WazirX Offers 85% of Stolen User Funds as Rebalancing Ends

By Kapil Rajyaguru

WazirX Offers 85% of Stolen User Funds as Rebalancing Ends.

WazirX hack victims will receive 85% of their portfolio value as recorded on Jul. 18 as the exchange completed its asset rebalancing on Tuesday, with the first round of distributions slated in April.

As of Tuesday, users can see both the U.S. dollar and Indian rupee values of assets that were lost in a $230 million hack in July 2024. All users have received the upside from unstolen tokens belonging to individuals, enabling a higher return to them.

Creditors now have until Feb. 19 to accept the rebalancing under the current scheme, with a majority vote of 75% required for the plan to move forward.

Grayscale ETF Application Helps Cardano’s ADA Outshine Bitcoin and Ether.

Cardano’s ADA token surged 15%, outperforming bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), after Grayscale Investments applied for the first-ever spot ADA exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S.

Grayscale, a prominent crypto asset manager, filed to list the first-ever spot ADA fund on the New York Stock Exchange. A spot ETF would enable investors to gain exposure to the cryptocurrency without having to own it directly.

Litecoin ETF Has 90% Chance To Get SEC Approval In 2025: Analysts.

Bloomberg exchange-traded fund (ETF) analysts have tipped a 90% chance that the US securities regulator will approve a spot Litecoin ETF before the end of the year.

Bloomberg’s James Seyffart and Eric Balchunas see its chances of being approved in 2025 as higher than other ETFs currently proposed, including a spot XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin ETF—which they see as having a 65%, 70%, and 75% chance, respectively.

Litecoin, which was created as a faster alternative to Bitcoin in 2011, shares a similar proof-of-work consensus mechanism to Bitcoin.

Solana Revenues Outpace Ethereum, L2s Despite Market Dip.

The Solana network continues to generate more revenue than Ethereum despite a cooling cryptocurrency market and a slowdown in retail trading activity, according to data from DefiLlama.

Ethereum’s top L2s are Arbitrum and Base, with roughly $14 billion and $11.5 billion in total value locked (TVL), respectively, according to data from L2Beat. Solana’s TVL continues to dramatically lag Ethereum’s, at $9.5 billion versus nearly $56.8 billion, according to data from DefiLlama.

The surge in Solana’s revenues has largely stemmed from increased memecoin trading, which was the driving force of the network’s decentralized finance ecosystem in 2024. According to crypto research firm Messari, Solana’s cumulative app revenue increased by 213% in the fourth quarter of 2024, primarily due to memecoin speculation.

North Carolina Becomes 20th State to Propose Bitcoin Reserve.

North Carolina advances its crypto adoption through the “NC Digital Assets Investments Act” (HB 92) introduction. On February 10, Speaker of the House Destin Hall presented a bill that suggests that the state treasurer should invest public funds into “qualified” digital assets.

The state aims to expand its investment assets through the inclusion of Bitcoin exchange-traded products that maintain a minimum market capitalization of $750 billion in the previous year.

North Carolina has become one of 20 states that are currently pursuing legislation to support crypto investments. North Dakota stands as one of the states that did not approve these bills, although Arizona and Utah moved forward with them.

European Payments Giant Klarna Says It Will Look To Integrate Crypto.

Klarna Bank AB, a Swedish fintech company popular in Europe, plans to embrace cryptocurrencies on its platform, the firm’s chief executive officer, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, announced in a post on X over the weekend.

Klarna is a popular “buy now, pay later” app primarily used in Europe. Investopedia values the platform at $14.8 billion, with over 85 million users and 100 billion in volume, according to Siemiatkowski.

Japanese Game Maker Gumi Announces $6.6mn Bitcoin Purchase.

Tokyo-listed mobile game studio Gumi Inc. intends to buy bitcoin worth 1 billion Japanese yen, around $6.58 million, the company announced on Monday. Gumi plans to make the purchase in the period between February and May of this year, according to the company’s statement.

Gumi said the company expects to earn secondary revenue from staking its surplus bitcoin funds into Babylon and from validator rewards from the protocol apart from the profits gained through the increase in bitcoin price.

Binance And SEC File Joint Motion To Halt Legal Dispute For 60 Days.

Binance and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have jointly requested the court to pause their legal case for 60 days. The court filing, submitted Monday, stated that the request to stay the case was made with consideration of the SEC’s new task force for developing a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies.

The filing also noted that at the end of the 60-day period, the parties plan to submit a joint status report that decides whether an extension of the stay is warranted. Originally filed in June 2023, the SEC’s complaint against Binance and affiliated entities included 13 charges based on its claim that the exchange operated unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies for financial securities.

Solana DEX Volume Tops $60mn as It Looks to Extend 4-Month Winning Streak Over Ethereum.

Solana is on track to extend its four-month run over Ethereum and other smart-contract blockchains in decentralized-exchange (DEX) volume even as the rangebound crypto market struggles to capture trader enthusiasm.

Solana-based DEXs have posted a total trading volume of just over $60 million this month, nearly double the $34 million on Ethereum, the biggest smart-contract blockchain, according to data source DeFiLlama.

Solana has held its pole position since October. Notably, in January, Solana-based DEXs achieved a trading volume of $258 billion, with Ethereum trailing at just $86 billion.

Crypto Investors Lost Over $500mn in Memecoin Rug Pulls and Scams in 2024.

According to a report by crypto intelligence platform Merkle Science, memecoin rug pulls and scams cost more than $500 million in 2024.

The most prolific scams involved social engineering, which is a technique that relies on impersonation and manipulation to gain access to someone’s personal data—often in this case celebrities or well-known tech figures.

One of these cases saw scammers compromise French footballer Kylian Mbappe’s X account. Once they gained access, they posted a link to a nefarious memecoin, which rose to a $460 million market cap before they pulled out.

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