- The Balancer DAO has given the Hacker responsible for a $100 million digital asset exploit a deadline to return the funds for a bounty.
- Kazakhstan is planning to convert parts of its sovereign wealth fund, Gold, and foreign exchange reserves into a cryptocurrency reserve valued between $500 million and $1 billion.
- A survey shows 45% of exchange-traded fund (ETF) investors intend to buy crypto ETFs, placing crypto ETFs on par with bond ETFs in popularity.
The Balancer Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) issued an onchain notice to the individual or group behind a recent exploit that led to the theft of more than $100 million in digital assets. This notice, shared in a Friday X post, gave the hacker until Saturday to return the stolen funds in exchange for an unspecified bounty. If the funds are not returned, Balancer will take technical, onchain, and legal actions to recover the assets.
The exploit, first reported to users on Monday, involved the transfer of over $100 million worth of staked Ether (ETH), including StakeWise Staked ETH (OSETH), Wrapped Ether (WETH), and Lido wstETH (wSTETH), to a new wallet. The incident raised concerns about the effectiveness of the smart contract audits conducted by four security firms on Balancer’s V2 Composable Stable Pools.
In Kazakhstan, government officials are exploring the idea of converting a portion of the National Fund’s assets, along with a share of the country’s gold and foreign exchange reserves, to create a state-managed cryptocurrency reserve. According to Berik Sholpankulov, deputy chairman of Kazakhstan’s National Bank, the reserve could be valued between $500 million and $1 billion and might become operational by the end of this year or January next year.
Additionally, confiscated assets are planned to be moved to this strategic digital asset fund. The Ministry of Digital Development has also proposed allowing state-owned enterprises to supply energy to private cryptocurrency miners in exchange for cryptocurrency, as part of the government’s broader digital asset strategy.
A new survey from Schwab Asset Management shows that 45% of ETF investors plan to purchase crypto ETFs, ranking just below the 52% interested in U.S. equity ETFs and tied with those interested in bond ETFs. Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted the significance of this interest, given that crypto ETFs presently comprise only 1% of total ETF assets under management compared to bonds at 17%.
The survey also revealed generational differences, with 57% of Millennials indicating a plan to invest in crypto ETFs, compared to 41% of Gen X and 15% of Baby Boomers. Balchunas described the overall sentiment toward ETFs as very optimistic, especially among younger investors. More details were shared in his X post.
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