. He started shorting ETH with 25x leverage 20 minutes ago and is currently using TWAP (time-weighted average price) orders to execute short sales. The order shows that he will complete the short sale of 10,000 ETH (US$42 million) in 3 hours.

The White House crypto chief is unhappy that top US banks still prohibit wealth management platforms from accessing Bitcoin ETFs.

David Sacks, the White House director of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, wrote on the X platform to express his dissatisfaction with the fact that many US banks still prohibit wealth management platforms from accessing Bitcoin ETFs. He wrote: "Why do leading US banks still prohibit or restrict access to Bitcoin ETFs on their wealth management platforms? Is this the last vestige of 'de-banking'?"

Analyst: ETH price target is now $20,000, or may reach a new high within 1-2 weeks

According to Cointelegraph, market sentiment has rallied again after ETH broke through $4,000 for the first time since the end of 2024. Analyst Merlijn stated that ETH's upward price channel has opened, with the current maximum target price potentially set at $20,000. Furthermore, BitBull noted that driven by a massive short squeeze and institutional buying, ETH prices may be more likely to reach new all-time highs. If the weekly closing price is above the $4,100 range, a new all-time high could occur within one to two weeks.