Spot Bitcoin ETFs hit record daily net inflows of $631 million.

Investments in Bitcoin ETFs hit a record high as more than $631 million flowed into these funds on February 13, coinciding with a decrease in outflows from Grayscale's GBTC fund.

Excluding GBTC, nine Bitcoin ETF issuers received $704 million in investment. Demand for these funds, backed by the world's largest digital asset, is growing steadily, reaching hundreds of millions of dollars daily.

According to the data, BlackRock accounted for the largest share of investments, accounting for 70% of total daily inflows, amounting to $493 million.

February 13 marked an all-time high for the BTC ETF and the 13th total day of net inflows since the trading opened on January 11, which followed SEC approval the day before.

 

UN: Damage from attacks by North Korean hackers on crypto companies amounted to $3 billion.

According to TRM Labs, in 2023, hackers from North Korea stole digital currencies worth about $600 million. The greatest damage was suffered by token holders from South Korea.

The United Nations has announced the publication of a study that analyses the consequences of attacks on crypto companies.

Over the past six years, North Korean cybercriminals have stolen digital assets worth more than $3 billion by hacking services and Bitcoin wallets.

The UN studied the consequences of hacking 58 companies providing cryptocurrency exchange and storage services. The attacks were analyzed over the past six years, Reuters reports.

The stolen digital currencies were used to finance North Korean defense projects and purchase essential goods.

The study will be published by the end of March 2024.
 

FTX will sell Digital Custody, acquired for $10 million, for $500,000.

Failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX has sought permission to sell its subsidiary Digital Custody Inc (DCI). The company's lawyers sent the relevant documents to the court.

Digital Custody is a custody service acquired by FTX in August 2022 in two transactions totaling $10 million. The exchange planned to use this company to provide specialized services to FTX.US and LedgerX.

However, Digital Custody needed more time to integrate the bankrupt crypto giant into the ecosystem. Three months after purchasing the company, the exchange filed for bankruptcy.

 

The OnlyFake service with AI elements bypassed the KYC checks of large crypto exchanges.

Underground website OnlyFake has rolled out a service to create realistic-looking fake IDs to pass security checks.

404 Media claims that the use of artificial intelligence technology allowed the OnlyFake team to produce realistic-looking photos of fake IDs for just $15. Experts said that this technological solution allows attackers to create a virtual identity, provide it with “reliable” documents, and then easily go through authorization and identification procedures on various cryptocurrency services.
 

Ethiopia will invest $250 million in Bitcoin mining as part of the DCS deal.

Ethiopia has signed an agreement with Hong Kong operator Data Center Service.

The State Investment Fund will allocate $250 million to develop mining infrastructure and train AI technologies.

Crypto assets are prohibited in Ethiopia, but cryptocurrency mining is allowed starting in 2022.

 

Ethiopia is investing $250 million to create Bitcoin mining infrastructure and train AI technologies. To this end, the government of the country signed an agreement with the Data Center Service company.

Financing will be provided by the state-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings. The Data Center Service team, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong data center operator West Data Group, will take care of the technical side of the issue.

 

The sentencing of the Binance founder was postponed to April.

The sentencing of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao on money laundering charges has been postponed to April 30. This was reported by CNBC concerning a notice from the Seattle federal court.

The document does not state the reason for the almost two-month delay; it was assumed that the verdict would be announced on February 23.

Federal standards provide for a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison in Zhao's case, the publication noted. Prosecutors previously announced their intention to achieve a harsher sentence, with a maximum sentence of 10 years.

 

Polygon will launch the AggLayer mainnet on February 23rd.

Polygon Labs has announced the upcoming release of an innovative solution known as an Aggregation Layer, or AggLayer, designed to facilitate communication between blockchains using zero-knowledge proofs.

The release is scheduled for February 23, 2024. The first version of this solution aims to empower developers by allowing them to create connections between blockchains, thereby facilitating unified liquidity in the digital ecosystem.

The main purpose of the aggregation layer is to establish a standard level of security for various blockchain architectures, covering both modular and monolithic chains, with a special emphasis on those that operate within the blockchain.

 

Gaming platform PlayDapp lost $290 million as a result of two exploits.

On February 2, a hacker, due to a repeated hack of the PlayDapp gaming blockchain platform, issued 1.59 billion PLA tokens worth $253.9 million at the market price.

The first incident occurred on February 9. An unknown person then minted 200 million PLA ($36.5 million) from an unauthorized wallet. He distributed the assets to several addresses and began laundering through crypto platforms.

The PlayDapp team sent the attacker a message through an intranet transaction with an offer to return the stolen funds for a reward of $1 million by February 13. Otherwise, this amount became a reward for help in his capture.