Bitcoin has created 85,400 millionaires, highlighting its growing value and investor interest, according to the 2024 Crypto Wealth report by Henley & Partners. This report also shows that, across the world, there are now 173,200 people who became millionaires through cryptocurrencies, with a growth of 95% in the last year. Of these, 85,400 are Bitcoin millionaires, an increase of 111% in the last year.
The report also points out that presently there are 28 crypto billionaires globally, of which 11 are Bitcoin traders. This includes the addition of six billionaires in the previous year, five of which invested in Bitcoin, making Bitcoin the primary driver of large investments. The market capitalization, or the total value of cryptocurrencies has increased by 89% to $2.3 trillion from $1.2

Bitcoin mining firm Rhodium Enterprises has filed for voluntary bankruptcy under Chapter 11 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Detailed in the filing made on August 24, the company’s problem shows that the company has debts between $50 million and $100 million and total assets of between $100 million and $500 million. The bankruptcy filing also includes six subsidiaries: Rhodium Encore, Jordan HPC, Rhodium JV, Rhodium 2.0, Rhodium 10MW, and Rhodium 30MW.
There has been pressure on the financial situation of Rhodium Enterprises in the past several months. In July, the company was accused of not repaying $54 million owed to the lenders as loans. They had earlier sourced $78 million in loans in 2021 for its subsidiaries to finance their operations. To

French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the recent arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov. He stated that it was not politically motivated but part of an ongoing judicial investigation. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, Macron reiterated France’s commitment to freedom of expression, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He emphasized that in a state governed by the rule of law, freedoms are upheld within a legal framework. As a result, it protects citizens and respects their fundamental rights.
Durov was arrested on Saturday at Le Bourget airport in Paris, and the news immediately spread worldwide. The Russian Embassy in France countered by alleging that the French authorities have been unhelpful in enabling the Russian authorities to get closer to Durov. At the same time, the

Binance, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, is set to list Eurite (EURI) and open trading for new spot trading pairs on August 28, 2024, at 10:00 (UTC). In celebration of this launch, Binance is introducing a zero-fee promotion for trading EURI pairs. It makes this an attractive opportunity for traders. It is also pivotal for EURI as it is one of the earliest EURO stablecoins under the MiCA regulation in the EU and the EEA.
EURI Deposits Open Ahead of August 28 Launch on Binance; Withdrawals Start August 29
Existing Binance users can now start depositing EURI ahead of the trading sessions that are set to commence soon. This fee for the listing has been set to 0 BNB to show Binance’s intent for easy and smooth transactions. Withdrawals will be enabled for EURI from August 29, 2024, at

Andrei Grachev, managing partner of Web3 market maker DWF Labs, has purchased $500,000 worth of Toncoin to express support for Telegram founder Pavel Durov, who was recently detained in France. Grachev announced his decision on X (formerly Twitter). He stated that this was his way of showing solidarity with Durov during this challenging time.
Grachev joins other influential personalities in the crypto fraternity that has been supporting Durov’s release through the hashtag #FreePavel. As for Grachev’s words during the broadcast, he stressed that purchasing Toncoin is a vote in favor of the TON ecosystem and support of decentralized and censorship-resistant technology.
It is important to outline that Grachev bought the company’s shares before the loss of 20% of its value after the news of

The ETH Kipu Foundation has established a significant partnership with the Ministry of Education of Buenos Aires to integrate Ethereum and blockchain technology into the high school curriculum. This collaboration represents a notable advancement in technology education within Argentina. This partnership is set to impact the broader Latin American region.
As part of this initiative, students in Buenos Aires will commence professional internships related to blockchain projects starting August 27. This practical engagement is expected to provide students with valuable experience and insights into the blockchain industry.
Additionally, the partnership will facilitate the development of an online course focused on Solidity, the programming language used for creating Ethereum applications. This

The stablecoin market has reached a new milestone, with its total market capitalization hitting an all-time high of $168 billion. This achievement follows 11 consecutive months of growth, as shown by data from DefiLlama. The current potential exceeds the maximum of $167 billion recorded in March 2022, indicating a clear recovery and growth stage for stablecoins.
It is important to note that this data does not include a category often referred to as algorithmic stablecoins, where the value is not anchored to by some external reference, fiat money, gold, etc, but is maintained through computation. After hitting an all-time high in 2022, the market size began to shrink, with a total market cap of $135 billion by the end of that year. However, the current surge indicates that stablecoins are

Thailand’s authorities recently raided an illegal Bitcoin mine following several weeks of power outages in a local town. The raid took place on Sunday in Ratchaburi. It is a province located west of Bangkok. They took action after numerous reports of electrical disruptions in the area.
Reports by AFP reveal that the early morning raid was conducted by the Provincial Electricity Authorities together with the local police. A chief district security officer named Jamnong Chanwong mentioned that people reported power outages in mid-July, presumably when the Bitcoin mining operation started to operate at full capacity. Regulators later found out that the mining activity required massive power consumption while the associated charges provided were insignificant. However, the operatives did not

In Nigeria, there is increasing advocacy for a shift in the regulatory framework governing the cryptocurrency industry, with calls for a focus on compliance rather than criminalization. Obinna Iwuno is the former president of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria (SiBAN). He has emerged as a prominent advocate for a more balanced regulatory approach.
Iwuno has also noted that the current legal framework, which has resulted in contract laws and legal battles, and the arrest of cryptocurrency personalities, may harm Nigeria’s image and the development of the cryptocurrency business in the country. He has advocated for fines and operational restrictions to be an area of focus in the regulatory process as opposed to punitive measures unless there are litigation

Simon’s Cat, a popular meme and animated series, has locked over $15 million worth of $CAT and $BNB tokens using Floki’s crypto locker protocol, FlokiFi Locker. Floki announced this revolutionary news via the official X account. These tokens are locked on the BNB Chain for an astonishing 420 million years which means they will not be available for generations. This move demonstrates Simon’s Cat’s dedication to security and confidence in employing Floki’s locker protocol, which has received many positive reviews in the market.
$15M Lock in $CAT and $BNB Tokens Signals Confidence in Memecoin’s Future
To form the lock, participants use $CAT and $BNB tokens, which are valued at approximately $15 million in total. By safeguarding these resources, Simon’s Cat conveys a clear message to the

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, has been arrested in France by agents of the National Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF). Durov, aged 39, was detained at Le Bourget airport on Saturday evening, shortly after arriving from Azerbaijan on his private jet. He was accompanied by a bodyguard and a woman, according to French news site TF1. 
Durov Faces Charges of Terrorism and Fraud Amid Allegations of Telegram’s Role in Crime
Durov was listed in the wanted persons file (FPR) due to allegations related to his platform’s role in enabling criminal activities. Durov was in the wanted person file (FPR) for some offenses that his site was instrumental in the commission of. French authorities procured this warrant following a preliminary investigation. The warrant was only legal if Durov was

Gate.io, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, has entered into a significant partnership with FC Internazionale Milano (Inter), a leading football club and current Serie A champions. This partnership will involve placing the Gate.io logo on the sleeves of the Inter Mens, Womens, and U20 teams’ shirts beginning of the 2024/25 season.
As mentioned by Gate.io in its blog post, this new role of becoming the Official Sleeve Partner is a combination of sports and digital innovation. The partnership is expected to improve the fan experience for Inter fans around the world through informative and entertaining activities. The collaboration with Gate.io will involve exclusive content, joint marketing, merged products, and numerous chances to interact with both Gate.io and Inter.
The partnership

Fireblocks, a leading digital asset infrastructure provider, has announced its support for Yellow Card, a prominent stablecoin on/off ramp in Africa. This collaboration aims to streamline cross-border crypto transactions across the continent. Announced on X, the company revealed its ambitious goal of expanding to 14 million wallets through its Wallet-as-a-Service.
Fireblocks will enable Yellow Card to benefit from its enhanced digital asset architecture for stablecoin transactions in Africa. This partnership aims to address challenges that multinational companies experience when expanding to Africa by ensuring that they have reliable and secure means of engaging in on-chain services.
As stated in the Fireblocks blog post, this support entails leveraging Fireblocks’ WaaS for MPC offering

On August 23, 2024, U.S. District Judge William H. Orrick denied crypto exchange Kraken’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC alleges that some of Kraken’s cryptocurrency transactions could be classified as investment contracts and thus fall under securities regulations.
According to the received evidence, Judge Orrick decided that Kraken generated more than $43,000,000 in revenue for the trading fees and allowed almost any transaction between 2020 and 2021. On November 20, 2023, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Kraken, charging the company with being an unregistered securities exchange and mismanaging users’ assets and data.
Particularly, the SEC targets some tokens, which Kraken lists for trading. These include Cardano’s ADA, Cosmos’s

Nervos CKB, known for its secure and versatile blockchain platform, has announced the launch of a new initiative called Fiber Network. This next-generation open lightning network aims to enhance blockchain transactions. It will offer decentralized, low-cost, and rapid multi-currency payouts and peer-to-peer transfers for RGB++ assets.
The Fiber Network, which is expected to go live for testing next week, is a common lightning network based on Nervos CKB and off-chain channels. It is aimed at offering fast, cheap, and more importantly, a decentralized solution for multiple token payments and other transactions. Just like the Bitcoin Lightning Network, the Fiber Network network operates as an off-chain Layer 2 scaling solution that enhances speed and decreases costs while maintaining

Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a significant surge on Friday, climbing to nearly $64,000. This boost in price followed two major events that positively impacted the cryptocurrency market. The first was when the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell mentioned that a monetary easing cycle would begin in the following month. This news led to a 3% increase in Bitcoin price within the next session of trading.
The second one was the moment with the Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who stated that he decided to stop his campaign and support Republican candidate Donald Trump. This endorsement went on to boost Bitcoin price to $63,800, a 24-hour rise of 5.6%.
It is believed that Kennedy’s decision to leave the presidential race and support Trump would greatly impact the

Tron founder Justin Sun has downplayed concerns following the removal of 12,000 Bitcoin, worth over $729 million, from the reserves backing Decentralized USD (USDD), a stablecoin governed by the Tron DAO Reserve. The action was recorded on August 19, when the blockchain observer Blockchair discovered that the Bitcoin was taken out of the address that was linked to the USDD collateral.
This led to concerns on the social media platform x (former Twitter), where some of the users said that Sun was directly involved in the removal. Some people wondered why this particular Bitcoin was removed while no vote had been made by the Tron DAO Reserve, which is the governing body of USDD.
Sun Justifies Bitcoin Removal from USDD as DeFi Norm
Subsequently, on August 22, Sun responded to the allegations

Colombia’s consumer protection agency, the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), has initiated an investigation into Worldcoin, a biometric cryptocurrency project, and its parent company, Tools for Humanity. The SIC alleges that they breached Colombian personal data protection legislation by gathering biometric data like iris scans without consent.
Worldcoin, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, gives out “World IDs” whenever people use an Orb to SCAN their irises. In return for these scans, users are paid in cryptocurrency specifically in WLD tokens. The project has onboarded over 6.5 million people worldwide. These users include many in Colombia, where it launched operations in June 2023. Presently, Worldcoin has resorted to the use of Orb devices in 25 spaces across seven

On August 21, hackers hacked McDonald’s official Instagram page and executed a scam that resulted in over $700,000 in stolen Solana. They used the popular social media account to promote a fraudulent memecoin named “Grimace,” inspired by McDonald’s purple mascot.
The attack started with McDonald’s Instagram account being seized and used to spread information on the fake token called GRIMACE. Screenshots posted on X revealed that the hackers were able to create multiple posts that spammed the public claiming that Grimace was an official project by McDonald’s on the Solana blockchain. Such posts prompted 5.1 million McDonalds’ followers to invest in the token.
GRIMACE Token Price Surge Due to McDonald’s Instagram Hack
The promotion was highly effective as it caused GRIMACE’s market

Aave Labs has officially launched Aave V3 on the Era Mainnet, marking a significant advancement in decentralized finance (DeFi). This new version of Aave uses zkSync technology to enhance security, privacy, and scalability. The announcement was made through Aave’s official X account.
As stated in the blog post, the Aave V3 includes zkSync’s zero-knowledge (ZK), which can provide cheap transaction fees and high security through Ethereum proofs. Chainlink will also assist in delivering trustworthy and protected price feeds.
Stani Kulechov, founder and CEO of Aave Labs, also pointed out the significance of this integration and the fact that it would be mutually beneficial to both the Aave and zkSync ecosystems. He mentioned that the integration of the ZK-proofs and the Elastic Chain ecosystem

On August 22, Bitcoin futures experienced a substantial increase in open interest (OI) following the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s minutes from its July meeting. The OI reached $31.92 billion, marking an increase of $1.26 billion in 12 hours.
Open interest is the total number of futures and options contracts traded but not yet closed out. Higher OI suggests that traders are more confident about Bitcoin’s price direction, in this case, they expect the Bitcoin price to rise. However, the recent upward move indicates that there is a feeling of bullishness among the traders as the market continues to be divided on the Bitcoin trending upwards or downwards chart.
Information from CoinGlass shows a small margin of long positions compared to short ones as 50.63% of all futures contracts

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to support measures to help the digital asset industry grow, according to Brian Nelson, a senior campaign adviser for Harris. Nelson also serves as undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the U.S. Treasury Department. He said that Harris would support policies aimed at the development of new technologies and the field of cryptocurrencies. He said this in an interview with Bloomberg News on Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention.
Nelson also stressed that the industry has also insisted on the need to have ‘stable rules,’ to support the growth of the sector. Since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the global economy, the issue of the cryptocurrency industry has become relevant during the current

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, is set to hire 1,000 new employees this year, with a significant portion of these roles focused on compliance. This move comes at a time when Binance has been escalating efforts to address the increasing regulatory pressures, notably in the US where its compliance outlay is likely to exceed $200 million annually. The information was disclosed by Binance’s Chief Executive Richard Teng to the Bloomberg News in an interview during his trip to New York.
Teng, with his experience in being a regulator for many years, stressed the need for close cooperation with governmental institutions. In a discussion with Bloomberg, Teng said, “I’ve been a regulator all my life.” He also pointed out that Binance considers regulation as a crucial factor.

Babylon, a blockchain developer, is set to launch its self-custodial Bitcoin staking mainnet in just two days as part of a phased rollout. This launch is designed to leverage Bitcoin’s economic properties to strengthen the security frameworks of proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains. It offers a new level of security for decentralized systems.
The most fundamental aspect of this new system is that the user can stake his or her Bitcoin via a smart contract. This self-custodial model can ensure that the user has full control over his assets without having to deal with middlemen. The envisioned outcome is to transfer Bitcoin’s sound economic security model to bolster several decentralized systems such as sovereign PoS chains, Layer 2 solutions, data availability solutions, and oracles.
Babylon

Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), are facing a new legal challenge with a revived class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Seattle. The lawsuit is filed by three cryptocurrency investors. It alleges that Binance facilitated the laundering of stolen crypto assets, making them untraceable. The plaintiffs state that to make things worse, their stolen cryptocurrency was sent to Binance, which ‘laundered’ the transaction, making it almost impossible to retrieve the stolen assets.
This lawsuit is just the latest legal headache for Binance, which has faced a $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Justice Department and the resignation of CZ after he pleaded guilty to violating U.S. money laundering laws for this platform. Legal

Binance has officially introduced DOGS (Dogs) as the 57th project in its Launchpool program. DOGS is a memecoin based on the Ton blockchain and is popular within the Telegram community. It is set to be listed on Binance, with trading expected to commence on August 26, 2024. This marks DOGS as the first of its kind to be featured on Binance’s Launchpool.
The Launchpool activity enables users to stake BNB and FDUSD to receive DOGS tokens. The staking process will commence on 23rd August 2024 and last for 72 hours. At this stage, users can lock their BNB and FDUSD tokens in separate pools to earn DOGS.
The total number of DOGS in circulation is 550 billion tokens, out of which 22 billion will be used as Launchpool rewards. It is approximately 4% of the total token supply. Out of these

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has approved a second Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF). It marks a significant development in the country’s cryptocurrency investment landscape. The new ETF, which is still in its pre-operational phase, will be introduced by Hashdex — a leading asset manager in Brazil with over $962 million in assets under management. This venture is being conducted in partnership with BTG Pactual, a prominent Brazilian investment bank.
This approval comes just a week after the approval of the first Solana ETF in Brazil on the 8th of August. The first approval was given to QR Asset, which shows that Brazil is now gradually establishing itself as a participant in the regulated cryptocurrency investment services segment. The new ETF, called the

On Tuesday night, Mt. Gox transferred 12,000 Bitcoin, valued at $709.44 million, to an unknown wallet address, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham. The transaction took place at approximately 11:39 p.m. UTC. In addition to this, 1,264.69 BTC, worth $74.77 million, was sent to another address identified by Arkham as a cold wallet belonging to Mt. Gox. These funds have not been transferred further since the initial move.
Late last week, one of the wallets linked to the BitGo exchange moved most of the Bitcoins it got from Mt. Gox, $2 billion worth, to a different wallet, as reported by Arkham on social media platform X. Large Bitcoin movements like these are hinting to repayments for Mt. Gox’s creditors through sites like Bitstamp and Kraken, therefore, may be close to completion.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has introduced new guiding principles for the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in consumer-facing applications, aimed at protecting end-users. These principles build upon the guidelines that were released in November 2019 and relate to big data and AI. The changes include governance and accountability, and integrity standards, including fairness, transparency and disclosure, data privacy, and protection.
Alan Au, the executive director of HKMA’s banking conduct department, pointed to the increasing popularity of generative AI in treating banking customers. Some examples of applications include customer service chatbots, personalized product creation, sales, marketing, and even robo-advisors in the financial planning and insurance

Google is facing a $5 million lawsuit from Maria Vaca, who alleges that a cryptocurrency wallet app she downloaded from the Play Store was fraudulent and led to the theft of her digital assets. Vaca claims that the app, which appeared legitimate, resulted in significant losses after she trusted it to manage her cryptocurrency.
The lawsuit, filed in a California state court, accuses Google of negligence for allowing the dangerous app to be available on its platform. Vaca points out that Google did not safeguard its users from fraudulent applications; this is a common problem concerning malware applications in the Play Store.
Vaca’s Lawsuit Against Google Highlights Ongoing Crypto Fraud Challenges
It is not the first time that fraudsters have used the Google Play Store as a marketplace for