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OVERVIEW

Largest Crypto Hack In History: $1.4B Gone 😱 

Before we dive in, here’s today’s crypto market heatmap:

Source: Santiment

And here’s a look at crypto’s total market and altcoin market cap charts:

Source: TradingView

NEWS
Digital Armageddon: $1.4B Snatched 😵 

It’s Friday, so it’s a regular ol’ shit show in crypto again. Bitcoin returned to the $99,000 level and people were excited. Then 10:20 am EST rolls in and this happened:

BTCUSD 5-Minute Chart – Click to enlarge.

A little after 10:00 am EST, rumors of a hack against Bybit exploded across crypto, with on-chain analytics firms sounding an alarm:

Arkham Intelligence’s X.

Then confirmation from Bybit occured:

Bybit’s X.

Bybit CEO Ben Zhou addressed concerns following the exchange’s massive $1.4 billion hack, confirming that all client withdrawals will be processed, even if under review. Zhou also said during a livestream that Bybit can withstand a bankrun.

Proof-Of-Reserves: 1:1 True Or False? 🤔 

Now, I don’t take the CEO’s word for it, so I did look through Bybit’s latest Proof-of-Reserve audit (independently done by Hacken). Bybit has this fancy-shmancy visual tool, but I went through the report itself.

And you shouldn’t take my word for it either: read it for yourself here.

Bybit Proof Of Reserve Ratio

If the audit checks out, then Bybit’s CEO isn’t bluffing about being slightly over-collateralized with the 1:1 ratio. All told, the value of Bybit’s wallet addresses is roughly $11.78ish billlion.

From Hacken’s January 2025 audit.

So, ya, they can weather a $1.4 billion loss.

Investigations and Next Steps 🔍️ 

Instead of buying Ethereum to cover the losses, Bybit secured a bridge loan from partners, covering nearly 80% of the stolen ETH to ease its liquidity crunch. It also means Bybit isn’t selling a metric crap ton of other coins to cover the loss.

Bybit assures everyone that the rest of their cold wallets are locked down tight. Client funds remain safe, so no meltdown required. Investigations are moving along with big-name blockchain analysis teams, and Bybit promises to dish out updates when they have ’em.

Moral of the story: always, always verify the transaction details on your hardware wallet’s screen, because the front-end can play dirty tricks. 🪄 

If you want to watch what’s happening with the hacker’s wallet live, Arkham Intelligence already has it setup to monitor.

Watch what the Bybit hacker’s wallet is doing

We’ll keep you updated as this story develops. 📰 

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NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Crypto News 📰

👀 SBF’s Sudden GOP Love

He used to be the Democrats’ sugar daddy, but now Sam Bankman-Fried says he funneled even more money to Republicans “on the down-low.” Currently 25 years into his prison stint, he’s apparently trying to cozy up to Trump’s circle to snag that sweet, sweet pardon. Protos.

🔮 Alt Season… Kinda

Volume’s up on certain alts, but there’s no dramatic “BTC → alt” rotation. Folks call it a “weird alt season,” as Bitcoin’s forging its own paper-based ecosystem. If your favorite alt doesn’t bring something fresh, it might just stay in stablecoin purgatory. Ki Young’s X (CryptoQuant’s big wig).

🤫 Jack Dorsey = Satoshi??

VanEck’s Matthew Sigel claims Twitter co-founder Jack might be Bitcoin’s mysterious creator. Some “evidence” is out there—cypherpunk T-shirts, weird “blue square” coincidences. But a chunk of the BTC crowd would rather keep that door firmly locked. No leaders, no headaches. crypto.news.

⚖️ Coinbase Beats The SEC

Coinbase just dodged SEC litigation with zero fines and no business changes. Their CEO’s basically chest-thumping: “We stood up to Gensler’s shady demands, and the courts had our back.” Now they’re calling for pro-crypto legislation to keep building in the open. Brian Armstrong’s X (Coinbase’s big wig).

💡 Ethereum’s “Pectra” Upgrade

After Merge and Shanghai, Ethereum’s next big milestone is “Pectra,” targeting scalability (better sharding), quantum-resistant security, data availability, and more energy efficiency. System contracts launched on mainnet last week, so the official upgrade is due in April. Expect cheaper fees, faster throughput, and a blockchain that claims it won’t get caught with its pants down if quantum computing arrives early. 1inch.

🔮 UMA + Polymarket + EigenLayer: Building A “Next-Gen Oracle”

Prediction markets need oracles that can handle any type of question, from “Will Tim Walz say the word ‘couch’?” to complicated outcomes. UMA’s optimistic oracle is good at complex data, but they’re teaming with Polymarket and EigenLayer to push it further with new features like dynamic bonding, multiple tokens for dispute resolution, and potential AI assistance. The idea: an oracle that scales, aligns with different communities, and fights off bribery attacks better. UMA.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
Metaverse, NFT, & Gaming News 🎮️

🎮 Tezos Gaming & NFTs: Real Ownership

On Tezos, NFTs let you keep your game loot even if the game server shuts down tomorrow. That’s how they’re pitching “play-to-own” instead of “play-to-earn.” Some items can even evolve over time—like your car wearing down in a racing game—thanks to dynamic NFTs. Actual cross-game use is still iffy, but if devs collaborate, one day that sword you found could appear in another game. Or rust. Digitally. Forever. Tezos.

⚔️ DeFi Kingdoms PvP Tournaments Drop On Metis

DeFi Kingdoms has $75k in prizes for on-chain PvP, exclusively on Metis. It’s got daily mini-tournaments and monthly showdowns, so you can fight for digital glory or just place bets on who’ll win. For Metis, it’s a chance to show off how cheap and fast their chain can handle these high-volume gaming events. Metis.

🎮 Web3 Gaming Vets Launch “WARP” On Avalanche

Big names from franchises like Rovio, Miniclip, and Jagex are joining MyTH, Mystic Games, and others to form WARP, a new gaming ecosystem on Avalanche. They want to bring AAA-level design, L1 custom blockchain, AI agents, and “real asset ownership” to mainstream gaming. Avalanche.

NEWS IN THREE SENTENCES
DeFi, DEX, and Lending Protocol News 🏦

⚖️ MANTRA Snags VARA DeFi License

MANTRA just grabbed Dubai’s Virtual Asset Service Provider license, letting it operate as a broker-dealer, asset manager, and exchange for digital assets. The plan is to scale globally, but especially in the Middle East, focusing on tokenizing real-world assets. Not too shabby for a “DeFi platform.” MANTRA.

🪲 Zilliqa’s X-Bridge Exploit & Fix

Zilliqa was hacked earlier this month after introducing a new token manager contract with vulnerabilities, letting the attacker mint bridged tokens they didn’t own. Zilliqa shut down the relayer, paused the contracts, and will soon re-enable X-Bridge with new safety measures. They’re also deprecating the compromised zETH contract and relaunching a new one, so if you unknowingly bought zETH after the breach announcement, reach out for support. Zilliqa

🏗️ Uniswap Deploys On Monad Testnet

Monad, a new L1 promising 10k TPS and near-instant finality, just got a testnet with Uniswap integrated. In the Uniswap web app or wallet, flip on testnet mode, get some test tokens from Monad’s faucet, and swap/LP away. Full mainnet release is forthcoming, but you can try those speedy blocks in test environment now. Uniswap.

LINKS
Links That Don’t Suck 🔗

🤦 Gary Cardone dumps his XRP position at $2.71, doesn’t think XRP army will get rich

🪙 Saylor’s bold plan: U.S. must buy 20% of Bitcoin supply to dominate global finance

🔴 FTX claims from 163 jurisdictions ‘not eligible’ for distributions

🙄 Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin questions crypto industry’s priorities

🦉 Hooters prepares to file for bankruptcy amid declining foot traffic: report

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